eq:Necromancer
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Overview:
Necromancers have a deep affinity for undead, with limited abilities to mez, slow, fear and charm them. However, don't confuse affinity as meaning innate bonuses to destruct; the ability to destroy undead best lie with clerics & paladins and their innate hate for the undead. The Necromancer is classified as anti-natural, the necromancer does contain some unique abilities regarding the destruction of Animals and Plant based mobs (to the despise of the necromancer community.)
Necromancers are the premier DOT (damage over time) casters, and also have a cohort of other abilities & utilities. The Necromancer can solo exceptionally well from level 1-85 provided their targets do not summon and are not immune to changes in run-speed. This is accomplished using a variety of abilities, particularly via the means to halt or slow a mobs movement speed (or fear away from you) while doing full capacity damage at range. The ability to split mobs utilizing feign death increases this capacity as well as drastically increasing personal survivability when things go awry. Lastly, the necromancer has good self-generated mana regeneration abilities in the game, commonly referred to as lich. The greatest benefit lich has compared to other superior regeneration capabilities is that lich is passive, requiring no further intervention or attention other than standard longterm re-buff efforts.
Necromancers are sought after in raids & groups for numerous abilities, including
- DPS is the overwhelming reason to seek out a necro. This is accomplished by stacking DOTs and utilizing other class abilities. In combination with feign death to manage aggro, the necro can DPS with near impunity. However, since the necromancer requires -time- for their spells to do damage, their DPS contributions are usually inversely proportional to that of their group i.e. the better the group, the worse the necromancer contributions. The worse the group, the more the necromancer contributions excel. In general, the longer the fight the more DPS the necromancer can provide...up to a point.
The necromancer is tripple-penalized in short fights / fast groups: 1) There is not enough time for their spells to do full damage (Damage lost) 2) They get no mana returned for spells that have not run full duration (efficiency lost) 3) The requirement to start applying DoTs immediately in order to accumulate total damage means the necromancer cannot sit out the first 20 seconds of a fight and gain 1-2 ticks of Out of Combat regeneration. In contrast, a class that utilizes instant-duration spells (nukes) can do the entirety of their dps contribution in the last 8-10 seconds of a fight after having gotten 7% total mana pool regenerated in 2 ticks of OOC.
Oddly enough, the necromancer has hands-down the most efficient detrimental spells in the game from a pure Damage per Mana (DPM) aspect...but in practical application in the group game the necromancer realizes the worst DPM of all spell casting classes. The printed fact (spell data DPM) ultimately always draws anger & uprising from non-necromancer players when the necromancer requests boosts in group contributions as unless you are a necromancer - you cannot possibly understand how horribly inefficient the class actually is.
- Their ability to pull is minor in the group or raid game due to the difficulty surviving taking hits as a silk wearer re: extremely low AC and HP. From a pure skill viewpoint they are inferior to bards and monks and from a survivability viepoint are even surpassed by their hybrid shadowknight -thus necromancers generally don't play this role in a large raid or difficult group content. However, the necromancer can generally split off mobs quite well as long as they are not immune to changes in run-speed or linked.
- Their ability to feign death and then rez in case of a wipe in worst case scenarios was once a calling card feature before banners & campfires. Their rez (93% exp return) requires an essence emerald (which requires the willing death of another player) so the necro is rarely utilized in this fashion considering how plentiful rez is.
- While Necromancers can also fear and mez undead in limited fashion, neither of these abilities gets any usage on raids, outside of perhaps Sendaii, the Hive Queen. Both abilities are mob-level capped to prevent the necromancer from being effective on current content.
- They can cast a group recourse line of spells which returns mana to all group members, which is useful to a caster DPS group, or a healer group, but such situations are not common as the overall mana regen provided is marginal in today's high-cost spells. However, once the necromancer obtains specific alternate abilities & good enough gear - these mana taps can ultimately be cast mana-free (though potential DPS is lost by not casting a detrimental spell in the same time.) In their mid-life (50s) the necromancer gained a variety of short-term group buff abilities such as AC tap, health tap, strength tap - but those abilities were discontinued and made obsolete with time.
- Necromancers are also considered one of the 3 "pet classes" as they have undead pets to do their bidding from very early levels. Of the pet classes (magician, beastlord, necromanter), necromancer pets are significantly weaker both offensively and defensively, but we do gain benefit from items with pet focus effects.
- Traditions, necromancers were long-ago utilized for their ability to transfer mana directly from themselves to a single other player character. This twitch line of spells is loathed by many members of the class as it requires the necromancer to cease all DPS (the main reason you keep them around) in order to give a very very small amount of mana to the recipient. The spell line is very old and inefficient. As spell costs and mana pools have continued to increase, it is obsolete. Unfortunately years later, the occasional ignorant raid leader will still send calls for necro's to start twitching or pumping when clerics report LOM status.
- Lastly, the necromancer class is very fun & rewarding as long as you are not determined to be the best at anything. Necromancers are arguably the most independant of all classes (most abilities are self-only), making it a prime choice for those that plan to solo the majority of their careers - or those wanting an alt to solo when they are bored (or frustrated) with their main. The continual learning strategy that opens up with levels, abilities & skills keeps a ton of content open to the solo necromancer that otherwise requires group efforts.
Secrets of Faydwer Rank Two Spells
- 76 - Phantasmal Orb Rk. II
- Faction: Ladies of the Light
- Faction Level: Kindly
- Merchant: Seridyn
- Zone: Dragonscale Hills
- Location: 1450, 1740, 270
- 77 - Bonestitch Charm Rk. II
- Faction: Fangbreakers
- Faction Level: Kindly
- Merchant: Derak Fangbreaker
- Zone: Loping Plains
- Location: -1450, -3210, 700
- 77 - Putrefaction Rk. II
- Faction: Crusader's of Veeshan
- Faction Level: Ally
- Merchant: Vesiss
- Zone: Dragonscale Hills
- Location: 1854.87, 2274.87, 127.91
- 78 - Pyre of the Lifeless Rk. II
- Faction: Ak'anon Strike Force V
- Faction Level: Kindly
- Merchant: Automated Vending Unit II
- Zone: Dragonscale Hills
- Location: 3695, -2555, 30
- 79 - Reaver's Pyre Rk. II
- Faction: Crusader's of Veeshan
- Faction Level: Ally
- Merchant: Aring
- Zone: Dragonscale Hills
- Location: ?
- 80 - Splort Rk. II
- Faction: Bertoxxulous's Chosen
- Faction Level: Ally
- Merchant: Lanika Shadestepper
- Zone: Hills of Shade
- Location: 285, -550, 50
- 80 - Venonscale Venom Rk. II
- Faction: Rebel Brownies
- Faction Level: Ally
- Merchant: Karri
- Zone: The Steam Factory
- Location: -25, 485, 115
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