Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – Guide to Necromancer Career DLC (Mechanics / Talents / Weapons / Builds)

Guide for Necromancer mechanic/talent, two DLC weapons, and some build theory.

Disclaimer

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Stats and numbers in this guide are used from press release preview version. Exact numbers may be different from formal release version.

Career General Overview

Career Orientation

A hybrid career with multiple ways to deal damage and interact with enemies.

Pros:

• Has consistent crowd control tools. Has good damage against all types of enemies. Has access one of the best extreme long distance sniping weapon.

Cons:

• Low burst damage. Fairly low mobility. Low Health/Damage Reduction.

Basic Stats:

• Base HP: 100
• Career Skill Cooldown: 110 sec
• Unusable Weapons: Flamestorm Staff

Perks

Mistress of Death

• Sienna can command her servants to Attack or Defend. She can also Release them to ventilate Overcharge.
• Command function can only be accessed by using Icon of Death.

Lifetaker

• Killing an enemy grants 2% crit for 4 second. Max stacks 5.
• Can be triggered by any form of kill.
• Skeleton Warriors kill also contribute to this Perk

Cold Flames

• Sienna’s damage over time effects last 100% longer
• Doubles the fire DoT effect duration from Necromancer’s weapon, but also half their tickrate.
• Also increases friendly fire DoT duration.

Career Skill & Passive

Raise Dead

Sienna raises a company of Skeleton Warriors to ravage the enemy ranks.

Summon 6 Skeleton Warriors. The summon area can stagger all units in the game. The skull icons(≤6) and number at bottom right of the screen indicates the number of Skeletons existing.

Skeleton Warriors has infinite duration, but can be damaged and killed by enemy units but are immune to gas. They can take friendly fire from players, but only from hitscan range attacks.

Skeleton Warriors Health and Damage scales with game difficulty, does not scale with player’s Hero Power. Does not benefit from player buff, however enemy debuff like Witch Hunter Captain Witch-Hunt and Sister of the Thorn Blackvenom Blades do increase their damage dealt.

Skeleton Warriors from previous Raise Dead will also decay immediately when Raise Dead is used again.

Skeleton Warriors do fairly low damage, but their attacks can chain stagger elites consistently.

Skeletons will teleport back to the player if player is too far away from them.

All enemies except specials/monsters/lord can agro onto Skeleton Warriors, and Skeleton Warriors cannot be disabled by disabler. Most enemies do prefer players more than Skeleton Warriors. Monsters do not agro onto Skeleton Warriors, but if they are on its way they will try to sweep Skeleton Warriors away.

When Skeleton Warriors received certain high stagger attacks or after when they got thrown out by blightstorm, they will get scattered and disabled for a while. When Necromancer is disabled(e.g downed/disabled/ledged), all Skeleton Warriors are disabled too.

Skeleton Warriors do not replenish Necromancer’s health when killing enemies, even with Deathdealer, but they do trigger certain other on kill interactions.

Malediction of Nagash

Sienna’s flames now burn with a cold, unearthly light that saps enemy vigour, causing them to suffer 20% additional damage from Sienna and her Servants.

Increase only Necromancer and Skeleton Warriors’ all damage against targets that received fire DoT from Necromancer.

All form of fire DoT works, including weapons/talents/items. Fire DoT from other careers or torch do not apply this effect.

First attack that applies the fire DoT does not benefit from the damage increase effect.

Icon of Death (Command Item)

Icon of Death Description

Sienna uses the Icon of Death to command her Skeletons. Pressing the Potion keybind once will select the Icon of Death. Pressing it twice selects her carried Potion(if any).

Attack Command

Orders your skeletons to attack target enemy and increases their damage by 60% for 8 seconds.

Use Attack key to order this command.

If skeletons are under the effect of Attack Command damage increase, their icon at bottom right will glow blue.

Skeletons will try to close gap and attack tagged enemy until it dies.

Defend Command

Orders your skeletons to defend target area reducing the damage they take by 80%.

Hold Defend/Charge/Zoom key to choose defend position, and then press Attack key at the same time to order this command.

Click Defend/Charge/Zoom key again to cancel Defend Command.

While in defend position, skeletons will automatically go out attack nearby enemies, but will not go out too far away.

Skeletons will teleport back to the player if player is too far away from their defend position.

Death’s Release

Release a skeleton from its servitude, instantly ventilating 70% overcharge.

Use Reload key to order this command.

Ventilate 70% max overcharge immediately.

Can target which skeleton you choose to release by pointing it with crosshair.

