PvP Bonemancer Necromancer Guide in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 12

By Harg Updated: 2025/10/03

Build Overview for PvP Bonemancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 12Strengths of the PvP BonemancerWeaknesses of the PvP BonemancerKey Gear Considerations for PvP BonemancerStat Priority for Bonemancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 12

Stat

Points to Invest

Notes

Strength

Enough to wear gear

Enigma will take care of most of it

Dexterity

Enough for 75% block or nothing

Enough to have 75% block with the max block setup, if you chose to build max block. Else... nothing. More explanations in the gear part

Vitality

Max

Staying alive is important if you are to win a duel

Energy

None

While having more mana is comfortable, maxing out your life stat is better

Skills for the PvP Bonemancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 12

Teleport : From your Enigma armor. Your principal and fastest way of moving, especially because you will have the permanent 125 fast cast rate breakpoint.

Teeth : One of your main attack spells. While it deals low damage, it covers a huge area and is good both to kill enemy summons and to finish low life foes.

Bone Armor : Bone armor provide you a very good shield against physical damage, and you want to recast it as soon as it is broken or even damaged .

Bone Spear : A linear piercing missile. One of your main damage spells

Bone Spirit : A slow moving projectile which follows the target. Has a very long range. One of your main damage spells. Usefull both to protect yourself and to kill opponents who are really aggressive.

Bone Prison : A powerful crowd control spell. Generally allowed in PvP as long as you are facing someone who can teleport away with enigma. Particularly strong combined with MindBlast from Assassin in TvT.

Clay Golem : Out of all the Necromancer summons, only golems are allowed in PvP. Thus, you want to use the stronger of them, the Clay Golem. While this golem doesn't do any damage, it can tank hits for you and slow your foes when they come into contact with it.

Oak Sage : Comes from your Heart of the Oak runeword. Mandatory pet in a lot of matchups and in TvT, because it helps you survive quite a lot.

Battle order and Battle command : you get both of those from your Call to Arms runeword. Give you an enormous bonus to life and mana.

Amplify damage : Powerful curse decreasing the physical resistance of your target by -100%. Downright overpowered in TvT.

Lower resist : Optional. Helps your teammate with elemental damage in TvT by lowering the elemental resistances of your target. However, amp is generally stronger, and reaching Lower Resistance in the skill tree costs quite a few points (meaning you lose a good deal of damage), so while its an option, i wouldn't advice putting points in it unless you often play TvT with mates who like you to use it.

Skill Tree Distribution for PvP BonemancerPoison and Bone Point Distribution for PvP Bonemancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Teeth
20 points

Summons multiple projectiles that damage enemies

Bone Armor
1 point

A protective shield that absorbs damage. Useless to put more that 1 point into it, because investing in Bone Wall and Bone Prison, its synergies, buff it more.

Bone Wall
rest of your points

Creates a barrier of bone. You won't use it, but it's a synergy of Teeth, Bone Spear, Bone Spirit and Bone Armor.

Bone Spear
20 points

Summons a magical missile of bone

Bone Prison
20 points

Summons a ring of bone to surround a target. Synergy of your damage spells and Bone Armor

Bone Spirit
20 points

Spirit tracks down a target, or finds one of its own.

Curse Point Distribution for PvP Bonemancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Amplify Damage
1 point

Reduce the physical resistance of the target by 100%. For example, if a foe has 50% physical damage reduction, the curse will bring him to -50%, effectively tripling the amount of physical damage he takes.

Lower Resist
1 or none

Reduces the fire, cold, and lighting resistance of the target.

Summoning Spells Point Distribution for PvP Bonemancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Clay Golem
1 point

Raises a Golem from the earth to fight for you

Golem Mastery
1 point

Enhances speed and life of Golems

Summon Resist
1 point

Raises elemental resistances of your Minions

Amplify DamagePvP Bonemancer Breakpoints in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 12

Faster Cast Rate (FCR): 125% (9 frames)

Faster Hit Recovery (FHR): FHR lost a lot of value in 2.4 patch with the new anti-stun mechanic. It will probably take a while before figuring the best amount of FHR in PvP for every class, but for now you can probably aim for the 86 FHR break point (6 frames) if you are using Spirit and coa, and go down one breakpoint (56 FHR, aka 7 frames) or even two (39FHR, aka 8 frames) with out having to worry two much.

Having a decent amount of Fast Run Walk (FWR) is good, as its sometimes better to run on a short distance instead of teleporting.

