Masquerade Bone Spear Necromancer

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Masquerade Bone Spear Necromancer build.

[spellsyphon 0]

Some discrepancies, you note Dex instead of Int on the gear page when referring to the gloves and you reference The Shadow's Mantle set instead of The Masquerade of the Burning Carnival.

[Bubble181 14]

Adding to the above, the key farming variation still lists Aughild's Power on the shoulders, while the set has been replaced. It also says to equip Squirts necklace, only to list Haunted Visions, with a suggestion to put Squirts in the Cube as an alternative, foregoing the RoRG. Both options can work, I think, but now it's a bit of a messy combo between two builds and it isn't clear which would work best according to you guys. 

[Deadset 108]

Heya - thanks for catching these typos! They have been fixed. To further clarify the Cube situation, the given suggestion was correct, but perhaps not ideally worded. I have split up the two possible routes into two paragraphs, which will hopefully clear up any confusion.

[Guest Mno]

Also, why Razeth's Volition?? I see no reason to cube that for this build.

Why not use Tasker and Theo or the always usable Nemesis Bracers? I've used The Witching Hour as belt and then Dayntee's Binding in the cube-armor slot.

[Bubble181 14]

On 7/5/2020 at 5:34 PM, Guest Mno said:

Also, why Razeth's Volition?? I see no reason to cube that for this build.

Why not use Tasker and Theo or the always usable Nemesis Bracers? I've used The Witching Hour as belt and then Dayntee's Binding in the cube-armor slot.

 

Besides the Skeletal Mage bonusses, Razeth's also provides a 50% damage reduction when Essence is not full - it works, in effect, as the opposite of an Aquila's Cuirass. It's trivial for this build to maintain fairly low Essence.

Tasker and Theo has a neglible effect in this build, since the Simulacrums simply use your own attack speed -they only duplicate what you're doing yourself. Witching Hour with Dayntee's in the Cube could work, but you're trading 15% DMG for 50% reduction - good on you if you can survive, but as a general build I think most people will prefer the survivability. 

[Guest Kobor]

Trying this build with some base gear on GR80s, so far it is working, just a bit slow. However I am a bit confused about the concept of the build, is it a melee or range one. Most of the skills and gems telling me it will be better to stand as far as I can, but filling up the Essense pool will need to go to melee range. Is it the only possible way for this build? Running in and out of range is quite strange.

Meanwhile collecting gear for one of the LoD build, hope it will work too.

[Deadset 108]

On 7/22/2020 at 11:26 AM, Guest Kobor said:

However I am a bit confused about the concept of the build, is it a melee or range one.

Do keep in mind you can swipe away at a nearby enemy, but your Bone SpearBlighted Marrow pierces through enemies; in practice, this makes your damage quite stronger against the last few targets it pierces (as per the rune effect), and encourages good positioning. Ideally, you'll be swiping away at less threatening minions in melee range, while sniping away higher priority/more threatening targets in the distance.

It might seem like too much work for too little benefit, and considering the relative power level of this build to the LoD ones, well... I can hardly argue ? Hopefully it gets a buff down the line.

[RozeSenpai 0]

I quite like this build and i have made my own modifications which i think do make it a little bit faster, i wouldn't say better per se tho,

 

• Pain Enhancer instead of Bane of the Stricken

Reason being:

1.  I have 30% of Criting on any occasion +  Simulacrum have also that amount of chance so i would have about 90% of it
2. I think the ramp up for Bane of the Stricken takes a bit too long to go in effect and actually seeing damage
3. Even factoring in Bane of the Stricken level 25 bonus, Pain Enhancer can burn through anything
4. Pain Enhancer can also help with it's level 25 bonus for Grim ScytheCursed Scythe essence regen

 

• Blood Spear Bone SpearBlood Spear instead of Bone SpearBlighted Marrow

Reasons being:

1. Pairs with Pain Enhancer really well
2. HIghest base damage even if Blighted Marrow can technically ramp up infinitely 
3. Pairs up even better with Maltorius' Petrified Spike and Scythe of the Cycle

 

• DevourCannibalize instead of DecrepifyBorrowed Time

Reason being:

1. Constantly giving life for Bone SpearBlood Spear 

I don't think you actually need Decrepify for this build,  Grim ScytheCursed Scythe provides the single curse you need for the extra damage on Scythe of the Cycle + Pain Enhancer level 25 helps with attack speed paired with Bone ArmorDislocation

 

• Steuart's Greaves instead of Razeth's Volition 

This is the bread and butter, speed is the key, if you play your cards right you dont need the damage reduction from Razeth's Volition

I still think Convention of Elements could be replaced by something else maybe Oculus Ring ?

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by RozeSenpai

[Deadset 108]

Heya!

You've made some interesting and very viable alterations for speed farming / GR farm for gem upgrades, I can definitely agree with most of the proposed changes. The real benefits of Bane of the Stricken come out when pushing the upper limits of the build and  trying to take down impossibly HP-stacked Rift Guardians; up until that point, you can get away with a lot of 'third legendary gem' options. Steuart's is also a great item to outmaneuver the enemy, kudos if you don't feel the need for the extra safety of Razeth's. 

