PvP Poison Nova Necromancer Guide

Poison Nova Necromancer Guide for PvP and PvM

PvP Rank: A Class / PvM Rank: A Class

Introduction

Poison Nova Necromancers use a wide area of effect Poison Nova attack that expands away from them 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, Poison Facets lower enemies poison resistances by up to 5% each, and the Lower Resist curse can lower enemies poison resistances by more than 60. It's not uncommon to take other players to one life with one Poison Nova once they have the Lower Resist curse on them.

Poison Nova Necromancer Skills

Poison Nova Necromancers excel at screen-wide clears in PvM and are strong against any class that chases them in PvP.

Recommendation: Poison Nova Necromancer

Stats: Enough Strength for equipment, no Dexterity (Bone Armor is used for physical damage), all remaining points in Vitality, and 0 Energy.

Skill Points:

20 Poison Nova

20 Poison Explosion

20 Poison Dagger

5 Lower Resist (with high 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 to 1 life and your Fire Golem can finish them with its Holy Fire aura)

1 Revive (can serve as meat shields for damage whenever needed in PvM and/or PvP)

All remaining points in Bone Prison which gives a stronger Bone Armor physical damage shield.

Poison Nova Necromancer Gear

Weapon

Death's Web - Gives +2 Necromancer Skills, up to +2 to Poison and Bone Skills, -50% to enemy poison resistance, and can be socketed with a Poison Facet for another -5% to enemy poison resistance and 5% increased poison skill damage.

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 and has +2 to Poison and Bone Skills, poison resistance, fire resistances, and a high block chance.

Weapon Switch

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

Helmet

Harlequin Crest (aka Shako) (5 -5 Poison Facet or Um'd) - +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 for higher 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 for this build, and magic find per level. The Bramble body armor (which gives 50% increased poison damage) isn't recommended because it makes you an easy target for too many builds without Teleport.

Gloves

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

Belt

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

Feet (PvP)

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

Feet Vs. Lightning & Cold Builds That Lower Your Resistances

Tri-resist Faster Run Walk Boots - Look for rare 30% faster run walk boots with as close to 40% cold resistance and 40% Lightning Resistance as you can get optionally with fire resistance and/or faster hit recovery. As a budget option you can also use Natalya's Boots for 40% faster run walk and up to 25% lightning resistance and 25% cold resistance.

Feet (PvM)

Ethereal Sandstorm Trek - These boots should be used for PvM because the Rotting Fissure Charm which breaks poison immunities lowers your poison resistance by 70 or more. Sandstorm Treks have up to 70% poison resistance, 20% faster run walk, 20% faster hit recovery, 15 strength, 15 vitality, and repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds. These boots repair durability over time so you can also use the ethereal version for higher defense and lower requirements.

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 boots can be Up'd to Demonhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Shael rune, and Tal rune. Hotspur can also be Up'd a second time to Wyrmhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Lem rune, and Ko rune.

Amulet

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

Amulet (High Budget)

Rare Amulet - Look for +2 to all Necromancer skills, 10% faster cast rate (to hit the 30% faster cast rate breakpoint without a faster cast rate ring), high all resistances, one over stacked resistance, optionally dexterity, and/or life.

Ring

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

Ring 2

Rare Ring - You can use a 10% faster cast rate ring with all resistances, dexterity and/or strength, and life if you don't have faster cast rate on your amulet. When fighting fire builds you can switch this ring for a Dwarf Star which gives 15% fire absorb and when fighting cold builds you can switch this ring to a Raven Frost which gives 20 dexterity, cannot be frozen, and 20% cold absorb.

Charms

Hellfire Torch for +3 Necromancer skills, Annihilus for +1 to all skills, +1 Poison and Bone Skills Grand Charms with life, and 1 Rotting Fissure when playing PvM (Poison Sunder Charm). The rest of your charms should be small charms with life and resistances.

Mercenary Type

Act 2 Defiance Mercenary - Defiance aura gives very high defense and can help keep your mercenary alive. Holy Freeze shatters the corpses of enemies and isn't recommended if you are using Corpse Explosion.

Mercenary Weapon

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

Mercenary Armor

Ethereal Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo) - 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 also use a 30% fire resistance jewel with other great modifiers.

Budget Mercenary Weapon

Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides 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 1 with one Poison Nova because not many players over stack their poison resistance to high amounts. Poison Nova is extremely powerful against any class that chases you in PvP and is also a very strong build in PvM. 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 away or teleport away. It's also usually a good idea to play defensive against PvP builds that can't damage you without getting up close. Teleporting close to runners and teleporters with an army of revives can still sometimes be effective if you are having a hard time getting close enough to hit them with a Poison Nova.

Poison Nova Necromancer Leveling Items

You can use an Ancient's Pledge Large Shield (Ral Ort Tal) at level 21 to fill out your resistances. A Spirit Crystal Sword (Tal Thul Ort Amn) can be used at level 25 for up to +2 to all skills, 35% faster cast rate, vitality, mana, and 55% faster hit recovery. Skin of the Vipermagi is an excellent armor that can be switched to as early as level 29 for +1 to all skills, 30% faster cast rate, up to all resistances +35%, and up to magic damage taken reduced by 15. Smoke (Nef Lum) can also be used as a budget armor option that can be equipped at level 37 and is a great starter runeword that gives 20% faster hit recovery and an easy all resistances +50%.

That's all for the PvP Poison Nova Necromancer Guide. You can also check out the most popular crafted items here Crafting Guide.