Trying to find the best Necromancer build in Diablo 2 Resurrected? With the summoner build, you can raise an army of undead soldiers, mages, and golems to destroy any demons that stand in your path. So, if you like the idea of commanding a screen filled with possessed corpses, the Necromancer should be on your radar.
The Necromancer features a unique playstyle that’s very hands-off compared to every other class in the game. Your summoned creatures do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, so once the Necromancer summons his army, there’s not a lot for you to do other than watch your enemies succumb to the undead.
We highly recommend picking the Necromancer if you’re new to the RPG game as it’s the most accessible Diablo 2 Resurrected class to play out of the seven, especially with this build. Don’t forget to read our Diablo 2 Resurrected beginner’s guide, as it’s worth familiarising yourself with a few of the game’s complex mechanics. Here’s everything you need to build the best Diablo 2 Resurrected Necromancer build.
DIABLO 2 RESURRECTED NECROMANCER ‘SUMMONER’ BUILD
As mentioned earlier, your undead skeletons are going to carry you through each act. Raise Skeleton is your main skill at the beginning of the game. Focus your points into this ability until you can summon up to 12 skeletons at once. Skeleton Mastery is just as vital to upgrade as it permanently increases the life and damage of your undead army. To get some variety in your undead army, add points into Clay Golem to tank some damage for you.
Once your summoned minions have killed a few enemies, use Corpse Explosion on a slain foe to deal area of effect damage to all nearby enemies. This skill may not be impressive early on, but it becomes one of the best direct damage skills later on and is extremely powerful on harder difficulties. It’s also worth using Decrepify to curse a group of enemies, slowing them down and amplifying the damage they receive.
SUMMONER STATS
The stat points for the Summoner build are dead simple – get your strength up to 26 to wield specific items and dump the rest of your points into vitality. The Necromancer doesn’t have the strongest armour, and if enemies do happen to break through your army, you’re going to need plenty of health to defend against incoming attacks. You can ignore putting stat points into dexterity and energy as the Necromancer has no use for either of these stats.
SUMMONER SKILLS
Here are all of the skills you need to level up for the Diablo 2 Resurrected Summoner build:
- Raise Skeleton – 20
- Skeleton Mastery – 20
- Corpse Explosion – 20
- Clay Golem – 10
- Revive – 10
- Golem Mastery – 8
- Summon Resist – 1
- Teeth – 1
- Amplify Damage – 1
- Weaken – 1
- Terror – 1
- Decrepify – 1
- Lower Resist – 1
- Iron Maiden – 1
- Life Tap – 1
Summoner Equipment
- Weapon – Berserker Axe equipped with the Beast rune word (Ber, Tir, Um, Mal, and Lum)
- Shield – Monarch equipped with the Spirit rune word (Tal, Thul, Ort, and Amn)
- Helm – Harlequin Crest (Shako)
- Armor – Mage Plate equipped with the Enigma rune word (Jah, Ith, and Ber runes)
- Belt – Arachnid Mesh (Spiderweb sash)
- Rings – The Stone of Jordan and Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band
- Amulet – Mara’s Kaleidoscope
- Gloves – Magefist (Light gauntlets)
- Boots – Marrowwalk (Boneweave boots)
- Charms – Hellfire Torch (large charm), Annihilus (small charm), and Graverobber’s grand charm
All of this equipment increases the survivability and damage of the Necromancer’s army through stat buffs, added skills, and a faster casting rate. One of the most important buffs comes from the Beast rune word. This gives the Necromancer the level 9 Fanaticism aura, a skill that normally is exclusive to the Paladin. Fanaticism gives your entire party an offensive aura, drastically increasing everyone’s damage, attack rate, and attack rating.
Summoner Hireling
Just like the best Diablo 2 Resurrected Barbarian build, we’re going to act two to recruit our mercenary. We’re specifically looking for an offensive mercenary to give our party the Paladin skill: Might Aura. You can take these buffs further by using the equipment below to give your minions additional offensive auras.
- Weapon – The Reaper’s Toll (Thresher) equipped with the Ohm rune
- Armor – Boneweave equipped with Treachery rune word (Shael, Thul, and Lem)
- Helm – Crown of Thieves (Grand crown)
That’s what you need to put together for the best Necromancer build in Diablo 2 Resurrected. If you’ve had enough of summoning dead soldiers for one lifetime, you could try our Sorceress or Paladin builds to blast away demons using frozen orbs and blessed hammers. If you’re looking for the latest game, then check our best Diablo 4 Necromancer build guides, and our lists of the best Diablo 4 builds and Diablo 4 classes.