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Summoner Necromancer Guide

Season 8A

Last Updated:August 10, 2024|Change Log

The Summoner Necromancer combines the two greatest joys in Diablo 2 Resurrected; vast hordes of undead minions, and exploding entire screens worth of monsters with a single click.

In addition to amazing clear potential with the AmplifyDamage / CorpseExplosion combo, the Summon Necro (Fishymancer) is nearly untouchable when surrounded by the multitudes of Summoned Skeletons, trusty Golem, and Revives. While slow to ramp up to its true potential, a fully geared Summoner can clear all content in Diablo 2 from the safety of the back lines.

While you can enjoy the easy passive gameplay style, the Players looking for more efficiency and challenge can engage in “Tele-Stomping” techniques, bringing the full weight of your army against high priority targets and Bosses. Because of this burst potential, the Summoner has access to wide farm areas. Uber farming and Act Boss farming become available as you reach certain gear-quality plateaus.

Ideal Standard Setup
Ideal Standard Setup


RaiseSkeleton


Revive


AmplifyDamage


CorpseExplosion

This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 75 before transitioning to it. Check out our Necromancer Leveling Guide and our General Leveling Strategies to reach Level 75.

Incredible Survivability ✔
Access To Variable Damage Types ✔
High Boss DPS With Revives/Mercenary ✔

❌ Gear Dependent
❌ Slow To Progress Early
❌ Steep Learning Curve For Positioning


Sunder Charm Setup

Patch 2.5 introduces a new way of breaking Immunities: Sunder Charms. Any enemy that would be Immune to your damage type is reduced to 95% Resistance instead, before any other Resistance reductions apply. (e.g. Conviction, Lower Resist) The Charm also reduces YOUR Resistance against the sundered damage type! Check out our post on Sunder Charms to learn more about these new Charms. The following setup optimizes the use of Flame Rift, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.

Sunder Charm Setup
Sunder Charm Setup

Gear Changes

The Summoner Necro uses Bonebreak since amplifydamage works at 100% efficiency against Sundered monsters. This also allows our Summons to deal damage to previously Immune monsters. Our harlequincrest already works to offset the reduction in Physical Damage Reduction!

Terror Zones

The new Terror Zone mechanic in combination with the Sunder Charms open up a wide range of areas for you to farm. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build on the Starter or Budget setup. With the Sunder Charm Setup, more Terror Zones become accessible on this build. Learn more about Terror Zones in our resource post and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.

Best

The Secret Cow Level - High Density, No Immunities
Flayer Jungle ONLY - High Density, No Immunities
Jail - High Density, No Immunities
Pit - High Density, No Immunities
Tal Rasha's Tombs - High Density, Breakable Immunities

Worst

Outer Steppes + Plains of Despair - High Elemental Damage, Tanky enemies
Chaos Sanctuary - Slow Access, Tanky Enemies
Arreat Plateau - Low Density, Trash Mobility, Few Elite Groups
Kurast Bazaar + Ruined Temple + Disused Fane - Low Density, Trash Mobility, Immunities
Crystalline Passage + Frozen River - Trash Mobility, High Elemental Damage, Tanky Enemies

Skills

Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. irongolem
2. summonresist
3. decrepify
4. dimvision
5. lowerresist
6. revive

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. raiseskeleton
2. skeletonmastery
3. corpseexplosion
4. boneprison
5. bonewall

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Damage

Utility

Attributes

Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants can require a different allocation!

Strength

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Strength your gear provides when equipped.

Dexterity

Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Dexterity your gear provides when equipped.

Vitality

Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Vitality after meeting Strength, Dexterity and Energy requirements.

Energy

Don't allocate any Stat Points into Energy. This build gets enough Mana from gear, buffs, Charms, and Mana Potions.

Essentials

Gear Options

Farming Spots

Mercenary

Playstyle

Breakpoints

Hardcore

Build Variants

Starter
Standard
Damage / Ubers
Hardcore

Setup

This set of gear represents the minimum you need to effectively play the Summoner build. With +4 to all Skills in total, and the 75% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint, you easily farm all of the areas tagged with "Starter" from the Farming Spots section. You are also overcapped on Resistances at this point thanks to ancient'spledge, as well as the Charms which are representative of a larger collection of weaker Charms that you would have accrued throughout the 1-75 Leveling process. You also have a Teleport Staff on swap, so you can begin practicing your "Tele-stomping". The Belt on this setup is a Caster Crafted Belt Note: Your Resistances and Faster Hit Recovery are greatly diminished when swapped, so stomp wisely. As you become accustomed to the build, feel free to explore all farming locations as your gear gets better.

Mercenary

At this point your Mercenary is a tank and Meditation source. The talrasha'shoradriccrest and treachery provides great survivability and a decent increase to Mercenary DPS.

