Diablo 2: Resurrected
Thanatos - LvL 91 Pure Poison Nova
Thanatos - LvL 91 Pure Poison Nova
Poison Nova is perhaps one of the most entertaining skills to have at your disposal since it can easily target all nearby creatures slaughtering hordes of monsters in no time! However, just like it happens with almost any Necromancer build, Corpse Explosion is such a powerful skill that it usually overshadows any primary skill a Necromancer is willing to use. As the Player Settings increase though, Corpse Explosion becomes a lot less reliable but at the same time Poison Nova struggles as well. Since Corpse Explosion is limited when it comes to boosting its power, a complete build around Poison Nova can make the difference needed to farm at increased difficulty. This Necromancer focuses on a pure optimized Poison Damage Build and relies on skills and tactics that can help Poison Nova in every possible way for all the killings. The Poison Sunder Charm, Rotting Fissure, is actually what makes it doable to depend purely on Poison and neglect any other sources of damage. This brings many changes to the usual build allowing us to expand in different directions to invest purely on Poison Nova. Since our main concern is mostly damage, Bramble is going to replace Enigma and by combining Faster Run Walk with Bone Armor we will have the speed and the protection needed to make up for the lack of Teleport and take advantage of the Poison Nova's great Area Of Effect but short range.
Thanatos was one of the oldest beings in the Mythology and was often depicted as the personification of death. As its Greek name implies (Θάνατος = Death) this Necromancer brings death to literally whoever tastes his poison.
Positive
+ High Poison Damage
+ High Density Control
+ Countering Immunes
+ Maxed Resists
+ Viable at Players 8
+ Not Enigma/Infinity Dependent
Negative
- Slow vs Bosses
- Fragile
- Many Immunes
- Bramble Roll
- No teleport!
Stats
As usual Strength is only needed to equip our gear. In our case, Trangoul's Girth has the highest Strength requirement at 91. Due to Necromancer's Unique Shields, Spirit is not mandatory for this build therefore we can save plenty stats points from Strength. Dexterity can be ignored since it would require plenty points to reach maximum block. All the remaining points can go to Vitality.
- Strength: 91
- Dexterity: None
- Vitality: Rest
- Energy: None
The three Poison Spells Poison Dagger, Poison Explosion and Poison Nova are obviously the main ones that we need to max to make Poison Nova as powerful as possible while Lower Resists is a 1-point wonder. From that point on we have plenty Skills Points left which will decide the direction of the build. As already mentioned, our primary goal is to invest in skills that will help Poison Nova even in an indirect way so personally, after maxing the three Poison Spells, I would leave Lower Resist at one Point, choose a "Cure" Iron Golem with a point in Golem Mastery and the remaining skills would go to the Bone Armor and its synergies for the highest possible damage absorb. Let's analyze those decisions with the options that we have.
- Bone Armor is usually the last choice someone would make but it plays a crucial role for this build. Considering that our Necromancer is a fragile character, Bone armor not only adds extra protection but also allows us to move close to enemy units guaranteeing everyone is within Poison Nova's casting range.
- Corpse Explosion: As already mentioned, even though Corpse Explosion is a powerful skill it suffers a lot at higher Player Settings. As this build is focusing completely on Poison Damage, this skill can remain at 1 point and work as a supportive spell when needed.
- Lower Resist is already a part of our arsenal, the question is how many points to invest here. The huge diminishing returns and the +Skills from the gear remove the need of any additional points since Lower Resist will reach to a level where extra points will literally provide little to no effect at all.
- Skeletons and Revives are probably the best skills to invest the rest points especially when Bramble provides a Thorns Aura which would work great in combination with extra forces. However, since it would always require time to gather the army and the fact that this build is missing vital parts to make the summons as deadly as they could be (especially with the lack of Enigma), I would rather avoid creating an incomplete Hybrid Character. Definitely two skills to consider but I would prefer to focus on something that would benefit the Poison Nova more.
- Golems: A single point in one Golem can provide some help. Iron Golem is almost always the most popular choice since it can offer some flexibility. Unfortunately, Insight is not needed so the Iron Golem loses a lot of its potential since the rest aura-based items are either useless or too expensive. Fire Golem could be benefited by the Lower Resist but would take too many points and too much time to be of any help. Clay Golem can offer some help against bosses since its the area where this build suffers. Blood Golem is the most durable Golem by far and will heal a portion of your health with every hit it lands so it's an option to consider. However, with the Recent 2.6 patch, in case you lack a lot of Poison Resistance due to the Sunder Charm, Iron Golem can be made in the new Cure Runeword for the Cleansing aura which can counter the massive Poison Penalty. If you find it difficult to keep the Iron Golem alive then Blood Golem is perhaps the one to consider.
