Diablo 3 Season 40 Rathma Necromancer Build – Turn Army of the Dead Into a Killing Machine

There is something deeply satisfying about playing a Necromancer in Diablo III. Other heroes spend their careers mastering ancient weapons, studying forbidden magic or training their bodies to withstand unimaginable punishment. The Necromancer simply raises an army of corpses and lets the deceased handle most of the difficult work. It is an efficient arrangement, although one suspects Sanctuary's employment inspectors would have several questions.

Season 40 has made that particular approach to demon hunting considerably more entertaining. With the return of Angelic Crucibles and the Light's Calling seasonal theme, the Bones of Rathma Necromancer has access to a Sanctified Power that turns Army of the Dead into a constantly attacking supernatural artillery barrage. Combined with the set's enormous damage bonuses, this creates one of the more powerful Necromancer builds available for Greater Rift progression.

And the most amusing part is that your skeletons are not really there to kill anything. Their most important job is making sure you can summon another army to do the killing.

Why Rathma Necromancer Is So Strong in Season 40

As we explained when Diablo III Season 40 brought back Light's Calling and Angelic Crucibles, Sanctified equipment can receive one of three class-specific supernatural powers. These effects can dramatically change how familiar skills behave, and the Necromancer has a particularly interesting option.

The Army of the Dead Sanctified Power constantly attacks enemies within 50 yards using the Unconventional Warfare effect while the Sanctified item is equipped. Normally, Army of the Dead is a powerful ability limited by a substantial cooldown. The Sanctified effect adds continuous damage around the Necromancer without requiring repeated manual activation of the skill.

That does not mean the build becomes entirely automatic. Your manually cast Army of the Dead remains important, particularly when fighting powerful elites and Rift Guardians. The Sanctified effect provides another source of damage, while the Bones of Rathma set dramatically increases the effectiveness of your main attacks.

The result is a character that feels less like a traditional summoner and more like a mobile disaster area surrounded by extremely enthusiastic skeletons. Recent Season 40 build rankings place Rathma Army of the Dead among the strongest Necromancer options for Greater Rift pushing, although the exact performance naturally depends on equipment quality, Paragon levels and the player's ability to survive.

Best Rathma Necromancer Skills for Season 40

The build revolves around maintaining a large collection of summoned minions, using their attacks to shorten Army of the Dead's cooldown and timing your strongest damage bursts against dangerous enemies. For solo Greater Rift progression, the following setup provides a strong starting point.

Skill	Rune	Purpose
Siphon Blood	Power Shift	Essence generation and damage amplification
Command Skeletons	Frenzy	Faster skeleton attacks and cooldown reduction
Bone Armor	Dislocation	Protection, crowd control and Krysbin's Sentence activation
Army of the Dead	Death Valley	Main damage ability and enemy grouping
Blood Rush	Potency	Mobility and temporary defensive protection
Revive	Personal Army	Additional minions and damage reduction

The recommended passive abilities are Rigor Mortis, Final Service, Rathma's Shield and Grisly Tribute. Together, these improve crowd control, provide a valuable survival mechanism and help compensate for the Necromancer's tendency to become alarmingly fragile when something manages to reach him.

One important detail is the interaction between Revive and Command Skeletons. With ten revived monsters and seven commanded skeletons, you can maintain seventeen permanent minions. Their attacks repeatedly reduce the cooldown of Army of the Dead through the Rathma set bonus, allowing the ability to be used far more frequently than its original 120-second cooldown would suggest.

In other words, the skeletons are essentially a rather unpleasant cooldown reduction system with legs.

Best Gear for the Rathma Army of the Dead Build

The foundation is the six-piece Bones of Rathma bonus, but the strongest setup does not necessarily require wearing all six pieces. By combining five Rathma pieces with two pieces of Captain Crimson's Trimmings and using Ring of Royal Grandeur in Kanai's Cube, you can activate both complete set bonuses.

Here is the recommended equipment for a solo Greater Rift pushing configuration:

Equipment Slot	Recommended Item
Helm	Rathma's Skull Helm
Shoulders	Rathma's Spikes
Chest	Rathma's Ribcage Plate
Gloves	Rathma's Macabre Vambraces
Pants	Captain Crimson's Thrust
Boots	Rathma's Ossified Sabatons
Belt	Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle
Bracers	Bonds of C'Lena
Amulet	Squirt's Necklace
Ring 1	Krysbin's Sentence
Ring 2	Convention of Elements
Weapon	Jesseth Skullscythe
Off-Hand	Jesseth Skullshield

The Jesseth weapon and shield combination is especially important because it provides a large damage multiplier when Command Skeletons is actively attacking a target. Krysbin's Sentence further amplifies damage against enemies affected by crowd control, while Convention of Elements provides particularly powerful damage windows during its Physical rotation.

Squirt's Necklace adds another substantial damage bonus, although there is a rather unfortunate condition attached: taking damage can quickly remove the bonus and leave your character considerably more vulnerable. This is not a build that rewards standing still in the middle of several angry demons while admiring the scenery.

When improving your equipment, prioritize Cooldown Reduction, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Physical Damage where appropriate. Area Damage is also useful, especially for higher Greater Rifts where large groups of enemies provide opportunities for substantial additional damage.

Best Kanai's Cube Powers

Kanai's Cube is responsible for several of the build's most important interactions. In Season 40, the standard three-slot configuration is back, so do not follow older Season 39 setups that rely on an additional fourth Cube slot.

• Weapon: Funerary Pick – Improves Siphon Blood and significantly increases damage against affected enemies.
• Armor: Fate's Vow – Strengthens Army of the Dead and grants the Unconventional Warfare rune effect.
• Jewelry: Ring of Royal Grandeur – Allows the combination of Bones of Rathma and Captain Crimson's Trimmings.

Fate's Vow deserves particular attention. Its additional Army of the Dead effect complements the damage-focused nature of the build, while Funerary Pick makes Siphon Blood useful for considerably more than simply recovering resources.

Ring of Royal Grandeur is what makes the combined set configuration possible. Without it, wearing five Rathma pieces and two Captain Crimson pieces will not activate both complete bonuses, and your supposedly magnificent army will discover that management has forgotten to order the necessary equipment.

Which Item Should You Sanctify With an Angelic Crucible?

This is where Season 40 becomes particularly interesting. Angelic Crucibles can transform eligible level 70 Legendary equipment into Sanctified items with Ancient-level attributes and one of three random class powers. For Rathma, the priority is obtaining the Army of the Dead Sanctified Power.

Good candidates include Krysbin's Sentence, Jesseth Skullscythe or Jesseth Skullshield, provided you have a suitable spare item to experiment with. These are important pieces used across several versions of the Rathma build, making them useful long-term Sanctification targets.

Remember that you can only equip one Sanctified item at a time. Applying Angelic Crucibles to several different pieces does not allow you to combine multiple Sanctified Powers. It simply creates additional equipment choices.

There is also no guarantee that your first Crucible will produce Army of the Dead. The three possible Necromancer powers are selected randomly, so obtaining the one you want may require several attempts. If you are running short of materials, start with our Season 40 overview of the returning Sanctification system before committing valuable equipment.

It is sensible to keep another usable copy of your chosen Legendary item before Sanctifying it. The process rerolls the item's attributes, and there is no reason to sacrifice your only well-rolled weapon merely because the angels have decided to offer a particularly attractive special effect.

Best Legendary Gems and Stat Priorities

For solo Greater Rift pushing, the recommended Legendary Gems are Bane of the Trapped, Gogok of Swiftness and Zei's Stone of Vengeance. Each contributes something important to the build rather than simply adding another number to the character sheet.

Bane of the Trapped provides increased damage against enemies suffering from control-impairing effects, which works naturally with Bone Armor and other crowd-control abilities. Gogok of Swiftness improves Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction and Dodge Chance as its stacks accumulate. Zei's Stone of Vengeance rewards fighting from a distance, making it particularly useful when positioning carefully for Army of the Dead's strongest attacks.

If survivability becomes a serious problem, Esoteric Alteration can replace Zei's Stone of Vengeance. You will sacrifice some damage potential, but remaining alive tends to improve Greater Rift completion times rather dramatically.

For ordinary gems, use a Flawless Royal Diamond in your helmet to reduce cooldowns, Flawless Royal Topazes in chest and pants sockets for additional Intelligence, and a Flawless Royal Emerald in your weapon for Critical Hit Damage.

Players progressing through seasonal systems should also work on their Altar of Rites unlocks. Its permanent seasonal bonuses can make farming and progression considerably more efficient, and some of those advantages are useful regardless of which Necromancer build you eventually choose.

How to Play Rathma Necromancer in Greater Rifts

The biggest mistake when learning Rathma is assuming that the summoned army will do everything automatically. Although the build is filled with skeletons and revived monsters, its strongest damage comes from properly timed Army of the Dead attacks.

Begin by summoning your Command Skeletons and using Revive whenever corpses become available. Ideally, maintain the maximum number of revived monsters alongside your seven skeletons. Their attacks reduce Army of the Dead's cooldown and help maintain the set's damage bonuses.

Use Siphon Blood on important enemies to apply the benefits associated with Funerary Pick, while maintaining Bone Armor for protection. When approaching a dangerous elite pack, position yourself carefully and prepare for the Physical rotation of Convention of Elements.

