Best Necromancer Skills

The Necromancer’s mastery of the undead is in their Skills, which let them take advantage of their dead enemies in a variety of creative ways. This includes using their corpses as a weapon, as a way to get some utility, or even to raise them as Minions. Skills in the Macabre tier will equip Necromancers with some extra utility, while the Corruption tier offers them a way to make their enemies vulnerable against their assault.

Their Mount Skill is Bone Spikes. It allows them to leap from their mount and slam the ground, unleashing trails of spikes that deal 120% damage and Stun enemies for 2 seconds.

Tips

Necromancer Skills will deal either Physical or Shadow damage.
Some Skills will consume Corpses of slain enemies as a ‘resource’ to activate.
- Many Upgrades and Passives give alternate ways to spawn Corpses, making it easier to summon them.
Many of the Skills (the Blood ones, in particular) will drop Blood Orbs. Picking these up will restore your Health.
Because of the Book of the Dead, Necromancers will get 1 or 2 extra Skills.
- Because of this, they will have to be more mindful about which Skills they want to learn from their Skill Tree, compared to other Classes.
All Skills (besides the ones in the Ultimate tier) will have an Enhancement and two Upgrades.
- Only one Upgrade per Skill can be chosen, and the Enhancement must be learned first.

Once you reach level 50 in Diablo 4, it’s time to figure out your Build, and the first step in that is determining what Skills you want to focus on. Your skills will determine which weapons and armor you will want to go for, as well as what your rotation and approach will be, so picking the right set can be important.

While some Skills will be for specific Builds (and will often become their focus), other Skills are a staple for just about every Necromancer.

Best Core Skills

Bone Spear

Best Build: Bone Spear Build
This will be the primary Skill for this Build. This will hit a few enemies, then break apart to hit even more.

Blight

Best Build: Infinimist Build
This move has a high Lucky Hit chance, comboing well with Decrepify to keep your Cooldowns low.

Sever

Best Build: Sever Build
This will be the primary Skill for this Build. It deals AoE damage when it reaches its target and when it returns to you, and damages any enemies along its path.

Best Corpse and Macabre Skills

Corpse Explosion

Best Build: All
An AoE attack that mostly serves to keep your damage high. In the case of the Sever Build, it will deal damage over time in the area instead.

Blood Mist

Best Build: All
A great move to give you a lot of survivability. In the case of the Infinimist Build, this is the primary Skill, as it will also activate other Skills to do damage, and you will be able to be kept up at all times.

Corpse Tendrils

Best Build: All
This Skill pulls all enemies in one area, as well as Slowing, Stunning, and making them Vulnerable.

Best Curse Skills

Decrepify

Best Build: All
This curse will Crowd Control enemies, cause them to deal less damage, and help reduce the Cooldowns of all your other Skills.

Best Ultimate Skills

Bone Storm

Best Build: All
This Skill will both increase your damage and damage reduction, while providing some extra damage to enemies around you.

Full Necromancer Skill List

These are special Skills that allow the Necromancer to summon minions to aid them in battle. These will be learned automatically through their Book of the Dead mechanic. Unlike other Skills, they do not have ranks or upgrades, but the minions summoned can be customized in the Book of the Dead menu.

Name	Description
Raise Skeletons	Raise a Skeleton from a Corpse to fight for you. Once all of your Skeletons have been summoned, Raise Skeleton briefly summons a Skeletal Priest to empower your Minions for 8 seconds, increasing their damage by 30% and healing them for 40% of their Maximum Life. Maximum Skeletal Warriors: 4 Maximum Skeletal Mages: 3
Golem	Passive: You are protected by a Golem with 659 Life that attacks for 35% damage. The Golem sheds Corpses as it takes damage. Active: Your Golem becomes Unstoppable and Taunts Nearby enemies and takes 30% reduced damage for the next 6 seconds. When your Golem dies, it respawns after 20 seconds.

As the name implies, these are your general basic Skills that will allow you to generate Essence. On of their normal attack, these Skills can also debuff enemies or grant the Necromancer a buff.

