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Whisper's Guide to Necromancy
#1
Whisper’s Guide to Necromancy


Two points to make before I start.

Firstly. As of yesterday, I have clocked up three thousand hours of playtime on my Necro. This doesn’t make me god’s-gift to Necromancers, nor does it mean I am uber-necro extraordinaire. What it does mean is that I love my necromancer. She was the first ‘toon’ I created

Secondly. This guide is one of a multitude of similar guides out there in cyberspace. If you want to learn more about necro’s and join in the general discussion, then I suggest you checkout the necro forum on GWO online. You can access it here.


So, let’s start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start)

Soul Reaping

Oh boy. The soul reaping (SR) nerfs. They’ve been in the news a lot. I’m not going to re-hash old trash here. This guide will deal with SR as it is now.

Soul Reaping is the Necromancer primary attribute, so only characters that are primary Necromancers can put points into Soul Reaping. The higher the SR value, the more energy you get when something dies. SR is strictly quid quo pro; ten points in SR means ten points of energy gained.

Currently, SR is limited to three times per fifteen seconds. This means that if three enemies die in quick succession, i.e. within the first five seconds, you will have to wait for ten seconds before the counter resets.

Important points to note:

1. If your energy bar is full when SR triggers, that death does not count as one of the three.
2. Deaths that trigger SR include: Team-mates, other allies (including npc’s), allied pets, enemies and enemy pets, neutral beings and allied spirits. It does not trigger on enemy spirit deaths.

~.~

The whole meta-game has moved on since ‘Prophecies’ was first released. With the advent of ‘Factions’ and ‘Nightfall’ you can now move from continent to continent to acquire skills, heroes, or for the fun of the cruise.

With this in mind, developing a character quickly has become easier. Since the release of ‘hard mode’ and the in-game store, it is now possible for a low level character to be running around wielding spells that were previously unavailable.

This means we can cut directly to the mustard and talk about how to play the class, not which skills to get where (and also therefore cut my workload in half!).

I am, at heart a traditionalist. Yes, my necro does have a scythe and yes, she does fight up-close and personal with the bad guys. However, these ‘gimmick’ builds so to speak are not the bread and butter of the necro class.


Where do I fit in?

As a necro, you fit in, well, in the middle! You are a mid-line fighter. This means you park yourself in front of the monks, but behind the aggro-management.

On a side-note, regarding aggro, learn to love your bubble and that is all I’m saying on the matter.

In a co-ordinated team, the aggro-management will, one hope, hold the aggro in place away from the casters (that’s you, you cast spells, you’re a ‘caster’, with me?). This means you are free to deposit whatever nastiness you have cooked up your sleeve, on top of the bad guys, with the protection of monks behind, healing, and the warriors/dervishes/whatever, in front, keeping you clean.

There are exceptions to this, but I’ll talk about them later.


What do I wear?

You are not a mesmer! Your clothing is functional, and without frippery. (This is said by a lady necro most commonly seen sporting a Vabbian set).

From a personal point of view, I would recommend you grab an armour set you like, and rune it up as follows:

Head Gear : Attribute +1 and a Superior rune of that attribute.
Chest : Major rune of SR and either a Survivor or Radiant insignia.
Hands : Vigor, of whatever you can afford, plus Vitae or Attunement at your discretion
Legs : Radiant or Survivor insigs, and a minor rune of your choice.
Feet : Vitae or Attunement, and again, whichever minor you like.

The rationale for this is: You have a set of rudimentary armour, with headgear you can change depending on discipline; curse, death, etc.

If running death… I would suggest a bloodstained insig. on the headpiece too.



~.~


To be continued….
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#2
nice start m8 Big Grin

cant w8 to see the rest of it
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#3
Whisper’s Guide to Necromancy… part two


Just to quantify the last point I made. I choose to run with one superior and one major rune. This gives me a total health reduction of -110hp. This is personal choice and the blessing of having good monks in tight places. There is nothing to stop you running with only one superior rune (i.e the line of your build) and the rest in minors. Indeed, I do have a ‘minors set’ for use when the DP is very high.

So, having put that straight, lets look in some detail about how you work as a necromancer.

By the time you get yourself to lv20 you will have 480hp. This is without the benefits of runes, or weapons, or any inherent armour bonuses. You will also have 20 base energy (and a +10 bonus inherent to caster armour) and 2 pips of energy regen.

