This is my first guide, and my first post 2.
I have been playing lineage for three months only, and my Necro is my first, my main, and my only character. Yesterday he reached lvl49. So, happy 49 mr Necro! :)
I decided to write a guide about the Necromancer class, for two reasons.
A) There are NO big, nice and proper guides for Necros (btw, don’t assume that this will be one either).
B) When I wanted to become a necro there was no in-depth analysis of my would-be character, and I was left in total darkness (a Necro’s natural environment, so I did ok).
What drew me into the Necro class was his wide variety of skills, the beauty of the dark side, and the demanding side of this char.
So do I like my character? Is a necromancer as good and as lethal as they say? Well, though it’s still early days, I think the hype is true. Let’s see what, how and why.
FIRST PART. SKILLS
Lvl 40
After you complete the 2nd class change, you finally become Necro at lvl40.
If you have also completed “Lizardmen’s Conspiracy” repeatable SP quest (reward 42.000SP, starting at lvl25, talk to Guard Praga at Gludio) enough times, you must have acquired enough SP for your skill acquisition. NOTE that some of the skills will require SB, or spell books that CAN’T be bought from an SB seller. You have to kill mobs and get the books from the mob drops (or droppings, I don’t care, hahaha). Alternatively you can buy the books from private shops at a usually dear price (in Giran SB sellers sit near the priestess of dusk).
So you get your new skills, and… you are disappointed big time. At least I was.
BUT don’t get discouraged, cause... like many ppl told me: “a Necro starts to shine over lvl 44, past 48, etc.” They were so right.
Back to lvl 40 and your new Necro skills. Note that I won’t go much into passive skills like concentration, and such, but instead will focus on the IMPORTANT active ones. Next to the spells I’ve placed the highest spell lvl that you can get at the specific character lvl.
Let’s see…
First there is your assortment of curses.
-Curse Chaos (lvl2), you had that from when you were a wizard (lvl35). Reduces your enemy’s accuracy. Well, this sucked at lvl1. And it still sucks at lvl2.
-Curse Discord (lvl1). Confuses an enemy to attack its ally. Sounds good, doesn’t it. Well, sorry folk, this also sucks at lvl1, and will only work at really low lvl mobs.
-Curse Fear (lvl1). Instills fear into an enemy causing it to flee. Ah… lovely thought, and a big boost to our dark egos… but still mostly useless, and sometimes outright dangerous. If it doesn’t stick, the mobs are after you. If it sticks, they flee. That’s your chance to kill them, if you can run fast enough to keep up with them. Cause if you don’t, when the spell fades, the mobs will come back for you, and sometimes they will have company too.
-Curse Weakness (lvl6). Reduces enemy’s P.Atk. Hey, that’s not a bad curse actually. Still a bit weak at lvl6, but great for partying. Use it when you attack strong mobs, and your tanks will get hit more feebly, the mobs inflicting less damage to them.
Done with the curses, let’s jump to the other skills.
-Corpse life drain (lvl3). This is a fast casting spell which is a great way in replenishing your HP, and very economic too, as it’s using only 18MP each time you cast it. You have first met this at lvl 30, but probably didn’t think much of it. This is much gentler with MP consumption than Vampiric Claw (63 at lvl3 and it gets worse), if you don’t want to suck life out of a living creature, but only want to fill up your HP. Combine this with the next skill that we will talk about, for GREAT MP MANAGEMENT.
-Body to Mind (lvl2). Or BTM. Sacrifices HP to regenerate MP. This is THE key for Mana management.
I found that the best way to use Btm is to cast it at least 2-3 times and then cast Corpse life drain. Of course you have to be EXTRA careful with mobs, as not to get attacked by them while you are down on HP.
-Sleep (lvl12). Excellent spell that sends a mob to sleep while you, or your party (and it’s with a party that this spell shines) deal with another. Just be careful with casting, cause if other nearby mobs are social might attack you on cast.
-Summon Corrupted man (lvl1). Here’s your first dark pet. Its crap at lvl1, and it might continue to be that way...
Still it gives you an idea of dark summons, but it costs AN ARM AND A LEG in C-Crystals and Exp, as it consumes 90% of it. Jeez!
