Diablo 4 Necromancer – How to upgrade your minions

Scott "Dorian"

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The Necromancer class is capable of summoning durable undead hordes to fight for them. It’s a powerful choice for anyone looking to become a reaper in Diablo IV. You’ll gain access to Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, and Golems to fight back demons when you level up.

While your minions are strong, you can make them even stronger through your Book of the Dead. For those who seek power through sacrifice, here’s how to upgrade your undead minions in Diablo IV.

How to upgrade minions in Diablo 4

Open your skill tree by pressing C if you’re using a keyboard and RB on a controller. The page will bring up the Necromancer’s Book of the Dead where you’ll see all of the skills and bonuses you gain from the class. This is how you increase the power of your minions. You’ll be able to select from one of three minions to summon: Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mage, or Golems. Each of those includes three sub-classes of their own and you can boost the power of each when you level up.

At lower levels, you’ll only be able to summon Skeletal Warriors, but later on, you can call on Skeletal Mages and Golems as well to empower. This works for all options but we’ll focus on the Skeletal Warrior for this example. Select the Skeletal Warriors option and a new menu will appear. This menu breaks down into three sub-classes of Skirmishers, Defenders, and Reapers. You may only select one at a time, so choose wisely, though you can respec anytime you like.

Next to each Necromancer sub-class, you’ll find three more options to level up. These include two Upgrades options that grant your minions a bonus when used and a Sacrifice option that allows you to destroy your minions for additional bonuses in a fight. Upgrades include faster attack speed for your minions, damage increases with your scythe, and adding moderate shadow damage to weapon attacks as well. When you reach higher levels, you’ll gain access to the other minions and can increase their power in the same way.

What upgrade bonuses do minions get in Diablo 4?

There are several bonuses your minions will gain from upgrading them. Many focus on improved attacks such as critical strike damage while others do additional shadow damage with a chance to stun enemies. Your skeletons can be just as strong as you are with your powerful scythe attacks but it all depends on what skills you choose.

Grim Harvest for example is a great way to gain more essence. Whereas upgrading Reaper’s Pursuit boosts darkness and shadow mage attacks both from your primary attack and your minions. While the Hewed Flesh ability has a chance to summon a new corpse to rise to fight alongside you. All of this paired with a skill that slows enemies like Decrepify, will ensure your skeletal defenders come out on top. 

If you want to rely more on heavy damage then focusing on boosting your Skeletal Warriors or Golems is a great choice. The Skeletal Warrior Mastery and Golem Mastery abilities increase the damage and HP of your Skeletal Warriors and Golems. Though, if ranged fighting is more your style, Skeletal Mage Mastery works the same way for your Skeletal Mages. 

It depends on what mechanics you want to focus on when it comes to Necromancer builds. Whether you want to boost your own attack or that of your minions, there are many paths you can take when it comes to upgrading them. If you want access to around a dozen minions for your bone mage, then focusing more on Upgrades is a great path to follow. Whereas sacrificing your minions boosts your character’s skills and provides a cool corpse explosion animation but forgoes additional creatures to defend you.

Will Diablo 4 have a Necromancer class?

Yes, Diablo 4 has a Necromancer class, although its builds have been nerfed, it still is a good choice and you can find varied build options available for it so you can enjoy it to its full potential.

What is the Necromancer class feature in Diablo 4?

The main objective of the Necromancer class in Diablo 4 is to use the deaths around them as its primary weapon and use range to defeat their enemies. Summoning corpses and casting Bone, Blood, or Shadow skill to get through the enemies instead of directly confronting them.