Trag'Oul's Avatar Death Nova Necromancer

[Sinzhu 5]

This thread is for questions, comments, and feedback on our Trag'Oul's Avatar Death Nova build for the Necromancer in Diablo 3.

[Guest Questions]

I have a couple questions.

Firstly; why Zei's Stone of Vengeance? This is a build that revolves around being close to enemies so that they get blasted apart by Blood Novas. By needing to be close to enemies to make use of the bread and butter of the build, it renders Zei's useless, as it's damage increase comes from being far away, not up close.

Secondly; why does Blood Nova need to be on the skill bar? Iron Rose makes you cast them for free when channeling Siphon Blood, and from my experience, it doesn't need to be on your bar for your simulacrums to also cast it with you, so it honestly feels like a dead slot.

[Tirsiak 0]

This is the anon from the question about Zei's and Blood Nova on the skill bar again. I answered my own questions almost immediately after asking them. Was hard to notice the Simulacrums using base Death Nova because Blood Nova is bigger and flashier, and i actually read why you said to use Zei's instead of just glossing over the gem explanations like i usually do. My B. Sorry about that, and the double post.

[Guest DuckyEdéa]

Why does this build guide say the Trag'Oul set gives Siphon Blood AND Blood Rush all rune bonuses? The set bonus in-game only claims to give all rune bonuses to Blood Rush, not Siphon Blood.

Is the guide wrong, or did I miss something?

[Bubble181 14]

On 9/6/2022 at 6:25 PM, Guest DuckyEdéa said:

Why does this build guide say the Trag'Oul set gives Siphon Blood AND Blood Rush all rune bonuses? The set bonus in-game only claims to give all rune bonuses to Blood Rush, not Siphon Blood.

Is the guide wrong, or did I miss something?

Are you playing the properly updated version? It used to be only Blood Rush;, but was changed in patch 2.7.4 to be both skills. Old items in non-seasonal might still show only BR? I don't have a Trag'ouls lying around to double check right now, I guess it's possible they removed it right before releasing the patch, too. 

[Guest bthndrk]

Wouldn't Simlicity's Strength be amazing for this build, as we are mostly spamming Siphon Blood?

[Bubble181 14]

20 hours ago, Guest bthndrk said:

Wouldn't Simlicity's Strength be amazing for this build, as we are mostly spamming Siphon Blood?

No, because while you're spamming SB, it isn't causing any damage. As in, less than 1% of your damage. You will never kill anyone with your SB, even with Simplicity's Strength. your damage is all coming from the Blood Nova's triggered by SB through your Iron Rose.

[Guest Travis]

What gem goes in the helmet?

[Sableflame 5]

On 10/8/2022 at 8:49 PM, Guest Travis said:

What gem goes in the helmet?

The usual standard for Helms is a Diamond for CDR... however, other than the minuscule 10 sec cd on Bone Armor, nothing in this build is CD dependent, so that seems like it would be a waste.

I would be curious to know myself if the RCR of the Topaz counts for the health drain of the various abilities... since that is the "resource" that is being spent to trigger them.

Otherwise, use an Emerald for $ or a Ruby for quicker Paragon level-ups.

I suppose if you're feeling brave (and very cosplay-ish), you could stuff the Red Soul Shard in there and struggle with the essence of Diablo, lol

[Guest Rye-Oh]

Why do many people use red gems in their gear for this set?

[Guest FireAndShadow]

Both red and green gems soceted in legs/torso add armor, since int grants allres, added armor from gems provide more dr than topaz.

[Guest Gilthas]

Are you supposed to manually cast Blood Novas to get the buff from the Iron Rose, or will you normally get hit enough to have it stacked to 10? If we have the shield pylon, we need to do it ourselves I imagine, but if we get the cooldown pylon, casting Blood novas to lose health no longer works.

 

Note: I’m playing the console version, and I don’t seem to get any Iron Rose stacking by just casting Syphon Blood.