I played a few days with it, sending it to kill Fettered Souls and Grandis at the death pass, just for the adena drops.
-Transfer Pain (lvl1). Transfers part of one's damage to a servitor. MP will be consumed continuously.Ah, one of the cornerstones of Necro’s PVP. But at lvl1 it sucks, so prepare to get disappointed. You get hit, and surely some amount of the damage transfers to your summon. But ONLY a small amount… Just be patient for the next few levels, when the transfer pain lvl and effect increase.
-Vampiric Claw. Absorbs HP from a living mob. Nice but COSTS DEAR in MP, so… I use it rarely, complimenting the other Necro skills.
And that’s that for lvl 40. Grrrreat. Or not. Yes it sucks. So you either get disappointed or stick to the grind. I did both, hah.
Lvl 44
Now we are talking. At lvl 44, you start to get a glimpse at the TRUE powers of a Necro. Let’s check the skills.
-Anchor (lvl1). Instantly paralyzes an enemy. The official lineage site explanation of this skill is INcorrect. When we are talking about paralysis here, we visualise the victim falling limp to the ground. That’s NOT the case with Anchor. The truth is that anchor FREEZES its victim in mid air, creating some lovely looking, statues. The victims can’t move, can’t cast, and can’t attack while under the anchor effect. They are sitting ducks for anyone who wants a go at them, either with a spell or with some heavy, blunt or sharp, object. Carefull though, cause the effect doesn’t land for very long. Usually high lvl mobs, or npcs with high M.Def will resist anchor, but their resistance is GREATLY reduced if you can FIRST land the next spell we are going to talk about.
-Curse Gloom (lvl1). Curse that decreases enemy’s M.Def. Yes! This is a start of a beautiful relationship, between the Necro and his curses. Gloom lowers M.Def right down, making opponents easy to hit with spells, and also making Nuke and Curse damage much higher than without Gloom.
-Curse Weakness (lvl7). As covered earlier, works beautifully in parties, helping your tanks. Now it’s even stronger.
-Curse Poison (lvl4). A mediocre curse. Don’t like it that much, and I didn’t found it effective enough, at least at this lvl.
Curse Chaos, curse discord and curse fear are getting stronger, but still they are not that strong or effective, especially on high lvl mobs. There was a funny moment though, when I found Fear to work nicely with a mob that was in a small room. It run away against a wall. Hah. It just stayed there running, and we simply hit away.
-Corpse life drain (lvl4). This gets only better. And it only costs 20MP. Use it with Btm and cut down on your MP recharge breaks.
-Death Spike (lvl1) Damages an enemy by throwing a bone. 1 Cursed Bone needed. This is the Necro’s main Nuke. The one that will finally replace Blaze and Aura Burn. Or so you are told by all. Yes. Maybe... But NOT at lvl 44. It is effective but COSTLY. So you get the spell, and you forget about it. Cursed bones cost a lot. And where do I find the **** things? Well, you accept Magic Trader Cema’s quest, that’s where. At least before you get the Summon Cursed Bones spell that comes later on. The Quest is called Under the Shadow of the Ivory Tower, and you can start it as soon as you hit lvl40! You go to the crater of Ivory tower (near Oren) and you kill the creatures that live there. You kill Monster Eyes, Iron Golems, Stone Golems, Gargoyles and Manashen Gargoyles to receive “Nebulite Orbs”. These are tradable regular items and not quest items. When you get lots of them, you take them back to Cema and trade them with Cursed Bones (20 orbs give you 10 cursed bones). Ivory tower crater is a GREAT place to Exp and also to gain valuable spell books which you will sell for 50-300k each (you also need some of them for your Necro skills, eg. Silence).
-Forget. Takes away the enemy’s will to attack. A necro’s life-saver! A mob attacks you, you hit it with forget, and… it totally forgets you and goes away. Ahhh, beautiful!
-Sleep (lvl15). This starts to get really effective even for red mobs down in the catacombs, even WITHOUT using gloom b4.
