After revealing the Necromancer as Diablo 4's fifth and final launch class, developer Blizzard Entertainment has now shared more details about how the class will play when the game launches in 2023.
Traditionally known for its ability to summon an army of undead minions, Diablo 4's Necromancer will prove quite capable at doing just that. It will also be able to tackle Lilith and her forces as a solo dark mage of sorts, as the developer emphasizes player choice with its upcoming action-RPG.
Diablo IV's Necromancer is the only class capable of wielding scythes. Alongside these iconic weapons, it can also equip swords, daggers, wands, focuses, and shields. In battle, it relies on two resources: Essence and Corpses.
The former slowly replenishes over time and when using basic skills, being required to cast various other abilities.
You'll want a steady supply of the latter when looking to summon minions or use skills like Corpse Explosion. Aside from killing opponents and using their lifeless bodies as fuel for your army, you'll also be able to generate Corpses "via various effects."
The Necromancer can make use of four different skill types. Bone skills are more physical in nature, benefitting from a critical strike-focused build.
Darkness skills deal damage over time or "attack multiple times in a short window," while Blood skills let you siphon your enemies' life force, having both defensive and offensive uses.
Lastly, the Army enables you to summon different types of skeletons and a golem to fight by your side.
There are ways to synergize the four skill types as you put together your build, like using Decompose – a basic Darkness skill – to damage enemies, generate essence, and periodically spawn Corpses to keep your minions in the fight.
Players looking to summon as many minions as possible only need to save two buttons on their skill bar – one to call forth different types of skeletons, another for their golem.
"The Raise Skeleton button is a one-stop shop to raise all the different Skeletons a player can summon, and the Golem button is used to command the Golem to use a unique effect that is dependent on the type of Golem that is currently active," the developer explains. "With this setup, we’ve found a great balance between having the necessary tools for raising and commanding a Necromancer army while also leaving room for player expression in what additional skills they want to put on their bar."
The Necromancer's unique class mechanic is the Book of the Dead, which allows you to either customize your army of minions or sacrifice it for additional bonuses for the Necromancer, should you prefer taking the solo route.
You can, of course, also opt for a smaller army size but still have some undead companions join you on your journey. The cinematic trailer for Diablo IV's Necromancer class waits below. If you're looking for details about some of its skills, the blog post linked above explores a few.
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