Necromancer Build Help

[mancorn]

I was looking to play a necromancer type build but im worried about the difficulty. Any suggestions about the build or skills i should take?

[chrisnc35]

I play a Necro 2 ways: First..

- A cloth mage that specializes in Conjuration and Illusion as the primary spells. Alteration and Restoration as secondary. I use a follower (high damge) that can kill quickly so I can ressurect the dead. Did the College of Winterhold bit for the spells and the Archmage robes for its enchants. Took enchanting as well, maxed out so I can get dual enchanted ring and necklace. Find some gloves and cloth shoes (or light armor shoes), dual enchant em'. Get the dragon priest mask with 20% reduction in cost for Destruction, Alteration and Illusion (?).

When your skill is high enough, summon 2 atrinarchs, use destruction spells still as the enemy will still come after you. Use Healing Hands on your follower, keep him/her alive. Frenzy the enemy 1rst, let them kill each other before you mop up, use Calm if getting overwhelmed. Silent Casting perk is great, can cast several times before the enemy can find you.

Second way:

- I will also use some heavy armor with my cloth, provides additional armor. Head, hands and boots. I did the Solthstiem quests for the dragon priests masks there. They helped out there with their stats...increased damage output with resistance for you as well. You can also get the Conjuration heavy armor from that dungeon/burrow quest line there as well. + everything in 1rst paragraph.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Why, yes. Yes I do. I've played lots of necromancers. Bear in mind that my choices in build are very traditional RPG-oriented and may or may not be your cup of tea. With that in mind:

You'll proabably want either an Altmer or Breton for lore. You can go Dunmer if you want to be an outcast, as their cultural ancestor worship makes necromancy a big no-no. In terms of gameplay mechanics, I would go Breton, for reasons that I will supply below.

Okay, so you want to be a necromancer. What does that mean? Well, for purists, armor is out. Robes only. It really doesn't matter what the robes are, but you'll probably want anything that fortifies magicka, magicka regen and of course Conjuration. Rings and amulets are great too. Be sure to do some sleuthing in Windhelm. The Necromancer's Amulet is pretty much made for you.

In terms of skills, I always set my priorities thusly:

1. Conjuration--This is your bread and butter. Your minions will be doing and taking most of the damage. Perk wise, you'll want to take all five mastery levels, Dual Casting, both ranks of Summoner, Necromancy, Dark Souls and Twin Souls. That makes your undead minions really tanky and allows you to raise/summon them from far away. Do not take any atronach perks. You deal with the dead, not the daedra. When it comes to damage dealing, you have the choice of taking perks in the summoned weapons line, but I tend not to do that. Necromancers are not sword-wielding berserkers. In terms of combat, you are best ranged.

Oh, and get the bone minion tomes from the Soul Cairn. Wrathmen are amazing; with appropriate perks they have higher HP than a summoned Dremora and do nearly as much damage. With two of them you can often sit back and grin evily.

2. Enchanting--You're a necromancer. You are totally into trapping souls. And what for a necromancer is more satisfying than enchanting that ring using the soul of that NPC that has always been a thorn in your side, forcing him to serve you for all eternity. Take every perk in the tree.

3. Alteration--A necromancer is an inherently defensive mage, so you will need a lot of this. The choice of being a Breton comes into play with the racial magic resistance, which stacks with the associated Alteration perks. For perks take everything with one important caveat: if you are not using the Unofficial Skyrim Patch DO NOT take the Atronach perk, as it will hinder your ability to summon creatures. That would be a bad thing for a necromancer.

4. Destruction--As I mentioned above, I don't like the direct combat approach of summoned weapons. In past itterations of the series I would use health draining and damaging spells. Here, I limit myself to frost spells as the next most appropriate skill set. After all, you are going to have to issue direct damage at some points. Take only up to adept mastery, Dual Casting, Impact and frost-related perks only. You are not an evoker, so direct damage is not your thing, and relying on it too often tires you out.

Lastly, being a vampire can synergize well with many of your abilities, so you can consider it. However, I tend not to do this. While vampires use many types of death magic, necromancers use it to manipulate the undead. Being undead themselves, I can't see vampires being to cool with it.

