At the heart of this build lies a brand new Necromancer playstyle that combines Skeleton Mages and Hungering Souls into a synergistic minion-based powerhouse. The key to this combo is the Death Blossom node in Last Epoch gold the Summon Skeleton Mage tree, which has received a significant update in Season 4. Previously, this node was underwhelming, but now it's something completely different.
In the new patch, the Death Blossom node allows Death Knights (your summoned minions) to cast Hungering Souls using your Hungering Souls skill tree. This means that all the damage modifiers-whether additive or multiplicative-that apply to Hungering Souls will now affect your minions as well.
This opens up a world of possibilities for stacking damage and creating a minion-heavy, high-DPS necromancer build. But that's not all-there are a lot of additional buffs and synergies that enhance this playstyle.
Skeleton Mage Synergy Buffs
The Skeleton Mage has also been buffed significantly for Season 4. The following updates are noteworthy:
40% multiplicative damage from the Grave Tide node (up from 15%) makes Skeleton Mages much stronger.
The Forbidden node now provides 8% multiplicative damage per 25 max mana (up from 5%), synergizing perfectly with mana stacking.
Battle Hardened has been reworked, providing 100% cooldown recovery speed for Skeleton Mage abilities. This means that the cooldowns for both Hungering Souls and Necrotic Mortar are halved, so your minions can spam their abilities every 3 seconds instead of every 6 seconds.
As a result, you'll be able to field seven Death Knights (up from five) and watch them unleash Necrotic Mortars and Hungering Souls on their enemies, all with high-frequency and devastating damage.
Hungering Souls: Nuke or Mass Projectiles?
One of the most exciting aspects of this build is the Hungering Souls skill tree. There are several ways to play it, but the goal here is to focus on Necrotic Nukes rather than fire or mass projectiles.
In essence, you'll have seven Death Knights shooting Necrotic Mortars and launching Hungering Souls that hit like a truck. We're aiming for the following:
200% multiplicative damage
Base critical strike chance and multiplier
60% critical strike chance
60% additional multiplicative damage
And that's not all. With 10+ minions, you're also stacking another 60% multiplicative damage, making the damage output of this build absolutely massive.
Mana Stacking: Forbidden Souls + Necrotic Nukes
The twist on this build comes with mana stacking. The Forbidden Souls node increases the damage of your Hungering Souls based on your maximum mana. This gives you a massive damage boost, and it pairs beautifully with the Skeleton Mage buffs.
In this build, you'll be stacking mana (I aim for around 1,000 mana), which translates into more damage and more powerful spells for your minions. It's not for everyone, but with the right gear and passives, it has huge potential.
The Role of Golems and Zombies
For added protection and versatility, you'll be using two Golems (including the newly buffed Blood Golem) to tank and deal damage. The Blood Golem received a buff in Season 4, so it's definitely worth considering for this build. However, if you're not a fan of the Golem, you could easily replace it with Zombies.
The Zombie skill has also been reworked and now synergizes well with this build. Zombies deal Necrotic and Spell Damage, making them a perfect fit. They also bring additional kill threshold, ward generation, and even armor shred, which boosts your survivability. I'm currently leaning toward Summon Zombie as the fifth skill, but I'm still testing options.
Gear Choices and Buffs
When it comes to gear, several pieces are crucial for making this build shine:
Blight Staff: This item got a minion damage buff and increases the number of summoned Skeleton Mages from five to seven. It's an essential piece for the build.
Death Rattle Amulet: This amulet provides critical strike chance, critical strike multiplier, and minion damage, which are all key to Last Epoch gold for sale maximizing your output.
