Best Necromancer Builds in Diablo 4

From summoning a horde of undead, and cursing enemies to flinging projectiles made of bone, a Necromancer is a peculiar Class in Diablo 4. This guide will go through the best builds for the Necromancer in Diablo 4.

The Necromancer has always had a special place in the Diablo universe. Fighting fire with fire, you command your own horde of undead to battle against Hell’s forces. Leaning more on the squishier side, Necromancer has its minions do the dirty work while casting spells from relative safety. They can range from spears of bone to pools of blood, with some poison and curses thrown in the mix. Now let’s take a look at the best Necromancer builds in Diablo 4.

Top 5 Necromancer Builds in Diablo 4

Necromancers need Essence to use some of their Skills, and Corpses, which they can use with explosive efficiency. They have their own class-specific weapons – Sickles and Scythes. Usually, they are accompanied by a group of skeletons and golems, but you can choose not to have them, and gain some bonuses for that decision.

Blight Corpse Explosion Necromancer

Out first build and it’s already one without minions. As the name suggests, this build focuses on Corpse Explosion and Blight Skills. Though short-ranged it is able to dish out an incredible amount of damage, both AoE and single-target. This build keeps their enemies grouped, to make sure no one gets out alive (or whatever happens to undead when they die, again).

• Active skills:
  • Corpse Explosion – the main damage skill
  • Blight – damage and crowd control
  • Reap – damage reduction and Corpse spawning
  • Corpse Tendrils – groups enemies and applies Vulnerable
  • Bone Storm – AoE damage and damage reduction
  • Blood Mist – escape tool
• Passive skills:
  • Hewed Flesh
  • Grim harvest
  • Fueled by Death
  • Death’s Embrace
  • Reaper’s Pursuit
  • Crippling Darkness
  • Terror
  • Gloom
  • Stand Alone
  • Memento Mori
  • Shadowblight
• Book of the Dead:
  • Skeletal Warriors – Reapers: Sacrificed
  • Skeletal Mages – Cold: Sacrificed
  • Golem – Iron: Sacrificed

This build does not rely on specific items or Aspects, though ‍the Aspect of the Void is more than useful, as it pulls enemies together when casting Blight. The Aspect of Shielding Storm greatly improves your survivability. Other useful Aspects are:

• Aspect of Decay
• Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
• Aspect of the Umbral

Shadow Summoner Necromancer

This build also relies on Corpse Explosion but this time in combination with your undead minions. It focuses mainly on Shadow damage to chip at enemies over time, using minions and Corpse Explosion to rack up even more Shadow Damage. The possible downside is that it needs a Unique Ring for its full potential.

• Active skills:
  • Corpse Explosion (Blighted) – the main damage skill
  • Golem – summons the Golem, taunts
  • Raise Skeleton – summons Skeletons
  • Corpse Tendrils – groups enemies and applies Vulnerable
  • Bone Storm – AoE damage and damage reduction
  • Decripify – slow, reduces enemy damage, stuns
• Passive skills:
  • Hewed Flesh
  • Skeletal Warrior Mastery
  • Grim harvest
  • Fueled by Death
  • Amplify Damage
  • Skeletal Mage Mastery
  • Reaper’s Pursuit
  • Crippling Darkness
  • Terror
  • Gloom
  • Necrotic Carapace
  • Golem Mastery
  • Inspiring Leader
  • Hellbent Commander
  • Shadowblight
• Book of the Dead:
  • Skeletal Warriors – Reapers: Perk 2
  • Skeletal Mages – Shadow: Perk 2
  • Golem – Bone: Perk 2

While not essential, the Unique item Ring of Mendeln empowers this build, as it grants your minions a chance to do a ton of burst damage. Some good Aspects for this build are:

• Aspect of Decay
• Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
• Coldbringer’s Aspect

Bone Spear Necromancer

One of the most popular builds, Bone Spear Necromancer is great for leveling and endgame. It relies on, surprise surprise, Bone Spear to do all the heavy lifting. With ways of grouping enemies, making them Vulnerable, and then shooting them with splintering bone projectiles, one can see why this build is popular.

