Reaper Summoner – Necromancer Build For Diablo 4 (Season 13)

Build Introduction

The Reaper Summoner build looks like any regular Minion build focusing on Skeleton Warriors, but it is much more complicated. The build concept is to scale Reaper Skeletons with Berú of the Black Shroud Talisman Set, Shadow Damage and the Gargantua Golem Aura.

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To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Blood Moon Breeches

Deathgrip

Red Blessing

Red Blessing

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Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

SeverBlightGolemSkeleton WarriorHemorrhageBlood Wave

Use the Skill Tree above to complete the 83-point build. 69 skill points are gained by leveling, and 14 skill points are locked behind the Season Rank System or Renown for Seasonal or Eternal characters, respectively.

Iron Maiden and Decrepify are activated via Blood Moon Breeches and are not needed on the skill bar. Decrepify ranks above 1 are the lowest priority and are leveled by the last Skill Points remaining.

The new Lord of Hatred expansion Skill Tree unlocks in stages, permanently unlocking new skill clusters. For example, Necromancer Curses unlock at level 13, so from level 13 it is possible to refund all previously allocated skill points and start leveling skills starting from the Curses cluster right away (or anywhere above it).

Skill points from the Season Rank System or Renown do not affect Skill Tree progress and can be allocated to skill ranks you already unlocked.

Necromancer Class Mechanic – Book of the Dead

This build continues to use some sacrificed minions for inter-Minion synergies:

• Skeletal Warriors: Reapers [Upgrade #2] -50%[x] increased damage and 15% chance to Stun for 1 second.
• Skeletal Mages: Bone [Sacrifice] – You deal x20% increased damage while you have a stack of Overpower.
• Golem: Bone [Sacrifice] – 10%[+] Attack Speed and Golem does 50%[x] less damage.

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Gear, Stats, Gems and Runes

The following sections cover the essential itemization to improve the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

For the dedicated page on Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check the guide here.

Legendary Aspects

Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the assigned slot. Aspects placement is planned with potential Unique and Mythic Unique gear upgrades in mind for the easiest and cheapest transition.

The Purveyor of Curiosities is another excellent way to obtain specific slot Legendary Aspects, and even Uniques – by gambling with Murmuring Obols you farmed in your journey.

Multiple Legendary Aspects and Uniques options are ordered in descending priority order :

Gear Slot	Sockets	Aspect / Unique	Description
Helm	Runeword	1. Heir of Perdition 2. Exploiter’s Aspect	You have 50%[+] increased Crowd Control Duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal 50%[x] increased damage to them.
Chest	Runeword	Aspect of Heavenly Strength	While wielding a Two Handed Weapon, gain #% Damage Reduction.
Gloves	n/a	Deathgrip	Your maximum number of Skeleton Warriors is increased by 1. Skeleton Warriors cleave with their attacks and deal x#% increased damage. Commanding them onto atarget increases damage that target takes from your Skeleton Warriors by x#%.
Pants		Blood Moon Breeches	Your Summons have a [7 – 10%] chance to randomly inflict Decrepify or Iron Maiden when they deal damage. You deal x [50 – 60%] increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by your Curses.
Boots	n/a	1. Exploiter’s Aspect 2. Aspect of the Void	You have 50% increased Crowd Control duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal #% increased damage to them.
Weapon 2H		Aspect of Reanimation	Your Summons gain increased damage while alive, up to 135%[x] after 10 seconds.
Amulet (150% Scaling)		Hellbent Commander Aspect Transfigured: Exploiter’s Aspect	While Healthy, gain 4 Maximum Overpower. Blood Orbs grant 2 stacks of Overpower. You deal x#% increased damage per stack of Overpower. Transfigured: You have 50%[+] increased Crowd Control Duration. While enemies are Unstoppable, you deal 50%[x] increased damage to them.
Ring		Aspect of Amplified Damage	You deal 60%[x] increased damage to Cursed enemies.
Ring		Pact of Bone	Your Minions gain #% Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance. When one of your Minions die, your other minions enrage, dealing #% increased damage for 3 seconds.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these mechanics.

For the dedicated page on Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check the guide here.

Gear affixes are ordered by descending priority for acquiring, Greater Affix and masterworking crit desirability.

Important: Mixing Damage over Time and Critical Strike Damage multipliers is intentional and must be done in a way where you have no more than a few Critical Strike Damage Multipliers.

Slot	Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Heir of Perdition	1. Critical Strike Chance	Defensive – Maximum Life
Helm	1. Maximum Life 2. Armor 3. Resistance to All Elements 4. Essence per Second	Defensive – Maximum Life
Tyrael’s Might	1. Damage Reduction 2. Maximum Life	Defensive – Maximum Life
Chest	1. Maximum Life 2. Armor 3. Resistance to All Elements 4. Essence per Second	Defensive – Maximum Life
Deathgrip	1. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier (If Critical Strike Chance is above 90% with Pact of Bone) 2. Attack Speed 3. Critical Strike Chance 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier	Offensive – Damage per Overpower Stack
Blood Moon Breeches	1. Maximum Life 2. Armor 3. Resistance to All Elements 4. Essence per Second	Defensive – Maximum Life
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. +Maximum Evade Charges 3. + Ranks to Corpse or Skeleton Warrior Skills 4. Maximum Life 5. Armor 6. Resistance to All Elements 7. Essence per Second	Mobility – Movement Speed
Amulet	1. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier (If Critical Strike Chance is above 90% with Pact of Bone) 2. Attack Speed 3. Critical Strike Chance 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier	Offensive – Damage per Overpower Stack
2 x Ring Pact of Bone	1. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier (If Critical Strike Chance is above 90% with Pact of Bone) 2. Attack Speed 3. Critical Strike Chance 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier	Offensive – Damage per Overpower Stack
Weapon 2H	1. Weapon Damage 2. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 4. x% All Damage Multiplier 5. Maximum Life or Intelligence	Weapons – Attack Speed

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Ancestral and Mythic Uniques

See below for information on useful Uniques and how they integrate into this build:

Unique	Category	Synergy	Source (highest chance)
Deathgrip	Required	– Big damage scaling and lets our Skeletons Cleave	Grigoire
Blood Moon Breeches	Required	– Decent damage multiplier – Ensures Decrepify and Iron Maiden application by Minions	Astaroth
Heir of Perdition	Best in Slot	– Massive damage multiplier from Unique Aspect – Extra mobility – Lucky hit chance improving Blood Orb generation	How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide
Tyrael’s Might	Best in Slot	– Massive defensive scaling after crafting	How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide
Red Blessing or Red Blessing	Best in Slot	– Amplifies Overpower damage scaling	Bloodied Butcher
Pact of Bone	Best in Slot	– Massive amounts of attack speed and critical strike chance scaling	Harbinger of Hatred

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Gems and Runewords

See below for a more detailed explanation of the best Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Amethyst	Runeword	Royal Diamond
–	Royal Topaz	Royal Topaz
–	–	Royal Ruby
Increased %[x] Shadow Damage.	Increased Intelligence.	Resistances against buffed Lightning and Fire Elite Affixes.

Runeword	Role	Effect
Nagu Ceh	Early Game Important	Summons packs of Spectral Wolves to tank enemies, apply Lucky Hit based procs and Vulnerable.
Nagu Que	Endgame Important	Maintains the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark barrier for extreme survivability.
Igni or Cir Gar	Early Game Important	Maintains 10% increased critical strike chance.
Igni Ceh	Endgame Important	Summons packs of Spectral Wolves to tank enemies, apply Lucky Hit based procs and Vulnerable.

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Paragon Board

Below you’ll find the entire endgame paragon board with recommended glyphs, optimal pathing and both minimal and nearly maximum investments!

