Tag: necro

Dark Lord 2.0 Diablo IV Necromancer Build [RDY-4-Launch]

Dark Lord 2.0 Necromancer BUILD for Diablo IV [RDY-4-Launch]

(the Dark Lord emerge from the shadows to curse his foes & engulf the battlefield in darkness)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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 Dark Lord 2.0.

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 (Dark Lord 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

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

(active) Reap – Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing 12% (X-?) damage. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your damage Reduction by 15% for 2 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 17% Generates: 4 Essence per enemy hit Damage: Shadow ; Tags: Basic, Darkness
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Reap – If an enemy hit by Reap dies within 2 seconds, you gain 30% attack speed for 3 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – don’t need any of the 2 but temporary you can use ) Acolyte’s Reap – Reap forms a Corpse under the first enemy hit. Can only occur every 5 seconds.

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

(active) Blight – Unleash concentrated blight that deals 30% (X-?) damage and leaves behind a defiled area, dealing 80% (X) damage over 6 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Essence Cost: 25 Damage: Shadow ; Tags: Core, Darkness
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Blight – Blight Slows enemies by 25%
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Paranormal Blight – Blight has a 30% (multiplicative) chance to Immobilize for 1.5 seconds on impact.
(passive) Hewed Flesh – Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4%/8%/12% chance to create a corpse at the target’s location.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Core passives to save points

Macabre Skills (Required Points: 6 )

(active) Corpse Explosion – Detonate a Corpse, dealing 75% (X-XX) damage to nearby enemies. Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Corpse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse – Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Blighted Corpse Explosion – Corpse Explosion becomes a Darkness Skill and, instead of exploding, releases a vile miasma dealing 110% (X-?) Shadow Damage over 6 seconds.
(passive) Grim Harvest – Consuming a Corpse generates 3/6/9 Essence.
- (upgrade) Fueled by Death – You deal 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage for 4 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Macabre passives to save points

Corruption Skills (Required Points: 11 )

(active) Decrepify – Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Decrepify are Slowed by 40% and deal 20% less damage for 10 seconds. Essence Cost: 10 Damage: Physical ; Tags: Curse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Decrepify – Lucky Hit: Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 10% chance to Stunned them for 2 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Abhorent Decrepify – Lucky Hit: Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 15% chance to reduce your Active Cooldowns by 1.0 seconds.

(active – ONLY investing 1 point here and ONLY in the skill, NOT the upgrades) Iron Maiden – Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden take 10% (X-?) damage each time they deal direct damage. Lasts 10 seconds. Essence Cost: 10 Damage: Physical ; Tags: Curse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) did not take
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) did not take
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in any Corruption passives to save points

Summoning Skills (Required Points: 16 )

(active) Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a Corpse, pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% (X-?) damage to them. Lucky Hit Chance: 20% Cooldown: 11.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical ; Tags: Corpse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse Tendrils – Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being pulled.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Plagued Corpse Tendrils – Enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils are made Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
(passive – ONLY put 1 point into this) Reaper’s Pursuit – Damaging enemies with Darkness Skills increases your Movement Speed by +5%/+10%/+15% for 3 seconds.
- (upgrade – ONLY put 2 points into this) Crippling Darkness – Lucky Hit: Darkness Skills have up to a 15% chance to Stun for 1/2/3 seconds.
- (upgrade) Gloom – When you damage enemies with Darkness Skills, they take 2%/4%/6% (multiplicative) increased Shadow Damage from you and your Minions for 2 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
- (upgrade) Terror – Darkness Skills deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) bonus damage to enemies who are Slowed, and 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) bonus damage to enemies who are Stunned or Immobilized. These bonuses stack and apply to Shadow Damage dealt by your Minions.
(passive – ONLY put 1 point into this) Serration – Your Bone Skills have a +0.5%/+1%/+1.5% increased Critical Strike Chance for each 10 Essence you have upon cast
- (upgrade) Rapid Ossification – DID NOT Take this
- (upgrade) Compound – Fracture After Critically Striking 10 times with Bone Skills, your Bone Skills deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased damage for 5 seconds.
- (upgrade) Evulsion – DID NOT Take this
(passive) Necrotic Carapace – When a Corpse is formed from your Skills or your Minions, Fortify for 2%/4%/6% Base Life.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Summoning passives to save points

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

(active) Bone Storm – A swirling storm of bones surrounds you and your Golem, dealing 180% (X-?) to surrounding enemies over 10 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Cooldown: 60 Seconds. Damage: Physical ; Tags: Ultimate, Bone
- (1st upgrade) Prime Bone Storm – Your Damage Reduction is increased by 15% while Bone Storm is active.
- (2nd upgrade) Supreme Bone Storm – Your Critical Strike Chance is increased by +20% while Bone Storm is active.
(passive) Stand Alone – Increases Damage Reduction by 6%/12%/18%,, reduced by 2% for each active Minion.
- (upgrade) Memento Mori – Sacrificing both Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages increases their Sacrifice bonuses by 20%/40%/60%.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in any other Ultimate passives to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

(passive) Shadowblight – Darkness Skills infect enemies with Shadowblight for 2 seconds. You and your Minions deal 10% (multiplicative) bonus damage to enemies affected by Shadowblight.

