Reaching the endgame portion of Diablo 4 is merely half the battle, with plenty more content to explore and take down.
Part of our complete Diablo 4 class guide.
The Necromancer class is one of the two spellcasters available in Diablo 4. But unlike Sorcerers, they also have the ability to summon Skeletons and a Golem to help them out. Most of their skills are tied to the use of enemy corpses and dealing damage with their Bone abilities. Today’s build is focused around the use of Bone Spear which is currently the dominating skill in the Necromancer roster. So let’s take a look at what makes this great Necromancer build for leveling tick. And until you get to the endgame you can have a look at our Necromancer leveling build.
Main Skills
Bone Splinters
This Basic skill will spew out three bone splinters forward, with each enemy that is hit again by the same cast also generating one Essence. We only need two skill points here to generate some Essence when we’re running low, one for the Enhanced upgrade. After this build really starts working and Essence Regeneration stops being a problem we will give up the use of Bone Splinter.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear is our main damage skill so it will need a total of seven skill points, with two going to the Enhanced and Paranormal upgrades. Bone Spear is exactly what you would imagine, your character simply throws a Spear that deals a lot of damage while also piercing enemies. But the real damage output is after it encounters an obstacle since it will break into three shards that return to you. This means that good positioning will be extremely important when using this skill.
Blood Mist
This will be your main escape skill that should generally be used when you’re in real danger. It gives your character the Immune status for three seconds while reducing your Movement Speed by 20%. Keep in mind though that this spell won’t break you out of any Crowd Control effects. A single skill point is all you need here.
Corpse Explosion
A single point will be needed here since we don’t really use Corpse Explosion for its inherent ability. Instead, we are using it to activate the Grim Harvest passive which will net us six Essence whenever we consume a Corpse with any effect.
Bone Prison
This defensive skill will take up three skill points, with two going into the Enhanced and Dreadful upgrades. When you cast it, Bone Prison will create a walled area that has 30% of your HP, lasting for six seconds. Due to the Enhanced upgrade you will also get 15 enemy if an enemy is trapped within, with 5 more for each additional trapped enemy.
Corpse Tendrils
The main AoE disable that will be available to us, Corpse Tendrils will create veins out of a corpse that will pull and stun enemies for three seconds. This effect does not consume the corpse. Seven skill points will be added here to unlock the Enhanced and Blighted upgrades.
Bone Storm
This is our Ultimate skill which will allow us to deal plenty of AoE damage to all enemies surrounding us for 10 seconds. After we add two more points for the Prime and Supreme upgrades, it will also give us a 15% Damage Reduction buff while it’s active.
Passive Skills
Key Passive – Ossified Essence
Due to this passive, all of our Bone Skills will receive a 1% damage buff for each point of Essence we have above 50 when casting it. This is why we should also try to get as much extra Essence from items as possible when optimizing this build.
Unliving Energy
Three skill points added to this passive will give you a total of 9 more maximum Essence, which is very important for this build.
Imperfectly Balanced
In order to make use of all that Essence from the above passive, three points added here will give us 15% more damage. But this buff comes at a cost of 9% more Essence for all our skills.
Hewed Flesh
After adding three skill points to this passive, your Lucky Hits will have a 12% chance to create a Corpse at that location. The chance this can happen is doubled when engaging a Boss.
Grim Harvest
As already stated regarding Corpse Explosion, Grim Harvest will generate six Essence whenever we consume a Corpse with any effect. Since this is a huge source of Essence for us, three skill points will be needed.
Fueled by Death
Working together with Grim Harvest, this passive will also give us a 9% damage buff for six seconds after consuming a Corpse with any effect. Definitely add three skill points here as well.
Serration
Three skill points will go in this passive, giving us a 0.9% increase to our Crit Chance for Bone skills for each 10 Essence we have when cast.
Compound Fracture
After our Bone Skills manage to inflict Critical Strikes 10 times, we will receive a 15% damage increase buff for five seconds. A total of three skill points will be required here.
Evulsion
Vulnerable enemies will take 18% more Critical Strike Damage from our Bone Skills after we add three skill points to this passive.
Rapid Ossification
Spending a total of 100 Essence will reduce all the cooldowns of our Bone Skills by 1.5 seconds. Three skill points will go here since we need as much Cooldown Reduction as possible.
Stand Alone
Even though you will have to give up on using Minions, this passive will give you 18% Damage Reduction with three skill points. This effect will be lowered by 2% for each Minion we have up.
Memento Mori
After adding three skill points to this passive, every time you sacrifice one of your Skeletal Warriors or Skeletal Mages you will get 60% more out of their sacrifice bonuses.
Aspects
Since we will need as much Essence as possible and Essence Regeneration, some of our most important Aspects are going to be catered to these mechanics. You should definitely prioritize these first and take the damage ones later in the build.
Aspect of the Umbral can be easily obtained from the Champion’s Demise Dungeon found in the Dry Steppes. This Aspect will give us four Essence back whenever we Crowd Control an enemy. Keep in mind that the Codex of Power version won’t give you the maximum effect, forcing you to find better variants on items. Your best bet to get your hands on it from items is to use your Obols at the Purveyor of Curiosities on rings.
Another important Aspect is the Protecting Aspect that will generate a magical bubble when you get hit while not Healthy. This bubble will last for 3-5 seconds and will make you fully Immune while inside. The bubble has a 90 second cooldown. This is a great Aspect that will give you a safe zone to keep spamming your Bone Spears from. Sadly, this Aspect can only be found on items, making it rather difficult to get your hands on.
Aspect of Exposed Flesh is another great one that can sadly only be found on items. Getting your hands on it though will give you an insanely powerful buff. Hitting Vulnerable enemies will give Essence back. As long as you ensure you correctly group enemies with Corpse Tendrils, you’ll always be topped off on Essence.
Splintering Aspect can be found in the Guulrahn Slums Dungeon in the Dry Steppes. Since Bone Spear is our main damage dealing skill, you should get this as soon as possible. Splintering Aspect will inflict Vulnerable on all enemies hit by Bone Spear past the first one. And on top of all that, Vulnerable enemies will be dealt increased damage from Bone Spear as well as being pierced by it.
Playstyle
Our main rotation for this build is throwing a few Bone Spears out when the fight starts. When Corpses are available, use Corpse Tendrils to bunch up the remaining enemies and start spamming Bone Spear. If you’re running low on Essence, you can take a break and start using Corpse Explosion to restore your Essence. If your Corpse Tendrils worked well, you can also use Bone Prison to trap all those enemies together, giving you an ideal Bone Spear target.
Since we are a caster that is rather squishy, we will want to keep our distance. But sometimes that is easier said than done, which is where our Blood Mist ability comes in. If you want to reposition quickly use your Dodge Roll and save up your Blood Mist for a dire situation. Having it on cooldown when you really need it can easily spell doom for your character. And don’t forget that it can also break any Crowd Control effects as well as remove any Poison stacks you have on. The Poison removal is extremely important, especially since resistances in this game are mostly an afterthought when choosing your gear.
