Diablo 4’s Paladin Has Achieved Something that the Necromancer Couldn’t in 11 Seasons

The release of the Paladin class has been the highlight of Diablo 4 Season 11, injecting the game with a playstyle that the game has been missing since launch. Diablo 4‘s Paladin finally gives players a classic “sword and board” archetype to play, along with the Paladin’s iconic Aura mechanic from Diablo 2. It’s this Aura mechanic that forms the basis of the Paladin’s most popular build, which accomplishes a feat the Necromancer has been trying to achieve for 11 seasons.

With the rise of the Paladin in Diablo 4 Season 11, the game’s meta has been completely upended as the new class is by far the most powerful in the game at this point. While other classes like Spiritborn and Barbarian can also thrive this season, the Paladin still eclipses those in terms of endgame viability. Unfortunately for the Necromancer, this means that what was once one of Diablo 4‘s most consistently powerful classes has slid down in the meta, and its passive Minion and Golem builds are a far cry from where the Paladin’s passive builds are in Season 11.

Diablo 4’s Paladin Has an S-Tier Passive Build Before the Necromancer

Image via Blizzard

As fun as it can be to learn the perfect skill rotations for a Diablo 4 build, some players may want to just sit back and watch their character get kills with as little input as possible. This playstyle has popularized 1-button builds like the Dance of Knives Rogue, but it’s possible to create a build that requires even fewer inputs. Up until Season 11, the Minion Necromancer offered the best passive build, but this build was never the meta threat some players had hoped for and was largely a great leveling build and a serviceable endgame one.

The Paladin’s Auradin Build is Meta Powerhouse that Passively Gets Kills

The Auradin Paladin build is possibly the best build in Diablo 4 Season 11, and it utilizes the class’s Aura skills to essentially get kills simply by existing. The key to this build is keeping the Paladin’s three Aura skills active as much as possible:

Fanaticism Aura
Defiance Aura
Holy Light Aura

To fully unlock this build’s potential, players will need to obtain the Dawnfire Unqiue Gloves for the Paladin. This Unique serves as the main source of passive damage for the build, as it increases the damage done by Holy Light Aura and changes it into Fire damage that scales with each kill the Paladin gets in the Aura’s range. The Dawnfire gloves are so powerful that they almost single-handedly propel this build into the S-Tier.

The Dawnfire can be farmed from the Lair Boss Varshan.

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The Necromancer’s Passive Minion Builds Aren’t on the Same Level as the Aura Paladin

While the Minion Necromancer builds in Diablo 4 Season 11 are solid enough to tackle most endgame content, their overall power is not nearly comparable to the Auradin Paladin. The Minion Necromancer does passively deal damage, but relies on the AI of its Minions to get kills rather than the automatic nature of having enemies within range like the Paladin’s Aura. Although the Necromancer has access to solid Uniques like the Ring of Mendeln and The Hand of Naz to power up its minions, these minions are not as reliable as the Paladin’s Aura and can’t achieve the same damage multipliers as Holy Light Aura can with Dawnfire.

In Season 11, Golem Necromancer builds are finally viable, but still can’t break into the top of the meta with the Paladin. Typically, Minion Necromancer builds sacrifices all minions except the Skeletal Mages and uses them as the build’s primary source of damage. However, the introduction of the new Gravebloom Unique in Diablo 4 Season 11 makes Golems a viable alternative, since it summons three smaller Golems to draw enemy attention instead of just one. Unfortunately, this skill is still a less reliable source of passive damage due to the game’s minion AI, making passive Paladin builds the superior option to any of the Necromancer’s passive builds in Season 11.