Diablo 4 Season 1 best Necromancer leveling builds | Blood Surge, Summoner, and more

Now that Season of the Malignant is upon us in Diablo 4, you may be planning to build a Necromancer character. If you are, you’ve come to the right place. In the latest update, Blizzard has buffed Necromancers quite a bit, so choosing to play a Necromancer is a smart choice. If you’re wondering what the best Necromancer leveling builds are in Diablo 4 Season 1, continue reading.

What is the best Necromancer leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 1?

It’s hard to say that one of the best Necromancer builds has changed whatsoever since the introduction of Season of the Malignant. The best leveling build for Necromancers in Diablo 4 Season 1 has to be the Blood Surge Necromancer. Since you’re starting back at level one for your seasonal character, you’ll have to slowly level up your Necromancer. While Blood Surge Necromancers were powerful beforehand, they’re even better now with the 25% Blood Skill Damage increase.

Essentially, you’ll want to focus on Blood skills, while also including some Darkness and Corruption skills. Looking at the patch notes, it seems they buffed this specific build rather than nerfed. Despite Blood Surge Necromancers still being on top, another Necromancer leveling build can be highly useful.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Best Necromancer leveling builds in Diablo 4 Season 1 tier list

1. Blood Surge Necromancer
2. Summoner Necromancer
3. Bone Spear Necromancer

Sadly, Bone Spear Necromancers didn’t get many relevant buffs this Season, so they’re last in the ranking. While some of the Bone skills were upgraded, they don’t seem to be amazing enough to be the best build. Under Blood Surge is the Summoner Necromancer, which is a decent build to run during Season of the Malignant.

They improved the auto-targeting for certain skills, while they also buffed the bonus damage and healing for raising Skeletal Priests. Overall though, leveling a Blood Surge Necromancer during this season is your best bet for a good time. If that doesn’t interest you, you should try a Summoner or Bone build.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Blood Surge Necromancer leveling build

This build is one of the most fun Necromancer builds to play, and is the best for this Season of Diablo 4. Your main Skills will be Reap, Hemorrhage, Blood Surge, Corpse Tendrils, Blood Mist, and Raise Skeleton. There are a few great Aspects to use, such as the Blood-Bathed Aspect and Aspect of Explosive Mist.

Although some Necromancers may enjoy using shields, I prefer scythes and swords. These weapons are much more useful than what the shield does for its small bit of defense. You’ll also want gear that gives you Intelligence, as that is a Necromancer’s main stat.

Best Blood Surge Necromancer leveling build skills

I tend to keep my two mouse buttons as Basic Skills, as I know they won’t cost any Essence. Then, the Skills I keep on the 1-3 keys are Blood Surge, Corpse Tendrils, and Blood Mist. On the 4 key is the Raise Skeleton Skill, since it’s my least used one.

The skills that focus on improving your Blood Orbs, Blood attacks, and health is most important here. Since you’re not focusing too heavily on upgrading your skeletons, prioritize upgrading your own attacks and Skills.

• Hemorrhage 5/5
  • Enhanced Hemorrhage 1/1
  • Acolyte’s Hemorrhage 1/1
• Reap 1/5
  • Enhanced Reap 1/1
  • Acolyte’s Reap 1/1
• Blood Surge 5/5
  • Enhanced Blood Surge 1/1
  • Paranormal Blood Surge 1/1
• Unliving Energy 3/3
  • Imperfectly Balanced 3/3
• Hewed Flesh 3/3
• Blood Mist 3/5
  • Enhanced Blood Mist 1/1
  • Ghastly Blood Mist 1/1
• Death’s Reach 3/3
• Corpse Tendrils 1/5
  • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils 1/1
  • Plagued Corpse Tendrils 1/1
• Gruesome Mending 3/3
  • Coalesced Blood 3/3
  • Tides of Blood 3/3
  • Drain Vitality 3/3
• Rathma’s Vigor 1/1

Best Blood Surge Necromancer leveling build Aspects and how to get them

When you’re running a Blood Surge Necromancer build, you want Aspects that improve your Blood Skills. Because of this, there are quite a few Aspects that will upgrade your Blood Surge Necromancer build.

• Blood-Bathed Aspect
  • Ability: Blood Surge’s nova echoes again after a short delay, dealing [50-60]% less damage.
  • Location: Hoarfrost Demise Dungeon, Fractured Peaks
• Aspect of Explosive Mist
  • Ability: Blood Mist triggers Corpse Explosion on surrounding Corpses. When Blood Mist detonates a Corpse, its Cooldown is reduced by [0.2-0.5] seconds.
  • Location: Legendary item gear drop
• Aspect of Grasping Veins
  • Ability: Gain [10-20]% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal [20-40]% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
  • Location: Corrupted Grotto Dungeon, Kehjistan

Screenshot via Blizzard

Summoner Necromancer leveling build

Another great Necromancer build for Diablo 4 Season 1 is the Summoner Necromancer. One of the best assets that Necromancers have are their Summons. The most important skills for this build are Reap, Sever, Corpse Tendrils, Corpse Explosion, Golem, and Raise Skeleton. Again, I wouldn’t use shields, and would prioritize using a scythe or sword. But with this build, a lot of your damage will come from your Summons.

Best Summoner Necromancer leveling build skills

Some of the best damage you’ll get from this build is from your Summons and your Darkness Skills. With Blighted Corpse Explosion, Corpse Explosion becomes a Darkness Skill. Then, the Skills under Reaper’s Pursuit all coordinate to give you more movement speed, Crowd Control enemies, and deal Shadow Damage.

