[Moved]

I'm not gonna lie - leveling this build does suck. Again, summoners are notoriously slow at leveling. It's a process, but it'll pay off once you can start allocating in the Duelist area and reach Level 70 to use The Scourge.

UPDATE: I'm going to try out Arctic Armor instead of Purity of Elements once I get enough resistances to cap using items/jewels alone. I figured this would work nicely with the build since you're taunting enemies - might as well punish them for hitting you anyways. I'll update the build accordingly as I do more tests.

Gonna try something like this. I am thinking of a Gemini Claw of Celebration for +14 mana gained on hit instead of the Thief's Torment. Then trying some skills - I noticed Spectral Throw can have a mana cost of 9, maybe it's easier to hit 100 mana?

I can respec my current 92 Necromancer who uses Animate Weapon and keep most of the tree as long as I use The Scourge.

To get goofy, I was considering SRS in the Kitava's Thirst and a Soulthirst belt (and a Writhing Jar).

Yes, the higher the base cost of the skill you're using, the easier it is to achieve the 100+ mana cost. That's why skills like Dominating Blow and Frenzy have it easier when triggering Kitava's (it's also the reason why Double Strike has so many support gems and the build utilizes two Fevered Mind jewels). However, try to get as close to 100 as possible - I think the absolute most is 110 (mana regeneration usually covers the rest of the mana sustain). Any higher, and you might be expending too much mana to sustain with Mana Gain on Hit.

Honestly, I wouldn't suggest using SRS since the build isn't spec'd for it, namely increased duration. I actually tested SRS; even though Double Strike has high attack speed, it doesn't summon enough SRS. At most, I had about 8 or so SRS up at a time [even with the Increased Duration support added in Kitava's]. Of course, this was only minor testing, so further spec'ing into an SRS variant might be plausible.

I made some major changes to the build over the past few days; the guide has been updated to reflect these changes. I apologize if this puts a kink in anyone's progress, but the changes definitely improve the quality of the build. I personally believe the build is in a good spot now that I can showcase it in a video. Hopefully I can start recording videos within the next week or so. Nevertheless, let me know if you have any questions about the changes.

Not sure if I like your idea to get rid of skeletons. It may be OK on 70+, but on my mid-60s skeletons are sometimes very handy for the speed I can replace them, especially on those bosses I'd rather not come close to.

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MisterAL wrote:

Not sure if I like your idea to get rid of skeletons. It may be OK on 70+, but on my mid-60s skeletons are sometimes very handy for the speed I can replace them, especially on those bosses I'd rather not come close to.

Thanks for the feedback! You're definitely right; the Skeletons certainly helped me during mid-leveling. As such, I've edited Kitava's gem set-up to include Summon Skeletons as an optional defense.

I've used my passive tree reset on my level 82 scion to test this build out - It is really fun and can be quite tanky with the right gear and flasks. I made one interesting change though - I've decided to use a relatively high dps scourge (244 pdps or something) in place of the high phys one hander you mentioned. I've put the same setup of supports to buff the second set of wolves as well. On top of this, The DPS change from a 331 dps one hander was only about a net loss of about ~400. losing 400 dps and gaining the second set of wolves along with the extra leech is great! Loving this build, thanks for the idea!

I'm glad you enjoy it!

UPDATE: I'm currently trying the build out on a Necromancer that uses Varunastra rather than a rare 1-handed weapon (and picking up a plethora of 1-handed melee nodes from the Marauder area). I'm also testing Victario's Charity instead of The Scourge in the off-hand to see if 3 Frenzy charges and 3 Powers charges on minions is more viable than additional damage from The Scourge. Although this variant loses the Spectral Wolves, Summon Skeletons still make for a reliable source of meat shields. After that, I'm going to try using Victario's Charity with The Scourge on the Scion, then refund some dual-wielding passives for shield passives in the Duelist area. I'll see which one is more viable based on the outcomes of both.

Any chance you still have the Scion passives available? Just hit my 40s on that class and kind of lost now. Or leave the Scion version up?

Man, that's nice you've moved to Necro, but could you leave the Scion guide version available? Really, planning to go on this path and would like to still have the guide for reference.