Corpse Lance Necromancer BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

Last updated on Jan 10, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 40 comments

Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your Corpse Lance Necromancer in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.7.7 and Season 30.

1.

Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Pestilence Master's Shroud set bonuses, taking five of the six available Pestilence set pieces, and then adding two pieces of the craftable Captain Crimson's Trimmings set — Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle and one more of your choosing, according to your weakest Pestilence set roll (either Captain Crimson's Thrust Captain Crimson's Thrust or Captain Crimson's Waders Captain Crimson's Waders). This set provides CDR as well as RCR bonuses, and then scales your damage dealt and damage reduced according to both stats, respectively — bringing a massive boon to the build. You will attain the complete set bonuses of this two-set amalgamation via Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur in the Cube. Rolls-wise, this is a Corpse Lance Corpse Lance and Cooldown-centric build, making good use of both rolls across gear. Corpse Lance Corpse Lance % damage is a possible roll on Pestilence Robe Pestilence Robe and Pestilence Defense Pestilence Defense, and Cooldown Reduction — on the Pestilence Defense Pestilence Defense and Pestilence Gloves Pestilence Gloves. The remainder of your set armor slots (Pestilence Mask Pestilence Mask, Pestilence Incantations Pestilence Incantations and Pestilence Battle Boots Pestilence Battle Boots) can be dedicated entirely to toughness rolls. While Crit stats that are fixed on your gear due to circumstance are not necessarily lost (they still augment your initial burst as you stack), their value is greatly diminished.

When talking about Corpse Lance builds, the topic of balancing Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction cannot be ignored. For the sake of simplicity, you will be trying to strike a good balance between the two stats, one that will lead to the highest Land of the Dead uptime (affected by CDR) to Corpses consumed for Lance shots (affected by IAS) ratio. A split with proven top tier results is reaching the 65%+ CDR breakpoint (with Cpt. Crimson bonuses factored in) and then picking the highest possible IAS range possible with your gear between (1.5 to 1.71), (1.72 to 2.0), and (2.0 to 2.4). Note that while a Trag'Oul build has to be a lot more careful with that balance in order not to sacrifice too many other valuable stats (Crit and Elemental DPS), a Pestilence build can sacrifice many (if not all) Crit Chance rolls due to the Brittle Touch Brittle Touch stacking mechanic. The rune is able to take you to the Crit Chance cap in mere seconds.

The cubed RoRG leaves space for a potent combo in the jewelry: Convention of Elements Convention of Elements and Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence. Convention of Elements Convention of Elements will provide a massive damage increase during the Cold cycle of its rotation, with an improved uptime compared to other classes due to the Necromancer's three element rotation. Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence is a Necromancer-specific item that amplifies damage as long as you have a hard crowd control active; it is a major driving force behind the inclusion of Land of the Dead Land of the Dead Frozen Lands Frozen Lands. Finish off the jewelry with Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace; rewarding high-range and evasive builds that demolish their enemies from afar, this legendary piece greatly amplifies both damage dealt and damage taken.

The build has no particular bracer to occupy the wrist slot, so you can use the additive damage increase from Strongarm Bracers Strongarm Bracers; note that you have to roll Chance to Knockback in their secondary stats, as you have no other feasible way of proccing their bonus. The previous favorite for the slot, Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers, are still useful to the build — but can now be equipped on the follower and their power transferred to you via the Emanate mechanic.

The preferred weapon and offhand combination for the build is the Jesseth set, Jesseth Skullscythe Jesseth Skullscythe and Jesseth Skullshield Jesseth Skullshield. The set's revised powers now amplify your overall damage while Command Skeletons Command Skeletons are attacking a target. Note the ability of Jesseth Skullscythe Jesseth Skullscythe to roll a bonus to maximum Essence in its secondary stats, and strive to obtain it to gain the most from Reilena's Shadowhook Reilena's Shadowhook.

* — Crit Chance is denoted with "lower priority" due to Brittle Touch Brittle Touch stacking. Read gearing section above.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Vitality
  4. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Corpse Lance %
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Vitality
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Corpse Lance %
  5. Armor
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Cold Damage
  3. Vitality
  4. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
  5. Knockback on Hit (important Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Increased Attack Speed
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
  6. Vitality
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. Life %
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. All Resistance
  5. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Cold Damage
  4. Intelligence
  5. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Average Damage
  5. Increased Attack Speed
  6. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Average Damage
  5. Increased Attack Speed
  6. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Max Essence (Secondary Stat)
  6. % Weapon Damage
Off-hand
  1. Intelligence
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Max Essence (Secondary Stat)
  4. Increased Damage vs. Elites
  5. Critical Hit Chance (lower priority)*

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

1.1.

