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.
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.
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
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
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:
- irongolem
- summonresist
- decrepify
- dimvision
- lowerresist
- revive
Max out the following Skills in this order:
- raiseskeleton
- skeletonmastery
- corpseexplosion
- boneprison
- bonewall
Attributes
Allocate enough Strength to wear all of your gear. We put all of our Stat points into Vitality.
Video Guide
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
Changelog
- 18 September 2022
Updated to Patch 2.5 - added Terror Zone and Sunder Charm Section - Updated Hardcore Section - Updated Build Variants - 23 April 2022
Updated to Patch 2.4 - added gear options - added Farming Spots