The balance in Diablo 4 has already been changed several times, but the Necromancer still remains one of the strongest classes, equally comfortable for solo adventures and PvP fans. In honor of the official release, we decided to create a comprehensive guide on several key builds for this class, as well as analyze battle tactics, strengths, and weaknesses.
What Are the Features of the Necromancer Class
The Necromancer is a versatile class. It is so powerful that it can easily become both a tank and support. The main resources required for successfully annihilating hordes of the undead are essence and corpses. The former is automatically replenished during combat. The speed and volume of essence recovery can be regulated by various passive and active skills. Corpses remain after enemies. They can be used in different ways, for example, to revive as skeletons and allies or to explode, turning the battlefield into a bloody mess.
The main characteristic of the Necromancer is, of course, intelligence, but it also makes sense to pay attention to dexterity and willpower. Regular strength will be practically useless; after all, you're not some barbarian.
Despite its near-ultimate capabilities, the Necromancer is not that easy to master. To unlock the full potential of the class, you will need to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of its three development paths: bone, blood, and summoning (or dark magic).
Additionally, the Necromancer has the Book of the Dead. This ability allows you to regulate which specific skeletons can be summoned for help. Initially, you will get regular weak soldiers. In the future, the army will expand with shield-bearing knights, reapers, various mages, and even golems. Interestingly, each type of troop is not interchangeable but adds to the already known skeletons. Thus, the Necromancer gathers an impressive army around themselves, allowing the hero to avoid direct combat.
If the build focuses on the character's personal abilities, you can sacrifice skeletons and gain a unique enhancement. All this provides a wide scope for creativity and build formation.
What Are the Features of the Bone Build
A Necromancer specializing in bone magic deals the most damage and does not rely on anyone's help, including skeletons. The entire build revolves around accumulating various positive buffs. Here, you are closest to the title of a tank, easily absorbing a huge amount of damage. This is by no means the easiest build, although most experts on the internet use it as the core of their progression.
In the Book of the Dead, you should sacrifice regular skeleton warriors to receive a +5% critical damage boost. Freezing mages should also be sacrificed for enhancement. By sacrificing them, you will receive +15% damage to all vulnerable enemies. Finally, in the golem section, it's better to choose the blood type, which can drain life from enemies and strengthen itself. Sacrificing the golem is not necessary; it is needed to protect the Necromancer. You should choose the first specialization, which gives the ability to absorb 15% more damage from everything you would otherwise receive. Now let's look at specific skills.
What Skills Are Needed for the Bone Build
- Bone Spear — your main combat skill, which deals good base damage and pierces through enemies. The spear needs to be maxed out and enhanced with extras. Enhanced Bone Spear will allow for guaranteed repeated attacks; Paranormal Bone Spear increases critical damage and also increases the number of guaranteed attacks in Enhanced Bone Spear to 5.
- Bone Splinters — an analogue of knives and a good way to replenish essence. Enhanced Bone Splinters provide a 30% chance to release 2 additional projectiles. Acolyte's Bone Splinters increase critical hit. Here, it's enough to invest one point, but you can max it out if you wish.
- Unliving Energy — increases essence, but it's enough to upgrade it at least once. Much more important is the passive skill that will become available — Hewed Flesh. This ability increases the essence cost of primary skills but also increases damage by 15%. It's advisable to spend the maximum points on this passive.
- Grim Harvest — increases the chance to create a corpse at the enemy's location (the probability doubles if the character is fighting a boss). The importance of this talent is reduced at first, but you can buy the skill Corpse Explosion, which will help deal additional damage, or find the aspect Explosive Mist, then turning into a Blood Mist will automatically explode corpses and deal colossal damage.
- Blood Mist — a defensive skill that is present in all known builds, it's that good. The hero turns into a mist, heals, becomes invulnerable, and can move around the arena regardless of the number of enemies. It's advisable to buy the passives Enhanced Blood Mist and Ghastly Blood Mist to speed up recovery and increase the number of corpses. As we wrote earlier, it is very useful to use with the Explosive Mist aspect. Upgrade it at least once.