Gear for PvP Bonemancer Ladder Season 12Max damage reduce setup

Weapon : Heart of the Oak
Heart of the Oak Guide

Heart of the Oak
Mace, Staff
'KoVexPulThul'
Required Level: 55
+3 To All Skills
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal)
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+10 To Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +30-40
Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
Socketed (4)

Just a must have for Bonemancer. That weapon gives you so many good things. Among those, the Oak Charges are mandatory and the replenish life isn't to be underestimated either.

Shield : Spirit
Spirit Shield Guide

Spirit
Shield
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Required Level: 25
+2 To All Skills
+25-35% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missiles
+22 To Vitality
+89-112 To Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3-8 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Socketed (4)
Simply the best caster shield in the game, and by far, as long as you dont want max block. Having a 35 fast cast rate on it is mandatory.

Armor : Enigma
Enigma Guide

Enigma
Chest Armor
'JahIthBer'
Required Level: 65
+2 To All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 To Teleport
+750-775 Defense
+0-74 To Strength (0.75/cLvl)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced By 8%
+14 Life After Each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (+1/cLvl)
Socketed (3)

Use a relatively light support for it. Mage plate is always a good choice.

Helm : Crown of Ages
Crown of Ages
Corona
Defense: 349-399
Required Strength: 102
Required Level: 83
Indestructible
+1 To All Skills
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+50% Enhanced Defense
+100-150 Defense
All Resistances +20-30
Damage Reduced By 10-15%
Socketed (1-2)

Having 2 sockets on it is mandatory. After that, Damage reduction is the most important stat, and then resistance. Put a Ber in your first socket and -15 req / +all resistance jewel into the second socket.

Belt : Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 125-158
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 106
+90-140% Enhanced Defense
10% Faster Hit Recovery
+30-40 To Vitality
Replenish Life +10-13
+100-120 Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced By 10-15%
Most important stat is Damage reduction, then Replenish Life, then Vitality.

Boots : Aldur's Advance

Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 39-47
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 45
Indestructible
40% Faster Run/Walk
+180 Maximum Stamina
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Heal Stamina Plus +32%
+50 To Life
Fire Resist +40-50%
Simply the best boots you could ask for, with the most FRW in the game and high amount of life.

Gloves : Magefist
Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Required Level: 25
Defense: 24-25
+20-30% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+1 To Fire Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana 25%
Adds 1-6 Fire Damage

Trang'oul Claws is also a good option. In both cases, what matters beyond everything else is having 20 FCR, and those are the only gloves giving that in the whole game. In TvT, take Trang'oul Claws, as the +2 Curse will help you to amp your foes easily.

Amulet : Crafted amulet with 20 FCR
You want those stats on it :
+2 to Necromancer skills (+1 is acceptable if you have a lot of others stats on it)

+Life

+Strength

Mana

Resistance

Life

Strength

Replenish life

Mana

Resistance

Battle OrdersMax life and damage setup

White runeword instead of Hearth of the Oak
White
Weapons
Wand
'DolIo'
Required Level: 35
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
+10 To Vitality
+3 To Poison and Bone Spells (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
Magic Damage Reduced By 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+13 To Mana
Socketed (2)

For the support, use any wand with the following stats: +3 Bone Spear (mandatory), +3 Bone spirit (very good to have but will cost you a lot alongside +3 Bone spear), +x Lower Resist (can be good to have in some TvT), +x Clay Golem or Golem Mastery (good in Necromancer vs Necromancer).

You will use this weapon if you don't need the resistance from Heart of the Oak. If using it prevents you from reaching the maximum resistance against an elemental class, keep using Heart of the Oak instead.

Having +3 Bone Spear is the most important thing because it is what you will need in Necromancer vs Necromancer mirror match-up.

Helm : Shako instead of Crown of Age

Harlequin Crest
Shako
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
+2 To All Skills
+1-148 To Life (+1.5 Per Character Level)
+1-148 To Mana (+1.5 Per Character Level)
Damage Reduced By 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 To All Attributes
Socket it with Jah or Perfect rubys to gain as much life as possible.

OR

2 Necromancer 20 FCR rare or magic TIARA
Additional desired stats are the following : Life, mana, FRW, a second socket. Resistance to fire or lighting can also be good. Socketed Jah or Perfect ruby.

You will only use that item if you decide to use a White runeword instead of Heart of the Oak.

