I love Diablo. I hail Diablo 2 as the greatest RPG ever made. And I think Diablo 3 has fine tuned the Loot-reward mechanic to perfection. Having said that I hadn’t played Diablo 3 in a while, so when the Necromancer DLC dropped a few weeks earlier, it gave me the perfect opportunity to dive into the game again, and try out one of the most popular Diablo characters ever.

Diablo 3 is a RPG developed by Blizzard and distributed by Activision Blizzard. The game is available on the Xbox One, PS4, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The Rise Of The Necromancer is a DLC that was released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on June 27 2017.

Diablo 3 Rise Of The Necromancer DLC

Detailed Review

MISC

No other character fits the Gothic aesthetic of Diablo, better than Necromancer. The dark, bleak, decaying world of Sanctuary feel like the perfect home for someone who thrives on death. The Necromancer raises skeletons, golems and shades. He creates bone armor from his fallen victims, and explodes the corpses of those who dies in his path. Playing the necromancer feels as if you are using the game’s biggest weapons (death and enemies) against it.

Gameplay And Mechanics

The gameplay on the other hand, when playing with the Necromancer is something which is completely different to what you are accustomed to in a Diablo game. The Necromancer is a commander/pet type who is best when he has minions doing the dirty work. His closed range attacks are weak, and ranged attacks open up late into the game. Indeed the Necromancer has low base defense and attack stats, which means its a challenge when you start off.

That grind however lasts only till level 10. Because unlike the original Necromancer who had strong start skills, the necromancer in Diablo 3 really opens after his initial levels. By level 10 you can summon 7 skeletons, 1 golem, various shades, skeleton archers and bone armor. By level 20, you would have 2 attacks that do close to ranged damage and by 30, you wouldn’t have to worry about essence (collected from corpses that fall during the battle). If you play your cards right, you could have up-to 10 characters helping you out any point of time in the game. This is when Diablo 3 becomes less of a click fest to more of a positioning challenge.

The necromancer also shifts focus from damage to resource upkeep as almost all of your minion based attacks drain a lot of essence, and your entire build revolves around either increasing its collection rate or to increase its maximum limit. Once you have that figured out though Necromancer has the potential to feel like the most powerful character you would play with in the game.

Story And Narrative

There is no new narrative attached to this Necromancer DLC, not even audio diary entries like the ones we had when the Crusaders DLC was launched. This is a little disappointing. With nothing else to buff up this update apart from some Necromancer themed cosmetic items (which include a pat and wings), a prick INR 1.6K might be a little hard to justify.

VERDICT

The necromancer DLC is best suited/aimed towards players who have played Diablo 2. The others might not understand what the fuss is about a character who does little himself. Like always, Blizzard’s game balance is on point and the Necromancer is worthy addition to a very strong Diablo 3 roster.