There is something deeply satisfying about playing a Necromancer in Diablo III. Other heroes spend their careers mastering ancient weapons, studying forbidden magic or training their bodies to withstand unimaginable punishment. The Necromancer simply raises an army of corpses and lets the deceased handle most of the difficult work. It is an efficient arrangement, although one suspects Sanctuary's employment inspectors would have several questions.
Season 40 has made that particular approach to demon hunting considerably more entertaining. With the return of Angelic Crucibles and the Light's Calling seasonal theme, the Bones of Rathma Necromancer has access to a Sanctified Power that turns Army of the Dead into a constantly attacking supernatural artillery barrage. Combined with the set's enormous damage bonuses, this creates one of the more powerful Necromancer builds available for Greater Rift progression.
And the most amusing part is that your skeletons are not really there to kill anything. Their most important job is making sure you can summon another army to do the killing.
Why Rathma Necromancer Is So Strong in Season 40
As we explained when Diablo III Season 40 brought back Light's Calling and Angelic Crucibles, Sanctified equipment can receive one of three class-specific supernatural powers. These effects can dramatically change how familiar skills behave, and the Necromancer has a particularly interesting option.
The Army of the Dead Sanctified Power constantly attacks enemies within 50 yards using the Unconventional Warfare effect while the Sanctified item is equipped. Normally, Army of the Dead is a powerful ability limited by a substantial cooldown. The Sanctified effect adds continuous damage around the Necromancer without requiring repeated manual activation of the skill.
That does not mean the build becomes entirely automatic. Your manually cast Army of the Dead remains important, particularly when fighting powerful elites and Rift Guardians. The Sanctified effect provides another source of damage, while the Bones of Rathma set dramatically increases the effectiveness of your main attacks.
The result is a character that feels less like a traditional summoner and more like a mobile disaster area surrounded by extremely enthusiastic skeletons. Recent Season 40 build rankings place Rathma Army of the Dead among the strongest Necromancer options for Greater Rift pushing, although the exact performance naturally depends on equipment quality, Paragon levels and the player's ability to survive.
Best Rathma Necromancer Skills for Season 40
The build revolves around maintaining a large collection of summoned minions, using their attacks to shorten Army of the Dead's cooldown and timing your strongest damage bursts against dangerous enemies. For solo Greater Rift progression, the following setup provides a strong starting point.
| Skill | Rune | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Siphon Blood | Power Shift | Essence generation and damage amplification |
| Command Skeletons | Frenzy | Faster skeleton attacks and cooldown reduction |
| Bone Armor | Dislocation | Protection, crowd control and Krysbin's Sentence activation |
| Army of the Dead | Death Valley | Main damage ability and enemy grouping |
| Blood Rush | Potency | Mobility and temporary defensive protection |
| Revive | Personal Army | Additional minions and damage reduction |
The recommended passive abilities are Rigor Mortis, Final Service, Rathma's Shield and Grisly Tribute. Together, these improve crowd control, provide a valuable survival mechanism and help compensate for the Necromancer's tendency to become alarmingly fragile when something manages to reach him.
One important detail is the interaction between Revive and Command Skeletons. With ten revived monsters and seven commanded skeletons, you can maintain seventeen permanent minions. Their attacks repeatedly reduce the cooldown of Army of the Dead through the Rathma set bonus, allowing the ability to be used far more frequently than its original 120-second cooldown would suggest.
In other words, the skeletons are essentially a rather unpleasant cooldown reduction system with legs.
Best Gear for the Rathma Army of the Dead Build
The foundation is the six-piece Bones of Rathma bonus, but the strongest setup does not necessarily require wearing all six pieces. By combining five Rathma pieces with two pieces of Captain Crimson's Trimmings and using Ring of Royal Grandeur in Kanai's Cube, you can activate both complete set bonuses.
Here is the recommended equipment for a solo Greater Rift pushing configuration:
| Equipment Slot | Recommended Item |
|---|---|
| Helm | Rathma's Skull Helm |
| Shoulders | Rathma's Spikes |
| Chest | Rathma's Ribcage Plate |
| Gloves | Rathma's Macabre Vambraces |
| Pants | Captain Crimson's Thrust |
| Boots | Rathma's Ossified Sabatons |
| Belt | Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle |
| Bracers | Bonds of C'Lena |
| Amulet | Squirt's Necklace |
| Ring 1 | Krysbin's Sentence |
| Ring 2 | Convention of Elements |
| Weapon | Jesseth Skullscythe |
| Off-Hand | Jesseth Skullshield |
The Jesseth weapon and shield combination is especially important because it provides a large damage multiplier when Command Skeletons is actively attacking a target. Krysbin's Sentence further amplifies damage against enemies affected by crowd control, while Convention of Elements provides particularly powerful damage windows during its Physical rotation.
