EverQuest/Character classes/Necromancer

This is one of the best classes to solo. The combination of a strong pet and damage over time (dot) spells makes the necromancer able to solo creatures most other classes wouldn't think of taking on. Of course, since most NPC's hate the site of you, you may find it necessary to solo. You will also find that you are unable to play in certain zones where the good NPC's will try to kill you when they see you. Like the magician, the Necromancer has the combined ability to summon a skeleton to work as a tank and then stand back and blast away, but the necromancer's dot spells are arguably more powerful combat spells than the mage's dd spells. While not as strong as a fighter or a wizard in either specialty, the combination of skills can be pretty deadly. The biggest drawback of a necromancer is that you are evil. In many areas, you are KOS to the shopkeepers and can't even get a shopkeeper to sell you food. Travelling is very difficult, and you can't rely upon the guards in most places to help you out. Although many who play a necromancer choose to play solo much of the time, Necromancers are very useful in a group. With their pet and spells, they give the group both a tank and a battle mage in one package. This is a difficult class to play, but is a good one if you want to spend most of your time soloing.


 * Pet

There are eight main techniques to solo a victim.

 * Information copied from http://www.eqnecro.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=305

1. assist pet

 * send your buffed pet. if pet goes low hp, jump in and tank until you go low hp and pet has regened back its HP. now step back and let pet tank again. lifetap your HP back carefully. dont forget to add some dots in between. rinse and repeat. btw, this method is perfect to raise your defense and offense skills in young days.
 * this method is your main method until lvl 12, you can efficiently use it up to lvl 30 sometimes and even on lvl 70 it could be part of a combined kill technique. so never forget it)

2. fear kite

 * look for a safe area, where the feared mob is pathing safely without running into adds. park your pet there and pull mobs to your pet. if mob summons use a low dmg spell like cancel magic, lvl 1 lifetap or splurt later on. if mob at camp snare it and send pet in with /taunt off (/taunt on is also possible and has its advantages, but more tricky to avoid a pet death). now fear the mob and stack your dots. sit down and med. if fear wears of, mob should come back to you. refear before it hits you. if mob is a summoner, never let fear run out. it is also recommended to not let aggo dots run out, if you like to play ping pong.
 * thats your main method from lvl 12 on (lvl 12 snare is a must imho to do it efficiently). you can use it up to around lvl 60. the highest fearable mobs i know are these rats and pile of biles in PoD. with the new fear spells announced, the lvl cap for fearable mobs will get extended.
 * After the latest changes to clinging darkness, it might be that you can start kiting earlier now.
 * Forget the new fear spells. the mobs you would like to fear with it are immune mostly. so it stays to be a midlevel technique.

3. root dot

 * Root the mob or snare it first and root later if it reached a convienent place. stack your dots and sit down and med. if root breaks, root again. time your snare, actually never let snare run out. a perfect timer is your splurt spell casted directly after every snare. you will get several types of root spells with different cast times and max theoretical duration (it can break every damn tick). some necs load 2 roots: the short casting for emergency and the long duration for normal purposes. you dont use a pet, because pets break root. but you may consider to have your pet up and guarding you for emergency.
 * You get your 1st root spell on lvl 34. this technique is perfect for dungeons or any area without enough space to kite. you can use it even on lvl 70, but its less effcient than kiting because you are missing the manafree pet dmg.

4. aggo kiting

 * snare the mob and stack some dots to make it aggo on you. snare itself makes alot of aggo but some dots more is reccomended, especially some debuff dots like heart flutter works great. now send your full buffed pet in with /taunt off. run a safe route with the mob following you, while the pet is hitting in the back. rogue pet is best dmg, but dies often in an eycatch if mob turns on your pet. sit and med shortly if you can. never let your snare run off and keep aggo on you with the most nastiest dots. on higher lvl mobs your lvl 4 fear is perhaps the most aggoing and low mana spell, and it gets resisted all the time). shouldnt be necessary to load if you are just soloing, but if 5 other PC are nuking and hacking on your mob.
 * like fear kiting you shouldnt start with it before lvl 12. later on it becomes even superior to fearkiting, due to the fear cap lvl 52. on lvl 70 this is perhaps your most efficient method.
 * I heard they changed the aggo on resisted spells to 0. so the lvl 4 fear spell trick should not work anymore. but i havent testet it so far.

5. pet tanking

 * park your full buffed pet at a safe spot with /taunt ON (or rush if possible). pull the mob to your pet. you may snare the mob to fight more safely. send your pet on the mob and FD if neccesary to let your pet get aggo. stack your lifedrain dot and some low aggo dots. FD accordingly to not get aggo. heal your pet with the shadow line or/and pet heal spells. lifedrain dot and some taps should cover your HP loss. slow the mob if undead.
 * I dunno exactly, when you can start to use this method efficiently but if you see 1st time your 49 monster pet, it becomes obvious to use this technique. later on, mobs will simply one-round your pet if not undead slowed.

6. charm kiting

 * charm some undead mob. charm trends to get resisted or break early like hell. it is recommended to debuff magic. if you are solo, give your charmed pet some stuff with negative MR resist on it, as soon it is charmed. now send your pet on a mob. if it is necessary to heal, do it like in method 5. it is recommended to keep the mob snared and rooted. you dont like to have 2 mobs on you if your charm breaks and you have to recharm your pet. the dire charm AA is much safer to use, but be aware, that you can use this technique effciently just for a very short period of levels.
 * Also a method for the mid age, a good charm pet at the right place (which is seldom) deals unbelievable dmg. latest in PoP the charm breaks such often, that it is not efficent anymore for soloing, because you will miss the mr debuff badly(

7. summonkiting

 * well, if the mob trends to summon you and hits like a truck you have to become a bit more creative nec, right? 1st learn about the summon frequence of your victim. this may need some EE to figure that out. you should be full raid buffed as your pet should be. actually i cant describe it in general. it is very situational. a mixture of your fastest dots you try to stack if running away. your pet hacking in the back like aggokiting. using your lifedrain dot and lifetaps efficiently especially if fresh summoned. perhaps even refreshing your rune in between. some clicky items are helping alot. rooting the mob helps, too. and some dead trash around for aod pets helps also to keep the mob busy while you stack your 1st dot series. its similar to fearkiting but this time the mob plays ping pong with you and not vice versa as usual and it looses all its HP finally)
 * obviously you should have a shitload of HP, mana and AA. especially stuff which hastens your spells and let you crit like hell. no method for the young guns.

8. lifetap tanking

 * simply jump on the mob and lifetap it to death. pet helps a bit. sounds easy, doesnt it?
 * even if you can use this method on lvl 1. later on it is not recommended for young guns)

even if we got 8 main techniques to kill a mob, the real fun is to mix them up. mixing aggokite, root dot, pet tank and lifetap tank drives the mob crazy. best place to do so lately is stillmoon temple entrance. i like it). of course with more than 1 mob in parallel. this 9th technique is one reason, why i am looking forward to our new fear spells, especially if it comes to summoners)

End copy from http://www.eqnecro.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=305