Season 1 Blood Summoner Endgame Build

This is a Season 1 Blood Summoner endgame build for Necromancer in Diablo 4 (D4) that was created by P4wnyhof. This build uses Blood Skills for damage and sustain, while reaping the benefits of having an undead army. Read on to learn all the Gears, Skills, Aspects that you will need and how to play the build for Season 1 (Version 1.1).

Blood Summoner Build Overview

Build Summary

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Summary		Skill Progression		Best Aspects
Gems and Hearts			Paragon

This Necromancer build is made by P4wnyhof. Check out P4wnyhof's Youtube Channel for more Necromancer builds and other Diablo IV related content. You can also catch him live on his Twitch Channel or follow him on Twitter.

Undying and Unstoppable

With Blood Surge as the Core Skill, you deal potent AoE damage when combined with Corpse Explosion, after grouping enemies up and making them Vulnerable with Corpse Tendrils.

This build also boasts excellent survivability thanks to Enhanced Blood Surge providing healing, and Drain Vitality granting Fortify. The Decrepit Aura automatically casts Decrepify to debuff enemies, allowing you to stay Healthy, and deal even more damage with the Coalesced Blood passive.

A True Necromancer

Unlike solo Necromancers who sacrifice their minions, the Blood Surge Necromancer prefers to fight with a skeletal army. Taking advantage of the Deathspeaker's Pendant unique effect, Blood Surge also casts mini novas that scale with you, on your minions.

Raising minions increases your damage thanks to Fueled by Death, and your skeletal army is augmented by passives such as Skeletal Warrior Mastery, Skeletal Mage Mastery, and Inspiring Leader.

Blood Summoner Build Breakdown

Skill Progression

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Summary		Skill Progression		Best Aspects
Gems and Hearts			Paragon

Active Skills

Skill		Upgrade Path
Hemorrhage (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Hemorrhage	Initiate's Hemorrhage
Blood Surge (5 Points)	→	Enhanced Blood Surge	Paranormal Blood Surge
Blood Mist (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Blood Mist	Ghastly Blood Mist
Corpse Explosion (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Corpse Explosion	Plagued Corpse Explosion
Decrepify (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Decrepify	Abhorrent Decrepify
Corpse Tendrils (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils	Plagued Corpse Tendrils

Passive Skills

Blood Summoner Passives
Hewed Flesh (3 Points)	Grim Harvest (3 Points)	Fueled by Death (3 Points)
Skeletal Warrior Mastery (3 Points)	Skeletal Mage Mastery (3 Points)	Amplify Damage (3 Points)
Death's Embrace (3 Points)	Gruesome Mending (1 Point)	Coalesced Blood (3 Points)
Drain Vitality (3 Points)	Tides of Blood (3 Points)	Necrotic Carapace (1 Point)
Inspiring Leader (3 Points)

Skill Progression Breakdown

Recommended Skill Progression
Lv.2	Lv.3	Lv.4	Lv.5
Hemorrhage	Enhanced Hemorrhage	Blood Surge	Enhanced Blood Surge
Lv.6	Lv.7	Lv.8	Lv.9
Paranormal Blood Surge	Initiate's Hemorrhage	Corpse Explosion	Grim Harvest
Lv.10	Lv.11	Lv.12	Lv.13
Fueled by Death	Blood Mist	Skeletal Warrior Mastery	Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Lv.14	Lv.15	Lv.16	Lv.17
Skeletal Warrior Mastery	Skeletal Mage Mastery	Skeletal Mage Mastery	Skeletal Mage Mastery
Lv.18	Lv.19	Lv.20	Lv.21
Corpse Tendrils	Enhanced Corpse Tendrils	Plagued Corpse Tendrils	Necrotic Carapace
Lv.22	Lv.23	Lv.24	Lv.25
Hewed Flesh	Enhanced Corpse Explosion	Plagued Corpse Tendrils	Gruesome Mending
Lv.26	Lv.27	Lv.28	Lv.29
Coalesced Blood	Tides of Blood	Drain Vitality	Inspiring Leader
Lv.30	Lv.31	Lv.32	Lv.33
Inspiring Leader	Inspiring Leader	Decrepify	Enhanced Decrepify
Lv.34	Lv.35	Lv.36	Lv.37
Abhorrent Decrepify	Rathma's Vigor	Coalesced Blood	Coalesced Blood
Lv.38	Lv.39	Lv.40	Lv.41
Tides of Blood	Tides of Blood	Grim Harvest	Grim Harvest
Lv.42	Lv.43	Lv.44	Lv.45
Fueled by Death	Fueled by Death	Hewed Flesh	Hewed Flesh
Lv.46	Lv.47	Lv.48	Lv.49
Enhanced Blood Mist	Ghastly Blood Mist	Drain Vitality	Drain Vitality
Renown Skill Points (Lv50 Onwards)
R1	R2	R3	R4
Amplify Damage	Amplify Damage	Amplify Damage	Death's Embrace
R5	R6	R7	R8
Death's Embrace	Death's Embrace	Blood Surge	Blood Surge
R9		R10
Blood Surge		Blood Surge

