Affliction – Necromancer Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 11)

Build Introduction

Affliction is the cheapest and the strongest Necromancer leveling build. The progression starts with minions and after a short journey to the Affliction keystone, you’ll sacrifice them, reset skill points and enjoy the ride. This build is capable not only to power level to 60, but also comfortably farm gear for your endgame build in any World Tier 3 content.

This build requires Aspect of the Cursed Aura to automate Affliction trigger conditions, but it can be operated manually just fine until one is discovered. There will be no issues with Essence management and this setup has minimal gear requirements. It will instead require a few recommended Aspects, some survivability and Damage To Vulnerable or Critical Strike Damage affixes from any source.

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Allocation of Skill Points

Early leveling (Level 1 – 35)

Order	Skill	Cluster
1	Reap	Basic Skill
2	Blood Surge	Core Skilll
3	Skeletal Warrior Mastery	Corpse & Macabre Passive
4	Skeletal Warrior Mastery Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
5	Skeletal Warrior Mastery Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
6	Blood Mist	Corpse & Macabre Skill
7	Enhanced Reap	Basic Skill
8	Acolyte’s Reap	Basic Skill
9	Blood Surge Rank 2	Core Skilll
10	Blood Surge Rank 3	Core Skilll
11	Blood Surge Rank 4	Core Skilll
12	Blood Surge Rank 5	Core Skilll
13	Iron Maiden	Curse Skill
14	Enhanced Iron Maiden	Curse Skill
15	Skeletal Mage Mastery	Curse Passive
16	Skeletal Mage Mastery Rank 2	Curse Passive
17	Skeletal Mage Mastery Rank 3	Curse Passive
18	Corpse Tendrils	Corpse & Macabre Skill
19	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils	Corpse & Macabre Skill
20	Necrotic Carapace	Macabre Passive
21	Necrotic Carapace Rank 2	Macabre Passive
22	Enhanced Blood Surge	Core Skilll
23	Supernatural Blood Surge	Core Skilll
24	Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
25	Inspiring Leader	Ultimate Passive
26	Hellbent Commander	Ultimate Passive
27	Hellbent Commander Rank 2	Ultimate Passive
28	Hellbent Commander Rank 3	Ultimate Passive
29	Prime Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
30	Supreme Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
31	Reaper’s Pursuit	Corpse & Macabre Passive
32	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
33	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
34	Affliction	Key Passive

Skill Reset (Level 35+)

Order	Skill	Cluster
1	Reap	Basic Skill
2	Enhanced Reap	Basic Skill
3	Acolyte’s Reap	Basic Skill
4	Blight	Core Skill
5	Enhanced Blight	Core Skill
6	Supernatural Blight	Core Skill
7	Blood Mist	Corpse Skill
8	Enhanced Blood Mist	Corpse Skill
9	Ghastly Blood Mist	Corpse Skill
10	Titan’s Fall	Corpse Passive
11	Titan’s Fall Rank 2	Corpse Passive
12	Titan’s Fall Rank 3	Corpse Passive
13	Iron Maiden	Curse Skill
14	Enhanced Iron Maiden	Curse Skill
15	Death’s Approach	Curse Passive
16	Death’s Approach Rank 2	Curse Passive
17	Death’s Approach Rank 3	Curse Passive
18	Corpse Tendrils	Macabre Skill
19	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils	Macabre Skill
20	Blighted Corpse Tendrils	Macabre Skill
21	Coalesced Blood	Macabre Passive
22	Coalesced Blood Rank 2	Macabre Passive
23	Coalesced Blood Rank 3	Macabre Passive
24	Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
25	Supreme Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
26	Prime Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
27	Necrotic Carapace	Macabre Passive
28	Necrotic Carapace Rank 2	Macabre Passive
29	Necrotic Carapace Rank 3	Macabre Passive
30	Abhorrent Iron Maiden	Curse Skill
31	Reaper’s Pursuit	Corpse & Macabre Passive
32	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
33	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
34	Affliction	Key Passive
35	Stand Alone	Ultimate Passive
36	Stand Alone Rank 2	Ultimate Passive
37	Stand Alone Rank 3	Ultimate Passive
38	Memento Mori	Ultimate Passive
39	Memento Mori Rank 2	Ultimate Passive
40	Memento Mori Rank 3	Ultimate Passive
41	Gloom	Macabre Passive
42	Gloom Rank 2	Macabre Passive
43	Gloom Rank 3	Macabre Passive
44	Terror	Macabre Passive
45	Terror Rank 2	Macabre Passive
46	Terror Rank 3	Macabre Passive
47	Amplify Damage	Curse Passive
48	Amplify Damage Rank 2	Curse Passive
49	Amplify Damage Rank 3	Curse Passive
50	Death’s Embrace	Curse Passive
51	Death’s Embrace Rank 2	Curse Passive
52	Death’s Embrace Rank 3	Curse Passive
53	Hewed Flesh	Core Passive
54	Hewed Flesh Rank 2	Core Passive
55	Hewed Flesh Rank 3	Core Passive
56	Soulrift Rank 2	Ultimate Skill
57	Soulrift Rank 3	Ultimate Skill
58	Soulrift Rank 4	Ultimate Skill
59	Soulrift Rank 5	Ultimate Skill
60	Decrepify	Curse Skill
61	Enhanced Decrepify	Curse Skill
62	Abhorrent Decrepify	Curse Skill
63	Finality	Ultimate Passive
64	Finality	Ultimate Passive
65	Finality	Ultimate Passive
66	Spiked Armor	Corpse Passive
67	Spiked Armor	Corpse Passive
68	Spiked Armor	Corpse Passive
69	Necrotic Fortitude	Corpse Passive
70	Necrotic Fortitude	Corpse Passive
71	Necrotic Fortitude	Corpse Passive

