Best Necromancer builds for Diablo 4 Season 5

Aakrit Sharma
Diablo 4 Necromancer

In Diablo 4 Season 5, Necromancers haven’t received as much attention as Rogues or Sorcerers, so they’ve fallen down the ranks slightly. However, with the right build, you can still dominate endgame content easily. 

When creating a build for the Necromancer, you have a few options available. You can either raise an army of the undead to do your bidding, or you can sacrifice them and fight the enemy yourself.

Either way, this class offers a fun playstyle with a slight learning curve, so here are the best Diablo 4 Necromancer builds for leveling up and the endgame.

Best Necromancer build for leveling up in Diablo 4

LevelSkill
2Reap
3Decompose
4Blood Surge
5Enhanced Blood Surge
6Paranormal Blood Surge
7Blood Surge
8Blood Mist
9Blood Surge
10Blood Surge
11Blood Surge
12Iron Maiden
13Enhanced Iron Maiden
14Grim Harvest
15Corpse Tendrils
16Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
17Amplify Damage
18Amplify Damage
19Amplify Damage
20Plagued Corpse Tendrils
21Fueled by Death
22Death’s Approach
23Death’s Approach
24Death’s Approach
25Bone Storm
26Prime Bone Storm
27Supreme Bone Storm
28Gruesome Mending
29Coalesced Blood
30Tides of Blood
31Tides of Blood
32Tides of Blood
33Inspiring Leader
34Rathma’s Vigor
35Inspiring Leader
36Inspiring Leader
37Unliving Energy
38Imperfectly Balanced
39Imperfectly Balanced
40Imperfectly Balanced
41Hewed Flesh
42Hewed Flesh
43Hewed Flesh
44Skeletal Mage Mastery
45Necrotic Carapace
46Grim Harvest
47Grim Harvest
48Fueled by Death
49Fueled by Death
50Fueled by Death
1 – RenownDeath’s Embrace
2 – RenownDeath’s Embrace
3 – RenownDeath’s Embrace
4 – RenownCoalesced Blood
5 – RenownCoalesced Blood
6 – RenownDrain Vitality
7 – RenownDrain Vitality
8 – RenownDrain Vitality
9 – RenownNecrotic Carapace
10 – RenownNecrotic Carapace

Blood of Surge is the best leveling build for Necromancers in Season of the Infernal Hordes. Not only does this build have a high AoE potential, but it’s also tanky which will help you survive during the early stages of the game, and will let you get the hang of how the class works. 

Diablo 4 class select screen
Necromancer is one of the five starter classes in Diablo 4.

Book of the Dead setup for Blood Surge Necromancer build

The Book of the Dead allows you to raise minions to help you in battle. Here are the options that you need to select: 

  • Skeleton Warriors: Skirmishers. These skeletons wield a sword and deal 30% increased damage but have 15% reduced health. 
  • Mage Skeletons: After reaching Level 18, use Skeletal Mages-Cold, and upgrade them so each time they deal damage with their primary attack, you gain Essence.
  • Golem: At Level 25, get the Bone Golem to render your enemies Vulnerable. At Level 32, switch to the Iron Golem.

How to play the Blood Surge Necromancer

While the Blood Surge Necromancer has multiple damage sources, it lacks mobility skills and has very low single-target damage. So it’s best to keep your distance from the enemy to prevent being stunned. 

You should also raise your undead army as frequently as you can so that they can tank the incoming damage for you. Here’s the best gameplay loop for this build: 

Iron Maiden – Blood Surge – Raise Skeleton – Corpse Tendrils – Blood Surge – Iron Maiden 

With Iron Maiden, you curse an area, and enemies in that area take 30% more damage and deal 10% less damage for 10 seconds. Use your Blood Surge to kill enemies and create corpses. Then use Raise Skeleton on those corpses to create your army. 

Use Corpse Tendrils on any remaining corpses to pull other enemies close to you, and then use Blood Surge again to defeat them. Then cast Iron Maiden again and repeat the loop. 

If you’re taking a lot of damage, you can immediately cast Blood Mist to go immune for three seconds and reposition yourself on the battlefield. 

Bone Storm is your ultimate here, so save it for times when you’re facing a large group of enemies or facing a boss. 

Best Legendary Aspects for Blood Surge Necromancer

AspectLocation
Aspect of the ProtectorLost Archives in Fractured Peaks
Aspect of DisobedienceHalls of the Damned in Kehjistan
Blood-bathed AspectHoarfrost Demise in Fractured Peaks
Aspect of MightDark Ravine in Dry Steppes
Aspect of ReanimationAldurwood in Scosglen

This build should easily carry you through the leveling stages through to level 60-65. Once you’re there and you’ve unlocked a fair number of Paragon Points, you’ll slowly need to start working on your new Necromancer endgame build in Diablo 4 Season 5.

Necromancers in Diablo 4
Necromancer in Diablo 4 can be played with the skeleton army or solo.