The chosen skeleton has a unique outline.

Talent Mechanic & General Usage

Level 5 Row

Corpsemaker

Damaging multiple enemies in one swing with a melee weapon grants temporary health. Max 5 enemies.

Should be used most of the time.

Deathdealer

Melee killing blows restore temporary health based on the health of the slain enemy.

Should be used if you melee weapon has strong elites killing power and not building towards strong cleave ability.

Life Leeching

Healing yourself with a First Aid Kit or a Healing Draught also heals your nearby allies for 20.0% of their maximum health. Clears any wounds.

Should be avoided most of the time, as Necromancer is fairly squishy.

Level 10 Row

Vanhel’s Danse Macabre

12% attack speed when 4 skeletons are alive.

Fairly consistent boost suited for all builds.

Since your skeleton last indefinitely, this talent has very good uptime as long as you don’t Release skeletons too often. Although on higher difficulty skeletons are fairly easy to kill, so usually you want to pair this talent along with Spirit Leech and/or Dread Seneschal.

It’s also a fairly good talent for Soulstealer Staff focus build if you reached all important Breakpoints, since Soulstealer charge attack charge speed is affected by attack speed.

Death Ascendent

Casting spells grants 5% ranged power for 6 seconds. Max stacks 5. Good range damage boost with medium uptime

Increases Ranged Power, increases range attack direct damage and stagger, does not affect DoT damage or range attack cleave.

All regular staff spell cast actions can trigger this talent. For Beam Staff beam attack, press and release left click once will add one stack; for all charged spell including Soulstealer Staff, charge and successfully release the attack add one stack.

The damage applies immediately to the attack that triggers this talent, except Soulstealer Staff charge attack and Conflagration Staff charge attack.

A good talent to go with range weapons that focus on impact damage and can spam fairly quick, like Beam staff/Bolt staff/Soulstealer staff.

Although Necromancer doesn’t generate THP very fast on her own, you can get more overcharge to proc this talent by releasing skeletons and using Spirit Leech to summon more of them. Lost Souls can also help, but due to its mechanic is not as consistent, especially if you are playing on a difficulty where you can find elites easily.

Reaping

Critical attacks have 25% power and unlimited cleave.

All rounding talent that requires picking other Talent/Trait for good result

Increases the Power Level of critical attack by 25%, boosts critical attacks damage and stagger by 25% but only gives melee critical attack infinite cleave.

It also allows melee critical attacks to cleave through cleave resistance units like Armoured enemies/Monster, but does not work for range attacks.

Thanks to her perk Lifetaker, Necromancer has decent crit chance out of back to trigger this talent, and can be boosted further by using Soul Harvest and use weapons that synergy with that talent.

This talent not only boots build horde clear ability, but also makes dealing with mixed horde with melee weapon much easier, and allows the player to generate more THP with Corpsemaker

Level 15 Row

Mainstay

Deal 40% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 60% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.

Increases your horde clear DPS. However, Necromancer already has more efficient horde clear options from range weapons. Should avoided most of time.

Smiter

The first enemy hit always counts as staggered. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.

Increases your single target DPS. Should be picked most of time when all important range breakpoints are reached.

Enhanced Power

Increases total Power Level by 7%. This is calculated before other buffs are applied.

Increase both your melee/range/DoT damage. For certain Necromancer build, you relies on range weapon or DoT for most of your damage and/or for most of your single target DPS, plus the potential of better breakpoints, Enhanced Power suits those builds better. Otherwise pick Smiter to boost your melee damage against important target.

Level 20 Row

Cursed Blood

Critical attacks against enemies afflicted by the Malediction of Nagash cause them to burst, damaging nearby enemies based on the damage of the attack.

High DPS skill that requires investment and optimization

Despite tool tip, the application of Malediction of Nagash for this talent is different from Necromancer’s passive. Only fire DoT from Necromancer’s weapons and talents work with this talent, other fire DoT like fire bomb or other careers or torch do not.

If the critical attack applies fire DoT and the target does not have fire DoT on it beforehand, it does not trigger the explosion.

Only Necromancer’s critical attack can trigger the explosion. Can be triggered on any target, including teammates. Explosion itself does not cause friendly fire, causes damage and moderate stagger.

Just on its own this talent is not out standing, as it requires mass DoT application and high crit per second weapons to be utilized. However, the damage potential on high density enemies is huge, making picking this talent along with weapons like Coruscation Staff or using talent Barrow Blades worth while.

Soul Harvest

The Malediction of Nagash rips the soul from targets that die. Harvesting 8 souls causes the next attack to be a guaranteed Critical Hit.

