Necro questions

Discussion in 'Casters' started by took2summit11, Oct 9, 2018.

  1. took2summit11 Augur

    couple questions on my level 87 necro.

    First question on pulling - it seems like death's effigy is our only really clutch/go-to pulling option. Of course we can just normal FD and wait for mobs to roam back but that dramatically reduces kill/hour. Since death's effigy has a 2 minute recast (I believe maxed it can be dropped to 1:30) and even in my pal/nec duo I kill mobs in 30-45 seconds typically I seem to struggle to efficiently pull non-stop. Is this just the limit of the necro's ability to pull? any other tricks that I can use to help?

    Next question is macros as I main the paladin I macro the necro. For typical trash mob I send pet and then hit my macro which does:
    1. cast my swarm pet spell level 85
    2. cast my swift dot
    3. cast my other swift dot
    4. cast my high damage fire dot
    5. cast my 30s highish dmg magic dot

    Mob is usually dead at that point.

    For group named mobs, can someone help me with a proper burn? what AA's should I burn? can someone show me an example of a proper macro to burn AAs, including the /pause. I assume I should cast some additional longer-term dots like maybe splurt and some of the longer poison/fire dots, while continuing to weave my swift dots?

    Thanks for the help.
  2. Magickon Augur

    Why would you not cast the fire dot before the swifts? Chances are, the swifts would expire on the mob anyway, and the fire dot might not. It's tempting to lead with your highest DPS spells, but it's usually not the best thing to do in the long run.

    As to your question about a burn macro, I wouldn't recommend using one really. They have different cooldown refreshes, and clicking them in between spell casts is a better habit then clicking them all in a row.

    The generally accepted order, is to use the ones that have the longest duration first. That allows you to have them all running at the same time for the longest.

    As it relates to pulling options, it sounds like you're fascinated with pulling singles. Why is that? Pull 2 or 3...At level 85 your paladin probably can't tank all 3, but you can root them...and while they are rooted, you can dot them.
    Skewert likes this.
  3. Rizzin Elder

    I value quick deaths over efficiency, generally. For the most part I don't run out of mana (at level 110) when soloing, moling or boxing as we have enough tools to keep to going and we generally kill things fairly slowly (the exception is root rotting many things at once, but that is situational in my play, due to summoning).

    The following video was made by a player far better and well thought out than I am, but his principles resonate with me:

    I generally pull with a debuf (the scent line AA) and send in my pet. I then cast my my swift dots (there are pretty much always three available at each level) and then my big dots (fire, poison, dicho, etc) and finally swarm pets. By now the swift dots will be available again, so I re-apply them.

    I like to save my swarm pets for later to off tank things if my pull goes wrong. I will throw in some other things depending on the situation (like starting with level 104 remote sphere of decay and keeping it up).

    This might be useful as well as you move along:
  4. Magickon Augur

    Ignore the comment about killing swiftly vs. efficiently. My point stands. If you are using 2 swifts, and a non swift dot for your dps, you should be casting the non-swift dot FIRST. You will do more damage. It's simple really, if you're going to cast three spells, you want the damage from those three spells to do their full damage.

    Save the rest of their comments, for when you level up a bunch and they start to apply to you.
  5. Nekk Augur

    PM me your email on here or in game. Antonius.Nekkroh .
  6. Beergoggles Elder

    There's really no reason to save your swarm pets as you can change the target they are attacking and the spell refreshes before they despawn.
  7. Daedly Augur

    I would pull with your tank instead.

    Assign you necro's first slot in the extended target window to be group main tank target. Then assign you pally as the main tank. Then an assist macro that looks something like this...
    /pause 1, /xtar 1
    /pause 1, /pet attack
    /pause 1, /pet swarm
    /pause N, /cast <swarm spell spell gem slot number>
    /useitem <name of epic>

    Next, place that macro on a hotbar, go to you options>keys>hotbar that the macro is on. Then assign a key stroke to whatever slot you put your macro in. Then, while you are there, assign the slot just next to that to a keystroke that is right next to the other keystroke. That slot will be used for your main dps macro.

