The Necromancer is the macabre master of death in Diablo 4. When The Lord of Terror declared war on all life, he unwittingly picked a fight with death, and the Necromancers of Sanctuary are going to ensure Diablo regrets it. But first, players need to take down Mephisto, and to that, they’ll need the best Necromancer build in Diablo 4.
Below, we’ll reveal what the best Necromancer build is in Season 13 of Diablo 4 and since the Lord of Hatred expansion. This will include the best skills, gear, mercenaries, and Talismans to equip. Bear in mind, this is an endgame build, but it will be suitable for all players, whether you’re leveling for the first time or respecing for the current season.
Best Necromancer Build in Season 13
The best Necromancer build in Season 13 is the Blood Wave Necromancer.
This has been an overpowered build for some time, and mostly involves spamming the Blood Wave ability on mobs of enemies. However, there’s much more that goes into making it work, such as other skills to use alongside it, items, and more.
Necromancer Best Skills
These are the skills you’ll need for the best possible Blood Wave Necromancer in Diablo 4. This includes the skills you’ll want to add to the rotation, how many points to spend on each and then what enhancements and passives to select – if any.
You can assemble this build as a new character, focusing on the basic skills and working your way down the skill tree. Or you can simply respec an existing character using the table below. Either way, by the time you reach Paragon, you’ll have the build ready to go.
| Skill Type | Skill | Points to Spend | Enhancement | Passive 1 | Passive 2 |
| Basic | Reap | 1 | Cull The Weak | Essence Generation | Corpse Generation |
| Core | Sever | 1 | Inexorable Reaper | Code Reduction | Crowd Control and Corpse Generation |
| Macabre | Skeleton Warrior | 8 | Service and Sacrifice | Healing | Vulnerable |
| Curse | Bone Prison | 15 | Life Imprisonment | Essence Generation | Vulnerable |
| Curse | Blood Mist | 1 | Blood Rush | Movement Speed | Overpower |
| Corpse | Iron Maiden | 1 | Blood Maiden | Execute and Fortify | Vulnerable |
| Corpse | Decertify | 15 | Life Tap | Cooldown Reduction | Resolve |
| Ultimate | Blood wave | 15 | Hematolagnia | Damage Bonus | Overpower |
Paragon
You’ll reach the Paragon board once you reach the level 70 cap. This was extended from 60 to 70 by the Lord of Hatred expansion. Here, you’ll need to navigate across different boards, unlocking nodes as you go.
Each node will boost your character’s stats, so try to target nodes like intelligence to boost your Necromancer’s casting power, or target Essence so you can spam moves like Bloodwave without worrying about cooldowns.
| Order | Board | Legendary Glyph |
| 1 | Start | Corporeal |
| 2 | Blood Begets Blood | Essence |
| 3 | Flesh-eater | Amplify |
| 4 | Scent of Death | Eliminator |
| 5 | Frailty | Dominate |
Book of the Dead
Every class in Diablo 4 has a set of specialist skills that are unique to them. For the Necromancer, this is the Book of the Dead, something that allows them to manage their minions and apply Bone, Blood, or Shadow magic to them.
It also allows the player to sacrifice their minions, choosing not to use them but a power buff in place of them. For the Blood Wave Necromancer, we’re going to use Skeleton Warriors, set as Defenders and the Second Node of Blood Magic, but sacrifice the Mages and Golem.
| Minion | Upgrade | Enhancement / Sacrifice |
| Skeletal Warriors | Defenders | Second Blood Skill |
| Skeleton Mages | Bone | Sacrifice |
| Golems | Iron | Sacrifice |
Mercenary
Mercenaries provide backup in combat, and it pays to hire a merc that benefits your build’s playstyle. You also need to decide which reinforcement merc you’ll be bringing.
For the Blood Wave build, we recommend Subo as he can keep enemies distracted and offer ranged support while you’re pelting enemies with waves of blood. We’re also going to bring Raheir as our reinforcement for his defensive buffs and skills. This will help keep you alive in tricky spots.
| Mercenary | Hired / Reinforcement | Active Skill 1 | Passive 1 | Active Skill 1 | Passive 2 | Cast |
| Subo | Hired | Wire Trap | Piecing Arrows | Cover Fire | Opening Fire | – |
| Raheir | Reinforcement | Bastion | – | – | – | Bloodwave |
Talisman
Talismans were a new addition to character builds in the Lord of Hatred expansion, and combining different talismans leads to a bunch of various buffs. In truth, these are too numerous to list, but we can tell you the best Talismans to track down for this build:
| Slot | Talisman |
| Legendary Horadric Seal | Beast Armament |
| Slot 1 | Linta of the Blood Binder |
| Slot 2 | Berú of the Blood Binder |
| Slot 3 | Phoba of the Blood Binder |
| Slot 4 | Mlor of the Blood Binder |
| Slot 5 | Fer of the Blood Binder |
| Slot 6 | Red Blessing |
Gear
Your gear is a massive part of your build, with each piece massively buffing your character and complementing the skills you’re using. This is likely to change with each season, and you may find gear you prefer as it allows you to tweak the build into something more tailored to your playstyle.
But generally, when running a Blood Wave build, you can’t go wrong with the following items and the recommended sockets. Of course, you’ll need to track each of these pieces down in dungeons, but some are guaranteed drops from certain dungeons, which makes life easier.
You can also extract the Aspect (the special power) from one piece of gear and apply it to another. Finally, remember, you may find the same piece of gear twice, with the latter drop often being the more powerful of the two. So always appraise, look and be prepared to switch pieces. This is never just a case of finding the piece, equipping it, and being done.
| Slot | Item Name | Rarity | Socket(s) |
| Helm | Heir of Perdition | Mythic Unique Helm | IgniTeb Rune |
| Chest Armor | Glynn’s Anvil | Legendary Chest Armor | Perfect Diamond X2 |
| Gloves | Crushing | Legendary Gloves | Perfect Diamond |
| Pants | Kessime’s Legacy | Unique Pants | PocWat Rune |
| Boots | Dominance | Legendary Boots | Perfect Diamond |
| Main Hand | Tidal | Legendary Mace | Perfect Skull |
| Offhand | Thickened Blood | Legendary Shield | Perfect Topaz |
| Amulet | Banished Lord’s Talisman | Unique Amulet | Perfect Diamond |
| Ring 1 | Tides Blood | Legendary Ring | Perfect Diamond |
| Ring 2 | Ring of Starless Skies | Mythic Unique Ring | Perfect Diamond |