Good DPS skill that requires investment and optimization

Despite tool tip, the application of Malediction of Nagash for this talent is different from Necromancer’s passive. Only fire DoT from Necromancer’s weapons and talents work with this talent, other fire DoT like fire bomb or other careers or torch do not.

For melee attacks/skeletons, enemies need to die while having the Malediction of Nagash to drop souls. For range attacks, any kills will drop souls.

Killing teammates or teammates killing enemies do not drop souls under any condition.

The guaranteed crit can be stacked infinite times. If your attack missed, it will still consume the stack. However, under this effect push will be guaranteed crit too, and does not consume the stack.

After the soul drops, the player would need to get close to absorb the soul and gain stacks.

Due to its trigger condition, builds that focused on close range high uptime casting or mass DoT apply plus melee hybrid style to be utilized. But when paired with correct build and Heat Sink trait on range weapon or talent Reaping for melee, it can provide very good damage potential.

Currently, Coruscation Staff left click does not trigger guaranteed crit effect and will consume a stack.

Withering Touch

On releasing a Skeleton, all Sienna’s attacks for the next 15 seconds ignite enemies, causing damage over time.

Low use case Utility.

Only triggers when manually Release skeletons with Icon of Death. Skeleton decay due to taking damage or casting new Raise Dead do not trigger this effect.

All Sienna’s attacks, melee or range, will apply a weak fire DoT on enemies. Does not overwrite original DoT if attacks have one.

The addition of extra DoT is welcome on Necromancer, as she has the Malediction of Nagashhowever passive and can be triggered by this talent. However, the DoT itself isvery weak, and all the other strong DoT synergy talents are on the same row as Withering Touch, making this talent very underwhelming overall.

Level 25 Row

Spirit Leech

Killing an elite enemy restore 15% cooldown.

Good utility skill that requires specific build or difficulty. Triggers when Necromancer or skeletons killing elites. Does not trigger on specials.

With high elite killing potential build like Bolt Staff/Soulstealer Staff build, you can use your range weapon to kill elites, reduce cooldown to summon more skeleton, and Release skeleton for more overcharge to use your staff, creating a positive loop. Percentage cooldown reduction is also just genially useful for a long cooldown AoE stagger career skill, and help you maintain your skeleton numbers when you are using Barrow Blades for DoT application. However, this talent does require to play on higher difficulty where there are plenty elites for you to kill, and even with her best weapon there are quite bit careers can out snipe/out elite kill Necromancer, so your uptime of this talent can change quite a bit depends on the specific game you had.

Curse of the Undeath

Casting Raise Dead reduces damage inflicted on Sienna by 80% for the next 3 hits.

Utility skill for high melee uptime build

Cannot be stacked over 3 stacks.

Damage reduction stacks can be consumed by self damage(venting), friendly fire, and environment damage(acid pool).

Although 80% damage reduction is very high, due to long base cooldown and venting removes stacks, this talent can only really be utilized by some melee focus build that doesn’t require the player to vent often.

Lost Souls

Venting 20% overcharge unleashes a soul that steals health from a nearby enemy restoring 2 temporary health.

Utility skill for high range uptime build

Unleashes a soul after ventilate 20% max overcharge. Does not need to ventilate 20% at one instance.

Can be triggered by natural overcharge dissipate, manual overcharge venting, Release skeleton with Icon of Death.

Cannot be triggered by Heat Sink, overcharge explode.

After unleashed, the soul will automatically seek out enemies and critters. It deals impact damage and apply DoT.

Only when impact on an enemy/critter, the soul will gives Necromancer 2 temporary health.

The more overcharge you generate, the more THP you can get from this talent. However, since it requires the soul to seek out and contact an enemy/critter, it does make the regen bit inconsistent. It also requires the user to constantly generate overcharge to make value of this talent, thus requires a high range uptime build to utilize it.

Level 30 Row

Army of the Dead

Raise Dead now causes Skeletons to remain for 20 seconds before decaying.

Low use case utility.

After using Raise Dead, the Skeletons from previous Raise Dead to remain for 20 seconds before decaying, but cannot be extended further more even if Raise Dead is cast again.

Since Raise Dead has 110 sec cooldown, unless playing on Vanguard deed on high difficulty and use Spirit Leech, or drink a Concentration potion with Decanter trait, this talent will rarely provide good value. Even then, baseline Skeletons do way less compare to other options on level 30, making this talent a very niche choice.

