Spirit Wave – Necromancer Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

This latest addition to the Necromancer endgame builds is the Blood Spirit, most commonly known as Spirit Wave Necromancer, and comes in the form of you casting your Ultimate Blood Wave to generate Blood Orbs, which will automatically trigger the cast of Bone Spirit thanks to Blood Artisan’s Cuirass, creating an extremely smooth and effective playstyle whilst dealing crazy damage.

Do keep in mind that for this build to even function, the body armor is mandatory, and the numerical modifier stating how many Blood Orbs are required to consume before a Bone Spirit is spawned needs to be 3 or at worst 4 or this build is not to be recommended!

This build is a variant of the self-cast version of Bone Spirit Necromancer Endgame Build.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Blood Artisan’s Cuirass

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Fastblood Aspect

Aspect of Gore Quills

The build simply won’t function without that body armor. The amount of Blood Orbs required to be consumed before a Bone Spirit is spawned needs to be 3 or at the very worst: 4. Before you get this the build is not to be recommended.

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

BlightCorpse TendrilsDecrepifyBlood LanceBlood WaveBlood Mist

Follow the points allocated in the Skill Tree above for the complete 71-point build. The additional 12 skill points are completed using the Renown system.

Book of the Dead

Since we are focusing entirely on dealing brutal damage on our own, we have no interest in bothering with using our minions, so they will all be sacrificed in the name of Lilith.

• Melee Skeletons: Defenders – These are sacrificed for a great amount of extra resistances to help alleviate that from our gear.
• Mage Skeletons: Cold Mages – This provides increased damage against Vulnerable targets.
• Golem: Iron – Increases critical strike damage output.

Mercenary

Mercenaries provide a nice extra layer of power to your character and mostly comes down to preferential decision. Below you’ll see the set-up I personally would run for this build which is having Subo as the Mercenary and for reinforcement I’d use Varyana!

Subo Skill Tree choices:

• Wire Trap
• Ready At Hand
• Trip Mines
• Mastermind

Varyana Reinforcement choices:

• Opportunity Skill: Skill Cast – Whenever the player casts any skill in combat.
• Reinforcement Skill: Bloodthirst

Paragon Board

Not long after Season 6 launch we will have a proper Paragon Board tool available for you to easier navigate through the boards. For now you can follow the images below, do keep in mind that you will have to rotate the boards before locking them in so they fit the images shown below!

1. Starter Board – Exploit

In this board we’ll rush the Socket node for Exploit picking up surrounding Rare nodes before moving out to the north.

2. Blood Begets Blood – Undaunted

Rotate the board once to fit the image above. In here we want the Blood Begets Blood Legendary node as well as the socket node to slot in Undaunted. The important part of this board is the massive amounts of extra life we can pick up that both scales our offensive and defensive efficiency. Once done we’ll head out north yet again.

3. Bone Graft – Essence

No rotations needed for this board. We’ll start with the socket node to use Essence before picking up surrounding Rare and Magic nodes and then moving diagonally up to the Legendary node Bone Graft. After this we leave the board on the left.

4. Scent of Death – Eliminator

No rotations needed for this board. We’ll rush the socket node first to use Eliminator then pick up the Scent of Death and the remaining Rare and Magic nodes. After this we head out to the north.

5. Frailty – Blood-drinker

Three rotations for this board will be required to fit the image above. Our last board we’ll rush the Legendary node Frailty before moving to the Socket node to use Blood-drinker. Once done we are now circling back to pick up any surrounding attribute passives that becomes available within range of our Glyphs as they level up!

Board images courtesy of d4builds.

Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats

The following sections cover the important systems that are essential to improving the power of your character in the endgame of Diablo 4.

Legendary Aspects

Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the assigned slot. Additionally, if you are trying to farm a specific item, we recommend using your Obols to target farm them!

Gear Slot	Gems	Aspect / Unique	Legendary Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Grand Topaz	Heir of Perdition	Succumb to hatred and earn Mother’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by x60%. Briefly steal Mother’s Favor from Nearby allies by slaughtering enemies. This can easily be replaced by Aspect of Disobedience to help with armor during progression before you get this Mythic Unique.
Chest	Zan + Ohm	Blood Artisan’s Cuirass	When you pick up 10-3 Blood Orbs, a free Bone Spirit is spawned, dealing bonus damage based on your current life percent.
Gloves	N/A	Aspect of Gore Quills	Casting Blood Lance will consume Blood Orbs to also conjure lances from them. Each additional Blood Lance deals x% of normal damage and prioritizes targeting un-lanced enemies.
Pants	Tam + Xal	Aspect of Hardened Bones	You and your Minions gain x% increased Damage Reduction.
Boots	N/A	Aspect of the Cursed Aura	A dark aura surrounds you, inflict Decrepify and Iron Maiden on enemies who touch it. Curses inflicted this way spread to surrounding targets every 2.5-0.3 seconds and last 4 seconds outside the aura.
Weapon 1H (Sword)	Royal Emerald	Aspect of Rathma’s Chosen	Whenever your Blood Skills Overpower you gain x% Attack Speed for 4 seconds.
Off-hand	Royal Emerald	Tidal Aspect	Blood Wave fires two additional waves, each dealing x% of normal damage.
Amulet (50% Scaling)	Any Resistance Gem	Fastblood Aspect	Blood Orbs reduce your Ultimate Cooldown by 1-3 seconds.
Ring	Any Resistance Gem	Aspect of Serration	The Ossified Essence Key Passive also increases the Critical Strike Damage of your Bone Skills by x1% per Essence above 50, up to x25-45%.
Ring	Any Resistance Gem	Sacrificial Aspect	Your Sacrifice bonuses are increased by x35-55%.