Belt : Arachnid instead of Verdungo.
Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 50
+90-120% Enhanced Defense
Slows Target By 10%
+1 To All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Increases Maximum Mana 5%
Level 3 Venom (11 Charges)

Gloves : Bloodfist instead of Magefist
Bloodfist
Heavy Gloves
Required Level: 9
Defense: 17-18
+10-20% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+10% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+40 To Life
+5 To Min Damage

Low budget setup

Helm : Shako instead of Crown of Ages

Harlequin Crest
Shako
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
+2 To All Skills
+1-148 To Life (+1.5 Per Character Level)
+1-148 To Mana (+1.5 Per Character Level)
Damage Reduced By 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 To All Attributes
Socket it with Ber to retain a decent amount of Damage Reduction.

Inventory :
Compensate for the FHR you lost from not wearing Crown of Age with the necessary amount of charms, until you reach 86 FHR. Grand Charms +1 Poison and Bone +12 FHR are not that expensive, so try to get at least one.

Max block setup

Armor : Enigma
Enigma Guide

Enigma
Chest Armor
'JahIthBer'
Required Level: 65
+2 To All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 To Teleport
+750-775 Defense
+0-74 To Strength (0.75/cLvl)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced By 8%
+14 Life After Each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (+1/cLvl)
Socketed (3)
Use a relatively light support for it. Mage plate is always a good choice.

Shield : Stormshield

Stormshield
Monarch
Defense: (136-504) - (151-519)
Chance to Block: 72%
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 73
Indestructible
35% Faster Block Rate
+25% Increased Chance to Block
+3-371 Defense (+3.75 Per Character Level)
+30 To Strength
Cold Resist +60%
Lightning Resist +25%
Damage Reduced By 35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10

Simply the best shield for playing max block. The 35% Damage Reduction is incredibly powerful, and the bonus strength allows you to wear Shadow Dancer easily. Socket it Eld to reduce the amount of dexterity needed to reach max block.

Helm : +2 Necromancer 20 FCR rare or magic TIARA
You want the following stats in priority :
Dexterity

A second socket (put one Sheal rune if you want the 56 FHR breakpoint, and two 9 dextery/9 strengh jewel if you prefer to play with only 39FHR)

Life, mana, FRW, and resistance are also nice but far less useful

Amplify Damage

+2 necromancer (+1 is acceptable if you have a lot of others stats on it)

Dexterity

Strengh

Life

Mana

Resistance

Dexterity

Strength

Life

Replenish life

Mana

Resistance

Flexibility

Vs a Trap based Assassin you can swap Verdungo for Thundergod vigor.

Vs a Fire Sorceress you can swap Aldur Advance for Hotspur.

Vs Cold Sorceress you can swap your Stone of Jordan for Raven Frost. Same if you are facing a Wind Druid.

Your inventory is an useful tool if you need to stack resistance (Cold Sorceress, Fist of the Heavens Paladin, a Necromancer using Lower Resistance, etc.). Don't hesitate to swap some small charms for others with adequate elemental resistance.

PvP Mechanics for Bonemancer

Use your offensive spells on your right click : That way, it will be way easier to chainlock a target, as Teleport is also a right click spell.

Learn to use the slow traveling speed of Bone Spirit to your advantage : Because Bone Spirit moves so slowly, it's easy for you to teleport or walk into some precast Bone Spirit. You can also stack them quite easily, one upon another, by casting some Bone Spirits, teleporting on them and then casting more Bone Spirits.

This strategy, also called Spirit train, is quite useful against classes that are forced to come to you; the Bone Spirits act a little like a group of bodyguards, preventing enemies from getting too close, lest they take the risk of taking heavy damage.
Also, know that if a foe is going to get close to you soon, maintaining your cursor close to your character increase the chances of your Bone Spirit to instantly aim at him.

Summons stacking is quite important and helpfull for your survival, as you will often use both an Oak Sage charge from Heart of the Oak and Clay Golem.

The high range of Bone Spirit makes the Bonemancer one of the best classes when it comes to ghosting (hitting people with invisible projectiles). This is mainly useful in TvT against Bowazon based teams.

PvP strategies in 1v1BowazonUse max Damage Reduce setup or even better, Max Block setupStrafe

Ideally, you want to make the Amazon move before getting really aggressive. To do that, you have to get in her screen and cast Bone Spirit towards her. Be really quick about it because she will instantly strafe you. You have time for one, maximum two Bone Spirits before having to teleport to dodge the strafe. Circle around her with your teleport and keep trying to harass her with Bone Spirits until she is forced to move. If you start to take too much damage and your summons / Bone Armor gets killed too fast, reset the aggression. Teleport away and recast Bone Armor, Oak Sage and Clay Golem. Speaking about that...

