Clueless young Necromancer Seeks advice

[Iggyvyn]

Last weekend a friend and I made twin Dark elves to duo. He is playing a Coercer, and I am playing a Necromancer. I am pretty clueless about Necro's. Any starter advice, particularly as it relates to our party would be appreciated. I am pretty sure that I want to start Achievement in the KoS STA line and build up my fighter pet's taunts. Then go with Wisdom. Beyond that, I am not sure. Another thing, I am not quite sure how often/when to use is possession my minion. How (tactially) do you use this ability?

[texwood]

i don't use posses minion unless i wanna see my pet's stats.Working on the Stamina line to get taunt is a good idea.Maybe you want to get tainted heals (EoF) tree after that.Awesome pet heals.Basic strategy for 1 or 2 mobs:Send in tank pet (def stance), let him get some aggro while using your dots.Heal pet if necessary.Coercer should charm a mage type pet and just do damage and stun mobs.For group of mobs coercer could group mez (don't know which lvl to get that).Alternatively root 1 mob and mez another.Then pick single mobs.Send tank pet (off stance) or scout pet and nuke away.Coercer can always mez adds.Hope that helpsEdited typo

[Iggyvyn]

<p>Yep, that was our basic strategy.  Group Mez doesn't come until level 25, but it isn't that far off.</p><p>So, you just count on your pet's AI to taunt?  You don't find that you need to take control of him and command him to taunt?</p>

[Aeger]

I'd suggest going to at least Perceptor's Command in the STA line, if you're going to duo. Being able to make your fighter pet grab aggro will save your life.

[Catodon]

The abilities in the sta line make the tank pet much more reliable... you can activate shockwave at will to force it to get some aoe aggro when you want, and once you get Perceptor's Command (mini-rescue every ten seconds, yay) then you'll be all set. (The final ability in sta line is not very useful, I would leave that out for the time being.)Remember that your coercer can put tank buffs on your pet (+dps, +hate gain, etc.) to boost its abilities.I've never used possess minion for anything other than pulling, but it is occasionally useful for that since the possessed pet follows player rules for aggro rather than pet ones (e.g. you can use a possessed pet to do a body pull if trying to get stuff out of a tight space without risking your thin dark elf skin.)

[littleman17]

<p>I suggest getting tainted heals before going into the kos tree. Having your tank pet be able to mini rescue is good and all, but kind of a moot point if you can't heal it enough.</p><p>If you intend on being the "tank" (aka, your pet) I suggest getting your aa in this order:</p><p>Tainted Heals (under no circumstances put ANY points in the necro symbol aa)</p><p>4/4/8/8 in the sta line for the mini rescue and to give your tank pet massive hp (mine has 7.4k at level 59)</p><p>4/4/8/8/2 in the wisdom line for increased defense and offensive abilities for your tank pet as well as a partial ward that will help in the harder fights.</p><p>5 points in the ehncance tank aa in the eof tree.</p><p>3 points in our hot</p><p>and finally get lifeburn.</p><p>With this set up combined with a good coercer, your guys should be nearly unstopable unless you tick off and epic mob.</p><p>I hope my advice helps.</p><p>(I've only just started into the wisdom line step of that progression, and I can solo level 57 ^^^ mobs)</p><p>Oh yeah, always ALWAYS get your tank pet at least to ad3 as well as your pet's defensive stance. I nearly forgot, posses minion is mainly used for checking stats. Your tank pet pretty much button mashes his ca (think of handing a 70 zerker to a 6 year old and tell him to tank), but does a good job of doing so. So unless you go nuts with the dps, you should never get aggro, but incase you do, that's what the mini rescue is for.</p>

[netglen]

<cite>littleman17 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>4/4/8/8 in the sta line for the mini rescue and to give your tank pet massive hp (mine has 7.4k at level 59)</p></blockquote>I always wondered if allocating 8 points into taunt was overkill? I was doing fine with 4 points with my Conj. I'm going to try out with just 4 with my Necro to see how it goes. <blockquote>3 points in our hot </blockquote> IDumb question but that is that? Is that some heal over time ability?

[Dracot]

<cite>Iggyvyn wrote:</cite><blockquote>Last weekend a friend and I made twin Dark elves to duo. He is playing a Coercer, and I am playing a Necromancer.I am pretty clueless about Necro's. Any starter advice, particularly as it relates to our party would be appreciated.I am pretty sure that I want to start Achievement in the KoS STA line and build up my fighter pet's taunts. Then go with Wisdom. Beyond that, I am not sure.Another thing, I am not quite sure how often/when to use is possession my minion. How (tactially) do you use this ability?</blockquote>Only time i use this is when im pulling on raids or pulling in Nizara.  Otherwise, its pretty useless.

