Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build and best skills

Discover how to create the best Bone Spear Necromancer build in Diablo 4

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blizzard Entertainment

Looking for the best Bone Spear Necromancer build in Diablo 4? If you’re after high damage in Diablo 4 , there’s nothing better than the Bone Spear Necromancer. While it saw some small nerfs with the launch of Season 1 , it continues to be one of the best-performing builds that will clear high-tier Nightmare Dungeons and the Uber Lilith boss with ease.

If dealing truly ridiculous amounts of damage sounds like your preferred way of clearing Season 1, then the Bone Spear Necromancer is for you! In this guide, we’ll break down how to make the best Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build, covering the Skills, Minions, Aspects, Stats, Gems, and Malignant Hearts. This build is current with the launch of Patch 1.1.0, but we’ll continue to update it as future patches and hotfixes arrive.

Check out our Diablo 4 Corpse Explosion Necromancer build , if you want to focus even more on detonating corpses and commanding an army of Minions!

What is the best class in Diablo 4? Watch this video to find out.Watch on YouTube

Best Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build

This Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build is all about raising your Critical Strike Chance with various passives, skill upgrades, and Aspects so that you can consistently get Critical Strikes on enemies.

As you do, you’ll also activate bonus effects such as additional Bone Spears, faster Essence Regeneration and Movement Speed, and more damage across the board for all of your Bone skills.

Best Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build skills

Below, you’ll find a full list of all skills that you should get for our Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build, in order:

Bone Splinters

Bone Splinters is your builder for this Bone Necromancer build, generating Essence so that you can keep casting Bone Spear.

It isn’t too important outside of that Essence Generation, but the Acolyte’s Bone Splinters upgrade also offers +8% Critical Strike Chance for four seconds if you hit the same enemy at least three times with the same cast of Bone Splinters. That’ll rarely trigger against packs, but it’ll give you a frequent Crit Chance boost against bosses.

Bone Spear

Bone Spear is a powerful ranged skill that deals huge damage and pierces through enemies to hit multiple targets. Since we’re building around Critical Strike Chance, you should take Paranormal Bone Spear to get the extra 5% Crit Chance with this skill.

Corpse Explosion

Corpse Explosion is a very useful damage dealer when you’re out of Essence and need to whittle down a mob, so we strongly recommend taking it even though it doesn’t fit with the Bone theme.

Corpse Explosion deals huge damage, but it also synergises with Grim Harvest and Fueled By Death to grant you six Essence and increase your damage with a 9% multiplier for six seconds when you consume a corpse.

Corpse Tendrils

Corpse Tendrils combos with Corpse Explosion by pulling enemies in and packing them together. It’ll also inflict enemies with the Slow and Vulnerable effects, allowing Corpse Explosion and your Bone skills to deal far more damage thanks to the Plagued Corpse Explosion and Evulsion skills respectively.

Bone Spirit

Bone Spirit is a powerful bomb, unleashing a spirit that charges at enemies and explodes. It deals huge damage, with a baseline of 112% skill damage and an extra 3% for each point of Essence spent when casting Bone Spirit.

The downside here is that Bone Spirit consumes all of your remaining Essence, meaning you’ll need to rely on Bone Splinters and Corpse Explosion to quickly get yourself back in the game. Use Bone Spirit when a boss or elite charges in to take a large chunk out of their health bar.

Bone Storm

Bone Storm is your ultimate, unleashing a powerful storm around your character that deals huge damage for 10 seconds.

The really powerful effects come from the upgrades, though, with Prime Bone Storm and Supreme Bone Storm offering +15% Damage Reduction and +20% Critical Strike Chance while your ultimate is active.

If you’re unsure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:

1. If you have low Essence, use Bone Splinters or Corpse Explosion as generators.
2. Spend Essence to use Bone Spear.
3. Use Corpse Tendrils to pull enemies together when you’re out of Essence, and then spam Corpse Explosion to quickly generate more Essence.
4. Use Bone Spirit as a bomb when an elite or boss enters the fight.
5. Use Bone Storm whenever you can, but especially when those elites or bosses appear.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build: Best Minions

The Necromancer has access to the unique Book of the Dead class mechanic, which allows them to raise three kinds of Minions: Warriors, Mages, and a Golem.

You might notice above, though, that we’ve opted not to use either the Raise Skeletons or Raise Golem skills, so we’d recommend sacrificing your Minions to get useful passives instead.

Below, you’ll find the exact options we’d recommend choosing with your Book of the Dead for this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:

• Skeletal Warriors: Sacrifice Skeletal Skirmishers - Your Critical Strike Chance is increased by 5%, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
• Skeletal Mages: Sacrifice Cold Mages - You deal 15% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Mages.
• Golem: Sacrifice Iron Golem - You deal 30% increased Critical Strike Damage, but you lose the ability to summon a Golem.

