Necromancer Rathma Army of the Dead

[Deadset 108]

On 8/30/2021 at 11:00 PM, Guest DracoHelfire said:

I have a question about the placeholder phylactery. With the build using Command Skeletons, even if it's not the main source of damage, would Boneringer not be a better 'placeholder' as it increases the damage of your Command Skeletons in between, and during, army casts?

Heya! After thinking about it, you are technically correct and I will update this in the next iteration of the guide, but I should warn you that this would be a miniscule difference in damage; the Skeletons are simply used as a cooldown reset mechanic and will never contribute meaningfully toward your damage output. A good Boneringer roll can and should be used, but it's not worth specifically chasing after.

[Bubble181 14]

Just as an FYI for other players starting out on this build: while Squirt's is, of course, the desired amulet for the very highest push potential, I've found that on lower difficulties it is MUCH easier to play by using the Wisdom of Kalan (extra bone armor stacks, meaning far more sustain). In fact, I'll go so far as to say this might be the best way to go for the Speed GR and Neph rift variants even when playing higher up. You don't need the added damage, and by adding some sustain here, it'll allow you to drop the Potency rune of Blood Rush, replacing it with Metabolism (two charges but higher health cost). 

Given that this build naturally has high CDR, the two charges mean you can literally zoom around the map using ONLY blood Rush, as if you've taken a Channeling Pylon. It leaves you slightly frailer overall, and with slightly less damage (you still pretty much one shot everything in T16 though, especially in Season 27 with the AotD sanctification), but the increased speed easily makes up for it. It's the only way I've gotten this build to sub-3min T16 rifts.(I got the "T13 rift under 4 minutes" and "T13 rift under 3 minutes" achievements on T16 without trying for them). 

[TruReaper420 0]

Someone help me out here, I'm so confused by the skill choices. Just made a new character on PS4 and a couple of the skill choices are in the same category but you can only use 1 ability at a time as far as I know.

Edit: I realize those are most likely suggested abilities to choose for the build, but if y'all would still like to help me out I'd love suggestions. Looking to beat diablo 3 for the first time.

Edited October 18, 2022 by TruReaper420
I had more to add to my comment

[Bubble181 14]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:01 AM, TruReaper420 said:

Someone help me out here, I'm so confused by the skill choices. Just made a new character on PS4 and a couple of the skill choices are in the same category but you can only use 1 ability at a time as far as I know.

Edit: I realize those are most likely suggested abilities to choose for the build, but if y'all would still like to help me out I'd love suggestions. Looking to beat diablo 3 for the first time.

Go to Options > gameplay and enable "elective mode". It'll allow you to slot any skill on (almost) every slot (there are a couple of skills that can't be mapped to the left mouse button on PC, I assume there are similar restrictions on the shoulder triggers or something perhaps on PS4? I dunno).

You'll need Elective mode for nearly every end game build you find - it's more or less like training wheels making sure  you don't choose a combination that's just broken and won't work. So....Protip, don't choose 6 skills that all have a 2 minute cooldown 😄 

[TruReaper420 0]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:18 AM, Bubble181 said:

Go to Options > gameplay and enable "elective mode". It'll allow you to slot any skill on (almost) every slot (there are a couple of skills that can't be mapped to the left mouse button on PC, I assume there are similar restrictions on the shoulder triggers or something perhaps on PS4? I dunno).

You'll need Elective mode for nearly every end game build you find - it's more or less like training wheels making sure  you don't choose a combination that's just broken and won't work. So....Protip, don't choose 6 skills that all have a 2 minute cooldown 😄 

Ya atm I am running a level 34 necromancer, siphon blood with suppress is my main attack, death nova with tendril nova, revive  with personal army, army of the dead with death valley, leech with osmosis and bone armor with vengeful armaments. They're all mapped on the original buttons but I have been given the option to use other skills in different skill spots I haven't experimented a whole lot with that yet though.

I'm starting to get higher in level, currently at 47, when should I start trying to use elective mode to change my build. I'm trying to unlock more of the runes and trying to figure out how to get Kanai's Cube, but atm I'm on act 2 playing on expert hardest difficulty I can and I'm doing ok haven't died yet. And I'm handling the enemies decently, I've come close to death a couple times but my potion that it allows you to have on you gets me out of that pinch.

Edited October 21, 2022 by TruReaper420

[Bubble181 14]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:56 PM, TruReaper420 said:

Ya atm I am running a level 34 necromancer, siphon blood with suppress is my main attack, death nova with tendril nova, revive  with personal army, army of the dead with death valley, leech with osmosis and bone armor with vengeful armaments. They're all mapped on the original buttons but I have been given the option to use other skills in different skill spots I haven't experimented a whole lot with that yet though.

I'm starting to get higher in level, currently at 47, when should I start trying to use elective mode to change my build. I'm trying to unlock more of the runes and trying to figure out how to get Kanai's Cube, but atm I'm on act 2 playing on expert hardest difficulty I can and I'm doing ok haven't died yet. And I'm handling the enemies decently, I've come close to death a couple times but my potion that it allows you to have on you gets me out of that pinch.

Most of the builds you will see/find anywhere assume you're level 70 minimum - the the "main" game only starts there when all runes are unlocked and all items and skills available (after level 70 you gain paragon levels, which confer minor bonuses like +5INT or +0.5% life steal, but they're unlimited so you can be paragon 10000 if you really want to). 

The Cube won't unlock during story play, only when you switch to Adventure Mode. There are a number of areas in the game only available in Adventure Mode and the Cube's in one of them. 

