Dark Elf Nec

[Jaezah]

<p>I'm a n00b here, only had the game about 2 weeks.  I played for about a week on an ex's acct back when the game came out but that was what?  4 years ago?  So i'll be up front and tell you i'm a n00b.  I played EQOA for 4 years and one of my characters was a delf nec.  Luved it!  So i made one here thinking it would be a good starter class.  But.. i like her alot and don't want to screw up her stats.</p><p>SO.. i've been doing a lot of reading, specifically about the AA stuff.  This is new to me, it's way different than it was on EQOA.  I have made it now to level 33 i think and only used one point.  I got a racial trait called "Fury of Innoruk" or something like that.  I'm scared to use my other points because i have no idea what i'm doing. </p><p>I read all this stuff about AA trees but when i try to click on links to see pics for that visual, the link is dead <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" />  I try to match up the names, but it seems most of the names have changed.</p><p>I guess my first question is going to be... as a dark elf necro, what are my main stats going to be?  EQOA was sta and int and from what i gather that is still true.  Which is more important?  From what i understand, i need to pic a pet path to go down, yes?  Right now my fav pets are the melee and caster but dang if that tank pet doesn't come in handy when i'm stuck solo'ing.  I can take down the whites and yellows with any of them though so i do like those damage-dealers a bit more.. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I guess i've done most of the reading that i can find relevant to what i THINK i should know, but i still have questions.  Mainly because of the name differences <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" />  Any advice i can get is appreciated</p>

[KERSTYNN]

<p>As any race of Necro your first points are going to want to be in the Necromancer tree in the abilities that will lead you down the tree to getting Tainted Heals (often reffered to as TH). This ability is phenomenal, it makes it so that anytime you cast a subjugation type spell your pet is healed for a certain percentage. This makes it so you don't have to constantly use your self sacrificing pet heals to keep your pet alive. Spells such as root, dispel magic and other debuffs (can't recall all the names at the moment) that are cast during the fight are the ones that will heal your pet for you.</p><p>Your next choices tend to depend on what type of pet you are using in your playstyle. Myself I pretty much soloed to 80 and used my tank pets doing it so I went down the Stamina line under the Summoner tree. In it abilities such as perceptors command can help your tank pet hold aggro.  If you use another pet type then I would suggest going down that particular tree. I would not suggest the Stamina end line ability as I personally found it to be quite useless.</p><p>Next I went down the Wisdom tree for the pet bonuses and the Strength trees for spell crit. Other choices are the "Life-burn" line under the Necromancer tree, while extremely situational it can be worth it.</p><p>Those are just some suggestions for ya. I'd recommend highly that you get your hands on an AA mirror, it alows you to store 2 different AA set-ups and change back and forth between them. Remember you can seek out achievement counselors in the various cities if you find you have chosen some AA's that you don't like and get a respec from them as well.</p><p>Good luck and have fun!</p><p>~K~</p>

[Jaezah]

<p>Ah.. So if the sta line affects the tank pet, then if i like the melee pet i should use the agi or str line?  Or for the mage pet i would go int?  Am i translating that correctly?</p><p>All the different tabs kind of overwhelm me too.  I keep trying to look through stuff to kind of familiarize myself.  Ahh... maybe i should make an alt to screw up on first hehe</p>

[stgninja]

<p><cite>Jaezah wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ah.. So if the sta line affects the tank pet, then if i like the melee pet i should use the agi or str line?  Or for the mage pet i would go int?  Am i translating that correctly?</p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">Yes, and just so you know the WIS line affects all pets.</span></p><p>All the different tabs kind of overwhelm me too.  I keep trying to look through stuff to kind of familiarize myself.  Ahh... maybe i should make an alt to screw up on first hehe</p><a href="http://www.eq2flames.com/necromancers/" target="_blank">This site might help you out with the class.</a></blockquote>

[Akaran2]

