First Time Necro - Looking for Tips

[forks]

Hey

Looking to start a first time Necro and a first time Iksar, never levelled in Kunark. Have a 60 SK and Shaman and a few 50s melees. Haven't played a caster since 2002.

How do I gear a necro, any quality of life stuff? Probably looking to spend 10k or so but have more if something is game changing. Also have a FBSS, 55/5s, an SMR, and a few pieces of loam laying around.

Any tips on playing a necro? Plan to follow the iksar leveling path. How many dots do I stack on a mob?

thanks in advance.

[forks]

Forgot to mention, I've read most the wiki and a guide or two, I have a good grasp on the spells. Also does charisma do anything for necro charm?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Sadly no. CHA has no effect on the Charm/lull spell lines for Necromancers and Shadowknights.

For gearing, probably save that 10k for https://wiki.project1999.com/Staff_of_the_Dreaded_Gaze . Gear isn't too important for necros, this clickie will help you more, unless you plan on mostly grouping.

For the rest of your gear you should just stack HP and MP items as best as you can.

Since you have FBSS you should get a decent weapon for leveling 1-20, like https://wiki.project1999.com/Smoldering_Brand . That will help kill mobs faster by auto attacking. You could also sell your FBSS for https://wiki.project1999.com/Tolapumj%27s_Robe , but once you get into your 20s you will be meleeing a lot less. Due to damage caps something like Smoldering Brand is one of the better options.

I do not know much about optimal Necromancer DoT patterns. But since you have a good pet and fear kiting, I would imagine you don't want to DoT too much, at least at lower levels. Your pet alone should be pretty good DPS, and your snare is also a DoT, so you could make due with killing mobs that way to save mana. Later on when mobs start getting a lot more HP and your DoTs get better like Ignite Blood, you would probably start doing more DoTing to speed up the killing process.

[Crede]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Sesserdrix%27s_All_in_One_Necromancer_Strategy_Gui de

Grab some coffee, this will tell you everything you need to know.

But in short - charm as often as possible, only using dots as necessary to finish off mobs. Fear kiting is best for duos imo, just takes a lot of mana to out dps your animation unless you don’t mind sharing xp with it. Have fun, amazing class and I wouldn’t hesitate to level another one because of how fun it was.

RIP dot damage text.

[forks]

Thanks guys! I think I read that a long time ago, I'll give it another read. I plan on soloing as much as possible, I've also never played a charm class so I'll look to be doing a ton of that early on to learn.

2nd about the damage text. So helpful with spear of fate / splurt

[Neric]

Staff of Dreaded Gaze is kinda for optics only, because the effect is useless. It looks cooler than the epic though. Other than that just get as much hp/sta gear as you can get. The only really useful items are j-boots and the pre-nerf Circlet of Shadow.

The idea to kill stuff outdoors is to dot it up and run away. Your pet keeps doing damage while the mobs are chasing you. That way you can kill every NPC that doesn't summon.

[Scoojitsu]

For gearing, probably save that 10k for https://wiki.project1999.com/Staff_of_the_Dreaded_Gaze . Gear isn't too important for necros, this clickie will help you more, unless you plan on mostly grouping.

What's so good about this clicky? Saving some mana? A spell slot? Is there a special tactic you can use with this?

Thanks

[PatChapp]

What's so good about this clicky? Saving some mana? A spell slot? Is there a special tactic you can use with this?

Thanks

Its more for keeping the mob feared than the initial fear. You don't need it to level, necroa need j boots,spells and some bone chips to level. Focus on how, mana won't be an issue for you until higher levels.

[Scoojitsu]

Sadly no. CHA has no effect on the Charm/lull spell lines for Necromancers and Shadowknights.

Is the wiki wrong on this?
On the Necromancer class page it says CHA is important for lull and screaming terror.
Thank you.

[Elizondo]

roll cliche Iksar for necro eazy mode

Stay in Kerns as long as you can. Save and bank bone chips. Should be 24ish.

Leave Kunark for Classic

Camp guards and goodly npc 6 min camps till 50 - Fear Kite

Head to Lguk - Charm

Head to Howling Stones - Charm

Congrats on your new twitching career

[DMN]

What's so good about this clicky? Saving some mana? A spell slot? Is there a special tactic you can use with this?

Thanks

mostly for mana purposes. you could argue it might save you slot in some instances when fear kiting enemies, but you usually have plenty of room on the spell bar for those instances and you will probably want another fear to cast if the staff gets resisted anyway, hence you didn't really save a slot.


as for your other question about charisma, it should have a very small effect on screaming terror resist, a modest affect on the memblur component, but it should have quite a significant effect on lull crit resist rates.

despite lull stil being heavily influenced by charisma. necro is an exception to my own rule of how imprtant charisma is for lull classes. the reason being that necros can FD when they get a crit fail, while other classes will have to find some way to deal with the impending train. So cha is nice specicially when lulling but not really a must have for them. certainly the extra cha you get from human isnt worth losing regen from iksar, asssuming you plan to stick to the class for the long haul.