Barrow Blades

Skeletons now carry two cursed blades. When raised, and when attacking, they ignite enemies, causing damage over time.

Good Skeleton DPS and synergy talent.

All enemies inside Raise Dead will receive a weak fire DoT when career skill is casted.

All Skeletons now are able to apply a weak fire DoT.

Although the fire DoT damage isn’t very high at grand scale, consider the amount of DoT they can apply and Skeleton’s base damage is fairly low, it is the big DPS increase talent for Skeletons percentage wise. But the biggest strength of this talent comes from DoT synergy, specifically with Cursed Blood and Soul Harvest, as both talents requires enemies to be affected by Necromancer or her minion’s fire DoT as part of the trigger condition. By picking this talent, you no longer requires to bring fast fire DoT apply melee/range weapon to utilize that two talents well, as Skeletons alone can do that efficiently.

Dread Seneschal

Increase Skeleton health and damage by 50%. Command Attack now orders a charge. Command Defend can be issued simultaneously.

Strong universal Utility that requires micro.

Necromancer now summons 3 hammer skeletons and 3 shield skeletons.

When Attack and Defend Command are ordered simultaneously, shield skeletons will remain in defend position, and hammer skeletons will carry out Attack Command. However if no hammer skeletons remain, shield skeletons will only carry out Defend Command, and would require Necromancer to cancel Defend Command first, or after shield skeletons teleport back to Necromancer due to long distance.

When under Attack Command, skeletons will charge into the target enemies. The charge apply stagger to all enemies on that patch, can interrupt all types of elites movement, including Chaos Warrior overhead, but cannot stagger Monster or Hookrat.

The health increase alone is worth while for skeletons uptime on higher difficulty, and the charge ability provides them some of the best short term crowd control. Issue Attack Command on enemies at the end of a horde can stagger pretty much all enemies on the straight line, or clear a path for the player to move. The only down side is in order to carry out the most potential of this talent, it requires player’s extra attention and micromanagement on skeleton’s movement.

New Weapons Overview – Ensorcelled Reaper

Career Accessibility

Battle Wizard, Pyromancer, Unchained, Necromancer

Basic Stats

• Stamina:
  • 6 stamina/3 shields
• Dodge:
  • 100% dodge distance, 2 dodge count
• Block / Push Ability:
  • Same as normal weapons.
• Crit Chance:
  • No extra crit chance.
• Mass Modifier:
  • Heavy Attack 1 and 2 have Linesman.

Additional Notes

• Heavy Attack 1 and 2 do not get stopped by cleave resistant units(e.g Armoured units).
• Light Attack 2 and Push Attack apply fire DoT.
• Has an AoE special attack, apply stagger and damage to enemies in front of you.
• Special attack does not generate any temporary health.
• Special attack damage and stagger power are affected by Melee Power(e.g Unchained Perk).

Ensorcelled Reaper is the only two-handed melee weapon in Sienna’s weaponry. It inherits many two-handed weapon characteristics, most noticeably all its heavy attacks have good stagger power, and especially the special attack. The special attack slam only deal little damage, and only affect enemies in front of you in a cone shape area, but its stagger power is enough to stagger all elites move except Chaos Warrior overhead attack on Cataclysm without any additional investment. The follow up light attack can loop into its single target combo, allows a safe opening when fighting elite, or follow the special attack with a heavy attack to control high density mixed horde/elites.

However, half of its horde cleave attack(Light Attack 3/4) don’t have mass modifier, and the two heavy cleave attacks(Heavy Attack 1/2) has Linesman instead of Heavy Linesman, limiting their ability to cleave through Armoured enemies inside horde. The single target combo also has lacklustre DPS for how slow and long they are. Plus the overall slow speed and low dodge count, it requires the users to be precise with their attack timing and/or invest many melee boosts talents to utilize this weapon well.

Pros: Special attack has high stagger power.

Cons: Low dodge(though same as other two-handed weapon). Fairly slow. Neither cleave power nor single target DPS are outstanding for two-handed weapon.

Recommended Weapon Combo:

Special Attack:

Ensorcelled Reaper special attack(default key: Mouse 5) is a ground slam AoE attack. Only hit enemies in front of the player. Does little damage, but can stagger all elites moves except Chaos Warrior overhead at close range.

Use combo special attack – heavy attack to control mixed horde/multiple elites.

You can start with special attack to stagger the target, then loop into single target combo light attack – heavy attack – light attack – light attack.

Against Horde:

When fighting horde, use combo heavy attack – heavy attack – light attack – light attack.

Against Elite:

When fighting elites, use combo light attack – light attack – heavy attack – light attack.

