Forum Discussion: What’s The Best Necro Class In Any MMO?

System · October 2019

Forum Discussion: What’s The Best Necro Class In Any MMO?

What is the best necromancer class in any MMO? This is the discussion going on in our forums right now, so be sure to throw your hat into the ring.

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Tiller · October 2019

g0dl355 said:

Diablo 2 necro by far, it's the standard IMO.

Cool, but not an MMO.

Dhampir · October 2019

Everquest the orginal Necro

Utinni · October 2019

EQ1 and 2 both did a great job. DoT/Drain based tanky caster with lots of utility, sustain, and a pet. Charm undead helps too

GeezerGamer · October 2019

While technically not an actual Necro class in the sense of summoning undead, The Bureaucrat in Anarchy Online has the same play style, only re themed it around sci fi. Instead of rasing Temp mobs from the dead, you "charmed" them. Instead of summoning a permanent undead pet, you summoned a permanent body guard as well as other permanent and temp minions.

Thupli · October 2019

Love gw2 necro, theme, color, gameplay!

OGJackson · October 2019

I thought the Necro in EQ2 was awesome when the game first released.
The Master to summon the Spider was so cool.
Took awhile to get the resources and recipe to craft but was so worth it.

Aeander · October 2019

Guild Wars 1 Necro was a blast. Tons of annoying hexes. Could raise armies of minions and would have to sacrifice their own hp to maintain them. Lifesteal spells.

Dilandau · October 2019

GeezerGamer said:

While technically not an actual Necro class in the sense of summoning undead, The Bureaucrat in Anarchy Online has the same play style, only re themed it around sci fi. Instead of rasing Temp mobs from the dead, you "charmed" them. Instead of summoning a permanent undead pet, you summoned a permanent body guard as well as other permanent and temp minions.

I loved the crat although I mained a MA

so torn between this and the necro in EQ1. The AoC necro had some fun parts and really nailed down the whole minion party theme.

Vorthanion · October 2019

The Necromancer from Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was by far the most interesting and intricate implementation of the class.

eolse · October 2019

EQ1 necro for sure.

blamo2000 · October 2019

Pale Master in DDO.

Morgenes83 · October 2019

Imo all those answers show a part of whats wrong nowadays.

Classes in modern games lack the complexity and variety of skills we had back then. (thinking of Meridians Qor skill line or Vanguards Necro).
Creating underworld portals, setting darkness over an area, turning others into undead, gathering parts of enemies to use them.
Those are the small things making me feel like playing a RPG.

New games mostly concentrate on pure fighting skills making me feel I'm playing a fantasy adventure but not a RPG.

MoariNK · October 2019

Age of Conan necro was great especially when doing spellweaving to make greater level spells -- love that sacrificial altar type thing you can do as a necro, and the pets were great.

Mensur · October 2019

g0dl355 said:

Diablo 2 necro by far, it's the standard IMO.

Stay on topic please

Daemonweaver · October 2019

Guild Wars 1 Necro by far the best and most versatile. I spent many great hours duo farming the underworld with SS necro and 55 monk.

cheyane · October 2019

The Everquest Necromancer was reviled almost everywhere. This class in Everquest meant your choice of diety and race were limited and the whole social structure in Everquest supported the idea that you were a loathsome thing that did not deserve anything less than death. You were killed on sight making selling to any vendor out in the world a real difficulty.

You could spend ages trying to get the people to like you and creep into towns via the tunnels or sewers or other hidden places and still be unfortunate enough to run into some denizen that will slaughter you immediately. Life for a necromancer in Everquest supported the overall disgust the people felt for you. Even among the evil races your own guild was often hidden away from the main paths and you had to travel far to get your new spells and abilities. Even in your own little sphere of evil there were residents that shunned you. It really makes you feel all alone on the path you have chosen.

This in turn gave you very cool spells and a pet that you raised after collecting bones and summoning them forth. You could of course get some hapless new player in exchange for gold to collect them for you and even persuade them to sell things for you for a cut of the profits.

The spells you got were not only for fighting, the great thing about Everquest is that they had spells for some classes that were pure fun like speaking through your skeleton and scaring the aforementioned newbie into farming your bones for you. They can heal, give mana to group members and had various forms of crowd control that literally turned them into dungeon masters.

No other game gives you the complete Necromancer experience that Everquest did which also included the way the world treated and interacted with you. Most other games allowed Necromancers to go anywhere and behave like any other respectable class.

BizkitNL · October 2019

cheyane said:

The Everquest Necromancer was reviled almost everywhere. This class in Everquest meant your choice of diety and race were limited and the whole social structure in Everquest supported the idea that you were a loathsome thing that did not deserve anything less than death. You were killed on sight making selling to any vendor out in the world a real difficulty.

You could spend ages trying to get the people to like you and creep into towns via the tunnels or sewers or other hidden places and still be unfortunate enough to run into some denizen that will slaughter you immediately. Life for a necromancer in Everquest supported the overall disgust the people felt for you. Even among the evil races your own guild was often hidden away from the main paths and you had to travel far to get your new spells and abilities. Even in your own little sphere of evil there were residents that shunned you. It really makes you feel all alone on the path you have chosen.

This in turn gave you very cool spells and a pet that you raised after collecting bones and summoning them forth. You could of course get some hapless new player in exchange for gold to collect them for you and even persuade them to sell things for you for a cut of the profits.

The spells you got were not only for fighting, the great thing about Everquest is that they had spells for some classes that were pure fun like speaking through your skeleton and scaring the aforementioned newbie into farming your bones for you. They can heal, give mana to group members and had various forms of crowd control that literally turned them into dungeon masters.

No other game gives you the complete Necromancer experience that Everquest did which also included the way the world treated and interacted with you. Most other games allowed Necromancers to go anywhere and behave like any other respectable class.

Man, I wish I had played that back then. Sounds really fun and incredibly immersive.

Jensyn · October 2019

I really loved my GW1 necro. Still have it downloaded and go back every once in a while.

Arskaaa · October 2019

not mmo but Diablo 2 necromancer.

Rungar · October 2019

you also have to remember that eq1 was made in a time where a class ( well magic classes) could do more because real crowd control was a thing, but isnt so much of a thing anymore. Roots, snares, stuns and messes were required to play the game. That has alot to do with why the necromancer was a great class. It just had more tools than classes you see nowadays.

Warlyx · October 2019

my vote to Daoc Necro

Asm0deus · October 2019

I really liked the Pale Master in DDO because it was not all about undead Pets like almost all other necro's in other games.

Magnas · October 2019

I agree with EQ1 but want to give a shout out to the Bonedancer in DAOC. Running with your own skelly army which you could pick between casters, archers, healers etc. and dots and drains was a new spin on the class.

calibek · October 2019

It's not a class technically but the necromancy skill from UO was very well done. Also gave life to a useless skill (spirit speak) letting you hear the dead, control the dead, hex people, and chill and poison them. Just wish they would have expanded on it more than just 16 spells.