Feel like I have too much downtime as a Necro? Lvl 16-17

[BarkingSpider]

Hey guys not sure if I am doing something wrong or not, I've been soloing in Oasis since 16, I actually just hit 18 a few mins ago. My normal rotation on blue mobs is Engulfing Darkness > Fear > Heat Blood > Fear > Send pet (mob @ 60% hp) > Fear 1-2x depending on HP. If it's even con mob, Ill do the same thing except I'll add a Heart Flutter after Heat Blood. I usually always send pet in around 60-65% hp because if not my dots won't last to duration and I always feel like I get less EXP if I don't.

The soloing itself is fine, easy, no problems. However each time I kill one mob, I use like pretty much 50% of my mana. So I'll kill 2 mobs and then have to wait a few mins to regen back up. I am keeping Death Pact up 24/7 by the way.

Just wondering if I am doing something wrong, or if there is a more efficient way to be leveling?

Also on a side note, I am so tired of seeing crocs and caiman, are there any other places I can go to solo at 18? I've been in Kurns and Unrest and they're often pretty packed and don't have room in groups without having to waiting an hour or more, so I usually just try to go solo somewhere so I don't feel I am wasting time.

Thanks!

[Lhancelot]

It depends on your gears. My necro had a lot of hp gears during low levels. I melee'd mobs a lot with a smoldering brand.

I usually sent pet in, put a dot or two on, then sat to med as long as possible. Once my pet got lower hps I would then melee taking aggro off my pet.

Obviously when you facetank the mobs you will need to use taps for heals sometimes.

I used fear for fun at times, but honestly at low levels I found killing more efficient meleeing.

This also kept my defense maxed, which was helpful.

[NegaStoat]

From levels 12 to 49 you need to take a close look at mana cost for your DoT's, the damage they do, the speed you can cast spells, the duration of the fight, and that breaking point where you back the pet off at the last 15-18% of health so the DoT's do the ending damage (or as close to it as possible).

It takes a lot of experimentation and it's worth taking the trouble to do so. Once you have a general feel of the absolute necessary spell damage required to get full exp while at the same time casting as few Fears as possible, you begin to get into the groove of efficiency.

Whenever I would crest into a new line of DoT spells, very often I found myself not using them but instead relying on my older DoT spells depending on my target mob's health. You probably already know this, but try to get a Kromzek Spyglass as quickly as possible as a clickie item to reset spell gem recovery for the fastest chain casting of spells. I think at your level I was content to kill 4 mobs total before going into a mana recovery break.

[Fabby]

Seems like you're on top of it to me. It does depend on your gear, this server is very twinky so I would guess most players are wearing + INT gear with the richer ones straight mana/hp gear. Necro like shammy usually keeps mana and HP near each other and whatever the camp allows.

I think my lineup on mobs for my necro was pull with darkness/blood depending on situation, sick pet, looking for a pet bash to get off first fear clean. Add lifesteal dot and only enough dots to get it dead.

If you have friends and/or time you should get this item. http://wiki.project1999.com/Words_of_Darkness It frees up spell gem for mana/hp spell, instant cast so you can use for spell reset, useful till 34.

[Pyrion]

You will need to use much less mana in a group... just saying. And a necro can do nice things for a group, even at your level. Just don't try to dot every pull, mobs usually don't live long enough for that to be effective.

[tobolamr]

BarkingSpider - if it's any consolation, I run into the same issue with my Necro. Noticed it cropping up around level 10, and then it just kind of stayed around through 18. I do admit that the level 16 pet is much tougher than the level 12, but it can only do so much. And I do recall the same thing when I had a lower level necro before I left EQ back 14 years ago.

[Sebastionleo]

When I levelled my necro I stopped soloing around 20. Went to High Pass, then High Keep, then at 34 I started soloing with my new fear, root, better lich line spell, and it was a blast. Necro is really stagnant from about 20 until 34 because your best fear sucks, you don't have a good lich spell, and out damaging your pet is mana intensive.

[Nycon43]

The 20's in general are kinda shitty for necros(well until 29). You don't get any dot upgrades and as someone said, trying to outdamage your pet uses up a good bit of mana. I had to group from like 26-29, it was just faster.

[Jitsumo]

I am currently stuck at 27 trying to find the motivation to push through to 29, but I keep making alts. Alts seem to be the story of my life and I don't even have money to twink them!

[Neric]

The necro class is very tough at the lower levels. For me it changed once I got my Jboots, because from then on nuke-kiting became an option. There is a barbarian camp at the coast in the Karanas very close to the Qeynos zone. I did this Einhorst McManus guy until 30something if I remember correctly. The Aviak camp in South Karana was also nice.

I don't know how the game plays out these days, because in the old days you could give your pets two fine steel daggers and it would cut down their attack-delay massively. The level 49 pet with these daggers did way more damage than a level 50 monk with Cloak of Flames. Once they fixed that, the necro class became rather unpopular to the point when it was even tough to find a group.

[Lhancelot]

I am currently stuck at 27 trying to find the motivation to push through to 29, but I keep making alts. Alts seem to be the story of my life and I don't even have money to twink them!

I honestly got bored on necro at 24. I just found it too easy, if you can believe that. I ground through mobs over and over, the same way very repetitious and boring. And easy. Just got tired of it fast.

[SamwiseRed]

very repetitious and boring. And easy. Just got tired of it fast.

welcome to everquest

[Nycon43]

welcome to everquest

Shit, welcome to MMOs in general.

[solutionx]

Until 34 necromancer is a little slow, a little boring. I'm guessing most people quit before 34, when you finally feel it was all worth it. At 27 I think I did fear kiting at the LOIO windmill (the higher level cats).

From 29-33 I found myself a shaman duo partner and wrecked some solusek A.

[Videri]

If you don't feel like grinding it out solo, you should group! The interaction makes it more fun. You can use different spells/tactics, see different content, maybe pick a place with some useful drops or cash loot. SolA is a good idea. Maybe Mistmoore.

[Bubbles]

Duo.

I''ve levelled a couple necros up in my day and just trust me when I say they make for amazing small group situations..

Necros and Mages go well together.. Druids can snare/track/pull/sow/regen. Pact heals can keep most melee with legit avoidance up and kickin... Clerics and nuke undead, fear, heal, buff etc....

Well you get the idea. Point is.. A necro solo can accomplish a lot. A necro with a mage buddy, or even another necro... can kill *more* than twice the mobs, resulting in more XP, *safer* xp (fear resist x3 isn't instant death with a mage nuking them off of you, a cleric healing you, etc...).. You'll kill more, die less, chat and have more fun. It's a complete win-win.

And psychologically, it is so much easier to have like 10 duo buddies on a /friends list. Someone's on doing something fun, just need to join in! And if you like to solo cuz you only have an hr or two, Duo groups aren't long term commitments. MageBuddy_01 solos the tree spec when you have to leave early, life goes on. It's not even near on the same par as getting to Shroom King in Seb and having the cleric bail for a RL emergency.

Trust me, duo. If you are level 30 a quick /w all 29 34 will open your eyes. Solo EQ is a really bad AOL chatroom with low-res whack-a-mole attached. Live a little. :)

Oh in case you are not sold yet: pet's don't eat group XP, so a mage and necro can literally fling their pets and cast level 1 DDs, juggle pet aggro, and spam kill areas like unrest basement/city of mist/etc.. while barely casting spells beyond mage pet heal and necro pact/lifetap if they so choose

[tobolamr]

Bubbles nailed it.

[Izmael]

Necro gets really fun 55+ when you get enough mana to cast a lot of spells. Don't give up, it's a great class.

[Nixtar]

Necro gets really fun 55+ when you get enough mana to cast a lot of spells. Don't give up, it's a great class.

And before that you add a lot to duo or group. A necro has a lot of utility and just makes everything go smoother. CC, heals, twitches, snares, can add a bit of burst damage when needed. Then if there are undead present, charming adds a tonne of DPS(Unrest, Kaesora, Charasis, comes to mind).

On my shaman I will very rarely pass up an offer to duo with a Necro. It makes everything go faster. Duoing with an enchanter or druid is another fun experience... Or even a mage or another necro for a similar solo experience but since you no longer have to care about pet DPS it goes really fast.

On the paladin I was able to keep casting stun forever since the necro kept me fed + CC and pet off-tank for times when pacify decided to NOPE. The cleric actually started to nuke because of not needing to heal much. Y u no feed healer? Well, stuns = mobs ain't hitting anyone. Obviously this does not work at high end when mobs start to become immune to stuns but until that point it is amazing.

TL;DR: Necro is unlife, necro is love.

[Ikon]

I just hit 29 on my necro, tips Id give is"

* Qeynos hills - Im a dark elf

- theres a guy in hut where Hadden spawns (20 low resist war)
- outside Surefall the Millers, 25, low resists, drop up to 2-3pp lots of gold & bronze weps
- outside Surefall 2 guards 22 & 25ish, resist a bit, fine steal
- Holly Windstalker 30? Spawns right hand side of wall facing Qeynos zoneline, 7 min spawn, no roamers, super low resists, killing her since 25
- Konam monk, red for ages low resists, spawns near hut on road between Qeynos Surefall

All easy kills apart from resists on guardsguardsm

Best part is since arriving there at 18 in all cloth have managed to get 3 GBS off Pyzjn (killed her 30ish times) and have FBR, circlet of shadows and most slots filled with mid to high quality gear

[Ikon]

Other things to consider:

Heartflutter seems to resist way too much to be worthwhile.

I found the following is best with pet tanking:

Leech
*Send Pet*
Heatblood
Engulfing Darkness
Fear (when mob hits 50%)
Pull pet.
Refear or use Shock of Poison till dead.

Leech is low aggro and pet will pick up aggro straight away over darkness. Heatblood won't take aggro off the pet usually* By the time you cast Engulfing, likely won't take aggro but might. Benefit is also that you won't be recasting darkness before the mob dies. Pet is basicaly just a damaging root while applying dots and pulling it back around 50% means full exp.

[tobolamr]

I can vouch for what Ikon says.

[Tuurin]

My #1 rule for enjoying EQ: ignore your exp bar. Play in a way that seems fun to you and don't try to max out your exp. If chaining pets or whatever is your cup of tea, then do that. But don't do it just to try to max out your exp. It's a game that has no end. There's literally nothing waiting for you at the endgame that's worth sacrificing the fun of the game getting there.