Diablo 4 | Just Loot It

D4 CORPSE EXPLOSION NECRO BUILD

This D4 Corpse Explosion Necro Build is proof the developers wanted to bring back our favorite parts of Diablo 2. With this Necro build you’ll be using the infamous Bone spear, Corpse Explosion and an Army of the Dead, just like back in the day! 

D4 Corpse Explosion Necromancers are capable of insane AOE damage, so we are going to lean on that explosiveness combined with the impressive burst damage that Bones pear can drop. Anything that doesn’t die immediately, will be swarmed by our undead army and melted moments later.

D4 CORPSE EXPLOSION NECRO PROS / CONS

D4 CORPSE EXPLOSION NECRO BUILD VIDEO GUIDE

Something about the D4 Corpse Explosion Necro build confusing you? Don’t sweat it, listen to me explain every piece of the build in this detailed YouTube guide!

D4 CORPSE EXPLODE NECRO BUILD SKILLS & PASSIVES

BASIC ABILITY

The first ability your D4 Corpse Explosion Necromancer will unlock is used to apply vulnerability and damage the enemy. Grab this ability and these two passives.

Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters
BasicBone
Generate Essence: 6
Lucky Hit Chance: 17%
Fire 3 bone splinters, dealing 8% damage each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence.
Enhanced Bone Splinters
Enhanced Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters has a 25% chance to fire 2 additional projectiles if cast while you have 50 or more Essence.
Initiate’s Bone Splinters
Initiate’s Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters has a 20% chance per hit to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.

CORE ABILITY

Bonespear will be one of the primary damage dealing abilities. The main reason for bonespear’s existence is to proide corpses for Corpse Explosion..

Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.
Enhanced Bone Spear
Enhanced Bone Spear
Bone Spear breaks into 3 shards when it is destroyed, dealing 25% damage each.
Supernatural Bone Spear
Supernatural Bone Spear
Bone Spear makes the first enemy hit Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Hewed Flesh
Hewed Flesh
Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location.

This chance is doubled against Bosses.

CORPSE & MACABRE ABILITY

Once Bonespear creates a corpse or two, Corpse Explosion will be able to do the rest. Corpse explosion will also generate resources to cast more bonespear thanks to our grim harvest passive.

D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildEnhanced Corpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Enhanced Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildPlagued Corpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Plagued Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion deals x8% increased damage to enemies that are Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable. These damage bonuses can stack.
Grim Harvest
Grim Harvest
Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence.

CURSE ABILITIES

We passed on the curse abilities for this build. We just didn’t have enough bar space for everything we wanted!

CORPSE AND MACABRE ABILITY

The D4 Corpse Explosion necro uses his Corpse Tendril ability to group up and debuff the enemies! You can use this ability to fill your bar until you unlock your golem, then spec out of it to make room for the golem

Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrils
CorpseCorruption
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.
Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being Pulled.
Blighted Corpse Tendrils
Blighted Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrils has a 30% chance to drop a Blood Orb when damaging enemies.

ULTIMATE ABILITY

You can only slot one ultimate ability, and this D4 Corpse Explosion necro is currently using Blood Wave. It does solid damage and can drop extra heals to keep you in the fight longer.

Blood Wave
Blood Wave
UltimateBlood
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90% damage and Knocks Back enemies.
Prime Blood Wave
Prime Blood Wave
Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
Supreme Blood Wave
Supreme Blood Wave
Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.

CORPSE EXPLOSION NECRO book of the dead

SKELETAL WARRIOR

For the Skeletal Warrior we’ll take the Reapers, and then choose the Second Perk, which is going to provide a ton of corpses for Corpse Explosion as well as Resummoning our Army of the dead here.

D4 NECRO BUILD - DIABLO 4 NECRO BUILD
Skeletal Reapers
Skeletal Reapers
Deals area damage with a slow and powerful scythe, and has a special wind-up attack, dealing heavy damage every 10 seconds.

UPGRADES
Reaper attacks against enemies who are Immobilized, Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable reduce the cooldown of their powerful wind-up attack by 2 seconds.


Reapers have a 10% chance to carve the flesh off enemies, forming a corpse. This cannot happen on the same enemy more than once every 5 seconds.

SACRIFICE
You deal x10% increased Shadow Damage but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
Skeletal Reapers Perk 2
Skeletal Reapers Perk 2
Reapers have a 10% chance to carve the flesh off enemies, forming a corpse. This cannot happen on the same enemy more than once every 5 seconds.