Against Monster:

When fighting monster, use combo light attack – light attack – heavy attack – light attack.

New Weapons Overview – Soulstealer Staff

Career Accessibility

Necromancer

Basic Stats

• Dodge:
  • 100% dodge distance, 2 dodge count
• Armor Piercing:
  • Primary attack pierce all armour types.
  • Alternative attack first 4 ticks of damage does not pierce Super Armour, 5th tick of damage pierce all armour type.
• Crit chance:
  • No extra crit chance.
• Mass modifier:
  • No mass modifier.

Additional Notes

Primary Attack Mechanic

• Does not use regular cleave mechanic, bounce twice onto nearby enemies after hitting first target, hitting up to 3 times. One target cannot be attacked twice with one use of Primary Attack.
• Both main projectile and bounced projectiles apply fire DoT. But only the main projectile of primary attack can trigger none overcharge related Traits and cooldown on hit.
• Have extreme long range no damage drop off.

Alternative Attack Properties

• Cannot score headshot, cannot trigger none overcharge related Traits.
• Charge speed is affected by attack speed.
• Requires LoS to lock on enemies, after lock on it no longer requires LoS but still need to keep the target at certain FoV range.
• All 5 damage ticks of Alternative Attack apply stagger to the target. Last tick pierce through shield. Only last tick of alternative attack can trigger cooldown on hit.
• Holding right click then click special attack(default key: Mouse 5) can zoom in.
• Have extreme long range and no damage drop off.

Soulstealer Staff is a unique weapon that only Necromancer has access to it. Its Primary Attack deal fairly low damage, but serves as a good utility tool, synergy very well with Necromancer’s passive ability that increases her damage dealt to enemies suffer from her DoT. The Alternative Attack is where most of its damage coming from.

The Soul Rip attack can reach the breakpoints to oneshot all specials and regular armoured elites across all official difficulties, and with breakpoints and/or with Primary Attack apply DoT first, oneshot all the other man-size elites. Combine with the long range lock-on mechanic and with no requirement of LoS after lock-on making this weapon’s sniping ability extremely consistently. However, the Monster and Super Armour damage is not on the super high end, and fairly long charge time plus unable to pre charge the spell making it hard to compete with other sniping careers when they have decent aim or breakpoints.

Pros: Easy to use. Good special breakpoints. High Armour damage. Long range.

Cons: Slow charge speed. Fairly low Monster/Super Armour damage.

Primary Attack (left-click):

Left click and release 1 projectile, projectile can bounce up to 2 more times.

Each dart count towards cooldown on hit. They are all pinpoint accurate and all darts land on the same spot

Should be used to stagger few close range trash or proc Necromancer Passive for damage boost.

Alternative Attack (right-click):

Right click to select a target with the outline, then hold left click to charge the soul rip. Holding right click then click special attack(default key: Mouse 5) can zoom in.

Should be used against single target elite/special.

After selecting target, no longer requires direct LoS, but still needs to keep target in certain FoV range.

New Weapon Cata Build – Ensorcelled Reaper + Soulstealer Staff

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

Ensorcelled Reaper has fairly slow attack speed, and Soulstealer Staff Soul Rip attack charge speed is affected by attack speed, making this talent overall the best option.

Lvl 15

With this build, Soulstealer Staff already reaches all important breakpoints, making Smiter a better option for your melee DPS.

Lvl 20

With attack speed from Vanhel’s Danse Macabre and DoT apply from Barrow Blades, you can trigger explosion inside horde fairly often, greatly boost your DPS on high density situations.

Lvl 25

Soulstealer Staff is decent at sniping elites from long range, can proc Spirit Leech fairly often to increase Barrow Blades and Vanhel’s Danse Macabre uptime.

Lvl 30

Strong synergy with Cursed Blood.

Melee Weapon

Ensorcelled Reaper is the new Sienna two-handed weapon. It has slow speed in general but provide great stagger from heavy and special attack. Utilize the AoE high stagger special attack to help yon control multiple elites/high density horde and start your slow combos.

Range Weapon

Soulstealer Staff has great breakpoints, allow you to oneshot all man-sized specials, SV/Bestigor, and combo kill rest of man-sized elites with one charge attack. However, its charge speed is fairly slow, and cannot instant kill certain enemies. So in order to compete with other range careers, player need to utilize its extreme long range and the ability to keep charging Soul Rip attack without enemy LoS, and remember to use Primary Attack to apply DoT first then charge your Soul Rip on certain enemies.

