Trag’Oul Death Nova Necromancer Guide

Last Updated: September 23rd 2023

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Introduction

Trag'Oul's Avatar Death Nova Solo Push
View all variants

Season 27 brought updates to the Death Nova Necromancer with buffs to Funerary Pick and Iron Rose. This patch also included a juicy boost for Trag'Oul's Avatar, all of which combines into a powerhouse for Greater Rift pushing. You can make a very similar setup using Legacy of Dreams which is almost equally strong and a bit better for farming but ranks on a different solo leaderboard.

All the power comes from having large pulls that scale your AoE damage through the roof. As a result, pushing high in solo typically requires a Rift Guardian that spawns adds consistently (e.g. Saxtris, Eskandiel) or using one or multiple saved Pylons with Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra targets that can fuel Bloodtide Blade. Even with the massive damage bonus of Funerary Pick fights against single targets bosses can take forever on the highest tiers.

While not being very consistent at pushing, it can be really fun to decimate huge pulls in just a few casts with this build. Especially when playing on higher tiers in a group where you don't have to worry about pulling or killing the boss, this build is the most effective. The main parts of the guide describe the solo pushing variant, adjustments for different game modes can be found below.

Easy to set up ✔
Simple DPS rotation ✔
Incredible AoE damage ✔

High toughness and recovery ✔

❌ Requires GR fishing
❌ Simulacrums can die
❌ Has to stand still a lot
❌ Struggles on single targets

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Trag'Oul's Avatar quadruples our Life and adds 10,000% extra damage to Blood Skills. We also gain all runes for Blood Rush and Siphon Blood for more utility and survivability.
  • Bloodtide Blade adds 400% increased damage to Death Nova for each nearby enemy, up to 25 stacks.
  • Funerary Pick provides another steady 200% damage bonus after stacking it with Siphon Blood Power Shift as well as an extra bonus against 1-3 targets.
  • Iron Rose casts Blood Nova automatically while siphoning. These are replicated by Simulacrums, which can also proc Area Damage.
  • Haunted Visions makes our Simulacrums last forever.
  • Krysbin's Sentence gives us 100% against slowed or 300% extra damage against stunned (etc.) enemies.
  • Convention of Elements fits in well with the rotation-based gameplay of the build to provide another 200% extra damage during our nukes.
  • Dayntee's Binding adds 50% damage reduction while any nearby enemy is cursed.
  • Mantle of Channeling synergizes with our channeling-based playstyle.

Season 29 Paragon Cap

Season 29 brings several features, first the brand new Visions of Enmity mechanic. They are an optional and rewarding mini dungeon system where players slay monsters in quick succession of portals. These portals have a chance to spawn upon killing any monster in the open world and they hide many rewards for you to reap! Read the full guide on the Visions of Enmity Mechanics by Chewingnom to learn everything about this fantastic feature!

As if it wasn't enough, Season 29 also shakes things up with a Paragon Cap and a Paragon Distribution Twist! You can only assign a total of 800 Paragon Points to your character. Previously, you were only able to assign a total of 50 Paragon Points to each attribute within the Core, Defense, Offense and Utility categories, but now you can assign up to 200 in each attribute. Each category can only have 200 Paragon Points placed into them.

This forces you to make choices while also enabling crazy possibilities such as 200% Area Damage or 40% Cooldown Reduction! Note that Movement Speed now only grants 0.125% per point but can also go above the 25% Movement Speed cap from items. With that in mind, here is the Paragon Distribution you should follow for the build described in the main sections of the guide. Variants may differ, see below.

Season 29 Paragon Distribution

Global Stat Priorities

Our offensive priorities are: Death Nova Damage > Critical Hit Damage > Physical Damage > Critical Hit Chance > Area Damage. Additionally, we want to hit at least 1.67 Attacks per Second for the optimal Siphon Blood breakpoint (11 frames per tick with Swift Harvesting), which usually requires 4 sources of Attack Speed or can be acquired through Paragons.

All remaining stats go towards defense in the following order: Vitality > Armor > Life % > Elite Damage Reduction > All Resistance. Note that Vitality is better than a socketed Flawless Royal Amethyst on a Helm with Guardian's Jeopardy equipped (depending on your Paragon distribution).

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
GR Group Trash Killer
Nova Solo Push

Concept
This is the main variation described in the other parts of the guide. We play around Bloodtide Blade while getting all of our multipliers up for short, high DPS bursts.

Gameplay
At the start of the run, carefully gather 300 stacks of the Trag'Oul's Avatar (4) Bonus, then summon your Simulacrums to improve their survivability.

Make sure to create large pulls and don't waste your time on small pulls or leftover elites. Instead, try to kite them to another group of enemies. Keep up Bone Armor and use all damage multipliers (Krysbin's Sentence, Convention of Elements, Funerary Pick) for your nukes. Make sure your Simulacrums are positioned well inside the pull. Rinse and repeat. Before the boss, save a pylon or two (not Conduit) to spawn enemies during the Rift Guardian fight after stacking Bane of the Stricken for 1-3 minutes.

Pay special attention to effects that produce large bursts of damage, such as dying Grotesques or Molten Explosions. These can easily kill your Simulacrums and leave you with a long cooldown before they come up again.

Season 29 Paragon

Setups
For more damage potential, include Zei's Stone of Vengeance instead of Invigorating Gemstone.

Video Guide

Guide Video

Mechanics

Trag'Oul's Avatar

Iron Rose

Funerary Pick

Simulacrum

Summary

  • Gather the full Trag'Oul's Avatar set together with the core items.
  • Always keep up Bone Armor.
  • Make large pulls to benefit from Bloodtide Blade the most.
  • Move your Simulacrums into position before a nuke.
  • Prioritize high HP targets and elites with Siphon Blood for the bonus from Funerary Pick.
  • Save pylons to kill the Rift Guardian more easily with extra enemies in a solo push.

Good luck!

Credits

Guide and updates by wudijo
Reviewed by Northwar

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