Necromancy: An Intro to Resurrection

A thorough guide on the intricacies of the Necromancer Class.

Getting Started

The purpose of this guide is to highlight the strengths of the Necromancer, as well as the best choices to compliment this class. Everything and every recomendation made in this guide is with the following settings in mind:

- Map size Medium
- Map type Land
- No Underground
- 4-6 player FFA
- Few-Average City
- Few-Average Dwelling
- 2-5 Heroes
- Auto-Combat AI
- Manual Humans

And everything else pretty much set to standard/default settings.

Class/Race/Specialization

Class: Necromancer

No explanation needed here.

Race: Draconian

Honestly Draconian is the best and it's not even close. But I'll highlight some other options just for varieties sake and also explain the reason behind Draconian.

Draconian - Draconian get Bane Fire on Draconian Reanimators which is not only 3 damage channels, and 1 total damage higher than Black Bolts, but it's also better typed and gives the Draconian Necromancer an edge over any other Necromancer in the mirror match. This Race also has a Flying T3 Infantry which is great synergy with Vampiric Hunger and also early vision since 9 times out of 10 you will spawn with a T3 and on a very rare occasion you can actually spawn with 2 T3!!! The Governance that Draconians get is also very good, I typically choose the Economic option every time except for the rare times I've spawned with alot of Draconian Chargers/Crushers then I'll take the Military choice on Protector.

High Elf - High Elf get an honorable mention because Awareness on High Elf Reanimators which is nice, but ultimately not as good as Bane Fire. They also have a Flying T3 but not Infantry Class. The first two Governace choices are really underwhelming compared to Draconian. Also their High Elf Storm Sisters are one of the best options as Necromancer when against a Dreadnought.

Dwarf - Firstborn is arguably the best Racial T3 in the game, giving it Life Steal is just not fair, sturdy starting units which make up for Necromancer bad early game. Has access to a Fire Support unit. Also has somewhat poor Governance options compared to Draconian.

Human - Has nice synergy with Human Priests dealing Spirit Damage, also the free T3 units from Human Cavalry Evolving is always a plus, but Human Necromancers lack a way to deal with machines, not the best choice but decent.

Halfling - Nice Happiness synergy with Halfing Reanimators and Master of Puppets, but with a lack of a way to deal with Machines or Shadow Stalkers I really don't recommend this choice unless you know you won't be playing against Dreadnoughts/Rogues. Also has a poor time against Banshees.

Every other Race is not worth mentioning.

Specialization: Fire Adept, Wind Adept & Wild Magic Adept

Fire Adept - Fireball opens up new lines of Damage, and is great for when against an enemy Necromancer as Death Ray is useless in that match up. Skin of Oil shines when Stiffen Limbs is not effective, Machines/Undead. Also with latest Beta Patch Domain Spells that offer no benefit to Necromancers will be removed from Technology Tree, which is very much welcomed.

Wind Adept - Seeker Enchantment is very nice on Draconian Reanimators, as the damage buff is applied to each channel,thus resulting in a +3 Damage modifier and also negating Range Penalties. Also Suffocate is a nice spammable spell early game at 7 CP and gives you another element to bombard with besides Frost/Blight. Also with latest Beta Patch Domain Spells that offer no benefit to Necromancers will be removed from Technology Tree, which is very much welcomed.

Wild Magic Adept - Swap Locations and Degenerate are two of the best spells in the game simply put, I wouldnt run ANY Class without Wild Magic Adept.

The only other Specialization I can recommend is Water Adept.

Water Adept - Take this ONLY if you know someone will be a Dreadnought/Necromancer as Rot is an amazing skill. If you do this replace Fire Adept with Water Adpet. Outside of that situation never take this Specialization.

