Shadow Sacrificer

Overview

In playing my Necromancer / Warrior, I decided to experiment with a build that leveraged the added Shadow Damage of Dark Aura. Shadow Damage ignores armor, and can therefore be very useful against high-AL targets... provided you survive long enough to deal that damage. Thus was born the Shadow Sacrificer, and I really want to come up with a better name for her.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As my character is only up to the middle of Maguuma Jungle, you're going to notice a lot of skill gaps in this build; for example, Aura of the Lich is definitely in once I capture it. But I'm vehemently opposed to posting a build that I haven't actually tested; thus, it's not here (yet).

Strengths

The strength of the Shadow Sacrificer is that she can deal consistent damage to a target through the use of Dark Aura and sacrifice skills, regardless if the target is a lowly Gargoyle in Ascalon or a heavily-armored White Mantle in the Jungle. The Shadow Sacrificer can also do this damage to a group of enemies, helping thin the pack out quickly.

Weaknesses

This is not a build for the faint of heart. You're going to be toe-to-toe with the toughest enemies, and choosing to sacrifice (with added Dark Aura damage) nonetheless. If you mistime your sacrifice, or kill too slowly that you run out of minions, you're looking at a dirt nap. The Shadow Sacrificer can also overstress the team's Monks, resulting in energy management problems.

Playstyle

It's fun! It's dangerous! It's something other than marching a horde of minions into the enemies! And your secondary profession doesn't really matter! If you're looking for thrills, at the expense of your own safety, this is the one to pick.

Attributes

XX Blood Magic (I will update this when I get more levels. But basically, anything you have left after the other two goes into Blood Magic.) 16 Death Magic (12 Levels, +1 Death Magic Scalp Design, Superior Rune) XX Soul Reaping (5, after a Minor Rune, works fine for me. You might want more.)

The key here is Death Magic. You're not going to be a minion master, but you want as powerful as minions as possible, as you'll see later. They'll serve as batteries for two things: Life and Energy. You want to be able to not run into energy issues when you need to raise more of them either, hence the variable Soul Reaping state. After that, Blood magic is what determines the damage you do.

Skills

1. Dark Aura
   The driver of the build. Dark Aura deals Shadow Damage to all adjacent foes when you sacrifice life, but also adds to the cost of that sacrifice.
2. Touch of Agony
   For a 10% Sacrifice, you deal damage to the touched foe. A good way to get yourself to melee range and ensure the Dark Aura bonus damage will also be delivered.
3. Dark Pact
   For a 10% Sacrifice, you deal damage to the target foe. It is best to use this skill after you've used Touch of Agony, to ensure you're at the range where Dark Aura's bonus damage will kick in.
4. Vampiric Touch
   You're already at melee range, why not heal a bit? Be careful, however. Vampiric Touch doesn't do a LOT of armor-ignoring damage, and it's got a steep energy cost.
5. Taste of Death
   Use your minions as life batteries, and if they die from your health steal, you get energy. This is why you want Level 18 minions, though: You want to be able to steal as much life as possible from them.
6. Blood of the Master
   Oh, what a crazy combo. Sacrifice 10% life to heal the minions around you (and since you've got Horrors, they'll be near you) and deal Dark Aura bonus damage as well. Oh, and then follow up with a Taste of Death and you'll be in good shape.
7. Animate Bone Horror
   To have minions. Those minions serve as your life and energy batteries, so manage them carefully.
8. Ressurection Signet
   Simply because it's good to have.

Equipment Suggestions

You'll definitely want Necrotic Armor for the extra AL. Every little bit is going to help. After that, melee weapons with +Enchantment, +Health, and +Defense are good as they can get and keep you in melee range without extra trouble. One thing I have considered is that if I could improve the energy efficiency of the build is to use a Warrior secondary and use a Tactics shield. You'll lose out on any available offhand bonuses, but gain some AL.

Another option is a perfect Hale+Fortitude staff combo, though this requires a bit more maintenance in the playstyle, since your character won't charge to melee range with a simple attack command. On the other hand, this might not be such a bad thing.