- Bone Prison — a skill necessary for slowing down enemies. A bone wall appears around opponents, preventing them from passing through. Enhanced Bone Prison will give you an influx of essence, and Dreadful Bone Prison imposes a vulnerability effect on all trapped enemies — they take 20% more damage. It should be upgraded at least once.
- Embrace of Death — an important passive skill that increases your damage and decreases enemy attacks. Be sure to max it out.
- Death's Reach — increases damage to ranged enemies. A useful skill that will enhance your bone spears and shards. Leveling is optional.
- Serration — increases the critical damage of all bone skills. Comes with Fracture — after 10 critical hits, you deal increased damage, and Terminator — increases critical damage to vulnerable enemies. The main skill is best leveled up to 2, the rest with one point each.
- Golem Mastery — it's simple here, to ensure maximum protection, you should improve your golem. Max out the points.
- Solitude in conjunction with Remember Death — these abilities will increase the boost you receive from sacrificing other types of skeletons and slightly reduce enemy damage.
- Bone Storm — a bone hurricane appears around you and the golem, dealing constant damage to all it hits. You should purchase the passives — Prime Bone Storm and Unstoppable Bone Storm — you will receive reduced enemy damage while the skill is active, as well as an increased chance of critical hits.
- Ossified Essence — the final passive of the build, which increases the damage of all Bone category skills for each unit of essence exceeding 50 units at the time of skill use.
What is the battle strategy for the bone build
Combat tactics with the considered abilities:
Always try to have an active golem nearby. It not only distracts enemies but also absorbs some of the damage. This will help you calmly use other skills and accumulate positive buffs.
Constantly use Bone Shards to replenish essence. Essence is extremely important, and if it runs out, the necromancer's effectiveness will drop sharply.
To isolate particularly strong enemies, activate Bone Prison. This will give the golem an advantage and allow you to quickly deal with the small fry.
Bone Spear is especially useful in narrow spaces. You can also use Blood Mist there to quickly escape encirclement.
Bone Storm will become your ultimate area weapon. However, if you obtain the Explosive Mist aspect, you will turn into a real death machine.
The bone necromancer deals massive damage and will help you feel especially comfortable in PvP mode when you can only rely on yourself. The abilities do not require targeted attacks and activate positive effects automatically, without direct control. Plus, you will have a very strong golem, which will give you additional seconds to think through your strategy.
What are the features of the blood build
The blood necromancer strongly resembles a vampire. Many of his attacks are aimed at draining life, while the amount of damage also commands respect. Unlike the bone build, this one involves skeletons much more. Moreover, the blood build allows for significant area damage, which the bone necromancer can only achieve after obtaining the corresponding aspect. Corpses play a significantly lesser role compared to essence and are mainly needed to replenish your personal army of the dead. The blood necromancer is quite simple to master, and thanks to his abilities, he is almost invulnerable. However, you will have to closely monitor his position in the arena, as he has no slowing skills.
In the Book of the Dead, it is better to choose the very first skeletons and increase their number. In the second category, you should opt for shadow mages with an upgrade for an additional attack. The golem should also be the very first one with a boost for dropping a corpse every time after receiving a certain amount of damage.
What skills are needed for the blood necromancer
- Hemorrhage — the first skill you should max out. Firstly, you will constantly replenish essence, and secondly, you will receive blood orbs that restore health. Also, purchase two upgrades: Enhanced Hemorrhage and Acolyte's Hemorrhage. This way, you will get a boost to area damage and essence replenishment, as well as the positive buff Fortify, thanks to which the necromancer takes 10% less damage when his health is full.
- Unliving Energy — increases the maximum amount of essence. If in the first build it was enough to level up at least one point, here you should develop the skill to the maximum. In conjunction with Hemorrhage, you will get huge reserves of the consumable resource.
- Flesh Fragments — increases the chance to create a corpse at the enemy's location (the probability doubles if the character is fighting a boss). It is worth maxing out this skill, as a constant influx of corpses will ensure your army's health and fighters.
