Build Introduction
This guide is a collaboration between GhazzyTV and community member Garm Z. The 
Sever Shadowmancer build is well-rounded and high-performing build at any stage of the progress. The concept is to boost shadow infused scythes with Overpower scaling in addition to already guaranteed Critical Strikes. Two layers of barrier generation provide excellent survivability even in most challenging content.
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To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Safe & Comfortable to play
- Consistent damage output
- Unstable Essence Management
Build Requirements
Greaves of the Empty Tomb
Banished Lord’s TalismanQuick Navigation
Want to skip ahead? Use the table below to jump to the sections you are looking for.
Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points
Blight
Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Explosion
Blood MistSever
SoulriftFollow 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.
Necromancer Class Mechanic – Book of the Dead
The Shadowmancer is mainly focused on damage-over-time effects, this is best scaled by sacrificing all our minions.
- Melee Skeletons: Defenders [Sacrifice] – Resistance to All Elements.
- Mage Skeletons: Bone [Sacrifice] – Increased Overpower damage.
- Golem: Iron [Sacrifice] – Increased Critical Strike Damage.
Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes
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! Other recommendations for Legendary Aspect farming would be to do the Seasonal mechanic and to some extent you can farm them in Helltides as well.
| Gear Slot | Gems | Aspect / Unique | Legendary Aspect / Unique Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helm |  Cir +  Lum |  Aspect of the Cursed Aura | 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 of the aura. |
| Chest |  Royal Topaz |  Aspect of Hardened Bones | You gain 15-20% increased Damage Reduction. |
| Gloves | N/A |  Aspect of the Damned | You deal x35-50% increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by any Curse. |
| Pants | Royal Topaz |  Blood Moon Breeches | You deal x#% increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by your Curses. |
| Boots | N/A | Greaves of the Empty Tomb | Makes our Sever leave behind Desecrated Ground dealing x Corrupting damage over 2 seconds. |
| Weapon 2H (Sword – 100% Scaling) |  Ahu +  Xan | Reaping Lotus’ Aspect | Sever no longer returns and instead splits into 3 specters that expand out and back from its apex. Sever deals #% of normal damage. |
| Amulet (50% Scaling) |  Royal Skull | Banished Lord’s Talisman | Guarantees Overpowers for our Sever and makes our crits do more damage. This does require 275+ maximum Essence to work! |
| Ring | Royal Skull | Sacrificial Aspect | Your Sacrifice bonuses are increased by #%. |
| Ring | Royal Skull | Aspect of Grasping Veins | Gain x% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal 30-75% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils. |
Curious how this build compares to other endgame options? Take a look at our Endgame Build Tier List.
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. The main priority for Greater Affixes are marked with a “*”, secondary would be anything providing Intelligence or Life. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these topics.
| Slot | Targeted Gear Affixes | Tempering Affixes |
|---|---|---|
| Helm | * 1. Maximum Life 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Intelligence |  Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril SizeWorldly Endurance # Maximum Life |
| Chest | * 1. Maximum Life 2. Essence per Second 3. Intelligence | Worldly Endurance # Maximum LifeDecay Innovation #% Soulrift Duration |
| Gloves | * 1. + Ranks to Sever 2. Attack Speed 3. Critical Strike Chance | Decay Innovation #% Soulrift DurationWorldly Finesse #% Critical Strike Damage |
| Pants | Blood Moon Breeches * 1. Critical Strike Chance | n/a |
| Boots | Greaves of the Empty Tomb * 1. Chance for Sever to Deal Double Damage | n/a |
| Amulet | Banished Lord’s Talisman * 1. + Ranks to Core Skills | n/a |
| Rings (2x) | * 1. Attack Speed 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Intelligence | Necromancer Efficiency #% Ultimate Cooldown ReductionWorldly Finesse #% Critical Strike Damage |
| 2h Weapon (Sword) | * 1. Intelligence 2. Maximum Life 3. Lucky Hit: Up to a 15% Chance to Restore +#% Primary Resource | Dreadful Augments + Ranks to Titan’s FallProfane Finesse #% Damage to Cursed Enemies |
Keep in mind that the maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.
