The Necromancer of Diablo 4 holds sway over the forces that control Life and Death, being able to use blood, bones, and even shadow to eliminate their opponents. Considered as one of the most technical Classes in Diablo 4, players can have their Necromancer fight by siphoning the life of enemies, impaling them through bone, engulfing them with darkness, or be represented by their skeletal thralls.
The myriad of options at a Necromancer’s disposal can make leveling up in the Diablogame rather stressful for new players. However, players who take a good look at the Necromancer’s Paragon Board may discover certain Rare Nodes that may work precisely for their needs.
10 Prime (Basic Board)
- +10% Damage, +4% Maximum Life
- Bonus: +10% Damage at 160 Willpower
The Necromancer shares the Prime Rare Node as a common gameplay element with fellow Diablo 4 Classes the Rogue and the Druid, giving them access to extra damage and maximum Life. This Rare Node is quite a must-have in the early-to-midgame regardless of the Necromancer build.
Where the Prime Node also shines is its synergy with other Paragon Board elements. For instance, Thick Hide (Rare Node, Bloodbath) is a decent Prime upgrade, providing yet another 4% to Max Life and 10% Damage while Fortified. Attaching Territorial (Glyph) to the board this early can boost the Necromancer’s damage to close targets by 1.9% (per Dexterity Node) and a hefty 10% Damage Reduction against said enemies (at 5 Dexterity Nodes).
9 Invigorated (Blood Begets Blood)
- +10% Damage for 4 Seconds after picking a Blood Orb, +12.5% Damage while Healthy
- Bonus: +10% Damage for 4 Seconds after picking up a Blood Orb at 260 Willpower, 350 Intelligence
Across all variants of the Necromancer in Diablo 4 gameplay, the Blood Necromancer is one of the most PVP-compatible aggressive builds out there. With the Invigorated Rare Node, Blood Necromancers get more damage when picking up Blood Orbs and being Healthy. This synergizes well with Blood Begets Blood (Legendary Node) which can grant up to a 5-second 15% damage boost when picking up a Blood Orb.
With Blood Orb pickups being an integral part of the Blood Necromancer’s gameplay, Invigorated can also work well with another pickup Rare Node, Blood-Empowered. This Node provides +10% Damage for 4 seconds upon acquiring a Blood Orb on top of +10 Intelligence, the latter of which can further improve the Necromancer’s overall Resistances.
8 Vampiric (Blood Begets Blood)
- +4% Maximum Life, +5% Blood Orb Healing
- Bonus: +5% Blood Orb Healing at 250 Willpower
Even efficient Diablo 4 PVP builds like the Blood Necromancer or the Bone Spear Necromancer become useless when enemies get to outpace their defenses. Thanks to Vampiric, players can get more out of their recovery through Necromancer-exclusive Blood Orbs on top of bolstering their overall Life.
When paired with another Orb-healing booster such as Blooddrinker (Rare Node, Blood Begets Blood) that also adds +10 Intelligence, Necromancer can get more potent healing even in the middle of combat. To ensure maximum survivability, Recuperate (Rare Node) that adds +4% to Potion Healing and +10 Life Regeneration when not damaged recently can be a fallback in dangerous situations.
7 Thick Hide (Bloodbath)
- +4% Maximum Life, +10% Damage while Fortified
- Bonus: +10% Damage while Fortified at 260 Willpower, 350 Intelligence
Thanks to Fortify, players at lower Life can protect themselves through a skill that absorbs damage. In the case of the Diablo 4 Blood Necromancer, they can Fortify themselves using Blood skills (Drain Vitality) or creating Corpses (Necrotic Carapace), providing much-needed defenses for their rather frail builds. However, unlocking the Thick Hide Rare Node can reinvigorate the Necromancer’s offensive when they get their much-needed Fortification courtesy of added damage.
Players enjoying this type of gameplay can enjoy synergizing Thick Hide with other Nodes that enhance damage at Fortify while adding benefits such as +10 Intelligence (Hardened) and +65% Fortify Generation (Guarded Advance). It may also work with Tenacity (Rare Node, Bone Graft) that adds the same maximum Life on top of +100 Armor, making it nifty for defense.
6 Powerhouse (Bloodbath)
- +30% Overpower Damage, +12.5% Damage while Healthy
- Bonus: +12.5% Damage while Healthy at 270 Willpower
While other Classes have some means of generating Fortify, the Necromancer’s constant access to Fortify opportunities (Drain Vitality, Necrotic Carapace) makes them fit for abusing the extra damage from Overpowered attacks. Such is the nature of the Powerhouse Rare Node, where players can enjoy additional DPS while healthy and get more Overpower damage when they proc them.
This Node works well with the rest of the Bloodbath Board, wherein the core Bloodbath (Legendary) Node gives a whopping 50% Overpower damage boost to guaranteed Overpowers (e.g., Rathma’s Vigor, Blood Lance, Blood Surge). Synergies with this Node also happen with Aggression (Rare Node, Blood Begets Blood) that provides +30% Overpower Damage on top of a base +10% Damage increase. When used properly, Powerhouse can be the tool a PVP Necromancer needs to dominate the competition.
