Corpse Explosion & Blight
Necromancer Build for Diablo 4
Last Update: June 15, 2023
| Build notes: |
June 15, 2023
-Build created |
Build Overview
There are many Damage over Time abilities available in the game, however, Necromancer Class is the king of them all. Most of your Damage comes from the Corpse Explosion augmented by the Blighted upgrade, which turns the Direct Damage into overlapping Damage over Time area for 6 seconds. If you are lucky enough, you can use the Howl from Below Gloves which will make the Corpse Explosion automatically target nearby Enemies, and deal more Damage while doing so. You also have the Bligh Skill at your disposal, which also deals decent Damage, and have great utility in the form of permanent Slow and increasing the Damage enemies take from you. To begin your Combo you should start with the Decrepify Curse, which Slows your Enemies and grants you a chance to reduce all your Cooldowns by 1 second when you land a Lucky Hit. Then you want to use the Blood Mist which makes you Immune and automatically spawn and detonates Corpses as you move around. At that point, most of your enemies will be dead, but you can use the Corpse Tendrils to gather all remaining monsters and use the newly created Corpses to finish them off.
This playstyle requires a certain rhythm, but once you get used to it, it's very satisfying. Running out of Corpses to Detonate can certainly slow you down, but if you manage your Cooldowns properly, you will be severely rewarded with massive amounts of Damage. It is also a very tanky and safe style, allowing you to explore the high-end content without problems.
Please keep in mind, that the following Guide explains the basic variant of the build, without diving into all alternative variants that may utilize different utility skills for various benefits. This will be obviously updated as we have a chance to test out this build properly in the actual game.
You can also check our other Diablo 4 Builds
 Pros |
 Cons |
| Unique DoT playstyle |
Sometimes runs out of Corpses to Detonate |
| Good Aoe and Single-target Damage |
|
| Great utility |
|
Skills
|
BLIGHT [5/5]
|
|
A Core Skill that creates a damaging effect on the ground. You mostly want to use it to inflict Slow and apply a debuff on enemies. It deals less Damage than Corpse Explosion, but you can cast it as you have any Essence left. Optionally you can use the Blood Surge Skill instead to improve your survivability through Healing and Fortify.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Blight [1/1] - enemies Damaged by Blight are Slowed by 25%.
- Supernatural Blight [1/1] - you deal 15% more Damage to enemies standing in your Bligh's Area.
|
|
CORPSE EXPLOSION [5/5]
|
|
Your main source of Damage, and Essence generator. It detonates a nearby Corpse to deal Damage. You will need to kite monsters around it so they don't run out of its reach.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Corpse Explosion [1/1] - simply improves the radius of Corpse Explosion.
- Blighted Corpse Explosion [1/1] - instead of Direct Damage, it creates a damaging puddle on the ground. The puddle deals 110% of the Corpse Explosion base Damage, so investing Ranks into this Skill is still important.
|
|
DECOMPOSE [1/5]
|
|
You will need to assign 2 Points here just to unlock the remaining Skills. At first, it is a very useful skill to generate Corpses, but you can stop using it later on.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Decompose [1/1] - improves your Essence generation a bit.
|
|
BLOOD MIST [1/5]
|
|
A very powerful defensive and offensive ability at once. It makes you Immune to all Dmage for a short moment, and thanks to the Legendary Aspect and its upgrades it creates and detonates Corpses for free.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Blood Mist [1/1] - sometimes you will reduce the Cooldown of Blood Mist for free.
- Ghastly Blood Mist [1/1] - creates a Corpse every 1 second.
|
|
DECREPIFY [1/5]
|
|
It is an important Curse Skill that Slows enemies and Reduces the Damage they deal. You should always start your Combo with this ability.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Decrepify [1/1] - grants your Abilities a chance to Stun enemies affected by this Curse.
