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We welcome you to our Build Guide to Summoner Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected, who makes use of various kinds of minions as well as curses to defeat the demons of Hell. In this Build Guide will cover topics like Build Overview, Stat Points, Skill Points, Charms, Mercenary and Gear recommendations.
Overview of the Build for Summonmancer Necromancer
The Summonmancer was one of Diablo 2’s most popular character designs over the course of time. The heavy minion playstyle, combined with the insane destruction potential of the Corpse Explosion offers a safe and truly distinctive ARPG experience to new players and veteran players.
Important Items for Summonmancer Necromancer
Alongside the overpowered Enigma physique armors, Bone necromancers mainly use a variety of +Skills-related modifiers to get the task accomplished. In addition, the the +FCR (Faster cast rate) is incredibly important in terms of damage and overall smoothness in gameplay.
The most effective items worn by a Summonmancer are those that blend the two modifiers previously mentioned. Heart of the Oak and Spirit immediately come to mind however, it’s also rare items like Trang Ouls Claws, or Arachnid Mesh that make Summonmancers excel in late-game content.
Stats for Summonmancer Necromancer
Strength – Summonmancers need only Strength to meet the requirements for items. For wearing a Monarch shield, characters need 156 Strength. Summoners can’t count on wearing a Monarch shield at the end of the game and this is why this score is definitely not mandatory.
Dexterity – – See Strength. Necromancers aren’t required to wear equipment that has very high requirements for Dexterity, therefore you shouldn’t need to invest many points here.
Vitality – This Summonmancer Guide is all about Vitality to increase our life total, so make sure to add every point that you’ve earned after meeting the prerequisites for your item.
Energy – Do not ever place points into Energy. Energy and other Mana modifiers on items should be sufficient and eventually will be.
Leveling Skills as Summonmancer Necromancer
As you can see, Summonmancers only need around 70 skill points to unlock a most of their potential. After maxing out Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery, and Corpse Explosion You’re pretty much in control of your game style.
Are you looking to maximize you CE damage? Place points in Amplify Damage. Are you keen to utilize the most number of minions? Look for more points to Revive. Do you want to create an offensive Golem build? Put your money into Golem Mastery.
From then on, you can make an effort to increase the use of your skill points as following: Raise Skeleton Skeleton Mastery > Corpse Explosion • Revive/Amplify Damage / Golem Mastery
If you’re looking for a more in-depth Necromancer leveling discussions, check out the Necromancer Learning Guide!
The best Charms for the Summonmancer Necromancer
Small Charms
Small +Life/All Resistance Charms are likely to be your go-to choice depending on your equipment. If they prove to be too costly in the moment, pure +Life Small Charms will do the trick too.
Annihilus is one of the most powerful Small Charm you can have in your collection, giving +2 Skills, +Attributes All Resistances +10-20, and even a Bonus Experience modifier, making it extremely valuable.
Large Charms
Since Summonmancers prefer primarily Small to Grand Charms, ordinary Large Charms are unlikely to see usage in the late-game Summoner Necro inventories. The only and absolutely mandatory exception is the unique Large Charm Hellfire Torch, which grants +Skills, +Attributes and All Resistances +10-20.
Grand Charms
“Skillers” are your top need when it comes to this Grand Charms category. +Skills or, as in our instance, the +1 Summoning Spells bonus, will greatly improve our damage and efficiency. If you can find or are able to purchase them, Skillers with +Life or +Faster Hit Recovery are basically most effective for every build of Summonmancer.
The most effective Mercenary available for Summonmancer Necromancer
One would think that a person who has built his character around using tons and tons of minions shouldn’t require more – but it’s not!
The most powerful mercenary option for Summonmancers by far will be the Act 2 Nightmare Offense Mercenary. He increases the physical damage dealt to your minions due to his Might aura.
If you’re in search of an overview of the entire Mercenary basics as well as the various options for equipment, make sure to check out our extensive Diablo 2: Resurrected Mercenary Guide.
The Best Equipment for Summonmancer and Necromancer
We welcome you to our Build Guide to Summoner Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected, who utilizes various kinds of minions and curses to take on the enemies of Hell. In this Build Guide will discuss topics such as Build Overview including Stat Points, Skill Points Charms, Mercenary and Gear recommendation.
Overview Stats Skills Charms Mercenary Equipment
Build An Overview for Summonmancer Necromancer
The Summonmancer was one of Diablo 2’s most popular character designs throughout the years.
The minion-heavy gameplay style, coupled with the incredible damage potential of Corpe Explosion gives the most secure and unique ARPG experience for novices and veterans.
