Mistplosion 2.0 Necromancer BUILD for Diablo IV [A+ Tier Grade]

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

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Diablo IV launched on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation) and I’ve had my fair share of playing and testing done. I’m now ready to start making full Builds/Theorycrafts that work for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I’ll evolve & keep them updated when we get major rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Necromancer Class called Mistplosion 2.0.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for my 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 when needed.

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 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

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

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. There’s room for a basic skill on the skillbar and many may not want it and might rather prefer to use Decrepify there so it’s up to you to decide on this one. I love using Reap at the beginning of a fight as it’s a guaranteed corpse every (5 seconds) that can be used to start the fight off with a Corpse Tendrils for the crit chance buff & crit damage taken debuff + Vulnerable debuff.

I’d advise taking ZERO Minions for this build. So you’ll & Sacrifice the Skeletal Warriors & Mages + the Golem:

• 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.
• Bone Mages: Sacrifice is amazing to get our Overpower damage multiplied by x40%. This is a HUGE boost as the majority of the Overpower for this build is additive.
  • Description: Your Overpower damage is increased by 40% (multiplicative)
• 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 Items

In Diablo IV 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 Uniques inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top picks will be the following two but check the notes under the Aspects list for more picks:

Black River (Scythe)

[0.06] Life On Kill Corpse Explosion consumes up to 4 additional Corpses around the initial Corpse, dealing x[122-130%] increased damage and with a +[21-25%] 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 + X% Damage to Distant Enemies

“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

Harlequin Crest (Helm)

Gain [5-8%] Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +[2-4] Ranks to All Skills.

[0.245 – 0.455] Maximum Life
X% Cooldown Reduction
+[42 – 70]% Crafting Material Drop Rate
[14 – 28] All Stats

“This headdress was once worn by an assassin disguised as a court mage. Her treachery was unveiled, but not before she used its magic to curse the king’s entire lineage.” – The Fall of House Aston

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.
Armor: Ruby or Saphire (dmg reduction apparently is very needed in high tier NM dungeons).
Jewelry: Skull for Armor until they rework resistances. After the rework: 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 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

• Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect / Harlequin Crest (see notes below)
• Amulet: Aspect of Grasping Veins
• Chest: Aspect of The Protector
• Pants: Aspect of the Embalmer
• Gloves: Blood-bathed Aspect
• Boots: Aspect of Explosive Mist
• Ring 1: Cadaverous Aspect
• Ring 2: Sacrificial Aspect
• 1H Weapon: Smiting Aspect / Black River (see notes below)
• Off-hand: Aspect of Untimely Death
• 2-H Weapon: Aspect of Grasping Veins OR Cadaverous Aspect OR Sacrificial Aspect BUT I do NOT recommend using a 2-hander as the whole build is centered around the Black River but until you get it you can use a 2-hander and loose one of the offensive aspects

NOTES: How to re-arrange if using any of the Uniques:

- Smiting Aspect stays in the 1-h Weapon slot ONLY until you get the Black River Unique 1-h Scythe. 
- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Exploiter’s Aspect gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Helm.

ALTERNATIVE PICKS (if you decide to use them): 
- For Temerity (Pants): Aspect of The Protector gets removed from the Chest Slot, then Aspect of the Embalmer goes into the now empty Chest slot to make room for the Unique Pants.
- For Mother's Embrace (Ring) in the build, you will need to sacrifice one more aspect and it may be hurting the build to loose any of the remaining aspects once you have the Helmet and 1-h Weapon slots filled up with Uniques. Up to you to decide which on is okay to sacrifice for that Unique ring.

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 91 with 185 paragon points (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100). The other link is what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points.

• 185/223 Paragon Pts. (~LVL 91 with renown & altar pts): Click THIS LINK
• MAX LEVEL & Paragon points spent (223/223): Click THIS LINK

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

I’ve shortlisted 42 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. NOTE: I’ve added a new “Top Priority per Slot” list but left the old unsorted list below it.

