Necromancer hybrid build and "Walk with Death"-spell

http://feats.goonheim.com/necromancer#:abceglmnpqvA3:acegjkmotyAB

Just thought to share my build for anyone who's intrested. The trick of making the most of this build is to cast "Pestilental Blast" as your every 3rd spell, to keep the damage boost from "Unholy Inspiration" running all the time. Depending on the 1-hour-buff you have on, using Pestilental Blast applies a varying degree of debuffs on your target as well.
I use the following kind of cycle: Pestilental Blast, Life-strike, Flesh to Worms, Pestilental Blast, Gelid Bones, Chill, Pestilental Blast, Life-strike ...

I am simply compelled to advocate the "Walk with Death" spell from the re-animation tree. Depending on the amount of feat points you invest, it gives the necromances pets, and his/her whole team a 28% increase in both melee and magic damage for 30 seconds. The minute downside is that it gives a -20% damage modifier for the necromancer, but the most amazing thing is that the spell only has a 1 minute cooldown - so casting the spell in succession two necromancers in the same group can provide a constant +28% damage modifier for the whole group and their own pets.

Hepskuq wrote:http://feats.goonheim.com/necromancer#:abceglmnpqvA3:acegjkmotyAB

Just thought to share my build for anyone who's intrested. The trick of making the most of this build is to cast "Pestilental Blast" as your every 3rd spell, to keep the damage boost from "Unholy Inspiration" running all the time. Depending on the 1-hour-buff you have on, using Pestilental Blast applies a varying degree of debuffs on your target as well.
I use the following kind of cycle: Pestilental Blast, Life-strike, Flesh to Worms, Pestilental Blast, Gelid Bones, Chill, Pestilental Blast, Life-strike ...

I am simply compelled to advocate the "Walk with Death" spell from the re-animation tree. Depending on the amount of feat points you invest, it gives the necromances pets, and his/her whole team a 28% increase in both melee and magic damage for 30 seconds. The minute downside is that it gives a -20% damage modifier for the necromancer, but the most amazing thing is that the spell only has a 1 minute cooldown - so casting the spell in succession two necromancers in the same group can provide a constant +28% damage modifier for the whole group and their own pets.

Thanks for sharing this information. This is one of the most important spells in raid. Period. A party-wise bonues of 28% damage, half of the time, is one of the best things you can EVER hope to have in raids.

The necromancers were overpowered in the closed beta, and were seriously nerfed after. However, the recent (relatively recent) buffs have made the necromancer superior in every way to any DPSer. The necromancer has the following things to offer:

1. Minions: The minions put group buffs to good use. There are many of them, and they all get buffed by party-wide buffs.

2. Indirect DPS: "Walk with death". 'Nuff said (enough said).

3. Direct damage: Good damage in the form of DoT+burst damage (like the blast). However, the other damage forms (like the indirect damage) are so high that its beyond belief. This results in this damage (direct damage) being a small part of the necromancer's overall damage (with the right build, of course).

4. Protection: Runed Flesh is really helping the tanking efforts. That's especially true when tanks switch aggro efficiently (every one of them has a new shield and the other one is refreshed by the time he takes damage again).

5. Tanking: The damage buffs help tanking by much. The tanks do more damage, and it equals to a LOT more hate (when it comes to a tank that's built right... like almost every tank). Its true that more damage from other people equals to more hate from them as well, but when the hate is managed in an efficient way, it was PROVED not to be a problem.

Note: Efficient ways to manage hate are in the priests general tree and rogues general tree. In addition, each and every person can take -hate gear and -hate (personal) feats from the general tree (if you're not a soldier). Priests have grace (-4% for themselves), "shooth the soul" and "shround of the gods" (powerful anti-hate spells), and they have vindicator (+10% hate for the tanks). Rogues have "Distraction" to help other team members (nelo took it to help his friends). It equals to -5% hate for those who're not the tanks. Rogues can also have "Wiles" and "Trickery" to help them in times of need (anti hate abilities).

6. Debuffs: This is where I need hepskuq help, because he knows this class better than I do. I refer to the debuffs a necromancer has naturally (unfeated) or in the "re-animation" tree.

Conclusion: If you want DPS that's HIGHLY(!!!!!!) superior to anything you can ever find, you should be looking for a necromancer (with the right build, of course). You'll also be helping your tanks (if the hate is well managed) and gain some extra protection.


Note: The indirect damage and pet damage (almost all of the support necromancer's damage) will NOT be a part of the normal DPS charts. To get a clue of what the supporting necromancer is REALLY capable of, you need a very detailed damage parse. Its also important to remember that the supporting necromancer is usually (not always) not going to be among the top 3-4 DPSers because his indirect damage is considered to be other people's damage (its like THEY were the ones who did the "walk of death" on themselves).

