How to Necro to Max level?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by hein, Feb 9, 2019.

  1. hein Augur

    I'm looking to return to EverQuest. Just started over as a Necro. My goal is to play a class that is fun, but that I can also solo to max level and do it well. I have a 94 druid but trying to solo "well" is slow, painful and daunting.

    Can I achieve what I'm explaining with a Necro?
    Can I do it with F2P?
    What do I do instead of HA to get to 85-100?
    What would you recommend my leveling strategy be after level 65? I'm assuming I can MOLO with a tank merc till then.
    I may be willing to pay and buy expansion if this goes well. If I purchase the most recent expansion, do I also get the other 4 I'm missing?

    I really appreciate some guidance from someone who has maybe leveled a necro to max level and solo's often. Thanks so much!
  2. roth Augur

    The simplest answer is, kill stuff to get the exp.

    The somewhat longer answer is, by kiting the mob, or by root rotting the mob. Both involve casting a snare spell (your Darkness line) on the mob. Kiting is running around, turning to cast DoTs on it, and then running further away from it. This is best done in a controlled area, to avoid adds. Root rotting is simply just hitting the mob with a root spell, then loading it up with DoTs.

    Try, if you can, to avoid using a merc. DPS merc would be the better choice if you intend to kite. But unless the merc doubles your kill rate, it is not worth using, as it will take half of your experience away from you each kill. Once you get high enough for the AA Pestilent Paralysis, you can use that as your root to really hold mobs in place.

    Depending on your skill and your mana, you can kite more mobs at a time than you can root rot.

    Free to Pay is fine at lower levels, but becomes a real challenge at higher levels, because of the AA limit. I’d strongly recommend that you subscribe in order to gain the power fro all of the AA’s, rather than being limited to 250 AA points. And that would be true no matter which class you wanted to take to 100/110 ... so much of a character’s power comes from AA’s.
  3. Nekk Augur

    Iirc Arcstone undead to 70, the farm in Dragonscale Hills to 75, Loping plains gators/frogs/bears to 80, undead near/in Hills of Shade to 85, feerott/grounds to 90, argath/valley/beast's domain to 95, Heart of Fear hand named camp to 100, frontier mountain trees/sarnak to 105, new (RoS) Overthere/Sathir's tomb to 105.
    Go gold and keep on the auto grant option under the aa's list. That will really help you out as you level.
    If you purchase the most recent expansion you will always get the rest of the expansions.
  4. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    You can do it with the druid, if you like that char. I've done it.

    The question is, what are your other EQ goals, besides "getting to max level". Because, based on JUST that goal, druid is probably the best class, due to quinting and swarm-charming. You can make piles of XP very quickly, with the caveat that your hunting grounds will be quite limited.

    The necro will be just a little slower than that, but with the huge boost that you won't have to avoid summoners, using the pet to tank. From what I know of necro pets (not a lot), you'll have to fight a little below your level to be efficient with the pet tank. Which is what I've done with the druid, using a merc tank. So, the necro will be faster than the druid for fighting summoners, because you won't need the merc.

    So, this is where those other goals come in. Figure out what you want to get accomplished, and that will help you pick what class you want to play.
  5. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Keep in mind that buying the expansion does give you all the expansions up to the latest but if your not 110 then you can hold off on that a little while. I know how disappointed I was back when EOK came out and I purchased it at full price but was not able to do any quests until level 105. I was only level 95. What a waste of money, I could have waited a few months till it came on sale for half price.

    Going gold or paid does not give you all the expansions, they are two separate purchases - subscription and expansion.

    You can always go gold, auto grant and then go back to free and you will keep all the AA you auto granted. Perhaps closer to level 80 is a good time to do that. I personally dislike auto grant but to each their own.

    There is a difference between F2P and Silver - was not sure if you got your old account back but if so you do get some stuff that is slightly better than F2P on it if you can recover it.