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 Zero Minions for this build & Sacrifice the Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, & Golem. The types 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: Sacrifice is amazing to get extra DMG to Vulnerable enemies
- Description: You deal 15% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable enemies, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Mages.
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: Amethyst, Diamond, Saphire, Skull, Ruby, or Emerald.
Armor: Ruby, Skull, or Saphire.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.

XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements

+5%/+5%/5 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor

+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Amethyst (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Damage Over Time
• Armor: N% Damage Taken Over Time Reduction
• Jewelry: N% Shadow Resistance

+5%/+8.2%/+14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage
• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance

+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance

+7.5%/39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance

+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

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 (Dark Lord 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect
Amulet: Blighted Aspect or Aspect of Grasping Veins (whichever you want to get the 50% boost, the other one goes in the 2nd Ring Slot)
Chest: Aspect of the Embalmer
Pants: Aspect of Shielding Storm
Gloves: Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
Boots: Aspect of The Void
Ring 1: Aspect of Decay
Ring 2: Blighted Aspect or Aspect of Grasping Veins (whichever of the two you did not put in the Amulet goes here)
1H Weapon: *Smiting Aspect Until The Unique goes here (see notes below)
Off-hand: Aspect of The Damned
2-H Weapon (if you decide to use one): *Smiting Aspect Until The Unique goes in he 1h slot (see notes below)

NOTE: Smiting Aspect goes in the 1H Weapon slot ONLY until you get the Black River Unique Scythe.
There are two other alternative picks for Uniques you could use if you get those first: Melted Heart of Selig (Amulet) & Harlequin Crest (Helm)

NOTE 2: How to re-arrange if using any of the alternative Uniques:
- For Melted Heart of Selig (Amulet): Smiting Aspect gets removed from the 1H Weapon slot and Blighted Aspect or Aspect of Grasping Veins (whichever you put in the Amulet) goes in the now empty 1H Weapon slot to make room for the Unique to go in the Amulet slot
- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Smiting Aspect gets removed from the 1H Weapon slot. Aspect of Ultimate Shadow goes in the now empty 1H Weapon slot. Then Exploiter’s Aspect goes in the now empty Gloves slot to make room for the Unique to go in the Helmet slot.

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 93 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 93 & 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 46 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 Damage Bonus
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Darkness/Shadow/Corpse/Bone/Physical Skills
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Core/Macabre/Corpse/Ultimate Skills
Damage with Core/Macabre/Corpse/Ultimate Skills
Lucky Hit Chance
Damage with Core/Macabre/Corpse/Ultimate Skills
Lucky Hit Chance with Darkness/Shadow/Bone/Physical Damage
Darkness/Shadow/Bone/Physical Damage Bonus
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Darkness/Shadow/Bone/Physical Damage
Resistance to All Elements
+ % Darkness/Shadow/Bone/Physical Damage to Elites
+ % Critical Strike Chance with Darkness/Shadow/Bone/Physical 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 to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Close Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Vulnerable Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
Vulnerable Damage
Fortify Generation
Damage while Fortified
Chance When Struck to Fortify for X Life
Overpower Chance
Overpower Damage with Blight/Corpse Explosion/Bone Storm
Overpower Damage with Core/Macabre/Ultimate/Darkness/Corpse/Bone Skills
Damage to Slowed/Stunned/Immobilized Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Slowed/Stunned/Immobilized Enemies

Higher Priority

+ 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

Lower Priority

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

This concludes the Dark Lord 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)

MAD DOG Diablo IV Druid Build [RDY-4-Launch]

MAD DOG Druid BUILD for Diablo IV [RDY-4-Launch]

(a Rabid Dog let loose & its companions are on the prowl, looking for prey to infest & Shred to pieces)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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).

