Masquerade Bone Spear Necromancer Skills and Runes

Last updated on Oct 22, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 51 comments

On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Masquerade Bone Spear Necromancer in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 33.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Grim Scythe Icon Grim Scythe Frost Scythe Frost Scythe Right Mouse Button Bone Spear Icon Bone Spear Blighted Marrow Blighted Marrow 1 Bone Armor Icon Bone Armor Dislocation Dislocation 2 Decrepify Icon Decrepify Borrowed Time Borrowed Time 3 Blood Rush Icon Blood Rush Potency Potency 4 Simulacrum Icon Simulacrum Reservoir Reservoir
Passive Skills
1.

Rotation

The Masquerade Bone Spear build is fairly simple to execute; you will begin runs by summoning Simulacrum Simulacrum, since the minions will produce the bulk of your damage and tie into the set mechanics. You will be using Blood Rush Blood Rush to scout around and draw monsters into bigger fights, where you will apply a triple stack of your curses via manual application (casting your equipped curse and receiving the benefits of all three from the Cursed Form Cursed Form rune of Simulacrum Simulacrum, obtained for free from the Masquerade set 2-piece bonus). Lastly, while you will be using Bone Armor Bone Armor for its standard protective purposes, you should also make a point to save its active stun effect from Dislocation Dislocation right as the Poison cycle of Convention of Elements Convention of Elements approaches, so you can strengthen your burst period with a guaranteed proc of Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence. That burst, of course, will come from your Bone Spear Bone Spear barrage.

2.

Skills and Runes

Intrinsically tied to the Masquerade set mechanics and receiving a massive damage buff from the 6-piece bonus, Bone Spear Bone Spear is a natural inclusion and the main damage dealer of the build. The preferred rune is the poisonous Blighted Marrow Blighted Marrow, which increases Bone Spear damage per pierced target — further encouraging you to build up big fights and clump up enemies, and to position in a way to maximize the number of pierced enemies. You will be augmenting the damage of this skill further with the dedicated Maltorius' Petrified Spike Maltorius' Petrified Spike scythe, Gelmindor's Marrow Guards Gelmindor's Marrow Guards bracers and the skill-agnostic Scythe of the Cycle Scythe of the Cycle.

Just as important for a Masquerade-based build, Simulacrum Simulacrum needs to be part of your skill lineup. While we have selected the Essence reserve-doubling Reservoir Reservoir as the rune on your bar, due to the powers of the set you will receive all the runes of the skill for free — this means the triple curse utility of Cursed Form Cursed Form, the extra "cheat death" proc of Self Sacrifice Self Sacrifice, the Blood skill (i.e. Blood Rush Blood Rush) cost reduction of Blood Debt Blood Debt, and the additional Simulacrum summon of Blood and Bone Blood and Bone. Remember that those summons will now duplicate both your Secondary skills (a category Bone Spear Bone Spear falls into) as well as your Grim Scythe Grim Scythe, ensuring complete overlap of utility.

Grim Scythe Grim Scythe is one of the most utility-laden primary skills in the Necromancer arsenal. In an attack-speed oriented build such as this one, you will be using the IAS-stacking Frost Scythe Frost Scythe rune.

You have a degree of freedom when deciding your equipped curse. Our default recommendation is Decrepify Decrepify with the cooldown reduction bonuses of Borrowed Time Borrowed Time, which eats away at your defensive cooldowns and provides consistency to the build. That being said, most curses will work decently here — from the culling effect of Frailty Frailty Early Grave Early Grave, to the healing juggernaut Leech Leech Cursed Ground Cursed Ground, and anything in between.

Bone Armor Bone Armor is taken both for its protective utility, as well as the damage buff it provides via Scythe of the Cycle Scythe of the Cycle. The preferred rune is Dislocation Dislocation, whose two second stun will provide a moment of respite in the thick of battle, as well as an additional source of Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence procs, which should ideally be timed with the Poison cycle of Convention of Elements Convention of Elements (see this build's gear page for more information).

In order to more efficiently scout out rift levels, plan engagements, or even outright skip unfavorable fights, you will be using the Necromancer's solitary movement tool — Blood Rush Blood Rush. Couple it with the toughness rune Potency Potency for a brief survivability spike on every engagement.

3.

Passives

Bone Prison Bone Prison is a utility-driven pick, as its powers have a chance to imprison enemies struck by Bone Spear Bone Spear — providing another decent proc for the full Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence bonus.

Stand Alone Stand Alone is a staple passive of non- or low-summoner builds. The Masquerade Necromancer will only suffer a minor penalty for its duo of Simulacrum Simulacrum summons, and still enjoys a hefty 80% armor bonus.

Adding an offense angle to curse application, Spreading Malediction Spreading Malediction offers an additive damage bonus against enemies affected by the curse — a boon that scales excellently with density.

Lastly, Final Service Final Service provides you with a cheat death proc and a safety net against bursty elite affixes.

3.1.

Season 33 Modification

Due to the 4th Kanai's Cube slot in Season 33 and the ability to include an extra damage multiplier in the form of Reilena's Shadowhook Reilena's Shadowhook, you will focus on expanding your Essence reserve alongside the usual recommendations for this build. Skill-wise, this means changing the base recommendation for the passive Bone Prison Bone Prison for Overwhelming Essence Overwhelming Essence.

4.

Changelog

  • 22 Oct. 2024: Passive recommendations revised to include S33-specific changes.
  • 10 Jul. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 32.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 31.
  • 10 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 08 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Season 25.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: No changes necessary for Season 24.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Minor build revision.
  • 29 Nov. 2020: Fixed rotation to properly reflect S22 skill lineup.
  • 19 Nov. 2020: Revision of skill, rune, and passive recommendations.
  • 03 Jul. 2020: Guide added.
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