This is actually my current build.

http://feats.goonheim.com/necromancer#ac:abcehilnpqvAD:acegjkmA

I've let "Shatter" go, since with the new tactics in Kyllikki it is a mere occasional, time-saving convenience. I decided to invest fully in "Walk with Death" and also "Army of the Dead". As for the Necromancer's debuffs, using Set's Ruin as your own buff makes both the Blasphemous Ruin and Pestilental Blast spell (which I use as my every 3rd spell anyway) apply a -5 level penalty for both magic and melee, though the effects do not stack, naturally. Nice thing is that BR is an aoe spell with a casting time of 0.5 seconds, so you can get at least some debuffs on multiple mobs fast (and risk some aggro, of course ). Downside is that with Set's Ruin you cannot use the Blashphemy buff at the same time, which gives all team members a change to inflict additional unholy damage with melee attacks, so you lose a bit DPS using this debuff.

Another unfeated spell is Gangrenous Stench, an aoe debuff lasting 25 seconds that gives -5% invulnerability to all physical and poison damage, as well as applying a -5% damage debuff.

An unfeated spell called Deathly Blizzard applies, as per the description, a "-12 enemy damage". I don't know what that means exactly, though in the case it only means -12 points of damage by the victim, it's really not worth bothering.

The only debuff the re-animation feat tree has seems to be Curse of Pain, which, according to the spell descrition, curses the target and gives attackers a chance to infict additional damage. Don't have any data of how well that works, but it does seem to make the red bar diminish quicker. Could be hopeful thinking.

Borochas, if you read this, I would really like to know more about the aggro/hate management feats/spells/abilities other than the ones roque classes have (since I know about them, having played with ssin). I hope ToS has some, since ToS is such an essential part of a DPS group, which should naturally include an assassin or barbarian already. Last time in BRC, the group's AOE necro had a hard time avoiding aggro whenever I used Walk with Death, even though we had Nelo's hate-reducing in the group.

(to make things clear: Direct DPS equals to damage that is generated directly from the priest. Indirect DPS equals to damage that's being done by buffing others. They do the damage for the priest).

Thank you for sharing that information. Its very interesting indeed

As for priests and rogues there are two major attitudes: Working AGAINST the group or working WITH the group. Those who work WITH the group take -hate feats (and probably gear as well, if they're able to get it). Those who're working AGAINST the group dont take -hate feats. A dead rogue, for example, equals to no damage at all (which equals to no help at all when it comes to rogues).

When it comes to priests, taking a DPS equals to working AGAINST the group even more. DIRECT DPS = hate. Healing = hate. Dead priest = big troubles for the group. More DIRECT DPS = less support. More DIRECT DPS = less overall (team) DPS, when it comes to priests.

Priests have one of the best hate management (group hate management as well) abilities you'll ever find. They have the "vindicator": 2 points, not deep in the tree, no cost, no cast, +10% hate for the tanks!!!. They have "grace": 3 points, -4% hate for themselves (no cost, no cast). They have "sooth the soul" and "shroud of the gods": 1 point each, POWERFUL anti-hate spells.
In short: 7 points for team AND personal hate management. That's all.

Priests have another way to increase the hate against the tanks and decrease the hate against them: Indirect DPS. Not only the indirect DPS will ALWAYS(!!!) be HIGHLY SUPERIOR to direct DPS alone (when you measure the overall DPS), but its also great if you want to reduce the hate against the priest, while increasing the hate against the tanks.

Conclusion: Priests who take the direct DPS way work AGAINST the team by attracting more hate to themselves, not helping the tanks gain additional aggro, and lowering the overall team DPS.

The well known conflict I had with havana was for this reason. Its too bad Shaun, our leader (who's a very good person), has to work so hard just to solve conflicts.

I've never played any priest class further than level 10. So, for each of the priest classes, what indirect DPS abilities/spells/feats are there?

Hepskuq wrote:I've never played any priest class further than level 10. So, for each of the priest classes, what indirect DPS abilities/spells/feats are there?

Borochas wrote a nice piece about priests in this thread.

Having read that I went with the idea of my ToS using indirect damage and was very pleased by the results, you can look at te build I'm currently running here .

Fully feated storm crown applies itself to team members (and minions) so that they give off bursts of electrical damage, fully feated Idol provides a good mana return for mages/priests and provides additional electrical damage to all team mates, it will also curse mobs so that they take more damage from the priests team mates (AND it will also give the priest more direct damage). Triumphant life of Set provides damage to mobs surrounding the target being healed. All of those are good examples of indirect damage.

With Storm Crown active, in a raid situation you can expect up to and probably over 1k of indirect damage which doesn't cause hate towards the priest (thats on each tic of SC, every 5 seconds over 31 seconds), I was surprised and impressed to see the minions and team mates generating that much damage, bear in mind Storm Crown is a short range AoE spell so only team mates and minions in melee range generate the dmg.



Edit : that skill description doesn't tell you what damage to expect - I saw on average 129 points of dmg for each team mate and minion on a mob, I have yet to see a team mate or minion crit with it.

Hepskuq wrote:I've never played any priest class further than level 10. So, for each of the priest classes, what indirect DPS abilities/spells/feats are there?

As for the ToS, nahkti said it all. You must remember that the ToS is the one who's capable of doing the best DPS (which is much much greater when it comes to indirect DPS).

