Best Diablo 4 Blood Surge Necromancer builds for Season 5

Cande Maldonado
Diablo 4's Necromancer Blood Surge in a cutscene

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 5.

Bloodsurge Necromancer in action in Diablo 4
Sacrifice your minions to become the ultimate blood machine.

Best Blood Surge Necromancer leveling build in Diablo 4 Season 5

As you level while playing through either the campaign or the new Season 5 content, you’ll want to make sure that you’re selecting your skills in the following order:

LevelSkill
1Reap
2Decompose
3Blood Surge
4Blood Surge
5Enhanced Blood Surge
6Paranormal Blood Surge
7Reap
8Blood Mist
9Blood Surge
10Blood Surge
11Grim Harvest
12Iron Maiden
13Enhanced Iron Maiden
14Amplify Damage
15Amplify Damage
16Amplify Damage
17Corpse Tendril
18Enhanced Corpse Tendrils
19Plagued Corpse Tendrils
20Fueled by Death
21Death’s Approach
22Death’s Approach
23Death’s Approach
24Bone Storm
25Prime Bone Storm
26Supreme Bone Storm
27Gruesome Mending
28Coalesced Blood
29Tides of Blood
30Tides of Blood
31Inspiring Leader
32Inspiring Leader
33Inspiring Leader
34Rathma’s Vigor
35Unliving Energy
36Imperfectly Balanced
37Imperfectly Balanced
38Imperfectly Balanced
39Hewed Flesh
40Hewed Flesh
41Hewed Flesh
42Grim Harvest
43Grim Harvest
44Fueled by Death
45Fueled by Death
46Death’s Embrace
47Death’s Embrace
48Death’s Embrace
49Skeletal Mage Mastery
Renown 1Coalesced Blood
Renown 2Coalesced Blood
Renown 3Coalesced Blood
Renown 4Drain Vitality
Renown 5Drain Vitality
Renown 6Drain Vitality
Renown 7Tides of Blood
Renown 8Necrotic Caparace
Renown 9Necrotic Caparace
Renown 10Necrotic 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 5 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:

AspectPowerDungeonLocation
Grasping VeinsIncreases Critical Strike Chance and damage against enemies pulled by Corpse Tendrils.Corrupted GrottoKehjistan
Blood-bathedBlood Surge’s nova echoes and deal less damage.Hoarfrost DemiseFractured Peaks
DisobedienceGrants stacking armor when dealing any form of damage.Halls of the DamnedKehjistan

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 Diablo 4 Season 5

Bloodsurge Necromancer build in action in Diablo 4
Trap your enemies in your Bone Prison and deplete their health.

Active Skills

Active SkillUpgradesPoints allocated
Reap1
Decompose1
Blood SurgeEnhanced, Paranormal5
Blood Mist1
Bone PrisonEnhanced1
Abhorrent DecrepifyEnhanced, Abhorrent5
Corpse Tendrils1
Bone StormPrime, Supreme1

Passive Skills

Passive SkillPoints
Unliving Energy1
Imperfectly Balanced3
Hewed Flesh3
Grim Harvest1
Fueled by Death2
Death’s Embrace3
Amplify Damage3
Gruesome Mending1
Coalesced Blood3
Drain Vitality2
Tides of Blood3
Serration1
Rapid Ossification3
Stand Alone3
Memento Mori3
Inspiring Leader3
Rathma’s Vigor1

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.

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:

AspectPowerDungeonLocation
Grasping VeinsIncreases Critical Strike Chance and damage against enemies pulled by Corpse Tendrils.Corrupted GrottoKehjistan
Blood-bathedBlood Surge’s nova echoes and deal less damage.Hoarfrost DemiseFractured Peaks
DisobedienceGrants stacking armor when dealing any form of damage.Halls of the DamnedKehjistan
SacrificialIncreases bonus for each sacrificed minion.Ruins of EriduHawezar
Juggernaut’sYou gain armor but evade has a decreased Cooldown.Gamble Pants
Hardened BonesIncreases the damage reduction provided by your minions.Gamble Pants
Shielding StormGrants a barrier when you deal damage with Bone Storm Skills.Gamble Pants
SlaughterIncreases 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

Paragon points for the Bloodsurge Necromancer build in Diablo 4
At level 50+, Paragon Points are the way forward.

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 SocketItem typePower
Runic Skullcap of Hardened BonesRubyHelmYou and your minions gain increased Damage Reduction.
Runic Mail of Shielding Storm2 RubiesChestEach time Bone Storm damages an enemy, you gain a barrier.
Sacrificial Runic GlovesGlovesYour Sacrifice bonuses are increased.
Runic Leggings of Concussive Strikes2 RubiesPantsDamaging an enemy has a chance to Daze them.
Runic Cleats of MetamorphosisGlovesWhen you Evade, you turn into a cloud of bats and become Unstoppable.
Skullsplitter of Rathma’s ChosenRubyRight HandWhen your Blood Skills Overpower, you gain attack speed.
Choker of the Great FeastSkullAmuletYour Minions deal increase damage.
Starlight RingSkullRingGain Primary Resource for life healed.
Blood-bathed RingSkullRingBlood Surge’s nova echoes again and deals less damage.
Serpent Stone of Grasping VeinRubyLeft HandGet 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 Diablo 4 Season 5

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, and Barbarian.