Diablo 4: Necromancer skill tree, all attacks and abilities
Enter the bone zone.
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Ready to create your own mini-army in Blizzard’s latest big adventure?
Diablo 4has five classes to choose from, and the Necromancer returns as one of these playable archetypes. Necromancers raise the dead, using blood, bone, and shadow to weave together terrible attacks while skeletons rise and mob enemies.
Diablo 4: Barbarian skill tree, all attacks and abilities>Diablo 4: Druid skill tree, all attacks and abilities>Diablo 4: Sorceress skill tree, all attacks and abilities>Diablo 4: Rogue skill tree, all attacks and abilities
I’ve put together a guide on the Necromancer’s abilities, so you can decide where to invest your experience as you play. Bear in mind that Diablo 4 is even more of an ongoing game than past Diablo titles from Blizzard Entertainment. That means you should expect balancing changes and updates to how skills work, and I’ll be working to update this guide if anything changes.
If you don’t have a copy yet, you can snag aDiablo 4 preordernow, with multiple different versions of the game with different bonuses depending on your budget and wants.
Have a spare readyDiablo games mean clicking everywhere for everything, so it might be a good idea to have a spare mouse ready if you’re playing on PC. You’ll want to be comfy over long gaming sessions, and having a quality mouse can aid in that comfort.
Diablo 4Build an army of bone and dominate your enemies by assuming control of their blood and flesh. The Necromancer has made an impressive return in Diablo 4 as one of the launch classes.Buy from:Amazon|Xbox|Best Buy|Battle.net (PC)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills
Necromancer Skills are divided into a few categories:Basic Skills, Core Skills, Corpse and Macabre Skills, Corruption Skills, Summoning Skills, Ultimate Skills,andKey Passives.
These abilities are structured like with other classes, meaning Necromancers can level up any basic (non-passive and non-Ultimate) skill to a fifth level, while activated skills culminate in a choice of two mutually-exclusive upgrades. Necromancers' main resource is Essence, which is collected by using Basic Skills and spent using other skills.
Necromancers also have access to theBook of the Dead, unlocking ways of customizing their Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages (unlocked at Level 15), and (Golems unlocked at Level 25). They increase certain attributes by weakening others, including gaining large personal bonuses in exchange for sacrificing the ability to summon Minions at all.
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Like other classes, it’s free to reset the Necromancer’s skill points until level 15, so you can experiment early on. After that, it starts to get expensive, costing an ever-increasing amount of gold per skill reset, so think carefully. The Necromancer was level-capped to Level 25 in the Open Beta, but goes all the way up to Level 100 in the full game.
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Basic Skills
Bone Splinters:Fire 3 Bone Splinters, dealing damage from each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence. (Generate 5 Essence)
Decompose:Tear the flesh from an enemy, dealing damage per second and forming a usable Corpse with the flesh every 2.5 seconds. (Generate 5 Essence per second)
Hemorrhage:Burst an enemy’s blood, dealing damage. Hemorrage has a 20% chance to form a Blood Orbs. (Generate 8 Essence) (Blood Orbs heal for 15% of Maximum Life when picked up)
Reap:Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing daamge. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your Damage Reduction by 15% for 2 seconds. (Generate 4 Essence per enemy hit)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Core Skills
Blight:Unleash concentrated blight that deals damage and leaves behind a defiled area, dealing damage over 6 seconds. (Cost 25 Essence)
Blood Lance:Throw a blood lance that lingers in an enemy for 3 seconds, dealing damage to the enemy and all other lanced enemies. (Cost 10 Essence)
Blood Surge:Draw blood from enemies, dealing damage, and expel a blood nova, dealing damage. Blood Surge’s nova damage is increased by 10% per enemy drained, up to 50%. (Cost 30 Essence)
Bone Spear: Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing damage and piercing through enemies. (Cost 25 Essence)
Hewed Flesh:Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location. This chance is doubled against Bosses. (3 Levels)
Sever:A specter of you charges forward and attacks with its scythe for damage then returns to you and attacks again for damage. (Cost 20 Essence)
Unliving Energy:You maximum Essence is increased by 3. (3 Levels)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Corpse and Macabre Skills
Blood Mist:Disperse into a bloody mist, becoming Immune for 3 seconds. Your Movement Speed is reduced by 20% and you periodically deal damage to enemies and Healing for 0.5% of your Maximum Life.
