Diablo 4: Necromancer Guide | Basic Class Overview & Best Levelling Build

So you want to summon the undead and use blood magic? Understandable. Necromancers are very fun in Diablo 4, here is a guide for anyone who is considering the class.

Diablo 4 Necromancer
Diablo 4 Necromancer guide: everything you need to know. | © Blizzard

We're thoroughly enjoying Diablo 4 (which is why we gave it a 26/10 in our review). One of the classes we instantly fell in love with was the Necromancer. This is a self-sustaining class that is both easy to use and very strong, which is why we rate it so highly for solo-play in particular.

Now, it does fall off a bit compared to other classes in the endgame, but we can still 100% recommend giving the Necromancer a go.

In this Diablo 4 Necromancer guide you can find all the key details you need to start using the class effectively. We hope you find it helpful.

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Diablo 4 Necromancer: Class Overview

We'll start with a very brief intro to the Necromancer.

Necromancer Tips

Necromancers have loads of awesome things going for them, but you should also be aware of their shortcomings:

  • Necromancers have decent survivability but they aren't Barbarians and they don't have any evasion skills. So when you come up against harder content as a Necromancer, don't be fooled by the false sense of security your skeleboys provide. These summons will die, rarely at first but far more easily as you get deeper into the game.
  • In group-play you can be most useful to your party if you focus on the mobs. You can let beefy characters aggro the boss, and the Rogue can dish out single-target damage.
  • Skills that require corpses, like Corpse Explosion, are great in the earlygame, but you want to move away from them as you get deeper into the game. Even by the midgame you will require a lot of corpses for resummoning undead minions, so don't waste them!

We're hoping they buff the undead minions in an upcoming patch.

The Best Gear For Necromancers

You can use the following gear as a Necromancer: One-Handed Swords, Daggers, Wands, Focuses, Shields, and Scythes. The type of weapon doesn't really matter, what matters is that you use weapons with these affixes (and in this order of priority):

  1. + Damage
  2. + Rank to Willpower / Intelligence
  3. + Minion Attack Speed
  4. + Essence Cost Reduction
  5. + Maximum Essence
  6. + Crit Strike Damage

Psst, don't be embarrassed if you haven't worked out how to switch weapons yet:

The Best Aspects For Necromancers

If you haven't really worked out what Aspects are yet, maybe start by reading this guide to Aspects in Diablo 4. But assuming you do already how to unlock and use Artifacts, here are the best ones for a Necromancer:

AspectDungeonDescription
Aspect of TormentBlack AsylumCritical Strikes with Bone Skills increased your Essence Regeneration by 20% for 4 seconds.
Blood-bathed AspectHoarfrost DemiseBlood Surge's nova echoes again after a short delay, dealing 70% less damage.
Aspect of Plunging DarknessRimescar CavernBone Prison spawns a pool of Blight that deals 50% bonus damage over 6 seconds.
Blood Seeker's AspectMercy's ReachBlood Lance deals x15% increased damage to its primary target per lanced enemy.
Flesh-Rending AspectNostrava DeepwoodAfter Decompose spawns a Corpse, gain 10 Essence.

These are the best we've found so far, but we will update this guide as soon as we discover even better Aspects for the Diablo 4 Necromancer.

Diablo 4 Necromancer: Best Levelling Build

Okay, so you now know the basics of the class, here is a great build to use while you're levelling up the Necromancer:

Level / SlotSkill / Talent Upgrades
Basic Skills / TalentsHemorrhage (5/5)

Enhanced Hemorrhage + Initiate's Hemorrhage

Core Skills / TalentsHewed Flesh (3/3), Unliving Energy (3/3)None
Cropse & Macabre Skills / TalentsBlood Mist (5/5), Corpse Explosion (5/5), Skeletal Warrior Mastery (3/3)Enhanced Blood Mist + Ghastly Blood Mist, Enhanced Corpse Explosion + Plagued Corpse Explosion + Blighted Corpse Explosion
Curse Skills / TalentsSkeletal Mage Mastery (3/3)None
Cropse & Macabre (2) Skills / Talents

Bone Spirit (5/5), Gruesome Mending (3/3)

Enhanced Blood Spirit + Ghastly Blood Spirit + Dreadful Blood Spirit, Transfusion (3/3)
Ultimate Skills / TalentsGolem Mastery (3/3)None
Key PassivesRathma's VigorNone

No Core Skills? Don't worry it's not a mistake, it just allows us to double up on Corpse & Macabre skills.

Right, now you know how to start playing Necromancer, the next step is to get yourself an awesome mount.

And if you're curious about the other classes:

Jon Ramuz

Jon has a BA and an MA in English Literature, and as Content Lead for EarlyGame has written over 1,500 articles. He focuses on shooters, but also writes about entertainment and gaming in general....