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 (MAD DOG) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

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

(active) Storm Strike – Electricity gathers around your weapon, dealing 20% (X-?) damage to your target and chaining to up to 3 surrounding enemies, dealing 20% less damage each time it chains. You gain 25% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds after dealing damage with Storm Strike. Lucky Hit Chance: 25% Type: Storm Magic ; Damage: Lightning Generates: 15 Spirit
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Storm Strike – Storm Strike has a 15% chance to Immobilize all enemies hit for 2.5 seconds.
  - (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Fierce Storm Strike – Storm Strike has a 50% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

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

(active) Shred – Shapeshift into a Werewolf and and perform a trio of combo attacks: 1st Attack: Deal 25% damage. 2nd Attack: Deal 35% damage. 3rd Attack: Perform a larger finishing move dealing 60% damage. Lucky Hit Chance: 20% Type: Shapeshifting ; Damage: Physical Spirit Cost: 34
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Shred – Shred gains +30% Attack Speed and Heals for 2% of your Maximum Life if an enemy is struck.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Raging Shred – Shred’s third combo attack is larger and applies an additional 51% Poisoning Damage over 5 seconds.
(passive) Predatory Instinct – Critical Strike Chance against nearby enemies is increased by +3%/+6%/+9%.
- (upgrade – did NOT take as its’ Werebear synergy) Iron Fur
- (upgrade – did NOT take cuz no points) Digitigrate Gait / Lycanthropic Speed
(passive) did not pick other Spirit/Core passives to save points

Defensive Skills (Required Points: 6)

(active) Blood Howl – Shapeshift into a Werewolf and howl furiously, Healing you for 20% of your Maximum Life. Cooldown: 15 seconds Type: Shapeshifting
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Blood Howl – Kills reduce the Cooldown of Blood Howl by 1 second.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Innate Blood Howl – Blood Howl also generates 20 Spirit.
(passive) did not pick any Defensive passives to save points

Companion Skills (Required Points: 11)

(active) Wolves –
Passive: Summon 2 wolf companions that bite enemies for 8% (X-?) damage.
Active: Direct the wolves to focus an enemy, leaping to them and striking for 35% (X-?) damage. Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Cooldown: 14.0 seconds Type: Companion ; Damage: Physical
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Wolves – Wolves deal 20% (multiplicative) increased damage to Immobilized, Stunned, Slowed, or poisoned enemies.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Brutal Wolves – When you Critically Strike, your Wolves gain +20% Attack Speed for 3 seconds.
(passive) Call of the Wild – Your Companions deal 10%/20%/30% (multiplicative) bonus damage.
(passive) did not pick any other Companion passives to save points

Wrath Skills (Required Points: 16)

(active) Hurricane – Form a hurricane around you that deals 97% (X-?) damage to surrounding enemies over 8 seconds. Lucky Hit Chance: 33% Cooldown: 20 seconds Type: Storm Magic ; Damage: Physical
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Hurricane – Enemies who are damaged by Hurricane are Slowed by 25% for 2 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Natural Hurricane – Hurricane has a 15% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

(active) Rabies – Shapeshift into a Werewolf and perform an infectious bite on the target dealing 28% (X-?) damage, and an additional 53% (X) Poisoning damage over 6 seconds. Infected enemies spread Rabies to other nearby targets. Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Cooldown: 12 seconds Type: Shapeshifting ; Damage: Poison
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Rabies – Rabies’ Poisoning Damage also increases over the lifetime of the disease, dealing 30% (multiplicative) bonus damage at maximum duration.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Savage Rabies – Rabies deals its total Poisoning Damage in 4 seconds instead of 6.
(passive – ONLY put 2 points here) Elemental Exposure – Lucky Hit: Your Storm Skills have up to 20% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 1/2/3 second(s).
- (upgrade – did NOT pick to save points) Endless Tempest – Increase the duration of Hurricane and Cataclysm by 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative). This node is ONLY required to unlock Bad Omen BUT you’ll also need a point in Atmosphere for Bad Omen
- (upgrade – ONLY put 1 point here) Charged Atmosphere – Every 18/15/12 seconds, a Lightning Strike hits a nearby enemy dealing 45% (X-?) damage. This node is required to unlock BOTH Bad Omen & Electric Shock
- (upgrade) Bad Omen – Lucky Hit: Up to a 10%/20%/30% chance when dealing damage to a Vulnerable, Immobilized or Stunned enemy that a Lightning Strike also hits dealing 55% (X-?) damage.
- (upgrade – ONLY put 2 points here) Electric Shock – Lucky Hit: Dealing Lightning damage to enemies has a 5%/10%/15% chance to Immobilize them for 3 seconds. If the target is already Immobilized, the Lightning damage dealt to them is increased by 5%/10%/15%% (multiplicative) instead.
(passive – ONLY put 1 point here) Neurotoxin – Poisoned enemies are slowed by 8%/16%/24%.
- (upgrade ) Envenom – Poisoned enemies take 10%/20%/30% (multiplicative) additional Critical Strike Damage.
- (upgrade) Toxic Claws – Critical Strikes with Werewolf skills deal 8%/15%/23% of their base damage as Poison damage over 4 seconds.
(passive) did not pick any other Wrath passives to save points but there are some worth considering

