NPC necromancer nerf

[lukep]

NPC necromancers are the only class that is consistently dangerous to every character that I have tried. Making the assumptions that I am not missing a good strategy or choosing classes that are naturally weak to them, they are unbalanced compared to other NPCs. If other people don't have any problems with Necromancers, than they are probably fine. What makes them dangerous is that they are very good at many things. They are tougher than a fighter, deal more damage than an archmage, debuff better than most, and summon better than a Summoner. To break it down:

They are tough: Blurred Mortality for extra health combined with Vampiric Gift for healing makes them more durable than any other class.

They do high damage: Their skills are fairly high damage, comparable to an archmage.

They debuff very well: Banes are tough to deal with, as dispelling one while still in the area leads to gaining the bane again the next turn. Cold flames are an AoE DoT freeze, giving an additional chance to freeze every turn.

They summon: Skeletons are dangerous, especially archers and master archers. They can summon half a dozen or so of them in a single turn, and each is more powerful than a Summoner summon. This is balanced by high cost for the player, but not NPCs.

My ideas for a nerf (all of them together would be too much though):

start them at 0 deaths, so they can't summon (or maybe 1 or 2)
Nerf Vampiric Gift, or make it player only. Enemies that heal are the worst, especially when they cheat at talent levels.
Make their summons all die when they do. This would help take away the lingering danger at the cost of consistency with the other classes.

[edge2054]

I like that third idea for summoners too. I always expect that focus firing a summoner NPC will have a tactical advantage in clearing the battle field but it doesn't.

The npc summon talents are fine though. I guess I just expect that if a summon has a duration it should go poof when the summoner does.

[martinuzz]

They are tough: Blurred Mortality for extra health combined with Vampiric Gift for healing makes them more durable than any other class.

I doubt that

They debuff very well: Banes are tough to deal with, as dispelling one while still in the area leads to gaining the bane again the next turn. Cold flames are an AoE DoT freeze, giving an additional chance to freeze every turn.

Get more freeze/stun/confusion/blindness resists. It's not as if you only need those against Necromancers

They summon: Skeletons are dangerous, especially archers and master archers. They can summon half a dozen or so of them in a single turn, and each is more powerful than a Summoner summon. This is balanced by high cost for the player, but not NPCs.

I do agree here that perhaps the chance to spawn master archers could be reduced a bit.

start them at 0 deaths, so they can't summon (or maybe 1 or 2)

IMO, reducing necrotic energy is too crude a solution. And zero necrotic energy to start with is nonsense, as NPC's usually only aim for one kill (unless the player has allies/summons).

Nerf Vampiric Gift, or make it player only. Enemies that heal are the worst, especially when they cheat at talent levels.

Necromancers are by far not the only class that can heal. It's part of the game, and there are ways to deal with it.

Make their summons all die when they do. This would help take away the lingering danger at the cost of consistency with the other classes.

You could also get some means of teleport, and let them die off in a few turns for not being supported by a necrotic aura anymore.

All in all, I don't think NPC necromancers need a nerf. I do not feel they are ridiculously overpowered compared to other NPCs. Sure, they are a new type of danger, but there's plenty of ingame solutions to that.

[greycat]

NPC necromancers are the only class that is consistently dangerous to every character that I have tried.

That's odd... I'd consider Archers the #1 threat, followed by Paradox Mages and Archmages. Necromancers just earn an "Oh, yeah, those can be pretty strong too."

[siphal]

NPC necromancers are the only class that is consistently dangerous to every character that I have tried.

That's odd... I'd consider Archers the #1 threat, followed by Paradox Mages and Archmages. Necromancers just earn an "Oh, yeah, those can be pretty strong too."

Yeah, though I would rate them a bit higher on average. Mainly depending on what they summon really. If youre unlucky and they summon several (master) archers theyre top of the list. I they dont theyre nothing special really. Having said that, I'm jinxed now: I'm omw east for the 1st time in b34 right now, so expect to die horribly by a few of them in an Orc Pride in open space

[Zonk]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find NPC Necromancers don't bad. Sure, they're dangerous, as are their minions, especially their ranged ones, but I find Anorithils and Corruptors(and Archmages, of course) to be way more dangerous.

[lukep]

Sounds like other people disagree with their power, I just need to find effective strategies against them, like I have against archers and archmages.

[Aquillion]

It also depends on your class and build, of course. Classes with heavy wide AOE damage like Alchemists and Archmages will probably have an easier time with them than ones with more limited targeting.

[jenx]

Blood spray from corruptors is very effective too