Nethermancer

This build is a complete lvl 60 setup and is UP-TO-DATE with the new relic subclass rework. The subclass used is Bane. It’s a build that is not underpowered but also NOT META. Eventually, it will become slightly stronger when the Tier 3 bonus of Holy Fury gets fixed but it won’t make that big of a difference. It can dish out decent damage when we are in Harmonic Form & our energy is full via the combination of 25% Damage + 100% Minion Damage Buff from Miasma (which can also spawn up to 6 spiderlings) + the dps and Spider Queen from Arachnid Assault + the amazing dps of Entropy & the additional DPS of Holy Fury. The build stacks summons like Nether Well‘s Netherlings, Warrior(s) and Brute(s) together with extra summons from Boneblocker + Bonerazor + the Celestial Shoulders that all get buffed by Miasma‘s buff as well as from the Puppet Master Passive. Skittering Shoulders (even without a set bonus) is a great source of survivability so it could be used instead of Celestial shoulders if you don’t want the 4 extra Netherlings and would rater get more dmg reduction.

Keep in mind that every relic had an amazing passive that gave it +5% of the corresponding elemental damage per level (total of 25%). This passive was AMAZING but the +25% dmg has now been removed. The silver lining here is that every build looses DPS, but we no longer need to use flat dmg affixes matching the relic element so it’s a bit easier to gear up builds now. (this change is coming soon with a patch and already is in effect on the PTR)

Build Video footage:

The skills I use:

• Entropy – an amazing source of damage and even better when using the Molten Reach in Legendarium. It’s also a quick Dark Buff bar builder Alternative setup could be replacing it for Energy Spike + an Ebon Grasp in the Legendarium.
• Nether Well – spawns 4 Netherlings (+ a Warrior + a Brute based on the Tier level)  which can help to do extra damage and body block enemies. I wish that they make it so that the Tier 3 Brute also taunts. With a Panoptifist (equipped or in the Legendarium) this summons 1 more of each Nether ally.
• Dark Spears – it slows enemies & also helps with getting the Dark buff bar up. You could replace it for Damnation can help with reducing the dmg enemies do + mana regen /  or for Consecration which can boost our dmg & our allies’ dmg and also heal at tier 3
• Shadow Step – our escape mechanic and a movement skill. It also gives a nice passive mana regen at Tier 2 and procs the Celestial Boots‘ Mana-Infused buff.
• Light Spear – an extra bit of dps that could help with the Dark Buff bar and be a nice rotation filler because it costs no mana.
• Poison Nova – an extra bit of dps BUT we use it for the Defence buff
• Miasma – decent dmg + an amazing party buff for DMG & Defence + summons 6 spiderlings (1 every second, up to 6) + at Tier 3 we get a 100% minion dmg boost
• Arachnid Assault – Nice dmg + summons a Spider Queen at Tier 1 that also does decent dps

The gear I recommend using is:

MY IDEAL EQUIPPED GEAR:

• A good rolled + socketed 1 handed Blue weapon + a Boneblocker Shield or a Focus with nice rolls and a socket
• OR a 2-Handed setup with a well rolled socketed blue 2h weapon.
• Must wear at least 3 Celestial pieces! I suggest wearing: Celestial Mask + Gauntlets + Boots. If you want the extra 4 Netherlings, get the Celestial Shoulders as well + optionally the Chest [if not slotting it in the Legendarium]:
  • Celestial Gauntlets – with a 3 piece set bonus you get 100% dmg for the price of 50% increased mana cost while in Harmonic Form. Without the 3 piece set bonus it only gives 50% dmg + 25% mana cost increase while in Harmonic Form.
  • Celestial Boots – Cast a Cooldown Skill: gain Mana Infused for 3 sec. Mana Infused  gives 5% mana regen per sec. or 10% with the set bonus and stacks up to 2 times.
  • Celestial Mask – gives +1 Dark Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it and it won’t give you extra levels if the skill is already lvl 10 so go for lvl 9 if you have +1 or 8 if you have +2 to those skills]
  • Celestial Shoulders – summons 2 (4 with set bonus) netherlings when using Arachnid Assault
  • Celestial Cuirass (Chest) – gives +1 Light Skills (+2 with the 3 piece set bonus) [I’ve tested it and it won’t give you extra levels if the skill is already lvl 10 so go for lvl 9 if you have +1 or 8 if you have +2 to those skills]

If you ‘slot in’ the Celestial Cuirass, you can get a good stat boost from a well-rolled + socketed Blue Chest with one affix of flat Poison dmg + 1 affix of either %crit dmg or +% Poison.