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23) Not taking an Active Ultimate

(active)
- (1st upgrade)
- (2nd upgrade)
(passive) Defiance – Nature Magic skills deal 4% (multiplicative) increased damage to Elites.
- (upgrade) Natural Disaster – Your Earth Skills deal 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. Your Storm Skills deal 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage to enemies that are Stunned, Immobilized, or Knocked Back.
- (upgrade – did NOT pick to save points) Circle of Life – Nature Magic skills that consume Spirit restore 1%/2%/3% of your maximum Life.
- (upgrade – did NOT pick to save points) Resonance – Nature Magic Skills deal 2%/4%/6% (multiplicative) increased damage. Triple this bonus if an Earth Skill is the next Skill cast after a Storm Skill, or a Storm Skill is the next Skill cast after an Earth Skill.
(passive) did not pick other Ultimate passives to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

(passive) Bestial Rampage – After being a Werewolf for 2.5 seconds, gain +20% Attack Speed for 15 seconds. After being a Werebear for 2.5 seconds, deal 20% (multiplicative) increased damage for 15 seconds.

Class Mechanic (Spirit Boons):

I don’t have much info regarding the Spirit Boons but I think you can pick at least 2 from the same category (when you specialize into it) + maybe 1 more from every other category . I’d advise getting the following 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 for now.

Eagle Category:
Scythe Talons: +5% Critical Strike Chance
Avian Wrath: +30% Critical Strike Damage
Deer Category:
Wariness: Take 10% reduced damage from Elites
Snake Category:
Masochist: Critical Strikes with Shapeshifting Skills heal you for 3% Maximum Life
Wolf Category:
Energize: Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% Chance to restore 10 Spirit

Unique Item

Mad Wolf’s Glee (Chest Armor)

Werewolf form is now your true form, and you gain +2 Ranks to all Werewolf Skills.

+[0.07 – 0.14] Physical Damage
+[0.07 – 0.14] Poison Damage [7 – 14]% Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies
+[16.5 – 23.5]% Movement Speed

“He was not a victim of the curse – he sought it out. As his skin split and his bones cracked, his laughter never ceased.” – Tale of the Mad Nobleman

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

XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements

+5%/+5%/5 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received • Jewelry: +N Armor

+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance

+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage
• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance

+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance

+7.5%/39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Amethyst (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Damage Over Time
• Armor: N% Damage Taken Over Time Reduction
• Jewelry: N% Shadow Resistance

+5%/+8.2%/+14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

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 (MAD DOG) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Helm: Stormshifter’s Aspect
Amulet: Nighthowler’s Aspect
Chest: Aspect of Might Until The Unique goes here (see note below)
Pants: Vigorous Aspect
Gloves: Aspect of the Wildrage
Boots: Exploiter’s Aspect
Ring 1: Aspect of The Tempest
Ring 2: Storm Beast’s Aspect
1H Weapon (see note below): Aspect of the Alpha
Off-hand (see note below): Stormclaw’s Aspect
2-H Weapon (see note below): Aspect of the Alpha

NOTE 1: Aspect of Might goes in the Chest slot ONLY until you get the Mad Wolf's Glee Unique Chest. There are two other alternative picks for Uniques you could use if you get those first: Andariel's Visage (Helm) & Storm's Companion (Pants)

NOTE 2: How to re-arrange if using any of the alternative Uniques:
- For Andariel's Visage (Helm): Aspect of Might gets removed from the Chest and Stormshifter's Aspect goes in the Chest to make room for the Unique
- For Storm's Companion (Pants): Aspect of Might gets removed from the Chest and Vigorous Aspect goes in the Chest to make room for the Unique

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 95 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 95 & no Points from renown: Click THIS LINK
MAXed out points: Click THIS LINK

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

I’ve shortlisted 44 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 Damage Bonus
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Lightning/Poison Skills
Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Wrath/Companion/Werewolf/Shapeshifting/Nature/Storm Skills
Damage with Core/Wrath/Companion/Werewolf/Shapeshifting/Nature/Storm Skills
Lucky Hit Chance
+ X Ranks to Core/Wrath/Companion/Werewolf/Shapeshifting/Nature/Storm Skills
Overpower Damage
Physical/Lightning/Poison Damage Bonus
Lucky Hit Chance with Physical/Lightning/Poison Damage
Resistance to All Elements
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Lightning/Poison Damage
+ % Physical/Lightning/Poison Damage to Elites
+ % Critical Strike Chance with Physical/Lightning/Poison Damage Against Elites
Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
Damage Reduction from Elites
Critical Strike Chance Against Close Enemies
Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Vulnerable Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
Vulnerable Damage
Damage while Shapeshifted
Damage while in Werewolf Form
Damage while Healthy
Fortify Generation
Damage while Fortified
Chance When Struck to Fortify for X Life

