Necromancer - Eastern Sun Wiki

General

Overview

The Necromancer summoner is a good starter class in Eastern Sun, because '+3 To Skill Tab' Rings and Amulets are easily and cheaply acquired and Necromancer summoners usually need only the Summoning tree. Aura items are abundant as well, and benefit your minions a lot. Annihilation aura, for example, grants Crushing Blow, which works very well with the Paladin's Zeal, but even better with an entire army of minions.

The Poison and Bone Necromancer is also an excellent choice. While Lower Resist does not reduce resistances to these spells, there is a new curse which does.

The Necromancer has also acquired some new skills, allowing for new kinds of builds.

Hydra and Blade Fury will allow you to think of some new tactics previously unavailable to the classic Necromancer. Most debilitating curses have an innate physical resistance reducing effect. This allows all of those curses to be used in conjunction with Corpse Explosion. Iron Maiden will be better than Amplify damage when your minions are fewer than your enemies, for example.

Melee Necromancers are not easy but can be viable, even in Hell difficulty, if they have decent gear, and are a fun challenge.

Initial Stats and Increment

Skills

Summoning Spells

Necromancer - Summoning Spells / Poison and Bone Spells / Curses

• Skeleton Mastery
• Revive
• Clay Golem
• Golem Mastery
• Blood Golem
• Raise Skeleton
• Metal Golem
• Summon Resist
• Fire Golem
• Hydra
• Raise Vampire

Skeleton Mastery

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Also increases Defense, Attack Rating and Vampire's melee damage.

Pros

Linear returns (+Skill items work efficiently). Affects 3 important kinds of minions.

Cons

Revive

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

A level 1 skill. Improved damage and duration. Less revived monsters and initial mana cost.

Pros

Basically stronger than the original monsters. You can select the monster to revive. Even 1 point works fine to increase the number of meat shields.

Cons

Die when the duration expires. Disappear when they can't catch up with you. Poor AI.

Notes

In spite of the much improved stats from the LoD version, Revived monsters aren't much useful in early games.

Passive Bonuses

Skeleton Mastery: +5% Max Life Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +15% Damage Per Level
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Raise Skeleton: +5% Max Life Per Level
Raise Vampire: +5% Max Life Per Level
Raise Skeleton: +7% Damage Per Level
Raise Vampire: +7% Damage Per Level

Clay Golem

Required Level

6

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

You can summon 1-4 Clay Golems with other Golems. Improved damage and synergies. Less slow effect.

Pros

Easily recastable due to the low mana cost. The slow effect is useful. (Prevents Baal from teleporting and cloning, for example.)

Cons

Poor killing ability. (The base damage synergy from Golem Mastery greatly improves the damage.)

Passive Bonuses

Golem Mastery: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Golem Mastery: +20% Max Life Per Level
Golem Mastery: +25 Attack Rating Per Level
Golem Mastery: Faster Run/Walk Bonus (Diminishing Return)
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Blood Golem: +10% Max Life Per Level
Metal Golem: +50 Defense Per Level
Fire Golem: +10% Damage Per Level
Blood Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Metal Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Fire Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level

Golem Mastery

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6)

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Pros

1 point works fine.

Cons

Blood Golem

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6)

Difference from the LoD version

You can summon 1-3 Blood Golems with other Golems. Improved damage, life and synergies.

Pros

Steals enemy's life and heals the caster.

Cons

Poor killing ability. (The base damage synergy from Golem Mastery greatly improves the damage.)

Passive Bonuses

Golem Mastery: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Golem Mastery: +20% Max Life Per Level
Golem Mastery: +25 Attack Rating Per Level
Golem Mastery: Faster Run/Walk Bonus (Diminishing Return)
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Clay Golem: +20 Attack Rating Per Level
Metal Golem: +50 Defense Per Level
Fire Golem: +10% Damage Per Level
Clay Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Metal Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Fire Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level

Raise Skeleton

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

Revive (1)

Difference from the LoD version

Receives synergy from Revive and Raise Vampire.

Pros

No expiration. Very tough and reliable.

Cons

Requires a corpse. Less effective against bosses.

Passive Bonuses

Skeleton Mastery: +8 Life Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +15 Defense Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +15 Attack Rating Per Level
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Revive: +8 Life Per Level
Raise Vampire: +8 Life Per Level
Revive: +15 Defense Per Level
Raise Vampire: +15 Defense Per Level
Revive: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Raise Vampire: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Revive: +15 Attack Rating Per Level
Raise Vampire: +15 Attack Rating Per Level

Metal Golem

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6), Blood Golem (12)

Difference from Iron Golem

You can summon a Metal Golem with other Golems. Can be summoned from a non-metal item. Improved damage, life, Thorns effect and synergies.