 

Another question: does Haunted Visions really drain your health when Simulacrum is active? If you lose 1% health per second, it should be easy to always have 6 stacks of the Iron Rose buff on at all times, but that doesn’t happen with me.

[Bubble181 14]

16 hours ago, Guest Gilthas said:

Are you supposed to manually cast Blood Novas to get the buff from the Iron Rose, or will you normally get hit enough to have it stacked to 10? If we have the shield pylon, we need to do it ourselves I imagine, but if we get the cooldown pylon, casting Blood novas to lose health no longer works.

 

Note: I’m playing the console version, and I don’t seem to get any Iron Rose stacking by just casting Syphon Blood.

 

Another question: does Haunted Visions really drain your health when Simulacrum is active? If you lose 1% health per second, it should be easy to always have 6 stacks of the Iron Rose buff on at all times, but that doesn’t happen with me.

It's not about getting hit, and it's not about manually casting Blood Nova. Channeling Siphon Blood will automatically trigger free Blood Novas, faster and more efficiently than you can manually cast it. Not sure what stacks you're referring to though, unless it's the damage amplification from Power Shift...which happens when damage is *dealt*, not *received*. You shoudl be hitting 10+ enemies practically every second (or you're not playing the build right) so that should be almost instantly capped and remain there forever.

[Gilthas 0]

5 hours ago, Bubble181 said:

It's not about getting hit, and it's not about manually casting Blood Nova. Channeling Siphon Blood will automatically trigger free Blood Novas, faster and more efficiently than you can manually cast it. Not sure what stacks you're referring to though, unless it's the damage amplification from Power Shift...which happens when damage is *dealt*, not *received*. You shoudl be hitting 10+ enemies practically every second (or you're not playing the build right) so that should be almost instantly capped and remain there forever.

The Iron Rose legendary affix was changed a few patches ago with the Trag rework I think:

Attacking with Siphon Blood has a 100% chance to cast a free Blood Nova. After cumulatively losing 10% of your maximum Life, your Death Nova deals 40-50% increased damage for 60 seconds. This effect stacks up to 10 times. (Necromancer Only) [40 - 50]%

So losing health increases the damage of Bloof Nova.

[Bubble181 14]

Oh, right, I forgot that one. Sorry, playing WD this season, not Necro. 

Yeah, you can re-cast Simulacrum or manually cast the occasional BN to get it up, but it shouldn't really be necessary.

[Guest nimdA]

The Guardians Jeopardy set doesn't grant move speed.

[Guest Siphon blood no rune]

No rune on siphon blood is just WRONG! Missing 10% dmg per stack if not using power shift as the rune. Blood rush is wrong. Need leech to reset potion cooldown for this season.

[KomodoDragoon 3]

On 5/6/2023 at 12:34 PM, Guest Siphon blood no rune said:

No rune on siphon blood is just WRONG! Missing 10% dmg per stack if not using power shift as the rune. Blood rush is wrong. Need leech to reset potion cooldown for this season.

You don't need a rune for Siphon Blood. The 2-piece bonus gives you all the rune effects for both Siphon Blood AND Blood Rush, which is why neither of them have rune recommendations, and you need Blood Rush for utility and survivability. If you want Leech/Blood Flask, Frailty/Aura of Frailty is the only one you can afford to swap.

Edited July 20, 2023 by KomodoDragoon

[KomodoDragoon 3]

I've been meaning to ask. Is Mantle of Channeling really the ideal choice for the Cube's armor slot? I mean, Siphon Blood isn't your main damage dealer.

[Bubble181 14]

On 7/23/2023 at 9:46 PM, KomodoDragoon said:

I've been meaning to ask. Is Mantle of Channeling really the ideal choice for the Cube's armor slot? I mean, Siphon Blood isn't your main damage dealer.

The MoC is taken for the 25% overall damage reduction, which is quite significant. While it's not a main damage dealer, you're channeling pretty much non-stop when you're not moving. I don't think there's a better option for the slot, really.