Bone Necromancer Build for Diablo 2 Resurrected

The Bone Necromancer tackles a large variety of monsters by mixing the Magic damage of Bone Spear and the Fire and Physical damage of Corpse Explosion. Additionally, thanks to Bone Armor for Absorbtion and Bone Prison for crowd control, the build is extremely safe and great for a beginner. The biggest downside of the Bone Necro is a slight lack of damage early on during leveling, until more levels or skill bonuses have been acquired.

You can check the viability of this build in PvM by consulting our PvM Tier List.

The following section shows the default skill build for the Bone Necromancer. For a detailed breakdown of all core and optional skills as well as the recommended order for allocating skill points, refer to the Skills page of this guide.

1. 1 point to all prerequisites
2. 20 points to Bone Spirit — Main single target damage dealer, required
3. 20 points to Bone Spear — Main damage dealer for small or lined-up groups of monsters, required
4. 20 points to Bone Prison — Synergy and useful for very large crowds of small monsters, required
5. 20 points to Bone Wall — Synergy, required
6. 1+ points to Corpse Explosion — Great for clearing groups of monsters and removing corpses, required
7. 20 points to Teeth — Synergy, required
8. 1 point to Bone Armor — Prerequisite for Bone Wall and also useful for Physical damage Absorption, required
9. 1 point to Amplify Damage — Useful for increasing Corpse Explosion damage and that of party members, required

Strength	Dexterity	Vitality	Energy
Enough for gear; around 150 total	Enough for gear	Everything else	None

You can read more details about the Stats and Attribute requirements for this build on our Skills page.

The following section shows some of the most important items for the Bone Necromancer. For a detailed per-slot breakdown of all Bone Necromancer items and alternative builds, refer to the Gear page of this guide.

• Weapon: White Wand with skill bonuses to Bone Spear
• Weapon Swap: Call to Arms and Spirit
• Shield: 35% Increased Cast Rate Spirit Monarch Shield or Homunculus if going for max block
• Body Armor: Enigma
• Helm: Harlequin Crest or Rare circlet with +2 to Necromancer Skills and 20% Faster Cast Rate
• Gloves: Trang-Oul's Clawss or Magefist
• Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks
• Belt: Arachnid Mesh
• Ring 1: The Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, or Rare ring with +10% Faster Cast Rate, Life, Resistances, and relevant stats
• Ring 2: The Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, or Rare ring with +10% Faster Cast Rate, Life, Resistances, and relevant stats
• Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope or Rare amulet with Necromancer skill bonuses and enough +% Faster Cast Rate to reach the 125% breakpoint
• Charm 1: Necromancer Hellfire Torch
• Charm 2: Annihilus
• Charm 3: 9x Skiller Grand Charms with Life or enough Faster Hit Recovery to hit 86%
• Charm 4: 10 Small Charms with Life, Resistances, Mana, or Faster Hit Recovery, depending on needs

We also have a video guide that goes over the build, if you prefer that instead of or in addition to our written guide.

In Diablo 2, stats that affect action speed (known as frames) for attacking, casting, blocking, and recovering from a hit can almost never be taken literally. For example, gaining 10% Increased Attack Speed from an item will not necessarily translate into 10% faster attacks. To achieve faster actions, certain breakpoints must be reached, which vary for every class. The tables below list how much of a given stat is required to actually improve the action speed of the class for the stated action.

Hit Recovery Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5
Faster Hit Recovery required to reach frame	0%	5%	10%	16%	26%	39%	56%	86%	152%

Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	15	14	13	12	11	10	9
Faster Cast Rate required to reach frame	0%	9%	18%	30%	48%	75%	125%

Faster Block Rate Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4
Faster Block Rate required to reach frame	0%	6%	13%	20%	32%	52%	86%	174%

You can either hire a Defensive (Holy Freeze) or Offensive (Might) Desert Guard Mercenary in Act 2, Nightmare difficulty, depending on whether you want to slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage of your Mercenary.

• Weapon: Ethereal Insight or The Reaper's Toll
• Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude
• Helm: Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune

This is an early leveling progression for the Bone Necromancer

1. 5 points to Teeth
2. 1 point to Clay Golem at level 6
3. 5 points to Teeth between level 6 and 10
4. 1 point to Amplify Damage at level 11
5. 1 point to Iron Maiden at level 12
6. 1 point to Corpse Explosion at level 13
7. All remaining points to Teeth until level 18
8. Max Bone Spear at level 18 and beyond
9. Respec to add Bone Prison when heading into Nightmare

For more comprehensive leveling advice, please refer to our Necromancer Fastest Leveling Build.