Necro Class in MMO's(Best?)

zimike

This is simply to get opinions from the community on what MMO's have the best version of the Necromancer Class and why. For me, I always thought two games had the best, Age of Conan and Vanguard. However, I'm interested in seeing what the newer genre(last 10 years or so) of MMO's has to offer.

Let me know what you Necromancer fans think!

Zimike

koboldfodder

Easy.

Original Everquest and it's not even close.  This was a grouping game but there were a few classes that could solo but the Necro was king.

They did not have to worry about losing faction because they were pretty much KOS to everything.  They had massive utility against undead such as fear, charm, mez.  They had feign death though it was the spell version so not as good as the monks.  Invis and invis to undead, their own mana regen.  Pets, buffs to pets and could give them the steel weapons that were looted.

And if you picked Iksar you got natural regen and you could equip a fungi tunic for even more regen so your health to mana spell would be even better.

Plus they could stack 7 DOTs on a target and either root rot, fear kite with pets, or reverse kite with pets and a snared mob.

Plus they only really had one stat to worry about, get your INT to 200 and then just put on some health gear.

They were also great in PVP.

Wizardry

My memory is not good enough to remember all the classes in each game especially if i did not like the design.
I played both VG and Conan but remember nothing of the Necro class.

What i do know is that i have not liked classes much outside of FFXI,they always felt terribly shallow...handcuffed.

Necros tend to have a pet and the issue with all of them is the two combined YOU and the Pet were no better than 1 single entity.However in FFXI the pet classes felt very much as an equal or better.Also in FFXI you had the choice of picking ANY class as a sub class so it gave even more versatility.There is even more,in FFXI i could SWITCH my class on the same player by going home and changing,in other games i am stuck with that class forever or make a bunch of alts.

So my opinion is that a good Necro class does not exist unless i just have not played it yet,at least not one i would want to play.
When i say games not to name any right now are just really poor ly designed i mean it,like right from class design to combat systems,to aggro systems,to quest systems,to how xp is given out,Gear,all of these systems seem to be carried from game to game making all of them sub par games.

When some studio learns how to make a MMORPG again and has a NECRO class,i'll check it out and let you know.

Asm0deus

I liked the ddo palemaster

vegetableoil

too bad Diablo is not an mmo, the necro class can summon a lot of skeletons, I have something like 24 skeleton not including golem. GW 2 necro is not bad either.

Po_gg

Mighty had a similar thread before (https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/473221/mmos-with-necromancer-class/p1 ), imo you have the answer already

zimike said:

For me, I always thought two games had the best, Age of Conan and Vanguard.

I had only a short run with Vanguard's necro (I mostly just crafted and diplomac..ied? in there), AoC's necro is awesome fun.

Minus the sometimes wonky pathfinding of the minions. That's why I prefer the ranged ones...

Azaron_Nightblade

I liked Vanguard's mechanics to gear the damned thing lol

"Lemme just harvest some limbs..." 

thamighty213

guild wars 2 necro is pretty OP, great in wvw and solo play, lacks pure burst dps for pvp and fractals but an unkillable machine of minions defenses and a 2nd health bar.

its also boring as sin though as you are never in trouble you can afk never mind faceroll and your minions will do the work for you.

Utinni

i enjoyed eq1/2 and rift necros.

Rungar

eq had the best necro i will totally agree. Eso the worst necro. 

Nepheth

Guild Wars

cheyane

Everquest had the best rendition of the necromancer class. No game comes close to the varied abilities and possibilities of playing one.

Xasapis

vegetableoil said:

too bad Diablo is not an mmo, the necro class can summon a lot of skeletons, I have something like 24 skeleton not including golem. GW 2 necro is not bad either.

How many?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhZSuzlYo6w

I know that's an old build. Still, 80+ is quite impressive. Nowadays you'll get more "reasonable" 60+ minions builds.

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLC-NohFr4w

zimike

All thought not an MMO, I almost forgot how much I loved Diablo II's Necro. There is just something about having a lot of little minions running around. Ultimately, I've always wanted a Necro glass that would allow you to customize your minions, such as what armor, they have, the look, abilities, etc.

Even though most Necro pets have different archetypes, Vanguard offered the ability to equip your pet with items to modify the base stats and you could get rare, legendary, etc, items for your pet to do so. 

I never played EQ, so I missed out on that experience. Around that time, I was playing Ashron's Call. However, I did jump into EQ2 for my second Necro expierence(aside from Diablo II) and fell in love with that one. 

SavageHorizon

skadad said:

eq1 and vanguard by far.

I agree, Eq1 and Vanguard wins hands down of all the mmo's I've played. Anyone claiming to have played VG necro but can't remember it is talking shit, they never played VG necro. 

Lokero

EQ1 definitely wins in terms of sheer character power.

However, EQ Necro wasn't much of a summoner/pet class, which is what we typically associate Necromancers with.

They only had 1 pet at a time and those were fairly weak.  So it definitely wasn't perfect.

As a powerful spellcaster, EQ Necro was monstrous.  As a master of undeath, not so much.

Amathe

I also vote for the Necro in original EQ. I had a low level one as an alt, and he was so awesome. 

