Diablo 4 Necromancers are currently running wild with an elixir capable of melting through enemy health bars in seconds

Key art for Diablo 4, Season 4 - Loot Reborn.
(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Diablo 4's big bad enemies are currently being ravaged by a single elixir capable of unleashing monstrous amounts of damage, and many players are already sick of it. 

Diablo 4's fourth season, Loot Reborn, kicked off earlier this month, bringing with it the Elixir of Holy Bolts. Its intended effect is relatively simple: for 15 minutes, after you kill an enemy, Holy Bolts will fire out from its corpse, allowing you to rack up damage on the rest of the field as more and more foes are felled. However, for some builds, this is far more effective than it is on others.

Namely, Necromancers, who are capable of summoning minions to help them fight, are also able to share the elixir's effects with their battle companions. However, a minion's damage output is calculated a bit differently from that of a regular player's. As explained by Diablo 4 content creator MacroBioBoi, minions "get the scaling of the monsters in the content type that you are." This is demonstrated in a fight against the level 200 Tormented Duriel which you can watch below – the minions can be seen killing off the maggots dropping from above, triggering the Holy Bolts, and melting through the boss health bar like it's nothing. 

Why Don't My Minions Do Damage? | Holy Bolt Elixir NEEDS to be Fixed - YouTube Why Don't My Minions Do Damage? | Holy Bolt Elixir NEEDS to be Fixed - YouTube
Watch On

"Just like that Tormented level 200 Duriel got popped real quickly, it's because when each one of our minions killed the maggots around us with this elixir on, the Holy Bolts that shot out of [them] had level 200 Tormented Duriel scaling on [them]," MacroBioBoi reveals. 

Take this and combine it with other damage multipliers and, well, the numbers start to add up fast. The exact math isn't clear, but however you want to look at it, there's no doubt that Necromancer builds with minions are capable of dealing ridiculous damage right now, to the point where many think it's straight-up bugged. While not everyone believes that this is the case, one thing is for sure, not all classes are affected equally.

"The elixir is not EQUALLY bugged for all builds, it is massively bugged for minion builds more than all else. Hence the problem," one Reddit user writes

Last week, global community development director Adam Fletcher said that the team has "been having some talks about the elixir," which is some acknowledgement of the Holy Bolt shenanigans, at least. That's not confirmation that things are set to change, mind you, but if anything does need fixing, it sounds like a patch could be on the way in the future. 

You can find even more games to dive into in our roundup of the 25 best RPGs

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

Read more
Diablo 4 season 7 screenshot
Blizzard disables Diablo 4 season 7 Witchcraft power that was being used to deal "very egregious numbers" and plans to bring it back "next week"
Diablo 4
Diablo 4 boss would push for patches to have more fun stuff to balance out unpopular but necessary nerfs: "Lots of medicine, don't see much sugar"
Diablo 4 season 8 boss
Diablo 4 season 8 is revamping the boss ladder system with new mechanics and bosses, including one of the best from Diablo 3
Diablo 4 season 7 screenshot
Diablo 4 season 7 all but revives the Diablo 3 class I've been wanting Blizzard to officially add since launch
Diablo 4
10 Games like Diablo to play after Diablo 4
Diablo 4's new merc using his shield to help someone
Diablo 4 Season 7 faces new competition: the original Diablo, which is coming to Xbox Game Pass just a week earlier
Latest in Diablo
Diablo 4 season 8 boss
Diablo 4 season 8 is revamping the boss ladder system with new mechanics and bosses, including one of the best from Diablo 3
Diablo 4 Goblin event
What is the Diablo 4 Goblin event and how to claim rewards
A demon towers over its foes in some Diablo 2: Resurrected concept art
Diablo 2 creator says players treated the action RPG like a "lifestyle game" because it was fun, and MMOs like World of Warcraft had more to do with starting the live service trend
Diablo 4
Diablo 4 boss would push for patches to have more fun stuff to balance out unpopular but necessary nerfs: "Lots of medicine, don't see much sugar"
Diablo 4 The Butcher
Diablo 4's second expansion won't come out until 2026
Diablo 2 Resurrected
Diablo creator rips into modern ARPGs for being all about "killing screen-fulls of things instantly," says Diablo 2's pacing "is great" and "that’s one of the reasons it’s endured"
Latest in News
Overwatch 2
My hopes for an Overwatch anime or Diablo horror movie are going strong as Blizzard president points out "we are Blizzard Entertainment, and not simply Blizzard Games"
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Pokemon Go players brace for the worst as Niantic is sold off for $3.5 billion: "This game is entering its death knell"
Stamp PSP
A 16-year-old pitch for a newly discovered first-party PSP game has me mourning the death of PlayStation's Japan Studio all over again
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"