Ok help me out here when do EQ2 necros take off?

Hi all,
Thanks for reading. Currently I am a level 34 necro, and I can honestly say I dont notice any difference from level 20 to 34. My level's are going up but I am not seeing any increase in power. I am really hopeing level 38.8 makes a huge difference, As it stands right now I am not impressed with my necro at all.

I know Everquest 1 necros didn't take off untill level 50. So I am hopeing theres some magic level for the Everquest 2 necro. I know this is a totaly different game but Everquest 2 necros can not have bland power from 20 to 50 there has to be a magic number some where. Where did you high level necros see the huge/big increase in power?


Thanks for your time

Level 35 is when you get your uber-DoT Ghastly Stench, as well as the Bloodline's spell Swarm of Bats. Combined, your offensive power will triple. You're almost there!

Thanks that helped me out too, Im only lvl 23 and going freaking crazy.

Hello,

Im a 23 necro, close to 24, and to be honest.. I don't think im that underpowered. I can easily take a 25 solo mob at my level with minimal rests if I do it right, and i can take 20 heroic ++ singles. I just remember to upgrade all my spells. For the spells i don't have adept1 in, I just get app4 spells from a sage i frenquently by from. She sells 10-19 app4 spells for 15 sp each and 20-29 for 25sp each, which I think is a great bargain. I love playin necro and find that I can handle alot of mobs that my 22 ranger could not. My 22 ranger, had pretty decent equipment and could barely solo a same level mob.. Just my 2 cents... don't use app1s, get app4s at least...

Bloody Ritual, Mend Bones, Grisly Brace, and Pestilential Blast. All spells that you get in your late 20s which completely redefine the way you kill. Those spells alone probably double your killing efficiency.

Personally, I was very discouraged until I got Pestilential Blast. When I got that spell I was happier than a pig in you-know-what when I saw how much easier I could take stuff down. Maybe I'm just easy to please, but my point is we do get some very significant "upgrades" prior to level 35.

I was thinking of rolling a Ranger, becuase on the Ranger Board I heard how well the solo with kiting and bows, etc. Did you have problems soloing with your Ranger doing this? or with standing toe to toe with mobs?

I have a ranger up to 28, here's the problem. They have a snare that doesn't last very long. Although there are some good bow style attacks I have had to go toe to toe with the mob a lot. All of the ranger's good melee attacks are positional, thus makeing you go complete base melee against the mob. What makes it more tricky is if you are going to kite with a ranger HOPE there are no aggro mob close because you are going to be running around like a wild man trying to squeeze one more bow skill in. I was fortunate enough to start with a ranger so I know the pitfalls of the class. At level 28 I could drop about 1000+ damage in under 30 sec's IN A GROUP. They are not nearly as soloable as a necro, and your role will be in a group. It all boils down to playing what you like, but if you try to make a ranger a solo machine, you are going to have to be VERY selective of the mob you choose and the area you choose to hunt it. I can send my pet in a large group of highly aggro style mobs, pull out the one I want and take em out fairly quick. I don't know of too many other classes that can do that. If you want to wait 45 mins to find a decent group, than a ranger is your man . Each class has their nitch....I personally like the antisocial side of the necro's. And when I want to group I through the flag on and solo until someone sends me a tell.

I agree, the necro does seem to be much improved now, since when I was playing it at release and besides I already have alot of Adept 1 spells and money on the character.

Xalmat Can you please tell me how to get swarm of bats? I have the adventure pack but I didnt get the spell.

I have to disagree that a lvl 34 necro is underpowered.
I just hit lvl 30 over the weekend and selected the dogs as my training option. My main lineup of spells is now:
Fallen Hero, Pestilence Blast Ad3, Dust Blast Ad3, Dogs, Seism Ad1, Bludgeoning Earth Ad1 and Blight Ad1. I throw Boon of the Lifeless Ad3 and Agitation Ad1 on the Hero and I'm ready to roll. At lvl 30 I can easily solo level 35 single mobs (using about 2 bubs of mana per) and level 32 duo mobs. Partner with just about any tank type friend and you can go non-stop at red mobs all day long. Healers are pretty much unnecessary since we don't get hit, the tanks hardly take any damage, and the battles are over pretty quickly.
I was saying to myself, I think they need to nerf necros, because we shouldn't be able to solo red mobs at this level, should we? I think I "took off" at 30.

