Check out this Diablo IV Necromancer build that raises an army of the dead with all of the skeletons you can imagine.

In Diablo IV, respec-ing your skills is cheap and easy, making builds incredibly flexible. You can change your builds at any point in the game. If you get tired of seeing a dozen units on your screen at a time, check out our No Summons Necromancer Diablo IV Build Guide.

Diablo IV Army of the Dead Necromancer Build Guide

This guide is meant for getting through the first portion of the game when your character is level 1-50. The Army of the Dead Necromancer Build for Diablo IV focuses on a lot of Bone skills, while sacrificing all of your warriors. A lot of your damage will also be coming from Corpse Explosion, despite the nerfs it received.

Book of the Dead

For the Book of the Dead, take the following upgrades:

Skeletal Warriors – Reapers (Upgrade 1)

  • Reaper attacks against enemies who are Immobilized, Slowed, Stunned, or Vulnerable reduce the cooldown of their powerful wind-up attack by 2 seconds.

Skeletal Mages – Cold (Upgrade 1)

  • Each time your Cold Mages damage enemies with their primary attack, you gain 2 Essence.

Golems – Blood (Upgrade 2)

  • While Healthy, your Blood Golem gains 25% Damage Reduction and x50% increased Damage.

Aspects

Aspect of Disobedience (Helm)

  • You gain [0.25 – 0.50%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [25.00 – 50.00%].
  • Unlocked by completing Halls of the Damned in Kehjistan

Unyielding Commander's Aspect (Gloves)

  • While Army of the Dead is active, your Minions gain [70-100%] Attack Speed and take 90% reduced damage.
  • Unlocked by completing Faceless Shrine in Hawezar

Splintering Aspect (Amulet)

  • Bone Spears primary attack makes enemies hit beyond the first Vulnerable for [1.5 – 2.5] seconds. Bone Shards from Bone Spear deal
    [50 -100%] bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies and pierce them.
  • Progress Campaign in Dry Steppes to unlock.

Aspect of Torment

  • Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increase your Essence Regeneration by [20 – 30%] for 4 seconds.
  • Unlocked by completing Black Asylum.

Requiem Aspect

  • You gain [3.0 – 5.0] Maximum Essence per active Minion.
  • Unlocked by completing Vault of the Forsaken in Scosglen.

Gems

Weapon: Emerald Gem

Armor: Ruby Gem

Jewelry: Skull Gem

Skills

Basic Skills

  • Bone Splinters (1/5) – Fire 3 bone splinters, dealing [8%] damage each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence.
    • Enhanced Bone Splinters – Bone Splinters has a 25% chance to fire 2 additional projectiles if cast while you have 50 or more Essence.
      • Acolyte's Bone Splinters – Hitting the same enemy at least 3 times with the same cast of Bone Splinters grants 8% Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.

Core Skills

  • Bone Spear (5/5) – Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing [119%] damage and piercing through enemies.
    • Enhanced Bone Spear – Bone Spear breaks into 3 shards when it is destroyed, dealing 25% damage each.
      • Paranormal Bone Spear – Bone Spear has a 5% increased Critical Strike Chance. If Bone Spear's primary projectile Critically Strikes, it fires 2 additional bone shards upon being destroyed.
  • Unliving Energy (1/3) – Your maximum Essence is increased by [3]
    • Imperfectly Balanced (3/3) – Your Core Skills cost x [9%] more Essence but deal x [1 5%] increased damage.
  • Hewed Flesh (3/3) – Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a [12%] chance to create a Corpse at the target's location. This chance is doubled against Bosses.

Corpse & Macabre Skills

  • Skeletal Warrior Mastery (3/3) – Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by x [45%].
  • Grim Harvest (3/3) – Consuming a Corpse generates [6] Essence.
    • Fueled By Death (3/3) – You deal x [9%] increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming a Corpse.

Curse Skills

  • Death's Embrace (3/3) – Close enemies take x [6%] more damage from you and deal [9%] less damage to you.
  • Skeletal Mage Mastery (3/3) – Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Mages by x [60%].

Corpse & Macabre Skills II

  • Corpse Tendrils (1/5) – Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing [20%] damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.
    • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils – Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being Pulled.
      • Plagued Corpse Tendrils – Enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils are made Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
  • Serration (3/3) – Your Bone Skills have a + [0.9%] increased Critical Strike Chance for each 10 Essence you have upon cast.
    • Compound Fracture (1/3) – After Critically Striking 10 times with Bone Skills, your Bone Skills deal x [5%] increased damage for 5 seconds.
      • Evulsion (3/3) – Your Bone Skills deal x [18%] increased Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable enemies.

Ultimate Skill

  • Army of the Dead – Call forth the deep buried dead. Volatile Skeletons emerge over the next 7 seconds that explode when around enemies, dealing 45% damage.
    • Prime Army of the Dead – When Army of the Dead's Volatile Skeletons explode, they have a 15% chance to leave behind a Corpse.
      • Supreme Army of the Dead
  • Golem Mastery (3/3) – Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by x [75%].
  • Bonded in Essence (2/3) – Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest's Healing will Heal your Skeletons for an additional [40%] of their Maximum Life.
    • Death's Defense (1/3) – Your Minions cannot lose more than [60%] of their Maximum Life from a single damage instance.
  • Inspiring Leader (3/3)  After you have been Healthy for at least 4 seconds, you and your Minions gain + [12%] Attack Speed.
    • Hellbent Commander (3/3) – Your Minions deal x [30%] increased damage while you are Close to them.

Key Passive

  • Ossified Essence – Your Bone Skills deal x1 % increased damage for each point of Essence you have above 50 upon cast.