Reaper Summoner – Necromancer Build For Diablo 4 (Season 14)

Build Introduction

The Reaper Summoner build is an unorthodox minion build that indirectly buffs all variety of Darkness and Shadow based summons through Berú of the Black Shroud Talisman set. Skeletal Reapers are the main stacking force, Shadow Mages are in a support and secondary DPS role, whilst Gargantuan Golem provides an Attack Speed aura!

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To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Blood Moon Breeches

Deathgrip

The Undercrown

Pact of Bone

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Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

Skeleton WarriorSeverSkeleton MageGolemBlightArmy of the Dead

Use the Skill Tree above to complete the 83-point build. 69 skill points are gained by leveling, and 14 skill points are locked behind the Season Rank System or Renown for Seasonal or Eternal characters, respectively.

Iron Maiden and Decrepify are activated via Blood Moon Breeches and via Wat Runeword so they are not needed on the skill bar. Decrepify ranks above 1 are the lowest priority and are leveled by the last Skill Points remaining.

The new Lord of Hatred expansion Skill Tree unlocks in stages, permanently unlocking new skill clusters. For example, Necromancer Curses unlock at level 13, so from level 13 it is possible to refund all previously allocated skill points and start leveling skills starting from the Curses cluster right away (or anywhere above it).

Skill points from the Season Rank System or Renown do not affect Skill Tree progress and can be allocated to skill ranks you already unlocked.

Necromancer Class Mechanic – Book of the Dead

This build continues to use some sacrificed minions for inter-Minion synergies:

• Skeletal Warriors: Reapers [Upgrade #2] -50%[x] increased damage and 15% chance to Stun for 1 second.
• Skeletal Mages: Shadow [Upgrade #2] – Shadow Mages’ bolts grant you and the Shadow Mage a Barrier for #% of your Maximum Life for 4 seconds, up to 42%.
• Golem: Iron [Sacrifice] – You deal 15%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage, but your Golem does 50%[x] less damage.

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Gear, Stats, Gems and Runes

The following sections cover the essential itemization to improve the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

For the dedicated page on Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check the guide here.

Legendary Aspects

Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the assigned slot. Aspects placement is planned with potential Unique and Mythic Unique gear upgrades in mind for the easiest and cheapest transition.

The Purveyor of Curiosities is another excellent way to obtain specific slot Legendary Aspects, and even Uniques – by gambling with Murmuring Obols you farmed in your journey.

Multiple Legendary Aspects and Uniques options are ordered in descending priority order :

Gear Slot	Sockets	Aspect / Unique	Description
Helm	Runeword	1. The Undercrown 2. [Placeholder]Aspect of Death’s Defense	Your maximum number of Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Mages is increased by 4 and your Summon damage is increased by 25.0%[x] [15.0 – 25.0]%. Commanding Skeleton Warriors also causes Skeleton Mages to focus the same target for 5 seconds.
Chest	Runeword	Aspect of Heavenly Strength	While wielding a Two Handed Weapon, gain [30 – 40%] Damage Reduction.
Gloves	n/a	Deathgrip	Your maximum number of Skeleton Warriors is increased by 1. Skeleton Warriors cleave with their attacks and deal x#% increased damage. Commanding them onto atarget increases damage that target takes from your Skeleton Warriors by x#%.
Pants		1. Blood Moon Breeches 2. [Placeholder]Aspect of Hardened Bones	Your Summons have a [7 – 10%] chance to randomly inflict Decrepify or Iron Maiden when they deal damage. You deal x [50 – 60%] increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by your Curses.
Boots	n/a	Aspect of Hewed Flesh	Lucky Hit: Up to a 25% chance to form a Corpse at the target’s location. Your Corpse Skills deal 20.0%[x] [15.0 – 20.0]% increased damage.
Weapon 2H		Bloodless Scream	Your Darkness Skills Chill enemies for up to 100% and deal x [200 – 250%] increased damage to Frozen enemies and bosses. Every 800 times you damage enemies with Darkness Skills, all Nearby enemies are Feared for 0.25 seconds before Freezing for 3 more seconds.
Weapon 1H [MID GAME OPTIONAL]		1. Aspect of Reanimation 2. Aspect of Amplified Damage	Your Summons gain increased damage while alive, up to 135%[x] after 10 seconds.
Shield [MID GAME OPTIONAL]		1. Lidless Wall 2. [Placeholder]Crushing Aspect	Each Sacrifice bonus increases this chance by 25% [25]% and allows you to spawn 1 additional Bone Storm. Each active Bone Storm grants 30%[x] Critical Strike Damage, up to 150%[x].
Amulet (150% Scaling)		1. Banished Lord’s Talisman 2. [Placeholder]Aspect of Reanimation	After you spend 275 of your Primary Resource, gain 4 stacks of Overpower. Your Critical Strikes deal 9%[x] [7 – 9]% increased damage per stack of Overpower.
Ring		Hellbent Commander Aspect	You deal 60%[x] [40 – 60]% increased Summon damage.
Ring		1. Pact of Bone 2. [Placeholder]Aspect of Frenzied Onslaught	Your Minions gain #% Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance. When one of your Minions die, your other minions enrage, dealing #% increased damage for 3 seconds.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these mechanics.