If Aspect of the Cursed Aura is obtained before Abhorrent Decrepify leveled, prioritize leveling it as soon as possible, before continuing with recommended order.

After reaching level 60 it is possible to continue to progress until World Tier 3 and farm gear for endgame build of your choice there. Paragon points can be invested using Paragon Tree from endgame build of your choice – inoptimal points distribution before transition is negligible.

To prepare yourself for what happens after level 60, head over to our Necromancer Builds page and choose your weapon!

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

Corpse TendrilsBlightBlood MistIron MaidenReapSoulrift

To prepare yourself for what happens after level 60 when you get access to your Paragon Board, head over to our Necromancer Builds page and choose your weapon!

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Class Mechanic – Book of the Dead

Necromancer’s class-specific ability is the Book of the Dead, which provides three different types of minions at different levels. This build is designed around using some of your minions during the early stage of leveling and eventually we will be sacrificing them all.

Before you reset your skills and sacrifice your minions, we’ll use the following:

• Skeletal Warriors: Defenders [Upgrade #2] – These skeletons are effectively invincible.
• Skeletal Mages: Cold Mages [Upgrade #1] – Great early source of essence.
• Golem: Any

After skill reset, following sacrifices should be made:

• Skeletal Warriors: Reapers [Sacrifice] – Increased Shadow Damage.
• Skeletal Mages: Cold Mages [Sacrifice] – Increases Damage to Vulnerable.
• Golem: Iron [Sacrifice] – Increased Critical Strike Damage.

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Gear, Stats, Gems and Runes

Always prioritize higher base damage when it comes to your weapon upgrades. We always want to be wielding a 2-handed Sword with this build, unless other weapon have significantly better damage.

Make sure you keep an eye for the Legendary Aspects to research. We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information on gear enchanting.

For this build particulary, Aspect of the Cursed Aura is the most important. By automatically cursing everything in range – it will automate Affliction trigger conditions and unlock build’s full potential. It is possible to participate in Obols Gambling at Purveyor of Curiosities for Boots, to try to obtain one.

Imprinting Aspects costs Veiled Crystal, which are easily acquired in Helltides or from salvaging rare gear and above. Prioritize salvaging gear for materials and Aspects over selling it during leveling.

The table below lists the important Legendary powers you should prioritize:

Aspect Name	Legendary Aspect Power	Source
Aspect of the Cursed Aura (Utility)	A dark aura surrounds you, inflicting Decrepify and Iron Maiden on enemies who touch it. Curses inflicted this way spread to surrounding targets every x seconds and last 4 seconds outside the aura.	Random Drop
Aspect of Slaughter (Mobility)	You gain 20% Movement speed. Lose this bonus for 5-2 seconds after taking damage from a Close Enemy.	Random Drop
Aspect of the Damned (Offensive)	You deal 55%[x] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by any Curse.	Uldur’s cave in Kehjistan
Sacrificial Aspect (Offensive)	Your Sacrifice bonuses are increased by 55% [35 – 55]%. (Necromancer Only)	Ruins of Eridu in Hawezar
Aspect of Grasping Veins (Offensive)	Gain [5 – 25]%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal [10 – 50]%[x] bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies for 6 seconds after they are damaged by Corpse Tendrils. (Necromancer Only)	Corrupted Grotto in Kehjistan
Torturous Aspect (Utility)	Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness Skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies have a 30% [10 – 30]% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they take damage from Iron Maiden. (Necromancer Only)	Deserted Underpass in Kehjistan
Aspect of Hardened Bones (Defensive)	You gain 30% [10 – 30]% increased Damage Reduction. (Necromancer Only)	Random Drop

Priority order for Offensive Aspects on your 2-handed weapon (200% effect) and then on amulet (150% effect) is listed below:

1. Aspect of Grasping Veins
2. Aspect of the Damned
3. Sacrificial Aspect

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Stats Priority and Tempering Affixes

Keep in mind, that Tempering Affixes are unlocked by Tempering Manuals you find as you progress. Be sure to check our Tempering guide for more details about this topic.

