Why is the Necromancer fun to play?

Davor

Trying to see if I want to buy Elsweyr or not. I still have so much to do in ESO that I only want the Necromancer class to start off with. So I like to see why people are having fun or not having fun with the Necromancer. I am in a mood to start a new character, but I don't have any slots open, so I would get a free slot to start the Necromancer.

I just play alone, PvE and just play for fun. While I know everyone's fun is different, I still like to read why its fun, or not fun for you.

Still thinking of what race to play. Was thinking Dunmer, since I don't have that race on PC (have one on Xbox but back to PC now) or maybe even Redguard since I never played that race yet. Then again, I have not done a Khajit either. So I just like to see why people are having or not having fun, how they play, if they role play, how they do it and why that race. Hopefully I see something the gets my mind going and will buy Elsweyr.

As of right now, my brain is jumbled and can't think of a new start.

MaleAmazon

Well, it is fun because it is new.

Also, (inbe4 patch) the bone goliath lasts a long time for an ultimate and you get to use your abilities, so it is a lot of fun. In general, the necromancer skills just look and sound really good (well, the ones I´ve unlocked).

Also the class itself is a little darker thematically than others, which ESO lacks in general.

LeHarrt91

The skills are just to DIE for

Sorry had too, even though i am yet to play the necromancer (as im a console Pleb) the animations and colour scheme of the skills draw me in a lot, especially the Expunge skills. Ive never been one to gravitate towards death classes but i am excited this time around.

mague

I started a Bosmer stamina based Necromancer. Bosmer not so much for the racial sustain, but because he takes less falling damage in solo overland PvE. I am not so much into necro skills. My main goal is to have a well balanced and rounded stamina ranger with bow and dual wield and probably a werewolf morph just for questing, overland bosses and gathering and maybe a little bit PvP. Although i rather play healing Templar in Cyrodiil....

I dont like the visuals of Bone Armor. But Scythe is like DK's Burning Ambers a nice survival skill. There are a few nice stamina morphs and even an illegal skeletal Archer

So far the Necro is probably the stamina build i like most for solo gameplay. Combined with weapons skills he plays really like a ranger. But then, my goal is not really a necro.

Unit117

My thoughts.

Doesn’t really feel like a necromancer to me. Sure there’s dead stuff but it’s missing the core feeling of a Necromancer. The pets aren’t really pets. They are just abilities disguised as pets. They are incredibly short and you have no permanent summons. They are as much of pet as the nightblades shade thing. This is a pretty common opinion I see being shared. 8-16 seconds ruins the pet feel it should have. Up it too a minute minimum eso..

Stamina is pretty strong and magicka is a hot mess. The diffrence of the two are terrible. I personally feel magicka concept if it needs some serious reworks as they are just worse stamina morphs.


Do I think the class is worth it? Yes
Did eso butcher the idea of what the necromancer could have been? Also yes.
Does the class need a lot of work and changes. Oh yes..

I give it a 6/10 as a class. It’s not terrible, but it feels like it fell short of what it means to be a necromancer and could have been executed a lot better.

kpittsniperb14_ESO

The animations are great, skills and passives are useful and it plays smooth right from the start. Maybe not everyone's idea of what a necromancer class should be but works really well for what it is.

Nimrhys

I absolutely love it due to bones. I have a minor obsession with skeletons. Throwing blue flaming skulls is epic fun, the scythe is also cool, I rather like the flesh golem because it just appears and smashes everything to oblivion. I am only level 15, though, so still trying to find out the best playstyle for me.

I tried some of the stam morphs but they do less damage, the only benefit would be not using your magicka so fast but... given it takes so long to kill mobs with them, you're not really winning. The summon skeleton seems a bit naff. I love bone armour, especially because it's a giant spine (whoever said they didn't, shame on you) and you can get it to yoink casters to you. Bwahaha!

So yes, I am having fun. It's a little daunting at first because I'm investing so much into this character and in the end I may not like the class but it's all just about experimenting. I know I did the same with my templar. I'm not into the healing spec at all, I'm not a healer because I solo PvE and the tank spec provides sufficient healing etc.

darkblue5

It is the first class with animations that work well with normal animation canceling. Specifically bar swapping. The rotational interest skills are pretty nice. Always nice to not have poor magplar's nearly static rotation.
Too many skills are bugged to get a good feel for PvP.