<p>Let's start by clarifying some things. I've never played EQOA, so I don't know what you've had to experience vs here. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a big difference.That being said. I don't know if you picked up the box with The Shadow Odyssey, and honestly, I can't remember how that affects AA abilities down the line. So let me take a few and go into a brief explination of things:AA points are awarded through the killing of most (not all) "named" encounters, the completion of quests/collections over level 10, discovering certain "rare" items (defined as: trash drops off of mobs, such as the personal status items or various pieces of random things), and discovering certain regions (you'll get a lot of these). Anything in that list over level 10 will grant you an award of some kind. Don't be afraid to level-lock! You have the ability to get 200 points in this game, and they don't come quickly after about 160 or so. If you think you're moving along too quickly and that you have too few points, stop! Lock your level, turn off combat exp, and go hunting. Explore other zones, do other quests, get your AA up! I like to be at "pairity" by level 30 or so, ie: the point where my AA is the same level as my actual level. From there, it can only go up.</p><p>As a necro, what should you take first?I have an 80 necro, I've been playing the game since launch (even tho I didn't start him until around KoS). I may not be the greatest but I do have a general idea of what I'm doing at any given time. My eq2players profile is <a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/characters/character_profile.vm?characterId=530897205">http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...terId=530897205</a> if you want to look at / laugh at me. I do raid some, but I am not a heavy raider, so my setup is designed for soloing/grouping. My personal qualifications being said (so you can judge me worthwhile or not), here goes. (Oh, note, I'm still in the 175 AA region due to two factors: I changed mains to my guardian when I joined my guild, and focused on him instead. Shortly after I changed back to my necro due to the former not being needed, I decided to upgrade my computer.. and thus, I can't log on and am on my spare. I hate doing hardware work.)</p><p>Unless I'm mistaken, the very first point goes into "Possess Minion". This is just one of those things.Next up: What the other said. Tainted Heals is your friend. Click the "Necromancer" tab.Enhance Chain: 5pts, Enhance Necromatic Mark: 5pts, Enhance Grasp: 5pts, Enhance: Grisly Mark: 5pts, and then Tainted Heals. As stated above, Tainted Heals automatically adds a 18% heal to almost every debuff you have. This includes Chain, Grasp, Drawing of Souls, Horrifying Mark (I think - the other debuff with the faster casting time), Dispell Magic, and even some of your actual pet buffs. I can't stress how important this spell is; cast correctly, it can make your pet almost invincible against some mobs.(Tip: you can click off a debuff and recast it. Just click the icon again in your hotbar once it's landed, it'll pop off, and as soon as it's able to be recast, you can throw it again. Makes for some really nice heal-cycling.)</p><p>After that? Go back to the "Summoner" tree.Your next round should be in STA. I say this because as a necromancer, you are going to be soloing quite a lot. It's quite honestly in your blood. But what does STA offer? Three very, very nice things.Point spread:4 points into "Stamina" - required.4 points into "Shockwave" - this gives your fighter pet the ability to score an out-of-encounter AE knockdown  that stuns mobs and generates a lot of agro. You just have to be careful about using this in certain dungeon situations...8 points into "Perceptor's Command" - this is a taunt! Even better, YOU decide when it's used, NOT your pet! It has a 10-second recast, and is an utter life saver.</p><p>Jump to the "Necromancer" tree again.Look at the gravecalling line. Eq2players isn't showing this, but there's an AA there that lets you modify your tank pet. Take it to 5 points.Back to Summoner.Take 8 points into "Perceptor's Bodyguard". Extra tank pet health. This is the final modification you'll be giving it until you hit the Shadows line.. but it'll be fairly beastly at this point. Now it's time to work on /your skills. Note that these abilities will boost your spell-casting power a bit, but if you take the tank pet modifications first, it'll have a better time keeping agro.Look at the "Rotting" line in your Necromancer tree. Take 5 points into each ability, one after another. Bleeding Ritual is not one of my favorites, but it is required for one of the ultimates in the necromancer tree: Lifeburn.Lifeburn is one of those spells that'll take you a while to get used to. It has a 5 second cast time, a 5 minute recast, the mob has to be made at you first, and when it lands.. it eats away your health FAST. Every 1hp it takes from you it does 4hp worth of damage to your target. So the more health you have, the better it'll land. Now, this is not usually a soloing spell, as it can pull a LOT of agro. It's more of a group ability, but by the time you have it, you'll be doing some grouping anyways. Make sure your healers know! It doesn't hurt to make a hotkey for it: "Lifeburn in 5 seconds, HEAL ME NOW". Tell them how it works and the like if they don't know.. it'll save both you AND them some grief.</p><p>Whew. What next?By now you should have some idea as to what you're doing. If you're not doing a lot of grouping yet, take STR. If you are, take INT. Why do I say this?The STR line increases your spell crit abilities. Frankly though, the other abilities in that line aren't worth mentioning, so it's 4 into STR, 4 into Dagger, 4 into Parrying, and then 8 into Wild Channeling. You will notice a pretty hefty increase in your spell crits at that point, which is good.But if you're grouping, you're going to be putting your mage pet to use. Although without the final ability in the INT line, you'll find it's rather limited. Why?Your goal in this line is to get the final ability: Empower Servant. Don't get me wrong, you can't hurt yourself by putting 5pts into Intel, then 4 points into Leash. Then you can split it as you decide between the next two (I went 6/<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. But as son as you have enough points spent to pick up Empower, get it!Empower effectively reduces a decent portion of the power cost of each of your mage's nukes. This means it can nuke longer. A lot longer. It also gives it a small heal every cast. This is great. Also keep in mind that the current endgame weapon for a necromancer (you won't see this for a while, but just keep it in mind) summons a mage pet for us.Oh, you'll find that once you take STA, STR, and INT that your ability to get the WIS line goes away. That's fine. The WIS line is overrated compared to the abilities in the other trees. Fairly simple, that. Spell crit and mage effectiveness is =! some minor pet defense.. since you really only need to worry about defensive skills if your pet is tanking, at which point, you have the STA line to compensate... and you get a taunt for your efforts.Ok, so at what point should you consider taking the Shadows line?If you look at the tree, it'll tell you how many points are required to be spent in any of the trees before you can unlock each tier. When you see those become available, consider how they'll effect you. Keep in mind that the first line is 10 points of suck - so you get a bit of health, or power, or a god-pet mod. Yippie. Let me constrain my excitement. Quick, get a ziploc bag. Things don't get interesting for us in that tree until the summoner line, and even then, it's not that great (exception: Summoner's Soothing. Anything that decreases our hate gen is NOT a bad thing).</p><p>Anyways. Once you get those lines done, you should have a really strong idea as to what will and what won't work. Consider taking the mage / scout pet mods in the Gravecalling line. Consider Shadows. But most of all, find the AA setup that works best for YOU. Grouping a lot? Get the mage buffs first. Soloing a lot? STA and Manipulations!Hope this helps.~Ak.</p>