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The Official Children of Tunare’s Necro Guide to Norrath Volume 1 Written by: Aeur X'Umbrage Greetings fellow Necro, In this guide, I will do my best to advise you on what choices to consider making as well as those to avoid. Keep in mind that the following suggestions are through my experience and my opinion, as well as some gathered from other's opinions and information. Ergo, if anyone tells you otherwise, or anyone feels differently about the following, it is you who must decide what is better for you to do. I have tried to put this guide in the best chronological order I could think of and hope it helps you. Attributes To begin with, the primary attribute of a necromancer is Intelligence. I am assuming you have already chosen a race, if not, the race you choose will effect your starting Intelligence, even before you adjust it using your Allocation Points at Character Creation. I believe the race Erudite gets the highest starting Intelligence, but they are also not welcome in many places throughout Norrath (and alas, begin in a part of Norrath that I am unfamiliar with and have not traveled in). The higher your Intelligence is, the higher your mana (spell casting points) will be. Keep in mind that there are items in the game to add to your Intelligence and Mana that you may acquire. It is rumored that an Intelligence over 200 does not increase mana, so having an Intelligence over 200 serves no purpose other than a stat to brag about. Now, as a matter of personal preference, I would also suggest putting a few points into Strength, just to help keep the Encumbrance gremlin at bay. Also, we eventually get a Charm spell that works on Undead. Charisma is used for this spell(however, the spell wears off, and the former pet will attack you. So, I recommend not using this spell, since we get a pet anyway). A high charisma will help with the success with this spell, as well as prices with merchants. Anything else you may wish to adjust is up to you. Skills I recommend training in a few skills before venturing out. I suggest putting one point in each of the following, Piercing (since you start out with a dagger, and eventually will want One-handed Blunt), Alteration (a skill used for casting spells that drain life from target to self, damage over time (DoT) spells, and pet spells), Sense Heading (a good way to keep from getting lost and not have to HotKey /loc), and Channeling. I hardly ever use my training points, since skills go up on their own as they are used. I use my points to train in new skills acquired at a new level, i.e. Meditate, Research, Specialize, etc. Also, see Specialize and Pet sections below. Spells Note: Please see the Website section at end of this guide for links to web pages with spell info. The spells that necros get are awesome! No other class, other than our brethren the Shadow Knights, get some of the nifty spells we get, that I know of. The LifeTap line of spells instantly steal HPs from the target to yourself (kind of like a heal type of spell, VERY useful!). The Leach line of spells are a DoT and LifeTap spell combined (also useful). They drain HPs from the target to you over an amount of time, and keeps working even after the target as died. The Dark Pact spells drain your HPs and convert them to mana. The use of these spells in combination I feel is the most important ability to our class. Use the life tap spells to heal, use the leach spells to regain HPs, and use health-to-mana spells to regen mana quickly (HP loss is off-set by leach spell or reduced if you are sitting. If you are medding, your mana regen is increased, and since you will be sitting, HP loss is reduced). However, it is important that you monitor your health, as your HP-to-mana spell could drain all your health and cause death. Aside from the 3 types of spells listed above, we get other handy/important spells as well. DoT and pet spells are amongst these. Pet spells use Bone Chips in order to cast and the bones dissappear. Lower level pets use 1 or 2 bones, and as you gain levels, you get higher level pet spells which use even more bones (I usually carry 2 stacks of bones (a stack is 20), and a few rusty weapons for pet to use). To help kill your target and to keep you or your pet from taking more damage than nessessary, use DoT spells. Eventally, as you get more spells, you will get more powerful DoT spells. Now, there are 2 possibilities when using DoT spells; 1) casting a stronger/higher-level DoT spell on a target will cancel/over-ride a lower level DoT spell, 2) DoT spells will "stack", both be active similaneously, neither gets cancelled by the other. Engulfing Darkness is a DoT spell that also has a "snare" effect, slows the movement rate of the target, and as the target gets close to death, it will not move at all! On a side note, when "snared", target will not attack if trying to flee. Root-type spell hold the target in position, but they will still attack rather than atempt to flee. Also, we have our Shielding spells and some other buffing spells, like Spirit Armor. Dead Eye is a See Invisible spell and is self-only, cannot be casted on others. Gather Shadows is our Invisiblity spell that is also self-only. NOTE: casting Gather Shadows, or getting Invised by another character will kill your pet, if you have one (so will zoning, pets cannot follow you through zone). The spell Gate is handy for teleporting back to your bind point, the place you re-appear when you die or cast Gate. Like Gate, you will get the spell Bind Affinity that lets you "bind" to a new location. The "escape" spells we have (Fade, Shadow Step, Yonder, etc...) are ok. If you do not know about these, they are in-zone, random, self-omly TP spells that have a 1.0 cast time. The higher the level of spell, the further your random TP will be, i.e. Yonder will have a greater TP distance than Fade. I never used Fade, but Shadow Step and Yonder saved me arse a few times. NOTE: These spells recognize walls, trees, and creatures, so you can actually have your TP blocked by them. Hence, they do not work well in dungeons, but are great for the outdoors. We also have some spells to avoid death. Feign Death is a spell that is supposed to trick the attacker into thinking death has occurred. I have not been successful using this spell so far, and am quite dis-pleased with it. Harmshield, a level 20 spell, is supposed to render the caster temporary unvulnerable, but I have not used it yet (I am not used to such abilities with other characters I play). I have yet to use "buff" stealing spells, as in my opinion they are a waste of mana. These are spells that steal away some characteristic of the targert, such as strength, and give it to you. I will cover other spell information and tips in the following sections, so please keep reading. Pet Tips Without pets, we