Using that Shadow damage, you can then harness the Shadowblight passive. All of that coupled with your powerful Summons, especially the Golem, will make the Summoner Necromancer a worthwhile Season 1 build.

• Reap 1/5
  • Enhanced Reap 1/1
  • Acolyte’s Reap 1/1
• Sever 5/5
  • Enhanced Sever 1/1
  • Supernatural Sever 1/1
• Unliving Energy 3/3
  • Imperfectly Balanced 3/3
• Hewed Flesh 3/3
• Corpse Explosion 5/5
  • Enhanced Corpse Explosion 1/1
  • Blighted Corpse Explosion 1/1
• Skeletal Warrior Mastery 3/3
• Grim Harvest 3/3
  • Fueled by Death 3/3
• Skeletal Mage Mastery 1/3
• Corpse Tendrils 1/5
  • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils 1/1
  • Plagued Corpse Tendrils 1/1
• Reaper’s Pursuit 1/3
  • Gloom 3/3
  • Crippling Darkness 1/3
  • Terror 1/3
• Golem Mastery 2/3
• Inspiring Leader 1/3
• Shadowblight 1/1

Best Summoner Necromancer leveling build Aspects and how to get them

You’ll want to collect Aspects pertaining to your Summons’ damage and your Shadowblight passive with Aspects like Aspect of Reanimation and Blighted Offensive Aspect. You have a ton of Aspects at your disposal, whether they’re found on Legendary items or through Dungeons.

• Aspect of Reanimation
  • Ability: Your Skeletons gain increased damage while alive, up to [30-40]% after 10 seconds.
  • Location: Aldurwood Dungeon, Scosglen
• Requiem Aspect
  • Ability: You gain [3-5] maximum Essence per active Minion.
  • Location: Vault of the Forsaken Dungeon, Scosglen
• Blighted Offensive Aspect
  • Ability: You deal [50-120]% increased damage for 6 seconds after the Shadowblight Key Passive damages enemies 10 times.
  • Location: Akkhan’s Grasp Dungeon, Hawezar
• Aspect of Grasping Veins
  • Ability: Gain [10-20]% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal [20-40]% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
  • Location: Corrupted Grotto Dungeon, Kehjistan

Screenshot via Blizzard

Bone Spear Necromancer leveling build

Lastly, if none of the other builds interest you, try running a Bone Spear Necromancer. There are plenty of Bone skills in your skill tree that can make for an exciting build. Despite it not being one of the best Necromancer builds, you can still make it useful for a worthwhile Diablo 4 playthrough.

Your main skills should be Bone Spear, Bone Splinters, Corpse Tendrils, Blood Mist, Bone Prison, and Bone Storm. Unlike the other two builds, you won’t be relying heavily on Summons as a Bone Spear Necromancer.

Best Bone Spear Necromancer leveling build skills

As the title of the build denotes, your main attack will be Bone Spear. Luckily, Blizzard buffed the Bone Prison Skill during the latest patch update. Also, Bone Skill Damage increased by 25%, which means you may enjoy playing a Bone Spear Necromancer during Season 1.

• Bone Splinters 1/5
  • Enhanced Bone Splinters 1/1
  • Acolyte’s Bone Splinters 1/1
• Bone Spear 5/5
  • Enhanced Bone Spear 1/1
  • Supernatural Bone Spear 1/1
• Unliving Energy 3/3
  • Imperfectly Balanced 3/3
• Hewed Flesh 3/3
• Blood Mist 1/5
• Bone Prison 1/5
  • Enhanced Bone Prison 1/1
  • Ghastly Bone Prison 1/1
• Grim Harvest 3/3
• Fueled by Death 3/3
• Death’s Reach 3/3
• Corpse Tendrils 1/5
  • Enhanced Corpse Tendrils 1/1
  • Plagued Corpse Tendrils 1/1
• Serration 1/3
  • Compound Fracture 1/3
  • Evulsion 2/3
• Stand Alone 3/3
  • Memento Mori 3/3
• Bone Storm 1/1
  • Prime Bone Storm 1/1
  • Supreme Bone Storm 1/1
• Ossified Essence 1/1

Best Bone Spear Necromancer leveling build Aspects and how to get them

Despite this build not being a fan-favorite, there are plenty of useful Aspects if you do decide to run a Bone Spear Necromancer. These Aspects will really improve your Bone Skills, if you were worried about them not being as good as others.

• Splintering Offensive Aspect
  • Ability: Bone Spear’s primary attack makes enemies hit beyond the first Vulnerable for [1.5-2.5] seconds. Bone Shards from Bone Spear deal [30-60]% bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies and pierce them.
  • Location: Guulrahn Slums Dungeon, Dry Steppes
• Osseous Gale Aspect
  • Ability: Bone Storm consumes up to 8 corpses to increase its duration by up to [5-10] seconds.
  • Location: Legendary item gear drop
• Resource Aspect of Torment
  • Ability: Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increase your Essence Regeneration by [20-30]% for 4 seconds.
  • Location: Black Asylum Dungeon, Fractured Peaks
• Aspect of Grasping Veins
  • Ability: Gain [10-20]% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal [20-40]% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
  • Location: Corrupted Grotto Dungeon, Kehjistan

Diablo 4 is available on Battle.net.