Bone Armor with Dislocation can stun nearby enemies, triggering the stronger damage multiplier from Krysbin's Sentence. After applying crowd control, Blood Rush allows you to reposition away from danger, creating space to benefit from Zei's Stone of Vengeance before unleashing Army of the Dead.

With sufficient Cooldown Reduction and a full collection of minions, you can often fit multiple Army of the Dead casts into a Convention of Elements rotation. One should ideally land during the Physical damage window, while the remaining casts help clear surviving enemies and maintain momentum.

The Sanctified Army of the Dead effect continues attacking nearby enemies throughout this process, making the character feel considerably more aggressive than the traditional version of the build.

There is still a certain amount of timing involved, but once the rotation begins working properly, large groups of enemies can disappear with remarkably little ceremony.

Common Rathma Necromancer Mistakes

Players struggling with Greater Rift progression often discover that the problem is not simply insufficient damage. Rathma depends on several interacting systems, and ignoring even one can make the entire setup feel substantially weaker than expected.

• Not maintaining Revive minions: Fewer active minions mean slower Army of the Dead cooldown reduction and weaker set performance.
• Ignoring Command Skeletons: Their active attack command is essential for maximizing the Jesseth set bonus.
• Using Army of the Dead without preparation: Important damage bursts should take advantage of crowd control, Funerary Pick and Convention of Elements.
• Neglecting Cooldown Reduction: The build becomes far less comfortable when Army of the Dead is unavailable for too long.
• Standing too close to dangerous enemies: Squirt's Necklace rewards avoiding damage, and Necromancers are not particularly enthusiastic about being hit.
• Sanctifying the wrong equipment: The desired Army of the Dead power matters more than simply having an impressive-looking Sanctified item.

For players who have reached a Greater Rift wall, it is worth examining the entire setup before assuming another hundred Paragon levels will solve everything. A missing Legendary power, badly timed Convention of Elements rotation or insufficient minion uptime can make an enormous difference.

Is Rathma Necromancer Worth Playing in Season 40?

For players who enjoy powerful burst damage, summoned minions and pushing Greater Rifts, Rathma is an excellent Season 40 choice. It combines the familiar pleasure of controlling an undead army with a surprisingly technical damage rotation, and the returning Army of the Dead Sanctified Power gives it a distinctly seasonal identity.

There is one important inconvenience for players starting from nothing. Season 40's Haedrig's Gift rewards Necromancers with Masquerade of the Burning Carnival, not Bones of Rathma. You will therefore need to farm the Rathma equipment yourself rather than expecting the Season Journey to provide the complete build.

That makes Masquerade a reasonable starting point while collecting the necessary items. You can use its Bone Spear playstyle to farm the equipment and materials required before switching to Rathma when the important pieces are ready.

We have previously asked whether Diablo III is still worth playing in 2026, and builds like this offer a fairly convincing answer. Fourteen years after launch, the game can still produce ridiculous combinations of skills, equipment and seasonal powers that make returning to Sanctuary unexpectedly entertaining.

Rathma does not reinvent the Necromancer. It simply takes one of the class's most dramatic abilities and allows you to use it with an enthusiasm that the forces of Hell probably consider deeply unreasonable.

Your skeletons attack, your cooldowns disappear, and another Army of the Dead arrives to finish the job.

Some heroes carry legendary swords. Others command ancient magic.

The Rathma Necromancer brings enough dead people to start a small municipality.

Build references: Icy Veins – Rathma Army of the Dead Season 40 Build, Rathma Skills and Runes, and Rathma Gear and Gems.

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Diablo 3 Season 40 Rathma Necromancer Build Guide – Skills, Gear and Angelic Crucibles

There was a time when playing a Necromancer in Diablo III meant standing behind an increasingly unreasonable collection of skeletons and hoping they would eventually kill whatever was troubling you. The Bones of Rathma set has evolved considerably since those days. Your undead companions are still important, naturally, but their principal responsibility is now helping you unleash Army of the Dead with enough frequency to make the average demon wonder whether joining the forces of Hell was a sensible career decision.

In Season 40, the Rathma Army of the Dead Necromancer is one of the strongest options for solo Greater Rift pushing. The returning Light's Calling theme makes it particularly entertaining, because Angelic Crucibles can add a Sanctified Power that continuously assaults nearby enemies with Army of the Dead. Combined with the set's usual cooldown mechanics, the result is an exceptionally powerful character built around commanding skeletons, maintaining Revive minions and delivering enormous bursts of physical damage.

It is not a completely effortless build, however. Rathma rewards careful positioning, proper equipment and an understanding of how its cooldown reductions work. Simply putting on six green items and waiting for your skeletons to do everything is unlikely to produce spectacular results. Fortunately, the basic idea is easier to understand than the equipment screen initially suggests.

How the Rathma Army of the Dead Build Works

The modern Bones of Rathma set revolves around two important abilities: Army of the Dead and your permanent undead servants. Command Skeletons provides a steady stream of attacks, while Revive supplies additional minions and defensive benefits. The Rathma set allows minion attacks to reduce Army of the Dead's cooldown, turning what would normally be an occasional devastating ability into the centre of your entire combat rotation.

The goal is to keep your undead companions active, command your skeletons against suitable enemies and repeatedly unleash Army of the Dead whenever its cooldown becomes available. The build becomes particularly dangerous when the proper Legendary items multiply that damage and control effects activate Krysbin's Sentence.

Season 40 adds another layer through Angelic Crucibles. We covered the return of these heavenly consumables in our Season 40 Light's Calling overview, but Rathma is one of the clearest examples of why their return matters. The correct Sanctified Power makes Army of the Dead an almost constant presence on the battlefield rather than something you occasionally summon between long cooldowns.

Best Skills and Runes for Rathma Necromancer

For solo Greater Rift pushing, the following setup provides a strong foundation. It combines reliable damage, cooldown management, crowd control and enough mobility to prevent the Necromancer from spending the entire Rift face-down on the floor.

Skill	Rune	Purpose
Siphon Blood	Power Shift	Essence generation and damage amplification through Funerary Pick
Command Skeletons	Frenzy	Accelerates skeleton attacks and supports cooldown reduction
Bone Armor	Dislocation	Defensive protection and stun for Krysbin's Sentence
Army of the Dead	Death Valley	Main burst damage with useful enemy grouping
Blood Rush	Potency	Mobility and temporary defensive protection
Revive	Personal Army	Additional minions and damage reduction

For passive skills, use Rigor Mortis, Final Service, Rathma's Shield and Grisly Tribute. Together they provide useful control, survivability and additional healing from your minions. Rathma's Shield is particularly valuable when dealing with dangerous encounters, although it should not be mistaken for permission to stand directly inside every explosion on the screen.

One important detail is that Fate's Vow grants Army of the Dead the Unconventional Warfare rune effect through its Legendary Power. This is why Death Valley remains a useful selected rune even though the build benefits from Unconventional Warfare as well.

Best Gear for Rathma Army of the Dead

The preferred setup combines five pieces of Bones of Rathma with two pieces of Captain Crimson's Trimmings. Ring of Royal Grandeur, equipped through Kanai's Cube, reduces the number of pieces required to activate the full Set bonuses. This combination is particularly useful because Captain Crimson converts Cooldown Reduction and Resource Cost Reduction into offensive and defensive benefits.

Slot	Recommended Item
Helm	Rathma's Skull Helm
Shoulders	Rathma's Spikes
Chest	Rathma's Ribcage Plate
Gloves	Rathma's Macabre Vambraces
Boots	Rathma's Ossified Sabatons
Bracers	Bonds of C'Lena
Belt	Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle
Pants	Captain Crimson's Thrust
Amulet	Squirt's Necklace
Ring 1	Krysbin's Sentence
Ring 2	Convention of Elements
Weapon	Jesseth Skullscythe
Off-hand	Jesseth Skullshield

The Jesseth weapon combination is essential to the build's damage potential. Command Skeletons activates its offensive bonus, making it important to direct your skeletons toward enemies rather than simply allowing them to wander about. Krysbin's Sentence supplies a powerful damage multiplier against controlled enemies, while Convention of Elements rewards timing your largest attacks during its Physical damage cycle.

Squirt's Necklace provides another substantial offensive bonus, but there is an obvious disadvantage: taking damage can quickly remove its benefit, and the amulet makes incoming attacks more dangerous. Rathma is therefore a build where good positioning has a measurable effect on your damage output. Standing in poison while admiring your skeleton army is not recommended.

Kanai's Cube and Legendary Gems

The recommended Kanai's Cube powers are Funerary Pick in the weapon slot, Fate's Vow in the armour slot and Ring of Royal Grandeur in the jewellery slot.

Funerary Pick turns Siphon Blood into an important source of damage amplification, especially against individual enemies. Fate's Vow strengthens Army of the Dead and provides the Unconventional Warfare effect, while Ring of Royal Grandeur makes the Rathma and Captain Crimson combination possible. Remember that Season 39's additional Cube slot is no longer available. Season 40 returns to the standard three-slot arrangement.

For Legendary Gems, the recommended combination is Bane of the Trapped, Gogok of Swiftness and Zei's Stone of Vengeance. Bane of the Trapped rewards crowd control, Gogok helps with Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction, and Zei's increases damage according to your distance from enemies. If survival becomes a problem, Esoteric Alteration can replace Zei's for a more defensive approach.

