Trag'Oul Death Nova Necromancer Nephalem Rift Speed Farming Variation
Nephalem Rift Speed Farming
The Trag'Oul Death Nova
Necromancer can deal reasonably well with Nephalem Rift Speed Farming,
with the ability to drown an entire screen's worth of enemies with the
unrelenting tide of Blood Novas. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you
want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.
Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage and toughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your best course of action is to improve utility and speed.
Active Skills |
---|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Passive Skills |
Adapting Rotation
When you are speed farming regular rifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge and focus more on speed and utility.
The T16 key farming build will mimic the GR speed farming rotation, but
sped up one step further: with extremely aggressive Blood Rushes on top
of enemies and their immediate decimation with
Blood Novas. You start
out the runs by stacking the 300% Trag'Oul health bonus, and then summon your
Simulacrums, as well as activate your two "background" effects:
Frailty
Aura of Frailty and
Devour
Devouring Aura. Zip throughout
the Rift with
Blood Rush in search of packs of enemies. The interaction
of
Frailty and
Briggs' Wrath will conveniently pull them on top
of you, and you can one-shot any pack you come across with a short channeling
of
Siphon Blood: it will produce the signature tide of
Blood Novas from both your
Iron Rose and
Simulacrums.
Adapting Skills
Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.
- Your main damage dealer is still
Death Nova, taken with the Trag'Oul set-appropriate
Blood Nova rune. While it can be self-cast, you will mostly inflict it with the channeling of
Siphon Blood, which triggers the worn
Iron Rose off-hand. Selecting a particular
Siphon Blood rune is not necessary, since you get them all via the Trag'Oul 2-piece set bonus. If you find the channeling playstyle too slow for T16 rifts, you can viably alternate this slot to
Bone Armor
Dislocation and use
Scythe of the Cycle, and then manually cast your
Blood Novas. In a non-channeling setup like this
Mantle of Channeling becomes obsolete, so you can adapt the utility legendary slot to another farming-oriented item, i.e.
Krelm's Buff Belt.
- Mobility is just as necessary in T16 farming as it is in Greater Rift
progression, so
Blood Rush remains in the build. Much like
Siphon Blood, selection of a particular rune is not necessary, as you gain the benefits of all of them from the Trag'Oul 2-piece. In T16 speed farming, using
Blood Rush will also net you the massive burst of speed from
Steuart's Greaves.
Simulacrums duplicate your Secondary skills (and
Death Nova falls in that skill category), and — unlike your own
Iron Rose procs — their
Blood Nova casts do trigger Area Damage, making their DPS contribution to the build massive. Make them permanent with
Haunted Visions.
Devour
Devouring Aura will consume the numerous Corpses you produce from your damage burst, and turn them into a speed boost through its interaction with the
Fueled by Death passive.
Frailty culls enemies at the 15% health point, and brings an easy proc of
Dayntee's Binding, if you choose to wear it. Take it with the lazy
Aura of Frailty rune for a fire-and-forget beneficial effect throughout your runs.
Adapting Gear
The Trag'Oul's Avatar set still
forms the basis of your setup; you either mix it with a craftable set for
maximum early game effectiveness, or with utility legendaries in later
character progression. Early on in character progression, consider using the
craftable Guardian's Jeopardy set, as its 3-piece bonus doubles your main
stats (Intelligence and Vitality, in a Necromancer's case), netting you a
massive increase of damage and survivability at a very low cost. Later on in
character progression (once you amass 2k+ Paragon levels and get confident
with the build), swap Guardian's set out for a combination of Goldwrap
and either
Warzechian Armguards (solo), or
Nemesis Bracers
(group play).
While using the Guardian's Jeopardy set, it will likely take up your bracer
( Guardian's Aversion) and belt (
Guardian's Case) slots. This
leaves you to adjust the two utility legendaries for this build —
Mantle of Channeling and
Steuart's Greaves — according to
your better rolled pieces and Trag'Oul rolls. Sooner than later, you will
outgrow the use of both Guardian set and
Mantle of Channeling for T16
farming, and can use the setup displayed in the table below.