Gems and Runewords

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

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Emerald For Crit Damage.	Grand Topaz For increased Intelligence.	Royal Amethyst Royal Sapphire Royal Ruby Grand Skull

The following Runewords are recommend to be used for this build.

Runeword Combination	Effect
Tam + Xal	Gain 25 Offering when casting a non-Channeled Core Skill. Gain 20% Maximum Life for 6 seconds which requires 200 Offering.
Zan + Ohm	Gain 150 Offering when casting an Ultimate Skill. For 600 Offering you’ll evoke the Barbarian’s War Cry increasing your Movement and damage dealt.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

Visit the Alchemist and craft an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Elixir of Advantage to increase Attack Speed. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from things like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded!

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these topics.

Slot	Targeted Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Gloves	1. Maximum Life 2. Ranks to Core Skill 3. Attack Speed	Blood Finesse #% Blood Attack Speed Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendrils Size
Pants	1. Maximum Life 2. Armor 3. Resistance to all elements	Worldly Endurance #% Total Armor Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendrils Size
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Maximum Life 3. Ranks to Bone Spirit	Natural Motion #% Movement Speed Bone Innovation #% Bone Spirit Explosion Size
Amulet	1. #% Increased Intelligence 2. Ranks to Evulsion 3. Ranks to Amplify Damage	Bone Finesse #% Bone Critical Strike Damage Necromancer Efficiency #% Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Ring #1	1. Maximum Life 2. Intelligence 3. Lucky Hit: Up to X% chance to make enemies vulnerable for 2 seconds.	Bone Finesse #% Bone Critical Strike Damage Necromancer Efficiency #% Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
Ring #2	1. Maximum Life 2. Intelligence 3. Attack Speed	Bone Finesse #% Bone Critical Strike Damage Necromancer Efficiency #% Ultimate Cooldown Reduction
1H-Weapon (Sword)	1. Maximum Life 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Intelligence	Bone Augments #%Chance for Bone Spirit to Deal Double Damage Bone Finesse #% Bone Critical Strike Damage
Off-hand (Focus)	1. Lucky Hit Chance 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Cooldown Reduction	Bone Augments #%Chance for Bone Spirit to Deal Double Damage Bone Finesse #% Bone Critical Strike Damage

Keep in mind that the maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.

Rotation and Playstyle

The playstyle is all about generating Blood Orbs which we do via both Corpse Tendrils and Blood Wave. We then consume these via the Legendary Aspect Aspect of Gore Quills by casting Blood Lance, this entire combination will let Blood Artisan’s Cuirass shoot out Bone Spirit to blow up any threats!

In order of action the rotation would look like this:

• Corpse Tendrils If there’s a corpse nearby to group enemies together.
• Blight to make them take more damage.
• Blood Wave to generate Blood Orbs.
• Blood Lance to consume said Blood Orbs which will pop Bone Spirit.
• Decrepify is only used if you are not in range of the enemies to let your aura version of it affect them.
• Blood Mist is your panic button to save you from dying.

Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Below you will find information on Uniques and Mythic Uniques that are useful for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Mythic Uniques, check out our How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide.

Uniques

Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build.

• Blood Artisan’s Cuirass – Mandatory for the build to even function.
• Heir of Perdition – Can be replaced by Aspect of Disobedience to help with armor cap (1000) during progression till you find this Mythic Unique!
• Doombringer – This is without a doubt the best weapon you can use for the build and it would just straight up replace the Aspect of Rathma’s Chosen Aspect.

Season 6: Vessel of Hatred

The following list details the changes in the Season 6 Update that may pertain to the Summoner Necromancer build. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates.

• Mostly general changes such as the Paragon rework and itemization changes affecting the build.

Advanced Information

Below, you will find every additional piece of information you need to know for a more in-depth look at this build.

Build Mechanics

It’s important to not use Blood Wave into a wall, but rather make sure you target an open area or you won’t get enough Blood Orbs to let you continuously repeat the set-up combo. Outside of this, the build is very straight forward mechanically and deals crazy damage!

Defenses

Since we benefit so much damage from scaling Life we simply double-dip our defensive stats making it the most important modifier to pick up on your gear and Paragon Board. Blood Mist is your panic button and you’ll consistently provide yourself with both fortification and a barrier thanks to lucky hit modifiers from the skill-tree.

Offenses

The build deals damage through high critical strikes in a very smooth playstyle approach by repeatedly casting the Ultimate skill Blood Wave followed up with Blood Lance to consume Blood Orbs from a distance. The damage Bone Spirit is dishing out is absolutely absurd and should not be underestimated.

Obol Gambling

Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below:

Changelog

• October 7th, 2024: Guide created for Season 6, Vessel of Hatred.