The Minion build has propelled the Necromancer to the top of the meta in Season 5 of Diablo 4. Here’s a guide on how to put together this build for leveling and endgame content, as well as our recommendation for PvP play.
The Minion Necro build relies on the Necromancer’s strength in summoning the undead and using them to fight against the enemies of Hell. With the Necromancer being a highly sought-after class this season, it is crucial to understand how to construct this build when starting a new character.
Next, we will provide a comprehensive guide on how to enhance your build for endgame, highlighting the most beneficial skills, items, Aspects, and Glyphs to strive for during your adventure. For those interested in PvP, we will also assess the viability of the Minion Necro in the current season.
The Necromancer is the master using death itself against Diablo and his minions.
The Best Minion Leveling Build for Season 5 in Diablo 4
As you progress through the campaign or Season 5 content, it is important to select your skills in the following order to maximize your leveling experience.
| Level | Skill |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reap |
| 2 | Decompose |
| 3 | Blood Surge |
| 4 | Blood Surge |
| 5 | Enhanced Blood Surge |
| 6 | Paranormal Blood Surge |
| 7 | Blood Surge |
| 8 | Blood Surge |
| 9 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery |
| 10 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery |
| 11 | Skeletal Warrior Mastery |
| 12 | Iron Maiden |
| 13 | Enhanced Iron Maiden |
| 14 | Death’s Approach |
| 15 | Death’s Approach |
| 16 | Corpse Tendrils |
| 17 | Enhanced Corpse Tendrils |
| 18 | Plagued Corpse Tendrils |
| 19 | Blood Surge |
| 20 | Grim Harvest |
| 21 | Amplify Damage |
| 22 | Amplify Damage |
| 23 | Death’s Approach |
| 24 | Inspiring Leader |
| 25 | Inspiring Leader |
| 26 | Inspiring Leader |
| 27 | Hellbent Commander |
| 28 | Hellbent Commander |
| 29 | Hellbent Commander |
| 30 | Kalan’s Edict |
| 31 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 32 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 33 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 34 | Hewed Flesh |
| 35 | Hewed Flesh |
| 36 | Necrotic Carapace |
| 37 | Necrotic Carapace |
| 38 | Necrotic Carapace |
| 39 | Hellbent Commander |
| 40 | Hellbent Commander |
| 41 | Hellbent Commander |
| 42 | Fueled by Death |
| 43 | Fueled by Death |
| 44 | Fueled by Death |
| 45 | Unliving Energy |
| 46 | Skeletal Mage Mastery |
| 47 | Skeletal Mage Mastery |
| 48 | Skeletal Mage Mastery |
| 49 | Kalan’s Edict |
| Renown 1 | Golem Mastery |
| Renown 2 | Golem Mastery |
| Renown 3 | Golem Mastery |
| Renown 4 | Blood Mist |
| Renown 5 | Enhanced Blood Mist |
| Renown 6 | Ghastly Blood Mist |
| Renown 7 | Hewed Flesh |
| Renown 8 | Spiked Armor |
| Renown 9 | Spiked Armor |
| Renown 10 | Iron Maiden |
These abilities are essential for creating the perfect Minion Necro build. However, it is important to note that you must have unlocked the Renown points in order to utilize the additional ten points. If you prefer, you can upgrade your Golem Mastery before choosing certain passive skills for convenience.
Despite this, the passive skills mentioned will enhance your Minions and maximize their potential based on your base skills and stats. Additionally, we have included a range of active skills that complement the Minion build, as they are essential for every build.
To ensure a strong connection between Corpse skills and Minion skills, we have carefully chosen your passive Corpse skills to guarantee a plentiful supply of corpses for you to resurrect as minions. While Bone Magic has been disregarded, your primary offensive skills will revolve around Blood Magic, complemented by some Shadow attacks for close-quarter combat.
Optimal Book of the Dead Setup for Leveling
The Book of the Dead is unique to the Necromancer and is how they manage their minions.
If you are considering incorporating the Necromancer’s special skills from the Book of the Dead into a Minion-focused build, we suggest opting for the following choices:
- Skeletal Warriors – Reapers
- Skeletal Mages – Cold
- Golems – Blood
This Book of the Dead setup is ideal for this build as it allows your Reaper Skeletal Warriors to prioritize melee combat, while your Mages provide support from a safe distance using Cold Magic. This strategy effectively slows down enemies, giving your Skeletons, Golem, and yourself the opportunity to attack while they are weakened.