[commongood]

Staff of Dreaded Gaze is kinda for optics only, because the effect is useless. It looks cooler than the epic though. Other than that just get as much hp/sta gear as you can get. The only really useful items are j-boots and the pre-nerf Circlet of Shadow.

The idea to kill stuff outdoors is to dot it up and run away. Your pet keeps doing damage while the mobs are chasing you. That way you can kill every NPC that doesn't summon.

Not sure if you are being serious or not or if I misunderstood you. A mob chasing you will mitigate 33% of your dot damage. Whereas if it's feared the dots will deal 100% damage. Also, you can sit and med while the mob is feared instead of having to run around.

[Bardp1999]

Staff of the Dreaded Gaze sucks at higher level - the cast is way too long and it breaks way too often. J boots and CoS are honestly the 2 best items you can get. Get yourself a Z heart if you are a big dick raider, it makes a difference but isn't really buyable unless you just have hundreds of thousands of spare PP.

Necromancers are some of the best group healers in the game once you get your life transfer spells, dont be that idiot who thinks your only job is DPS. Root/Heal/Pet/Twitch and life tap to keep the party rolling. A good necromancer is the best partner in the game for any class

[DMN]

Staff of the Dreaded Gaze sucks at higher level - the cast is way too long and it breaks way too often. J boots and CoS are honestly the 2 best items you can get. Get yourself a Z heart if you are a big dick raider, it makes a difference but isn't really buyable unless you just have hundreds of thousands of spare PP.


Hmm not sure about that. High level is actually where it increses your necros solo ceiling. CoS for instance never raises your solo ceiling, merely makes life easier for breaking charm. jboots can easilly be replced by some SoW potions. Necros usually stay at one location for extened periods of time either leveling or farming, so they dont need to move around much nor do they need jboots to effectively kite. And just like CoS it also does not raise your ceiling for soloing.if you do plan on living outdoors and fear kiting the entire way than jboot might be worth picking up, but that would mean CoS virtually useless to you and the staff even more valuable yet.

[Jimjam]

Cos also appears good for standing from FD (I wouldn’t know - I don’t have one).

[Crawdad]

Hey

Looking to start a first time Necro and a first time Iksar, never levelled in Kunark. Have a 60 SK and Shaman and a few 50s melees. Haven't played a caster since 2002.

How do I gear a necro, any quality of life stuff? Probably looking to spend 10k or so but have more if something is game changing. Also have a FBSS, 55/5s, an SMR, and a few pieces of loam laying around.

Any tips on playing a necro? Plan to follow the iksar leveling path. How many dots do I stack on a mob?

thanks in advance.

You can gear a necro for ~10k and have decent enough gear til 60. Prioritize Hp>Mana(if low level)/Int(until 200)>Stam(stam scales very poorly for necro)

Words of Darkness is a great clickie for GCD reset and also a free low level lich. JBoots and CoS are both nice QoL but honestly not very important. I would just snag a Goblin ring for charming until 55+ and flush with plat. Snag a mage focus item for reclaiming pet.

Necro leveling is a blast, you can solo all the fun stuff like giants, specters, etc. easier than pretty much anybody. Even doing a guard/bard diet from 20->60 is fun as you'll make a ton of plat in the process.

Enjoy the ride, Necro can be a ton of fun with their huge toolbox. If you have time group, Necro brings all the tools to the group if you aren't lazy. Lots and lots to do with weird duo/trios in particular.

[Weekapaug]

You can gear a necro for ~10k and have decent enough gear til 60. Prioritize Hp>Mana(if low level)/Int(until 200)>Stam(stam scales very poorly for necro)


So I'm in the thread because I'm thinking about doing what the OP is doing but I've just come off a 5 year break from EQ in all forms (longest one yet since 99) and fuzzy about a lot and waking this here because it comes up...

Did the stats cap not go up sometime during Kunark and Velious or was it 200 the entire time? Seem to remember it going to 255 at some point in there or maybe that was just the hard cap and a soft cap remained at 200 until AA? Something like that.

It's brutal trying to remember stuff you never forgot before for 2 decades.

[Crawdad]

Did the stats cap not go up sometime during Kunark and Velious or was it 200 the entire time? Seem to remember it going to 255 at some point in there or maybe that was just the hard cap and a soft cap remained at 200 until AA? Something like that.

200 int/wis softcap went away when Luclin was released: www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20011204.html then stat AAs increased the hardcap up to 305(iirc).

Not entirely sure what the int/wis::mana >200 is on p99, just that equipping mana over int/wis above 200 is a better return if you trust the UI, which honestly you often shouldn't.

[Weekapaug]

Excellent, thank you. I knew I was in the ballpark.

[VesperVapes]

Sadly no. CHA has no effect on the Charm/lull spell lines for Necromancers and Shadowknights.
.

Are u sure? Wiki says it does

For lull that is not charm

[Kawhi]

Are u sure? Wiki says it does

For lull that is not charm

People say all the time the cha doesn't affect lulling for necros, but it clearly does have an impact on whether or not a resist turns into a crit resist.

[Dewbes]

People say all the time the cha doesn't affect lulling for necros, but it clearly does have an impact on whether or not a resist turns into a crit resist.