Nerf necros you got to be kidding me. Sure the FH pet is a great pet but once your stuck with UA adept 3 things change it dosent hold half of the agrro that the FH pet holds.
Ok you soloed a single red mob, try and solo a blue heroic mob and see what happens you will be sprinting off in about 10 seconds, thats about the time it takes to destroy your pet.
My level 40 Guardian friend solo's level 37 heroic mobs all day long. I am not trying to compare the two classes but maybe you should try and see the light.
Also I am starting to get to the point where the Mend Bones pet heal just isnt enough. Before you say necros are over powered look around and see where the true power is.

woah, there, Mr. Defensive. Its sounds like you're absolutely convinced that we're worthless.
I can solo blue heroics at 30 - the giants in northern Nektulos. There.. I guess I'm just as overpowered as your guardian friend.
You asked when we developed into powerful characters. I'd make the argument that being able to solo a mob 5 levels higher than you makes us that. I wonder how many other classes at lvl 30 could do the same. I'd guess not many.
Believe it or not, not every class is supposed to be able to do everything well. If you wanted to be able to solo everything throughout the entire game, you'd be better suited for a single player game.
You keep introducing more conditions to the post.. what about when your pet goes blue? What about Heroic mobs? What about xxx, yyy, and zzz? Your mind is already made up that necros are weak, and no matter what anyone says, you're not going to change your mind.

While I certainly don't think that Necros are worthless and underpowered (I love mine), they are nowhere near overpowered. My monk can do things my necro could never hope to do without a snare dot, snare doll and lot's of kiting.
As to the question, when do necros really come into their own? Solo, they really start to rock when you get words of the wicked. I would strongly suggest that you get that and the Thrall both upgraded to adept III. The pet buff you get after Words also rocks.
And I've noticed that I'm getting stronger and stronger. On the flipside of things, in day to day xp grinding in a group, I'm so overshadowed by warlocks and scouts in the DPS dept. that it makes me want to hang my head in shame. But when I get into a raid mob, they eat my dust.
Do I think the necro needs some help? You bet I do. They need their pets looked into at the very least for some lovin. Nerf em? No offense, but drugs are bad m'kay? Do I think they are as bad as some of the whiners on the boards? Not a chance. Is it a hell of a fun class to play? I think so. Get me in a trio with a defiler and a warlock and watch me rock.

I'm not Xalmat, but your best bet is to have a Sage make the spell for you. You'll need a level 35+ Sage (it's a level 35 spell) who has purchased the recipe books for it. If you've done a few quests in the Bloodlines progression, you can purchase it from one of the NPCs at the camp by the waterfall, but they only sell the Apprentice II version. A Sage can make the Apprentice IV or Adept III.

If you want to solo mobs for **** exp I guess necros and all the other classes will do the job. If you want to rank with the other DPS classes like monks, rogues, and wizards, you'll have to settle for about 2/3s damage. But hey! you never run out of power.

I hit level 36 today and I can say I see a huge improvement over level 34. You guys were right level 35 is a huge steping stone. I just hope to see the same improvement when I hit level 38.8 and get rotting thrall.
I have played EQ1(sense june of 99 and i still play once in awhile), EQ2, DAOC, FFXI and WOW and in every game every class has a power curve. For example EQ1 necros dont pick up untill level 44 and come on really strong at level 51 to 70 thats their power curve. Everquest 2 necros pick up at level 35 and they have to come on strong at xx level. Thats what I am getting at.
Do I think necros are weak and under powered class well that depends. Today I was grouped with a level 42 Warlock in EL and we were takeing out level 40 heroic nightbloods I made 18% exp in 1 hour in level 35. They were droping like flys he was killing them faster than I can kill a normal (tank) mob. I would pay $100 to see a necro take them out that fast. I dont expect necro pets to tank like guardians and necros to nuke like warlocks. But it sure would be nice if they gave us a little more damage to make us more usefull to groups. I am sick of solo because no one wants a necro.
If I wanted a uber dps class I would have made a warlock. If I wanted a class that can solo heroic mobs by stright up tanking them I would have made a guardian. My point is I made a necro because I love necros I have been playing necros sense 99 and I am not about to stop now. I am all ready 36 and soon ill be 38 and before I know it ill be 50 its just a matter of time. I am not about to give up on my necro I will see it through to the end.

Good man. :smileywink:

about level 35 the necro feels much more powerful, as by that time they have completely outgrown and shaken off the "I'm just an evil summoner" tier of spells.

However, I personally did not feel like a true necromancer until I hit 45 and got Siphon Life, our only decent lifetap.

I'm at lvl49 and I think I can really shed some light on this subject. Necros are great for killing no-con mobs. We can solo them way above our lvl - like as in 5 or 6 lvls higher with no problem. You send the pet, cast dots, try not to get agro and he dies. The tank pets are suited for this. this works up to lvl 50 without fail.

At lower lvls, necros can solo single con and some double con npcs. Lvl20s or so can solo yellow ^^s from whet I hear. This will end real quick however once you hit the lvl30s. The npcs hit so hard that the tank pet goes down quick. At one point I was convienced we could not even kill green^^s five lvls lower because the pet would just crumble, followed by me. What I learned though was that it was tactics that I needed to change. I wasn't an EQ1 player and really had never heard of kiting until I started looking around. Send the pet, cast whithering afliction, stun and rats/hounds. Then start with the dots and if you havent gotten agro, the direct damage. When the pet is about half dead, make sure you hit him hard enough and get agro. Then, run. You must have alot of room for this. Run in a circle and hit him if the pet regains agro. Keep the agro switching back and forth so that neither the pet nor you get repeatedly hit. Jboots help with this. It is also really cool to have an imbued wand because it casts a dd spell while your running. If your fast enough and have a big enough track to run you wont get hit and the ^^ will go down. This works for most any npc. I would avoid the really high lvl ones as they hit alot harder and you dont want to get stunned.