You’ll be looking for flat Poison dmg, %Poison dmg and/or Crit dmg/chance, +%Evasion +%Block Chance, +% Light/Dark Skills dmg + others.

• Blue Legs and Chest rolled for flat Poison + %Poison dmg or Crit dmg with a socket
• If you go for Celestial Boots in the legendarium, you could get Blue Boots rolled for %Poison dmg or Crit dmg with socket

Blue Gear only gets 1 socket now.

Suggested Legendarium Powers (to fill in the gaps from items you’re wearing):

MY IDEAL LEGENDARIUM COMBO:

• Celestial Cuirass (Chest)
  
• Molten Reach – Entropy gets 8 sec cooldown and also gains twice as many projectiles
• Bonerazor – when using Arachnid Assault it summons 3 Skeleton Warriors for 20sec.
  When Boneblocker is also equipped summon extra 4 Skeleton Archers for 20sec.

Based on your preference there are alternatives:

• Option 1: Panoptifist replacing the Bonerazor for more Netherim but less Skeletons
• Option 2: Ebon Grasp replacing the Molten Reach if you decide to replace Entropy with Energy Spike
• Option 3: other Celestial items (Mask, Boots, Gauntlets, Shoulders) if you don’t have ones worth wearing at your level.
• OR Another that you like

The recommended stats to look for in your items are (the list is not in order of priority and is just listing good bonuses + there’s new stats and I might have missed some which will get added later):

• + Flat Damage (any)
  
• +% elemental dmg (any) – starts getting very good later on when you have a nice flat to boost with this if you match the flat with the %
• +% Damage to Light/Dark skills
  
• +% Damage to Entropy
• -% mana cost for Holy Fury
• + Health
• + Defense (the non elemental is good for any act but lesser numbers than elemental)
• +% Critical Hit Chance (the cap is 40% but some skills will be able to get it past the cap)
  
• +% Critical Damage (the cap is 300%)
• +% Gear Luck (eventually try to get like 50-75% total for good drop quantity – the cap is 100%)
• +% Energy Recharge Rate
  
• -% Relic Energy cost
• +% Relic Active Skill Damage – not so important unless you want to rely on Miasma or Arachnid Assault for dmg (and they are not the main sources here)
• +% Block Chance (capped at 40%)
  
• +% Chance to Evade damage (capped at 40%)
  
• +% Endurance Regen
  
• +% Chance to Chill – a decent CC proc
• +% Chance to Poison is a decent DoT and stacks with other DoTs
• +% Chance to Bleed and/or Burn to stack the poison with the other DoTs.
• +% Chance to Stun/Slow/Blind – it’s pretty decent but not a must have affix. We already have tons of slow from Dark Spears + Holy Fury (it caps to 80% slowed Moe and Attack speed btw)
  

The Skills and Passives I recommend are:

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that my setup is WITH the +2 Dark & +2 Light skill levels from the Celestial Set Mask + Chest! On top of that I did NOT have extra +1 Skill Point from my Helmet.
You will see RED NUMBERS alongside white numbers. The RED is the skill levels after spending the extra +10 skill points (which got added in a recent update to give us 70 instead of 60 skill points max).

REGULAR VERSION (Complete version of the one used in the video):

WITH THE UPCOMING +10 POINTS:

LVL 4 HOLY BOLT + LVL 4 UNHOLY BOLT + LVL 5 SPREAD OF DEATH + 1 SPARE POINT