Pros

Metal Golem inherits most properties on the item. Built-in Thorns effect.

Cons

Requires an item to cast.

Passive Bonuses

Golem Mastery: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Golem Mastery: +20% Max Life Per Level
Golem Mastery: +25 Attack Rating Per Level
Golem Mastery: Faster Run/Walk Bonus (Diminishing Return)
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Clay Golem: +20 Attack Rating Per Level
Blood Golem: +10% Max Life Per Level
Fire Golem: +10% Damage Per Level
Clay Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Blood Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Fire Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level

Summon Resist

Required Level

24

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6), Golem Mastery (12)

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Notes

Summons aren't affected by the resist penalty of each difficulty.

Pros

1 point works fine.

Cons

Fire Golem

Required Level

24

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6), Blood Golem (12), Metal Golem (18)

Difference from the LoD version

You can summon a Fire Golem with other Golems. Improved damage, life and synergies.

Pros

Deals fire damage and fire aura damage in addition to melee damage. Heals from enemy's fire spells.

Cons

Holy Fire may activate too many enemies at once.

Passive Bonuses

Golem Mastery: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Golem Mastery: +20% Max Life Per Level
Golem Mastery: +25 Attack Rating Per Level
Golem Mastery: Faster Run/Walk Bonus (Diminishing Return)
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Clay Golem: +40 Attack Rating Per Level
Blood Golem: +10% Max Life Per Level
Metal Golem: +50 Defense Per Level
Clay Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Blood Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Metal Golem: +3 Base Damage Per Level
Hydra: +5% Fire Damage Per Level
Hydra: +5% Holy Fire Damage Per Level

Hydra

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Clay Golem (6), Blood Golem (12), Metal Golem (18), Fire Golem (24)

Difference from Hydra (LoD)

Additional duration per level. Shorter cast delay.

Pros

"Fire and forget" skill. "Scouting" ability. More spammable than Hydra(LoD).

Cons

Fire Golem: +5% Fire Damage Per Level
Raise Vampire: +5% Fire Damage Per Level

Raise Vampire

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Revive (1), Clay Golem (6), Blood Golem (12), Raise Skeleton (12), Metal Golem (18)

Difference from Raise Skeletal Mage

Vampires use better skills with wider AoE. Use Bone Spirit instead of Poison Bolt. Improved life and melee ability.

Pros

No expiration. Fairly tough and reliable.

Cons

Requires a corpse. Less tough than Skeletons.

Passive Bonuses

Skeleton Mastery: +8 Base Life Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +15 Defense Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +15 Attack Rating Per Level
Skeleton Mastery: +1 Skill Level Per Level
Summon Resist: All Resist Bonus (Diminishing Return)
(Passive bonus is similar to synergy, but the total skill level works instead of base level.)

Synergies

Revive: +8 Base Life Per Level
Raise Skeleton: +8 Base Life Per Level
Revive: +15 Defense Per Level
Raise Skeleton: +15 Defense Per Level
Revive: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Raise Skeleton: +2 Base Damage Per Level
Revive: +15 Attack Rating Per Level
Raise Skeleton: +15 Attack Rating Per Level

Poison and Bone Spells

Necromancer - Summoning Spells / Poison and Bone Spells / Curses

• Bone Armor
• Poison Slash
• Poison Explosion
• Bone Wall
• Frozen Spear
• Corpse Explosion
• Bone Prison
• Killer Scythe
• Bone Spirit
• Hell's Gate
• Poison Nova
• Bone Wave

Bone Armor

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Also grants defense bonus. The synergies multiplies the bonus of the skill by percent, instead of adding the bonus.

Pros

Cons

Synergies

Poison Slash: +5% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Killer Scythe: +5% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Bone Wall: +2% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Bone Prison: +2% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Bone Spirit: +2% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Bone Wave: +2% Absorb / Defense Per Level
Poison Slash: +5% Faster Hit Recovery Per Level
Killer Scythe: +5% Faster Hit Recovery Per Level

Poison Slash

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

A New ES Skill

Poison Slash is based on Poison Dagger, but can be used with any melee weapons.

Pros

Not only Poison Damage but also Attack Rating bonus helps a lot.

Cons

Single target skill. Mana cost may be heavy in early games.

