The Necromancer is at the top of the meta in Season 6 of Diablo 4 and the Bone Spirit build is one of the the best setups they can use. Here’s how to assemble the build for leveling and endgame and if we’d recommend it for PvP play.
The Bone Spirit Necro build involves the Necromancer using this longstanding move as their primary offensive skill while also utilizing other spells and gear that boost its effect. This Necromancer build is ranked as S-tier in the current meta, so it’s a great choice for those Priests of Rathma who want to do more than just command minions.
We’ll detail how to optimize the build, giving you the best skills, items, Aspects, and Glyphs to target on your journey this season.
Best Bone Spirit Necromancer skills
To assemble the Bone Spirit Necromancer build, allocate this many points on these active skills:
| Active Skill | Upgrades | Points allocated |
|---|---|---|
| Bone Splinters | – | 2 |
| Bone Spirit | Enhanced, Dreadful | 5 |
| Blood Mist | Enhanced, Ghastly | 1 |
| Decrepify | Enhanced, Abhorent | 1 |
| Corpse Tendrils | Enhanced, Plagued | 1 |
| Bone Prison | Enhanced, Ghastly | 1 |
Here’s which Passive Skills you should choose:
| Passive Skill | Points |
|---|---|
| Unliving Energy | 3 |
| Hewed Flesh | 3 |
| Spiked Armor | 1 |
| Fueled by Death | 3 |
| Imperfectly Balanced | 3 |
| Amplify Damage | 3 |
| Death’s Embrace | 3 |
| Grim Harvest | 1 |
| Serration | 1 |
| Compound Fracture | 3 |
| Necrotic Carapace | 3 |
| Evulsion | 3 |
| Inspiring Leader | 3 |
| Rapid Ossification | 3 |
| Ossified Essence | 1 |
When you start a new character, if you’re a returning player, you’ll likely have lots of skill points ready to assign from your Renown or by being boosted to level 60 from the start.
But if you’re a new player, you’ll need to start from scratch. The good news is you’ll be able to hit level 60 very quickly in the post-Season 6 version of Diablo 4.
Below, we’ve detailed how many skill points you’ll need to assign to each passive and active skill using your leveling and Renown points.
You may find yourself needing to select other skills to progress across the skill tree. That’s okay, just respec to the ones included in the build once you’re able. Who knows, you may create a custom build that suits your needs better.
Best Book of the Dead setup
Set your Book of the Dead options to the following:
- Skeletal Warriors – Skirmishers
- Skeletal Mages – Bone
- Golems – Iron
Remember, we’re still using minions in this build with our Warriors set to being Skirmishers so they’re self-sufficient, and with our Mages set to Bone to buff our Bone Spirit skill.
The Golem set to iron is also a smart choice as this will maximize its survival while we cast Bone Spirt from afar.
Best Bone Spirit Necromancer skill rotation
Use the following skill rotation when approaching mobs and elites in battle:
- Summon Minions – If not already active
- Decreptify
- Corpse Tendrils
- Blood Prison
- Bone Storm
- Bone Spirit – Main Skill
This rotation involves having your minions ready, and then casting Decreptify and Corpse Tendrils to slow, poison, and damage enemies.
Then we cast Bone Prison to trap mobs or isolate elites before pelting them with Bone Storm. From here, we cast Bone Spirit to do massive damage.
If Bone Spirit recovers from cooldown in time, cast it again to finish off survivors, but if not, repeat the cycle. By then, it will have finished its cooldown period.
