Best Specializations For Necromancer

[Lucid]

What are your most successful specialization combos with necromancers?

[Shaithias]

earth is a good one.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Elvens necromancer shadowborn mastery expander.
Elves because i love elves.
Shadowborn mastery because i too want to see the wizard kings back.
Gameplay wise:
-5 gold on infantry, pikeman, achers and cavalry adds up over time.
Gift of nercon is a great way to heal my troops.
Black lighting is a meh damage spell.
Embrace shadow and maladiction give for my deticated to evil troops.
And fallen angel has undying and can kick the ♥♥♥♥ out of anything short of a dreadreaper.
Expander counters the undead lack of natural growth.

[ThunderGr]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Expander counters the undead lack of natural growth.

Killing stuff and undead plague counters it more. I would take something else for the Necromancer. It seems like you intentionally handicap yourself in your Leader builds by taking Expander, in my opinion. Perhaps Destruction adept, instead, would make it up for the "meh" spell? ;)
And it is consistent with the Shadowborn's Evil theme.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by ThunderGr:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Expander counters the undead lack of natural growth.

Killing stuff and undead plague counters it more. I would take something else for the Necromancer. It seems like you intentionally handicap yourself in your Leader builds by taking Expander, in my opinion. Perhaps Destruction adept, instead, would make it up for the "meh" spell? ;)

I considered that:
Scored earth:
Good to take towns and dont need gaurds, Downside mana upkeep.
Fast raiding: decrease time it takes to loot a time.
Nice but i dont play on maps where 2 or 4 turns are that big of a different.
Killer instinct:
Again nice but necromancer already have many ways to incease there damage vs others.
Blight domain....undead dont get terrian panelties/bonus.

Expander:
50+ extra growth right from the get go.
Instant migration.
Faster moving settlers(not used often)
15% population increase empire wide.
20% faster building in outpost.

Yes undead plague and killing stuff is faster.
But expander is a constant, upkeep free buff, that gives you that tiny extra bit.
Also sometimes the rng gods screw you over so badly that undead plague and killing isnt going to happen anytime soon.

If playing of small maps with weak defenders then yes destruction is better.
I dont play on small maps with weak defenders.

Admitly i do miss the ability to make vassal state's.
This build was ment to go pure evil asap.

[ThunderGr]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

I consider that:
Scored earth:
Good to take towns and dont need gaurds, Downside mana upkeep.
Fast raiding: decrease time it takes to loot a time.
Nice but i dont play on maps where 2 or 4 turns are that big of a different.
Killer insintc:
Again nice but necromancer already have many ways to incease there damage vs others.
Blight domain....undead dont get terrian panelties/bonus.

Expander:
50+ extra growth right from the get go.
Instant migration.
Faster moving settlers(not used often)
15% population increase empire wide.
20% faster building in outpost.

Since migration usually takes one or 2 turns and the Fast raiding does not make a difference to you, I assume that instant migration would be as useless.
As I see it, only the 20% faster building in outpost has some significant impact but 20% of nearly nothing is still nearly nothing, I think. And outposts become villages soon enough, so you lose that meager + very soon.

Maybe Fire adept would be more interesting to you, however.

Yes undead plague and killing stuff is faster.
But expander is a constant upkeep free buff that gives you that tiny extra bit.
Also sometimes the rng gods screw you over so badly that undead plague and killing isnt going to happen anytime soon.

If playing of small maps with weak defenders then yes destruction is better.
I dont play on small maps with weak defenders.

Admitly i do miss the ability to make vassal state's.
This build was ment to go pure evil asap.

The killing stuff is always in play. Both your own and your opponent's corpses are counted and the strongest the defenders the more the corpses, the faster the growth and with the hordes of cadavers, the Necro should be great!

I do not play small maps and I always play strong opponents. However, I do not currently play much Random maps, because I am focusing on the campaigns. (I am near to completion, although 3 different endings means playing 3 times...)
So, my suggestions are by no means from an "experienced in random maps" point of view. On the exact opposite, in fact. Thank you for explaining your choices in such a detailed way, BTW.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by ThunderGr:

1:Since migration usually takes one or 2 turns and the Fast raiding does not make a difference to you, I assume that instant migration would be as useless.
2:As I see it, only the 20% faster building in outpost has some significant impact but 20% of nearly nothing is still nearly nothing, I think. And outposts become villages soon enough, so you lose that meager + very soon.

