RAID NECROMANCER ~ CLASS THREAD ~

[Hepskuq]

http://feats.goonheim.com/necromancer#acfglmopacefghkmotyAB

My current build. Whether to pick Corrupted Soul or Frozen Body is a question of personal preference, I guess, but in my mind it's more worthwhile to take only either one and go for Mark of the Devourer. Overall the damage will be greater that way. Decomposition is there to increase Flesh to Worms damage. Despoil the Soul is the very essence of using the Nightfall tree, of course. Piercing Corruption (apparently) increases the critical damage inflicted by several essential spells and is nicely on the way to get Wither Soul - a nice debuff effect. Sacrifice can be used when you got the opportunity to have a nice temporary increase to your damage. Going for Grip of Death and Shatter is self-apparent.

From the general tree Mindphase and Archmage are a must-have for any necro wishing to really hurt things AND stay alive after. Misdirection works nicely in getting you out of trouble, but it musn't be cast before you've put in some damage on the target. What it apparently does is remove (don't really know what kind of a portion) some of the hate you've accumulated on the target, dropping your position on the aggro-list, and thus making the mob/boss switch to some other poor bastard.

Blood Hunger makes you even more effective minion-killer, decreasing the casting-time of Draw Forth the Heart, in addition to the obvious Shatter. Tome of Erlik provides another momentary boost to your damage every now and then. Unleashed Power I chose to extend the area of my AOE spells - now there are indications that it is bugged somewhat, but I've also heard that it certainly works on some spells, extending their area.

When a mob is pulled I enter Spellweave (the timing of this can be really tricky sometimes, depends on a lot of things) and once the Guardian starts to tank it I immediately hit the target with Mark of the Devourer, followed by Pestilental Blast which can carry several debuffs onto the target, then Ice Strike, then Gangrenous Stench (you can also have a pet and cast Sacrifice on it while waiting for Death God to become available). By this time Death God from SW becomes available, I hit it and come out of Spellweaving to have the mobility. Then in goes Blasphemous Ruin, Lifestrike, Flesh to Worms, Gelid Bones and then Grip of Death. Depending on the situation, if there are not many melee characters on the target (to benefit from the debuff provided by Grip of Death) you might want to interrupt Grip of Death and re-cast Lifestrike, Flesh to Worms, Gelid Bones and then hit either Icestrike or Pestilental Blast and if the target isn't dead yet, I usually go for Decay at the end. In a boss fight, this is the point where Death God usually ends and the thing has to be repeated.

Hate is a real hazard for the necro with this build. I've managed to accumulate a total of -25% hate mods from items (cloak, 2 rings, necklace, armbands and boots all with -3% each) and feats and generally the mobs leave me alone when I damage them. Having less than a total of -15% is suicidal, so the necro really needs to make an effort to collect enough minus-hate gems to be put into crafted items. Going for Intelligence boosts might be tempting, but overall in my opinion having the minus-hate provides you a more pleasant playing-experience - don't have to spend most of the raid with your cheek against the cold floor. Misdirection is a life-saving spell; if you get the attention of your target, cast Misdirection.

Mana can also become an issue; always remember to bring with you enough mana-potions to a raid and use them. It also seems worthwhile to have a tap-mana (magical) talisman or weapon.

[Xvar]

This is my current build for Xvar, using usually 6 lifestealers and 1 reaper. With this build Reaper procs spiritual torment every time it hits enemy and with my Lifestrike i can build 5X spiritual torment pretty fast, with some bosses i tend to use more caster pets so i can almost instantly build up 5X torment.
Xvar's build

With the build i dont really have to worry mana and i only weave when needed maybe 3-4 times per raid in total. This keeps me up in top 4 damage dealers in raid so the DPS is good even without weaving constantly.

[Shaun]

Thanks for that Xvar I will have to try it out with Shaun and see if I can get him more active now!!

[Sponsored content]