Your jewelry should partially match the GR progression setup, as the
combination of Krysbin's Sentence and
Haunted Visions provides
way too much value to be swapped around.
Krysbin's Sentence amplifies
damage when you crowd control your enemies, encouraging you to time your
Bone Armor
Dislocation stun to the Physical CoE rotation.
Haunted Visions simply makes your mighty
Simulacrum summons
last forever. The third jewelry slot should be swapped out of
Convention of Elements (used in GR progression and speed farm) however,
as its cyclical damage bonus is way too slow for the purposes of T16 farming.
In its stead, you should use
Briggs' Wrath, for the amazing pixel-tight
pull it exerts over enemies affected by your
Aura of Frailty curse. Note
that both
Aura of Frailty and
Devouring Aura sale with Pickup
radius on your gear, so try to obtain this stat wherever possible.
For your weaponry, our default recommendation is that you stick to
dedicated Trag'Oul duo of Funerary Pick as your scythe, and
Iron Rose as your phylactery.
Funerary Pick brings a massive
damage multiplier against targets affected by
Siphon Blood, while
Iron Rose procs guaranteed
Blood Novas as you channel, making
for a devastating combo. As mentioned in the skill section however, you can
alter your weapon to
Scythe of the Cycle and use a self-cast
Blood Nova playstyle. Try it out and see if you like it better!
Slot | Pieces | Stat Priority |
---|---|---|
Head |
|
|
Shoulders |
|
|
Torso |
|
|
Wrists |
|
|
Hands |
|
|
Waist |
|
|
Legs |
|
|
Feet |
|
|
Amulet |
|
|
Ring #1 |
|
|
Ring #2 |
|
|
Weapon |
|
|
Off-hand |
|
To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.
Altar of Rites
The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.
Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.
Adapting Gems
Bane of the Trapped brings just as valuable of a damage multiplication
bonus to T16 keystone farming, as it does for GR solo pushing. Within the
standard rifts' limited challenges and rushing playstyle, a
positioning-dependent damage multiplier will be overkill — so
Zei's Stone of Vengeance should be swapped for
Boon of the Hoarder.
This gem increases your movement speed through its interaction with
Avarice Band (either worn by you during group play, or worn by your
follower in solo play), and and provides near-infinite Toughness if you also
equip a
Goldwrap. Lastly,
Bane of the Stricken should be replaced
by
Bane of the Powerful for a well-rounded damage increase and damage
mitigation bonus, with a duration-based (but very generous and manageable)
limitation.
Slot | Gems |
---|---|
Jewelry | |
Helm |
|
Torso and Pants |
|
Weapon |
For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.
Adapting Kanai's Cube
Considering its massive, build-defining damage multiplication bonus,
Bloodtide Blade is still a mandatory inclusion in T16 speed farming as
well.
Steuart's Greaves double your movement speed for a generous,
10-second period after using
Blood Rush — a very helpful bonus
for the relentless pace of GR speed farming.
Early on in character progression, you will need to use
Ring of Royal Grandeur in the jewelry slot of the Cube, in order to
maintain the amalgamation of the Trag'Oul and Guardian sets. Later on, you can
swap to
Squirt's Necklace when soloing for another damage multiplier, or
use
Avarice Band when grouped up.
The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.
Follower
The recommended follower for this build during T16 speed farming is the
Enchantress, due to her cooldown reduction bonus (cutting down
Blood Rush downtime) and elemental damage increase. Note that this
requires that you run
Hand of the Prophet and optimize her survivability,
as per our guide.
For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.
Legendary Potion
The preferred potions for this build are Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid
(allowing you to break down Waller affixes that impede your positioning) and
Bottomless Potion of the Tower (whose Armor-increasing properties
complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Necromancers). Pick
whichever you feel helps you out the most.
Season 35 Theme — Eternal Conflict
This Season revives the Pandemonium Kill Streak buff from Season 19. Each stack grants a bonus to movement speed and damage, capping at +50% movement speed and +100% damage at 1000 kills. Hitting specific kill thresholds unleashes powerful effects. Read more in our dedicated Season of the Eternal Conflict Mechanics Guide!
