Necro vs Shaman Solo
 

Stuck debating whether i should spend my limited playtime on a necro or a shaman as a main char. Asking for input on which would be best in the long run. Grouping time is unlikely in the near future but may become more possible over time. Epic is unlikely on either, though farming cash for gear is doable.

Any thoughts from the locals?

Necro: Solos easily from 1-60. Little if any gear requirement (most expensive spell is 59 pet, 15-18k and optional).

Shaman: Painful 1-34, 34-60 not bad. Requires at least 200k worth of gear (Fungi, Epic, Torpor) to be the god everyone clamors on about.

Best in the long run? Shaman get better in Velious, Necros stay about the same (which is fine, because they're already awesome). There are no lack of either on this server.

I didn't find levels 1-34 to be that bad at all. Before 19/Cannabalize things were a little slow, but I root/rotted quite successfully.

As for gear, shaman don't need any from 1-44, unless you are rich and can afford a (nice to have) Fungi for your Shaman alt. Otherwise there are only two items you really need (from 45-60):

• epic (free with guild help, or 15k-30k depending on how lazy you are)
• JBB (20k)

Someday of course you'll want Torpor to be truly godlike, but that's not until you get level 60, at which point you can farm all sorts of things to earn that plat (or you can do Guardian Wurm groups to try and get it for free).

... but Necros are great soloers also. IMHO it really just comes down to whether you want a class that can take hits, SoW, slow, and heal, or a class that has a powerful pet, feign death, and the ability to just destroy zones like Charasis (where they can charm an even more powerful pet). As Crawdad said, they're both popular classes, so pick whichever one appeals to you most.

Necro is more mana efficient. Shaman is more wanted in groups. Both require very little gear. Shaman mana regen is more tedious/active, but if you'll be near enchanters, out performs necro. Necro mana regen is more of a passive balancing act and if you're alone most of the time will out perform shamans. Both are fun, but I'd probably recommend necro if you're not going to be grouping much due to the increased efficiency and utility (FD/lull/snare/charm/rez).

I personally prefer necro. Just be mindful of lich. If not, you'll die soooo many times like I have.

Shamans aren't really a solo leveling class IMO. Your best bet is to establish a stable of whores to do your dirty work after you slow the mob. Monk is the textbook choice, but really any class with moderate DPS works. At 56+ with the epic and Paralyzing Earth things will turn around for you, but that's a long way down the road.

Necromancers on the other hand can solo smoothly from 1-60 via fearkiting, root rotting, and undead charming. When things go wrong or you need to AFK, you can just FD. Most people will tell you shamans are much better at 60, but I think Velious will give Necros a real raid role beyond 'twitch the cleric and AFK'.

:eek: How do you figure? I mean, don't get me wrong: Shaman/Monk duos are awesome. But we Shaman can solo by ...

• root/roting mobs
• slow tanking mobs
• (with JBB) nuking mobs
• ... hell, at certain levels we can even charm fight mobs!

I've leveled Loramin primarily through soloing on both live and here on P99, and I have never had any difficulty whatsoever. Sure, you sometimes need med breaks between kills, but what soloing class doesn't?

I leveled a Necro on Red recently and I found root to be miserable. It lasted on average . . . probably less than half duration. It wasn't until I got Splurt, Ignite Blood, and Paralyzing Earth that I felt root rotting was even remotely practical. Leveling with a <24 second root, low efficiency/resistable/rootbreaking poison and disease dots, a green pet that can't double attack (when you have one at all), and a spell that must be cast hundreds of times to regain mana (when you have one at all) seems like an exercise in tedium compared to charm soloing.

Granted the epic/jbb help a lot here, but how will you get them if you solo your way up and don't join a guild/dungeon crawl in Sebilis? So I think for untwinked Shaman it makes a lot more sense to grab a buddy and kill stuff 4x faster.

If you want to do both, do necro first.

if you want to do one and have no money I suggest necro, shaman will make you wanting gear more than a necro would.

if you want to do hard mode do shaman with no money

if yo uwant to do god mode, do necro darkelf.

all hail the necro dark elf, he is thy lord and savior and the king of all.

Necros aren't really built to root rot until 49-51. Most should be fear kiting early on and possibly charm soloing in your 30s and 40s.