Higher Priority

+ All Stats
Companion 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)
Spirit Generation / Regeneration / On Kill
Movement Speed
Attack Speed
Willpower
Resource Cost Reduction

Lower Priority

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

This concludes the MAD DOG Druid 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)

Mistplosion Diablo IV Necromancer Build [RDY-4-Launch]

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!)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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

(active) Hemorrhage – Burst an enemy’s blood, dealing 25% (X-XX) damage. Hemorrhage has 20% chance to form a Blood Orb. Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Generates: 7 Essence Damage: Physical ; Tags: Basic, Blood
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Hemorrhage – After picking up a Blood Orb, your next Hemorrhage also hits nearby enemies and grants 2 additional essence per enemy hit
- (2nd upgrade – don’t need any of the 2 but temporary you can use ) Initiate’s Hemorrhage – Hemorrhage grants 1.6% Base Life as Fortify each time it hits an enemy, and has a 1.5% chance per enemy hit to Fortify you for 100% Base Life.

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

(active) Blood Surge – Draw blood from enemies, dealing 20% (X-?) damage, and expel a blood nova, dealing 50% (X-?) damage. Blood Surge’s nova damage is increased by 10% (multiplicative) per enemy drained, up to 50% (multiplicative). Lucky Hit Chance: 20% Essence Cost: 30 Damage: Physical ; Tags: Core, Blood
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Blood Surge – Blood Surge heals you for 1% of your maximum Life when drawing blood from enemies. If 4 or more enemies are drawn from, then Heal for an additional 1.0% of your Maximum Life.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Supernatural Blood Surge – Each time an enemy is hit by Blood Surge’s nova, you are Fortified for 1% Base Life. While you have Fortify for over 50% of your Maximum Life, Blood Surge deals 20% (multiplicative) increased damage.
(passive) Hewed Flesh – Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4%/8%/12% chance to create a corpse at the target’s location.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Core passives to save points

Macabre Skills (Required Points: 6 )

(active) Corpse Explosion – Detonate a Corpse, dealing 75% (X-XX) damage to nearby enemies. Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Corpse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse – Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Plagued Corpse Explosion – Corpse Explosion deals 10% (multiplicative) increased damage to enemies that are Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable. These damage bonuses can stack.

(active) Blood Mist – Disperse into a bloody mist, becoming Immune for 3 seconds. Your Movement Speed is reduced by 20.00% and you periodically deal 2% (X-?) damage to enemies, healing for 0.5% of your Maximum Life. Lucky Hit Chance: 9% Cooldown: 20 Seconds. Damage: Physical ; Tags: Macabre, Blood
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Blood Mist – Casting a Skill that Overpowers reduces the cooldown of Blood Mist by 2 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Ghastly Blood Mist – Blood Mist leaves behind a Corpse every 0.95 seconds.
(passive) Grim Harvest – Consuming a Corpse generates 3/6/9 Essence.
- (upgrade) Fueled by Death – You deal 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative) increased damage for 4 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Macabre passives to save points

Corruption Skills (Required Points: 11 )

(active) DID NOT TAKE a Corruption active due to using 2 minions on the skillbar
- (1st upgrade)
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2)
(passive) Death’s Embrace – Enemies in melee range take 2%/4%/6% (multiplicative) more damage from you and deal 3%/6%/9% less damage to you.
(passive) Skeletal Mage Mastery – Increase the damage and Health of your Skeletal Mages by 15%/30%/45% (multiplicative).
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Corruption passives to save points

Summoning Skills (Required Points: 16 )

(active) Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a Corpse, pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% (X-?) damage to them. Lucky Hit Chance: 20% Cooldown: 11.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical ; Tags: Corpse, Corruption
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse Tendrils – Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being pulled.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Horrid Corpse Tendrils – Enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils are made Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
(passive – only put 1 point into this) Gruesome Mending – While below 50% Life, you receive +10%/+20%/+30% more Healing from all sources.
- (upgrade) Coalesced Blood – While Healthy your Blood Skills deal 6%/12%/18% (multiplicative) increased damage. Note: Need to invest into this node to unlock BOTH Tides of Blood & Drain Vitality
- (upgrade) Transfusion – DID NOT INVEST in this to save points
- (upgrade) Drain Vitality – Lucky Hit: Hitting enemies with Blood Skills has up to 25% chance to Fortify you for 2%/5%/8% Base Life.
- (upgrade) Tides of Blood – Your Blood Skills deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased Overpower damage. This bonus is doubled while you are Healthy.
(passive) Necrotic Carapace – When a Corpse is formed from your Skills or your Minions, Fortify for 2%/4%/6% Base Life.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in other Summoning passives to save points