- Abhorrent Decrepify [1/1] - hitting enemies affected by Decrepify will sometimes reduce all your remaining Cooldowns by 1 second.
|
|
CORPSE TENDRILS [1/5]
|
|
A very powerful utility tool available for the Necromancers. Tendrils reach out from the targeted Corpse in a wide range and quickly come back Pulling and Stunning all affected enemies.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Corpse Tendrils [1/1] - enemies affected by Tendrils are also Slowed.
- Plagued Corpse Tendrils [1/1] - Pulling enemies also inflict Vulnerability status on them.
|
|
BONE STORM [1/1]
|
|
Your Ultimate Ability makes you very safe for the whole duration of it. It grants you a 15% Damage Reduction, and thanks to the Legendary Aspect you will gain tons of Barrier. Another Aspect also adds a decent amount of Damage to its Hits.
Modifiers:
- Prime Bone Storm [1/1] - during the Storm you will gain a 15% Damage Reduction.
|
Passive Skills
|
HEWED FLESH [3/3]
|
| Your main source of additional Corpses to Explode. |
|
GRIM HARVEST [3/3]
|
| Consuming a Corpse generates 6 Essence, which turns your main ability into a generator. |
|
FUELED BY DEATH [3/3]
|
| Exploding a Corpse or summoning Tendrils will increase your Damage for seconds. |
|
AMPLIFY DAMAGE [3/3]
|
| You deal increased Damage against enemies affected by your Decrepify. |
|
DEATH'S EMBRACE [3/3]
|
| Improves your battle potency against Close enemies. |
|
REAPER'S PURSUIT [3/3]
|
| Grants Movement Speed for 3 seconds after damaging an enemy with Shadow Damage. |
|
GLOOM [3/3]
|
| Grants up to 18% increased Damage with Darkness Skills. |
|
TERROR [3/3]
|
| Improves your Shadow Damage against Slowed and Stunned enemies. |
|
STAND ALONE [3/3]
|
| Sacrificing your Minions has added benefit of increasing your Damage Reduction significantly. |
|
MEMENTO MORI [3/3]
|
| Improves the bonuses you gain from Sacrificing Skeleton Warriors and Mages. |
Key Passive
|
SHADOWBLIGHT
|
| The only viable choice here, it increases your Shadow Damage by 10%. Every 10th Hit You deal, it will mimic it for 22% of the Damage dealt. |
Book of the Dead
|
Skeletal Warriors
|
| You should sacrifice the Skeletal Reapers to gain a 10% increased Shadow Damage bonus. |
|
Skeletal Mages
|
| Skeletal Mages should also be sacrificed. Here it is best to use Cold Mages to increase your Vulnerability Damage. |
|
Calamity
|
| You can sacrifice the Bone Golem to improve your Attack Speed, but using Blood Golem to improve your maximum Life is also a good option. |
Items
|
As Damage over Time cannot inflict Critical Strikes, you have to heavily focus on the Vulnerable Damage (not the Damage against Vulnerable enemies!) everywhere you can, as it is the most powerful Damage Multiplier available currently. Additional Ranks for Corpse Explosion increased Lucky Hit Chance, and Cooldown Reduction is also important. Other than that try to look for various Damage increases, and ways to reduce incoming Damage. Intelligence is also very helpful in that regard.
In your Weapon, you should aim for the Amethyst Gem, which increases the Damage over Time. In armor, you can use Ruby for generic defense value, or Topaz to reduce incoming Damage when you need it the most. Your Jewelry slots should be filled with Skulls for additional Armour.
|
|
OPTIONAL UNIQUE ITEMS
|
|
Andariel's Visage (Helmet) - grants Attack Speed and Life Steal. It is also a source of another DoT effect for the build.
|
+All Stats
+Attack Speed
+Life Steal
+Poison Resistance
Lucky Hit: Up to a [15 - 20%] chance to trigger a poison nova that applies 1,890 Poisoning damage over 5 seconds to enemies in the area.
|
|
Howl from Below (Gloves) - a major boost for the Build, it increases the Damage of Corpse Explosion and makes it easier to Hit enemies with that Skill.
|
+Lucky Hit Chance
+Attack Speed for Corpse Skills
+Lucky Hit: Stun Chance
+Lucky Hit: Fear Chance
Instead of detonating immediately, Corpse Explosion summons a Volatile Skeleton that charges at a random enemy and explodes. Corpse Explosion's damage is increased by [30 - 40%]
|
|
CODEX OF POWER
Legendary Aspects
|
|
Mandatory/Heavily recommended Aspects
- Aspect of Explosive Mist is a very important Aspect that makes your Blood Mist trigger free Corpse Explosions.
