Necromancer Bones of Rathma Fresh 70 Starter Build (Patch 2.7.6 / Season 29)

Active Skills
Grim Scythe Cursed Scythe Skeletal Mage Contamination 1 Revive Personal Army 2 Command Skeletons Frenzy 3 Blood Rush Metabolism 4 Army of the Dead Death Valley
Passive Skills
Blood is Power Swift Harvesting Grisly Tribute Extended Servitude

The starter Rathma set build is a natural continuation of the leveling and fresh 70 Necromancer build, as the set's pet theme falls perfectly in line with the summon-heavy beginner build.

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the Leveling and Fresh 70 Build, but others will have to adapt to the set you are currently equipping. Abilities that synergize with set bonuses and complementary items take precedence.

• You will maintain Command Skeletons and Skeletal Mage, as the former will be responsible for the bulk of your damage reduction from the Rathma set 4-piece bonus, while the latter will provide a stack for one of the strongest (and synergistic with Rathma) damage scaling powers for Necromancers, the poison-dependent Nayr's Black Death.
• You will add Essence restoration via the primary attack Grim Scythe, along with the utility-laden Cursed Scythe that will spread Curse effects for free.
• Since Command Skeletons's role as a damage skill will diminish the further you progress the build, you can increase their utility greatly by swapping to hastened cooldown reduction (note the Rathma 2-piece bonus!) of the Frenzy rune.
• In earlier farming difficulties, you can make a judgment call of the enemies' threat level and either stay with the Potency rune of Blood Rush, or change to the superior mobility of the Metabolism rune.
• Revive is an integral part of Rathma builds, which rely on permanent minions to bolster their powers. Further strengthen your build by using the damage reduction rune Personal Army, which will bulk up the otherwise lacking defenses of the Necromancer.
• Army of the Dead is the centerpiece of the 2.7 Rathma rework; this massive, 2-minute cooldown nuke will be cut down short via the powers of the set, and much of your skill and gear selection will revolve around turning it into a spammable skill. Take the Death Valley rune for additional control over the battlefield.
• In your passives, take an extension of summons duration from Extended Servitude, improve your attack speed via Swift Harvesting, make use of yout summoned posse for life sustain via Grisly Tribute and cut your crucial Army of the Dead cooldown even shorter with Blood is Power.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have listed the top three priority items to obtain when starting out with this set.

• Fate's Vow is an Army of the Dead centerpiece item, as it nets you a massive skill damage amplifier and grants you the highest damage dealing rune, Unconventional Warfare, for free.
• The Jesseth Arms set, the Jesseth Skullscythe and Jesseth Skullshield, provide another massive damage multiplier against enemies targeted by your Command Skeletons. Playing around priority targets forms much of the endgame playstyle of the Rathma set.
• Krysbin's Sentence is a cornerstone Necromancer jewelry piece, which greatly increases damage dealt against targets affected by crowd control skills.

The mini-guide above is simply meant to acquaint you with the set and how a build with just the Haedrig's Gift (or a newly found set), and no supporting legendaries would play out. We have the following endgame-oriented builds that use the set, and encourage you to explore these much stronger playstyles!

• Rathma Army of the Dead Necromancer Build