Uploaded October 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Edit Feb 24th: Updated for Harrowstorm Patch. Not much has changed. Certain Necro abilities should be much nicer to use. Sustain is better, and therefore your DPS should go up slightly too versus Dragonhold!

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This is a Magicka Necromancer PVE build and Iron Atronach Parse for the Dragonhold/Harrowstorm patch.

Magicka Necromancer is in a bit of an interesting spot at the moment. There is lots of class identity here, and some of the skills look really good. Major Vulnerability, especially with the changes to it in Dragonhold, means including a few Magicka Necromancers is a useful thing to do in a Magicka Composition. The fact that Shocking Siphon is still broken, therefore allowing it to be cast off-global-cooldown, is just one sign that the class isn't quite the finished product yet, design-wise. My feeling is that the class still feels a little clunky to play in general, with some of the animations yet to be refined.

This parse is one performed by me. This rotation shows a balance between complexity and effectiveness. You could do maybe a little more by packing in 2 more DOTs in place of Inner Light front-bar and Shocking Siphon back bar (more details in the alternative skills section). The rotation would've been a little more complex to play dynamically, which is my preferred play style, however 88,888 DPS here was just too cool a number to pass on. :D

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I am using the Max Magicka/Magicka Regen food, with 64 points into Magicka for all Magicka Setups in these rotations.

Gear used here:
5x Spell Strategist Body, 5x Siroria front-barred, 2x Zaan. (See build screenshot for full details).

I am using Spell Strategist here, instead of Mother's Sorrow like on other classes. Necromancer's unique passives mean that with Mother's Sorrow, you don't get as much out of execute as a set like Spell Strategist or Elemental Succession, and I wanted to make the comparison fairer.

Race used: Altmer
Good alternatives: Breton, Dunmer, Khajiit

In real raid situations, consider Clockwork Citrus Fillet or Artaeum Pickled Fish Bowl as food alternatives.

Other gear that is perfectly suitable for different situations include:
False God, Elemental Succession, Mother's Sorrow, New Moon Acolyte

CMX Parse from Video -- https://i.imgur.com/VBMyLJE.png
CMX Build (Gear, Skills, CPs) from Video -- https://i.imgur.com/JLujCFh.png

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Rotation

Avid Boneyard and Unstable Wall are two of the stronger AOE abilities, and since they are both 10 seconds long, it makes sense to try and pair them together here. Stalking Blastbones is a pretty strong semi-spammable, designed to be cast 1-in-3 at melee range, and perhaps 1-in-4 at medium range. Keep this up as much as possible, which casting other DOTs such as Deathbolt, Degeneration and Barbed Trap on cooldown. Otherwise, cast Ricochet Skull as the spammable. Playing in melee is also useful because you can use your own Grave Robber synergy, and of course Barbed Trap, which is preferred over Channelled Acceleration in many situations.

Mystic Siphon is currently a unique skill because you can cast it off-global-cooldown. The best way, that I've found, is to cast it in between an ability and your next light attack. You can recast it early if you want to, but do keep it up because the damage is good and also gives some sustain too.

LA -- Skill ---------------- LA - Skill
becomes:
LA -- Skill - Siphon -- LA - Skill


Proposed Static Rotation (BB = Blastbones)

Start:
Archer - Trap

BB - Boneyard - Wall - BB - Degeneration - Spam
BB - Spam - Spam - Archer/Trap

Alternate Archer and Trap. Cast Siphon anytime. Spam = Skull, or Ulti when needed.


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About alternative skills that I did not use in this video:

Mystic Orb - a must-have skill if you want to include more AOE damage into your setup. Upsides also include a nice group synergy, but the downside is the high resource cost.

Flame Reach - if you wanted to add another single-target DOT. Provides some extra sources of Burning damage and cost is relatively cheap, but damage isn't as good as some other options.

Scalding Rune - another option for an alternative DOT. More damage per cast than Flame Reach but also costlier.

Consuming Trap - a DOT that can help sustain if used in trash fights or on smaller mobs in Boss Fights, due to the resource return.

Shield (e.g Harness Magicka) - you could replace Inner Light if you wanted to include a shield. You could replace another DOT like Degeneration if you want to make it even easier.

Channelled Acceleration - if you prefer this over Barbed Trap, this is fine. Magicka sustain will suffer a little but might be easier to use in some cases.

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