Rathma Army of the Dead Necromancer Skills and Runes (2024)

Last updated on Apr 10, 2024 at 09:00by Deadset34 comments

On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playingRathma Army of the Dead Necromancer in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.7 andSeason 31.

Active Skills
Siphon Blood Power ShiftCommand Skeletons Frenzy1Bone Armor Dislocation2Army of the Dead Death Valley3Blood Rush Potency4Revive Personal Army
Passive Skills
Rigor MortisFinal ServiceRathma's ShieldGrisly Tribute

The build should start out runs by getting Revive minions up assoon as possible, ideally the maximum 10 per cast right out of the gate;naturally, this is necessary to maximize the 2-, 4- and 6-piece bonuses of the Rathma set, which at leastpartially hinges on reanimating the corpses of the fallen. The other half ofthe set mechanic can comfortably fall on Command Skeletons which shouldalso be up at all times. With your set fully amplified by minions, you shouldbe able to nuke and shortly thereafter reset your main damage dealer — Army of the Dead.

With proper Cooldown Reduction optimization, you should have twoactivations of Army of the Dead within a single Convention of Elements rotation. One of them needs to be during thePhysical cycle in order to burst enemies down, while the other will beauxiliary damage, mopping up stragglers and setting up Oculus Ringspawns.

Due to the ample range of Siphon Blood, you can maintain aconsiderable distance from the enemy — letting the minions tank anddistract your enemies. As your Physical rotation of Convention of Elements approaches, you will need to move in closer tothe fight and stun the pull with Bone Armor Dislocation to get themaximum Krysbin's Sentence damage bonus. Then, immediately teleport awaywith Blood Rush to maximize your Zei's Stone of Vengeance bonus,which is based on distance. With both bonuses taken care of, you can unleashthe Army of the Dead Death Valley nuke and enjoy the devastation.

The main damage dealer and centerpiece of the build is Army of the Dead, one of the Necromancer skills targeted by the Rathmaset for damage multiplication. Its massive, 120-second base cooldown isreduced by attacks of your permanent minions in 0.25 second increments. Withdeep investments in Cooldown Reduction on gear, once you have 17 minions outin the battlefield (the 10 Revives and 7 Command Skeletons)you should be able to cast Army of the Dead twice per Convention of Elements cycle. The preferred rune is the pulling effectof Death Valley, bringing some excellent battlefield manipulation.

Revive is an integral part of a Rathma setup, as the attacks of itsminions will be responsible for roughly half of the cooldown reductionnecessary to make Army of the Dead a reliable nuke. Take the Personal Army rune to add some much needed damage reduction to yourbuild.

Command Skeletons is the other source of minion summons necessary tomaximize th Rathma armor set bonus; on top of that, its active effect is atrigger for the Jesseth set weaponand offhand. Take the Frenzy to hasten the cooldown reset from the2-piece set bonus and ensure the stability of the 6-piece multiplier.

While its base Essence generation and healing aspects are decent, Siphon Blood receives a massive boon from the Cubed effects of the Funerary Pick. That power alone places this generator skill firmly inthe build, greatly scaling your damage against targets affected by thesiphoning, and further empowering the effect of your preferred rune — Power Shift.

The base effect of Bone Armor simply acts as a damage reductionbuffer, easily maximized in densely packed rifts. The more important half ofthe skill comes from the chosen rune, Dislocation — its 2-secondstun will provide a moment of respite in the thick of battle, as well as anadditional source of Krysbin's Sentence procs.

Last but not least, Blood Rush will be necessary for both mobilitythroughout the rift, and for a valuable layer of protection from theArmor-boosting rune Potency.

Synergizing with the frequent use of Army of the Dead in this build, Rathma's Shield provides a brief moment of invulnerability once every 60seconds. You can time the use of this passive for some daredevil pulls andengagements, or simply have another backup for tanking hard-to-dodge Eliteaffixes.

You have two Poisonous skill runes that can reliably affect an entire pull— Bone Armor Dislocation's AoE effect plus Siphon Blood Power Shift's multi-target capability from Funerary Pick. With that in mind, you can efficiently proc the Rigor Mortis passive, along with all the crowd control and safety itprovides.

Since this spec falls into the category of heavy summoners (albeit notreliant on the summons' damage to perform), Grisly Tribute is a greatinclusion to make up for the lackluster sustain inherent to your skill andgear choices. In a 17-minion setup, this passive will be a major factor inyour healing.

Lastly, Final Service provides you with a cheat death proc and asafety net against bursty elite affixes.