The Bone Spear Necromancer has been a roller coaster of a build over the past few seasons. From gaining a new unique in Season 7, to becoming the Pit of Artificers leader in Season 8, how does this build fare in Season 9? Unfortunately, very poorly, and it's all due to a singular Aspect.
Bone Duster's Aspect is plagued by multiple bugs that render it non-functional. Although the Aspect was nerfed heading into Season 9, it now does not increase Bone Spear damage at all. In addition, the Overpower proc does not apply if the player uses Enhanced, Paranormal, or Supernatural Bone Spear. This is a major problem. These upgrades are central to the Bone Spear build; the skill is not viable and should not be played without them.
This issue also affects item synergy. Without consistent Overpower procs, becomes unusable. The conditional healing tied to Supernatural Bone Spear relies on Overpower, meaning this bug not only undermines damage output but also strips away the sustain necessitated by this unique.
To reiterate, do not play this build with an un-upgraded Bone Spear to get the Overpower procs from this Aspect! With that said, we can gain insight into how this Aspect was potentially intended to work post-nerfs due to this workaround—but it is not looking great. At present, the Aspect appears to trigger a single Overpower proc per Bone Prison duration, not per Bone Spear cast.
Beyond the Bug: Awkward, Unituitive Gameplay
Before the Season 9 patch, this Aspect caused all Bone Spears to Overpower. This included those from double casts or Indira’s Memory. Now, only a single Bone Spear will Overpower once every 6 seconds, assuming Bone Prison is allowed to expire naturally. This encourages awkward and unintuitive gameplay, where players must now recast Bone Prison as often as possible to maximize instances of Overpower damage. The current behavior is also inconsistent with the wording of the Aspect. The phrase “first Bone Spear” implies that the first Bone Spear from each cast would Overpower, not this global cooldown tied to Bone Prison.
Whether this current functionality is intentional or not remains unclear. However, if it is, the implications are not promising. Rather than introducing new ways to pilot the build, it forces an uncomfortable playstyle that disrupts the core loop of the build.
How to Fix Bone Duster's Aspect?
In its current state, this Aspect represents a single point of failure that cascades into multiple problems. Not only is this a substantial damage reduction, but the loss of healing synergies results in a Unique item feeling out of place. The build feels far from the powerful and fluid playstyle it was in previous seasons.
This issue demands urgent attention. Left unresolved, it all but guarantees the Bone Spear Necromancer remains sidelined for the rest of the season, assuming the pre-season nerfs haven’t already accomplished that.
