Diablo 4: Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer guide (Season 9)

Diablo 4’s Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer build is proof that summoner builds not only survive but thrive in Season 9. I heard a lot of talk about how awful summoner Necros were going to be in Season 9, so of course I had to play one and see for myself. I prefer to play games like this, whether it’s a Minion Witch in Path of Exile 2 or just a regular run of D4. While this build does require a few Uniques to really make it move, I had no issues just grinding until I had them.

Since it’s a summoner build, there’s not a lot of painful transition from leveling to endgame, but I did have to completely redo my talent loadout. Instead of using Soulrift as my big damage, as you do with Shadowblight Necro, this is an Army of the Dead build. If you want to dominate Diablo 4 Season 9 with very little effort, Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer is the way to go.

How does the Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer work in Diablo 4 Season 9?

The Diablo 4 Season 9 Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer build utilizes, as you can probably guess, the Hand of Naz and Mendeln Ring Uniques. In particular, the Hand of Naz is incredibly important, because it lets you gain even more minions for sacrificing others. You sacrifice your Skeletons and Golem, and gain an equal amount of Skeleton Mages, instead. They can then teleport around and become Arch-Mages.

This build has been so incredibly easy to play, and satisfying to watch pop off (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

This is combined with the bonus damage you get from Ring of Mendeln on every sixth attack to just shred enemies to pieces. This build is remarkably easy to play and wildly powerful to boot. The only real downside is that you’re still very squishy, so being positioned out of the way of incoming damage is so important.

However, it’s easily one of the best builds this season, feels great, hits hard, and is simple to play. Your skill loadout will look like this:

Decompose
Blight
Army of the Dead
Bone Prison
Corpse Tendrils
Summon Skeleton

Your Rotation couldn’t possibly be easier. You use Raise Skeleton often to make sure your allies are buffed, and hit harder. Corpse Tendrils combined with Bone Prison to lock enemies down, and them hammer them with Blight. Army of the Dead’s our big damage dealer in this instance, too.

When you’re first getting this build online, you may also want Aspect of the Void, because it makes Blight pull enemies together. Then you can use Bone Prison, and pull even more enemies in with Corpse Tendrils. Personally I’m a huge fan of Aspect of the Void, but this build doesn’t use it. I did however feel it was worth mentioning for this Hand of Naz Mendeln Ring Necromancer build in Diablo 4 Season 9.

Talents and Book of the Dead picks for Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 9

This is a pretty standard Necromancer loadout for talents. Hand of Naz Necromancers don’t need Skeleton Warrior Mastery in Diablo 4 Season 9 for obvious reasons. I’d keep my regular leveling build until I have Hand of Naz, honestly. You won’t be putting a lot of ranks into attacks, except Army of the Dead, naturally.

Skill Name

Decompose (Enhanced)

Blight (Enhanced, Supernatural)

Hewed Flesh

Grim Harvest

Fueled by Death

Necrotic Fortitude

Titan's Fall

Spiked Armor

Bone Prison (Enhanced, Dreadful)

Decrepify (Enhanced, Abhorrent)

Amplify Damage

Skeletal Mage Mastery

Coalesced Blood

Corpse Tendrils (Enhanced, Blighted)

Necrotic Carapace

Reaper's Pursuit

Gloom

Terror

Finality

Army of the Dead (Prime, Supreme)

Army of the Dead

Hellbent Commander

Inspiring Leader

Affliction

You’ll keep your Book of the Dead however you leveled it, until you get Hand of Naz. From there, you’ll then change it to the following:

Melee Skeletons: Skirmisher (Sacrifice for Critical Strike Chance, unless you have Heir of Peridition - then Reapers for Shadow Damage)
Mage: Skeletons: Shadow (First Choice)
Golem: Iron (Sacrifice for Critical Strike Damage)

Ideal Horadric Spell combo for Diablo 4 Season 9’s Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer

While I used Lightning for a while, Shadow became the go-to in the later parts of the build (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Horadric Combo

Catalyst: Astral Pillar (Blight)
Infusion: Nebulous Extract
Arcana: Bloody Charm, Tranquil Stone, Fractured Core

Astral Pillar is a really underrated Horadric Spell Catalyst, and it’s perfect for Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancers in Diablo 4 Season 9. Taunts enemies into place, and makes it easier to trap them. We combine it with Nebulous Extract (though Lightning Extract is also great for removing Suppressor effects).