[Xalmat]

<cite>netglen wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>l</cite>I always wondered if allocating 8 points into taunt was overkill? I was doing fine with 4 points with my Conj. I'm going to try out with just 4 with my Necro to see how it goes.</blockquote>Conjuror pets have an easier time at getting aggro back than Necro pets (at least post-50). But even then, I recommend taunt 8 for both classes, simply because taunt 8 is a full 100% chance for your pet to move up a hate position.

[littleman17]

Just a note, put the enhance tank pet above the kos trees, a 10% ward pwns on the harder mobs. And yes, by hot, I mean the first heal (pet only) that we get. I call it a hot because it heals ur pet over time.

[Alienor]

<cite>littleman17 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>(under no circumstances put ANY points in the necro symbol aa)</p></blockquote>Why is that? Do you mean the necromantic brand?

[netglen]

Last night while there was the usual changing of players in a PuG, we got ourselves a Guardian as our MT replacement. I had my scout out and he asked if I can switch to mage. I shrugged and replaced the pet. After four encounters I changed back to scout because even after letting the tank get in several hits to establish aggro, my mage pet would always seem to draw aggro and come close to death. The tank then started to lecture me that I should have invested in Magical Leash to control aggro. I blinked and said I'm pretty much soloing most of my levels and I really don't need to respec to a raid config until in my 60s. He said that I was being foolish and that every Conj and Necro benefits from Magical Leash even if they mainly solo and that he knows what he's saying because he has a L.70 Conj. We pushed on and I started noticing that my Scout was also pulling aggro from the tank on half the fights even though I let the tank give and take several hits. Do you think the tank needs to learn how to tank or am I being a noob?

[Jasuo]

<cite>netglen wrote:</cite><blockquote>Last night while there was the usual changing of players in a PuG, we got ourselves a Guardian as our MT replacement. I had my scout out and he asked if I can switch to mage. I shrugged and replaced the pet. After four encounters I changed back to scout because even after letting the tank get in several hits to establish aggro, my mage pet would always seem to draw aggro and come close to death. The tank then started to lecture me that I should have invested in Magical Leash to control aggro. I blinked and said I'm pretty much soloing most of my levels and I really don't need to respec to a raid config until in my 60s. He said that I was being foolish and that every Conj and Necro benefits from Magical Leash even if they mainly solo and that he knows what he's saying because he has a L.70 Conj. We pushed on and I started noticing that my Scout was also pulling aggro from the tank on half the fights even though I let the tank give and take several hits. Do you think the tank needs to learn how to tank or am I being a noob?</blockquote><p>Yes, the tank in question was most definitely an idiot at the class if he was unable to maintain aggro, I made a lowbie guardian myself and can always hold hate over pets.  Most players at the lower levels think that they don't have to do much other than taunt and let you do the dps'n but in reality they need to use dps to maintain the hate position and use taunts as that little push over.</p><p>The intelligence line is a very nice line in terms of dps...but definitely not used for magic leash [Removed for Content], I don't find myself ever needing to use that deaggro.  Keep on trucking and ignore the idiot tanks out there who don't understand what it is to be a tank.</p>

[Mohare]

<p>My wife and I recently created this very same duo.  We love it!  We are both lvl 38 with 47 AA.  There is very little we can't do.  Any named (non epic) that with no more than 2 levels higher than use we can own.  Like one of the posters already said, go down Tainted Heals FIRST.  It is hard getting through those first AA to get to TH, since they don't help all that much.  I went down the STA line next for pet agro and hp, because my pet was having more agro problems than survivability problems.  I am currently working on the damage absorbtion and will follow that up with the WIS line.</p><p>We have already had to level lock twice to let some of our friends catch up.  We slaughter so much, so quickly.  We can pass full groups of people in dungeons.  Looks like she might switch to an illusionist when we get to 70.  We have heard that charm is very limited at that level.</p>

[Iggyvyn]

<p>Thanks for the advice folks.</p><p>One more thing...</p><p>How do I tell which spells summon Fighter Pets, vs. Mage Pets, vs Scout Pets?  (Still only 15, now)  I don't seem to see it in the description, but it maybe because I am so low, and I think the only pet I have is a fighter pet.</p><p>My plan really only calls for ever using the Fighter pet.  Maybe this is wrong thinking, but with our duo I think it will almost alway be the case.</p>

[TheKraken]

They are three seperate spells.  Once you get them, you'll see that they quite clearly state what kind of pet the spell summons.  And you're right, you only have the fighter "aka tank" pet at level 15.  You get the first mage pet at level 20 and scout pet at 32.