- Blood Mist — a defensive skill. The hero turns into mist, heals, becomes invulnerable, and can move around the arena regardless of the number of enemies. It is advisable to purchase the passives Enhanced Blood Mist and Nightmare Blood Mist to speed up recovery and increase the number of corpses. Very useful to use with the aspect Explosive Mist. Max it out, as it is one of the main abilities of the build.
- Skeletal Warrior Mastery — you will enhance your infantry, making them more resilient. Max it out.
- Skeletal Mage Mastery — the same as with the warriors, it simply improves the characteristics of your army of the dead.
- Golem Mastery — the skill will improve the characteristics of your golem.
- Corpse Explosion — another ability for maximum development. It's worth upgrading with Enhanced Corpse Explosion. This way, you can compensate for the absence of the Explosive Mist aspect and protect the Necromancer while Blood Mist is on cooldown.
- Grim Harvest — when health is below 50%, you heal faster. You can also purchase the upgrade Transfusion. This way, blood orbs will also heal your minions. It's better to max this out.
- Necrotic Carapace — every time a corpse is created by the character's abilities or the actions of skeletons, the Necromancer's health is fortified. Maximum level is recommended.
- Bone Spirit — a very powerful skill that allows you to summon a spirit that independently seeks targets to attack. You spend all your essence, but with your previous abilities, this is not a problem. Purchase Enhanced Bone Spirit to reduce cooldown. It can be leveled up to 3 out of 5.
- Rathma's Vigor — increases your maximum health and provides an additional damage buff in the form of an overwhelming strike equal to the sum of current health and fortification of the character.
What is the Battle Tactic for the Blood Build
At the start of the battle, you should always raise the maximum number of available skeletons of all classes — this is your main defensive force. In combat, frequently use Hemorrhage to create blood orbs, replenish essence, and constantly heal. When essence is at maximum, use Bone Spirit to deal high damage to a priority target. In the finale, activate Blood Mist to finish off the remaining enemies. If other abilities are on cooldown, don't forget to use Corpse Explosion; this will clear the arena and help preserve your skeletons.
What are the Features of the Summoner Build
The last build that interests us is the Summoner. As you might guess, it focuses on constant interaction with the army of the dead. Many don't like this option because the Necromancer essentially becomes a support character for his own minions. However, leading more than 10 different skeletons is an impressive task. Here, the Necromancer also has high survivability, and the gameplay becomes even simpler, allowing you to calmly think through your actions away from the battle. Obviously, you constantly need to refresh your troops by raising skeletons from the corpses of enemies. Such monotonous gameplay may not suit everyone.
It's better to take the most basic skeletal infantry and increase their number. Among the mages, shadow ones with a stun buff are suitable, although ice mages can also work well. As for the golem, the last one — the iron golem — is needed. The second buff is better — powerful attacks make enemies vulnerable.
What Skills are Needed for the Summoner Build
- Decompose — this ability increases damage and the number of corpses, as well as applies the decomposition effect. Be sure to study the passives Enhanced Decompose and Acolyte's Decompose. This way, you can increase essence replenishment and the strength of your skeletons. Upgrade to at least 4 out of 5 points.
- Blight — an area-of-effect ability that corrupts not only enemies but also the ground beneath them, continuing to deal damage. As with the previous skill, you need to purchase the passives — Enhanced Blight and Supernatural Blight. In the first case, enemies will start to slow down, and in the second, you and your army of the dead will deal increased damage. Combined with Decompose, this results in a significant power boost for your skeletons. Upgrade to at least 4 out of 5 points.
- Unliving Energy — increases essence; also purchase the familiar passive — Fragile Balance. This ability increases the essence cost of core skills but also increases their damage. It's advisable to fully upgrade this.
- Flesh Fragments — increases the chance of creating a corpse at the enemy's location (the probability doubles if the character is fighting a boss). If you're playing as a summoner, this is one of your main abilities. Max it out.
