Specializations

[Saerdna]

So, story time.
Back when I was a wee cleric on live, just after Luclin hit, I unlocked my spell specialization ability. And I thought it would be awesome to critically 'buff' people so I pushed Abjuration above 50 first. It wasn't until I was a much older toon that I learned the error of my ways by speaking with friends and my own personal experience. Alteration for heal-bot group clerics and Evocation for those who elect to Nuke their way to fame.

Now that I'm in complete foreign territory with my Iksar Necro, I thought I'd look over the spell list. This is preparation since I'm only level 4 so far, but the two schools that stand out are Alteration (for life tap and certain dot lines) or Conjuration (for snare/dot line and other dot lines.

My uncreated shaman is in the same position, but since they can multifunction as healers better, I imagine the emphasis being on Alteration instead.

Anyone care to share opinions? I have read what is on the wiki, which follows my points/observations fairly closely, but would like to have input from other players.

[Nightbear]

Conjuration is prob best for a Necro. If you are soloing or grouping the large part of your contribution will be conjuration spells.

[mr_jon3s]

Alteration might be good. dots and lifetaps use it.

[drgncore]

From the Wiki:

Necromancers have maybe the hardest choice of all. There are three classes of magic which would all be powerful additions for a necromancer.

Firstly there is Alteration. This covers many of the DoTs, Lifetaps, and Undead Charms. These spells are used a lot by necromancers, often in heavy combat situations.

Secondly there is Evocation. Whilst necromancers don't get a lot of nukes, they still pack quite a punch and can be quite nice with a primary Specialization. Whilst soloing necromancers tend to rely on their DoTs more, a necromancer with a good solid guild may find it worthwhile to specialize in Evocation.

Lastly there is Conjuration. This series covers the pet summonings, darkness and disease series of spells. It is probably the second most popular Specialization for the class after Alteration.

I would recommend going with Alteration myself since you will use these spells as a Necromancer more than any other.

[Lyrith]

Went alteration on my necro and never regretted it.

[baalzy]

At the higher levels you won't be using nearly as much conjuration. For snare you're still using Dooming Darkness because you're after the snare effect, not the damage component. It's also possible to cast dooming on a unsnared mob from max range and have it land before they start smacking you. Our other DoTs are much better for dealing damage due to lower resistance rates and better mana per damage ratios.

Venom of the Snake (lvl 34) is probably the best conj. based DoT we get when you compare its relative usefulness to the mobs you're fighting. At this level you're fighting mobs whose HP is low enough that your pet is going to be ripping them up and VoS will be a big contributor to outdamaging your pet.

Scourge at 39 takes way too long to do its damage for the mobs that you're still going to be fighting (pet will kill the mob long before its full duration) and is less mana efficient than Asystole at 44 (which is both faster and doesn't risk root breaks). Also, in Velious era, Chilling Embrace blows Scourge out of the water (faster & more efficient) and is alteration.

Next Conj. based DoT is Envenomed Bolt at lvl 51 which does nearly the same damage as Ignite Blood but for 70 mana more. Sure, the damage is fast but as you get higher in level the mobs you're fear kiting are going to take longer and longer to kill and you'll be wanting to take advantage of the mana efficiency you get out of Splurt and Ignite Blood while using bond of death to ensure your hp is up to keep the mana flowing.

Plague at 52 is pretty solid efficiency wise and mobs will live long enough to make use of it, although I didn't use it terribly much because I preferred the fact that Splurt, Ignite Blood & Bond of Death are basically unresistable against xp mobs due to resist modifiers. One or two resists from a 300 mana spell will put a big damper on your XP plans.

If you're not fear kiting then there is even less reason, since the Conj. based DoTs have DD components and you don't want to risk breaking root early applying/reapplying those DoTs.

And finally, pets, well.... you don't get much more efficient than a DoT that you cast once and can get a nearly unlimited amount of damage out of. Doesn't seem too prudent to me to spec. conjuration in order to save some mana on a spell you only need to cast one or twice per play session (if you're playing properly). Coupled with the fact that you can reclaim energy on them.

Going Evocation is just a joke if you ask me. You're electing to give up efficiency for your most effective set of tools in order to pretend like you're a less effective version of a mage.

TL;DR Alteration is the best.