For the dedicated page on Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check the guide here.

Gear affixes are ordered by descending priority for acquiring, Greater Affix and masterworking crit desirability.

Slot	Affixes	Tempering Affixes
The Undercrown	1. Maximum Life 2. [Guaranteed Modifier] + Ranks to Minion Skills 3. + Ranks to Skeletal Warrior 4. Cooldown Reduction 5. Resistance to All Elements 6. Armor 7. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Defensive – #% Chance For Minion Attacks to Fortify You for 3% Maximum Life
Helm	1. Maximum Life 2. + Ranks to Skeletal Warrior 3. Cooldown Reduction 4. Resistance to All Elements 5. Armor 6. Intelligence	Defensive – #% Chance For Minion Attacks to Fortify You for 3% Maximum Life
Chest	1. Maximum Life 2. Essence per Second 3. Resistance to All Elements 4. Armor 5. Intelligence	Defensive – Maximum Life
Deathgrip	1. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier (If Critical Strike Chance is above 90% with Pact of Bone) 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Attack Speed 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier 7. [Guaranteed Modifier] + Ranks to Skeleton Warrior 8. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Offensive – Critical Strike Damage Multiplier
Blood Moon Breeches	1. [Guaranteed Modifier] Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 2. Maximum Life 3. Essence per Second 4. Resistance to All Elements 5. Armor 6. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Defensive – Maximum Life
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. + Ranks to Corpse or Skeleton Warrior Skills 3. Maximum Life 4. Essence per Second 5. Intelligence 6. Resistance to All Elements 7. Armor	Mobility – Movement Speed
Banished Lord’s Talisman	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. [Guaranteed Modifier] Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. Attack Speed 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier 7. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Offensive – Critical Strike Damage Multiplier
Amulet	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 4. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 5. x% All Damage Multiplier 6. Attack Speed 7. Intelligence	Offensive – Critical Strike Damage Multiplier
Ring	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. Attack Speed 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier 7. Maximum Life 8. Intelligence	Offensive – Critical Strike Damage Multiplier
Pact of Bone	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. [Guaranteed Modifier] Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. Attack Speed 4. x% Vulnerable Damage Multiplier 5. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 6. x% All Damage Multiplier 7. Maximum Life 8. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Offensive – Critical Strike Damage Multiplier
Bloodless Scream	1. [Guaranteed Modifier] Weapon Damage 2. Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. #% Shadow Damage Multiplier 4. [Guaranteed Modifier] + Ranks to Darkness Skills 5. Maximum Life or Intelligence	Weapons – Attack Speed
Weapon 1H [MID GAME OPTIONAL]	1. Weapon Damage 2. x% Critical Strike Damage Multiplier 3. x% Shadow Damage Multiplier 4. x% All Damage Multiplier 5. Maximum Life or Intelligence	Weapons – Attack Speed
Lidless Wall [MID GAME OPTIONAL]	1. Damage Reduction 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. [Guaranteed Modifier] Critical Strike Chance 4. Resistance to All Elements 5. Armor 6. [Guaranteed Modifier] Intelligence	Weapons – Attack Speed
Shield	1. Damage Reduction 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Critical Strike Chance 4. Resistance to All Elements 5. Armor 6. Intelligence	Weapons – Attack Speed