As for necro ability. We have a lot less utility than other classes. Most utility spells are off-class such as the wizard's evac at lvl38. Necros have to wait till 43 to get the first, a feign death. This is an incredible ability and works way better than the other class' fd. That being the case, it's not an evac that saves the party though. The only other utility we get is at 48, a revive. I thought originally that this would rock, but then found out that 3 other classes got the same thing and don't require "essences" like we do. Most necros agree, we got shafted here. Personally I think this was something they threw in at the last minute to give us a reason to have these essences. I'm hoping there will be future spells using these essences that will be much better. The only other real utility spell we get is invisiblity. I thought we'd rock here too until I saw the fury's group invis that is just as strong as ours - but we only get one person.

As for damage, we're middle of the road. Scouts get high damage at lower lvls than us. Frequently a scout use to out dps me before I hit lvl 35. Through parsing though I learned that even lvl50 assassins don't go too much above 80 dps at best. They tend to cap off quick. Most mid 40s assassins do about 60 dps even. In contrast we start slow and grow slow but cap off fare. At lvl 40 I think I was hitting for 90 dps. My dps picked up significatly when I hit 45 and got siphon life. This is our best spell and it really still needs to be better. Its a 2 second cast that hits for 450 (at lvl49, ad3) max and heals for like 130. Helps alot when the healers are spamming on the main tank and you take an aoe and need some healing. It's also on a different timer than your main dd, skin rot. The down side is the 9 second recast. So I can usually hit siphon then two skin rots before siphon again.

As a necro you are constantly casting. I use to get tells saying to watch the power output as I'll get agro, but our spells don't hit that hard. We have the best mana regen in the game though so you need to be constantly casting. Keep the dots up and hit with direct damage. Don't use the 4 sec cast drains though and whithering isn't worth it on normal ^^ npcs unless your solo. At lvl49 I've hit ^^ mobs for 215 dps. My average though is closer to 180. Debuff the heck out off disease with the dots and lay on the dd. The pet is just there for help. The UA with buffs can do about 100 dps. Make no mistake, the other pets are broke. I know someone with a master Grim Terror (lvl48 caster) and the UA beats it easy. The issue with this is of course if you increase the caster pet to significantly greater dps (as it should be) then it runs the risk of stealing agro from the tanks.

How do we compare? We wax any scout class. Zerkers come close to us. I have traded top dps spots with a lvl50 zerker, though he had all the top gear. They can do 210 dps but more commonly it's 150. Wizards and Warlocks own us though on dps. I've heard it said a warlock can open up for 500 dps. That's usually right before he dies from one hit because he stole agro. Their class has issues too.
In raids we are very useful. The mana stones we give out help the healers. If the raid is getting wiped, feign death works even on Darathar (lvl58^^^) (shhh, don't tell soe) then you cancel it and revive folks. Very handy but not remarkable. The dps helps the group but isn't outstanding. It needs to be better since we are a caster class with paper armor. We traded our armor for high damage. I can take agro in a grp usually if I start early enough. If a tank gets a few hits in ahead of me I usually don't unless the tank is alot lower lvl. Our best npc targets are ^^s. Single cons and group no-cons or down arrows are too easy. Don't bother with the dots, just hit the direct. And if your grouped with a wizard or warlock, your pretty useless here. They can nuke one dead before you get off your second spell. Stick to the ^^s.

In general, the necro is also not popular. We get alot of residual animosity from the EQ1 necros being uber. SOE has made sure that we are not in EQ2 and even gone a bit too far in my opinion. the top classes in EQ2 for grouping are tanks and healers. When you want to group you cannot do so effectively without both. DPS though important to make things go quickly consereving power for the others, is not a real requirement. I ran into this big time after lvl43 and just could not consistently get groups. People didn't want necro.

In the end, I'd give the EQ2 necro a solid grade of B. We have some ability, not alot. We have some dps, but nothing remarkable. There are better classes. Significant lvls are 28, 35, 38.8, 43 and 45.

I have a lvl 31 necro my pet is App IV and I took the hounds (at lvl 30 I think.)

I agree that as a necro you are constantly casting :smileyindifferent: which could be reduced IMO but what can you do. At my level what I have found effective in groups is, Pet attack, Petrify, a dot spell and pestilant blast, ward the main tank. Then cycle your damage spells and keep warding the tank when your button cycles. The grasping bones also has a stun on it and worth casting when it cycles.

I don't think necromancers are overpowered, perhaps a smidgen underpowered especially some of our dot's could be improved, or have a longer duration to eliminate the constant recasting required.

One of the brightest aspects of a Necromancer is the ability to tap our pet's health for power, this gives you even greater ability to keep on casting.