necromancer beginner guide
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ByArzyeL

ESO Necromancer Class Beginner Guide

This Necromancer Beginner Guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Class in ESO! Necromancer is the Class of Death, Minions and Elemental Damage in The Elder Scrolls Online. Necromancer’s minions are not permanent, so you will have to re-summon them often, which makes the class harder to use for new players. The class of Necromancer is not available with the base game. You will have to purchase it if you want to play ESO as a Necromancer. If you wish to learn more about every available ESO Class, you can read my ESO Class Guide!

Why Choose the Necromancer Class in ESO

Necromancer has access to several offensive, defensive and support skills, which allow the Class to fulfill all roles in the game with success. They make great Support characters but can also work as Damage Dealers. Their minions can help with DPS, Healing and drawing aggro, offering valuable assistance in combat. The class however is not very beginner friendly and requires a lot of practice to learn how to play it properly. The main reason for this is the constant re-summoning of minions but also the fact that some of their skills(Blastbones, Shocking Siphon) are not reliable to use.

Necromancers are good for Solo PVE gameplay because of the many, defensive and healing options they have. Stamina Necromancers shine in PVP and PVE gameplay while Magicka Necromancers perform well in the hands of experienced players. As a healer, the Necromancer class can keep your group alive but also revive your fallen friends immediately. They make strong Tanks as well, that can complete almost every content in ESO. Overall, the Necromancer can fulfill every role in the game with success. Their main drawback is the fact that minions need to be re-summoned often and that some skills are not working always as intended.

necromancer beginner guide
Necromancer Class

Necromancer Beginner Builds:

What Skills are the Best for Necromancer – Necromancer Beginner

Before we go through the most important Necromancer skills, you have to decide what kind of Necromancer you wish to create! A Magicka based or Stamina based one. This will determine the type of gameplay and the morphs of skills you should choose as you level up. To create a Magicka based Necromancer(DD or Healer) allocate all your available attribute points to Magicka. To create a Stamina one, allocate your points to Stamina. You can also mix them up if you wish to make a Tank character.

Leveling a Necromancer and its skills is similar to leveling any other class in the game. There are several methods you can follow to level up fast and efficiently, like grinding XP at specific locations, clearing Dolmens and completing group content. You can find a lot more info on how to level up a character fast and efficiently in my ESO Leveling Guide.

There are several important skills you should unlock and level up as soon as possible. Class, Weapons and Guild Skills that will help you create the build of your dreams! To level up skills and skill-lines, always have one or more of their skills in your active bar, even if you are not using them. So letโ€™s start with the most important Necromancer Class skills.

Class Skills – Necromancer Beginner

The Necromancer has three unique skill lines with abilities suitable for every role in the game. Both Magicka and Stamina Necromancers have to re-summon their minions often to be effective as Damage Dealers.

The Necromancer Skill lines are:

  • Grave Lord, with offensive skills and minions for Magicka and Stamina Builds
  • Bone Tyrant, with Tank and Defense oriented skills
  • Living Death, focusing on healing

Grave Lord

necromancer beginner guide

The main offensive skill line of the Necromancer Class with morphs for Stamina and Magicka based Necromancers. Frozen Colossus offers two powerful Ultimates, Pestilent Colossus and Glacial Colossus, for both Magicka and Stamina Necromancers. This Ultimate applies the Vulnerability debuff to enemies, boosting the overall DPS of your party.

Flame Skull is the class’ spammable with a Magicka and Stamina morph. Important skill for every Necromancer. Sacrificial Bones is a major offensive skill for Necromancers with two different morphs. Grave Lord’s Sacrifice boosts your Necromancer skills and DoTs damage while Blighted Blastbones deals great direct damage. Depending on your preferred type of gameplay you can pick one of the two as the core of your offensive Build! Boneyard is a pure Magicka based skill, that offers a great Solo and a Group Morph. Unnerving Boneyard debuffs enemies while Avid Boneyard allows the caster to use their own synergy(great for solo).

Skeletal Archer and Skeletal Arcanist(Skeletal Mage morphs) are great minions that follow you around and assist in combat, depending on your main attribute. Shocking Siphon finally requires corpses to work and thus synergizes well with most skills from this line. Detonating Siphon(Stamina morph) deals extra disease damage while Mystic Siphon(Magicka morph) deals shock damage but also restores Magicka.

