New to being a necro; few question.

[SNIPERS]

So I geared myself out in all HP gear and I enjoy soloing as a nec since it provides a different dimension than a Mage that I've been currently used to, but I have a few questions regarding how to efficiently exp.

1. What order am I supposed to attack a mob? Snare, dot, fear, dot? Then reapply snare/fear? Am I supposed to stack every single dot on a mob?
2. Is it worth giving a pet weapon(s) if I'm under level 20?
3. At what level should I begin to charm vs using a pet?
4. I have jboots, holgresh beads, cos. is there any other key items I need? I'll probably get a reclaim Mage weapon soon.
5. How does an iksar necro get spells, and barter with npcs?

Thanks!

[Daldaen]

1. This depends on level, but Snare -> Fear -> DoT is the goal. Moving NPCs only take 2/3rds of DoT damage when moving, however they take full damage when fleeing or feared. So you don't want to DoT it beyond your snare before you fear them.

The amount and types of DoTs you use depend on the mob/camp. Some mobs you can do a snare, fire DoT and pet attack and it dies around snare ending. Others you may need more. Etc. it is something you need to play around with.

2. Weapons only help your pet to make them dual wield (24 or 29 pet will dual wield when given two 1-handed weapons). OR they help if they increase pet damage. The only way a weapon will increase pet damage is your pets innate melee damage is < 2*Weapon Damage.

Example:

Pet max hit - 16

Giving your pet a weapon with 1-8 Damage on it, he will continue hitting for up to 16.

Giving your pet a weapon with more than 8 damage, let's say a 30 damage 2hb like Baton of Faith... This will increase your pets max hit to 60.

3. At level 20. Charming is always better exp than fear kiting or root rotting. Especially once you get a circlet of shadow to instantly break charm.

4. Looks like you have everything covered. I'm a fan of Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring and Allure of Death clicky book (Sol Ro Quest). They serve as junk buffs (mainly the earring) and inventory clickable instant casts usable in both outdoor/indoor zones (unlike Jboots) and the clicky doesn't break charm or kill your pet (like CoS does). This clicky allows you to avoid global cool down on recast of spells.

5. Buy your spells with another character or travel back to Kunark. I just ported my Druid around and drop transferred as my Necro leveled. All Druid Vendors at Druid rings sell to anyone. So WC/Lavastorm/Butcher for example sell to anyone. After level 34 with skeleton illusion (Call of Bones) you can vendor more places.

In Velious you can easily faction to sell and bank in the Velious city of your choosing.

[SNIPERS]

can you opine on #4? what do you mean by avoiding global cool down on recast spells? can jboots do the same thing?

[Pringles]

As soon as you can start charming undead, do it. Charm 1, send it on another - break pet with invis when either pet or other mob is low, finish both off with tap or dot (if one is still too full on HP - charm it or find a new pet to charm to get it low)

Charm is level based (primarily) so you want to find mobs a few levels lower than you to play with.

No need to break charmed pet if you are grouped (group with another necro to charm with or enchanter).

Charming, by far, will be your best rate of exp.

[Daldaen]

can you opine on #4? what do you mean by avoiding global cool down on recast spells? can jboots do the same thing?

After every cast you have about a 2 second period of time where you can not cast any spells. They are all greyed out.

If you use any instant clicky item during this period it immediately ungreys them out and you can cast another spell.

Spells themselves have their own lockout timers so you can't typically chain cast the same spell over and over however you could cast Snare->Fear with almost no delay rather than waiting the 2 seconds.

Yes JBoots work but they currently don't work indoors. Word on the street is they classicly should, but don't hold your breath for that fix.

[SNIPERS]

After every cast you have about a 2 second period of time where you can not cast any spells. They are all greyed out.

If you use any instant clicky item during this period it immediately ungreys them out and you can cast another spell.

Spells themselves have their own lockout timers so you can't typically chain cast the same spell over and over however you could cast Snare->Fear with almost no delay rather than waiting the 2 seconds.

Yes JBoots work but they currently don't work indoors. Word on the street is they classicly should, but don't hold your breath for that fix.

