Any tips for a starting Necromancer?

[NemesisZeru]

Main topic I found on this kind of question is from 3 years ago, so figured I'd ask.

-How's the Animus tree? Wiki doesn't have info on it, so I have noooo idea what it even does yet.
-How good is their cold damage? Half the reason I wanted them was for unlocking the Ice tree(The other for the undead zerg rush. :V )

-Shades tree: Is it any good? I know ANM is pretty bad currently, so not really sure where to spent my cat points.

[Pigslayer]

Shades is a good tree. It has shadow tunnel and curse of the meek for summoner necros. And forgery of haze and frostdusk for minionless necros.

Animus has: consume soul - heals hp/restores mana, animus horder - allows you to hold more souls/chance of getting more souls per kill (it's range is determined by your aura), animus purge - turns an enemy into an undead pet, essence of the dead - adds a temporary boost to some talents.

Cold necros are fun. Be careful when aiming chill of the tomb!

[HousePet]

Oh just try it!

You should be spending more time in game than asking questions on the forums.

[NemesisZeru]

Shades is a good tree. It has shadow tunnel and curse of the meek for summoner necros. And forgery of haze and frostdusk for minionless necros.

Animus has: consume soul - heals hp/restores mana, animus horder - allows you to hold more souls/chance of getting more souls per kill (it's range is determined by your aura), animus purge - turns an enemy into an undead pet, essence of the dead - adds a temporary boost to some talents.

Cold necros are fun. Be careful when aiming chill of the tomb!

Hmmm...Hoarder and Purge seem pretty nice, depending on the numbers. x3

Oh just try it!

You should be spending more time in game than asking questions on the forums.

It's more like

>Ask question
>Play until I see a reply
>Reply.



Already have 71 hours in ToME, so it's pretty much my second most played Steam game at this point. x3

That said, my laptop needs to quiet down, so breaks DO happen.

[Furey]

Play a bolt and jolt wizard while you get points in minions and aura. The most you will need in minions and aura is 5/3/0/0

Animus is amazing.

Forgery of Haze is amazing.

Get those two, the rest is details.

[sofocles]

I played in 1.0.5 so it has changed, at that time, cold was a very weak line, having no beam, so darkness was a better option considering you could get 2 beam spells.

[Orangeflame]

...so darkness was a better option considering you could get 2 beam spells.

Sadly, not with HousePet's Midnight mod - it takes away your second beam spell

[HousePet]

Beams are overrated.

[Orangeflame]

It's range 10, unlike most other necromancer spells...

[Snarvid]

In no particular order:
- I've found that Higher Necromancers are amazing. Being able to use Highborn's Bloom to negate the soul cost of Create Minions is exceptionally powerful, likewise Animus Purge (which is amazing with only 1 point invested).
- Animus Purge still gives you experience when your husk dies, but IIRC not if you recast it while your husk is still active.
- I set Rune of Reflection, Temporal Form, and Highborn's Bloom to autocast on seeing an enemy, then usually opened with Forgery of Haze followed by Create Minions. Then it's all cleanup.
- Wisps don't die when you turn off your aura, which weakens your ability to control your minion placement unless you want to spend the time to use non-friendly fire spells on your own wisps. I wanted to run a Empathic Hex / Will O The Wisp thorns type build and have been unimpressed.
- If you get the Advanced Minions tree, Bone Golems who die (say, from Undead Explosion) and rebuild themselves no longer count against your minion cap. If you leave they'll stay on the level. Not sure if they provide you experience for their kills.
- I've played around with a couple different builds and I find that for minion-centric builds I like Nightfall and Cold Flames wildly more than the other offensive spells due to their lack of friendly fire. Channel Staff isn't a bad option to have in rotation, either - it's not a stellar performer, but it is incredibly reliable.