Bone Tyrant

This line is focusing more on defense and Tanking. Bone Goliath Transformation offers two powerful Goliath Transformations that can assist in PVP but also Tanking in PVE. Death Scythe and its morphs, deal damage while draining health from enemies. Decent skills for solo PVE gameplay. Bone Armor is a vital skill for solo PVE, Tanking and PVP gameplay.

Beckoning Armor pulls enemies toward you, which makes it excellent for Tanks. Summoning Armor reduces the cost of your other minions and assists with sustain. Bitter Harvest and its morphs boost your defense and survivability while Bone Totem, Grave Grasp and their morphs are great to crowd control enemies and offer support to your group in PVE or PVP.

Living Death

This line is focusing on healing and support. Reanimate and morphs can be very powerful when used at the right moment. They allow you to resurrect fallen group members and can be useful in both PVP or PVE content. Render Flesh and its morphs is the class’ main healing spell, Expunge and morphs reduce the cost of abilities while offering additional benefits. Life Amid Death and morphs offer more Healing.

Spirit Mender is another important minion that Necromancers can use. This one though will heal and keep you alive. Spirit Guardian is vital for Solo PVE but also PVP gameplay, since it reduces damage taken while healing you. Intensive Mender offers greater healing but is not offering anything else. Finally Restoring Tether and morphs increase your healing done when slotted which makes them a must have skill for Necromancer Healers.

Necromancer Subclassing

Subclassingย allows you to combine skills fromย up to three Classesย in ESO, in order to create powerfulย Builds! The Necromancer is an amazing option for Damage over Time Builds. Grave Lord offers the Grave Lord’s Sacrifice and Rapid Rot skills, that boost damage for that type of play style. Bone Tyrant and Living Death also offer support options for Healer and Tank Builds.

Skills Priority – Necromancer Beginner

Unlocking and leveling up your Class active skills and passives, should be your number one priority. This will unlock the potential of your Class and allow you to combine them for better results. Weapon and Guild Skills should follow after. Of course everything depends on your goals and preferred play style. Getting a strong spammable and a good AOE ability early will allow you to level up faster and more efficiently. Regarding Passives, i always recommend getting everything from skill lines you are using. Again Class Passives, along with Racial ones, should come first, followed by Weapon and Guild ones.

Mundus Stones – Necromancer Beginner

Mundus Stones offer strong buffs to your character that can help you complete content faster. They are located all around Tamriel and based on their offered buff are more suitable for PVE or PVP gameplay. When you are leveling up you should get the Atronach Mundus that boosts Magicka Recovery or the Serpent Mundus that boosts Stamina Recovery. This will assist you with sustain and will allow you to use your skills for longer.

As you are getting more experienced and can sustain better, switch to the Lover Mundus. The Lover boosts your Penetration, making it easier to kill enemies. A great option for early gameplay but also Solo content. For group PVE you want to switch to the Thief (better Critical Chance). For PVP get the Warrior(more Weapon Damage), the Apprentice(more Spell Damage) or even the Atronach/Serpent for better sustain. Tank characters can benefit from the Atronach Mundus while Healers can use the Atronach, the Apprentice or even the Ritual(better Healing).

Champion Points – Necromancer Beginner

After level 50 you will start earning Champion Points. These allow you to unlock Passive and Slottable Stars in the Champion Points tab, that can further empower your character. You can earn Champion Points by simply playing the game and leveling up. In total there are three constellations in the Elder Scrolls Online:

  • Warfare
  • Fitness
  • Craft

Each constellation offers different Stars that can help with different roles and activities. Warfare is the constellation that is focusing more on combat and provides bonuses to Damage Dealers, Tanks and Healers. Allocating your Champion Points appropriately and unlocking the right Stars for the role you wish to fulfill is rather important. You can find more info on Champion Points and the right Passive and Slottable Stars for every Role in my Champion Points Guide.

Vampire or Werewolf – Necromancer Beginner

Being a Vampire or Werewolf is not necessary to fully enjoy your Necromancer. You can find a lot more info on Vampires and Werewolves in my ESO Vampire vs Werewolf Guide.

Build Examples

There are more than one ways you can setup your Magicka or Stamina Necromancer. It all depends on your favorite play style and the content you wish to complete. Some setups are better for Solo PVE, other for Group Trials content and other for Battlegrounds or Open World PVP. Here are some more Builds you can use, depending on gameplay.