Unlike its predecessor, Diablo 3, Diablo 4 allows players to take on the role of the Necromancer at the launch of the game. So those that want to wallow in the dark goth-vibes of skeletons, the raised dead, and loads of blood all over the screen, then the Necromancer just might be the right choice for you.
In Diablo 4, the Necromancer is kind of a mix between a caster and a melee attacker. Much of their damage comes about when either the violence or the death level is increased in a fight. In other words, the more combat and death on the battlefield, the more the Necromancer delights and does scaling damage to enemies. They also can rely on their army of undead minions to tank, do damage, and give bonuses. Check out the best tips and tricks for playing Necromancer below.
10 Use Skeletons To Tank
The Necromancer will need to do some kiting in general, meaning you should avoid standing still and letting enemies melee you to death. However, unlike pure casters like the sorcerer, the Necromancer's kit isn't as set up for doing damage while moving. Ideally, the Necromancer should use the skeletons to tank enemies. This allows the Necromancer to set up their bigger spells like Corpse Explosion or Bone Storm. Between the three different types of skeletons, the added abilities in the skill tree, and the golem make for endless combinations for the Necromancer's minions. However, Book of the Dead also supports players' unique customization choices and, if they prefer, they can build the Necromancer for solo-only fighting.
9 How To Build Necro Minions
"The Book of the Dead" gives the Necromancer a free ability in Raise Skeleton and players start with Skirmishers, which are all-around warriors, Defenders that have shields and higher defensive stats, and Reapers which are long-range mage skeletons. You will also have access to The Golem eventually. All minion groups can be built in different ways that compliment the main build of the Necromancer. For example, Defenders and their defensive buffs in the skill tree are great for a Corpse Explosion build, which relies on the Necro staying alive long enough to generate a number of corpses in an area.
8 Stayin' Alive
One challenging thing for the Necromancer is simply staying alive when things get chaotic. This can be especially true when fighting a tough boss. The Necromancer is well-built to handle endless waves of enemies because they can use the corpses generated by dead enemies to do more damage. However, when fighting a single boss, corpses and large numbers of dead enemies suddenly become scarce, and the Necromancer can struggle to stay alive and do DPS. A couple helpful spells are Hemorrhage and Blood Mist. Hemorrhage will give the Necro direct healing during a fight and can set up strategic Blood Orbs. Blood Mist allows the Necro to avoid all damage and heal up before regaining their corporeal form.
7 Types Of Builds
In Diablo 4, there are at lots of main build paths for the Necromancer with endless variation between all of them. The main playstyle revolves around the Necromancer's minions. Whether a huge army, a small crew, or a solo Necro, Book of the Dead sets the baseline for approaches to builds. Bone is the first build type with abilities like Bone Storm and Bone Spirit being great choices. This build focuses on area-of-effect physical damage and is one of the more resilient for the Necromancer. Shadow and Curse builds are next with a more sit-back-and-cast style of play. Both of these types of builds are more caster-friendly, but Shadow is a mix of melee with abilities like Reaper's Pursuit. Blood is another option as the Necro can go more glass-cannon for higher dps and in-battle healing. Corruption is another available option with a focus on Corpse Explosions and generating corpses for free.
6 Exploding Corpses
The Corruption path in the Necromancer's skill tree is focused around death and dying on the battlefield. One of the earlier skills is called Corpse Explosion. This makes it so that once a single enemy dies and leaves a corpse, the Necro can use their ability to 'blow up' the corpse which does great aoe damage. No matter your intended build, having Corpse Explosion in your pocket is a great way to get through the early levels of the game. Simply let a few enemy bodies stack up in a crowded fight and let loose the dynamite. The beauty of it is that once you kill another enemy with a corpse explosion, you can cast it again and again, making short work of crowds of enemies.
5 Creating Corpses
Between the Raise Skeletons and the corpse-based abilities like Corpse Tendrils, the Necromancer's biggest weakness is fighting against single enemies that don't produce bodies. Soloing a boss as a Necro can become pretty challenging when your abilities and build are based around having corpses for skeletons and damage. So, one way to help offset that weakness is in the Necromancer's skill tree. Abilities like Hewed Flesh, which gives your damage a chance to generate a free corpse, and Necrotic Carapace which buffs your defenses whenever a corpse is used make great combos to help the one-on-one Necromancer fights.
4 Don't Fear The Respec
With the ability to save load outs in Diablo 4, the Necromancer is especially one to benefit. Players should have at least 2 to 3 basic builds in their back pocket at all times because circumstances in the game will force you to respec your build. One of the most obvious ones is bosses. The Necromancer is amazing at taking on hordes of demons but a single big boss, like Tchort, will test that aoe build pretty quickly. So, to counter make sure to have a different build that you are comfortable with. Ones focused on Blood, Defender Skellies, or Shadow abilities can help the Necro's survivability, for example.
3 Best Team Ups
The Necromancer is always going to ideally fit with any character that can tank enemies for the best damage possible. The Necro needs someone in the front to take the main damage that the enemies put out, hence their built-in Raise Skeleton ability. However, the skeletons are more like a temporary barrier and having someone like a Barbarian is a much better choice. A good tank can provide stuns, slows, and bleeds to enemies which helps the Necro pounce on dead bodies and aoe damage. The Necromancer will go great with the DPS classes too, just not as well as if there was a tank in the mix.
2 Avoid Bad Positioning
The Necromancer can build for defense or be a full glass-cannon damage dealer on the battlefield. However, despite your build, positioning in fights is a very important factor for winning. The Necro can get stuck in corners by enemies and, despite the best thorn-based builds, getting pounded my multiple enemies at once with no escape is not going to work out well. So, when crawling through demonic dungeons, always position with an escape route in mind. Although the Necromancer isn't the best at kiting backwards, you'll still need to be able to survive if things go south. Blood Mist is one ability that Necros can use by using the mist to move through enemies and have a chance to regroup.
1 Gear Strategy
Since the Necromancer is going to be rocking either a small army of minions or completely solo, a player's build should bolster their ability selection whenever possible. In other words, a Bone build with high crit and curses should be looking for gear that will up their defenses with things like buffs to Thorns. Of course, players should be seeking out legendary gear towards the end levels of Diablo 4, but early on it much more about choosing best out of the options you have. Crowd Control and Corpse buffs, for instance, can be great early on to help level up fast. Item power should be considered over most minor stats, and don't get attached to gear. Trying out different combos can make for surprising results and players should strive to have more than one set of gear and builds to choose between. Many Necromancers will end up with at least one main build and one boss build to switch to.