3.8 - Cast on Crit Volatile Dead Necromancer - Extreme Fun - Not budget/GPU/CPU Friendly

How about leveling through this build?

I'd recommend leveling as a generic minion summoner until you've got the gear/level to switch over to using the bow.

If you're really set on using VD while leveling you could shell out the currency for two poet's pens and use them to get you into a position where you can switch to the bow.

How bad is levelling with manual casting desecrate/volatile dead? Would you recommend a different ascendancy order (maybe essence glutton first/second to sustain mana?) If you've never tried it that's fine :D pretty sure I'm gonna try to make it work on league start regardless, assuming this part of necro doesn't get caught in the crossfire of minion nerfs. Maybe even go for a scuffed 4 link coc setup when I have enough crit.

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SxqPower wrote:

How bad is levelling with manual casting desecrate/volatile dead? Would you recommend a different ascendancy order (maybe essence glutton first/second to sustain mana?) If you've never tried it that's fine :D pretty sure I'm gonna try to make it work on league start regardless, assuming this part of necro doesn't get caught in the crossfire of minion nerfs. Maybe even go for a scuffed 4 link coc setup when I have enough crit.

I've leveled characters selfcasting descecrate/VD, and it's clunky. It works, but it's a pretty slow playstyle. Once you can support desecrate and VD with spell cascade I imagine it'll start to feel a little better, but it's likely going to go slower than a generic minion build.

I'd still recommend picking up mistress of sacrifice first, as the extra movespeed from flesh offering is incredible. I'd just recommend running a mana flask to deal with mana concerns while leveling.

RIP Build.

You think it's that bad? How much does the 60 orb limit affect a non-cascade setup? Potentially even drop helm enchant in favour of the damage increase enchant?

Does the buff to Asenath's chant provide a legit option to replace the desecrate in your coc link? (or an extra unearth?)

Also obviously huge uncertainty regarding whether 7L weapons exist in the new influence types or not.

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SxqPower wrote:

You think it's that bad? How much does the 60 orb limit affect a non-cascade setup? Potentially even drop helm enchant in favour of the damage increase enchant?

Does the buff to Asenath's chant provide a legit option to replace the desecrate in your coc link? (or an extra unearth?)

Also obviously huge uncertainty regarding whether 7L weapons exist in the new influence types or not.

The new asenath's is a cute idea.

The internal cooldown on asenath's chant is twice as long as cast on crit. If you no longer run cascade in the bow, you could keep up the corpse generation. The problem with this approach is that the corpses will be spawning at your feet, as opposed to beneath the enemies.

When I was testing this build with scolds, the lead time between shooting enemies at a distance and waiting for your VD balls to float over from your feet makes the build both slower and less safe.

Have you tried Detonate Dead instead of Volatile Dead? seems like a good alternative.

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UrAverageExile wrote:

Have you tried Detonate Dead instead of Volatile Dead? seems like a good alternative.

I played around with DD extensively. The damage is front loaded, which can be nice in some scenarios, but the overall clearspeed suffers.

The main problem with DD is that the single target vs bosses is significantly worse than VD.

That isn't to say it's not viable for most endgame content, it's just going to take more skill.

FWIW, Rory has confirmed that balls don't despawn when you exceed the 60 ball limit - they explode where they are. Annoying for map clearing, but not much/any impact on boss dps.