Diablo 4 Necromancer Build – Vampire: In this Diablo 4 Endgame Necromancer Build Guide, I’ll show you how to play an evolved version of the Blood Burst Build, specifically the Vampire Necromancer. The Vampire Necromancer is a burst DPS Diablo 4 Build that maintains a high level of HP by sucking the life of its enemies. If you’ve been looking for a Diablo 4 Endgame Necromancer Build that is aimed at World Tier 3, and one that is extremely tanky and utilizes Blood Skills to deal massive Overpower Damage in quick succession, then this guide is for you!
Diablo 4 Necromancer Build – Blood Vampire (Level 50+)
The way this Diablo IV Endgame Build works is you’re going make use of Overpower Damage from two major sources – you still have Blood Surge and now, Rathma’s Vigor. What Blood Surge continues to do is obliterate everything on the screen due to the Paranormal Blood Surge upgrade. The idea is to keep using this Core Skill to stack 5 Overwhelming Blood. On the 6th Blood Surge, you end up dealing considerable Overpower Damage. So you’ll be able to kill every enemy quickly. Meanwhile, Rathma’s Vigor also triggers Overpower as long as you remain Healthy, a staple of this Vampire Build.
When you reach Level 50, you’ll notice that applying the same set of Skills from the Blood Burst Build will no longer be possible since you’ll remain too Essence-starved, most of the time. To remedy this problem, you need to let go of Bone Spear and substitute it for Corpse Explosion and Bone Prison. In fact, both of them will let you generate Essence and deal greater damage to enemies due to the applied Vulnerable effect.
For Elites and Bosses, you’re going to trigger Bone Prison with the Bone Storm Ultimate Skill. Bone Storm lets you conjure a huge storm of bones to deal Damage over Time while reducing the damage you take and improving your Critical Strike Chance.
Skill Distribution
Each Diablo 4 Necromancer Build comprises the 6 Active Skills they have equipped and changing these Skills can drastically alter the way the Necromancer Class in Diablo IV plays. In this section, we’ll take a look at what Skills you should slot for the Vampire Necromancer Diablo 4 Endgame Build. By the time you reach Level 50+, you’ll approximately have 58 points, assuming that you’ve accumulated enough Renown from different regions. So your Skill distribution should look something like this:
LEVEL 50+ NECROMANCER SKILLS | |
Skill | Points Spent |
Reap | 1 |
Enhanced Reap | 1 |
Acolyte’s Reap | 1 |
Blood Surge | 7 (+2 from Gear) |
Enhanced Blood Surge | 1 |
Paranormal Blood Surge | 1 |
Unliving Energy | 3 |
Imperfectly Balanced | 3 |
Hewed Flesh | 3 |
Corpse Explosion | 5 |
Enhanced Corpse Explosion | 1 |
Plagued Corpse Explosion | 1 |
Grim Harvest | 3 |
Bone Prison | 1 |
Enhanced Bone Prison | 1 |
Ghastly Bone Prison | 1 |
Iron Maiden | 1 |
Enhanced Iron Maiden | 1 |
Abhorrent Iron Maiden | 1 |
Amplify Damage | 3 |
Death’s Embrace | 3 |
Gruesome Mending | 1 |
Coalesced Blood | 3 |
Tides of Blood | 3 |
Stand Alone | 3 |
Memento Mori | 3 |
Bone Storm | 1 |
Prime Bone Storm | 1 |
Supreme Bone Storm | 1 |
Rathma’s Vigor Key Passive | 1 |
The above list gives you the general order to invest in Skills, but keep in mind that you should prioritize picking up new Active Skills over investing in passives, so pick up passives later if you can get new Active Skills when you level up.
Diablo 4 Vampire Endgame Necromancer Build – Skills
In this section, I’ll discuss the key similarities and differences in Skills between the previous Blood Burst Beginner Build and the current Vampire Endgame Build for the Necromancer Class. The strategies will change depending on the type of foe you’re facing whether they’re comprised of a large group of enemies or Elites and Bosses.
Corpse Explosion, Corpse Passives & Bone Prison
Despite the nerf to Corpse Explosion after the Beta, it’s still a highly relevant Skill for the Diablo IV Vampire Necromancer Build. Rather than consuming Essence, Corpse Explosion generates more of it based on the passives you get. As a result, you need to let go of Bone Spear so you can save your resources specifically for Blood Surge’s Overpower Damage.
Here, you’re able to utilize the numerous Corpses available at your disposal to deal massive damage. As such, you’re going to want to invest all 5 points into the Corpse Skill and unlock Enhanced Corpse Explosion and Plagued Corpse Explosion. Doing so will widen Corpse Explosion’s AoE and allow you to inflict even more damage against Vulnerable targets. And thanks to the Grim Harvest passive, you’re able to consistently generate Essence every time a Corpse is detonated. Meanwhile, with Hewed Flesh, there’s a chance to spawn even more Corpses.