-Summon Reanimated man. Summons a Reanimated Man. Requires 2 Crystals: C-Grade. Afterwards, an additional 1 crystal will be consumed at a regular interval for 4 times. 15% of acquired Exp will be consumed. Great summon, great tank, great fun!
This is the first Necro summon that you can use effectively for long periods. Yes, it does consume Exp, but at a mere 15%, that means that at lvl44 you can kill Iron Golems in Ivory Tower crater and still get around 3.200Exp for each one.
Yes it does consume C-crystals, and at around 3k adena each, this means 6cryx3k=18k adena till the Summon fades away. I have to note here that in order to summon his pets, a necro must first kill an enemy, and summon his creature from the enemy’s corpse.
Don’t forget to buff the summon with servitor wind-walk, shield or might. If you have a buffer nearby, even better. Have the buffer FULLY buff the reanimated man, and you are ready to destroy big mobs with it. The reanimated man, or skeleton, is a very good tank, and can hold its own against high lvl opponents. His master stays back, buffing and healing the summoned pet, and sometimes helping it with Anchor, Curse Weakness, or even a Nuke.
Notice that when the Necromancer drinks a HP pot, or when you apply Corpse Life Drain or Vampiric Claw (now at lvl4 and consuming 70MP), the healing powers that you receive are also applied to the reanimated man! Nice! And no, the reanimated man can’t pick up objects, so go on, pick them up you lazy necro.
Lvl 48
-Anchor (lvl2). Last night I went to the Catacomb of the Witch for the first time, partying with three +60lvl friends. Two tanks, and one buffer. I was a mere 48 necro puppy and my heart was pounding. I thought things would end up pretty badly for me, death looked certain.
But was I wrong, or was I wrong… Here we are talking about 60-70lvl mobs. So I equipped my BlessedSpiritShotCs, I drunk some Magic Haste potion, got hyper-buffed, and was ready for battle.
I let the tanks land the first hit and draw hate, then start casting my spells at a furious rate. First spell at that mob lvl was naturally gloom (I reccomend that you DO use Bssc at higher lvl mobs, as it ups the possibilities of a successful spell hit). The M.Def was lowered, the mob turned to devour me, but a hit or two from the tanks made it change it's mind, turning back on them, and giving me ample space for an uninterrupted Anchor.
And boy did it stick!!! The party was amazed, and I was shocked. We are talking lvl48 necro landing anchors at lvl60+ mobs, with most of those mobs having high resistance to dark attacks…
We are talking mobs so bad, that when I tried to land a nuke, I got either the “attack failed” message, or the hilarious: “you hit for 1 point”. Hahaha.
Big, big, big smile! Of course anchor doesn’t always stick, but the times it didn’t, were so far and few between, that it didn’t matter at all. When it doesn’t stick, throw a nice Weakness, in order to alleviate pressure on your tanks, but generally don’t go mad on spells, and try to manage your MPs with continuous use of 2-3Btm followed by either a pot, or a Corpse life drain. Nearby buffers can also fill up your HP, or even better if they have the skill, replenish your MP points straight away.
In PVP, mind you, high lvl players with EXPENSIVE and rich in M.Def jewelry can resist anchor well. Also be careful to stay away from mob crowds and their hits or stun attacks while casting, cause if you are alone, and anchor gets interrupted, cast forget and run for dear life (of course if we are talking about a PVP situation I don’t know if you’ll manage to survive when anchor gets interrupted).
-Corpse burst (lvl2). Causes a nearby corpse to suddenly explode. The Necro AOE. GREAT spell! It needs some practice, and it works perfectly in train situations.
Two days ago I was partying with a BD in Cruma Tower first lvl. So he got getting about 5-6 mobs to agro, and then he would start hitting them. My tactic was to quickly pick out the mob which was standing the furthest away from him and cast anchor on it. Then immediately right click on the BD’s name to target the mob that he was hitting at the time. Cast a blaze, since Cruma mobs are weak to fire, and as the mob died I hit corpse burst. Alternatively, if I had the time, b4 I hit CB I hit Gloom on another mob (dangerous tactic, cause if your tank gets stunned, mobs turn immediately to you), for enhanced Corpse burst damage.
