The Blood Surge Necromancer is dominating the meta this season in Diablo 4. Here’s your guide to mastering it for leveling, endgame, and whether it’s worth your time in PvP.
Forget summoning minions – this build is all about unleashing Overpower to crush your enemies in no time flat.
For leveling, we’ll walk you through optimizing your skills, items, Aspects, and Glyphs to get the most out of your Blood Surge abilities.
And if you’re eyeing PvP, we’ll let you know whether this high-damage, high-survivability build can keep you on top in player battles in Season 6.
Best Blood Surge Necromancer leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 6
As you level while playing through either the campaign or the new Season 6 content, you’ll want to make sure that you’re selecting your skills in the following order:
| Level | Skill |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reap |
| 2 | Decompose |
| 3 | Blood Surge |
| 4 | Blood Surge |
| 5 | Enhanced Blood Surge |
| 6 | Paranormal Blood Surge |
| 7 | Reap |
| 8 | Blood Mist |
| 9 | Blood Surge |
| 10 | Blood Surge |
| 11 | Grim Harvest |
| 12 | Iron Maiden |
| 13 | Enhanced Iron Maiden |
| 14 | Amplify Damage |
| 15 | Amplify Damage |
| 16 | Amplify Damage |
| 17 | Corpse Tendril |
| 18 | Enhanced Corpse Tendrils |
| 19 | Plagued Corpse Tendrils |
| 20 | Fueled by Death |
| 21 | Death’s Approach |
| 22 | Death’s Approach |
| 23 | Death’s Approach |
| 24 | Bone Storm |
| 25 | Prime Bone Storm |
| 26 | Supreme Bone Storm |
| 27 | Gruesome Mending |
| 28 | Coalesced Blood |
| 29 | Tides of Blood |
| 30 | Tides of Blood |
| 31 | Inspiring Leader |
| 32 | Inspiring Leader |
| 33 | Inspiring Leader |
| 34 | Rathma’s Vigor |
| 35 | Unliving Energy |
| 36 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 37 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 38 | Imperfectly Balanced |
| 39 | Hewed Flesh |
| 40 | Hewed Flesh |
| 41 | Hewed Flesh |
| 42 | Grim Harvest |
| 43 | Grim Harvest |
| 44 | Fueled by Death |
| 45 | Fueled by Death |
| 46 | Death’s Embrace |
| 47 | Death’s Embrace |
| 48 | Death’s Embrace |
| 49 | Skeletal Mage Mastery |
| Renown 1 | Coalesced Blood |
| Renown 2 | Coalesced Blood |
| Renown 3 | Coalesced Blood |
| Renown 4 | Drain Vitality |
| Renown 5 | Drain Vitality |
| Renown 6 | Drain Vitality |
| Renown 7 | Tides of Blood |
| Renown 8 | Necrotic Caparace |
| Renown 9 | Necrotic Caparace |
| Renown 10 | Necrotic Caparace |
As Blood Surge Necromancer, you’ll juggle both Necromancer resource types – Essence and Corpses – keeping the screen in a perpetual state of chaos with insane DPS.
You have a trusty army of glowing skeletons. They’ll be your undead entourage for most of your leveling journey. But once you’ve got your Essence sustain and damage output dialed in, feel free to ditch them for the corpses they came from.
Starting as a Blood Surge Necromancer gives you the flexibility to easily switch to other Necromancer builds as you collect more Aspects along the way.
Don’t forget to claim your rewards from the Season 6 Battle Pass and spend your Smouldering Ashes in the EXP boost to reach level 50 in a matter of hours.
Best Book of the Dead setup for leveling
The Blood Surge Necromancer leans on the Essence generation from Skeletal Mages: Cold and Skeletal Warriors: Skirmishers, while ditching the Golems and Iron for better gains.
Once your Essence sustain is solid, you can also sacrifice the Skeletal Mages: Bone. If your Elemental Resistances start giving you trouble during leveling, consider sacrificing Skeletal Warriors: Defenders to balance things out.