Next is Bone Prison, which is a cooldown-based Macabre Skill. This lets you trap enemies inside in order to apply the Vulnerability effect while gaining a lot of Essence. You basically regenerate 15 Essence by default and then 5 more based on the number of targets you’ve entrapped. Bone Prison is an amazing Skill to significantly boost your damage. Once you’ve destroyed them, you’ll also have a lot more Corpses to trigger Corpse Explosion.
Iron Maiden & Curse Passives
Iron Maiden is a good Curse Skill to have for the Diablo 4 Vampire Necromancer Build, mainly because it doesn’t cost Essence and in fact, lets you generate this resource when you also unlock the Enhanced Iron Maiden upgrade. When you gain access to Abhorrent Iron Maiden, you heal for 5% of your Maximum Life when a cursed enemy dies. This synergizes with the Aspect of Untimely Death allowing you to essentially heal beyond your Maximum Life or overheal, which then grants a considerable Overpower Damage bonus. You can get the Legendary Aspect from Legendary Items that have it.
And finally, Iron Maiden works well with the maxed-out Amplify Damage and Death’s Embrace passives due to the extra damage you deal against cursed and close targets.
Blood Surge, Blood Passives & Rathma’s Vigor Key Passive
Blood Surge will still be the main Core Skill of your Diablo IV Endgame Necromancer Build. This will be your major source of damage while keeping you Healthy because of its life-leech mechanic. Be sure to invest 5 points here and unlock Enhanced Blood Surge and Paranormal Blood Surge. This is made all the more effective when you maximize the Unliving Energy and Imperfectly Balanced passives because of the increased Essence and damage.
Furthermore, the Blood-bathed Aspect continues to be very effective due to the extra damage you deal from the second nova explosion. Remember to complete the Hoarfrost Demise Dungeon in Fractured Peaks to get this. Additionally, another good aspect here is the Aspect of Rathma’s Chosen from Legendary Items. So every time Blood Surge Overpowers, you gain an Attack Speed boost.
Meanwhile, the blood passives will help build the strength of your character. These are comprised of Gruesome Mending, Coalesced Blood, and Tides of Blood. First is Gruesome Mending in which you’ll only invest 1 point to gain access to the other 2 passives. You then have Coalesced Blood and Tides of Blood, letting you sufficiently amplify your Blood Surge and Overpower Damage provided that you remain Healthy, which is easy to do.
For the Key Passive, you’re going to choose Rathma’s Vigor. What this does is it rewards you by dealing Overpower Damage upon casting any Blood Skill. Since you’ll remain Healthy, you’ll keep reaping this benefit.
Book of the Dead & Non-Minion Passives
When it comes to the Book of the Dead, you’ll sacrifice all of your Minions to considerably enhance your overall resilience and Overpower Damage. For the Skeletal Warriors, you’ll select the 3rd node of the Defender to raise your Elemental Resistance, which will come in handy against the majority of enemies in World Tier 3. For the Skeletal Mages, you’ll pick the 3rd node of the Bone form to significantly boost your Overpower Damage by 60%. And for the Golem, you’ll choose the 3rd node of Blood to further increase your Maximum Life.
Because you’re now a Lone Vampire, you’ll want to get and allocate 3 points each to the Stand Alone and Memento Mori passives. Not only will you be tankier but you’ll also receive greater bonuses from sacrificing your Skeletal Warriors and Mages, making it a win-win condition. The best aspect to get here is the Sacrificial Aspect, which can be obtained from the Ruins of Eridu Dungeon in Hawezar. This further boosts your sacrificial bonuses to make the Vampire Necromancer Diablo IV Endgame Build much more potent.
Bone Storm & Reap
In terms of the Ultimate Skill, you’re going to drop Blood Wave and instead go for Bone Storm due to the bigger damage it provides even if you don’t summon a Golem. With its Prime Bone Storm and Supreme Bone Storm upgrades, you’ll receive much less damage and land crits more often to be able to destroy tougher enemies or Bosses faster.
And finally, there’s Reap, which substitutes Hemorrhage since you’re already tanky. Reap is simply there to use when you run out of other Skills to trigger and when you need to create Corpses for resource generation. It’ll also boost the Diablo 4 Vampire Necromancer Build’s Attack Speed upon killing an enemy.
Diablo 4 Vampire Endgame Necromancer Build – Equipment, Gems & Aspects
At World Tier 3, you’ll gain access to a lot of items together with their bonuses. It can be difficult to determine the right ones to keep for your Diablo IV Necromancer Endgame Build without the proper direction. So in this section, I’ll discuss the best gear bonuses you should chase after together with the Gems and aspects to place in them. Remember that you can replace unwanted affixes at The Occultist and that you should upgrade your gear at The Blacksmith for the best results.