- Blighted Aspect needs some time to ramp up, but provides a very powerful Damage bonus once it's active. Imprint it on a 2-handed Weapon for maximum boost.
- Aspect of Ultimate Shadow adds a stacking DoT effect to your Ultimate Ability. It also makes Shadowblight stack very fast in bigger groups.
- Conceited Aspect you deal significantly increased Damage when you have a Barrier active. You can gain it via the Bone Storm. Try to get it on your Amulet.
- Aspect of Shielding Storm hitting an enemy with Bone Storm grants you up to 5% of your maximum Life as Barrier.
Optional Aspects
- Aspect of Disobedience popular defensive Aspect to increase your Armour.
- Aspect of the Protector is another great source of Barrier.
- Edgemaster's Aspect increases your Damage significantly when you have full Essence.
- Sacrificial Aspect increases the bonuses you gain from sacrificing your Minions.
- Aspect of the Void using Blight will now Pull nearby enemies inside, making a great Crowd Controlling ability.
|
Paragon
|
1st Board - Starting Board
Nodes - We recommend pathing through the Damage Nodes first. You can pick u nearby useful regular Nodes once you socket the Glyph here.
Glyphs - Sacrificial Glyph improves the effectiveness of nearby Nodes, and makes you deal more Damage when all Minions are sacrificed.
|
|
2nd Board - Wither Board
Legendary Node in the Down Left corner
Nodes - The Wither is an incredibly strong Node that gets better as you progress through the game and gain more Willpower. Other Nodes to pick up here are: Dragging Shadows, Lingering Shadows, Gnawing Darkness, Malediction, and Gloom.
Glyphs - The Darkness Glyph greatly benefits from all Willpower Nodes available around there.
|
|
3rd Board - Flesh Eater Board
above of the Wither Board
Legendary Node in the Top Middle
Nodes - Consuming Corpses will grant you more Damage, thanks to the Flesh Eater Node found here. You can also pick useful notables such as Stiffle or Targeted.
Glyphs - You can pick up tons of Intelligence needed to power up the Control Glyph here.
|
|
4th Board - Bone Graft Board
above Flesh Eater Board
Legendary Node in the Top Right corner
Nodes - it is a good Board to pick up the Glyph Socket and the Reinvigorate Node.
Glyphs - The Exploit Glyph on the Necromancer Class seems to be significantly weaker, but it is still a great Glyph to have.
|
|
5th Board - Scent of Death Board
to the right of the Flesh Eater Board
Legendary Node in the Down Middle
Nodes - Scent of Death grants cycling Damage Reduction or increased Damage bonus. You can also take the Deathbringer and Deathmarked Rare Nodes which will increase your Damage against Injured Enemies, making them much easier to kill.
Glyphs - Scourge Glyph socketed here will greatly improve your Shadow Damage.
|
|
END NOTE
This is the beta version of our Blight and Corpse Explosion Necromancer for Diablo 4. The game has just launched so we expect all of the Guides will require constant updates when we get to test all the builds properly. Make sure to check out the Guides regularly to keep track of all the changes!
If you have any Build requests, please post them in the Comments section below. We will be happy to cover your most requested builds in the future! Also, we hope that you have found this guide useful and informative. Also, we will be happy to receive constructive criticism that will help us improve our future work, so don't hesitate to give us your feedback.
|
Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment
Buy/Sell
Log in
