Are you wondering which is the best class to play and what is the best build to use for Diablo 4 open beta? This post may give you some inspiration! We take you into the review of Diablo 4 beta Necromancer and see whether it is a good starting character for the upcoming open beta.

Diablo 4 Beta Necromancer Class Guide: Skills, Gameplay, Build Types, Pros & Cons, Mechanics

The fifth and final class of Diablo 4 has finally been revealed - the Necromancer, a powerful and versatile class in Diablo 4 open beta that can be customized to fit a variety of playstyles. From its debut in Diablo 2, the Necromancer has enjoyed a high level of popularity among players. This is mostly due to the class's innovative gameplay. The class is also playable in Diablo 3, Diablo Immortal as well as in the remastered Diablo 2: Resurrected. With a style of play revolving around minions, it delivers something other classes can't. It is no surprise that Blizzard has decided to bring the Necromancer back in Diablo 4 as one of the five classes. Keep reading this guide and we break through everything about the Diablo 4 beta Necromancer, including class gameplay, unique class mechanics, all available skills, strengths/weaknesses, and build tips.

Related Read: Diablo 4 Beta Rogue Class Guide

D4 Beta Necromancer Class Overview - What Makes a Necromancer

The Necromancer is a powerful and versatile class in Diablo 4 open beta that can excel at both close-range combat and ranged attacks. He is a general of the undead, raising and commanding skeletal militia and hulking golems to overpower any enemy that stands in their way. This ghoulish spellcaster blends summoning with death magic in order to achieve victory. And as with all the other classes in Diablo 4, the Necromancer has had a facelift and will bring some cool new mechanics to the table, so even if you've been a necromancer main since day one there will still be things that you need to learn and master.

Note: The Necro is the class that has the least amount of coverage and confirmed and published information about how it actually works. Compared to the Barbarian, the Sorcerer and the Rogue. We are looking extremely thin at understanding what each skill does and how they'll actually end up playing. 

Strengths/Weaknesses of D4 Necromancer Class

The developers did their best to balance Diablo 4 classes, so, as any other class in the game, Necromancer, of course, has its own pros and cons.

• + Great crowd control

• + Excellent solo-playing efficiency

• + Very good minions customization

• - Weak without minions

• - Low direct damage

• - Mediocre damage mitigation

Diablo 4 Necromancer Weapons

Here are all the weapons and gear the Diablo 4 beta Necromancer can use:

• Scythes

• Swords

• Daggers

• Wands

• Focuses

• Shields

Diablo IV Necromancer Class Mechanics - Book of the Dead 

The Necromancer has access to something called the Book of the Dead, and this allows you to perform some pretty deep customization on your summons, of which there are skeleton warriors, skeleton mages and the golem. Each summon has one of three specializations that you can choose from. So for example, skeleton warriors can be skirmishers, defenders or reapers. Skirmishers are your standard warriors, they have increased damage, but they do have reduced health. While Defenders have regular damage but they do have bonus health. And Reapers have slower attacks but they deal AOE damage and they possess a special charged attack that'll deal high amounts of damage. 

Mages on the other hand can shift between the damage types of shadow, cold and bone. We don't have any information on Shadow Mages yet, but we do know about cold and bone. So cold is going to chill and freeze enemies and bone will end up casting bone skills that deal heavy damage at the cost of minion life. Then with golems, you can choose between bone, blood and iron. Bone is going to taunt enemies in a wide area, blood will drain the life from nearby enemies and Iron Will slam the ground and stun enemies. Now building up on the decision of choosing your specialization for each minion, you'll also get access to unique upgrades for each minion in order to change their overall play style. So for an example, we have iron golems.

• Upgrade 1: Every 5th Iron Golem attack causes a shockwave, dealing 16.00% (3288-4019) damage to the primary enemy and to enemies behind them. 

• Upgrade 2: Your Iron Golem’s slam attack also makes enemies vulnerable for 3 seconds

• Sacrifice: You deal X30% increased critical strike damage, but you lose the ability to summon a golem

So it's up to you on how you want to configure your army and what play style you want to have. Being able to configure each minion is a really nice touch, it gives the Necromancer a little bit more depth and identity rather than just being a zookeeper. 

D4 Beta Necromancer Resources

The Necromancer has two resources to fuel all of their attacks, they have Essence and they have Corpses. 

- Essence is going to be the primary resource that's used to cast skills, it'll slowly regenerate over time and then you can use basic skills to speed up the recovery if you want to.