Use a Diamond in your helm for Cooldown Reduction, Topazes in your chest and pants for Intelligence, and an Emerald in your weapon for Critical Hit Damage. When enchanting gear, prioritize Cooldown Reduction, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and useful Area Damage rolls. Cooldown Reduction deserves particular attention because it improves both your general rotation and the effectiveness of Captain Crimson's Set bonus.

Best Angelic Crucible Power in Season 40

This is where the build becomes especially interesting. Season 40's Angelic Crucibles can Sanctify eligible Legendary equipment, granting Ancient-level attributes and one of three class-specific powers. For Rathma, the ability to look for is the Army of the Dead Sanctified Power, which continuously attacks enemies within 50 yards using Unconventional Warfare.

The effect operates independently of your manually activated Army of the Dead, meaning the regular skill remains useful for carefully timed bursts of damage. It is a splendidly excessive combination, and very much in keeping with Diablo III's modern approach to character power: if one enormous supernatural army is effective, perhaps two would be even better.

Krysbin's Sentence is an excellent candidate for Sanctification because its attributes are important and obtaining a near-perfect version can take considerable farming. Jesseth Skullscythe and Jesseth Skullshield are also possible candidates, depending on which equipment piece you most need to improve.

Remember that you can equip only one Sanctified item at a time. The power is randomly selected from the Necromancer's three available options, so obtaining the Army of the Dead version may require several Crucibles. Do not spend all your resources repeatedly rerolling a perfectly usable item before the rest of your equipment is properly assembled.

Greater Rift Pushing Versus Speed Farming

Rathma is particularly impressive when pushing challenging Greater Rifts, where enemies survive long enough for the build's powerful damage multipliers and controlled bursts to matter. Your priority should be maintaining skeleton activity, refreshing Revive and Bone Armor when necessary, and coordinating Army of the Dead with crowd control and the Physical cycle of Convention of Elements.

Blood Rush provides the mobility needed to escape dangerous attacks, while Bone Armor's Dislocation rune can stun nearby enemies and activate the stronger effect of Krysbin's Sentence. The build benefits from approaching enemy packs carefully rather than charging straight into them. Necromancers have never been famous for enjoying direct physical contact with angry monsters.

For Nephalem Rift and lower Greater Rift farming, the objective changes. Raw damage becomes less important once enemies die almost immediately, and movement speed becomes more valuable. Rathma can be adapted for faster clears through alternative skill choices and mobility-focused equipment, although players interested exclusively in rapid Torment XVI farming may find other Necromancer builds more comfortable.

It is also worth investing in the permanent seasonal Altar of Rites. Movement bonuses, extra materials and automatic loot collection make repeated farming considerably smoother, while the later offensive improvements help when progressing into more demanding content. If you are still working through the Altar, our earlier coverage of the Challenge Rift Cache problem explains why planning ahead for that particular sacrifice is important, especially for console players.

How to Get Rathma Gear in Season 40

One important detail for anyone starting a Necromancer this season: Haedrig's Gift does not provide Bones of Rathma in Season 40. The Necromancer's free seasonal Set is Masquerade of the Burning Carnival. If you want to play Rathma, you will need to collect its pieces through ordinary farming, gambling and Kanai's Cube upgrades.

Begin by reaching level 70 and establishing a functional farming build with whatever equipment you have available. Use Greater Rifts to improve Legendary Gems and collect equipment, spend Blood Shards on missing armour pieces, and upgrade suitable rare weapons through Kanai's Cube when searching for essential Legendary powers. Once your Rathma equipment and Jesseth weapons are ready, begin shifting toward the Army of the Dead setup.

There is no need to chase perfectly rolled Ancient versions of every item before testing the build. A complete collection of the correct equipment with reasonable attributes will usually accomplish far more than several individually impressive Legendary items that have nothing to do with one another.

Is Rathma Worth Playing in Season 40?

For players who enjoy Necromancers and want a serious solo Greater Rift build, Rathma is an excellent choice. It combines the class's traditional undead army with enormous burst damage, and the returning Angelic Crucible mechanic gives it an additional source of destruction without requiring an entirely different playstyle.

It does have weaknesses. Cooldown management matters, the optimal equipment combination requires some farming, and careless positioning can turn an otherwise impressive Rift attempt into a sudden visit to the resurrection screen. But those limitations also make the build more interesting to master than some of Diablo III's simpler farming setups.

Fourteen years after its original release, Diablo III continues to offer builds capable of filling the screen with more supernatural violence than seems entirely necessary. We recently explored whether Diablo III remains worth playing in 2026, and Rathma provides another rather convincing argument for the game's continued appeal.

The Necromancer once needed an army because fighting alone seemed dangerous.

In Season 40, the army mostly exists to make sure everyone else is in considerably more danger.

Sources: Blizzard's official Season 40 announcement, Icy Veins Rathma Army of the Dead guide, and Rathma gear and Legendary Gem recommendations.

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Diablo 4 Patch 3.2.3 Is Live: Horadric Cube Rerolls, Baal Loot and Boss Fixes Explained

Diablo IV's latest update has arrived, and for once, the most interesting changes have nothing to do with making an already powerful build even more ridiculous. Patch 3.2.3, released on October 14, 2026, is a relatively modest collection of bug fixes aimed at some particularly irritating problems in Season of Hell's Legacy. The Horadric Cube can once again reroll several missing affixes, Baal is becoming slightly less awkward about handing over his possessions, and two familiar bosses have apparently been reminded how dungeon encounters are supposed to work.

The patch also prevents a seasonal quest bug involving Prime Evil Splinters, although characters already affected still require a workaround. We covered that particular problem in our earlier Season 15 reporting. The more interesting question now is what the remaining fixes mean for players who have already progressed beyond the seasonal storyline and are spending their evenings crafting equipment, farming bosses and trying to get Sanctuary to behave itself.

Horadric Cube Rerolls Finally Work With Four Missing Affixes

One of the most useful changes concerns the Horadric Cube. Blizzard has corrected a problem that prevented four specific affixes from being rerolled through the Cube's crafting system. The affected stats are Impairment Reduction, Barrier Generation, +Healing and Critical Strike Damage.

That final entry is particularly notable. Critical Strike Damage remains relevant to a wide range of offensive builds, and having it excluded from an otherwise flexible reroll system is the sort of problem players generally discover only after spending far too long preparing the perfect item. Barrier Generation and healing-related bonuses are equally important for characters relying on defensive mechanics.

Season 15 introduced significant changes to the Cube's equipment systems, including the expanded crafting options we discussed in our guide to the new Unique Charms and item reroll mechanics. Those systems are only useful if the stats players want can actually participate in the recipes. Patch 3.2.3 should therefore remove an unnecessary limitation from several crafting strategies.

Blizzard has not announced new affix values or additional crafting recipes in this update. The change corrects access to the existing reroll system rather than introducing a new method for creating more powerful items.

Baal's Loot Should Be Easier to Collect

Baal has spent more than two decades tormenting Diablo players, so perhaps it was inevitable that his return would introduce a new way to make collecting loot unpleasant. In Season 15, Tyrael could appear in a position that made retrieving Baal's dropped equipment difficult after the boss was defeated.

Patch 3.2.3 fixes that positioning problem. Players should no longer have to treat Tyrael as an additional obstacle between themselves and whatever Baal happened to drop.

It is a small adjustment, but one that matters in a season built around returning bosses and repeated encounters. Our earlier look at the Diablo, Baal and Mephisto Splinters explained how each Prime Evil changes particular endgame activities. Baal's path has become a natural part of that progression, which makes any improvement to the associated encounters welcome.

The Countess and Sandstone Golem Get Their Own Repairs

Two other dungeon encounters have received fixes. In the Forgotten Tower, the Countess could pass through the fog wall and prevent players from progressing through her boss fight. Blizzard has corrected that behaviour, allowing the encounter to proceed normally.

Meanwhile, the Sandstone Golem in the Horadric Library could fail to respawn if the player died during the battle. That problem has also been addressed. Dying to a difficult boss is unfortunate, but at least it belongs to the accepted rules of Diablo. Having the boss vanish afterward and take the dungeon's progression with it is considerably harder to defend.

These changes are particularly relevant because Season 15 has embraced the series' past through its returning enemies and Waking Nightmares. As we explored in our coverage of the classic bosses returning to Diablo IV, much of the season's appeal comes from revisiting familiar encounters with modern mechanics.

Necromancer Quest Progression Also Gets a Fix

Necromancers receive a smaller but worthwhile correction. During Call of the Underworld, certain monsters were not dropping the Unbroken Bones needed to progress through the class mechanic quest. Patch 3.2.3 fixes the problem, removing an unnecessary obstacle for players unlocking their class systems.

There are also general stability, performance, visual and user-interface improvements, although Blizzard has not provided a detailed breakdown of those changes.

What About the Prime Evil Quest Bug?

The most serious correction in the patch prevents players from using a Splinter of a Prime Evil before completing the seasonal questline. Previously, doing so could leave a character unable to finish the story or access Prime Evil Powers.

Unfortunately, the patch prevents new cases without repairing the quest progress of characters that were already affected. Blizzard's official workaround remains to create another character in the same partition, matching Normal or Hardcore and Normal or Solo Self-Found, then complete the seasonal questline. That unlocks Prime Evil Powers for the affected characters in that partition.