Synergies

Bone Armor: +8% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Explosion: +8% Poison Damage Per Level
Killer Scythe : +8% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +8% Poison Damage Per Level

Poison Explosion

Required Level

6

Prerequisites

Poison Slash (1)

Difference from the LoD version

The radius bug is fixed. Also deals physical damage.

Pros

Better damage, longer duration (and longer radius in higher slvls) than Poison Nova.

Cons

Requires a corpse. Corpse Explosion can be better in most cases.

Synergies

Poison Slash: +12% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +12% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Slash: +12% Physical Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +12% Physical Damage Per Level

Bone Wall

Required Level

6

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Receives Synergy from more skills.

Pros

Targetable defensive skill. Party friendly if carefully used.

Cons

Deals no damage. Party unfriendly if spammed.

Synergies

Bone Armor: +10% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Prison: +10% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Spirit: +10% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Wave: +10% Life Bonus Per Level

Frozen Spear

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

Bone Armor (1)

Difference from Bone Spear (LoD)

Improved Damage. Deals Cold damage. (Unlike the skillname, it doesn't freeze but chills enemies.)

Pros

Worth considering if your main curse is Lower Resist (ie. if you emphasis Vampires).

Cons

Cold damage destroys some corpses.

Synergies

Bone Wall: +6% Cold Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +6% Cold Damage Per Level
Bone Spirit: +6% Cold Damage Per Level
Bone Wave: +6% Cold Damage Per Level

Corpse Explosion

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

Poison Slash (1), Poison Explosion (6)

Difference from the LoD version

Reduced damage and radius. Increased mana cost.

Pros

Still one of the best AoE skills. Work fine with both lower physical resist effect (Amplify Damage, Inner Sight, etc.) and lower elemental resist effect (Lower Resist, Conviction, +XX% To Fire Skill Damage, etc.).

Cons

Requires a corpse.

Bone Prison

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

Bone Wall (6)

Difference from the LoD version

Receives Synergy from more skills.

Pros

Cons

Single target skill. Deals no damage.

Synergies

Bone Armor: +8% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Wall: +8% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Spirit: +8% Life Bonus Per Level
Bone Wave: +8% Life Bonus Per Level

Killer Scythe

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

Poison Slash (1)

A New ES Skill

Killer Scythe is based on the Amazon's Fend skill, but requires a 2H melee weapon to use.

Notes

Killer Scythe is faster than LoD Fend, but slightly slower than the improved ES Fend. This is because it proved Fend works much faster with other classes than Amazon and Sorceress.

For this reason, oskill Killer Scythe has no limitation while oskill Fend has. Oskill Killer Scythe is as fast as Amazon's Fend for most classes, but isn't so fast for Sorceresses. Please use Fanatic Swing if you play Sorceress.

Pros

Fast attack. Triggers CtC spells frequently.

Cons

Not so fast against a single target.

Synergies

Poison Slash: +15% Damage Per Level
Bone Armor: +15% Damage Per Level
Bone Wall: +15% Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +15% Damage Per Level
Bone Wave: +15% Damage Per Level

Bone Spirit

Required Level

24

Prerequisites

Bone Armor (1), Poison Slash (1), Poison Explosion (6), Frozen Spear (12), Corpse Explosion (18)

Difference from the LoD version

Improved Damage. More Mana Consumption. Less Synergy.

Pros

Homing ability. Monster's Magic resist is generally lower than other resists.

Cons

Single target skill. Lower Resist doesn't lower Magic resist.

Synergies

Bone Wall: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Frozen Spear: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Wave: +5% Magic Damage Per Level

Hell's Gate

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Bone Armor (1), Poison Slash (1), Poison Explosion (6), Frozen Spear (12), Corpse Explosion (18), Bone Spirit (24)

Difference from Nova (LoD)

Deals Magic damage. Much improved missile range.

Pros

Attacks the enemies in all directions. Spammable. Multiple missiles hit a large target.

Cons

The damage of each missile is low.

Synergies

Frozen Spear: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spirit: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Wave: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +5% Magic Damage Per Level

Poison Nova

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Poison Slash (1), Poison Explosion (6), Corpse Explosion (18)

Difference from the LoD version

Improved poison damage. Also deals physical damage.

Pros

Good AoE. Counters many monsters' life regeneration at once.

Cons

Spamming isn't so effective because a fair part of damage is poison.