Weapon
For the Weapon, I highly recommend equipping a Two-Handed Weapon simply because the aspect’s power you’ll end up using here will be boosted by 100% so it’s going to be a game-changer. The bonuses you’ll want include the following:
- Overpower Damage
- Vulnerable Damage
- Critical Strike Damage
- Damage to Close Enemies
The best aspect you should slot here is the Sacrificial Aspect to make the most out of the bonuses you get from sacrificing your Minions. For the Gem, you should pick the Ruby to further boost the Overpower Damage of Blood Surge.
Armor
For Armor, you have the Helm, Chest Armor, Gloves, Pants, and Boots. The major bonuses you’ll want here include the following:
- Willpower for the improved Essence generation and Overpower Damage
- Intelligence to deal greater Skill Damage
- Dexterity for the enhanced Critical Strike Chance and Dodge Chance
- Strength for higher Armor
- Maximum Life
- Ranks of Blood Surge
- Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
- Essence Cost Reduction
- Movement Speed
Additionally, you’ll still want to slot the Ruby to raise your Maximum Life.
The Legendary Aspects you’ll need for your Armor are the Aspect of the Protector and Aspect of Untimely Death. I’ve already talked about the Aspect of Untimely Death so I’ll discuss the Aspect of the Protector instead. Aspect of the Protector will let you conjure a Barrier once you attack an Elite or Boss. Although the effect only becomes active every 30 seconds, it’s a huge deal in reducing the direct damage you otherwise would take, allowing you to always remain Healthy. Aspect of the Protector can be obtained by finishing the Lost Archives Dungeon in Fractured Peaks.
Jewelry
For Jewelry, you have the Amulet and 2 Rings. The gear bonuses you’ll need include the following:
- Overpower Damage
- Critical Strike Damage
- Damage to Close Enemies
- Damage Reduction
- Total Armor
- Maximum Life
- All Stats
It would be cool to get the Mother’s Embrace Unique Ring, which is random. This will help refund a portion of your Essence as long as Blood Surge attacks 5+ enemies, which in most scenarios is likely to happen. You should then slot any of the gems that will grant you additional Elemental Resistances.
Lastly, be sure to imprint the Blood-bathed Aspect in the Amulet to make its succeeding noval explosion more potent.
Diablo 4 Vampire Endgame Necromancer Build – Paragon Board & Glyphs
At Level 50, you unlock the basic Paragon Board, which lets you gain Stat increases and specific bonuses to further enhance your Diablo 4 Vampire Endgame Necromancer Build. What you’ll want to focus on while you’re leveling from Level 50 to 70 is the Willpower Attribute to acquire the 40% damage boost from the Prime and Knowledge Rare Nodes. On the other hand, investing in Dexterity will allow you to gain the benefits of the Preservation Rare Node, providing you with a huge bump in Armor and some Intelligence bonuses for better Skill damage.
In terms of Paragon Glyphs, the best one is the Corporeal Glyph for the increased Armor, Physical Damage, and Damage Reduction, especially since you no longer have Minions to cushion some incoming attacks. Be sure to invest in +40 Intelligence Nodes to access the additional Physical Damage bonus.
When you get to higher levels, you’ll eventually choose the specialized Necromancer Paragon Board for your Diablo IV Endgame Necromancer Build. Here, you’ll select the Bloodbath to amplify your Overpower Damage by 50%!
Final Tips
For the general Skill rotation, you’ll be running around the area first to draw in your enemies before triggering Iron Maiden with Blood Surge to make the most out of your damage. This is due to the extremely high damage you’ll deal thanks to Rathma’s Vigor. Against the second set of enemies, you’ll execute the same combination but you’ll add in Corpse Explosion to finish them off. Doing so will prevent you from using way too much of your Essence again and again.
When it comes to additional Legendary Aspects, the good ones to keep a lookout for are the Aspect of the Embalmer, Torturous Aspect, and Eluding Aspect. Aspect of the Embalmer lets you spawn a Blood Orb when using Corpse Explosion, thereby providing you with extra healing. Torturous Aspect makes it so that cursed enemies can possibly be Stunned after dealing direct damage.
Lastly, the Eluding Aspect grants Unstoppable, meaning, that any crowd-control effects you may have had before becoming Injured, gets removed and you gain Immunity to them. This will help you traverse areas better. You can acquire the Aspect of the Embalmer from Legendary Items whereas the Torturous and Eluding Aspects are obtained from Fractured Peaks and Kehjistan.
Be sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki for any other questions you have about the game and the Builds page if you are looking for more Diablo IV Builds, as well as our Getting Started Guide and Best Class to Play if you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!
4 responses to “Diablo 4 Necromancer Build – Blood Vampire”
For the last skill bone stone. Which ski am I. Dropping? You mentioned blood wave but that isn’t a skill mentioned in load out
We are publishing level 70 guides now that have more detailed paragon information
Any chance to get a more detailed recommended path for the paragon board for this build?
Hi! Is this build affect much by the nerf to Grim Harvest?
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