Trag'Oul Corpse Lance Necromancer

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Trag'Oul Corpse Lance Necromancer Build Guide.

[Guest Joyker]

What is the point of Trag'Oul's Corroded Fang as the weapon slot for Kanai's Cube if you aren't using Grim Scythe?

[Jeddzz 0]

 

10 hours ago, Guest Joyker said:

What is the point of Trag'Oul's Corroded Fang as the weapon slot for Kanai's Cube if you aren't using Grim Scythe?

I think it's for the 100% curse damage, it's why it also runs Dayntee's binding because you throw out decrepify and now you're taking half damage and dealing double to the targets you just cursed.

I'll be honest though, without an explanation of this builds rotations and synergies, I can't make it work that well. I'd appreciate any other feedback the community has.  

[Kaelos 74]

So in speedfarming variation we have an aura that automatically consumes corpses for health but we need corpses for damage. A bit confusing and without 100% uptime of Land of The Dead I can't do any damage at all

Edited June 29, 2017 by Kaelos

[Guest boy]

Why unity instead of Conversion? I generally don't like conversion, but with the necro only having 3 different damage types it really seems like it might be great.

[Nyxara 0]

8 hours ago, Guest boy said:

Why unity instead of Conversion? I generally don't like conversion, but with the necro only having 3 different damage types it really seems like it might be great.

Unity is for the solo progression, one for you and one for your follower, however if you're playing with friends I'd heartily recommend Convention of Elements over Unity.

[Nyxara 0]

Although there's a few things in this build that don't seem to make sense, I finally got the full set of this build (excluding the Ring and Necklace) but it's very powerful, the constant corpses from the Gauntlets is really what makes it though. My only criticism is that you should definitely use Convention of Elements over Unity if you're not playing Solo Progression.

[Guest BicycleOfDeath]

Where does this build generate Essence (resource) from, as it uses Decrepify, but no generators?

[Guest Maalevolence]

On 6/29/2017 at 8:40 AM, Kaelos said:

So in speedfarming variation we have an aura that automatically consumes corpses for health but we need corpses for damage. A bit confusing and without 100% uptime of Land of The Dead I can't do any damage at all

Using the aura is a bad idea. You then have no choice over when to use corpses for CL or for Devour. Using Cannibalize or Satiated is a much better option. And don't set up the numlock autocast or it runs into the same problem.

On 6/29/2017 at 8:31 AM, Jeddzz said:

 

I think it's for the 100% curse damage, it's why it also runs Dayntee's binding because you throw out decrepify and now you're taking half damage and dealing double to the targets you just cursed.

I'll be honest though, without an explanation of this builds rotations and synergies, I can't make it work that well. I'd appreciate any other feedback the community has.  

Honestly, I think they took the build from the top ranks of the PTR leaderboard and made "improvements." I originally put this build together on the PTR and have written up a Diablofans guide to try and explain how it is supposed to work and why gearing is the way it is (sincere apologies for the self-promotion). Hopefully a read through this will help you. I tried to explain how it all works together.

[Guest Khasym]

FYI, if you don't plan to run a Curse, I favor using Death Nova with a Blood Nova Rune in it's place. The damage with this set is insane, though it relegates Corpse Lance to a more secondary, single target role. I can usually pop three DN's, Devour and repeat((though you probably won't need more than one or two), through most fights. I save Corpse Lance on the off chance I don't want to get close to an enemy

[Guest Necrocurious]

It looks like this build got an alteration, I was enjoying the previous set up but this looks interesting. Are you supposed to generate starting corpses by using Blood Rush, or is the plan to use Land of the Dead and just curse everything to make the CD faster?

[thieh 0]

On 30/06/2017 at 2:21 PM, Guest BicycleOfDeath said:

Where does this build generate Essence (resource) from, as it uses Decrepify, but no generators?

