Best MH and OH for necro...

[Valium]

I wholeheartedly agree with Tecmos that hitpoints are just as important for us. I also feel they are more important than the size of the mana pool (to a certain degree).

The first question is whether your necro is max level or not and how much you have to spend. Either way, it's highly dependent on how you want to play. Would you prefer to be more of a glass cannon or have more of a hitpoint buffer for a bad situation? Your call. Depending on the situation, you may need to switch out items and so it's not always a simple answer as to what is "Best in slot". I feel the orb of tishan, for example, is better than anything for charming but there are items with better stats. To say it's best in slot? For my playstyle, yes. It doesn't mean that I won't switch it out for something else - it's entirely situational.

There are more options than listed here and you can buy many of the excellent MH/OH for cheaper than you would think. I will gladly update this list for a reference point.

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Low-End (starting off with little money). Thing to remember is every point of intelligence gives less mana (lower ratio) at lower levels so your return on int over mana is much smaller early on. I would personally shoot for items with +mana over int until you notice the int ratio disparity is better.

Sacrificial Dagger - Very cheap (eventually upgrade to Harvester)

Shimmering Orb - OH - Hitpoints and pretty cool graphic - very cheap

Black Tome with Silver Runes - Is probably one of the cheapest int items at lower levels if you need mana.

Stein of Mogguk - Cheap, probably a little bit more than Black Tome (when every plat counts) - But still, one of the most classic and best starting +int items.

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Other suggested OH/MH when you are a little higher level to be able to farm or you have some more cash to spend:

Book of Obulus - Not terribly expensive - At low levels, great for the +mana over the intelligence. Cheaper than a glowing black stone but a GBS is more about appearance. Again, no hitpoints - which is something to consider. Slight magic resist which never hurts.

Cone of the Mystics - Appears to be much cheaper than a book of Obulus and gives good +mana for lower levels. No magic resist and it's an ice cream cone graphic. Still, in comparison to a Book of Obulus, you could buy almost 2 of these for the same price so you could put that money towards something else.

Glowing Black Stone - Still selling for 5k or so but it is farmable if you can get lucky on a pop (I got mine in my 20's) but it can be a nightmare long farm if you are not familiar with the spawn locations. Still, this is more of a vanity item for appearance. You can offhand the Drachnid Thyxl mentioned above for the double orb look at higher levels (and a nice mana boost). The magic resist is often overlooked and is never a bad thing.

Orb of Tishan - One of my current favorites - Insanely useful for debuffing a mob in a group or with a shaman for charming. They run under 1k now and have stamina but not a lot of mana. Some use them while soloing as well...

Cryosilk Webshield - OH - Upgrade to your shimmering orb. Same graphic and it has a solid amount of int + hitpoints for around 2k

Staff of Undead Legions - 2h - (procs @ 46) - Still one of my favorite staves in the game. Procs a 585 DD against undead and is very cheap now - 2kish. This would be for later on but I HIGHLY recommend getting one if you plan on fear-kiting undead at any point or if you're in a group. If you get a dex buff, its very easy to proc for 2-3k damage in a fight. I'm amazed by the number of necros who do not utilize this weapon. You know all those undead apparitions in trakanons teeth? This obliterates them if you undead fear/kite.

Rokyl's Channeling Crystal - OH - What I use now. I love the HP/Mana. Excellent graphic.

Tome of Miragul - It has good hitpoints and good mana. Excellent combo with Rokyl's as Tecmos mentioned.

Staff of the Waterwalker - 2h Staff - Excellent hitpoints but only 10int. Still, very good item for its price and overlooked by a lot of players who prefer a better look or think that dual wielding is your only option.

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More expensive options or not necessarily soloable early on:

Hand of the Reaper - If you want to maximize your int and mana pool, this is one of the highest int offhands in the game. Very cool looking but somewhat expensive.

Drachnid Thyxl - NO DROP - This is a no drop item that is not planar. Can't buy this one! OH only but it has great int/mana and much overlooked magic resist.

Obviously your epic is going to be the best MH for us. Sadly, come Velious, I think most will go with Zlandicar's Heart over it (situationally).

Lot to read but it's the start of a list. Other people should add their opinions to this.


tl;dr: Lots of options - If you need mana, go with mana items but always try to get hitpoints. We don't get a good return on stamina so try to go for pure HP.

[Nirgon]

Things going to hell and being able to pull off an FD are pretty crucial when deep dungeon soloing. Medding with a bond/vexing is almost always full hp.

Max hps are also awesome for splitting with FD, esp if shit casts or harm touches.

[Morbo the Annihilator]

Iksars: Staff of the waterwalker.
non-iksars: Tome of miragul + rokyl's channeling crystal.

nothing will beat this outside of epic/VP/velious

[Peekae]

was kinda wondering this myself as it seems HP is so nice for necro's. Hand of the reaper is so nice but at the same time extra hp is amazing.. depends on int i suppose?

[Mandalore93]

A question, can't Necros use harmshield while FD pulling? Granted the timing of the two spells, not to mention the extra slot used up is pretty icky. An extra 100 HPs grants you like half a combat round at 60? I can see why an extra 100 mana would be useful, since that would be an extra three or four ticks of regeneration, but I wouldn't expect Necros to do much tanking at 60. Not sure if tap tanking is viable on this server during this point in time?

[Bubbles]

I always juggled a GBS, Rokyl's, and Drac Thyxl depending on what i was doing, with an orb of tishan in a bag for utility.

But more often than not i'd just use a Staff of the Waterwalker. The HPs on that were sweet and you'd tick off the monk in your crew because you'd wield the same graphic as their Tranq Staff (highly underrated feature).

Vanity is always most important. Well, vanity, hp, and sv magic. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Splorf22]

Originally Posted by Bubbles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But more often than not i'd just use a Staff of the Waterwalker. The HPs on that were sweet and you'd tick off the monk in your crew because you'd wield the same graphic as their Tranq Staff (highly underrated feature).

Exactly.

[Kevynne]

Shield of spectral essence (or we its called... Sk/nec shield from Kaesora) also really good

[Valium]

Originally Posted by Morbo the Annihilator [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Iksars: Staff of the waterwalker.
non-iksars: Tome of miragul + rokyl's channeling crystal.

nothing will beat this outside of epic/VP/velious

Agreed. Imitating monks is highly underrated.

Appearance-wise, even when I had my epic on live, I still preferred the Staff of Dreaded Gaze over it. It also has some very nice uses in WW... But, if you prefer the epic particles or have some desire for Howard the duck in your life - no explanation is needed!

Doesn't anyone care about necro vanity anymore?! It's not always about the stats! (Well, maybe).

[NoWaiJ]

i use cone of the mystics and rokyls. i would happily trade both for a staff of the waterwalker though [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]