Bone Prison:Unearth a prison of bone with Life that surrounds the target area of 6 seconds.
Corpse Explosion:Detonate a corpse, dealing damage to surrounding enemies.
Grim Harvest:Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence. (3 levels)
Skeletal Warrior Mastery:Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by 15%. (3 levels)
Spiked Armor:Gain 8 Thorns. (3 levels)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Corruption Skills
Amplify Damage:You deal 3% increased damage to Cursed enemies. (3 levels)
Death’s Embrace:Close enemies take 2% more damage from you and deal 3% less damage to you. (3 levels)
Death’s Reach:You deal 4% increased damage to Distant enemies. (3 levels)
Decrepify:Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Decrepify are Slowed by 40.0% and deal 20.0% less damage for 10 seconds. (Cost 10 Essence)
Iron Maiden:Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden take damage each time they deal direct damage. Lasts 10 seconds. (Cost 10 Essence)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Summoning Skills
Bone Spirit:Consume all of your Essence to conjure a spirit of bone that seeks enemies. Upon reaching an enemy, the spirit explodes, dealing damage to the target and all surrounding enemies. Damage is increased by 3% for each point of Essence spent casting Bone Spirit.
Corpse Tendrils:Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.
Gruesome Mending:While below 50% Life, you receive 10% more Healing from all sources. (3 levels)
Necrotic Carapace:When a Corpse is formed from your Skills or your Minions, fortify for 2% Base Life. (3 levels)
Reaper’s Pursuit:Damaging enemies with Darkness Skills increases your Movement Speed by 5% for 3 seconds. (3 levels)
Serration:Your Bone Skills have a 0.5% increased Critical Strike Chance for each 10 Essence you have upon cast. (3 levels)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Ultimate Skills
Army of the Dead:Call forth deep buried dead. Volatile Skeletons emerge over the next 7 seconds that explode when around enemies, dealing damage.
Blood Wave:Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals damage and Knocks Back enemies.
Bonded in Essence:Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest’s Healing will Heal your Skeletons for 20% of their Maximum Life. (3 levels)
Bone Storm:A swirling storm of bones appears around you and your Golem, dealing damage to surrounding enemies over 10 secoonds.
Golem Mastery:Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by 15%. (3 levels)
Stand Alone:Increases Damage Reduction by 6%, reduced by 2% for each active Minion. (3 levels)
Diablo 4 Necromancer Skills: Key Passives
Kalen’s Edict:After you have not taken damage in the last 3 seconds, your Minions gain 15% Attack Speed. While you have at least 7 Minions, this bonus is doubled.
Ossified Essence:Your Bone Skills deal 1% increased damage for each point of Essence you have above 50 upon cast.
Rathma’s Vigor:Increase your Maximum Life by 10%. After being Healthy for 15 seconds, your next Blood Skill Overpowers.
Shadowblight: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 damage.
Your enemies rise again, as your thralls
Diablo 4 is scheduled to launch on June 6, 2023 after first being revealed all the way back at BlizzCon 2019. If the Necromancer isn’t your style (or you just want to try another character) then there’s four other classes to check out. We’ve got the details on every other skill tree, which you can check out in the box at the top of the article.
Diablo 4If you’ve always felt like you wanted to be in control, the Necromancer is the way to go in Diablo 4. This game sees the return of the Demoness Lilith, but there’s deeper agendas at work to uncover.Buy from:Amazon|Xbox|Best Buy|Battle.net (PC)
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.