The 10 Best Skills for Necromancer in Diablo 4

Blizzard via HGG

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Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Necromancers in Diablo 4 have a wide range of skills that encompass a variety of play styles. While the main mechanic specific to the Necromancer class is their ability to summon Skeletal Minions to fight by their side, many of the class’ best skills don’t factor these minions into the equation. Some of these skills are build defining and others are staples on several types of builds. That’s why today we are ranking the 10 best skills for Necromancers in Diablo 4 based on how generally useful they are to a build for the class.

Necromancer Skills Ranked Good to Best

Let’s jump right into our list of the 10 best skills for Necromancer in Diablo 4, ranked from solid to essential.

Hewed Flesh

Necromancers have the unique ability to create corpses from defeated foes that can be used for a few purposes including summoning minions and dealing damage with a skill like Corpse Explosion. While Necromancers typically have to slay an enemy for them to spawn a corpse, the Hewed Flesh passive gives Necromancers a 4% chance of an enemy spawning a corpse whenever they are hit by an attack. This makes for a great skill for most Necromancer builds since it can greatly increase the number of corpses the Necromancer can utilize at any given time.

Bone Storm

Bones Storm is one of the Ultimate Skills Necromancers have in their arsenal. It’s a great skill for dealing damage to a group of enemies since it has a large area of effect. This skill creates a storm of bones that surrounds the Necromancer and their Golem, dealing 1.8 damage to enemies caught within and lasts for 8 seconds. Its damage output potential can be even higher when paired with the right legendary aspects like the Osseous Gale Aspect that causes Bone Storm to consume corpses to increase its duration.

Corpse Tendrils

Crowd control is an important component of Diablo 4’s gameplay that can make the difference between life and death when facing large groups of enemies. The Necromancer’s Corpse Tendrils skill is a smart choice for builds that utilize area of effect damage since it uses the corpses generated by the Necromancer to pull enemies close together. Beyond simply pulling enemies together, Corpse Tendrils also inflicts Stun on them for 3 seconds and deals 20% base damage.

Blood Mist

Blood Mist may not be the strongest skill on the Necromancer’s skill tree, but it has fantastic utility that can be applied to almost any build. This skill excels at getting the Necromancer out of harm’s way by granting them Immunity for 3 seconds while also periodically dealing 2% base damage to enemies nearby and healing the Necromancer for 0.5% of their maximum health while doing so. Blood Mist is a reliable enough recovery skill for Necromancers to the point that it has become a staple for most builds.

Blight

Quickly draining enemies of health is easy to do with the Necromancer’s Blight skill. This Core Skill launches a projectile of blight at an enemy and deals 30% base damage while creating a defiled area that damages enemies caught within for 80% base damage over six seconds. This can be a fantastic skill for weakening groups of foes before finishing them off with another one of the Necromancer’s more focused skills like Bone Spear or Bone Spirit.

Bone Spirit

Bone Spirit can be a source of massive damage output, but its high-risk/high-reward nature means players will have to use the skill judiciously. This Macabre Skill unleashes a spirit made of bone that seeks out enemies and explodes once it finds one, dealing 80% damage to it and all surrounding enemies. Unfortunately, this skill consumes all of the Necromancer’s remaining Essence, but deals an additional 3% damage for each point of Essence consumed.

Bone Spear

Arguably the best Core Skill the Necromancer had access to prior to its nerf, Bone Spear is still a great option for dealing consistently high damage to multiple enemies at a time. This skill summons and fires a spear of bone that deals 85% base damage and pierces through enemies in a straight line. Enhanced Bone Spear adds the bonus of spawning three bonus projectiles that deal 25% damage each, and Supernatural Bone Spear is a fantastic way to inflict enemies with the Vulnerable status.

Memento Mori

The main feature that sets the Necromancer apart from other classes in Diablo 4 is their ability to summon Skeletal Minions. However, many of the best Necromancer builds forgo using minions and instead have players Sacrifice them for the buffs they offer. Memento Mori is one of the main reasons why this is typically the best option as this passive increases the bonuses offered by Sacrificing Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages by 20% when both are Sacrificed.

Corpse Explosion

Corpse Explosion is a must-have skill for most Necromancer builds in Diablo 4 because of its ability to capitalize on the corpses spawned by the Necromancer to great effect. Activating Corpse Explosion consumes a corpse and detonates it dealing 50% base damage to nearby enemies. This is a great skill for dealing with hordes of foes as more corpses will spawn as enemies are defeated, leading to more fodder for Corpse Explosion to utilize.

Grim Harvest

The best skill for Necromancer in Diablo 4 is incredibly useful when paired with Corpse Explosion. Grim Harvest generates two Essence for the Necromancer every time they consume a corpse. This means they can quickly refill the Necromancer’s Essence everytime Corpse Explosion is used. With how vital resources like Essence are to builds in Diablo 4, this is an incredibly useful passive to have.

Join the High Ground

Do you agree with our list of the best skills for Necromancer in Diablo 4? Which skill do you find the most useful? Let us know in the comments down below! While you’re there, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss any of our upcoming guides for Diablo 4.

Happy Gaming!