D2R Season 9: Bone Necromancer Build Guide

Ben Author

Created - 27.12.2024 Updated - 27.12.2024

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There are only so many D2R builds that excel at PvP or player vs. player combat—one of which is the Bone Necromancer (or “Bonemancer” for short). It is one of the only builds that we recommend for PvP because of its survivability and ease of use relative to the amount of investment.

How does it work and why is it hailed as a great build for player vs. player combat? If you want to learn the reasons why, then come! This is our comprehensive build guide for the Bone Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9!

Why Choose the Bone Necromancer?

When people talk about Diablo II: Resurrected builds, they typically refer to those that can handle PvM content in a jiffy. The Nova Sorc, Lightning Fury Javazon, and the “FOHdin” are just some great examples of these that can decimate monsters without question. So what does the Bonemancer offer?

Well, the D2R Bone Necromancer is a build that is great for PvP. While it has no problems destroying the minions of Hell, where this build shines is going one-on-one against other players.

The main selling point of this build is that it utilizes skills that deal magic damage like Bone Spear and Bone Spirit. This is important to point out because there aren’t a lot of enemies in the game that are immune to the said damage type. This goes for other players as well.

That said, by utilizing both of these skills in the best ways possible, the Bonemancer can make quick work of the enemy. Of course, priming them with a well-placed Decrepify should help a lot considering that this curse not only slows down targets but also makes them take increased damage.

While Bone Spear and Bone Spirit deal a good amount of damage, they don’t hit a lot of enemies per cast. That’s why Corpse Explosion is a nice skill to have for good AoE clear. This is only suitable for PvM content, though this is what you will do the vast majority of time playing Diablo II: Resurrected anyway.

Aside from that, the Diablo II: Resurrected Bone Necromancer build is amazing for new players. You don’t need impeccable aim to make great use of Bone Spirit and Corpse Explosion. The former has a built-in homing mechanism that hones in on targets even without hovering your mouse cursor over them, while the latter explodes nearby corpses just by using the skill.

Sure, Bone Spear does require a bit of aiming but you don’t have to be an expert marksman just to kill enemies with it. The projectile that is fired when using Bone Spear can pierce through targets, making it the ideal skill for maps with tight layouts like the Maggots Lair in Act 2.

Now, where does the build’s tankiness come from? A huge part of it is from Bone Armor, which absorbs physical damage, preventing your HP from getting depleted after getting hit by an attack.

D2R items that improve Faster Hit Recovery are also welcome, particularly if you are going to use this build primarily for PvP. We will discuss the gear in greater detail later on in this Bone Necromancer D2R build guide for Season 9.

Playstyle

Most of your damage comes from Bone Spear and Bone Spirit. Bone Spear is great because it allows you to fire a projectile that moves forward quickly and has the ability to pierce through targets.

To adequately describe what Bone Spirit’s function is in the build, this skill puts “slowly but surely” to heart. That’s because the projectile itself is slow to move but has a homing mechanism that will hunt the target down when unleashed. Bone Spirit is a good skill to use in PvP precisely because of this mechanic.

While farming The Secret Cow Level, Chaos Sanctuary, or other densely populated areas, it is best that you butter the enemies nicely with Amplify Damage. This will significantly boost the damage of Corpse Explosion, allowing you to blow stuff up in a matter of seconds! When you see a group of enemies, kill one or two of them with Bone Spear and then follow that up with CE.

On bosses, cast Decrepify to reduce their movement speed and make them more susceptible to incoming damage. After that, cast Bone Spirit until they are dead.

Clay Golem is the only minion that you summon on this D2R build. Aside from being the tankiest minion in the Necromancer’s arsenal, the Clay Golem can slow nearby enemies down by its mere presence. The slow effect can also be improved by having as many “+ to skills” items in your inventory.

Stats

• Strength: At least 156
• Dexterity: None (PvM) or until 75% block chance is achieved (PvP/Hardcore)
• Vitality: Spend the rest of the attribute points here
• Energy: None

The stat allocation for the D2R Bonemancer depends entirely on what you want to achieve. If you are going to build it as an item farmer on a budget, then you allocate enough points on strength just to satisfy your gear requirements.

Now, if you want the Bone Necromancer to last long and eliminate enemies in PvP, then we recommend that you put enough points on dexterity till you achieve a 75% block chance. This helps you survive long enough to land a perfectly placed Bone Spirit for the kill.

