Diablo 4 Corpse Explosion Necromancer Endgame Build Guide

Many believe that one of the most underrated Skills of the Necromancer in Diablo 4 is Corpse Explosion. In many builds, we use Corpses to summon Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Mages, and the Golem. As such, there’s no room to use Corpse Explosion because the secondary resource is often reserved for summoning minions.

What many don’t know, however, is that Corpse Explosion is actually a very deadly Skill when used properly. On this build, we’re going to make Corpse Explosion the star of the show and you’ll watch as Sanctuary around you becomes covered in guts and gore in your wake.

The Black Hole Build

We’re calling this build the Black Hole simply because of the destruction you can cause. Aside from Corpse Explosion, we’re also going to be using Corpse Tendrils to pull in the enemies, and we’re going to use Blight to deal even more damage. Like most Necromancer builds, this is going to be a high-risk, high-reward style.

What’s great about this build is that it can deal amazing damage to large groups of enemies. On the downside, you’re going to need a bit of farming to put this build to good use. That said, let’s first talk about one of the most crucial parts of this build - your Caged Hearts.

Caged Hearts

1. Caged Heart of the Sacrilegious

Effect: Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing [28 - 38]%[x] reduced damage. (Necromancer Only)

This is an obvious pick for this build. You want a Caged Heart that will help automatically proc some of your Corpse Skills at no Mana expense and cooldown. This build centers on taking full advantage of many Corpse Skills so you’ll always have something at your disposal when using this Caged Heart.

2. Caged Heart of the Decrepit Aura

Effect: When at least 4 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for [6 - 17] seconds. (Necromancer Only)

This is one of the best ways to prevent enemies from easily overwhelming you as it slows down their Movement Speed. On top of that, Caged Heart of the Decrepit Aura also increases your damage dealt against enemies, making it a must for a build that focuses on AoE spells.

3. Caged Heart of the Barber

Effect: Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within [2.0 - 4.0] seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 11%[x] per second.

Although Caged Heart of the Barber is really great at crowd control, its main purpose is to finish off any enemies that manage to survive your onslaught of Corpse Skills. The passive from this Caged Heart makes it easy to take out trash mobs so that you can move better inside the field.

Book of the Dead

For this build, you’d want to focus your Corpses on Corpse Skills. As such, we’re going to Sacrifice all summons for their amazing bonuses.

1. Skeletal Warriors - Sacrifice

Effect: Your Critical Strike Chance increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors

Corpse Explosion is a great burst damage skill for the Necromancer. With Critical Strike bonuses, your Necromancer can become even more deadlier in most cases. The Critical Strike Chance bonus from sacrificing Skeletal Warriors might seem small but it goes a long way.

2. Skeletal Mages - Sacrifice

Effect:  You gain 15% Physical Resistance, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.

Without minions to help you out in battle, the Necromancer can become very weak and fragile. By sacrificing your Skeletal Mages you’re able to increase your Physical Resistance significantly. This might not seem much but that can actually do a lot in terms of survivability.

3. Golem - Sacrifice

Effect: You deal 10% increased Shadow Damage, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.

The effect of the Golem Sacrifice is very important as you have a lot of sources for Shadow Damage. That’s 10% increased damage for your Skills which means your glass cannon build is starting to take shape.

Skill Point Allocation

1. Reap - 3 Skill Points

Upgrades: Enhanced Reap, Acolyte’s Reap

This is going to be our Basic Skill of choice for many reasons. For starters, since this build is melee focused, we might as well get the Basic Skill that puts us right in the heat of the action. Aside from dealing great damage in a large area in front of you, Reap is also the best Basic Skill for producing Corpses which are important for this build.

2. Blight - 7 Skill Points

Upgrades: Enhanced Blight, Supernatural Blight

Blight deals a decent amount of damage. It’s going to be an amazing addition to this build as you can use it to take out any remaining enemies that survive after you use Corpse Tendrils and Corpse Explosion. Blight is also going to be one of the best sources of crowd control for this build. With the stacks from Shadowblight, this skill becomes even deadlier.