Name	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Acolyte)	Upgrade 2 (Initiate)
Reap	5	Shadow	Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing 13% damage. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your Damage Reduction by 15% for 2 seconds.	If an enemy hit by Reap dies within 2 seconds, you gain 30% Attack Speed for 3 seconds.	Reap forms a Corpse under the first enemy hit. Can only occur every 4 seconds.	Reap instantly kills targets below 5% Life.
Decompose	5	Shadow	Tear the flesh from an enemy, dealing 33% damage per second and forming a usable Corpse with the flesh every 2 seconds.	If an enemy dies while being Decomposed, you gain 10 Essence.	Every 1.5 seconds, Decompose makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds.	Decompose Slows enemies by 50%, and if you channel Decompose for at least 1.5 seconds, you gain 30% Movement Speed for 5 second after ending the channel.
Hemorrhage	5	Physical	Burst an enemy’s blood, dealing 27% damage. Hemorrhage has a 20% chance to form a Blood Orb.	After picking up a Blood Orb, your next Hemorrhage also deals damage to enemies around your target and grants 2 additional Essence per enemy hit.	Hemorrhage gains an additional 20% Attack Speed while Healthy.	Hemorrhage grants 1.6% Base Life as Fortify each time it hits an enemy, and has a 1.5% chance per enemy hit to Fortify you for 100% Base Life.
Bone Splinters	5	Physical	Fire 3 bone splinters, dealing 9% damage each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence.	Bone Splinters has a 25% chance to fire 2 additional projectiles if cast while you have 50 or more Essence.	Hitting the same enemy at least 3 times with the same cast of Bone Splinters grants 8% Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.	Bone Splinters has a 20% chance per hit to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.

These Skills will be the Necromancer’s primary damage source. This is likely where the majority of your Essence will be spent.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Paranormal)	Upgrade 2 (Supernatural)
Blood Lance	Skill	5	Physical	Throw a blood lance that lingers in an enemy for 3 seconds, dealing 80% damage to the enemy and all other lanced enemies.	Blood Lance pierces through enemies who are currently lanced, dealing 10% reduced damage to subsequent enemies after the first.	While at least 2 enemies or a Boss are affected by Blood Lance, you gain 15% Attack Speed and Blood Lance’s Essence cost is reduced by 3.	After casting Blood Lance 6 times, your next cast of Blood Lance is guaranteed to Overpower and spawns a Blood Orb under the first enemy hit.
Blood Surge	Skill	5	Physical	Draw blood from enemies, dealing 20% damage, and expel a blood nova, dealing 50% damage. Blood Surge’s nova damage is increased by 10% per enemy drained, up to 50%.	Blood Surge Heals you for 3% of your Maximum Life when drawing blood from enemies. If 4 or more enemies are drawn from, then Heal for an additional 2.5% of your Maximum Life.	If an enemy is damage by Blood Surge’s nova while you are Healthy, then gain 1 stack of Overwhelming Blood. When you have 5 stacks of Overwhelming Blood, your next Blood Surge Overpowers.	Each time an enemy is hit by Blood Surge’s nova, you are Fortified for 1% Base Life. While you have Fortify for over 50% of your Maximum Life, Blood Surge deals 20% increased damage.
Blight	Skill	5	Shadow	Unleash concentrated blight that deals 30% damage and leaves behind a defiled area, dealing 95% damage over 6 seconds.	Blight Slows enemies by 25%.	Blight has a 30% chance to Immobilize enemies for 1.5 seconds on impact.	You and your Minions deal 15% increased damage to enemies within Blight.
Sever	Skill	5	Shadow	A Specter of you charges forward and attacks with its scythe for 75% damage then returns to you and attacks again for 25% damage.	Sever damages enemies along its path for 40% of its initial damage.	Every 3rd cast of Sever makes enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.	Sever deals 2% increased damage for each Minion you have upon cast.
Bone Spear	Skill	5	Physical	Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.	Bone Spear breaks into 3 shards when it is destroyed, dealing 25% damage each.	Bone Spear has a 5% increased Critical Strike Chance. If Bone Spear’s primary projectile Critically Strikes, it fires 2 additional bone shards upon being destroyed.	Bone Spear makes the first enemy hit Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Unliving Energy	Passive	3	–	Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.	–	–	–
Imperfectly Balanced (requires 1 point in Unliving Energy)	Passive	3	–	Your Core Skills cost 3% more Essence, but deal 5% increased damage.	–	–	–
Hewed Flesh	Passive	3	–	Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location. This chance is doubled against Bosses	–	–	–