Best endgame build for Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 5

  • Bone Splinter (2/5) 
  • Unliving Energy (3/3)
  • Imperfectly Balanced (3/3)
  • Hewed Flesh (3/3)
  • Blood Mist (1/5)
    • Enhanced Blood Mist
      • Ghastly Blood Mist
  • Bone Prison (1/5)
    • Enhanced Bone Prison
      • Ghastly Bone Prison
  • Spiked Armor (1/3)
  • Grim Harvest (1/3)
  • Fueled by Death (3/3)
  • Decrepify (1/5)
    • Enhanced Decrepify
      • Abhorrent Decrepify 
  • Death’s Embrace (3/3)
  • Amplify Damage (3/3)
  • Corpse Tendrils (1/5)
    • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
      • Plagued Corpse Tendrils
  • Bone Spirit (5/5)
    • Enhanced Bone Spirit
      • Dreadful Bone Spirit
  • Necrotic Carapace (3/3) 
  • Serration (1/3)
  • Compound Fracture (3/3)
  • Evulsion (3/3)
  • Rapid Ossification (3/3)
  • Inspiring Leader (3/3)
  • Ossified Essence (Key Passive) 

This build will only come into play after you’ve crossed level 50, so there’s no specific skill unlock order. 

Book of the Dead setup for Bone Spirit Necromancer build

  • Skeletal Warrior: Reaper. Choose the upgrade where they have a 15% chance to carve the flesh of enemies, forming a corpse.
  • Skeletal Mages: Bone. Sacrifice them to increase your Overpower Damage by 30%. 
  • Golem: Iron. Sacrifice them to get increased Critical Strike damage. 

How to play the Bone Spirit Necromancer

Unlike the Blood Surge build, the Bone Spirit build is an all-around damage dealer. It has excellent single-target damage and performs well in the Artificer’s Pit.

However, it’s slightly difficult to master because you’ll need to juggle too many cooldowns simultaneously. The gameplay loop for this build is as follows: 

Blood Surge – Raise Skeleton – Corpse Tendrils – Decrepify – Bone Prison – Bone Spirit

Blood Surge is your key skill and not only will it let you close the gap between you and the enemy, it’ll also help you create corpses to raise skeletons. 

From the corpses that your skeletons create, you need to use Corpse Tendrils on them and pull them all together. Then hit them with Decrepify to proc the Lucky Hit crowd control bonus and trigger Bone Prison to make them vulnerable. Finally, hit them with the Bone Spirit to obliterate everything in one shot. 

Although this gameplay loop is slightly hard to master, it yields one of the highest damages in the game in Season 5. You can squeeze out more damage if you sacrifice your Skeleton Warriors, but that opens up a riskier gameplay style.

Best Legendary Aspects

AspectLocation
Swelling CurseHive in Scosglen
TormentBlack Asylum in Fractured Peaks
Grasping VeinsCorrupted Grotto in Kehjistan
MightDark Ravine in Dry Steppes
DisobedienceHalls of the Damned in Kehjistan
EdgemastersOldstones in Scosglen
RequiemVault of the Forsaken in Scosglen
WindstrikerShiva Ruins in Kehjistan

The following Uniques are also important for this build to work: 

  • Harlequin Crest: It’s the best in slot helmet for this build because it gives damage reduction and +4 to all skills. 
  • Banished Lord’s Talisman: This Unique forms the core of this build because it’ll ensure that all your skills will overpower once you’ve spent 275 Essence. 
  • Blood Moon Breaches: This works in tandem with the Banished Lord’s Talisman and gives you damage multipliers when you overpower the enemy. 

Best Paragon Boards

Paragon BoardNodesGlyph
Start BoardAmplify
Bone GraftErudite, Shaper of Bone, Tenacity, Entomb, Bone GraftCorporeal
Flesh EaterTargeted, Flesh EaterGravekeeper
BloodbathBloodbath, Thick HideEssence
Cult LeaderOverlordDeadraiser
Scent of DeathShadow Resilience, Scent of DeathDominate
Necromancer class in Diablo 4
Necromancers in Diablo 4 can control corpses through regeneration.

Best Necromancer build for PvP in Diablo 4

Considering that you can’t actively switch loadouts, and there’s no dedicated PvP activity, the Bone Spirit Necromancer build can be used for PvP too. 

Since there are a lot of PvE activities available in the Bloodmarked areas on the map, this build can act as a hybrid to serve both purposes. 

Best attributes for Necromancer

Intelligence and Willpower are the two most important attributes for the Necromancer in Diablo 4. While Intelligence boosts all skill damage, Willpower helps in energy regeneration which will help you cast Blight frequently.

Best Gems for Necromancer

You can use the following gems to build the best Necromancer in Diablo 4:

  • Place Amethysts in weapons to increase your damage over time. This is useful with several abilities like Blight, Decompose, and Corpse Explosion.
  • Place Rubies in armor to boost the survivability of your character. Necromancers are generally weak and you can make them slightly tankier with this gem.
  • Sapphires are also great to use in weapons, since they increase Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled enemies.
  • Diamonds or Skulls can be placed in Jewelry slots to increase your resistance to elemental and physical damage. Yet again, the goal is to increase the life of your Necromancer.

With this build, you can easily head into activities like the Infernal Hordes, the newest endgame activity. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a challenge, you can take on Tormented Andariel or Tormented Duriel for a shot at powerful loot.