S-TIER | NECROMANCER BUILD Armée de Morts archimages (@Jerycho) | SEASON 14

LEVELING | ENDGAME | BUDGET | PIT PUSH | PIT 100 NECROMANCIEN

Build Overview

This Necromancer build relies entirely on the army rather than the player's own spells: skeleton warriors, skeleton mages and the golem soak up hits and deal most of the damage while the Necromancer curses and supports from the back line. The Undercrown raises the maximum number of skeleton warriors and skeleton mages and makes the mages focus the same target the warriors are attacking, while The Hand of Naz turns surviving skeleton mages into arch-mages after 25 hits and converts every warrior or golem sacrifice into an extra mage. Aspect of Reanimation ramps up minion damage by up to 90% after 10 seconds of life, a scaling that Pact of Bone reinforces with attack speed, critical strike chance and a collective enrage whenever a minion dies. The Decrepify and Iron Maiden curses, applied automatically by your minions thanks to Blood Moon Breeches, also grant extra critical damage against cursed targets. The Maxroll planner shared by the author offers two weapon setups: the two-handed Bloodless Scream, which Chills enemies hit by Darkness skills to make them scale with Signet of Pelghain, or the Lidless Wall and Azurewrath combo, more defensive and built around Bone Storm. Tested in SSF (Solo Self Found) by @Jerycho all the way to Pit 100, this Army of the Dead build shows that a well-stacked skeleton army can go the distance even without community-optimized gear.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Recommended Gear

The gear revolves around two inseparable pieces: The Undercrown to swell the number of skeleton warriors and mages, and The Hand of Naz which turns survivors into arch-mages and converts sacrifices into reinforcements. Aspect of Reanimation ramps up minion damage over time, while Aspect of Disobedience turns damage over time into damage reduction stacking up to 30 times — a welcome defensive layer to offset the build's natural fragility. Pact of Bone as a charm and Signet of Pelghain on the ring finger round out the first variant; the second variant swaps the weapon for Lidless Wall and Azurewrath, leaning more toward defense.

Horadric Seal S14

The main variant's talisman relies on the Peace of the Black Shroud set: five charms (Phoba, Fer, Mlor, Linta and Berú of the Black Shroud) that each grant extra skill ranks, rounded out by the unique charm Azurewrath, which makes enemies explode when Chill expires for a portion of the damage they took while Chilled — a direct synergy with Bloodless Scream and Signet of Pelghain. The Legendary seal adds an extra charm slot, letting you fit all six charms at once.

Gameplay Tips

Let your curses land automatically via Blood Moon Breeches instead of casting them manually, and focus on repositioning the golem and skeleton warriors to keep Iron Maiden and Decrepify active on enemy packs. Don't sacrifice your warriors or golem too early via The Hand of Naz: each sacrifice grants an extra Skeleton Mage, but clear the front line first before converting your tanks into extra damage. Give your minions time to ramp up through Aspect of Reanimation before engaging an elite or a boss — the army is noticeably stronger after a few seconds of combat than right at summon. In SSF, stay cautious about positioning: without dedicated resistance slots, the player's survival depends almost entirely on the minions' ability to soak up damage in your place.

Talent Tree

Mercenary S14

Paragon

The starting board invests in Essence for resource generation, before moving on to Wither and its Abyssal glyph for damage over time. The Cult Leader board and its Deadraiser glyph directly reinforce your minions, while Scent of Death and its Mage glyph support the skeleton mages. The last board, Frailty with the Darkness glyph, rounds out the offensive scaling against cursed targets.