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Best Legendary Aspects
Legendary Aspects can boost your build and add special powers to buff your primary skills. Here are the ones you need and where to find them:
| Aspect | Power | Dungeon | Region | Gamble Obols |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swelling Curse | Increased critical strike chance for Bone Spirit | Hive | Scosglen | – |
| Grasping Veins | Increased critical strike chance for Corpse Tendrils | Corrupted Grotto | Kehjistan | – |
| Might | 20% basic damage | Dark Ravine | Dry Steppes | – |
| Disobedience | Boosts defense based on your minion damage output | Halls of the Damned | Kehjistan | – |
| Torment | Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increases your Essence regeneration | Black Asylum | Fractured Peaks | – |
| Edgemaster’s | Skills deal 5-20% damage | Oldstones | Scosglen | – |
| Requiem | Boost to Essence | Vault of the Forsaken | Scosglen | – |
| Wind Striker | Critical Strikes improve movement speed | Shiva Ruins | Kehjistan | – |
| Occult Dominion | Increased Skeleton Warriors by 2 | – | – | Helm |
| Serration | Ossified Essence increases critical strikes | – | – | Focus |
| Concussive Strikes | Attacks have 20% chance to Daze enemies | – | – | Focus |
| Shielding Storm | Bone Storm generates Barrier | – | – | Pants |
| Hardened Bones | You and your minions get damage reduction | – | – | Pants |
| Shattered Spirit’s | Casting Bone Spirit also casts Bone Splinters | – | – | Ring |
| Imprisoned Spirit’s | Casting Bone Spirit also casts Bone Prison | – | – | Focus |
| Blood Getter’s | Skeeltoal Priests now empower you 55-70 | – | – | Helm |
| Metamorphosis | Evade triggers Unstoppable for 2.5 seconds | – | – | Boots |
Remember, you can also strip these Aspects from their original item and apply them to an item of your choosing.
Best Mercenaries
Select Raheir as your Primary merc. His defensive buffs will help keep you alive should you get caught by a mob. He can also do decent damage to enemies and support your minions on the front line.
We’d recommend bringing Aldkin as your reinforcement mercenary so he can appear, blast enemies with magic, and then scurry away and prepare his next attack. This just adds another set of attacks to your arsenal and will make it to weaken enemies before the final blast of Bone Spirt.
Best Paragon Glyphs
Once you reach level 60 you’ll stop earning skills points and start earning Paragon points instead. This leveling system works very differently and involves you selecting updates from various boards with different themes and buffs.
Every path is different, but the good news is that by targeting different Glyphs as you move around the Paragon Board, you’ll start buffing your Necro in the ways that matter most to the build.
Level 15
- Gravekeeper
- Corporeal
- Control
- Essence
- Deadraiser
- Amplify
- Control
Level 21
- Essence
- Gravekeeper
- Corporeal
- Amplify
- Deadraiser
Once you reach Paragon Level 15, work your way towards the above Glyphs. You’ll also unlock more across the Paragon Board as you earn more points, but selecting these particular Glyphs in this order will keep you on the best possible path for the Necro Bone Spirit build.
Best endgame weapons, armor & socket
Here’s the best gear you should hunt down for the Bone Spirit Necromancer build, including the best socket to use:
| Item | Socket | Item type | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runic Skullcap of Might | Ruby for extra life | Helm | Bone Spear leaves behind exploring echoes |
| Runic Mail of Disobedience | Ruby for extra life | Chest Armor | Bone Storm has chance to trigger Barrier |
| Edgemaster’s Runic Gloves | Ruby for extra life | Gloves | Bone Spear makes enemies vulnerable |
| Runic Leggings of the Protector | Ruby for extra life | Pants | Increased Minion damage |
| Wind Striker Runic Cleats | Ruby for extra life | Boots | Increased Skeleton Priest damage |
| Sparr of Swelling Curse | 2x Emeralds for poison damage | Main Hand | Chance to cast Bone Spear twice |
| – | – | Offhand | – |
| Amulet of Torment | Diamond for extra attack power | Amulet | Boosts Evulsion and Compound Fracture |
| Requiem Band | Diamond for extra attack power | Ring 1 | Boosts Torment |
| Band of Grasping Veins | Diamond for extra attack power | Ring 2 | Boosts Grasping Veins |
It’ll take time to track down this exact set, but once you do this will make up your endgame gear.
Of course, it’s up to you which gear you equip and you may want to mix it up, but this setup will give you a decided advantage.
Alternative to Necromancer Bone Spirit build for PvP
The good news about using the Necromancer Bone Spirit build for PvP is it’s the same exact build we’ve described above in our endgame (and even leveling) section. The build is rated A-tier for PvP this season, so while it’s not at the very top, it’s still deadly and a great choice for taking down other players.Now that you know how to craft this top-tier Necromancer build, make sure to check out our guides for the Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian, and Spirtiborn.
