Necromancer questions

[Ashr]

Maybe this should go in the Battlefield, I'm not sure. I'm a newbie, I have pk questions.

I have a Necromancer, level 35, partially because I don't like to level, partially because I suck at it. Anyway, I've got the basics down. Carry purples (in inventory) gyvels (in inventory), keep ward up or worry about weapon styles, keep protective shield up or get bashed, keep fly up or get tripped.

Run, run, etc.

The parts I don't get, I guess, are parts that have to do with being a Necromancer, as well as how to respond to unexpected attacks. I got 1-rounded earlier today by someone I didn't think would be a threat (because of align and other such things). I finished typing "flee" as I saw the "You have been KILLED!" message. Aside from my knee-jerk sanc quaff relex I'm developing when people in my range walk into the room, I'm not sure what else I can do, and that seems to waste a lot of sancs.

Anyway, more to a point. I get 2 golems and a zombie, all of which who hit decently hard (harder than me, anyway), and I get some horridly unpleasant spells. The problem I have is that I tank like a glass golem. Even having sanc when my target doesn't and is blind, I take enough damage (compared to what I do) that I have to run away so I can reopen with Acid Blast to hopefully make up the difference. I realized early on that I can make my golems and zombies rescue me, but against mobs this seems entirely fruitless, so I haven't tried it much in pk. I'm wondering if I can force people to tank my golems/zombies so I can live long enough to kill someone without having to run away and cry, or if their melee will automatically redirect to me.

Also, is there some way I can summon my golems/zombies to me? I lost them running from someone earlier, and he (I assume anyway) stayed where I'd left them, I couldn't summon them back, and I n00bdied trying to make another zombie. Being able to cast word on them is very nice, but I can't cast it after I've recalled, and if I'm running for my life, I probably can't afford to recall my zombie first (golems are expendable). Also, is there a way to dismiss one member of my group? Say a player following me, or a golem, if I've lost one, so I don't have to type 'sol' and lose my other golem and my zombie?

I am wearing a knife of some sort, I guess, which sucks at parry, I think, and I lost my shield, so I'm using one of those ward things. I got a polearm to help with my parrying, but I think it got looted without me ever getting to test it out. I was looking for a decent staff, but I don't know eq all that well, and the only decent one I could find was anti-evil.

Basically, though, it doesn't matter how much damage I am capable of putting out if I can't stick around long enough to survive it, and I'm hoping someone will give me some pointers or something, because at my current rate of deaths, I will condie before I figure anything useful out.

[_Clifton_]

Necromancers are meant to be played at 50 (like every other class). However, necromancers are a lot more gimped due to the fact that they are incredibly weak hp wise until level 50. A necromancer is better equipped to take damage at 50 with 680 hp versus 400. Also, make good use of the vampiric touch spell. That should be your bread and butter spell, acid blast is your nuker. About zombies, a common occurence is that people don't kill them. So if you're healed up, you can usually run back and get them - check if they're still alive with the group command.

Note: No one wants to rank a necromancer, just like no one wants to rank an illusionist. They are the biggest threats in the game at level 50 (include vampires too) whose sole purpose is to kill someone. If you want to pinnacle one of those two chars, you'll want to join a cabal.

Good luck.

[Slade]

Always keep protective shield up (bash/bodyslam is death, dirt protection is gravy too). Weapon ward doesn't hurt - avoid some sideswipes, etc. (since you should be using polearm the majority of the time).

Don't quaff a sanc right away when someone nears you. If someone did that to me I assume they are about to attack me so I run a little bit and then come back and kill them. Just protective shield if you don't already have it up, stay cautious, and run your ass a little bit away if they attack (either a dirt or bash attempt stopped by prot, or a murder/etc, all stuff you can run from easily). Try to keep your pets with you if you can, otherwise just run.

Collect yourself, make sure everything is good to go (sanc, spells, pets, etc), and fight. You can try sleep, otherwise, for the most part, ram away at your general purpose (acid blast). If you are obviously losing, just run away and come back and try again later (or run away and vamp touch some mobs, etc.) If the fight is close, acid blast away and don't stop, before rejudging the likely outcome again later. But in a close fight, don't bother with mals too much, you are too frail to afford it. If however you are clearly winning, or just if the fight looks to be a longer one (not likely with 35 necro) you can go for stuff like blindness, all the other mals, dispel magic, etc. Don't however initiate with a mal other than sleep, its not worth eating the round of attacks. Acid blast, then mal. Again though, its sad, but ramming away at acid blast is your best bet until you both gain ranks and gain judgement in when you are safe to tinker with other stuff. Use vampiric touch as needed on nearby lowbie mobs if you have space to do so.

[Resatimm]

You can summon your zombies and/or golems, but you must be in the same area as them. c sum zombie or c sum gold/c sum 2.golem. Keep in mind, that if you create a golem, it will be known as "golem". If someone kills a stone golem (or ANY other golem) when they repop, your golem will now be 2.golem. So it may be trial and error to find which golem is yours. c sum golem/c sum 2.golem/c sum 3.golem

It is a good bet that if you fail a few times, that is your golem. Never open with a malediction against a fighter. If you lose concentration or fail, the fighter gets a free round to smash you.

Res

[Sethronu]

* when you are attacked with sanc down you are very vulnerable. for that reason keep invis up always. i doubt you were really one rounded, probably two rounded. however if you indeed were one rounded there's not much you can do. when you're attacked, i'd word of recall right away and put up flight to run.

* necros are worst to tank with, on par with invokers (although gnomes with shield block tank much better now). for that reason you need to do one of a few things. either catch them with sanc down and yours up (or dispel it), order your pets to rescue you (but because of the lag i wouldn't use it much), or vampiric touch to regain some health. when your health runs low, run somewhere else and vamp touch some mobs to heal back up. (was vamp touch removed?) . vamp touch was the main reason why necros would keep coming back and coming back for you, the reason they were so scary.

* i ran around with an average 5 dagger because it really was more about healing back up and using spells (sleep, acid, blind, vamp touch) than parrying. but if you need to use a polearm, just give the correct bar to the adept in Timaran and make yourself one.

* you can summon golems by using 2.golem or 3.golem, but you can't see where they are by going "where 2.golem." you also have to be in the area where you lost them. zombies work that way too. by the way do they walk towards you if you use "pet return?" probably not. if your golem cooldown timer is ready for you to make some new golems, might be better off solituding and recreating (you will lose your zombies though but at your rank you prob only get one zomb anyway)

[Elaedon]

Ashr, you better watch out. I'm coming for you.

Oh, and Sethronu, you were a sick necro. I remember how my friend told me that Deiminos owned everyone.

[Ashr]

Vamp touch is great, but I don't like to use it in pk, because it fails too often, and relying on it in combat has gotten me quite a few mobdeaths. Vamp touching lowbie mobs is great, though.

What determines who a person hits in combat? I noticed that in part of one fight, someone I was fighting was hitting my zombie, even though I opened with Acid Blast, and in another fight I tried rescuing, but I wasn't able to tell if rescuing forced my opponent (Hi, Elaedon :( ) to hit my zombie. It seems like rescuing just makes my opponent (mob or player) hit the rescuer for a round or so, then they just end up diverting back to me. If that were less laggy, I could use that time to vamp or something, but if they end up just diverting to me, I can't see how rescuing myself is useful. Same goes for opening with zombiemurder, I guess.

[Erlwith]