Book of the Dead

Raise Skeleton	→	Warrior (Reaper)	Upgrade 2
	→	Mage (Cold)	Upgrade 1
Golem	→	Blood	Sacrifice

Skeletal Warrior Reapers help in generating more Corpses with the second upgrade, allowing you to use Corpse Tendrils and Corpse Explosion.

Cold Skeletal Mages generate 2 Essence when you use Hemorrhage so you can fire off more Blood Surges.

Sacrificing the Blood Golem increases Maximum Life for survivability and increase Overpower damage.

Book of the Dead Guide

Aspects and Affixes

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Summary		Skill Progression		Best Aspects
Gems and Hearts			Paragon

Best Weapons

Weapon	Aspects and Affixes
Main Hand	Blood-bathed Aspect Blood Surge's nova echoes again after a short delay, dealing (60-50)% less damage. ・+X% Vulnerable Damage ・+X Intelligence ・+X% Overpower Damage ・+X% Core Skill Damage
Off Hand	Aspect of Untimely Death Each percent of your Maximum Life you Heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5% bonus Overpower damage on your next Overpowering attack, up to a (20.0-60.0)% bonus. ・+X% Maximum Life ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X All Stats ・+X Intelligence

Best Armor

Equipment	Aspects and Affixes
Helmet	Blood Getter's Aspect Your maximum number of Skeletal Warriors is increased by 2. ・+X% Maximum Life ・+X% Intelligence ・+X% Total Armor ・+X Maximum Essence
Chest	Aspect of Disobedience You gain (0.25-0.50)% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to (66)%. ・+X% Blood Skill Damage ・+X% Damage Reduction ・+X% Damage Reduction From Close Enemies ・+X% Total Armor
Gloves	Aspect of Grasping Veins Gain (10-20)% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal (20-40)% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils. ・+X Ranks of Blood Surge ・+X Intelligence ・+X% Overpower Damage ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance
Pants	Aspect of Hardened Bones While you have Minions active, your Minions gain (10-20)% increased Damage Reduction. ・+X% Maximum Life ・+X% Damage Reduction ・+X% Total Armor ・+X% Maximum Minion Life
Boots	Viscous Aspect Your maximum number of Skeletal Mages is increased by 2. ・+X% Movement Speed ・+X Intelligence ・+X All Stats ・+X% Essence Cost Reduction

Best Jewelry

Jewelry	Aspects and Affixes
Amulet	Deathspeaker's Pendant Blood Surge casts a mini nova on your Minions, dealing 0.15-0.2 damage. Damage is increased by 10% per target drained by the initial cast, up to 50%. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Blood Skill Damage ・+X% Overpower Damage ・+X% Summoning Skill Damage ・+X Ranks Coalesced Blood
Ring	Mother's Embrace If a Core Skill hits 4 or more enemies, (20-40%) of the Resource cost is refunded. ・+X% Fire Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% Shadow Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% All Stats ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance ・+X% Critical Strike Damage ・+X% Overpower Damage
Ring	Aspect of Rathma’s Chosen Whenever your Blood Skills Overpower you gain (20-50)% Attack Speed for 4 seconds. ・+X% Overpower Damage ・+X% Maximum Essence ・+X% Fortify Generation ・+X% Maximum Life

