Diablo 4 Season 12 PTR Necromancer Guide

Pit Tier Rankings, Build Power, and What to Expect at Launch

D4 Season 12 is almost here, and after extensive PTR testing (plus collaboration with top community theorycrafters), we finally have a clear picture of where Necromancer builds stand heading into launch.

This guide breaks down:

· What changed from Season 11

· How Sanctification loss impacted power

· The impact of Bloodied affixes

· Realistic Pit Tier expectations

· Why PTR numbers are NOT final

· Which builds dominate bossing and endgame

Let’s dive in.

Season 12 Power Shift – What Changed?

Coming out of Season 11, we expected a noticeable drop in power due to:

· Loss of Sanctification

· Loss of seasonal “Heavenly” style buffs

· Reduced access to powerful utility stats (Cooldown Reduction, bonus affixes, etc.), making optimization more important than ever for players looking to buy Diablo 4 Gold to help smooth out early gearing gaps.

Estimated Power Loss

· Perfect gear players: ~10–12 Pit tiers lost

· Average players: ~2–5 Pit tiers lost

· Season 12 introduces Bloodied affixes, designed to restore some of that lost power — but early PTR testing shows the seasonal mechanic itself may be slightly under-tuned.

Important PTR Caveats

Before we talk numbers, understand this:

· PTR ≠ Final Patch.

· Several factors skewed testing:

The Pit Progression Bug

· Massive random progression spikes (30%+ jumps)

· Makes runs artificially faster

· Does NOT translate to Tower content

Tower Is Disabled

· We cannot properly test the new Tower

· Pit optimization differs from Tower strategy

· Tower boss balance appears improved but remains untested

Golem Scaling Bug

· Using a shield (which should be stronger) does NOT scale Fel Gluttony correctly

· Meaning the strongest Golem version isn’t even on PTR

· These numbers represent careful “napkin math” adjustments to simulate realistic endgame scaling — not raw PTR clears.

· Take tiers as concepts, not commandments.

Season 12 Necromancer Pit Tier Rankings

Here’s where builds realistically land with strong but not perfect gear:

The Big Three: Season 12 Meta

Golem Necromancer – The Boss Destroyer

· Strengths

· Insane single-target scaling

· Fel Gluttony bug fix = huge damage boost

· Feels smooth and dominant

· Weakness

· Still bugged (shield scaling issue)

· Golem absolutely melts Torment 5 bosses. It’s currently the strongest and best-feeling build overall.

Shadow Blight – Consistent and Powerful

· Excellent sustained damage

· Competitive with Golem

· Great in Pit and boss scenarios

· Slightly more skill-dependent

· If tuned properly at launch, it could easily contest #1.

Shadow Blood Wave – High Scaling, High Ceiling

· Excellent burst windows

· Strong boss performance

· Great scaling with perfect gear

· Feels slightly behind Golem in ease-of-play, but very competitive.

Mid-Tier Builds – Playable but Outclassed

Bone Spirit (Shattered Spirit)

· Solid mid-pack

· Feels fantastic in Infernal Hordes

· Viable across content types

Mage Minions

· Strong scaling

· Slightly behind top meta builds

· Consistent but not explosive

Bone Spear

· Respectable

· Not dominant

· Good all-rounder

Blood Builds – Where the Problem Starts

Here’s where balance becomes concerning.

Blood Surge – Pit 95

Blood Lance – Pit 101

Blight – Pit 100

Sever – Pit 102

These builds struggle significantly in Torment 5 boss content.

They aren’t “unplayable.”

They just feel dramatically weaker when pushing endgame.

The Golem vs Blood Surge Problem

Let’s quantify the imbalance.

1. Using Pit scaling math:

· Golem at 113 vs Blood Surge at 95

2. That equals:

· Golem is ~88x stronger

· That’s 8,814% stronger

3. Even reducing the gap to 105 vs 113:

· Golem is still 9x stronger.

· A healthy meta spread? Yes. An 88x power difference? Absolutely not. Some separation between 102–113 is acceptable. But Blood Surge, Blight, and Sever are demonstrably undertuned compared to competitive builds. These deserve buffs.

Affliction – The Secret S+ Starter

Affliction deserves special mention.

· Easy rotation

· Smooth leveling

· Comfortable Pit 100

· Great early progression

· It doesn’t scale into high Pit pushing, but as a starter? Incredible. Think of it as “S+ tier for progression, capped at endgame.”

Season 12 Endgame Is Harder

Blizzard effectively bumped baseline content to Torment 5 levels.

Bosses like Bloodied Duriel and other endgame encounters:

· Deal significantly more damage

· Have massive health pools

· Require real build optimization

· This is GOOD. But it also exposes weak builds much more clearly.

Golem dominates.

Blood builds struggle.

That contrast is stark.

Is the Meta Healthy?

Here’s the honest answer:

✔️ It’s healthier than Season 11.

✔️ There’s a defined top 3.

✔️ Mid-tier builds are viable.

❌ Lower-tier builds are too far behind.

Perfect balance has never existed in gaming. Even chess isn’t perfectly balanced.

What matters is:

· Builds excel at different content types

· Some specialize in bossing

· Some specialize in wave clear

· Some feel better for farming

· That differentiation is good design. But an 80x power gap is not.

What I Expect Before Launch

Based on PTR feedback trends:

· Seasonal mechanics likely get buffed

· Underperforming builds receive tuning

· Golem scaling bug gets fixed

· Minor paragon tweaks possible

· If Blizzard listens to feedback, we could see:

· Blood Surge moved closer to 102–105

· Sever/Blight receiving modest buffs

· Slight tuning to extreme outliers

Final Thoughts

If Season 12 launched today:

· Golem

· Shadow Blight

· Shadow Blood Wave

· Mid-pack viability is decent.

· Lower-tier builds need help.

· The meta spread is acceptable.

· The power gap is not.

For players looking to stay competitive while testing different builds, having access to cheap Diablo 4 Items can help smooth the transition between metas and make experimenting far less punishing. Many players turn to trusted marketplaces like MMOEXP for reliable service, fast delivery, and secure transactions when upgrading their gear. This is likely one of our last major feedback windows before launch — so if you care about Necromancer balance, speak up. Season 12 has strong foundations. It just needs tuning. If you enjoy deep-dive ARPG analysis, build math, and endgame testing breakdowns, stay tuned — more Season 12 updates are coming.

MMOexp Diablo 4 Team