As an experienced Diablo 4 player with over 100 hours invested into the Necromancer class, I‘ve experimented with various builds to find the most effective combinations of skills, upgrades, legendary aspects, and strategies.
In this comprehensive guide, I will share the top 4 Necromancer builds that I‘ve found deliver high damage output and survival in the late game.
Overview of the Top 4 Necromancer Builds
Here‘s a quick summary of the builds that I will cover in-depth:
- Blight Summoner Build: Focuses on Blight damage over time and minion summons for horde clearing and single target DPS.
- Corpse Explosion Build: Detonates corpses to deal massive AOE damage to hordes of enemies.
- Shadowmancer Build: Maximizes shadow damage by utilizing skills like Sever and Shadowblight.
- Blood Mage Build: Restores health and essence for sustainability through blood skill synergies.
Now let‘s explore each of these builds in more detail.
Essential Passives for Any Necromancer Build
Before getting into the specialized builds, here are 5 passive skills that synergize well with any Necromancer setup:
- Unliving Energy (Tier 1): Increases maximum essence by 3 per rank. This allows you to cast more skills.
- Fueled by Death (Tier 2): Gain a 12% damage bonus for 4 seconds after consuming a corpse. Excellent for corpse explosion builds.
- Grim Harvest (Tier 2): Gain 1 essence anytime you consume a corpse. Great for sustenance.
- Evulsion (Tier 3): Bone skills deal 20% more critical strike damage to vulnerable enemies. Pairs nicely with Bone Spear.
- Necrotic Carapace (Tier 3): Gain a shield equal to 2% of your maximum health when a new corpse is created. Enhances survivability.
Now let‘s check out some optimal build combinations.
Blight Summoner Necromancer Build
The Blight Summoner build focuses on dealing damage over time to groups of enemies through the Blight skill and minion summons. This excels at clearing large packs of monsters.
Active Skills
- Blight: Creates a Blight zone that damages enemies over 6 seconds. Late game upgrades like Supernatural Blight are recommended.
- Corpse Explosion: Detonates a corpse to deal AOE damage. Blighted Corpse Explosion applies a damage over time effect.
- Decompose: Damages enemies and generates corpses periodically to fuel other skills. Upgrades like Acolyte‘s Decompose are great.
- Raise Skeleton / Army of the Dead: Summons minions to fight alongside you. Especially effective with Legendary Aspects like Demonblade of Reanimation.
Legendary Aspects
- Aspect of the Void: Blight pulls in enemies toward its center for increased damage.
- Demonblade of Reanimation: Boosts minion damage. Also increases intelligence and vulnerable enemy damage.
- Flesh-Rending Loop: Restores health when Decompose makes a corpse. Increases max essence too.
Book of the Dead
I put points into the bonuses that generate more corpses and minions:
- Reaper Warriors: Chance to spawn a corpse when killing enemies.
- Bone Mages: Leave a corpse when they die and regenerate essence with attacks.
- Bone Golems: Creates a corpse when taking large damage hits.
This setup sustains a large minion army while feeding corpses for skills like Blight and Corpse Explosion.
General Strategy
The main combo is to cast Blight on a pack of enemies then detonate the corpses left by Decompose and your minions using Corpse Explosion.
Against bosses, kite while your minions attack and detonate any corpses they spawn. Maintain Blight and Decompose for steady damage over time.
Prioritize cooldown reduction and minion bonuses on gear. Also vitality for additional health pools.
Corpse Explosion Necromancer Build
As the name suggests, this build unleashes devastating AOE damage by detonating corpses left and right. Excellent for demolishing big groups of monsters.
Active Skills
- Decompose: Generates recurring corpses to fuel your explosions. Acolyte‘s Decompose helps with essence regeneration.
- Corpse Explosion: Obliterates corpses to damage nearby enemies. Upgrades like Plagued Corpse Explosion add crowd control effects.
- Bone Spear: High damage piercing skill that‘s great for single target and triggering Evulsion. Add Supernatural Bone Spear.
- Army of the Dead: Summons suicidal skeletons that explode on death with the Supreme rune.
Legendary Aspects
- Splintering Aspect: Bone Shards created by Bone Spear deal 200% more damage to vulnerable enemies. Also boosts two-handed weapon damage.
- Aspect of Torment: Critical strikes with bone skills grant increased essence regeneration for a short duration.
