Today, we’re diving into the world of Last Epoch for a Season 4 starter build that has me genuinely excited: the Skeleton Mage Army + Hungering Souls Necromancer Build. This new theory-crafted build, which I’ve been working on for weeks, is something I’m planning to test out when Season 4 launches. So, while there’s no gameplay footage yet, I’ll break it down and explain why this build has the potential to be a game-changer. Ample Last Epoch gold can also be of great help to you.

What is the Death Blossom Build?

At the heart of this build lies a brand new Necromancer playstyle that combines Skeleton Mages and Hungering Souls into a synergistic minion-based powerhouse. The key to this combo is the Death Blossom node in the Summon Skeleton Mage tree, which has received a significant update in Season 4. Previously, this node was underwhelming, but now it’s something completely different.

In the new patch, the Death Blossom node allows Death Knights (your summoned minions) to cast Hungering Souls using your Hungering Souls skill tree. This means that all the damage modifiers—whether additive or multiplicative—that apply to Hungering Souls will now affect your minions as well.

This opens up a world of possibilities for stacking damage and creating a minion-heavy, high-DPS necromancer build. But that’s not all—there are a lot of additional buffs and synergies that enhance this playstyle.

Skeleton Mage Synergy & Buffs

The Skeleton Mage has also been buffed significantly for Season 4. The following updates are noteworthy:

40% multiplicative damage from the Grave Tide node (up from 15%) makes Skeleton Mages much stronger.

The Forbidden node now provides 8% multiplicative damage per 25 max mana (up from 5%), synergizing perfectly with mana stacking.

Battle Hardened has been reworked, providing 100% cooldown recovery speed for Skeleton Mage abilities. This means that the cooldowns for both Hungering Souls and Necrotic Mortar are halved, so your minions can spam their abilities every 3 seconds instead of every 6 seconds.

As a result, you’ll be able to field seven Death Knights (up from five) and watch them unleash Necrotic Mortars and Hungering Souls on their enemies, all with high-frequency and devastating damage.

Hungering Souls: Nuke or Mass Projectiles?

One of the most exciting aspects of this build is the Hungering Souls skill tree. There are several ways to play it, but the goal here is to focus on Necrotic Nukes rather than fire or mass projectiles.

In essence, you’ll have seven Death Knights shooting Necrotic Mortars and launching Hungering Souls that hit like a truck. We’re aiming for the following:

200% multiplicative damage

Base critical strike chance and multiplier

60% critical strike chance

60% additional multiplicative damage

And that’s not all. With 10+ minions, you’re also stacking another 60% multiplicative damage, making the damage output of this build absolutely massive.

Mana Stacking: Forbidden Souls + Necrotic Nukes

The twist on this build comes with mana stacking. The Forbidden Souls node increases the damage of your Hungering Souls based on your maximum mana. This gives you a massive damage boost, and it pairs beautifully with the Skeleton Mage buffs.

In this build, you’ll be stacking mana (I aim for around 1,000 mana), which translates into more damage and more powerful spells for your minions. It’s not for everyone, but with the right gear and passives, it has huge potential.

The Role of Golems and Zombies

For added protection and versatility, you’ll be using two Golems (including the newly buffed Blood Golem) to tank and deal damage. The Blood Golem received a buff in Season 4, so it's definitely worth considering for this build. However, if you're not a fan of the Golem, you could easily replace it with Zombies.

The Zombie skill has also been reworked and now synergizes well with this build. Zombies deal Necrotic and Spell Damage, making them a perfect fit. They also bring additional kill threshold, ward generation, and even armor shred, which boosts your survivability. I’m currently leaning toward Summon Zombie as the fifth skill, but I’m still testing options.

Gear Choices and Buffs

When it comes to gear, several pieces are crucial for making this build shine:

Blight Staff: This item got a minion damage buff and increases the number of summoned Skeleton Mages from five to seven. It’s an essential piece for the build.

Death Rattle Amulet: This amulet provides critical strike chance, critical strike multiplier, and minion damage, which are all key to maximizing your output.

Aeron’s Will Body Armor: With the buffs in Season 4, this armor is even more important. It boosts all skills, including your Skeleton Mage and Hungering Souls abilities.

Phantom Grip Ring: A perfect ring for the build due to its critical strike stats and mana bonus.

There are also a few other gear options, such as Tyrant Skull, which increases the frenzy effect for your minions, and Brewer’s Buckle for the Endurance stat, providing more vitality and multiplicative damage.

Idols and Stats

For your idols, you’ll want to focus on increasing minion cooldown recovery speed. With the right setup, you can achieve over 250% cooldown recovery speed, which allows your minions to cast Hungering Souls and Necrotic Mortars at an insane rate.

Other useful idols include those that increase minion health, physical damage, and resistances. I’m currently using Omen Idols that increase minion recovery speed, which will be hard to farm but essential for pushing the build to its full potential.

Passive Tree and Final Thoughts

For the passive tree, we’re focusing on Necromancer passives that boost damage, leech, attack speed, and critical strike chance. We’ll be investing heavily in Vanguards, which gives us extra minions and boosts the damage of our Skeleton Mages.

Overall, this build is designed to maximize multiplicative damage from both your minions and Hungering Souls, making it a high DPS, high survivability build that should be effective in both boss fights and endgame content. A large amount of cheap Last Epoch gold can also be of great help to you.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this Death Blossom Necromancer build looks to be a powerful and fun choice for Season 4. With seven Death Knights, two Golems, and Hungering Souls dealing massive damage, you’ll be commanding an army of minions that is ready to clear through any content. The synergy between Skeleton Mages, Hungering Souls, and the buffs from mana stacking makes this build feel fresh and exciting.