REVIEW – After a long period only made minimal and rather repetitive updates, Blizzard adds a “new” class to those already available. For longtime gamers and fans of the saga, it is not a real novelty since this Necromancer takes several cues from Diablo 2. In fact, there are obviously several skills taken from the second chapter and proposed again in this update along with some new ones.

The changes made to the skills are many and added some passive runes, but either way, there is nothing to fear because bone lance, corpse explosion, Golem and various skeletons are all there, waiting for us. It’s amazing how, despite the changes, after a few levels we found the same synergy that we had developed with the Necromancer from Diablo 2: in the blink of an eye we returned to generate skeletons, cursing and detonate the corpses of enemies as if all those years had never gone. “Nostalgia is a bitch”!

The “essence” of the Necromancer

The Necromancer bases its strength on a resource called Essence, similarly to the power of Mana, which does not charge gradually but must be restored using skills, which can regenerate it, such as blood drain for example. Once we recharged, we can then spend it to evoke Skeletal Mages that help us to eliminate hordes of enemies, or use it to detonate the corpses of monsters in a blaze of blood explosions.

Skills like Bone Armor allow us to snatch the bones from the bodies of our enemies that, in addition to generating damage, gives us serious protection and other bonuses depending on the selected rune; with Corpse Lance instead of blowing up the bodies we can use them to inflict devastating damage to the enemy. It is also possible, with Domain Skeleton, have up to seven allies of bones that do the dirty work for us, helped by Skeletal Mage and Army of the Dead that inflicts 12000% weapon damage in a radius of 15 meters and spectacular animation.

New legendary stuff

Moreover, with this DLC – besides the new class added – we receive over thirty new legendary items related to the Necromancer, and four new armor sets that allow us to create new and lethal combinations of skills that can wipe out even the hordes of most difficult enemies. The Avatar set Trag’Oul gives Blood Flow the ability to leverage all runes while the skills to cast consume our lives, inflict additional damage of 3300%.

The set of the Grace of Inarius enhances all that is related to Bone Armor, adding an additional effect that creates a vortex of bones around the Necromancer and allows him to inflict further damage. The pieces of armor Mantle Master of Pestilence allow us consumed for each corpse hurled a corpse explosion at the enemy closer and enhanced a lot of Bone Spear properties making it devastating. Finally, the set of Bones Ratma is related to all those skills that include the servants as the skeletons and allows us to turn them into an army almost unstoppable.

Don’t want to buy the expansion? You still have some new stuff…

The DLC Rise of the Necromancer is introduced in Diablo 3 with the update 2.6, which also adds some content for those who decided not to buy the package or want to switch between matches with other characters. From the map of Act 2, we now have access to Sanctum of Blood, a couple of levels that end in confrontation with Vidian, a demon to the Azmodan orders, while in Act 4 map appeared some new crossroads that allow us to reach the Realms Fate, the unexpected result of the collision between Diablo and Nephalem.  While the idea is interesting, these areas, are a mere reuse of assets from other areas, and the purpose of the game does not add anything interesting.

Still, the new Varchi Challenges are an interesting addition. It is always the classic rift within which, however, we are forced to use a predetermined character build and equipment locked and not editable. Under these conditions, we need to employ the shortest possible time to flush out the boss of Varco and defeat him. This puts us in a ranking, and the first complete week we get a prize which contains valuable materials and some legendary items.

The Varchi Challenges also give us the opportunity to try other classes that maybe we skipped; also allows us to test the build alternatives from which to take inspiration to improve ours or even challenge friends in contests of speed.  The Challenge is Varchi can be faced alone or in groups of up to four and you can join other players as well, who are not part of your circle of friends.

Old, but not forgotten

To sum it up, the Rise of the Necromancer introduces an old, but still very popular class and a lot of fun to play, offering a great alternative to the already existing classes. However, considering the amount of content not exactly substantial, the price is 14.99 € is a bit excessive for a single class, a few cosmetic items, two character slots and two slots for the trunk of the objects.

It is equally true that for a game that was never based on the DLC system, and whose last expansion dates back to three years ago, that drain of your wallet is amply justified. Either way, the Necromancer is maybe the coolest class of them all, (it’s my favoritee) and if you are a bit nostalgic, like me, you should not miss it at all cost.

-BadSector-

Publisher: Activision-Blizzard

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Genre: RPG hack’n’slash

Release date: Jun 27, 2017