Diablo III has been focused around 6-piece set item dominance for quite some time now. The only exception to this is the Legacy of Nightmares set. While there was a period in the game where Legacy of Nightmares was strong enough to encourage build diversity, Blizzard has continued to move forward with the idea of buffing 6-piece bonus sets. This, in turn, has created little to no room for the Legacy of Nightmares set to shine.

However, with the introduction of patch 2.6.4, Legacy of Nightmares received a noticeable buff from the previous 100% bonus damage per ancient item to 750%. Instead of capping the buff at 1300% (you can have a maximum of 13 ancient items equipped), a character can now benefit from up to 9750% increased damage. That’s an incredible 8450% difference.

Naturally, this caused most Diablo III players to test Legacy of Nightmares, with many also theory-crafting unique builds. Given the incredible diversity available with Legacy of Nightmares, it is quite a difficult task to really pinpoint which combination of items are best for each class. There is also the added factor that people who want to play LoN are overwhelmed by the vast variation.

Due to all of the commotion, I decided to do some research. I have looked through and playtested a plethora of LoN builds and constructed a list of what I found to be most successful and fun to play. This guide is a convenient list to look at if you are curious about LoN and don’t know where to start.

Below, I will be listing a LoN build for each respective class. I will go over what the builds are, what stats you want, and how to play it.

As a side note, these builds are something you want to aim for once you have already geared out your character. Because the LoN set requires ancient/primal legendaries to work, it is ill-advised to farm for these specific items at the start your character journey.

*This guide does NOT represent the best LoN builds for each class. It only represents what I found to be fun and successful.

Demon Hunter“Darkness betrays you!”

¤ The Build

The Multishot Demon Hunter LoN build is what I recommend. This build uses a majority of the items already used in the UE (Unhallowed Essence) Multishot build but minus the set items. Because of this, this build works wonders. Able to speed clear GR 70-80’s and push up to GR 90+ with optimized gear, LoN Multishot is the best to go for if you want insane AOE paired with the satisfaction of deleting everything on and off screen.

LoN Demon Hunter build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

*This build requires roughly 37~38% cooldown reduction with Dawn to have 100% uptime on Vengeance. I’d recommend rolling for cooldown on rings, shoulders, and gloves with a diamond in your helm. If you still lack a bit of cooldown due to unlucky rolls, you could force cooldown on your amulet or weapons, but I would not recommend this.

¤ The Gear

For shoulders, you can switch out the Pauldrons of the Skeleton King for Homing Pads if you are doing speed runs. In the belt slot, there are three viable options. For Pushing, I’d recommend The Witching Hour for maximum damage. You can also opt for Vigilante Belt if you are lacking the cooldown reduction. The third option is Omryn’s Chain. Omryn’s will give you a bit more kiting ability thanks to Caltrops slowing enemies.

Unfortunately, there are not many good pants options for the DH. I would advise you to make a Witch Doctor and roll for Swamp Land Waders. After, reforge the pants on your DH to roll Dexterity and hopefully get %Fire damage. Don’t worry too much about the legendary affix as you don’t use it. The reason why you want these specific pants is that these pants are the only pants in the game that give elemental damage in its respective slot. Since a good pair of Swamp Land Waders is hard to come by, you can also settle for Pox Faulds.

In regards to the chest piece, I would recommend Beckon Sail for the bonus cheat death. As an alternative, you can squeeze out some extra toughness with The Cloak of the Garwulf and Zoey’s Secret combo. The Cloak gives you 3 wolves instead of 1. With a max rolled Zoey’s, you gain 9.0% x 3 (wolves) in damage reduction. Totaling up to an extra 27% damage reduction.

For the Hellfire Amulet, you ideally want to look for any of these passives: Ambush, Thrill of the Hunt, Cull the Weak, Awareness, and Steady Aim. Whichever one of these passives you get from your Hellfire, you can substitute any of the 5 passives listed.