FrancisCrawford

I've played one up to Level 21, and the only answer I've found so far is that it's another class in a generally good game.

Sheezabeast

Stamina Necro is fun for me because it feels like a great balance between spell-casting and using weaponry. I really like the feel of it, waaaaaaaaay more than Stam Warden. Hands down!

Grandma

You're going to have to wait longer to get serious reviews on necromancer, but here's some of my thoughts.

1) Costs and benefits
A lot of Necromancer skills are nearly identical to existing weapon or other class skills, but have drawbacks (curse self / deal less damage) unless you consume corpses or use other skills. This doesn't make necro competitive.

2) summons being so late in the tree
Most people are going to stop playing their necromancer before they get to the fun part. My guys are getting close to 30 and i've yet to unlock ANY of the summonable minions besides blastbones, which is bugged and does no damage rn.

3) aesthetic and style
definitely the best part of the necromancer. I love the color and the magical effects that swirl around your character, the sound and visual designs are top notch. Especially the ultimates. Theres a few skills that are choppy; mainly, Life Beyond Death, when you use the skill on a corpse the giant rune circle just.. appears, in 1 fps. it's like an image flash, it doesn't feel very natural. The res ultimate is the same way. Other than that, 10/10 in this department.

4) Actual performance
We won't be knowing how necros truly fit into the meta for a few months, in particular i mean this for support roles (tank and healer). DPS have a hard measure number to look at though, and so far the verdict is : Stamina is strongest class in the game, magicka is weakest class in the game. Funny and sad. the conflict between mag and stam is so ... deep and conflicting and confusing. Stam skills are so few and far between - and necro did a great job of having lots of stam morphs don't get me wrong- but yet stam is always the strongest spec, yet magicka is always safer, but weaker, and it's just so muddled up. In particular, for a class like NECROMANCY, i would have hoped magicka would be the superior route, but I can't really complain because of how stam is already treated (look at stamsorc)

5) moment to moment gameplay
Fun. Summoning things, keeping corpses in mind, using powerful abilities, the large sweeping aoes and single targets are all very nice and well done. It's fun to play, and definitely fresh. It's also as a class 10000000000000000 lightyears past where the Warden was in terms of cohesiveness and thematic appropriateness. Wardens were like druid wanna bes but not really but kinda yes but also based on vvardenfell but have nothing to do with vvardenfell and... so on. Necromancers are just good. it makes sense, it fits the theme, every skill feels unholy and necromantic. It's good. The ultimates in particular are awesome, i love them all.

I could continue to delve into class design and problems with Zos's base system but i don't think that's really what you want comments for. So my
TL;DR: Necromancer is very fun on a visual and sound design level, and has some exciting and fresh new gameplay elements. The potential is high, but aside from stamina dps we're not sure if or how necros will fit into the meta.


PART 2: having gone back and read your post i severely misunderstood what you were asking for but i'm leaving this here in the hopes that it's still helpful information. Since you play solo and for fun; do it. It's very appealing in this category and will not disappoint you. Elsweyr the zone as well is absolutely jam packed full of beautiful scenery and quests that just make summerset and morrowind look like clowns getting in a clown car and driving off a cliff into a volcano because the lore and atmosphere is phenomenal. and that's not even mentioning the dragons, which are awe inspiring and super fun to work on as a community. Even if it's early to say it, Elsweyr is (and will 99% likely remain) my favorite chapter, and i'm very critical of this stuff. It's just SO good. and don't worry about the map size. it's WAYYYY bigger than it looks. it looks smaller than a standard base game zone on paper but it's easily a crap ton bigger.

oddbasket

I play solo, completely guildless, and love exploring and questing. Do I enjoy the necromancer?

I'm liking it a lot, it's very thematic. No other class so far has this level of graphical detail and animation to their class abilities, and they're fun to use.

Davor

First off, I want to thank everyone for your comments. I really appreciate it. I will get it. I do though want to give a special thanks to Grandma. I really appreciate the indepth you went. That is what I was looking for. Thank you so much for that.

Grandma wrote: »

You're going to have to wait longer to get serious reviews on necromancer, but here's some of my thoughts.

