Best Diablo 4 Shadow Summoner Necromancer endgame build guide

Necromancer Diablo 4
Best Diablo 4 Shadow Summoner Necromancer endgame build guide (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

With the Season of the Malignant arriving almost a month ago in Diablo 4, the game has seen its fair share of updates and class balances. However, many players are still mesmerized by the character-building opportunities and experimenting with various items and skills. As one of the most played classes in the MMO, the Necromancer is easily one of the best ones to experiment with.

The Necromancer is often hailed as the strongest class in Diablo 4 by many, as its raw damage output is off the charts. However, one would have to build their character wisely in order to achieve such numbers. Hence, keep reading as we throw light upon one of the best Necromancer builds in the game, the Shadow Summoner.


Best Diablo 4 Shadow Summoner Necromancer endgame skills and passives

Army of the Dead will be your go-to skill in this build in Diablo 4 (Image via D4builds.gg)
Army of the Dead will be your go-to skill in this build in Diablo 4 (Image via D4builds.gg)

For the best Shadow Summoner Necromancer endgame build, you should remember that most of your skills will be derived from the Darkness skills. Hence, skills like Sever, Blight, and Reap would be essential alongside your Book of the Dead minions.

Here is a quick rundown of all the skill points you can invest in each category:

Skills

Points to invest

Reap/Enhanced/Acolyte’s

1/1/1

Sever/Enhanced/Supernatural

5/1/1

Unliving Energy

3

Hewed Flesh

3

Skeletal Warrior Mastery

3

Grim Harvest

3

Fueled by Death

3

Decrepify/Enhanced/Horrid

1/1/1

Skeletal Mage Mastery

3

Death’s Reach

3

Death’s Embrace

3

Necrotic Carapace

3

Army of the Dead

1/1/1

Golem Mastery

3

Stand Alone

3

Inspiring Leader

3

Death’s Defense

2

Hellbent Commander

3

Kalan’s Edict

1

As it is quite evident with the choice of skills, most of them are based on your minions and making them powerful. However, you must also focus on getting some great Unique items and gear to use alongside these skills to complete the build.

For your Book of the Dead minion choices, you can use the following:

  • Skeletal Reapers: These are the best choices for your Skeletal Warriors due to their high attack speed and damage.
  • Cold Skeletal Mages: These will be great for generating Essence and can also cast Blizzard over enemies when paired with the correct gear or Aspect.
  • Iron Golem: Arguably the best among all the Golems available due to its special buster move.

Paragon Board is an extremely essential feature in Diablo 4. Hence, here are all the Boards and Glyphs you will need to equip with this build:

Paragon Board

Glyph

Starting Board

Mage

Cult Leader

Deadraiser

Hulking Monstrosity

Control

Wither

Dominate


Best Diablo 4 Shadow Summoner Necromancer Legendary Aspects

Bloodless Scream and Ring of Mendeln are the best Uniques for this build (Image via D4builds.gg)
Bloodless Scream and Ring of Mendeln are the best Uniques for this build (Image via D4builds.gg)

Legendary Aspects are arguably the most important prerogative of any build in the MMO. Hence, you will have to use them quite wisely and make sure that each of them complements the other features of your build.

However, before moving forward with the Legendary Aspects, Unique items such as Bloodless Scream and Ring of Mendeln are some of the best additions to this build.

The best Legendary Aspects to use with the Shadow Summoner Necromancer build are:

  • Aspect of Disobedience: Halles of the Damned, Kehjistan
  • Aspect of Reanimation: Aldurwood, Scosglen
  • Aspect of Hardened Bones: Only available by extraction
  • Coldbringer's Aspect: Only available by extraction
  • Blood Getter's Aspect: Only available by extraction
  • Aspect of the Damned: Uldur's Cave in Kehjistan

In Season of the Malignant, the newest mechanic of Malignant Hearts has been introduced. Hence, you can make use of these and further enhance your build. The best choices for the Shadow Summoner Necromancer build are:

  • Ring 1: The Great Feast (Wrathful, World Tier 4): Each Minion drains [1.0 - 2.0] Essence per second but deals X [50-75%] increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second.
  • Ring 2: Determination (Devious): Resource-draining effects are [45-50%] less effective. In addition, gain X [3.0 - 8.0%] increased Resource Generation.

Aside from Malignant Hearts, you should always use gems for your gear. The best gems to use for this build in Diablo 4 are:

  • Ruby for Armor: Increase your Maximum Life by X%
  • Skull for Jewelry: Increase your armor by X%
  • Emerald for Weapons: Increase your Critical Strike Damage against Vulnerable Enemies by X%

This is everything you need to know about the Shadow Summoner Necromancer endgame build in Diablo 4.

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