This is separate from the other problems players have reported with seasonal progression. For example, our investigation into Prime Evil Powers remaining locked after reaching Rank 24 described another frustrating issue. Blizzard's October 14 notes do not specifically identify that Rank 24 problem as fixed, so players should not assume the two bugs share the same solution.

A Small Patch That Makes Season 15 Less Annoying

Patch 3.2.3 does not introduce new Legendary items, redesign the endgame or dramatically rearrange the class balance. It is maintenance work, and Diablo IV needs maintenance work just as much as it needs spectacular new monsters.

The Horadric Cube now handles four previously excluded affixes, Baal's treasure is easier to reach, two returning boss encounters have received progression fixes and Necromancers should have fewer problems collecting the bones needed for their class quest. Individually, none of these changes is particularly revolutionary. Together, they remove several opportunities for a normal evening of demon hunting to end with somebody staring angrily at a broken objective.

Diablo has always been very good at giving players reasons to suffer. Ideally, those reasons should have horns, claws and an unreasonable number of hit points, rather than a malfunctioning crafting menu.

Source: Blizzard's official Diablo IV Patch 3.2.3 notes, October 14, 2026.

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Diablo Immortal’s Dead Druthers Buff May Be Ignoring Necromancer Summons

Necromancer builds in Diablo Immortal are built around a fairly simple professional relationship: you summon the dead, the dead do the work, and everyone agrees not to ask too many questions about employment law. A fresh September 8 Android bug report suggests one particular Bone Armor combination may be breaking that arrangement. The player says Dead Druthers correctly increases their own Attack Speed and Movement Speed while Bone Armor is active, but the same buff does not appear to reach Necromancer summons when Bone Armor has been transformed by Estranged Patron's Ward Armor essence. The player tested Spectral Mages, ordinary Skeletal Mages, Command Golem and Skeletons and says none showed the expected Attack Speed increase.

This is currently one player's controlled testing rather than a confirmed Blizzard bug, so it would be premature to declare Dead Druthers universally broken. The report is nevertheless interesting because Blizzard's own description of Dead Druthers is unusually explicit: while Bone Armor is active, the Movement Speed and Attack Speed of you and your summons are increased. Estranged Patron, meanwhile, changes Bone Armor into a warding circle that follows the Necromancer and grants nearby allies a protective shield. The September tester receives their own Dead Druthers bonus while that modified Bone Armor is running. Their summons apparently do not. (September 8 bug report)

Dead Druthers Is Specifically Designed for Summon Builds

Dead Druthers is a Necromancer Pants essence introduced as part of an older essence update and designed very clearly around minion-heavy setups. Blizzard originally described the effect as increasing both the player's and summons' Movement and Attack Speed by 10% while Bone Armor remains active. Essence progression can raise that value, which is why the September tester reports a current bonus of 19% rather than the original baseline. That distinction matters: 19% Attack Speed across an entire Necromancer army is not a small decorative bonus. Skeletal Mages, Skeletons and Golems all convert increased attack frequency into additional damage over the duration of an encounter, which means a missing speed bonus can affect the practical output of the entire build rather than one isolated animation. (Blizzard's Dead Druthers description)

It is also exactly the kind of essence Necromancer players tend to build around because summon builds work best when several mechanics amplify the same army. A single bonus affecting four different summon types is far more attractive than an effect helping only the Necromancer's own Primary Attack. If one essence turns Bone Armor into a better party-support skill while another makes Bone Armor accelerate every summon, combining the two sounds perfectly sensible. Diablo buildcraft has always been about finding two tooltips that look good separately and discovering they become mildly irresponsible when placed together.

Estranged Patron Changes Bone Armor Into Ward Armor

Estranged Patron complicates that interaction by fundamentally altering how Bone Armor behaves. Blizzard describes the Chest essence as making Bone Armor conjure a warding circle that follows the Necromancer. Allies inside that circle receive a shield that protects against total loss of control and knockback. The September player calls this Ward Armor and reports that party members standing nearby correctly receive the shield, while their summons do not show the same shield effect. More importantly for Dead Druthers, the player's own speed bonus remains active, confirming that Diablo Immortal still considers the modified skill sufficiently “Bone Armor” for Dead Druthers to affect the Necromancer.

The question is therefore what the game thinks the summons are doing. Dead Druthers does not say “summons protected by Bone Armor gain Attack Speed.” It says the player and summons gain the bonus while Bone Armor is active. If that wording is taken literally, the summons should not need their own shield or individual Bone Armor buff to qualify. Bone Armor is active on the player, Dead Druthers is active on the player, and the player's army should inherit the listed speed bonus. According to the fresh test, it does not.

The Player Tested Multiple Summon Types

The September report is more useful than a simple “my damage feels lower” complaint because the player tested several different Necromancer minions. Spectral Mages were checked. Normal Skeletal Mages were checked. Command Golem was checked. Skeletons were checked. The reported result was consistent: the Necromancer receives Dead Druthers' Attack Speed increase with Ward Armor running, while the summons do not appear to attack faster. The tester says they are less certain about Movement Speed because that is harder to measure visually, so the strongest claim is specifically about Attack Speed. (full player test)

That caveat is worth preserving. Diablo Immortal contains enough animation differences, summon AI and attack wind-ups that eyeballing small percentage changes can be misleading. A proper frame-by-frame test or combat-log comparison would be stronger evidence. But a 19% Attack Speed bonus is large enough that an experienced player should normally see a meaningful difference across repeated attacks, particularly when several summon types all appear unchanged. More independent testing would tell us whether the interaction fails universally or only under specific essence combinations.

The Ward Armor Shield May Be a Separate Clue

The same player notes that Ward Armor's visible shield does not appear on their summons either, while nearby human party members do receive it. That may be connected to the missing Dead Druthers bonus, but we should be careful here. Blizzard's Estranged Patron wording says “allies” rather than explicitly saying “you and your summons,” and games do not always classify pets and summons as normal allies for every support effect. Dead Druthers is different because Blizzard explicitly names summons in the essence description. The missing Ward Armor shield may therefore be intended while the missing Dead Druthers Attack Speed remains a genuine interaction problem — or both may stem from the same underlying Bone Armor state. We do not have enough evidence yet to choose confidently.

Diablo Immortal has accumulated plenty of examples where two individually functioning systems behave strangely when combined. We recently covered players burning thousands of Eternal Orbs through custom Wing rerolls, where the underlying feature works but the surrounding economy creates a very different experience than the simple cosmetic premise suggests. More recently, iPhone 17 owners have reported severe heat and battery drain after the engine update, another case where the interesting question is not whether the feature exists but what happens when it meets a particular hardware or system configuration.

Necromancer Summons Make Small Buff Bugs Much Bigger

A missing 19% Attack Speed bonus on one character is annoying. A missing 19% bonus across an entire summon army is potentially much more expensive in practical damage. Necromancer builds often stack summon duration, summon damage and attack-frequency improvements because each bonus multiplies the value of several active minions at once. A Golem attacking faster is good. Several Skeletons attacking faster is good. Two Mages attacking faster is also good. When all of those effects exist simultaneously, one shared Attack Speed essence can contribute considerably more than its tooltip initially suggests.

That is why summon-specific bugs have a habit of making builds feel mysteriously weak. The Necromancer itself can still cast normally. Bone Armor still activates. The Dead Druthers icon or buff may still appear on the player. Ward Armor may still protect party members. Nothing visibly collapses. The army simply performs below the number the build was constructed around. Diablo mathematics already contains enough opportunities for a build to disappoint its creator without one of the multipliers quietly deciding that skeletons are not invited.

For Now, Test Dead Druthers Before Building Around Ward Armor

Until more players reproduce the interaction, Necromancers using Dead Druthers together with Estranged Patron should treat this as something to test rather than a confirmed universal failure. The cleanest approach would be comparing summon attack frequency with ordinary Bone Armor against the same summons using Estranged Patron, while keeping other Attack Speed sources unchanged. Skeletal Mages are probably the easiest visual test because their repeated attacks can be timed over a fixed duration. If Dead Druthers clearly accelerates them under normal Bone Armor but the effect disappears when Ward Armor replaces it, that would strongly support the September report.

Players should also test without changing Dead Druthers itself. If swapping only Estranged Patron causes the summon Attack Speed bonus to disappear while the Necromancer's own bonus remains, the interaction becomes considerably easier to isolate. Additional Android, iOS and PC reports would help determine whether this is a general essence combination problem or something more platform-specific. The original report comes from a OnePlus 12 running Android 16 and Diablo Immortal version 5.0.4.

The Tooltip Is Pretty Clear About Who Should Get Faster

For now, the strongest reason to take the report seriously is simply Blizzard's own wording. Dead Druthers was not described as “you gain Attack Speed while Bone Armor is active.” It specifically included “you and your summons.” The September tester says half of that sentence continues working when Estranged Patron modifies Bone Armor and the other half apparently does not. Blizzard may ultimately clarify that the modified Ward Armor changes how summons qualify, or another player may discover an overlooked condition. But based on the published essence description, expecting the summons to become faster is hardly unreasonable.

This is currently a small report, and it should stay a small report until more evidence arrives. It does not prove Necromancer summons are broadly broken, nor that Dead Druthers fails in every setup. What it does show is one player testing four different summon types and finding the same missing Attack Speed effect whenever Dead Druthers is paired with Ward Armor.