1:Migration depens on location of the race you want to migrate to nearest town.
On extra large map having a dwarven outpost turn into a elven outpost can take up to 20 turns if my only outpost is on the otherside of the map.
2:
To quote the:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=247323957
The biggest advantage of 20% is getting outpost to pay for themself.
It is true that 20% is nothing but most stuff in age of wonders 3 is +1 or +2 or 10% or 20%.
Small numbers add up.

As for fire adapt:
i already got plenty of offencive class spells and shadowborn mastery adds even more.

[ThunderGr]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

1:Migration depens on location of the race you want to migrate to nearest town.
On extra large map having a dwarven outpost turn into a elven outpost can take up to 20 turns if my only outpost is on the otherside of the map.

This is why you raze it and reanimate it, as is your prefered method with the Necro ;).
So, again, instant migration is at the same class as Fast raiding.
For the Fire adept, your "offensive" class spells(what, death ray and what again?) do not do fire damage.

[cassiline]

Halfling Necro is generally regarded as top necro. This is primarily b/c the ghoul units and Death Bringers get the Lucky skill and massive morale boosts due to race governance. You won't even rely on summoned units.

Stacks of T3 Eagle Flyers with very lucky and max morale will eat everything. Get a necro hero with a flying mount and they will be self sustaining.

If you need ground support: 1 Hero/3 Death Bringer/2 Brew Brothers is a solid melee strike force.

I usually run Shadow x2 and Expander. The DedEvil bonuses are really strong. Expander is just the strongest 1 splash. Nothing else really packs a punch at 1 tier. I'd really like to be able to get Blight Empire, but I don't want to drop Shadow x2.

Reapers are almost not needed, but are fun to toss in too.

Best heroes are just to get as many necro heroes as possible. Build them for party support. If you have non-necro heros make sure to craft a Heal Undead bundle for them. Also craft a Nourishing Meal bundle for all heros.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by ThunderGr:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

1:Migration depens on location of the race you want to migrate to nearest town.
On extra large map having a dwarven outpost turn into a elven outpost can take up to 20 turns if my only outpost is on the otherside of the map.

1:This is why you raze it and reanimate it, as is your prefered method with the Necro ;).
So, again, instant migration is at the same class as Fast raiding.
2:For the Fire adept, your "offensive" class spells(what, death ray and what again?) do not do fire damage.

1: yes but we where talking about migrating.
If i just want whatever race i just conquered it is easier to reanimate.
But often i prefeer my supreme elven troops.
2: black lighting 5 spirit and 5 lighting damage.
Death ray 12 posion 8 cold.

Fire adapt:
Fireball: 10 physchil 12 fire.
Skin of oil: -2 stenght -2 armor -2 resistance +60% fireweakness.
Fire node mana bonus: +5 mana with fire node's.
Domain of sun......undead dont get tarrian penalties.
Summon hell houd<banshee<dreadreaper.
That are 3 skills i woudnt be using.

[ThunderGr]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Originally posted by ThunderGr:

1:This is why you raze it and reanimate it, as is your prefered method with the Necro ;).
So, again, instant migration is at the same class as Fast raiding.
2:For the Fire adept, your "offensive" class spells(what, death ray and what again?) do not do fire damage.

1: yes but we where talking about migrating.
If i just want whatever race i just conquered it is easier to reanimate.
But often i prefeer my supreme elven troops.
2: black lighting 5 spirit and 5 lighting damage.
Death ray 12 posion 8 cold.

Fire adapt:
Fireball: 10 physchil 12 fire.
Skin of oil: -2 stenght -2 armor -2 resistance +60% fireweakness.
Fire node mana bonus: +5 mana with fire node's.
Domain of sun......undead dont get tarrian penalties.
Summon hell houd<banshee<dreadreaper.