    I would go to HOT/Freerot at level 85 ish. I never did daily or HA's till much later as the story/quest line thru HOT and Shards landing has very good rewards. Port rings, bags, armor etc.
  6. hein Augur


    Thank you, this is very helpful. I'm level 30 now. I suppose I'll follow the Hot Zones and do the crypt in PoP? Forget the name or the level of that zone. PoP might be the best option from 50-65?
  7. Coas Lorekeeper

    Hein, do NOT use a tank merc if you use one. Go with a healer merc if you have to and use your standard pet along with swarm pets for tanking if you need anything tanked at all. But the best possible way to level up is to root rot while solo. Find somewhere that doesn't summon and grind away. If you ever need any advice in game, send xegony.coas a tell.
  8. Filter Augur

    Hein,

    Good luck with your journey on the necro. The class is one of the best for utility (dps class, feign death, pulling, dungeon crawling, out door kiting, solo) than most any other in the game. Others have given you where to go once you're a little higher in level. I remember fear kiting in the old Frontier Mountain killing giants. Then wolves in Iceclad and then Orcs fear kiting in the next zone that escapes me.

    Whatever you do, you should be loading up a mob and grabbing another, loading up a mob with dots and rinse repeat. Always snare first obviously. Root rotting is a blast in close quarters as well when camping something you want. In groups you will want to use higher dmg dots that are shorter duration but I don't think I grouped up for years while playing my necro. There was a time when I didn't have much time to play so I would play a necro as a main when I had 1 to 2 hours to dedicate to it.

    There are some cool videos on Youtube of a guy that does a lot of necro explaining. I enjoy watching them from time to time.

    In the beginning, you can ABSOLUTELY use a tank merc until lvl 65 but you aren't going to get the full experience of the necro class. The tank merc is so over powered early on that it doesn't need any healing so you load up dots, snare and watch it die. Healer merc all the way after lvl 65 but I wouldn't have my merc up to soak my exp. Others have stated the same above.

    Have fun!!
  9. hein Augur


    So you would not use your pet?
  10. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    If you root/rot and use the pet, you'll have to heal it, which will use up mana.

    If you kite/rot, you can more easily juggle multiple mobs, and then use the pet as essentially another DoT, as long as it doesn't get agro. And if it does, just pull it off.
  11. Astral64 Augur

  12. Atvar Augur

    Your biggest issue will be gearing up past say, level 65-70. If you're smart, you'll camp valuable tradeskill drops as you level up and will be able to buy the best group (or even raid gear loot rights) to keep moving with speed. Keep up with your group gear, and you'll be able to grind up to max level. Play your cards right and barter for raid gear and you can do just about anything once you learn the class.
  13. Coas Lorekeeper

    I do use my pet on stuff that summons. If it is necessary, I bring out the merc to heal it for that kind of stuff. I juggle tanking between swarm pets and standard pet. Other than that, my pet stands idly by while I root rot everything in sight.
  14. Filter Augur

    Kiting with a pet is a like having a dot but there are some caveats to that statement. Like others have said, turn off taunt on pet. Use a rogue pet when using a pet while kiting. When you're kiting you need toss on a dot or two before sending in your pet. Here is when it gets tricky at times, when kiting multiples you will need to make sure that there is space between the previous mob(s) and the new undotted mob or it will eat your pet. The agro has to be solidly on you. I've lost so many pets kiting because I'm not keeping track of exactly where they might be in my path. Snare resists are a pain and the pet might get attacked if the mob runs by the pet backstabbing the kited mob. This was a problem for me when I was in Beasts Domain but thats a great place to kite when you get to that level.
  15. Forcallen Augur

    You can solo very well but just make sure you have a warrior or cleric or paladin or shadow knight or any other class around to debuff mobs for you once you get to TBL.
    Spellfire, sauron3030 and Coas like this.
  16. Sagarmatha Augur

    If you can't afford $15 to get all access, you should not be playing video games.