Necromancer Revamp

Rampeal · August 2023

Does the Necromancer need a revamp? In my opinion, Yes. The whole corpse gimmick is a nice idea on paper, but poor performance when implemented. The most notorious out of the Necromancer skills for me is "Reanimate". It is a very situational Ultimate and costly at that. If anything this should have been a single target hard cast skill that is vulnerable to interrupt. There are numerous other skills that I can point out, but those of us that play the Necro know which ones they are.

The Necro is the least played class in the game and rightly so. There are other classes that can do almost everything a Necro can do, but better. There is really nothing unique that sets it apart.

Vote down below and leave a comment on why you think the Necro should or should not be Overhauled.

spartaxoxo · August 2023

No, Leave it be.

That Reanimate ultimate is one of the best at preventing a team wipe. I don't see what would make it a ultimate if it was a single target that could be interrupted. That's just a regular rez.

It could certainly use some balance changes, perhaps the pets could be reworked to be more like sorcs, but I don't think a whole class revamp is necessary.

Alaztor91 · August 2023

While not impossible, I think it's highly unlikely that ZOS will overhaul an entire class, the closest thing that comes to my mind is the Vampire/Werewolf rework they did with Greymoor. ZOS should imo focus on fixing/reworking existing problematic skills like Blastbones, the 2 Tethers or Grave Grasp.

They could also update the corpse system to work similar to Crux, so that skills that currently generate corpses like Blastbones or Bone Armor would instead give you one ''Soul Stack''(insert clever name here), and skills that currently need corpses to work/gain a bonus from them like Boneyard or the Tethers would consume that ''Soul Stack'' similar to how Crux consuming skills work. This would also mean that corpses from killing enemies would no longer have a special interaction with the Necromancer kit and certain skills/morphs would need to be reworked since the ''Soul Stack'' cap would be 1(so it's not just a copy paste from Crux lol), Bitter Harvest and it's morphs, the Enduring Undeath morph, the Animate Blastbones morph and the targeting from the 2 Tethers skills.

Rampeal · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

Alaztor91 wrote: »

While not impossible, I think it's highly unlikely that ZOS will overhaul an entire class, the closest thing that comes to my mind is the Vampire/Werewolf rework they did with Greymoor. ZOS should imo focus on fixing/reworking existing problematic skills like Blastbones, the 2 Tethers or Grave Grasp.

They could also update the corpse system to work similar to Crux, so that skills that currently generate corpses like Blastbones or Bone Armor would instead give you one ''Soul Stack''(insert clever name here), and skills that currently need corpses to work/gain a bonus from them like Boneyard or the Tethers would consume that ''Soul Stack'' similar to how Crux consuming skills work. This would also mean that corpses from killing enemies would no longer have a special interaction with the Necromancer kit and certain skills/morphs would need to be reworked since the ''Soul Stack'' cap would be 1(so it's not just a copy paste from Crux lol), Bitter Harvest and it's morphs, the Enduring Undeath morph, the Animate Blastbones morph and the targeting from the 2 Tethers skills.

I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility, I mean this game is a extremely different animal than when it was first released. They revamped the Vampire skill line completely. They Revamped the Champion system and even did Major changes to races. I don't see why Necromancer is off the table. Because to be honest it is the clunkiest class in the game and has almost no flow whatsoever.

Anumaril · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

For the love of the Divines, yes, please yes. The class doesn't feel like a necromancer. It feels like a generic dark wizard with one or two necromancer abilities.

Honestly I think the corpse mechanic is fine, and even highly thematic. But it's backwards. You should raise minions from corpses on the ground (the way the "Animate Blastbones" ultimate works). Sure, the bodies of those minions could leave raiseable corpses again (creating a loop, which is why necromancers are so dangerous in lore to begin with), but at the very least there should need to be corpses to raise your minions.

Really the whole gameplay of necro needs to be redone to be more about minions than the player. It should be about summoning a small swarm of minions and then using spells to empower them in different ways. This could even be done for tanking, giving you a permanent minion (summonable by an ultimate?) that acts as a tank, and you can heal it, empower it, or maybe even possess it and take control as part of a channelled spell.

Bottom line is: necro needs a rework. It doesn't feel like a necro when we only have 1 (temporary) offensive summon, which is a skeletal arcanist/archer. Give us melee minions, archers, etc, so we can swarm our enemies like necromancers are known to do. Give us our minions.

Gray_howling_parrot · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

I pretty much only play a templar - BUT, I see countless people in game, in my guilds and on the forums who are unhappy with the current state of the Necromancer. Do I believe they need to be gutted? Nah, but I do think they need to be seriously looked at based on the volume of negative feedback they get from the players. If a revamp would make the majority (because it will never make 100%) happy, then I'm all for it!

DTStormfox · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

You have a point. I think ZOS focused too much on the whole (raise) skeleton and grave digger idea.
Necromancy is also about (raising) zombies, conjuring souls (ghosts), and the path to lichdom.