Necromancers already went to the trouble of raising an army from the dead.

They should not also have to explain to it why everyone else got the speed buff.

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Diablo 2 Necromancer Players Want What Blizzard Gave the Warlock

Diablo II's Necromancer has been commanding armies of skeletons since 2000.

Twenty-six years later, some of those skeletons still have trouble getting through a doorway.

Then Blizzard created the Warlock.

Suddenly Diablo II had a new summoner with built-in movement tools, better ways to reposition demons and minions that generally feel considerably less committed to standing behind each other while something murders their master.

Necromancer players have noticed.

A community discussion that became active again on August 24 is asking Blizzard to take some of the lessons learned from Reign of the Warlock and apply them to Diablo II's original summoning class.

The request is not necessarily:

Make Necromancer stronger than Warlock.

It is much simpler.

Please make the skeletons stop fighting the architecture.

The Warlock Has Exposed How Old Necromancer Summons Feel

This is one of the more interesting side effects of Blizzard adding Diablo II's first new class in 25 years.

The Warlock was designed in 2026.

The Necromancer was designed when Windows ME was considered a current operating system.

Put them next to each other and the difference is difficult to ignore.

Warlock's Demon tree allows the class to summon Goatmen, Tainted and Defilers, while Bind Demon can turn powerful existing demons into allies.

The class also has abilities that give players much more direct control over where those summons go.

Death Mark can reposition Warlock demons onto a selected area or enemy, while Blade Warp provides the class with its own movement skill without requiring Enigma.

That means a Warlock summoner can actively decide where the important part of the army should be.

Necromancer players frequently have another strategy.

Walk forward.

Wait.

Wonder why the Skeleton Mages are still standing in the previous doorway.

Necromancer Players Have Asked for Minion Control for Years

This is not a complaint invented after Warlock appeared.

There are Blizzard forum threads from 2022 asking for a dedicated Necromancer command or teleport ability for minions.

The argument was essentially the same then as it is now.

A Summon Necromancer can create a large army.

They cannot meaningfully tell that army what to do.

Players asked for something as simple as:

• Click a location and order minions there
• Click an enemy and make summons focus that target
• Teleport only the summons rather than the Necromancer
• Or simply improve pathfinding so minions stop blocking one another

One player made the point particularly well years ago:

For most Diablo II characters, Enigma's Teleport is primarily a movement upgrade.

For a Summon Necromancer, Teleport can feel like the ability that finally makes the army function correctly.

That has never been an ideal situation.

Skeleton Mages Are Still Excellent Doorstops

Body blocking is at the centre of the current complaint.

Diablo II's maps contain plenty of narrow spaces.

Doorways.

Dungeon corridors.

Bridges.

Tight corners.

A Skeleton Mage can stop in exactly the wrong place and prevent melee Skeletons from reaching the enemy.

Revives can make the problem even worse because some revived monsters are enormous.

The player's army may contain twenty or thirty creatures.

The actual frontline may contain three.

Everyone else is waiting behind a Necromancer traffic jam.

The original poster in the latest discussion says simply allowing Necromancer minions to stop blocking one another would dramatically improve the build.

No huge damage buff.

No new ultimate skill.

Just let the skeletons occupy enough overlapping space that they can actually reach whatever they were summoned to kill.

Warlock Minions Are Not Perfect Either

To be fair, Reign of the Warlock has not completely solved Diablo II minion AI.

Warlock players have reported their own problems with summons clumping together after teleporting.

There are cases where melee demons remain stacked on top of each other until the Warlock moves.

Players have asked Blizzard to make those demons spread out automatically when nearby targets exist.

So this is not a story where Warlock has perfect 2026 AI and Necromancer is trapped entirely in 2000.

Diablo II monsters remain Diablo II monsters.

Sometimes their deepest strategic insight is:

Stand here.

But Warlock at least gives the player tools to correct the problem.

That is what Necromancer players increasingly want.

Players Also Want Control Over Skeleton Mage Elements

The other remarkably old complaint is Raise Skeletal Mage.

Skeletal Mages can spawn using different elemental attacks.

Fire.

Cold.

Lightning.

Poison.

The Necromancer does not simply choose the element they want from the skill interface.

If you are trying to create a particular composition, you summon, inspect, dismiss and summon again.

That was quirky in 2000.

In 2026 it feels more like unpaid administrative work.

The newest discussion asks Blizzard to let players directly choose which Mage type they summon.

That would have obvious practical value.

A player could avoid Cold Mages when they do not want corpses being shattered.

They could build around enemy resistances.

They could create an intentionally specialised elemental army.

Or they could summon nine Poison Mages because they enjoy making questionable decisions.

The important part is that it would be a decision.

Blizzard Has Buffed Skeletal Mages Before

It is not as if Blizzard has completely ignored Necromancer summons since Resurrected launched.

Patch 2.4 gave Skeletal Mages substantial improvements.

Poison damage scaling increased by roughly 750%.

Cold damage scaling increased around 50%.

Lightning received a smaller improvement.

Their life scaling was increased.

Blood Golem and Fire Golem were also buffed as Blizzard tried to make lesser-used summons more competitive.

At the time, Blizzard explicitly said it saw an opportunity to improve underused Necromancer summons.

That was a balance solution.

The current complaint is slightly different.

The numbers may be better.

The controls remain ancient.

Some Players Think the Problem Goes Much Deeper

Once Necromancer players start discussing summons, things rarely stop at doorways.

The August 24 response that revived the current thread comes from a player who says they have:

• A level 99 Summon Warlock
• A level 92 Summon Necromancer
• A level 92 Summon Druid

Their comparison is considerably more aggressive.

They argue Skeleton Warriors need better Attack Rating and damage.

Skeletal Mages need dramatically stronger elemental scaling.

Summons need better movement speed and AI.

Iron Golem should be easier to restore.

Revives should last longer.

And all summons need better PvP behaviour.

Other players push back against that scale of change.

Summon Necromancer remains perfectly capable of clearing Diablo II's endgame, particularly once Corpse Explosion enters the equation.

Giving the class every modern Warlock advantage could easily turn quality-of-life improvements into massive power creep.

That is where the discussion becomes useful.

The Necromancer Is Strong — But Is the Army Actually Doing the Work?

This question has been appearing repeatedly since Warlock launched.

Summon Necromancer is traditionally considered a safe and effective Diablo II build.

Skeletons form a wall.

The Mercenary kills something.

Amplify Damage goes up.

Corpse Explosion turns one dead monster into seventeen dead monsters.

Everything works.

But some players argue that description reveals the issue.

The strongest part of the so-called Summon Necromancer is often:

Corpse Explosion.

Not the summons.

A March discussion after Reign of the Warlock launched asked whether the Necromancer is truly an endgame summoner or simply a Corpse Explosion build surrounded by pets.

Warlock makes that comparison uncomfortable because its summons can contribute much more directly to the actual killing.

Even after Patch 3.3 dramatically reduced Bind Demon's unintended bonus damage, Warlock still has a summoning kit built around actively controlling and supporting its demons.

Necromancer often feels like it controls the battlefield around the army instead.

Death Mark Is the Feature Necromancers Keep Looking At

If Blizzard stole one Warlock idea for the Necromancer, players repeatedly come back to something resembling Death Mark.

Warlock can use it to place demons where they are actually needed.

That solves several problems at once.

Minions stuck behind doors?

Move them.

Boss hiding behind trash enemies?

Send the demons directly there.

Need summons on the other side of terrain?

Reposition them.

A Necromancer equivalent would not necessarily need to deal damage or debuff enemies.

It could simply be:

Command Minions.

Target location.

Skeletons go there.

Target monster.

Skeletons attack it.

That would be revolutionary technology by Diablo II standards.

The invention of pointing.

It Could Also Reduce Necromancer’s Dependence on Enigma

This is perhaps the strongest design argument.

Enigma is already one of the most dominant items in Diablo II because Teleport is extraordinarily useful.

Summon Necromancer gets an additional reason to depend on it.

Teleport instantly gathers the entire army onto the player.

Experienced Necromancer players use this aggressively to “telestomp” targets and force Skeletons, Revives and Mercenary onto the same enemy.

It is extremely effective.

It is also a workaround provided by a high-end Runeword rather than something inside the Summoning skill tree.

Giving Necromancer a limited minion-only repositioning ability would not necessarily replace Enigma.

The Necromancer still would not teleport.

It would simply make the summon build function better before Jah and Ber finally decide to exist.

Reign of the Warlock Has Created This Problem for Every Old Class

Necromancer is probably not going to be the last class to experience this.

Warlock was created with a quarter-century of hindsight.

Blizzard knows which parts of Diablo II feel awkward.

It knows players want mobility.

It knows summoners need control.

It knows modern players expect cleaner feedback and better quality-of-life systems.

Then that modern class gets placed beside seven characters designed under completely different assumptions.

Old mechanics suddenly become much more visible.

We have already seen players ask whether Diablo II should finally receive a dedicated Charm Inventory now that Reign of the Warlock has modernised other parts of inventory management.

The same philosophical question applies here.

How much of Diablo II should Blizzard preserve because the inconvenience is genuinely part of the design?

And how much is simply old because nobody had gone back and rebuilt it yet?

Not Blocking Each Other Seems Like a Reasonable Place to Start

There are enormous Necromancer redesigns Blizzard could attempt.

More Skeleton damage.