What damage are we talking about? BIG BADA-BOOM!
As one of the six mobs died, my Corpse Burst landed, dealing instantly 1800-2000damage to each of the remaining 5.
Nine to ten k damage with one spell!
Not bad, not bad at all. I can only imagine (and dream) about the effect this AOE will have when Necro gets Mass Gloom later on!!!
All other existing curses (Chaos, discord, fear, weakness and gloom) get more power at this level, as do almost all existing skills (Sleep, Transfer Pain, Vamp Claw now at 78MP cost, Summon Corrupted Man, Silence, etc). Death Spike also gets to lvl 2. Still I don’t use it while Exping, and I am gathering cursed bones for later on.
Note this about Silence. Silence is really good in PARTY situations, where high lvl mobs cast Heavy Damage spells on your tanks. Cause if you use Anchor, then Silence is of no use, since with Anchor the mobs stay both frozen AND silent.
I also found out that Silence draws BIG hate from the mobs that get silenced. So DON’T silence a BAD mob if you are alone. Otherwise it will have no problems pummeling you to a pulp with its fists.
This concludes my SKILLS guide for now, since I just turned 49 and have NO clue on what the future holds. Well, some clues can be found in the official Lineage site, at
http://www.lineage2.com/Knowledge/race_human_skill.html?my_class=human_necromancer
Yes, mass gloom, I crave for you. Curse Death Link sounds dreamy, and exactly the spell that a character weak in P.Def, like the Necro, would wish for. And if Curse Discord gets strong and effective, that would help a Necro solo even better. I also dream of poisonous cloud after mass gloom and corpse burst combos… Mass Fear for situations where u are alone vs five agro mobs and you can’t outrun them. And Summon Cursed Man for intense PVPs…
SECOND PART. BITS AND PIECES
Weapons
I chose Sword of Whispering Death at lvl 40, and I bestowed Magic Power special ability to it, for an extra 99 damage with each cast. It’s good and powerful, but painfully slow. The other choice, which most ppl prefer, is a Homunculus with Acumen Special Ability for 15% faster casting.
Wear
For robes, you would either go for Karmian or Demon set. Go for Karmian for faster casting speed but smaller MP bonus (225karmian VS 284demon). Or for Demon for more P.Def (69demon vs 60karmian) but slower casting. Extra bonuses apply if you get the whole set. Karmian tunic with karmian stockings and karmian gloves= P. Def. +5.24% and Casting Spd. +15%. Demon’s tunic with demon's stockings and demon's gloves= HP -270, INT +4 and WIT -1.
Jewellery
Wear Jewellery, otherwise you will get stunned so easily, you will sleep, you will get poisoned, you will die. Go for Nassen’s Earrings if you can afford them. They offer the highest M.Def in C-grade earrings. Necklace and rings of Binding also offer the highest C-Grade M.Def.
Consumables
ALWAYS keep with you enough of the following: Acumen pots, or magic haste pots (to cast faster), haste pots (to run faster), HP pots, SOE, Rez Scrolls, Scrolls of Recovery, adena, AA, dimensional fragments, BlessedSpiritShotsC, SoulShotsC (the last 2 are very heavy, so watch for weight penalty), C-Grade Crystals for your pet, etc.
Where to level
In the beginning Breka Orcs near Giran were nice.
As I gained lvls, I moved to Death Pass, with Wyrms, Rats and the rest.
Fettered souls and Grandis at Death Pass were nice 2, but at first mostly with party help, then with pet reanimated man.
I loved Ivory tower crater’s Iron Golems for SB, and Exp, partying only with my Reanimated Man. Cruma Tower is good, with the help of a descent tank (not your reanimated man). And don't forget that here, if you kill the same mobs over and over again, you will get nice sb drops, which you will use or sell.
And OF COURSE the catacombs and the dimensional rift. Just be social, look for a party, and have fun.
Wow. I never thought I would write that much for a start, and in one go. I hope I’ve been of help to any would-be necros out there, and I am waiting for your corrections and additions. Take care, all the best, have fun. :D
Ayahuaska - 49lvl Necro - Devoted Clan - Athens, Greece -Teon Server