Diablo 4 – Necromancer Skills Guide

The Necromancer in Diablo 4 is an individual who follows the teachings of Rathma. They think on the balance between good and evil, for there is no greater equalizer than death. With abilities that focus on raising the dead to creations made of bone, this macabre monster slayer should make for an interesting character. Here’s our Diablo 4 Necromancer skills overview guide to help you with various abilities that you can unlock.

Diablo 4 Necromancer skills

The Diablo 4 Necromancer focuses on harnessing the energies of life and death through blood, bone, and curses. The Raise Skeleton is a Summoning spell that’s available by default. It allows the character to spawn a skeletal minion from the corpses of enemies (which are denoted by a red aura around the body).

Moreover, this class has a unique mechanic called Book of the Dead, which becomes available at level 5. As you progress, you’ll unlock new minions that can be summoned, as well as certain passive perks that will change how they function.

Likewise, do note that the classes in the game use tiers/groupings for each skill and talent, unlocked once you’ve spent enough skill points. We list them down in the sections below, further subdividing them based on connected nodes/upgrades. Lastly, don’t forget to take a look at the Necromancer talents/perks guide.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Basic skills

Basic skills are always available to cast. They deal fairly low damage, but are your bread-and-butter abilities. They’ll help regenerate the Necromancer’s essence resource.

Reap -Sweep a scythe in front of you to deal damage; hitting an enemy improves your damage reduction.

• Enhanced – If an enemy hit by Reap dies within two seconds, gain +30% attack speed for three seconds.
  • Acolyte’s – Forms a corpse under the first enemy hit; can occur every five seconds.
  • Initiate’s – Instantly kills targets below 5% HP; does not work on bosses or players.

Decompose – Deals damage-per-second and forms a usable corpse.

• Enhanced – +10 essence if an enemy dies while being Decomposed.
  • Acolyte’s – You and your minions deal +10% damage to enemies affected by Decompose.
  • Initiate’s – Slows enemies down by 30%.

Hemorrhage – Burst an enemy’s blood to deal damage; 20% chance to form a Blood Orb (i.e., pick up to be healed for 15% of your max HP).

• Enhanced – After picking up a Blood Orb, your next Hemorrhage deals damage to enemies around your target; grant +2 essence per enemy hit.
  • Acolyte’s – +20% attack speed if you’re healthy (80% HP or more).
  • Initiate’s – Grants a percentage to turn part of your base life into fortify (i.e., bonus amount over HP and 10% reduced damage); extra chance for hits to grant a higher bonus.

Bone Splinters – Shoot three bone projectiles; gain +1 essence for each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast.

• Enhanced – +30% chance to fire two extra projectiles if you have 50 essence or more.
  • Acolyte’s – Hitting the same enemy at least three times with the same cast grants +8% crit chance for four seconds.
  • Initiate’s – 20% chance per hit to apply vulnerable (i.e., 20% increased damage taken).

Diablo 4 Necromancer Core skills

Core skills (and those in subsequent tiers/groupings) cost essence to cast. They’re fairly reliable in combat. You’ll unlock them once you’ve spent at least two skill points.

Blood Lance -Throw a lance that deals damage for three seconds to the target and other lanced enemies.

• Enhanced – Penetrates through enemies that are lanced.
  • Paranormal – While at least two enemies or a boss are affected, gain +15% attack speed and Blood Lance’s cost is reduced by 2 essence.
  • Supernatural – Cast Blood Lance eight times and your next use is guaranteed to overpower (i.e., deal bonus damage based on the sum of your current life and fortified life); also spawns a Blood Orb under the first enemy hit.

Blood Surge – Draw blood and expel an AoE nova; damage is increased by 10% per enemy drained, up to 50%.

• Enhanced – Heal for extra HP when four or more enemies are hit.
  • Paranormal – While you’re healthy, enemies damage by Blood Surge grant one stack of Overwhelming Blood. At five stacks, your next cast overpowers.
  • Supernatural – Each time an enemy is hit, gain fortify for 1% of your base life; +20% damage if your fortify is over 50% of your max HP.

Blight – Unleash a blight that leaves behind a defiled area.

• Enhanced – Slows enemies by 25%.
  • Paranormal – 30% chance to immobilize for 1.5 seconds.
  • Supernatural – You and your minions deal +15% damage to enemies within the Blight.

