The Necromancer has always been known as a class that brings undead friends to the battlefield to fight against evil. In many games in the Diablo franchise, the minions start off strong but tail off. Corpse Explosion and Bone Spear have become better options in the last few games. Thankfully, Diablo 4 does offer a path for the summoned units to shine even in the endgame.
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Or, perhaps more accurately, especially in the endgame. Diablo 4 gives Necromancers the tools they need to beef up their units and have the players support these summoned units as they take on tank, healing, and damage roles with lethal results.
Updated on May 18, 2024 by Marc Santos: The Necromancer class has seen a number of significant changes since the release of Diablo 4, particularly towards how minions work. Some important passives were either changed or added, and many new Legendary Aspects and Uniques that have good synergy with minions were introduced. The gist of playing as a summoner Necromancer remains the same, but these additions and adjustments means the previous iteration of this build has become obsolete. This guide has been updated to properly reflect all the balance changes this class has received over the seasons.
Skill Tree
|
Active Skills |
Points |
|
Acolyte's Decompose |
7 |
|
Supernatural Blight |
7 |
|
Blighted Corpse Explosion |
7 |
|
Abhorrent Decrepify |
3 |
|
Summon Skeleton |
- |
|
Summon Golem |
- |
|
Passive Skills |
Points |
|
Hewed Flesh |
3 |
|
Grim Harvest |
1 |
|
Fueled By Death |
3 |
|
Amplify Damage |
3 |
|
Skeletal Mage Mastery |
3 |
|
Reaper's Pursuit |
1 |
|
Gloom |
3 |
|
Terror |
3 |
|
Crippling Darkness |
1 |
|
Golem Mastery |
3 |
|
Inspiring Leader |
3 |
|
Hellbent Commander |
3 |
|
Death's Defense |
3 |
|
Kalan's Edict |
1 |
|
Book of the Dead |
Upgrade |
|
Skeletal Defenders |
2 |
|
Shadow Mages |
2 |
|
Blood Golem |
2 |
At the maximum level and with all the Renown gathered, players will have 58 skill points to invest. Shadowblight and Kalan's Edict both make a strong case for the key passive but as this build focuses on minions, we will be using the latter so all minions can attack faster.
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Originally, the biggest downfall with the late-game Summoner Necromancer build is that the minions can and will be killed by opponents more quickly. However, this is no longer the case as of Season 4. By default, the previous effect of the Death's Defense passive (which allowed skeletons to never take damage beyond 30% of their health) is now a baseline trait among all skeleton minions. Combine this with new Aspects and passives that further increase skeleton survivability, and you'll rarely ever have to deal with your minions dying all the time.
Offense-wise, the brunt of your damage will mostly come from your Shadow Mages. Their projectiles pierce now, and with all the ways to make them attack faster, they'll be able to take advantage of their Book of the Dead upgrade more frequently. Think of them as a machine gun crew that's constantly pelting enemies with shadow bolts. Your Skeletal Defenders will handle the frontline, while the Blood Golem (and its active skill) will handle AOE damage. If you'd rather have a hands-off approach to dealing with groups, swap Blood Golem with Iron Golem.
As for yourself, you'll be constantly improving the DPS output of your minions via Blight, Decompose, Decrepify, and Corpse Explosion. Your personal damage won't compare to the output of something like a Bone Spear build, but it's just as good overall when combined with your minions. Make sure that while your skeletons are fighting, you are constantly dealing Shadow damage to everything. Decompose is deceptively strong once you have the right Legendary Aspects for it, so use it when you aren't moving around.
Paragon Boards
|
Board |
Paragon/Legendary Nodes |
Glyph |
|
Start |
Prime, Knowledge |
Deadraiser |
|
Cult Leader |
Infused Warrior, Cult Leader, Puppeteer, Unfused Caster, Overlord |
Control |
|
Hulking Monstrosity |
Hulking Monstrosity, Infused Golem, Mutation, Frenzied Golem |
Amplify |
|
Wither |
Wither, Lingering Shadows, Gnawing Darkness, Malediction |
Abyssal |
|
Scent of Death |
Scent of Death |
Scourge |
The paragon boards and glyphs can be a bit tough to figure out. It's a matter of adjusting the boards so that they snake properly. Few players will get to the maximum 200 paragon points but those that do will find that their powers are enhanced by enormous magnitudes.
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Listing all nodes would be tedious and impossible to read, but if gamers move between the major nodes listed, it shouldn't be an issue. Make sure to purchase all relevant stat bonus nodes inside the designated glyph areas.
It's important to keep in mind that the node or glyph must state that the bonus applies to the minions, otherwise, it will not.
The Shadow skills can apply Slow debuffs for the minions to capitalize on. For this reason, take many nodes in the two boards that apply to minions (Cult Leader and Hulking Monstrosity) and mostly use the other boards for the extra glyphs.
Gear
|
Slot |
Aspect/Piece |
Preferred Stats |
|
Helm |
Disobedience |
|
|
Chest |
Hardened Bones |
|
|
Gloves |
Moonrise |
|
|
Pants |
Occult Dominion |
|
|
Boots |
Metamorphosis |
|
|
Amulet |
Reanimation |
|
|
Rings |
|
|
|
Main Hand (Sword) |
Damned |
|
|
Off-Hand |
Rotting |
|
Always cap your Elemental Resistances.
Minions inherit 30% of most of your stats, that includes Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance/Damage, hence the focus on such stats despite relying on Skeletal Mages for damage. The rest of the stats are there for more damage, lower cooldowns, better survivability, and better quality-of-life.
Moonrise and Adaptability from Diablo 4's Season of Blood are here to boost Decompose's damage, which is your main damage source outside of Skeletal Mages. Throw a couple of Blight blobs at your target and start Decomposing. These two Legendary Aspects will cause your Basic Skill's damage to skyrocket, especially if you have Topazes on your weapons.
The most important Aspects for this build are Reanimation, Frenzied Dead, Occult Dominion, and Hardened Bones. These directly improve your minions by giving them more DPS and damage resistance while increasing your max skeleton cap by 2. The rest are for personal DPS and survivability, and they can be changed based on your liking. However, do keep Metamorphosis on your boots — it's your only panic button and sole means of breaking out of a stun.
Diablo 4
- Released
- June 5, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Metascore
- 88
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash
