Uploaded April 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
-- Introduction
This is my video with first impressions on the Magicka Necromancer. Feel free to ask about it in the comments, and I'll try my best to answer them.
A few important notes:
- New raid target dummy currently seems buggy with regards to Engulfing Flames and fire abilities. I made sure to properly reset the dummy between tests. The numbers you see here are not affected by the stacking effect of the bug. Many parses you see elsewhere may well be though.
- Take the DPS Numbers with a pinch of salt. Pet Damage is bugged since it crits 100% of the time
- Pretty much anything you see here is subject to change
- My ideas and what's best will probably change depending on what others discover
I am testing with the new 21M HP Raid Dummy, which has a selection of Buffs/Debuffs included. They can be a bit unrealistic (100% major force) for example, but at least consistent.
Combat Metrics Parse from Video (95.1k - not affected by the stacking Engulfing Flames Raid Dummy bug) -- https://i.imgur.com/RMgkTFs.png
Build used in Video (CPs are selected to be generically raid-ready) -- https://i.imgur.com/XEMKgC2.jpg
-- Magicka Necromancer Build Info
-My skill bars shown in the video are as follows:
Front Bar: Avid Boneyard - Ricochet Skull - Inner Light - Mystic Siphon - Stalking Blastbones - Shooting Star
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire - Spell Symmetry/Flex Spot - Rearming Trap (Channeled Acceleration) - Skeletal Arcanist - Mystic Siphon - Glacial Colossus
More information about the Necromancer skills and passives can be found here: eso-skillbook.com/skilltree/necromancer
I used the Clockwork Citrus Fillet food, which is a great all-around food for Magicka classes. It leaves you with 18.3k HP by yourself, and comfortably over 20k HP with Toughness and Ebon. If you choose a Breton (instead of High Elf like I have), then you can use Max HP Max Magicka food and be sitting on ~23k HP with those buffs.
There is no emphasis on the gear in this video. I used Spell Strat and Siroria here. With the Necromancer's Death Knell passive, giving 10% crit chance per Grave Lord ability slotted, against enemies under 25%, this gear setup is quite suitable. With this setup, I would be sitting at 96% crit chance on my front bar in execute. Using sets like Mother's Sorrow will still be quite strong, but not make the best use of the passive.
I have 0 points into Spell Erosion, because the Dismember Passive, which gives 1500 Spell and Physical Penetration when a Grave Lord ability is active (nearly always the case), allows me to set up this way and still be able to reach the 18,200 penetration cap.
-- Main Impressions
- The Magicka Necromancer personally feels like the Magicka Warden in the style of rotation. To me this is a good thing because it is really fluid. However, it might be difficult to get it working in the same way when playing at long range. Playing this type of rotation on console without the help of add-ons may be difficult, and other rotation options might be considered.
- Sustain feels really good. I like that it is not tied to a buff skill in the same way as Leeching Strikes, Betty Netch, Rune Focus etc. If you can keep Mystic Siphon, it is worth over 200 Magicka regen per second, and if you can keep Skeletal Arcanist up, this is worth a further 300 Magicka (and Stamina recovery).
- Animations generally feel really good. The Mystic Siphon skill sometimes has the same problem as described in the Stamina Necromancer page, where it can cause your character to turn around, and the availability sometimes flickers between usable and not usable for no apparent reason.
-- Rotation
To get the most out of the rotation, it is important to stay in melee range as often as possible. This is because it is reliant on casting Stalking Blastbones as frequently as possible. Although it does extra damage, the longer the skeleton spends chasing a target, it is still worth it to be able to cast it more frequently. It is a nice trade-off if this is not possible though.
So in optimal conditions, Stalking Blastbones is cast once every three rotations. In between it is a job to keep down Blockade, Avid Boneyard (which is nice for the self-activatable synergy), Skeletal Arcanist, Mystic Siphon and Rearming Trap/Channeled Acceleration. This is done more or less fully dynamically - do pay attention to how I try to/am not afraid to recast dots early if there are clashes, or just on time if not. Ricochet Skull, the class spammable, should be cast whenever there is nothing else to cast.
In group play, using the Colossus Ultimate itself will likely depend on when the group needs it, so no real emphasis on you use it.
----
Track: Kozah - Travel Again [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.