One of the regular affixes on gear piece can be re-rolled repeatedly until desired outcome. This is covered in our Occultist guide for more details.

There are not many modifiers worth bothering with during the leveling stage, but for this particular build:

• Shadow Augments — Decay #% Affliction to deal Double Damage
• Worldly Finesse – #% Vulnerable Damage or #% Critical Strike Damage
• Vulnerable damage or Critical Strike Damage

These are extremely valuable because of how Affliction scaling is designed. Enchanting or tempering those affixes will bring out the most from this build.

Generally you will be looking for the following stats:

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
2H Weapon (Sword preferably)	1. Vulnerable Damage 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Intelligence, Maximum Life 4. Chance to make enemies Vulnerable on hit	Shadow Augments — Decay #% Affliction to deal Double Damage Worldly Finesse #% Vulnerable Damage
Helm	1. Maximum Life, Armor 2. Intelligence, any Resistances	Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size
Chest	1. Essence per Second 2. Maximum Life, Armor 3. Intelligence, any Resistances	Decay Innovation #% Soulrift Duration Decay Innovation #% Blight Size
Gloves	1. Vulnerable Damage 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Chance to make enemies Vulnerable on hit 4. Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance	Worldly Finesse #% Vulnerable Damage
Pants	1. Essence per Second 2. Maximum Life, Armor 3. Intelligence, any Resistances	Decay Innovation #% Soulrift Duration Decay Innovation #% Blight Size
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Essence per Second 3. Resistance to all Elements, Maximum Life, Armor 4. Intelligence	Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size
Amulet	1. + Ranks to Terror, Gloom, Coalesced Blood or Amplify 2. Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed 3. Intelligence 4. Resistance to All Elements, Maximum Life	Worldly Finesse #% Vulnerable Damage
Amulet Ebonpiercer	1. Ranks to Gloom 2. Ranks to Reapers Pursuit	n/a
Rings	1. Vulnerable Damage 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance 4. Maximum Life, Resistance to All Elements	Worldly Finesse #% Vulnerable Damage

Ebonpiercer is great option for amulet of choice, not only because of ranks to passive skills scaling Shadow Damage, but also because of 4 extra Blight projectiles, allowing to prime for Affliction trigger conditions and generate corpses much easier and with fewer casts.

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Gems and Runewords

We don’t recommend socketing items until level 45+ due to material cost and the fact that you’ll be replacing your gear too frequently, especially weapon.

If socket exists in gear already, you’ll use the following recommended gems:

• Weapon:
  • Sapphire for increased Damage to Vulnerable.
  • Emerald for increased Critical Strike Damage (for scaling Affliction)
• Armor: Topaz for increased Intelligence.
• Jewelry: Ruby for Fire Resistance.

When it comes to Runewords, there are a couple that this build could utilize well. The most attractive combinations are:

• Cir + Lum – helps with essence management, allows to use Blight more liberally
• Cir + Thul – often casts Frost Nova, applying Vulnerable and increasing damage
• Igni + Wat – immensely helps with manual curse casting, doubling every other cast
• Feo + Ner – If you become Injured or Crowd Controlled you invoke the Rogue’s Countering Concealment, which provides Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable and Stealth.

Make sure you slot these in your Pants or Chest, since you will be replacing your weapon very frequently. You get runes back for free when salvaging item.

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Season of Divine Intervention (Season 11)

Season 11 of Divine Intervention introduces very few and very limited borrowed powers, mostly to adjust difficulty to reward ratio of certain content types. New type of gear enchantment was introduced – Sanctification.

Sanctification

This mechanic won’t be engaged with during leveling, but if it occurs with low chance, it won’t have any meaningful impact until endgame. Gear is replaced far too frequently.

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Divine Gifts

Corrupted gift slots grant increased rewards for specific content, but increase the difficulty. Usually you should avoid activating corrupted slots except for target farming or when character can handle it – but this build should have no issues.

