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One ofDiablo 4’seasiest classes to level is the Necromancer. With multiple viable builds and a strong well-rounded toolkit, the Necromancer is a great choice for both new players and those wanting to push high-end content. The Bone Spear build is simple to learn and shines against all types of enemies, seeing you safely into Tier Three and beyond.
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This guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Bone Spear Necromancer build. It will cover the best Active, Passive, and Book of the Dead skill choices, as well as your best Stats and Aspects.
Updated July 06, 2025: We added a video version of this guide to better show you how to make those pointy bone spears.
Active Skill Priority
Bone Spear has a fairly standard build, which sees you taking the same six skills to support your Spears.You won’t have to worry about summoning minionseither, as you want to be sacrificing them to augment your spear damage.
Bone Splinters
The first ability you want to select isBone Splinters. This Basic Skill fires out three small shards of bone that deal low damage and help you generate your primary resource;Essence. Nothing special here, just a standard resource generator that you’ll be weaving with your Bone Spears, so expect to keep this one around for a long time.
Your augments are not critical but will help boost yourEssence and Critical Strikeby a small amount.You can delay the Acolyte’s upgradeto much later in your build to pick up some stronger power gains.
Bone Spear
This is yourCore Skilland the one you’ll be destroying your enemies with. Your goal with this ability is to try and shatter the Spears on either an object or a wall. This will cause the Spears to shatter into multiple shards, dealing extra damage and further strengthening your damage output. This is especially useful against bosses, making the Bone Spear equally adept at tearing through multiple enemies or a single target.
The Supernatural upgrade means your Bone Spear will automatically make yourfirst target struck Vulnerable for three seconds. Try to line up your Spears with priority targets and you’ll be bringing them down in no time.
As this is your Core Skill you should be investingall five ranksinto it as soon as possible.
Blood Mist
The next skill to pick up is yourkey defensive. Blood Mist gives youthree seconds of immunityandheals you for a portion of the AoE damage dealt. Bear in mind that you will beslowedfor the duration, so try to make sure you’re not in a dangerous position once you emerge.
Upgrading this skill won’t be necessaryas it only serves as a panic button for emergencies.
Corpse Explosion
This skill is a staple in multiple Necromancer builds, as it allows you to make use ofCorpsesfor extra AoE damage.It doesn’t cost any Essence, making it a great move to reliably spam once you’re out of juice. It is a great way to build back your Essence, as it will deal much more damage than Bone Splinters, and
Thanks to theBlightedupgrade, Corpse Explosion can be used to trigger certainDarknesseffects and will now deal its damage over time, which can stack up infinitely. Thanks to theGrim Harvestpassive, you’ll begenerating Essence every time you consume a corpse, soprioritise your Bone Spear spending before consuming corpses.
Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrilsis your go-tocrowd controlability. Usable on a corpse, this skill willpull enemies togetherandstun them for three seconds. Its low cooldown makes this spell one of Diablo 4’s strongest crowd control skills, and you will be using this frequently, especially if you manage to acquire theResource Aspect of the Umbrallegendary power. This will provide Essence per enemy Crowd Controlled, allowing for a quick refill on every use.
The modifiers you’ll want are very powerful, as theySlowenemies before the pull in, and appliesVulnerable for three secondsupon use. Another way to apply this debuff is very welcome andthis ability should be used on cooldownto help control your enemy’s positioning.
Bone Storm
For your Ultimate you’ll want to runBone Storm. It causes a swirl of Bones around you for ten seconds, synergising excellently with theDefensive Aspect of Shielding Storm, which provides a Barrier for every tick of damage coming from Bone Storm.
While the extra damage is nice, this skill is primarily taken for thebuffs that its modifiers provide. A flat increase of 15 percentDamage Reductionand 20 percentCritical Strike Chancefor the duration is very powerful, making Bone Storm both an offensive and defensive cooldown.
Passive Skill Priority
Necromancer has access to some very strong passives, buttry to focus on picking up your Active Skills first, as they will form your core rotation. Some strong bonuses feed off other mechanics such as yourBook of the Deadchoices, so you may delay some of these pick-ups depending on if you feel you need some more damage or tankiness.
Due to the synergy betweenSerrationandOssified Essence, you shouldtry building up to maximum Essence before using your Bone Spears. This will give them extra damage and crit, which you’ll want to be doing consistently, to proc other effects such asCompound Fracture.
The Necromancer’s unique mechanic is theBook of the Dead. This system allows you tocustomise each variety of minion, increasing their attacking output or defensive utility. As the Bone Spear build primarily relies onyour owndamaging spells, you’ll be wanting tosacrificeall of your minions. While this renders you unable to summon your undead helpers, you will gain flat stat bonuses in return.
Your Book of the Dead talent choices are as follows:
These options will reward you with extraCritical Strikechance and damage, alongside increased damage toVulnerabletargets. Both of these stats are core for the Bone Spear, so they outweigh the benefits summoning an army of minions would provide.
Due to theSacrifice talents being locked behind certain levels, it is perfectly fine to use the minions with another talent before unlocking their sacrifice option.
Stat Priority
The Bone Spear Necromancer doesn’t require any special stats to be effective but can benefit greatly from certain increases. Your primary stat isIntelligenceas it increases all of your skill’s damage, so try to stack as much as possible during leveling.
The type of stats you want to look out for on your gear are:
Due to your focus on dealing Critical Strikes, you’ll be wanting to always run aTwo-Handed Swordas your weapon, due to it naturally providing Crit Strike as its base stat.Always attempt to get the Sword with the highest Attack Power, as this will outweigh any other stat.
During leveling, you might not always be able to get your best stats on an item, so just prioritise whichever gives you an item power increase. This is especially true when it comes to Legendary items, as often theirAspectpower can be much more effective than a small stat increase.
For yourgem sockets, you will want to slot in three different types:
Best Aspects
It might not be viable to get everyAspectduring the leveling process but attempt to keep an eye out for certain ones to add to yourCodex of Power, as they will significantly improve your damage and durability.Never inscribe them onto your Weapon, as you will be regularly replacing them as you level up.
Zone
Splintering
Causes Bone Spear to apply Vulnerable to enemies beyond the first, and increases the damage of its Splinters against Vulnerable enemies.
Kehjistan
Grasping Veins
Corpse Tendrils grants Critical Strike and you deal bonus Critical Strike damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
Corrupted Grotto
Your other key Aspects arerandom drops, which can make them difficult to acquire. Thankfully the build is not reliant on them to work, but these are the powers you’ll want to be imprinting onto your gear when you get the chance:
