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Necromancers always conjure an image of commanding an undead army to do your every whim, and inLast Epoch, that’s pretty much exactly what you get. In a game that loves giving you pets, Necromancers get golems, wraiths, zombies, shades, and oodles and oodles of skeletons.
But just because you’ve got an army of undead to command doesn’t mean you get to sit back, relax, and let your minions do all the killing. Necromancers can get their hands just as bloody as the other Acolyte subclasses, they just have a much larger cheering section to encourage their bloody mayhem.
Necromancer Strategy
You can definitely approach the Necromancer asthemost hands-off subclassin Last Epoch. By filling every available skill slot with summons, only investing in minion damage and health, and as much Intelligence as you can, you’ll boost your undead army to truly terrifying levels of destruction. You’ll also be incredibly bored.
Instead, this leveling build usesa hybrid strategy of minions and spellcasting. You’ll still have an undead army to command, but you’ll also have a few spells to cast that will deal damage, improve your minions’ damage, and even raise more undead to bolster your forces.
SinceIntelligence boosts both your spellcasting and minions, you’ll want to prioritize this attribute above all others. After that, things that improve physical damage, spellcasting damage, and physical minion damage will improve your build almost equally.
One thing you’ll want tolook out forwhen building your Necromancer isanything that provides a flat value to spell damage. Nearly all Acolyte and Necromancer skills provide percentage-based increases, so boosting your base damage value considerably increases your personal damage output.
We’ll talkmore about what can provide these boostsin the equipment sectionlater on.
Positioning is key to a Necromancer’s survival. You’ll want tohang back and let your undead army tank all incoming damagewhile you cast spells safely from the back line. Your Intelligence provides you with a decent amount of ward, but it’s not something you’ll want to rely on to avoid becoming a corpse yourself.
One unfortunate factor of being a Necromancer is that yourminions will often look exactly the same as the undead enemies you’ll find in the Imperial Age. Luckily, there’s no friendly fire in Last Epoch, so you can keep slinging spells to support your skeletons until they eventually triumph over the slightly more evil skeletons.
Necromancer Skills And Passives
Another benefit to this build is that there’s no re-speccing required. In fact, youstart the game with your main damage spell: Rip Blood. Although this spell might seem anemic to start (pun intended), it’ll eventually become a bloody shotgun that can wipe out entire groups of enemies while simultaneously healing you.
Theother spell that really makes this build click is Bone Curse. This spell curses enemies to take more damage based on your spell damage, but it doesn’t discriminate on where the damage comes from. This means your minions get the same damage boost as you do, essentially letting your minions share your personal spell damage stats.
Summon Skeleton will provide the bulk of your undead army, while Summon Bone Golem provides a very tanky minion that will endure when a boss wipes out your skeletons with a powerful area spell. Finally, Transplant provides you with a positioning and traversal spell to keep you out of danger.
Both Bone Curse and Transplant will eventually add to your undead army, so don’t feel too bad about missing out on other summon skills. Your screen will be full of skellies.
This build is intended for leveling onlyand will only discuss skills, passives, and items until level 60 (about when most people will beat the main campaign). Although each skill is described to level 20, you almost certainly won’t get all of them that high before the end of the campaign.
Blood Rip
Start with gettingEvisceratefor the guaranteed blood splatter chance. This will make Rip Blood cost mana, but with even a little bit of mana reduction from a wand, the mana cost won’t be too much for you. This turns your little handgun into a bloody shotgun capable of taking down multiple enemies at once.
After that, max outArcane Absorptionfor the global spell damage bonus. This is one of the few skills that offer a flat bonus to your base spell attack, so you’ll want to max this node before continuing down this tree toRun Dry, which provides a percentage-based damage bonus.
Put two points intoRun Dry, then two points intoNecrotic Inspiration. Now, the more minions you have, the more damage Rip Blood will do, and you’re going to have alotof minions. After maxing out this node, go back to Run Dry and put the remaining three points into it.
Now head back to the bottom path and put a point intoCrimson Flood, and then max outRevilefor increased blood splatter damage. And then, go back to put another point into Crimson Flood and finally a point intoBlood Infusionto give your melee minions a buff whenever they get covered in blood splatter.
Summon Skeleton
An undead army needs to muster as many soldiers as possible, so the focus here will be onunlocking all the nodes that add skeletonsto your summon cap.
