Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build: Best Bone Necromancer skills
Discover how to create the best Bone Necromancer build in Diablo 4
Looking for the best Bone Necromancer build in Diablo 4? The Bone Necromancer is one of the best builds in Diablo 4, with huge damage potential, high Critical Strike Chance, and a bunch of bonus effects when you get a Critical Strike. We'll also build around a few ways to inflict the Vulnerable effect on enemies, since it can become a huge damage multiplier if you hunt for items with high Vulnerable damage affixes.
If the idea of slinging Bone Spears and summoning Bone Storms sounds fun, then you're in the right place! In this guide, we'll break down how to build the best Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build, covering the best skills, Aspects, Attributes, Gems, and how to use the Book of the Dead for the best effects.
This Bone Necromancer build has been prepared for launch and is ready to take you from level 1-50. It should easily get you through the Capstone Dungeon on World Tier 2, but we'll be back with a full endgame update that explains how to spend those precious Paragon Points so that you can clear the Fallen Temple Capstone Dungeon on World Tier 3 and slaughter those demons in high-level endgame content.
Check out our Diablo 4 Corpse Explosion Necromancer build, if you want to focus even more on detonating corpses and commanding an army of Minions!
Best Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build
This Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build is all about raising your Critical Strike Chance with various passives, skill upgrades, and Aspects so that you can consistently get Critical Strikes on enemies.
As you do, you'll also activate bonus effects such as additional Bone Spears, faster Essence Regeneration and Movement Speed, and more damage across the board for all of your Bone skills.
Best Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build skills
Below, you'll find a full list of all skills that you should get for our Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build, in order:
| Level | Skill | Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Bone Splinters level 1 | 1 (Basic) |
| 3 | Enhanced Bone Splinters | 1 (Basic) |
| 4 | Acolyte's Bone Splinters | 1 (Basic) |
| 5 | Bone Spear level 1 | 2 (Core) |
| 6 | Enhanced Bone Spear | 2 (Core) |
| 7 | Paranormal Bone Spear | 2 (Core) |
| 8 | Corpse Explosion level 1 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 9 | Enhanced Corpse Explosion | 3 (Macabre) |
| 10 | Plagued Corpse Explosion | 3 (Macabre) |
| 11 | Corpse Explosion level 2 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 12 | Corpse Explosion level 3 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 13 | Corpse Explosion level 4 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 14 | Bone Spear level 2 | 2 (Core) |
| 15 | Bone Spear level 3 | 2 (Core) |
| 16 | Bone Spear level 4 | 2 (Core) |
| 17 | Bone Spear level 5 | 2 (Core) |
| 18 | Bone Spirit level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 19 | Enhanced Bone Spirit | 5 (Summoning) |
| 20 | Ghastly Bone Spirit | 5 (Summoning) |
| 21 | Corpse Tendrils level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 22 | Enhanced Corpse Tendrils | 5 (Summoning) |
| 23 | Plagued Corpse Tendrils | 5 (Summoning) |
| 24 | Death's Reach level 1 | 4 (Corruption) |
| 25 | Bone Storm | 6 (Ultimate) |
| 26 | Prime Bone Storm | 5 (Summoning) |
| 27 | Supreme Bone Storm | 6 (Ultimate) |
| 28 | Death's Reach level 2 | 4 (Corruption) |
| 29 | Death's Reach level 3 | 4 (Corruption) |
| 30 | Serration level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 31 | Serration level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 32 | Serration level 3 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 33 | Compound Fracture level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 34 | Compound Fracture level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 35 | Ossified Essence | 7 (Key Passive) |
| 36 | Compound Fracture level 3 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 37 | Evulsion level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 38 | Evulsion level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 39 | Evulsion level 3 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 40 | Rapid Ossification level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 41 | Rapid Ossification level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 42 | Rapid Ossification level 3 | 5 (Summoning) |
| 43 | Grim Harvest level 1 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 44 | Grim Harvest level 2 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 45 | Grim Harvest level 3 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 46 | Fueled By Death level 1 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 47 | Fueled By Death level 2 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 48 | Fueled By Death level 3 | 3 (Macabre) |
| 49 | Stand Alone level 1 | 5 (Summoning) |
| Renown Point 1 | Stand Alone level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| Renown Point 2 | Stand Alone level 3 | 6 (Ultimate) |
| Renown Point 3 | Memento Mori level 1 | 6 (Ultimate) |
| Renown Point 4 | Memento Mori level 2 | 6 (Ultimate) |
| Renown Point 5 | Memento Mori level 3 | 6 (Ultimate) |
| Renown Point 6 | Corpse Explosion level 5 | 3 (Macabre) |
| Renown Point 7 | Bone Spirit level 2 | 5 (Summoning) |
| Renown Point 8 | Bone Spirit level 3 | 5 (Summoning) |
| Renown Point 9 | Bone Spirit level 4 | 5 (Summoning) |
| Renown Point 10 | Bone Spirit level 5 | 5 (Summoning) |
Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters is your builder for this Bone Necromancer build, generating Essence so that you can keep casting Bone Spear.