Whatever path you choose, you will still put all of your remaining points on vitality to increase your life pool considerably.

Skills

• 20 points on Bone Spear
• 20 points on Bone Spirit
• 20 points on Bone Wall
• 20 points on Bone Prison
• 20 points on Teeth
• 2 points on Clay Golem
• Put 1 point on the following skills:
• Bone Armor
• Corpse Explosion
• Amplify Damage
• Weaken
• Terror
• Decrepify
• Golem Mastery
• Summon Resist

As you can see, most of your points will be spent on the primary “Bone Skills” like Bone Spirit and Bone Spear along with their synergies—Bone Wall, Bone Prison, and Teeth. Since Patch 2.4, Blizzard has increased the damage from each skill synergy to 8%, making your primary damage dealers hit harder than ever before.

Bone Wall is actually pretty useful for PvM because you can separate yourself from the enemy by spamming the said skill until they have no chance of getting near you. After that, you can curse them with Amplify Damage/Decrepify and spam Bone Spear or Bone Spirit. If you feel that your character cannot withstand a beating, this is a good way to survive even on modest gear.

On the other hand, Bone Prison is meant for putting other players in place in PvP. This enables you to cast Decrepify and Bone Spirit, leaving them with little to no chance of escape. This is one of the main reasons why a lot of people use the Bonemancer in player vs. player combat because the tools available to this build make the encounter relatively easy.

If you are wondering why an extra point is allocated to Clay Golem as opposed to Golem Mastery, it is because it considerably boosts the slow effect of the said minion with each level. The Clay Golem is durable enough to withstand punishment without worrying about its health. In case it dies in combat (which is pretty rare), you can simply resummon it without a problem!

It’s important to keep in mind that the slow effect of Decrepify stacks with the Clay Golem, though their effectiveness in this regard is capped at 50% in PvP. In other words, Clay Golem and Decrepify can only reduce the movement/attack speed of enemy players by half; no more, no less.

Another thing to note is that the Clay Golem can only apply the effect when it hits enemies. That’s why it’s okay to rely solely on Decrepify for the slow debuff if your golem has a hard time landing a punch on the enemy.

Bone Armor provides you with an extra layer of protection that completely absorbs physical damage. Take note that it does not reduce physical damage. Instead, Bone Armor absorbs it, which means that your HP won’t be depleted after an attack. This is one of those “one-point” wonders in D2R because the amount of physical damage Bone Armor absorbs is enhanced by both Bone Wall and Bone Prison.

Having said that, Bone Armor and Clay Golem should be recast when necessary.

Breakpoints

The goal of breakpoints in D2R is to reduce the number of frames needed to complete a certain action, preferably without compromising gear. That is why the ideal Faster Cast Rate (FCR) breakpoint for the Bone Necromancer is 125% (9 frames). If you’re able to achieve this, casting all of your primary skills will feel quite smooth.

Achieving a 125% FCR will require you to have bonuses to Faster Cast Rate in almost all of your pieces of gear. If you’re not okay with sacrificing other useful bonuses in favor of having a high FCR, then you can go for the 75% Faster Cast Rate breakpoint instead. This reduces the casting animation of your skills from 15 frames to just 10 frames.

In addition, you have to address Faster Hit Recovery (FHR), especially in PvP. We recommend that you reach high and attain the six-frame FHR of 86%. With one of the shields that will be discussed later, this is quite easy to achieve. You can go for the next best thing (56% FHR) if 86% is too steep for your current equipment.

Bone Necromancer Gear Recommendations

The choice of gear for the D2R Bonemancer build depends on what type of content you wish to tackle. Most of the items that we’ll recommend in this build guide are safe to use in PvM, though there are some that you can utilize only in PvP. Don’t worry, we will give you options so that you have the best chances of winning no matter what you want to do in the game.

While gearing the Bone Necromancer, prioritize Faster Cast Rate (FCR), Faster Hit Recovery (FHR), + to skills, and resistances. You may have to populate your inventory with the right small charms that increase your resistances because this is an area that is a bit challenging to overcome on this build.

FHR, life, and a 75% block chance are quite important in player vs. player challenges. If your primary goal is to come out on top in PvP, then make sure to get them as high as you possibly can for the best results.

