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This is what I consider the best Diablo 4 Necromancer build, refined while writing my Diablo 4 review and based on what I learned from close to 100 hours of gameplay. The class is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining to use – a character defined by how many bones they can splinter, corpses they can cause to explode, and minions they can summon into battle.
The Necromancer in Diablo 4 is not only the most heavy metal class of them all, but one of the most effective through a range of scenarios – regardless of whether you’re rolling with friends or trying to tackle the horrors of Sanctuary solo. In a sense, this Necromancer build for Diablo 4 is a jack-of-all-trades: it goes all in on Bone magic to get the most out of the monstrously powerful Bone Spear ability, it doesn’t skimp on Corpse Explosion (because exploding corpses is super fun), and it still find the space to push the strengths of Minions. This is the best Necro build I have found so far, both in terms of effectiveness and fun to use. Lots of explosions, lots of blood, and a hell of a lot of loot and experience.
If you’re hoping to level up fast in Diablo 4, if you want to push through the Diablo 4 World Tiers with ease, and if you want to solo the game’s most difficult content on the run towards the Diablo 4 max level, then this is the Necromancer build for you.
Necromancer Bone, Corpse, and Minion power-leveling Build
This fast leveling Necro build for Diablo 4 is designed to be high-damage output through Bone and Corpse abilities, all while using Minions to help soak up any attention or damage you may receive from larger enemies. Thanks to the horrendous damage this build is able to deal out – working to make foes vulnerable, something which can be taken advantage of by all core abilities I’m going to advise you to grab – this is a great way to level 1-50, beat the campaign, and get you set for the endgame Paragon Board and Nightmare Dungeons.
Remember, Diablo 4 will deal out 48 skill points as you level up. Once you hit 50, you’ll begin exchanging earned experience for Paragon Points. However there are an additional 10 skill points which can be earned by meeting the Renown requirements for all five of the regions in Sanctuary. Below you’ll find the order you should invest your skill points to get the best Necromancer build for Diablo 4, and then I’ll break down how to play it, how to enhance it, and everything else you need to know to dominate the Prime Evils.
| Skill Order | Skill | Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bone Splinters | Basic Skill |
| 2 | Enhanced Bone Splinters | Basic Skill |
| 3 | Initiate’s Bone Splinters | Basic Skill |
| 4 | Bone Spear | Core Skill |
| 5 | Enhanced Bone Spear | Core Skill |
| 6 | Supernatural Bone Spear | Core Skill |
| 7 | Bone Spear Level 2 | Core Skill |
| 8 | Corpse Explosion | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 9 | Enhanced Corpse Explosion | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 10 | Plagued Corpse Explosion | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 11 | Corpse Explosion Level 2 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 12 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 13 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery Level 2 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 14 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery Level 3 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 15 | Corpse Explosion Level 3 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 16 | Corpse Explosion Level 4 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 17 | Corpse Explosion Level 5 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 18 | Bone Spear Level 3 | Core Skill |
| 19 | Bone Spear Level 4 | Core Skill |
| 20 | Bone Spear Level 5 | Core Skill |
| 21 | Bone Spirit | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 22 | Grim Harvest | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 23 | Grim Harvest Level 2 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 24 | Enhanced Bone Spirit | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 25 | Dreadful Bone Spirit | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 26 | Grim Harvest Level 3 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 27 | Skeletal Mage Mastery | Curse Skill |
| 28 | Skeletal Mage Mastery Level 2 | Curse Skill |
| 29 | Skeletal Mage Mastery Level 3 | Curse Skill |
| 30 | Bone Spirit Level 2 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 31 | Bone Spirit Level 3 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 32 | Bone Spirit Level 4 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 33 | Bone Spirit Level 5 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 34 | Kalan’s Edict | Key Passives |
| 35 | Death’s Embrace | Curse Skill |
| 36 | Death’s Reach | Curse Skill |
| 37 | Hewed Flesh | Core Skill |
| 38 | Hewed Flesh Level 2 | Curse Skill |
| 39 | Hewed Flesh Level 3 | Curse Skill |
| 40 | Golem Mastery | Ultimate Skill |
| 41 | Golem Mastery Level 2 | Ultimate Skill |
| 42 | Golem Mastery Level 3 | Ultimate Skill |
| 43 | Unliving Energy | Core Skill |
| 44 | Inspiring Leader | Ultimate Skill |
| 45 | Inspiring Leader Level 2 | Ultimate Skill |
| 46 | Inspiring Leader Level 3 | Ultimate Skill |
| 47 | Hellbent Commander | Ultimate Skill |
| 48 | Hellbent Commander Level 2 | Ultimate Skill |
| 49 | Hellbent Commander Level 3 | Ultimate Skill |
| 50 | Death’s Embrace Level 2 | Curse Skill |
| 51 | Death’s Embrace Level 3 | Curse Skill |
| 52 | Serration | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 53 | Serration Level 2 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 54 | Serration Level 3 | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 55 | Rapid Ossification | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 56 | Evulsion | Corpse & Macabre Skill |
| 57 | Death’s Reach Level 2 | Curse Skill |
| 58 | Death’s Reach Level 3 | Curse Skill |
The above build will take you through to level 50 (48 skill points). Depending on how much exploring of the open world you’ve done at this point, you should have extra skill points thanks to the regional Renown rewards. Additionally, if you’re finding that you’re able to survive without your Golem soaking up agro, you could always use the easy Diablo 4 respec tools and exchange Golem Mastery for Army of the Dead, or additional ranks of Evulsion and Rapid Ossification.