So, lets take a practical example of a necromancer, namely, me.

So, Whisper runs the following (edit: this is altered to include only one deficit rune):

Radient Scar Pattern of Superior X
Survivor Vabbian Tunic of Minor Soul Reaping
Survivor Vabbian Gloves of Superior Vigor
Survivor Vabbian Leggings of Vitae
Survivor Vabbian Boots of Attunement


This breaks down to:

Survivor insignias in various places give various bonuses. Total bonus on this setup = +45hp
Likewise radient insigs. In this case, total energy gain = +5e
Rune of superior vigor = +50hp
Rune of attunement = +2e
Superior Rune of X = -75

Health Component

Total Overall Health Gain = +95hp
Total Overall Health Deficit = -75hp

Net Health Differential = +20hp


Energy Component

Total Overall Energy Gain (including +10 armour) = +13e
Total Overall Energy Deficit = nil

Net Energy Differential = +13e


Plus an added; +2 energy regen from armour bonuses (this is in addition to the +2 you get as basic).

So, lets crunch these numbers into some kind of reality shall we?

480 base hp + +20hp = 500hp
20 base e + +13e = 33e
2 base energy regen + +2energy regen from armour = +4e.r.

No, nobody scream, all you shrinking violets out there stop shrinking, we’ll discuss what we do to rectify this in the next episode…..

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#4
i like the guide except i think i should point out that -35 -75 = -110, not 100. not that 10 hp is going to make a world of difference with good monks =)
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#5
Thanks Raz, I have adjusted accordingly Smile

[font=arial]Whisper’s Guide to Necromancy… part three

Necromancers, perhaps more than any other class in the game, offer an incredibly diverse option for approach (of course I'm saying this, I'm a Necro!!). There is much to be offered in direct offense and damage dealing, a subtlety of healing reduction and spell disruption, running alongside the ability to support your allies in there endevours; increasing health, energy and attacks in turn.


The Curse Line

One of my favorite lines to play. Why...? Well, aside from ausing a good deal of disruption and general bruhaha amongst the bad-guys, I find seeing lots of yellow numbers fly up incredibly heartening!

Lets take a little look at some of the elite skills you may be considering in this line:

Spiteful Spirit.
Arguably, the king of curses; certainly the staple diet of the UW farmer. Running at 12 points in the line, you will achieve a nice 29 damage everytime a foes attacks or uses a skill. The beauty of SS is the damage it causes to the surronding foes. Once your aggro-management has engaged the enemy, Spiteful can wreak a fair amount of havoc among any tightly packed mob.

Corrupt Enchantment.
Fairly self explanatory this one. Enchantments (notably Mark of Protection) can cause our melee allies a few problems. Corrupt is a nicely zooped-up version of rip enchantment, with a nice cost of 5e and a healthly cooldown of 10s. The beauty comes with the fact that as well as removing the offending enchantment, the target then suffers a decent amount of degen, moreover, it is unremovable, although it may be out-healed.

Pain of Disenchantment.
Slightly more energy heavy than Corrupt, this spell is wonderful for dispatching dervishes. Whilst Spiteful is similarly effective, the nice thing about this one is that the Dervish in question often does a wonderful job at removing his/her own enchantments. Pop something on to cover, and Bob's your Uncle! (more about 'covering' later)

Feast of Corruption.
Expensive, and with a lengthy cool down, this skill retains its use in areas where the badguys break aggro and make for the mid/backline in a hurry. Personally, I find it highly effective against those shadow-stepping horrors my friend Sakura likes so much. This spell synergises well with Suffering or another wide-area spell, meaning you gain maximum effect from the health stealing properties.


Playing a Curser

Now, student and would-be Necromancer extraordinaire, listen, as I am about to impart the most important information regarding the art of cursing: The Curser's Mantras.

Know Thine Enemy (and preferably, have a good idea what his skill bar will be)
Pick Thy Poisen Well
(many curses are subjective, you will need to ensure this is accounted for)[/b]

Let's take the second one first.
Barbs This won't work unless someone in your party deals physical damage!! (I learnt that to my cost at the hands of the Mantle)

The first mantra is kind of obvious, but worth the statement. Be aware of the nature of the bad guys you will face. The curses line can cover anti-melee or anti-cast with equal measure, just make sure you take the right one!

~.~
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