Leader/Heroes

Making the right leveling choices and also purchasing the correct Heroes will make or break your armies. In a perfect world your first five heroes would spawn as this:

Dreadnought
Rogue
Warlord
Dreadnought
Dreadnought

But since we don't live in a perfect world, if you're playing in a game with 2 Heroes reroll anything until you get a Dreadnought and a Rogue, if you're playing with 3 Heroes reroll anything until you have a Dreadnought, Rogue and a Warlord, and in any game higher than 3 I recommend not spending the Gold on anymore Heroes, but if you must look for Dreadnoughts. I will go through leveling and why you need these Heroes down below, but first lets start with our Leader.

Leader: Necromancer

Notable Skills - Protection From Light, Inflict Despair, Lesser Reanimate Undead, Dispel, Throw Curse, Bane of the Good, Energy Drain, Inflict Enfeebling Fever, Shadow Step, Inflict Curse, Greater Reanimate Dead, Invoke Death, Undying

Overview - While the Necromancer is a great Leader for adding debuffs and also a number of useful skills, this Leader is also one of the easiest to kill in the game. You must be VERY careful during early Auto-Combats because not only is your Leader very easy to kill, he is also not able to heal himself until Harbingers of Death has been researched.

Leveling Path

Level 2 - HP & Defense
Level 3 - Lesser Reaniamte Undead
Level 4 - Throw Curse & Dispel
Level 5 - Bane of the Good
Level 6 - Protection From Light
Level 7 - Energy Drain
Level 8 - Inflict Despair
Level 9 - Inflict Curse & Shadow Step
Level 10 - Nothing
Level 11 - Greater Reanimate Dead
Level 12 - Invoke Death
Level 13 - Inflict Enfeebling Fever
Level 14 -Resistance
Level 15 - Undying

Hero: Dreadnought

Notable Skills - Cure Disease, Invention, Lightning Rod Banner, Forge Aprons, Inflict Immolation, Wizard Hunters, Pest Control Squad, Sabotage, Bestow Iron Heart, Fire Bomb, 20% Protection, Choking Fumes, Dampening Field

Overview - Dreadnought Heroes are arguably the best army leaders in the game with their Leadership Skills, also Choking Fumes is one of the best and cheapest spells you can cast at only 15 CP that will win you a battle.

Leveling Path

Level 2 - Lightning Rod Banner & Defense
Level 3 - Wizard Hunters & HP
Level 4 - Forge Aprons
Level 5 - Pest Control Squad
Level 6 - Sabotage & Inflict Immolation
Level 7 - Bestow Iron Heart
Level 8 - Fire Bomb
Level 9 - Choking Fumes
Level 10 - Cure Disease & 20% Protection
Level 11 - Dampening Field
Level 12 - Invention
Level 13 - Invention
Level 14 - Resistance & Defense
Level 15 - HP & Defense

Hero: Rogue

Notable Skills - Break Control, Sabotage, Cloak and Dagger, Projectile Resistance, Stronger than Steel, Sprint, Poison Knowledge, Taunt, Inflict Severely Poisoned, Sadism, Weapon Finesse, Charm, Inflict Crippling Wounds, Smokescreen, Assassins of Kings

Overview - Rogue Heroes get Sadism which is one of the best spells you can cast and will likely be had very early in game since it only requires level 7 to unlock, and also like Dreadnoughts this Hero has very nice Leadership Abilities.

Leveling Path

Level 2 - Break Control & Sabotage & Defense
Level 3 - Stronger than Steel & HP
Level 4 - Sprint & Projectile Resistance
Level 5 - Poison Knowledge
Level 6 - Cloak and Dagger
Level 7 - Sadism
Level 8 - Weapon Finesse & Taunt
Level 9 - Smokescreen
Level 10 - Cloak and Dagger
Level 11 - Inflict Crippling Wounds
Level 12 - Inflict Severely Poisoned
Level 13 - Charm
Level 14 - Defense & Resistance
Level 15 - Assassins of Kings

Hero: Warlord

Notable Skills - Break Control, Blood Honor, Defense Command, Warfare, Martial Arts, Melee Command, Ranged Command, Charge Command, Shock Protection, Blood Brothers, Inflict Bleeding Wounds, Fire Protection, Bloodbath, Relentless Army, Toughness

Overview - While a distant third in terms of Leadership/Skills the Warlord is your best option as a third Hero. Blood Brothers is very good, but also very expensive at 10 Skill points, and Bloodbath while stronger than Sadism on intial cast, is quickly outclassed after a few kills.

