Summon Necromancer Mercenary Guide in Diablo 2: Resurrected

Dec-04-2023

 

Summon Necromancer is one of the most classic gameplay styles in Diablo 2, and it is also one of the strongest forms of Necromancer. With the introduction of the Enigma runeword in the resurrected version, the strength of the Necromancer has been further enhanced. In addition, the overall cost of runeword is not expensive, making it a cost-effective choice.

 

Summon Necromancer has high safety, simple operation, high adaptability to different circumstances, and its efficiency is second only to Martial Arts Assassin, Lightning Sorceress and so on.

 

Powerful gameplay requires strong damage. The damage of Summon Necromancer mainly consists of Corpse Explosion, Mercenary, and Raise Skeleton. Unlike other spellcasting classes, skill levels have limited impact on the overall damage of Summon Necromancer, as they only increase the damage of summoned skeletons and the radius of Corpse Explosion, not the damage       of Mercenaries or Corpse Explosion. An efficient Necromancer heavily relies on Corpse Explosion, and the Act 2 Might Aura Mercenary is almost the only choice.

 

 

As the main source of damage, the equipment for Mercenary is even more important than the Necromancer itself. In combat, a high-level Mercenary uses Jab for about 80% of the time, and the rest is spent on normal attacks and Aura. The DPS of normal attacks is about 50% of Jab's DPS. When choosing equipment, the attack speed breakpoints of the Mercenary should be based on Jab, not normal attacks. Unlike the Amazon, Jab for Mercenary consists of two consecutive hits, and there is a 1-frame delay before each Jab, which should not be ignored in attack speed calculations. Crushing Blow (CB) on the equipment of the Mercenary can significantly improve the efficiency of boss fights but has little effect on regular monsters. A decent Mercenary for Summon Necromancer needs at least 3% life steal to ensure survival.

 

When it comes to Auras, the first priority for Necromancer is Conviction Aura, which can lower monsters' Fire Resistance, increase Corpse Explosion damage, and greatly improve the team's physical hit chance. Fanaticism Aura is the second Aura to consider, as it can provide a comprehensive boost to the team's physical damage and is usually obtained through the Beast. For Mercenary, the maximum potential of a high-quality yellow weapon surpasses that of rune words and unique items. Therefore, yellow weapons with high Enhanced Damage (ED), high attack speed, or 2 sockets are worth paying attention to. If the third Aura choice is Insight for mana regeneration, a combination of Lawbringer/Crescent Moon and Infinity Iron Golem is superior to Infinity/Lawbringer and Iron Golem in terms of effectiveness.

 

 

If the character wields Heart of the Oak, Honor Sword, Spirit Sword, or Tomb Wand, then Infinity Thunder Maul with Iron Golem is the optimal choice for Mercenary.

 

As the main source of damage, it is crucial for the Mercenary to have a certain amount of Cannot Be Frozen attribute. If the jewels on the helm cannot further increase the attack speed breakpoint, a jewel with the attribute "#32 Cham" is more practical than those that increase damage. Unlike player characters, the Mercenary naturally lacks critical strike chance, so having Deadly Strike attribute on the equipment is significant (although it is not displayed on the character panel). Weapons with sockets can be equipped with a jewel with "#28 Lo" to increase critical strike chance. Phantom attribute (increased chance to hit with level) can increase the Mercenary's chance to hit by about 3000, significantly improving efficiency against elite monsters with defensive bonuses (such as Hardened Skin), although these monsters are not very common.

 

 

In the game, the numbers displayed on the character panel for the Mercenary's attributes are for normal attacks, not for Jab, although the difference between the two is very small. When the Mercenary is unarmed, it is equivalent to equipping a weapon with 1-2 damage. Additionally, the attack range of the Mercenary is fixed at 2 and is not affected by equipment.