Necromancer Corpse Lance Build with Pestilence or Trag'Oul's set
Welcome to our build guide for Corpse Lance Necromancer in Diablo 3. Here, you will learn everything you need to know to play this build at the highest level. This build is updated for patch 2.6.9 and Season 21.
For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our follower guide, which contains detailed advice on choosing the skills and the gear of your companion.
Introduction
The Corpse Lance Necromancer is a powerful elite hunting build, capable of the whole spectrum of content difficulty with minor adjustments. This daredevil, burst damage spec is meant for Greater Rift solo progression. The present build is using the Pestilence set. We also have variations of this build: a Trag'Oul variation, a group progression variation, and speed farming variation; all accessible by using the links below.
Video Guide
The following video guide was created to accompany the present written guide and demonstrate how to play the build in-game.
Quick Reference
Skill Setup
The basic skill setup of the Corpse Lance Necromancer is displayed below. Read the dedicated Skills page for detailed information on choices, alternatives and build customization.
| Active Skills |
|---|
Corpse Lance
 Brittle Touch
Blood Rush
 Molting
1
Devour
Satiated
2
Command Skeletons
Dark Mending
3
Simulacrum
 Reservoir
4
Land of the Dead
Frozen Lands
|
| Passive Skills |
Gear Setup
The required gear setup for the Corpse Lance Necromancer is listed below. Check the Gear page for detailed information on choices, alternatives, gemming, Kanai's Cube and Paragon distribution.
- Helm:
Pestilence Mask - Shoulders:
Pestilence Defense - Gloves:
Pestilence Gloves - Chest:
Pestilence Robe - Belt:
Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle - Pants:
Captain Crimson's Thrust - Boots:
Pestilence Battle Boots - Bracers:
Nemesis Bracers - Amulet:
Squirt's Necklace - Ring 1:
Krysbin's Sentence - Ring 2:
Convention of Elements - Weapon:
Jesseth Skullscythe - Offhand:
Jesseth Skullshield
Legendary Gems
- Legendary Gem 1:
Gogok of Swiftness - Legendary Gem 2:
Bane of the Trapped - Legendary Gem 3:
Zei's Stone of Vengeance
Kanai's Cube
- Weapon Slot:
Reilena's Shadowhook - Armor Slot:
Corpsewhisper Pauldrons - Jewelry Slot:
Ring of Royal Grandeur
Changelog
- 02 Jul. 2020 (trag'oul page): Guide was revised with respect to the changes to the Jesseth set in Season 21.
- 02 Jul. 2020 (speed farming page): Guide was revised with respect to the changes to the Jesseth set in Season 21.
- 02 Jul. 2020 (this page): Guide was revised with respect to the changes to the Jesseth set in Season 21.
- 02 Jul. 2020 (group progression page): Retiring this variation of the build.
- 02 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Guide was revised with respect to the changes to the Jesseth set in Season 21.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (speed farming page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (skills page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (trag'oul page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (this page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (group progression page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (gear page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (trag'oul page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (speed farming page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (group progression page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (skills page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (this page): Reviewed for Season 19.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (skills page): Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (group progression page): Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (gear page): Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (speed farming page): Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (trag'oul page): Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 12 May 2019 (speed farming page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 12 May 2019 (trag'oul page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 12 May 2019 (gear page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 12 May 2019 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 12 May 2019 (group progression page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 12 May 2019 (skills page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (skills page): Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (gear page): Added suggestions for the baseline Ring of Royal Grandeur for Seasonal characters.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (this page): Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 16.
- 20 Sep. 2018 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 15.
- 14 Jun. 2018 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 14.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (gear page): Expanded the gearing explanations to clarify proper item rolls.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (skills page): Spreading Malediction is now a default choice and Decrepify its alternative.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (group progression page): Added the group progression variant.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (this page): Added the Pestilence group variation, adjusted Passive selection.
- 12 Nov. 2017 (skills page): Added a passive alteration for an endgame optimized character.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (speed farming page): Reworked the variant to a Pestilence setup.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (gear page): The Pestilence set is now the main setup (and Trag'Oul is a variation).
- 27 Oct. 2017 (skills page): Guide shifted to suggest Pestilence set as the main setup, and Trag'Oul as a variation.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (this page): Guide shifted to suggest Pestilence set as the main setup, and Trag'Oul as a variation.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (trag'oul page): Moved Trag'Oul as a progression variant.
- 15 Jul. 2017 (speed farming page): Updated the speed farming guide with optimized suggestions.
- 12 Jul. 2017 (skills page): Guide updated to reflect the meta shift to Simulacrum.
- 12 Jul. 2017 (gear page): Guide updated to reflect the meta shift to Simulacrum.
- 12 Jul. 2017 (this page): Guide updated to reflect the meta shift to Simulacrum.
- 07 Jul. 2017 (skills page): Skill recommendations updated.
- 07 Jul. 2017 (gear page): Gear recommendations updated.
- 26 Jun. 2017 (this page): Guide added.
More Necromancer Guides
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Farming Guides
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.
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