Of course, this comes with a pretty big issue - you lose all of your Minions, meaning you no longer have a meatshield and will struggle when all of the damage focuses on you. In a group, you should be fine and the passives on offer here are a huge boon to the build, but be aware that you might struggle to survive in solo content.

With that in mind, definitely consider keeping at least the Skeletal Warriors and Mages if you’re struggling. You will lose some Critical Strike Chance and extra Vulnerable damage, which is important for the build, but you will also find combat much easier.

If you do this, you should move skill points from Stand Alone and Memento Mori into Skeletal Warrior Mastery and Skeletal Mage Mastery. Ultimately, this is down to personal preference, and the build can still work either way.

Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build: Best Aspects

As you complete Side Dungeons or get Legendary drops in Diablo 4, you’ll gain Aspects. These are Legendary powers that grant new, powerful effects when equipped, and they are crucial to making your build excel.

Below, you’ll find the Aspects that we’d recommend using for this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:

• Deathless Visage (Unique Helmet - random drop): Bone Spear leaves behind echoes as it travels that explode, dealing extra damage.
• Aspect of Shielding Storm (Legendary - random drop): Each time that Bone Storm damages an enemy, gain a Barrier equal to 2-5% of your Base Life for 10 seconds.
• Aspect of Serration (Legendary - random drop): The Ossified Essence Key Passive also increases the Critical Strike Damage of your Bone skills by 1% per Essence above 50, up to +30-40%.
• Aspect of Disobedience (Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan): You gain x0.25-0.5% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to x25-50%.
• Wind Striker Aspect (Shivta Ruins - Kehjistan): Critical Strikes grant +8-16% Movement Speed for 1 second, up to 6 seconds.
• Splintering Aspect (Campaign Reward - Dry Steppes): Bone Spear’s primary attack makes enemies hit beyond the first Vulnerable for 1.5-2.5 seconds. Bone Shards from Bone Spear deal 50-100% bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies and pierce them.
• Aspect of Grasping Veins (Corrupted Grotto - Kehjistan): Gain +10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal x30-60% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils.
• Smiting Aspect (Legendary Amulet - random drop): You have x10-20% increased Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies. While you are Healthy, you gain x20-40% increased Crowd Control Duration.
• Aspect of the Umbral (Champion’s Demise - Dry Steppes): Restore 1-4 of your Primary Resource when you Crowd Control an enemy.
• Aspect of Torment (Black Asylum - Fractured Peaks): Critical Strikes with Bone Skills increase your Essence Regeneration by x20-30% for 4 seconds.

Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build: Best Stats

While hunting for Legendary Gear with the above Aspects, you also need to consider the Affixes that you get. Affixes are the various random stat rolls that you get on Gear, so it might take a while to find the rolls you really need.

Below, you’ll find the Affixes that you should hunt for with this Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build:

• Critical Strike Chance
• Critical Strike Damage
• Intelligence (increases Skill damage for the Necromancer)
• Willpower (increases Essence Regeneration)
• Dexterity (increases Critical Strike Chance)

If you have a piece of Gear that you really like but the Affixes don’t fit, head to the Occultist and Enchant the item to replace one of the Affixes.

Image credit:Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build: Best Gems

Gear also often comes with Sockets, into which you can place Gems for more passive bonuses. Gems have different effects depending on whether they are placed into Weapons, Armor, or Jewelry.

In Weapons, you should use Emeralds to get increased Critical Strike Damage against Vulnerable enemies. Corpse Tendril and the Splintering Aspect will both make enemies Vulnerable, and then you can take advantage of the high Critical Strike Chance that you should have with this build for even more damage.

In Armor, we’d recommend using Rubies to get more Maximum Life. The Necromancer doesn’t have high survivability, so any increases to Maximum Life are highly important for those Capstone and Nightmare Dungeons coming when you reach the endgame.

For Jewelry, we’d usually recommend using Skulls to boost your Armor stat. However, Season 1’s new Malignant Hearts must be placed into Infested Sockets, which can only appear on Jewelry items, so we’d recommend skipping any Gems in your Rings and Amulets for the duration of this Season.

Diablo 4 Bone Spear Necromancer build: Best Malignant Hearts

Malignant Hearts are the major new mechanic in Diablo 4 Season 1, introduing powerful bonuses that you can earn by placing this new item into Infested Jewelry Sockets. Malignant Hearts offer a significant power boost for any class, and they’re key to maximising the strength of the Bone Spear Necromancer throughout Season 1.

Below, we’ll list the best Malignant Hearts for the Bone Spear Necromancer:

• The Sacrilegious : Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.
• Tempting Fate : You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
• Revenge : 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.

That wraps up our Diablo 4 Bone Necromancer build guide. For other classes, you can also check out our Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build , Twisting Blades Rogue build , Chain Lightning Sorcerer build , and Lightning Storm Druid build guides.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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