Curse

Beomagi · Feb 27, 2008, 08:55 AM // 08:55

I think you're lucky to be surviving even midgame. Assassins are criticized as paper warriors, but you're a paper warrior without damage mitigation.

I like the auspicious parry idea.
Consider stances - e.g. bonnetti's stance would both help in mitigating damage, and relieve the need for that much energy.

Consider "watch yourself".

Every 40 points of armor halves the damage you take. At 60 armor, you're taking double that of any warrior (phys). I urge you to reconsider a shield. 16 armor is roughly 30% less damage.

I like cheng's idea
dark bond + minions will reduce damage you take quite nicely - even armor ignoring damage is reduced, potentially making you even more sturdy than a warrior - albeit fearing enchantment removal.

Mark of fury - for extra adrenaline. cheap, moderate recast - let you use the elite quivering twice as often.

Barbs/mark of pain - add damage to foe/foes around your target.

enfeebling blood - weakness to all you're in meele with.

Shadow of fear - half the attack speed of meele and range attackers.

Well of darkness - enemies miss half time

aura of the lich + liph siphon - regen is doubly effective when enchanted with lich.

I'm grasping here for combinations but there's little synergy in what you're using now.

REMEMBER it's not just about doing damage directly, but mitigating it, and enhancing your own skills along the way.

Right now you're using 2 5energy sword attacks, when you can use 2 5 energy spells that do not miss the target, do equal or more damage without being in meele range. However, if you were using some form of damage mitigation to save yourself in meele, you can use say, barbs of mark of pain and rack up a lot with some attack speed, or multi hit skills (say, flurry, sun and moon). Make more use of adrenaline attacks with mark of fury.

While vampiric touch skills look nice, their damage is moderate at best, and over time efficiency pales in comparison to what else you can do. that 65 hp you gained on touching may work now, but isn't going to cut it later - not when you can be away from that enemy, or mitigate that damage.

samcobra · Feb 27, 2008, 02:45 PM // 14:45

Flesh Golem +Dark Bond + Infuse Condition

Pretty much makes you near damn invincible while they're all up.

Faer · Feb 27, 2008, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

he's going to spend half his time using his spells and not actually attacking

That's no fault of mine, now is it, Divine?

[email protected]

Snow Bunny · Feb 29, 2008, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZigathonV

All in all, I think its a very simple "Vampire with a Sword" hybrid character.

It's a nice sounding idea, and will suck to play it.

Quote:

I can go toe to toe with many strong foes and usually survive. I've single handedly taken out some bosses. Of course, without some Monk back-up, I'm still a squishy target at times.

You're "backline". stay there, with your wand.

RiKio · Feb 29, 2008, 05:31 PM // 17:31

There were meleemancers in the Early GW era, and they failed. So, don´t try to play as a meleemancer. You are a backline character. If you want to be a Vampiric Melee Char, be a R/N ( please don´t blame me for this idea...)

Qdq Swi · Mar 01, 2008, 04:52 PM // 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiKio

There were meleemancers in the Early GW era, and they failed. So, don´t try to play as a meleemancer. You are a backline character. If you want to be a Vampiric Melee Char, be a R/N ( please don´t blame me for this idea...)

R/N is touching, not melee. W/N have some decent builds.. Plague Touch can be helpful on a war at times.

NeilGarra · Mar 06, 2008, 05:19 AM // 05:19

I was never interested in using my Necro for melee. My Warrior, Assassin, and Dervish scratched that itch. My Necro ran a Minion Master build until I got a Necro Hero as MM, and after that it was usually either an SS or Icy Veins build. Efficient, effective, normal.

