Diablo 4's Paladin has accomplished something the Necromancer couldn't in 11 seasons

The release of the Paladin class has been the highlight Diablo 4 Season 11, injects the game with a style of play that the game has been missing since launch. Diablo 4's Paladin finally gives players a classic “sword and board” archetype to play, along with Paladin's iconic Aura mechanic from Diablo 2. It's this Aura mechanic that underlies the Paladin's most popular build, accomplishing a feat the Necromancer has been trying to achieve for 11 seasons.

With the rise of Paladin in Diablo 4 Season 11, the meta of the game has been completely upgraded as the new class is by far the most powerful in the game at this point. While other classes like Spiritborn and Barbarian can also thrive this season, Paladin still overshadows them in terms of endgame viability. Unfortunately for the Necromancer, this means that what was once one of Diablo 4The most consistently powerful classes have slipped in the meta, and its passive Minion and Golem builds are a far cry from where Paladin's passive builds are in Season 11.

Diablo 4's Paladin has an S-level passive build before the Necromancer

As fun as it can be to learn the perfect skill rotations for one Diablo 4 build, some players may just want to sit back and watch their character get killed with as little input as possible. This playstyle has popularized 1-button builds like Dance of Knives Rogue, but it's possible to create a build that requires even fewer inputs. Up until Season 11, Minion Necromancer offered the best passive build, but this build was never the meta threat some players had hoped for and was largely a great leveling build and useful endgame.

Paladin's Auradin build is the Meta Powerhouse that passively turns lethal

The Auradin Paladin build is possibly the best built Diablo 4 Season 11, and it uses the class's Aura skills to basically get kills simply by existing. The key to this build is to keep the Paladin's three Aura skills active as much as possible:

Fanaticism Aura
Defy Aura
Holy Light Aura

To fully unlock the potential of this build, players must acquire the Dawnfire Unqiue Gloves for the Paladin. This unique acts as the main source of passive damage for the build, as it increases the damage done by the Holy Light Aura, changing it to fire damage that scales for each kill the Paladin takes in the Aura's range. The Dawnfire Gloves are so powerful that they almost single-handedly propel this build into S-Tier.

Dawnfire can be farmed from Lair Boss Varshan.

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The Necromancer's passive Minion builds are not on par with the Aura Paladin

While Minion Necromancer builds in Diablo 4 Season 11s are solid enough to handle most endgame content, their overall power is nowhere near comparable to Auradin Paladin. Minion Necromancer passively deals damage, but relies on the AI of his Minions to get kills rather than the automatic nature of having enemies in range like Paladin's Aura. While Necromancer has access to solid Uniques like Ring of Mendeln and The Hand of Naz to power up his minions, these minions aren't as reliable as Paladin's Aura and can't achieve the same damage multipliers Holy Light Aura can with Dawnfire.

In Season 11, Golem Necromancer builds are finally viable, but still can't break into the top meta with Paladin. Typically, Minion Necromancer builds sacrifice all minions except Skeletal Mages and use them as the build's primary source of damage. But the introduction of the new Gravebloom Unique i Diablo 4 Season 11 makes Golems a viable option, as it summons three smaller Golems to draw the enemy's attention instead of just one. Unfortunately, this skill is still a less reliable source of passive damage due to the game's minion AI, making passive Paladin builds the superior alternative to any of the Necromancer passive builds in season 11.