Diablo 4 Necromancer Class Analysis

• Key Takeaways
• Abilities and Playstyles
  • Summoning
  • Bone Magic
  • Blood Magic
  • Darkness Magic
  • Curses
  • Defensive Skills
• Strengths and Weaknesses
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
• Build Variety and Strategies
• Comparison to Other Classes
• Conclusion

#Key Takeaways

• The Necromancer is a powerful summoner class that can raise armies of the undead to fight alongside them. Their key abilities include raising Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, and Golems.

• Necromancers have access to deadly Bone, Blood, and Darkness magic skills for offense. They can inflict powerful direct damage, curses, and debilitating status effects on enemies.

• The Book of the Dead system allows deep customization and upgrading of summoned minions. Minions can also be sacrificed for permanent buffs to the Necromancer.

• Necromancer builds can focus on minion summoning, direct damage skills, or a hybrid approach. They have strong AoE damage potential through skills like Corpse Explosion.

• Necromancers have good survivability through life leeching abilities and skills like Blood Mist that grant temporary invulnerability. Their minions also act as damage soaking tanks.

#Abilities and Playstyles

The Necromancer has access to a wide range of offensive and defensive abilities:

#Summoning

• Can raise Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, and Golems as minions. Minions soak up damage and deal additional damage to enemies.

• The Book of the Dead system allows deep customization of minions. Players can modify their skills and roles.

• Minions can be sacrificed for permanent buffs to the Necromancer through the Book of the Dead. Allows minion-less builds.

#Bone Magic

• Deadly Bone Spear and Bone Spirit skills that seek out and damage enemies. Bone Prison traps groups of enemies.

• Bone skills synergize well with critical strike chance. Benefit from large essence pools.

#Blood Magic

• Blood Surge and Blood Lance skills that steal life from enemies and explode for area damage.

• Blood skills get more powerful the more enemies are nearby to steal life from. Require positioning.

#Darkness Magic

• Decompose, Blight, and other darkness skills that rapidly deal damage over time. They also inflict debuffs.

• Darkness skills generate essence quickly and summon extra corpses for minions.

#Curses

• Powerful Decrepify and Iron Maiden curses that make enemies more vulnerable.

• Curses amplify damage dealt to enemies and enable Necromancer's other offensive skills.

#Defensive Skills

• Blood Mist provides temporary complete invulnerability and life leech.

• Minions summoned soak up damage. Golems can be specialized as tanks.

#Strengths and Weaknesses

#Strengths

• Very strong AoE damage potential through skills like Corpse Explosion

• Can summon small armies of minions to overwhelm enemies

• Versatile skillset allows different build focuses on direct damage or minion summoning

• Good mix of offense and defense with minions, invulnerability skills, and life leech

#Weaknesses

• Squishy early on before sufficient life leech and minions are acquired

• Managing cooldowns and resources takes skill and can be complex

• Minion generation requires corpses which can be scarce for some bosses

• Not as strong vs single targets compared to AoE damage potential

#Build Variety and Strategies

The Necromancer has great build variety through their diverse skills and minion customization options:

• Full minion summoning builds focus on boosting minions and relying on them for damage. Excellent for AoE clearing.

• Direct damage builds use Bone, Blood, and Darkness skills for offense. Curses amplify damage dealt.

• Hybrid builds use a mix of direct damage and minion skills together. Provides more adaptability.

• Corpse Explosion builds maximize the damage and frequency of this powerful AoE skill.

• Tanky builds take minion buffs that increase Necromancer toughness when sacrificed. Prioritize defense.

Key strategies for success include:

• Manage resources carefully. Balance essence spending on skills with regeneration.

• Curse tough enemies then bombard them with direct damage skills.

• Exploit enemy groups with Corpse Explosion for massive AoE damage.

• Customize minions to fill gaps like needing more tanks or damage.

• Use movement skills like Blood Mist to reposition and avoid damage.

#Comparison to Other Classes

Vs Barbarian: Necromancers have better AoE damage potential. Barbarians are tougher and output higher single target DPS.

Vs Druid: Druids have more mobility and shapeshifting abilities. Necromancers summon more minions and have stronger curses.

Vs Rogue: Rogues deal much higher single target damage. Necromancers have superior AoE abilities and minion summoning.

Vs Sorceress: Sorceresses have stronger elemental magic damage. Necromancers can summon minions and are more durable.

#Conclusion

The Necromancer is one of the most powerful and versatile classes in Diablo 4. They can overwhelm enemies with minions and deadly magic, excelling at AoE damage. Their diverse skills and customization options enable many effective builds. Necromancer's strong offense combined with their life leeching and minion tanks provide great survivability. Their flexibility and summoning abilities make them valuable assets in group play. Players who enjoy summoning minions and unleashing deadly magic will love the Necromancer.

Related video