Diablo 4 Season 10: The Soul Rift Necromancer That Melts Everything

Welcome traveler. If you've stepped into Diablo 4's latest season and wondered why bosses are evaporating in seconds and high-level Pit runs are being cleared without effort, chances are you've seen the new Soul Rift Necromancer in action. This build is melting everything in its path-from Torment bosses to Infernal Hordes-and the best part?

You don't need mythic gear, ultra-rare chaotic uniques, or a full stash of endgame loot to get started. With just a single chaotic perk, you can unlock the full destructive power of this setup and begin tearing through content at breakneck speed.

In this guide, we'll break down how the build works, what gear you'll need, the gameplay loop, and why this Necro is one of the most powerful options in Diablo 4 right now.

The Gameplay Loop: How Soul Rift Shreds Everything

At the heart of the build is Soul Rift, a skill that allows you to stack up to 10 instances on top of each other. Each Rift pulse deals shadow damage every 0.25 seconds, which translates to four ticks per second per stack. With 10 stacks, you're pumping out 40 hits per second-and that's before layering in Corpse Explosions, Blight, and other shadow damage sources.

Here's the basic loop:

1.Hold right-click (or your Soul Rift button) to stack Rift instances.

2.Weave in Corpse Explosion (3 casts) to gain a 40% bonus damage buff.

3.Add a Blight cast for an additional 10% shadow damage stack.

4.Keep moving-your stacks will annihilate everything on contact.

For trash mobs in Infernal Hordes or the Undercity, you often don't need more than two or three stacks before entire packs disintegrate. 

Against bosses, the single-target damage skyrockets since all Rift ticks focus on one enemy instead of spreading out. It's a rare case where the build feels stronger against bosses than against mobs.

And thanks to 200%+ movement speed boosts from gear like Yahoon (granting free teleports), you can zoom through maps, apply your Rifts, and watch everything crumble in your wake.

Why Soul Rift Damage Scales Out of Control

The trick lies in how Shadowblight interacts with Soul Rift. Every eighth instance of shadow damage procs a big burst of damage that can crit. 

With 40 Rift ticks per second, you're applying about five procs per second, but realistically, with extra shadow damage sources (Corpse Explosion, Blight DoTs, Chaotic procs), it's closer to 7-8 per second.

Now stack that with multipliers:

 Aspect of Decay (DK) → Up to 250% more damage from Shadowblight stacks.

 Blighted Aspect → Consecutive Shadowblight hits ramp damage by 70% per stack, no cap (often hitting 1,500%+ bonus).

 Vulnerable Damage → Soul Rift inherently applies vulnerability, boosting crit scaling.

 Random Chaotic Bursts → Erupting Chaos adds extra shadow procs.

The result? Damage ramps higher and higher until elites are getting hit for billions per tick. Bosses simply cannot survive the stacking power.

The Key Unlock: Alter the Balance

The build doesn't function until you get one chaotic perk: Alter the Balance.

 Effect: Core skills become Ultimates, and Ultimates become Core skills.

 Why It Matters: Soul Rift (a core skill) can now be spammed infinitely, stacking its power up to 10 times.

To unlock this:

 Reach Torment I.

 Defeat Bartuc to earn Alter the Balance.

If you're starting from scratch, level with a minion Necromancer from 1-60 (fast, safe, and reliable). Once you've unlocked Alter the Balance, swap immediately into the Soul Rift build and start wrecking Torment content.

Gear Setup: What You Actually Need

The beauty of this build is its low entry requirement. You only need:

 Alter the Balance (chaotic perk)

 Aspect of Decay (DK)

 Blighted Aspect

With just those, you can clear Pit 90+ with ease. Everything else only pushes your damage into absurd territory.

Priority Gear and Tempers

 Amulet: Even Piercer-Adds up to +11 (or +15 if greater) ranks to Reaper's Pursuit, multiplying shadow skill damage by 28-38% per shadow skill. With six shadow skills on your bar, that's massive scaling.

 Helmet: Decrepify Aura (or Air of Perdition if available). Helps apply curses and control mobs.

