Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms
Necromancer Build

Updated for Patch 3.29

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Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms is a very special Minion Skill; it animates Lingering Blades created by Bladefall, turning them into temporary ranged minions that attack enemies from a distance. Unlike regular Animate Weapon, these Animated Weapons use ranged attacks, making the build much smoother for mapping while retaining excellent single-target damage. The skill itself provides the Animated Weapons with Flat Physical Damage, More Damage, and More Attack Speed, meaning Gem Levels are extremely valuable and you don't need an expensive weapon to make the build work. The best Ascendancy for such a role is Necromancer, as their passives provide strong Minion scaling, additional Gem Levels, and excellent defensive utility through Offerings. This guide focuses on Necromancer because it offers the most complete package for a Poison Animate Weapon starter, combining damage, survivability, and efficient scaling from league-start gear into endgame upgrades.

Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms is particularly well suited to Poison, as its high Attack Speed allows the Animated Weapons to apply Poison rapidly and stack it on enemies. The build therefore scales Minion Damage, Minion Attack Speed, Gem Levels, Poison Chance, and Chaos Damage rather than relying on the player's own offensive stats. Since the Animated Weapons are created from Lingering Blades, your weapon is primarily used as a source of Minion modifiers, Gem Levels, and utility instead of providing their actual attack damage. This makes the build relatively independent of expensive weapon upgrades and allows it to scale naturally through better Minion modifiers and Poison-focused gear. Bladefall is used to create the Lingering Blades, while optimising their generation and animation is the key to making the build feel smooth and maintaining a full army.

Defensively, the build benefits from fighting at range and having a large army of Animated Weapons between you and your enemies. The Necromancer's Offerings and Minion mechanics provide additional defensive value, but the character still needs solid personal defenses. Life, capped Block, Chaos Resistance, and reliable mitigation or avoidance should be prioritised on gear. The main weakness is taking large hits directly when the minions cannot protect you, so the build should not rely solely on its minions for survival. With proper defenses and good minion uptime, Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms offers a safe and powerful playstyle that combines the convenience of ranged minions with the excellent scaling potential of Poison.
 

1. Gameplay

Create Lingering Blades with Bladefall and animate them into Ranged Animated Weapons. Once your army is active, stay behind your minions and let them clear the screen for you. Keep your Animated Weapons summoned as much as possible and use your movement skill to reposition quickly between packs. Against Bosses, make sure to maintain your full army and use your Curse, Offering, and other damage buffs to maximise your Minions' Damage. The build becomes increasingly smooth once you have Bladefall of Trarthus, allowing you to focus almost entirely on speed.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The smoothest way to level this character is to use a classic Minion setup with Absolution or Summon Raging Spirit. Both skills are excellent for progressing through the campaign with minimal investment and provide a straightforward leveling experience while you collect the Gems, gear, and Passive Tree nodes needed for the final build. Absolution is especially strong for early campaign progression, while SRS offers a very reliable transition into a dedicated Minion setup.
If you manage to acquire a Transfigured Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms Gem early, you can also start playing the final Skill during the campaign. This requires a little more setup, as you need to generate Lingering Blades with Bladefall before animating them, but it allows you to experience the intended playstyle much earlier.
For a smoother leveling experience, follow our Witch Leveling Guide using Minions 

Bandits:

Kill all Bandits to earn 1 additional Passive Point. 

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

103 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Clusters)
119 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Mindless Agression
2. Unnatural Strength
3. Bone Barrier
4. Mistress of Sacrifice

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: Avoid Projectiles that have Chained.

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul: 1% of additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms setup
	Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms - the main Damage Skill. It animates Lingering Blades into temporary ranged Minions that attack enemies from a distance. Keep as many Animated Weapons active as possible to maximise your Damage and Poison application.
	Greater Multiple Projectiles - gives your Animated Weapons additional Projectiles, significantly improving their Clear Speed. It comes with a Damage penalty, but the extra Projectiles are well worth it for mapping. For bosses swap it for Vile Toxins.
	Pierce - allows Projectiles fired by your Animated Weapons to Pierce enemies. This improves Clear Speed by allowing each attack to hit multiple enemies in a pack.
	Void Manipulation - provides a large More Chaos Damage multiplier, making it a strong Support for the Poison version of the build.
	Minion Damage -  straightforward and powerful multiplier to your Animated Weapons' Damage. It is one of the most reliable Supports for scaling both the initial Hit and the Damage that contributes to your Poison application.
	Unleash - allows you to rapidly animate multiple Lingering Blades at once by storing Seals. This makes maintaining your army of Animated Weapons much smoother and reduces the amount of time spent repeatedly casting Animate Weapon.