Potential Strengths Summonmancer Necromancer
New player and friendly
Fast and safe leveling.
Very low initial gear investment
The full potential of the product is discovered very early.
Extreme flexibility in Monster Immunities
Weaknesses for Summonmancer Necromancer
Average end-game boss damage
Not the best Magic Find build
Key Items for Summonmancer Necromancer
Apart from the ever-so-overpowered Enigma costume, bone necromancers mainly rely on a whole lot of +Skills modifiers to get the task done. Furthermore an additional modifier, +FCR (Faster the rate of casting) is crucial for both damage and overall gaming smoothness.
The most effective items the Summonmancer could wear are those that mix the two modifiers mentioned above. Heart of the Oak and Spirit are two that come to mind However, there are also unique items such as Trang-Ouls Claws or Arachnid Mesh that make Summonmancers work exceptionally well in late-game content.
Stats for Summonmancer Necromancer
Strength – Summonmancers require strength to meet requirements for the item. For wearing monarch shields, Monarch shield, characters require 156 Strength. Summoners aren’t required to wear a Monarch shield in the final game and this is why this score is definitely not mandatory.
Dexterity – Refer to Strength. The gear worn by Necromancers isn’t suited to large Dexterity requirements, which means it’s not necessary to spend many points here.
Vitality – This Summonmancer Guide goes all-in on Vitality to boost our life total. So, make sure you put in all the points you can after you’ve fulfilled the item requirements.
Energy – Do not ever put points into Energy. +Energy and other Mana modifiers for items can and eventually will suffice.
The skills needed for Summonmancer Necromancer
Basic Skills for Summonmancer and Necromancers for Summonmancers
Explosion of the Corpse
Amplify Damage/Decrepify
For routine skill use the only two skills, Corpse Explosion and Amplify Damage are required during the latter stages that you play. You should always have creatures on your screens that are buffed by either Amplify Damage or Decrepify so that you are able to blow them up using Corpse Explosion. Any survivors will be dealt with by your minions.
Secondary Skills for Summonmancer and Necromancers for Summonmancer
Raise Skeleton
Golems
Revive
Curses
As potent as Corpse Explosion may be in the end of the game, your summons are equally crucial.
Always try to keep up the maximum amount of Skeletons and your one Golem of preference. Revived minions are benefitting in Skeleton Mastery and Summon Resist but are also less tanky, so make sure to keep an eye on your Revive counter to the top left corner of your screen.
A recurring curse during leveling is vital since your minion’s base is weak at the beginning.
Skills Build for Summonmancer and Necromancer for Summonmancer
Required level: 91Points left 8
Bone and Poison Spells
Teeth – 1 We need to place 1 point in Teeth to place points into the Corpe Explosion. That’s it.
Bone Armor – 0-1 Summoners don’t really need additional defensive spells however Bone Armor can help a great deal during the process of leveling.
Corpse Explosion 20 gamers believe that our minions cause the most damage, but it’s actually Corpse Explosion that accomplishes the task in the later stages of the game.
Summoning Spells
Raise Skeleton – 20 The Summoner’s bread-and-butter summoning spell. Kill monsters, raise skeletonsto profit. This skill is available from level 1 makes our early-game leveling tremendously easier.
Skeleton Mastery 20-20 Skeleton Mastery improves the life and damage for our most important minions, which is why Summoners are looking to maximize this ability along with Raise Skeleton. Fun fact: The greater your Skeleton Mastery the more cool your skeletons appear!
Clay Golem – 1 Overall, Clay Golem is arguably the best Golem choice for a Summoner. With enough +Skills, this beast is able to take a lot of hits and take on opponents quite successfully.
Golem Mastery – 1-X Further enhances our Golems and scales extremely well using +Skills. Also necessary to advance to Summon Resist. You are able to add points in this area after you have exhausted the three main abilities of this build, to increase Golem effectiveness.
Raise Skeletal Mage – 1 Skeletal Mages are not good. They don’t cause enough damage to justify their terrible minion AI. Just put in one point to allow us to add points to Revive.
Blood Golem – 1 The weakest choice out of the Golems. It can be used in Normal but will definitely die way too often moving forward. It is only necessary to place points higher in the tree.
Summon Resist – 1-X The second minion synergy ability after Skeleton Mastery . In theory, we only invest 1 point in Summon Resist because of its poor scaling. If you’re looking for an even more powerful end-game build increasing this skill level could still prove effective.
Iron Golem – 1 The Secret favorite of min-maxing Summoner players. It is required to summon Iron Golem from a metallic item , like weapons or armor. Then it will inherit the majority its magical qualities – which also applies to auras provided by runeword items like Insight polearms.
