Diablo 4 Season 8: Best Minion Necromancer build guide

There’s no Diablo 4 build I love more than Minion Necromancer, and Season 8 is going to keep that trend alive. There are a few solid leveling builds, but none that are as mindless and satisfying as Minions. You let your undead allies run amok while you sling curses onto the ground. Your allies will do all the work while you watch anime or read subreddits about how your favorite endgame build or fighting game character is now worthless in the latest update.

You can easily shift this build into a variety of options, like the Bone Spear Necromancer or Blood Wave Necromancer, though both do have pretty serious Unique requirements to get them moving. If you want to know what you need and how it all works, we’ve got you covered.

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How does a Minion Necromancer build work in Diablo 4 Season 8?

Minion Necromancer might be the easiest build you could possibly play in Diablo 4 Season 8. You apply your Curses/Utility skills like Iron Maiden, Bone Prison, or Corpse Tendrils to the ground, and let your allies do the work.

It's nice to have friends who always come back to life (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

When Corpses pile up, start Corpse Exploding them! You’ll change your basic attack/essence builder as your play evolves and you gain more levels, but the gameplay won’t change.

Use these skills as necessary, and watch as your allies pound the forces of evil into dust. Eventually, you’re going to get Aspect of the Cursed Aura, and you won’t have to cast Decrepify or Iron Maiden anymore. That will do it for you — even less work than before!

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Core Skills and Talent Points for Diablo 4 Season 8 Necromancer

At first, you’ll use Blood Surge to deal damage as a Minion Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 8, and Reap to get your Essence back. Later on, Iron Maiden will be your Essence restoration, and finally, Bone Prison. A bit later in the build, you’ll swap Blood Surge with Blight.

Core Skills to use

• Blight
• Corpse Explosion
• Iron Maiden (Early) Bone Prison (Once available)
• Summon Skeletons
• Summon Golem
• Blood Mist

There’s something important to note in your talent points as a Minion Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 8. When you hit level 20, respec Blood Surge points into Blight (Enhanced, Supernatural). By now, your minions are going to be more useful, and combining Blight damage with minions is going to be great.

Point Order	Skill
1	Reap
2	Enhanced Reap
3	Blood Surge
4	Enhanced Blood Surge
5	Supernatural Blood Surge
6	Blood Surge
7	Skeletal Warrior Mastery
8	Skeletal Warrior Mastery
9	Skeletal Warrior Mastery
10	Blood Surge
11	Blood Surge
12	Iron Maiden
13	Enhanced Iron Maiden
14	Bone Prison
15	Enhanced Bone Prison
16	Ghastly Bone Prison
17	Corpse Tendrils
18	Skeletal Mage Mastery
19	Skeletal Mage Mastery
20	Skeletal Mage Mastery
21	Blood Mist
22	Blight
23	Hewed Flesh
24	Golem Mastery
25	Golem Mastery
26	Golem Mastery
27	Inspiring Leader
28	Hellbent Commander
29	Hellbent Commander
30	Hellbent Commander
31	Death's Approach
32	Death's Approach
33	Death's Approach
34	Kalan's Edict
35	Coalesced Blood
36	Coalesced Blood
37	Coalesced Blood
38	Death's Embrace
39	Death's Embrace
40	Death's Embrace
41	Hewed Flesh
42	Hewed Flesh
43	Enhanced Blood Mist
44	Ghastly Blood Mist
45	Amplify Damage
46	Amplify Damage
47	Amplify Damage
48	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
49	Titan's Fall
50	Titan's Fall
51	Titan's Fall
52	Necrotic Carapace
53	Necrotic Carapace
54	Spiked Armor
55	Spiked Armor
56	Spiked Armor
57	Abhorrent Iron Maiden
58	Decrepify
59	Enhanced CDecrepify
60	Abhorrent Decrepify
61	Inspiring Leader
62	Inspiring Leader
63	Grim Harvest
64	Fueled by Death
65	Fueled by Death
66	Fueled by Death
67	Blighted Corpse Tendrils
68	Reaper's Pursuit
69	Gloom
70	Gloom
71	Gloom

When it comes to the Book of the Dead, I am often torn between Skeletal Reapers for the extra corpses, but Defenders (Choice #2) does keep you safer. They almost never die and still deal moderate damage. Then you pair that with Shadow Mages and Iron Golem, and you are safe to head into the world with your undead army.