Abuse your summons, Oak Sage and Clay Golem. Same goes for your Bone Armor. They are keys to survival because they will allow you to take a lot of hits with out losing life. By order of importance, recasting Bone Armor takes priority over Clay Golem, who takes priority over Oak Sage.

Once the Bowazon has some Bone Spirits aiming at her, either she takes the risk of tanking them, or she has to kite them. Doing so will diminish the number of projectiles she is able to fire at you and give you more opportunities to attack her. Increase the pressure. Make sure there is always an army of Bone Spirits after her. The idea is too make sure she can't stop kiting to strafe you without getting instantly punished

Once she's got enough Bone Spirits following her, you want to telestomp her. The objective is not only to deal damage, but also to apply the slow from your golem. If you manage to do so, the duel is already half won. Just keep the pressure up, vary between Bone Spirit, Bone Spear, and Teeth (Teeth is useful to trigger her dodge animation and stop her for a short instant, potentially allowing the Bone Spirits to catch her). Maintain at least Bone Armor and Clay Golem while doing that, to make sure the few GA she will be able to shoot won't kill you

Directly stomping her with out any preparation can also be a solution but you have to be really quick about it. If she is strafing, instantly teleport away. That kind of move is useful because it gives a golden opportunity for your Golem to slow the Bowazon. If the Bowazon is surprised and isn't strafing, you can attack her instead of teleporting away.

Trying to force her to move by casting Bone Spirit from one to two screens away is also doable, but she will probably force you to move away with Multishot.

If you ever get caught by Strafe, do a very short walk on the side before Teleporting away. That's often the best way to avoid being Stunlocked

When you decide to totally reset your offensive, make sure you leave the minimap of your opponent if he has you namelocked: leaving the minimap breaks namelock.

AssassinUse Thundergod if they use lighting trap. Idealy you want also a lot of damage reduced as most assa use a lot of physical attack now.

Keep your distance. Its her job to come and get you.

While she is approaching, spam a mix of Teeth and Spirit and try to anticipate which way she will come.

When she get close, she may leave herself open by staying in place while she places traps. If you are quick to namelock her, it's the perfect moment to send her some Bone Spears. After that, you will generally want to retreat either by teleporting or by running away. If you dealt heavy damage to the Assassin before she could even place a trap however, it might be a good moment to aggressively chainlock her.

The most important part is to avoid getting caught in a complete stunlock. If you replace yourself smartly by just running, you can dodge a lot of traps damage. However, Teleporting away before she can stunlock you is generally the safest option.

If you start getting stunlocked, try to run away from her trap field and then teleport away.

Having your golem always up is important, as he can distract the Assassin traps from you, and also slow the Assassin. Oak Sage can help you, but isn't mandatory.

Running (south) is also the best way to react if the Assassin starts to kick you while you are swirled. If there aren't too many traps pressuring you, you can try to Bone Spear or Bone Spirit once or twice while doing so.

Spam a lot of Bone Spirit. This match-up can be fairly long so you can bet she will hit several times over the course of the duel.

Recast Bone Armor every time it's down, or even significantly damaged.

BarbarianUse max Damage Reduce setup or even better, max block setup

Be really defensive. Always have both Oak, Golem and Bone Armor up.

Don't stay in the same spot when the Barbarian is closing. Run away and spam as much Bone Spirit as you can.

Abuse Bone Spirit trains. Don't hesitate to teleport into them. If the Barbarian is using Oak Sage, cast some Teeth to try kill it when he is getting close. You can also lure the Barbarian in your Bone Spirit train

If he tries to stun you with Leap, don't panic and just try to teleport away until it works. If you do that he should never be able to stomp you with that tactic.

You can spam Bone Prison on the Barbarian when he telestomps you. The Bone Prison will absorb the Whirlwind. It can be particularly useful when the Barbarian already has a lot of Bone Spirits after him and he will probably get hit if he stomps you. That way, you can "tank" the Whirlwinds. But it won't protect you from Berserker, so be careful and don't abuse that tactic against a Barbarian good enough to punish you.

DruidUse max Damage Reduce setup with Raven Frost for "Cannot be Frozen"

Every time the Druid is about to telestomp you, you have to move. Either run away, or Teleport away, but don't stay still or you will die.

If the Druid uses Wolves as his summons, you want to spam Teeth a lot to kill them. If he uses Bear instead, your Bone Spirit will have more impact. Adapt over the course of the duel depending what the Druid decides to do.

Trying to bait the Druid into a Spirit train and simultaneously kill his summons can work, but timing that right is pretty hard to do.

