The Necromancer is a staple of theDiabloseries, andDiablo 4sees this iconic class return with a whole new bag of tricks for players to take advantage of. The hallmark of the Necromancer is their ability to raise the dead to serve as minions for them as they battle through an onslaught of demonic foes, andDiablo 4ups the ante for what these minions are capable of thanks to the Necromancer’s unique Book of the Dead mechanic. As a result, the Necromancer in this entry of the franchise breaks a huge tradition to become one of the most powerful incarnations of the class.
The first appearance of the Necromancer as a playable class in the franchise came inDiablo 2where it became notable for its powerful Bone Spear skill. The Necromancer would appear again inDiablo 3as part of the Rise of the Necromancer DLC and would return as an initial class option inDiablo ImmortalandDiablo 4. While all of these versions of the class have slight variations in the way their skills function, one of the most apparent is how each entry handles the number of undead minions they can summon and how this number scales throughout each level.
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For being such an important feature to the core identity of the class, the way each iteration of the Necromancer in theDiabloseries changes the way it handles minions has given the class a different feel in each entry. While some Necromancer builds forgo the use of minions in exchange for other play styles that take advantage of the class' Blood or Shadow skills, skeletal minions are still often used as an important element of leveling a build in the early game. DespiteBlizzard’s rebalancing of minions betweenDiablo 4betasresulting in their underwhelming survivability, they can still be quite useful due to the Book of the Dead.
Diablo 4’s Book of the Deadmechanic for Necromancers allows the class to change the form their minions take when summoned and even upgrade elements of each form to best suit the player’s build. For example, the basic Skeletal Warriors can take on one of three forms: Skirmishers, Defenders, and Reapers each with their own unique combat capabilities. With how essential the Book of the Dead mechanic is toDiablo 4’s Necromancer, the game breaks tradition from past Necromancers and lets players summon up to four Skeletal Warriors by default.
Traditional versions of the Necromancer inDiablogames have been more stingy with how many minions a player can summon at a time. InDiablo 2, players could only summon one minion to begin with and would need to upgrade the skill in order to increase their summon cap.Diablo 3andDiablo Immortaldiffer entirelyfrom this system asDiablo 3lets players passively summon up to seven Skeletal Warriors at a time, with new ones spawning automatically a few seconds after another one dies; however, the skill is not unlocked until level 9.Diablo Immortaltakes a similar route with its minions allowing players to passively summon two at a time that will respawn every eight seconds.
ForDiablo 4, Necromancers revert to the method of activelysummoning minions similar toDiablo 2’s system, only with the massive upgrade of being able to summon up to four simultaneous minions from the start. This iteration of the Necromancer gives new players access to more minions from the beginning than anyDiablotitle has in the past, and it’s largely because of the way the Book of the Dead necessitates using minions as a major part of the class. While not every build will utilize minions, the fact thatDiablo 4gives players access to so many early on is a welcome change.
Diablo 4is available now in early access with its full launch coming June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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