• Breakpoints: 10% skaven, 10% chaos, 10% armoured, 10% infantry
• One shot-bodyshot all man-sized specials/SV/bestigor alternative attack
• One primary attack first + one alternative attack kill Monk/Berserker
• Two primary attack first + one alternative attack kill Mauler
• Two shot-bodyshot Chaos Warrior with Strength Potion with alternative attack

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

To reach the breakpoints mentioned above.

Concoction gives Soulstealer Staff additional charge speed and better breakpoints, allow you to snipe multiple elites/specials in short period of time or deal burst damage against Chaos Warriors/Monter.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.

Day 1 Cata Build – Soulstealer Staff Build

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

Soulstealer Staff Soul Rip attack charge speed is affected by attack speed, and high attack speed provides higher crit per sec for your melee weapons to trigger Cursed Blood, making this talent overall the best option.

Lvl 15

With this build, Soulstealer Staff already reaches all important breakpoints, making Smiter a better option for your melee DPS.

Lvl 20

With attack speed from Vanhel’s Danse Macabre and DoT apply from Barrow Blades, you can trigger explosion inside horde fairly often, greatly boost your DPS on high density situations.

Lvl 25

Soulstealer Staff is decent at sniping elites from long range, can proc Spirit Leech fairly often to increase Barrow Blades and Vanhel’s Danse Macabre uptime.

Lvl 30

Strong synergy with Cursed Blood.

Melee Weapon

Dagger can apply AoE DoT to horde enemies, and high attack speed allows for high crit per second to trigger Cursed Blood.

It also packs multiple tools in its moveset. Its heavy attack 1 has the same stagger power/range of shield bash, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy attack 2 has good armour damage. Light attack/push attack can increase your movement speed, helping you to reposition/dodge easily.

With this build you should use chain light attack headshot to kill horde, use heavy 1 occasionally to apply DoT to the horde if you don’t have high enough skeleton uptime, and use heavy 2 to kill elites.

Burning Flail has a great balance between stagger, cleave, horde, elites. Its heavy 1 attack has very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Although can only apply DoT to one enemies, but Barrow Blades makes sure you have enough DoT uptime on horde.

Mace has good balance between crowd control and elites damage. Its sweep attacks have very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy 1 attack can only apply DoT to one enemies, but Barrow Blades makes sure you have enough DoT uptime on horde.

Range Weapon

Soulstealer Staff has great breakpoints, allow you to oneshot all man-sized specials, SV/Bestigor, and combo kill rest of man-sized elites with one charge attack. However, its charge speed is fairly slow, and cannot instant kill certain enemies. So in order to compete with other range careers, player need to utilize its extreme long range and the ability to keep charging Soul Rip attack without enemy LoS, and remember to use Primary Attack to apply DoT first then charge your Soul Rip on certain enemies.

• Breakpoints: 10% skaven, 10% chaos, 10% armoured, 10% infantry
• One shot-bodyshot all man-sized specials/SV/bestigor alternative attack
• One primary attack first + one alternative attack kill Monk/Berserker
• Two primary attack first + one alternative attack kill Mauler
• Two shot-bodyshot Chaos Warrior with Strength Potion with alternative attack

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

To reach the breakpoints mentioned above.

Concoction gives Soulstealer Staff additional charge speed and better breakpoints, allow you to snipe multiple elites/specials in short period of time or deal burst damage against Chaos Warriors/Monster.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.

Day 1 Cata Build – Bolt Staff Build

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

Reaping provides infinite cleave on your melee when triggers critical attack, synergy greatly with Cursed Blood, allows you to wipe out a whole group of horde/elites with one strike. It also allows your melee to cleave through Armoured enemies, making it easier to deal with mixed horde in melee.

Lvl 15

With this build, Bolt Staff already reaches all important breakpoints, making Smiter a better option for your melee DPS.

Lvl 20

With attack speed from Vanhel’s Danse Macabre and DoT apply from Barrow Blades, you can trigger explosion inside horde fairly often, greatly boost your DPS on high density situations.

Lvl 25

Bolt Staff is decent at sniping elites from long range, can proc Spirit Leech fairly often to increase Barrow Blades and Vanhel’s Danse Macabre uptime.

Lvl 30

Strong synergy with Cursed Blood.

Melee Weapon

Dagger can apply AoE DoT to horde enemies, and high attack speed allows for high crit per second to trigger Cursed Blood.

It also packs multiple tools in its moveset. Its heavy attack 1 has the same stagger power/range of shield bash, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy attack 2 has good armour damage. Light attack/push attack can increase your movement speed, helping you to reposition/dodge easily.

