Cold Skeleton Cabalist (Lost Souls)
A skeleton-army Cabalist built around the Lost Souls set: the Wight Frost Channeller off-hand converts all of your skeletons' damage to cold and makes you summon archers only. The author (Oni_das_Alagoas) published it as a v1.3.0.8 hardcore guide and says the non-set variant, using Eyes of Mogdrogen's Chosen instead of Lost Souls, is almost as good. Leveling is described as easy, as for most pet builds. However, the author ran a quick test after v1.3.1.0 on 2026-10-09 and reported that the build is not as powerful as before, the skeletons are even more squishy, and it can still kill celestials. A reader likewise reports that after v1.3.1.0 the skeleton builds are the ones struggling while other pets are fine. v1.3.1.0 changed how pet resistances work (see the related article on the two pet families), and this build has not been re-verified on the resulting numbers.
Raise Skeletons
The author gives boss kill times for a v1.3.0.8 hardcore build: N'erfatal in 2m42s, Ravager in 55s, and Avatar of Mogdrogen in 1m10s, in a video that uses no Ascendant affixes. The guide gives no Shattered Realm depth or Crucible result. The evidence is from v1.3.0.8, and the author themself reports the build as weaker after v1.3.1.0.
Beginner ★★★☆☆
Gear need ★★★☆☆ (a few farmable required items)
Skills & Priorities
7The first skill the guide maxes and the build's engine. With the Wight Frost Channeller you summon only archers, and their damage always converts 100% to cold (the author says any roll of the off-hand does this).
A small investment right after the skeletons in the guide's leveling order.
A small investment alongside Summon Familiar.
One of the debuffs the guide names, taken together with Spectral Wrath.
The other debuff the guide names, taken together with Curse of Frailty.
One of the buffs the guide names, taken together with Bonds of Bysmiel.
The other buff the guide names, taken together with Blood of Dreeg.
Devotion Route (In Order)
19- 1.[Core] Take one Order Crossroads point (Order 1). Refund it later.
- 2.[Core] Complete Lion (requires Order 1, grants Order 3; 3 points).
- 3.[Core] Complete Panther (requires Order 1, grants Order 2 / Primordial 3; 4 points).
- 4.[Core] Complete Hound (requires Primordial 1, grants Primordial 4; 3 points).
- 5.[Core] Complete Stag (requires Order 1, grants Order 2 / Primordial 3; 4 points).
- 6.[Core] Complete Ulo the Keeper of the Waters (requires Order 4 / Primordial 6, grants Order 2 / Primordial 3; 5 points). The running total of Order 10 / Primordial 13 meets the gate.
- 7.Take one Chaos Crossroads point (Chaos 1). Refund it later.
- 8.[Core] Complete Viper (requires Chaos 1, grants Chaos 2 / Primordial 3; 4 points). The author first wrote Eel, then confirmed on 2026-10-08 after a reader's report that 4 points in Viper is correct (Eel is 3 points and only grants Primordial, which does not fit the later gates).
- 9.Take one Ascendant Crossroads point (Ascendant 1). Refund it later.
- 10.[Core] Complete Shepherd's Crook (requires Ascendant 1, grants Ascendant 5; 5 points).
- 11.[Core] Complete Typhos, the Jailor of Souls (requires Ascendant 6 / Chaos 3 / Order 3, grants Ascendant 3 / Order 2; 6 points). The running total of Ascendant 6 / Chaos 3 / Order 12 meets the gate.
- 12.Take one Eldritch Crossroads point (Eldritch 1). Keep this one to the end.
- 13.Complete Raven (requires Eldritch 1, grants Eldritch 5; 4 points). A temporary pick that unlocks the next gates; refund it later.
- 14.[Core] Complete Murmur, Mistress of Rumors (requires Chaos 3 / Eldritch 6 / Primordial 6, grants Chaos 2 / Eldritch 2; 6 points).
- 15.[Core] Complete Bysmiel's Bonds (requires Chaos 4 / Eldritch 6, grants Eldritch 3; 5 points). The running total is 53 points.
- 16.Refunds: take back Raven (-4) and the Order (-1), Chaos (-1), and Ascendant (-1) Crossroads points (-7 in total, leaving 46 points). After the refunds Eldritch stays at 6 (Crossroads 1 + Murmur 2 + Bysmiel's Bonds 3), Chaos at 4 (Viper 2 + Murmur 2), Ascendant at 8 (Crook 5 + Typhos 3), and Order at 11 (Lion 3 + Panther 2 + Stag 2 + Ulo 2 + Typhos 2), so no completed constellation's requirement is violated (Murmur's Eldritch 6, Bysmiel's Bonds' Chaos 4 / Eldritch 6, Typhos' Chaos 3, and so on).
- 17.[Core] Complete Ishtak, the Spring Maiden (requires Order 10 / Primordial 15; 6 points). Order 11 / Primordial 16 meets the gate (52 points in total).
- 18.[Core] Take three stars of Rhowan's Crown (requires Ascendant 4 / Eldritch 6; Ascendant 8 / Eldritch 6 meets it). The total is exactly 55 points. Stopping at three of its five stars is the author's own order.
- 19.The guide's text does not say which skill each Celestial Power is bound to. Check the grimtools calculator.
Gear
- ▸Prioritize items that carry the 'Bonus to all pets' stat.
- ▸Do not spend attribute points the moment you get them: they help you equip items.
- ▸The Wight Frost Channeller off-hand can be picked up fairly early in the game.
- ▸The Lost Souls set is the core, with the Wight Frost Channeller as the off-hand.
- ▸The non-set variant uses an Eyes of Mogdrogen's Chosen style setup; the author finds the set version better but the other almost as good (a separate calculator is linked in the guide).
- ▸For the Mogdrogen fight, put the Beastmonger Powder augment on your rings and amulet.
- ▸If you add Ascendant affixes, prioritize resistance reduction on enemies, crit damage on auras, and Defensive Ability (the author's advice; the video used none).
- ▸The guide does not list the gear. See the grimtools calculator linked above for details.
Playstyle & Notes
- ▸Level in this order: max Raise Skeletons, a few points in Summon Familiar and Summon Hellhound, then the Curse of Frailty and Spectral Wrath debuffs and the Blood of Dreeg and Bonds of Bysmiel buffs (per the guide).
- ▸The guide does not describe the moment-to-moment rotation (opening order, evasion, and so on); check the author's video.
- ▸Before the Mogdrogen fight, swap your augments to Beastmonger Powder.
The guide's text gives no resistance policy (see the calculator's gear). Being hardcore, capping the main resistances is a given. Pet resistances changed in v1.3.1.0: pets now have baseline non-Physical resists and most pet resists on gear and devotions were removed, so the older approach of topping them up no longer applies.
Skeletons are fragile and, per the author, more so after v1.3.1.0. The author's test and the reader's report are both from 2026-10-09 and carry no numbers. Because this is a hardcore guide, do not overtrust it where a mistake is fatal.
The guide names no farming spots. It says only that the Wight Frost Channeller can be found fairly early and that its drop sources are listed in the Grim Tools item database.