Make sure to achieve and maintain armor cap of 1,000 as soon as possible! For that purpose helm or chest temporary tempering can be Total Armor %.
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
Path of Trag’Oul (Required) – Provides another layer of Corruption damage from our Severs. You can target farm this from Grigoire’s Lair.- Blood Moon Breeches (Required) – Big damage multiplier and Critical Strike Chance. You can target farm this from all Lair bosses.
- Banished Lord’s Talisman (Required) – Scales our damage by crazy amounts. It allows for occasional Overpowers whilst burning Essence. Before gear and levels carries this you should use
Elixir of Resourcefulness II to assist! You can target farm this from all Lair bosses.
Mythic Uniques
Heir of Perdition – Replaces your current helmet in favor of insane damage scaling. Greater Affix and Masterworking priority on this item will be + Ranks to Core Skills.
Shroud of False Death – Replaces your Hardened Bones Aspect and provides great scaling. Greater Affix and Masterworking priority on this item will be Maximum Life and/or All Stats.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended Runewords listed below. | Recommended Runewords then Royal Topaz For increased Intelligence. | Royal Skull till your armor is capped at 1000 then we use  Royal Diamond. |
The following Runewords are recommended to be used for this build.
| Runeword Combination | Effect |
| Ahu + Xan | Gain: 15 Offering. Lucky Hit: 100% when hitting a non-Healthy enemy. Requires: 300 Offering. (Overflow: Increase Duration) 1 second cooldown. Your next attack will cause your hits to be guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower for 0.35 seconds. |
| Cir + Lum | Gain: 300 Offering. Cast 5 Skills then become exhausted for 3 seconds. Requires: 5 Offering. (Overflow: Increased Resources Restored). 1 second cooldown. Restore 3.5 Primary Resource. |
Paragon board
Below you’ll find the entire end-game paragon board set-up for this build in detail!
Boss Powers (Season 8)
The newly added seasonal mechanic lets us power our builds up by using abilities from endgame bosses themselves! Below you’ll find the recommended list for this build.
Main Boss Power:
Modifier Boss Powers:
Mercenaries
During the Vessel of Hatred campaign, you will unlock Mercenaries to assist you. While you can choose freely early on, we recommend Raheir as your main merc, and Varyana as a Reinforcement once you reach endgame.
For the reinforcement, stick with Varyana, utilizing her Bloodthirst skill being cast when the player casts Sever.
Build Mechanics
Rotation and Playstyle
You’ll be delivering tons of damage via your shadow Sever. Keep your Soulrift up at all times. Group enemies together using Corpse Tendrils and follow up with Blight before you unleash your Sever spam. During your spam you’ll want to weave in Corpse Explosion to maintain buffs from your Paragon Board for optimal damage output. Blood Mist is our panic button should you need to get out of harms way!
Which Elixirs Should You Use?
Visit the Alchemist and craft 
Elixir of Fortitude II for Maximum Life, a cheaper option would be 
Elixir of Destruction II, however, if you’re struggling on Essence Elixir of Resourcefulness II can be very helpful. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from things like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded!
Season 8 Updates
For a full overview of what is new in Season 8, please take a look at our comprehensive season hub.
Here is a quick overview of seasonal changes relevant to this build:
- Very little has changed outside of the addition of boss powers from the seasonal content. Minor buffs on things such as our Paragon Board legendary nodes.
Obol Gambling
Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Check out the new tool guide from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below.
Changelog
- April 26th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 8.
- January 19th, 2025: Guide updated for Season 7.
- October 12th, 2024: New Paragon tool added.
- October 7th, 2024: Paragon board added.
- October 2nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 6.
- August 5th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 5, Infernal Hordes.
- May 13th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 Loot Reborn.
- January 22nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 Season of the Construct.
- October 15th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 2 Season of Blood, Patch 1.2.
- August 7th, 2023: Guide updated for Patch 1.1.1.
- July 19th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1 including Malignant Hearts.
