Mistplosion Necromancer BUILD for Diablo IV [RDY-4-Launch]

(Turn to Mist & turn your fallen foes’ corpses into an explosive bloody spectacle. Death is Your Fuel!)

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Diablo IV launches on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation with a 4 days Early Access (no wipe) for pre-orders (so kind of really launching June 2nd).

Diablo IV‘s Launch is getting closer and it’s time to make some Ready-For-Launch full Builds/Theorycrafts that should be good for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I’ also plan to evolve them further when the game is released & keep them updated when we get rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Necromancer Class called Mistplosion.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for those builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect + unique item + gems & sockets + suggested stat rolls + paragon boards that work well with the build which you can use to tinker. Alternatively, i’ve added build calculator links (mostly needed for the paragons)

This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have more in-game information as reference.

Video Version:

Skill Trees

Below you’ll see ONLY the Active & Passive skills that were selected for this build. For additional skills that can be taken + alternative skill options, you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Mistplosion) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 ) Only used temporarily

Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )

Macabre Skills (Required Points: 6 )

Corruption Skills (Required Points: 11 )

Summoning Skills (Required Points: 16 )

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

Book of the Dead (Class Mechanic):

This build is all about creating as many corpses as possible and consuming them with Corpse Explosion directly or with the auto-cast via Blood Mist. For that we don’t need minions as much. However, there’s no room for a basics kill on the skillbar so we’ll use Cold Mages to generate essence in case there are no corpses nearby to consume for essence.

I’d advise taking only Cold Skeletal Mages for this build & Sacrifice the Skeletal Warriors & Golem. The types + upgrades/sacrifices are:

• Skeletal Skirmishers: Sacrifice so that we get extra Crit Chance
  • Description: Your critical strike chance is increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
• Cold Mages: Upgrade 1 is amazing to get our Essence generation going even if we don’t have a corpse to consume to trigger the Grim Harvest passive
  • Description: Each time your Cold Mages damage enemies with their primary attack, you gain 2 essence.
• Iron Golem: Sacrifice so that we get extra Crit Damage
  • Description: You deal 30% (multiplicative) increased critical strike damage, but you lose the ability to summon a Golem.

Unique Item

In Diablo IV apparently (I have multiple sources that confirmed this) we can equip more than one unique item at the same time (not so ‘unique’ if we can get decked out in full uniques I guess). It seems that the one unique per build idea that Unique inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top pick will be the following one but check the notes under the Aspects list for some additional picks:

Black River (Scythe)

[0.06] Life On Kill

Corpse Explosion consumes up to 4 additional Corpses around the initial Corpse, dealing x[N] increased damage and with a +[X%] larger radius per additional Corpse.

[49 – 63] Intelligence
+[21 – 35]% Damage to Healthy Enemies
+1 Ranks of the Fueled by Death Passive
+[2 – 4] Ranks of Corpse Explosion

“The scrolls describe a river of tar that separated the living from the land of the dead. Any unfortunate soul who tried to cross would be dragged down into oblivion.” – Notes of Scholar Kamien

Sockets & Gems

There are various possible good/viable choices for the gem slots. I’ve shortlisted what works by slot. I’d recommend picking one of those:

Weps: Ruby, Saphire, Skull or Emerald.
Armor: Skull, or Saphire.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.

Legendary Aspects / Powers

I will only list the Legendary Aspects that have been selected for the build and the slots in which I advise putting those. For in-depth information you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Mistplosion) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

• Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect
• Amulet: Aspect of Grasping Veins
• Chest: Viscous Aspect
• Pants: Aspect of the Embalmer
• Gloves: Blood-bathed Aspect
• Boots: Coldbringer’s Aspect
• Ring 1: Aspect of Explosive Mist
• Ring 2: Blood-soaked Aspect
• 1H Weapon: *Edgemaster’s Aspect Until The Unique goes here (see notes below)
• Off-hand: Cadaverous Aspect
• 2-H Weapon (if you decide to use one): *see notes below

NOTE: Edgemaster's Aspect is a great choice to use Until The Unique goes on that 1-handed weapon slot.

NOTE 2: If you temporarily use a 2-handed weapon before you get the 1-h unique Scythe, then priority goes to Cadaverous Aspect over Edgemaster's Aspect

Paragon Boards:

Use the links below to check the paragon boards selected and the nodes I’ve taken. One link is for what the boards will look like at lvl 96 without any paragon points from renown (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100 as well as from renown. The other link will be what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points.

• LVL 96 & no Points from renown: Click THIS LINK
• MAXed out points: Click THIS LINK

Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in complete order of priority):

I’ve shortlisted 33 different affixes that work well with the build of almost 300 total. I’ll highlight in Orange the ones I think should get higher priority

Bonus to All Damage

Critical Strike Chance/Critical Strike Damage Bonus

Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Blood Skills

Critical Strike Chance/Critical Strike Damage with Core/Macabre Skills

Damage with Core/Macabre Skills

Lucky Hit Chance

+ X Ranks to Core/Macabre Skills

Overpower Damage

Blood Damage Bonus

Lucky Hit Chance with Blood Damage

Resistance to All Elements

Cooldown Reduction

+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Blood Damage

+ % Damage to Elites

+ % Blood Damage to Elites

Damage Upon Killing an Elite

+ % Critical Strike Chance with Blood Damage Against Elites

Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

Damage Reduction from Elites

+ % Minion Damage

+ % Damage to Enemies affected by Blood DoT

+ % Minion Resistance to All Elements

+ % Minion Attack Speed

+ % Maximum Minion Life

Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes From Your Minions Have up to a 5% Chance to Reduce Enemy Damage Dealt by X% for N Seconds

+ All Stats

Damage while Healthy

Damage vs Healthy Enemies

Damage vs Injured Enemies

Damage vs Close Enemies

Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls)

Essence Generation

Essence Regeneration

Essence On Kill

Movement Speed

Attack Speed

Intelligence

Resource Cost Reduction

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

For all of my Diablo IV RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

For my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet

For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

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This concludes the Mistplosion Necromancer Build for Diablo IV. If you’re interested in the game below are links to the various platforms where one can buy it (you can just click the links to open a new tab):

PC (Battle.Net)

XBOX

PlayStation

Official Website