1) Costs and benefits
A lot of Necromancer skills are nearly identical to existing weapon or other class skills, but have drawbacks (curse self / deal less damage) unless you consume corpses or use other skills. This doesn't make necro competitive.

2) summons being so late in the tree
Most people are going to stop playing their necromancer before they get to the fun part. My guys are getting close to 30 and i've yet to unlock ANY of the summonable minions besides blastbones, which is bugged and does no damage rn.

3) aesthetic and style
definitely the best part of the necromancer. I love the color and the magical effects that swirl around your character, the sound and visual designs are top notch. Especially the ultimates. Theres a few skills that are choppy; mainly, Life Beyond Death, when you use the skill on a corpse the giant rune circle just.. appears, in 1 fps. it's like an image flash, it doesn't feel very natural. The res ultimate is the same way. Other than that, 10/10 in this department.

4) Actual performance
We won't be knowing how necros truly fit into the meta for a few months, in particular i mean this for support roles (tank and healer). DPS have a hard measure number to look at though, and so far the verdict is : Stamina is strongest class in the game, magicka is weakest class in the game. Funny and sad. the conflict between mag and stam is so ... deep and conflicting and confusing. Stam skills are so few and far between - and necro did a great job of having lots of stam morphs don't get me wrong- but yet stam is always the strongest spec, yet magicka is always safer, but weaker, and it's just so muddled up. In particular, for a class like NECROMANCY, i would have hoped magicka would be the superior route, but I can't really complain because of how stam is already treated (look at stamsorc)

5) moment to moment gameplay
Fun. Summoning things, keeping corpses in mind, using powerful abilities, the large sweeping aoes and single targets are all very nice and well done. It's fun to play, and definitely fresh. It's also as a class 10000000000000000 lightyears past where the Warden was in terms of cohesiveness and thematic appropriateness. Wardens were like druid wanna bes but not really but kinda yes but also based on vvardenfell but have nothing to do with vvardenfell and... so on. Necromancers are just good. it makes sense, it fits the theme, every skill feels unholy and necromantic. It's good. The ultimates in particular are awesome, i love them all.

I could continue to delve into class design and problems with Zos's base system but i don't think that's really what you want comments for. So my
TL;DR: Necromancer is very fun on a visual and sound design level, and has some exciting and fresh new gameplay elements. The potential is high, but aside from stamina dps we're not sure if or how necros will fit into the meta.


PART 2: having gone back and read your post i severely misunderstood what you were asking for but i'm leaving this here in the hopes that it's still helpful information. Since you play solo and for fun; do it. It's very appealing in this category and will not disappoint you. Elsweyr the zone as well is absolutely jam packed full of beautiful scenery and quests that just make summerset and morrowind look like clowns getting in a clown car and driving off a cliff into a volcano because the lore and atmosphere is phenomenal. and that's not even mentioning the dragons, which are awe inspiring and super fun to work on as a community. Even if it's early to say it, Elsweyr is (and will 99% likely remain) my favorite chapter, and i'm very critical of this stuff. It's just SO good. and don't worry about the map size. it's WAYYYY bigger than it looks. it looks smaller than a standard base game zone on paper but it's easily a crap ton bigger.

Ixilith

Unit117 wrote: »

My thoughts.

Doesn’t really feel like a necromancer to me. Sure there’s dead stuff but it’s missing the core feeling of a Necromancer. The pets aren’t really pets. They are just abilities disguised as pets. They are incredibly short and you have no permanent summons. They are as much of pet as the nightblades shade thing. This is a pretty common opinion I see being shared. 8-16 seconds ruins the pet feel it should have. Up it too a minute minimum eso..

Stamina is pretty strong and magicka is a hot mess. The diffrence of the two are terrible. I personally feel magicka concept if it needs some serious reworks as they are just worse stamina morphs.


Do I think the class is worth it? Yes
Did eso butcher the idea of what the necromancer could have been? Also yes.
Does the class need a lot of work and changes. Oh yes..

I give it a 6/10 as a class. It’s not terrible, but it feels like it fell short of what it means to be a necromancer and could have been executed a lot better.

I would disagree tbh.

Necromancy is illegal in tamerial, meaning they have to be secretive, permanent pets and more would expose them to what they are.

A necromancer is someone who uses the dead to empower himself and not all necromancers have to be pet sided to realistically show that.

