Bone Spear is one of the most iconic Necromancer skills, and it makes a triumphant return in Diablo 4 with a few new tricks up its sleeve. It’s capable of high single-target and AOE damage, but getting the most out of it will require a lot of investment from players.
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Those who are looking for a fast and reliable Core Skill that boasts some of the best damage in the game will have a lot to look forward to in this build. Here’s how to set up a Bone Spear Necromancer that’s great for conquering all stages of Diablo 4’s endgame.
Updated on January 30, 2025, by Marc Santos: Season of Witchcraft in Diablo 4 introduced not only new content, but also major changes to some active and passive skills for each of the classes. These have drastically affected how some builds work, and while most (if not all) previous builds still work, others have become much better as a result of those changes. We’ve updated this Bone Spear Necromancer build to feature one of the new Uniques added in Season 7 as well as the big changes Blizzard implemented to the Reaper’s Pursuit skill.
Diablo 4 Endgame Bone Spear Necromancer Build
Skill |
Upgrade |
Reap (5/5) |
Acolyte’s Reap |
Bone Spear (5/5) |
Paranormal Bone Spear |
Blight (1/5) |
Supernatural Blight |
Bone Prison (5/5) |
Ghastly Bone Prison |
Corpse Tendrils (1/5) |
Plagued Corpse Tendrils |
Soulrift |
Prime Soulrift |
Book of the Dead |
Upgrades |
Skirmishers |
Sacrificed |
Cold Mages |
Sacrificed |
Iron Golem |
Sacrificed |
Bone skills have a heavy emphasis on crit damage, which means players should stack as much Critical Strike Chance as they possibly can when attempting a Bone Spear build. Having little to no crit chance will work early, but players will find their damage lacking without it in harder content. Stacking Vulnerable damage in Diablo 4 is a great way to get extra damage without relying on crits early on, and you can take advantage of this by using Plagued Corpse Tendrils.
The build uses three Shadow skills (Reap, Blight, and Soulrift) for the sake of Reaper’s Pursuit
. As of Season 7, this passive now grants Movement Speed and Damage for every Shadow skill on your bar.
To use this build, hit an enemy with Reap to make a Corpse, group enemies up with Corpse Tendrils, and cage them with Bone Prison. Shoot a single Blight blob into the stacked group, and blow them up with Bone Spear. This combo becomes extremely devastating with the new Indira’s Memory Unique Pants, which turns Bone Spear into a Blood skill and causes another Bone Spear to launch from a nearby Corpse.
Use Soulrift before fighting large packs of elites or a boss. If you can, try to make it so that Soulrift gets permanent uptime via cooldown reduction
Passive Skills
- Hewed Flesh
- Imperfectly Balanced
- Titan’s Fall (1/3)
- Coalesced Blood
- Tides of Blood
- Drain Vitality
- Reaper’s Pursuit
- Serration
- Compound Fracture
- Evulsion
- Finality
- Memento Mori
- Stand Alone
- Inspiring Leader
- Ossified Essence
Max all of these passives out except for Titan’s Fall.
Using Hewed Flesh is sort of an unwritten rule for Diablo 4’s Necromancer, especially when using Corpse skills. It will greatly help improve AOE damage output and make Corpse Tendrils constantly useful in boss fights.
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Diablo 4: Overpower Damage, Explained
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Every passive here are self-explanatory boosts to your damage and survivability. However, it should be pointed out that despite being a Bone Spear setup, this build will use three Blood skill passives. This is for the sake of the synergy with Indira’s Memory and the Bone Duster Aspect, which makes Bone Spear guaranteed to Overpower when hitting targets inside Bone Cage.
Only get the Blood passives once you have Indira’s Memory. They’ll be useless otherwise, as Bone Spear won’t be counted as a Blood skill without it.
Diablo 4 Season 7 – Witchcraft Powers
Players can pick from 25 different Witchcraft powers during Diablo 4 Season 7, and these will greatly affect the overall effectiveness of your builds. For this one, we recommend the following:
Power |
Effect |
---|---|
Soul Harvest |
Increases your Core Stats based on how many enemies are near you when you use a cooldown. |
Force of Will |
Improves Overpower damage significantly. |
Aura of Lament |
Provides a constant stream of Essence when an enemy is affected. |
Aura of Siphoning |
Poisons all enemies near you, healing you time it deals damage. |
Vengeful Spirit |
A spirit periodically appears and takes all the damage you would otherwise take. |
Occult Gems
Occult Gems provide powerful bonuses based on what Witchcraft Powers you have equipped. They can be crafted by Gelena, one of the witches near the Tree of Whispers.
- Dust Stone – Enemies take more damage based on how many Hexes and Auras they are affected by.
- Phantom String – Deal increased Overpower damage to Hexed enemies.
Gear and Aspects
Bone Spear Necromancer Gear |
||
---|---|---|
Gear Piece |
Aspect/Effect |
Recommended Stats |
Helmet |
– |
|
Chest |
|
|
Gloves |
Bone Duster’s Aspect |
|
Pants |
Indira’s Memory |
– |
Boots |
|
|
Amulet |
|
|
Ring 1 |
|
|
Ring 2 |
|
|
2H Weapon |
|
For Runewords, the best you can use for a free damage buff is Igni/Ohm. This lets you earn Offering by casting Bone Spear to invoke the Barbarian’s War Cry skill.
Serration and Grasping Veins are what make this build consistent. The latter provides a large Critical Strike Chance bonus while also providing extra Critical Strike Damage. Serration’s own Critical Strike Damage bonus seems to be counted as a separate multiplier, so players can expect a larger damage increase from it.
Once you’re strong enough to farm Diablo 4‘s bosses, try to get Indira’s Memory as soon as possible to enable the synergy between Bone Spear, Blood passives, and Bone Duster’s Aspect. If you don’t have it yet, use any pair of pants with a Defensive Aspect.
As mentioned, players should stack as many critical hit stats on their gear as possible. Two-Handed Swords are the preferred weapon for this build because of their implicit Critical Strike Damage multipliers. Afterward, stack Vulnerable damage, Core Skill damage, Cooldown Reduction, and Essence Cost Reduction.
Paragon Board
Paragon Board |
Glyph |
Nodes |
---|---|---|
Starter |
Sacrificial |
Resilience, Knowledge |
Bone Graft |
Corporeal |
Bone Graft, Shaper of Bone, Splinter |
Scent of Death |
Gravekeeper |
Scent of Death, Suffused Resilience, Deathmarked |
Bloodbath |
Essence |
Bloodbath, Hardened, Powerhouse |
Building Paragon Boards in Diablo 4 requires a fair bit of planning. Bone Graft is pretty much made for Bone skills — it has nodes that make Essence generation easier while also providing a socket for Intelligence Glyphs, which is great for early access to the Sacrificial Glyph.
Scent of Death is generally useful for almost every Necromancer build. It provides bonuses based on the number of Corpses surrounding the player. The board also has a socket suited for Intelligence Glyphs, making it an excellent spot for Sacrificial, which boosts the Necromancer’s damage as long as they have no active minions.
If you have Indira’s Memory, you can either replace the Scent of Death board with Bloodbath to boost Blood Skill and Overpower damage.
Action RPG
Hack and Slash
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June 6, 2023
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