Devour is on the skillbar, no?  you have 1 skill which uses resources (the curse of your choice, mostly decrep except playing with other necros)

 

7 hours ago, Guest Necrocurious said:

It looks like this build got an alteration, I was enjoying the previous set up but this looks interesting. Are you supposed to generate starting corpses by using Blood Rush, or is the plan to use Land of the Dead and just curse everything to make the CD faster?

when I tried this build, what i did was first ran out to open place with tons of enemies (decrep along the way), then land of the dead and spam lance and devour.  that should easily build the amulet charge to 200 and 4-piece buff to 100.  rest of it is just keep the 4-piece buff up and decide whether to use land of the dead on CD or save it for tough fights.  The thing is that This build without ancient gear deals more dmg than my jade harvester WD (mostly ancient pieces without cubing stats, lv 61 leg gems)

 

As a side note, if you have the glove that buffs corpse explosion then this build, you can change the build to use it instead of corpse lance.  Just use blood rush on left-click.

[Guest Lawler]

Should use convention of elements in the cube instead. You need the Krysbin for other builds.

[Guest tragoo]

I'm just running out of corpses all the time...

[olbrecht 0]

On 2.7.2017 at 1:39 AM, Guest Maalevolence said:

Using the aura is a bad idea. You then have no choice over when to use corpses for CL or for Devour. Using Cannibalize or Satiated is a much better option. And don't set up the numlock autocast or it runs into the same problem.

Honestly, I think they took the build from the top ranks of the PTR leaderboard and made "improvements." I originally put this build together on the PTR and have written up a Diablofans guide to try and explain how it is supposed to work and why gearing is the way it is (sincere apologies for the self-promotion). Hopefully a read through this will help you. I tried to explain how it all works together.

I like this (and its the reason why I made this account just now). In your defense, I dont think its just self promotion. Dont get me wrong, I like the guides here and I dont think deadset is a bad player or theorycrafter (at all) - but somebody whos pretty much addicted to a certain class PLUS a certain skill setup adds a little something - at least for me.

I wanted to get a Corpse Lance build, too and I dont like minions at all, so im pretty pleased to see that (as a casual player) I can combine the basic guide with your advanced knowledge.  Thanks!

[TheBZA 3]

On 6/29/2017 at 7:31 AM, Jeddzz said:

I'll be honest though, without an explanation of this builds rotations and synergies, I can't make it work that well. I'd appreciate any other feedback the community has. 

On 6/29/2017 at 7:40 AM, Kaelos said:

A bit confusing and without 100% uptime of Land of The Dead I can't do any damage at all

On 7/13/2017 at 2:11 AM, Guest tragoo said:

I'm just running out of corpses all the time...

The playstyle of this build is unusual. You only do damage during Land of the Dead (and Simulacrum) uptime. The rest of the time, you are Blood Rushing around, hitting everything with Decrepify, and looking for an elite pack (preferably several at once) to assassinate.

The Elements ring, Fang weapon, all three cubed items, armor 6-piece set bonus, Reservoir rune (plus other sources of Max Essence), Spreading Malediction passive, and Blood Lance rune make Corpse Lance do a lot of damage. A lot.

GR tips:

• Cooldown reduction equipment, Blood is Power passive, and the Borrowed Time rune take a big bite out of the LotD cooldown, but it's still long; be selective about when to use it.
• Spam Devour while LotD is active, or you'll kill yourself with Blood Lances (which doesn't need to be spammed, just hold down its key). You can't literally suicide using life-spending abilities, but your health will be so low that an errant gust of wind is fatal. Worse: no more Lances!
• The armor 4-pc set bonus gives a buff called Engorged, which is increased max health (up to double at 100 stacks) when you heal while already full life; the Cannibalize and Transfusion runes (the 2-pc bonus adds it to Blood Rush) both give stacks. It stays up, potentially for the whole rift, without having to manage it.
• Channeling Pylons are amazing.
• Corpses left over from LotD (don't eat them all after it ends!), and from Blood Rush (Molting rune from 2-pc bonus), are sources of damage if needed. Melt a rare/yellow, finish the champion/blue that was offscreen, break down a door... :P

Edited July 16, 2017 by TheBZA
deleted disclaimer about lower GR, caught up to my Bone Storm build (GR low 80s)

[Guest The confusion]

I'm somewhat worried about running this updated version of the build. How do you not run out of corpses without the Moribund gauntlets?