These Skills offer the Necromancer some utility. This can come from healing, briefly becoming Immune, or trapping their enemies in place.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Ghastly/Blighted)	Upgrade 2 (Dreadful/Plagued)
Blood Mist	Skill	5	Physical	Disperse into a bloody mist, becoming Immune for 3 seconds. Your Movement Speed is reduced by 20% and you periodically deal 2% damage to enemies and Healing for 0.5% of your Maximum Life.	Casting a Skill that Overpowers reduces the cooldown of Blood Mist by 2 seconds.	Blood Mist leaves behind a Corpse every 1 second.	You gain 10% Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds after Blood Mist ends.
Bone Prison	Skill	5	–	Unearth a prison of bone with 12 Life that surrounds the target area for 6 seconds.	If an enemy is trapped by Bone Prison, gain 25 Essence, plus an additional 5 per enemy trapped. Enemies inside of Bone Prison are Vulnerable.	Enemies inside of Bone Prison are Vulnerable. If an enemy is trapped by Bone Prison, gain 25 Essence, plus an additional 5 per enemy trapped.	Reduce your active Cooldowns by 0.5 seconds for each enemy trapped by Bone Prison, up to 3 seconds.
Corpse Explosion	Skill	5	Physical	Detonate a Corpse, dealing 70% damage to surrounding enemies.	Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.	Corpse Explosion becomes a Darkness Skill and, instead of exploding, releases a vile miasma dealing 95% Shadow Damage over 6 seconds.	Corpse Explosion deals 8% increased damage to enemies that are Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable. These damage bonuses can stack.
Spiked Armor	Passive	3	–	Gain .1 Thorns.	–	–	–
Skeletal Warrior Mastery	Passive	3	–	Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by 15%.	–	–	–
Grim Harvest	Passive	3	–	Consuming a Corpse generates 2 Essence.	–	–	–
Fueled by Death (requires 1 point in Grim Harvest)	Passive	3	–	You deal 3% increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming a Corpse.	–	–	–

These Skills place a curse on enemies in a target area, putting a debuff on them.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Abhorrent)	Upgrade 2 (Horrid)
Iron Maiden	Skill	5	Physical	Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden take 30% damage each time they deal direct damage. Last 10 seconds.	Iron Maiden no longer costs Essence. Instead, gain 5 Essence for each enemy Cursed. Does not work with enemies who are already Cursed with Iron Maiden.	Heal for 7% of your Maximum Life when an enemy dies while afflicted with Iron Maiden.	When at least 3 enemies are afflicted by Iron Maiden, its damage is increased by 30%.
Decrepify	Skill	5	Physical	Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Decrepify are Slowed by 40.0% and deal 20.0% less damage for 10 seconds.	Lucky Hit: Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 10% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.	Lucky Hit: Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 15% chance to reduce your active Cooldowns by 1 second.	When you or your Minions hit an enemy afflicted with Decrepify below 10% Life, they are instantly killed. Does not work on Bosses.
Death’s Embrace	Passive	3	–	Close enemies take 2% more damage from you and deal 3% less damage to you.	–	–	–
Death’s Reach	Passive	3	–	You deal 4% increased damage to Distant enemies.	–	–	–
Skeletal Mage Mastery	Passive	3	–	Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Mages by 20%.	–	–	–
Amplify Damage	Passive	3	–	You deal 4% increased damage to Cursed enemies.	–	–	–

These are powerful Skills that can either heavily incapacitate enemies, or deal massive damage. There are many Passives present in this tier as well, designed to boost the types of Skills you wish to specialize in.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Enhancement	Upgrade 1 (Blighted/Ghastly)	Upgrade 2 (Plagued/Dreadful)
Corpse Tendrils	Skill	5	Physical	Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.	Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are slowed by 50% before being Pulled.	Corpse Tendrils has a 35% chance when damaging enemies to drop a Blood Orb.	Enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils are made Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Bone Spirit	Skill	5	Physical	Consume all of your Essence to conjure a spirit of bone that seeks enemies. Upon reaching an enemy, the spirit explodes, dealing 80% damage to the target and all surrounding enemies. Damage is increased by 4% for each point of Essence spent casting Bone Spirit.	If Bone Spirit Critically Strikes, its Cooldown is reduced by 7 seconds. This effect can only happen once per cast.	Bone Spirit has an additional 10% Critical Strike Chance.	After Bone Spirit hits an enemy, you generate 30% Essence over the next 4 seconds.
Gruesome Mending	Passive	3	–	While below 50% Life, you receive 10% more Healing from all sources.	–	–	–
Coalesced Blood (requires 1 point in Gruesome Mending)	Passive	3	–	While Healthy your Blood Skills deal 6% increased damage.	–	–	–
Transfusion (requires 1 point in Gruesome Mending)	Passive	3	–	Blood Orbs also Heal your Minions for 20% of the amount.	–	–	–
Drain Vitality (requires 1 point in Coalesced Blood)	Passive	3	–	Lucky Hit: Hitting enemies with Blood Skills has up to a 30% chance to Fortify you for 2% Base Life.	–	–	–
Tides of Blood (requires 1 point in Coalesced Blood or Transfusion)	Passive	3	–	You Blood Skills deal 5% increased Overpower damage. This bonus is doubled while you are Healthy	–	–	–
Necrotic Carapace	Passive	3	–	When a Corpse is formed from your Skills or your Minions, Fortify for 2% Base Life.	–	–	–
Serration	Passive	3	–	Your Bone Skills have a 0.3% increased Critical Strike Chance for each 10 Essence you have upon cast.	–	–	–
Rapid Ossification (requires 1 point in Serration)	Passive	3	–	Every 100 Essence you spend reduces the cooldowns of your Bone Skills by 0.5 seconds.	–	–	–
Compound Fracture (requires 1 point in Serration)	Passive	3	–	After Critically Striking 10 times with Bone Skills, your Bone Skills deal 5% increased damage for 5 seconds.	–	–	–
Evulsion (requires 1 point in Rapid Ossification or Compound Fracture)	Passive	3	–	Your Bone Skills deal 5% increased Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable enemies.	–	–	–
Reaper’s Pursuit	Passive	3	–	Damaging enemies with Darkness Skills increases your Movement Speed by 5% for 3 seconds.	–	–	–
Gloom (requires 1 point in Reaper’s Pursuit)	Passive	3	–	When you damage enemies with Darkness Skills, they take 2% increased Shadow Damage from you and your Minions for 2 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.	–	–	–
Crippling Darkness (requires 1 point in Reaper’s Pursuit)	Passive	3	–	Lucky Hit: Darkness Skills have up to a 15% chance to Stun for 1 seconds.	–	–	–
Terror (requires 1 point in Gloom or Crippling Darkness)	Passive	3	–	Darkness Skills deal 3% bonus damage to enemies who are Slowed, and 3% bonus damage to enemies who are Stunned or Immobilized. These bonuses stack and apply to Shadow damage dealt by your Minions.	–	–	–