Start with two points intoUnholy Rage, then grabMarrow Walkersto bring your summon cap to four. Next, two points intoNecrotic Convictionand then a point intoHollow Walkersto bring your cap to five. Two points intoUnbound Necromancythen leads toGrave Walkersfor a cap of six.
With more skeletons to work with, now’s the time to improve their damage. Max outSweeping Strikes, thenUnholy Rage, and then improve their durability withNecrotic Conviction. With your Necromancer passives, you’ll have a potent army of skeletons to do most of the heavy lifting for you.
Your skeletons might bea little weak early on, but they pick up speed later in the game. Just resummon whatever skellies perish on your way to becoming an all-powerful Necromancer.
Bone Curse
Bone Curse is the perfect spell to pair with Rip Blood.Entreat the Damnedgives you three more skeletons, increasing Rip Blood’s damage output, and thenRuptured Corpseadds yet more area damage to Rip Blood’s blood splatters, making a potent mob-clearing combo.
Start with two points intoIron Maiden, then two more intoBrittle Bones, and thenEntreat the Damned. You should be able to get this path fully unlocked once you specialize Bone Curse, so you’ll see an immediate boost in overall power. Next, getRuptured Corpsefor the aforementioned Rip Blood combo.
You shouldstart every combat encounter with a quick Bone Cursebefore you start holding down the Rip Blood button. This willvastlyimprove everyone’s damage.
With those key nodes out of the way, max outBrittle BonesandIron Maidento improve the damage of Bone Curse, and then it’s time to improve your Curse’s overall size withConflation. With four points, even large mobs will all succumb to Bone Curse.
A point intoSigil of Mortalityincreases Bone Curse’s mana cost, but it also provides a brief 25% damage bonus, which can be improved with a few points intoReaper’s Mark. After that,Defile Defensesreduces enemy armor, further improving damage output (especially against bosses).
Summon Bone Golem
Bone Golem doesn’t get specialized until level 35, but don’t worry! Your monstrosity remains plenty tanky before then. After you specialize this ape-like amalgam of bones, it becomes even tankier.
Start with a point intoAmalgam of Sentinels, thenTower of Bones, and thenFragments of the Fallen. Since you only have one golem, Fragments of the Fallen immediately provides a 25% damage bonus, and if it ever dies, its replacement gains 9,500 armor for 15 seconds.
After that, a point intoUnnatural Speed, then two points intoHunger, and finally, a point intoBlood Golemgives your Bone Golem a red coat of paint. Blood Golem provides your golem with a few more interesting tricks that still use physical damage tags.
Once you get your big Blood Golem, focus on making it bigger and meaner. Five points intoAmalgam of Roguesimproves your golem’s lumbering gait and attack speed, whileBladed Fistsimproves its overall damage. Finally, two points intoAmalgam of Primalistshelps with both your golem’s and your skeleton’s armor values.
Transplant
For most of the campaign, Transplant is justa convenience spell to get you out of trouble or to travel faster. Once specialized at level 50, it becomesa buff and yet another source of skeletons.
Start with maxing outFleeting Form, then one point intoMarrow Blades,Simulacrum,Purgatory, and all three points intoIvory Court. Now, Transplant produces four more melee skeletons to add to your armor and further enhance your Rip Blood skill.
After that, max outAcolyte’s Fervorand the remaining two points intoMarrow Bladesfor a haste/frenzy buff and a larger damage buff to your minions every time you teleport. Finally, three points intoBone ArmorandApostasygives you a defensive buff as well.
Acolyte Passives
We’re keeping things easy and breezy in the Acolyte tree. First max outForbidden Knowledgefor the Intelligence boost, which helps both your spells and your minions' overall stats. Next,Blood Aurafor more damage to all.
Then one point into Mania ofMortality,Stolen Vitality,Crimson Gluttony, andUnnatural Preservationprovides a bit of defense that you can improve later on if you feel your Necromancer is dying too often. This will likely get you to where you select your subclass.
If you prefer not to mess with wardstats at all, just get Stolen Vitality and Crimson Gluttony to focus on your health.
Necromancer Passives
Once you become a Necromancer, you immediately get another skeleton to add to your skeletal army. You can then make this army more potent by maxing outRisen Armyfor more attack speed and damage.Cursed Bloodcomes next to improve your physical damage and your minion’s damage. Put six points here, then put a point intoBlood Armour, five points intoMortal Tether, and finally a point intoUnbound Necromancyfor yet another skeleton.
