Raise Skeleton

Cast on the corpse of a slain monster, this raises a skeleton warrior that fights for you.

Raise Skeleton is the level 1 Necromancer spell that opens the Summoning tree (no prerequisite; it unlocks Skeleton Mastery and Raise Skeletal Mage). Cast on a corpse, it raises a necroskeleton melee pet. Two things decide the army: how many skeletons you may have, 1 at level 1, 8 at level 20 and 12 at level 30, and how tough each one is, which grows from level 4 at +50% life and +7% damage a level and takes its attack rating and defense from the skill's level and Skeleton Mastery's level added together. Mana is 6 at level 1 and 25 at level 20.

The numbers

• Skeletons is petmax (lvl < 4) ? lvl : (2 + lvl/3): one a level to 3, then one more for every three levels, rounded down. 3 at level 3, 5 at level 9, 8 at level 18 through 20, 12 at level 30.
• Life is calc1, "HP % Modifier": Param2 50 ("HP % per level") times the level minus 3, and nothing below level 4: +50% at level 4, +850% at level 20, +1,350% at level 30. The tooltip's line pairs it with Skeleton Mastery's flat life (passivecalc1, Skeleton Mastery level × 8), and the base it works on is the skeleton's own, which the Basin gives as 21 in Normal, 30 in Nightmare and 42 in Hell.
• Damage is Param3 7 ("Damage % per level") times the level minus 3, from level 4 (aurastatcalc1): +7% at level 4, +119% at level 20, +189% at level 30. The percentage multiplies the skeleton's physical damage, which is the table's EMin 0 growing +1 a level from level 9, +2 from 17, +3 from 23 and +4 from 29 (EMinLev2–5), plus Skeleton Mastery's +2 a level (passivecalc2). The Basin's tables print the same growth one point higher, 1–2 at level 1 and 17–18 at level 20 before the percentage.
• Attack Rating and Defense are 5 plus Param4 15 and Param5 15 times the skill's level and Skeleton Mastery's level added together (aurastatcalc2 and 3). The table above shows them with Skeleton Mastery at 0: 20 at level 1, 305 at level 20; each level of the mastery adds 15 to both. The Basin adds the skeleton's monster level to each on top.
• Shield: Param1 5 is the "% chance to spawn with a shield". With one the Basin gives the skeleton 3% chance to block; without one it cannot block.
• Mana is 5 + the level (mana 6, lvlmana 1): 6 at level 1, 25 at level 20, 35 at level 30.

Every line reads lvl, including the Skeleton Mastery term, so +skills from items count in full everywhere.

How it works

Raise Skeleton needs a corpse and does not roll against anything itself; the skeleton is a skeleton pet type that attacks in melee with physical damage and rolls Chance to Hit like a monster. The Basin's rules:

• The level used in chance to hit, attack rating and defense is the caster's level at the moment of casting.
• Stats are set at the point of casting, but the number of skeletons is read from the current skill level: switching weapons can lose skeletons, even to a swap that gives the same +skills.
• Summon Resist applies to them. Their drain effectiveness is 0% (no leech from their hits) and their chill effectiveness is −50.
• Skeleton Mastery's +life is applied before Raise Skeleton's +% life, so the two multiply; the Basin warns the game's tooltip adds them in the other order and understates the total. +% maximum life from Battle Orders and Oak Sage is applied after both.
• In Resurrected the caster's Monster Physical Immunity is Sundered is applied to the skeletons' hits (passivecalc3 reads item_pierce_damage_immunity).

The skeleton count follows your current level, but every skeleton's stats stay as they were when it rose. Re-raise after a gear change; a +skills swap that drops the level drops the extra skeletons at once.

Synergies and +skills

No synergy lines: Raise Skeleton has no dsc3 synergy and feeds none. What it has instead is Skeleton Mastery, whose level is read by the skeleton's life, damage, attack rating and defense calcs, and that reading is of the mastery's full level (lvl), so +skills feed both halves. The Basin lists Arm of King Leoric at +3 and the +1–3 Raise Skeleton affix on low-level wands and shrunken heads.

Against players

The Necromancer casts nothing on a player with this skill. The skeletons' hits on a player are physical melee hits cut to 17% by the player-versus-player rule as any player-side hit is; see Player versus Player.

Build notes

• Level 20 is eight skeletons at +850% life and +119% damage for 25 mana a raise; +skills past that keep adding, one skeleton every three levels and +50% life and +7% damage each.
• Skeleton Mastery is worth +15 attack rating and defense and +8 life and +2 damage per skeleton per level, read at full level, so a wand with +skills to both is counted twice over.
• Raise after you equip: the shield roll, the life and the damage are all fixed when the corpse rises.