The Blood Surge Necromancer begs the question, "How much Area of Effect (AoE) Damage is too much?" The answer is... "Yes!". You make use of both Necromancer Resource types, Essence and Corpses, to keep the screen shaking with MASSIVE DPS output! All you need to do a drop the first few enemies and let your Corpse Explosions do the rest for you.
Did we mention the awesome army of glowing skeletons? No? Well, you also get to surround yourself with tireless skeletal minions for the majority of your leveling experience. You can eventually sacrifice them when you have enough Essence sustain and damage output to make better use of the Corpses they are raised from.
The satisfying part of this build's leveling experience is that it rarely depends on any Legendary Aspects! Making use of the Codex of Power is enough to get you to the end-game, but if you find some key Aspects during your journey, the potential for this build absolutely sky-rockets!
Combining Blood Surge and Corpse Explosion defines the core Necromancer leveling experience in Diablo 4. Starting on this build also allows you to pivot easily and seamlessly into the multitude of other Necromancer builds, depending on the Aspects you acquire.
This build guide takes you through the Campaign and Early Game up to Level 50. Check out Endgame Guides in our Necromancer Guides section!
- Massive AoE
- Great CC Options
- Dependable Undead Army
- Multiple Resources For Damage
- Needs Corpses
- No Mobility Skills
- Slow Single Target Damage
- Need to Position Enemies For DPS
Season 3 - Season of the Construct
In Season 3, you obtain the Seneschal Construct through the Season Questline, then collect Governing Stones or Tuning Stones to add attacks and augment them to support your build. Only certain Tuning Stones work with a particular Governing Stone. Look at the bottom of any Tuning Stone tooltip to see if it is compatible with your Construct's currently equipped Stones. Lastly, they can be leveled up by getting duplicates to max out their power. Check out our full Season 3 guide for more information.
Recommended Stones
- Gyrate - High upfront damage with AoE component and low cooldown.
- Resource Support - Helps out with generating Essence during combat.
- Initiative Support - Helps the Seneschal Construct gap-close and keeps the downtime between Gyrate casts low.
- Burning Support - Increased Critical Strike Damage that synergizes with the other Governing Stone setup.
- Focus Fire - Helps you out in single-target encounters.
- Efficiency Support - Increased Critical Strike Chance that synergizes with the other Governing Stone setup.
- Swift Support - Further improves the single-target capabilities of your Seneschal Construct.
- Safeguard Support - Provides additional safety throughout fights.
Alternative Stones
- Swap Resource Support for Gripping Support - As soon as you reach Late Endgame, Essence becomes less of a problem and therefore frees up a slot.
- Swap Initiative Support for Devastation Support - If you should be lacking damage feel free to swap these Tuning Stones.
- Swap Swift Support for Mockery Support - Whenever you still take too much damage change these Tuning Stones.
If you are lucky enough to get either Evernight or Genesis from Uber Malphas, you want to swap them in on your Construct for their powerful effects.
Skill Showcase
Hemorrhage
Hemorrhage is your starter Generator due to its fast animation and easy skill usage. It helps to keep you alive by generating Blood Orbs and can even become a small AoE skill after picking up an Orb. It eventually gets replaced by Reap as a faster Corpse generating skill. We also rely less on Essence generation at higher levels, so the Basic Skill slot swaps completely to utility.
Skill Tree & Gameplay
Generators
We use Hemorrhage to recover Essence early on while generating Blood Orbs. We eventually respec to Reap for more utility and Corpse generation.
Make sure to collect the Blood Orbs produced by Hemorrhage and when using Reap you want to keep the Damage Reduction up whenever you are in danger or about to take a big hit.
Bone Spirit has become an Essence generator with the new Shattered Spirit's Aspect introduced in Season 3.
Blood Surge
Whenever you hit an enemy with Blood Surge while being Healthy you gain one stack of Overwhelming Blood. At five Stacks of Overwhelming Blood your next Blood Surge Overpowers.
Use the slider on the bottom to see the Skill progression
Corpse Explosion & Corpse Tendrils
Corpse Explosion serves multiple purposes while not using Essence but Corpses instead. First and foremost it is used to finish off enemies and cause a domino effect. Once you begin detonating Corpses, you generate more Corpses by killing enemies, which can then be used to detonate and produce even more Corpses. Secondly it generates Essence with Grim Harvest and increases your damage with Fueled by Death. You also trigger Reaper's Pursuit for increased Movement Speed.