Skills

Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. irongolem
2. summonresist
3. decrepify
4. dimvision
5. lowerresist
6. revive

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. raiseskeleton
2. skeletonmastery
3. corpseexplosion
4. amplifydamage

Attributes

We allocate 25 points to Strength to be able to wear our gear. Every other point goes to Vitality.

Setup

This Variant is using the best possible piece of gear in every slot. You reach the 125% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint and have the largest +x to Skills for your Summons and corpseexplosion. This also gives you access to teleport without swapping, which opens up your swap for calltoarms to prebuff yourself and your Minions. This setup carries a good amount of Magic Find with a prioritization on clear speed. Your Resistances are all overcapped by 120%. This counteracts any conviction Aura you encounter.

When using bonebreak, harlequincrest already offsets the Physical Damage Reduction loss.

Mercenary

Infinity brings a massive increase in DPS for your Mercenary. With a Ruby Jewel of Fervor in the andariel'svisage your Mercenary is at the second fastest Breakpoint for their jab. This also increases our Fire Damage on corpseexplosion.

Skills

Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. irongolem
2. summonresist
3. decrepify
4. dimvision
5. lowerresist
6. revive

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. raiseskeleton
2. skeletonmastery
3. corpseexplosion
4. boneprison
5. bonewall

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

Allocate enough Strength to equip all of your gear. This lets us add all of our Stat points to Vitality.

Setup

This Variant uses the beast which gives us access to a Level 9 fanaticism. This grants our Minions and Mercenary Increased Attack Speed and + % Enhanced Damage. We still maintain the 75% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint, but we're investing more in our indirect damage sources. This can also help to apply Crushing Blow attacks at a faster rate on high Life monsters like the Ubers, by our Minions.

When using bonebreak, harlequincrest already offsets the Physical Damage Reduction loss.

Mercenary

Infinity brings a massive increase in DPS for your Mercenary. With a Ruby Jewel of Fervor in the andariel'svisage your Mercenary is at the second fastest Breakpoint for their jab. This also increases our Fire Damage on corpseexplosion.

Skills

Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:

  1. irongolem
  2. summonresist
  3. decrepify
  4. dimvision
  5. lowerresist
  6. revive

Max out the following Skills in this order:

  1. raiseskeleton
  2. skeletonmastery
  3. corpseexplosion
  4. boneprison
  5. bonewall
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

Allocate enough Strength to wear all of your gear. We put all of our Stat points into Vitality.

Setup

For Hardcore gameplay we prioritize having high overcapped Resistances to maintain maximum Resistances when affected by conviction Aura, 75% Block Chance, 7 frame Block Rate, 7 frame Hit Recovery, 33% Damage Reduction, while maintaining the 75% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint and high +x to Skills on gear. This along with BoneArmor and Boneprison give an amazing amount of survivability and Crowd Control. We also prioritize having Shimmering Small Charm of Vita over the Shimmering Small Charm of Good Luck.

When using bonebreak, harlequincrest already offsets the Physical Damage Reduction loss.

Mercenary

Infinity brings a massive increase in DPS for your Mercenary. With a Ruby Jewel of Fervor in the andariel'svisage your Mercenary is at the second fastest Breakpoint for their jab. This also increases our Fire Damage on corpseexplosion.

Skills

Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. irongolem
2. summonresist
3. decrepify
4. dimvision
5. lowerresist
6. resist

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. raiseskeleton
2. skeletonmastery
3. corpseexplosion
4. boneprison
7. bonewall

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

To reach the maximum Chance to Block of 75% we need to invest 128 Dexterity points at Level 99. This requires less Dexterity points at lower Levels. We put the rest of the Stat points into Vitality.

Video Guide

Video Guide by MacroBioBoi

Mechanics

raiseskeleton

Revive

Amplifydamage

corpseexplosion

Bonearmor

teleport

Summary

  • Minions are the most important part of our strategy, and their positioning is more than 50% of their potential power. Learn how to maneuver your Minions.
  • corpseexplosion tends to set off domino effects, and being able to chain together full screen clears is the most essential factor for efficiency.
  • amplifydamage drastically increases most damage sources you have. You must maintain maximum uptime of amplifydamage.
  • "Tele-stomping" changes your play style from passive summoner, to frontline boss stomper. Learn how to stomp on lower threat targets before you employ this tactic on all targets.
  • Your % Better Chance to Find Magic Items works if your Minions or Mercenary kill a Monster. So whether it's your corpseexplosion, or Minions, you get the full benefit of your Magic Find.

I hope you enjoy destroying full screens of Monsters and "Tele-Stomping" Bosses into paste. This build allows for a wide range of playstyles and whether you're a more passive player, or proactive player, you'll wreck shop!

Good luck! In bocca al lupo!

Credits

Written by MacroBioBoi
Reviewed by Teo1904

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