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

(active) Blood Wave – Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90% (X-?) damage and knocks enemies back. Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Cooldown: 50 Seconds. Damage: Physical ; Tags: Ultimate, Blood
- (1st upgrade) Prime Blood Wave – Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade) Supreme Blood Wave – Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.
(passive) DID NOT INVEST in any Ultimate passives to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

(passive) Rathma’s Vigor – Increase your maximum Life by 10%. After being Healthy for 15 seconds, your next Blood Skill Overpowers.

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

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.

XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements

+5%/+5%/5 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor

+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage
• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance

+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance

+7.5%/39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

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

Higher Priority

+ % 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

Bonus: Only worth it If the minions are not nerfed too much.

+ 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

Lower Priority

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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)

Hemomancer Diablo IV Necromancer Build

Hemomancer Necromancer BUILD for Diablo IV

(the Hemomancer will bleed you dry and consume your vitality to keep themselves Healthy)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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 Open Beta Tests are almost here and I felt motivated to make some Pre-Launch theorycrafted semi-builds that should be good for ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters when the game launches. I also plan to evolve them into FULL builds when the game is released & keep them updated when we get rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Necromancer Class called Hemomancer. (you can call it Mrs. or Ms. bones if suits you better

The Beta tests will only let us reach lvl 25 and only let us play in the first Act/Zone (Fractured Peaks) so those builds will be more useful for the actual game launch and ideally for characters around lvl 50+ or 60+. I’ve used 50+ and 60+ skill points when making the builds instead of the full 100 so that they can be used to jumpstart a player’s post-story endgame grind.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for those builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect that work well with the build so one can spend the extra skill points on the way to lvl 100 into those other skills.

This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have actual 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 on the way to lvl 100 + alternative skill options, you can check my pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Hemomancer) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

The images you see are PLACEHOLDERS due to lack of any real skill icons leaks for the Necromancer class. I will replace them once the Beta starts and I can screenshot the actual icons.

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

(active) Hemorrhage – Burst an enemy’s blood, dealing 25.00% (X-XX) damage. Hemorrhage has 20% chance to form a Blood Orb. Blood Orbs heal you for 15% of your maximum Life when picked up. Generates: 7 Essence Damage: Physical
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Hemorrhage – After picking up a Blood Orb, your next Hemorrhage also hits nearby enemies and grants 2 additional essence per enemy hit
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Initiate’s Hemorrhage – Hemorrhage grants X Fortify each time it hits and enemy, and had a 1.5% chance per enemy hit to Fortify you.

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

(active) Blood Surge – Draw blood from enemies, dealing 20.00% (X-?) damage, and expel a blood nova, dealing 50.00% (X-?) damage. Blood Surge’s nova damage is increased by 10% (multiplicative) per enemy drained, up to 50% (multiplicative). Essence Cost: 30 Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Blood Surge – Blood Surge heals you for 1% of your maximum Life per each enemy drained, up to 5%.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Supernatural Blood Surge – Each time an enemy is hit by Blood Surge’s nova, you are Fortified for X.
(passive) Unliving Energy – Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.
- (1st upgrade) did not pick to save points
(passive) Reconstitution – Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a corpse at the target’s location.

Macabre Skills (Required Points: 6 ) I took two Macabre active skills

(active) Blood Mist – Disperse into a bloody mist, becoming Immune for 3 seconds. Your Movement Speed is reduced by 50.00% and you periodically deal 1.75 (X-X) damage to enemies, healing for 100% of the damage dealt. Cooldown: 19 Seconds.
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Blood Mist – Blood Mist’s Movement Speed penalty is reduced to 20%.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Ghastly Blood Mist – Blood Mist leaves behind a Corpse every 1 second.
(passive – only put 1 point here to unlock the upgrade) Grim Harvest – Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence.
- (upgrade) Fueled by Death – You deal 4% (multiplicative) increased damage for 4 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
(passive – only put 1 point here & it’s optional) Necrotic Carapace – When a Corpse is formed from your Skills or your Minions, Fortify for X.

(active) Bone Prison – Unearth a prison of bone with X Life that surrounds the target area for 6 seconds. Cooldown: 20 Seconds.
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Bone Prison – Gain 3 Essence each time an enemy hits your Bone Prison.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Dreadful Bone Prison – Fortify for X for each enemy trapped by Bone Prison.

