The Necromancer is one of the most interesting characters to play in Diablo 4. Making their return from the old days of Diablo 2, the Necromancer brings their armies of the dead along with them. While their arsenal contains powerful Bone spells and Curses, the Necromancer’s summons is what made them iconic, and perhaps none were as iconic as their Golems.
These amalgamations of bone and blood have been the bread and butter for any Necromancer build over the years, and they have never been as overpowered as they are in Diablo 4.
What are the Necromancer’s Golems in Diablo 4?
Golems are one of the three different summons in the Necromancer’s Book of the Dead. While Skeleton Warriors bring the numbers and Skeleton Mages bring the firepower, Golems are the frontline tanks of any competent summoner’s lineup. Just like the other minions of the Necromancer, Golems come in three different variations as well.
- Bone Golem: The starter Golem that you gain immediately upon completion of the Necromancer’s unique class quest.
- Blood Golem: The blood variant of the Golem types. Excels at absorbing damage and regenerating itself back to full health.
- Iron Golem: The iron variant of the Golem types. This one provides the most defense of the three and, as such, is the ideal tank and crowd controller.
But, unlike the other minions, the Golems aren’t unlocked directly through levels. To unlock Golems, you will first have to complete the Necromancer’s unique class quest at level 25 titled “Necromancer: Call of the Underworld.” Completing this quest will finally lead you to an underground cellar that will unlock your first Golem, the Bone Golem.
To use the Golem in battle, just equip the Golem skill into one of your six active skill slots. From this point on, it is only a matter of leveling up your character to gain access to the other Golem types. The Blood Golem is unlocked at level 28 while the Iron Golem is unlocked at level 32. Each Golem type comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.
But how would one know which Golem is best for your build? We have ranked each Golem type so that you know which one is the perfect fit for your Necromancer build.
Ranking the Necromancer’s Golems in Diablo 4
While each Golem in the Necromancer’s arsenal has its place, there are situations where one type of Golem can reign supreme over the others. When it comes down to each Golem’s strengths, they can either be good at crowd control, resource regeneration, or damage absorption. Depending on which one of them is your Golem of choice to run through the story with, you will receive different effects.
Related: Best Diablo 4 Necromancer leveling build
To reiterate this point further, we will be ranking all three of the Necromancer’s Golems in terms of utility, tankiness, and damage output. If any of these match your criteria, feel free to swap that type of Golem in at any time from the Book of the Dead. But if you are looking for an overall strong Golem type to clear the game with, our ranking will help you out.
3) Iron Golem
The Iron Golem, unfortunately, makes it to the bottom of our ranking list. Despite this Golem type being the final Golem you unlock in the Book of the Dead, it does not quite match up to its Bone and Blood counterparts. This is because all the Iron Golem really offers is a strong defensive tank and nothing more that the Necromancers cannot already perform by themselves.
Each Golem type has two passive upgrades, one active ability, and one Sacrifice ability that transfers the Golem’s power to the Necromancer. These are the Iron Golem’s upgrades.
- Active ability: Slams the ground to stun all enemies.
- First upgrade: Every fifth attack made by the Iron Golem releases a shockwave that damages all enemies in front of the Golem.
- Second upgrade: The Iron Golem’s slam also turns all affected enemies vulnerable for three seconds.
- Sacrifice: Sacrificing the Iron Golem grants the Necromancer a permanent 30 percent increase in their critical strike damage.
The Iron Golem’s strength lies in crowd control and defense. Since the vulnerable status can already be applied by the Necromancer in other ways, such as Corpse Tendrils, there is not much the Iron Golem can exclusively provide in terms of utility, making it the third choice.
2) Bone Golem
The Bone Golem is definitely the middle of the roads pick here. This is because the Bone Golem does a bit of what its other counterparts do, just a little better than the former and not as good as the latter. If you’re going for a Bone Necromancer build, the Bone Golem might seem like a perfect choice here, but there is more to it than that, especially since Bone Necromancers don’t normally use summons.
The Bone Golem also inherits 30 percent of the Necromancer’s Thorns damage reflection. Beyond this, there are more things that Bone Golem can actually do.
- Active ability: Taunts all enemies to attack the Bone Golem.
- First upgrade: Whenever the Bone Golem loses 20 percent of its health, it creates a corpse.
- Second upgrade: The Bone Golem’s maximum life increases by 10 percent and its inherited Thorns goes up to 50 percent.
- Sacrifice: Sacrificing the Bone Golem grants the Necromancer a permanent 10 percent increase in attack speed.
The Bone Golem is a perfect choice to use in the early game till you gain access to the Blood Golem. While the corpse-shedding ability is amazing since you will have a passive supply of corpses to work with, the utility that the Blood Golem provides eventually trumps the Bone Golem.
1) Blood Golem
Undoubtedly, the most-used Golem, and with good reason, is the Blood Golem. Not only can this type of Golem tank as much as the other Golems, but it can also replenish its own health on a relatively low cooldown, making it an excellent tank to use in longer battles like Act bosses. The damage output of the Blood Golem is no joke either, making it a powerful frontliner offensively as well.
The skills of the Blood Golem are as follows.
- Active ability: Drains the life of all enemies around the Blood Golem.
- First upgrade: The Blood Golem absorbs 15 percent of all damage that the Necromancer takes.
- Second upgrade: When your Blood Golem is healthy, it gains 25 percent increased damage output and damage reduction.
- Sacrifice: Sacrificing the Blood Golem grants the Necromancer a permanent 10 percent increase in their overall health.
The Blood Golem is the overall favorite of most Necromancer players since it provides a perfect combination of offense, defense, and survivability. You can’t go wrong using this behemoth as a tank in any Summoner or hybrid build of your choosing.
