At the start of the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2016, the studio behind the Diablo franchise has officially confirmed the upcoming character of the series, the Necromancer. And just like the Necromancer from Diablo 2, the new character also has the same set of skills from its previous version: bone spells, raise minions (skeletons, etc.) and curse as well as having that iconic Scythe as its main weapon. To learn more about the new class and its difference from the Witch Doctor, let's have our first look at the Necromancer.

Necromancer

Blizzard has shared some details behind the lore of the Necromancer. According to the studio, the class has intentionally hidden themselves deep in the jungles of Kehjistan in order to maintain the harmony and balance for life (and death). So far, it certainly has a lot of resemblance to the Witch Doctor class: both of which interacts with the souls. But what sets the Necromancer apart is that, according to Blizzard, "the Necromancer's magic is much darker."

Necromancer's Spells and Abilities

From the studio's perspective, the Witch Doctor has a lighter approach when it comes to life and death magic as they mostly utilize zombified pets and denizens from the jungle. But in the Necromancer's case, they directly touch the essence of the living - using spells like Siphon Blood, Blood Rush, Bone Spear, Summon Skeletons, Curses and even Corpse Explosion. These spells might be very familiar to you especially if you had already played Diablo 2 as the studio already confirmed that they have taken most of the inspiration from the previous version's Necromancer.

 Necromancer's Design and Approach

Based on the lore, it's clear that Necromancer will be focusing more on blood and bone to create dissimilarity from the existing Witch Doctor class. Although they both have the same reanimation skills, it's interesting to see the margin between the two classes when it comes to raising the undead. Personally, apart from raising skeletons, there's not much of a disparity between the two. When it comes to design, the Necromancer uses its iconic Scythe weapon and can also wield the classic Dagger/Wand and Shield variant.

Rise of the Necromancer Pack

The Necromancer class is available for the Rise of the Necromancer Pack that also comes with in-game pets, two additional stash tabs (PC only), two additional character slots, pennant, portrait frame, banner and a banner sigil. The pack is scheduled to be released in 2017 but the price has yet to be announced. We're guessing that it might take awhile as Blizzard also said that they're still in the process of designing the female version of the class.

What do you think of the Necromancer class? Do you think it's very similar to the Witch Doctor class? How do you think Blizzard will diverge and make the new character unique from the existing class? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below!