Black Lightning is a Shadowborn spell and you said it is meh.
Fireball is better than both.
Skin of Oil + Fireball is even better and Skin of oil is a damn good low tier spell.
Summon hellhound is at the same level as Summon lost soul. Banshees are great and are even better than Dread Reapers in terms of dealing with shadow stalkers, as they do a great deal of spirit damage, lost souls have exploit despair and get shadow step on gold medal and are also undying *but* you do not give up any of those summons to get the hellhound. You get it *on top of them*. They are fast and do fire damage. A pretty good low level summon to bolster your Necro troops, in my opinion. And useful is cases the undead lack abilities.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by ThunderGr:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

1: yes but we where talking about migrating.
If i just want whatever race i just conquered it is easier to reanimate.
But often i prefeer my supreme elven troops.
2: black lighting 5 spirit and 5 lighting damage.
Death ray 12 posion 8 cold.

Fire adapt:
Fireball: 10 physchil 12 fire.
Skin of oil: -2 stenght -2 armor -2 resistance +60% fireweakness.
Fire node mana bonus: +5 mana with fire node's.
Domain of sun......undead dont get tarrian penalties.
Summon hell houd<banshee<dreadreaper.

Black Lightning is a Shadowborn spell and you said it is meh.
Fireball is better than both.
Skin of Oil + Fireball is even better and Skin of oil is a damn good low tier spell.
Summon hellhound is at the same level as Summon lost soul. Banshees are great and are even better than Dread Reapers in terms of dealing with shadow stalkers, as they do a great deal of spirit damage, lost souls have exploit despear and get shadow step on gold medal and are also undying *but* you do not give up any of those summons to get the hellhound. You get it *on top of them*. They are fast and do fire damage. A pretty good low level summon to bolster your Necro troops, in my opinion. And useful is cases the undead lack abilities.

I didnt say it was useless.
Just that it doesnt suit my playstyle.
Honestly i would pick almost everything over elemental specialzations.
There in my not so humble opion:
Worse then the none-elemental speciaztions.

[ThunderGr]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

I didnt say it was useless.
Just that it doesnt suit my playstyle.
Honestly i would pick almost everything over elemental specialzations.
There in my not so humble opion:
Worse then the none-elemental speciaztions.

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying :).

[Burusagi]

I like Destruction Master simply because of Blighted Empire, as Ghouls don't give a crap about Bligthed terrain.

I can backfire horribly though if you end up facing a Goblin leader, lol!

[Kyun]

i play shadow born master + fire adept and like shaikan i play elves too.
shadowborn gives superb bonuses to an evil play style and evil units (as a necro i want to play evil cause i want to be always be at war to have targets for undead plague to grow my cities, and i also want to migrate cities to ghoul elves).
the elven boni (super ranged combat + shock dmg + faster research are super powerful and the elven weaknesses (slower growth and blight vulnerabilty are countered by the plague resitance of the undead and the getting population through killing enemies/undead plague the necro uses mainly to grow his cities).
elves + necro + fire adept means normal, blight, cold, holy, shock and fire damage. so i don't run into anything i can't beat dmg wise.
the hellhounds are a good early summon esp vs units on mana nodes (if you play strong/strongest defenders and weak starting army) they are really usefull vs the phantoms u'll find there (and in lategame vs anything that is shock/blight/cold/holy resistant).
i admit that i rarly use fireball (i actually think that the necro dmg spell and the shadowborn black lightning are very good spells), but if an enemy is blight/cold/shock resistant then it's def good to have too, esp in combination with skin of oil.
the only spell i never uses is the "city likes tropic" cause ghouls don't care about clime anyways.
---------
i also recommend necro + halflings like cassi, (and i hate halflings in this game) for the reasons cassi already explained.

[Morphic]

Personally I play Human Necromancer with Shadowborn Mastery and Destruction Adept.

I like Destruction for Hasty Plunder, Scorched Earth and all the other stuff since, as Necromancer, you can easily Raise the Cities that are destroyed. The Shadowborn Mastery speaks for itself, Dedicated to Evil helps since you're probably going to be Evil.

I like being Humans since you have easy access to Spirit damage, thanks to Priests and Humans generally don't have any major drawbacks. However Elves, Orcs and Draconians seem like solid choices but I have to agree with Halfings being "the best" option. I finished a PBEM game with a dude who was Halfing Necromancer ... it was horrifying, they are just "that good". I never expected the Lucky and Morale bonuses to add up as quickly and as effectively as they did.