    So, you pull with tank. As the mobs are getting there, you hit a macro on your pally, then tab over to the necro and hit the key you assigned for your assist macro. Tab right back to the pally to make sure that things are ok and hit a second macro on the pally, then tab quickly back to your necro and hit your dps macro key that you assigned. Then right back to the pally.

    You can even make audiotriggers to let you know when your characters are on their last line of their macro so you know to switch back. If you are confident with your pally being on automacro-pilot, you use a similar method but focus on your necro to help improve your kill rate.

    Thats how i would do things anwyays. Macro can take some work to get them to work effeciently.
  8. Atvar Augur

    For pulling, use aa snare (embracing darkness) and aa root (pestilent paralysis?). Easy to do in outdoor zones, and isn't very hard indoors either once you've cleared a bit. For a group 3 mobs, snare 1st and run far enough to get them outside aggro range, root 2nd, and either run further(to get beyond 2nd mobs aggro range) or immediately clear aggro with deaths effigy. Stand and kill the 3rd unsnared mob. Resnare and kill the 1st mob. If you're killing at a reasonable pace, you'll be attacking and killing the 2nd mob before root even wears off. Reuse on root is like 1-3 minutes depending on your level and aa rank, so you should never really have to wait for refresh.

    For more than 3 mobs, either snare more at first or burn like hell at first to get it to a manageable number.
    menown likes this.
  9. Venau Augur

    Another option for 3 mobs in a tight situation is to root punt one, send pet on the next, off tank the third with your swarms.
    Rizzin and Toruch Fleshrot like this.
  10. Rizzin Elder


    To add to that... if you're moloing, your healer can takes some hits too, such that if you have 4 mobs to handle, you an follow the advise above, feign to drop agro on you (if you have it) and the fourth will likely quickly agro on the healer merc. That might allow enough time for your punt AA to reset and the root is long lasting, so you'll plenty of time to handle the two active mobs before needing to worry about the rooted ones.

    I also add, your pet living is highest priority (other than your death) so if you have to cast a pet heal or let your swarm die off, do the heal then get a new swarm going (again you can always feign to drop agro).

    Once things are under control, more adds aren't a problem generally. If you have two merc healers, they can take a lot of abuse before you have to abandon them so let them tank for a while when things hit the fan.

    FWIW, I disagree on big/long lasting dots first, unless you are playing for efficiency. For DPS, the biggest, fastest first and re-apply whenever possible. There is lots of data on this searchable in the forum and experiment and find out what works best for you.
  11. took2summit11 Augur

    Been a while since I posted on here. Thanks for all the tips. I am currently casting my swarm pet > highest level pyre > 3 swift dots on mobs. They are normally close to dead by then but if I can squeeze in a mind abrasion, I do. My question is, am I missing anything by doing this? I am not casting anything between mobs like bestow undead or the necrotic pustules line on my tank as I just don’t see these as huge added benefits. If I was not boxing and focusing solely on my Necro I would absolutely find the time to twist these and other spells in, I’m sure. I just want to make sure I am not missing any low hanging fruit on my necro as far as dps goes.
  12. Took2summmit Elder

    Necro is up to 105 now, very nearly 106. I have a question on xping and would really love a detailed answer if anyone is willing to take the time. I think I have the normal spell rotation down, cast swarm, swifts as often as possible and weave in my pyre/dicho while waiting for cool down, and sphere when it wont get me killed.