The Reanimate ultimate fits the theme of necromancer. IMO, if anything needs changing, it is the bone tyrant and colossus ultimate. The bone tyrant should be a lich transformation; the colossus should be some kind of ghost area of effect

Edit:
Forgot to mention that I really do not like the tethers of the necromancer class. As far as I am aware, it doesn't fit the lore and it feels 'confining' in practice.

JerBearESO · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

The main thing I would like to see is major brutality/sorcery and major savagery/prophecy on skeleton summon. Also the damage tether should be able to tether to a target directly. Oh and fix the reanimate blastbones ult!

It would also be nice if the spamable were given a unique aspect for pvp. Most say to just make it faster, but I looooove the idea of making it slower but then undodgeable, so it has a spooky chasing after you vibe to it. It could also be given dot damage somehow so as to take advantage of that passive a bit

Lastly, and very importantly, fix the animations which cause your weapon to disappear.... I don't think they understand how annoying this is....

OsUfi · August 2023

No, Leave it be.

I do understand some people have their own idea of what a necro should be, but that doesn't mean it has to be, or even should be, the same in every game we play. That'd just get dull rather quickly.

I've run a necro as my main for the last 6 months, and I enjoy it ESOs necro.

chessalavakia_ESO · August 2023

I think you'd want to have a clear idea of what you wanted to do and who you were doing it for before you put the resources in to do it.

For example, I don't really like the Necromancer but, Necromancer style playthroughs haven't really ever been a large part of my Elder Scrolls experience. I think you could absolutely remake the Necromancer to be something I'd like more but, the effort to do it might rival the cost of making a brand new class and I'd probably like a brand new class better.

ZOS_Icy · August 2023

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

Rampeal · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

Necromancer is suppose to be about raising and controlling the dead. Instead of firing a skull fireball maybe we could send out a spirit? Instead on having a totem that pulsates fear, Why not have corpses coming out of the ground grabbing and stunning the target? And for all that is unholy give them a pet. Biggest missed opportunity is for them not to have a pet. They could have the spirit mender and Archer/caster pets out at the same time no different than the sorcerers two pets.

As many said in this thread, The Necromancer feels like a dark sorcerer than a wielder of the dead.

Norith_Gilheart_Flail · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

It's literally the clunkiest, biggest [snip] ever, /laughs.

Totally deserves a creative revamp, something with builders and spenders like Arcanist, given the corpse use.

And while they're at it. One second holding a staff, then it disappearing to lob a skull is also up there with brainfart new templar jabs animation.

It's hilarious, really.

[edited for profanity bypass]

StarOfElyon · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

Gonna repost some of my past ideas

StarOfElyon wrote: »

Here are some ideas that I have to add some more utility to the skills on the class.

Hungry Scythe: also applies life steal to all enemies hit. (I think this still won't make the spammable very good for damage but at least it'll add to the use for survivability)

[Also, life steal should probably be tied to a status effect too]

Skeletal Arcanist/Archer: grants major sorcery/brutality when active.

Mystic/Detonating Syphon: grants major prophecy/savagery when slotted. Both morphs apply a damage over time to targets that stick to them after touching the tether.

Flame/Venom skull: applies burning/poisoned status effects. Does additional damage to targets afflicted with a status effect. No longer does increased damage on third cast but instead does increased damage on low health enemies.

Spirit Mender:
- Spirit Guardian: when active, applies major cowardice to attackers. (I just like the idea of the ghost scaring attackers.)
- Intensive Mender: increases the healing over a shorter period of time. (Buff the healing more please)

Bone Totem: summons an effigy of bones up to 28 meters away. After 1 second, the totem begins fearing nearby enemies every 2 seconds, causing them to cower in place for 4 seconds. (Changed to allow both morphs to be targeted)
- Warding Totem (Formerly Remote Totem): grants minor protection when standing in the area of effect.
- Agony Totem: afflicts enemies in the area of effect with minor vulnerability.

ULTIMATES:
(Removed Colossus suggestions)

Animate Blastbones: instead of resurrecting allies, this ultimate summons three blastbones to attack the nearest opponent. It consumes corpses in the area to summon (edit) more blastbones. Reduce the cost of this ultimate to 200, down from 320, to make it more usable.

Luckylancer · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

Seperating skill lines between tanking, damage and healing is restrictive. It was bad on warden. ZoS made the same the mistake twice afterwards. The old desing was better.

Most importan problem is how clunky the necro is. It must be fixed first.

Secondly class design sucks. It needs to be fixed.

thirdly: power. This one is easy. fix first 2 problem then buff up untill it is enough.

StarOfElyon · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

I have had ALL I CAN STAND of my blastbones getting CCd.

Zodiarkslayer · August 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

Class rework yes.
ReVAMP, no.
😂

fizzylu · September 2023

Yes, Revamp it.

I would like to see a lot of the older classes get some reworking, so yes.
Necromancer specifically though always seemed like a class that should appeal to me.... yet it doesn't. I feel like a lot of the VFX are cheesy and just terrible to look at, their toolkit is so bad (imo) to the point that even their passives seem pretty mediocre compared to other classes... just overall doesn't seem like a good time.

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Necromancer Revamp

Necromancer Revamp 58 votes