Then I took a number of my character to Eye of the North, and each obtained the Norn Ursan Blessing skill. I initially stuck it on my Necro's build to cope with a few situations where key foes had either Vow of Silence or Spell Breaker. The Bear skills were pretty effective, but the zero-axe-mastery Totem Axe was not. What was simply amazing, though, was that Soul Reaping allowed her to maintain the skill for a much longer time than any of my other, melee-oriented, characters. Not only was a zealous weapon not needed to generate energy in battle, but dying minions from her ever-present Hero MM (who never casts [wiki]Blood of the Master[/wiki] when running) generated a continuous energy flow as the party ran from one fight to the next. Forget about 'efficient', 'effective', & 'normal'!! I wanted my Necro Chick to "Be The Bear", running about in the snow in her elegant Vanguard Evening Dress, swinging an axe, and GROWLING at enemy mobs! Failing to find an N/any build based on Ursan Blessing, I took on the challenge of creating one.

WARNING: THIS BUILD MAKES A MOCKERY OF THE TRADITIONAL USE OF THE NECROMANCER PROFESSION. IT REQUIRES THE USE OF EDGED WEAPONS! IT REQUIRES MELEE COMBAT... WITH TISSUE PAPER ARMOR... UP FRONT WITH THE WARRIORS! IT FORSAKES THE SACRED NECRO ELITE SKILLS BELOVED BY ALL! IT IS USELESS FOR PVP! IT IS USELESS ON HEROS! HENCHIE NECROS WILL REFUSE TO JOIN YOUR PARTY! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!

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Character stats that matter:

My Necro is Level 20.

Armor: Standard Level 60 NecroSquishy. Each piece with Brawler's Insignia (A+10 while attacking). Minor Runes for the four Necro attributes, plus a major (+41) health.

Eye of the North Ranks: Norn 7, Vanguard 5. Low rank in either lowers effectiveness, but will give you a taste for how the builds work. You can then decide whether its worth your time to farm Norn/Vanguard points.

Typical Party:
Livia N/Mo MM
Koss W/P sword
Morgahn P/W motivation
Herta E
Mhenlo Mo
Devona W
Aidan R
(Admit it, you expected to see FIVE monks & TWO Song Of Restoration Paragons!)

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N/W PvE Ursan Blessing Axe

Blood Magic 0 +1
Death Magic 2 +1
Soul Reaping 9 +2
Curses 10 +1
Tactics 4
Axe Mastery 11

Weapon:
Vampiric Axe of Shelter
6-28 req 11
A+7 (physical damage)
13^50, customized
Vampiric is more for damage than health. Handle 'O Shelter is HIGHLY recommended.

Offhand:
Crimson Carapace Shield
A+6 req 4 Tactics
A+5 while attacking
A-5 while casting
GREAT shield for this build! Get it from Guardsman Noell, Prophecies Eastern Frontier, just outside Frontier Gate. Costs 3 Ornate Grawl Necklaces. I started with a E+12/Rcvd Dmg -5(20%) Bone idol, then looked at the A+14/req 7 Tactics shields in Blacktide Den. Hated to throw away attribute points just to enable the shield. This is a nice compromise.

Skills...
[wiki]Enfeebling Blood[/wiki]
[wiki]Ebon Battle Standard of Honor[/wiki]
[wiki]Feel No Pain[/wiki]
[wiki]Mark of Pain[/wiki]
[wiki]Cyclone Axe[/wiki]
[wiki]Swift Chop[/wiki]
[wiki]Signet of Lost Souls[/wiki]
[wiki]Ursan Blessing[/wiki]
[N/W PvE Ursan Blessing Axe;OAFUYyjK3KR2B5i4kWCKFVFVVGlA]

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N/D PvE Ursan Blessing Scythe

Blood Magic 0 +1
Death Magic 0 +1
Soul Reaping 10 +2
Curses 10 +1
Scythe Mastery 11

Weapons:
Cruel Suntouched Scythe of Warding
Slashing: 9-41, req 9 scythe mastery
A+4 (vs elemental damage)
Lengthens Deep Wound duration by 33%
15^50, customized
Works well, but I'm looking for a better armor scythe grip.