It isn't too important outside of that Essence Generation, but the Acolyte's Bone Splinters upgrade also offers +8% Critical Strike Chance for four seconds if you hit the same enemy at least three times with the same cast of Bone Splinters. That'll rarely trigger against packs, but it'll give you a frequent Crit Chance boost against bosses.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear is a powerful ranged skill that deals huge damage and pierces through enemies to hit multiple targets. Since we're building around Critical Strike Chance, you should take Paranormal Bone Spear to get the extra 5% Crit Chance with this skill.
Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion is a very useful damage dealer when you're out of Essence and need to whittle down a mob, so we strongly recommend taking it even though it doesn't fit with the Bone theme.
Corpse Explosion deals huge damage, but it also synergises with Grim Harvest and Fueled By Death to grant you six Essence and increase your damage with a 9% multiplier for six seconds when you consume a corpse.
Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrils combos with Corpse Explosion by pulling enemies in and packing them together. It'll also inflict enemies with the Slow and Vulnerable effects, allowing Corpse Explosion and your Bone skills to deal far more damage thanks to the Plagued Corpse Explosion and Evulsion skills respectively.
Bone Spirit
Bone Spirit is a powerful bomb, unleashing a spirit that charges at enemies and explodes. It deals huge damage, with a baseline of 112% skill damage and an extra 3% for each point of Essence spent when casting Bone Spirit.
The downside here is that Bone Spirit consumes all of your remaining Essence, meaning you'll need to rely on Bone Splinters and Corpse Explosion to quickly get yourself back in the game. Use Bone Spirit when a boss or elite charges in to take a large chunk out of their health bar.
Bone Storm
Bone Storm is your ultimate, unleashing a powerful storm around your character that deals huge damage for 10 seconds.
The really powerful effects come from the upgrades, though, with Prime Bone Storm and Supreme Bone Storm offering +15% Damage Reduction and +20% Critical Strike Chance while your ultimate is active.
If you're unsure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:
- If you have low Essence, use Bone Splinters or Corpse Explosion as generators.
- Spend Essence to use Bone Spear.
- Use Corpse Tendrils to pull enemies together when you're out of Essence, and then spam Corpse Explosion to quickly generate more Essence.
- Use Bone Spirit as a bomb when an elite or boss enters the fight.
- Use Bone Storm whenever you can, but especially when those elites or bosses appear.
Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build: Best Minions
The Necromancer has access to the unique Book of the Dead class mechanic, which allows them to raise three kinds of Minions: Warriors, Mages, and a Golem.
You might notice above, though, that we've opted not to use either the Raise Skeletons or Raise Golem skills, so we'd recommend sacrificing your Minions to get useful passives instead.
Below, you'll find the exact options we'd recommend choosing with your Book of the Dead for this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:
- Skeletal Warriors: Sacrifice Skeletal Skirmishers - Your Critical Strike Chance is increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
- Skeletal Mages: Sacrifice Cold Mages - You deal 15% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Mages.
- Golem: Sacrifice Iron Golem - You deal 30% increased Critical Strike Damage, but you lose the ability to summon a Golem.