Best Gems and Malignant Hearts

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Summary		Skill Progression		Best Aspects
Gems and Hearts			Paragon

Item Type	Effect
Ruby (Weapon)	+% Overpower Damage
Ruby (Armor)	+% Maximum Life
The Dark Dance	Type: Vicious Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
The Decrepit Aura	Type: Brutal When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds.
The Sacrilegious	Type: Vicious Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.

Gems

For Weapon Gems, Rubies recommended for the increased Overpower Damage from Paranormal Blood Surge and Rathma's Vigor.

For Armor Gems, Rubies are also recommended for the increased Maximum Life to deal more damage with Coalesced Blood and survivability.

The Dark Dance

The Dark Dance costs Life instead of Primary Resource but increases the damage of your Blood Surge. The Life cost is offset by Enhanced Blood Surge that grants healing anyway.

The Decrepit Aura

The Decrepit Aura automatically casts Decrepify when near multiple enemies and does not take need to be equipped as an Active Skill. Skill Points are invested in Decrepify upgrades as they also take effect. This is a free damage reduction and amplification, and can even reduce cooldowns on a Lucky Hit with Abhorrent Decrepify.

The Sacrilegious

The Sacrilegious automatically casts Corpse Tendrils and Corpse Explosion when near a Corpse. Skills that activate from this have a separate cooldown from the Active Skill versions, but deal reduced damage.

Paragon Board Setup

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Summary		Skill Progression		Best Aspects
Gems and Hearts			Paragon

The Starting Board focuses on increasing Max Life as they help increase damage output. Bloodbath and Blood Begets Blood increases the Overpower Damage of Skills that are enhanced by Rathma's Vigor. Cult Leader grants your skeletons damage reduction so they can stay for the Blood Surge mini novas. Scent of Death gives damage reduction or increased damage, depending on nearby corpses.

Flesh-Eater is also worth considering for the node that grants 40% increased damage for 6 seconds after consuming 5 Corpses. In conjunction with the The Sacrilegious, the damage boost should always be up.

Blood Summoner Playstyle

Blood Summoner Build Tips
Recommended Openers and Rotations Dive Into Groups of Enemies Raise Skeletons to Increase Damage Blood Mist Is Versatile

Recommended Openers and Rotations

Trash Mob Opener and Skill Rotation

Boss Opener

Dive Into Groups of Enemies

Even as a Necromancer, do not be afraid to get up close and personal against enemy mobs. You will need to get close to activate Decrepify and let The Sacrilegious do the heavy lifting.

Your Skeletal Army is there to help soak damage, and you have incredible sustain thanks to Blood Surge, and you even gain Fortify from Drain Vitality.

Raise Skeletons to Increase Damage

With Fueled by Death granting increased damage, it is a good idea to resummon your skeletons from extra Corpses. This is incredibly helpful in longer fights such as boss encounters.

Blood Mist Is Versatile

Blood Mist can serve two purposes: generate Corpses to aid in your damage output, and act as an escape mechanism from lethal attacks. Since it can be used both offensively and defensively, be mindful of when you use it so it is off cooldown when you need it.

Diablo 4 Related Guides

Build Guides and Tier List

All Season 3 Leveling Builds

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All Classes
Barbarian		Druid		Sorcerer
Rogue		Necromancer		Uber Lilith Builds

All Necromancer Builds

List of Builds
Blood Lance (PVE)	Blood Surge (PVE)	Bone Spear (PVE)
Corpse Explosion Blight (PVE)	Infinimist (PVE)	Necromancer Leveling (Leveling)
Ring of Mendeln Summoner (PVE)	Sever Summoner (PVE)