Introduction
The Bone Spear Necromancer is an excellent choice for leveling and endgame content in Diablo 4. With its high critical hits and the ability to generate a large number of corpses, this build provides consistent and reliable damage. The Blighted Corpse Explosion, which deals damage twice per second, helps us sustain the build by generating a significant amount of corpses. As we progress in the game, we will gain access to more legendary powers that further enhance this build. Additionally, the Vulnerable effect on enemies makes it an excellent option for group play. You can also choose to use Melee Skeletons for tanking or sacrifice them to increase damage output with Bone Storm.
If you are a beginner, we recommend checking out the Necromancer Leveling guide for a smoother experience before switching to this build. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to join our livestream and ask us!
Build Requirements
This build guide has no mandatory items or Aspects. Simply follow the guide, and you’ll enjoy big numbers on your screen!
Video Guide
Please note that the video guide is meant to illustrate gameplay and general build mechanics. For the most up-to-date and accurate version, always refer to this written guide.
Strengths and Weaknesses
To compare this build with others, check out our build tier lists.
Season of the Malignant
Season 1 Patch Updates
The Season 1 Patch Update introduced several changes specific to this build. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.
Patch 1.1:
- Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks reduced from 100 to 60, reducing maximum Bonus Armor % from 25%-50% to 15%-30%.
- Raise Skeleton, Corpse Explosion, and Corpse Tendrils range for auto-targeting Corpses on mouse and keyboard increased by 50%.
- Evulsion bonus damage to Vulnerable reduced from 6/12/18% to 5/10/15%.
- Splintering Aspect Bone Shard damage bonus reduced from 50-100% to 30-60%.
- Osseous Gale Aspect bonus Bone Storm duration increased from 4-8 to 5-10 seconds.
- Aspect of Grasping Veins Critical Strike Damage bonus reduced from 30-60% to 20-40%.
Patch 1.1.1:
- Fixed an issue where the Necromancer’s Imperfectly Balanced passive could only have 1 point allocated to it.
- Aspect of Exposed Flesh:
- Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to generate 30-50 Essence when hitting a Vulnerable enemy.
Despite the nerfs to armor and damage output, this build still performs exceptionally well, even against Level 100 Uber Lilith with high-end gear. The 1.1.1 patch fixed the bug that limited us to only 1 point in Imperfectly Balanced.
Malignant Hearts
The Season 1 theme introduces Malignant Hearts that provide build-altering bonuses. These hearts are categorized by color and must be socketed in the corresponding colored Malignant Socket on equipped jewelry. The following Malignant Hearts are useful for this build, ranked by importance (based on the stats of a Level 20 character):
Caged Heart of the Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III):
- Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource.
- Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
Caged Heart of Tempting Fate (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III):
- You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage, but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
- Note: This requires 100% chance to Critical Strike, which is demanding on gear.
Caged Heart of the Sacrilegious (Vicious, Offensive):
- Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
The following tables show the full allocation of Skill Points for the Bone Spear Necromancer build. The first table includes the most important 48 points to start the build, while the second table covers the remaining 10 points allocated once you obtain all Skill Points from Renown.
[Skill Tree Images]
Book of the Dead
In this build, we will be sacrificing both our Mage Skeletons and our Golem. However, the decision to sacrifice the Melee Skeletons comes down to personal preference and the survival of your minions at higher endgame content. Playing in a party can also influence this decision. Here are the details on how we utilize the Book of the Dead for the Bone Spear Necromancer:
Melee Skeletons:
- If you decide to sacrifice the Melee Skeletons, use the Skirmishers as you gain increased Critical Strike chance. Adjust your skill points in the tree by removing all three points from the Skeletal Warrior Mastery and take all of the Bone Storm nodes instead for better critical strike hits and increased damage reduction. Note that by removing the Reapers, you also need to move the 3 points from Necrotic Carapace to Rapid Ossification.
If you decide to keep the Skeletons, use the Reapers to have them generate corpses by hitting enemies. This combination with the build creates an absurd amount of corpses quickly, allowing easy access to gain Essence, re-summon Skeletons, and provide consistent damage output when we run out of Essence after spamming Bone Spear.
Mage Skeletons:
- Sacrificing the Cold Mages grants us increased damage to Vulnerable enemies, which synergizes well with the build.
Golem:
- By sacrificing the Iron Golem, we can deal high spikes of damage with Critical Strikes and increase Critical Strike Damage.
