The Necromancer Returns: Rise of the Necromancer & Patch 2.6.0

On June 27, 2017, the long-awaited seventh hero class arrived with the Rise of the Necromancer pack. The Necromancer is a deliberate tribute to the Diablo 2 original, commanding armies of skeletons, detonating corpses, and bending blood and bone to their will. Driven by Essence and unique corpse-based mechanics, the class plays unlike anything else in the game – a reunion with an icon the Diablo community had requested loudly for years. The class was first revealed at BlizzCon 2016, a full eight months before launch, building anticipation over many months.

An Icon Returns

The Necromancer was designed as a callback to Diablo 2. Rather than echoing the existing six classes, it leans into a controlled, almost tactical playstyle: fallen enemies leave behind corpses that serve as raw material for powerful abilities. Where the Witch Doctor already occupied the pet-summoner role, the Necromancer set itself apart through its grim, deliberate reanimation fantasy.

• Corpse Explosion and Corpse Lance turn dead bodies into damage
• Skeletal Mages and the Golem fight as obedient pets at your side
• Bone Spear and Bone Armor anchor the bone-themed toolkit
• Blood Magic sacrifices your own life for amplified effect
• Curses like Decrepify, Frailty and Leech weaken entire packs

Essence doesn't passively flood back in abundance – it is deliberately generated by generator skills and spent through spenders, giving the Necromancer a distinct rhythm of its own. Anyone who played Diablo 2 instantly recognized the DNA: the cold bone aesthetic, the curse mechanics and the summoning of skeleton armies were modernized for Diablo 3, but with visible respect for the original.

Lore and Narrative Context

Unlike a pure skin release, the Necromancer was also given narrative grounding. Necromancers hail from the Priests of Rathma, an order from the distant east of Sanctuary that prizes the balance between life and death above all else. This philosophy of equilibrium sets them sharply apart from the demonic powers they superficially resemble – their magic is a tool, not malice.

For the Priests of Rathma, death is not an enemy but the other half of a necessary order.

This depth ensured the new class felt less like a bolted-on addition and more like a long-missing piece of the Diablo 3 world.

The Paid Pack

Rise of the Necromancer was a paid add-on priced around $14.99 USD and required ownership of Reaper of Souls. Beyond full access to the class in both Campaign and Adventure modes, it bundled a range of cosmetic and practical extras:

• Two additional stash tabs and two character slots
• A mount (the bone horse) and wings
• The Half-formed Golem pet
• A portrait frame, a pennant, plus a unique banner shape and banner sigil

The decision to sell a single class as paid micro-DLC was controversial at launch. Critics balked at the price for one hero, while supporters pointed out that the bundled extras – above all the additional stash tabs, a chronically scarce resource in Diablo 3 – significantly raised the perceived value.

Patch 2.6.0

Alongside the pack, Patch 2.6.0 went live – and it delivered free content to all Reaper of Souls owners regardless of the Necromancer purchase. At its heart were two new play areas tied to the Necromancer's story:

• Shrouded Moors
• Temple of the Firstborn
• Plus the Realms of Fate as atmospheric side zones

Both main areas are available in Adventure Mode, expanding Nephalem Rifts and general farming with fresh scenery and enemies. Making these zones free to all Reaper owners was a deliberate signal: no one should be locked out of new world content simply for skipping the class.

Challenge Rifts: a New Competitive Mode

Patch 2.6.0 also introduced Challenge Rifts – a weekly, pre-built rift run in which every player controls the exact same character with identical gear and an identical build, competing for the fastest clear. The twist: the setup is taken from a real player's Greater Rift run from the previous week and is completely fixed.

• Each week a new Challenge Rift unlocks with a fixed character and build.
• Every participant starts under exactly equal conditions – no Paragon, no personal gear.
• Completing the rift grants a reward cache of gold, materials and shards.

This noticeably lowered the barrier of entry for newcomers and gave veterans a fair, gear-independent contest where pure skill decided the best time.

New Builds: Sets and Legendaries for the Necromancer

For the Necromancer itself, the patch added over 30 new legendaries and four class-exclusive sets. The set themes covered the class's core fantasies:

• Bones of Rathma – the Skeletal Mage summoning archetype
• Trag'Oul's Avatar – the blood and life-sacrifice mechanic
• Grace of Inarius – Bone Armor and its rotating bone whirlwind
• Pestilence Master's Shroud – corpse and Bone Spear synergies

As a result, the class was viable with its own end-game builds from day one and didn't have to slowly establish itself across seasons. These were joined by class-defining single legendaries such as the Funerary Pick bow or the Maltorius' Petrified Spike phylactery, which massively amplified individual skills.

Reception and Reactions

Despite the pricing debate, the in-game reception was largely positive. The Necromancer struck a nerve: it served the nostalgia of the Diablo 2 generation while offering fresh, mechanically distinct builds. The tactical corpse management and the variety of set fantasies – enabling several wholly different playstyles right at launch – drew particular praise.

Why It Mattered

Rise of the Necromancer was the last major class release before the long era of season-only updates. The class quickly proved popular – both for its nostalgia and for its ever-growing build variety. Across later patches the Necromancer cemented its place in the meta and to this day fields competitive Greater Rift builds in many seasons. For Diablo 3, June 27, 2017 thus marked one of the last great milestones of content expansion – and at the same time the transition into a phase where new seasons and balancing became the game's primary driving force.