While it doesn’t fit your personal wants from the class/theme it doesn’t make the class butchered it’s just not what you want it to be, and it isn’t really a popular opinion, anytime I ask anyone they’re maining Necro. No ones disliking Necro. I almost feel alone in not wanting to play one. (Even temporary pets irritate me)

While it may not live to your expectations of a necromancer that is just your opinion of what u wanted it to be they aren’t gonna be able to capture 100% of players demands in every class that’s why we have 6 classes.

But I think saying it doesn’t fit a necromancer is a little unjustified. It does do everything a necromancer does in concept and disposing of their pets it’s a intelligent choice when u become KoS for even a travelling merchant seeing you with necromancy. The lore backs up why the necromancer doesn’t have any permanent necromancy

Ixilith

darkblue5 wrote: »

It is the first class with animations that work well with normal animation canceling. Specifically bar swapping. The rotational interest skills are pretty nice. Always nice to not have poor magplar's nearly static rotation.
Too many skills are bugged to get a good feel for PvP.

Alcast already tested a lot of its builds and tbh not entirely true.

Stamina necromancer is a pure static rotation.

Magicka necromancer has both, but it’s static rotation Is 2-3k dps lower then it’s dynamic rotation however and Magicka Necro is defiantly on the lower side of the spectrum compared to other Magicka classes

Atleast by alcasts rotation magplar doesn’t seem anymore static overall

I agree on the graphics tho, Necro animations are much smoother haha the class really shows Zos should go back and update the old classes

wishlist14

I always planned to play my main first, my khajiit. I did just that. I started her on the main quest and settled her in then I made my necromancer. I needed that anchor on my first day in Elsweyr just because I get so overwhelmed and excited by new things ...crazy I know. I highly sensitive.

So after a few hours on my main I felt I had to create my necromancer. I did a bit of reasearch to see if anyone had ideas on best race and class and I decided to go with Orc stamina necro. I was tempted to make a redguard but I already have a few redguards. I read somewhere that magicka necros are not doing great atm but I still made one. I decided on a breton necromancer that way it could effectively be a healer some day and if not she can remain DD. I seem to be good at making Bretons look pretty so that is a bonus, not so good with redguards.

I'm happy with my choices for now and if things dont work out i can always race change. I want to quest on my main, do my achievements and level my necromancer simultaneously. I'm not in a rush as we wont get another expansion for a while. I want to relax and enjoy it, not break my neck just to prove i can do it all in a few days. I don't want to miss all the details that zos so lovingly crafted into Elsweyr. I can honestly say I love, yes love this chapter ❤

Also, i really love throwing those skulls and the heal is nice plus scythe animation is fun. Im still levelling my necro so cant share too much as im low level atm.

Uviryth

Because its new, thats always fun in an mmo.
But honestly, all 5 classes are fun in this game, and all 5 look great.
I always go for visuals when I try to decide what class I want to play today.
Blue and Arcaney/Stormy - Sorc
Yellow and Glowy - Temp
Red and Fiery - DK
Dark Purple and Smokey-NB
Green and Gardeney-Warden
Green and Eery-Necro

thestud2012

I love necro. Combat is a lot more dynamic. I love the secondary effects from using corpses. It's also satisfying turning corpses into tons of ultimate. The dd, tank, and healing trees provide interesting skills. I'm still figuring out how to arrange my bars. The crit-based theme is surprisingly fun. I thought I'd be annoyed with not having a Major Brutality/Sorcery skill, but I haven't missed it yet. I'm sure there are significant drawbacks in veteran content, but I'm not into those quests.

ShadowDisciple

mague wrote: »

I started a Bosmer stamina based Necromancer. Bosmer not so much for the racial sustain, but because he takes less falling damage in solo overland PvE. I am not so much into necro skills. My main goal is to have a well balanced and rounded stamina ranger with bow and dual wield and probably a werewolf morph just for questing, overland bosses and gathering and maybe a little bit PvP. Although i rather play healing Templar in Cyrodiil....

I dont like the visuals of Bone Armor. But Scythe is like DK's Burning Ambers a nice survival skill. There are a few nice stamina morphs and even an illegal skeletal Archer

So far the Necro is probably the stamina build i like most for solo gameplay. Combined with weapons skills he plays really like a ranger. But then, my goal is not really a necro.

ughhh...like...ahhh

Taleof2Cities

Personally, I think ZOS did a pretty good job on the class.