Corpse Tendrils may be the best source of Crowd Control (CC) in Diablo 4. It Slows, Stuns, applies Vulnerable or generates Blood Orbs and pulls every monster (except Bosses) into a single space so that all of your AoE damage becomes infinitely more effective. With a few of your modifiers and Passives, these statuses become great sources of damage scaling as well. NOTE: Corpse Tendrils does not consume Corpses.
Key Passive
Unlocking the Rathma's Vigor Key Passive massively increases your damage by providing more guaranteed Overpowers. The time between guaranteed Overpowers can be reduced by 2 seconds each time a Blood Orb heals or overheals.
Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional rewards efficiently.
Book of the Dead
The Blood Surge Necromancer starts off heavily reliant on Skeletons for damage. As you level up, your Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Mages assist with supplemental damage, essential Crowd Control, and Corpse production. You sacrifice your Golem for additional damage. You can choose to sacrifice them once you've achieved sufficient Essence sustain to maximize the effectiveness of Corpses by using them for other abilities.
Unlocking the Book of the Dead
You're able to summon Skeletons as early as level one, with the ability to customize your Skeletal Skirmishers starting at level 5, when the Book Menu unlocks. From there, you unlock more types of Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages and eventually Golems as you gain levels. The Golem requires you to complete a Quest, which is detailed in this resource post. You must put the Raise Skeleton and Golem skills on your skill bar to summon them.
Learn more details in our full Book of the Dead Guide.
Gear Progression & Stat Priorities
Ultimately, the best weapon for leveling a Blood Surge Necromancer is a Two-Handed Sword or Scythe for as much damage as possible. Always go for higher DPS (Item Level) over the rest of a weapon's stats during leveling.
If you have multiple weapons with the same DPS prioritize the one with these stats:
- Intelligence
- All Stats
- Core Skill Damage
- Damage to Close
- Vulnerable Damage
Hint: Press SHIFT over an item to compare it to what you're wearing!
Armor
Armor typically grants you Defense and Utility stats, except the Gloves, which offer a multitude of Offensive options. Here are the important stats to look for:
- Helm:
- Maximum Life
- +xx% Total Armor
- Cooldown Reduction
- All Stats
- Intelligence
- Basic Attack Speed
- Chest Armor:
- Maximum Life
- +xx% Total Armor
- Damage Reduction from Close
- Damage Reduction
- Damage Reduction from Distant
- Gloves:
- +xx Ranks to Blood Surge
- Overpower Damage
- Attack Speed
- Critical Strike Chance
- Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore xx% Primary Resource
- Lucky Hit Chance
- All Stats
- Intelligence
- Pants:
- Maximum Life
- +xx% Total Armor
- Damage Reduction from Close
- Damage Reduction
- Damage Reduction from Distant
- Boots:
- Movement Speed
- Essence Cost Reduction
- +xx Ranks to Corpse Tendrils
- All Stats
- Intelligence
Jewelry
Jewelry provides powerful Offensive and Defensive stats that help you on your leveling journey. Pay close attention to the rolls as higher leveled pieces aren't always better:
- Amulet:
- Essence Cost Reduction
- +xx Ranks of the Tides of Blood Passive
- Movement Speed
- +xx% Intelligence
- +xx% Total Armor
- Damage Reduction
- Rings:
- Maximum Life
- Overpower Damage
- Critical Strike Chance
- Damage (Physical, Damage to Close Enemies)
- Lucky Hit Chance
Read more about itemization in our Damage Explained, Defense Explained, and Stats Explained articles.
Legendary Aspects
The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary. For leveling, there are a few Aspects that can significantly help you if you have the funds to imprint them:
Top Codex Legendary Aspects
| Aspect | Dungeon |
| 1. Blood-bathed Offensive Aspect | Hoarfrost Demise - Fractured Peaks |
| 2. Resource Aspect of the Umbral | Champion's Demise - Dry Steppes |
| 3. Offensive Aspect of Grasping Veins | Corrupted Grotto - Kehjistan |
Learn everything about the Codex of Power here.
Helpful Legendary Aspects
Here are all helpful Legendary Aspects for the Blood Surge Necromancer that can either be found in the Codex of Power or Extracted from an item drop. Note that all Legendary Aspects can be found from item drops, and that these can roll better and often significantly better than ones sourced from the Codex of Power.