As for CoE, it boils down to a ~66% consistent damage increase due to the 3-element rotation of Necromancers. Oculus potentially yields a higher bonus, but is conditional (ring needs to spawn and you need to be in it). I think I'd rather keep to CoE, if it were up to me.

[Kobor 0]

A friend suggested to use Captain Crimson 2 set (Belt and Pant) instead of Aughild's set to help the need for Essence management. Bracer slot using Nemesis for more Elites. Of course less damage will have, but a good alternate to play the build.

[Deadset 108]

On 8/24/2020 at 1:35 PM, Kobor said:

A friend suggested to use Captain Crimson 2 set (Belt and Pant) instead of Aughild's set to help the need for Essence management. Bracer slot using Nemesis for more Elites. Of course less damage will have, but a good alternate to play the build.

That could be a reasonable alteration, especially for party play, sure! Do you find the loss of damage reduction from dropping Dayntee's Binding noticeable?

[Sableflame 5]

So, I'm running a "constant max essence" version of this build that incorporates some of the farming build and some of the rift build. I call it the Claptrap build - since it's only method of doing any significant damage is Bone Spear, and since Bone Spear is a direct line weapon, it is defeated by STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRS!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

First - I have Siphon Blood as the primary (it honestly doesn't matter which you take, none of them do any significant damage at this level in the build), it can be used quickly at range to build a few stacks of Power Shift for a big target to Bone Spear

Bone Armor and Dislocation are vital for protection, and also to trigger the double whammy damage boost of BotT/Krysbin's Sentence

I kept Bone Spear (obviously) and it's piercing poison rune, as it makes clearing LARGE swaths of enemies hilariously easy (even moreso when your Sims are chucking 30k% versions)

Kept the free Blood Rush/Hemostasis for quick movement/get out of trouble card.

*EDIT* If you don't feel like you want/need the movement burst of BR, taking a big AOE like Army of the Dead/Blighted Grasp can help with the occasional (OK, I wasn't aware that a non-derogatory word that sometimes means 'rear end' would get muted) rush of mobs you encounter in rifts *EDIT*

Devour/Devouring Aura keeps your Essence full except under the most heinous spamming of Bone Spear

And of course Sims - no point in picking a rune except for aesthetics when you cast it.

Passives: Stand Alone/Bone Prison/Serration/Rigor Mortis (all damage is poison)

The big change, however, is swapping from the 50% DR shoulders that require you to NEVER be full to trigger, to instead Aquila Cuirass where I only have to be above 92% (in my case) Essence to get that 50% DR. As this build is practically impossible to drop below that point except for spamming a solo boss fight, where you don't have any further threat once it is down, it is much easier to maintain your DR.

As we're not cursing things anymore (although using Grim Scythe/Cursed Scythe is perfectly reasonable, I prefer a ranged build to be as much ranged as possible - Scythe means getting close, which cripples the damage from your Bone Spear/Zei's Stone/Serration), the belt is replaced with the overall less defense but more suited to this build's defensive needs, String of Ears - nothing at range should be hurting you, they should be dead. It's the occasional burrower/teleporter/etc that gets close that requires a little buffing against.

If you can get a quality Petrified Spike, you're generally better off using it, as 2H have immense damage increase over 1H+Phylactery, and none of the Phylacteries provide a meaningful legend bonus for this build.

Bracers are left up to your discretion. I have a set of Ancient Sanguinary Vambraces with maxed poison damage right now, but as soon as I find an equitable Nemesis Bracer, I'll swap that out.

In the cube, you have your worse weapon of your 2h/1h (Petrified Spike/Scythe-Cycle), Requiem Cereplate (doubles your essence intake from Devour AND any overflow is doled out to you over the next 3 seconds, allowing for constant Spear spamming), and Unity with an indestructible follower for even more DR.

Because of that additional defense, this build does have to forego the CoE - Your worse of your Unity or RoRG will be in the cube and the other on your hand.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Sableflame

[Deadset 108]

On 9/4/2020 at 3:11 AM, Sableflame said:

(...)

This seems like a neat variant, cheers for writing it down! From what I can tell, an important piece in this setup is the Devouring Aura - Aquila interaction. I'm guessing you find the Essence returns sufficient for the upkeep of your protection? You might have some trouble with Corpse generation the higher you take the build into GRs, I think!

[Guest Ulthien]

Actually, any kind of build alteration is well measurable for efficiency on GR pushing solo.

As it is (proposed) I break GR95.. barely,

[Sableflame 5]

On 9/9/2020 at 1:16 PM, Deadset said:

You might have some trouble with Corpse generation the higher you take the build into GRs, I think!

So far so good at GR 90. Honestly, the biggest impediment is the simple fact that... Bone Spear just doesn't seem to aim very well.