With this build you should use chain light attack headshot to kill horde, use heavy 1 occasionally to apply DoT to the horde if you don’t have high enough skeleton uptime, and use heavy 2 to kill elites.

Burning Flail has a great balance between stagger, cleave, horde, elites. Its heavy 1 attack has very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Although can only apply DoT to one enemies, but Barrow Blades makes sure you have enough DoT uptime on horde.

Mace has good balance between crowd control and elites damage. Its sweep attacks have very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy 1 attack can only apply DoT to one enemies, but Barrow Blades makes sure you have enough DoT uptime on horde.

Range Weapon

Current patch Bolt Staff has impressive breakpoints on specials even on Cataclysm. It also deals huge armour damage and decent amount of Monster damage if you can afford the heat.

Before horde comes close, headshot lined up horde with uncharged bolts to raise your heat and increase your melee/block ability. Since Necromancer has fairly high crit chance, your left click sparks can trigger quickly Hunter to increase your damage by 25% for 10 sec.

• Breakpoints: 10% skaven, 10% chaos, 20% infantry
• One shot-bodyshot all man-sized specials with full charge bolt
• One shot-headshot all man-sized elites with full charge bolt except Mauler
• One shot-crit bodyshot all man-sized elites with full charge bolt

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

To reach the breakpoints mentioned above.

Proxy provides more potion efficiency since a team should play very tight on Cataclysm difficulty. Also, two people on potion effect can get out of emergency situations more easily.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.

Day 1 Cata Build – Beam Staff Build

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

With this build, Beam Staff can be spammed very often. Plus its high attack speed, Death Ascendent can have very high uptime, increases DPS and improves special breakpoints.

Lvl 15

With this build, Beam Staff already reaches all important breakpoints, making Smiter a better option for your melee single target damage.

Lvl 20

With Death Ascendent, Beam Staff can clear horde quickly with chain blast attacks, and since it requires the user to be close to the horde, it’s very easy to harvest souls in this way, providing more crit to trigger Heat Sink on your Beam Staff and enables more spam.

Lvl 25

Lost Souls provides some extra THP to the player often, as Beam Staff build generate and ventilate overcharge aggressively.

Lvl 30

Since Beam Staff build does not require additional DoT apply tools, Dread Seneschal is the better option here, as it increases skeletons uptime and stagger ability greatly with their new charge move.

Melee Weapon

Dagger packs multiple tools in its moveset. Its heavy attack 1 has the same stagger power/range of shield bash, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy attack 2 has good armour damage. Light attack/push attack can increase your movement speed, helping you to reposition/dodge easily.

With this build you should use chain light attack headshot to farm THP, use heavy 2 to kill elites.

Burning Flail has a great balance between stagger, cleave, horde, elites. Its heavy 1 attack has very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Mace has good balance between crowd control and elites damage. Its sweep attacks have very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Range Weapon

With Heat Sink, Soul Harvest and Lifetaker, Beam Staff has very good uptime on Necromancer at close range horde bursting. Usually ventilate with 1 skeleton release is enough to kill 1-2 waves of horde, and Lost Souls provide some free THP if you have to manual vent. And since Beam Staff can attack and be spammed in a high frequency, Death Ascendent improves your damage and breakpoints quite well.

• Breakpoints: 10% skaven, 10% chaos, 20% infantry, Death Ascendent
• Two shot-body shot slave rat with Blast
• Three shot-body shot fanatic with Blast
• Two shot-body shot assassin with Instant Snipe
• Two shot-headshot or three shot-bodyshot rest of specials with Instant Snipe

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

To reach the breakpoints mentioned above.

Proxy provides more potion efficiency since a team should play very tight on Cataclysm difficulty. Also, two people on potion effect can get out of emergency situations more easily.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.

Day 1 Cata Build – Fireball Staff Build

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

Reaping provides infinite cleave on your melee when triggers critical attack, synergy greatly with Soul Harvest. It also allows your melee to cleave through Armoured enemies, making it easier to deal with mixed horde in melee.

Lvl 15

With this build, Fireball Staff already has high enough DPS, making Smiter a better option for your melee single target damage.

Lvl 20

With Reaping, your melee attacks will cleave through the whole horde, making extra crit chance from Soul Harvest very valuable. It also let you to trigger Heat Sink easier, provide higher uptime on range weapon for even higher DPS.

Lvl 25

Lost Souls provides some extra THP to the player often, as Fireball Staff build generate and ventilate overcharge aggressively.

