Making a Necro Werewolf

OBJnoob · August 2023

Been kinda bored lately with all my toons. Felt pretty uninspired to be honest. Ive had 1 character slot left for a while now and since I just noticed necros are available to me suddenly (don't know how long this has been the case,) I got pretty excited to make one.

I know it will be an uphill battle since necros aren't very good for PvP at the moment... But that kinda inspired me too!

So... Basic premise... I'm thinking I'm going to try to use 3 things I don't have a lot of experience with. Necro, Oakensoul, and Werewolf.

I don't want advice too specific on gear at the moment because I'm a long way from gearing him out and will have plenty of time to think...

But I'd like to get some advice on: what race is best? What 5 skills can I use on my human bar that'll help me survive between transformations, and uh, just overall tips on being a werewolf in PvP.

Jierdanit · August 2023

Dont really have anything to help you, but im gonna wish you good luck

Pairing the weakest class with probably the weakest playstyle in the game is going to definitely be a challenge.

OBJnoob · August 2023

LOL thanks! I think I'm gonna have a little more fun than you think. I haven't made a new toon in so long... I'm gonna go old-school (for me,) and spend my first day or two collecting skyshards. I need a werewolf bite as soon as possible so I can level it up. The plan is to level up through the lowbie campaign and lowbie BGs. Should keep me entertained for a good while.

The ruinous scythe ability looks kinda cool (total Necro noobie here FYI,) as the heal scales with max health and so does the werewolf heal. So I think it's going to be a bit of a max health build but I'm not sure yet. Going to err on the side of survivability and see what damage I'm left with.

Sungod · August 2023

What are you going to gear your necro WW up with while you level through u50 cyrodill and BG's?

OBJnoob · August 2023

I really don't know, haven't thought that far ahead yet. Do the sub-50 things allow for procs?

Either way, I'm not a very high level crafter. Gonna be limited to things like orders wrath, clever alchemist, and whatever. Clever alchemist is a decent starting point for me probably.

Udrath · August 2023

I prefer imperial for brawler packleader werewolf with shapeshifter chain. So overall that’s 21% cost reduction on both skills and transformation.

Oakensoul is better suited for a orc berserker werewolf damage build, one that uses a bow in transformation for major expedition and hircines rage. Squishy and face paced, but hits really hard.

Class doesn’t matter so much, but some are better than others. Sorcerer and nightblade are really good, Templar is currently the best because of burning light passive imo. Warden for max hp. Necro offers an increase to DOT damage.

Pack leader last longer than berserker, berserker has an insane light attack DOT and aoe heavy attack.

For CP enabled make sure to slot the foresight perk. It’s really good for werewolf.

Manage your stamina and dodged often. Claws of life is trash in pvp, so you have to weave in and out of melee range and use your heal sparingly while constantly attacking. Your goal should be to put out so much damage they never become comfortable enough to attack you back. Werewolves are terrible at playing defensively, always stay on the attack.

Most importantly get your skills morphed and then upgraded fully, especially defile.

For skills outside werewolf it doesn’t matter. Just survive and stall, or play as you would normally.

I played nothing but ww for a long time, and tried out loads of sets and playstyles. Some are a way better than the other.

OBJnoob · August 2023

Oo, I forgot, I can buy PvP gear at the right level from bruma. I'm gonna run clever alchemist back bar and deadly strike front bar, theoretically.

OBJnoob · August 2023

@udrath Oh wow, thanks for that response. I think you might be who I need to talk to. Deadly strike, Necro, berserker werewolf DoT build. Thats what I'm shooting for. My goal in "human" form is just to survive. Necros can be kinda tanky I think so that hopefully won't be a problem?

I think in the lowbie BGs wearing clever and deadly I'll melt a lot of people, lol, but when I'm back to CP again and wear Oakensoul I'll need something else probably.

Udrath · August 2023

@OBJnoob
There’s a lot of styles. You can go with wretched vitality all infused jewerly with lover Mundas. Tri-stat food. Tri-pots. Get your magicka to 18k-20k and then stack all health. The heal scales off max health and is expensive, so having good magicka recovery is important.

Or jewels of misrule and use hist sap with one stamina or magicka regen glyph depending what you think you need. All infused jewerly. But you’d put all your points into stamina for more damage. You’ll be super squishy so consider slotting a bow for major expedition, and hist sap is a decent heal. Your damage will still be high.

Going double dps sets is good for group play if you have a dedicated healer. I prefer stuhn over clever. Pairs well with ww off balance fear.

Telel · August 2023

Telel can offer you three bits of advise.

1) Get the Oakensoul mythic if you plan to make the WW your 'primary'. You'll have less group utility while waiting to transform so be sure to play extra cautiously.

If you don't have use that then make sure to backbar a heal ult for group utlity. You may

2) Find a group and work with them. Werewolf is best when it has support.

Remember you're not soloing if there're other people around. So you might as well bite the bullet and join a group instead of surfing behind them.

3) Play a bit tankier. Use come CP for damage reduction. Especially DOTS. Robes of the hist weapons and jewelry for CP PVP. If you're in no CP then Pariah or something similar.

You may not win as quickly but you'll also not die as fast. This means more time to practice your rotation. Not to mention less time waiting for a revive.

geonsocal · August 2023

howdy @OBJnoob ...you're gonna have a blast...

I have a couple of necros (stam & mag), and a whole bunch of werewolves...

number one thing if you are going to be using that ultimate - build for werewolf form...

