Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale... a tale of a fateful strength, that started from the noble gnomes, regardless of their length!
And that strength isss.... bone knighting!
I have been gettin some questions on a guide for what to do as a bone knight. What kinda equipment? What race (gnome)? How do you battle?!
Well! I'll share my great gnome knowledge, and you too shall achieve great power.
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Race
Well, first off the primary thing you is lookin for is dex ... then a little strength can help, or int. It probably isn't worth it for stamina, since even at level 60 you will only get 2.4 HP per point of stamina. It can help some, but dex helps increase DPS (especially with the variety of proc weapons a necro gets).
RACE...............STR....STA.....AGI.....DEX....W IS......INT.....CHA.....BONUS
Gnome..............60......70.......85......95.... ...67.......108.....60.........30
Iksar.................70......70.......90......95. ......80........85......55.........30
Dark Elf.............60......65.......90......85....... 83.......109.....60.........30
Erudite..............60......70.......70......80.. .....83.......117.....70.........30
Human..............75......75.......75......85.... ...75........85......75.........30
Now, some people theorize that iksars is best. They get a sizable AC boost at level 60 (about 40-50ac), and some nice regen boost! (a difference of 8 hp a tick standing at level 60...and 11 hp a tick sitting).
It's nice... BUT, let us consider gnomes.
RACE...............STR....STA.....AGI.....DEX....W IS......INT.....CHA.....BONUS
Gnome..............60......70.......85......95.... ...67.......108.....60.........30
Iksar.................70......70.......90......95. ......80........85......55.........30
As you can see, gnomes got the same dex... and 23 (!!!!) more starting int! That means a gnome can throw 25 points (maximum) into dex at the start, giving them a whoppin 120 dex, and an iksar would have to throw that into int just to be the same.
Effectively, while iksars get their AC + regen, they lose a +25 bonus to dex or int.
Gnomes also got superior peepers (able to see through walls is EXTREEEMELY useful for checking spawns and targeting and not getting lost). A gnome used to the power of gnome peepers just has a passive knowledge of everything around them, because they are so used to wall-checking everything.
Gnomes also get a blanket faction bonus with most things. That means they can faction up a lot easier (if they are even KOS) and be welcome in all the cities.... including evil cities with skeleton form. I even took the time to become non-kos to surefall glade (and all druids at teleport spots)....and become non-kos to karana residence. When kunark comes, I'll be non-kos in the outpost AND firiona vie. You just can't underestimate the power of faction.
Gnome size also lets them get places other people can't go. Fittin through gates, and doors and all sorts of things! Can even swim through the closed gates in kedge keep as a gnome!
Is iksar +8 regen and AC worth all that? Nope! Gnomes is great!!
So, +25 to dex, +5 to str (helps make up the lack of str a little)
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Equipment!!
Gettin decent armors is pretty cheap actually as a bone knight. You can splurge for a few higher ticket items (like thick banded belt or cloak of shadows)... but overall focus on AC + DEX + HP
https://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_...ar_Bone_Knight
and here is a glimpse into the future with kunark...
https://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_...he_Bone_Knight
Look at all them ACs!! And even nice INT with the rod of annihilation reducing it by 50...and all that DEX.... so stronks!!!
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Weapons
Generally, the greatest weapons are going to be proccing. Since the strategy is to maximize DEX to take advantage of vampiric embrace, it also translates to boosting all the proc weapons you get.
Which means!!
1 - 16 (6 damage DD, +6 damage a tick for a minute)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crookstinger
16 - 18 (30 damage proc)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Obsidian_Shard
18 - 28 (20 damage DD, and 2 ticks of 15 damage)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Stiletto_of_the_Bloodclaw
28+ (48 damage proc + interrupt)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Staff_of_writhing
and then situational
46+ (585 DD to undead!!!)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Staff_of_undead_legions
30+ (162 DD to summoned)
https://wiki.project1999.com/Gold_Plated_Koshigatana
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Spells!
First off is the main thing necromancers miss....
vampiric embrace.
You get this at level 8 (!!!) and it procs for 12 + level .... so at level 8, that's a 20 damage lifetap proc! For 30 mana (if you only proc once, but if you have high dex, you will proc far more).
That's DOUBLE the damage of the level 4 lifetap proc (necros don't get a new one at level 8). And even at level 12 when they get a lifetap of 39 (scales to 45), the vampiric embrace is doing 24 damage!
Even at level 50, your vampiric embrace will be doing 62 damage lifetap, which isn't shabby!