Take or discard as you wish. Enjoy!

[mancorn]

Thanks guys, I really liked two bears undead aproach alot. Would there be any benefit to using light armor, and is sneaking something i should use at all.

Originally posted by Two Bears:

Why, yes. Yes I do. I've played lots of necromancers. Bear in mind that my choices in build are very traditional RPG-oriented and may or may not be your cup of tea. With that in mind:

You'll proabably want either an Altmer or Breton for lore. You can go Dunmer if you want to be an outcast, as their cultural ancestor worship makes necromancy a big no-no. In terms of gameplay mechanics, I would go Breton, for reasons that I will supply below.

Okay, so you want to be a necromancer. What does that mean? Well, for purists, armor is out. Robes only. It really doesn't matter what the robes are, but you'll probably want anything that fortifies magicka, magicka regen and of course Conjuration. Rings and amulets are great too. Be sure to do some sleuthing in Windhelm. The Necromancer's Amulet is pretty much made for you.

In terms of skills, I always set my priorities thusly:

1. Conjuration--This is your bread and butter. Your minions will be doing and taking most of the damage. Perk wise, you'll want to take all five mastery levels, Dual Casting, both ranks of Summoner, Necromancy, Dark Souls and Twin Souls. That makes your undead minions really tanky and allows you to raise/summon them from far away. Do not take any atronach perks. You deal with the dead, not the daedra. When it comes to damage dealing, you have the choice of taking perks in the summoned weapons line, but I tend not to do that. Necromancers are not sword-wielding berserkers. In terms of combat, you are best ranged.

Oh, and get the bone minion tomes from the Soul Cairn. Wrathmen are amazing; with appropriate perks they have higher HP than a summoned Dremora and do nearly as much damage. With two of them you can often sit back and grin evily.

2. Enchanting--You're a necromancer. You are totally into trapping souls. And what for a necromancer is more satisfying than enchanting that ring using the soul of that NPC that has always been a thorn in your side, forcing him to serve you for all eternity. Take every perk in the tree.

3. Alteration--A necromancer is an inherently defensive mage, so you will need a lot of this. The choice of being a Breton comes into play with the racial magic resistance, which stacks with the associated Alteration perks. For perks take everything with one important caveat: if you are not using the Unofficial Skyrim Patch DO NOT take the Atronach perk, as it will hinder your ability to summon creatures. That would be a bad thing for a necromancer.

4. Destruction--As I mentioned above, I don't like the direct combat approach of summoned weapons. In past itterations of the series I would use health draining and damaging spells. Here, I limit myself to frost spells as the next most appropriate skill set. After all, you are going to have to issue direct damage at some points. Take only up to adept mastery, Dual Casting, Impact and frost-related perks only. You are not an evoker, so direct damage is not your thing, and relying on it too often tires you out.

Lastly, being a vampire can synergize well with many of your abilities, so you can consider it. However, I tend not to do this. While vampires use many types of death magic, necromancers use it to manipulate the undead. Being undead themselves, I can't see vampires being to cool with it.

Take or discard as you wish. Enjoy!

[Incunabulum]

While you're at it, check out -

Invested Magic
Undeath
Vile Art of Necromancy
Necromancy - Undead FX
Corpse Preparation - True Necromancy

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Originally posted by mancorn777:

Thanks guys, I really liked two bears undead aproach alot. Would there be any benefit to using light armor, and is sneaking something i should use at all.

Well, sure you could. You could wear light armor and enchant the pieces of that to get a greater number of buffs due to the fact that you have more pieces that you can enchant. You could also sneak and take the Silent Casting perk from Illusion. It is your playthrough. Personally, I don't do either of them because, traditionally, wizards don't wear armor and don't use dexterity as a primary stat. Wearing armor and sneaking are not part of the traditional mage skill set.