Bubahl's Grasp
Earth: 9-41, req 9 scythe mastery
A+7 (vs physical)
15^50, customized
Earth damage will NOT trigger Mark of Pain. I carry it for the extra Armor!

Skills...
[wiki]Enfeebling Blood[/wiki]
[wiki]Ebon Battle Standard of Honor[/wiki]
[wiki]Feel No Pain[/wiki]
[wiki]Mark of Pain[/wiki]
[wiki]Eremite's Attack[/wiki]
[wiki]Chilling Victory[/wiki]
[wiki]Signet of Lost Souls[/wiki]
[wiki]Ursan Blessing[/wiki]
[N/D PvE Ursan Blessing Scythe;OApjYoHa6S2B5i4kWCNXDYVVGlA]

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Combat tactics for both builds:

1. Use Enfeebling Blood on the clumped mob, then use Ebon Battle Standard of Honor. Both greatly enhance party performance!

2. Find a healthy, strong foe in the middle of the pack and hex with Mark of Pain. Attack this foe and watch as Mark of Pain deals crazy damage to adjacent foes. Unless this foe is a Boss, don't use the attack skills: you WANT him to live as long as there are adjacent foes to receive the armor-ignoring shadow damage.

The few seconds it takes to Search & Hex also lets your warriors and Minion Meat Shield start their attacks. "Teamwork means the enemy has someone else to shoot at." (An old Army saying)

3. Use weapon skills when appropriate, and Feel No Pain when health gets low.

4. Re-apply Enfeebling Blood & Ebon Battle Standard of Honor as they recharge. Energy never a problem unless the enemy refuses to die.

5. Use Signet of Lost Souls when health or energy needs a boost. This is the LEAST used skill in the build.

6. Use Ursan Blessing when...
- You keep getting blinded & need Ursan touch skills
- A tough mob or Boss needs Ursan knock-down to disrupt skills
- The battle is going sour & you need the Ursan Health & Armor buff
- You get bored and crave the Ursan Growl & Graphics

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Variations Common to Both of the above builds:

Replace Signet of Lost Souls with Rez if running with Humans instead of Heros.

Replace Enfeebling Blood with [wiki]Ulcerous Lungs[/wiki]
(Powerful degen, but useless for foes that don't bleed)

Replace one axe/scythe skill with [wiki]I am the strongest[/wiki] -PLUS-
Replace Feel No Pain with [wiki]Taste of Death[/wiki]
(Requires MM in party so that Taste of Death can steal 160 hp from a minion)

If the foes in a particular region tend to NOT attack in adjacent mobs, replace Mark of Pain with something else.

Move all Curses Attrib pts to Death Magic, and place the extra in Blood.
Replace Enfeebling Blood with [wiki]Animate Shambling Horror[/wiki] (etc)
Replace Mark of Pain with [wiki]Dark Bond[/wiki]
(This is a great way to divert damage elsewhere! HOWEVER, make sure that there are NO Hero MM's in the party! They quickly convert corpses to Minions and you will rarely get a chance to use your minion skill. Since Dark Bond will ONLY work with YOUR minions, you've wasted 2 skill slots.)

With high Death Magic, you can also replace Ebon Battle Standard of Honor with [wiki]Rotting Flesh[/wiki]. However, make sure that the vast majority of your foes are both non-human and fleshy.

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End Note

The N/W build seems to be a bit better: Shield provides A+11 for survivability, and the Axe triggers Mark of Pain faster than the scythe. When my Necro has higher Deldrimor rank, I'll try beefing the Scythe build with [wiki]Drunken Master[/wiki] and [wiki]Great Dwarf Armor[/wiki].

Testing was exclusively in Normal Mode, mostly in Varajar Fells. Also used it with success in Secret Lair of the Snowmen, Nightfallen Jahai, Sorrow's Furnace, and several other places.

Both builds are an absolute blast to use! Try them out, and let me know what you think.

samcobra · Mar 06, 2008, 12:40 PM // 12:40

bad

12 chars