Diablo 4' s Season 5 has seen a number of new items, game modes, and a seasonal questline added to the game. As players jump into the Season of Infernal Hordes, many are searching for a fun, fast leveling build to help them reach end game quickly. While there are many viable leveling builds for each class, one of the best for Necromancer is the Minion build.
The Necromancer's Minion build had several buffs in Season 4, as well as the game adding an interesting new Legendary Aspect to improve the build's survivability. Keep reading to learn how to play the Minion Necromancer on this Season's road to 100 with Itemization suggestions, a Skill Tree walkthrough, and Book of the Dead recommendations.
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The Best Build To Level Necromancer
The Necromancer's Minions received a number of buffs during Season 4, which made a minion-centric build ideal for leveling the Necromancer. Most important among these buffs were the changes to minion tankiness, which drastically increased their uptime. This, combined with some of Season 5's new items and Legendary Aspects turns the Minion Necromancer into a true Army of the Dead Power Fantasy.
The Minion Necromancer Skill Tree
The skill tree for the Minion Necromancer looks slightly odd at lower levels, due partially to not wanting anything from the first node. However, Diablo 4's progression system requires players to put two points into the Basic Abilities Node before being able to proceed, which leads to a semi-random 2 point investment into Sever and/or Decompose. Otherwise, this build is very Passive heavy, and focuses on providing consistent corpses for the player to use on Corpse Tendrils or Raise Skeleton.
Basic Abilities
These abilities should only be used as long as there are extra spots on the player's Hotbar, and should be abandoned by about level 25 to 30. Players can invest two points into Sever, or two into Decompose depending on their preference for melee or ranged combat.
Core Skills
The main damage source for this build until the Necromancer's Minions scale up is Blood Surge. This build only has room for 2 points in the skill, but this shouldn't matter, as it won't be on the Hotbar unless you're pivoting away from full minions in the late game (more on that later).
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Blood Surge (2/5)
- Enhanced Blood Surge
- Paranormal Blood Surge
- Unliving Energy (3/3)
- Imperfectly Balanced (3/3)
- Hewed Flesh (3/3)
Corpse And Macabre Skills
This is around the time the Necromancer's Minions start to melt through targets. However, in addition to picking up more passive buffs, players should also pick up the Necromancer's best defensive option - Bloodmist.
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Blood Mist (1/5)
- Enhanced Blood Mist
- Ghastly Blood Mist
- Spiked Armor (2/3)
- Skeleton Warrior Mastery (3/3)
- Grim Harvest (2/3)
- Fueled by Death (3/3)
Curse Skills
At this level, the player will invest 2 points on Iron Maiden for Essence Generation and additional damage, but primarily focus on the node's many useful passives.
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Iron Maiden (1/5)
- Enhanced Iron Maiden
- Death's Embrace (3/3)
- Amplify Damage (3/3)
- Death's Approach (3/3)
- Skeletal Mage Mastery (3/3)
Corpse And Macabre Skills (2)
This is where the Minion Necromancer picks up its all important CC, as well as its primary Defensive Statistics. By this time, the build should be melting through Elite Packs and Mini-Bosses with relative ease while the player watches from the backline.
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Corpse Tendrils (1/5)
- Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
- Plagued Corpse Tendrils
- Necrotic Carapace (3/3)
If players are struggling to clear content at this point, it is most likely an Itemization problem. The build should be able to clear The Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon by level 40.
Ultimate Skills
This is where players will need to have their end goal build in mind. For a pure Minion build in the late game, remove all points from Blood Surge and Imperfectly Balanced to put into Army of the Dead and some additional passives here. If players wish to move toward the Blood Surge Build however, then do not take Army of the Dead. Here are the two options side by side.
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Pure Minion Build Transition |
Blood Surge Build Transition |
|---|---|
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Key Passives
There is only one passive that will benefit a Minion Necromancer, and that is Kalan's Edict. This passive is especially strong for those who will continue a minion build into World Tiers 3 and 4, as items drop there that increase the maximum number of minions.
The Book Of The Dead For The Minion Necromancer
The Book of the Dead is fairly straightforward for the Minion Necromancer, choosing options that will maximize the damage of the horde. The real damage dealers of this build are the Skeletal Mages, which will receive the lion's share of buffs from items.
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Skeletal Warriors |
Reapers - Option 2
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|---|---|
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Skeletal Mages |
Shadow Mages - Option 1
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Golem |
Blood Golem - Option 2
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Itemization For The Minion Necromancer
Itemization for this build is focused on buffing the damage to the player's minions while maintaining sufficient personal survivability. Keep an eye out for gear with the following:
- Weapon Damage
- Damage Increase (%)
- Intelligence
- Maximum Life
- Critical Strike Chance
- Critical Strike Damage
- Vulnerable Damage
- Movement Speed
Because the Necromancer's minions gain 100% of stats from the player in addition to any minion specific ones, all damage stats will buff your minions somewhat.
Useful Legendary Aspects
While a leveling build doesn't get the pick of the litter of Aspects, as players will be more limited by RNG and material resources, the following Legendary Aspects fit well with this build.
- Reanimation (Aldurwood in in Scosglen)
- Grasping Veins (Corrupting Grotto in Kehjistan)
- Unyielding Commander's (Faceless Shrine in Hawezar)
- Aphotic (Random Drop)
- Frenzied Dead (Random Drop)
- Occult Dominion (Random Drop)
- Shademist (Random Drop)
- Coldbringers (Random Drop)
- Sly Steps (Random Drop)
- Hardened Bones (Random Drop)
- The Great Feast (Random Drop)
If players are lucky enough to have to choose between more of these aspects than fit on their gear, prioritize Hardened Bones, Occult Dominion, Frenzied Dead, Shademist, Coldbringers, and The Great Feast.
Useful Unique Items
Unique items may drop early, depending on the player's luck. Some that are worth equipping when found are:
- Ring of the Sacrilegious Soul
- Deathspeaker's Pendant
- the Mortacrux
- Ring of Mendeln
Diablo 4
- Released
- June 5, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Diablo
- Number of Players
- 1-2 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash
- How Long To Beat
- 26 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- File Size Xbox Series
- 158.25 GB
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 players (console only)