Fire Golem – 0-1 While good for getting leveled at times, Fire Golem is not necessary in our ultimate skill setup.
Revive 1-X Revive is certainly one of the coolest spells included in the Summonmancer package. With the addition of skill points to your number of minions that are revived a Summoner can manage but we’d like to increase it with +Skills instead of using our points. When your +Skills gear kicks in, upgrading this skill is advised. The revived minions will continue to have their abilities as well, so try for powerful monsters that can be revived, such as Urdars (Act 4, River of Flame, powerful stuns) or Moon Lords (Act 5, Frozen Passage/Crystalline, high dual-wield damage).
Curses
Amplify Damage – 5X The biggest drawback in this design. All of our meleeing summons will benefit from the 100% enhanced Physical Damage The Taken effect. It also boosts the Corpe Explosion damage by a whole much since it causes 50% Physical damage. Many summoners use points in AD to boost its radius before the +Skills gear is activated to match the growing diameter of the Corpse Explosion.
Dim Vision – 1 Dim Vision aids in traversing content you don’t want to engage with when you are farming bosses or at certain times.
Weaken 1 Necros don’t have access to lots of defense options However, Weaken is one of them. An excellent leveling curse that decreases physical Damage to a staggering 33% and further protects your minions.
Iron Maiden – 1 A excellent utility curse, particularly if paired with minions and a fat mercenary that can be hit by monsters to injure themselves.
Terror – 1 Yet another defense-related curse. Terror basically acts as an AoE emergency button for fear. Highly useful for Hardcore.
Life Tap 1 is especially useful during the leveling phase, Life Tap is a great tool to keep your minions alive.
Decrepify: 1 Many believe that Decrepify has a superiority over amplifying Damage – however, that’s only true in terms of the overall effectiveness. It reduces physical Damage, and increases Physical Damage done to the intended target by 50 percent. When it comes to damage possibilities, AD is always the best option, and Decrepify provides a lot of utility for group play as well as farming, leveling, or farming.
Lower Resist – 0-1 If enjoy playing games with friends, your allies will love your choice of Lower Resist – but always be aware that this curse only affects elemental damage!
The ability to level up as a Summonmancer and Necromancer
As you can see, Summonmancers need around 70 skill points to unlock the majority of their potential. After you’ve maxed out Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery, and Corpse Explosion the player is basically in control of your game style.
Do you want to increase you CE damage? Add points to Amplify Damage. Do you want to use the maximum amount of possible minions? Look for more points to Revive. Looking for an offensive Golem build? Put your money into Golem Mastery.
From there on, make an effort to increase your skill point usage as follows: Raise Skeleton Corpe Explosion > Skeleton Mastery > Revive/Amplify Damage/Golem Mastery
If you’re seeking a comprehensive Necromancer leveling discussion, please take a look at our Necromancer The Guide to Leveling!
Necromancer Leveling Guide
The best Charms for the Summonmancer Necromancer
Small Charms
Small +Life/All Resistance Charms will be your go-to choice depending on the equipment you have. If they turn out be too expensive for your needs, small +Life Charms that are pure will be able to do the job.
Annihilus is the best Small Charm that you can put in your possession, offering +1 Skills, +Attributes, All Resistances +10-20, and Bonus Experience modifiers, which makes it a valuable item.
Large Charms
Because Summonmancers are primarily looking for Small and Grand Charms, ordinary Large Charms are likely to find very little use in the later-game Summoner Necro inventories. The one and only one exception is the distinctive Large Charm Hellfire Torch, which grants +Skills, +Attributes and All Resistances +10-20.
Grand Charms
So-called Skillers are your top goal when it comes to the Grand Charms category. +Skills, or in our case, the +2 to Summoning Spells bonus, will greatly increase our damage and utility. If you are able to find or purchase them, Skillers that come with +Life or Hit Recovery are generally the best option for any Summonmancer.
Do you want to know how Charms work and how you can get unique Charms? Check out our Charms Guide below:
Charms in Diablo II: Resurrected
The Best Mercenary to Summonmancer Necromancer
One would think that a character who is built having a lot of minions would not need more – but it’s not!
The most effective mercenary available to Summonmancers for sure would be Act 2 Nightmare Offense Mercenary. He increases the physical damage dealt to your minions thanks to the Might aura.
If you’re looking for a guide that covers all Mercenary essentials, as well as the various options for equipment, make sure to go through our in-depth Diablo 2: Resurrected Mercenary Guide.
Mercenaries in Diablo II: Resurrected
Best Equipment for Summonmancers and Necromancers
Weapon
Similar to Bone Necromancers Summonmancers heavily depend on +Skills on gear to boost their damage and overall build functionality.
