LoD Singularity Necromancer BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your LoD Singularity Necromancer in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 35.
Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
As this is a Legacy of Dreams-based build, you have considerable freedom in picking out the rest of your gear slots. As a rule of thumb, focus on Skeletal Mages skill damage increases across gear and Cooldown Reduction, and remember the setup's requirement for ancient items, as well as its restriction on other set bonuses. You can run individual set pieces with beneficial stats, as long as they do not form any set bonus.
The Legacy of Dreams power allows you to run any legendary item combination
while not losing out on the damage amplification and reduction associated with
the traditional 6-piece sets. You can obtain this power in two ways; the older
way is equipping the two rings — The Wailing Host and
Litany of the Undaunted — as your only active set bonus. The newer
(and more powerful, since it also opens your ring slots for legendary jewelry)
method is the
Legacy of Dreams legendary gem.
In a setup with Legacy of Dreams, you will be wearing your two best
rolled rings and cubing the third between
Convention of Elements,
Circle of Nailuj's Evol, and
Krysbin's Sentence.
Convention of Elements will provide a massive damage increase during the
Physical cycle of its rotation, with an improved uptime compared to other
classes due to the Necromancer's three element rotation.
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
Frostburn and
Land of the Dead
Frozen Lands. Finally,
Circle of Nailuj's Evol will
ease the strain on your constant resource juggling by summoning an extra Mage
per cast, as well as extending their uptime.
Rounding out the jewelry, your best-in-slot amulet will be
Squirt's Necklace; this glass cannon centerpiece incentivizes you to
constantly keep your distance from enemies and rewards the evasive playstyle
of a Skeletal Mage Necro with a massive damage bonus. However it also punishes
the unwary with an amplification of damage taken.
You have two major options in your helm slot — either to boost your
damage directly with a worn Cold damage Andariel's Visage, or reduce
your vital cooldowns with a
Leoric's Crown (socketed with a
Flawless Royal Diamond for CDR). Our general recommendation is
Leoric's Crown, as its general reduction of skill downtime reduces the
reliance on Rift composition and particular timing with your cooldowns.
Nevertheless, both are seen as viable choices for the slot.
You also face a binary choice in your boots, where you can either focus on
long distance mobility with Steuart's Greaves, or improve your tankiness
with the synergy between worn
Ice Climbers and cubed
Stone Gauntlets (the former makes you immune to the downsides of the
latter). Our general recommendation is to take
Steuart's Greaves for the
massive maneuverability improvement it brings to lower tier GR speed farming,
but when pushing the upper tier limits of the build, fall back to
Ice Climbers as you transition into a Curse-using spec that drops
Blood Rush.
You face a similar choice for the belt slot, where you can either focus on
pure glass cannon DPS-ing with the attack speed and crit damage boosting
The Witching Hour, or go for the damage mitigation route with
Dayntee's Binding in the Curse-using variant of the skill setup
(recommended).
Due to your constant demand for quick resource generation, the
Singularity Necromancer offers the perfect environment for
Reaper's Wraps. Notably, this bracer is crafted rather than dropped,
making it somewhat easier to obtain as ancient and perfect its stats. The
recipe for its creation drops off the Act V final boss, Malthael.
The remainder of your equipment can be roughly split into three categories: Devour items, offensive items, and your weapon-and-offhand damage items.
- You will devote two slots to
Devour-related items,
Requiem Cereplate and
Razeth's Volition. The chest piece will double the benefits of your
Devour spam—and perhaps more importantly, it will snowball its effect as the fight develops, once you reach your maximum life.
Razeth's Volition grants your mages the
Gift of Death and
Singularity runes for free, resulting in extra Corpses for your consumption needs and allowing you to play around with the remaining three runes according to your preferences.
- A duo of generic, damage increasing items falls into the second category.
Tasker and Theo scales the attack speed of your Skeletal Mage summons, while
Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan will improve both damage dealt and resource generation while you are on the move — a constant requirement with this glassy, positioning-dependent build.
- Last but certainly not least, you have your weapon and offhand combo. The
mandatory weapon for the build is
Scythe of the Cycle, a one-handed scythe that increases the damage of your secondary skills while
Bone Armor is active, but reduces the armor's duration with each cast. There is no particular offhand that you need to wear — any high damage range phylactery with the appropriate stats will do.
Slot | Pieces | Stat Priority |
---|---|---|
Head |
|
|
Shoulders |
|
|
Torso |
|
|
Wrists |
|
|
Hands |
|
|
Waist |
|
|
Legs |
|
|
Feet |
|
|
Amulet |
|
|
Ring #1 |
|
|
Ring #2 |
|
|
Weapon |
|
|
Off-hand |
|
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.
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).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.
Paragon Points
In the Core section, max out Movement Speed to the 25% cap. Normally this
is done by dumping the first 50 Core Paragon points into Movement Speed, but
if your boots have an imperfect roll with Movement Speed as a stat that you
cannot replace, adjust the necessary point investment accordingly by simply
subtracting your roll from the 25% max. Then, maximize Essence due to the
interaction with Reilena's Shadowhook. After that, dump as much as you
comfortably can into Intelligence, but feel free to invest into Vitality if
you feel yourself lacking in toughness.
In the Offense section, max out Cooldown Reduction, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Attack Speed, in that order. In Defense, prioritize Armor, then Life %, then All Resistance, and finish off with Life Regeneration. In Utility, build up Area Damage and Life on Hit first, then finish off with Resource Cost Reduction and Globe Radius.