[TheBZA 3]

LotD gives you unlimited corpses, Blood Rush gives you one (and it's in Devour range even if you teleport far), plus dead monsters.

Edited July 15, 2017 by TheBZA

[SterlingHero 2]

This is hard. I have a difficult time staying alive between LotD.

Edited July 15, 2017 by SterlingHero

[phobos1984 0]

5 hours ago, SterlingHero said:

This is hard. I have a difficult time staying alive between LotD.

yeap same here.

[TheBZA 3]

• Recommend getting 100 stacks of Engorged ASAP. Devouring corpses from Blood Rush (Molting rune) gives you ~5 stacks each, Blood Rushing through monsters (Transfusion rune) gives many, and the first activation of LotD will cap it. (It depends on the number and type of enemies closest to the entrance, but I sometimes use LotD at the very beginning of a rift, just for Engorged stacks.)
• Casting Decrepify often is critical, it gives damage reduction (30% from the targets themselves, 50% on you from Dayntee's Binding belt) and makes things walk so slowly that kiting/grouping/avoidance is easier. I assign it to left-click. (Also, the Borrowed Time rune gives a handy counter for number of currently cursed targets. Note that Decrepify wears off the afflicted enemy when you move out of range, which is roughly 60y.)
• The Trag'oul's set makes Blood Rush a lot stronger: in addition to the Molting and Transfusion runes mentioned already, Potency doubles your armor for 2 seconds after a Rush, Hemeostasis removes the health cost, and Metabolism gives you 2 charges. ~50% CDR lowers the cooldown to just a few seconds.
• Corpse Lance already does so much damage that (depending on GR level) Toughness stats on equipment might be more valuable than additional offense. (I'm even using Amethyst gems on chest and legs! Mitigation from Armor and resistance is important, but Vitality and Life% are effectively worth twice as much as usual.)
• I prefer a Hellfire Amulet and Unity ring to the Endless Walk set. You could also use Unity instead of Convention of Elements, if you like EW.

It is hard, though. On the plus side, the player skill ceiling is (in my opinion) higher than average. The build is strong; not that the leaderboard is the best metric, but at time of writing, 99% of the top 1000 solo necromancers use this strategy.

Edited July 16, 2017 by TheBZA

[Brootals 0]

Hey all, new to the forum! First post, and hopefully bringing good discussion :)

Ive been trying this out build and it seems I'm not alone when it comes to the whole "running out of corpses" issue, but upon tinkering with what to assign in the jewelry slot for the cube I ran into something that seems to be helping (for me, at least).

I have a well-rolled Krysbin (98% damage increase against slowed enemies) andIi wear that, so instead of using Convention of Elements in the Cube, I tried The Johnstone 

Since the stacks of Macabre knowledge stacks with you while you're outside LOTD waiting for it on CD and last until they're depleted, I seem to be doing damage more consistently and creating corpses faster with 200 stacks of Macabre Knowledge vs the damage boost from the annoying rotation time of Convention of Elements

Was wondering if anyone has given this alteration a try?

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Brootals
added details

[TheBZA 3]

I gave that a try. Macabre Knowledge doesn't add damage during Land of the Dead. It definitely has a strong effect when LotD is down, I even killed a couple rares using just a few Blood Rush corpses, which is nice... but "when LotD is down" accounts for a tiny portion of my damage. I prefer CoE; even if you don't pay attention to its cycle, on average you get 33% of the damage bonus. (All other classes get an average of only 25%, and it's still Best in Slot for a lot of builds. And of course you can pay attention to the cycle for even more.)

Edited July 19, 2017 by TheBZA

[Guest Seero]

Im counting this build needs nearly 64.5% CDR?  Whats a Min req?

[Guest Laz]

Any tips for Hardcore mode?  I would like to incorporate Final Service if possible.