We have chosen the Blood Golem for this Book of the Dead setup because it will enhance your Golem’s ability to boost your damage output and provide healing when needed. While the Minion Necro is not particularly fragile, managing your troops will take up a significant amount of your time, making the Blood Golem an excellent safeguard against mobs and elites.
Best leveling rotation
- Summon Minions
- Iron Maiden
- Corpse Tendrils
- Blood Mist / Blood Surge
- Reap / Decompose
- Corpse Tendrils
Next, use Plagued Corpse Tendrils to stun enemies and increase the chance of creating additional corpses to replenish your minions. Afterwards, unleash your main attacks, utilizing Blood Mist and Blood Surge to inflict powerful damage from a distance while your minions engage the enemy.
To defend yourself, use Reap to slice any enemies that come too close. Then, move to a safer distance and attack them with Decompose. Once Corpse Tendrils have worn off, use it again to increase your corpse count and stun any remaining enemies. Additionally, it will also replenish their poison levels.
Undoubtedly, the most effective rotation for you to use will vary, but the above method has been proven to be a logical and successful way to merge skills and create a formidable set of attacks.
Best Legendary Aspects
As you progress to level 50 and play through the story, some Legendary Aspects will become more beneficial in the endgame version of the Minion Build. However, there are also opportunities for you to obtain them along the way. Here is a guide to their locations:
| Aspect | Power | Dungeon | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| resuscitation | Increased minion damage | Aldurwood | Scosglen |
| Grasping Veins | Increased critical strike chance for Corpse Tendrils | Corrupted Grotto | I develop |
| Unyielding Commander’s | Increased minion damage | Faceless Shrine | Hawezar |
| Blood-bathed | Duplicates Blood Surge Nova | Hoarfrost Demise | Fractured Peaks |
| Disobedience | Boosts defense based on your minion damage output | Halls of the Damned | I develop |
Best Minion Endgame Build for Diablo 4 Season 5
The Minion Build has been a favorite since Diablo 2.
After completing the story, reaching level 50, and unlocking the Paragon Board in Season 5, you will be able to switch to the endgame version of the Minion Necro build. While it shares similarities with the leveling build, there are some important variations in the distribution of points, which will be discussed in detail below.
To begin, you must swap your active and passive skills. Once you have your 50 skill points and any unlocked Renown points, distribute them among the recommended active and passive skills listed below.
| Active Skill | Upgrades | Points allocated |
|---|---|---|
| Reap | – | 1 |
| Decompose | – | 1 |
| Blood Mist | Enhanced, Ghastly | 2 |
| Decrepify | Enhanced, Abhorent | 5 |
| Corpse Tendrils | Enhanced, Plagued | 1 |
| Army of the Dead | Enhanced, Supreme | 1 |
| Passive Skill | Points |
|---|---|
| Unliving Energy | 1 |
| Hewed Flesh | 3 |
| Grim Harvest | 2 |
| Fueled by Death | 3 |
| Skeleton Warrior Mastery | 3 |
| Amplify Damage | 3 |
| Death’s Approach | 3 |
| Skeletal Mage Mastery | 3 |
| Reaper’s Pursuit | 1 |
| Gloom | 1 |
| Necrotic Carapace | 3 |
| Terror | 3 |
| Golem Mastery | 3 |
| Inspiring Leader | 3 |
| Kalan’s Edict | 1 |
While still centered around Minion skills as the main source of offense, this build now places greater emphasis on Shadow Magic abilities like Reap, as opposed to Blood Magic, for engaging in combat.
As you progress to endgame, you will become less vulnerable, making it valuable to have the ability to attack enemies from a distance or engage in close combat as needed. In addition, we have replaced Iron Maiden with Decrepify as our chosen curse, which will effectively hinder the movement of enemies and give our minions an upper hand in fights.
Best Endgame Book of the Dead Setup
Minions can rush into combat while the Necromancer fires spells from a distance.
In the endgame, the main distinction among Book of the Dead skills is that we will opt for Shadow Magic instead of cold for our Skeleton Mages.
- Skeletal Warriors – Reapers
- Skeletal Mages – Shadow
- Golems – Blood
Regarding the remaining Book of the Dead setup, it will remain unchanged from the leveling setup, so you can leave it as it was.
Best Endgame Rotation
When engaging mobs in battle during the endgame, utilize the following skill rotation.
- Summon Minions
- Decreptify
- Army of the Dead
- Corpse Tendrils
- Blood Mist
- Reap / Decompose
In the endgame, the optimal attack strategy includes starting with casting Decreptify in order to slow down enemies (assuming your minions are already engaged), followed by using your ultimate skill, Army of the Dead, to deal a heavy blow to a group of enemies. This should eliminate a significant number of them, allowing you to then utilize Corpse Tendrils to both stun and poison the remaining weakened foes, while also generating as many corpses as possible.
