D3 S28 Necromancer Fresh Level 70 Guide | 2.7.5

This method depends on how lucky you are looting the crafting plans. You only really need ONE of these sets to “win”. Heck, you can even combine it with Cheese method 2.

As the name implies this cheese method is super simple. Craft the following items:

• Reapers Wrap’s (wrist). Plans from Torment I+ Malthael.
• Aughild’s Helm, Shoulder, Chest. Plans mainly from bounties.
• Captain Crimson’s Belt, Legs, Boots. Plans mainly from bounties.

The objective of this method is simple. Beef up your stats in the most “generic” way possible to help you faceroll the seasonal journey.

Don’t worry about breaking Trag’Oul’s 2/4 set bonuses.
They’re pretty bad.

This tab can be a bit more meticulous than the previous one, but some people prefer it. The resulting build is pretty good.

The info in this tab should be kept in mind as a “sidequest” as you go along your journey. Basically, you must craft/fix/pickup a certain number of yellow items with the THORNS SECONDARY STAT.

You NEED Thorns items to muscle through the Torment IV entries and the final GR20 before getting your 6 piece (Hell, even the TII boss may pose a challenge raw).

The following item slots would be great:

1h Scythe – Ideally INT, Life per Hit, Socket. VIT luxury. The socket is for your best TOPAZ for +Thorns damage. The better your Topaz, the easier this is gonna be.

Phylactery (Offhand, can actually roll Thorns Secondary)
Chest, Legs (Thorns Secondary)
Rings (Thorns Secondary)
Belt (Thorns Secondary)

Amulet and Bracer: Physical% (and Thorns) is a HUGE BOOST. Even if you don’t roll thorns on these, the possible 30%+ Physical Damage modifier is TITANIC in your journey leading up to the 6 piece set. You typically even use the Physical after anyway.

Optionally, you can gather Shoulder, Boots, Gloves, and Helm with Thorns. It’s not a big deal if you don’t get it on those slots though.

NECRO NEEDS ARMOR – REMOVE ALLRES!

Why Armor? Necromancer is an INT character, meaning they gain +Damage and +Resists from Intelligence. INT characters DO NOT GAIN ARMOR NATURALLY, so stacking Armor on your gear will yield a larger defensive gain.

As a Fresh 70 Necromancer, yellow items are more than enough to help you complete the seasonal journey. You just need to remove any unnecessary stats off your looted or crafted yellow gear. Read on to know exactly the stats you should have per item.

INT and VIT should be in all of your armor pieces! Since Necro is an INT class, you’d want to have Armor in most of your gear. Ditch ALL RES and get Armor instead!

Weapon: Craft a 2H Scythe, if you haven’t picked one up yet! Equip a 2H scythe with INT and Vit. Third stat can either be socket or Life per Hit. You should have, at least, one Life per Hit in one of your gear. If you’re desperate, you can put in a purple gem. Otherwise, Topaz for +Thorns should be on it.

Life per Hit is great as a temporary stat during the early game. It triggers Grisly Tribute, and is, generally, a welcome defensive boost.

Belt: It’s a massive source of defense. Since the free set doesn’t come with a belt, better invest some time into getting a decent one. INT VIT ARMOR LIFE% is what you want.

Bracer & Necklace: with Physical%. These two rolls are extremely important in the bottleneck of this guide – GR20.

Skill%? We don’t really focus on one skill but Death Nova is a good choice.

Rings & Amulet: INT and Sockets are the 2 most important stat for these items. Better look for good accessories so you only need to socket in your legendary gems once you get them.

Body & Legs: Other than INT and VIT, equip ones with Armor and Sockets. This will definitely help you as you climb up the torment level.

Gems: Might as well be aware on what you need:

• Helm: It’s between Diamond and Amethyst for CDR (offensive) and Life% (defensive).
• Weapon: Emerald for Crit Damage, or Amethyst if desperate for Life per Hit.
• Other slots: You SHOULD slot Rubies or Emeralds for +Armor!

Generally speaking – remove bad stats such as:

• Life Regen – trash tier stat.
• Reduced Resource Cost – not really relevant.
• ALLRES – change to Armor, Vit or something else…
• ASPD – good, but its more of an end-game DPS addition with ‘thresholds’.
• Excessive CDR – Considered more of a late-game optimization.

For good stats like:

• INT / VIT – our core stats.
• Armor – our best defensive stat.
• Crit related stats – never sad to have these.
• Life per Hit – great in the early game.
• Life% – can’t complain with this.

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mouse wheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

Here’s an overview of what you should accomplish per chapter for this season.

1st set: Helm + Gloves
2nd set: Boots + Shoulders
3rd set: Chest + Pants

Here is the Conqueror Season Journey entries you need to accomplish to unlock a stash tab (if you haven’t unlocked all).

This is essentially the same as the leveling build. Good 'ol basic Nova for chumps, Corpse Lance for chunks - Golem to make sure you have it.

A pretty basic build if I've ever made one. Just make sure not to over eagerly Devour -  Corpse Lance the fatties first.