[UTILITY] AG and Zombies setup
	Animate Guardian - provides powerful buffs and utility for the build through its equipped gear. Be careful when using it in dangerous content, as its death can be costly if you invest in expensive equipment. Only use it once you have this gem at 18+ level.
	Raise Zombies - provide additional Minion bodies to distract enemies. They also benefit from the defensive effects of your Minion setup.
	Summon Phantasm - creates temporary Phantasms when supported Minions kill enemies, providing additional Minions that trigger our Minion Defence Mastery that recovers 5% of Life on Minion Death.
	Feeding Frenzy - grants your Minions increased Damage and aggressive behaviour, causing them to seek out enemies more actively. This makes the overall Minion setup feel more responsive and improves its offensive capabilities.

[UTILITY] Golem and Spectres setup
	Summon Stone Golem of Safeguarding - defensive Golem that provides additional survivability and helps protect you from incoming Damage. It is used for its defensive utility.
	Raise Spectre - provide additional utility to the build. Choose Spectres that offer useful buffs or defensive benefits to improve your overall performance.
	Minion Life - greatly increases the Life of your Golem and Spectres, helping them survive in tougher content and keeping their utility active for longer.
	Bladefall of Trarthus - creates Lingering Blades that can be animated by Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms. The Transfigured version provides a convenient way to generate the Blades needed to maintain your army of Animated Weapons.

[UTILITY] Guard and Utility skills setup
	Steelskin - provides a reliable layer of protection against incoming Hits by absorbing a portion of the Damage you take.
	Automation - automatically activates Steelskin whenever it is off cooldown, allowing you to benefit from its defensive effect without having to manually cast it.
	Convocation - instantly recalls all your Minions to your location and grants them Life Regeneration. Use it to reposition your Minions, bring them back after they get separated, or quickly pull them out of dangerous situations.
	Despair - main Curse for scaling Poison and Chaos Damage. It increases the Damage taken from Chaos Damage and improves the effectiveness of your Poisons against cursed enemies.

[UTILITY] Aura and Movement setup
	Purity of Elements - provides a large amount of Elemental Resistances and makes you immune to Elemental Ailments. This greatly simplifies gearing and helps keep you safe from effects such as Freeze, Shock, and Ignite.
	Eternal Blessing - allows you to reserve your Mana for a powerful permanent Aura without paying its usual Reservation Cost. It is use beacause we're using Blood Magic.
	Frostblink - fast Movement Skill that allows you to quickly teleport over obstacles and reposition during combat. Use it to dodge dangerous mechanics and move efficiently between packs.

[Utility] Wand setup
	Desecrate - creates Corpses for Bone Offering and is socketed into our Trigger Wand. Thanks to the crafted trigger modifier on the Wand, it is automatically cast whenever the trigger condition is met, meaning you don't have to manually cast it during combat.
	Bone Offering - consumes the Corpses created by Desecrate to grant Block Chance and other defensive benefits to your Minions. With Mistress of Sacrifice, its effects also apply to you. It is also socketed into the Trigger Wand, allowing both Desecrate and Bone Offering to be cast automatically through our Wand craft.
	Shield Charge - main Movement Skill. Use it to quickly travel between packs and reposition during encounters.

5. Gear Setup

The gearing is relatively straightforward, as the build does not rely on expensive Uniques to function and can be assembled gradually as you progress through the Atlas. Your Rare Items should primarily provide Maximum Life, Elemental and Chaos Resistances, and other defensive stats needed to keep your character safe. Since Animate Weapon of Ranged Arms scales primarily through Gem Levels and Minion modifiers, your own weapon is mainly used to provide Minion Damage, Gem Levels, and useful utility rather than direct Damage. As you progress into Endgame, you can optimise your gear with stronger Minion modifiers, better Gem Levels, and Poison or Chaos Damage scaling. There is plenty of room to improve the build with higher-quality Rare Items and well-rolled or corrupted Uniques, allowing you to continuously scale your Damage and survivability. Make sure to reach 100% Poison Chance on your Animate Weapon through Ghastly Eye Jewels with Minions have a 14-15% chance to poison enemies on hit modifier.