 Chest: Fist of Fate-Optional but fun. Grants random damage multipliers (1-360%), attack speed, and lucky hit chance.

 Pants: Lidless Wall (ideal)-Boosts base weapon damage by 80% and provides armor + cooldown reduction.

 Boots: Soul Rift Duration Temper-Longer Rift uptime = easier stacking. Evade → Unstoppable is a bonus.

Rings & Gloves:

 Attack Speed (cap it as high as possible)

 Essence restore on Ultimate use

 Shadow Damage multipliers

Aspects to Look For

 Damned Aspect-+50% damage against cursed enemies.

 Sacrificial Aspect-Buffs Book of the Dead bonuses for more shadow scaling.

 Soul Rift Duration-Easier to maintain 10 stacks.Managing Essence Sustain

At first glance, spamming Soul Rift looks like it should drain your essence instantly-but with the right setup, you'll feel infinite sustain.

Here's why:

 Soul Rift Cost Reduction → Level up Alter the Balance to reduce Rift's essence cost (down to 43 essence).

 Essence Restoration Tempers → "Casting an ultimate restores X essence." With two rolls (31 + 25 essence restore), you'll instantly refill your pool.

 Zen-Quarks Rune Combo → Casting an ultimate restores essence and grants +100% shadow damage bursts.

With these, even when your essence bar bottoms out, it instantly refills-keeping the engine running indefinitely.

Attack Speed: The True Damage Multiplier

Attack speed isn't just a quality-of-life stat here-it's the core multiplier. The faster you can stack Soul Rifts to 10, the faster your damage skyrockets.

 Aim for 100% permanent attack speed through gloves, rings, and buffs.

 Use Variana Mercenary for more attack speed.

 Drink a Potion of Advantage (+15%).

 Activate Crazy Brew power → temporary +80% attack speed (a separate cap layer).

At peak, you'll reach 180%+ effective attack speed, making Soul Rift stacks build up instantly and melting everything before it has a chance to touch you.

Paragon Boards & Glyphs

The Paragon setup leans into crit scaling and shadow multipliers:

 Essence Board → Critical Strike Damage nodes are your priority.

 Wither Board → Random 300% shadow damage procs on all sources.

 Flash Board → +40% bonus damage when consuming corpses (synergy with Corpse Explosion).

 Frighttal Board → +40% bonus damage and scaling to vulnerable/crowd-control damage.

Key Glyphs:

 Essence Glyph → Sustain + damage.

 Eliminator Glyph → Huge INT scaling.

 Rare Glyph Boosts → Vulnerable + CC multipliers.

This setup ensures that every layer of your build-from base hits to random procs-is multiplying your shadow damage into the billions.

Mercenary Choices

Mercs are just as important for smoothing out gameplay:

 Rair Merc → 15% bonus damage + resistances.

 Variana Merc → Extra attack speed (pairs perfectly with the stacking mechanic).

With the right buffs, you're unkillable while zipping around maps faster than most Rogue builds.

Endgame Performance: Where This Build Shines

 Pit Farming (90-100) → Melts everything, elites die in seconds, essence sustain keeps you moving non-stop.

 Infernal Hordes → Three Rift stacks are usually enough; zooming around at 200%+ speed turns hordes into speed bumps.

 Boss Fights → The real surprise: Soul Rift focuses all ticks on one target, so single-target DPS is better than AoE. Bosses get drained dry in record time.

 General Mapping → Doesn't require standing still. Two Rifts + movement buffs = screen-wide clears.

Final Thoughts: The Best Necro Build Right Now?

The Soul Rift Shadowblight Necromancer is easily one of the most broken builds in Diablo 4 Season 10. It's simple to play, has a lightning-fast setup, and doesn't rely on lottery-tier drops. With just one chaotic perk and a couple of aspects, you can blast through Torment I and climb straight into Pit 100 farming. MMOexp provides you with the Diablo 4 Gold and Diablo 4 Items you need to help you build it quickly.

While other classes (like the Druid) have powerful endgame builds, the Necro's combination of simplicity, damage ramping, and boss-melting single target makes it the standout choice for players who want to dominate without grinding for weeks.

MMOexp Diablo 4 Team