While speedfarming sees limited use from this theme, Greater Rift
pushing benefits significantly. Effects like Geysers (150),
Meteors (400), and Angels (500) can clear elites and Rift
Guardians instantly. Players may reset streaks after 150 kills to repeatedly
trigger Geysers or push for 500+ kills near boss fights, often using
Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra enemies.
Because the most potent effects (Geysers, Meteors, Angels) can obliterate Rift Guardians instantly up to GR150, players can retool builds for efficiency and comfort. Here’s how:
Legendary Gem Considerations
Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian,
Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:
- Another generic damage-scaling legendary gem (
Bane of the Trapped for builds with any form of crowd control and/or melee range,
Zei's Stone of Vengeance for far ranged builds,
Taeguk for channeling builds,
Simplicity's Strength for primary attack-focused builds,
Enforcer for pet-oriented builds, etc.)
- A survivability-oriented legendary gem (
Esoteric Alteration,
Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard), or additional utility (
Gogok of Swiftness for CDR-reliant builds,
Pain Enhancer for attack speed-heavy builds, or
Wreath of Lightning for extra movement speed).
Equipment and Skill Flexibility
Adjust your equipment to items that favor durability, health sustain, and ease of movement. Consider adjusting non-essential skills for the build to ones that pull, reposition, or otherwise displace enemies to facilitate large pulls of enemy packs. In more concrete terms, this means:
- For class-specific items, Necromancers should consider
Dayntee's Binding if it's absent from the build; this is a powerful damage reduction item that incentivizes you to be mindful of utility skills by spreading curses on as large of an enemy pull as possible (especially in conjunction with popular Necro passives such as
Spreading Malediction). This synergizes well with the killstreak theme.
- For additional options that balance between defense and offense, the
class-specific amulet
Wisdom of Kalan extends the
Bone Armor stack maximum and can fit into several builds, while other helpful cross-class jewelry includes
Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set (
The Traveler's Pledge and
The Compass Rose).
- Situational items that can bolster your defenses include
Stone Gauntlets, the drawbacks of which are negated via CC-immunity effects like
Ice Climbers, or the Altar of Rites CC-immunity node. The class-specific
Razeth's Volition and the class-agnostic
Aquila Cuirass are powerful and popular choices for low Essence-spending builds, especially ones built around generators like LoD Poison Scythe. A final niche consideration is
Mantle of Channeling, which balances between defense and offense for channeling builds, often built around
Iron Rose.
- Utility items like
Nemesis Bracers are essential as more elites mean more killstreak maintenance and faster progression. When soloing, they should be equipped by your follower; in groups, at least one party member should commit to wearing them. When focusing strictly on speed,
Steuart's Greaves can be a powerful inclusion for scouting, but builds that are locked into other items for the slot can turn to niche options like
Warzechian Armguards or
Krelm's Buff Belt. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with
The Ess of Johan, a proc-based analogue to an enemy-pulling skill (albeit outside your control).
- Skill-wise, make sure to include at least one movement skill tool like
Blood Rush. While Necromancers lack an easily available enemy-pulling tool (Rathma Necros build around
Army of the Dead
Death Valley, but are an exception), a stunning skill like
Bone Armor
Dislocation can help manage large packs of enemies and doubles as a
Krysbin's Sentence proc. Take a look if you can include passives like
Final Service (for a cheat-death) or
Fueled by Death (for extra movement speed).
Changelog
- 03 Jun. 2025: Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
- 20 Jan. 2025: Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 22 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
- 10 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
- 10 Apr. 2024: Guide reviewed for Season 31.
- 10 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
- 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
- 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
- 26 Aug. 2022: Guide added, as well as Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
More Necromancer Guides
Builds from Other Classes
Farming Guides
This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.
- Diablo 3 Season 35: Official Preview
- All Diablo 3 Season 34 Class Guides and Compendium
- Diablo 3 Season 34 Delayed a Week
- Season 34 Official Preview
- Diablo 3 Season 33 Unintentionally Prematurely Ended
- The Darkening of Tristram Returns January 3rd
- Diablo 3 Season 33, Shades of the Nephalem, Official Preview
- Diablo III Patch 2.7.8 Preview: What to Expect in Season 33?