- Disobedience
- Helps you out defensively by increasing your armor when you hit enemies.
- Do not gamble for this during leveling.
- Might
- Reduces the damage you take while active but forces you to press your Basic skill every two to six seconds.
- Do not gamble for this during leveling.
- Potent Blood
- Turns your Blood Orbs in Essence generators while Healthy.
- If you struggle with Essence you can gamble Rings for this Aspect at the Purveyor of Curiosities.
- Slaughter
- Gives you a burst of movement speed between packs.
- Do not gamble for this during leveling.
How To Level
You level in Diablo 4 by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, grinding Dungeons, or interacting with Seasonal mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are made equal.
Campaign Leveling
- For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides the best gameplay experience and gives you access to key unlocks like your Mount.
- If you don't have your Mount, you MUST progress the Campaign until you complete the quest Donan's Favor at the start of Act 4.
- After obtaining your Mount you can skip the remainder of the campaign at any time.
- The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
- To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.
Seasonal/Alt Leveling
- Complete the Season questline, progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock Legendary Aspects, and work on your Seasonal powers.
- If your account is below Rank 5 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once.
- Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
- From level 1-50 you should focus on getting experience, by completing dungeons with high monster density like the Domhainne Tunnels, or Sirocco Caverns.
- If you get bored of the dungeon grind, you can farm Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or complete Gathering Legion Events.
- After level 50 you need to balance leveling up, Glyph Experience, and participating in endgame activities like Helltide, and Bosses.
- The fastest experience possible is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters up to 10 levels above your current level.
- Check out our Nightmare Dungeon Tier List for the best layouts!
- Around level 45-50 you should move to World Tier 3.
- Around level 60-70 you should move to World Tier 4.
- The fastest experience possible is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters up to 10 levels above your current level.
- Alternatively: Get boosted by a friend to World Tier 4 then leech experience/loot and Glyph exp (post 50), in Nightmare dungeons.
Leveling Tips and Tricks
Let's look at some tips and tricks to remember when leveling up!
- Level Up Your Potion. You need to farm materials to upgrade your character's potion.
- Make sure you collect all materials as you explore Sanctuary, especially Gallowvine which is used in many Elixir recipes!
- Compare your Items... Literally. Press Shift over an item in your inventory to compare it to what you're wearing.
- This makes it easy to determine what is and isn't an upgrade.
- Don't Imprint Your Best Aspect Onto Your Weapon. The most critical piece of gear while leveling up is your weapon, which gets replaced constantly.
- This makes imprinting a Legendary Aspect that CANNOT be found in the Codex of Power onto your weapon a bad idea in the long run.
- While leveling, only imprint Legendary Aspects from the Codex of Power onto your weapon if any at all.
- It is a better idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which can be used for a long time.
- Sacred is just better. Between level 45 and 50 you're able to beat the Capstone Dungeon and enter World Tier 3, you gain access to powerful Sacred items which have higher item power and better stats. Getting a Sacred weapon significantly improves your farming speed.
- There's little point to entering World Tier 3 before 45 because that's the minimum level where you can equip Sacred items.
- The same happens with World Tier 4 and Ancestral gear at level 60.
Next Steps
Necromancer Guides
Summary
- The Blood Surge Necromancer is the foundational leveling experience that the rest of the Necromancer is based off of.
- Generate Essence with Hemorrhage to start and then from Grim Harvest by consuming Corpses with Corpse Explosion.
- Blood Surge helps to create the first few Corpses while healing you and adding on big damage to Elite monsters. Corpse Explosion clears out the screen and stacks even further damage to help bring down Bosses.
- Look out for helpful Legendary Aspects in the Codex of Power, especially those that increase your damage and survivability!
- We swap Hemorrhage for Reap later on to help generate Corpses and begin your Corpse Tendrils -> Blood Surge -> Corpse Explosion. Start off with a strong Skeletal army, but don't be afraid to sacrifice them around level 35 for higher solo damage output!
- Read the Next Steps above to continue your journey.
- Just remember, there's NEVER enough AoE damage when the Necromancer is involved!
Credits
Maintained by Chronikz.
Originally written by Macrobioboi.
Reviewed by Echohack.