Desired Transfigured outcomes:

• Relevant damage type multipliers
• Critical Strike Chance
• Attack Speed
• Item Quality

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Ancestral and Mythic Uniques

See below for information on useful Uniques and how they integrate into this build:

Unique	Category	Synergy and integration conditions	Source (highest chance)
Bloodless Scream	Best in Slot Highest priority for Mythic quality	– Largest damage multiplier from gear in the game – Applies Chill and Freeze on enemies from Darkness Skills	Astaroth
Deathgrip	Required Mid priority for Mythic quality	– Damage scaling and lets our Skeletons Cleave	Grigoire
Blood Moon Breeches	Required Very High priority for Mythic quality	– Multiple high damage multipliers – Ensures Decrepify and Iron Maiden application by Minions	Astaroth
The Undercrown	Required Mid priority for Mythic quality	– Adds massive amounts of skeletons – Good damage multiplier on a defensive slot – Allows for focus targeting	Duriel
Banished Lord’s Talisman	Best in Slot High priority for Mythic quality	– REQUIRES imprinted Tidal Aspect using Kullean Tuning Prisms with the Horadric Cube (or have the aspect temporarily on boots till you get this imprinted) – Used in pair with Red Blessing to further scale its efficiency – Enables overpower scaling	All bosses (Global Drop)
Pact of Bone	Required High priority for Mythic quality	– Massive amounts of cap 1 Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance – Implicit Critical Strike Damage Multiplier – Situational damage multiplier on minion death	Harbinger of Hatred
Lidless Wall	Mid game optional Lowest priority for Mythic quality	– Massive damage multiplier – Multiple storms triggers all your Lucky Hits consistently – Barrier generation	Andariel

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Gems and Runewords

See below for a more detailed explanation of the best Gems and Runewords to socket into your gear.

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Amethyst	Runeword	Royal Diamond
–	Royal Topaz	Royal Topaz
–	–	Royal Ruby
Increased %[x] Shadow Damage.	Increased Intelligence.	Resistances against buffed Lightning and Fire Elite Affixes.

Runeword	Role	Effect
Nagu Que	Endgame Important	Maintains the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark barrier for extreme survivability.
Igni Wat	Endgame Important	Applies Decrepify curse early when we cast Blight to start Bone Storm cooldown reduction.

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Paragon Board

Below you’ll find the entire endgame paragon board with recommended glyphs, optimal pathing and both minimal and nearly maximum investments!

Board attachment order and pathways:

1. Starter board – Glyph Slot Mage
2. Frailty – Legendary Node (Skip Resistance clusters, we grab them later)
3. Frailty – Glyph Slot Warrior
4. Cult Leader – Legendary Node (Skip Resistance clusters, we grab them later)
5. Flesh Eater Legendary Node (Skip Resistance clusters, we grab them later)
6. Flesh Eater – Glyph Slot Amplify
7. Cult Leader – Glyph Slot Essence
8. Wither – Legendary Node
9. Wither – Glyph Slot Deadraiser
10. Grab the previous Resistance clusters you skipped on previous boards
11. Use the Paragon 300 to swap glyphs and positions
12. Fill the Flesh Eater board first
13. Fill Dexterity nodes around Essence and Warrior Glyphs according to the paragon 300 tree
14. Grab the remaining magic and rare clusters
15. Fill Intelligence nodes around Eliminator then the remaining nodes

It is imperative to level up all Glyphs to level 25 first to increase activation radius and then to level 51 to unlock the secondary damage multiplier. More about paragon glyphs and how to level them, here.

