Diablo 4is an action RPG where the goal is to defeat Lilith, and there are plenty of ways you can build your character to do so. Out of all the classes, the Necromancer allows the player to build an army of the dead and use dark magic to fight through hordes of enemies.
There are many ways to build a Necromancer, butbuilding around the many minions you’re able to spawnand control can lead toquite a fun build. From the start of the game to the endgame,multiple skills allow a Necromancerto turn from a powerful mageinto a horde masterthat turns bosses into mincemeat.
Necromancer Minion Build Skill Tree
Out of all the options each class has in its skill tree, somespecific skills fit bestif you want to build an undead army.
Out of the first branch of options,the Basic skillsthat the skill tree offers,both Reap and Bone Splinters can get their uses.Enhanced Reap is usually the go-tofor a build like this, butonly put one skill pointinto whichever you choose and thenanother to get the improvement.Saving skill points for stronger things lateris key for this build, especially sinceminions are very strongin the early game stage.
When theCore skillsare unlocked, chooseone of Sever or Blightand only putone skill point into them. Sever is strong forphysical attackers, while the additional skillParanormal Severallows for the third cast tomake enemies Vulnerable, and Blight is also strong as aranged magic option, as theSupernatural Blightaddition allows for your minions to do a lot of bonus damage to Blighted targets.
If you can’t make a decision between the two,Supernatural Blight’sminion damage bonus is usuallythe stronger option, butspamming the abilitywill lead to youressence disappearing fast, so use carefully.
Down to theCorpse and Macabre skills, don’t worry about the big shiny new abilities, andfocus on the buffs.Skeletal Warrior Masteryjust makes your warrior minions stronger, whileGrim Harvest and Fueled By Deathmake future synergies even better. Feel free to throw in as many skill points as you wish for the harvesting skills, butmake sure to fully upgrade the Warrior Masteryone.
Unlocking theCurse Skillsoffers your newest key ability:Decrepify. It slows enemies and reduces their damage output for 10 seconds, but its essence cost is minuscule at 10.Max that curse skillout, and get theAbhorrent Decrepifyskill to get a chance for reduced cooldown for all abilities when cursed enemies are hit. In the same branch, get theSkeletal Mage Mastery up to maxfor the same reason as the Warrior Mastery.
Thesecond branch of Corpse and Macabreskills offersCorpse Tendrils, a great crowd-control ability that doesn’t consume any corpses. Putone skill point into thatand then unlock thePlague Corpse Tendrilsto add some Vulnerable effects to your foes. Then,max out the Necrotic Carapaceskill to add to your overall tankiness.
Last but not least, theUltimate skills and Key Passives.Army of the Deadis what you want,improved to Supreme. Then max outGolem Mastery, Inspiring Leader, and Hellbent Commanderto add to your minions' power. Finally, get theKalan’s Edict passiveto increase all your minions' attack speed and fill out the rest of your skills to your preference to complete your skill tree.
Here is aquick tableofwhich skills you need for this buildin order of how you unlock them.
1/5
1/1
5/5
3/3
2/3
Army of the Dead
Kalan’s Edict
For a Necromancer, theBook of the Deadis how you can customize your minions' damage output, from shadow to ice or blood damage, and it is split into three sections that connect to a different type of minions:warriors, mages, and Golems. Then,each kind of minion has a choice of damage typefrom three choices, thena selection of one of three effectsfrom each.
For this particular build, the best options areReaper Warriors with the second effect(15% chance to form a corpse on attack),Shadow Mages with the first effect(3% increased damage for each Shadow Mage), andBlood Golem with the second effect(shared healing and more damage reduction).
Some other good choices include the Cold damage for Mages, as well as the Iron Golem for stuns.
Necromancer Minion Build Paragon List
After completing the Skill Tree, the only thing left to build and customize outside your inventory is how yourParagon Boardget used. These paragon points are thepost-level 50 ways of improving your build.
The way you incorporate Paragon Board is in a different kind of skill tree, and it ispretty flexibleacross all kinds of Necromancer builds. Long story short, look towards any benefits forWillpower, Intelligence, and Maximum Life, and when you accessthe Glyph Socketnear the end of the board, the best Glyphs to use revolve aroundboosting your Golemorall of your minions.
Best Aspects For Necromancer Minion Build
Finally, we have whichaspectsfit best with the Necromancer Minion build. In Diablo 4, weapons, armor and shields all have the chance to have aspects, which areunique buffs that usually pertain to specific classes.
Necromancer is no different, with plenty of useful aspects that can make specific builds stronger. For example, the character photo above has aspects on all of their equipment, which can be eithercollected through random lootorfrom destroying equipment with aspects at the Blacksmithand then adding them to items withthe Occultist.
If you want to see which aspects you have available, go to thein-game menu and click Collections. TheCodex of Powersection will have a list ofall the aspects that you have unlocked.
Whether through crafting or natural luck, some of the best aspects for this build include:Reanimation, Hardened Bones, Blood Getter, Grasping Veins, and Unyielding Commander. Each one offers significant boosts to the build, like Reanimation offering increased minion damage, or Unyielding Commander heavily improving the Army of the Dead ultimate ability.
Plus, there areUber Uniqueitems that players can very rarely get. Lots of them can work for almost any build, but theHarlequin Cresthelm offers significant damage reduction and skill improvements that work particularly well with the minion build. Other great choices includeSacreligious Soul, which automatically uses powerful Corpse abilities for you with no cost of Essence.
