Summoning Necromancer Summonmancer Build Guide Diablo II: Resurrected Season 13

By Tharid Updated: 2026/02/20

Build Overview for Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Strengths of the Summonmancer NecromancerWeaknesses of the Summonmancer NecromancerKey Gear Considerations for Summonmancer NecromancerEnigma+Skills+FCRHeart of the OakSpiritTrang-Ouls ClawsArachnid MeshStat Priority for Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Stat

Points to Invest

Notes

Strength

Meet Requirements (156)

Summonmancers only need Strength to meet item requirements. To wear a Monarch shield, characters need 156 Strength, and that is the combined end-game value we should aim for.

Dexterity

Meet Requirements

See Strength. Necromancers don't wear gear with high Dexterity requirements, so you shouldn't need to invest a lot of points here.

Vitality

All remaining points

This Summonmancer Guide goes all-in on Vitality to increase our life total, so put in all the points you have after you've met item requirements.

Energy

Don't ever put points into Energy. +Energy and other Mana modifiers on items should and eventually will suffice.

Skills for the Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Amplify Damage (Main Priority)/Decrepify (Alternatively for Bosses)

Corpse Explosion

Raise Skeleton

Golems

Bone Wall/Prison

Revive

Curses

Skill Tree Distribution for Summonmancer NecromancerPoison and Bone Spells Point Distribution for Summonmancer Necromancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Teeth
1 point

We need to put 1 point into Teeth so that we can put points into Corpse Explosion. That's it.

Bone Armor
1 point

Summoners don't really need additional defensive spells but Bone Armor can help a lot during leveling.

Corpse Explosion
1-20 (optional) points

Many players think that our minions deal the most damage but it's actually Corpse Explosion that gets the job done in the later stages of the game. Invest 1 point into Corpse Explosion since additional skill points do not increase the damage dealt but instead, they increase the radius of the explosion. Therefore, we invest 1 point into Corpse Explosion and let the rest of +skills increase the radius instead. Some players prefer having an even greater radius and blowing up the whole screen with Corpse Explosion. You can alternatively invest more than 1 point in this skill.

Summoning Spells Point Distribution for Summonmancer Necromancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Raise Skeleton
20 points

The Summoner's bread-and-butter summoning spell. Kill monsters, raise skeletons, profit. This skill is available at Level 1, which makes our early-game leveling tremendously easier. Since Skeleton Warriors deal physical damage, they synergize exceptionally well with Amplify Damage Curse, your Act 2 Mercenary's Might Aura, the Fanaticism Aura from Beast runeword and the Concentration aura granted by Iron Golem that is cast on a Pride runeword (if you would like to optimize the build truly).

Skeleton Mastery
20 points

Skeleton Mastery not only increases the life and damage of Skeletons, but also Revives! This skill allows us to have an extremely strong army, so Summonmancers want to max this skill alongside Raise Skeleton. Fun fact: The higher your Skeleton Mastery, the cooler your skeletons will look!

Clay Golem
1-20 (optional) points

Overall, Clay Golem is arguably the best Golem choice for a Summoner. With enough +Skills, this creature can take many hits and snare enemies quite effectively. Pre-Iron Golem budget builds can choose to invest more points into Clay Golem since the golem's slow increases with each point invested. The golem's slow helps very well against bosses.

Golem Mastery
1-20 (optional) points

Further enhances our Golems and scales very well with +Skills. Also needed to advance to Summon Resist. You can put more points here after maxing out the three core abilities of this build to further increase Golem effectiveness. For endgame builds using valuable Iron Golems, maxing this skill allows you to preserve your Iron Golem in the toughest situations.

Raise Skeletal Mage
1 point

Skeletal Mages still do low damage, to the point that their damage is negligible. The introduction of Patch 2.4 and Skeletal Mages buffs are not enough to make this skill worthy of investing points in. There are much more viable alternatives for our build. Therefore, invest only 1 point to access Revive.