Squirt's Necklace adds another substantial damage bonus, although there is a rather unfortunate condition attached: taking damage can quickly remove the bonus and leave your character considerably more vulnerable. This is not a build that rewards standing still in the middle of several angry demons while admiring the scenery.
When improving your equipment, prioritize Cooldown Reduction, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Physical Damage where appropriate. Area Damage is also useful, especially for higher Greater Rifts where large groups of enemies provide opportunities for substantial additional damage.
Best Kanai's Cube Powers
Kanai's Cube is responsible for several of the build's most important interactions. In Season 40, the standard three-slot configuration is back, so do not follow older Season 39 setups that rely on an additional fourth Cube slot.
- Weapon: Funerary Pick – Improves Siphon Blood and significantly increases damage against affected enemies.
- Armor: Fate's Vow – Strengthens Army of the Dead and grants the Unconventional Warfare rune effect.
- Jewelry: Ring of Royal Grandeur – Allows the combination of Bones of Rathma and Captain Crimson's Trimmings.
Fate's Vow deserves particular attention. Its additional Army of the Dead effect complements the damage-focused nature of the build, while Funerary Pick makes Siphon Blood useful for considerably more than simply recovering resources.
Ring of Royal Grandeur is what makes the combined set configuration possible. Without it, wearing five Rathma pieces and two Captain Crimson pieces will not activate both complete bonuses, and your supposedly magnificent army will discover that management has forgotten to order the necessary equipment.
Which Item Should You Sanctify With an Angelic Crucible?
This is where Season 40 becomes particularly interesting. Angelic Crucibles can transform eligible level 70 Legendary equipment into Sanctified items with Ancient-level attributes and one of three random class powers. For Rathma, the priority is obtaining the Army of the Dead Sanctified Power.
Good candidates include Krysbin's Sentence, Jesseth Skullscythe or Jesseth Skullshield, provided you have a suitable spare item to experiment with. These are important pieces used across several versions of the Rathma build, making them useful long-term Sanctification targets.
Remember that you can only equip one Sanctified item at a time. Applying Angelic Crucibles to several different pieces does not allow you to combine multiple Sanctified Powers. It simply creates additional equipment choices.
There is also no guarantee that your first Crucible will produce Army of the Dead. The three possible Necromancer powers are selected randomly, so obtaining the one you want may require several attempts. If you are running short of materials, start with our Season 40 overview of the returning Sanctification system before committing valuable equipment.
It is sensible to keep another usable copy of your chosen Legendary item before Sanctifying it. The process rerolls the item's attributes, and there is no reason to sacrifice your only well-rolled weapon merely because the angels have decided to offer a particularly attractive special effect.
Best Legendary Gems and Stat Priorities
For solo Greater Rift pushing, the recommended Legendary Gems are Bane of the Trapped, Gogok of Swiftness and Zei's Stone of Vengeance. Each contributes something important to the build rather than simply adding another number to the character sheet.
Bane of the Trapped provides increased damage against enemies suffering from control-impairing effects, which works naturally with Bone Armor and other crowd-control abilities. Gogok of Swiftness improves Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction and Dodge Chance as its stacks accumulate. Zei's Stone of Vengeance rewards fighting from a distance, making it particularly useful when positioning carefully for Army of the Dead's strongest attacks.
If survivability becomes a serious problem, Esoteric Alteration can replace Zei's Stone of Vengeance. You will sacrifice some damage potential, but remaining alive tends to improve Greater Rift completion times rather dramatically.
For ordinary gems, use a Flawless Royal Diamond in your helmet to reduce cooldowns, Flawless Royal Topazes in chest and pants sockets for additional Intelligence, and a Flawless Royal Emerald in your weapon for Critical Hit Damage.
Players progressing through seasonal systems should also work on their Altar of Rites unlocks. Its permanent seasonal bonuses can make farming and progression considerably more efficient, and some of those advantages are useful regardless of which Necromancer build you eventually choose.
