Skeletal Priests in Diablo 4 are specialized support units within the Necromancer's arsenal, empowered through the Book of the Dead system. They are not a distinct summon but rather an upgrade to your existing Skeletal Warriors.
Key Functions and Abilities
The primary purpose of a Skeletal Priest is to bolster the Necromancer's undead army through support abilities:
- Healing: Skeletal Priests periodically cast a heal that affects all nearby summoned minions, significantly increasing their survivability. This reduces the need for constant re-summoning.
- Damage Buff: In addition to healing, Skeletal Priests also provide a damage enhancement aura or buff to your other minions, increasing their overall offensive output. The specific amount of increased damage is typically 50% of the Priest's own damage, applied every few seconds.
These combined effects make them a crucial component for maintaining a powerful and resilient minion presence.
Activation and Customization
Skeletal Priests are activated by choosing a specific upgrade path within the Book of the Dead for your Skeletal Warriors (Skirmishers, Defenders, or Reapers). Selecting the Priest upgrade typically means sacrificing one or more of your maximum skeletal warrior count to empower one to become a Priest.
For example, the Raise Skeleton skill offers an upgrade option where, every few seconds, a Skeletal Priest empowers your other minions, healing them for a percentage of their maximum life and increasing their damage by a set percentage for a short duration. This Priest takes the place of one of your standard skeletal warriors.
Strategic Importance
Utilizing a Skeletal Priest provides significant strategic advantages for minion-focused Necromancer builds:
- Enhanced Army Durability: The consistent healing drastically improves the lifespan of your skeletal minions, particularly against bosses or in high-density encounters.
- Increased Damage Output: The damage buff ensures your undead army remains a potent offensive force, capable of dispatching enemies more efficiently.
- Resource Management: By keeping minions alive longer, Priests indirectly help with Essence management, as fewer resources are spent on re-summoning.
- Build Synergy: They synergize well with aspects and passive skills that further enhance minion health, damage, or attack speed, creating a more formidable undead force.
The decision to include a Skeletal Priest involves a trade-off: a slightly smaller army size for significantly improved resilience and damage output from the remaining minions.
