III - Leveling
[030] Skill Point Progression
Level 2: 1 point Necromancer Mastery, 2 points Raise Skeletons
Level 3-6: All points in Raise Skeletons
Level 7: Visit Spirit Guide and unlearn all points in Raise Skeletons, then use these extra points to get 15 Necromancer Mastery, the rest in Ravenous Earth
After level 7, put all points into Ravenous Earth until maxed
Necromancer Mastery to 25
1 in Siphon Souls
Max Decay
Max Spectral Binding
5 points in Spectral Wrath
Add Occultist as second class and put 10 points in Occultist Mastery
1 in Curse of Frailty
Max Vulnerability
Occultist Mastery to 15
Max Blood of Dreeg
Occultist Mastery to 32
Max Aspect of the Guardian
Necromancer Mastery to 40
1 point in Foul Eruption, 1 in Blood Boil
Occultist Mastery to 50
1 in Doom Bolt
Max Possession
Max Siphon Souls
Max Blood Boil
Max Doom Bolt
4 in Mark of Torment
Necromancer Mastery to 50
Add final point into Mark of Torment
[031] Devotion Progression and Binding
- Add: Crossroads Eldritch
- Add: Bat (all 5 stars)
Bind Twin Fangs to Ravenous Earth - Add: Viper (all 4 stars)
- Add: Eel (all 3 stars)
- Add: Wendigo (all 6 stars)
Bind Wendigo’s Mark to Curse of Frailty - Add: Spider (all 5 stars)
- Add: Crossroads Order
- Add: Crane (all 5 stars)
- Add: Rattosh, The Veil Warden (all 6 stars) - see below, he’s allllll the way at the bottom
Bind Will of Rattosh to Siphon Souls - Add: Oklaine’s Lantern (all 5 stars)
- Add: Scales of Ulcama (all 6 stars)
Bind Tip the Scales to Possession - Add: Hawk (all 3 stars)
- Remove: Spider (all 5 stars at Spirit Guide)
- Add: Panther (all 4 stars)
- Add: Solemn Watcher (all 5 stars)
- Remove: Crane (all 5 stars at Spirit Guide)
- Add: Crossroads Primordial
- Add: Obelisk of Menhir (skip the two on the middle right side)
[030] Choices During Campaign
In Act I, for Blacksmith choice, I chose Angrim on all difficulties. This is because his bonus rolls like %Armor are more useful than Duncan’s. I used Angrim to craft the belts, to get his bonuses added to the craft.
In Act III, for Kymon versus Order, your choice is easy. Since you’re a Necromancer, Kymon’s Chosen will refuse to work with you, making the Order your only choice on all difficulties.
In Act IV, side with Anasteria on all difficulties. We don’t need her helm for this build, so no need to farm her. Also, I completed all her quests on each difficulty for lots of extra experience (takes you into each of the challenge rogue-like dungeons). While you lose rep with The Black Legion by doing so, if you wait to do/turn in some of the Act IV Black Legion side quests until after you do her quests, you’ll more than make up for the reputation loss.
In Act V, befriend Scorv/Barrowholm on all difficulties. Since the majority of our gear comes from the Barrowholm Quartermaster, we want to maximize our rep gain with them as much as possible.
[032] Leveling Progression Log
Here is a log of where I was at and at what level my skills/attributes/devotions were at during my leveling. I was fully exploring all maps on all difficulties, and completing all quests. I almost never did Bounties (exceptions noted below). I started on Veteran rather than Normal. You can move forward faster than I did by not fully exploring, skipping some quests, etc. However, I just wanted to be sure this build could clear all content in all difficulties, which is why I fully explored everything/did all quests. Plus, truth be told, I’m a little OCD about my map not being fully explored… Take this as a very rough guide of where you should be at any given level.
