PvP Poison Nova Necromancer Guide

Poison Nova Necromancer Guide for PvP and PvM

PvP Rank: S Class / PvM Rank: A Class

Introduction

Poison Nova Necromancers use a wide area of effect Poison Nova attack that expands away from the player hitting almost the entire screen. Poison Nova Necromancers also have many tools at their disposal to lower enemies' poison resistances. Death's Web lowers enemies' poison resistances by up to 50, Trang-Oul's three set bonus lowers enemies' poison resistances by 25, Defender's Bile can lower enemies' poison resistance by up to 10, Poison Facets can lower enemies' poison resistances by up to 5% each, and the Lower Resist curse can lower enemies' poison resistances by 60 or more. Poison Nova can only take opponents down to a maximum of one life remaining in a single cast and then you'll need to hit them again to finish them off. It's not uncommon to take players to one life with a single Poison Nova once they have the Lower Resist curse on them. This build also makes use of revives as meat shields and a Fire Golem for its Holy Fire aura which can finish off opponents.

Poison Nova Necromancer Skills

Poison Nova Necromancers excel at screen-wide clears in PvM and they're also strong against any PvP opponent that chases them.

Recommendation: Poison Nova Necromancer

Stats: Enough Strength for equipment, 0 Dexterity (Bone Armor is used instead of block), remaining points in Vitality, and 0 Energy.

Skill Points:

20 Poison Nova

20 Poison Explosion

20 Poison Dagger

5 Lower Resist (5 is enough with plus skills because the Lower Resist curse has diminishing returns)

1 Skeleton Mastery

1 Golem Mastery

1 Summon Resist

1 Bone Armor

1 Fire Golem (poison takes players down to 1 life and your Fire Golem can finish them off with its Holy Fire aura)

1 Revive (Revives serve as meat shields for damage in both PvM and PvP)

All remaining points in Bone Prison which is a synergy for Bone Armor for a stronger physical damage absorb shield.

Poison Nova Necromancer Gear

Weapon

Death's Web - Gives +2 Necromancer Skills, up to +2 to Poison and Bone Skills, up to -50% to enemy poison resistance, and it can be socketed with a Defender's Bile for up to 10% poison skill damage and another -10% to enemy poison resistance.

Shield

Trang-Oul's Shield (Um'd) - This shield is used for the three set Trang-Oul's Set bonus which gives -25% to enemy poison resistance. It also has +2 to Poison and Bone Skills, high poison resistance, high fire resistance, and an increased block chance.

Weapon Switch

Call to Arms (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm) - Gives up to +7 to Battle Orders used with a Lidless Wall shield for another +1 to all skills.

Helmet

Harlequin Crest (aka Shako) - Gives +2 to all skills, 10% physical damage taken reduction, life and mana per level, and 50% magic find. Once you can afford 20 life charms with resistances you can use a poison facet instead of an Um rune for more damage.

Body

Enigma (Jah Ith Ber) - Gives +2 to all skills, 45% faster run walk, high strength per level, 5% to maximum life, 8% physical damage taken reduction, Teleport which is very important, and magic find per level. The Bramble body armor (which gives 50% increased poison skill damage) is not recommended because it makes you an easy target for too many builds without Teleport.

Gloves

Trang-Oul's Gloves - Gives 20% faster cast rate, +2 to Curse Skills, 25% increased poison skill damage, and 30% cold resistance.

Belt

Trang'Oul's Belt - Completes the Trang-Oul's three set bonus for -25% enemy poison resistance. It has cannot be frozen, 40% cold resistance, 66 life, and up to 50 mana.

Feet (PvM)

Ethereal Sandstorm Trek - These boots should be used for PvM because the Renewed Rotting Fissure sunder charm, which breaks poison immunities, lowers your poison resistance by 70 or more. Sandstorm Trek have up to 70% poison resistance, 20% faster run walk, 20% faster hit recovery, up to 15 strength, up to 15 vitality, and repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds.

Feet (PvP)

Waterwalk - Gives up to 65 life, 20% faster run walk speed, 15 dexterity, 5% to maximum fire resistance, and 100 defense vs missile.

Feet Vs. Lightning & Cold Builds That Lower Your Resistances

Rare Tri-Resistance Boots - Look for rare boots with up to 40% cold resistance, 40% lightning resistance, 40% poison resistance, and optionally faster hit recovery. You can also use Natalya's Boots as a budget option for 40% faster run walk, high defense, up to 25% lightning resistance, and up to 25% cold resistance.

