Summoner – Necromancer Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 11)

Build Introduction

The Summoner Necromancer is one of the best leveling builds Necromancer has to offer. Minions inherit all the Summoner’s stats, whether that be Armor or Resistances, Attack Speed or Critical Strike Chance. It allows to focus on Summoner’s defences without compromising Minions and combine offensive potential of both.

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Gear, Stats, Gems and Runes	Skill Tree
Rotation and Playstyle	Season Updates

Allocation of Skill Points

Order	Skill	Cluster
1	Reap	Basic Skill
2	Blight	Core Skill
3	Skeletal Warrior Mastery	Corpse & Macabre Passive
4	Skeletal Warrior Mastery Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
5	Skeletal Warrior Mastery Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
6	Blood Mist	Corpse & Macabre Skill
7	Enhanced Blight	Core Skill
8	Supernatural Blight	Core Skill
9	Enhanced Blood Mist	Corpse & Macabre Skill
10	Ghastly Blood Mist	Corpse & Macabre Skill
11	Spiked Armor	Corpse & Macabre Passive
12	Skeletal Mage Mastery	Curse Skill
13	Skeletal Mage Mastery Rank 2	Curse Skill
14	Skeletal Mage Mastery Rank 3	Basic Skill
15	Spiked Armor Rank 2	Basic Skill
16	Spiked Armor Rank 2	Basic Skill
17	Corpse Tendrils	Corpse & Macabre Skill
18	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils	Corpse & Macabre Skill
19	Blighted Corpse Tendrils	Corpse & Macabre Skill
20	Necrotic Carapace	Corpse & Macabre Skill
21	Reaper’s Pursuit	Curse Passive
22	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 2	Curse Passive
23	Reaper’s Pursuit Rank 3	Curse Passive
24	Inspiring Leader	Ultimate Passive
25	Hellbent Commander	Ultimate Passive
26	Hellbent Commander Rank 2	Ultimate Passive
27	Hellbent Commander Rank 3	Ultimate Passive
28	Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
29	Prime Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
30	Supreme Soulrift	Ultimate Skill
31	Golem Mastery	Ultimate Skill
32	Golem Mastery Rank 2	Ultimate Skill
33	Golem Mastery Rank 3	Ultimate Skill
34	Kalan’s Edict	Key Passive
35	Soulrift Rank 2	Ultimate Skill
36	Soulrift Rank 3	Curse Passive
37	Soulrift Rank 4	Curse Passive
38	Soulrift Rank 5	Curse Passive
39	Coalesced Blood	Curse Passive
40	Coalesced Blood Rank 2	Curse Passive
41	Coalesced Blood Rank 3	Curse Passive
42	Titan’s Fall	Corpse & Macabre Passive
43	Titan’s Fall Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
44	Titan’s Fall Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
45	Gloom	Corpse & Macabre Passive
46	Gloom Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
47	Gloom Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
48	Terror	Corpse & Macabre Passive
49	Terror Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
50	Terror Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
51	Inspiring Leader Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
52	Inspiring Leader Rank 3	Curse Skill
53	Decrepify	Curse Skill
54	Enhanced Decrepify	Curse Skill
55	Abhorrent Decrepify	Corpse & Macabre Passive
56	Death’s Approach	Corpse & Macabre Passive
57	Death’s Approach Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
58	Death’s Approach Rank 3	Ultimate Passive
59	Death’s Embrace	Ultimate Passive
60	Death’s Embrace Rank 2	Ultimate Passive
61	Death’s Embrace Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
62	Hewed Flesh	Corpse & Macabre Passive
63	Hewed Flesh Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
64	Hewed Flesh Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
65	Necrotic Carapace Rank 2	Core Passive
66	Amplify Damage	Core Passive
67	Amplify Damage Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
68	Amplify Damage Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive
69	Necrotic Fortitude	Corpse & Macabre Passive
70	Necrotic Fortitude Rank 2	Corpse & Macabre Passive
71	Necrotic Fortitude Rank 3	Corpse & Macabre Passive

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Skill Tree and Skill Tree Points

We don’t use Decrepify on skill bar – it is leveled for the sake of Abhorrent Decrepify upgrade for Aspect of the Cursed Aura only.

To prepare yourself for what happens after level 60 when you get access to your Paragon Board, head over to our Necromancer Builds page and choose your weapon!

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Necromancer Class Mechanic – Book of the Dead

Necromancer’s class-specific ability is the Book of the Dead, which provides three different types of minions at different levels. This build is designed around using all types of your minions.

Before you reset your skills and sacrifice your minions, we’ll use the following:

if there are no issues with Skeletal Warriors survivability
- then Skeletal Warriors: Reapers [Upgrade #1] – Reaper’s wind-up attacks now reduce one of your active Cooldowns by 3 seconds.
- else Skeletal Warriors: Defenders [Upgrade #2] – Skeletal Defenders take 99% reduced damage.
Skeletal Mages: Shadow Mages [Upgrade #1] – 3%[x] increased damage for each active Shadow Mage.
Golem: Blood [Upgrade #2] – While your Blood Golem is Healthy, they gain 25% Damage Reduction and 50%[x] increased damage.