Slot | Paragon Points |
---|---|
Core |
|
Offense |
|
Defense |
|
Utility |
|
Gems
Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is
its own multiplier in your total damage calculation.
Enforcer is a pet-oriented gem that both increases your
summons' damage multiplicatively and lessens the damage they take.
Skeletal Mages count as pets for the purposes of this gem.
Your final slot is best occupied by the Legacy of Dreams legendary
gem, which provides a scaling bonus for each legendary item equipped, as long
as you have no set bonuses equipped. This bonus is multiplied for Ancient or
Primal quality items, and when the gem is maxed out, it matches the Legacy of
Nightmares (
The Wailing Host and
Litany of the Undaunted rings) set
bonus. This potent bonus allows you to play around with all your gear slots
for synergistic legendary powers at the cost of a gem slot; in the older LoN
setup, this socket would be occupied by
Zei's Stone of Vengeance.
When it comes to gear gems, you will start out progression by slotting the
highest available level of Topazes in the chest and pants sockets. Ideally,
these will all be Flawless Royal Topazes as soon as possible. As you
grow in Paragon (bulking up Intelligence in the Core section) and aim for
higher tier and more dangerous GRs, you will transition those gems into the
defensive
Flawless Royal Ruby, scaling the lacking Armor of an
Intelligence-based character (Intelligence scales Resistances). There is no
specific breakpoint where you do that; the rule of thumb is to make the change
as soon as you feel the lack of toughness impede your progress. Since this is
a highly cooldown-dependent build, slot a
Flawless Royal Diamond in your
helm. In your weapon, use a
Flawless Royal Emerald for the Crit Damage
boost.
Slot | Gems |
---|---|
Jewelry | |
Helm |
|
Torso and Pants |
|
Weapon |
For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.
Kanai's Cube
The Weapon slot in the Cube will be occupied by 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
Overwhelming Essence, maxing resource in Paragons and attaining a high
max Essence in the secondary stats of your
Scythe of the Cycle and chosen
offhand.
Your armor Cube slot will be occupied by Stone Gauntlets — one
of the most effective protective pieces in the game, bumping your armor in 50%
increments as you get hit, but with a similarly stacking mobility penalty
— and that downside you will be completely negating with the unique
property of
Ice Climbers, which make you immune to immobilization
effects.
The general recommendation for your jewelry Cube slot is
Krysbin's Sentence, both due to the overwhelming power it brings
compared to its alternatives, as well as the relative difficulty of perfecting
the item (high variance in its unique roll).
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.
Follower
The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Enchantress, due to her cooldown reduction- and increased attack speed bonuses, both of which are helpful to the needs of an attack speed- and CDR-heavy build such as this one.
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.
Legendary Potion
Your recommended potion is 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.
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 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:
Legendary Gem Considerations
Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian,
Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:
- Another generic damage-scaling legendary gem (
Bane of the Trapped for builds with any form of crowd control and/or melee range,
Zei's Stone of Vengeance for far ranged builds,
Taeguk for channeling builds,
Simplicity's Strength for primary attack-focused builds,
Enforcer for pet-oriented builds, etc.)
- A survivability-oriented legendary gem (
Esoteric Alteration,
Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard), or additional utility (
Gogok of Swiftness for CDR-reliant builds,
Pain Enhancer for attack speed-heavy builds, or
Wreath of Lightning for extra movement speed).
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 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). This synergizes well with the killstreak theme.
- For additional options that balance between defense and offense, the
class-specific amulet
Wisdom of Kalan extends the
Bone Armor stack maximum and can fit into several builds, while other helpful cross-class jewelry includes
Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set (
The Traveler's Pledge and
The Compass Rose).
- Situational items that can bolster your defenses include
Stone Gauntlets, the drawbacks of which are negated via CC-immunity effects like
Ice Climbers, or the Altar of Rites CC-immunity node. The class-specific
Razeth's Volition and the class-agnostic
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, which balances between defense and offense for channeling builds, often built around
Iron Rose.
- Utility items like
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 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 or
Krelm's Buff Belt. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with
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. While Necromancers lack an easily available enemy-pulling tool (Rathma Necros build around
Army of the Dead
Death Valley, but are an exception), a stunning skill like
Bone Armor
Dislocation can help manage large packs of enemies and doubles as a
Krysbin's Sentence proc. Take a look if you can include passives like
Final Service (for a cheat-death) or
Fueled by Death (for extra movement speed).
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: Added Season 31 advice for the unbound Kanai's Cube slots.
- 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: Revision of item recommendations, alongside advice for Season 22 changes.
- 02 Jul. 2020: Revised the build to account for Razeth's Volition changes.
- 12 Mar. 2020: Revised priority recommendations for gear to better reflect the meta for high-end runs.
- 22 Nov. 2019: Revised Cube recommendation to Hexing Pants.
- 23 Aug. 2019: Item recommendations have been revised for Season 18.
- 17 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 17 Apr. 2019: Guide added.
More Necromancer Guides
Builds from Other Classes
This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.
- Diablo 3 Season 35: Official Preview
- All Diablo 3 Season 34 Class Guides and Compendium
- Diablo 3 Season 34 Delayed a Week
- Season 34 Official Preview
- Diablo 3 Season 33 Unintentionally Prematurely Ended
- The Darkening of Tristram Returns January 3rd
- Diablo 3 Season 33, Shades of the Nephalem, Official Preview
- Diablo III Patch 2.7.8 Preview: What to Expect in Season 33?