Necromancers and Magic

In this section we discuss magic in two parts. Buffing and PVP magic.


Buffing:

Necromancers have no real offensive buffs, but they do have strong defensive buffs. A brief breakdown of ones that are especially helpful in PVP.

Kura-Silma (KS) has an aspect of it that gives your Necro a perception bonus, which is always helpful when fighting other stealthy characters. It takes two spells to cap duration at 29 minutes, but due to its length, it's a pretty good choice for the first buff spell you cast since it will still probably outlast all of your other buffs. This spell works nicely or "stacks" with other Perception boosting spells, like CV.

Calcified Hide (CH) is currently a damage suppressor. It's great against characters that will otherwise just get hammer;throw hammer smoke you. What's even better is that it works in conjunction with Manifest Force, a learnable spell that does pretty much the same thing. You can have them both up and they'll both eat up incoming physical damage.

Philosopher's Preservation (PHP) is an evasion bonus as well as a Reflex Boost. It's a terrific spell. This and the CH/MAF combo really increase your survivability. As both CH and PHP have about the same max duration, it's normally just cast them back to back and get out of the fight when they come off.

Obfuscation (OBF) is a hiding and stalking bonus. It's not as powerful as the Moon Mage Shadows spell in terms of a hiding bonus as it does two skills, but it's useful. This does stack with Shadows if you have a MM buddy or some Azurite runes and don't mind possibly exploding your arms.

Eyes of the Blind (EOTB) is Necromancer inviso and for my money it's the best Invisibility in the game. The Pros are myriad. Good duration length without limitations on where it's effective or requiring held mana, it's an essential for any time you're in town, combat or not. You cannot be purged while invisible. It also will automatically pulse you back into invisibility if you come out for some reason, either pointed, casting, attacking, etc. Should you be disabled, i.e. slept by an Empath, this alone can sometimes keep you alive, since they'll have a difficult time getting their avenger to melee on you. The ability to move in and out of a room without detection is key for an ambush. Stalking is a nice skill, but in terms of just moving around your battlefield, this is a Must Use.

Worm's Mist (WORM) is a tremendously powerful magic barrier spell. It nerfs outgoing and ingoing magic, but you do have the option of casting the spell NEAR or FAR. NEAR puts the spell at melee range, meaning all your spells will be killed or minimized. FAR will let you self cast without interference, but anyone who gets to melee range on you will be able to cast on you freely as well. Due to its short duration (10 minutes max), it's probably the last spell you want to cast before entering combat. Additionally, since WORM is a double-edged sword, it is not for blanket application regardless of who you are fighting. If you know you can shoot a dude, but he might cast back at you and disable you before you finish, it's really a nice choice. If you need to be able to use your own magic, you probably don't want to nerf yourself. The situations for Worm really could be a post in and of itself, but as a basic tenent for when and when not to cast it, "Know Thy Enemy."

Combat Spells:

Petrifying Visions (PV) is a Vs. Will spell that immobilizes your opponent. Immobilization effect is a terrific defensive hindrance to your opponent that also has the added bonus of keeping them in place for the duration of the spell's effects. It's Necro Halt.

Viscuous Solution (VS) is an AOE spell that will blast the whole room with goo, hitting them with RT. It's a vs. Stam spell and great for Crowd Control, dislodging stealthers or just keeping someone like a MM or Thief that might have poor Stamina and Strength. Max success can put someone in RT for 25 seconds!

Visions of Darkness (VOD) is a Perception debuff. It is Vs. Will as well and really pretty niche, but if your opponent is able to see you and prevent you from lining up a good attack, it can be a nice opener.

Heighten Pain (HP) is sort of the opposite of CH, but castable on other people. Initially it was mainly for lulz, as you could cast it upon another PC and then have someone else accuse them of Necromancy, which was hilarious. They took that away and now it's currently sort of worthless. It's basically a damage escalator. It can be useful for hunting, but for PVP it's really not needed unless you're only getting small hits on someone. Then you might consider HP and hit and running them to death. This is a Vs. Stam spell, so if you're up against a Paladin you can barely hurt it probably isn't going to help all that much right now. Not my personal favorite, but I can see where it'd be useful to some. It may be more functional in 3.0 if damage gets harder to come by.

Acid Splash (ACS) is a TM spell that causes random damage types to its target. For PVP purposes, this is really only for style points.

Siphon Vitality (SV) is a TM spell that along with causing damage to its target also has the added bonus of returning some health to you if it hits after you've fully targeted it. In 3.0 you will not need full target for this added bonus, but as of right now it's normally like ACS- Style points only, except for EXTREMELY niche (OMG GONNA BLEED OUT GONNA BLEED OUT!) situations and even then, if your health is that bad, you're probably not gonna cast it successfully at high enough mana to matter.

Blood Burst (BLB) is a devastatingly powerful TM spell. If you have a bleeding exterior wound, it will not use your own vitality when you cast. If you don't have a bleeder, you'll lose some vitality, the more mana into it the more vitality loss. It hits like a freight train, but it's a tough spell to cast. You won't get a lot of mana into it. Cast it against a Barb with good BMR or a MM with Shear up is going to be a bad idea.

Vivisect (VIV) is our most accurate TM spell. It is snipeable, meaning if you cast it at someone from hiding or inviso, you'll stay in hiding or inviso if you win the stealth contest. It has a fairly low mana cap at 40, so it might not be great against some magic barriers, but it has a bonus to accuracy whether you're hiding or not. It is our best TM PVP spell.