Also, the Sims are not as intuitive in their combat AI as Skeletal Mages, for instance... SMs seem to very accurately and decisively blast away in their builds (when they have a targeted build, rather than the immobile poison version) at one target until it dies, then pick another one. The Sims seem... confused? I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but they don't seem to pick a target and stick to it the way SMs do... they fire off one way, then another, with no real pattern.

This works fine on lower GRs where their massive damage boost one shots everything, but at 80+ it is... slightly problematic.

On 9/9/2020 at 1:16 PM, Deadset said:

From what I can tell, an important piece in this setup is the Devouring Aura - Aquila interaction.

Absolutely. Combined with wearing/cubing your worse between AC and Requiem Cereplate, there's never a lack of Essence, except as noted, when you're in a boss fight and they're solo - but a few stuns, either via Bone Armor or Bone Prison, and it's lights out for them.

Out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know if the drop rate of Ramaladni's Gift has been nerfed? I could, once upon a time, reliably count on finding one or two of these a week... as it stands right now, I have found exactly ONE the entire season...

[Deadset 108]

There shouldn't be a nerf to the Ram's Gift drop rates, I don't think. At least not a listed one! ? But I don't think they would tinker with its droprates too much at this point in the game's lifecycle, I reckon it's just RNGsus being mean to you.

[indiantrumpet 0]

I've been playing the Bone Spear Necro as per described for most of the season and came to the conclusion that Movt Speed and Essence Management were the key problems in a dual GR runs. I decided to step away from Bone Armor and Grim Scythe for a variation on the said build and came up with a rather interesting alternative using generators (Bone SpikesBlood Spikes) and corpses (DevourDevouring Aura) to build synergy with gold radius and physical damage. I normally run with an Inna/Wuko Monk.

The following link would be a "perfect" version of this build without any Despair enhancements: Masq Bone Spear Necro w/ Bone Spikes. I haven't spent the time to mess around with each gear's attributes all that much since it is mostly built of the rolls that I have gotten over the course of the season. Please leave a comment on your thoughts on what to look for in terms of gear attributes, gear pieces, and how to play this build. 

For those that are interested, here is a link to my current build: Current Masq Bone Spear Necro Build. Invitations to critiques are helpful when they are constructive. Thanks in advance to the community for feedback.

Edited October 10, 2020 by indiantrumpet
Correct text color- contrast with background

[Guest GGCATAM]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:34 AM, Deadset said:

There shouldn't be a nerf to the Ram's Gift drop rates, I don't think. At least not a listed one! ? But I don't think they would tinker with its droprates too much at this point in the game's lifecycle, I reckon it's just RNGsus being mean to you.

Vouch. I found 2x Ram's by the time I completed chapter 4 but still praying for Haunted Vision amulet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Also +1 devouring aura > primary for normal content / speed farming.

[Guest Great guide]

In season 22 we can have 4 items in Kanai's Cube. You mention In-Geom and Messerschmidt's Reaver, it's inefficient to have both simultaneously, so any advices on what else to put there? Thanks in advance and great work

[Deadset 108]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:44 PM, Guest Great guide said:

In season 22 we can have 4 items in Kanai's Cube. You mention In-Geom and Messerschmidt's Reaver, it's inefficient to have both simultaneously, so any advices on what else to put there? Thanks in advance and great work

Hey, you're right to raise the point; I have adjusted the guide to include a better recommendation, but in short I think simply using the damage bonuses of Maltorius' Petrified Spike (as used in the progression build) is the right move for the 4th slot.

[Guest Sjr]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the purpose of using in-geom or messerschmidts? The only cdr dependent skills I can see are bone armour and blood rush and neither have a long enough cooldown that I would consider either of these two suggestions beneficial. Am I missing something key? 

[Guest Ozymandias]

Any reason this set is not allowing the set dungeon to be accessed? I keep getting the "not appropriately garbed" message.

[Guest GGCATAM]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:13 AM, Guest GGCATAM said:

Also +1 devouring aura > primary for normal content / speed farming.

UPDATE: Devouring Aura + Requiem Cereplate solo limitations reached at GR116.

That was the first time I needed to intentionally die in order to get enough essence to finish off the RG. Better gear rolls might be able to keep pushing "lazy-mode" to GR120 maybe ...

[excession 0]

thanks for another great build. Currently running it on season (on console) and burning through GRs (last one 105 with 7 minutes to spare). I mostly deal 10-50 Tera and often enough several hundreds Teras which is unprecedented (for me) at this parangon level (776) with low/medium gear (apart for a perfectly rolled red Scythe of the Cycle I was lucky to score yesterday...).

I am currently using Devour - Voracious instead of Blood Rush at it solves the Essence drain (apart against the rift guardian) and the speed boost provided by Lost Time is enough to run through the rift.

Having not found a Krysbin's Sentence yet, I am cubing Lornelle's Sunstone which seems to provide a great survivability.

When I'll find Krysbin, I wonder if it should replace Lornelle or CoE.