Bone Spear is your main tool to deal damage to the Druid. However, trying to fire one here and there will generally never do much, as the summons will take the hit. You have to hit at least 2 or 3 spears in a row to hope to deal any significant damage. This is one of the hardest parts of this duel, knowing (or rather, feeling) when you can stay put and cast Spear and when you have to move away to avoid getting stomped.

If the Druid is mainly using wolves, you may have a window to be aggressive when he has to recast his zoo. Be careful however, the Druid could anticipate that and spam some nasty tornadoes your way instead of recasting. Try to not be too predictable in the way you chase, and don't overdo it if you don't feel it. If he uses Bear, there is rarely any opportunity to punish his recast, as Bear is a much faster cast than 5 wolves.

PaladinUse max life / damage setup

Don't go aggro on him, it's his job to chase you

You can play this match-up in different ways, but running to avoid telestomp is generally better than teleporting away. Avoid running north. Use teleport as a means to re-place yourself when you feel there are too many hammers flying around.

Spam Teeth to kill Oak Sage. Keep moving when he is about to telestomp and cast Bone Spirit. Bone Spear can be good when he is really close.

A quick prison can do wonders if he charges away after a failed stomp.

If he smites you, don't try to teleport away unless you are sure he doesn't have you in namelock. Walk south instead, and be really careful until swirl disappears.

Use damage reduce setup or max block setup

Stay mostly defensive if you don't have max block. Stay mobile. Spam a lot of Bone Spirits and mix them with some Bone Spears. Use Teeth to kill his Oak Sage if needed. Don't expose yourself too much, he has to get close to hit you so he will end up taking damage here and there.

If he tries to telestomp you and smite, you can anticipate that by doing a short walk south, casting one or two Bone Spears / Bone Spirits and then quickly get away before he can charge you.

If he is mainly using charge to move around, Bone Prison can do wonders once he has some Bone Spirits following him closely.

Maintain Clay Golem and keep Oak Sage up (Oak Sage isn't mandatory here), unless the Smiter is using exil shield and is low life. In this case, unsumming your invocation could be a good choice as you don't want to take the risk of your opponent triggering a life tap curse on them.

If he ever manages to smite you, get away as fast as possible. Don't take any risks until you aren't swirled anymore

Be careful about charge namelock if you aren't max block. Make sure to break them by teleporting far away.

Necromancer - Mirror match-upUse max damage, max life setup

Necromancer vs Necromancer is, by convention, played with only Bone Spear. Teeth and Bone Spirit aren't allowed.

Oak Sage is generally not used either in this match-up, but you can use it if both players agree about it.

Having your Clay Golem always up and full life is important, because he can tank Bone Spear for you when he is stacked on top you. If you want to be really effective, you can even use Battle Orders on him every time you recast it. Going aggressive on the other Necromancer when he tries to Battle Orders his own Clay Golem is also a valid strat.

SorceressUse High life damage setup with hotspurEnergy ShieldUse High life and damage setup with raven and as much cold resistance as you can manage while keeping 125 FCR. Maximum cold resistance allowed is generally around 420PvP strategies in Team vs TeamWhat is your role?

Amper :
Necromancers are a great addition to any team that has members dealing physical damage because of the curse "Amplify damage," commonly named "Amp." Amp reduces the physical resistance (the damage reduction, in others words) by 100%. For example, someone having 50% damage reduction will have -50% after getting cursed by Amp. Effectively, that means the physical damage dealers of your team will deal two to three time as much damage, which is incredibly powerful. It's your job to keep the enemy team amped as much as possible.

The same can be said for Lower Resist (if you have it) when you have elemental damage dealers in your team.

Jailer :
Bone prison is a really powerful skill combined with MindBlast lock. Don't hesitate to coordinate with your Assassin teammate. In general, Bonemancers are also really good to follow on a Mindblast lock. You can use prison to neutralize the Whirlwind damage from enemy Barbarians.

Ghoster :
As long as you have good communication with your teammates, they can inform you of the position of the enemy team while you stay far away. That can allow you to target specific locations with invisible Bone Spirits, dealing damage to the other team and forcing them to move from their spot. This is particularly effective against Bowazon based teams, who tend to camp on their position.

What team composition should you aim for as a PvP Bonemancer?

Barbarian + Necromancer

Wind Druid + Necromancer

Assassin + Necromancer

Barbarian Bowazon Hammerdin Necromancer

Barbarian Trapsin Druid Necromancer

Resources (YouTube and Twitch channel)StadiumMiddles

PvP Bonemancer Necromancer Guide in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 12

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