Leveling Path

Level 2 - Defense Command & Defense
Level 3 - Melee Command
Level 4 - Ranged Command
Level 5 - Martial Arts & Break Control & Blood Honor
Level 6 - Nothing
Level 7 - Blood Brothers
Level 8 - Warfare
Level 9 - Bloodbath
Level 10 - Warfare
Level 11 - Toughness
Level 12 - Relentless Army
Level 13 - Inflict Bleeding Wounds & HP & Shock Protection
Level 14 - Fire Protection & Charge Command
Level 15 - Defense & HP & Resistance

Other Heroes lack good Leadership skills and/or powerful Combat Spells.

Governance/Technology/City-Building

Governance:

Governance is actually fairly simple and straight forward, you're almost always going to take all the options on the right hand side, but we will go through the selections down below briefly.

Draconian Patron Economic
Draconian Protector Economic/Military
Draconian Champion Economic
Draconian Prophet Economic
Draconian Deity Economic

The only time you take Draconian Protector Military is if you start the game with alot of Draconian Chargers/Crushers and they are still alive at this point AND you don't have many Magma Forges within your Domain, its somewhat rare but these circumstances do happen.

Technology Tree:

While the Technology Tree is some what randomized you do have very clear cut early game goals to get to, I'll highlight a perfect start down below but do know you need to be able to adjust to what the game gives you. DO NOT be afraid to cast Seek Inspiration to find if the Technology options you have currently are not wat you need, just make sure you can spare the Mana to do so. The following list assumes you start out with Lost Soul learned, if not start with that.

Produce Reanimator
Shrines of Unlife
Whispers of the Fallen
Summon Banshee
Necromancy I
Necromancy II
Necromancy III
Healers of the Dead
Harbingers of Death

From here start learning various combat spells, order is not particularly important also if you started the game with a number of Draconian Chargers/Crushers or Draconian Flyers to pick up Vampiric Hunger and also if you have a number of Ghoul Units to pick up Master of Puppets as well. Otherwise the majority of your armies should be Draconian Reanimators and Banshees but more on that later.

City-Building:

Unlike the Technology Tree build order is quite straightforward and repeatable, so this section will be more concrete, though keep in mind since when you Hurry Production as Necromancer all you lose is Population and not Happiness, Hurry Production anything when your resources will allow it.

Builder's Hall
Harvestors Guild (in any city but your Throne)
Shrine (with Draconian Patron Economic)
Laboratory
Observatory
Temple (if you find yourself with few/no Mana Nodes, or find yourself with low Mana Income)
Necromancer's Dark Tower I (in any city but your Throne, and if you still need more for your primary stacks)
Reanimators (til you have roughly 3 per main stacks)

Basically at this point do not upgrade the city any further and focus on Draconian Renaimator Production until you have 3 strong stacks of units for your Heroes and at least 3-6 units within your Cities as well. At that point work toward Grand Palaces and Arcane Item Forges.

Early Game (Turns 1-20)

The early game for Necromancer is by far the time you will be most vulnerable, with armies that are weaker than normal due to Undead negative modifiers and Ghoul negative modifiers including lack of regeneration it's very easy to find yourself dead in the water after just a few Auto-Combats. Well the first and foremost thing to do is take the nearest city that spawns and Migrate to Ghoul Draconians.