Watch: youtu.be/TEAoPiZWnsQ
Free Download / Stream: ncs.io/TravelAgainYO
-- Introduction
This is my video with first impressions on the Magicka Necromancer. Feel free to ask about it in the comments, and I'll try my best to answer them.
A few important notes:
- New raid target dummy currently seems buggy with regards to Engulfing Flames and fire abilities. I made sure to properly reset the dummy between tests. The numbers you see here are not affected by the stacking effect of the bug. Many parses you see elsewhere may well be though.
- Take the DPS Numbers with a pinch of salt. Pet Damage is bugged since it crits 100% of the time
- Pretty much anything you see here is subject to change
- My ideas and what's best will probably change depending on what others discover
I am testing with the new 21M HP Raid Dummy, which has a selection of Buffs/Debuffs included. They can be a bit unrealistic (100% major force) for example, but at least consistent.
Combat Metrics Parse from Video (95.1k - not affected by the stacking Engulfing Flames Raid Dummy bug) -- https://i.imgur.com/RMgkTFs.png
Build used in Video (CPs are selected to be generically raid-ready) -- https://i.imgur.com/XEMKgC2.jpg
-- Magicka Necromancer Build Info
-My skill bars shown in the video are as follows:
Front Bar: Avid Boneyard - Ricochet Skull - Inner Light - Mystic Siphon - Stalking Blastbones - Shooting Star
Back Bar: Blockade of Fire - Spell Symmetry/Flex Spot - Rearming Trap (Channeled Acceleration) - Skeletal Arcanist - Mystic Siphon - Glacial Colossus
More information about the Necromancer skills and passives can be found here: eso-skillbook.com/skilltree/necromancer
I used the Clockwork Citrus Fillet food, which is a great all-around food for Magicka classes. It leaves you with 18.3k HP by yourself, and comfortably over 20k HP with Toughness and Ebon. If you choose a Breton (instead of High Elf like I have), then you can use Max HP Max Magicka food and be sitting on ~23k HP with those buffs.
There is no emphasis on the gear in this video. I used Spell Strat and Siroria here. With the Necromancer's Death Knell passive, giving 10% crit chance per Grave Lord ability slotted, against enemies under 25%, this gear setup is quite suitable. With this setup, I would be sitting at 96% crit chance on my front bar in execute. Using sets like Mother's Sorrow will still be quite strong, but not make the best use of the passive.
I have 0 points into Spell Erosion, because the Dismember Passive, which gives 1500 Spell and Physical Penetration when a Grave Lord ability is active (nearly always the case), allows me to set up this way and still be able to reach the 18,200 penetration cap.
-- Main Impressions
- The Magicka Necromancer personally feels like the Magicka Warden in the style of rotation. To me this is a good thing because it is really fluid. However, it might be difficult to get it working in the same way when playing at long range. Playing this type of rotation on console without the help of add-ons may be difficult, and other rotation options might be considered.
- Sustain feels really good. I like that it is not tied to a buff skill in the same way as Leeching Strikes, Betty Netch, Rune Focus etc. If you can keep Mystic Siphon, it is worth over 200 Magicka regen per second, and if you can keep Skeletal Arcanist up, this is worth a further 300 Magicka (and Stamina recovery).
- Animations generally feel really good. The Mystic Siphon skill sometimes has the same problem as described in the Stamina Necromancer page, where it can cause your character to turn around, and the availability sometimes flickers between usable and not usable for no apparent reason.
-- Rotation
To get the most out of the rotation, it is important to stay in melee range as often as possible. This is because it is reliant on casting Stalking Blastbones as frequently as possible. Although it does extra damage, the longer the skeleton spends chasing a target, it is still worth it to be able to cast it more frequently. It is a nice trade-off if this is not possible though.
So in optimal conditions, Stalking Blastbones is cast once every three rotations. In between it is a job to keep down Blockade, Avid Boneyard (which is nice for the self-activatable synergy), Skeletal Arcanist, Mystic Siphon and Rearming Trap/Channeled Acceleration. This is done more or less fully dynamically - do pay attention to how I try to/am not afraid to recast dots early if there are clashes, or just on time if not. Ricochet Skull, the class spammable, should be cast whenever there is nothing else to cast.
In group play, using the Colossus Ultimate itself will likely depend on when the group needs it, so no real emphasis on you use it.
----
Track: Kozah - Travel Again [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.
Watch: youtu.be/TEAoPiZWnsQ
Free Download / Stream: ncs.io/TravelAgainYO