Feet Vs. Magic Builds

Horazon's Legacy - Gives 30% faster run walk, strength, dexterity, cannot be frozen, and up to 30% magic resistance.

Feet Vs. Fire Builds

Hotspur - These boots should be used against fire builds for +15% to maximum fire resistance, 15 life, and 45% increased fire resistance. Hotspur can be Up'd to Demonhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Shael rune, and Tal rune. Hotspur can then be Up'd a second time to Wyrmhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Lem rune, and Ko rune.

Amulet

Rare Amulet or Caster Amulet - Look for +2 to Necromancer Skills, 10% faster cast rate (to hit the 30% faster cast rate breakpoint for Teleport without a faster cast rate ring), up to all resistances +20%, one over stacked resistance, dexterity, and life.

Amulet (Budget)

Mara's Kaleidoscope - Gives +2 to all skills, 5 to all attributes, and up to all resistances +30%.

Ring

Wisp Projector - Wisp Projector gives up to 20% lightning absorb. If you don't plan on summoning Revives and don't need lightning absorb you can use a Nature's Peace for level 5 Oak Sage charges. This ring is used for its level 2 Oak Sage charges because the Nature's Peace ring which gives level 5 Oak Sage has Monsters Rest In Peace which prevents summoning from corpses.

Ring 2

Bul-Kathos's Wedding Band - Gives +1 to all skills and life per level. If you're using the budget Mara's Kaleidoscope instead of a faster cast rate amulet you should instead use a faster cast rate ring.

Rings (Absorb)

When fighting fire damage builds you should switch one ring to a Dwarf Star for 15% fire absorb and 40 life and when fighting cold damage builds you should switch one ring to a Raven Frost for 20% cold absorb, 20 dexterity, and cannot be frozen.

Charms

Hellfire Torch for +3 Necromancer Skills, Annihilus for +1 to all skills, 1 Renewed Rotting Fissure for PvM to break poison immunities, and +1 Poison and Bone Skill grand charms with life. The rest of your charms should be small charms with high life and resistances.

Mercenary Type

Act 2 Defiance Mercenary - The Defiance aura gives high defense and can help keep your mercenary alive. Holy Freeze shatters the corpses of enemies so it's not recommended if you're using Corpse Explosion on this build.

Mercenary Weapon

Ethereal Insight Thresher (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides very high mana regeneration.

Mercenary Armor

Ethereal Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo) - Gives 300% enhanced damage, up to all resistances +30%, life per level, 5% to maximum lightning resistance, and a 20% chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck.

Mercenary Helmet

Ethereal Andariel's Visage (Ral'd) - Gives +2 to all skills, 10% life leech, -30% fire resistance, and 30 strength. Ral gives 30% fire resistance but you can eventually upgrade to a 30% fire resistance jewel with 15% increased attack speed for more damage.

Budget Mercenary Weapon

Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides very high mana regeneration.

Budget Mercenary Armor

Duriel's Shell - Gives 20% all resistances, 50% cold resistance, 15 strength, life per level, and cannot be frozen.

Budget Mercenary Helmet

Tal Rasha's Helmet - Gives 10% life leech, 15% to all resistances, and 60 life.

Note: Ethereal items don't lose durability on mercenaries.

Poison Nova Necromancer Strategy

It's very common to lower players life to one life with one Poison Nova because not many players over stack their poison resistance to very high amounts. Poison Nova is S Tier in PvP against any opponent that chases you. It's also a very strong build in PvM now that there is a Poison sunder grand charm which breaks poison immunities. The greatest weakness of Poison Nova is that it has a medium speed spread which can make it hard to hit players that quickly run or teleport away. Teleport stomping runners and teleporters with an army of Revives is often necessary when you're having a hard time getting close enough to hit them. As an added tip, it's a good idea to play defensive against most PvP builds that can't damage you without getting close up.

Poison Nova Necromancer Leveling Items

You can use an Ancient's Pledge Large Shield (Ral Ort Tal) at level 21 for high all resistances. A Spirit Crystal Sword (Tal Thul Ort Amn) should be used as early as level 25 for up to +2 to all skills, up to 35% faster cast rate, 55% faster hit recovery, vitality, mana, and magic absorb. Skin of the Vipermagi is an excellent early body armor that can be switched to at level 29 for +1 to all skills, 30% faster cast rate, up to all resistances +35%, and reduced magic damage taken. Smoke (Nef Lum) can also optionally be used as a budget starter body armor option at level 37 for its 20% faster hit recovery and easy all resistances +50%.

That's all for the Poison Nova Necromancer Guide. You can check out more guides in the menu at the top of this page. Good luck!