5 Reinvigorate (Bone Graft)
- +8 Maximum Essence, +2 Essence On Kill
- Bonus: +8 Maximum Essence at 250 Willpower
As with most spellcasters in Diablo gameplay, a Necromancer in Diablo 4 is just as efficient as their resource supply. In the case of the Reinvigorate Rare Node, Necromancers may enjoy maximum Essence on top of guaranteed Essence on kill, encouraging more aggressive plays for constant resource generation.
While the Reinvigorate Node works with most Necromancer builds, its status as Boen Graft Node makes it more effective when synergized with other Essence-dependent Nodes such as its board’s namesake. The Bone Graft (Legendary) Node will add up to +24 Maximum Essence and +8% damage for 8 seconds whenever players hit opponents with Bone skills, making this efficient for Bone Spirit Necromancer builds. While these Nodes don’t necessarily add massive damage boosts, the guaranteed Essence recovery can secure a more consistent offensive.
4 Calcified (Bone Graft)
- +15% Critical Strike Damage with Bone Skills, +10% Bone Skill Damage
- Bonus: +15% Critical Strike Damage with Bone Skills at 260 Dexterity, 350 Intelligence
Bones remain an integral part of the Necromancer aesthetic in the Diablo franchise, reflected in the conjuration of bone structures to facilitate different attacks. The Calcite Rare Node is a must-have for Bone Spear Necromancers and other Bone-focused builds with its straightforward boosts to Critical Strikes and damage.
The Calcite Node synergies well with the rest of the Bone Graft Board, starting with Shaper of Bone (Rare Node) that provides +10% Bone Skill Damage and +10 Intelligence, as well as Erudite (Rare Node) that provides the same Intelligence bonus alongside +4% Resistance to all Elements. This Node also works with Stifle (Rare Node, Flesh-Eater) that provides +15% Critical Strike and +25% damage to Injured enemies. Considering how builds such as the Bone Spear Necromancer focus on proccing Crits and Vulnerable, Calcified and its synergies provide much-needed firepower.
3 Dragging Shadows (Wither)
- +12% Shadow Resistance, 4% Damage Reduction from Enemies affected by Shadow DOT
- Bonus: +4% Damage Reduction from Enemies affected by Shadow DOT at 260 Dexterity
The Shadow playstyle in Diablo 4 gameplay excels in damage-over-time and proccing CCs for the Necromancer. This is majorly done through Slows (Blight, Decompose), Vulnerable (Sever), Stuns (Crippling Darkness) in tandem with buffs such as increased damage (Gloom, Shadowblight) on specific CCs (Decompose, Terror), more attack speed (Reap) and movement speed (Reaper's Pursuit). However, Shadow doesn’t offer useful survivability options.
This time around, the Dragging Shadows Rare Node gives Necromancers a much-needed splash of defense as it reduces damage taken from enemies affected by Shadow DOT. Although the effect might seem minuscule at first, but adding this to the kit of a Shadow/Minions Necromancer could improve their overall survivability.
2 Gnawing Darkness (Wither)
- +10% Damage to enemies affected by Shadow DOT, +16% Damage to Elites
- Bonus: +10% Damage to enemies affected by Shadow DOT at 260 Dexterity
With the Gnawing Darkness Rare Node, players get a much-needed damage boost to Shadow DOTs on top of more damage to Elite enemies. This effect bolsters the slow nature of Shadow spells, allowing PVE-focused Necromancers to kill opponents through more DPS.
Gnawing Darkness does blend well with other members of its board, beginning with Wither (Legendary Node) that gives Shadow DOT a 5% chance to deal 50% more damage scaled through Willpower. Other relevant synergies include additional 10 Intelligence on top of +10% Shadow Damage (Malediction) and 12% Shadow Resistance (Gloom), as well as a more straightforward +10% Shadow Damage and Shadow DOT (Lingering Shadows).
1 Custody (Cult Leader)
- +10% Damage Reduction for Minions, +10 Intelligence
- Bonus: +10% Damage Reduction for Minions at 260 Dexterity
Perhaps the thematic icing on the cake for any Diablo Necromancer would be the ability to summon minions. Thanks to the Cult Leader Board, players have access to general attack-boosting Nodes to boost their minions’ efficiency. However, the Custody Rare Node provides much-needed defense to otherwise extermely fragile minions.
The additional damage mitigation for minions can make them much tougher to kill, in turn giving Summoner Necromancers more time to reposition or control the battlefield. Custody works well with the rest of the board’s offerings, with most other Rare Nodes providing additional damage that boosts the combat efficiency of the ever-reliable Skeletal Warrior, Skeletal Mage, and Golem.
Diablo 4 was released on June 5, 2023 for the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S