Board attachment order and pathways:

1. Frailty – Legendary Node
2. Cult Leader – Legendary Node
3. Frailty – Glyph Slot Dominate For the Red Blessing scaling it’s important this Glyph gets the highest priority of being leveled up!
4. Failty – All Willpower nodes within radius of Dominate
5. Cult-Leader Glyph Slot Amplify
6. Wither – Legendary Node
7. Wither – Glyph Slot Mage
8. Bloodbath – Legendary Node
9. Bloodbath – Glyph Slot Essence

It is imperative to level up all Glyphs to level 15 first to increase activation radius and then to level 46 to unlock the secondary damage multiplier. More about paragon glyphs and how to level them, here.

Some paragon points are locked behind the Season Rank System. The remaining Paragon points are used to take all Intelligence nodes you can reach and any Magic nodes you may find useful.

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Season 13 Mechanics

Season 13 does not offer specific seasonal mechanics due to the release of the Lord of Hatred expansion. Many new features are available to explore, including War Plans, Talismans, Horadric Cube, and Echoing Hatred. Additionally, several buildcrafting systems were overhauled, such as Skill Trees, Tempering, Aspects and Uniques.

For a complete overview of the current Season, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activities, and other changes, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

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Talismans

The Lord of Hatred expansion introduces Talismans as a new character progression and itemization layer. Find, equip, and fill a suitable Horadric Seal with a variety of Charms. These grant everything from plain stats similar to any gear piece to powerful set effects, doubling down on and elevating Necromancer archetypes to new heights.

This builds Talisman goalposts would be:

• Red Blessing is to be equipped, but Red Blessing can serve as a temporary fix till you have it!
• Bloodless Scream or Banished Lord’s Talisman are the second most potent Unique Charm for the build.
• Legendary Seal with +1 Charm Slot affix, to unlock 6 Charm slots asap.
• Full Black Shroud Charm Set of any quality. 5-set takes priority over any other Charms except Red Blessing if it is still used.
• Charms replacements with better versions of themselves, including affixes like:
  • + to Darkness Skills
  • + to Minion Skills
  • +% Critical Strike Damage (Seal)
  • +% Movement Speed

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Mercenaries

During the Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock Mercenaries to assist you. While you can choose freely early on, we recommend Varyana as your main merc:

• Cleave
• Hysteria
• Bloodthirst
• Bloodlust

For the reinforcement, stick with Raheir, utilizing Bastion when you are hit with a Control Impairing effect.

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Build Mechanics

This builds purpose is just to stay alive and group up enemies with Whirlpool as tightly as possible for Reapers to use Deathgrip cleave with maximum efficiency.

Rotation and Playstyle

1. Initiate the fight with Blood Runs Cold Hemorrhage to freeze enemies, and send Ceh Spirit Wolves to do the same!
2. Use Blood Wave to cap Overpower stacks. You don’t need to hit anything with this, merely casting it will be enough! This skill should be recast ONCE every 5-6 seconds to maintain your damage multiplier as high as possible.
3. Use Golem active ability preemptively to acquire Unstoppable status if needed and it will taunt enemies as well.
4. Can use Whirlpool to group enemies together tighter for the Deathgrip to cleave enemies down faster and more effectively.
5. Use Skeleton Warrior active-ability to focus fire when needed and increase their damage output.
6. Keep evading danger and recasting Sever to create more corpses in case your warriors die so you can ressurect them. Continue using Blood Runs Cold to continue freezing enemies.
7. Repeat. The rest of the build mechanics are completely automated.

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Season Updates

Due to the release of the Lord of Hatred expansion and the resulting overhaul of class buildcrafting, the build concept was re-created from scratch.

Noteworthy changes:

• Slightly altered Blood Moon Breeches, which retained the main function, but became slightly more generic.
• New toolkit for Crowd Control and active damage mitigation
• Mobility issues resolved

For a complete overview of the current Season, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activities, and other changes, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

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Changelog

• May 9th, 2026: Guide adjusted for better performance.
• March 28th, 2026: Guide remade for Lord of Hatred expansion.
• October 5th, 2025: Guide added.