The Necromancer is an Ascendancy class for the Witch. This is an Ascendancy class themed around the dead and the undead. Let’s take a look at the build method of Detonate Dead Necromancer. Note that we need to prepare a large amount of poe currency before we build.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Strong more boss with amazing clear
- Requires no uniques to function whatsoever
- Therefore SSF viable – Leaguestarter viable
- Loads of HP Pool / Block Chance to make for a smooth playstyle
Cons
- You don’t use this build until after act 10
- Pretty heavy on buttons to press (2 Button Build + Warcries)
Gem Links
1. Detonate Dead – Main Link (6-Link)
A Vaal Detonate Dead is more important than a corrupted level 21 regular version. Detonate Dead is insane on bosses or a hard single target.
- Vaal Detonate Dead
- Vaal Detonate Dead is a Vaal spell that explodes a corpse and all other nearby corpses in a chain reaction, dealing fire secondary damage.
- Awakened Unleash Support
- Awakened Unleash Support is the awakened variant of Unleash Support obtainable in maps.
- Awakened Elemental Focus Support
- Awakened Spell Cascade Support
- Awakened Fire Penetration Support
- Energy Leech Support or Inspiration Support (Preference, one is safer, the other is more consistent DPS)
2. Spawning Corpses with Desecrate
Since you want to Detonate Corpses, you’re going to need to spawn them in the first place. This is where Desecrate comes in. It’s linked to Arcane Surge to guarantee the buff’s uptime and Spell Cascade to create more corpses.
- Desecrate
- Desecrate is a spell that summons corpses and a patch of desecrated ground, which deals chaos damage to all enemies in the area.
- Spell Cascade Support
- Spell Cascade Support is a support gem that causes the linked spells to repeat its effect in front and behind of wherever you have targeted your spell at, at the cost of reduced area of effect and damage.
- Arcane Surge Support (Level 7 when Desecrate is level 20)
- Arcane Surge Support is a support gem that grants the Arcane Surge buff when the total mana spent reaches a threshold.
3. Movement & Utility
You’re linking both Enduring Cry and Flame Dash to Second Wind. Since this is a potential free socket, you’re socketing your Raise Spectre gem here as well. Sadly, you don’t have any sockets to give it supports, so you might have to re-summon them regularly but as long as you don’t leave the zone they died in, recuperating them is easy enough. The Spectres you want to summon are Auto-Enforcer & Rusty Crusher from robot heists just because they have the most Life possible right now.
- Enduring Cry
- Enduring Cry is a warcry skill that taunts enemies in an area around the character, grants a short burst of life regeneration, and grants a number of endurance charges based on the power of nearby enemies. Additionally, the skill also provides a buff that grants additional elemental resistance and physical damage reduction per endurance charge.
- Second Wind Support
- Second Wind Support is a support gem that allows the linked skill with a cooldown to store an additional use and gives it increased cooldown recovery speed.
- Flame Dash
- Flame Dash is a movement spell that causes the player to teleport to a target location, damaging enemies and leaving a trail of burning ground.
- Raise Spectre
- Raise Spectre is a spell that summons a defeated enemy as an allied minion.
4. Herald & Cast when Damage Taken
As your sole mana reserving buff you’re running Herald of Ash. While that has no links, you’re using this space to 3-Link a high-level Cast when Damage Taken Support. Steelskin and Tempest Shield offer some extra defenses when we just took a scary hit.
- Herald of Ash
- Herald of Ash is a Herald skill. It reserves mana to grant more fire damage to spells and additional fire damage based on physical damage.
- Cast when Damage Taken Support (20)
- Cast when Damage Taken is a support gem. It causes a linked spell to trigger when the player takes a certain amount of damage.
- Steelskin
- Steelskin is a guard skill that grants the user a buff that absorbs incoming hits for a short period of time.
- Tempest Shield
- Tempest Shield is a spell that applies a buff that empowers your shield, granting increased block chance and dealing lightning damage to the attacker, chaining to nearby enemies, whenever you block.
5. Trigger Wand Setup
As you want to get all of these buffs automatically cast, you need to socket them in your Trigger Wand. These effectively add a ton of Damage through lowering resistances and exposing enemies to Fire Damage while granting you Bone Offering, the cornerstone of your build.
- Bone Offering
- Bone Offering is an offering spell that consumes one or more corpses, temporarily granting the player’s minions a chance to block attacks and spells and life recovery on block.
- Flammability
- Flammability is a spell that curses all targets in an area, making them less resistant to fire damage and gives damage hit more chance to ignite.
- Wave of Conviction
- Wave of Conviction is an active skill gem that creates an expanding wave of energy that surges forward, damaging enemies in a cone-shaped AoE over a duration.
6. Fortify & Combustion
Through casting General’s Cry, you’re making the summoned minions attack enemies with Vigilant Strike.
- Vigilant Strike
- Vigilant Strike is a melee attack skill that cannot be evaded and applies the Fortify buff on hit.
- General’s Cry Support
- General’s Cry is a warcry skill that taunts nearby enemies, and summons a number of mirage warriors from nearby corpses based on the power of nearby enemies and corpses.
Wherever you decided to socket this, you can also socket your Armageddon Brand which helps you proc Elemental Overload as well as applies Combustion which reduced the enemies Fire Resistance by a significant chunk.
- Armageddon Brand
- Armageddon Brand is a spell that creates a brand at the target position. While attached, the brands creates fiery meteors that land on the target’s location and deal fire damage in an area.
- Combustion Support
- Combustion is a support gem that grants supported skills that grants more fire damage and chance to ignite the enemy. Enemies ignited by the supported skill have reduced fire resistance.
Gear Summary / TL;DR
| Item Slot | Item Name |
| Head | Energy Shield Based Helmet with Life, Mana & Resistances and Ailment Avoidance |
| Amulet | Citrine Amulet with Life, Mana, Energy Shield & Resistances |
| Chest | Hunter Chest with Increased Effect of Offerings, Life, Ailment Avoidance and Life as Maximum Energy Shield |
| Gloves | Energy Shield Based Gloves with Life, Mana & Resistances and Ailment Avoidance |
| Boots | Energy Shield Based Boots with Life, Mana & Resistances and Movement Speed |
| Belt | Stygian Vise with High Life and Resistances |
| Rings | Vermillion Ring with High Life, Mana and Resistances |
| Weapon | Rare Sceptre with Fire Damage, Fire Damage as Extra Chaos, Cast Speed and Trigger Mod |
| Shield | Energy Shield Based Shield with Life, Fire Damage as Extra Chaos, Spell Block, Life and Resistances |
When we build, we need a lot of poe currency, we can choose to obtain it in the game, or buy poe currency online.