Some paragon points are locked behind the Season Rank System. The remaining Paragon points are used to take all Intelligence nodes you can reach and any Magic nodes you may find useful.

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Season Mechanics

In Season of Death Awakening, a death cult is after us! Defeat Ruptures, Realmwalkers, Risen, and Reapers for seasonal reputation and rewards. In the endgame, Uniques can now be upgraded to Mythic quality boosting all modifiers to be top rolled and even comes with a 30% bonus to the unique power!

Seasonal content and reputation will be the best source for these new Mythic uniques as well as the required materials to craft them. They can also be crafted at the Jeweler vendor or upgraded through the Horadric Cube. You can equip as many Mythic uniques as you want that were aquired from drops or caches, but you can only have 1 crafted Mythic unique equipped at a time.

For a complete overview of the current Season, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activities, and other changes, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

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Talismans

The Lord of Hatred expansion introduces Talismans as a new character progression and itemization layer. Find, equip, and fill a suitable Horadric Seal with a variety of Charms. These grant everything from plain stats similar to any gear piece to powerful set effects, doubling down on and elevating Necromancer archetypes to new heights.

This builds Talisman goalposts would be:

• Legendary Seal with +1 Charm Slot affix, to unlock 6 Charm slots asap.
• Full Black Shroud Charm Set of any quality. 5-set takes priority over any other Charms.
• Charms replacements with better versions of themselves, including affixes like:
  • + to Darkness Skills
  • + to Minion Skills
  • +% Critical Strike Damage (Seal)
  • +% Attack Speed (Seal)
  • +% Damage Multiplier (Seal)
• If Mythic Banished Lord’s Talisman is obtained then you’d want to use Red Blessing.
• Alternative unique charms, Offensive: Wyrdskin, Godslayer Crown or Will of Rathma. Defensive options: Endurant Faith or Temerity.
• Chase unique charms: Seal of the Diamond Mind to equip an extra charm.

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Mercenaries

During the Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock Mercenaries to assist you. While you can choose freely early on, we recommend Varyana as your main merc:

• Cleave
• Hysteria
• Bloodthirst
• Intimidated

For the reinforcement, stick with Raheir, utilizing Provoke when you use a Skill.

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Build Mechanics

This builds purpose is just to stay alive and group up enemies with Whirlpool as tightly as possible for Reapers to use Deathgrip cleave with maximum efficiency.

Rotation and Playstyle

1. Initiate the fight with Whirlpool Blight to group up enemies and slow them.
2. Use Golem active ability preemptively to acquire Unstoppable status if needed. Very effective when fighting Elite enemies with Crowd Control abilities.
3. Use Skeleton Warrior active-ability to focus fire when needed and increase their damage output.
4. Keep evading danger and recasting Sever to create more corpses in case your warriors die so you can ressurect them.
5. Consume a corpse via Skeleton Mage every ~8 second to activate Flesh-eater Legendary Node.
6. You can use Army of the Dead for a bit more damage but it’s not needed as the benefits from Unyielding Commander will be constantly active at all times.
7. Repeat. The rest of the build mechanics are completely automated.

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Season Updates

Below you’ll find the most noteworthy changes for Season 14 Death Awakening:

• Most unique items can be made in to Mythic quality.
• Significant nerfs to the Overpower mechanic but still viable.
• Significant nerfs to the Gem strength transiguration option.
• Lidless Wall Critical Strike Damage Multiplier from multiple Bone Storms is now working.

For a complete overview of the current Season, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activities, and other changes, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

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Changelog

• July 3rd, 2026: Aspect change on chest.
• July 1st, 2026: Minor skill-tree, gear and skill-bar changes.
• June 27th, 2026: Guide updated for Season 14.
• May 15th, 2026: Glynn’s Anvil Resolve stacking added to the build.
• May 9th, 2026: Guide adjusted for better performance.
• March 28th, 2026: Guide remade for Lord of Hatred expansion.
• October 5th, 2025: Guide added.