¤ The Playstyle

LoN Multishot’s playstyle is a lot similar to UE Multishot. You want to keep Vengeance up permanently and micromanage your resource on Convention of Elements fire cycle. Once you enter a rift, you want to pop Vengeance and start spamming Multishot. Unlike UE Multishot, you don’t need to worry about spending too much Discipline on Vault. Move around as you please and press Preparation when needed. You also want to keep up the Wraps of Clarity damage reduction at all times. Granted, if you are speeding through lower difficulties, you don’t have to worry too much about it.

Wraps of Clarity’s damage reduction buff applies when you use a resource generator. In other words, you do not need to hit an enemy to proc the buff. Make sure you hold Shift and click your generator every 5 seconds. Lastly, you need to be as far away as you can from enemies to maximize the effect of Zei’s Stone of Vengeance.

To “wrap” things up, make sure you have Vengeance up all the time. This will give you toughness and Hatred regen. Keep using your generator every 5 seconds to reduce damage taken. Lastly, make sure you have at least 60~70% Hatred resource on fire cycle to maximize your damage and keep your distance for Zei’s.

Wizard“I’m so good, I astound myself.”

¤ The Build

Frozen Orb Wizard is what I recommend for LoN Wizard. LoN Frozen Orb has really satisfying visuals with the added effect of putting out a massive amount of AOE damage. The range on the skill allows kiting and more room to prioritize damage over toughness. The build is also fairly easy to play; hence, it can naturally feel rewarding right off the bat. Nothing is more satisfying than spamming Teleport while you leave 15 Frozen Orbs in your wake. Much like the LoN DH, LoN Frozen Orb can easily complete GR 70-80 and push 90+ when optimized.

I found akanearcane's build set up to be the most successful. There are some item variations possible but that will be further explained below.

LoN Wizard build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

¤ The Gear

In the shoulder slot, again, I recommend Pauldrons of the Skeleton King. This item gives an added cheat death, which is always nice to have. If you are doing speed runs, feel free to swap these out for Homing Pads. Now, this is where the previously mentioned “diversity” comes in. For helm, there are a couple of options. Leoric’s Crown, Crown of Primus, and Andariel’s Visage. Out of these, Andariel’s Visage is best when it comes to damage and DPS. Andariel’s gives elemental % damage and attack speed. This is important as no other helm provides this.

You can go for Leoric’s if you need more resource cost reduction or Crown of Primus if you have neither Leoric’s or Andariel’s available. Crown of Primus is a solid option thanks to it allowing all Slow Time runes. You gain 25% damage reduction and 15% damage increase if enemies are inside the bubble.

*If you have Crown of Primus, you can switch out Black Hole for Slow Time. Whichever Slow Time rune you choose does not matter as the Crown gives you all runes.

For bracers, Strongarm Bracers would be best since Blackhole procs the knockback effect. Alternatives are Lacuni Prowlers for the attack speed if you are running Slow Time, Nemesis for more progression, and Ashnagarr’s for more toughness. In the boots category, Ice Climbers or Illusory boots are best for utility purposes.

In the amulet slot, you can go for either Hellfire or Eye of Etlich. If you choose Hellfire, the passives you are looking for are Power Hungry, Unstable Anomaly, Cold Blooded, Illusionist, and Blur.

In regards to the remainder of the gear, I suggest aiming for what the build guide covers as there are no better alternatives. One exception would be the jewelry slot in the cube. You can either go for Halo, Karini, or stick with Convention of Elements.

*There were no definite good chest pieces. Any Ancient Chest piece will do fine.

¤ The Playstyle

The playstyle for LoN Frozen Orb is quite simple. Every time you enter a Greater Rift, you need to activate your Storm Armor. After, make sure you activate Explosive Blast on enemies to bump up your damage and toughness. You then group mobs together with Black Hole and spam Arcane Orb.

If you are using Convention of Elements, you need to save 50~60% of your resource right before it hits cold cycle to maximize your damage. When low on resource, it is the safest bet to teleport into enemies - active Explosive Blast - and spam your signature spell. This way, you not only gain the needed toughness and damage from both Teleport and Explosive Blast but also quickly regenerate arcane power.

Witch Doctor“The truth burns you!”