Lvl 30

Since Fireball Staff build does not require additional DoT apply tools, Dread Seneschal is the better option here, as it increases skeletons uptime and stagger ability greatly with their new charge move.

Melee Weapon

Dagger packs multiple tools in its moveset. Its heavy attack 1 has the same stagger power/range of shield bash, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown. Its heavy attack 2 has good armour damage. Light attack/push attack can increase your movement speed, helping you to reposition/dodge easily.

With this build you should use chain light attack headshot to farm THP, use heavy 2 to kill elites.

Burning Flail has a great balance between stagger, cleave, horde, elites. Its heavy 1 attack has very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Mace has good balance between crowd control and elites damage. Its sweep attacks have very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Range Weapon

With Heat Sink, Soul Harvest and Lifetaker, Fireball Staff has very good uptime on Necromancer. But unlike other fireball wizards, these talents require Necromancer to get closer to the horde than usually. But with high crit and Heat Sink, ventilate with 1 skeleton release is enough to kill 1 wave of horde, and Lost Souls provide some free THP if you have to manual vent. You crit fireball also will cleave through the whole horde with Reaping.

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

To increase horde DPS.

Proxy provides more potion efficiency since a team should play very tight on Cataclysm difficulty. Also, two people on potion effect can get out of emergency situations more easily.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.

Day 1 Cata Build – Coruscation Staff Staff Build

Talent

Lvl 5

Necromancer does not have access to high melee elite killing power most of the time. Thus THP on cleave gives the more consistent regen for her.

Lvl 10

Reaping provides infinite cleave on your melee when triggers critical attack, synergy greatly with Soul Harvest. It also allows your melee to cleave through Armoured enemies, making it easier to deal with mixed horde in melee.

Lvl 15

Coruscation Staff already has high enough DPS, making Smiter a better option for your melee single target damage.

Lvl 20

With Reaping, your melee attacks will cleave through the whole horde, making extra crit chance from Soul Harvest very valuable. It also let you to trigger Heat Sink easier, provide higher uptime on range weapon for even higher DPS.

Lvl 25

Depends on your playstyle, choose different talents

Spirit Leech is used for a more shotgun horde clear focus playstyle, using Coruscation Staff’s shotgun attack to clear horde and unarmoured elites, and then use the extra skeletons you get from procing Spirit Leech to ventilate your overcharge.

Lost Souls is used for a more melee focused playstyle, using Coruscation Staff’s fire pit to trigger Soul Harvest and focus on melee horde clear. It provides some extra THP to the player often, as this playstyle generate overcharge often.

Lvl 30

Since Fireball Staff build does not require additional DoT apply tools, Dread Seneschal is the better option here, as it increases skeletons uptime and stagger ability greatly with their new charge move.

Melee Weapon

Crowbill’s high armour elite killing power synergy very well with Coruscation staff strong none armour target damage. Its weakness of bad THP farming is solved by Reaping and Soul Harvest with the easy DoT application of Coruscation fire pit, making it an actual decent horde clear weapon with this build.

Burning Flail has a great balance between stagger, cleave, horde, elites. Its heavy 1 attack has very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Mace has good balance between crowd control and elites damage. Its sweep attacks have very high stagger, a great tool for Necromancer to get out of bad position, has her only stagger source is her career skill and it has long cooldown.

Range Weapon

Although Coruscation Staff’s fire pit DoT DPS is halved by Necromancer’s perk, its high DoT spread efficiency with fire pit attack makes it synergy with her passive and this build way too well, thus allows you to trigger level 20 talents easily. And its shotgun’s high horde clear and unarmoured elites damage also enables a different style too.

If you choose to play shotgun spam style, use Spirit Leech and shotgun the horde, focus on using skeleton release to ventilate overcharge.

If you choose to play DoT apply + melee focus style, use Lost Souls, put down enough fire pit to make sure applying DoT to all enemies, and then switch to melee.

Necklace

BCR is way superior to stamina if you have enough shield to perform push. Extra health is critical.

With high THP farm speed, Barkskin is very decent for melee front line playstyle. If you struggle with farming THP or hit trade a lot, use Boon of Shallya.

Charm

Proxy provides more potion efficiency since a team should play very tight on Cataclysm difficulty. Also, two people on potion effect can get out of emergency situations more easily.

Trinket

Crit chance provides more damage. Stamina regen provides more push to crowd control/survivability.

Due to the massive Monster health on Cataclysm, Sharpnel works best on monster burst down. It also the best option for Patrol kill if a team can focus their fire.