A few more points in Lower Resist may actually worth it depending your final Setup.
Gear
As always, the gear plays the heaviest role when it comes to increasing the power of your Spells. Bramble is one of those items that can boost the Poison damage quite nicely and the reason why we are missing Enigma. There's no doubt that Enigma is almost always the best choice when it comes to overall efficiency but when you want to test a build to its maximum Power there are other options to consider which will develop unique builds as well. Bramble's Roll is very important because the Runeword itself doesn't offer an increase to skill points while Enigma does. Below is a rough calculation between the two Armors when we have our final Gear equipped.
- The +2 to all skills from Enigma provide approximately 1.200 Poison Damage.
- A 25% Bramble Roll provides approximately 1.900 Poison Damage.
- A 50% Bramble Roll would provide approximately 3.500 Poison Damage.
Shield: Trang Oul's Wing (Um)
Armor: Bramble
Helm: Rare Tiara
Gloves: Trang Oul's Claws
Belt: Trang Oul's Girth
Boots: Natalya's Soul
Rings: Stone of Jordan x2
Amulet: Crafted (+2 / 10%+ FCR)
Switch: Call to Arms + Lidless
Inventory: Torch, Anni, Sunder Charm and Skillers
- Death's Web is without a question the best weapon you can fit in this build. Amazing boost to skills and a massive reduction to enemy Poison Resistance which is exactly what we need. The weapon is so good that it's still the best option available even on a very very bad roll. The life and mana gains per kill are not to be neglected.
- Bramble is obviously needed for the extra Poison Damage but the rest stats are excellent as well. A massive increase to FHR is an outstanding attribute which is really needed due to the play-style of the build. The massive +100% to Poison Resistance not only negates the penalty of the Sunder Charm but also allows us to keep it maxed. It's another extra source of Life Per kill and combined with Death's Web our health will keep replenishing. Lastly, the Thorns Aura is something that will help us deal with Bosses if we have to. A great package overall.
- A Circlet with +2 to Necromancer skills, 30% FRW and 20% FCR would be the ideal helm. Since it's very hard to find such mods we can equip anything close to it. A Circlet with +2/20% FCR can help us reach a decent Breakpoint which will make the procedure of casting Bone Armor constantly painless.
- Trang Oul's Claws are often even picked by non-Poison depended builds. This alone can give you an idea of how powerful these are for the current build. As we also don't have many options these Gloves are simply godly for the FCR, the 25% Poison Damage and the great Cold Resist.
- Trang Oul's Girth may not seem to provide much but it has that magnificent Can not be Frozen attribute which is critical for our build since we are not teleporting but Running. The extra life, mana and Cold Resist are simply a great bonus.
- Trang Oul's Wing is all in all an excellent choice and the main reason we stick to a 3-pieces set since it offers a -25% to enemy Poison Resistance. Aside from that outstanding attribute, it grants Skill points, great stats, solid resistances and the availability of one extra socket. Since it's a shield, an Um rune will provide +22 to all resistances boosting all of your resistances by a massive amount.
- Boots are usually used to cover some holes in resistances but in this case we also need the FRW. Natalya's or Aldur's offer the highest possible FRW so pick the one which offers the resistances you need. Sandstorm Trek are also an excellent choice especially for the high Poison Resistance which you may lack due to the Sunder charm. Unfortunately, those come with 20% FRW though.
- Since we are not that bound to any FCR breakpoints, double Stone of Jordan is the best choice to increase our Skill's damage.
- A Crafted Amulet with +2 to Necromancer and at least 8% FCR is all we need to hit a minor breakpoint. Any extra attributes are a bonus.
- On switch, Call to Arms is very important which can be combined with a Lidless Shield since we are not using Spirit and don't have the necessary strength.
- Inventory: After placing a Torch and Anni prioritize in adding charms with mods you lack such as FHR and Resistances. Skillers with 12% FHR and 7% FRW are perfect. A Sunder Charm is mandatory to make this build work as intended.