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Gear, Stats, Gems and Runes

Always prioritize higher base damage when it comes to your weapon upgrades. We always want to be wielding a 2-handed Scythe with this build, unless other weapon have significantly better damage.

Make sure you keep an eye for the Legendary Aspects to research. We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information on gear enchanting. It is possible to participate in Obols Gambling at Purveyor of Curiosities, to gamble for ones you need.

Imprinting Aspects costs Veiled Crystals, which are easily acquired in Helltides or from salvaging rare gear and above. Prioritize salvaging gear for materials and Aspects over selling it during leveling.

The table below lists the important Legendary powers you should prioritize:

The priority order of Aspects on your 2-handed Weapon and Amulet:

We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information.

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Stats Priority and Tempering Affixes

Keep in mind, that Tempering Affixes are unlocked by Tempering Manuals you find as you progress. Be sure to check our Tempering guide for more details about this topic.

One of the regular affixes on gear piece can be re-rolled repeatedly until desired outcome. This is covered in our Occultist guide for more details.

There are not many modifiers worth bothering with during the leveling stage, but for this particular build:

Minion Finesse +#% Summon Damage
+Ranks to Skeletal Warrior / Skeletal Mages / Golem Mastery
+Ranks to Hellbent Commander

Enchanting or tempering those affixes will bring out the most from this build.

Generally you will be looking for the following Best in Slot Uniques or stats in descending priority:

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Gems and Runewords

We don’t recommend socketing items until level 45+ due to material cost and the fact that you’ll be replacing your gear too frequently, especially weapon.

If socket exists in gear already, you’ll use the following recommended gems:

Weapon: Sapphire for increased Damage to Vulnerable.
Armor: Topaz for increased Intelligence.
Jewelry: Diamond for Elemental Resistances.

When it comes to Runewords, there are a couple that this build could utilize well. The most attractive combinations are:

Igni + Wat – automates curse casting, until Aspect of the Cursed Aura found
Feo + Ner – If you become Injured or Crowd Controlled you invoke the Rogue’s Countering Concealment – gain Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable and Stealth.

Make sure you slot these in your Pants or Chest, since you will be replacing your weapon very frequently. You get runes back for free when salvaging item.

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Season of Infernal Chaos (Season 11)

Season 11 of Divine Intervention introduces very few and very limited borrowed powers, mostly to adjust difficulty to reward ratio of certain content types. New type of gear enchantment was introduced – Sanctification.

Sanctification

This mechanic won’t be engaged with during leveling, but if it occurs with low chance, it won’t have any meaningful impact until endgame. Gear is replaced far too frequently.

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Divine Gifts

Corrupted gift slots grant increased rewards for specific content, but increase the difficulty. You should avoid activating corrupted slots except for target farming or when character can handle it.

Recommended Purified Divine Gifts for the build:

Essence of Shadows – Briefly become Unstoppable when Crowd Controlled every 12 seconds.
Essence of Screams – Gain 20%[+] increased Resistance.
Essence of Sin – Gain 20%[+] increased Armor.
Essence of Pain – Briefly gain maximum Barrier after becoming Injured, every 20 seconds.

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Mercenaries

The mercenaries are a nice addition to the game, and whichever one you choose to run is up to you. The recommendation for this build will be to run Raheir, mostly because of extra Resistances. We also recommend using the Reinforcement slot to level up all your mercenaries to get access to the caches for extra loot.

Below you’ll find the recommended skill set-up for Raheir:

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Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

If you are in danger, stuck in enemy pack, stunned, or heavily poisoned, use Blood Mist and move out of the danger. All negative effects from yourself will be removed and Unstoppable. Blood Mist can be ended early by pressing same button again.
Approach enemy pack at range of Aspect of the Cursed Aura or Igni Wat runeword cast range.
Start sending Golem (Blood) into pack of enemies on cooldown
Ensure that there is Blight under targeted enemy pack for extra Corpse generation and cooldown reset via Abhorrent Decrepify.
When Corpse is available – use Corpse Tendrils and Raise Skeleton on the Corpse to pull the enemies and buff your minions.
Activate Soulrift for extra damage and essence gain if needed.
Repeat from Step 1.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

To gain an edge in your adventures, head to the Alchemist in any major town, and craft any cheapest Elixirs that enhance your stats but more importantly experience gain for 30 minutes. Remember to gather the necessary crafting materials by foraging plants outdoors.

Return to the Alchemist again around every 10 levels to upgrade your potion. We have much less potions now, so extra healing is essential to survival.