At 12 you also get our first lifetap dot spell... leach. These are always far better in terms of mana efficiency. And a big secret is THEY ALL STACK. Not in terms of damage, but in terms of healing.
So if you are tanking an ice giant, you can throw your 80 damage lifetap dot + the 20 damage one... and be getting 100 a tick regeneration. This is why the iksars regen isn't really that important for a necromancer, because with a single lifetap dot you are usually over-healing yourself anyway. With bone magics, life comes and goes easily.
Then at level 16 you get
banshee aura (8 point damage shield!!) and
spirit armor (self AC buff). Personally the aura wasn't lasting enough for me to worry about (it lasts 4.2 minutes when you get it, but scales to 9 minutes at level 40...which is much better).
But the damage per mana is still higher than anything you have if you are tanking (which you WILL be tanking). Just normally it is better to save mana for lifetaps to keep your downtime low.
And then at level 20 you get
shadow vortex...another AC boost and a greattt taunting spell. Though when lower level disease cloud is much cheaper mana (if less agro).
And that's really the core of offensive magics. I don't dot or nuke generally (unless being lazy and fear kiting for money or something). It's more important for me to tank and keep my downtime low (especially since I don't meditate often, I just let lich form regenerate my mana for me).
Defensive wise...
empathy spells are important... not just for healing your team, but also for healing your pet. Once you get
shadow pact, everything changes in your ability to heal others... and you can shadow pact multiple people and only be draining yourself once.
It's also worth noting that 2 necromancers can shadow pact each other and end up both net-healing each other. And since the spell costs like 10 mana, it's effectively infinite healing (making them great duo partners later to help reduce the downtime to 0).
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Leveling / Pulling
Since you usually aren't out-damaging your pet in melee... the best idea for leveling is a duo. The thing is you don't really need a healer or a tank, and leveling up a monk or rogue can make a great partner (a monk is best if going deep and handling a lot, since you can both FD it off.... or even another necromancer).
You can split pull by casting
screaming terror on one of the targets, mezzing it and pulling the other with social agro. Then when the other one gets to you, just FD and pop back up for a second. It should clear the agro of the other one, since it's still sitting on its spawn point.
But also, screaming terror often acts as a memory blur. This can be handy if you are PLing in some way (PLing others, or someone bigger killing things and you mem blur the target before you finish it off).
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Battle Strategy!!
The thing about necromancers and bone knights....is that you can EASILY out-tank your pet until the mid 40's. So fighting generally is protecting your pet and setting up your lifetap dots (then throwing in a lifetap or two while fighting if you need).
If you get too many weapon procs too quickly, it can over-agro you.... but that doesn't happen too often, so most of the time you can take a step back and let your pet take a couple hits if you need to to heal back up with a longer casting lifetap (or to let a couple ticks of lifetap drain take effect).
And that's really all there is to it. You might consider using clinging darkness (very cheap) to keep things from running if you are fighting in a close situation. But generally you will be killing a high volume of things and just ripping through all enemies.... even 2 or 3 at a time sometimes (such as in Permafrost).
Just as long as you use screaming terror to control extra pulls, or even root (against undead frogloks, I prefer screaming terror... since they can root you next to them, and rooting them back isn't going to help manage the damage).
The main thing with bone knights is their ability to recover. Both mana and health... and just keep fighting. Tanking for your team and helping to heal them if they get hurt with the empathy lines.
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Leveling Guide
You can really level anywhere... but some key areas are Permafrost when you get to be around 20ish, and stay there till 30ish. Then go to cazic thule and you can solo the maze near the entrance (just single pulling back to your pet). And do that till 35ish? Maybe 36?
Then guk is great till 45... and you could go to 50 there, but I went to ice giants outside of permafrost till 50 to get moneys instead.
Really bone knights can go anywhere.... and if you don't want to pay much attention, fear kite works just as fine (since you are a gnome and have high int anyhow). Or fight toe to toe as a proper bone knight (I can melee kill ice giants about as fast as I can fear kite kill them with dots, though they hit hard so I end up not being able to keep up with a 3 spawn like that).
Charm killing would also be easier, since you are able to take some hits if your pet breaks.
Basically, you still got the typical power of necromancers....but because you have built differently, you also have the ability to step in and melee things down (like I was able to melee kill a hill giant, with no pet, just lifetap dots and melees and procs.... my procs alone ended up doing over 850 damage).
And you can take FULL advantage of proc weapons (especially undead!). And DPS wise, as shown in the other thread, bone knights are at the very top! At least in classic.... but more testing is needed to see if I can continue to match other fellows in the art of melee battle.
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The end