Corruption Skills (Required Points: 11 ) DID NOT pick a Corruption skill but you can remove Bone Prison and pick Iron Maiden

(active 1) Iron Maiden – Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden take 10.00% (X-XX) damage each time they deal direct damage. Lasts 10 seconds. Essence Cost: 10 Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden no longer costs Essence. Instead, gain 5 Essence for each enemy Cursed. Does not work with enemies already cursed with Iron Maiden.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Abhorrent Iron Maiden – Heal for 5% of your maximum Life when an enemy dies while afflicted with Iron Maiden.
(passive) did not invest into Corruption passives to save points

Summoning Skills (Required Points: 16 )

(active) Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a Corpse, pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20.00% (X-?) damage to them. Cooldown: 11.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse Tendrils – Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being pulled.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Abhorrent Corpse Tendrils – Enemies slain while Stunned by Corpse Tendrils have a 25% chance to drop a Blood Orb.
(passive) Blood Begets Blood – While below 50% Life, you receive 10% more healing from all sources.
- (upgrade 1 DID NOT INVEST in this to save points) Tides of Blood – Your Blood Skills deal 5% increased (multiplicative) Overpower damage. This bonus is doubled while you are Healthy.
- (upgrade 2) Coalesced Blood – Blood Orbs heal you for 15% more.
- (upgrade 3 DID NOT INVEST in this to save points) Drain Vitality – Hitting enemies with Blood Skills has up to 25% chance to Fortify you for X.
- (upgrade 4) Transfusion – Blood Orbs also heal your Minions for 15% of the amount.
(passive) did not invest into Summoning passives to save points

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

(active) Blood Wave – Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90.00% (X-XX) damage and knocks enemies back. Cooldown: 50.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Prime Blood Wave – Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
(2nd upgrade) Supreme Blood Wave – Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.
(passive- ONLY PUT 1 LEVEL here to save points & to unlock the upgrade) Stand Alone – Increases Damage Reduction by 6%, reduced by 2% for each active Minion.
- (upgrade) Memento Mori – Sacrificing both Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages increases their Sacrifice bonuses by 20%.
(passive) Golem Mastery – Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by 15%
(passive) did not invest into Ultimate passives to save points but there are some nice options

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

(passive) Rathma’s Vigor – Increase your maximum Life by 10%. While Healtthy, you deal 25% (multiplicative) increased damage

Book of the Dead (Class Mechanic):

This build is all about doing as much shadow dmg hits as possible and focuses on ranged DPS. Sacrificing our melee minions might make it hard by not having a “tank” but it also boosts our dps in a lovely way. As for the types I picked, I’d recommend as follows:

Skeletal Reapers + Sacrifice is what we take for the bonus dps
- Description: Your critical strike chance is increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
Shadow Mages + Sacrifice is a lovely build synergy
- Description: Your maximum essence is increased by 15, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Mages.
Iron Golem + Sacrifice is what we take for the bonus dps
- Description: You deal 30% (multiplicative) increased critical strike damage, but you lose the ability to summon a Golem.

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 pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Hemomancer) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Helm: Aspect of Potent Blood
Amulet: Aspect of Shared Misery
Chest: Fastblood Aspect
Pants: Aspect of Might
Gloves: Aspect of Pummeling
Boots: Aspect of Grasping Veins
Ring 1: Aspect of The Umbral
Ring 2: Aspect of Bursting Bones
1H Weapon: Aspect of Retribution
Off-hand: Blood-bathed Aspect
2-H Weapon (if you decide to use one): Aspect of Retribution

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

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

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

This concludes the Hemomancer 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)

Dark Lord Diablo IV Necromancer Build

The Dark Lord and his Mages emerge from the shadows to engulf the battlefield in darkness

Dark Lord Necromancer BUILD for Diablo IV

(the Dark Lord and his Mages emerge from the shadows to engulf the battlefield in darkness)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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).

This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have actual 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 on the way to lvl 100 + alternative skill options, you can check my pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Reaping Army) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

The images you see are PLACEHOLDERS due to lack of any real skill icons leaks for the Necromancer class. I will replace them once the Beta starts and I can screenshot the actual icons.

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

(active) Reap – Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing 12.00% (X-?) damage. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your damage Reduction by 15% for 2 seconds. Generates: 4 Essence per enemy hit Damage: Shadow
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Reap – If an enemy hit by Reap dies within 2 seconds, you gain 30% attack speed for 3 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Initiate’s Reap – Reap instantly executes non-Bosses below 5% Life.