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Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find specific Legendary Aspects or specific slots Uniques missing from your build. Check out the new tool guide from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.

Obol Gambling Optimization Tool Guide

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Season 11 Updates

For a complete overview of Season 11, mechanics and theme, new leveling activity, and other changes coming, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub here.

There are no notable changes for this build. It replaces Season 10 Reap Skeletons build completely.

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Difficulty and Endgame

This guide is designed to get you to level 60 in a smooth and enjoyable way. Once there, you’ll want to look at a proper endgame-designed build guide. Make sure you pick one of our recommended ones!

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Changelog

December 11th, 2025: Reworked leveling build for Season 11, Divine Intervention
October 5th, 2025: General visual improvements on the guide.
September 27th, 2025: Reworked leveling build in to current Season 10 meta leveling using Chaos perks.
September 23rd, 2025: Adjust seasonal powers and Book of the Dead for optimal speed.
September 18th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 10.
July 3rd, 2025: Optimized minor tweaks in the guide.
June 29th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 9.
May 5th, 2025: Optimized and updated post launch for Season 8.
April 21st, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8.
January 20th, 2025: Added recommended Runewords.
January 18th, 2025: Updated for Season 7.

Aspect Name	Legendary Aspect Power	Source
Aspect of Occult Dominion (Utility)	Your maximum number of Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages is increased by 2.	Random Drop
Aspect of Hardened Bones (Defensive)	You and your Minions gain 10-30% increased Damage Reduction	Random Drop
Aspect of the Unholy Tether (Mobility)	Casting Golem’s active Skill creates a bond between you for 5 seconds. While the bond is active, both of you are Unstoppable and gain 45.0% Movement Speed.	Random Drop
Aspect of Creeping Cadaver (Mobility)	Consuming a Corpse increases your Movement Speed by + [20 – 40%] for 8 seconds.	Random Drop
Aspect of the Cursed Aura (Utility)	A dark aura surrounds you, inflicting Decrepify and Iron Maiden on enemies who touch it. Curses inflicted this way spread to surrounding targets every x seconds and last 4 seconds outside the aura.	Random Drop
Aspect of Frenzied Dead (Offensive)	Each time one of your Minions damages an enemy, they gain 18.0%[+] [10.0 – 18.0]% Attack Speed for 3 seconds, up to 54.0%[+] [30.0 – 54.0]%. (Necromancer Only)	Random Drop
Aspect of Reanimation (Offensive)	Your Minions gain increased damage while alive, up to 60%[x] after 10 seconds.	Aldurwood in Scosglen
Aspect of Grasping Veins (Offensive)	Gain 25%[+] [5 – 25]% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal 50%[x] [10 – 50]% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies for 6 seconds after they are damaged by Corpse Tendrils. (Necromancer Only)	Corrupted Grotto in Kehjistan
Blood Getter’s Aspect (Utility)	Your Skeletal Priests now also empower you at 75% [55 – 75]% effectiveness. (Necromancer Only)	Random Drop
Aspect of the Damned	You deal x [35 – 55%] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by any Curse.	Uldur’s Cave in Kehjistan

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
2H Weapon (Scythe preferably)	1. + Ranks to Skeletal Warrior Mastery 2. Maximum Life, Intelligence 3. Vulnerable Damage	Minion Finesse +#% Summon Damage
Helm	1. + Ranks to Skeletal Warrior Mastery 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Resistance to all Elements, Maximum Life, Armor 4. Essence per Second, Intelligence	Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size
Chest	1. + Ranks to Golem Mastery 2. Resistance to all Elements, Maximum Life, Armor 3. Life on Hit, Intelligence	Necromancer Wall #% Damage Reduction for Summons Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size
Gloves	1. + Ranks to Skeletal Mages Mastery 2. Attack Speed 3. Chance to make enemies Vulnerable on hit 4. Critical Strike Chance	Minion Finesse +#% Summon Damage
Gloves (Best in Slot)	The Hand of Naz	n/a
Pants	1. + Ranks to Skeletal Mages Mastery 2. Resistance to all Elements, Maximum Life, Armor 3. Life on Hit, Intelligence	Decay Innovation #% Soulrift Duration
Pants (Best in Slot)	Blood Moon Breeches	n/a
Boots	1. + Ranks to Skeletal Warrior Mastery 2. Movement Speed 3. Resistance to all Elements, Maximum Life, Armor 4. Essence per Second	Decay Innovation #% Soulrift Duration
Amulet	1. + Ranks to Hellbent Commander 2.+ Ranks to Coalesced Blood 3. Attack Speed 4. Critical Strike Chance, Cooldown Reduction	Minion Finesse +#% Summon Damage
Rings	1. Attack Speed 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Cooldown Reduction 4. Intelligence	Minion Finesse +#% Summon Damage
Ring (Best in Slot)	Ring of Mendeln	n/a