SKELETAL MAGE

For the Skeletal Mage we are going to take the Bone Mages, and then Take the First Perk. This is going to amp up their damage by a massive  40% after they’ve been alive for 5 seconds. Huge!

D4 NECRO BUILD - DIABLO 4 NECRO BUILD
Bone Mages
Bone Mages
Uses its own bones as projectiles, dealing heavy damage for a Life cost.

UPGRADES
Reduce the life cost of your Bone Mages attacks from 15% to 10%. After being alive for 5 seconds, Bone Mages deal 40% increased damage.


Each time a Bone Mage dies from its own attack, they leave behind a corpse and Fortify you for 30%.

SACRIFICE
Your Overpower damage is increased by 1, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Mages.
Bone Mages Perk 1
Bone Mages Perk 1
Reduce the life cost of your Bone Mages attacks from 15% to 10%. After being alive for 5 seconds, Bone Mages deal 40% increased damage.

GOLEM

For the Golem We’ll take the Bone Golem, and this will allow it to absorb 15 percent of the damage we would have taken, making our D4 Necro quite a bit tankier!

D4 NECRO BUILD - DIABLO 4 NECRO BUILD

Blood Golem

Blood Golem Perk 1
Blood Golem Perk 1
Your Golem absorbs 15% of the damage you would take.

D4 NECRO BUILD SKILL POINT ORDER

You get one point every time you level. So at level 2 on your first character you will be spending point #1. At level 5 you will be spending point #4. 

When you earn your first renown you will have the same number of skill points as levels. 

Beyond that you will have to do some quick math to know how many points you’ve earned from renown and how many points you have earned from levels to know which part of this you are on.

POINTS 1 - 9

Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters
BasicBone
Generate Essence: 6
Lucky Hit Chance: 17%
Fire 3 bone splinters, dealing 8% damage each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence.
Enhanced Bone Splinters
Enhanced Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters has a 25% chance to fire 2 additional projectiles if cast while you have 50 or more Essence.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.
Enhanced Bone Spear
Enhanced Bone Spear
Bone Spear breaks into 3 shards when it is destroyed, dealing 25% damage each.
Supernatural Bone Spear
Supernatural Bone Spear
Bone Spear makes the first enemy hit Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Initiate’s Bone Splinters
Initiate’s Bone Splinters
Bone Splinters has a 20% chance per hit to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildEnhanced Corpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Enhanced Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion’s radius is increased by 15%.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildPlagued Corpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Plagued Corpse Explosion
Corpse Explosion deals x8% increased damage to enemies that are Slowed, Stunned or Vulnerable. These damage bonuses can stack.

POINTS 10 - 19

Hewed Flesh
Hewed Flesh
Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location.

This chance is doubled against Bosses.
Hewed Flesh
Hewed Flesh
Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location.

This chance is doubled against Bosses.
Hewed Flesh
Hewed Flesh
Lucky Hit: Your damage has up to a 4% chance to create a Corpse at the target’s location.

This chance is doubled against Bosses.
Grim Harvest
Grim Harvest
Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence.
Grim Harvest
Grim Harvest
Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence.
Grim Harvest
Grim Harvest
Consuming a Corpse generates 3 Essence.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.
Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrils
CorpseCorruption
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.
Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
Enemies who are in range of Corpse Tendrils are Slowed by 50% before being Pulled.
Plagued Corpse Tendrils
Plagued Corpse Tendrils
Enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils are made Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

POINTS 20 - 29

Fueled by Death
Fueled by Death
You deal x3% increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
Fueled by Death
Fueled by Death
You deal x3% increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
Fueled by Death
Fueled by Death
You deal x3% increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming a Corpse.
Death’s Reach
Death’s Reach
You deal x4% increased damage to Distant enemies.
Blood Wave
Blood Wave
UltimateBlood
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90% damage and Knocks Back enemies.
Prime Blood Wave
Prime Blood Wave
Blood Wave Slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds.
Supreme Blood Wave
Supreme Blood Wave
Blood Wave leaves behind 3 Blood Orbs as it travels.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.
Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.