Next up is be sure to spawn a Lost Soul ASAP. Having a 6-stack and 1 single stack of a Lost Soul attack a single target GREATLY increases the odds of not having a unit die and also reduce the damage done to your main stack, the great thing about using a Lost Soul for this though is that very rarely will your Lost Soul die in the combat due to Undying.

Do not clear Camps that will spawn Bone Dragons or Archon Titans, during Mid/Late game you can clear these with at least Leader level 11 and you have chance for free T4s from Greater Reanimation!

Get Whispers of the Fallen active ASAP, it's grossly underrated and gives free Vison of an Enemy approaching without letting them know your location.

Try to have 2 full stacks of good units (not Cadavers or Lost Souls) by the end of turn 20, the earlier you do this the better!

Any Equipment you find from early Camps is often times best used to sell for Gold, this also goes for Units or other rewards, keep this in mind whenever given the choice and don't just blindly accept the prize, always try to keep unique effects, such as Items that give Lucky or a Breathe attack etc, otherwise sell it if all it does is add stats.

Any Cadavers your Leader or Draconian Reanimators spawn should almost always be sent off in different directions as free temporary scouts, as their upkeep is so minimal (2 Mana per turn) there is no reason to delete them, but they also make poor defenders because of roaming Lost Souls that attack Cities and also don't bring much to a fight in your main stacks either.

You should be Summoning Banshees and Producing Draconian Reanimators during this time, and if you're not you are getting behind. Once you get your 2 main stacks supplied keep producing to defend from Independents and also other Players Scouts. Ideally each stack will consist of 3 Reanimators/Ranged Units and 2 Banshee/Melee Units plus the Hero/Leader.

Before this time ends you should also be working on a 3rd/4th City. Your first Settler is only 100 Gold and should be built once you have a good location close to your first Cities cleared and established, If you were lucky to have a 2nd City/Dwelling spawn near you make sure to take it and if it's too strong (Giants/Dragons) try to Vassal it but DO NOT waste Gold to achieve this, as you will need your Gold for Troop Production.

While I don't often build a Draconian Builder sometimes it is worth the investment. Do not ever build Roads or Watchtowers, and the only time a Draconian Builder is useful is if it can build a Fort on at LEAST 3 sites, hopefully a Trading Post or higher level site as well. The intial cost of a Draconian Builder + 1 Fort is 160 Gold, during early game this can be alot, but on a spot that generates at least 30 Resources (for example 2 Gold Mines and a Mana Node) this will pay for itself in 6 turns and if it's a site with a Trading Post it would pay for itself in 4 turns. Also keep in mind if the Builder has 2 good locations for Forts its almost always worth the investment.

If you can consistently hit all these goals in the early game you are setting yourself up to snowball very well into mid/late game.

Mid Game (Turns 21-50)

Often times you will win the game during this time. End game usually does not happen or if it does is rather short. During these turns you should be at 3 stacks of experienced units and Heroes. You should be working towards Draconian Deathbringers if you feel the game will go into a long drawn out match, Life Steal, Tireless and Awareness units can easily take down any non-Undead/Incorpeal/Machine unit in the game, T3/T4 matters not. Your Heroes should be hitting level 9-11 and learning their powerful combat spells during this time as well. You should be killing other players at this time almost at will, mid game and on you should be the strongest player in the game unless you let yourself get caught or fight on bad terms, any Cities you take be sure to Plunder, and equip your Heroes with the best gear from the slain enemy and sell what you can't use.

End Game (Turns 51+)

By this point the world should be beneath your feet, and you drinking the blood of your enemies, but on the off chance they are resisting you, send in the Draconian Deathbringers and watch them cry. I've NEVER had to make Dread Reapers. They are not worth the investment and take way too long to make and are basically a Banshee 1.5. End the game you have already won.

