Vortex Gaming

· The Archmage Necromancer build has made a powerful return in Season 12.
· While it may not boast the raw power of the Triple Golem build, it offers many unique advantages.
· It features rapid progression and accessibility for beginners, proving quite powerful even with moderate gear.
· The synergy between passive skills and gear bonuses provides an addictive sense of progression, making you want to keep farming.
· AFK play is possible, reducing fatigue during long farming sessions or material gathering.
· It offers both excellent endgame firepower and unparalleled comfortable gameplay.
· Its mechanics are incredibly simple, making it easy for even beginners unfamiliar with Blizzard's hack-and-slash genre to master.

· Essential gear for activating the build can be acquired from Duriel (and ultimately, Belial).
· Gloves: Naz's Hand forms the core of the build with its Skeletal Mage-related options and unique ability.
· Naz's Hand Unique Ability: Sacrificing Golems and Skeletal Warriors grants an additional Skeletal Mage for each minion sacrificed. Skeletal Mages do not die and, upon successfully attacking 25 times consecutively, transform into Archmages, gaining an additional attack that deals double damage.
· Desired Glove Options: Attack Speed, Skeletal Mage Damage, Mastery.
· Book of the Dead Sacrifice:
· Warrior: Gain additional Shadow Damage.
· Golem: Gain additional Critical Strike Damage.
· Skeletal Mages transform into Shadow Mages, firing a bonus Shadow Barrage every 3 attacks. All Shadow bonuses now affect the power of Skeletal Mages.
· Leg Armor: Blood Moon Greaves automatically applies Iron Maiden and Decrepify curses through your summons.
· Aim for the 'Commander' top option, along with 50% increased damage.
· Amulet (Highly Recommended): Aspect of Subservience and Sacrifice reduces damage taken by Skeletal Mages and increases their damage dealt, significantly improving their survivability for Archmage transformation.

· Head: Heir of Doom provides high Lucky Hit Chance and Critical Strike Chance. Movement Speed or Core Skill Ranks are less important.
· Chest: Shroud of False Death (Mythic) increases all stats and grants +1 to all active passive skills, greatly enhancing endgame accessibility and comfort.
· Alternative options if no Mythic item:
· Head: Crown of the Holy Slayer offers powerful options and a unique ability that deals significant damage to Skeletal Mages.
· Chest: Gain damage reduction with a defensive aspect like Aspect of Fortified Bones.
· Boots: Use Aspect of Covert Domination to gain 4 additional Skeletal Mages.
· One-Handed Weapon & Shield: Trample doubles the attack count of Skeletal Mages, significantly increasing overall DPS.
· Shield (Legendary Aspect): Aspect of the Risen improves minion survivability and damage.
· Ring 1: Aspect of the Cursed increases all Shadow damage, including that of Skeletal Mages.
· Ring 2: Ring of Sacrilegious Soul automatically activates Raise Skeleton, Corpse Explosion, and Corpse Tendrils, enabling almost AFK play.
· Amulet: Trample increases Skeletal Mage damage.
· Unique Item Alternatives:
· Head: Ahaukhax consumes all resources to double damage.
· Chest: Naguku provides a useful shield for survival through the Druid's Earthen Bulwark.

· Basic Skills: Choose Decompose and Reap to utilize the 'Reaper's Pursuit' passive. This passive increases damage and movement speed per Shadow skill. With a total of 4 Shadow skills, you gain 32% increased damage and movement speed.
· Core Skills: Flesh Golem provides a chance to create a Corpse when dealing damage. Corpses are essential for activating various skills like Raise Skeleton, Corpse Explosion, and Corpse Tendrils, and grant additional damage through the 'Gravekeeper' glyph.
· Survival Passives:
· Necrotic Vigor: Creates a barrier on Lucky Hit.
· Spiked Armor: Provides massive armor.
· Block: Important for defensive stats when using a shield.
· Damage Passives:
· Giant's Decay: Increases damage to Elites and Bosses by 5% per rank.
· Corpse Skills:
· Corpse Explosion: A Shadow skill, automatically activated by the Ring of Sacrilegious Soul.
· Grim Harvest: Provides Essence generation upon consuming a Corpse.
· Fueling Death: Adds a power increase upon consuming a Corpse.
· This resource generation is essential due to the 'Aspect of the Grand Feast' (Skeletal Mages deal more damage but consume 2 Essence per second).
· Hybrid Passives:
· Embrace of Death: Deals damage to close targets and increases Fortify.
· Curse Skills (Passives): Iron Maiden, Decrepify (and upgrades) are not on the action bar, but Blood Moon Greaves automatically applies them, benefiting from skill tree upgrades.
· Damage Amplification: Increases DPS dealt to cursed enemies.
· Minion Skills:
· Skeletal Mage Mastery: Increases Skeletal Mage damage and life.
· Lucky Hit/Damage Passives:
· Precise Plague: Provides a high Lucky Hit Chance.
· Solitary: Gains increased damage while healthy.
· Corpse Tendrils: Crowd control, pulls enemies together and makes them Vulnerable. Often automatically triggered by the unique ring.
· Fortify/Healing Passives:
· Necrotic Carapace: Provides Fortify and healing.
· Book of the Dead (Mage): Shadow Mages deal Shadow damage and benefit from Shadow passives.
· Darkness and Terror: Amplifies Shadow damage.
· Ultimate: Army of the Dead is the most suitable damage ultimate in the current setup.
· Critical Strike/Minion Damage Passives:
· Charismatic Leader: Provides Critical Strike Chance while healthy.
· Commander: Increases minion damage, gaining additional ranks from Blood Moon Greaves and the amulet.
· Key Passive: Kalan's Edict provides multiplicative damage and attack speed. Faster attack speed increases the frequency of Shadow Mages' free Shadow Barrage.

· This Necromancer build is very easy and almost AFK-playable.
· The only actions truly needed are using your ultimate and Corpse Tendrils to group enemies faster.
· The Ring of Sacrilegious Soul automatically casts skills but does not consume cooldowns, so you can manually recast them when their cooldowns are ready.
· Otherwise, you can focus on managing your character's movement and avoiding dangerous areas.
· As a result, this build is easy to learn, deals high damage, and can effortlessly conquer high-tier Pits and all content in Torment IV.