How to use the best Necromancer build in Diablo 4
The secret to this Necromancer build is in the unholy trinity which is formed between Bone Spear, Corpse Explosions, and making your Minions as viable as possible. The gameplay loop will see you using Bone Splinters (basic skill) to tick away at enemies while you replenish Essence and your Minions get to work on enemies. The priorities with this build are for you to generate enough corpses that Corpse Explosion and Bone Spear can effectively decimate entire screens full of enemies, all while regaining enough Essence to unleash Bone Spirit at regular intervals – this ability is high-damage, and makes quick work of everything from Elite enemies, to bosses, to the damned Butcher himself.
The reason you’ll want to invest in skills like Hewed Flesh, for example, or use the Bone Golem from the Book of the Dead, is that regenerating corpses as quickly as possible is integral to running this build as a solo player. This Necromancer helped me level through the game quickly, but the toughest moments were running boss battles on my own, until I figured out how to get my minions and core skills to generate more corpses – allowing me to generate more AOE damage and summon new skeletons to my aid.
Necromancer’s Book of the Dead options
The Book of the Dead in Diablo 4 is the Necromancer’s class-specific ability and it allows you to either summon three different types of minions onto the battlefield or sacrifice them entirely for other passive benefits. While this does largely come down to personal preference (and whether you’re bothered by a gaggle of Minions ruining every screenshot you try to take) I would say that this combination is what I used for over 50 hours of play time and never ran into any trouble:
- Skeletons Warriors: Skirmishers are the option to go for here, as it summons an additional Skirmisher Warrior onto the battlefield. I personally like having additional minions with me as it helps soak up some damage and agro particularly annoying enemies. That said, a great second option is to run Reapers with the second effect activated – ensuring a 15% chance to create a corpse on hit.
- Skeletal Mages: I quickly settled on the Cold Mages during my time with Diablo 4 and I never looked back. While Shadow and Bone mages may deal a little more damage, the benefits of Cold shouldn’t be ignored. Having enemies become frozen can be a lifesaver, while the first option (each time your cold mages damage enemies with their primary attack you gain 2 Essence) compliments my investment in Corpse & Macabre Skills.
- Golem: When you unlock the Golem at Level 25, it’s well worth seeing if you need it. I could easily have seen a time where its tanking wasn’t necessary, so perhaps the critical strike boost of sacrificing the Bone Golem would have been beneficial. However, I spent over 50 hours with the Bone Golem with the first upgrade by my side – truth be told, it’s super fun to activate the Golem and watch as it pulls an entire room of enemies into a maw of exploding corpses.
Best Necromancer build Gear in Diablo 4
With this Necromancer build you don’t need to worry all that much about Thorns or any of that. Instead, you really just want to look to push out the highest total damage output possible. So put down the two-handed weapon and try to pair a one-handed wand or sword with an off-hand or shield that will scale the damage of your main-hand weapon by over 60%.
If you want to make the most of this build, you should also look to prioritize anything which will boost your ‘Damage against Vulnerable Targets’ and ‘Critical Strike Damage’. If you can find it, gear equipped with a boost to your Lucky Hit Chance is always worth investing upgrades into, as this trait will help you to generate more corpses, which is perfect for the Bone Splinters, Bone Spear, and Corpse Explosion build you’ve got going on.
And a little stat prioritization note for you: when you begin approaching Level 50, start to consider whether you have enough Willpower and Dexterity. The bottom Glyphs of the Paragon Board (which you’ll begin investing Paragon Points into from Level 51-100) were blocked for me by Willpower and Dexterity requirements and it took me a while to overhaul my gear enough to allow for any sense of meaningful Necromancer Paragon Board progression.
Necromancer Legendary Aspects to look out for
By the time you have Legendary gear dropping, you’re going to need to start making some difficult decisions. While some gear may offer better protection or stat boosts, I valued anything with a Legendary Aspect which provided rank boosts to Bone Spear, Bone Spirit, or Corpse Explosion – this allows you to push past the five-rank limit and get some real power boosts. I also really enjoyed any gear which increased the number of Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages I could summon, because it’s always fun leading a massive army into battle. Any gear like this, I always upgraded it with the Blacksmith to ensure it stayed viable for longer – and remember, strip the Legendary of its Aspect with the Occultist so that you can insert that trait onto gear later down the line.
As for the Legendary Aspects you can obtain from dungeons, there are a few which are worth a look, but the one you should prioritize getting is ‘Splintering Aspect’. You can unlock this in your Codex of Power by completing the Guulrahn Slums dungeon in the Dry Steppes region. It’ll change that Supernatural Bone Spear modifier we took early on in our build and transform it into Paranormal Bone Spear, which not only increases the Critical Strike chance by 2% but summons additional projectiles upon a crit. This not only increases damage output, but also increases the chance of making more enemies Vulnerable faster.
Necromancer Gems to consider
Key to this Necromancer build is survivability, particularly if you’re struggling to keep your minions alive in tricky boss rooms. That’s why you’ll want to try and use Diamond gems in your Jewelry, which will up certain resistances to enemy types that your armor is otherwise lacking. Other than that, look to slot Ruby gems in your armor sockets for a maximum life boost, and Emerald gems to your weapon for a boost to critical strike damage to vulnerable enemies.
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