The Lich Mastery veers away from the minion-focused skills of the Acolyte and makes her a veritable DPS machine, turning her the sole powerhouse class with her Reaper Form and Death Seal that plays heavily into the Grim Reaper class fantasy. Become an undying monster that reaps death and destruction on Eterra with this build that is sure to be viable even on the highest level Monoliths while surviving everything in Hardcore mode.
Skill Specialization Allocation
Reaper Form
- 3 points in Soul For A Soul: Grants 60% extra damage while reducing healing effectiveness by 30%.
- 4 points in Reaper’s Curse: Increases damage and crit chance by 100% but lose 2% health per kill.
- 2 points in Death Comes Quickly: 50% chance to gain swiftness on kill.
- 3 points in Rapid Destruction: Gain 30% attack and cast speed while in Reaper Form.
- 2 points in Mistress of Decay: Health drains 20% slower while in Reaper Form and increases damage over time by 20%.
- 3 points in Swift Harbinger: Gain 90% cooldown recovery speed for the Reap skill.
- 1 point in Unholy Dominion: Reap and Transplant no longer share a cooldown but increase Reap’s cooldown by 100%.
- 4 points in Soul Shroud: Gain 4 armor per Intelligence stat while in Reaper form.
- 1 point in Vile Shroud: Gain 1% necrotic and poison damage resistance per Intelligence stat.
Death Seal
- 5 points in Corrupted Consciousness: Increases skill damage by 5% for every 3% of maximum health missing prior to skill activation.
- 1 point in Mortal Pulse: Death Seal now pulses outwards every second instead of pulsing on deactivation but reduces Death Wave’s damage by 60%.
- 4 points in Tachycardia: Death Wave pulses 48% more frequently and increases its crit chance by 240%.
- 3 points in Desperate Shroud: Gain 10 armor and 6 stun avoidance per 10 missing health prior to skill activation.
- 1 point in Deadlock: If your health is above 33%, Death Seal will immediately reduce your health to 33%
- 2 points in Moratorium: Increases spell duration by 2 seconds.
- 1 point in Soul Stability: Prevents all other health-draining effects on you while Death Seal is active.
- 2 points in Carrion Breath: Adds 60% more area to spell.
- 1 point in The Quick and the Dead: Gain Haste for the duration of Death Seal before deactivation.
- 5 points in Doomcall: Gain 5 stacks of Damned status for every second that Death Seal is on. Each Damned stack adds 10% damage to Death Wave. Deactivating Death Seal will dispel all Damned stacks.
Rip Blood
- 5 points in Splatter: Rip Blood has a 100% chance to cast Blood Splatter, a spell that damages all enemies around the original target.
- 1 point in Eviscerate: Blood Splatter has another 100% chance to cast but adds 6 mana cost to Rip Blood.
- 3 points in Hemomancer: Rip Blood casts 18% faster.
- 3 points in Thirst: Rip Blood costs 3 less mana and casts 9% faster.
- 4 points in Arcane Absorption: Hitting a target with Rip Blood adds 8 global spell damage for 6 seconds and can stack.
- 1 point in Rip Spirit: Rip Blood’s damage is converted to necrotic damage and causes the skill to scale for that damage type.
- 5 points in Run Dry: Skill deals 40% more damage multiplicatively
- 1 point in Blood Catalyst: Rip Blood will automatically recast on killing a target but will no longer spawn Blood Orbs for you.
Transplant
- 3 points in Fleeting Form: Increases cast speed and cooldown recovery by 15%.
- 2 points in Anemia: Reduces health cost of spell by 16%.
- 3 points in Bone Armor: Grants 300 armor and 12% damage reduction on cast.
- 2 points in Plated Bone: Adds 20% more effectiveness to Bone Armor’s values.
- 3 points in Apostasy: Adds 3 more seconds to Bone Armor’s effect.
- 3 points in Acolyte’s Fervor: Casting grants 3 seconds of Haste and Frenzy
- 1 point in Sticky Blood: Transplant detonation leaves a pool of blood that slows enemies.
- 1 point in Dance of Blood: Transplant automatically casts Rip Blood to enemies near the departure point, but now costs 8% more health to cast.
- 1 point in Reign of Blood: Transplant now adds an additional detonating body on the point of arrival.
- 1 point in Doom Bringer: Debuffs nearby enemies on the point of arrival with Bone Curse
- 3 points in Violent Emergence: Transplant explosions will instantly kill enemies below 15% of their health.
Bone Curse
- 4 points in Conflation: Adds 120% area.
- 1 point in Sigil of Mortality: Casts Marked For Death on enemies for 2 seconds but adds 5 mana cost.
- 2 points in Defile Defenses: Bone Curse has a 40% chance to shred armor
- 3 points in Marrow Thief: Gain a 30% chance to receive Bone Armor for 4 seconds after killing an enemy affected by Bone Curse.
- 1 point in Crippling Anguish: The spell slows enemies for 2 seconds.
- 2 points in Cultist’s Favor: The spell costs 20% less mana and casts 10% faster.
- 3 points in Chilblains: Bone Curse has a 36% chance to chill targets when hit.
- 5 points in Cursed Limbs: Hitting a target afflicted with Bone Curse will recast the spell for the next 5 seconds. The spell now costs 10 more mana.
Class Passives
Acolyte Tree
- 4 points in Bone Aura: Adds 80 base armor for you and your minions.
- 8 points in Forbidden Knowledge: Adds 8 base Intelligence and 40% necrotic resistance.
- 8 points in Stolen Vitality: Adds 8 base Vitality and increases minion health by 78%.
Lich Tree
- 10 points in Apocrypha: Adds 10 base Intelligence and 20% increased mana regen.
- 8 points in Survival of the Cruel: Adds 40 base health and 4% spell damage to health leech.
- 8 points in Dance With Death: Deal 40% increased damage and is tripled below 35% health
- 8-point sin Crippling Insight: Adds 16 base Intelligence but reduces health regeneration by 40%
- 8 points in Three Plagues: Adds 24% physical, necrotic, and poison penetration.
- 5 points in Deathbringer: Increases critical strike chance by 50% and attack/cast speed by 15%.
- 10 points in Necrotic Energy: Adds 20 base speel and melee necrotic damage.
- 5 points in Darkguard: Increases critical strike chance by 100% and gain 10 Ward on critical strike.
- 10 points in Elixir of Death: Potion use grants 50% physical and necrotic damage reduction but drains 10% health per second on use.
- 5 points in Clairvoyant Insight: Adds 50% crit damage multiplier.
- 5 points in Ageless Ascetic: Increases attack, cast, movement speed, and life leech by 5%
- 2 points in Mind Over Body: Adds 4 Intelligence but drains 2% health per second.
- 5 points in Soul Maw: Grants 5% life leech and increases it by 25%.
Necromancer Tree
- 4 points in Elixir of Hunger: Adds 20 health and gives the Hunger buff on potion use, which grants 10% increased attack and cast speed and 10 health on hit.
Gearing Guide
The Uniques that you should chase for are Marina’s Lost Soul, Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs, and the Omnis. Marina’s Lost Soul is one of your biggest build enablers, as every spell you cast will grant you a Damned stack, which synergizes well with the Death Seal skill since you should have the passive that scales damage based on your Damned stacks. The Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs should also augment the Elixir of Death passive in the Lich tree with its own unique affix. The Omnis amulet is a great all-around amulet with its resistance bonus to every single damage type in the game and a free +1 to all skills for your class.
For your helmet, the Revenant Mask has great implicits, and you should slot in a Rip Blood and Death Seal affix to it for some extra damage. The rest should go to your resistances, health, or armor.
For the chestpiece, use the Revenant Plate. This piece is a good place to slot a Reaper Form affix. Once again, try to cap out your resistances with this item.
Your off-hand catalyst must be a Crystal Skull with cast speed, 2 resistance affixes, and a critical strike chance bonus affix.
Both ring slots should be occupied by the Opal Rings as it grants implicit cooldown reduction and an All Attributes implicit. Use these to stack Intelligence affixes, spell damage, mana regen and bonus health.
Citadel Boots grants a nice balance of implicit movement speed, armor and reduced crit damage taken values.
Get the Plated Gauntlets with its extra Endurance stat for more survivability. Slot in a crit strike chance affix, health, armor shred and frailty affixes to further enhance your DPS.
Lastly, for your belt, the Praetorian Belt grants the most armor with 4 potion slots. Since potions are a part of your build, find one with increased potion find, health and cooldown reduction.
Monolith Blessings
For your Monolith Blessings, take the following:
- Grand Sight of the Outcasts: Gives 100% increased Large Idol Drop Rate
- Grand Slumber of Morditas: 60% Relic Drop Rate
- Grand Emptiness of Ash: 40% critical strike damage multiplier
- Grand Cruelty of Formosus: 90% Wand drop rate
- Grand Bastion of Infinity: 75% lightning resistance
- Grand Hope of the Beginning: 25% increased prefix shard drop rate
- Grand Resolve of Humanity: 20% for all resistances
- Grand Knowledge of Skill: 35% increased Shard drop rate
- Grand Bulwark of the Tundra: 55% increased armor
- Grand Promise of Death: 50% chance for necrotic shred on hit
Idol Types and Affixes
Grab any 1 x 2 or 1 x 3 Idols like the Stout Lagonian and the Large Immortals with a health prefix as all your idols should be used to stack as much HP as can. Chance to Fear is a must have suffix since you will need more crowd control on the fly.