POINTS 30 - 39

D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.
Ossified Essence
Ossified Essence
Your Bone Skills deal x1% increased damage for each point of Essence you have above 50 upon cast.
Golem Mastery
Golem Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by x25%.
Golem Mastery
Golem Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by x25%.
Golem Mastery
Golem Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Golem by x25%.
Bonded in Essence
Bonded in Essence
Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest’s Healing will Heal your Skeletons for an additional 20% of their Maximum Life.
Bonded in Essence
Bonded in Essence
Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest’s Healing will Heal your Skeletons for an additional 20% of their Maximum Life.

POINTS 40 - 49

Bonded in Essence
Bonded in Essence
Every 5 seconds, your Skeletal Priest’s Healing will Heal your Skeletons for an additional 20% of their Maximum Life.
Death’s Defense
Death’s Defense
Your Minions cannot lose more than 75% of their Maximum Life from a single damage instance.
Death’s Defense
Death’s Defense
Your Minions cannot lose more than 75% of their Maximum Life from a single damage instance.
Death’s Defense
Death’s Defense
Your Minions cannot lose more than 75% of their Maximum Life from a single damage instance.
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by x15%.
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by x15%.
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Warriors by x15%.
Death’s Reach
Death’s Reach
You deal x4% increased damage to Distant enemies.
Death’s Reach
Death’s Reach
You deal x4% increased damage to Distant enemies.
Skeletal Mage Mastery
Skeletal Mage Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Mages by x20%.

POINTS 50 - 58

Skeletal Mage Mastery
Skeletal Mage Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Mages by x20%.
Skeletal Mage Mastery
Skeletal Mage Mastery
Increase the damage and Life of your Skeletal Mages by x20%.
Unliving Energy
Unliving Energy
Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.
Unliving Energy
Unliving Energy
Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.
Unliving Energy
Unliving Energy
Your maximum Essence is increased by 3.
Imperfectly Balanced
Imperfectly Balanced
Your Core Skills cost x3% more Essence, but deal x5% increased damage.
Imperfectly Balanced
Imperfectly Balanced
Your Core Skills cost x3% more Essence, but deal x5% increased damage.
Imperfectly Balanced
Imperfectly Balanced
Your Core Skills cost x3% more Essence, but deal x5% increased damage.
Inspiring Leader
Inspiring Leader
After you have been Healthy for at least 4 seconds, you and your Minions gain +4% Attack Speed.

D4 CORPSE EXPLOSION NECRO BUILD ROTATION

1

Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Tendrils
CorpseCorruption
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Veins burst out of a Corpse, Pulling in enemies, Stunning them for 3 seconds, and dealing 20% damage to them. Does not consume the Corpse.

Use Corpse Tendrils to damage and group up the enemies.

2

Bone Spear
Bone Spear
CoreBone
Essence Cost: 25
Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
Conjure a bone spear from the ground, dealing 85% damage and piercing through enemies.

Use Bonespear to kill enemies and create Corpses in the process.

3

D4 Corpse Explosion BuildCorpse Explosion
D4 Corpse Explosion Build
Corpse Explosion
CorpseCorruption
Lucky Hit Chance: 40%
Detonate a Corpse, dealing 50% damage to surrounding enemies.

Use Corpse Explosion to detonate the corpses. This will create more corpses for you to detonate. Thanks to our passives, this will also give you more essence to cast more bonespears. 

4

Blood Wave
Blood Wave
UltimateBlood
Cooldown: 50 seconds
Lucky Hit Chance: 20%
Conjure a tidal wave of blood that deals 90% damage and Knocks Back enemies.

Save Bloodwave for elite packs and bosses to help knock them down.

5

Raise Skeleton
Raise Skeleton
Summoning
Raise a Skeleton from a Corpse to fight for you.

Once all of your Skeletons have been summoned, Raise Skeleton briefly summons a Skeletal Priest to empower your Minions for 5 seconds, increasing their damage by 20% and healing them for 10% of their Maximum Life.

Don’t forget to resummon minions as they are knocked down.

D4 NECRO BUILD LEGENDARY ASPECTS

The best aspects and Legendaries will be listed below for this D4 Corpse Explosion Necromancer Build, broken into their different types. You can only benefit from one aspect at a time, so don’t try to wear two of the same aspect.

CODEX OF POWER

These Legendary Aspects can be target farmed by simply completing the Dungeon they are located in. Once completed the aspect will appear in your codex of power for you to use as any time you want.

