Welcome to our Diablo 4 Necromancer Build Guide. In this guide, we will be discussing five different builds you can use to make a painful stinger of a Necromancer in the game. We have three recommended builds with the respective skill tree allocations that you need to allocate to achieve the optimal build. Since the Open Beta only allows players to reach a maximum of Level 25, we’re only building up 25 skill points. Make sure to check back when the game launches to see the full builds we’ll have prepared by then.
Diablo 4 Necromancer Build Guide
The Necromancer raises the dead to do their bidding – usually using the corpses that they've just killed. Using the essence of their enemies, the Necromancer uses bone, blood, flesh, and spirit to defeat their foes, adding them to their army. Unique to the Necromancer is the Book of the Dead which the Necromancer can spend skill points on top of their regular Skill Tree. Below, you'll find the Book of the Dead skills in bold.
| Curses and Poison: DOT Crowd Control | ||||
| Skill Progression: | Skeletal Warriors: | Sacrifice | Skeletal Mages: | Sacrifice |
| 1. Decompose (1/5) | 2. Enhanced Decompose (1) | 3. Blight (1/5) | 4. Enhanced Blight (1) | 5. Paranormal Blight (1) |
| 6. Initiate's Decompose (1) | 7. Corpse Explosion (1/5) | 8. Enhanced Corpse Explosion (1) | 9. Plagued Corpse Explosion (1) | 10. Bone Prison (1/5) |
| 11. Enhanced Bone Prison (1) | 12. Decrepify (1/5) | 13. Enhanced Decrepify (1) | 14. Horrid Decrepify (1) | 15. Iron Maiden (1/5) |
| 16. Enhanced Iron Maiden (1) | 17. Corpse Tendrils (1/5) | 18. Enhanced Corpse Tendrils (1) | 19. Plagued Corpse Tendrils (1) | 20. Horrid Iron Maiden (1) |
| 21. Reaper's Pursuit (1/3) | 22. Crippling Darkness (1/3) | 23. Terror (1/3) | 24. Blood Wave (1) | |
For our first Necromancer build, we focus on damage over time with skills like Blight and Decompose. Since we're not using corpses to reanimate the dead, we use Corpse Explosion to blow up enemies that have been defeated, causing enemies around them to take damage as well. Later on, we also use Corpse Tendrils for the same reason, this time to stun enemies. Bone Prison and Iron Maiden will help keep enemies far from reach, which you should save for Elites. Make sure that whatever enemy you trap with Bone Prison and Iron Maiden is applied Decrepify as well. Blood Wave is your ultimate control skill, which will not only damage enemies but also knock them back.
| Blood and Bones – DPS Sharpshooter | ||||
| Skill Progression: | Skeletal Warriors: | Sacrifice | Skeletal Mages: | Sacrifice |
| 1. Bone Splinters (1/5) | 2. Enhanced Bone Splinters (1) | 3. Bone Spear (1/5) | 4. Enhanced Bone Spear (1) | 5. Paranormal Bone Spear (1) |
| 6. Acolyte's Bone Splinters (1) | 7. Corpse Explosion (1/5) | 8. Enhanced Corpse Explosion (1) | 9. Bone Prison (1/5) | 10. Enhanced Bone Prison (1) |
| 11. Ghastly Bone Prison (1) | 12. Death's Reach (1/3) | 13. Death's Reach (2/3) | 14. Death's Reach (3/3) | 15. Grim Harvest (1/3) |
| 16. Grim Harvest (2/3) | 17. Bone Spirit (1/5) | 18. Enhanced Bone Spirit (1) | 19. Ghastly Bone Spirit (1) | 20. Serration (1/3) |
| 21. Rapid Ossificaton (1/3) | 22. Compound Fracture (1/3) | 23. Evulsion (1/3) | 24. Bone Storm (1) | |
Blood and Bones focus on dealing as much damage as possible, setting up your enemies with the Vulnerability brought by Bone Splinters. Keep enemies at bay with Bone Prison, and then use Grim Harvest to keep your Essence up. You also use Grim Harvest to replenish your Essence when it gets drained out by the Bone Spirit – your primary burst damage, but be sure to keep it around as a finisher or just against Elites or Bosses, as it completely drains out your entire essence gauge. Finally, Bone Storm will deal a lot of damage to enemies around you, and in later levels, even increase your Critical Attack Chance while it is active.
| The Skeleton Army | ||||
| Skill Progression: | Skeletal Warriors: | Upgrade 1 | Skeletal Mages: | Upgrade 2 |
| 1. Decompose (1/5) | 2. Enhanced Decompose (1) | 3. Sever (1/5) | 4. Enhanced Sever (1) | 5. Supernatural Sever (1) |
| 6. Acolyte's Decompose (1) | 7. Skeletal Warrior Mastery (1/3) | 8. Skeletal Warrior Mastery (2/3) | 9. Skeletal Warrior Mastery (3/3) | 10. Blight (1/5) |
| 11. Enhanced Blight (1) | 12. Supernatural Blight (1) | 13. Skeletal Mage Mastery (1/3) | 14. Skeletal Mage Mastery (2/3) | 15. Skeletal Mage Mastery (3/3) |
| 16. Decrepify (1/5) | 17. Enhanced Decrepify (1) | 18. Horrid Decrepify (1) | 19. Reaper's Pursuit (1/3) | 20. Gloom (1/3) |
| 21. Terror (1/3) | 22. Necrotic Carapace (1/3) | 23. Necrotic Carapace (2/3) | 24. Army of the Dead (1) | |
Finally, the most fun build for the Necromancer: the Army of the Dead version. While not entirely the strongest build, this allows you to just sit back and watch your entire army of skeletons do all the fighting for you. All you have to do is keep a steady supply of Essence, use Decompose and Sever to neutralize foes and make your minions' damage much more devastating. You also have some crowd control skills just to make sure that the enemies won't get to you. You also don't have a lot of active abilities here, and most of your skill points are just to bolster your Minions and to make your enemies much more vulnerable to their attacks. Then, once you have your Skeleton Army of the Dead going, you just sit back and relax and watch the massacre happen before your eyes.
Not yet set with the Necromancer? Check out the other classes available in Diablo 4.
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