Best leveling rotation
Here’s the best rotation for a leveling Blood Surge Necromancer build in Diablo 4:
- Raise Skeleton
- Iron Maiden
- Corpse Tendrils
- Blood Surge
- Bone Storm
- Blood Mist
Start by summoning your skeletons with Raise Skeleton to have your undead army ready. Then, slap a curse on enemy groups with Iron Maiden to soften them up.
Follow that by yanking them into a neat little pile using Corpse Tendrils, making them prime targets for AoE. Now, unleash Blood Surge to obliterate everything in sight.
When things get dicey, pop Bone Storm to crank up your damage and tankiness. If you’re in trouble, slip into Blood Mist to go untouchable and reposition yourself.
Best leveling Legendary Aspects
Here are the best Legendary Aspects for a leveling Blood Surge Necromancer in Diablo 4:
| Aspect | Power | Dungeon | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grasping Veins | Increases Critical Strike Chance and damage against enemies pulled by Corpse Tendrils. | Corrupted Grotto | Kehjistan |
| Blood-bathed | Blood Surge’s nova echoes and deal less damage. | Hoarfrost Demise | Fractured Peaks |
| Disobedience | Grants stacking armor when dealing any form of damage. | Halls of the Damned | Kehjistan |
If you get the feeling that Necromancers aren’t for you by now, check out our class tier list guide to find out which class is for you.
Best Blood Surge Necromancer endgame build in Season 6
Active Skills
| Active Skill | Upgrades | Points allocated |
|---|---|---|
| Reap | – | 1 |
| Decompose | – | 1 |
| Blood Surge | Enhanced, Paranormal | 5 |
| Blood Mist | – | 1 |
| Bone Prison | Enhanced | 1 |
| Abhorrent Decrepify | Enhanced, Abhorrent | 5 |
| Corpse Tendrils | – | 1 |
| Bone Storm | Prime, Supreme | 1 |
Passive Skills
| Passive Skill | Points |
|---|---|
| Unliving Energy | 1 |
| Imperfectly Balanced | 3 |
| Hewed Flesh | 3 |
| Grim Harvest | 1 |
| Fueled by Death | 2 |
| Death’s Embrace | 3 |
| Amplify Damage | 3 |
| Gruesome Mending | 1 |
| Coalesced Blood | 3 |
| Drain Vitality | 2 |
| Tides of Blood | 3 |
| Serration | 1 |
| Rapid Ossification | 3 |
| Stand Alone | 3 |
| Memento Mori | 3 |
| Inspiring Leader | 3 |
| Rathma’s Vigor | 1 |
The Blood Surge Necromancer is all about dishing out massive AoE damage while staying nearly unkillable. It’s a build that pumps out great DPS and continuous healing.
With passive bonuses stacking Maximum Life and Fortify, you get a tanky damage dealer without even trying.
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Most of your damage comes from guaranteed Overpower hits through Blood skills, which also conveniently make you tougher with Fortify. Blood Surge turns the entire screen into a damage zone.
While the build revolves around spamming Overpower, mastering Critical Strike Chance and Vulnerable status can crank your damage up even more.
Best Book of the Dead set up for the endgame
In the Blood Surge Necromancer build, you have three types of minions to summon or sacrifice through the Book of the Dead. For this build, you sacrifice:
- Skirmishers for a boost to Critical Strike Chance.
- Bone Mages to significantly increase Overpower Damage.
- Iron Golem to gain a bonus to Critical Strike Damage.
This sacrifice strategy ensures you maximize your damage output, making your Overpower hits and crits even deadlier.
Best endgame rotation
Here’s the best rotation for the endgame Blood Surge Necromancer build in Diablo 4:
- Decrepify
- Bone Prison
- Corpse Tendrils
- Blood Surge
- Bone Storm
- Blood Mist
Kick things off by cursing enemies with Decrepify to slow them down. Next, throw up a Bone Prison to trap them in place and slap on that Vulnerable status. Pull them all together with Corpse Tendrils for a tidy little AoE target.
