[Vexenu]

If you're just making a Necro to farm with, I would suggest you consider going Erudite. You will level faster and have a much larger mana pool wearing equal gear to the Iksar. The added regen is very nice, but the efficiency benefits it brings only come into play over long periods of sustained grinding. I'll re-paste a post I made awhile ago detailing this:

First of all, consider one of the best race/class specific items in the game, the Mantle of Souls, which is Erudite Necro only: http://wiki.project1999.org/Mantle_of_Souls

This is a very nice item you can get with some high level help at any level. And it's right up there with the PoSky shoulder, which is much more of a pain to acquire.

There are also a few popular mid-range Necro items that Iksars can't use, including:

GEBs
Golden Bracer
Golden Chitin Bracer
Tome of Miragul

Given the disparity in starting INT between an Iksar and Erudite (85 vs. 117) and the added INT on the easily obtainable non-Iksar gear, an Erudite Necro is going to have a noticeably larger mana pool than a comparably geared Iksar, on the order of several hundred mana 50+.

For example, assuming 1 INT = 10 mana (around lvl 50ish), the Erudite's 32 INT racial advantage, the GEBs and the Mantle of Souls alone total around 500 extra mana (and that's factoring in the mana from BIS non-raid gear an Iksar would be using, like a Squallsurge Shawl (+50mana) and Grave Sandals (2 INT, +10 mana). Bond of Death costs 360 mana and returns 720 health. At 60, Iksar sitting regen is 18 vs. non-Iksar at 7, so the Iksar regens approximately +66hp per minute over the Erudite. A liched Necro will regen approximately 500 mana per minute at 60 regardless of race. The Erudite/DE mana pool advantage allows for a cast of Bond/Vexing that nullifies the Iksar regen.

My Necro is a level 54 Iksar geared for HP (BS jewelry, Staff of the Waterwalker, HBC,etc...) and is sitting around 1500 HP self buffed, with 2000 mana and 155 INT. An Erudite Necro with identical gear plus GEBs and Mantels of Souls would be around 200 INT with 2500 mana and the same 1500 HP.

All that said, Iksar is still the better Necro race, since max mana isn't really that important over a long grinding/farming session and the regen allows for increased long term efficiency. But if we're talking about short term efficiency starting from full health, full mana, the Erudite is going to enjoy an advantage. They will also make better mana batteries for obvious reasons, although as an Iksar it's nice to be able to med while liched with Regrowth on and lose no health.

So basically, for long term farming sessions, the Necro is indeed the superior race. But for short bursts, the Erudite is unquestionably better due to their much higher mana pool nullifying Iksar regen. If you're making a Necro to farm (95% of people) go Iksar, if you're making one for PvP (more taps) or raiding (lol wut), go Erudite. The conventional wisdom of "go Iksar or go home" with Necros is technically correct, but the Erudite definitely has some considerable advantages as well which should not be overlooked.

So Iksar is technically the best min/max race, but I think Erudites are a strong second, and definitely first in some aspects. I also think they have the coolest looking GEBs in the game.