More Mages.

Better Golems.

Permanent Revives.

New summon skills.

Different Corpse Explosion scaling.

Any of those would trigger weeks of arguments about whether Blizzard had destroyed Diablo II.

The current request is much smaller.

Make summons better at reaching enemies.

Give the player basic control.

Let Necromancers choose their Skeleton Mage element.

None of that requires turning the original summoner into Warlock 2.

It would simply mean applying 26 years of lessons to a class Blizzard clearly still intends people to play.

Necromancer does not need the Warlock's demons.

It does not need Blade Warp.

It does not necessarily need another 400% damage multiplier.

But perhaps the Skeleton Mage standing in the doorway could move slightly to the left.

We have the technology now.

Sources

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Warlocks Have Everything Necros Have Asked For

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Necro QoL — Control or Teleport Minion Skill

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Improve All Other Summoners

Blizzard: Rain Annihilation in Reign of the Warlock

Blizzard: Diablo II: Resurrected Patch 2.4 — Necromancer Summon Changes

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Diablo Immortal’s New Necromancer Mount Has One Problem: It Breaks Corpse Lance

Diablo Immortal finally gave the Necromancer something every responsible practitioner of forbidden magic obviously needed.

An undead Bone Beast to ride around Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the new mount appears to come with an unexpected feature.

It may turn off Corpse Lance.

Players testing the new Khemsklet Khud Legendary Essence report that activating its Bone Beast transformation disables Corpse Lance while mounted, leaving one of the Necromancer’s other skills unusable until the mount ends.

Blizzard has not officially confirmed the bug, so this remains a player-reported issue. But the problem has now been reproduced after the latest patch, and the original report includes video evidence.

Khemsklet Khud Turns Bone Spikes Into a Mount

Khemsklet Khud arrived with Diablo Immortal’s huge August 12 batch of new Legendary Affixes.

The Head Essence transforms Bone Spikes into something considerably more ambitious.

Activating it summons an undead Bone Beast that the Necromancer mounts.

While riding, the player becomes immune to knockback and takes reduced damage. The Bone Beast charges forward, damages and knocks back enemies in its path, and generates a stacking absorb shield for every enemy hit.

Bone Spikes also gets an 18% damage increase.

It is one of the stranger and more visually distinctive additions among the 60 new Legendary Affixes introduced in the August update.

There is nothing in Blizzard’s official description suggesting that mounting the beast should interfere with Corpse Lance.

Corpse Lance Becomes Disabled While Mounted

The first bug report appeared on August 14.

A Necromancer player demonstrated that before activating Khemsklet Khud, Corpse Lance could be used normally.

After mounting the Bone Beast, however, Corpse Lance became disabled.

The player specifically noted that the interaction had previously worked before the Essence changes and rework.

Another community member helped embed the accompanying video directly into the forum thread, making the reported behavior relatively easy to see.

Mount beast.

Corpse Lance stops working.

Dismount.

Necromancer remembers how corpses work again.

There are more complicated Diablo bugs.

This one has the advantage of being wonderfully direct.

A Patch Apparently Didn’t Fix It

The report became more interesting on August 15.

Another player asked whether a recently released patch had addressed the problem, noting that the Essence had also been discussed as bugged elsewhere in the community.

The original reporter tested Khemsklet Khud again afterward.

According to that follow-up, Corpse Lance was still disabled while mounted.

So whatever the recent patch changed, this specific interaction apparently remained.

That Is a Big Problem for Hybrid Builds

On its own, the Bone Beast sounds like a useful mobility and defensive tool.

Knockback immunity.

Damage reduction.

A stacking shield.

Forward movement through enemies.

That combination has obvious appeal in crowded PvE encounters.

But if activating the mount temporarily removes access to Corpse Lance, the Essence becomes much harder to combine with builds relying on both skills.

Instead of providing another tool, it effectively asks the player to trade one skill away while the Bone Beast is active.

That might be an interesting design decision if Blizzard actually described it that way.

At the moment, it does not.

The August Update Has Created a Few Strange Essence Problems

Khemsklet Khud is also arriving during an unusually messy week for Diablo Immortal’s Legendary systems.

The August 12 update introduced dozens of new Affixes while simultaneously retiring older Legendary Essences.

We have already seen retired Essences accidentally remain available inside Fractured Plane, despite their powers being inactive.

Now one of the brand-new Necromancer powers appears to be interfering with an entirely different skill.

Live-service games have many moving parts.

Diablo Immortal currently seems determined to demonstrate all of them at once.

For Now, Necromancers Should Test Before Committing

There is still no official Blizzard response confirming the cause or announcing a fix for Khemsklet Khud.

That means we should not assume every Necromancer, platform or configuration will reproduce the issue identically.

But the existing report is specific, includes video evidence and was retested after an additional patch.

If your build relies heavily on Corpse Lance, it is therefore worth testing Khemsklet Khud before restructuring everything around the new Bone Beast.

The mount itself looks excellent.

It charges through monsters.

It protects the rider.

It is made of bones.

For a Necromancer, that is basically transportation perfection.

It would just be nicer if getting on it did not make another button stop working.

Sources

Blizzard Entertainment: Burn Through the Darkening Decades

Diablo Immortal Forums: Khemsklet Khud Breaks Corpse Lance

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Diablo Immortal Just Added 60 New Legendary Affixes

Diablo Immortal has spent the past few weeks talking about having too many Legendary Essences.

Naturally, the next step was to add 60 more.

That sounds slightly contradictory, but it is actually part of the same plan. Blizzard is retiring older and underused Essences while simultaneously introducing a fresh batch designed around current class builds.

The August 12 update adds six new Legendary Affixes for every one of Diablo Immortal's ten classes, giving Barbarian, Blood Knight, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Druid, Monk, Necromancer, Tempest, Warlock and Wizard new toys to chase.

And several of them do considerably more than make a familiar number slightly larger.

Demon Hunter Gets a Lot More Chakram

Demon Hunter has one of the more immediately ridiculous-looking batches.

Bloodstained Legacy changes Spinning Chakram into a cone of saw blades that damages and knocks enemies back. More importantly, your other Skills can then launch the same volley of saw blades when cast.

Irebrand adds a Chakram Mark that increases damage against marked enemies, while Sharp and Sharper causes Spinning Chakram to shatter enemy armor and increase the damage they take by 24% for three seconds.

In other words, Blizzard has looked at Spinning Chakram and decided the main problem was insufficient quantities of spinning metal.

Reasonable.

Necromancer Can Ride a Bone Beast

The Necromancer batch may contain the winner for sheer visual nonsense.

Khemsklet Khud changes Bone Spikes so that the Necromancer summons an undead Bone Beast and mounts it.

While riding, the player becomes immune to knockback, takes reduced damage and charges through enemies, knocking them aside while generating an absorb shield.

That is not a passive stat improvement.

That is transportation.

Necromancer also gets several new Corpse Explosion tools, including Brazen Sepulchre, which detonates nearby corpses and summons Bone Spirits around the player, and Gilt Scultetus, which restores Life when Corpse Explosion hits a Feared enemy.

It is especially interesting because Blizzard is simultaneously retiring a large number of older Legendary Essences. The new batch gives a clearer idea of what Blizzard means when it talks about replacing outdated options with powers designed for the current game.

Wizard Gets a Moving Black Hole

Wizard also gets some wonderfully unnecessary physics.

Infinitesimal Authority makes Black Hole surround an ally and follow them around, continuously pulling in and damaging enemies. Hitting Chilled enemies can extend its duration and increase the vortex's radius.

Rime Grotto does something similar with Meteor, creating a moving area of falling ice shards around an ally, while Gelid Dunewatcher turns Scorch into a giant rolling ice boulder that grows and accelerates before exploding.

It is difficult to complain when a patch note contains the phrase “large boulder of ice.”

Warlock Gets More Malignant Shadow Synergy

The relatively new Warlock class receives six Affixes built heavily around Devouring Darkness, Spiteful Sacrifice and Warp Strike.

Itinerant Spite makes Primary Attacks throw dark magical swords and apply Malignant Shadows, with every third Primary Attack blinking the Warlock forward.

Undreamt Calamity then allows Devouring Darkness to consume Malignant Shadows, immediately dealing their remaining damage and granting increased damage for each stack consumed.

Meanwhile, Griefmuzzle gives Devouring Darkness a 22.8% Critical Hit Chance boost after using its Sacrificial Power ability.

There is a fairly obvious attempt here to create packages of Essences that talk to each other rather than six isolated bonuses sitting in six equipment slots.

Every Class Gets Six

The rest of the update follows the same general pattern.

Barbarian gets new Leap, Furious Charge and Demoralize interactions. Blood Knight receives a strong Dash theme. Crusader gets new Falling Sword, Condemn and Holy Banner tools, including a Banner that can prevent death and teleport the player back to safety.

Druid receives Raven Swarm, Fire Tornado and Oak Sage synergies. Monk gets new Flying Kick, Cyclone Strike and Shield of Zen interactions, while Tempest receives new Movement Speed scaling, Drenched synergies and additional Zephyr support.

There are certainly plenty of familiar “damage increased by 18%” lines in the notes.

But the better Affixes are the ones that change what actually happens when you press the button.

Retire Old Powers, Add Better Ones

This is ultimately the test of Blizzard's controversial Essence Retirement strategy.