Book of the Dead choices

• Skeletons: Defenders (Choice #2)
• Mages: Shadow (Choice #1)
• Golem: Iron (Choice #2)

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Ideal Boss Powers for Minion Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 8

Truthfully, I don’t think the boss powers matter too much while leveling a Minion Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 8. There are some amazing boss powers out there, but I don’t think you should focus on trying to get powerful Ladder Boss picks. Instead, make the best out of what you can find. There are a few I recommend you look out for, though:

• Beastmaster’s Training
• Hatred’s Embrace’s Haste
• Sinerat’s Flames

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Mercenary Picks for Minion Necromancer in Diablo 4 Season 8

Raheir is always going to be my favorite Mercenary (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Raheir remains the king of the Mercenaries in Diablo 4 Season 8. I would probably use Varyana as a reinforcement for her Ancient Harpoons or Bloodthirst, but I think Raheir’s inherent tankiness is going to be a serious boon. I choose the following powers:

• Ground Slam
• Raheir’s Aegis
• Bastion
• Inspiration

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Important Legendary Aspects and Runewords for gear as a Minion Necromancer build

Cursed Aura's one of my favorite Aspects, and it's incredibly useful in this build to boot (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

A major downside to the good Minion Necromancer Legendary Aspects in Diablo 4 Season 8 is that almost all of them come from Random Gear. You’re just going to have to break down gear until you have what you need. That is, except for Aspect of Renanimation and Aspect of Grasping Veins. The former is found in Scosglen’s Aldurwood, and the latter is in Kehjistan’s Corrupted Grotto. Everything else listed below, you’re just going to have to grind out.

• Aspect of the Cursed Aura: Inflicts Decrepify and Iron Maiden on enemies who touch your dark aura. Curses inflicted this way spread to surrounding targets every x seconds and last 4 seconds outside the aura.
• Aspect of Frenzied Dead: Each time a Minion damages an enemy, they gain Attack Speed for 3 seconds, up to X%.
• Aspect of the Great Feast: Gain x% Summoning damage, but each active Minion drains 1 Essence from you per second (only pick if you have Essence per Second on your gear)
• Aspect of Hardened Bones: You and your Minions gain 10-30% increased Damage Reduction
• Aspect of Occult Dominion: Your maximum number of Skeletal Warriors/Mages goes up by 2.
• Aspect of Reanimation: Your Minions gain increased damage while alive, up to x% after 10 seconds.

I don’t think Rune Combos are going to be as important either in Diablo 4 Season 8’s Minion Necromancer, since you’re just leveling up. That said, there are a few combos you could put together. Nagu+Gar gives you Offering for having summons, and then converts that into Critical Strike. You could also try Tam+Lum to give you Primary Resource after casting a non-Channeled Core Skill.

Frankly, you're going to be swapping gear incredibly frequently. There are no required Uniques, but there are plenty of amazing Uniques you could stumble into as a Minion Necromancer. Ring of the Sacrilegous Soul is amazing, as is the Ring of Mendeln. They aren't necessary, but they sure are handy when it comes to automating more of your build. Though, when it comes to affixes and Tempering, here are a few of the most important options:

• Life
• + Ranks to Minion Masteries
• Essence Per Second
• Armor
• All Resistances
• Attack Speed
• Damage to Cursed Enemies
• Summoning Damage
• Corpse Tendril Size
• Skeletal Priest Effect Duration
• Golem Active Cooldown Reduction

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Check out our other Diablo 4 guides and features

• Best Class in Diablo 4 Season 8: What’s the most OP spec going into the new season?
• Best Necromancer leveling builds in Diablo 4 Season 8
• Is Diablo 4 Season 8’s Torment 4 too difficult for casual players?