Of course, this comes with a pretty big issue - you lose all of your Minions, meaning you no longer have a meatshield and will struggle when all of the damage focuses on you. In a group, you should be fine and the passives on offer here are a huge boon to the build, but be aware that you might struggle to survive in solo content.
With that in mind, definitely consider keeping at least the Skeletal Warriors and Mages if you're struggling. You will lose some Critical Strike Chance and extra Vulnerable damage, which is important for the build, but you will also find combat much easier.
If you do this, you should move skill points from Stand Alone and Memento Mori into Skeletal Warrior Mastery and Skeletal Mage Mastery. Ultimately, this is down to personal preference, and the build can still work either way.
Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build: Best Aspects
As you complete Side Dungeons or get Legendary drops in Diablo 4, you'll gain Aspects. These are Legendary powers that grant new, powerful effects when equipped, and they are crucial to making your build excel.
Below, you'll find the Aspects that we'd recommend using for this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:
- Deathless Visage (Unique Helmet - random drop): Bone Spear leaves behind echoes as it travels that explode, dealing extra damage.
- Aspect of Shielding Storm (Legendary - random drop): Each time that Bone Storm damages an enemy, gain a Barrier equal to 2-5% of your Base Life for 10 seconds.
- Aspect of Serration (Legendary - random drop): The Ossified Essence Key Passive also increases the Critical Strike Damage of your Bone skills by 1% per Essence above 50, up to +30-40%.
- Aspect of Disobedience (Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan): You gain x0.25-0.5% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to x25-50%.
- Wind Striker Aspect (Shivta Ruins - Kehjistan): Critical Strikes grant +8-16% Movement Speed for 1 second, up to 6 seconds.
- Splintering Aspect (Campaign Reward - Dry Steppes): Bone Spear's primary attack makes enemies hit beyond the first Vulnerable for 1.5-2.5 seconds. Bone Shards from Bone Spear deal 50-100% bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies and pierce them.
- Aspect of Grasping Veins (Corrupted Grotto - Kehjistan): Gain +10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal x30-60% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
- Smiting Aspect (Legendary Amulet - random drop): You have x10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies. While you are Healthy, you gain x20-40% increased Crowd Control Duration.
- Aspect of the Umbral (Champion's Demise - Dry Steppes): Restore 1-4 of your Primary Resource when you Crowd Control an enemy.
- Aspect of Torment (Black Asylum - Fractured Peaks): Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increase your Essence Regeneration by x20-30% for 4 seconds.
Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build: Best Affixes
While hunting for Legendary Gear with the above Aspects, you also need to consider the Affixes that you get. Affixes are the various random stat rolls that you get on Gear, so it might take a while to find the rolls you really need.
Below, you'll find the Affixes that you should hunt for with this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:
- Critical Strike Chance
- Critical Strike Damage
- Intelligence (increases Skill damage for the Necromancer)
- Willpower (increases Essence Regeneration)
- Dexterity (increases Critical Strike Chance)
If you have a piece of Gear that you really like but the Affixes don't fit, head to the Occultist and Enchant the item to replace one of the Affixes.
Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build: Best Gems
Gear also often comes with Sockets, into which you can place Gems for more passive bonuses. Gems have different effects depending on whether they are placed into Weapons, Armor, or Jewelry.
In Weapons, you should use Emeralds to get increased Critical Strike Damage against Vulnerable enemies. Corpse Tendril and the Splintering Aspect will both make enemies Vulnerable, and then you can take advantage of the high Critical Strike Chance that you should have with this build for even more damage.
In Armor, we'd recommend using Rubies to get more Maximum Life. The Necromancer doesn't have high survivability, so any increases to Maximum Life are highly important for those Capstone and Nightmare Dungeons coming when you reach the endgame.
For Jewelry, you should use either Skulls or Diamonds. Skulls offer increased Armor, while Diamonds give increased Resistance to all elements. You can take whichever you prefer, as either should push that survivability a little higher and prevent you from dying in the tough battles to come.
That wraps up our Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build guide. For other classes, you can also check out our Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build, Twisting Blades Rogue build, Chain Lightning Sorcerer build, and Lightning Storm Druid build guides.
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