Rating
+2

RotScythe Necromancer (Inarius Set Build 2.6.1 - 2.6.9 UPDATED)

Seasonal
Solo
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Skills

  • Grim Scythe Cursed Scythe
  • Skeletal Mage Contamination
  • Bone Armor Dislocation
  • Corpse Explosion Close Quarters
  • Bone Spirit Panic Attack
  • Simulacrum Blood and Bone
  • Grisly Tribute
  • Dark Reaping
  • Stand Alone
  • Swift Harvesting

Items

More Details
  • Legendary Gems

    • Gogok of Swiftness
    • Bane of the Trapped
    • Simplicity's Strength

Kanai's Cube

  • Nayr's Black Death
  • Razeth's Volition
  • Wisdom of Kalan

Inarius Set at all 6 pieces, with a Diamond in the Helm and Topazes in the Torso and Legs, though Amethysts for more Vitality or Diamonds for elemental resistance is a viable option as well.

This is a slower moving, hack-your-way-through mobs push build, the recent changes to Simulacrum making Haunted Visions the go-to necklace or wearing the Wisdom of Kalan outright. While not ranked in the utmost priority for stats, any additional bonus to Poison damage on these and the Bracers helps tremendously. Krysbin's Sentence will likely be Cubed initially, but upon finding a sufficiently high rolled one (recommend at least 90% of damage bonus range and higher) will allow it to be used directly, or wearing the Pandemonium Loop for Fearing enemies and making them detonate for 800% weapon damage upon death. Unity can work as an additional damage reduction source.


Legendary Gems here are to boost the overlay of melee ranged damage, Simplicity's Strength as a primary source of healing for the build and to reinforce the damage of Cursed Scythe, further boosted by Bane of the Trapped with all the Stun and Slow effects that will be dolled out, and Gogok of Swiftness for attack speed, dodge chance and cooldown reduction.

Dayntee's Binding as of 2.6.1 now activates up to 50% damage reduction on use of all three curses, able to be given freely via Cursed Scythe for increased defense, and Cord of the Sherma as a viable offense boost by proccing a Slow and Blind field to proc the full Krysbin's damage bonus.

Reaper's Wraps with the Life From Death passive are a cornerstone for survivability, though for some lower Rifts Nemesis Bracers would be viable.

Paragon Priorities

Core

Primary Stat
Vitality
Movement Speed
Maximum Resource

Offense

Attack Speed
Critical Hit Chance
Critical Hit Damage
Cooldown Reduction

Defense

Life Regeneration
Armor
Resist All
Life

Utility

Life on Hit
Area Damage
Resource Cost Reduction
Gold Find

Paragon levels of 1000 and above are required to push past T11/GR50 ranges,with priority for main stats on Intelligence and Vitality to boost damage and Armor along with health capacity, followed by Movement Speed to help speed up the build a bit more. Maximum Essence is not required for this build given the constant expenditure and regeneration.

Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance and Damage are to speed up and reinforce outgoing damage by Cursed Scythe, with Cooldown to keep Bone Armor proccing Stuns as often as possible.

Life Regeneration is most important given that the build requires always being surrounded by enemies, along with Armor and Resist all to maintain health and lastly overall Life to boost the capacity.

Life on Hit with Simplicity's Strength will be the primary healing mechanism for the build so this is most important, and Area Damage helps boost outgoing DPS. Resource Cost Reduction isn't a concern given the rate of incoming/outgoing Essence, and Gold Find doesn't apply.

Build Guide

This build was initially designed for 2.6.1 and has been updated for the recent changes of 2.6.9

The build revolves around the Cubed Nayr's Black Death scythe, changed for 2.6.1 to boost damage up to 100% for every different Poison element skill used for 15 seconds, refreshable with every different skill rotated through. Thus the ideal is to balance as many Poison skills as effectively as possible. The build is partially a generator build, as it focuses on Grim Scythe with the Cursed Scythe rune and the 2.6.1 updated Leger's Disdain for much of its direct damage and using the other skills as Essence dumps and reinforcement damage. Leger's Disdain now boosts damage of Grim Scythe up to 80% for every point of Essence it restores, 12 Essence from a single enemy but generating more when striking multiple enemies on a single swing, and thus more damage, but only when not at maximum Essence, so continuously spending Essence is key.