¤ The Build

Out of all the LoN builds, Witch Doctor probably has one of the best ones. The build I would highly recommend is LoN Spirit Barrage. Spirit Barrage Witch Doctor has been around for quite some time now. With the new buffs, this build is also making a powerful return. If you like Witch Doctor and you want to run around and absolutely blow up packs with stacks of Spirit Barrage, this build is for you. Thanks to The Barber, the damage of Spirit Barrage accumulates until you stop casting it. Leading to a lot of satisfying numbers popping up on your screen.

With minimum optimization, this build can clear GR 90’s. I have personally seen LoN Spirit Barrage Witch Doctors reaching GR 100+ this season on the leaderboards.

LoN Witch Doctor build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

For this build layout, I have taken Anthony Evans’ (bigdaddyden) build as he is a talented Witch Doctor main and has optimized the build to near perfection.

You can check out his Youtube and Twitch channel here.

¤ The Gear

Unlike other builds where items could vary, this Witch Doctor build is incredibly refined. I would suggest following the items exactly.

¤ The Playstyle

As soon as you enter a rift, you want to gain stacks of Soul Harvest. This is crucial. The higher the Soul Harvest stacks, the more damage and toughness you gain. Once you’ve got some stacks, you need to apply Haunt and Locust Swarm to every group of mobs you encounter before you Spirit Barrage. There are two reasons why you must do this. 1. Mobs affected by your Locust Swam deal 25% reduced damage. 2. Mobs affected by your Haunt take 20% more damage from your attacks. After you have done all this, it is up to you to decide when you use Piranhas. However, it is best for you to pop it during elite packs or areas of huge density.

You do not need to be too conservative with your Piranhas as Grave Injustice will give you the cooldown reduction you need to use it again with relative quickness. In regards to Spirit Walk, you should be using this to move from pack to pack or to dodge dangerous effects such as molten explosions. Once you feel comfortable with the rotation, the build will feel incredibly smooth and strong.

Barbarian“How tastes your fear?”

¤ The Build

For Barbarian, I found LoN HoTA (Hammer of The Ancients) Barb to be the most fun and effective. There are other variations such as LoN Whirlwind and LoN Frenzy. Despite this, I just found pummelling demons to the ground with a magical hammer to be more pleasing. In addition, LoN HoTA has access to multiple legendaries that buff HoTA unlike Whirlwind having just a Skull Grasp.

Unlike the other LoN builds covered, this build experienced much more difficulty pushing higher GRs. Personally testing this build, I found out that, starting from Gr 85+, I was having some damage issues. Although this build has more than enough toughness and sustain - reaching the GR 90’s, I was struggling to take down elites within a couple of seconds. Regardless, out of all the LoN builds, I had the most fun with this build.

LoN Barbarian build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

¤ The Gear

*This build shines with a lot of cooldown reduction. Since your toughness comes from Band of Might and damage from Wrath of the Berserker, you want to keep these buffs up at all times. More frequent uptime on Threatening Shout doesn’t hurt either.

For shoulders, Pauldrons of the Skeleton King or Vile Ward are best for LoN HoTA. Fury of the Ancients is a very good toughness option, but (unfortunately) there is no room to fit Call of the Ancients. You can also wear Homing Pads if you’re doing speed runs.

In regards to the belt, there are a couple of options. I would recommend Pride of Cassius. However, you can also opt for Vigilante Belt for more cooldown, String of Ears for more toughness, and Witching Hour for more damage. If you are planning to use either Vigilante or Witching Hour, it is fine to cube the Cassius belt. But... keep in mind that wearing a mighty belt is almost always better for you. Mighty Belts can roll gain life per fury spent which gives you considerably more sustain than you would think.

In the weapon slots, you almost always want Pig Sticker for the sheer stats and nice increased damage to beasts and humans. On the off-hand, you can opt for Exarian to get more critical hit damage. As an alternative, you can equip In-Geom for speed and Sunkeeper for bonus elite damage. There is no definite best weapon for the off-hand. Feel free to equip 1h weapons you have available to you. However, I would recommend the suggestions above.