Chapter 1 & 2 - Do those bounties and kill those bosses. You'd have completed many of these along your way to level 70. The loose ends are chumpy. Get it done quick. Complete these in Hard mode.

Don't forget to bring out a pet! Pets pick up gold for you - so why not!? A lot of people may forget about this from time to time.

The most difficult thing about this tier is not knowing what build or skills to use as a Fresh 70 Necro, but thankfully we got some ideas for ya. Getting the free 2 piece is not a challenge.

The most important part about this early chunk is
KEEPING IN MIND THE CONTENTS OF THE "Setting up" TAB ABOVE.
Don't just blindly scrap everything

No change, except that Blood Rush gains the effects of all runes, all the same notes from the previous tabs’ build applies here too.

I know that some entries in Chapter 3 calls for it to be completed in Master, but it doesn’t say you have to complete the bounty in Master, too. Just in case you still haven’t ticked off the bounty cache entries, finish them in Hard mode.

Accomplish the other entries that needs you to interact with the crafter NPCs (Kadala, Jeweler and Kanai).

Now, increase difficulty to Master and let’s wrap up this chapter.

• Complete a Nephalem Rift
• Kill Urzael – Act V, Westmarch Heights
• Kill Skeleton King – Act I, The Royal Crypt

Collect your reward, reroll, equip your new gear and let’s head on over to the next tab!

I sincerely hope you built up one of the cheese methods mentioned at the beginning. The Torment IV entries are impossible without either method OR a good legendary drop.

The above build works with cheese method 1 – for thorns cheese build check the next tab.

Basically the same build, but OPTIONALLY swapping out Devour for Frailty, and our “worst” passive for Spreading Malediction. If you’re confident playing without a generator you can put Devour back in.

Trag’Oul’s set bonuses 2 and 4 aren’t that exceptional – especially when we need damage. Somewhere, midway into this chunk, we will transition into a Thorns build.

Finish off these entries before you proceed to the next “clicky” for the GR20 build discussion.

Upgrade a Rare to Legendary w/ Kanai’s Cube: Upgrade 2H Scythe. Consider yourself lucky if you get Reilena’s Shadowhook, but MANY of the 2H Scythes are super useful, simply edit your build to accommodate their power.

Complete a Torment I Rift: Depending on your gear this can be painful, but it shouldn’t be the end of the world. Hopefully, the Scythe you just got helps you along.

Set Difficulty to Torment II: Kill Adria in Act V, Ruins of Corvus

Set Difficulty to Torment IV: Rush over to the bosses! Ignore any enemies on the way!

THESE GUYS ARE SURPRISINGLY TOUGH. TIV bosses are quite chunky for a “raw” build, so this is the best time to experiment with your THORNS BUILD. Check the next tab for the Thorns build. If you got good drops and can manage – great!

• Kill Butcher – in Act I, Halls of Agony Level 3
• Kill Odeg the Keywarden – Act I, Fields of Misery
• Kill Sokahr the Keywarden – Act II, Dahlgur Oasis
• Kill Xah’Rith the Keywarden – Act III, Stonefort
• Kill Nekarat the Keywarden – Act IV, Garden of Hope 2nd Tier
• Keywardens maps have a key icon next to the waypoint. Purple arrows point you to their location after a short while once you’re in their respective map.

One more obstacle before you get the last 2 chunks of your free set. But before you ready yourself for GR20, check first if its unlocked for you. If it’s still grayed out, do a couple of the highest GRs you’re allowed to do until you have access to it.

Again, if you were unlucky enough not to get a significant, game-breaking legendary (or one of the cheese methods) this is going to be ROUGH. This is the build to cheese via a Thorns setup which I’ve mentioned multiple times leading up to this.

Revert to previous builds if you’re NOT using thorns, or get a good legendary.

FIX PARAGONS: INT  | CDR | Armor% | AD

>>> TRAGOUL 4 GR20 VIDEO HERE <<<

For a “reference”, here were my stats and what I tested with:

• NO ‘special’ legendaries aside from the 4PC Trag’Oul’s Avatar.
• NO Pylons taken.
• NO Legendary Gems.
• NO Cubed powers used.
• Remaining Time: anywhere between 1 and 4 minutes
• Thorns: 40600 (30k is fine I feel, but don’t tempt fate)
• Toughness: 12m (It was overkill)

Ah, the Thorns build… How does it work? It centers around Aberrant Animator which gives minions a percentage of your Thorns. So the goal is for the enemies to hit your minions (which is great).

Revive will be our spender of choice since it gives us a bunch of possible minions, to tag as many mobs as possible with Thorns.

Lastly, abusing Spreading Malediction with Frailty. The larger the clump you fight, the better it is for you. Don’t be afraid to drag lone yellows to new friends. Frailty is the only reason why I added an essence generator (Bone Spikes).

Try to remove any slow and stun from your followers (or any CC) as you want the enemies to have “easy access” to you and your minions. Your goal is to get hit, man.

The two and four set bonuses of Trag’Oul are pretty irrelevant so you can add two to four more Thorns pieces.

Overall, this should pose no threat if you prepared in advance – which you did, didn’t you?