• Active skills:
  • Bone Spear – the main damage skill
  • Bone Splinters – Essence generation
  • Corpse Explosion – damage amplification
  • Corpse Tendrils – groups enemies and applies Vulnerable
  • Bone Storm – Critical chance, damage reduction, and Barrier
  • Blood Mist – escape tool
• Passive skills:
  • Unliving Energy
  • Imperfectly Balanced
  • Hewed Flesh
  • Grim harvest
  • Fueled by Death
  • Death’s Embrace
  • Death’s Reach
  • Serration
  • Compound Fracture
  • Evulsion
  • Stand Alone
  • Memento Mori
  • Inspiring Leader
  • Ossified Essence
• Book of the Dead:
  • Skeletal Warriors – Skirmishers: Sacrificed
  • Skeletal Mages – Cold: Sacrificed
  • Golem – Iron: Sacrificed

Movement speed is the weakness of this build, so the Wind Striker Aspect is quite useful. The Aspect of Exposed Flesh and Aspect of Serration are almost mandatory for this build to work at full capacity. Some other useful Aspects are:

• Aspect of Grasping Veins
• ‍Aspect of Shielding Storm
• Aspect of the Umbral

Blood Lance Necromancer

This is a Blood Necromancer build, making the most of Overpower, and is also the tankiest one. Shoot Blood Lances, which remain “hooked” on enemies hit, and each new hit damages all hooked targets. This build also revolves around Critical Chance, and as we can Crit and Overpower at the same time, this can lead to some high damage numbers.

• Active skills:
  • Blood Lance – the main damage skill
  • Haemorrhage – Essence generation, attack speed, spawns Blood Orbs
  • Decrepify – slows, stuns, reduces enemy damage
  • Corpse Tendrils – groups enemies and spawns Blood Orbs
  • Bone Storm – damage reduction and Barrier
  • Blood Mist – escape tool
• Passive skills:
  • Unliving Energy
  • Imperfectly Balanced
  • Hewed Flesh
  • Amplify Damage
  • Death’s Reach
  • Grusome Mending
  • Coalesced Blood
  • Drain Vitality
  • Tides of Blood
  • Transfusion
  • Stand Alone
  • Memento Mori
  • Inspiring Leader
  • Rathma’s Vigor
• Book of the Dead:
  • Skeletal Warriors – Skirmishers: Sacrificed
  • Skeletal Mages – Bone: Sacrificed
  • Golem – Blood: Sacrificed

While not mandatory, Aspect of Rathma’s Chosen and Aspect of Hungry Blood are invaluable here. Some other very useful Aspects here are:

• Aspect of Gore Quills
• ‍Aspect of Shielding Storm
• Aspect of Potent Blood

Infinimist Necromancer

Our last build on the list, this is a fun one. Utilizing various ways to reduce your cooldowns, your Blood Mist can be almost infinite. This build is quite good in clearing Dungeons and farming Bosses. Now let’s see how to do it.

• Active skills:
  • Blood Mist – the star of the show
  • Reap – damage reduction and spawns Corpses
  • Decrepify – slows, stuns, reduces cooldown, and enemy damage
  • Corpse Tendrils – groups enemies and applies Vulnerable
  • Bone Storm – deals and reduces damage
  • Corpse Explosion – alternative way to explode Corpses
• Passive skills:
  • Grim harvest
  • Fueled by Death
  • Death’s Embrace
  • Amplify Damage
  • Reaper’s Pursuit
  • Crippling Darkness
  • Terror
  • Gloom
  • Stand Alone
  • Memento Mori
  • Shadowblight
• Book of the Dead:
  • Skeletal Warriors – Reapers: Sacrificed
  • Skeletal Mages – Cold: Sacrificed
  • Golem – Iron: Sacrificed

These Aspects are almost mandatory for this build to work – the Blood-soaked Aspect and the Aspect of Explosive Mist. Howl from Below is one of the best Gloves for this build. Some other cool Aspects for this are:

• ‍Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
• ‍Aspect of Shielding Storm
• Ghostwalker Aspect

While waiting for your undead minions to rise, take a look at our other top 5 guides, like Best Druid Builds, Best Barbarian Builds, and Best Sorcerer Builds.