In a real party support build that provides maximum healing and indirect DPS, you're going to have this feat:


PoM

Blessing of mitra + Vengeful blessing: 1+2 feat points (divinity tree). 8 seconds of -20%(!!!) damage to one target, and 28 seconds of +20% damage (magic too). In this time (8 sec) the priest cant do anything. After those 8 seconds, the priest himself gets another +20% damage.

Other than that, the PoM's damage will be direct (in a party support build that provides maximum healing and maximum hate management). Its just that the PoM, like all other priests, can have very very good hate management feats (that were mentioned in my last post and the one I posted before).


BS

The BS has great indirect DPS feats (and some of them are even supporting him as well):

1. Rune of slaughter: 5 points, not deep in within the tree. It can easily reach -10% physical immunities to the monster/s that is/are being hit. It doesnt start with 10%, but can easily reach there. It costs mana, and a short cast, and requires the BS to hit (which is supposed to happen anyway). It can be active about 50% of the time (the debuffs stays after your buff ends).

2. Rune of Aggression: 1 (feat) point, +32 physical damage to the whole team (and minions). 'Nuff said (enough said).

3. Balance of nature: 5 feat points, about +126 stamina every 2 sec to the ones who're under the effect of the major HoT (blood flow)... like they're supposed to be anyway. This is indirect support in damage, because a lot of classes can translate stamina to damage. No cost, no cast (except casting the healing, and that's already being done).


Other than that, the BS has (like every priest) access to the general tree. You can find there EXCELLENT hate management spells (some for the whole team). Those feats were detailed in my last reply, and in the reply I posted before.


You must keep in mind one major fact: The problem is ALMOST ALWAYS the combination of taking the direct DPS way and ignoring the hate management feats for the sake of more direct DPS. Furthermore, its usually followed by less group support. In short: Taking a solo build (and it doesnt even have to be a good solo build) when a team effort is needed. When the team members need all the help they can get. If you want a perfect example, look at Ragnarson's build:

http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=29&tpl=2424-03,2428-05,2432-05,2423-05,2429-05,2431-05,2433-03,2434-01,2422-05,2430-01,2448-03,2400-15,2402-13,2412-15,2401-15,4206-25,4214-25,4216-25,4202-23,4208-22

You can also see my reply to him:
https://ordosmichaelis.forumotion.com/classes-f2/the-mercenaries-of-the-army-of-darkness-t37.htm#96


If there's anything else I can do to help, dont hesitate.... ask.

Nahkti went on his first raid tonight and SC definately proved it's worth, it continues to work after I was dead and I saw it crit from a team mate for almost 2k, in the screenshot below it was doing well over 300, at other times it was doing over 400. I'm guessing indirect damage doesnt show on any of the mods that provide dmg stats. Minions and SC are a pretty fearsome combo thats for sure



There are still ways I can increase that damage, I'm sure I can get it over 600 if I'm a bit more focused and the lagspikes don't get in the way.

the normal damage for a lifestealer pet is about 40-60 dam per hit per pet ....when added to some of the ToS electrical spells this can take the dam to 140-175 per hit per spell and when you add walk with death pestilence blast and curse of pain it can rise to 500-600 pts....then comes the killing blow army of darkness which adds another 8 (minimum)pets all doing the same potential damage ...... sometimes you gotta feel sorry for the mobs and bosses

Shaun wrote:the normal damage for a lifestealer pet is about 40-60 dam per hit per pet ....when added to some of the ToS electrical spells this can take the dam to 140-175 per hit per spell and when you add walk with death pestilence blast and curse of pain it can rise to 500-600 pts....then comes the killing blow army of darkness which adds another 8 (minimum)pets all doing the same potential damage ...... sometimes you gotta feel sorry for the mobs and bosses

That's an under-statement. However, you forgot 2 very important feats that can be taken with the storm crown: Storm Throne and Storm Regalia (just 6 points overall). Here's a possible build, for example:
http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planner?class=28&tpl=2307-05,2303-04,2349-03,2350-05,2300-05,2301-03,2308-03,2342-03,2302-03,2310-05,2343-02,2345-01,2320-15,2319-15,2340-15,4200-25,4206-25,4213-21,4202-21,4201-23,4203-25,4204-21,4209-21

I really think Funcom's design is brilliant. You can see how they designed the trees in a way that even a full support build will have way more than enough Direct damage. In this optional build (full party support build) you can see the following DPS direct damage feats:
Storm Crown (+Piercing Storm Crown), Empowered Life of Set, Simbiotic Life of Set, Idol of Set (and the ones that come after. Its not only indirect damage), Vital Shock, Triumphant Life of Set (not only indirect, but also direct), Arcing Charged Blast, Improved Lightning Strike, Static Charge (3/5), Exemplar.

Out of the 79 feat points a person starts with, only 19 points were invested in feats that have nothing to do with solo play. Frankly, the Faithful of Set will also heal you better in solo, so its more like 16 points. That's right, only 16 points out of 79.

Funcom's developers knew people still want to take part of the battle that's going on (damage as well), and they designed it accordingly. Even a full support build will still have good direct DPS.. and at the same time have GREAT party support that goes well with a necromancer. By the way, it also means that such a build will also have great solo capabilities (as nahkti approves).