If you want to enjoy the story, play through on whatever difficulty and with whatever skills you like to use. If you want to get to level 70 as soon as possible, check out the "Leveling and Fresh 70"guide on this site (https://www.icy-veins.com/d3/necromancer-leveling-and-fresh-70-guide for Necro), and /or compare difficulty levels on https://d3resource.com/difficulties/index.php . In many cases, playing on the highest difficulty you can manage isn't efficient - you can go much faster and gain much more XP by one-shotting trash than by having to methodically kill everything and avoid hard fights. 

On Expert, for example, enemies are over 50% harder to kill than on Hard, but they only give about 1/8th extra XP. If you can reliably kill'm in one hit, that doesn't matter, but if you have to hit every enemy twice instead of once that means your gains will be a lot *slower* on Expert. Of course, especially if it's your first time through, I'd recommend using whatever difficulty you lie the plays tyle best - sometimes you might want to face a challenge, and sometimes you might just want to blow off some stea mand mow through  hordes.

[Guest solomani]

Curious, how far have people gotten with this build? I find it very delicate build but very fun.

[Bubble181 14]

On 12/6/2022 at 5:23 AM, Guest solomani said:

Curious, how far have people gotten with this build? I find it very delicate build but very fun.

I've done GR120 solo with this build, but I'm not mich of a pusher. I've never gone much higher than that, as I enjoy slaughtering vast hordes of demons and seeing loot pop out more than I do the grind of trying to score a 1% better bracer just to manage 1 level higher on a semi-endless treadmill with GRs abandoned or lost at 15:01 and all that.  

It's also why I pretty much play for one month per season 😄 After finishing the Journey I might push on for a bit more but then I go do other stuff until I can restart. Pretty sure this build can easily clear GR150 in the hands of someone who wants to.

[Guest cornoratu]

Just curious about the part below, since all 3 passives are for generator skills, but in the build you only have Siphon Blood. The build itself does not seem to synergize with the cube powers recommended - only Funerary Pick passive gets the full use. Reilena's Shadowhook gets the nice damage bonus, but not the extra generation since bone spikes are not used in the build. As for Trag'Oul's Corroded Fang, it seems to not do anything for the build, since Grim Scythe is not used.

Am I missing something here? Were the items below cubed just for example purposes or is the skill build itself outdated and you should include Grim Scythe instead of something?

 

Quote

 

Unbound Kanai's Cube Slots (Season 31 Specific)

The seasonal theme for Season 31 will be completely flexible slots for Kanai's Cube, which means you can use any piece of gear in any slot of the Cube.

• Weapon Slot: Funerary Pick
• Armor Slot: Reilena's Shadowhook
• Jewelry Slot: Trag'Oul's Corroded Fang

 

•  

[Guest Famine]

Another issue with the seasonal cube suggestions; it says to take out Fate's Vow and wear it instead of Rathma Helm to make room, but you're already on 5 pieces with Grandeur and Captain Crimson pants...

[Vynneve 0]

is it me or does this guide seem to be missing a few things here and there? 

[Bubble181 14]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:22 AM, Guest Famine said:

Another issue with the seasonal cube suggestions; it says to take out Fate's Vow and wear it instead of Rathma Helm to make room, but you're already on 5 pieces with Grandeur and Captain Crimson pants...

I think this is a bad combi of two versions of the build - you're supposed to drop Captain Crimson, instead wearing the pants of Rathma, and Fate's Vow, to make room for more weapon bonuses in the Cube. However....

 

On 4/15/2024 at 2:31 PM, Guest cornoratu said:

Just curious about the part below, since all 3 passives are for generator skills, but in the build you only have Siphon Blood. The build itself does not seem to synergize with the cube powers recommended - only Funerary Pick passive gets the full use. Reilena's Shadowhook gets the nice damage bonus, but not the extra generation since bone spikes are not used in the build. As for Trag'Oul's Corroded Fang, it seems to not do anything for the build, since Grim Scythe is not used.

Am I missing something here? Were the items below cubed just for example purposes or is the skill build itself outdated and you should include Grim Scythe instead of something?

 

•  

Reilena's extra essence generation simply isn't important - it's taken for the base 200% (or easily more) damage increase which is a separate modifier, so very powerful.

On the other hand, while Trag'ouls CAN be very powerful in a build that doesn't use Grim Scythe (after all, it affects all cursed enemies, so having an Inarius build with an Aura of Frailty will suddenly boost the Bone Armor damage quite a bit), this build doesn't include any curses or possible appliers - I don't see any point to it at all. 

Echoing Fury, Aquila's Cuirass, Iron Rose, Messerschmidt, there's a whole bunch of potential Cube picks that would offer either more utility, more damage, or more survivability.

Since the resident specialist has been focusing on D4, and D3 is more or less "complete" and just repeating seasonal specials from before, the builds here are more or less copies/combinations of older versions - but in this case, not a very good one.

For the NR Speed Farming variation, for example, Trag'ouls makes sense - that DOES include a curse, and 200% additional damage is nothing to sneeze at. 

Edited May 1 by Bubble181

[Bubble181 14]

I will add that doing some experimentation, losing Bone Armor and replacing it with Decrepify to reliably proc Briggs, Daintee's and Trag'Ouls may be the far better way to go.

[Guest MamMythe]

Season 31, says to switch fates vow and rathmas helm but you lose the 6 peice set bonus with captain crimson or am I missing something?