- Blood Mist — this ability is very useful for the necromancer in any build. It provides temporary invulnerability and the ability to escape from accidental encirclement. Purchase the passives Enhanced Blood Mist and Sinister Blood Mist to speed up recovery and generate an additional corpse.
- Master of Skeleton Warriors — strengthens your infantry. Max it out.
- Master of Skeleton Mages — strengthens summoned mages. Max it out.
- Master of Golems — strengthens your golem. Yes, max it out too.
- Spiked Armor — invest 2 out of 3 points. You will get additional protection from spikes.
- Weakness — a curse that applies the corresponding effect on enemies, slowing them down and reducing their attack. You can add Enhanced Weakness to amplify the negative effect with a stun. This skill is equally useful against crowds and elite fighters, but it doesn't need to be heavily upgraded; one point is enough.
- Pursuing Reaper — the more damage you deal with dark skills, the faster you move. One point is enough.
- Twilight — when you attack with dark skills, your attack and the attack power of your skeletons deal increased dark magic damage. You need 2 points.
- Intimidation — increases the damage of the hero and minions against enemies with various negative effects, such as slowing. You need 2 points for this as well.
- Bound by Essence — supports skeletons with additional healing coming from skeleton-priests. Max it out.
- Death Protection — skeletons cannot receive fatal damage; even after a very strong attack, they retain health. Invest three points.
- Dark Plague — the main passive of the build. The necromancer applies the eponymous negative effect on nearby enemies, which significantly increases the damage of both the hero and the army of the dead.
What Tactics to Use with the Summoner Build
Since you rely on your minions, they should start the fight. First, create your own army and equip it to the maximum. Keep track of and constantly update the negative statuses applied to enemies. Use Decay and Decompose in time so that your character and skeletons deal increased damage.
You can slow down hordes of enemies with Weakness. Try to stay in the safest position to support your army with various enhancements. If an elite enemy manages to reach you, Blood Mist will help. With proper leveling, the build seems especially interesting in PvP, as you are always at a distance from the enemy, and the opponent has to fight not only you but also a dozen enhanced soldiers.
Which Aspects to Choose for the Necromancer
Aspects are gear upgrades that significantly affect your combat strategy. Let's look at a few that will be especially useful for the necromancer:
- Guardian's Aspect — skills deal more damage the more essence you have. Builds: Bone and Blood;
- Explosive Mist Aspect — the Blood Mist skill triggers an effect similar to the Corpse Explosion skill. Builds: Blood and Bone;
- Bloodletting Aspect — increases the number of skeleton warriors. Build: Summoner and Blood;
- Viscous Aspect — increases the number of skeleton mages. Build: Summoner and Blood;
- Bloody Aspect — Blood Mist leaves a trail that deals damage and no longer reduces movement speed. Builds: Blood and Bone;
- Defender's Aspect — after dealing damage to elite enemies, a shield is applied to you once every 30 seconds. Suitable for any build;
- Arrogance Aspect — the necromancer deals increased damage while any shield is active. Suitable for any build;
- Exploitation Aspect — increases the duration of control effects. The necromancer deals increased damage to unstoppable enemies. Builds: Any;
- Cleaving Aspect — Bone Spear applies a vulnerability effect to enemies. Shards from the skill deal additional damage, piercing enemies through. Build: Bone;
- Waiting Aspect — the basic skill increases the damage of the main skill. Build: Bone;
- Speed Aspect — critical hits with the main skill increase attack speed. Build: Bone and Blood;
- Decay Aspect — Decompose affects up to 2 additional targets. When Decompose creates a corpse, there is a chance to create a corpse under all affected targets. Build: Summoner;
- Protective Aspect — after taking a certain amount of damage, a bubble shield forms around the character. The hero and allies within the magic shield area are immune to damage. The effect triggers only once every 90 seconds. Build: Summoner;
- Frenzied Dead Aspect — each time a skeleton deals damage to an enemy, its attack speed increases. Build: Summoner.
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