After that, all eight points untoUnearthed Armsimprove your minions’ base damage values. Five points intoFrantic Summonsimproves both your and your minion’s overall speed, and five points intoRiver of Bonesgives them a decent crit rate.
You’ll wind up onHeresyfor Intelligence. You’ll likely beat the game before maxing this node out, but if by some chance you do, go back and max outCursed Blood.
Necromancer Items And Affixes
Necromancers generally hang back and let their minions do most of the tanking, so you’ll want tofocus on improving your damagewhile being morebalanced with improving your minion’s stats. Here are the affixes to look for on your gear.
For more on how to craft items in Last Epoch, check out ourcrafting guide here.
Intelligence does the most for Necromancers, boosting your spell damage and your minions' damage and health. After that, spell damage and physical damage will both boost Rip Blood and Bone Curse. Cast Speed helps you cast both spells faster, which means more damage.
You’ll need a little extra mana and mana regenerationto let you freely cast Rip Blood and Bone Curse. Prioritize getting this on either your jewelry, gloves, relic, or wand/scepter/staff/catalyst.
Necromancers don’t get any skills that boost movement speed, sobe sure to get the fastest boots you can find. And as always, resistances, armor, and health will keep you alive should an enemy manage to get through your undead minions.
Basic Items
Necromancers shouldlook for these items to craftinto powerful gear to help your undead machinations.
Skull Cage
Almost no skills provide base spell damage. Even with little armor protection, this helmet should be a priority upgrade.
Witch Hat
Mana regen is useful if you may’t find it on any other piece of gear.
Coven Hate
Even better than a Witch Hat, the Coven Hat provides more armor, mana, and mana regeneration.
Initiate Robes
These robes don’t give much armor, but they do provide mana.
Mana regen and cast speed are even better.
Noble Gloves
An even more useful source of mana regeneration in the mid-game.
Noble Sash
Not a lot of potion slots, but the extra mana is more helpful.
Oak Sceptre
Potentially high spell damage and extra minion damage can be a great combo if you find the right one.
Vault Scepter
A better Oak Scepter, but doesn’t drop until much later in the campaign.
Wands
Every wand provides a mana cost discount and extra spell damage. Use whatever wand gives you the most damage.
Root Staff
A good early-game option if you can’t find a good wand. Provides the same mana discount as wands.
Same as the Root Staff, but way more spell damage.
Prophecy Staff
Even more spell damage and a bonus to all minion skills.
Defiled Bones
More spell damage means more powerful Rip Bloods and Bone Curses.
Unique and Named Items
If you’re new to Last Epoch, you won’t have any of these items to start. But you might come across them in your travels.If you find any of these, hold onto them.
Don’t worry if you can’t find these items. None of them are required for the build to work, but they can certainly help a lot.
Description
Peak of the Mountain
You won’t leech health from crits anyway, and +5 to all attributes is a lot for level 12.
Doublet of Onus Tull
A useful early-game armor, but you’ll grow out of it quickly once you start crafting better armor.
Avarice
A decent guaranteed drop, although it really just provides mana and resistances. You’ll grow out of this one quickly too.
Swaddling of the Erased
Cast speed, mana, and plus to all attributes is a great early-game option.
Chains of Uleros
An extra 12% global damage is the best you’ll find at level 14, but you’ll have to get used to potions providing ward instead of health.
Advent of the Erased
Haste for you and your minions.
Reach of the Grave
Good early-game wand, but will quickly be surpassed by better wands due to its low spell damage.
Ambitions of an Erased Acolyte
Although you’re a Necromancer, all your skills are actually Acolyte skills, so this relic effectively provides +1 to all skills. IT does little else, however.
Orchirian’s Petals
This guaranteed drop from The Verdant Lakes provides a massive boost to spell damage and a lot of boosts to resists, mana, and health. A great relic option.
Cave Druid’s Root Staff
Another guaranteed drop, this time from the one-time chest in Welryn Outskirts, this staff provides a big physical spell damage boost, cast speed, and +1 to your physical skills (which are Rip Blood, Bone Curse, and Transplant). If you found this on another character, start using it at 14, and don’t look back until level 30 or so.
Pebbles' Bitemarked Sash
The Pebbles set adds elemental damage to your minions, but it adds so much that it doesn’t even matter that your skills mostly enhance physical damage.
Pebbles' Femur
Idol Affixes
You’ll mostly be looking for the same stats on your idols as you would your main gear. Here are theaffixes to keep an eye out for.