That is why Heart of the Oak is still the most effective all-around weapon to choose. The 40 + FCR (Faster Caste Rate) boosts corpse Explosion damage, while all Resistances are too awesome to miss on the weapon slot
If you can’t afford the runes required for “Hoto” it is recommended to always opt for one that has it’s White runeword. It gives you a lot of plus skills, and the FCR will increase our total damage output.
Another fantastic runeword for Summonmancers is Beast. This Level 9 Fanaticism aura alone offers a huge bonus to each melee attack from each minion we control which makes all other modifiers contained within the runeword pale by comparison.
A Summoner’s budget weapon of choice will be arm of King Leoric. Before you are able to collect the highest-level runes, this wand and its multiple +Skills modifiers include everything a Summonmancer could wish to have, with 40 + FCR.
Weapon Swap
Switching weapons in Diablo 2 Resurrected is a great mechanic to get the most from the equipment you have.
For Necromancers the item that comes with Teleport charges increases both mobility and damage by a ton as your minions are always teleported along to you. You can purchase the Teleport staff starting from Act 3 Normal on.
In the final game In the end-game, the Call to Arms runeword adds an insane amount of utility. This + Battle Command and Battle Orders let you cast two effective Barbarian shouts. Battle Orders increase Life, Stamina, and Mana while Battle Command raises the overall level of your +Skills. These skills are affected by your (+To) All Skills, so you’ll be able to up the duration of each of the shouts. At level 10 for instance, Battle Orders has a duration of 120 seconds, and Battle Command lasts for 95 seconds.
Shield
When it pertains to Shields the Summoners need one thing and only one thing: Homunculus. +Skills, decent defense, great mana support, as well as 40 all resistances.
The Spirit runeword most definitely fills the budget Shield slot. It grants +Skills and up to 35% FCR while adding the necessary amount of resistance. It isn’t necessary to have the 4-socketed Monarch to make use of this, since summoners will never be struck anyway. Any decent shield base that is able to support 4 sockets will work.
Helmet
For nearly every character, the Runeword Lore for the helmet provides excellent leveling utility.
At the end of the game, take a look at three possibilities: First, a Harlequin Crest – also just called “Shako” – will add an incredible amount of damage due to an increase in skills and Mana. Crown of Ages definitely fills the “best all-rounder” helmet, and provides an array of pure defense than Shako.
A great budget or crafting option will always be A rare circlet with an increase in skills as well as a boost to FCR.
Body Armor
Enigma is the only true end-game option for each spellcaster, which includes the Summonmancer build. *FRW (Faster Running/Walking) and +2 to Teleport give you the ability to move that no other item can provide.
+Skills and an Increased Maximum Life and Damage Reduction provide a wealth of offensive and defensive attributes to the body armor, and it’s a level-based Magic Find modifier rounds out the best body armor available in the entire game.
The smaller brother of Enigma is called Chains of Honor and another good choice of a word for your rune if you cannot afford the runes for Enigma.
Other good budget-friendly runewords to utilize until you’re able spend the money for Enigma include Smoke or Bone. Another good option for budget is an appropriately rolled Skin of the Vipermagi.
Gloves
When it comes to raw damage, Trang-Oul’s Claws are the best in-slot alternative for every Necromancer. They’re among the few gloves in the game to give +FCR. The +2 to Curses on top just make Trang-Oul’s Claws the ideal choice.
Magefist comes in as the second best option, while offering less defense and less +Skills However, the +1 bonus to Fire Skills is applicable on Corpse Explosion!
Boots
Summonmancers are usually far behind their comrades during battle. That’s why they can afford to buy more useful items, and that shows in the Boots range.
While the more common meta choices such as War Traveler or Sandstorm Trek will be found in many Summoner best-in-slot configurations, a decent pair of Silkweave is able to do a great amount of work also. The +5 Mana After Each Kill in combination with Corpse Explosion generally solves all mana problems by itself. The same concept applies the case of Marrowalk with its 10% bonus to Regenerate Mana.
Breakpoints for the Summonmancer Necromancer
Breakpoints are percentage values at which point animations is made faster or more efficient. (FCR) Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) Faster Block Rate (FBR), and the Increased Attack Speed (IAS) becomes one frame slower or more rapid. Diablo II: Resurrected has maintained its 25 frame per second (fps) speed of animation actions that were originally in. A breakpoint hit not only helps move the action ahead, but it also allows the character to complete more actions in a short duration. While it may not seem as much to cut down on time taken to complete a task by one frame however, breakpoints can be considerably.
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