Necromancer Builds

List of popular D2R Necromancer Builds

The Diablo 2 Necromancer is a mage with strong summoning abilities. He utilizes his curses to weaken his enemies and control the battlefield. The master of the ‘Dark Arts’ is able to resurrect fallen enemies, forcing them to serve him. Also, he can doom his opponents to a slow death through poison and even make their bodies explode.

Diablo 2 Necromancer Builds
Art by ChrisCold

The Most Popular Diablo 2 Necromancer Builds​

The most powerful and common Necromancer builds are:

  • Bonemancer: It’s one of the most famous Necromancer builds in Diablo 2. It mainly focuses on Bone Spells such as Bone Spear and Bone Spirit. Thus, its summoning capabilities are limited. The Bonemancer is much more effective at higher levels and in PvP fights.
  • Daggermancer: It’s an alternative build to the Novamancer. He uses Poison Nova in combination with some other poison skills, curses, and a few summoning skills. Although Poison Nova is the primary attack of the build, it uses Poison dagger as a secondary attack.
  • Explosionmancer: Also known as Explomancer, the build relies on Corpse Explosion spell. It’s a powerful spell for killing monsters that unlocks its full potential at higher levels of the game.
  • Hybridmancer: It combines the spells of the Bonemancer along with the abilities of the Summonmancer in order to outnumber his enemies. The result is a well-performing character across all difficulties and levels.
  • Novamancer: This type of Necromancer takes advantage of the Lower Resist and Poison Nova skills to slay large groups of enemies. It’s a balanced build with high poison damage. In addition, it relies on his summons such as Golems to distract its enemies and avoid taking damage.
  • Summonmancer: It’s also known as Skelemancer, Zookeeper, Overlord, Skeletor, Lord of Mages or just Summoner Necro. This kind of Necromancer is able to summon numerous minions to overwhelm and damage his opponents. Its role is to support his minions, casting curses on their enemies. Further, the Summonmancer can resurrect the fallen monsters to fight by his side or even to make their bodies explode for additional damage.
  • Ultimancer: This build can wipe out the largest groups of monsters in the least amount of time in Hell difficulty. He uses the Attract and Amplify Damage to trick his enemies and force them to attack each other. This way, the Ultimancer has enough time to use Corpse Explosion until all nearby monsters are dead within seconds. However, this build requires some practice. The player has to act fast and learn well how to perform the specific combo.