Ultimates are high-impact Skills with long cooldowns. Unlike the other Skills, these have a two-step linear upgrade path. You can only choose one Ultimate Skill from this tree. However, you are free to pick as many Passives as you want, just like in all of the previous tiers.

Name	Skill/Passive	Max Rank	Damage Type	Description	Upgrade 1	Upgrade 2
Blood Wave	Skill	1	Physical	Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 120% damage and Knocks Back enemies.	Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.	Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.
Army of the Dead	Skill	1	Physical	Call forth the deep buried dead. Volatile Skeletons emerge over the next 7 seconds that explode when around enemies, dealing 45% damage.	When Army of the Dead’s Volatile Skeletons explode, they have a 15% chance to leave behind a Corpse.	Army of the Dead also raises your Skeletal Warrior and Skeletal Mages.
Bone Storm	Skill	1	Physical	A swirling storm of bones appears around you and your Golem, dealing 180% to surrounding enemies over 10 seconds.	Your Damage Reduction is increased by 15% while Bone Storm is active.	Your Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20% while Bone Storm is active.
Golem Mastery	Passive	3	–	Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by 25%.	–	–
Inspiring Leader	Passive	3	–	After you have been Healthy for at least 4 seconds, you and your Minions gain 4% Attack Speed.	–	–
Hellbent Commander (requires 1 point in Inspiring Leader)	Passive	3	–	Your Minions deal 10% increased damage while you are Close to them.	–	–
Bonded in Essence	Passive	3	–	Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest’s Healing will Heal your skeletons for 20% of their Maximum Life.	–	–
Death’s Defense (requires 1 point in Bonded in Essence)	Passive	3	–	Your Minions cannot lose more than 60% of their Maximum Life from a single damage instance.	–	–
Stand Alone	Passive	3	–	Increases Damage Reduction by 6%, reduced by 2% for each active Minion.	–	–
Memento Mori (requires 1 point in Stand Alone)	Passive	3	–	Sacrificing both Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages increases their Sacrifice bonuses by 20%.	–	–

These are powerful Passives that will likely define your Necromancer’s overall playstyle. Only one of these Passives can be chosen.

Name	Max Rank	Description
Ossified Essence	1	Your Bone Skills deal 1% increased damage for each point of Essence you have above 50 upon cast.
Rathma’s Vigor	1	Increase your Maximum Life by 10%. After being Healthy for 12 seconds, your next Blood Skill Overpowers.
Shadowblight	1	Shadow Damage infects enemies with Shadowblight for 2 seconds. You and your minions deal 10% bonus damage to enemies with Shadowblight. Every 10th time an enemy receives Shadow Damage from you or your Minions while they are affected by Shadowblight, they take additional 22% Shadow damage.
Kalan’s Edict	1	After you have not take damage in the last 2 seconds, your Minions gain 15% Attack Speed. While you have at least 7 Minions, this bonus is doubled.