Poison Nova Necromancer

Creating a Poison Nova build for the Necromancer in Diablo 2: Resurrected is an exciting way to focus on dealing damage over time through poison abilities. This build excels in dealing with groups of enemies and is particularly effective for crowd control. Below is a comprehensive guide for maximizing the effectiveness of the Poison Nova build.

Poison Nova Necromancer Build Guide

Key Skills

Focus primarily on the Poison and Bone Tree, maximizing your poison damage potential:

  1. Poison and Bone Tree:
  • Teeth (1 Point) - Serves as a filler and offers low-cost damage to help you in the early game.
  • Poison Dagger (20 Points) - Your primary melee attack that applies poison damage and synergizes with Poison Nova.
  • Duplicate Skill of Poison Nova (20 Points) - Your main poison area damage spell that spreads to nearby enemies.
  • Poison Explosion (20 Points) - An excellent synergy for Poison Nova that deals high damage when leaving corpses.
  • Bone Armor (1 Point) - Provides a shield to absorb damage.
  • Bone Wall (1 Point) - Optional for crowd control, useful for holding enemies back and creating barriers.
  • Bone Prison (1 Point) - Might be useful for trapping enemies when you need some control.
  1. Summoning Tree:
  • Raise Skeleton (1 Point) - As a support to draw enemy attention away from you.
  • Skeleton Mastery (1 Point) - Boosts the effectiveness of your raised skeletons.
  • Revive (1-20 Points) - Optional for additional powerful allies; invest points here if you find it useful for your challenges.
  1. Curses Tree:
  • Amplify Damage (1 Point) - Increases the overall damage dealt to enemies.
  • Lower Resistance (1 Point) - Reduces enemy resistance to increase the overall effectiveness of your poison skills, making it a key curse for damage output.

Stat Distribution

  • Strength: Enough to wear your gear (generally between 50-100).
  • Dexterity: Minimal unless you’re focusing on max blocking.
  • Vitality: Most points should go here to increase survivability (aim for at least 250-300).
  • Energy: Moderate investment (around 50-100) to sustain your casting.

Gear Recommendations

Aim for items that enhance poison skills, provide survivability, and increase your damage output:

  • Helm:
    • Harlequin Crest (Shako) for +skills, resistances, and life.
  • Armor:
    • Skin of the Vipermagi for +skills and resistances.
    • Enigma for teleportation, if mobility is needed.
  • Weapon:
    • Death's Web for +skills, increased damage from poison, and poison resist.
  • Shield:
    • Homunculus for +skills and resistances.
  • Boots:
    • Marrowwalk for +skills and bonuses to bone spells.
  • Belt:
    • Arachnid Mesh for +skills and faster cast rate.
  • Gloves:
    • Magefist or Trang-Oul's Claws for faster cast rate and skill bonuses.
  • Rings:
    • Stone of Jordan for +skills and increased mana.
  • Amulet:
    • Mara's Kaleidoscope for +skills and resistances.

Mercenary Choice

  • Act 2 Offensive Mercenary: Enhances your damage output with auras.
    • Weapon: Insight for mana regeneration.
    • Armor: Treachery or Chains of Honor for added damage and durability.
    • Helm: Andariel’s Visage for increased damage and life steal.

Gameplay Tips

  • Use Poison Nova to deal damage in large areas and clear groups of enemies.
  • Apply Poison Dagger when you’re in melee range, especially against poison-vulnerable enemies.
  • Use Amplify Damage before applying your poison spells for maximum effect.
  • Maintain Bone Armor for damage absorption from enemy attackers, especially when in close proximity.
  • Utilize the Lower Resistance curse to increase overall damage output against tougher foes.