There’s a slow, satisfied cruelty to playing the Tomb Raiser. You don’t leap into fight scenes to be the star — you seed them with bone and sorrow, then watch your little army tidy up the room while you sip from the crowd. In 2025 the Tomb Raiser remains Trove’s premier minion summoner class: you harvest souls, summon skeletons, buff and heal them, and then either let them do the work or merge them into more terrifying constructs.
This Trove guide walks you through the Tomb Raiser Abilities, and the three builds: Minion summoner, Tank, or speed-Farm — with practical rotations, gem choices, emblem/flask picks and endgame tuning.
The Tomb Raiser Abilities & passive
Bonetourage: You generate Souls by killing enemies and in some cases over time; Souls are the currency that lets you summon skeletons, cast minion-heal effects, and fuel larger minion combos. Learning to harvest souls efficiently — where to pull, when to kill, when to delay — is the single habit that separates good Tomb Raisers from great ones.
- souls = minion currency; optimize your pull timing so you convert corpses into a sustainable minion stream.
Banshee’s Boon: that turns you into a near-invulnerable wraith for a short time while altering your image (your Image attacks hit differently), increasing your healing output to allies and minions, but rapidly depleting your energy while active. Ghost form is a core survival tool: use it to bait mechanics, survive telegraphs, or squeeze extra healing on your minions in high-risk windows.
- ghost form = damage mitigation + minion/heal boost; it costs energy, so manage when you use it.
Grave Golem: Construct a monstrous minion from the bones of your skeletal subordinates! The more skellies you sacrifice, the larger the burly brute will be.
The Tomb Raiser Builds: Minion summoner, Tank, or speed-Farm
Minion Build
This is the “I will outnumber you” build. Focus: maximize minion count and damage while letting minions draw aggro and clear packs.
You’ll stack Magic Damage (Tomb Raiser scales with MD), Critical Damage, and Light for endgame scaling. Empowered gems like Explosive Epilogue and Pyrodisc are frequently used because minions kill things rapidly and those on-kill explosions chain into huge clears.
- Core stats: Magic Damage → Crit Damage → Crit Chance → Light (late-game).
- Gems: Explosive Epilogue (on-kill AoE), Pyrodisc (AoE + MS), Vampiric for sustain if solo.
- Emblems & Flask: Martial + Surestrike for burst; Death-Defying Vial is handy for risky solo content.
- Rotation (short): Pull → spawn minions (spend souls) → cast Banshee’s Boon when the pack collapses → heal/minion-buff → fall back and collect souls → resummon as needed.
- Why it works: you convert a room’s corpses into sustained damage sources that scale with your MD/CD and the empowered gems’ chain effects.
Tank Builld
If you want to stand in the middle and carry a low-PR party, this build trades some raw minion DPS for survivability and control. You still summon, but you invest more in Max Health, Stability, and Health Regen so you can act as a conduit: taunt/pull, then let your minions and allies melt the mess.
Banshee’s Boon is a core tool here — it gives you survival windows and amplifies minion healing. Choose class gems that improve your survivability or minion durability.
- Core stats: Max Health → Stability → Magic Damage (secondary) → Health Regen.
- Gems: Defensive empowered gems or Vampiric if you solo; Explosive Epilogue still useful for group clears.
- Emblems & Flask: Unyielding + Martial for durability + damage; Death-Defying Vial for clutch solo moments.
- Rotation (short): Lead pull with Bulwark-like control (use your class’s taunt/placement options) → deploy minions into choke → activate Banshee’s Boon during heavy telegraphs → heal minions and teammates → reclaim souls and reset.
- Why it works: your tankiness gives your team the space to run their rotations while your minions provide constant pressure.
Farming Build
Yes — Tomb Raiser can be a surprisingly efficient farmer. The trick is to maximize clear density: short, repeated spawns, Explosive Epilogue for chain kills, and mobility so you never stop moving. You don’t rely on big minion windows here — instead your minions are little time-savers that convert small clumps into instant corpses you harvest for souls.