- At 15, at Burrwitch Outskirts, 25 in Necro mastery, 16 Ravenous Earth, 2 Decay, 10 Physique, 4 Spirit
- At 21, at Warden’s Cellar, RE and Decay maxed, 8 Spectral Binding, Bat complete, 10 Physique, 10 Spirit
- At 24, Act I Veteran complete, Spectral Binding maxed, 5 in Spectral Wrath
- At 27, Act II Veteran complete, 10 Occultist, 1 Curse of Frailty, 1 Vulnerability, Viper complete, 17 Physique
- At 40, at Dermapteran cave, Vulnerability maxed, Blood of Dreeg maxed, 21 Necro, Wendigo complete, 30 Physique
- At 44, Act III Veteran complete, 32 Occultist, 1 Aspect of the Guardian, 2 in Spider, 34 Physique, 10 Spirit
- At 52, Act IV Veteran complete, Aspect of the Guardian maxed, 36 Necro, Spider complete, 1 in Crane, 43 Physique, Steps of Torment dungeon completed, Mogdrogen shrine cleansed (did a few Rover bounties to get Honored and access this quest), Hidden Path completed, killed Mad Queen
- At 55, Bastion of Chaos complete, 1 in Blood Boil, 1 in Foul Eruption, 40 Necro, 46 Physique
- At 57, Port Valbury complete, 36 Occultist, 48 Physique
- At 60 (or 61), Act V complete, 44 Occultist, 50 Physique, 1 Cunning
- At 63, at Malmouth Outskirts, 48 Occultist, 51 Physique (accidentally placed a point above 50 in Physique before getting Cunning to 10; not at all a big deal, but this varies from my leveling guide above), 3 Cunning
- At 64, finished Candle District, 50 Occultist, 4 Cunning
- At 65, to Crown Hill, 2 Possession, 5 Cunning
- At 66, ready to do Fleshworks, completed Iron Docks and Legion Retribution, honored with Black Legion, 6 Cunning, 4 Possession
[li]End of Veteran - 33 Devotion points, level 66[/li]Respected: Barrowholm, Coven of Ugdenbog, Devil’s Crossing, Malmouth Resistance
Honored: the rest - At 68, in Burrwitch Estates, Will of Rattosh complete
- At 70, Act I Elite complete, including Origin of the Slith, 10 Cunning, 12 Possession, 1 Doom Bolt
- At 75, at Homestead, about to head out into Blood Grove/Sorrow’s Bastion (after Kymon/Order choice), 11 Siphon Souls, picked up Homestead Revered items and added components when possible
- Went back to Veteran at 77 to complete Origin of the Slith, The Other You, and to get augments
- At 77, Act III Elite complete, attempted Mad Queen, while doable, died a few times and very tedious (not worth it), 60 Physique, 12 Siphon Souls, 4 Blood Boil
- At 80, at Inner Necropolis, 10 Blood Boil, 2 Doom Bolt, 63 Physique, Scales of Ulcama complete, 1 in Hawk, completed Act IV before 81
- Completed the Outcast quests (no rep needed, but for XP), plus challenge dungeons and some Black Legion bounties to get Revered
- Once complete with above, now at 83, started Act V Elite, 8 Doom Bolt, 66 Physique
- Kubacabra showed up and destroyed me, but killed him with LOTS of kiting (and deaths)
- At 84, activated Altar of Rattosh, bought Wendigo Blooddrinker and other Barrowholm equipment, got some components/augments added
- Turned 88 after finishing Act VI Elite, 7 Curse of Frailty, 72 Physique, 52 Devotion points (need a couple more in Solemn Watcher)
- Went back to Veteran to do remaining Honored quests in AoM (The Feast/Cast Off the Flesh to get Revered with Barrowholm), also Malmouth Resistance
- At 90, reached Foggy Bank in Act I Ultimate, equipped all gear with augments/components (just needed Ultimate Skinner Ring and Sacred Talisman and leggings)
- At 92, at Laboratory Rift, 54 Devotion points (time to respec out of Crane)
- At 99 by start of Act IV Ultimate (Darkvale Gate)
- At 100, in Act IV, doing East Marsh for Hidden Path
- Killed John Bourbon and clones in Daila’s Secret Quest (~10 deaths, although this was my first time fighting him on any character)
- Died to Shar’zul the first time (made it easily through rest of Bastion of Choas though), tried again and didn’t try to stand still/face tank and did fine
- No problem with Port Valbury (the life leech + reduced dmg from aetherial components made this quite a lot easier since I didn’t need to worry so much where I was standing); council was not too bad, but Garl I killed last/had to face tank rather than kite, since he kept healing up
- Killed Allostria easily, second form took some time, but no danger of dying, with The Other You complete, spent final skill point to get Mark of Torment at 5
- Died once to Theodin’s second form, once to third form (you need to kite second and third form); once you learn ordering of moves it’s not too bad (if I had known better I probably could have done with 0 deaths)
- Killed Mogdrogen for the first time on Veteran with no issues
- Besides Kubacabra, only other Nemesis I’ve seen so far is Valdaran, who I’ve killed twice easily
- Will be looking to do Ravager next on Veteran, then Mogdrogen/Ravager on higher difficulties
- Tried Lokarr a couple times and this is going to be a tough fight; based on some I’ve been reading, might need to rework the gear a bit to make this easier (further overcap fire resistance, etc.).
- Tried Crucible. Completed 150 Aspirant no issues. Completed 150 Challenger (died once on 150 due to bad monster combo, but did a second time successfully with double Iron Maiden + Fabius on final wave).
- Tried Gladiator and got up to 120 with buffs (Might of Amatok and Empyrion’s Guidance), but died.
Tried again from checkpoint and died again at 120. Probably doable with some potions/ointments, but I’ll probably just stick to 100-150 runs on Challenger until I’m better geared. - Jumped on the Krieg set bandwagon and farmed 5/5 items (for another character) in the process of which, ran into Aleksander a few times. I found if facing him with lots of other mobs present, I would die. Facing him one on one was much better and allowed me to kill him. Waaay overcapped Aether resists helps (he has lots of RR) and then the main thing is to avoid the giant meteor he casts periodically; if you get hit by that, you’re one shot.
IV - Resources
[040]Useful Links
New Player Knowledge Compendium for questions you may have as a new player not answered here
How to access secret bosses/quest chains:
The Hidden Path
Daila’s Secret Quest
Lokarr
Other strong Cabalist builds to try/respec into:
Vitality Cabalist - Gladiator Crucible 170 Capable by ABCbarbecue
DW Vitality Cabalist by THT
Vitality Drain Essence Cabalist by JoV
Vitality Decay Cabalist by THT
‘The Night King’ Summoner Cabalist by DaShiv