Recommended Purified Divine Gifts for the build:

• Essence of Shadows – Briefly become Unstoppable when Crowd Controlled every 12 seconds.
• Essence of Anguish – Gain 30% Movement Speed.
• Essence of Sin – Gain 20%[+] increased Armor.
• Essence of Pain – Briefly gain maximum Barrier after becoming Injured, every 20 seconds.

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Mercenaries

The mercenaries are a nice addition to the game, and whichever one you choose to run is up to you. The recommendation for this build will be to run Aldkin, for synergy with Affliction trigger conditions. We also recommend using the Reinforcement slot to level up all your mercenaries to get access to the caches for extra loot.

Below you’ll find the recommended skill set-up for Aldkin:

• Haunt
• Terrify
• Chain of Souls
• Shared Pain

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Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

Before skill reset and transition to pure Affliction build:

1. If you are in danger, use Blood Mist and move out of the danger. All negative effects from yourself will be removed and you will become Unstoppable for 3 seconds. Blood Mist can be interrupted by pressing the same button again.
2. Approach and start attacking pack with Reap.
3. If Corpse is available or was produced by Reap:
   • Use Corpse Tendrils on the Corpse to pull enemies together.
   • Use Raise Skeleton on same Corpse to buff your minions and it will be consumed. You can keep track of the buff on skill icon. Renew buff as soon as it expires using any Corpse around.
4. Activate Soulrift for increased damage, essence gain and applying Vulnerable.
5. Keep casting Blood Surge combining with Reap at grouped enemy.
6. Use Abhorrent Iron Maiden on engaged packs to restore some essence once per each cursed enemy.
7. Repeat.

If you still don’t have Aspect of the Cursed Aura after reaching Affliction keystone and skills reset, there is a manual rotation. Any target interaction with Corpse Tendrils, Soulrift or Blight causes enemy being Crowd Controlled, Vulnerable or taking Corruption damage, therefore primed to trigger Affliction during the effect. The trigger of choice would be Enhanced Iron Maiden.

1. If you are in danger, use Blood Mist and move out of the danger. All negative effects from yourself will be removed and you will become Unstoppable for 3 seconds. Blood Mist can be ended early by pressing same button again.
2. Use Reap on enemy to get a Corpse every 4 seconds and get Damage Resistance buff
3. If any Corpse is available, use Corpse Tendrils to group up and stun enemies for 3 sec.
4. Use Blight pools under enemy packs to prime them for Affliction while Corruption lasts.
5. Activate Soulrift for increased damage, essence gain and applying Vulnerable
6. At this point spam free Iron Maiden curse on enemies primed for Affliction.
7. Continue to prime enemy for Affliction with Blight or Corpse Tendrils between Iron Maiden spam.

Once Aspect of the Cursed Aura obtained, Affliction will be initially primed automatically and it will spread to even non-targeted enemies. All you need is to get some enemies in the range of aura and to continue using manual rotation for maximum effect. If target cannot be cursed, like structures, use Blight to prime Affliction.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

To gain an edge in your adventures, head to the Alchemist in any major town, and craft any Elixirs that enhance your stats but more importantly experience gain for 30 minutes. Remember to gather the necessary crafting materials by foraging plants outdoors.

Return to the Alchemist again around every 10 levels to upgrade your potion. We have much less potions now, so extra healing is essential to survival.

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Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find specific Legendary Aspects or specific slots Uniques missing from your build. Check out the new tool guide from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

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Season 11 Updates

For a complete overview of Season 11, mechanics and theme, new leveling activity, and other changes coming, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

The seasonal powers have inconsequential impact on this leveling build.

Difficulty and Endgame

This guide is designed to get you to level 60 in a smooth and enjoyable way. Once there, you’ll want to look at a proper endgame-designed build guide. Make sure you pick one of our recommended ones!

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Changelog

• December 19th, 2025: Added Ebonpiercer, Aldkin mercenary setup, extra runewords recommendations for better performance; minor optimizations;
• December 14th, 2025: Adjusted recommended stats to survive past 60 in World Tier 3; adjusted rotation expectations for bad Aspect of the Cursed Aura roll.
• December 13th, 2025: Changed pre-reset 35 levels to Blood Surge /w Minions; earlier Necrotic Carapace Fortify heal access as result of Expert difficulty testing; polished rotation explanation
• December 9th, 2025: Reworked to full Affliction for Season 11.
• October 5th, 2025: General visual improvements on the guide.
• September 30th, 2025: Guide updated – Skill-tree and stat modifiers changed.
• September 18th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 10.
• July 3rd, 2025: Optimizations across the board in the guide.
• June 29th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 9.
• May 5th, 2025: Optimized and updated post launch for Season 8.
• April 29th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8.