From this point, your minions will confront the sluggish, paralyzed, and feeble mob while you use Blood Mist or Decompose. Alternatively, you can charge into the thick of battle and use Reap to cut down enemies until they are all defeated. These may seem like minor alterations to our leveling strategy, but they are strategic tactics.
Best Legendary Aspects
As you progress to the endgame, you’ll unlock a plethora of Legendary Aspects that can enhance your build and grant unique abilities to strengthen your primary skills. While some may be familiar from your leveling build, there are also additional ones to discover. Read on to learn where and how to obtain them.
| Aspect | Power | Dungeon | Region | Gamble Obols |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| resuscitation | Increased minion damage | Aldurwood | Scosglen | – |
| Grasping Veins | Increased critical strike chance for Corpse Tendrils | Corrupted Grotto | I develop | – |
| Unyielding Commander’s | Increased minion damage | Faceless Shrine | Hawezar | – |
| Blood-bathed | Duplicates Blood Surge Nova | Hoarfrost Demise | Fractured Peaks | – |
| Disobedience | Boosts defense based on your minion damage output | Halls of the Damned | I develop | – |
| Frenzied Dead | Boosts minion damage and speed | – | – | Offhand |
| Occult Domination | Increases number of Skeleton Warriors by 2 | – | – | Boots |
| Blood Getter’s | Skeletal Priest now empowers you by an extra 55-77% | – | – | Boots |
| Hardened Bones | You and your minions get damage reduction | – | – | Pants |
| Aphotic | Skeletal Priest empowers Skeleton Warriors by an extra 20% | – | – | Boots |
| Metamorphosis | Evade triggers Unstoppable for 2.5 seconds | – | – | Boots |
Don’t forget, you also have the option to remove these Aspects from their original item and transfer them to a different item of your choice.
Paragon Board
The Paragon Board replaces skills at level 50.
After reaching level 50, your skill points will cease to increase and you will begin earning Paragon points instead. This leveling system operates in a distinct manner, requiring you to choose enhancements from a variety of boards, each with its own unique themes and buffs.
Each individual path may vary, but the positive aspect is that you can enhance your Minion Necro in crucial ways for the build by strategically targeting different Glyphs on the Paragon Board as you progress.
Refer to the list below to determine which Glyphs you should prioritize targeting.
Best Glyphs
At level 15, players will encounter new challenges and obstacles to overcome.
- Golem
- Corporeal
- Exploit
- Essence
- Deadraiser
- Amplify
- Control
Level 21
- Golem
- Essence
- Exploit
- Control
- Deadraiser
- Corporeal
- Amplify
Once you achieve Paragon Level 15, aim to obtain the aforementioned Glyphs. As you accumulate more points, you will also gain access to additional Glyphs on the Paragon Board. However, prioritizing these specific Glyphs in the specified sequence will ensure that you stay on the optimal route for the Minion Necro build.
Best Minion Endgame Item Build
| Item | Socket | Item type | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runic Skullcap of Hardened Bones | Ruby for extra life | Helm | Increased minion damage |
| Runic Mail of Occult Domination | Ruby for extra life | Chest Armor | Increased Skeleton Warriors by 2 |
| Runic Gloves of Reanimation | Ruby for extra life | Gloves | Increased minion damage |
| Blood Getter’s Runic Leggings | Ruby for extra life | Pants | Increased Skeleton Priest damage |
| Aphotic Runic Cleats | Ruby for extra life | Boots | Increased Skeleton Priest damage |
| Unyielding Commander’s Sparr | Emeralds for poison damage | Main Hand | Army of the Dead increases minion damage |
| – | – | Offhand | – |
| Nazar of the Great Feast | Diamond for extra attack power | Amulet | Increased minion damage |
| Circle of the Grasping Veins | Diamond for extra attack power | Ring 1 | Increased minion critical hit rate |
| Circle of Frenzied Dead | Diamond for extra attack power | Ring 2 | Increased minion attack speed |
Better PvP Build for Necromancer Minion
The Minion Necro is not ideal for PvP, however, it excels in PvE. We suggest utilizing the Bone Spirit or Bone Spear build instead, which would require sacrificing your minions and transforming your Necromancer into a formidable solo player.
Players in PvP may not be the best option as your minions will likely be treated as regular enemies, possibly elites, and defeated swiftly, leaving you exposed and defenseless.
If you are determined to use this build in combat against other players, however, we recommend sticking to our endgame version for optimal results.
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