How to Play Rathma Necromancer in Greater Rifts
The biggest mistake when learning Rathma is assuming that the summoned army will do everything automatically. Although the build is filled with skeletons and revived monsters, its strongest damage comes from properly timed Army of the Dead attacks.
Begin by summoning your Command Skeletons and using Revive whenever corpses become available. Ideally, maintain the maximum number of revived monsters alongside your seven skeletons. Their attacks reduce Army of the Dead's cooldown and help maintain the set's damage bonuses.
Use Siphon Blood on important enemies to apply the benefits associated with Funerary Pick, while maintaining Bone Armor for protection. When approaching a dangerous elite pack, position yourself carefully and prepare for the Physical rotation of Convention of Elements.
Bone Armor with Dislocation can stun nearby enemies, triggering the stronger damage multiplier from Krysbin's Sentence. After applying crowd control, Blood Rush allows you to reposition away from danger, creating space to benefit from Zei's Stone of Vengeance before unleashing Army of the Dead.
With sufficient Cooldown Reduction and a full collection of minions, you can often fit multiple Army of the Dead casts into a Convention of Elements rotation. One should ideally land during the Physical damage window, while the remaining casts help clear surviving enemies and maintain momentum.
The Sanctified Army of the Dead effect continues attacking nearby enemies throughout this process, making the character feel considerably more aggressive than the traditional version of the build.
There is still a certain amount of timing involved, but once the rotation begins working properly, large groups of enemies can disappear with remarkably little ceremony.
Common Rathma Necromancer Mistakes
Players struggling with Greater Rift progression often discover that the problem is not simply insufficient damage. Rathma depends on several interacting systems, and ignoring even one can make the entire setup feel substantially weaker than expected.
- Not maintaining Revive minions: Fewer active minions mean slower Army of the Dead cooldown reduction and weaker set performance.
- Ignoring Command Skeletons: Their active attack command is essential for maximizing the Jesseth set bonus.
- Using Army of the Dead without preparation: Important damage bursts should take advantage of crowd control, Funerary Pick and Convention of Elements.
- Neglecting Cooldown Reduction: The build becomes far less comfortable when Army of the Dead is unavailable for too long.
- Standing too close to dangerous enemies: Squirt's Necklace rewards avoiding damage, and Necromancers are not particularly enthusiastic about being hit.
- Sanctifying the wrong equipment: The desired Army of the Dead power matters more than simply having an impressive-looking Sanctified item.
For players who have reached a Greater Rift wall, it is worth examining the entire setup before assuming another hundred Paragon levels will solve everything. A missing Legendary power, badly timed Convention of Elements rotation or insufficient minion uptime can make an enormous difference.
Is Rathma Necromancer Worth Playing in Season 40?
For players who enjoy powerful burst damage, summoned minions and pushing Greater Rifts, Rathma is an excellent Season 40 choice. It combines the familiar pleasure of controlling an undead army with a surprisingly technical damage rotation, and the returning Army of the Dead Sanctified Power gives it a distinctly seasonal identity.
There is one important inconvenience for players starting from nothing. Season 40's Haedrig's Gift rewards Necromancers with Masquerade of the Burning Carnival, not Bones of Rathma. You will therefore need to farm the Rathma equipment yourself rather than expecting the Season Journey to provide the complete build.
That makes Masquerade a reasonable starting point while collecting the necessary items. You can use its Bone Spear playstyle to farm the equipment and materials required before switching to Rathma when the important pieces are ready.
We have previously asked whether Diablo III is still worth playing in 2026, and builds like this offer a fairly convincing answer. Fourteen years after launch, the game can still produce ridiculous combinations of skills, equipment and seasonal powers that make returning to Sanctuary unexpectedly entertaining.
Rathma does not reinvent the Necromancer. It simply takes one of the class's most dramatic abilities and allows you to use it with an enthusiasm that the forces of Hell probably consider deeply unreasonable.
Your skeletons attack, your cooldowns disappear, and another Army of the Dead arrives to finish the job.
Some heroes carry legendary swords. Others command ancient magic.
The Rathma Necromancer brings enough dead people to start a small municipality.
Build references: Icy Veins – Rathma Army of the Dead Season 40 Build, Rathma Skills and Runes, and Rathma Gear and Gems.