- Core stats: Movement Speed → Attack Speed → Magic Damage → Energy Regen (if needed to sustain Banshee form).
- Gems: Pyrodisc (MS + AoE) or Explosive Epilogue for chains.
- Emblems & Flask: Beamer or Movement-oriented emblems; Elysian Bandolier for quick flask cycling.
- Rotation (short): Run route → drop minimal minions on nodes → rely on on-kill explosions to clean → pick up souls and sprint.
- Why it works: the class’s summons + chain procs remove the “clear friction” that slows many other classes.
Class Gems, Empowered Gems & Signatory Ring
- Class Gems (Stellar): Look for variants that improve minion sustain, reduce their cooldowns, or give you extra Souls per kill. These gems can rework your preferred rotation; test them as they arrive from Everdark Vault rolls.
- Empowered Gems: Explosive Epilogue and Pyrodisc are frequent top picks because minions generate lots of on-kill procs — this amplifies clear and makes top-end damage less about your personal auto-attacks and more about how well you seed the environment.
- Signatory Ring: Choose the ring that matches the loop you intend to run (soul generation vs minion buff vs survivability). Many Tomb Raiser mains craft and polish a ring specifically for their chosen role — it’s low-cost and high-return.
Emblems, Flasks & Allies
Emblems and allies are the multipliers that turn a good build into a great one.
Emblems:
- Martial + Surestrike — strong for minion DPS windows (more damage when you need it).
- Unyielding + Chronomancer — excellent for hybrid / Delve anchoring: Unyielding for clutch invulnerability, Chrono to reduce cooldowns on key windows.
- Beamer / Movement — farm setups.
Flasks:
- Death-Defying Vial — staple for solo risk runs and clutch saves.
- Elysian Bandolier — reduces downtime on farming loops.
- Damage Flask — to push clear during burst windows.
Allies: Good allies for Tomb Raiser include Rapt Berserker for raw damage, Qubesly variants for cooldown/utility, and Earnie-type allies if you want a bit more sustain.
Tomb Raiser Gear Stats priorities by slot
| Slot | Minion DPS | Hybrid Tank | Speed Farm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Magic Damage → Crit Damage → Crit Chance | Max Health → Magic Damage → Stability | Attack Speed → Magic Damage → Movement |
| Hat | Crit Damage → Magic Damage → Light | Max Health → Stability → Magic Damage | Movement → Attack Speed → Magic Damage |
| Face | Magic Damage → Crit Chance → Crit Damage | Max Health → Energy Regen → Magic Damage | Energy Regen → Movement → Magic Damage |
| Ring | Magic Damage / Light → Crit | Max Health / Health Regen → Magic Damage | Movement / Attack Speed → Magic Damage |
| Banner | Light → Magic Damage → Crit | Max Health → Light → Magic Damage | AS / Movement → Magic Damage |
- For minion DPS push MD+CD; for tank push HP/Stability; for speed push MS/AS. Light matters in Delves and Shadow Tower more than topside.
Progression roadmap — early → mid → endgame
Early (0–PR5k): Learn minion summon timing and Banshee usage. Prioritize Magic Damage and some survivability.
Mid (PR5k–PR20k): Choose your role and chase empowered gems (Explosive Epilogue / Pyrodisc). Hunt a class gem from Everdark Vaults and craft/polish your ring.
Endgame (Long Shade / Shadow Tower): Invest Mystic/Cosmic gem upgrades into Light and MD/ CD lines where appropriate, tune emblem + ally pairings, and practice long Delve rotations in groups to refine timing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts
Tomb Raiser isn’t a class you watch grow overnight; it’s a slow, deliberate climb into competence. The satisfaction comes from a well-executed chain: a perfectly timed spawn, a Banshee’s Boon that eats the boss telegraph, empowered gem explosions that cascade through a room, and you, collecting the souls and smiling at the tidy battlefield.