Diablo 3: Rise of the Necromancer

This week has seen the release of the Diablo 3: Rise of the Necromancer patch. This patch is available on PC, Xbox One and PS4 for £12.99 and unlocks the new Necromancer class as well as a few other goodies for those willing to purchase the new content.

The option of two additional stash tabs is a tempting feature alone for those players who have been playing Diablo 3 for a long time as the amount of items you collect as you go, both in seasonal and non-seasonal game play, soon means that space comes at a premium!

The usual addition of a new pet, banner and sigil etc will also be a welcome addition to those collectors out there!

Diablo 3: The Necromancer Class

The class itself is quite versatile – you are basically a blood mage, using blood and dark arts to power your abilities, and harnessing the will of the dead to do your bidding.

You can opt for a play style without minions with a bonus to armour, or you can play it as a pet class and summon as many minions as your essence (the Necromancer’s main resource) will allow. There are four tier sets available to the Necromancer, each of which focus on a different build style, similar to the existing classes within Diablo 3.

Tier sets in Diablo 3 are similar to those in Blizzard’s other successful game World of Warcraft – you collect 2/4/6 pieces of the set for ever-increasing bonuses and power. Gaining these pieces will give you a particular buff to an ability or survivability as to which set you have chosen and what combination of pieces you have equipped.

The set pieces available to Necromancer are as follows:

Bones of Rathma (Bone / Pet Set)

Bones of Rathma Necromancer Armor Set

• (2) Set Bonus
  • Your minions have a chance to reduce the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 1 second each time they deal damage.
• (4) Set Bonus
  • You gain 1% damage reduction for 15 seconds each time one of your minions deal damage. Max 50 stacks.
• (6) Set Bonus
  • Each active Skeleton Mage increases the damage of your minions and Army of the Dead by 250%.

Trag’Oul’s Avatar (Blood Set)

Trag’Oul’s Avatar Necromancer Armor Set 

• (2) Set Bonus
  • Blood Rush gains the effect of every rune.
• (4) Set Bonus
  • While at full life, your healing from skills is added to your maximum life for 45 seconds. Up to 100% more.
• (6) Set Bonus
  • Your Life-spending abilities deal 3300% increased damage but cost twice as much life. Your healing from skills is increased by 100%.

Grace of Inarius (Saint Set)

Grace of Inarius Necromancer Armor Set

• (2) Set Bonus
  • Bone Armor’s damage is increased by 1000%.
• (4) Set Bonus
  • Bone Armor grants an additional 2% damage reduction per enemy hit.
• (6) Set Bonus
  • Bone Armor also activates a swirling tornado of bone, damaging nearby enemies by 750% weapon damage and increasing the damage they take from the Necromancer by 2750%.

Pestilence Master’s Shroud  (Melee Set)

Pestilence Master’s Shroud Necromancer Armor Set

• (2) Set Bonus
  • Each corpse you consume fires a Corpse Lance at a nearby enemy.
• (4) Set Bonus
  • Each enemy you hit with Bone Spear reduces your damage taken by 2%, up to a maximum of 50%. Lasts 15 seconds.
• (6) Set Bonus
  • Each corpse you consume grants you an Empowered Bone Spear charge that increases the damage of your next Bone Spear by 3000%.

As you can see, all the sets offer differing play styles and options to try out as you settle on a build that works for you. I personally have returned to my roots of playing a pet class (Beast Master Hunter main on World of Warcraft by the way!) and have chosen to play with the Rathma set. Ordering a host of skeletons and Skeletal archers to attack a group of mobs is strangely empowering and I would highly recommend everybody tries it out at least once!

For anyone wondering whether it is worth the price for a game that is now five years old, I would say that in my personal opinion that it is worth it. You get a new class (which many fans have been waiting for Blizzard to add ever since Diablo 3 released, due to it being a favourite within Diablo 2), and this in itself opens up many more hours game play while you get to grips with the different builds and push for higher content.