For the amulet slot, you would want a Hellfire. The passives you should look for are: Ruthless, Brawler, Boon of Bul-Kathos, Berserker Rage, and Nerves of Steel. The remaining armor slots have much better alternatives, and I recommend you try to get the specific items displayed on d3planner.

It is up to personal preference to switch out the Band of Might in the cube for Convention of Elements if you want more damage. However, later down the road, the 80% damage reduction is essential. If you don’t need the toughness, feel free to grab CoE. Otherwise, I suggest you keep the BoM; another option is the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. As I said earlier, the more cooldown, the nicer the build feels. If you don’t need BoM, you can swap it out for Obsidian.

¤ The Playstyle

When you enter a rift, you want to pop Wrath, Threatening Shout, and Battle Rage. Once you have all those buffs up, you can go ahead and charge at the first enemy you see and start bashing. The only concerns you need to worry about is keeping up your Gogok stacks, Band of Might buff, and using Wrath on elites. Battle Rage’s duration lasts for 2 minutes, so you don’t need to worry about maintaining the uptime for the initial part of the rift. Just make sure you tap it every now and then to keep the buff running.

*Whenever your health starts to drop rapidly, you need to remember that spending fury heals you. If you do start to lose health, make sure you either spam Hammer of the Ancients or click Battle Rage. Sometimes the best way to get out of a sticky situation is to fight it out!

Crusader“The crusade marches on!”

¤ The Build

For Crusader, I would recommend the LoN Crusader build. I understand that some people may not want to venture into a Condemn build when Crusaders have been using the Akkhan Condemn for quite some time. However, there is just something about playing a build without a full set piece that brings in a new element. Personally, I never liked Akkhan Condemn but I did love LoN Condemn (weird, I know).

If you want to constantly walk around and have enemies being flung into their deaths, this build is most definitely for you. The combination of the smooth animation from Vacuum and the insane AD damage gives you quite a feeling unable to be described in words. This build can push GR 80-90’s fairly easily and go up to 100’s if optimized.

LoN Crusader build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

¤ The Gear

Through my research, I found GamingwithBaromir’s guide to being the most successful. Although the guide title does say 130+, I believe it may have been overestimated due to his pure excitement to play Condemn. The only suggestions I have is that you want these passives for your Hellfire: Heavenly Strength, Long Arm of the Law, Holy Cause, Righteousness, and Indestructible. For rings, you can choose the Convention of Elements in the cube instead of Unity. This will give you more damage. But, if you desperately need the survivability, you are more than feel to switch to Unity.

¤ The Playstyle

The build is not too difficult to play. When you enter a rift, you need to immediately use Laws of Valor and start spamming those Condemns. You want to keep Iron Skin up at all times as it blocks a substantial amount of damage for you. It is preference when you want to use Akarat’s Champion. If you are cruising through rifts, you can use Akarat’s on elite and Rift Guardian fights. However, if you are pushing, I would recommend you always try to use Akarat’s whenever it is available.

Use Provoke when you are starting to struggle on resource. With the help of a generator and Hexing Pants, you should be able to keep your resource up for a majority of the time. One important thing is to also use Laws of Valor whenever it is off cooldown. Without this, even with Hexing and a generator, you will struggle with resource.

*Your Akarat’s Champion gives you an extra cheat death. If you get proc’ed, the green duration bar for Akarat’s will disappear and an icon will show on your buff bar. Make sure you keep an eye on this as you go through the rift. The disappearance of the green bar does not necessarily mean your Akarat has expired! Check your character’s physical appearance.

Necromancer“You will make a fine corpse.”

¤ The Build

The Necromancer LoN I will recommend is the LoN Blight Spear Necro. Necromancer is infamously famous for Corpse Lance and how annoying it is to wait for Land of the Dead to enable it. However, the skill itself is infinitely fun to use as you melt any elites/bosses that stand in your way. Same goes with Corpse Explosion. CE is by far one of my top favorite skills to use because of its aesthetics. Then again, you also need multiple corpses for the skill.

This build takes the best of both worlds. The fun spamming and one shotting with Corpse Lance while having little to no downtime on Land of the Dead and the ability to use Corpse Explosion at will. Despite being a LoN build, this Necro set up can actually perform past the 6 piece set builds such as Pestilence or Trag’Oul.

