Necromancer Leveling Build Guide (Patch 2.7.7 / Season 31)

Last updated on Jan 10, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 36 comments

Welcome to our Necromancer leveling guide, where we give you an efficient build for easily leveling to Level 70, with plenty of explanations.

This guide is part of our Necromancer Seasonal Progress Guide, which also includes early builds for fresh 70 characters.

1.

Diablo 4 Necromancer Leveling Build

Looking for a Necromancer leveling build for Diablo 4? Follow the link below!

2.

Leveling Build

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Bone Spikes Icon Bone Spikes Sudden Impact Sudden Impact Right Mouse Button Skeletal Mage Icon Skeletal Mage Singularity Singularity 1 Blood Rush Icon Blood Rush Potency Potency 2 Frailty Icon Frailty Scent of Blood Scent of Blood 3 Command Skeletons Icon Command Skeletons Frenzy Frenzy 4 Devour Icon Devour Devouring Aura Devouring Aura
Passive Skills

Note that while the skills and runes recommended in the build are specifically chosen to be available at an early level and remain a solid pick throughout the leveling and early character progression, you will have to temporarily work with other skills as the build gradually unlocks. To familiarize yourself with the class, experimentation is strongly encouraged.

3.

Rotation

The primary dynamic of the leveling and fresh 70 build revolves around building up power through Corpses and releasing it through minion summons. Weaving Bone Spikes Bone Spikes into the constant Corpse consumption from Devour Devour Devouring Aura Devouring Aura will top your Essence off at regular intervals and allows you to dump your entire reserve into powerful Skeletal Mage Skeletal Mage Singularity Singularity summons. In the meantime, sic your Command Skeletons Command Skeletons on larger, more resilient targets and enfeeble as many targets as you can with the Frailty Frailty curse. Remember to reposition as needed with Blood Rush Blood Rush to stay safe from the minion frontline.

4.

Skills, Runes, and Passives

The basis of every build lies in its chosen damage dealing skills. As they invariably require resource or cooldown management mechanics of some sort, and such are scarce for low level and less geared characters, you will focus on fewer damage dealing abilities early on. The typical early game build will feature a dominant damage dealer, a mobility skill, buffs and/or shields, and resource generators (either active or passive). The recommended split is:

  • Slot 1 — Damage dealing ability: Playing into the class fantasy of a powerful summoner, the leveling Necromancer build leans on the power of the Skeletal Mage Skeletal Mage minions for the bulk of its damage. You acquire the base Skeletal Mage Skeletal Mage as early as level 5, and rapidly acquire the majority of its runes by the mid-leveling point. While you can experiment with them as you see fit, it is recommended that you swap to Singularity Singularity as soon as you acquire it at level 29. This rune enables the resource buildup and dump interplay and results in fewer, but mightier summons — a better strategy for the questionable pet AI in the game.
  • Slot 2 — Generator: Essence is not the easiest resource to come by, as it does not replenish on its own and has no passive sources of regeneration from skills or items. Thus, it is recommended that you keep an active genertor on your bar. While any of the three Necro generators will do, Bone Spikes Bone Spikes has a long reach, indomitable 24 Essence per cast, and some great utility runes to boot. You get Bone Spikes Bone Spikes at level 1 and acquire the stun rune Sudden Impact Sudden Impact at level 6, ensuring a solid start. You can swap this rune later into leveling for Path of Bones Path of Bones' superior damage (level 43), or experiment with Siphon Blood Siphon Blood Purity of Essence Purity of Essence at level 51.
  • Slot 3 — Mobility skill: The Necromancer's solitary movement skill is Blood Rush Blood Rush — a long range, blink ability most closely resembling the Wizard's Teleport Teleport. It will take some time unlocking, as the base skill comes all the way down at level 30; up until that point, you can bolster your summon army with Command Golem Command Golem Flesh Golem Flesh Golem. Once Blood Rush Blood Rush becomes available, you can look forward to unlocking its first rune, Potency Potency, at level 34. Using it strategically can provide you with a toughness spike that will invalidate most hard hitting attacks coming your way. Significantly later on (level 60), look into the Metabolism Metabolism rune to further speed up your leveling.
  • Slot 4 — Supplementary Damage: Cementing your mastery over the dead, Command Skeletons Command Skeletons will provide some very needed single target DPS and a grunt frontline to protect you. Acquired at level 9, the skeletons require no upkeep, except when called for — you can sic them on a target of your choosing, instilling the skeletons with Frenzy Frenzy at level 19 for even better damage output.
  • Slots 5 and 6 — Utility: Corpses are one of the core resource mechanics of the Necromancer class, and you can either focus on using them for damage or utility. This Necromancer leveling variant chooses the latter, slotting Devour Devour when it unlocks at level 16. This turns Corpses into a massive source of Essence sustain, one you can practically automate at level 38 with Devouring Aura Devouring Aura. If you do not mind a proactive approach at the cost of convenience, the rune Cannibalize Cannibalize (level 53) comes with the highest recommendation. Finally, the Necromancer's signature curses are a no-brainer inclusion; slot the offensive Frailty Frailty at level 22, and augment its utility with pets with Scent of Blood Scent of Blood at level 26.
  • Passives: Your earliest synergistic passive comes at level 10 in the face of Fueled by Death Fueled by Death — even though you will start Devour Devouring slightly later, this passive offers invaluable movement speed to speed up the leveling process. Depending on your confidence, you can even keep it over the safety of the Final Service Final Service cheat death, acquired at level 41. You then get a string of minion passives in the early 20s, and we recommend both Commander of the Risen Dead Commander of the Risen Dead (level 20) and especially Extended Servitude Extended Servitude (level 24) to get the most out of your summons. At level 30, swap out Commander of the Risen Dead Commander of the Risen Dead for Overwhelming Essence Overwhelming Essence to further empower your Singularity Singularity mages. You will all but finalize the leveling build's passive selection by level 38, when you get Spreading Malediction Spreading Malediction to add to the benefits of your Frailty Frailty curse.
5.

Gear and Stats Priorities

As the leveling process in Diablo 3 is relatively quick, specific legendary recommendations are impossible. During leveling finding upgrades is frequent, so your gear will be swapped in and out within the span of a few minutes. Following the in-game comparison system and the stat priorities outlined in the tables below will result in a solid character throughout the leveling journey.

The table below is meant to point you in a general correct direction and is by no means indicative of the exact rolls you want to go for. They can vary greatly from build to build and it is always preferable to refer to our exact guide page. If you simply use the rolls below however, and roll for skill damage on the applicable pieces:

Wherever it says 'Elemental damage', match it to the rune of your damaging skill of choice. You will come out with a functional spec, and probably not too far off from what we would recommend in a dedicated build!

Slot Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Vitality
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
  4. Cooldown Reduction
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Elite Damage Reduction
  5. Life %
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Elemental Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Vitality
Hands
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Vitality
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
  4. Armor
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. Skill Damage
  5. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Elemental Damage
  5. Intelligence
Rings
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Intelligence
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. % Damage
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Skill Damage
  5. Vitality

Note that skill damage and elemental damage recommendations only apply if the majority of your damage is done through that skill or element. For alt characters however, sockets take priority above all other attributes, since you can slot high level gems and benefit massively from their stat increase. For the purposes of an alt character, leveling a Gem of Ease Gem of Ease to level 25 and socketing it in a level 70 weapon will be the single biggest boost you can provide to the leveling process.

6.

Changelog

  • 10 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Season 30.
  • 15 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Season 29.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Reviewed for Season 28.
  • 10 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Season 25.
  • 23 Jul. 2021: Reviewed for Season 24.
  • 02 Apr. 2021: Reviewed for Season 23.
  • 13 Mar. 2020: Reviewed for Season 20.
  • 22 Nov. 2019: Page added.
Show more
Show less