Blood Golem
1 point

The weakest choice of all Golems. Can do some work in Normal but will definitely die way too often moving forward. Only needed to put points further into the tree.

Summon Resist
1 point

Invest only 1 point into Summon Resist. The +skills from the gear will do the rest.

Iron Golem
1-20 (For end game builds) points

The secret favorite of min-maxing Skelemancer players. You need to summon Iron Golem from a metallic item such as weapons or armor. It then inherits most of the item's magical attributes - which also apply to auras provided by runeword items such as Insight or Pride runeword polearms. For endgame builds, we recommend investing 20 hard points into Iron Golem because it allows your Iron Golem to have more attack rating and defense and better Thorns damage, which synergizes with Amplify Damage! If you cannot afford an Iron Golem made from Insight or Pride runewords, try and equip your Merc with Insight and use a Clay Golem instead.

Fire Golem
0-1 point

While great for leveling at times, Fire Golem is not necessarily needed in our end-game skill setup; the changes introduced with Patch 2.4 don't change a thing in this regard, unfortunately.

Revive
1-20 (optional) points

Revive is definitely the coolest spell in the Summonmancer package. While additional skill points up the number of revived minions a Summoner can control, we want to increase it with +Skills instead of using our precious points. Until your +Skills gear kicks in, leveling this skill is advised. Revived minions keep their abilities, so look to revive powerful monsters like Urdars (Act 4, River of Flame, powerful stuns) or Moon Lords (Act 5, Frozen River/Crystalline Passage, great dual-wield damage). Revives work tremendously both for budget and endgame builds because they also synergize with auras as well as the Amplify Damage Curse.

Curses Point Distribution for Summonmancer Necromancer

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Amplify Damage
1 point

The main curse of this build. All of our meleeing summons will benefit from its increased Physical Damage Taken effect. It also increases Corpse Explosion damage by a whole lot because Corpse Explosion does 50% Physical damage, which synergizes with Amplify Damage. Invest only 1 point into Amplify Damage and let +skills do the rest.

Dim Vision
1 point (optional)

Dim Vision helps you travel through content you don't want to interact with while farming bosses or certain instances. This is an optional ability that will offer increased safety.

Weaken
1 point

Necros don't have access to a lot of defensive options, but Weaken is one of them. An excellent leveling curse that reduces Physical Damage by a massive 33%. This value will also scale up on point investment with the changes made to the skill with Patch 2.4!

Iron Maiden
1 point (optional)

A great utility curse in together with Bone Prison: Imprison mobs, cast Iron Maiden, and watch how they're killing themselves slowly. This curse works great on killing Normal Difficulty Bosses since they kill themselves with returned damage from Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden damage falls off after Normal difficulty; therefore, we recommend using this alternative curse only on Normal difficulty.

Terror
1 point

Yet another defensive curse, Terror basically can serve as an AoE fear emergency button. Very valuable in Hardcore. Terror also allows us to unlock Decrepify.

Decrepify
1 point

Many say that Decrepify is superior to Amplify Damage - but that's only true in terms of overall utility. It slows, reduces Physical Damage, and increases Physical Damage done to the target, all by 50%. In terms of damage potential, AD is always the way to go, while Decrepify adds a ton of utility for group play, leveling, and farming. Decrepify is especially useful when used together with Clay Golem since the slow actually stacks. This is extremely helpful when fighting Bosses, especially in budget gear.

Skill Rotation for Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Leveling as a Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Raise SkeletonSkeleton MasteryTeeth, Bone Spear, Bone Wall, and Bone PrisonReviveGolem MasteryBest Mercenary for Summonmancer Necromancer in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Act 2 Nightmare Offense MercenaryDiablo 2: Resurrected Mercenary Guide

