Diablo 4 Summon Necromancer Endgame Build

Are you ever really alone when playing as a Necromancer in Diablo 4? Thanks to its amazing kit, the Necromancer can walk through Sanctuary alongside a horde of minions at his side. That’s going to be a good idea though as Necromancers aren’t exactly the type to survive an entire horde of the forces of Lilith.

The good thing about Necromancers is that they have the force of an entire team, even if they’re just a single entity. If you want to be a full-fledged undead general in Diablo 4, then this endgame build might just be for you. 

The Undead General

This Diablo 4 Necromancer endgame build utilizes Skeleton Warriors, Skeletal Mages, and the Golem. With the right passives and setup, your Necromancer will serve as the support behind this undead army that can ravage dozens of foes in the higher levels of Diablo 4.

This build is exclusively for Diablo 4 Season 1. As such, let’s talk about how you should set up your Caged Hearts first.

Caged Heart

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)

The majority of the skills that you’ll be using on this build is a Corpse Skill. Apart from that, you can constantly generate Corpses too so you’ll have a constant source of damage using the Caged Heart of the Sacrilegious. This skill won’t consume the Corpses; you don’t need to worry about that.

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)

As a Necromancer, one of the last things you want to happen is to get surrounded by enemies without a minion in sight, and any of your skills usable. This makes sure that you can still control and damage enemies in such cases.

3. Caged Heart of the Great Feast

Effect: Each Minion drains [1.0 - 2.0] Essence per second but deals [55 - 80]%[x] increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second. (Necromancer Only)

Most of the damage that you’ll deal will come from your minions and not from your skills. Giving your allies the boost they need will make this build more effective. You don’t need to worry about losing all of your Essence as there will be plenty of opportunities to replenish yours with this build.

Book of the Dead

This build will rely on a specific Book of the Dead setup. The minions you’ll choose will consider both the offensive and defensive end of this build so make sure to follow it through and through.

1. Skeletal Warriors - Reapers

Effect: Deal heavy damage but have a slower attack speed compared to Skirmishers.

High damage for a slower attack speed is a good compromise for Reapers. These deal the heaviest damage out of all your minions. With the right upgrades, Reapers can serve as the best frontline minions for any Necromancer.

2. Skeletal Mages - Shadow

Effect: Deal moderate Shadow damage.

Although the Bone Skeletal Mages deal more damage, they can also leave you vulnerable most of the time once they sacrifice themselves. Shadow Skeletal Mages are a good choice because their attacks can deal damage over time against a group of enemies.

3. Golem - Blood

Effect: Drains life from enemies and constantly heals itself.

Out of the three Golem choices, it’s the Blood Golem that balances defense and offense perfectly. It’s tanky enough to take on many foes, but it can also deal sufficient damage to groups of them as well.

Skill Allocation

1. Reap - 3 Skill Points

Effect: Enhanced Reap,  Acolyte’s Reap

Acolyte’s Reap is the best Basic Skill for this build. Aside from dealing decent damage at a good range, Reap is also the best at generating Corpses. With it, you’ll always have a means of restoring your minions. It also helps that the attack damage goes in a cone area in front of you.

2. Hewed Flesh - 3 Skill Points

To further enhance your ability to generate Corpses, get Hewed Flesh. It provides a massive boost to your Corpse generation capacity. Give your Necromancer the right upgrades like an attack speed boost, and you’re guaranteed to litter the field with Corpses every time you face mobs.

3. Blood Mist - 3 Skill Points

Effect: Enhanced Blood Mist, Ghastly Blood Mist

Although your minions are there to protect you, you shouldn’t always rely on them for protection. In fact, you’ll still need to use Blood Mist in many cases. It offers a lot of mobility, as well as opportunities for escape just in case you get overwhelmed by a huge horde of enemies.

Outside of that, Blood Mist has no other uses so we’re going to limit the upgrades we’re giving it. Ghastly Blood Mist leaves behind a Corpse after a set time so it’s a good upgrade to get.

4. Corpse Explosion - 7 Skill Points

Effect: Enhanced Corpse Explosion, Blighted Corpse Explosion

Aside from summoning minions, the Corpses are also going to be used to deal heavy damage using Corpse Explosion. With the way this build is set up, you’ll always have an excess amount of Corpses. Your minions are going to be powered greatly. What that means for you is that you can deal heavy damage in an area using Corpse Explosion.

5. Skeletal Warrior Mastery - 3 Skill Points

As this build is heavy on the minions, you’ll need to grab every opportunity you can to empower your summons. Skeletal Warrior Mastery improves the damage and health of your minions by a great deal. This is important for Reapers too as they’re the squishiest of the Skeletal Warrior types.

6. Grim Harvest - 1 Skill Point

Only needed to get access to the next passive.

7. Fueled By Death - 3 Skill Points

Corpse Explosion and your summoning abilities are guaranteed to make you consume a ton of Corpses on a regular basis. Fueled By Death is a good way to have a constant source of Essence, considering you’re going to deal major damage using some of your skills as well. Particularly, you’re going to spam Corpse Explosion.