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - look mainly for +2 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems,  Maximum Life, and Elemental and Chaos Resistances. For the rest you can get some attributes or Life Regeneration Rate.

Min. requirements: +2 to level of all Minion Skill Gems +100 to maximum Life 70% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: +# to Dexterity #% increased Life Regeneration Rate

(Body Armour) The Covenant - best offensive option, providing a high level of Added Chaos Damage to your Socketed Gems at the cost of making your Skills consume Life instead of Mana.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 29 Added Chaos Damage +(20—30) to Intelligence (210—250)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life Skills gain a Base Life Cost equal to 100% of Base Mana Cost

(Weapon) Rare Minion Wand - an excellent source of Minion Damage and Minion Attack Speed, while also providing valuable Gem Levels for Minions. Look for a Wand with strong Minion modifiers, with additional Gem Levels.

Min. requirements: +1 to level of all Minion/Spell Skill Gems Minions deal 70% increased Damage Minions have 10% increased Attack and Cast Speed Optional affixes: +1 to level of all Minion/Spell Skill Gems Minions have #% increased Critical Strike Chance

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - look fo Resistances and Life, ideally with Minion Damage and Attributes on top of that.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 70% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Minions deal #% increased Damage +# to Attributes

(Boots) Rare Boots - your Boots must provide Movement Speed. Other than that they should have standard Life and Resistances modifiers. Ideally Bone Offering Effect implicit will benefit this build a lot

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 70% total Elemental and Chaos Resistance +30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Bone Offering has #% increased Effect

(Belt) Darkness Enthroned - strong offensive Belt option that allows you to equip two Abyss Jewels and greatly increases their effect. Look for Abyss Jewels with Minions have a 14-15% chance to poison enemies, flat Chaos, and Life.

Has 1 Abyssal Sockets (50—100)% increased Effect of Socketed Abyss Jewels

(Amulet) The Jinxed Juju - provides valuable Chaos Resistance and increases the effect of your Non-Curse Auras. Its unique defensive modifier redirects a portion of Hit Damage to your Raised Spectres, helping to reduce the Damage you take directly.

+(30—40) to Intelligence +(23—31)% to Chaos Resistance (10—15)% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills 10% of Damage from Hits is taken from your Raised Spectres' Life before you

Recommended Anointments: Death Attunement

(Ring) Rare Bone Ring - aim for an offensive ring with as much Minion mods as you can.

Min. requirements: +40 to Dexterity Minions deal 30% increased Damage Minions have 10% increased Attack and Cast Speed Optional affixes: +# to maximum Life #% total Elemental and Chaos Resistances

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Use Ghastly Abyss Jewels with high Minions have a chance to poison enemies modifier. Other than that you should look for flat Chaos Damage to your Minions, increased Attack Speed for Minion and defensive modifiers for you.

Recommended affixes: Attributes Maximum Life Minions have a #% chance to poison enemies Minions deal # additional Chaos Damage Minions have #% increased Attack Speed

(Cluster Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - get a 2 Clusters with 12 passives, each of them with 35% increased Effect and Minion Attack Speed. Such Jewelry is expensive.

Recommended affixes: Added Small Passive Skills also grant: Minions have 3% increased Attack and Cast Speed Attributes Resistances Life 35% Increased Effect

(Cluster Jewel) Small Cluster Jewel - get an armour Small Cluster Jewel with Enduring Composure modifier. It will make you a lot tankier.

Recommended affixes: Enduring Composure

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - grants a lot of Attack and Spell Block Chance.

+(8—12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Effect +(4—6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Effect

Other suggested Flasks and Tinctures: Quartz Flask with reduced Effect of Curses on you Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Life Flask with immunity to Corrupted Blood Resistance or Gold Flask with increased Evasion Rating

If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.

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