3. Hewed Flesh - 3 Skill Points

This ability works wonders with Reap. It makes you even more potent when it comes to generating Corpses If you get attack speed boosts, you can generate even more Corpses in your wake. There’s no downside to this passive so make sure to get this.

4. Blood Mist - 3 Skill Points

Upgrades: Enhanced Blood Mist, Ghastly Blood Mist

This build will have you going up against groups of enemies at the front and center. You’re going to need Blood Mist to ensure that you have a means of escape when things get too dangerous. Blood Mist will primarily be used as a way to break crowd control effects to manage it well.

5. Corpse Explosion - 7 Skill Points

Upgrades: Enhanced Corpse Explosion, Blighted Corpse Explosion

When it comes to damaging the enemies, most of that will be left to Corpse Explosion. This underrated skill is hated for one reason - and that’s the fact that you need Corpses to use it. However, if you’re using a build that doesn’t have any minions, then Corpse Explosion is a good skill that can kill trash mobs in an area.

It can be hard to use Corpse Explosion due to the fact that you can’t target any of the Corpses. That’s why for this build, you’re going to want to come close to the enemies so that it’s easier to measure which of the Corpses will explode.

6. Grim Harvest - 3 Skill Points

This build is going to heavily rely on Essence. The good news is that Grim Harvest will reward you with more Essence each time you consume a Corpse. Both Corpse Tendrils and Corpse Explosion will become a source of Essence with this build.

7. Fueled by Death - 3 Skill Points

While Grim Harvest gives you Essence for consuming a Corpse, this ability gives you bonus damage after consuming one. This means that Corpse Explosion and Corpse Tendrils are both going to deal extra damage immediately since you’re consuming Corpses when using them.

8. Death’s Embrace - 3 Skill Points

Since this build is close-ranged, it’s best to get this passive for more damage bonuses. Perhaps more importantly, we’re going to get defensive bonuses from nearby enemies as well. This is going to be a huge step towards increasing your survivability with this build which can be problematic at times.

9. Death’s Reach - 3 Skill Points

Corpse Tendrils, Blight, and Corpse Explosion can be cast from afar. Although this build is focused on melee combat, you can still make the most out of it with the Death’s Reach bonus. Don’t focus too much on dealing damage from afar thought as our main purpose in getting this passive is its defensive bonuses.

10. Corpse Tendrils - 3 Skill Points

Upgrades: Enhanced Corpse Tendrils, Plagued Corpse Tendrils

Corpse Tendrils is an amazing crowd control ability for the Necromancer. When partnered with Corpse Explosion, it becomes an effective killing machine that can help you destroy hordes of enemies in an instant. It’s easy to combo with Corpse Explosion too considering that Corpse typically spawn within range of each other.

11. Reaper’s Pursuit - 3 Skill Points

This build lacks the defenses you need to stay alive so we’re going to rely on mobility as a means to survive instead. With this passive, you’re going to get movement speed bonuses for using Darkness skills which are a major part of this build. You can zip through the field easily with Reaper’s Pursuit.

12. Crippling Darkness - 1 Skill Point

Only needed to gain access to the next passive.

13. Terror - 3 Skill Points

This further enhances the damage you deal with Darkness Skills. Since you can slow enemies with Decrepify through Caged Heart of the Decrepit Aura, it’s going to be easy to activate the passive bonus of these skill. It will make Blight even deadlier.

14. Gloom - 3 Skill Points

This passive is going to work well with the key passive we’re going to get as it adds even more stacking mechanics to your Darkness Skills. In total, that’s 18% extra damage from Shadow Damage, as long as you hit enemies. 

15. Bone Storm - 3 Skill Points

Upgrades: Prime Bone Storm, Supreme Bone Storm

Bone Storm will only work well as an Ultimate Skill if you have the Aspect of Ultimate Shadow which turns this skill into a Shadow Skill. Bone Storm can activate the stacking damage of Shadowblight quite effectively when used in the right moment.