Your Arcanas will be Bloody Charm (Execute), Tranquil Stone (Unstoppable), and Fractured Core (deactivates Damage Resistance Auras), making your build a smooth, streamlined, and easy to stomp through enemy packs.

When you can finally make Horadric Jewels (this will take a while), pick Idol from Below, Reverie Horn, and Willbreaker.

Which Mercenary should you pick for this build?

Diablo 4 Season 9’s Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer will use the same Mercenary virtually every build runs, and that’s Raheir, with Varyana as a Reinforcement (Bloodthirst connected to Blight). It’s just the best combo. You want to use the following skills with Raheir:

Ground Slam
Raheir’s Aegis
Bastion
Inspiration

Ideal Legendary Aspects, Uniques, and Tempers for Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 9

Hand of Naz is such an amazing piece of gear. Now if I can only find a better version than this one. . . (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

It should go without saying, but you need at least two Uniques for a Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer build in Diablo 4 Season 9: Hand of Naz and Ring of Mendeln. You also want the Blood Moon Breeches, as well. You can start playing this build without parts of the Unique loadout, but you do want to grind for them as soon as possible.

Below, we’ve gone over all of the important Legendary Aspects, Tempers, and ideal skill affixes for the gear you’ll be collecting. Grinding perfect gear is incredibly hard, so don’t get too hung up on this right away. Overpowered gear comes in time.

Gear Slot	Tempering Affixes	Ideal Stats	Legendary Aspect
Helm	Minion Damage Reduction, Corpse Tendril Size	Resistance to All Elements, Maximum Life, Intelligence	Cursed Aura
Chest	Corpse Tendril Size, Total Armor %	Maximum Life, Intelligence, Essence Per Second	Hardened Bones
Gloves (Hand of Naz)	N/A	Ranks to Skeletal Mage Mastery, Skeletal Mage Damage, Attack Speed, Maximum Life	N/A
Pants (Blood Moon Breeches)	N/A	Ranks to Hellbent Commander, Critical Strike Chance, Ranks to Curse Skills, Ranks to Golem Mastery, Critical Strike Chance	N/A
Boots	Movement Speed, Ranks to Spiked Armor	Maximum Life, Movement Speed, Armor	Occult Dominion
Amulet	Ultimate CDR, Skeletal Mage Damage	Ranks to Hellbent Commander, Critical Strike Chance, Ranks to Gloom	Service and Sacrifice
Ring (Ring of Mendeln)	N/A	Ranks to Minion Masteries, Intelligence, Summon Attack Speed	N/A
Ring	Ultimate CDR, Skeletal Mage Damage	Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Maximum Life	Unyielding Commander
Weapon	Ranks to Titan's Fall, Skeletal Mage Damage	Lucky Hit: Chance to Restore Essence, Essence, Maximum Life	Frenzied Dead

Ideally, you want a Two-Handed Scythe, so you have a better chance to get Essence Restored Per Hit as a Lucky Hit. It seems to have a better drop rate for those, anyway. As far as Rune Combos go, Igni+Gar (Store Offering to add Critical Strike Chance) and Nagu+Thul (Maintain an active summon to invoke Mystical Frost Nova), but if you don’t need the Critical Strike Chance, I also love Cir+Ceh (Cast 5 skills and become Exhausted to summon Wolves).

Perhaps one of the best parts of this build has to be Aspect of Service and Sacrifice. It gives your Skeleton Mages 90% Damage Reduction, and gives them increased damage on top of that. It makes your army of skeleton mages such a terrifying threat, on top of everything else.

Paragon Board setup for Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 9

The only real hard part for Paragon Boards is grinding your Glyphs, and getting them in the first place. That’s the part that takes a million years. However, below you’ll find the boards, rotations, and glyphs that I’m using for the Hand of Naz Mendeln Necromancer build in Diablo 4 Season 9.

Starting Board (Corporeal Glyph)
North to Flesh Eater Board (Amplify Glyph) (Zero Rotations)
West to Cult Leader (Deadraiser Glyph) (Zero Rotations)
North to Scent of Death (Essence Glyph) (Zero Rotations)
East to Frailty (Gravekeeper Glyph) (One Rotation)

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About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

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Edited by Jason Parker