Faster Cast Rate: 48% (20% from Gloves, 20% from Circlet and 8% from Amulet)
Faster Hit Recovery: 56% or 86% (50% from Bramble and the rest from Skillers with 12% FHR. Boots can help too)
Faster Block Rate: N/A
Resistances: 75% All
BONUS! BETA BRAMBLE
Back in patch 1.10s, Bramble used to grant a much higher amount of Poison Damage. The damage varied from +69-207% To Poison Skill Damage and if you were able to create that Runeword in that patch you could forward it in D2R. However, in that patch the runes were extremely rare so the chances to create it are slim. Thanks to @D2DC who managed to gather the runes and trade me the Runeword with a roll of 132% To Poison Skill Damage we get a chance to test it in this build! The damage this Runeword provides is over 10.000 so this Necromancer deals 21.000 Poison Damage with Poison Nova!
Sunder Charm and Poison Immunes
Poison Type characters are not seen very often with the Poison Nova Necromancer being almost the only popular choice. This is why you may not have noticed how many Poison Immune monsters are out there that can prevent you from farming rewarding areas. The Poison Sunder Charm in combination with the Poison Negative Modifiers make it feasible to farm any area in the game. Poison Sunder Charm alone is not going to be of any help while without it the massive Poison Reduction that we have would lose great value against many monsters. These two modifiers together though can create a chaotic combo. So, how exactly does this concept work?
Currently our build carries the modifiers below:
- Lower Resist LvL 11: -58% (11 against immunes)
- Death's Web: -47% to enemy Poison Resistance
- Trang Oul's Wing: -25% to enemy Poison Resistance
- Poison Facets: -10% to enemy Poison Resistance
- Rotting Fissure
- Total:
- -140% to enemy Poison Resistance
- -93% to enemy Poison Resistance vs Immunes
A Poison Sunder Charm will only affect Poison Immune monsters in which case it will remove their Poison Immunity and drop their Poison Resistance to 95% no matter what their initial Poison Resistance was. This alone still keeps a monster very resistant to Poison. The rest Poison Negative Modifiers that we have at our disposal will start taking effect. Lower Resist will only work at 1/5 of its potential against immunities so the reduction will be somewhere close to -11% (58 / 5 = 11.6). The -83% we have from rest of the gear will fully apply so any immune monster will always end up with 2% (95% - 83% - 11% = +1%) Poison Resistance.If a monster is not Immune the Sunder Charm will not have any effect and the Lower Resist will fully apply. A monster with initial 95% Poison Resistance will end with -45% Poison Resistance (95% - 83% - 58% = -46%).
The above scenario leads to the result below.
- All Poison Immune monsters will have their Poison Resistance adjusted to 1% no matter their initial value.
- The highest Poison Resistant Monsters (which is 95%) will have their Poison Resistance dropped to -46%.
- For the rest Monsters the Poison Resistance will vary from -47% to -100%.
- Bramble offers a massive bonus of +100% Poison Resistance.
- Sandstorm Trek grant an excellent boost to Poison Resistance.
- An Iron Golem created from the Cure Runeword will reduce the time you remain Poisoned.
The complete and final outcome of our character with a Bramble Roll of 48% and fully buffed.
Mercenary
For our current setup, a fitting Mercenary is perhaps a bit confusing to choose. A defensive Act2 Mercenary with Holy Freeze or Defiance could act some extra protection which is needed due to the play-style of the build. On the other hand having at your disposal a powerful curse such as the Amplify Damage, investing in a Might Mercenary would offer an incredibly reliable source to deal a secondary type of damage. However, as already mentioned Sunder Charm removes the need for a secondary source of damage so my vote goes to an Act1 Frost Mercenary mainly for the Vigor Aura provided by the Harmony Runeword. The extra Run Speed is very convenient to have and can definitely help cover some gap against Enigma. The rest items can be filled with items that can help the Mercenary's survivability. The Mercenary's Frost skills can provide us some additional crowd control and protection.
Act1 Freezing Arrow
Weapon: GMB Harmony
Armor: Hustle
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Conclusion
Poison Nova is one of those skills that have high potential when targeting high density areas therefore, maximizing its power will guarantee great results. Depending on your play-style and mostly on the area you are willing to farm you can adapt your gear according to your needs. However, with the introduction of the Sunder Charms if you incorporate some basic tips you from this build can basically run any area you want. The extra skill points that are left open a variety of paths when it comes to creating the final build. No matter whichever path you will choose it's almost certain that you will enjoy the journey using this skill.
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