Paragon Board
The Paragon progression system unlocks at Level 50 and provides significant character power. Prioritize Damage, Intelligence, Resistance, and Life for Normal and Magic Nodes as you path towards Glyph Sockets and Legendary Nodes. If you cannot fulfill Additional Bonus requirements early on, skip allocating extra nodes for now. Keep in mind that your first socket may not have the desired Glyph. Slot in any Glyph that provides beneficial stats until you get the correct one.
[Paragon Board Images]
Mechanics and Playstyle
Mechanically, our goal is to maintain a rotation that deals consistent damage, whether we have a full Essence bar or have just emptied it. By afflicting enemies with Vulnerable and creating multiple sources of corpses, we can stay at a safe distance and deal damage with Bone Spear. When we run out of Essence, spam Corpse Explosion to deal massive damage while regenerating Essence. Remember to stay away from enemies and utilize Blood Mist as a backup option when forced to tank. Control the damage dealt by enemies with Corpse Tendrils. In the higher endgame, utilize Legendary aspect powers to sustain Bone Spear even more, reducing the need for spamming Corpse Explosions and increasing damage output.
Gear Choice and Stat Priority
For your weapon, prioritize a higher total damage output. If you find a higher Item Power 1-Handed weapon, it may be better than a 2-Handed weapon when coupled with an Off-hand or shield. Shields scale your main-hand weapon by 80%! Here are the affixes to prioritize on gear for the Bone Spear Necromancer:
- Critical Strike Damage
- Critical Strike Damage with Bone skills
- Vulnerable Damage
- Maximum Essence
- Lucky Hit: Up to 5% chance to restore primary resource
- Critical Strike Chance
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Movement Speed
- Movement Speed for X seconds after killing an elite
- Essence cost reduction
- Essence Cost reduction
- Lucky Hit
Legendary Aspects and Uniques
The Bone Spear Necromancer focuses on Bone Spear and making enemies Vulnerable. The mandatory Codex Power is the Splintering Aspect. Here are the recommended Codex Powers and Aspects found on Legendary Items that are important for this build, along with optional ones in case you decide to use Skeletal Warriors. If you cannot find the proper Legendary drops, you can use Aspects from the Codex of Power, but they have weaker effects. Extract Aspects from lower-level Legendary Items and imprint them onto better Rare Items with preferred stats. The most important powers for this build are the Splintering Aspect and Aspect of Disobedience. All other powers are additional bonuses as you progress.
[Gear Slot, Aspect Name, Aspect Power]
Unique Items
The Deathless Visage is an incredible Unique item that makes our Bone Spear leave behind echoes as it travels, dealing massive damage. It also provides Critical Strike Damage for your Bone Skills and increased Maximum Essence. If you don’t have access to this Unique item, you can add the Legendary effect listed above.
End-Game Notes
Once you obtain the Aspect of Exposed Flesh and a proper pair of gloves, aim for 50% increased Critical Strike Chance in your tooltip. The remaining 50% comes from Aspect of Grasping Veins and Supreme Bone Storm. This allows for absurd end-game damage output. Make sure you have the gear displayed in this guide to reach this stage of the build. Additionally, switch your Accelerating Aspect to Osseous Gale Aspect and Aspect of Might to Aspect of Shielding Storm. At this point, you can optimize your skill tree for better performance by referring to the tree table shown below. Change your Control Glyph on the first Paragon Board to the Amplify Glyph. If you struggle to sustain your Essence, it means you are not sufficiently geared and should revert to the original plan shown in this guide.
[Priority Skills Cluster]
Gems
Here are the best Gems to socket into gear for each slot type:
- Weapon: Royal Emerald for +#% Increased critical strike damage to Vulnerable enemies.
- Armor: Royal Ruby for +#% Maximum Life.
- Jewelry: Royal Skull to increase our armor.
Elixirs and Health Potions
To gain an edge in your adventures, visit the Alchemist in any major town and craft Elixirs that enhance your stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Remember to gather the necessary crafting materials by foraging plants. Choose an Elixir that provides the resistance you need most or try the Assault Elixir to boost your Attack Speed.
Upgrade your Health Potion at Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80, and 90 for extra healing to ensure survival.
Changelog
- August 7th, 2023: Minor updates for the 1.1.1 patch.
- August 5th, 2023: Guide updated for patch 1.1.1 (launches on August 8th).
- July 26th, 2023: Optimized gear affix list.
- July 19th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1 including Malignant Hearts.