Removing old build options is much easier to defend if the replacements create genuinely interesting new ones.

Sixty new Legendary Affixes arriving on the same day that another collection of old Essences disappears makes Blizzard's direction unusually clear.

Diablo Immortal is not trying to make its Legendary pool permanently smaller.

It is trying to stop it growing forever.

Old powers leave.

New powers enter.

Whether the new ones are better will take players considerably longer than one afternoon to decide.

But if nothing else, the Necromancer can now ride an undead Bone Beast through Sanctuary.

That is a reasonably strong opening argument.

Source

Blizzard Entertainment – Burn Through the Darkening Decades

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Diablo 4 Buffs Three Classes While Barbarian Gets Weaker

Diablo 4’s Season 15 PTR has produced three clear winners and one extremely muscular loser.

Druid, Necromancer and Paladin are all receiving a major increase to the damage provided by their primary stats.

Barbarian is moving in the opposite direction.

While the three buffed classes gain more damage from every important stat roll, Barbarian receives less from Strength and several additional nerfs across its skills, Paragon boards and equipment.

Three classes received a pay rise.

Barbarian was asked to return the company hammer.

Druid, Necromancer And Paladin Get The Same Baseline Buff

Patch 3.2.0 increases the core-stat scalar for Druid, Necromancer and Paladin from 1.25 to 1.625.

That means each class will gain 1.625% damage for every 10 points invested in its primary stat.

• Druid gains damage from Willpower.
• Necromancer gains damage from Intelligence.
• Paladin gains damage from Strength.

A character with 2,000 points in the relevant stat would move from a 250% damage bonus to 325%.

That represents 75 additional percentage points before skills, equipment, Glyphs and other multipliers are considered.

The exact effect on final damage will vary by build.

The direction is very clear.

Barbarian Strength Scaling Falls Instead

Barbarian currently receives 1.1% damage for every 10 Strength.

On the Season 15 PTR, that falls to 0.8%.

A Barbarian with 2,000 Strength would receive 160% damage instead of 220% from the class’s primary stat.

That places the class 165 percentage points behind a Druid, Necromancer or Paladin with the same amount of their relevant core stat.

The comparison is not perfectly direct because every class has different mechanics, item access and skill multipliers.

It still demonstrates how aggressively Blizzard is adjusting the foundations beneath each class.

Blizzard Is Using Core Stats As A Balance Lever

Blizzard gives the same explanation for all four changes.

The developer is evaluating how the classes differ as complete packages and using the core-stat scalar to compensate for those differences.

This approach allows Blizzard to increase or reduce a class’s general damage without editing every individual ability.

It is efficient.

It is also extremely broad.

A stronger primary-stat multiplier helps almost every offensive build within a class.

A weaker multiplier reduces almost everything, including builds that may not have been causing balance problems.

Druid Receives More Than A Stat Increase

Druid’s new core-stat scaling arrives beside several substantial item buffs.

Greatstaff of the Crone increases its damage bonus from 60–80% to 120–150%.

Fleshrender’s returning Tornado damage rises from 40–50% to 100–135%.

Airidah’s Inexorable Will jumps from 7–10% increased damage to 30–45%.

Human Form also gains 10% multiplicative damage for applicable skills, while Shifter’s Aspect adds Damage Reduction when changing form.

Not every change is positive. Might of the Ursine receives a major reduction and becomes limited to Werebear skills.

Even so, Druid enters the PTR with several new reasons to revisit older equipment.

The wardrobe has discovered buffs behind items nobody had touched recently.

Necromancer Gets A Long List Of Direct Damage Buffs

Necromancer receives the same increase to primary-stat scaling alongside improvements to several underused skills.

Reaping Lotus increases its secondary attack damage from 40% to 60%.

Plunging Darkness raises Bone Prison’s Desecrated Ground damage from 300% to 450%.

Blood Wave’s Path of Darkness version rises from 600% to 800%.

Soulrift increases from 300% to 350%, while Blight gains stronger boss support and a lower Essence cost through its variants.

Several Aspects and Uniques are also improved.

The Unmaker climbs from 200–250% damage to 300–350%, and Ebonpiercer increases from 40–50% to 60–70%.

Necromancer is not receiving one adjustment.

It is receiving a handwritten apology to several neglected skills.

Paladin Gains Damage But Loses An Entire Item Interaction

Paladin also moves from 1.25% to 1.625% damage per 10 Strength.

Several Judgement-focused abilities receive additional buffs.

Holy Bolt gains a direct 20% multiplicative damage upgrade.

Blessed Shield can increase Judgement damage by 50%, and Judicator Oath doubles Judgement damage when it hits only one enemy.

Aspect of the Judicator also increases its damage and size bonus from 40–60% to 60–80%.

However, Blizzard is removing Damage over Time affixes from Paladin equipment.

X’Fal’s Corroded Signet will no longer be equippable by the class.

Paladin receives more baseline damage while losing access to a specific style of itemisation.

The class has been buffed.

The fire department has still confiscated one ring.

The Barbarian Nerfs Go Beyond Strength

Barbarian’s weaker stat scaling arrives beside reductions to several other systems.

Madawc’s damage is halved in two different Ancient abilities.

Two-Handed Sword Expertise loses half of its multiplicative Bleeding bonus.

Disembowel, Crusher, Hemorrhage, Blood Rage and Flawless Technique all receive lower Paragon damage values.

Writhing Aspect and Battle-Mad Aspect become weaker.

Ring of the Ravenous loses damage and duration, while Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus begins draining 10% of Maximum Fury per second instead of a flat 10 Fury.

There are several Barbarian buffs in the notes, including improvements to Ring of Red Furor, Nomad’s Longing Heart and Raid Leader’s Aspect.

They are standing in a considerably longer queue of reductions.

The Real Gap May Be Larger Than The Stat Numbers Suggest

Comparing 1.625 to 0.8 does not tell the entire story.

Druid, Necromancer and Paladin are gaining stronger baseline scaling while also receiving improvements to multiple skills and items.

Barbarian is losing baseline scaling while several important multipliers are reduced at the same time.

Those changes can compound.

A smaller core-stat bonus reduces the foundation.

Lower Expertise, Paragon and Aspect multipliers then act on that weaker foundation.

The final difference may therefore be significantly larger than a simple comparison between two core-stat values.

This Does Not Automatically Make Barbarian The Worst Class

Barbarian has access to four weapon slots through the Arsenal system.

That allows the class to carry more offensive affixes, Tempering bonuses and weapon-based powers than most alternatives.

Blizzard may believe the class’s equipment advantage has become too strong when combined with existing damage scaling.

Druid, Necromancer and Paladin may also require higher primary-stat returns because their complete class packages produce less damage elsewhere.

The PTR must determine whether these changes create balance or simply exchange one class gap for another.

Players Should Test Equal Investment

The most useful PTR comparisons will use characters with similar gear quality, Paragon investment and primary-stat totals.

Players should compare:

• Boss damage before and after the core-stat changes.
• Clear speed in equivalent Torment content.
• How heavily each build depends on primary-stat rolls.
• Whether weaker Barbarian builds are punished alongside the strongest ones.
• Whether the buffed classes suddenly produce unintended outliers.

Testing only the most powerful build for each class will not reveal how these changes affect ordinary progression.

The lower and middle sections of the build ladder matter too.

These Numbers Are Still PTR Values

The Patch 3.2.0 changes are not guaranteed to reach Season 15 unchanged.

Blizzard is using the PTR to collect data and feedback before the season launches.

If Barbarian falls too far behind, its stat scalar or secondary nerfs could be adjusted.

If Druid, Necromancer or Paladin produce excessive damage, their new scaling may also be reduced.

This is exactly the kind of broad class change that needs real testing rather than spreadsheet confidence.

Season 15 Is Redrawing The Class Baseline

Blizzard is not merely adjusting a handful of overperforming abilities.

It is changing how much value entire classes receive from their most important attribute.

Druid, Necromancer and Paladin will gain substantially more damage from normal character progression.

Barbarian will gain substantially less.

The intention may be to bring the classes closer together.

The immediate impression is considerably simpler.

Three classes are climbing the ladder.

The Barbarian is being asked to hold it.

For more Season 15 balance changes, PTR analysis and class news, visit our Diablo 4 archive.

Sources

• Blizzard: The 3.2.0 PTR — What You Need to Know

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Diablo 4’s Necromancer Minions Are Still Terrified Of Aetheric Masses

Necromancers can summon skeleton warriors, skeletal mages and a towering golem from the dead.

They can march this army directly into Hell and order it to tear demons apart.

Ask those same minions to attack an Aetheric Mass in Infernal Hordes, however, and the entire undead workforce suddenly remembers it has somewhere else to be.

Diablo 4 players are reporting that Necromancer minions frequently ignore Aetheric Masses, even when the player uses the command ability to mark one as the priority target.

The summons may attack briefly before abandoning the Mass and returning to nearby enemies.

For a build whose damage is almost entirely controlled by automated companions, that is not a minor inconvenience.

It can ruin an entire Infernal Hordes wave.

Minions Apparently Refuse To Focus Aetheric Masses

A recent report on the official Diablo 4 forums describes Necromancer minions as being almost afraid of Aetheric Masses.

According to players in the discussion, skeletons frequently ignore the structures while attacking ordinary monsters elsewhere in the arena.

The player can use the active minion command to redirect them.