    The question I have is beyond that I am not really utilizing my burns properly. Can someone please help me what I do when each burn AA is running? For instance, gift of deathly resolve, what spells should I be using to activate the twinproc? I feel like I should be using these burns as able instead of just saving and mashing them for nameds. I am pretty underwhelmed on my necros dps so far, even on mobs that last a decent amount of time.
  13. Brohg Augur

    GoDR is triggered pretty naturally by the Refute for Blood nuke that you continuously run for Synergy buff. It's also triggered by your swarm casts.
  14. took2summit11 Augur

    I’ve spent a fair amount of time researching this and cant find the right answers anywhere:

    1. It looks like nec epic is Crit chance 8% and the aug is 10%. Do these 2 stack for 18% or does the aug supercede the epic and it’s only 10%? I have seen both answers in multiple places.

    2. What AA burns, if any, do not help amplify swift dots?
  15. Ravanta Suffer Augur

    #1: I've seen some conflicting information regarding that topic recently, and honestly if you want to know for sure, I'd recommend having a 2.0, getting the 2.5 piece, and test copying *before* you turn the page of night to Eric. Take off all your focus equipment, turn off all of the aa, and cast dots for several hours on a practice dummy. Turn in the page to Eric, and do it again. You'll find out for yourself, with no ambiguity. Do not post your results, people will contradict your result, even if you come to a correct one.

    #2 This one's easy to answer. More importantly, there's a way for you to answer it yourself, in case you forget. Go to lucy.allakhazam.com and pop in the name of the buff you're curious about. I'll use gift of deathly resolve as an example:

    http://lucy.allakhazam.com/spell.html?id=51492&source=Live

    You see that line that says limit minimum duration 12.0 seconds? That means it works, as long as the dot spell has a 12 second or longer BASE duration. *that means gift of deathly resolve works on all dots, even swifts*.

    Here's another example...hand of death:

    http://lucy.allakhazam.com/spell.html?id=51484&source=Live

    It has the same thing. What causes confusion for people, is the DESCRIPTION of the aa. It says, ""
    Increases the damage dealt by your damage over time spells with a duration of at least 24 seconds" but that's because originally hand of death required the spell to have a minimum duration of 24 seconds. It was changed. (Click on the history link on the top, you'll see it was changed in December of 2017)

    Some burns don't have a limitation to the duration at all, such as curse of muram. For those buffs, they do apply.

    Chaotic power, is an example of a dot boost that does *not* work on swift dots.

    http://lucy.allakhazam.com/spell.html?id=44485&source=Live
  16. Sancus Augur

    The 8% and 10% crit chance stack. If someone says otherwise, they're wrong and should feel bad about themselves for spreading misinformation.
    Rizzin and Toruch Fleshrot like this.
  17. took2summit11 Augur

    Thank you for the answer Sancus. Another new question now regarding Defiler’s Synergy. The AA description says 20% damage multiplier to crits which frankly would be underwhelming. Our Crit damage multiplier gets up to 800%+, an additional 20% would be 2.5% damage boost for a short duration for 1200 AAs? However, when I look up the effects of the actual defiler’s synergy it says increase the base nuke and dot damage by 20%, which would be a lot more appealing. Does anyone know which is correct?
  18. Sancus Augur

    No, it's just 20% critical damage. Not sure where you looked it up, but raidloot and EQResource both parse it properly.

    So yeah, it isn't huge.
  19. took2summit11 Augur

    Necro Embalmer’s Efficiency has 70% chance of spell not using reagent, which is in addition to never using a bone chip. I’ve casted convergence about 20 times now and every single time it has used an emerald essence. If Embalmers Efficiency 70% reagent isn’t intended for convergence, what is it intended for? What other spell do we have that uses a reagent? Would have been actually useful if it reduced the emerald essences we use..
  20. Brohg Augur

    Convergence AA? It's pretty likely that the conservation focus AA doesn't effect a level 254 (that's what AAs are) spell. Essence Emeralds fuel half a dozen spells from back in Kunark that you'll never use, there's also some odd old obsolete defensive buffs that took (pretty cheap) gemstones. And there's the corpse summoning spell line (not the AA) that uses Coffins.