Sever – Your specter charges forward and returns to you.

• Enhanced – Damages enemies along its path for 25% of the initial damage.
  • Paranormal – Every fourth casts applies vulnerable.
  • Supernatural – +2% increased damage on impact for every minion that’s active.

Bone Spear – Conjure a bone spear that can pierce through enemies.

• Enhanced – Breaks into three shards when it is destroyed.
  • Paranormal – +5% increased crit chance; if it lands a crit strike, it will fire two additional bone shards.
  • Supernatural – Applies vulnerable for three seconds to the first enemy that’s hit.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Corpse/Macabre skills

The Diablo 4 Necromancer skills in this section are for defensive and crowd-control purposes. You can select from this section once you’ve spent at least six skill points.

Blood Mist – Become immune for three seconds; slows down your movement speed but partially heals you by damaging nearby enemies.

• Enhanced – Reduces the cooldown by two seconds when you cast a skill that overpowers.
  • Dreadful – Fortifies you for a percentage of your base life each time it hits an enemy.
  • Ghastly – Leave behind a corpse every one second.

Corpse Explosion – Detonate a corpse to deal damage to surrounding enemies.

• Enhanced – +15% explosion radius.
  • Blighted – Becomes a darkness-infused skill; doesn’t explode but creates a miasma that deals shadow damage over six seconds.
  • Plagued – +10% increased damage to those that are slowed, stunned, or vulnerable; bonuses can stack.

Bone Prison – Create a prison made of bones that surrounds a target area for a time.

• Enhanced Bone Prison – +15 essence if an enemy is trapped; +5 more essence for each additional enemy.
  • Dreadful – Gain fortify for 5% of your base life for each enemy that’s trapped.
  • Ghastly – Make enemies inside the Bone Prison vulnerable.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Curse skills

Curse skills generate a debilitating affliction on a target area. These become available once you’ve spent 11 skill points.

Iron Maiden – Affected enemies take damage each time they deal direct damage.

• Enhanced – No longer costs essence; gain essence for each enemy that gets cursed; does not work on those already afflicted.
  • Abhorrent – Heal for 5% of your max HP when an enemy dies while afflicted.
  • Horrid – +15% Iron Maiden damage when at least three enemies are affected.

Decrepify – Slows targets and makes them deal less damage.

• Enhanced – Lucky Hit; 10% chance to stun afflicted enemies whenever they’re hit.
  • Abhorrent – Lucky Hit; 15% chance to reduce cooldowns by one second when you hit afflicted foes.
  • Horrid – Instantly kill hostiles at 10% life or less if you or your minions hit them while they’re affected by Decrepify; does not work on bosses.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Corpse/Macabre skills

The skills in this section are either of the Corpse or Macabre classification. These can be selected once you’ve spent 16 skill points.

Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a corpse, pulling enemies and stunning them; does not consume the corpse.

• Enhanced – Enemies are slowed by 50% before being pulled.
  • Blighted – 20% chance to create a Blood Orb.
  • Plagued – Make enemies vulnerable for three seconds.

Bone Spirit – Use all your remaining essence to conjure a Bone Spirit that seeks out enemies. Deals tremendous AoE damage, boosted further by how much remaining essence was spent.

• Enhanced – A critical hit reduces the cooldown by six seconds.
  • Dreadful – Generate 30 essence over four seconds once it hits an enemy.
  • Ghastly – +10% crit chance.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Ultimate skills

In Diablo 4, Ultimate skills are those that truly make a difference, causing tremendous damage or enhanced effects. You may choose only one Ultimate skill after spending at least 23 skill points.

Blood Wave – Create a tidal wave that deals damage and knocks back enemies.

• Prime – Slow enemies down by 50% for four seconds.
  • Supreme – Create three Blood Orbs as it travels.

Army of the Dead – Skeletons emerge for seven seconds and explode on surrounding enemies.

• Prime – 15% chance to leave a corpse behind after exploding.
  • Supreme – Also raises your Skeletal Warriors and Mages.

Bone Storm – Create bones that swirl around you and your Golem, dealing damage to nearby enemies for 10 seconds.

• Prime – +15% damage reduction while Bone Storm is active.
  • Supreme – +20% crit chance while Bone Storm is active.