Altar of Rites

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

Altar of Rites Planner

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

2.

Paragon Points

Slot Paragon Points
Core
  1. Movement Speed up to 25% cap
  2. Maximum Essence
  3. Intelligence
  4. Vitality
Offense
  1. Cooldown Reduction
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Critical Hit Chance
Defense
  1. Armor
  2. Life %
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life Regeneration
Utility
  1. Area Damage
  2. Life on Hit
  3. Resource Cost Reduction
  4. Globe Radius
3.

Gems

Gogok of Swiftness Gogok of Swiftness indirectly provides you with more damage and survivability by increasing Cooldown Reduction for Land of the Dead Land of the Dead, Attack Speed for faster Corpse Lance Corpse Lance output, as well as scaling Dodge chance.

Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. You will be proccing this gem whenever the Frozen Lands Frozen Lands stun is up (your major damage burst cycle).

Zei's Stone of Vengeance Zei's Stone of Vengeance is another independent multiplier, whose range-dependent amplification can be easily maxed out by the long reach of Corpse Lance Corpse Lance. The level 25 property will add some minor control and safety to the build, as well as another proc for Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped.

3.1.

Season 30 Soul Shards

In Season 30, your helm and weapon sockets will be taken over by the supremely powerful Soul Shards. For this variant, we recommend the following:

  • HelmSliver of Terror with "Your Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance are increased by 5% for each skill on cooldown" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Intelligence or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction on its Rank 2 roll.
  • WeaponEssence of Anguish with "When you deal Poison damage to an enemy, they receive 50% increased Poison damage from all sources for 10 seconds" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Cold Skills % Damage Increase or Weapon Damage Increase on its Rank 2 roll. Note that Essence of Anguish requires dealing Poison damage to trigger its Base Power; in this build, you accomplish this either by re-rolling the weapon damage range (the two numbers displayed just under the big total DPS number; the first Primary stat roll of any weapon) of your own weapon to Poison, or doing the same to your follower's weapon.
Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

4.

Kanai's Cube

Your weapon slot in Kanai's Cube should be taken by the two-handed scythe Reilena's Shadowhook Reilena's Shadowhook, whose power scales your damage multiplicatively based on your maximum Essence. This places a strong emphasis on expanding your resource pool via Simulacrum Simulacrum Reservoir Reservoir and Overwhelming Essence Overwhelming Essence, maxing resource in Paragons and attaining a high max Essence in the weapon and offhand's secondary stats.

With the strong emphasis on Corpse Lance Corpse Lance damage, it is only natural to include Corpsewhisper Pauldrons Corpsewhisper Pauldrons in the armor Cube slot. These shoulders scale Corpse Lance Corpse Lance damage per Corpse consumed, a bonus you easily max out during Land of the Dead Land of the Dead.

In the Pestilence / Captain Crimson mixture, you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur: a cache legendary ring from Act I bounties, to tie the two sets together. The ability to run with one full 6-piece set bonus and an additional 3-piece bonus, dodging the undesirable guaranteed stats on the Grandeur by cubing its power, is a tremendous boost to the build.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

5.

Follower

The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Enchantress, due to her increased attack speed bonuses (helpful for the attack speed breakpoint-reliant methods of dealing damage in this build) via Focused Mind Focused Mind, as well as the cooldown reduction bonus from Prophetic Harmony Prophetic Harmony and damage reduction from Powered Shield Powered Shield.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

6.

Legendary Potion

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Unfettered Bottomless Potion of the Unfettered, which renders you immune to Crowd Control effects for a brief time after consuming it — valuable bonus to a build that lacks means to break away from CC outside of straight up evasion via Blood Rush Blood Rush.

7.

Changelog

  • 10 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 08 Dec. 2021: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Added follower recommendation.
  • 19 Nov. 2020: Added 4th Cube slot recommendation for Season 22.
  • 02 Jul. 2020: Guide was revised with respect to the changes to the Jesseth set in Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 22 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
  • 12 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
  • 18 Jan. 2019: Added suggestions for the baseline Ring of Royal Grandeur for Seasonal characters.
  • 26 Nov. 2017: Expanded the gearing explanations to clarify proper item rolls.
  • 27 Oct. 2017: The Pestilence set is now the main setup (and Trag'Oul is a variation).
  • 12 Jul. 2017: Guide updated to reflect the meta shift to Simulacrum.
  • 07 Jul. 2017: Gear recommendations updated.
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