They’ve given more consideration to stamina morphs which should make stam players happy ... even though I primarily play magicka characters.

I played a Stamina Necromancer (Bosmer) on PTS ... and enjoyed it enough to make one on Live (Orc). As other forum-goers mentioned, once you get accustomed to the new skills combat goes pretty fluid.

Just leveling with training gear at the moment:

5-pc Gladiator
5-pc Vestarie’s Tutelage
2-pc Might of the Lost Legion

Yeah, Blastbones doesn’t work at the moment, but they’ll get it working eventually.

ESO_Nightingale

LeHarrt91 wrote: »

The skills are just to DIE for

Sorry had too, even though i am yet to play the necromancer (as im a console Pleb) the animations and colour scheme of the skills draw me in a lot, especially the Expunge skills. Ive never been one to gravitate towards death classes but i am excited this time around.

That just KILLED me

Imperial_Voice

Because its new and the animations are pretty. Overall its actually pretty lackluster which breaks my heart.

Bighits

Killing things with the Magicka necro is painfully slow. I'm going to convert to stamina tonight and see if it's any better.

zaria

An bow / bow stamina necro should probably work almost as well as an dw / bow and might be an option if you don't want to go melee in a fight.

huntgod_ESO

I like both, but the magicka really needs some love, it just doesn't compare well to other magicka classes.

The stamcro is a workhorse and a lot of fun to play, though it doesn't feel particularly necro'y.

I wish they'd given at least one persistent pet/companion, skeletal warrior, morphing to ranger or mage, being persistent would have been nice.

I wish all the summons were a little longer, 20-30 seconds...

CaffeinatedMayhem

I'm not having that much fun with my magicka necro. I mean sure, there are some great damage/healing skills and the tank tree is interesting. What bothers me is the very first skill in the "healing" tree adds defile to you, the healer. Um, how about no.

Merlight

Is it, though?

Drachenfier

Bighits wrote: »

Killing things with the Magicka necro is painfully slow. I'm going to convert to stamina tonight and see if it's any better.

Blastbones for corpse, then wall of elements and graveyard, throw in a scythe....

Everything melts.

srfrogg23

Necromancers are like Wardens in the sense that they are designed from the get-go with a skill tree for each group role, tanking, healing, damage dealing. That makes them really versatile as a baseline.

There's also some great interactions between their class skills that other classes just don't have due to the corpse mechanic. Their abilities work fine separately but when used in conjunction in a particular sequence, they have a particularly devastating effect on groups of mobs. It's more than just stacking damage, it feels like I'm orchestrating destruction.

I also like the theme of the class. I've been hooked on the Necromancer archetype since Diablo 2 released. Needless to say, I've been waiting for this class since ESO launched 5 years ago.

If only Zos hadn't tainted it with that stupid justice system BS...

srfrogg23

Bighits wrote: »

Killing things with the Magicka necro is painfully slow. I'm going to convert to stamina tonight and see if it's any better.

Do yer thing, but I can say that I kill things fast enough that the game loses track of where the mob died and has to reposition the corpse if it was moving when it died.

As a side note, I know it takes less then 4 seconds to kill a whole group because that's how long the stun on the necro totem lasts

IronWooshu

Love the animations, love the theme. The class can build really tanky with perminent uptime to Major Protection, great ultimate gain.

Hate no Major Brutality/Major Sorcery, pets are on a timer, the major fracture and breach require the target to be in the circle (I cant tell you how many people just roll dodge out), no major expedition.

Class in PVP really needs other skills from other guilds to make it more viable.

I haven't been able to solo any World Bosses on him yet other than the basic ones without any adds. Yet on my Sorc I have solo'd every Overland boss and working on the DLC ones now.

EDIT: to further add, the skeleton mender is strife on just a longer timer and the magblade still has better healing with siphoning strikes and twisting path which allows you to solo any World Boss and Sorc's passive healing from Vigor is the best PVE heal in the game that's passive.

I cant see me playing Necro over those two classes.

PVP wise, the Necromancer isnt in your face enough like Sorc and Nightblade.

My playstyle is what turns me off from Necro but that doesnt mean their not good.