- Corpses on the other hand are defeated enemies who can then be used to summon minions or trigger other skills like corpse explosion for instance.

Diablo 4 Open Beta Necromancer Skills & Abilities 

Bone Skills

• Bone Spirit: This is going to consume all of your essence in order to conjure a spirit made of bone that'll seek out the nearest enemy, explode on contact and deal area of effect damage. This damage will increase depending on the amount of essence spent. So obviously maximizing the amount you have before casting it is a must.

• Bone Prison: You're going to slam your weapon into the ground and call forth a wall of bone to completely surround a target or an area. And then as the name suggests, enemies cannot break through that bone prison while it's active.

• Bone Spear: It is an iconic Necromancer skill, this one is a projectile that deals damage as it passes through enemies. If it bounces off of a wall, it'll split into 3 smaller projectiles that'll deal additional damage.

Darkness Skills

• Decompose: This is going to channel dark magic onto enemies, deal damage and generate essence simultaneously. Decompose will also periodically spawn corpses which will allow you to summon minions or use corpse based skills.

• Blight: Blight is going to cast a ball of energy in any direction that'll explode upon contact or whenever it expires. This will deal immediate AOE damage and then leave a spot on the ground that has a damage over time effect to any enemy that stands in that area for a short period of time.

Blood Skills

• Blood Surge: This is a close range AOE attack that draws blood from surrounding enemies in order to create a blood Nova. The damage dealt by this attack is dependent on how much blood is drawn by the Necromancer. So you want to make sure you position yourself in the middle of a group of enemies in order to maximize its power.

• Blood Mist: This is a defensive skill it's going to Grant temporary immunity from damage by transforming the Necromancer into a mist of blood. And as an added bonus, it'll also drain life from any enemy that you pass through.

Misc Skills

• Iron Maiden: It's very hard to tell what's exactly happening since this is a PVP Skirmish. But it will resemble the Diablo 2 Iron Maiden skill which is a curse that causes all melee damage done by the target to be reflected towards the attacker. Iron Maiden is similar in function to the Paladins thorns aura or the Druids spirit of barbs.

• Classic Corpse Explosion: Corpse explosion will function similar to the previous iterations of corpse explosion, where fallen enemies will leave behind a corpse and the Necromancer can blow it up to deal large amounts of AOE damage.

Diablo 4 Beta Necromancer Class Build Tips

Based on the previous games in the Diablo franchise, here are some general tips for building a strong Necromancer character.

• Choose your skill tree carefully: Necromancers in Diablo 4 are likely to have access to a variety of different skill trees, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Take the time to experiment with different skills and find a build that suits your playstyle.

• Focus on summoning and crowd control: As mentioned earlier, Necromancers are often strong at summoning undead creatures and controlling crowds of enemies. Look for skills and abilities that enhance these strengths.

• Invest in survivability: Necromancers can be relatively fragile, so it's important to invest in survivability. Look for skills and gear that increase your defenses, and consider using life-draining spells to keep your health up.

• Manage your resources: Necromancers often rely on resources like mana or essence to cast spells, so it's important to manage these resources effectively. Look for skills and gear that increase your resource regeneration or reduce the cost of spells.

• Experiment with different gear: The right gear can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your build. Experiment with different weapons, armor, and accessories to find a combination that works best for your character.

What is the Best Diablo 4 Necromancer Build for Open Beta?

• Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer Build: The first one and also the best end-game Necromancer build recommended by Toyhouze is Bone Necromancer, based on data available from the Diablo 4 closed beta, it deals huge amounts of physical damage to a number of powerful bone abilities, the main damage-dealing skills being Bone Spear, Bone Spirit, and the ultimate Bone Storm. This build has incredibly high AOE damage, it's got great survivability, and is one of the top builds even across all Diablo 4 classes as of the closed beta test, so Bone Necro is one of the best D4 Necromancer builds to use for open beta and currently the strongest build option.

• Diablo 4 Blood Necromancer Build: A Blood Necromancer Build in Diablo 4 is focused on using blood magic to deal damage and sustain your health. This build is centered around the Blood and Essence skill trees, which contain many skills that are useful for a Blood Necromancer.

So overall, the Necromancer is a strong versatile class that allows players to choose just how much management they want in their Summoner. Players can exchange summons for powerful buffs, or if they prefer the undead army they can overpower enemies with strength and numbers. So what do you think about this class? Is Necromancer the class for you in Diablo 4 open beta?