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Necromancy is too cool of a path to pass up as an Acolyte in Last Epoch, especially if you like sitting back and watching havoc unfold. The key to a reliable Necromancer Minion build in Last Epoch is to balance things out, as you have to look out for your summons. However, it is a design that can work in the beginning and with endgame content. As a bonus, it’ll keep you out of harm’s way for the most part.
Starting a Necromancer Minion Build
As mentioned, our Necromancer Minion build only works in Last Epoch if you focus your Acolyte mastery on Necromancy. So, you’ll pour much of the passive points into the Necromancer side. That doesn’t mean you can ignore the Acolyte side. We still need much of the base Acolyte skills as they serve to improve our Minions so they can do the heavy lifting in combat.
The table below includes only some recommendations we feel will set your Necromancer Minion build off on the right start in Last Epoch. Under the Necromancer side, we suggest you focus on passives that will improve your Minions, such as resistances and armor for defense, and more damage with critical strikes or poison.
| Acolyte | Necromancer |
|---|---|
| Forbidden Knowledge | Elixir of Hunger |
| Stolen Vitality | Risen Army |
| Dark Rituals | Cursed Blood |
| Putrid Demise | Aegisfall |
| Eye of Damnation | Dark Retribution |
| Soul Aegis | Frantic Summons |
| Dominion of Rot | Rotting Army |
With a Necromancer build, you must ensure your Minions strike hard and fast in order to keep you safe and alive in Last Epoch. Passives like Dark Rituals improve their attack speed, and Soul Aegis will boost their protection with armor. Meanwhile, Stolen Vitality comes in handy to boost the health pool of your Minions and yourself.
On the Necromancer side, Rotting Army contributes to Poison damage. Aegisfall helps with armor shred, so your Minions are even stronger. Then you have Dark Retribution as a failsafe, so to speak, since it lets you Summon Skeleton Vanguards whenever a Minion dies. There are plenty more passives you can enjoy with the Necromancer, too, like Empty the Graves, which gives you health regeneration and armor per summoned Minion.
Last Epoch Necromancer Minion Main Skills
With the base passives out of the way, it’s time to dive deeper into our build and think about specific skills. We want attention poured into our summons, so we’ll look at these five skills:
- Summon Volatile Zombie
- Summon Bone Golem
- Summon Skeletal Mage
- Summon Wraith
- Dread Shade
All of our Last Epoch Minions will come into play, as the Necromancer Minion build won’t work without each of them. Our primary focus is to build up our Volatile Zombie since we can push them to auto-summon territory. Once there, you can become just about unstoppable.
Summon Volatile Zombie
Zombies are our bread and butter with the Necromancer Minion build, and once you spec them out properly, they’ll auto-summon and even explode and deal more damage. To do so, consider some of these passives in the skill tree:
- Forceful Commander
- Grave Attunement
- Giant Zombie
- Daunting Blast
- Dreadful Horde
- Vile Force
- Ravenous
- Pull of the Grave
- Path of Destruction
- Necromantic Fervor
- Vital Ward
- Army of Rot
- Putridity
Summon Bone Golem
Bone Golems are damage-sponges; they’re big and can tank a beating by holding aggro. There’s not too much you need to do with them, as having just a few passives will keep them on their feet longer or attack faster. One of the most useful perks is Unnatural Speed, as it will improve not only their movement but also the movement speed of nearby Minions.
- Amalgam of Rogues
- Unnatural Speed
- Hunger
- Amalgam of Sentinels
- Tower of Bones
- Amalgam of Primalists
Summon Skeletal Mage
The most vital passive for our Last Epoch Necromancer Minion build is for our Skeletal Mage to get us Traversal. With it, we can teleport to a new area with our Minions. It’s perfect for strategic battles and getting out of danger. Below is the skill progression to get to that point. Afterward, there’s some versatility you can use depending on how you want to play it:
- Putrid Essence
- Argonautic Speed
- Ossein Frenzy
- Forbidden Arcana
- Grave Passage
- Death’s Calvary
Summon Wraith
Our Wraith is a heavy-damage dealer that doesn’t need too much attention to thrive. You do want to reach the Poison damage, though, as it pairs well with what the Necromancer already can do, as well as the Volatile Zombies.
- Locus of Resurrection
- Haunting
- Twin Spirits
- Sequel of Avarice
- Dark Scythe
- Grave Reality
- Noxious Blades
Dread Shade
Dread Shade gives a temporary buff to our summons, such as increasing attack speed or Necrotic damage. There aren’t too many wrong ways you can go with it, which further helps your Necromancer Minion build have flexibility. Some of the below passives are worth checking out:
- Spectral Presence
- Lone Watcher
- Dying Coven
- Grim Fate
- Duskheart
- Lingering Doom
- Blind Fury
Helpful Gear for Necromancer Minion Build
Nothing is truly mandatory, as leaving room for versatility is what will make your Necromancer build shine. However, when it comes to gear, one that dramatically enhances the build is the Cycle of Putrescence. It’s a borderline OP Unique ring that plays into the auto-summoning of your Volatile Zombies. This way, you only need to focus on your other Minions as the Zombies handle themselves. You can double up if you have two of the rings to stack the buffs, too.
Other than that, you can play around with different gear that you find fits your playstyle. If you want to compensate for or enhance specific stats, it’s always ideal to experiment. It’s not like the undead mind; they can’t truly die, after all.
Last Epoch is available on PC.