- Flesh-Rending Loop: Restores health when Decompose makes a corpse. Increases max essence too.
Book of the Dead
I focus my points on corpse generation effects:
- Reaper Warriors: Chance to spawn corpses when killing enemies.
- Bone Mages: Leave a corpse when they die.
- Bone Golems: Creates a corpse when taking large damage hits.
Having more corpses means more explosions and damage!
General Strategy
The core combo is to cast Decompose on enemies and then detonate the resulting corpses using Corpse Explosion. Rinse and repeat!
Bone Spear helps take down high health targets while building up essence. Time Army of the Dead when facing huge hordes clumped together for screen-clearing mayhem.
Prioritize cooldown reduction, area damage, corpse life, and critical strike chance on equipment to boost the carnage. Bone Shields, Molten Shells, and Golems help take the heat off you during combat as well.
Shadowmancer Necromancer Build
The Shadowmancer spec enhances shadow damage to exponential degrees while debuffing enemies with an array of curses. Great for end game content.
Active Skills
- Sever: Summons a shadow entity that damages groups of enemies multiple times. Upgrades like Paranormal Sever are powerful.
- Blight: Blankets the ground with a damage over time effect. Makes pulling enemies with Aspect of the Void easier.
- Decrepify: Curses a large area to slow enemies and reduce their damage. Crucial for controlling combat.
- Reap: Strikes a single target for moderate damage while generating essence. Also reduces incoming damage briefly.
Legendary Aspects
- Blighted Aspect: After 10 consecutive shadow hits, gain up to 150% increased damage for 10 seconds.
- Aspect of Empowering Reaper: Severs critical strikes have a chance to spawn Blight zones.
- Aspect of Disobedience: Reduce damage taken from primary skills like Reap and Sever by 30%.
Book of the Dead
I sacrifice minions for even more power:
- Reaper Warriors: Sacrifice for 15% increased shadow damage.
- Frost Mages: Sacrifice for 15% increased damage against hindered enemies.
- No Golem:
General Strategy
The main objective is applying shadow damage with skills like Sever to trigger Shadowblight and the Blighted Aspect Legendary power. This ramps up your damage exponentially.
Liberally use Decrepify to slow mobs while peppering them with Sever and Reap. Support with Blight zones to deal steady damage over time. Blighted Aspect will skyrocket your DPS after some stacks.
Make sure to grab cooldown reduction and increased shadow damage gear. Prioritize defense stats as well since you‘ll be in close combat with the slowed enemies. The Aspect of Disobedience helps reduce damage taken too.
Blood Mage Necromancer Build
Unlike the previous specs, the Blood Mage build focuses more on sustainability through blood skill lifesteal rather than all out offense. If you want tanky survivability, this one‘s for you!
Active Skills
- Hemorrhage: Strikes an enemy to deal damage based on missing life. Great for single target. Use upgrades like Initiate‘s Hemorrhage for additional projectiles.
- Blood Mist: Become immune to damage at the cost of movement speed. Also heals allies and yourself. Especially nasty with the Dreadful rune.
- Blood Surge: Channel a beam that damages enemies in an area while restoring your health. Upgrades like Paranormal Blood Surge give it more range.
Legendary Aspects
- Blood-Soaked Aspect: Blood Mist leaves a damaging trail and removes the movement penalty while active.
- Blood-Bathed Sovereign Vambraces: Blood Surge‘s nova deals more damage. Also buffs your willpower and intelligence.
- Band of Torment: Improves resistance to various damage types. Also enhances your damage against distant enemies.
Book of the Dead
I select the blood-oriented bonuses:
- No Warriors
- No Mages
- Blood Golem: Sacrifice for 10% increased maximum health.
General Strategy
The main blood combo is casting Blood Mist when your health gets low to turn invincible and heal up. Then drink up essence with Hemorrhage strikes. Finally, activate Blood Surge to damage groups of enemies while restoring even more health.
Kite dangerous elites and bosses while whittling them down with Hemorrhage. Use the Invulnerability from Blood Mist whenever you need breathing room or emergency healing.
Blood skills heal more when your health is low, so don‘t be afraid to let yourself dip down a bit to output more damage. Just heal back up with Blood Surge and Blood Mist.
Prioritize increased maximum health, health regen per second, and any self heal gear bonuses you can get your hands on. The Band of Torment amulet offers resistance to common damage types too.
