💀 Skeleton Archers Necromancer 💀 [3.27 update] [50m clear dps // 110m single target // 300k ehp]
 Feed your necrotic muse with fresh meat, and spice it up a little bit... What was long lost has now been found To the master their souls are forever bound. Overall Performance (1 to 10):
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Endurance: 9 (very high) Map clear efficiency: 9 (very high) Single Target damage: 9 (very high) Budget: 8~3 (low to high) Ascendancy: Necromancer
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1. Mistress of Sacrifice. 2. Commander of Darkness. 3. Mindless Aggression. 4. Plaguebringer. Bloodline:
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Not using one. Probably Catarina's Umbral army notable would be somewhat useful. Pantheon:
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Major: the Brine King Minor: Ryslatha or Abberath Both of them fully upgraded. Bandits:
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Kill them all. Gear and Sockets:
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Jewels:
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Unique Jewels:
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Watcher's Eye - Not necessary. If you decide to get one, the additional block/armour with Determination or Phasing with Haste are probably the most useful. Grand Spectrum (10% minion critical strike multiplier) - We use 3 of them for their maximum effect of a +90% total crit multiplier. Try to get all with Reservation efficiency corruption or other useful implicits such as "Cannot be Maimed/Hindered" if possible. Fortress Covenant - for reasonable reasons. Forbidden Flesh/Flame - optional. I chose to increase my endurance by taking elementalist's Bastion of Elements. It's a quality of life upgrade. Cluster Jewels:
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We're using two Large with Renewal, Rotten Claws, Vicious Bite on each. We aim to get the skeletons' impale chance to 100%. We're also using one Medium with Renewal and Blessed Rebirth. The Blessed Rebirth notable is what changes the build from "maybe" to "greatly viable". Since the skeletons won't be damaged for 4 seconds after summoned which perfectly aligns with the Fresh Meat buff that they get for 4~5 seconds. Also, you will keep them on full life all the time, so their chance to deal double damage from Renewal will always be active. Other Jewels:
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We use a Ghastly Eye abyss jewel with added damage, life and other goodies. Flasks:
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Fifth flask is free to choose. Detailed build description:
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Our Skeleton Archers do all the work and they are most efficient for up to 4 seconds after summoned. The summoning takes around 0.30s which feels great and definitely not burdening your gameplay. With the Fresh Meat support, the Skeletons have become really viable and comfortable to play with. Since this build is crit-based, the Fresh Meat support fits even better. Damage scaling:
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Damage scales most of all with Critical hits which inflict very effective Impales on the enemy targets. Of course, as all minion builds, additional damage comes from good support spectres and the Feeding Frenzy support gem. Additionally, we're using the Leash of Oblation belt which allows us to use all offerings at the same time. This helps us with a lot of versatility for both the minions and the character itself. Defenses:
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The defense on this build is high enough to freely roam in juiced T17 maps without bothering. The main defenses come from the Determination aura and block. Additional defense comes from the Molten Xophgraft which provides an extra guard skill. Uniques:
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We're using 3 unique gear pieces: -Skin of the Lords: this body armour is by far in the top 3 most efficient uniques for Minion builds since it helps a lot with raising the level of the minion skill gem; -Leash of Oblation: It would be a shame if we could use just 1 offering. We have a lot of Skill effect duration as Necromancers, so the 50% reduction can barely make any change. It may seem to be a little clunky to keep up with all three offerings and Summoning skeletons but it is all you do anyway. It feels great of having the speed, crit and block bonuses. But a crafted mod on your wand with automatically triggering the offerings will feel very smooth; -Replica Dragonfang's Flight: The perfect choice for this build. It fits perfectly for any minion build for all its mods. Rares:
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As usual, rare pieces are only to add up generic mods. Most of them should provide as much life and resistances as possible. The rings should be Bone with additional minion damage and attack speed if possible. Highly recommended to have one Gloam on the left side to add up to the minions' defense. The wand and the Shield should provide as much minion damage, minion critical strike chance and level of minion skill gems as possible. The Skill:
