Diablo 4 has five classes for players to choose from before beginning their adventure across Sanctuary in the hope of putting a stop to Lilith and her forces. While each class is better suited to a certain playstyle there are plenty of skills that make each class unique or overpowered in some way.
A great solo class that many players have favored is the Necromancer. Summoning the undead is only one way of playing this class as there are many other skills to unlock. While the best Necromancer skills, in general, have already been explored, there are still those that wonder which area of effect – also known as AOE – skills are the best for players to have on their ability bar.
7 Blood Wave
Starting off strong, Blood Wave is one of three Ultimate Skills a player can select. This skill can only be used once every couple of seconds, and therefore it's important to select an Ultimate that is likely to do the best amount of damage. Blood Wave does exactly what its name suggests as it conjures a wave of blood that pushes back enemies while also damaging them for seven hundred and eighty-three damage.
Although it has the chance of hitting the multiple enemies that are in front of the player's Necromancer there are arguably better Ultimates to select that can deal an even greater amount of damage. Therefore, this Blood Skill may be a great AOE skill, but it isn't a brilliant Ultimate.
6 Enhanced Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters are a Base Skill that players have access to from the very beginning of the game, and they unlock their first perk point. Although Bone Splinters themselves have the chance of hitting multiple enemies at once with its three projectiles, Enhanced Bone Splinters improves this damage further.
By purchasing Enhanced Bone Splinters after getting the original Base Skill players have a 25% chance of firing an additional two Bone Splinters if they have fifty or more Essence. This allows the player to deal with multiple enemies at once while also not exerting too much of their Essence, which could be better used on more powerful abilities.
5 Bone Spirit
Continuing the theme of Bone Skills for the Necromancer, another staple AOE skill players should consider purchasing with their perk points once it becomes available is the Bone Spirit. This is another undead companion the player can summon that will lunge towards an enemy before exploding and dealing five hundred and twenty-two damage to a foe, and all those that surround it.
However, players should be wary when using Bone Spirit as the skill doesn't require a set amount of Essence but instead takes whatever the player has remaining. For every point of Essence used this does increase the damage from the Bone Spirit by 3%.
4 Blight
While many of the Necromancer's skills tend to explode on impact with a foe, there are a few skills that deal a lingering amount of damage. One such example of this can be found in the Core Skills, known as Blight.
Costing the player twenty-five Essence to cast, Blight deals two hundred and seven damage to an enemy before leaving a patch of defiled land that will continue dealing five hundred and fifty-three damage to any enemy that walks over it. Combining Blight with other skills that do Shadow damage is sure to make for a powerful AOE build.
3 Bone Storm
Necromancers have few defensive abilities that hope to improve the player's survival in Diablo 4. Thankfully the Ultimate Skill, Bone Storm is sure to not only keep enemies away from the player but also deal an immense amount of damage. When cast, the player – and their golem if they have completed the Necromancers quest – is surrounded by swirling bones that deal just over a thousand amount of damage to enemies for ten seconds.
It's important to note that with Bone Storm equipped players will not be able to purchase another ultimate, this means that a Necromancer could either have the AOE skill of Blood Wave or Bone Storm, but not both.
2 Blood Surge
Blood Abilities are a vital element of many Necromancer builds, this is due to the self-healing properties the likes of skills such as Blood Surge have on the player. Besides this, the Core Skill of Blood Surge also does a substantial amount of damage.
It not only draws blood from surrounding enemies for a hundred and seventy-three damage but also explodes in a Blood Nova for an additional four hundred and thirty-four. However, the skill does cost thirty Essence to use, and therefore, players should be careful how often they rely on using this AOE ability.
1 Corpse Explosion
Out of all the skills available for a player, one of the greatest AOE abilities a player has to offer doesn't even require Essence to craft it. Corpse Explosion only requires the player to have a Corpse available on the ground for them to freely detonate it and damage the enemies that find themselves in its radius.
As the player is likely to be attacked by hordes of enemies these corpses are unlikely to be thin in numbers. It can even be improved further so that the radius of the explosion is increased and even more enemies could find themselves stuck in the blast.
Diablo 4 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.