Then, unleash Blood Surge to melt everything in sight. If you’re surrounded, activate Bone Storm to crank up your damage and tankiness. And when things get tough, activate Blood Mist to become untouchable and reposition yourself.
Best endgame Legendary Aspects
Here are the best Legendary Aspects for the endgame Blood Surge Necromancer in Diablo 4:
| Aspect | Power | Dungeon | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grasping Veins | Increases Critical Strike Chance and damage against enemies pulled by Corpse Tendrils. | Corrupted Grotto | Kehjistan |
| Blood-bathed | Blood Surge’s nova echoes and deal less damage. | Hoarfrost Demise | Fractured Peaks |
| Disobedience | Grants stacking armor when dealing any form of damage. | Halls of the Damned | Kehjistan |
| Sacrificial | Increases bonus for each sacrificed minion. | Ruins of Eridu | Hawezar |
| Juggernaut’s | You gain armor but evade has a decreased Cooldown. | Gamble Pants | – |
| Hardened Bones | Increases the damage reduction provided by your minions. | Gamble Pants | – |
| Shielding Storm | Grants a barrier when you deal damage with Bone Storm Skills. | Gamble Pants | – |
| Slaughter | Increases Movement Speed. | Gamble Boots | – |
Remember, you can also strip these Aspects from their original item and apply them to an item of your choosing.
Paragon Board
After hitting level 50, say goodbye to skill points and hello to Paragon points. This new system works a bit differently – you’ll be picking upgrades from various boards with their own themes and buffs.
Each path you choose will be unique, but the silver lining is that by focusing on specific Glyphs as you navigate the Paragon Board, you’ll be powering up your Blood Surge Necro in all the right ways.
Best Glyphs
Here are the best Glyphs for a Blood Surge Necromancer build in Diablo 4:
Level 15
- Corporeal
- Exploit
- Dominate
- Essence
- Sacrificial
- Amplify
Level 21
- Essence
- Dominate
- Exploit
- Corporeal
- Amplify
- Sacrificial
Best endgame item build
| Item | Socket | Item type | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runic Skullcap of Hardened Bones | Ruby | Helm | You and your minions gain increased Damage Reduction. |
| Runic Mail of Shielding Storm | 2 Rubies | Chest | Each time Bone Storm damages an enemy, you gain a barrier. |
| Sacrificial Runic Gloves | – | Gloves | Your Sacrifice bonuses are increased. |
| Runic Leggings of Concussive Strikes | 2 Rubies | Pants | Damaging an enemy has a chance to Daze them. |
| Runic Cleats of Metamorphosis | – | Gloves | When you Evade, you turn into a cloud of bats and become Unstoppable. |
| Skullsplitter of Rathma’s Chosen | Ruby | Right Hand | When your Blood Skills Overpower, you gain attack speed. |
| Choker of the Great Feast | Skull | Amulet | Your Minions deal increase damage. |
| Starlight Ring | Skull | Ring | Gain Primary Resource for life healed. |
| Blood-bathed Ring | Skull | Ring | Blood Surge’s nova echoes again and deals less damage. |
| Serpent Stone of Grasping Vein | Ruby | Left Hand | Get increased Critical Strike Chance when you cast Corpse Tendrils. |
Make sure to farm Mother’s Gifts and clear Infernal Hordes frequently to get some of the best loot this season.
Best Blood Surge Necromancer PvP build in Season 6
You can get through most PvP encounters with a the endgame Blood Surge Necro build. With the endgame Blood Surge Necromancer’s focus on Overpower, you can end fights quickly. It deals massive damage that opponents won’t see coming.
And when things get dicey, just slip into Blood Mist to become untouchable and reposition yourself. It’s a killer combo of offense and defense that makes sure you’re always in control of the battlefield.
Now that you know how to craft this top-tier Necromancer build, make sure to check out our guides for the Druid, Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian, and Spirtiborn. There’s also our Diablo 4 Class tier list so you can see where this build fits in the current meta.