16. Stand Alone - 3 Skill Points

There’s not a lot to say about Stand Alone. It gives you a defense buff that decreases for every minion that you have. Since this build won’t require any summon, you’re going to want to get Stand Alone as you’re getting the full brunt of its Damage Reduction bonus.

17. Memento Mori - 3 Skill Points

This passive ability is a must for those that want to do a Necromancer build without any of the summons of the class. It doubles the bonuses you get from Sacrificing your warriors and mages so it’s definitely a must-have.

18. Shadowblight - 1 Skill Point

This Key Passive is going to round up everything that we’ve built for this build. Shadowblight is going to give your skills a huge boost thanks to stacking mechanics that deal Shadow damage for every 10th time you deal Shadow damage. If you have Aspect of Decay, this skill is going to be even deadlier as you have other sources of Shadow damage.

Gameplay

The key to making this build work is to control enemies. You’re going to do that with Decrepify and Corpse Tendrils. Once enemies are all grouped up, you can then start spamming Corpse Explosions to deal heavy damage to enemies around you. With Caged Heart of the Barber, the damage should spread out pretty quickly.

You can use your dodge to close the game between you and your enemies. Once close enough, you can start the fight using Reap. Aside from the damage reduction, this will also be a great way to start creating Corpses for this build. Instead of using Corpse Explosion immediately, you should first focus on using Corpse Tendrils to pull in the enemies together.

Once they are all joined into one space, that’s when you should start spamming Corpse Explosion. Keeping them as close to each other is very important to get the most out of this build.

If you’re having a hard time controlling the enemy, you should first focus on using Blight. It does great damage but its main purpose would be to begin stacking Shadowblight which requires the Aspect of the Void.

If you need a quick escape, you should use Blood Mist as a get-out-of-jail card. It’s also your counter against Crowd Control effects such as Stun, Freeze, and more.

Aspects

For this build, you’re going to want to get the following Aspects from Codex of Powers at the end of their respective dungeons.

• Aspect of Disobedience - Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan

• ‍Aspect of Gore Quills - Season's Journey

• ‍Aspect of Potent Blood -  Betrayer's Row - Dry Steppes

• ‍Aspect of the Umbral - Champion's Demise - Dry Steppes

• Blighted Aspect - Akkhan’s Grasp - Kehjistan

• ‍Blood Seeker's Aspect - Mercy's Reach - Fractured Peaks

• ‍Ghostwalker Aspect - Broken Bulwark - Scosglen

• ‍Offensive Aspect of Grasping Veins - Corrupted Grotto - Kehjistan

This build won’t require any Unique gear which is great as it saves us less time in making it work. However, you should at least work on getting the following Aspects that drop on random loot.

1. Aspect of Decay

Effect: Each time the Shadowblight Key Passive deals damage to enemies, it increases the next Shadowblight's damage within 10 seconds by [25 - 45]%[x], stacking up to 5 times. (Necromancer Only)

2. Aspect of the Void

Effect: Blight's defiled area, when spawned, Pulls in enemies around the affected area. (Necromancer Only)

3. Aspect of Shielding Storm

Effect: Each time that Bone Storm damages an enemy, gain a Barrier equal to [2 - 5]% of your Base Life for 10 seconds. (Necromancer Only)

4. Aspect of Ultimate Shadow

Effect: Bone Storm and Blood Wave are also Darkness Skills, deal Shadow damage, and gain additional effects: Enemies damaged by Bone Storm take [17 - 4,355] Shadow damage over 2 seconds. Blood Wave desecrates the ground it travels over, dealing [275 - 69,679] Shadow damage over 4 seconds (Necromancer Only)

Out of all these Aspects, Ultimate Shadow is probably the most important. It makes more of your abilities into Darkness Skills which will become even more powerful with the help of the Golem sacrifice.

Step Into The Void

This Diablo 4 Necromancer endgame build is one of the most destructive and effective builds for the class. It’s great that you don’t need any Uniques to make this class really work but you’ll still have to go through the trouble of collecting a few Legendary Aspects. Still, the amount of work needed is not that large considering the effectiveness of the build.