Lord of Hatred's Skill Tree Update Has a Clear Winner

The update to the Skill Tree in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred has paved the way for more diversity in terms of meta builds, and it’s more than just the new Paladin and Warlock classes that are affected. All Diablo 4 classes have had their Skill Trees reworked to remove passive nodes and add more modifiers for active skills. While most classes can reap the rewards of these changes, there’s one class in particular that stands the most to gain.

For the past few seasons, the two worst classes in Diablo 4 were the Rogue and the Necromancer. Now, with Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred‘s reworked Skill Trees, these classes are becoming far more viable for tackling the game’s toughest endgame content. However, between the two, the Necromancer is getting a more significant buff with substantial changes to some of the class’s core mechanics that should entirely change how players approach Necromancer builds in Diablo 4 Season 13.

If You Haven’t Played Diablo 4 in a While, Here’s What to Know About Lord of Hatred

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred changes the game drastically, meaning returning players jumping back in after a hiatus may need to do some catching up.

Necromancer is the Big Winner from Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s Skill Tree Rework

The core gameplay mechanic of Diablo 4‘s Necromancer revolves around summoning skeletal minions through its Book of the Dead. Prior to Season 13, the Necromancer had all of these skills tied directly to the Book of the Dead, with options for summoning Skeletal Warriors, Skeletal Mages, and a Golem. Necromancers could also augment these summons to alter their behavior, or even sacrifice them and remove the ability to summon them entirely in order to gain useful effects as a trade-off.

Minions are Now Tied to the Necromancer’s Skill Tree

diablo-4-lord-of-hatred-necromancer-skill-tree-rework — The Necromancer’s new skill tree from Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred.

With the changes to Diablo 4‘s Skill Tree in the Lord of Hatred update, the Necromancer’s minion-summoning skills have moved from the Book of the Dead directly to the Skill Tree itself. This change means that the Skeletal Warrior, Skeletal Mage, and Golem skills can benefit from the new upgrade system that affects all skills. With the ability to stack modifiers on these minions, Diablo 4‘s Necromancer takes one step closer to having a true Summoner Necromancer in the meta.

Skeletal Mages are summoned with Essence, but Skeletal Warriors are now summoned passively from Corpses created by the Necromancer.

For example, one of the upgrades for Skeletal Mages is the option to spend all remaining Essence to summon one large Mage that lasts proportionally to how much Essence was spent to summon it. Another change includes moving Skeletal Priests to an upgrade for Skeletal Warriors via the Litany of Death upgrade. The result of these changes should allow Diablo 4 Necromancer builds to flourish with more diversity and actually useful summons beyond Diablo 4‘s leveling grind.

Necromancers No Longer Have to Worry About Sacrificing Their Minions

Book of the Dead still controls what type of Skeletal Warriors, Mages, and Golem the player can summon.
Sacrifices no longer prevent the Necromancer from summoning their minions.
Sacrifice bonuses have been reworked accordingly.

Now that the Necromancer’s minions are largely governed by the class’s Skill Tree, the Book of the Dead has undergone some changes as well. While the Book of the Dead still lets players choose which form their Skeletal Warriors, Mages, and Golem take, upgrading these summons falls to the Skill Tree’s nodes. What’s more is that sacrificing minions has been overhauled completely, to the point where choosing to sacrifice a minion type no longer prevents the Necromancer from summoning them at all. As a result, the bonuses offered by sacrificing minions in the Book of the Dead have been changed in turn.

Scratch & Peek

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Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

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With these massive changes to how the Necromancer plays comes the hope that the class can live up to its full potential as both a summoner and spellcaster hybrid. The addition of the Warlock in Lord of Hatred, which fits a similar archetype, may create competition with the Necromancer in terms of meta usage. However, the Necromancer’s improved minions should give it a renewed utility that fans of the class will want to experience for themselves.