Weapon - Infinity, Obedience, Insight

Helm - Andariel's Visage, Guillaume's Face, Crown of Ages

Armor - Fortitude, Treachery, Duress

Summonmancer Necromancer Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Summonmancer Necromancer BiS Weapon+SkillsHeart of the OakHeart of the Oak+FCRCorpse ExplosionAll ResistancesWhite+Skills+FCRArm of King Leoric+SkillsSummonmancer Necromancer BiS Shield and Weapon SwitchHomunculusSummonmancer Necromancer BiS Body ArmorEnigma+FRW+1 to Teleport+SkillsIncreased Maximum LifeDamage ReducedMagic FindSmokeBoneSkin of the VipermagiSummonmancer Necromancer BiS HelmLoreHarlequin CrestCrown of AgesSummonmancer Necromancer BiS BeltArachnid Mesh+Skills+FCRVerdungo's Hearty CordSummonmancer Necromancer BiS BootsMarrowalkRegenerate ManaWar TravelerSandstorm TrekSilkweave+5 Mana After Each KillCorpse ExplosionSummonmancer Necromancer BiS GlovesTrang-Oul's Claws+FCR+2 to CursesMagefistCorpse ExplosionSummonmancer Necromancer BiS AmuletMara's Kaleidoscope+Skills+FCRSummonmancer Necromancer BiS RingsThe Stone of Jordan+All Resistances+Life+FCRSummonmancer Necromancer BiS Charms

Small Charms - Summonmancer Necromancer should look for Charms that give Health. Picking up extra Resistances from Charms will make the higher difficulty levels easier to deal with. The unique charm Annihilus is the best Small Charm available, granting +Skills, +All Attributes, +All Resistances, and 5-10% extra experience. This charm only drops off Uber Diablo.

Large Charms - The same traits you will look for in Small Charms will also be available in Large Charms. Small Charms tend to scale better, so look for Small Charms to replace Large down the road. The unique Large Charm Hellfire Torch grants +Skills, + Attributes, and +All Resistances. This charm drops from the Pandemonium event.

Grand Charms - For Grand Charms, endgame builds definitely want the new unique physical sunder charm The Bone Break. This physical sunder charm perfectly synergizes with Amplify Damage. You can also use the fire sunder charm The Flame Rift in combination with Infinity's Conviction, which further boosts the 50% fire damage portion of Corpse Explosion. As usual, you'll also want anything with +Summoning Spells class skills. The unique Grand Charm Gheed's Fortune, gives big boots to Magic Find and Gold Find and reduces vendor prices by 15%.

Summonmancer Necromancer Breakpoints in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Faster Cast Rate: 75% (11 frames)

Faster Cast Rate: 125% (10 frames)

Necromancer:
Frames

Faster % Stat Needed

Faster
Cast Rate

Faster
Hit Recovery

Faster
Block Rate

16f

15f

14f

18%

13f

30%

48%

75%

10%

10f

125%

16%

26%

13%

39%

20%

56%

32%

86%

52%

152%

86%

377%

174%

600%

Comments

Comment by Asdilo

"You don't necessarily need a 4-socketed Monarch to use this because Summoners should never get hit anyway - any decent shield base that is able to carry 4 sockets will do."

Is there a shield with lower requirements than a monarch? Not as far as I know

Comment by Luvgaar

I made a summoner necromancer by modifying this build quite a bit. First of all I raised the skeleton mages a lot, I'm at lv 78 and I have this skill at about 15/16, as a golem I used the fire one, as curses I put 1 point to the ones I use and to the ones I need to unlock them, unfortunately using the skeleton mages I also had to unlock Lower Resist, but I have to say it works, I also use Decrepify to support the skeleton servants. Even if I admit that it's not good and doesn't perform at its best I also use the Bone Spirit, which increases in points with the items, as well as its synergies, but it will never do damage like on a Bonemancer, but I set it like this because it's a skill that I enjoy. In conclusion I can say that the builds can also be modified, and that the skeleton mages in my opinion should be increased a bit on the summoning build; where however it increases a bit with the items and it's factual.
I repeat that this setting of mine is for fun, it's certainly not a build that performs very well.

Summoning Necromancer Summonmancer Build Guide Diablo II: Resurrected Season 13

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