A strong Necromancer minion build in Last Epoch needs abilities that work well together, and sometimes special gear. This Cold Minions build works well even without Unique gear, making it a great choice for leveling up and early farming in the Monolith of Fate.
Full Cold Skeletal Mage Necromancer build in Last Epoch
Build objective
Build a single, strong Skeletal Mage and empower it with Dread Shade and Eternal Shade to kill large groups of enemies with Cold damage. Increase your own survivability with Ward generation and Health affixes.
Skills
- Summon Skeletal Mage
- Key specializations: Archmage (1/1), Frost Lich (1/1), Grey Merchant (1/3), Ossein Frenzy (3/3)
- Dread Shade
- Key specializations: Flesh Harvest (3/3), Lone Watcher (1/1), Grim Fate (4/4), Egoism (1/1), Blind Fury (1/1).
- Infernal Shade
- Key specializations: Manic Pyre (3/3), Soulfire (1/1), Ignition (4/5), Brimstone (4/4)
- Summon Volatile Zombie
- Key specializations: Daunting Blast (1/4), Corpse Bane (1/1), Vital Ward (1/1), Leap Attack (1/4), Dreadful Horde (1/2).
- Transplant
- Key specializations: Apostasy (3/3), Plated Bone (2/2), Thanatophobia (1/1), Acolyte’s Fervor (3/3).
Key Passives
- Acolyte tree: Forbidden Knowledge (8/8), Dark Rituals (5/5), Soul Aegis (1/1), Blood Aura (6/8)
- Necromancer tree: Risen Army (8/8), Aegisfall (8/8), Frantic Summons (5/5), River of Bones (5/5), Heresy (10/10, Blades of the Forlorn (10/10), Rite of Undeath (10/10).
- Lich tree: Apocrypha (10/10).
- Warlock tree: Occultist’s Mind (8/8).
Equipment
- Helmet: Revenant Mask
- Amulet: Death Rattle
- Weapon: One-handed sword with Minion Spell Damage or Intelligence affixes
- Off-Hand Catalyst: Lich’s Scorn or Cold damage affixes.
- Rings: Turquoise Ring
- Gloves: Any with high-armor Intrinsic stats, like Eternal Gauntlets.
- Boots: Any with Intelligence and Health affixes
- Relic: Caged or Putrid Souls with Intelligence and Increased Skeletal Mage Level affixes.
- Idols: Any with Health, increased critical strike chance for Minions and Skeletal Mages, and increased Minion Cold damage.
In this Last Epoch Necromancer endgame build, your character is protected by a strong Archmage minion. This Archmage shoots Ice Shards at enemies in a wide area, causing high damage thanks to the extra critical strike and damage boosts from two abilities: Dread Shade and Infernal Shade. Dread Shade is modified to last a long time on your Archmage without hurting it, and Infernal Shade keeps going as long as your minion is alive. Although Infernal Shade does lower the minion’s health, the Archmage can heal quickly thanks to the Necromancer’s River of Bones passive skill.
Your main strategy is to dodge attacks while your Archmage takes out enemies. You can use Transient to move quickly across the map. Your minion will handle enemies along the way and keep up with you. The main risk is losing your Archmage to a strong boss attack, so watch out for big hits during boss battles. Even though you can generate some protection with your gear, your Necromancer will still be squishy, so be careful about where you stand.
Lich’s Scorn is a key item for this build because it changes Dread Shade to a cold-type skill. You can find it in the Blood, Frost, and Death Monolith. It’s not crucial, but without it, you might find higher Corruption levels tougher. Overall, this build is simple and doesn’t need a lot of spellcasting. Just keep an eye on your Archmage and let it do most of the work.