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Skeleton archers are quicker in engaging enemies than the melee skeleton warriors simply because they are ranged. Another good thing about the archers is the fact that their block ability is reset (compared to the melee skeletons), and respectively taking 0% of any blocked damage, while skeleton warriors take 10% of the blocked damage by default. Also, as ranged entities, the archers would benefit from support gems like Vicious Projectiles, Chain, Pierce, Fork, etc.. Links explanation:
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Helmet, Boots and Gloves: We use one of them for our Vulnerability + Desecrate + Flame Dash + 1 free socket (I put Convocation there). The second 4L is for the auras. The third 4L is for the standard support spectre setup: Raise Spectre + Animate Guardian + Feeding Frenzy + Meat Shield. Body Armour: It is used to 6L the Skeletons. The 4 permanent supports are Brutality, Fresh Meat, Minion Damage and Vicious Projectiles. The 5th support gem is something that we switch depending on what we're doing - Impale Support for boss fights and Chain support for map clear. Note that all socketed gems should be corrupted because Skin of the Lords has this requirement. Weapon and Shield: Automated Molten Shell + Tempest shield on the shield. The wand will take the tree offerings so that you cast them automatically with the crafted mod for auto trigger. Keystones:
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We do not use any Keystones. Masteries:
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20% increased effect of Offerings Minions Attacks Overwhelm 50% Physical Damage Reduction 12% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills 15% increased maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on Equipped Body Armour. +one random mastery to put a useful runegraft on. I chose the Fortress runegraft. Breach Grafts:
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Grafts are very useful utility additions to this league and generally can help a lot with both defense and offence. One of the grafts I chose is the Molten Xophgraft which provides the skill Heart of Flame - an additional guard skill to your build. Try to find the graft with increased armour and increased cooldown recovery rate. The second graft I chose is the Summoning one. There are three reasons I chose this one: Additional minion attack speed (implicit), additional number of minions whose bodies would usually serve to absorb damage and body-block monsters from reaching me, and the third reason is that these monsters inflict Brittle which adds up to the critical strike chance (typically useful for bosses). If you get one with both duration and cooldown recovery rate, you can easily have 100% uptime for 10 of these minions. Generally, the grafts are all a personal choice, so I'll leave this to you. Spectres and Animate Guardian:
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-Demon Harpy: affects targets with a debuff that increases physical damage taken (15x4%). Two of them, so their debuff can stack up more efficiently; -Perfect forest warrior: Free Onslaught for nearby allies. -Perfect Dancing Sword: Helping with impale effect and capping your skeletons' chance to impale. My animate Guardian uses: -Leer cast (helmet); -Kingmaker (2h axe); -Garb of the Ephemeral (Body armour); -Hand of Heresy (gloves); -Rare boots with chaos resistance and % increased Life regeneration rate. Gameplay:
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Leveling:
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Leveling with the skill itself from level 10 is easy enough. You can normally use Raging Spirits and/or Zombies instead. Mapping:
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We aim to summon/position the Skeletons at places where the enemy monsters are more likely to engage them instead of us. The skeletons will attack almost instantly after summoned (unlike totems which need approximately 1+ second to get active). We use their 4 second invulnerability (from cluster) to also protect us from incoming directional harm such as projectiles. Chain support greatly helps with clear efficiency. Budget:
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Weapon: On average, a rare wand with +1 All OR Minion Skills, 75%+ minion dmg, 75%+ minion crit can be around 1-5 divines depending on the rolls. Unfortunately these wands may scale prices really high if you want better modifiers; Shield: Same as weapon - can go from 1d to 3d for something useful. Way more expensive if you want something special; Body Armour: Very cheap in this league. Easily found at a price less than 20c; Belt: Around 50c for one with a useful corruption; Boots, gloves and helm: between 2d and 7d for each piece. Make sure you have +2 to all Minion skill gems on the helmet; Amulet: Around 1d to 3d for one like mine; Rings: Should be between 3d and 7d for each. Try to find ones with increased minion damage and increased minion attack speed (Bone base). A Gloam ring with same stats as the Bone ring should be approximately twice as much in price. Jewels: -A good-rolled Fortress Covenant is around 3~5d. You can find one for 1d with just any roll; -Grand Spectrums are generally 1d. Can be a bit more if you search for ones with a useful implicit; -Forbidden Jewels: Not mandatory, but the ones I am using for Bastion of elements are approximately 5d each. -Abyss jewel: Depends on the stats but I got mine for 3d. -The Large cluster jewels are around 3~4 divine orbs each. The Medium cluster jewel is around 1d. Skill and Support Gems: On average, all gems (if not awakened and not 21/20) should be around 3d~5d. Min-maxing the gems is very effective - I recommend getting a 21/20 Summon Skeletons of Archers and Awakened Brutality + Awakened Vicious Projectiles, as well as Awakened Minion damage. Maximizing the gem efficiency will be approximately 40 additional divines; Tattoos: Unfortunately, the Valako Shieldbearer tattoo is 2d each and you'd probably need at least 5 to cap your block; Grafts: Very useful grafts would be around 3~5d each. OVERALL AVERAGE OPTIMAL BUDGET: between 20 and 150 divine orbs. Pros and Cons:
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Good: -Relatively simple gameplay; -Really good clear speed; -Really good single target damage; -Maps with Reflect don't matter; -Maps with no regen don't matter; -Unique. Bad: -Can get very expensive if you seek to maximize the performance. Videos, Screenshots and Links: <<< New
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Videos: <<< New
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Mapping: <<< New Veritania: Drox: Hunter: Elderslayers Invitation: Eater of Worlds: <<< New Screenshots:
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Links: <- updated PoB
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Ideas and Alternative options:
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- a DoT variation of the build: https://pobb.in/zbwdVgYhs5hM; -Getting a Perfect forest tiger as one of your spectres can be useful but its efficiency will be reduced due to the Skeletons being resummoned and not being able to keep the tiger's frenzy charges. But the haste aura is ok to have; - instead of investing into expensive tattoos, you can get the Watcher's eye with additional block chance. P.S. This post may be updated every now and then. Zuletzt bearbeitet von fostaa#0384 um 19.11.2025, 12:38:15 Zuletzt angestoßen am 15.11.2025, 20:23:41
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Fostaa makes some badass builds!
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Very interesting build.
Could you league start with this or you have to swap to this from another build? Also would be good to get some cheaper options if the idea is that you could league start with this. Thanks a lot for the build! |
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The build is ok for a league starter. It performs well. You just switch from your skill of choice for leveling to the Phantasmal Summon Skeletons then boost phys-only + impales. Obviously the alt quality gems aren't something you can find in the first days of the league but at least it's just a regular minion build so it can start cheap, perform well with low-to-medium budget and can scale very high along with its price.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von fostaa#0384 um 09.01.2024, 08:53:31
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I hate to 'necro' (no pun intended) but will be updating this build for 3.24 ?
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Have you updated to arche ver 3.24? |
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" Hope so since archers got a buff. You stand before the gates of the Lord's Labyrinth. Within these walls, the Lady of Justice doth preside.
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Updated for 3.24
Despite of the content update a few days ago, I am currently unsure of which tattoos exactly will continue to exist in Necropolis so I only left a few with block for the moment, some can be added later to the build but won't make a big change anyway. Also, please note that 2 of the spectres are not taken into account since we still don't know the full list of possibilities... Zuletzt bearbeitet von fostaa#0384 um 28.03.2024, 07:04:38
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I love your build. Since nobody play archers and archer got buff this league. Im going to league start and bring archer to heaven.
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Apparently PoB shows half of the actual DPS of skeleton archers, I'll give this a try
IGN: HarroHarbinger
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