Bone Armor, given that this is the Inarius set, is the most potent boost for damage, as with Dislocation allowing for an on-demand Stun effect to proc Krysbin's full damage bonus, the bone storm is also Poison element, with a 1000% damage proc on first use, then on every tick as well as enemies being struck by the bone storm taking on an additional 10,000% damage from the Necromancer from all skills. Keeping enemies within the 15 yard radius of the bone storm ensures all other outgoing damage receives the boost along with the bone storm's own damage proccing.

Skeletal Mage is the Essence spender here, and thanks to the update to Razeth's Volition as of 2.6.9, it gives the Mages the Gift of Death and Singularity runes for free, as well as some damage mitigation when not at full Essence, which should be most of the time with this build. The Contamination rune is the choice with this build, the Poison damage proccing Nayr's Black Death and it works with the slower moving, mob-mowing approach of the build very well. The summoned mage radiates a 20 yard radius Poison aura at 100% of weapon damage at base for the duration of its summon in the location it was summoned, and the summoned mages' damage auras all stack if multiple mages are summoned in a single spot. This skill you will be spamming non-stop, either manually if you are on console or using the num-lock trick for PC if you aren't as fast and consistent on using it. As long as you have Essence to spend, you spend it on this.

Razeth's Volition in the Cube also means that you're stacking free corpses right around the Necromancer as the Mages expire and enemies die from them and all the other outgoing attacks, right in perfect range to use for Corpse Explosion with Close Quarters, benefiting from the 600% Rayr's boost and the 10,000% bone storm boost being within the 15 yard radius. Unlike some other Poison focused builds, this is not meant to be the main source of outgoing damage, but to pile on as much damage as possible as an AoE effect to all the enemies grouped around the Necromancer. The recent 2.6.8 change to Corpse Explosion's base damage however has effectively made it on par with Grim Scythe for the damage output.

Bone Spirit with the Panic Attack rune is a high damage freebie thanks to all the corpses being consumed shredding through its cooldown, allowing for Fearing enemies for the Krysbin's full damage bonus at will and also benefiting from all the boosted Poison damage and the bone storm bonus at closer ranges. Another option to player preference involves equipping a Follower with the Pandemonium Loop, as the ability will still affect deaths of enemies Feared by the Bone Spirit even if the Necromancer isn't wearing the ring directly. This option is preferable over the Necromancer using the ring directly as it would mean giving up one of the rings needed to balance the build properly.

With the changes to Haunted Visions in 2.6.9 in tandem with the release of the new Necromancer class set, Simulacrum will now consume 1% of the Necromancer's life to keep them up forever, and they exchange the use of Skeletal Mage for Grim Scythe, which for this build is perfect as it will triple your outgoing Grim Scythe damage when using the Blood and Bone rune for using two Simulacrums at once. The Simulacrum also now warp to the Necromancer if they get too far away from them, so they should be within melee range of enemies for overlapping hits at nearly all times.

With the Simulacrum introduced to the build, the passives have changed up quite a bit. Gristly Tribute works well to offset the health cost of the Simulacrum through their own attacks, which should be going out as fast as possible using Swift Harvesting, as they match the attack speed of the Necromancer. Stand Alone with both Simulacrums and the Singularity rune Skeletal Mage will only be at 70% most of the time, but is still a significant bonus to Toughness. Dark Reaping rounds out the Necromancer's healing and Essence gathering options.

As this build warrants slightly slower play and hacking through mobs as much as elites, this is definitely a solo oriented build and should not be attempted for group play involving speed farming or major GR pushing.