That solution reportedly lasts only briefly.

The minions begin attacking the Mass, lose interest and return to whatever demon happened to make eye contact.

This is especially frustrating because Aetheric Masses are stationary objectives.

They do not dodge.

They do not run away.

They are giant supernatural targets sitting in the middle of the room.

The skeletons have somehow found the one enemy in Hell that requires advanced tactical interpretation.

Aetheric Masses Are Important Infernal Hordes Targets

Aetheric Masses are not decorative objects.

Destroying them produces Burning Aether, the currency that determines how much reward a player can claim at the end of an Infernal Hordes run.

Offerings can increase the number of Masses that appear or improve their rewards.

The Massing Masses offering has also been reworked in previous updates so destroyed Masses can reform, creating further opportunities to collect Aether.

That makes them one of the central target types in the activity.

A build that cannot reliably destroy them is not merely clearing a little slower.

It may lose a significant portion of the run’s potential currency.

The Command Cooldown Makes The Problem Worse

Necromancer players do have a method of directing their army toward a chosen target.

The active minion command orders the summons to attack the selected enemy.

The complaint is that the command does not provide persistent control.

When minions abandon the Mass shortly afterward, the player cannot always command them again immediately.

The ability has a cooldown.

During that downtime, the Necromancer can watch the skeletal army enthusiastically chase minor enemies while the important objective remains untouched.

Players have suggested shortening the command cooldown or making minions remain focused on the selected target until it dies.

Either change would make the button function more like an actual order and less like a polite workplace suggestion.

Infernal Hordes Punish Wasted Seconds

Infernal Hordes are built around short, timed waves.

Players must kill enemies, complete events and collect as much Burning Aether as possible before the timer expires.

Every second spent fighting the wrong target reduces the potential reward.

Direct-damage builds can simply turn toward the Aetheric Mass and attack it.

A Minion Necromancer depends on companion AI to translate that intention into damage.

When the AI refuses, the player loses both control and time.

The character may possess enough damage to destroy the Mass easily.

The damage is currently busy chasing a Fallen across the opposite side of the arena.

The Problem Can Affect Access To Bartuc

Burning Aether is not only used to open reward chests.

Players can also risk their collected Aether to face Bartuc at the end of an Infernal Hordes run.

That means poor Aether generation can affect which conclusion to the activity is available.

A player who loses several Masses because minions refuse to attack may finish below the amount they wanted for the boss encounter or reward chest.

The build successfully survived the Hordes.

It simply failed the group project because the skeletons did not read the assignment.

Minion Builds Depend On Reliable Artificial Intelligence

Every companion build accepts some loss of direct control.

The advantage is that summons can attack continuously, spread across multiple enemies and keep dealing damage while the player moves or uses support abilities.

The disadvantage is that the build depends on targeting logic written by the game.

When that logic works, a Minion Necromancer feels like the commander of a supernatural army.

When it fails, the player becomes an increasingly angry spectator.

This distinction matters more for Minion Necromancers than for classes using companions as supplemental damage.

The skeletons are not a small bonus.

They are the build.

Stationary Objectives Have Caused Companion Problems Before

Companion AI often struggles when an activity mixes ordinary monsters with destructible objectives.

Enemies naturally generate aggression and targeting behaviour.

Objects such as barriers, structures and event targets may receive lower priority until the player attacks or commands them directly.

Aetheric Masses exist in an awkward middle ground.

They are attackable objectives, but they do not behave like monsters.

That may explain why minions appear more interested in mobile enemies nearby.

It does not make the behaviour acceptable.

If the game expects players to destroy something for progression or currency, companion builds must recognise it as a valid priority target.

Manual Attacks Are Not A Proper Solution

Some Minion Necromancers can contribute direct damage through curses, Corpse Explosion or other active skills.

That does not mean the player can simply destroy every Mass without the army.

Many builds invest heavily in minion damage while sacrificing personal damage.

The Necromancer’s own attacks may primarily exist to trigger effects, generate corpses or support the summons.

Asking that character to manually kill a high-health objective defeats the purpose of the build.

It is like asking a general to leave the command tent because the army has decided the fortress looks boring.

The Minion Command Should Lock Targets

The cleanest fix would be to make the command ability lock minions onto the selected target.

Once ordered, the summons should continue attacking until one of several clear conditions is met.

The target dies.

The player issues another command.

The target becomes unreachable.

Or the Necromancer moves far enough away that the army must return.

Nearby monsters should not automatically override a direct command.

The entire purpose of the ability is to correct the behaviour that automatic targeting would otherwise choose.

If the AI immediately cancels that decision, the command button is not providing meaningful control.

A Shorter Cooldown Would Be A Useful Backup

Blizzard could also reduce the command cooldown.

That would not fully solve the targeting problem, but it would allow players to correct it more frequently.

The command could receive a shorter cooldown when used against an Aetheric Mass or another activity objective.

Alternatively, the cooldown could reset when the commanded target dies.

This would let Minion Necromancers move efficiently between objectives without turning the ability into constant free crowd control.

The player should not need to spam commands every second.

They should at least be allowed to remind the dead who is technically in charge.

Aetheric Masses Could Receive Higher Target Priority

Another solution would change the AI rather than the command skill.

Blizzard could assign Aetheric Masses a higher priority whenever they are active nearby.

Minions might automatically prefer the Mass over ordinary enemies unless the Necromancer selects another target.

This would suit the structure of Infernal Hordes, where the objective usually provides more value than another pack of basic monsters.

Care would be needed when elite enemies are threatening the player.

A simple priority increase could still make the activity far more consistent without forcing the summons to ignore everything else.

The Issue Hurts Certain Infernal Offers More Than Others

Infernal Offers shape each run by increasing the frequency or value of specific events.

A player using a build that handles Aetheric Masses well may deliberately choose Mass-focused options.

For Minion Necromancers, those same choices can become traps.

An offering that creates more Masses should be rewarding.

Instead, it may create more objectives the build cannot reliably command its damage to attack.

This reduces the number of viable choices available during the run.

The problem therefore affects more than combat speed.

It interferes with the activity’s decision-making system.

Players Should Not Need To Avoid Valuable Events

Build strengths and weaknesses are healthy.

A single-target build may struggle with enormous crowds.

A slow melee build may have difficulty reaching distant events.

A fragile setup may need to avoid especially dangerous modifiers.

Those weaknesses come from the build’s mechanics.

Ignoring a stationary objective because companion AI cannot maintain focus is different.

That is not a strategic weakness.

It is a control failure.

Minion Necromancers should not have to avoid Aetheric Mass offerings because their army occasionally develops an objection to workplace priorities.

Blizzard Has Improved Minions Before

Diablo 4’s minions have received substantial improvements since launch.

Blizzard has adjusted their survivability, stat inheritance, damage and interactions with various Necromancer effects.

Minion attacks have also gained access to mechanics such as Overpower through previous updates.

The builds are far more capable than they were during the game’s earliest seasons.

Better numbers cannot solve poor target selection, however.

A skeleton dealing enormous damage remains useless when it directs that damage toward the wrong enemy.

At some point, intelligence becomes a damage multiplier.

Companion Builds Need Consistent Objective Rules

The problem also extends beyond one event type.

Every activity containing destructible objectives needs consistent companion targeting.

Minions should understand barriers, event structures, boss summons and other objects the player must destroy to progress.

The rules should be predictable.

If the player attacks an objective, nearby minions should assist.

If the player commands an objective, every available minion should remain focused on it.

If no command exists, the AI should prioritise objects directly connected to activity progression.

Players should not need to memorise which pieces of scenery their army considers legally attackable.

The Bug Is Especially Painful For Dedicated Minion Players

Minion builds attract players who enjoy commanding a group rather than performing every attack personally.

That fantasy depends on trust.

The player chooses the direction and the army carries it out.

When summons repeatedly ignore an obvious objective, the fantasy collapses.

The Necromancer is no longer controlling the dead.

The dead are freelancing.

This may sound funny during one wave.

After several failed Aetheric Masses and a reduced reward chest, the joke begins losing damage scaling.

Blizzard Has Not Confirmed A Fix

At the time of writing, Blizzard has not publicly confirmed a specific fix for Necromancer minions ignoring Aetheric Masses.

The current Diablo 4 patch notes include several Infernal Hordes fixes and reward adjustments, but no listed change addressing this particular targeting complaint.

The behaviour is based on player reports and may not occur during every run.

Different enemy density, minion positioning and build setups could affect how often it appears.

The reports are still consistent enough to highlight a real usability problem.

A command ability should command.

That standard does not require extensive damage testing.

Minion Necromancers Need Their Army To Obey

Aetheric Masses are important targets with direct control over a run’s final rewards.

Minion Necromancers should be able to destroy them as reliably as any other build.

The solution could involve stronger target priority, persistent command locking or a shorter command cooldown.

Any of those would be better than the current reported behaviour.

Necromancers have already completed the difficult part.

They raised an army of dead warriors and dragged it into Hell.

Blizzard only needs to convince that army to attack the enormous glowing object directly in front of it.

For more coverage of Necromancers, Infernal Hordes and seasonal bugs, visit our Diablo 4 archive.

Sources

• Diablo IV Forums: Players report minions ignoring Aetheric Masses
• Blizzard: Infernal Hordes and Aetheric Mass changes
• Blizzard: Current Diablo IV patch notes

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