FRACTURED PEAKS

Aspect of the Protector
Aspect of the Protector
Defensive
Damaging an Elite enemy grants you a Barrier absorbing up to x damage for 10 seconds. This effect can only happen once every 30 seconds.
Unlocked by completing Lost Archives in Fractured Peaks
Every class

Aspect of Torment
Aspect of Torment
Resource
Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increase your Essence Regeneration by 20-30% for 4 seconds.
Unlocked by completing Black Asylum in Fractured Peaks
Necromancer

SCOSGLEN

Aspect of Inner Calm
Aspect of Inner Calm
Offensive
Deal 5-10% increased damage for each second you stand still, up to 30%.
Progress Campaign in Scosglen to unlock
Unlocked by completing Raethwind Wilds in Scosglen
Every class

Aspect of Reanimation
Aspect of Reanimation
Offensive
Your Skeletons gain increased damage while alive, up to 30-40% after 10 seconds.
Progress Campaign in Scosglen to unlock
Unlocked by completing Aldurwood in Scosglen
Necromancer

Requiem Aspect
Requiem Aspect
Resource
You gain 3-5 Maximum Essence per active Minion.
Progress Campaign in Scosglen to unlock
Unlocked by completing Vault of the Forsaken in Scosglen
Necromancer

DRY STEPPES

Splintering Aspect
Splintering Aspect
Offensive
Bone Spear’s primary attack makes enemies hit beyond the first Vulnerable for 1.5-2.5 seconds. Bone Shards from Bone Spear deal 30-60% bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies and pierce them.
Progress Campaign in Dry Steppes to unlock
Necromancer

Aspect of Potent Blood
Aspect of Potent Blood
Resource
While at full Life, Blood Orbs grants 10-20 Essence.
Unlocked by completing Betrayer’s Row in Dry Steppes
Necromancer

HAWEZAR

Fastblood Aspect
Fastblood Aspect
Resource
Blood Orbs reduce your Ultimate Cooldown by 1-1.5 seconds.
Unlocked by completing Iron Hold in Hawezar
Necromancer

KEHJISTAN

Hulking Aspect
Hulking Aspect
Resource
Your Golem has a 1-4% chance to reduce its active Cooldown by 2 seconds and a 0.5-2% chance to spawn a Corpse each time it damages an enemy with its normal attack.
Unlocked by completing Sepulcher of The Forsworn in Kehjistan
Necromancer

Aspect of Grasping Veins
Aspect of Grasping Veins
Offensive
Gain 10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal 20-40% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
Unlocked by completing Corrupted Grotto in Kehjistan
Necromancer

LEGENDARY ITEMS

These are the legendary aspect that can only be found as a drop in the game. You must kill enemies and bosses until you get these legendary items to drop.

Smiting Aspect
Smiting Aspect
Offensive
You have 10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies. While you are Healthy, you gain 20-40% increased Crowd Control Duration.
Random drop
Every class

RANDOM DROP - NECRO SPECIFIC

Aspect of Hardened Bones
Aspect of Hardened Bones
Defensive
While you have 7 or more Minions, your Minions gain 15-20% increased Damage Reduction.
Random drop
Necromancer

Aspect of Frenzied Dead
Aspect of Frenzied Dead
Offensive
Each time one of your Summoning Minions damages an enemy, they gain 10-14% Attack Speed for 3 seconds, up to 30-42%.
Random drop
Necromancer

Aspect of the Embalmer
Aspect of the Embalmer
Defensive
Consuming a Corpse has a 20-30% chance to spawn a Blood Orb.
Random drop
Necromancer

Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
Aspect of Ultimate Shadow
Offensive
Bone Storm and Blood Wave are also Darkness Skills, deal Shadow damage, and gain additional effects: Enemies damaged by Bone Storm take [x] increased Shadow Damage over 2 seconds. Blood Wave desecrates the ground it travels over, dealing [x] Shadow damage over 4 seconds.
Random drop
Necromancer

Blood Getter’s Aspect
Blood Getter’s Aspect
Utility
Your maximum number of Skeletal Warriors is increased by 2.
Random drop
Necromancer

Tidal Aspect
Tidal Aspect
Offensive
Blood Wave fires two additional waves, each dealing 50-60% less damage then the previous.
Random drop
Necromancer

Viscous Aspect
Viscous Aspect
Utility
Your maximum number of Skeletal Mages is increased by 2.
Random drop
Necromancer

UNIQUE ITEMS

These are the unique items you should look out for. These won’t start dropping until you reach Tier 3 Difficulty, known as Nightmare.