If you want to absolutely abuse Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion while finishing a run within 4 minutes, this is definitely the build to play for Necromancer. The build I will reference today is from the face of Diablo, Lord Fluffy.

Fluff has shown, with optimized gear, that this build can easily clear a GR 99 within 3 minutes or so.

LoN Necromancer build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

You can also check out Lord Fluffy's Youtube channel and Twitch here.

¤ The Gear

I would highly recommend sticking exactly to Lord Fluffy’s guide as he is the face of Diablo. The only gear wise you can manipulate is the off-hand. There is no good off-hand for this build so any Phylactery that has the correct stats will be fine.

¤ The Playstyle

This build plays exactly like Corpse Lancer but you also have Corpse Explosion at your disposal. When you enter a rift, you want to dash around the map looking for your first elite pack. This is an elite hunting build as you are using Nemesis Bracers and In-Geom. When you find your first elite, pop Land of the Dead and use either Corpse Lance or Corpse Explosion to decimate the pack.

Once you killed your first elite pack, you want to dash dash dash onto the next one. This time, however, you will have 50 stacks of Macabre Knowledge thanks to The Johnstone. What this means is that you will gain increased damage on Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion for your next elite. After you find your initial elite, you are going to keep killing mobs faster and faster.

Make sure you save Land of the Dead for elite killing purposes only. If one elite is still alive by the end of LotD, you can use either Blood Rush or Golem to generate more corpses on the field.

Monk“BREAK beneath the ENDLESS TIDE!”

¤ The Build

For Monk, I recommend the LoN Wave of Light (WOL) build. The reason being, WOL feels so amazing as you blow up everything on the screen with your bells. Speeds and Pushing is WOL Monk’s specialty. The added bonus to this build is how relatively tanky you are considering you are a ranged caster.

If you love the Monk class and want blow enemies up to the fiery abyss, this build is for you. I completed GR 80-90’s fairly easily with this build and have seen push 100+ and beyond.

LoN Monk build here.

In the build link description, you can find what stats you want to prioritize for each piece of gear.

¤ The Gear

In the shoulder slot, Lefebvre’s is the best. I would suggest taking Homing Pads for speeds and Pauldrons of the Skeleton King if you don’t have a good Lefebvre’s in stock. For belts, there are two options. Witching Hour and Vigilante Belt. Take Witching for more damage and Vigilante Belt if you want more cooldown reduction. I will personally suggest Witching Hour as you will be taking Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac in the cube.

In regards to amulet, Hellfire Amulet will be best. For passives, keep an eye out for Near Death Experience, Seize the Initiative, Harmony, Beacon of Ytar, The Guardian’s Path, Sixth Sense, Exalted Soul, and Resolve. The core 4 passive you want are Near Death Experience, Seize the Initiative, Harmony, and Beacon of Ytar. You can opt for Sixth Sense, Resolve, and Guardian’s for more toughness. Exalted Soul for more resource management.

For the ring slot in the cube, I would highly recommend putting in an Obsidian. You can go for Convention of Elements for more damage, but you will severely struggle in Epiphany and Air Ally up time. This means less toughness, damage, and resource. I say less damage because Rabid Strike only mimics your WOL if you have Epiphany. You can also decide to use a Unity but overall I felt Obsidian to work best.

¤ The Playstyle

As soon as you enter a rift, pop Epiphany and Cyclone Strike. The Epiphany will give you more damage + toughness and Cyclone Strike will give you a 50% damage reduction from Lefebvre’s. After, you just keep spamming WOL. Every cast of WOL will shorten your skills cooldowns by 1 second. Hence, you ideally do not want to overuse Dashing Strike as it mitigates the amount of CDR that is applied to core skills such as Epiphany and Air Ally.

If you are desperate on mobility, you can use Cyclone Strike to dash. While in Epiphany, if you press Cyclone Strike on an enemy far away, the skill will automatically teleport you there. Use this neat trick to not only add mobility but also keep up your Lefebvre’s.