Dibdabs

EQ necro pet was pretty crap, but it was a decent class otherwise.  I treated myself to Diablo 3 yesterday and I am really enjoying the Necro so far.  It waltzes through mobs with ease, and I just finished the first act.

WarEnsemble

The thing about the EQ1 necro is there is so much more to the class than just dotting and having a pet. Necros are one of the best pullers in the game, they can slow and mez any mob in the game, they can solo, they contribute dps to a group, and in a raid situation, especially paired with another necro, their dps is insanely efficient and high. (Check out the covenant line of spells)

I am a pet class player. EQ1 necro and mage, DAoC theurg, GW2 Engineer, D3 Witch Doctor, ESO necro, and on and on. You have to enjoy learning to manage your pet.

Amathe

WarEnsemble said:

The thing about the EQ1 necro is there is so much more to the class than just dotting and having a pet. Necros are one of the best pullers in the game, they can slow and mez any mob in the game, they can solo, they contribute dps to a group, and in a raid situation, especially paired with another necro, their dps is insanely efficient and high. (Check out the covenant line of spells)

I am a pet class player. EQ1 necro and mage, DAoC theurg, GW2 Engineer, D3 Witch Doctor, ESO necro, and on and on. You have to enjoy learning to manage your pet.

And they can summon your corpse!

phoenixfire2

Rungar said:

eq had the best necro i will totally agree. Eso the worst necro. 

Agree with this 100%.  EQ1 is the uncontested king of necromancers.  Same with bards, enchanters and probably a few other classes.  ESO necro was a huge disappointment for me.

Lokero

Prime_Directive said:

Age of Conan , Necro is probably the best. You can go either a caster or pet based. OR a hybrid of both and in the right hands rain terror like a an unearthed veil of death on you enemies from Stygia to Khitia. Nothing can comepare to the synergy of debuffs and dot stacks. 

Sadly to actually play one, you will need to raise Age of conan from the ashes of oblivion. 

I seem to remember the AoC Necro being pretty good, but it's been soooo long since I touched AoC that I can barely remember anything about it.  It wasn't my main class and I can barely even remember my main from that game

As to Diablo 3 Necro:  Isn't the D3 necro just a copy of the D2 necro?  I haven't played D3 since it was added.

WarEnsemble

Lokero said:

Prime_Directive said:

Age of Conan , Necro is probably the best. You can go either a caster or pet based. OR a hybrid of both and in the right hands rain terror like a an unearthed veil of death on you enemies from Stygia to Khitia. Nothing can comepare to the synergy of debuffs and dot stacks. 

Sadly to actually play one, you will need to raise Age of conan from the ashes of oblivion. 

I seem to remember the AoC Necro being pretty good, but it's been soooo long since I touched AoC that I can barely remember anything about it.  It wasn't my main class and I can barely even remember my main from that game

As to Diablo 3 Necro:  Isn't the D3 necro just a copy of the D2 necro?  I haven't played D3 since it was added.

It is not a direct clone, but the D3 necro is a completely useless pile of crap. Save your money.

Dibdabs

Hmm, I have had a great time with the D3 Necro, although I've only had the game for a couple of days.  It cuts through mobs like butter, but maybe default mode is like Easy mode?

I reinstalled AoC about a week ago but it's been years since I played and will have to relearn how to play my lvl 62 Necro.  I have no idea what any of the spells/skills do now.

Caffynated

The best necromancers aren't in MMOs unfortunately.

>GW2 is decent, but minion masters are really only good solo

>EQ1 is fun, but you only have one pet

Some good games to play to scratch your necromancer itch:

Magic The Gathering Arena - You can build some amazing zombie decks that really accentuate that necromancer feel of emptying the graves and sending endless waves of the dead at your opponent, and you only become more powerful when your enemy manages to kill them.

Warhammer Total War - There are 3 undead factions, but the best necromancer faction is the Vampire Counts. The general of every army and the leader of every faction is a powerful necromancer. He commands vast legions of the dead and commands powerful necromantic magic that turns the tide of battles.

Diablo 2 and Path of Exile - covered pretty well earlier in the thread.

Not a necromancer game, but if you enjoy playing as a Minion Master, pickup Overlord. You command dozens of little demonic imps to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. Fantastic game.

Dhampir

koboldfodder said:

Easy.

Original Everquest and it's not even close.  This was a grouping game but there were a few classes that could solo but the Necro was king.

They did not have to worry about losing faction because they were pretty much KOS to everything.  They had massive utility against undead such as fear, charm, mez.  They had feign death though it was the spell version so not as good as the monks.  Invis and invis to undead, their own mana regen.  Pets, buffs to pets and could give them the steel weapons that were looted.

And if you picked Iksar you got natural regen and you could equip a fungi tunic for even more regen so your health to mana spell would be even better.

Plus they could stack 7 DOTs on a target and either root rot, fear kite with pets, or reverse kite with pets and a snared mob.

Plus they only really had one stat to worry about, get your INT to 200 and then just put on some health gear.

They were also great in PVP.

Brings back memories.......fear and dot...dot...dot..with the skelly laughing beating the heck out of the mod.