Helmet

All of the bone skills mentioned earlier in this D2R build guide scale really well at higher levels. This is the reason why the Harlequin Crest is perfect for the Bonemancer. Besides its +2 skills, the “Shako” also grants a hefty life boost and some physical damage reduction to boot.

Crown of Ages gives you an easier time achieving the 86% Faster Hit Recovery breakpoint as this helmet alone grants 30% FHR. Furthermore, this unique helmet bolsters your defenses against physical and elemental damage significantly.

Now, Crown of Ages can roll with two sockets. You can put a couple of Um Runes to further increase the amount of bonus resistance it provides. If money is not an issue, then you can socket two Ber Runes for a 16% increase in physical damage reduction!

Instead of using Ber Runes to improve your physical damage reduction even further while wearing the Crown of Ages, you can put that to even better use by trading them for a rare helmet that has +2 to Poison and Bone Skills (PnB), 20% FCR, and all-resists.

Body Armor

A majority of caster builds in Diablo II: Resurrected prefer using the Skin of the Vipermagi for its 30% FCR. However, we believe that Que-Hagan’s Wisdom is better for the Bone Necromancer due to its 20% Faster Hit Recovery, +1 to skills, and up to 160% Enhanced Defense.

Another reason why you should opt for Que-Hagan’s Wisdom over the Skin of the Vipermagi on this build is that it can be upgraded to an Archon Plate for a considerable boost in defense. This is done by putting a Perfect Diamond along with the Ko and Lem Runes inside the Horadric Cube.

If you don’t mind splurging for the sake of making your Bonemancer better in PvM or PvP, then we highly recommend that you invest in Enigma. This D2R runeword covers all of the aspects needed by this build to prosper, including increases in maximum life and defense, as well as +2 skills and a slight boost in physical damage reduction.

Weapon

Another reason why a lot of people love the Bonemancer is that it can get incredibly strong as early as level 35. How is that possible, you ask? Well, a large part of that is due to the D2R runeword called “White.”

White is a runeword in Diablo II: Resurrected that is created by inserting only two runes into a suitable wand: Dol and Io. What’s cool about this runeword is that you can use a wand that already has +3 to Bone Spear on it. When this happens, the level of your Bone Spear is increased by a total of eight points just by utilizing a single item!

The runeword’s 20% Faster Cast Rate is not much but it still contributes toward the 75% FCR breakpoint easily.

Heart of the Oak is always a great runeword to use for casters like the Bone Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected. We’re not going to talk about its +3 skills and 40% FCR because you know how valuable they are already. Instead, we’ll talk about Oak Sage—a Druid skill that allows you to summon a minion that boosts your maximum life by 45%!

The Oak Sage’s AI is not good, so the said minion might get itself killed on a regular basis. To prevent this from happening, you can place multiple Bone Walls between you and the enemy, giving the Oak Sage very little room to go near the hostile targets. In the event of its demise, you can resummon the Oak Sage as needed.

It’s important to note that you can only summon the Oak Sage up to 25 times with the HOTO equipped. Fortunately, you can replenish these charges by repairing the Heart of the Oak.

Do you want to wield a weapon that has +2 skills, 35% FCR, and 55% FHR? If so, you can grab a Crystal Sword and put the Tal, Thul, Ort, and Amn runes into it to form the ever-popular Spirit runeword!

In addition to the above-mentioned bonuses, the D2R Bone Necromancer can benefit from Spirit’s +22 vitality and +250 defense against missile attacks. Both of these are great whenever you fight other players, especially against the formidable Bowazon.

Shield

If you want a runeword that aims to improve Bone Spear damage significantly, then you can opt for Splendor. Use a shrunken head that has +3 to Bone Spear with a couple of sockets to fit the Eth and Lum runes in. This is the perfect complement to the White runeword mentioned earlier, giving you so much power as early as level 37!

As much as we love Splendor for what it can provide to the Bonemancer, you need to transition to better shields later on. That said, the Spirit runeword makes a comeback here; only this time, you will insert the same runes on another base: the Monarch Shield. If the STR value indicated on the stats page of this build guide did not give this away, now you know why you need that much strength for this particular build!

