The Best Necromancer Leveling Build for Season 5 of Diablo 4 (2024)

Diablo 4's Season 5 has seen a number of new items, game modes, and a seasonal questline added to the game. As players jump into the Season of Infernal Hordes, many are searching for a fun, fast leveling build to help them reach end game quickly. While there are many viable leveling builds for each class, one of the best for Necromancer is the Minion build.

The Necromancer's Minion build had several buffs in Season 4, as well as the game adding an interesting new Legendary Aspect to improve the build's survivability. Keep reading to learn how to play the Minion Necromancer on this Season's road to 100 with Itemization suggestions, a Skill Tree walkthrough, and Book of the Dead recommendations.

The Best Build To Level Necromancer

The Necromancer's Minions received a number of buffs during Season 4, which made a minion-centric build ideal for leveling the Necromancer. Most important among these buffs were the changes to minion tankiness, which drastically increased their uptime. This, combined with some of Season 5's new items andLegendary Aspects turns the Minion Necromancer into a true Army of the Dead Power Fantasy.

The Minion Necromancer Skill Tree

The skill tree for the Minion Necromancer looks slightly odd at lower levels, due partially to not wanting anything from the first node. However, Diablo 4's progression system requires players to put two points into the Basic Abilities Node before being able to proceed, which leads to a semi-random 2 point investment into Sever and/or Decompose. Otherwise, this build is very Passive heavy, and focuses on providing consistent corpses for the player to use on Corpse Tendrils or Raise Skeleton.

Basic Abilities

These abilities should only be used as long as there are extra spots on the player's Hotbar, and should be abandoned by about level 25 to 30. Players can invest two points into Sever, or two into Decompose depending on their preference for melee or ranged combat.

Core Skills

The main damage source for this build until the Necromancer's Minions scale up is Blood Surge. This build only has room for 2 points in the skill, but this shouldn't matter, as it won't be on the Hotbar unless you're pivoting away from full minions in the late game (more on that later).

• Blood Surge (2/5)
  • Enhanced Blood Surge
  • Paranormal Blood Surge
• Unliving Energy (3/3)
• Imperfectly Balanced (3/3)
• Hewed Flesh (3/3)

Corpse And Macabre Skills

This is around the time the Necromancer's Minions start to melt through targets. However, in addition to picking up more passive buffs, players should also pick up the Necromancer's best defensive option - Bloodmist.

• Blood Mist (1/5)
  • Enhanced Blood Mist
  • Ghastly Blood Mist
• Spiked Armor (2/3)
• Skeleton Warrior Mastery (3/3)
• Grim Harvest (2/3)
• Fueled by Death (3/3)

Curse Skills

At this level, the player will invest 2 points on Iron Maiden for Essence Generation and additional damage, but primarily focus on the node's many useful passives.

• Iron Maiden (1/5)
  • Enhanced Iron Maiden
• Death's Embrace (3/3)
• Amplify Damage (3/3)
• Death's Approach (3/3)
• Skeletal Mage Mastery (3/3)

Corpse And Macabre Skills (2)

This is where the Minion Necromancer picks up its all important CC, as well as its primary Defensive Statistics. By this time, the build should be melting through Elite Packs and Mini-Bosses with relative ease while the player watches from the backline.

• Corpse Tendrils (1/5)
  • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
  • Plagued Corpse Tendrils
• Necrotic Carapace (3/3)

Ultimate Skills

This is where players will need to have their end goal build in mind. For a pure Minion build in the late game, remove all points from Blood Surge and Imperfectly Balanced to put into Army of the Dead and some additional passives here. If players wish to move toward the Blood Surge Build however, then do not take Army of the Dead. Here are the two options side by side.

Key Passives

There is only one passive that will benefit a Minion Necromancer, and that is Kalan's Edict. This passive is especially strong for those who will continue a minion build into World Tiers 3 and 4, as items drop there that increase the maximum number of minions.

The Book Of The Dead For The Minion Necromancer

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The Book of the Dead is fairly straightforward for the Minion Necromancer, choosing options that will maximize the damage of the horde. The real damage dealers of this build are the Skeletal Mages, which will receive the lion's share of buffs from items.

Itemization For The Minion Necromancer

Itemization for this build is focused on buffing the damage to the player's minions while maintaining sufficient personal survivability. Keep an eye out for gear with the following:

• Weapon Damage
• Damage Increase (%)
• Intelligence
• Maximum Life
• Critical Strike Chance
• Critical Strike Damage
• Vulnerable Damage
• Movement Speed

Useful Legendary Aspects

While a leveling build doesn't get the pick of the litter of Aspects, as players will be more limited by RNG and material resources, the following Legendary Aspects fit well with this build.

• Reanimation (Aldurwood in in Scosglen)
• Grasping Veins (Corrupting Grotto in Kehjistan)
• Unyielding Commander's (Faceless Shrine in Hawezar)
• Aphotic (Random Drop)
• Frenzied Dead (Random Drop)
• Occult Dominion (Random Drop)
• Shademist (Random Drop)
• Coldbringers (Random Drop)
• Sly Steps (Random Drop)
• Hardened Bones (Random Drop)
• The Great Feast (Random Drop)

If players are lucky enough to have to choose between more of these aspects than fit on their gear, prioritize Hardened Bones, Occult Dominion, Frenzied Dead, Shademist, Coldbringers, and The Great Feast.

Useful Unique Items

Unique items may drop early, depending on the player's luck. Some that are worth equipping when found are:

• Ring of the Sacrilegious Soul
• Deathspeaker's Pendant
• the Mortacrux
• Ring of Mendeln

Diablo 4

Action RPG

Hack and Slash

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:88/100 Critics Recommend:93%

Franchise

Diablo

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5

Released

June 6, 2023

Developer(s)

Blizzard

Publisher(s)

Blizzard

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Proprietary Engine

ESRB

m

How Long To Beat

27 Hours

Steam Deck Compatibility

Yes, Diablo 4 is playable on the Steam Deck

X|S Enhanced

Yes

PS Plus Availability

N/A

File Size Xbox Series

84 GB (May 2024)

Split Screen Orientation

N/A (Shared Screen)

Number of Players

1-2

Local Co-Op Support

1-2 Players

Cross Save

Yes, Diablo 4 doe support cross-save

Cross-Platform Play

PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

See at Official Site