Essence

"Obtain the remains of a golem. Extract the essence of life. Reanimate the core. A simple plan."
"Yes, it is. If you're wise enough, you may not even need to fight them. We only need remnants, after all."

- A hero and the Curator discussing Essence^(src)

Essence is a resource in the Diablo series. As a primary resource it is used by Necromancers in Diablo III, but it is also a term used when acquiring the unique properties of creatures or items in some form.

Lore

Essence is a form of energy that gives beings life. It can be harvested from dead and living beings by Necromancers whether those beings be mortal, angel, or demon. It is gained by summoning the fading life force of corpses, by rending a soul, or siphoning it directly from blood. It can even come from the Necromancer's own health. By doing so, every Necromancer ensures that they are seldom helpless or powerless. Necromancers use Essence to animate the dead, curse enemies, and command minions.

As a static resource, Necromancers only have as much Essence as they harvest from their enemies. It does not fill up slowly over time, nor does it decay. Due to this peculiarity, Necromancers who are careless may find themselves out of Essence when they need it most. Necromancers who make the most of their power embrace the balance between exhausting Essence reserves and obtaining more from enemies, forever looking to the next battle. A Necromancer with a full Essence pool is a terrifying adversary indeed, but they must carefully use their spells to keep enemies at bay.

A sketch of Kulle's demonstrating Essence extraction

Using the Chaos Engine, Zoltun Kulle was similarly able to extract Essence, and use it to animate his creations. The Horadrim were also able to extract their own essence to store their memories in magical form.

In-game

Diablo Immortal

Essence is an indirect resource in Diablo Immortal. As the player kills monsters, essence will be sent to the Horadric Bestiary, giving the player bonuses and unlocking pages in the tome.

Diablo III

Essence is the resource of the Necromancer in Diablo III. It is capped at 200, and does not regenerate passively (but also does not decrease over time), only being replenished by primary skills such as Blood Siphon, or by other skills like Devour in battle. Overwhelming Essence passive increases the maximum cap by 40, and Paragon levels further add up to 50.

Reilena's Shadowhook, the Legendary two-handed scythe, boosts all damage done by 0.5% for every point of maximum Essence (normally +100%).

Scythes (both one and two-handed), Shields and Phylacteries increase maximum Essence as well: up to +20 per item (at level 70).

Many skills generate Essence upon killing enemies as well, including the Reaping passive skill. Kormac can provide a 10% generation bonus.

Corpse skills usually cost no Essence to cast. Note that many Blood skills will consume Life in addition to Essence, if any.

Diablo IV

Essence features in Diablo IV, though is related to items rather than the Necromancer. Powers from Legendary items can be extracted by the Occultist, while destroying the item in the process. That Essence can then be implanted into another Legendary item, overriding the power that was present in the item at that time. Essence material can also be stored and used at a later time.

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• Upon close inspection, some of the vapors on the Essence orb are shaped like screaming skulls.

• The Necromancer is, in effect, the only class with three resources to fuel their skills: corpses, Essence, and Life.

• Essence similarly exists as a resource in the StarCraft universe.