This is the Sorted by Slot list of Top Priority Affixes/Rolls:

• Helm:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life
  • Priority 3: Total Armor or Maximum Essence (both are kind of equal priority)
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats)
• Amulet:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction, Movement Speed
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, +X Ranks of All Corpse/ Macabre Skills, +X% Core Skill Damage, +X% Blood Skill Damage
  • Priority 3: +X% Damage, Damage Reduction from Close or Distant Enemies/While Injured,
  • Priority 4: Essence Cost Reduction
• Chest:
  • Priority 1: Damage Reduction from Close or Distant Enemies/while Fortified
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, + X% Damage
  • Priority 3: Blood Skill Damage, Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats), Total Armor
  • Priority 4: Physical Damage, Fortify Generation, Damage Reduction
• Pants:
  • Priority 1: +X Ranks of Blood Mist/Corpse Explosion, Damage Reduction from Close or Distant Enemies/while Fortified
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Damage Reduction while Injured
  • Priority 3: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats), Total Armor
  • Priority 4: Damage Reduction
• Gloves:
  • Priority 1: + X ranks to Blood Surge, Critical Strike Chance, Overpower Damage
  • Priority 2: Damage to Injured Enemies, Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies
  • Priority 3: Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore +X% Primary Resource, Lucky Hit Chance
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats), Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Heal +X Life
• Boots:
  • Priority 1: Movement Speed, Essence Cost Reduction
  • Priority 2: +X Ranks of Corpse Tendrils, Damage Reduction while Injured
  • Priority 3: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats)
  • Priority 4: Fortify Generation
• Ring 1:
  • Priority 1: Overpower Damage, Critical Chance
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Critical Damage, Vulnerable Damage, Damage to Close/Vulnerable Enemies
  • Priority 3: Damage to Stunned Enemies, X% Damage for 4 Seconds After Picking Up a Blood Orb
  • Priority 4: Physical Damage, Maximum Essence, Lucky Hit Chance
• Ring 2:
  • Priority 1: Overpower Damage, Critical Chance
  • Priority 2: Maximum Life, Critical Damage, Vulnerable Damage, Damage to Close/Vulnerable Enemies
  • Priority 3: Damage to Stunned Enemies, X% Damage for 4 Seconds After Picking Up a Blood Orb
  • Priority 4: Physical Damage, Maximum Essence, Lucky Hit Chance
• 1H Weapon: Apparently, weapons can NOT roll two types of Damage mods!!!
  • Priority 1: Damage to Vulnerable Enemies & Vulnerable Damage, Damage to Close Enemies, Overpower Damage
  • Priority 2: Critical Strike Damage, Core Skill Damage
  • Priority 3: Damage to Slowed/Stunned Enemies
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats)
• Focus Off-hand | When you use a Focus Off-hand:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction, Essence Cost Reduction
  • Priority 2: Critical Strike Chance
  • Priority 3: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore +[7 – 14]% Primary Resource , Lucky Hit Chance
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats), Damage Reduction while Fortified, Critical Chance Against Injured
• Shield Off-hand: When you use a Shield Off-hand:
  • Priority 1: Cooldown Reduction, Essence Cost Reduction
  • Priority 2: Critical Strike Chance, Damage Reduction while Fortified/from Close or Distant Enemies
  • Priority 3: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore +[7 – 14]% Primary Resource , Lucky Hit Chance
  • Priority 4: Core Stats (Int, Dex, Wil, All Stats), Critical Chance Against Injured
• 2-H Weapon: See the 1H Weapon Rolls List

+ X% Damage

Critical Strike Chance/Critical Damage Bonus

Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Blood Skills

Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Blood/Corpse/Corruption/Macabre Skills

Damage with Core/Blood/Corpse/Corruption/Macabre Skills

Lucky Hit Chance

+ X Ranks to Core/Blood/Corpse/Corruption/Macabre Skills

+ X Ranks to Blood Surge/Corpse Explosion/Corpse Tendrils/Blood Mist

Overpower Damage

+ Wilpower, + Dexterity, + Intelligence

+ All Stats

+ Maximum Life

Essence Generation / Regeneration / On Kill

Resource/Essence Cost Reduction

Cooldown Reduction

Blood/Corpse/Corruption/Macabre Skills Cooldown Reduction

Physical/Blood Damage Bonus

Lucky Hit Chance with Physical/Blood Damage

Resistance to All Elements

+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Blood Damage

+ % Physical/Blood Damage to Elites

+ % Critical Strike Chance with Physical/Blood Damage Against Elites

+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite

Damage Reduction from Elites

Damage / Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Close Enemies

Damage / Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Crowd Controlled Enemies

Vulnerable Damage

Damage / Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Vulnerable Enemies

Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% chance to Restore +X% Primary Resource

Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% chance to Heal +X Life

Damage while Healthy

Fortify Generation

Damage while Fortified

Chance When Struck to Fortify for X Life

Movement Speed

Damage vs Injured Enemies

Lucky Hit: Up to a +X% Chance to Execute Injured Non-Elites

Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies

Damage vs Healthy Enemies

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

Attack Speed

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

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

For my Diablo IV 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 2.0 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