LoD Poison Scythe Necromancer Trash Killer Variation

Last updated on Jun 03, 2025 at 09:00 by Deadset 21 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 34, Patch 2.7.8 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Group Trash Killer
1.

Greater Rift Group Speedfarm

The LoD Poison Scythe Necromancer can be adapted to be a group Greater Rift Trash Killing spec, especially when coupled with an appropriate team composition of support teammates. The build deviates in some ways from the base solo progression spec, most notably in the gear and legendary gem selection.

2.

Adapting Skills

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Grim Scythe Icon Grim Scythe Cursed Scythe Cursed Scythe Right Mouse Button Skeletal Mage Icon Skeletal Mage Contamination Contamination 1 Simulacrum Icon Simulacrum Blood and Bone Blood and Bone 2 Bone Spear Icon Bone Spear Blighted Marrow Blighted Marrow 3 Command Skeletons Icon Command Skeletons Kill Command Kill Command 4 Bone Armor Icon Bone Armor Dislocation Dislocation
Passive Skills

The vast majority of your skill selection for group trash clearing will remain the same as your solo progression spec. For the sake of posterity, this is a short version of the reasoning behind each skill:

3.

Adapting Gear

Since you will not be responsible for CC immunity in groups, you should replace Krelm's Buff Bracers Krelm's Buff Bracers from the solo progression build for Ancient Parthan Defenders Ancient Parthan Defenders. Their potent damage reduction effect will be procced by the pre-nuke cast of Bone Armor Bone Armor Dislocation Dislocation, as well as your supports — and makes you much more durable in the highly damaging environments of GR progression.

With the ample protection given to you by supports, you can easily add another damage multiplier in the build in the form of Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace, and offset its "increased damage taken" effect with the supports' protective buffs.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Poison Damage %
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Area Damage
  3. Armor
  4. Vitality
  5. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Armor
  4. Elite Damage Reduction
  5. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Poison Damage %
  4. Vitality
  5. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Critical Hit Damage
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Area Damage
  4. Intelligence (or Attack Speed at high Paragon)
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Grim Scythe %
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
  5. Freeze on Hit % (Secondary Stat)
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Grim Scythe %
  4. Armor
  5. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. All Resistance
  5. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Poison Damage %
  5. Cooldown Reduction
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Area Damage or Attack Speed
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Area Damage or Attack Speed
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Area Damage
  5. Attack Speed
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Grim Scythe %
  5. Area Damage

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.

3.1.

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.

4.

Adapting Gems

You will maintain Legacy of Dreams Legacy of Dreams (foundational gem for the build) and Simplicity's Strength Simplicity's Strength (damage multiplication for your main source of DPS) from the solo progression build. Since you will no longer be responsible for taking the Rift Guardian down, you will replace Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken with Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped for another massive source of damage multiplication.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

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

5.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

You will keep Nayr's Black Death Nayr's Black Death as your weapon Cube power; this is a major source of damage multiplication for the build, and your entire skill selection revolves around it. The same applies to Illusory Boots Illusory Boots, which allow you freedom of movement without losing any potential Poison stacks from your skill lineup.

Haunted Visions Haunted Visions remains a pivotal part of the build due to its Simulacrum Simulacrum-based powers. Note that this slot is interchangeable with Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace depending on your better rolled item.

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.

6.

Legendary Potion

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower Bottomless Potion of the Tower, whose Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Necromancers (due to Intelligence scaling Resistances) for optimal survivability.

6.1.

Season 35 Theme — Eternal Conflict

This Season revives the Pandemonium Kill Streak buff from Season 19. Each stack grants a bonus to movement speed and damage, capping at +50% movement speed and +100% damage at 1000 kills. Hitting specific kill thresholds unleashes powerful effects. Read more in our dedicated Season of the Eternal Conflict Mechanics Guide!

While speedfarming sees limited use from this theme, Greater Rift pushing benefits significantly. Effects like Geysers (150), Meteors (400), and Angels (500) can clear elites and Rift Guardians instantly. Players may reset streaks after 150 kills to repeatedly trigger Geysers or push for 500+ kills near boss fights, often using Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra enemies.

Because the most potent effects (Geysers, Meteors, Angels) can obliterate Rift Guardians instantly up to GR150, players can retool builds for efficiency and comfort. Here’s how:

6.1.1.

Legendary Gem Considerations

Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian, Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:

6.1.2.

Equipment and Skill Flexibility

Adjust your equipment to items that favor durability, health sustain, and ease of movement. Consider adjusting non-essential skills for the build to ones that pull, reposition, or otherwise displace enemies to facilitate large pulls of enemy packs. In more concrete terms, this means:

  • For class-specific items, Necromancers should consider Dayntee's Binding Dayntee's Binding if it's absent from the build; this is a powerful damage reduction item that incentivizes you to be mindful of utility skills by spreading curses on as large of an enemy pull as possible (especially in conjunction with popular Necro passives such as Spreading Malediction Spreading Malediction). This synergizes well with the killstreak theme.
  • For additional options that balance between defense and offense, the class-specific amulet Wisdom of Kalan Wisdom of Kalan extends the Bone Armor Bone Armor stack maximum and can fit into several builds, while other helpful cross-class jewelry includes Unity Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set (The Traveler's Pledge The Traveler's Pledge and The Compass Rose The Compass Rose).
  • Situational items that can bolster your defenses include Stone Gauntlets Stone Gauntlets, the drawbacks of which are negated via CC-immunity effects like Ice Climbers Ice Climbers, or the Altar of Rites CC-immunity node. The class-specific Razeth's Volition Razeth's Volition and the class-agnostic Aquila Cuirass Aquila Cuirass are powerful and popular choices for low Essence-spending builds, especially ones built around generators like LoD Poison Scythe. A final niche consideration is Mantle of Channeling Mantle of Channeling, which balances between defense and offense for channeling builds, often built around Iron Rose Iron Rose.
  • Utility items like Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers are essential as more elites mean more killstreak maintenance and faster progression. When soloing, they should be equipped by your follower; in groups, at least one party member should commit to wearing them. When focusing strictly on speed, Steuart's Greaves Steuart's Greaves can be a powerful inclusion for scouting, but builds that are locked into other items for the slot can turn to niche options like Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards or Krelm's Buff Belt Krelm's Buff Belt. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with The Ess of Johan The Ess of Johan, a proc-based analogue to an enemy-pulling skill (albeit outside your control).
  • Skill-wise, make sure to include at least one movement skill tool like Blood Rush Blood Rush. While Necromancers lack an easily available enemy-pulling tool (Rathma Necros build around Army of the Dead Army of the Dead Death Valley Death Valley, but are an exception), a stunning skill like Bone Armor Bone Armor Dislocation Dislocation can help manage large packs of enemies and doubles as a Krysbin's Sentence Krysbin's Sentence proc. Take a look if you can include passives like Final Service Final Service (for a cheat-death) or Fueled by Death Fueled by Death (for extra movement speed).
7.

Changelog

  • 03 Jun. 2025: Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
  • 20 Jan. 2025: Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 22 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
  • 10 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Guide reviewed for Season 31.
  • 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: Minor gear revision and added follower recommendation.
  • 19 Nov. 2020: Added S22 Cube recommendation.
  • 02 Jul. 2020: Guide added.
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