Necromancer QuestionsFollow

How you play him is entirely up to you. I've enjoyed Fear kiting on Necros. Others enjoy DoT and/or agro kiting. Many more enjoy playing in groups, and some are bold enough to play puller in groups and raids. Personally, I'd suggest trying a broad range of things and seeing which way(s) entertain you.

Armor? Depends on your play style. I've always been poor with my casters, in, more or less, cloth stuff. Of course, the more you have, the better. Keep your mana pool, tanking abilities, and focuses in mind. You'll want mana for your spells. You'll want some actual AC and HP to take hits when you have to. You'll want focuses just to make life easier.

Train? You mean like, at the guild master? Well, whatever you lack, I suppose. All of my casters almost all, if not all, of their guild master training points still there for use; I feel horrible using up something I can never get back for something I could earn other ways. Darkness/Fear a MOB for weapons skills, which don't go up that high anyhow, get a debuffed MOB to smack you up while you're buffed for more defensive skills (only Defense and Dodge for a Necro, isn't it?), and, well, just chain-cast spells for casting abilities (consider the effects on Specialization by the time you hit 20). If you want to use your guild master points, just use 'em in place of whatever you don't feel like doing.

Oh I see. Well.. let's see.

Fear kite:
Use your Snare-type DoT to slow a creature, then cast a Fear-line spell on it, so it's running away, but slowly. Sick your pet on it, and apply other DoTs/DD's as you see fit until it dies. You'll get down the timings behind reapplying the Snare and the Fear before their average time to wear off expires, but they can be resisted or their duration can be shortened more than usual, so keep an eye out for these events and be ready.

DoT kite:
Much like a Fear kite, only minus the pet and the fear spell. As opposed to pursuing a slowly running creature, it's you running away from a slowly moving creature. Apply DoTs until it's dead.

Aggro kite:
A slightly more fine version of DoT kiting. In this take on it, you use a pet and have it attack the monster you're fighting, even though it's not feared. The target monster ignores the pet because of your aggro. Generally, you'll DoT kite it until the point that the pet can beat on it without taking agro. Again, you run from it and reapply DoTs as needed.

In retrospect, I should've written DoT Kiting first. Fear and Aggro Kiting are just different refinements on the basic process.

So, in short:
DoT kite: Snare-DoT and other DoTs til dead.

Fear kite: Like DoT kite, only keep it Fear'd with pet on it.
Aggro kite: Like DoT kite, only use a pet, but only once you've established enough agro on it to keep it from beating the pet.


To note: There is also DD kiting. Same as DoT, just with DD's as opposed to other DoTs besides the snare one. DoTs are far more efficient at killing, especially for a Necro, so it's a great waste of mana to use the DD kiting method. Still, a Lifetap every now and then will recover your HP when your Lich-type spell has your life down (or you can use the DoT type, Leech).

and also http://eq.crgaming.com/menu/necromancer.asp and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/EverQuest/Character_classes/Necromancer :)

Also, and I may sound like complete newbie for this, what is a snare? I am familiar with root of course but what is a snare?

Yes, I am familiar with the Drakness line of spells from my SK. LOL, I never realized they decreased movement.

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[sm]Edited, Mon Apr 24 19:51:55 2006 by Deodhlais

Sorry about posting like 4 times in a row, but I keep thinking of more questions. I have heard that your pet is not a definant level, that the level can change the different times you cast it. Is this true for necro pets? For any pets?

one thing i want to add about the agro kiting with a pet. make sure to /pet no taunt hotkey is active. if not the pet will defaut to taunting and it will pull agro off of you and then you will have to modify the fight at that point or risk losing your pet.

your pet is disposable, but keep in mind his DPS = one really long DoT.

sub teens the tutorial will be great to get you to 8th real fast. once you hit 8th fear kitting is still not great as you dont have dooming yet. IIRC dooming is either 12th or 16th. once you get that, you will rull the world with fear kitting.

my favorite way to kite is to fear kite.

some extra tactics to add to the fear kite:

ST (screaming terror) is a short mez/stun spell that is a god send if you pull an add. you can ST the ADD, and continue with your fear/agro kite and then switch mobs. IIRC ST lasts for about 30secs, maybe as low as 20sec.

once you are in your 30s you can head over to the druids in WC and work your powers of ST/FD pulling splits to hunt those 2 pops at the rings. there you will learn how to master the fear/agro kite as well as the FD and ST split pulling skills that will help you greatly in your 40s- 60s.

undead is the name of the game for a necro. you are a GOD when it comes to fighting undead. you are like a bard vs undead. you can charm, mez, DD, DoT, slow (only a very powerful shammy can out slow you vs undead. meaning about 10 levels higher. once you get your 2nd undead slow you are only about 2% less slow then a shammy, but about 10% better then a chanter.) and veksar will become your friend in the 50s in groups. and upper 50s you will be able to start soloing in there. (i started with not very good gear at 59th. with todays gear you might be able to start veksar solo around 55-58).

heck at 59th you will be able to be the healer, slower, and OT in Veksar with a small group. (3 - 4 members, even in a duo) at 60th you will start to own that place, and by 65th or 70th, you will be able ot take down the real big mobs in veksar solo.

so when ever you get a chance fight UNDEAD both solo and group. that will make life much simpler.

if you fear kite, learn the pathing of the camps you are in. every camp has its own pathing. so try the kite from differnt directions and when you find the safer path, use that to pull/fear and enjoy the power of solo that is a necro.

only a bard can out solo a necro IMHO. yes others can solo very well, but only a necro and a bard can do it with next to zero down time. necros should have the least amount of downtime of any caster in the game.

enjoy.

Allakhazam's Necromancer spell database is a great place to read up on for your spell info.