[mafilux]

Two Bear put it rather eloquently, that sounds like a Necromancer to me. In terms of good Necromancer items, Miraak's sword (For looks if you're not using one handed) and staff certainly fit the style that this setup is going for, and you can also purchase unenchanted staves from Neloth once you do his side quest and create your very own death summoning staff! The Dark Brotherhood sanctuary sounds like the best place for a Necromancer to dwell, or Castle Valikhir (Volkihir? Valikir?). Doing either of these questlines will open up good Necromancer style followers as well, such as Serana, who is undead herself.

I would say sneak is a relevant skill for a Necromancer to have - they would have to skulk around in graveyards to get bodies for their experiments without being seen lest they be persecuted. A good shout set up for a Necromancer would be frost breath, ice form, and slow time. Although Restoration doesn't fit the style, having a good turn undead spell may also be relevant, being that you're a master of death the dead should obey you. I'll post some more ideas if I think of any, hope some of these ideas help you to realize the full potential of role playing a Necromancer!

[mancorn]

Thanks too everyone that helped me with the build so far. Its helped alot with getting a good playthrough together.

[mancorn]

Any questline or quest suggestions. I have all dlc.

Originally posted by Two Bears:

Originally posted by mancorn777:

Thanks guys, I really liked two bears undead aproach alot. Would there be any benefit to using light armor, and is sneaking something i should use at all.

Well, sure you could. You could wear light armor and enchant the pieces of that to get a greater number of buffs due to the fact that you have more pieces that you can enchant. You could also sneak and take the Silent Casting perk from Illusion. It is your playthrough. Personally, I don't do either of them because, traditionally, wizards don't wear armor and don't use dexterity as a primary stat. Wearing armor and sneaking are not part of the traditional mage skill set.

Originally posted by mafilux:

Two Bear put it rather eloquently, that sounds like a Necromancer to me. In terms of good Necromancer items, Miraak's sword (For looks if you're not using one handed) and staff certainly fit the style that this setup is going for, and you can also purchase unenchanted staves from Neloth once you do his side quest and create your very own death summoning staff! The Dark Brotherhood sanctuary sounds like the best place for a Necromancer to dwell, or Castle Valikhir (Volkihir? Valikir?). Doing either of these questlines will open up good Necromancer style followers as well, such as Serana, who is undead herself.

I would say sneak is a relevant skill for a Necromancer to have - they would have to skulk around in graveyards to get bodies for their experiments without being seen lest they be persecuted. A good shout set up for a Necromancer would be frost breath, ice form, and slow time. Although Restoration doesn't fit the style, having a good turn undead spell may also be relevant, being that you're a master of death the dead should obey you. I'll post some more ideas if I think of any, hope some of these ideas help you to realize the full potential of role playing a Necromancer!

[Jón]

When you eventually get Dead Thralls, do keep in mind that you unfortunately aren't able to switch out their armor. They can only use the armor that they died in. However, the same does not apply to weapons.

[mancorn]

I found an interesting build that deltvery well with that problem.
LINK:http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-rise-of-the-fallen

Originally posted by Exonical:

When you eventually get Dead Thralls, do keep in mind that you unfortunately aren't able to switch out their armor. They can only use the armor that they died in. However, the same does not apply to weapons.

[mafilux]

For quest lines certainly the dawnguard questline is a good one to be doing, on the side of the vampires. If you do want Miraak's items you'll need to play through the main Solthsteim quest line. Septimus Signis' quest line would be relevant since he has you harvesting blood from elves at one point. There's also the murder in Windhelm one, the Namira (Cannibalism) quest line and Dark Brotherhood quest line. Those are the ones off the top of my head.

[mancorn]

DO you think i should do the college of winterhold or the main quests.

Originally posted by mafilux:

For quest lines certainly the dawnguard questline is a good one to be doing, on the side of the vampires. If you do want Miraak's items you'll need to play through the main Solthsteim quest line. Septimus Signis' quest line would be relevant since he has you harvesting blood from elves at one point. There's also the murder in Windhelm one, the Namira (Cannibalism) quest line and Dark Brotherhood quest line. Those are the ones off the top of my head.

[22b3]

I think you should. You'll get some pretty decent robes at the end. You'll be the archmage giving you some benefits. Also being friends with the college members grants you access to buying incredibly powered tomes.