So, what’s different if you put the necessary runes for Spirit into a shield? Well, you get 35% resistance to cold, lightning, and poison damage instead of bonus damage. Now, is it worth it to use Spirit on both your main hand and off-hand? You can, though one is enough. If you intend to use the Spirit Shield, you can either equip HOTO or White as your weapon for a higher FCR or more damage, respectively.

Okay, what if you really want to use Spirit as your main hand weapon? What option other than the Splendor runeword do you have as far as improving the Bonemancer’s capabilities are concerned? The Darkforce Spawn is a very good replacement for the said runeword, assuming that all you care about is offense.

This unique Bloodlord Skull boosts the damage of Bone Spear and Bone Spirit because it can raise the level of these skills by up to three points. Besides that, Corpse Explosion’s radius is also increased when using the Darkforce Spawn for the same reason.

Because this shield lacks any bonus resistances, you can rectify that by inserting an Um Rune for +22% all-resists.

The last shield on this list is mainly suited for PvP and Hardcore. The Stormshield does not come with any increases in Faster Cast Rate. However, what it does offer is a huge reduction in physical and elemental damage. Plus, you get a considerably good chance of blocking incoming attacks due to the shield’s unique modifiers!

Weapon Swap

• Call to Arms: Aim to get +6 to Battle Orders because it will help you survive during your farming runs and PvP exploits.
• Spirit Monarch Shield: Its Faster Cast Rate and +2 skills improve the bonuses that CTA can give you, which is why it’s always paired with Call to Arms for the purposes of pre-buffing.

Gloves

When it comes to attaining the higher FCR breakpoints in D2R, Trang-Oul’s Claws are often the go-to option for gloves besides the Magefist. These gloves are so much better than the latter for the purposes of this build because of their defense and cold resistance. Moreover, the gloves’ +2 curses improve the duration of Amplify Damage and Decrepify, alleviating the need for repeat casts on bosses.

If you need help with sorting out your resistances, you can craft some gloves with life and fire/cold/lightning/poison resistance. Having strength and dexterity on the gloves is also a good idea.

Boots

The PvP Bone Necromancer build in D2R should have at least 86% FHR for a better chance of survival against other formidable combatants. That said, the Sandstorm Trek provides a 20% bonus Faster Hit Recovery and a whopping 70% resistance to poison damage on a perfect roll. It’s also nice to grab an Ethereal version of this unique item to take full advantage of the boots’ self-repair mechanic.

If your elemental resistances still remain an issue despite wearing the other pieces of gear already mentioned, then you should wear a pair of boots that have a high amount of resistance to fire, cold, and lightning damage. Just don’t forget to purchase boots with 10% FHR on them for good measure.

Amulet

Mara’s Kaleidoscope is a good option for the Bone Necromancer if you want a unique item for the amulet slot without much thought. However, a rare ammy with a 20% Faster Cast Rate is much better, especially if your aim is to achieve the 125% FCR breakpoint.

Rings

Whether you are fighting the titular big bad, Diablo, or a well-geared Frozen Orb Sorceress, the Raven Frost is a lock when it comes to the rings you’re going to wear for the D2R Bonemancer. This ring’s “Cannot Be Frozen” property allows you to survive against enemies that can freeze you. Getting frozen is a huge no-no if you want to come out as the victor in PvP.

Do you still need a bit of a boost in the FCR department? If so, a rare ring with a 10% Faster Cast Rate coupled with all-resists is a great addition!

Belt

Your primary bone skills hit so much harder when they are at a level beyond their default maximum of 20. The Arachnid Mesh raises their level by one, and before you think that it isn’t much, you have to factor in the other items that you have that provide “+ to skills” like Spirit or White.

Additionally, the belt’s 20% FCR bonus very much completes the package when it comes to achieving the 9-frame animation breakpoint mentioned earlier!

The only belt that is a suitable replacement for the Arachnid Mesh on the Bone Necromancer is Verdungo’s Hearty Cord. This greatly increases your survivability in PvP, so only switch to this if you are in combat with another player.

Charms

• Annihilus: Aim for the perfect rolls if you want to have an easier time achieving a 75% block chance for PvP.
• Hellfire Torch: Make sure to get one that increases Necromancer Skill Levels by three.
• Gheed’s Fortune: Unless you have other Magic Find items equipped, this is your only source for MF on this build.
• Small Charms: Life and Resistances.
• Grand Charms: +1 Poison and Bone Skills, FHR, Life, FRW.