If i get words of darkness, can i still use that to cancel cool down if i'm already liched (even if the spell doesn't overwrite my lich)?

[Daldaen]

If i get words of darkness, can i still use that to cancel cool down if i'm already liched (even if the spell doesn't overwrite my lich)?

Yes

[Llodd]

If i get words of darkness, can i still use that to cancel cool down if i'm already liched (even if the spell doesn't overwrite my lich)?

Easiest and probably the cheapest thing to get is a kromzek surveyor scope - sells for 100+ or easy to get in WL, and sits in range slot for easy clickage with +5 int.

[SNIPERS]

Easiest and probably the cheapest thing to get is a kromzek surveyor scope - sells for 100+ or easy to get in WL, and sits in range slot for easy clickage with +5 int.

doesn't it zoom in? would be kinda annoying

[NegaStoat]

The Zoom on the scope is slightly annoying, but you can click it off right away if you want. If you're in a group and are doing the Compact -- Scope --- Cancel Magic on yourself for healing, it's really really useful. Also useful for putting on DoT's a bit faster on your target.

Speaking of DoT's, the Heat Blood and Leech line have a pretty low initial Aggro hit, assuming that your pet did the first swing of damage on the target for that bonus hate. Some monsters have different feelings involving spells hitting them, so test out what you can land on a target type before landing the Darkness + Fear. Anything that puts more damage onto your tally and away from your pet is good.

[baalzy]

So I geared myself out in all HP gear and I enjoy soloing as a nec since it provides a different dimension than a Mage that I've been currently used to, but I have a few questions regarding how to efficiently exp.

1. What order am I supposed to attack a mob? Snare, dot, fear, dot? Then reapply snare/fear? Am I supposed to stack every single dot on a mob?
When fear kiting I usually send my pet in, snare, dot once, fear if the mob isn't capable of tearing my pet up too fast. Then I use other DoTs as necessary. Otherwise I send my pet, snare, fear, then DoT.

One key thing, the first time you enter a new area I recommend you snare, fear, dot a mob. Then see how much HP is low in 1 tick. You'll want to try to do 51% of the damage to a mob to get full hp. It helps a lot if you're fighting mobs that flee at low health because you can /back your pet and guarantee your dots will get 15-20% of the damage in. I like to be mana efficient so I only use 2-3 Dots (including snare) and then count how many ticks happen in a normal fight and do the math to determine if that's enough to get full xp. Then I'll /back my pet as necessary if I'm overdamaging them. It's more efficient to reapply snare+fear once then it is to cast every single one of your DoTs and burn the mob down ultra fast.


2. Is it worth giving a pet weapon(s) if I'm under level 20?
Dald answered pretty well
3. At what level should I begin to charm vs using a pet?
I level more old school and don't charm much. But 34 should be a good time cause you can go into lguk or maybe play around in Kaesora. I def plan on doing Kaesora with my second necro.
4. I have jboots, holgresh beads, cos. is there any other key items I need? I'll probably get a reclaim Mage weapon soon.
I really enjoy my shrunken goblin skull earring, don't miss out that much on using the earring slot (not enough to make a difference compared to being able to cast your spells 2 seconds faster). Money doesn't seem like much of an issue so I'd get the Ornate Velium Pendant as well. Sometimes CoB (skelly illusion) only takes you to dubious, the pendant will then take you to Apprehensive where you can shop. Also will be useful if you hunt crystal caverns cause then you can use the dwarves down there.
5. How does an iksar necro get spells, and barter with npcs?
Drop transfering is super easy. If you go to south karana from 22-32ish you can shop at the aviak vendor and it has unlimited topaz' to convert gold/silver from Treants into light weight gems that you can also drop transfer. You'll probably want to spend 1-22 in FoB / Kurns anyways unless you plan to play with friends. That'll also let you train the last of your useful skills before you leave Kunark.

30+ Velious opens up a ton of possibilities for soloing and the Coldain will let you vendor and bank just fine, so you'll just need to get someone to ferry spells for you or drop transfer yourself if you have a porter.
Thanks!