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Diablo 4: Trailer announces the Necromancer as the fifth playable class
Shortly after the unveiling of the Necromancer as the fifth and final class until the release, Blizzard also released his Diablo 4 quarterly update. Appropriately, this is also all about the popular class, which was only added as a paid DLC in the third part.
In this article, we’ll look at how the Necromancer plays in what is now his fifth appearance in the Diablo series, what the differences are, and why the Book of Dead is one of the most exciting additions.
The XBOX Showcase also featured gameplay footage of Diablo 4, world bosses, forts, and PvP, commented by the developers.
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This is how the Necromancer plays
In Diablo 4, every class has something like a mana reserve, which is used up when using strong abilities and regenerated over time or with simple attacks. In the case of the necromancer, this resource is called “essence”.
The second temporary “resource” that this class can use is the mortal remains of fallen enemies. As known from the predecessors, the necromancer transforms them into undead servants, golems or lets them burst in devastating explosions.
The weapon arsenal includes the well-known possibilities of swords, daggers, foci and of course shields. However, to underline your look as a prince of death, you can also equip a stylish scythe. Blizzard has also put together a small render video for the Necromancer’s equipment:
link to YouTube content
The three specializations
Since Diablo 4 focuses more on diverse builds and in-depth character development than its direct predecessor, it becomes all the more important to think carefully about your specialization and to design all your equipment for this playstyle. We present the three directions in detail:
- Bone: Bone Magic is more physical than the other two, benefiting particularly from a full Essence pool and Critical Hits. With it you toss around the bone spears known from Diablo 2, lock opponents in bone prisons or spend all your essence on a walking bone time bomb.
- Darkness: Many indirect damage and weakening effects such as DoTs and debuffs are dormant in this specialization. These can replenish your essence supply and help you keep your undead horde well stocked. Damage fields can also be laid out and control effects applied.
- Blood: Blood Necromancers happily siphon the lifeblood from their enemies to bolster themselves and their attacks. With abilities like Blood Surge becoming stronger the more enemies it hits, this playstyle is best for those who like to throw themselves into the thick of things. Your own chances of survival are strengthened, among other things, by short damage immunities.
Check out our Necromancer gallery for a reunion of familiar abilities like Corpse Blast or Iron Maiden:
Diablo 4 – View Necromancer screenshots
While the Decompose ability in the Path of Darkness gives you an easy way to create corpses and thus summon more servants, there should also be interesting synergies in the other directions.
So there isn’t a specific path responsible for your minion, but all three support the playstyle as a pet class, changing the way you summon and use your skeleton warriors, mages and golems.
For a taste of the different directions and abilities, check out this brand new gameplay footage with commentary from GameSpot’s peers:
link to YouTube content
The undead army brand self-made
Diablo 4 simplifies the actual summoning of the dark hordes by not establishing each type of skeleton and golem as a separate ability that you have to pack on your bar. Rather than counting and creating whatever army composition you find most effective, all the magic happens with just two buttons.
But before you yell »Wretched simplification!«, listen to what’s up with the new Book of the Dead has on itself. In this army kit, you work out in advance which servants your final troop should consist of.
In the Book of the Dead you put together your individual army.
Of course, you only unlock some components at a higher level, but in principle it works like this: First you determine which of the three variants you want to play with for the warriors, magicians and your golem. With the skeleton warriors you have the choice between the following types:
- Planks: The standard brawls deal high damage, but also crumble quickly.
- Defender: The more robust skeletons can withstand a lot more.
- Seelenernter: Third-category skeletons hit slower, but deal area-of-effect damage in line of sight and have a powerful Charge Attack.
The next step is to further customize the unit to suit your playstyle with specific upgrades. These minion specializations can interact with your own specs or add a twist of their own to your army.
If you find a certain type of unit unsuitable for your purposes, you can block the ability to summon them and in turn become stronger yourself. In this way, necromancers with few or no minions even out the difference in strength, which in turn gives you more freedom in shaping your playstyle.
What else did the fair reveal?
The fact that the Necromancer actually became the fifth release class is a bit of a surprise, as many had expected a kind of Crusader. Now the last free place went to the necromancer.
Otherwise, the developers gave us an idea of how many dungeons should be in the game. We should be allowed to fight our way through a total of 150 monster hoards. It has also been confirmed that there will be full crossplay between PC and Xbox. Of the release period was also finally set for 2023.
If you want to delve even deeper into the matter, you will find out everything you need to know about Diablo 4 in our detailed preview:
Diablo 4 Preview:
More diverse & complex – how Blizzard is changing its action RPG
How do you like the plan for the new Necromancer? Do you promise smoother gameplay from the Book of Dead, or are you worried that this will make servant management a side issue? Write us your opinion in the comments!
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