Dreadnoughts?! :(

This is the only Class that should give you any problems when you play correctly. When up against a good Dreadnought player build Ghoul Draconian Elders instead of Draconian Reanimators, They are immune to the Flame Tanks and deal unresisted damage to everything but the Flame Tanks as well. Don't bother with building Banshees as they are basically useless without Fire Weakness and also not being able to use their Physical Resistance 60% Ability. Other than those adjustments continue your objectives as normal.

Conclusion

Overall I do believe out of every combination the ones listed above give you the best chance to win in most circumstances. I do invite any and all feedback on what has been stated here today, if it's something I may have missed or if its even something as simple as a gramatical error. I will also try to keep this guide updated and current whenever a patch or DLC changes anything listed here. Thank you for reading and I hope this helps you improve. ^_^

[Pimpin Pippin]

Thanks for the great guide.

[Reaper]

Greath guide, I found it extremely usefu. However I have 2 questions.

In 90% of my games the secondary hero that offers to join me (right at the start of my game) will be a necromancer. You've listed how to level up the skills of the Main Necromancer Leader, but what about this secondary hero Necro? Do I follow the same skill-build as the main necromancer? Do I keep him in the same army as the main necromancer or use him as a stack leader? When (if at all) should I level up the casting point upgrade ("Necromancy") for the secondary necro hero?

Also, you stated that other classes do not have good leadership skills or combat spells. For Druids & Theocrats I agree, they are not that useful for a Necromancer class leader. However, what about Sorceror? He has useful leadership skills and his combat spells are amazing. I was just wondering what kind of problem you perceived when you forgot to mention Sorceror as a useful secondary hero.

Thank your for youe time!

[(Merchant) B1tF0x]

no mention of greyguard or frostling

[$VIKING$]

Whoops, cadavers not ghouls :)

[$VIKING$]

Very very good guide Felix, thank!

Question (keeping in mind I have only played SP):

You say in a post below that neutrals will nto take cities, but I have this happen fairly often. Are there just specific neutrals that won't? I find having no city defense is very annoying, because the AI will find some route that I don't have eyes on and take the city while I'm not near it. The only way I've stopped this is by sending my Ghouls to defend cities.

Also, don't lone ghouls used as scouts die after 4 or 5 turns?

[cssneed]

How do you print this out?

[Nabeghlavi]

Patch 1.7 was released today. Looks like some pretty big changes for Necro. "Fixed a bug that prevented roaming independent monsters from attacking undefended cities. Whispers Of The Dead now costs 15 mana per turn (was 10) and gives a small amount of knowledge for each unit the player kills in combat and each unit that dies in battles that the spell detects. Necromancer players will now almost always be offered a necromancer hero in the first round. Domain of XXX spells will no longer appear in the spell book for Necromancers. Necro Frostling Prophet Economic Racial Governance now correctly gives 10 gold and mana instead of 5."

[Brutal_Felix]

If the patch changes how NPCs behave I'll be sure to post an update, also yes sneaky units can cause some problems is left unattended, outside of reanimators one thing i do once i have my 3 main stacks is always keep a banshee ready to summon, that way on any turn you need one you still have full CP as well. Tho very rarely if ever have i had problems with pesky scouts flipping cities, esp with the free cavaders you get from battles to help give more vison as well

[Nabeghlavi]

Thanks for the reply. It felt strange not having my cities defended but followed your guide for my first try as necro. Also, I believe I read that an upcoming patch is going to fix the bug of NPC units not going after undefended town, but it works for now! Btw, doesn't that sort of seem like the way to defeat a necromancer in MP? Sneak some units in to capture a few towns to hurt their already weak economy?

[Brutal_Felix]

Thanks for the feedback! In regards to your City Defense questions, NPC roaming units Bandits/Lost Souls/Monsters/Animals etc will actually NEVER attack a City or Fort with no defenses. As for roaming scouts, a single Reanimator does the trick do note that with 1 Reanimator though now NPC units will try to attack you so be very careful with that, now if the scouts are more aggressive, consider walls or more Reanimators. For a large portion of the game ill have no defenses at my cities or very little.