will not last long as a solo player. Our pet is the equivalent to a warrior, and as we get higher in level, our "new" pets gain abilities and become more powerful and stronger. So far, I have been giving rusty weapons to my pet(s), or sometimes just letting them do Hand-to-hand. We also get a pet healing spell called Mend Bones, but I am unsure if there is an upgrade to this low level spell. I have found it very useful to HotKey certain pet commands. The ones I use are; /pet attack This commands the pet to attack whatever is targeted. /pet report health Pet will tell you its health status. /pet back off Doesn't always work, but commands the pet to stop attacking. /pet guard here Commands the pet to stay where it is, and will return there after combat. /pet sit down Commands the pet to assume a sitting position. In sit mode, the pet will heal faster than if it is standing. This command also cancels the guard here and follow me commands, but it will still attack anything that tries to hit you. /pet follow me Will command the pet to follow and guard you. Pet will attack anything that tries to hit you. Pets will automatically be in "follow and guard" mode upon they're creation. Hunting Tips As a young necro, hunt skeletons and collect the bones for casting pet spells. Also, collect rusty weapons for your pet to use. What I usually do when soloing is have my pet stay somewhere. Then I go off and "pull" my intended victim to the pet. If I have full health and mana, I use a DoT as my first strike. If my health is not full but above 80%, I use a Leach type spell, and below 80% I use a LifeTap spell. I run back to the pet and when the target is near, I command the pet to attack. Pets automatically "taunt" the target, but it is only so effective. Our spells cause tremendous aggrovation, and the target may ignore the pet and keep after you. From there, what to do during battle depends on what happens. If DoT was not used to pull, you may wish to cast one. I also try to have full health by the end of combat so I can use a Dark Pack type of spell to re-gen mana faster and still have maximum health possible after it has done its work, whether it wears off, or I cancel it. When in a group, playing style will vary depending on what classes are present and the role you play. Therefore, I leave this for you to decide entirely, as there are too many possibilities. I have not yet ventured in a "dungeon" zone. All my hunting has been outdoors. So I have no tips reguarding indoor hunting. Here is a little synopsis on how I started out: Being a Dark Elf, my home is Neriak, and I hunted in Nektulos Forest until level 3. I then got brave and went to North Ro. And in less than 3 days from character creation I achieved level 9 (no power-leveling involved but some twinking was present). I then ventuered into Oasis till level 17 or so, and then to East Karana. I am currently hunting in South Karana, and probably will for quite a while. Travelling Only 2 words I can think of when it comes to travelling, patience and caution. Travelling is slow, unless you have Spirt of Wolf cast on you, or are grouped with a bard singing Selo's Accelerando, or get a teleport from a druid or wizard. Thus patience is a good quality to have. Caution is needed because we are seen as pure evil in the eyes of the "good". You may role play as a good necro, but the NPCs in the game don't know and don't care. So far, I have been killed by NPCs in Freeport and attacked by druids. Getting used to not being liked is also life as a necro. Certain merchants throughout Norrath will not sell to you or buy from you. I must stress this, be VERY cautious when getting teleported. If you are KOS to your destination, make sure you are invisible before you teleport. Some druid teleport rings have druids there and they will attack you if you are visible. Other places to take caution are Highpass, East Karana (Sir Morgan and the squire), and North Karana (KOS to guards). I use Gather Shadows when travelling through these areas and hope it does not drop at a bad time. Researching spells Note: See Website section for link to spell recipies. Words are used to research spells. This starts at level 16. The higher spells get more difficult to find, as do the words to create them, so save words, and politely ask for them if a group member loots them. They are also useful to get your reasearch skill up, so keep doing spells you may already have and sell them or give them to junior necros. To do research you will need a Book of Dark Bindings, which can be bought at a necro guild. Spell recipies are available on the internet. Note: not all words are for necro class spells. Some words are for magician spell research, so make sure you visit a web site that lists which words are for necros and those for magiacians. Specialization Before I get into this subject, I would like to explain it with information I got from a website. Specialization seems to do two things. 1) If successful, decreases amount of mana used by spell, thus a spell rated at 100 mana may only use 80 upon casting it. 2) reduces cast time for spell, so a spell with cast time of 4.0, may only take 3.0. Also, I have heard that specialization gives spells a better chance of success, whether this means a better chance to hit or greater to resist. At level 20, we are allowed to train in Specialization of the different "schools" of magic. Every school of casting, Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, etc...(except Channelling and Meditate), can be specialized in. However, they will all max out at 50, except for one. I am not sure, but I have heard that the first one to 50 will be the one that will adavnce beyond 50. It seems to me that you have to go back to guild and put another point in the skill to go beyond 50, once it reaches 50 (my skill stopped increasing until I did this, now it naturally increases again). I have chosen to specailize in Alteration, as the majority of the spells I use require this area; pet, lifetap, DoTs. Websites Good sites for spell info: http://eq.castersrealm.com/spells/spells.asp?Class=Necromancer http://www.everlore.com/magic/magic.asp?list=12&mode=list For Research recipies: http://eq.castersrealm.com/research/Necromancer/ These are my favorite sites for info: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/ <----good quest guide http://www.everlore.com/ Necro-only site: http://www.eqnecro.com As of writing this guide, I am level 21. So I have not included any tips beyond this level, nor spells beyond it. Thus, perhaps a post level 20 guide will be scribed in the future, whether myself, or another person. If you are not a necro, but read this, I hope you understand our class a little better and will perhaps give it a try. See you in Norrath, Aeur X'Umbrage, 21 Dark Elf Necro | ||
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