I'm sure you yourself have seen it - once you have transformed on the battlefield (outposts are my favorite place to fight aroumd as a werewolf) - you are gonna be targeted like crazy - especially folks using poison and fighters guild skills...

and everyone tries to snare you all the time...

build for defense and stamina...doing damage kind of takes care of itself while you're a werewolf...

oh yeah, don't stand still much...

both my necros use oakensoul...as far as necro skills I normally slot: spirit guardian and possibly graveyard, skull throwing, and blastbones...

I'll normally slot 2 weapon skills on my bar...

I heal with vigor (stam) and combat prayer (mag)...occasionally I'll use tether...

OBJnoob · August 2023

Thanks for all the responses-- very helpful and insightful.

@geonsocal Yea I plan on building for werewolf form. In fact I don't really plan on doing much of anything between transformations. Just gonna load up on defensive abilities I think.

I got the character started last night. Got my werewolf bite, did the quest, ran through a zone getting skyshards. Toon is about level 9, WW is level 3.

Yeah, I don't even think I'm gonna use blastbones. We'll see. If I need corpses for any of the key defensive abilities then I might. Right now I'm thinking just gonna load up on heals/purges/whatever Necro has, and my only attack will be ruinous scythe or whatever it's called... Cuz it's a heal.

Having scrolled through some of the werewolf abilities it seems like some of the basic buffs are provided. I'm wondering if Oakensoul is still the best option? But I can't use a mythic until I'm leveled up anyway so I'm not worried about it yet.

Obviously if I can't change bars while WW then Oakensoul makes sense. I'm not really thinking about any other mythics so much as I'm wondering if a monster set might be nice. Just run a classic 5-5-2, ya know, and be able to use 10 skills when not transformed. Magma Incarnate seems like a good choice for WW. Both recoveries, and I can give myself minor resolve and courage when I use my single target heal. Or maybe malubeth the scourger... Or maybe even maarselok.

Necrotech_Master · August 2023

my experience is that its actually harder to run the berserker morph over pack leader

pack leader is far far easier to "maintain" WW form, playing on berserker it actually feels like my WW tends to run out faster, probably because the wolves can proc the passive for "dealing dmg extends WW form"

in terms of gear, as others said i think its definitely better to build a WW a little more tanky, the parts that will hurt are the gankers running heavy poison dmg (swamp raider + scavenging demise with lethal arrow and poison injection or hitting you with toxic barrage)

being a necromancer will actually make it significantly easier to get back into WW form, due to how fast you can generate ult

my one suggestion, is while your in WW form your only heal while it can be potent, is expensive so you actually need a lot more magicka sustain on a WW than one would think, the other skills you dont have to really spam, and WW gets stam from heavy attacks

i will say i have a WW toon i use for IC that runs oakensoul right now, and the berserker heavy attacks destroy the NPCs (ive seen a 40k-ish heavy attack crit on something that was off balance)

im using a warden for my WW, and the rest of the gear is a syvarra scales for an easy aoe dot proc, engine guardian for the extra sustain or healing, oakensoul, and i have a masters 2h for when im not in WW form (im using 1 pc druids braid and 1pc trainee for fillers for the extra max hp)

OBJnoob · August 2023

Good advice good advice. Fear not everyone, I do intend on building tanky. The proposed clever alchemist and deadly set-up I mentioned earlier is strictly for low level stuff because so much gear is out of the question.

I think I need to go berserker though. Whether I'm using deadly strike or not, I think I'm going to need to go all-in on DoTs if I'm going to maintain any benefit at all from being a Necro.

The DoT passive will look nice if I have the light attack bleed, claws of anguish, and the weird carnage thing you can activate after pouncing. Put some double-dot poisons on my weapons and I think it'll be a lot of pressure.

OBJnoob · August 2023

Okay... Reporting back with good news! Werewolf might be slightly OP in low level PvP. It makes sense I guess, because most skill lines need to get to 50, but at level 18 my character was a level 10 werewolf with all the passives and morphs (except infectious claws, ugh that ability levels up slowly!)

Icereach is full of twinks, and that makes me laugh, because I guess I'm kinda a twink too. The competition is surprisingly stiff... BUT... I can definitely kill people in WW form AND have enough Magicka to spam my heal quite a lot. And surviving, or doing damage, in my necromancer form feels pretty strong too.

I think necromancer benefits from being low level too. They get the right skills in the right order. Then again I'm talking from no real experience because it's been so long since I leveled any other class.

Anyway... My very first fight, I run to a keep under attack in Icereach, find 5 bad guys working on inner guards, turn into a werewolf and just obliterate them. And then I immediately left to do a BG where I went 13-1 (dang Chaosball got me killed.)

Some notes: Its pretty weird playing Icereach and having people routinely wearing maras balm, dark convergence, and whatever else. Didn't expect it but I guess I shoulda. My WW ended up in Deadly and Fortified Brass, because my crafting sucks. Icereach seems to have more action than Ravenwatch... Which is irritating. It almost feels like they should be switched. Not a real suggestion just my emotional kneejerk.

It's too bad Rapid Rot seems like it'll be be one of the last passives available-- kinda ruins my theorycrafting for the low level stuff. I guess I'll have to wait until the real thing to really pump the DoTs.

I'm feeling pretty happy with my choice of Berserker. When I'm engaged in fighting WW never goes away, basically, and this can continue for quite some time. And when I'm back to Necro I feel pretty handy too, which makes the experience better, and I'm not feeling useless at all between Ultis.