I started playing just after Kunark was released and have played off-and-on since. From Kunark through roughly LDoN, my main was a Necromancer; I maxed out at 59 when the level cap was 65. Since coming back, I've retired my other main and am going with the Necromancer. I used a Heroic upgrade on him, and I'm not worried about upgrading gear and spells and that sort of thing. EQ seems to be pretty linear as far as wearable gear goes these days. My question has to do with all the other stuff. What items, spells and abilities are essential to function as a Necromancer (and more broadly as a caster) that the game doesn't tell you about if you're just jumping back into it? What clickies should I be targeting? What focus effects are most useful, and are there any I need that aren't part of the natural gear progression - pet focus, maybe? Are there potions I should be carrying at all times? In short, what are the things I need to have in order to play optimally? Thanks in advance for the help
Everything you want to know about the ways of necro can be found at the link below. If you want the best guides, there is a subscriber area that has more verbose guides on squeezing every last bit of necrotic evilness out of your character. http://www.necrotalk.com
there are a lot of clickies and focuses and such that you're going to just pick up naturally - for example all focus effects relating to dots are just naturally on your visible gear, except for duration extension which is from ears. focus effects: epic 2.0 clickies: the BP from the 'citadel of anguish' (omens of war raid end zone). holgresh elder beads can also be extremely useful, situationally. ring of immobilization can also be very handy. pet focus is good too, though less vitally important to necros than to mages.
Assuming you are level 85 now.. I wouldn't even worry about upgrading any gear until level 92. Casters in general are not very gear dependent and you'll be fine till 92. At 92 buy cheap bazaar upgrades that will be huge upgrades over your heroic gear... make sure to buy the new lvl 92 pet foci earring. The level 92 gear will get you to level 100 easily. At 100 run HAs to earn Marks of Valor which you will then use to buy all of your lvl 100 group cotf gear. And remember you don't have to wait till 100 to start running HAs to earn marks, but save your marks until you are level 100 to actually buy the upgrades. You'll more than likely pick up several level 100 upgrades before you get to 100 and won't need to waste marks on gear you already have. Definitely go get your epic 2.0. Don't wait.. do it right now. That one single item will do more to up your dps than any other.
Thanks for the advice. I'm working on the 1.5 right now; stuck on the stupid elaborate hinge. I've actually seen every item that drops from the trash mobs in PoI except that one. Edit: Is it the 2.0 that does so much for your DPS or the 2.5?
I am going to go the opposite way and tell you the stuff that may look like you want, but isn't important to a necromancer. 1) Spell Damage (on augs and gear) is unimportant to necros, don't make choices around this stat 2) Aug choice is mostly about HPs (and Hsta as it raises it hps) 3) The best gear once you get to RoF and CotF is that which is labeled best for tank classes.. it has the most hps, where as the stuff labeled shaman/necro tends to have the least.
I don't understand this concept and I play a necro heavily. I know in old school EQ HP was super important, but with the stats on gear today my natural regen keeps me at 100% HP and no matter how hard I burn a mob I finish the fight with 90% mana in a group/solo environment. I'm not arguing the point, but it would be nice if someone could explain the HP > All in the current level 100 game.
It isn't about HPs being greater than all. It is that there is nothing better to stack for necromancers. Hagi is nice for groupers... but you will get more of that from tank gear too. You said yourself, you aren't running out of mana (due to the way necromancers work, there is no mana dump abilitiy) So you don't need to stack mana or Hint.. it will likely be high on your visibles and on many of your non-vis anyway. The 2nd stats (avoidance, shielding, dot shielding, stun resist etc.) will get maxed out regardless.. so no worries there. clairavoyance is marginally useful, but you aren't running out of mana.. So what else is there. HPs.. because when you run out of those you are going to bind. So again in summary. It isn't that HPs are the end all and be all... but unlike other classes, there is no better choice.
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you! I always heard people say to stack HP with a Necro but I thought it had something to do with mana regen.. one of the many things I've been wrong about in EQ.
Well, in an older time you wouldn't be wrong. Lich ate up lots of HP. But as you say things are different now. Since you say spell damage isn't important, I assume that means it doesn't affect DoTs. Thanks for all the feedback, guys. I've finished the 1.5 and just need to get the globe of discordant energy for the 2.0. I doubt I'll be soloing that at 86, so I'll get a few more levels under my belt, pick up CotF when I get around ~90 and go from there.
Spell Damage does nothing for DoTs, correct. Only affects direct damage spells. Although the way it works coupled with the amount currently available through itemization makes it completely ignore-able for classes that make their mark by casting direct damage spells, too.
I'm on Prexus/The Rathe, but I appreciate the offer. So if I'm prioritizing generally hSta, HP and AC, where does hAgi come in?
I would put HPs Hsta Hagi AC of the 4 you have listed. Raidloot has an excellent search feature.. look for augs by hps (it assigns 15hps per Hsta automatically) And get the top 20 that you can get.