Mercenary

Although the A5 Frenzy Barbarian is a good mercenary for almost any D2R build, we still recommend the Act 2 Desert Mercenary with either Prayer or Holy Freeze Aura. Both of the aforementioned auras are great for the purposes of this build.

Prayer regenerates life while you’re firing Bone Spears from a considerable distance. On the other hand, Holy Freeze slows nearby enemies down, which goes hand-in-hand with the Clay Golem’s slow effect as well.

Because of the spammy nature of the Bone Necromancer, it might be hard to sustain mana at later levels, especially when you are under-geared. To resolve this issue, you can have your Mercenary equipped with Insight, mainly with a level 17 Conviction Aura.

Here are the ideal Act 2 Mercenary items for the Bone Necromancer build:

• Weapon: Insight
• Helmet: Vampire Gaze (VGaze) or Andariel’s Visage (with IAS jewel)
• Body Armor: Fortitude or Treachery

Tips and Strategies

• Practice Namelocking: Namelocking is a very useful strategy in PvP. Basically, what it does is it allows you to cast the Bone skills without having to directly target your enemy every time. To do this, hover over your enemy's name and right-click on it. After that, simply cast your primary skills and they will target your foe wherever they go. Make sure that, after namelocking your enemy, you leave your mouse cursor at your feet (so essentially the middle of the screen). If this doesn't work for some reason, you can hover your mouse cursor over your opponent again only this time, you cast Teleport (from Enigma) and then switch to your offensive skill.
• Visit Drognan's Shop: A suitable wand with + to Bone Spear is great if you are going to use the White runeword early on. Fortunately, the said weapon base can easily be acquired from Drognan in Act 2. If he doesn't sell a good wand, just head outside of town and then immediately go back in. The items that he sells will change as a result of that, so keep doing it until you find the right wand for the job. You can do this trick as soon as you enter Lut Gholein in Normal Difficulty.
• Scout for Good Item Bases: White and Splendor are actually pretty good in terms of improving your damage output early on. What's amazing about these runewords is that they can be placed inside items that already increase some Necromancer skills. Your Bone Skills grow in power the higher their levels are, so utilizing such item bases when creating the said D2R Runewords can go a long way. For this reason, find the right items from NPCs and other players on trade.
• Make Sure to Have Your Resistances Capped: The Bone Necromancer is incredibly tanky due to Bone Armor and some crowd-control skills like Bone Wall and Bone Prison. That said, the only thing left in the equation is capped resistances. Unfortunately, because of the items used in this build, you may have a bit of trouble in this area. If this is the case for your particular character, you should opt for some rare items to sort out your resistances.
• Invest in Dexterity in Hardcore and PvP: In most cases, you do not need to put any hard points in Dexterity if your aim is just to equip the items we've recommended in the gear section of this build guide. However, if you're going to play the Bonemancer in PvP or Hardcore, you must invest enough points in DEX to achieve a 75% chance to block. This greatly improves your survivability in player vs. player combat.

Final Thoughts

The Bonemancer is one of the only builds that you can safely use for farming the uber-rare items in D2R, as well as fighting against other people online in PvP. Bone Spear and Bone Spirit hit incredibly hard with the right investment. Achieving a 125% FCR breakpoint will also make them feel a lot smoother to use.

Corpse Explosion is great for clearing huge packs of monsters. You do not even need to invest more than one skill point into it because your “skillers” should handle the rest.

Bone Armor is such a nice skill to have that the damage of the Zeal Paladin, or any physical damage builds in Diablo II: Resurrected, is almost negligible.

This build starts to become a fearsome caster at level 37. During this time, you can use White and Splendor to significantly boost the damage of your primary skills.

So, if you are looking for a good build for both PvM and PvP, then the Bone Necromancer is definitely one of the best in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9!

If you need assistance with gearing your Bonemancer, visit our D2R store today. We are glad to help!

PROS

• One of the best builds for PvP in Diablo II: Resurrected.
• Great built for beginners due to its tankiness and ease of use even with budget gear.
• Impressive survivability that makes all content, PvM or otherwise, laughable.

CONS

• Clear speed is generally slower than Nova Sorcs and Javazons.
• Boss damage is average compared to FOHdins.
• The primary Bone Skills are mana-intensive.