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

(active) Blight – Unleash concentrated blight that deals 30.00% (X-?) damage and leaves behind a defiled area, dealing 80% (X) damage over 6 seconds. Essence Cost: 25 Damage: Shadow
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Blight – Blight Slows enemies by 25%
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Paranormal Blight – Blight has a 10% (multiplicative) chance to Stun for 2 seconds each time it deals damage.
(passive) Unliving Energy – Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.
- (1st upgrade) did not pick to save points
(passive) Reconstitution – Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a corpse at the target’s location.

Macabre Skills (Required Points: 6 )

(active) Corpse Explosion – Release a vile miasma from a Corpse, dealing 75.00% (X-?) Shadow Damage over X seconds. Detonate a Corpse, dealing X damage to nearby enemies. Cooldown: ? Seconds.
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse – Explosion Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Horrid Corpse Explosion – Corpse Explosion deals 15% (multiplicative) increased damage to enemies that are Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable.
(passive) did not invest into the Macabre passives yet to save points

Corruption Skills (Required Points: 11 ) here we’re taking both Curses

(active 1) Iron Maiden – Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden take 10.00% (X-XX) damage each time they deal direct damage. Lasts 10 seconds. Essence Cost: 10 Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden no longer costs Essence. Instead, gain 5 Essence for each enemy Cursed. Does not work with enemies already cursed with Iron Maiden.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Abhorrent Iron Maiden – Heal for 5% of your maximum Life when an enemy dies while afflicted with Iron Maiden.

(active) Decrepify – Curse the target area. Enemies afflicted by Decrepify are Slowed by 50% and deal 25% less damage for 10 seconds. Essence Cost: 10 Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Decrepify – Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 10% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Abhorent Decrepify – Enemies hit while afflicted with Decrepify have up to a 15% chance to reduce your active cooldowns by 1.0 seconds.
(passive) Skeletal Mage Mastery – Increase the damage and Health of your Skeletal Mages by 15%.
(passive) did not invest into other Corruption passives to save points

Summoning Skills (Required Points: 16 )

(active DID NOT TAKE IT BUT YOU CAN REMOVE A CURSE FOR IT) Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a Corpse, pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20.00% (X-?) damage to them. Cooldown: 11.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Enhanced Corpse – Tendrils Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being pulled.
(2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Horrid Corpse Tendrils – Enemies Stunned by Corpse Tendrils take 40% (multiplicative) more damage from Corpse Explosion.
(passive) Reaper’s Pursuit – Damaging enemies with Darkness Skills increases your Movement Speed by 5% for 3 seconds.
- (upgrade) Crippling Darkness – DID NOT INVEST in this to save points
- (upgrade) Gloom – When you damage enemies with Darkness Skills, they take 2% (multiplicative) increased Shadow Damage for 2 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
- (upgrade) Terror – Darkness Skills deal 5% increased damage against Immobilized, Slowed, or Stunned enemies. This also applies to Shadow Damage dealt by your Minions.

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

(active) Blood Wave – Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90.00% (X-XX) damage and knocks enemies back. Cooldown: 50.0 Seconds. Damage: Physical
(1st upgrade) Prime Blood Wave – Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
(2nd upgrade) Supreme Blood Wave – Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.
(passive) Hellbent Commander – Your Minions deal 10% (multiplicative) increased damage while you are near them.
- (upgrade) Inspiring Command – DID NOT INVEST in this to save points
(passive) Bonded in Essence – Your Minions gain 15% of your Resistances.
- (upgrade) Death’s Defense – DID NOT INVEST in this to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

(passive) Shadowblight – Darkness Skills infect enemies with Shadowblight for 2 seconds. Every 10th time an enemy receives Shadow Damage from you or your Minions while they are affected by Shadowblight, they burst for 20.00% (X-XX) Shadow Damage.

Book of the Dead (Class Mechanic):

Skeletal Reapers + Sacrifice is what we take for the bonus dps
- Description: Your critical strike chance is increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
Shadow Mages + Upgrade 2 is a good build synergy
- Description: Shadow Mages fire an additional shadow bolt every 6th attack.
Bone Golem + + Sacrifice is what we take for the bonus dps
- Description: You deal 30% (multiplicative) increased critical strike damage, but you lose the ability to summon a Golem.

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 pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Dark Lord) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Helm: Aspect of The Umbral
Amulet: Blighted Aspect
Chest: Sacrificial Aspect
Pants: Aspect of Disobedience
Gloves: Aspect of Shared Misery
Boots: Aspect of The Void
Ring 1: Aspect of Pummeling
Ring 2: Aspect of Retribution
1H Weapon: Aspect of The Damned
Off-hand: Aspect of The Expectant
2-H Weapon (if you decide to use one): Aspect of The Damned

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

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

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

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This concludes the Dark Lord 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)