The Necromancer Is Back: Every Season 15 Buff and the Builds Worth Running

For a few seasons, Necro players had to watch Barbarians and Warlocks run the Pit while they made do. Season 15 changed that. Icy Veins called Necromancer "perhaps the biggest winner" of the changes made after the PTR, and after two weeks of play, it shows.

Here's everything that moved and what to build.

The big one: Intelligence scaling

Blizzard reworked how main stats turn into damage. Necromancer's Intelligence scaling went from 1.25 to 1.625, roughly a 30 percent boost to everything you do before a single skill change. Barbarian went the other way, from 1.1 down to 0.8. That alone reshuffled the class tiers.

Skill buffs that matter

Corpse Explosion: 110% to 180%. Guide sites also report the Miasma upgrade jumping from 210% to 350% and Shrapnel from 110% to 180% per shard, though those two aren't in the official notes. Icy Veins also reports its upgrades are no longer mutually exclusive.
Bone Spear: 130% to 160%. Blood Lance got the same bump.
Blood Surge: nova damage 100% to 125%.
Blood Wave: the Path of Darkness Desecrated Ground went from 600% to 800%. Heads up: the Hematolagnia upgrade, which removes the cooldown and makes it a Core skill, now costs 70 Essence instead of 50.
Bone Prison: Plunging Darkness ground damage 300% to 450%.
Army of the Dead: recasts now stack up to five times while active. The minion bonus changed from a flat 50% to 30% times skill rank, and Unyielding Commander now gives minions ×30% damage.
Soulrift: cooldown 50 seconds to 40, with another 15 seconds off from its upgrade, and damage from 300% to 350%.
Paragon: Blood Begets Blood max stacks went from 4 to 5, raising its cap from ×60% to ×75%.
On the gear side, Rathma's Waking Touch now supports summoning builds in general, not just Army of the Dead. Banished Lord's Talisman now rewards generating and spending Overpower, giving 130 to 150 percent crit damage for 8 seconds.

Where Necro ranks

Nobody has Necro at the very top of the Pit. Warlock still owns that. But the class sits solidly around A tier, and the build sites agree on the pecking order:

Blood Wave is the consensus best endgame build and the one you push with. Icy Veins and d4guides both rate it S tier.
Bone Spirit is the safe pick for bossing and big planned hits.
Army of the Dead is fun and strong. Rankings disagree on whether it's A or B tier.
Minions are the best way to level.

Blood Wave, the pusher

Skills: Blood Wave (Hematolagnia), Reap, Decrepify, Blood Mist, Bone Prison, Sever. Some guides swap in Corpse Tendrils.

Must-haves: Kessime's Legacy pants, which send two waves per side that converge, pull enemies in and explode, and the Ring of Starless Skies for Essence.

Other gear: Banished Lord's Talisman or Red Blessing, Leoric's Crown on the helm, and a Stealth or Enigma chest. Aspects: Thickened Blood and Coalesced Blood, plus Crushing and Tides of Blood.

How it plays: Blood Mist in, Bone Prison to trap the pack, spam Blood Wave, Reap when you run dry on Essence.

Watch out for: Essence is tight, you fight up close, and it wants a lot of gear to come online.

Bone Spirit, the boss killer

Skills: Bone Spirit, Sever, Skeleton Mage, Blood Mist, Corpse Tendrils, Bone Storm.

Uniques: Crown of Lucion, Blood Moon Breeches, Vengeful Sinew.

Aspects: Splintering, Bursting Bones, Rapid Ossification, Compound Fracture.

It plays slower and more deliberate than Blood Wave, but when a bone spirit lands on a boss, it hurts.

Army of the Dead, the showpiece

Skills: Army of the Dead, Sever, Corpse Explosion, Golem, Skeleton Mage, Skeleton Warrior.

Must-haves: Sanguivor, Blade of Zir and The Undercrown (four more skeleton warriors and mages). Blood Moon Breeches is best in slot.

Rotation: Sever to make corpses, consume them to build Vampiric Souls up to 20, then drop the Army. With stacking recasts, the screen turns into a graveyard in a hurry.

Watch out for: a fiddly rotation, and capping crit gets expensive.

Leveling: go minions

The fastest, safest way to 60 is a summoner. Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Mages and a Golem, with Corpse Explosion as your early damage. Start on Hard. Pick up Skirmisher warriors and Shadow mages at level 5, Bone Golem at 8 and Reapers at 12. Around level 40 to 50, swap into Army of the Dead or your endgame build.

The cheaper crafting this season helps a lot. Royal Gems now cost 10 Forgotten Souls instead of 30, so gearing a fresh Necro doesn't drain you.

Which Splinters to run

For the Soul Splinter in your jewelry, Icy Veins recommends Abyssal Splinter of Anguish for both Blood Wave and Army of the Dead. It raises attack speed and crit, and the 30 percent extra resource cost is manageable with the right gear.

For your Prime Evil Splinter, nobody has published Necro-specific advice. The general rule applies: Destruction (Baal) is the strongest leveling pick, and Hatred (Mephisto) is the Pit and Nightmare Dungeon choice. If you're pushing Blood Wave, Hatred is the natural fit.

Squad note

A Blood Wave Necro pulling packs together is a gift to any group. If you've been sitting on a Necro, dust it off and bring it to the next Pit night. And if you're stuck on gear, post your build in the Diablo channel. We'll help you sort it.

By CNC Gaming

Sources: AllThings.How: patch 3.2.1 class changes; d4guides: all balance changes by class; Icy Veins: Necromancer, Paladin and Spiritborn updates; Icy Veins Blood Wave build; Icy Veins Army of the Dead build; Icy Veins summoner leveling; d4guides Bone Spirit build; d4guides Necromancer tier list; Mobalytics tier list; Timesaver: which Splinter to choose.