8. Decrepify - 3 Skill Points

Effect: Enhanced Decrepify, Abhorrent Decrepify

Decrepify is an excellent way to control the enemy with Slow if you’re getting overwhelmed. It also improves your survivability by reducing the damage they give. Thanks to Lucky Hit mechanics and the Caged Heart of the Decrepit Aura, you’ll have a chance to reduce your cooldowns most of the time.

9. Amplify Damage - 3 Skill Points

With Decrepify cursing most of your enemies, you and your minions can start dealing more damage to them as well. You can inflict Curse most of the time with this build and it’s wise to use that as an opportunity to start thinning out dense hordes.

10. Skeletal Mage Mastery - 3 Skill Points

Next up, it’s time to upgrade your Skeletal Mages. Similar to the Skeletal Warrior upgrade, this one enhances the life and damage of your Skeletal Mages by a great deal. The damage they can inflict along with your Skeletal Warriors is bound to take out huge chunks off of the life of many bosses.

11. Corpse Tendrils - 3 Skill Points

Effect: Plagued Corpse Tendrils

This is going to be the last active skill you’ll have for this build. Keep in mind that both Raise Skeleton and Golem take up a slot in your Skill list. You won’t need an Ultimate Ability anymore as most of your Skills are intended to either support your minions or deal extra damage to enemies.

Corpse Tendrils is another excellent way to start crowd-controlling your enemies. The combo is to pull them in, use Decrepify to curse all enemies, and start bashing away with your minions.

12. Reaper’s Pursuit - 1 Skill Point

Only needed to get to the next passive.

13. Crippling Darkness - 1 Skill Points

Only needed to get to the next passive.

14. Terror - 3 Skill Points

Your Shadow Skeletal Mages are going to deal constant Darkness damage to enemies. With Decrepify slowing enemies down, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to kill off most of your enemies with the Terror passive.

15. Gloom - 3 Skill Points

This passive is also going to be needed to enhance your damage potential using this build.

16. Necrotic Carapace - 1 Skill Point

As we’ve said, you’ll be able to summon a lot of corpses with this build so Necrotic Carapace is an excellent choice to boost your survivability. We’re going to allocate only 1 Skill Point to it simply because it’s more than enough to give you the defense boost that you need with Fortify.

17. Golem Mastery - 3 Skill Points

Golems are naturally tanky and powerful already but Golem Mastery takes them to a whole new level. This rounds up the individual upgrades that you’re going to give each of your minions in Diablo 4. With that, you’re guaranteed to have a powerful set of undead allies with you.

18. Inspiring Leader - 3 Skill Points

With most of your minions serving on the frontline, your Necromancer is going to be Healthy most of the time. Inspiring Leader gives you and your minions an immediate buff if you stay Health for a certain period, making you and your team even more dangerous even on the toughest dungeons.

19. Death’s Defense - 3 Skill Points

There are a lot of Bosses and Elites in the endgame that can basically take out half the life of your weaker minions like the Skeletal Mages. Death’s Defense prevents such cases from happening by giving a cap to the amount of damage a single attack instance can do.

20. Bonded In Essence - 1 Skill Point

Only needed to gain access to the next passive.

21. Hellbent Commander - 3 Skill Points

With Reap serving as your Basic Skill, this only means that you’re always going to be near your minions and enemies when attacking them. Hellbent Commander rewards this high-risk and high-reward playstyle by giving your minions a big boost in damage.

22. Shadowblight - 1 Skill Point

The majority of the skills on this build will deal Shadow damage. It’s a good idea to get Shadowblight as a key passive so that the elemental damage you give is amplified even more. Kalan’s Edict won’t be a great choice because you’re always going to be in the crosshair of enemies.

Gameplay

The key to this build is simply to be surrounded by minions as much as possible. You shouldn’t have any issues with generating enough Corpses for your summoning skills and the rest of your abilities thanks to Reap and the passives we’ve chosen for this build.

As you’re still going to be a squishy Necromancer for this build, make sure to only use Blood Mist as a means of escape and not as a means of engaging the enemy. Use it to get out of tight spots and even far away from Elites and bosses.
Corpse Explosion will serve as an excellent means to deal extra damage alongside your minions. Using Reap, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to use Corpse Explosion efficiently since you’re always near enemies.

Corpse Tendrils and Decrepify are both used for crowd controlling enemies for when the field gets too packed.

Aspects

To make this build work, you’re going to need a few specific Aspects that are intended to get the most out of your minions.

• ‍Aspect of Disobedience Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan

• ‍Aspect of Inner Calm Raethwind Wilds - Scosglen

• ‍Aspect of Reanimation Aldurwood - Scosglen

• ‍Blighted Offensive Aspect Akkan's Grasp - Hawezar

• ‍Ghostwalker Aspect Broken Bulwark - Scosglen

• ‍Offensive Aspect of Grasping Veins Corrupted Grotto - Kehjistan

Aside from this, you’ll also want to get the Bloodgetter’s Aspect and Vicious Aspect which increases the amount of Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages you have respectively. Unfortunately, these can only drop from random loot in Sanctuary to get grinding.

An Army Walks

With this build, you can basically walk around Sanctuary without doing anything and just have your minions deal heavy damage for you. Necromancers are intended to sit around and let the undead do the work for them anyway.