Synergies

Poison Slash: +5% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Explosion: +5% Poison Damage Per Level
Hell's Gate: +5% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Slash: +5% Physical Damage Per Level
Poison Explosion: +5% Physical Damage Per Level
Hell's Gate: +5% Physical Damage Per Level

Bone Wave

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Bone Wall (6), Bone Prison (18)

A new ES skill

Attacks enemies with a moving bone wall. The wall goes through enemies, but is still defensive because of knockback effect.

Pros

Offensive but also defensive.

Cons

Cast Delay.

Synergies

Bone Wall: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Frozen Spear: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +5% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spirit: +5% Magic Damage Per Level

Curses

Necromancer - Summoning Spells / Poison and Bone Spells / Curses

• Amplify Damage
• Weaken
• Terror
• Dim Vision
• Confuse
• Iron Maiden
• Attract
• Decrepify
• Blade Fury
• Life Tap
• Lower Resist
• Pierce Flesh and Bone

Amplify Damage

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Slightly less physical resistance reduction.

Pros

Still the strongest physical attack supporting skill. Works fine with Corpse Explosion, too.

Cons

Small radius at low slvls. No other effect than physical resistance reduction.

Synergies

Iron Maiden: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Life Tap: +1 Second Per Level

Weaken

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Also reduces target's physical resistance. Can negate a very large part of target's physical damage by synergy.

Pros

Large radius and long duration at low slvls. Not only very defensive but also works as mini Amplify Damage.

Cons

Can't reduce monster's elemental/magic damage.

Synergies

Dim Vision: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Lower Resist: +1 Second Per Level
Dim Vision: -1% Target's Physical Damage Per Level
Decrepify: -1% Target's Physical Damage Per Level
Lower Resist: -1% Target's Physical Damage Per Level
(Target's Physical Damage% is capped at -95%)

Terror

Required Level

1

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Less mana cost.

Pros

The most fast-acting emergency curse.

Cons

Some monsters are immune to AI curses. Doesn't help killing monsters.

Synergies

Confuse: +1 Second Per Level
Attract: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level

Dim Vision

Required Level

6

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Pros

Effectively disables ranged attackers and casters. Suppresses many special abilities of monsters (jumping, resurrecting corpses, spawning eggs and children, etc.)

Cons

Some monsters are immune to AI curses. Less offensive than other AI curses. Duration decreases in higher difficulties.

Synergies

Weaken: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Lower Resist: +1 Second Per Level

Confuse

Required Level

6

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Pros

Disables ranged attackers and casters to some extent. Enemies may attack each other, so more offensive than Dim Vision. When cast on boss packs, the minions will attack their unaffected leader.

Cons

Some monsters are immune to AI curses. Confused monsters attack random targets, so your minions and party members may still be attacked, especially when they are close to the monsters. Duration decreases in higher difficulties.

Synergies

Terror: +1 Second Per Level
Attract: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level

Iron Maiden

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

Amplify Damage (1)

Difference from the LoD version

Also reduces target's physical resistance. Improved damage reflection. Players receives much less return damage and minions receives no return damage. (ie. Monster's Iron Maiden is much less dangerous.)

Pros

Even a small number of minions and/or weak minions can damage enemies effectively.

Cons

Can't return spell damage and ranged attack damage.

Notes

It had been considered that "Return Damage% to Others" parameter is "Return Damage% to Minions and Hirelings". But it proved minions still take the return damage from Iron Maiden even if that parameter is zero.

Synergies

Amplify Damage: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Life Tap: +1 Second Per Level
Amplify Damage: +15% Return Damage Per Level
Decrepify: +15% Return Damage Per Level
Life Tap: +15% Return Damage Per Level

Attract

Required Level

12

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Pros

Enemies attack the targets. Can be used with another curse like Iron Maiden, which makes this skill the most offensive AI curse.

Cons

Requires more play skill than Dim Vision and Confuse. You have to select the targets carefully, considering the line of sight, etc.

Notes

Attract is intentionally coded not to be overridden by other curses. The tip is casting Attract to small amount of enemies, and then casting another curses like Iron Maiden to the whole enemies (Attract remains, so they continue killing each other).

Synergies

Terror: +1 Second Per Level
Confuse: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level

Decrepify

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

Amplify Damage (1), Dim Vision (6), Iron Maiden (12)

Difference from the LoD version

Slightly improved physical resistance reduction.

Pros

All-in-one curse. Aka King of Curses.

Cons

Small radius and very short duration.

Synergies

Amplify Damage: +1 Second Per Level
Weaken: +1 Second Per Level
Lower Resist: +1 Second Per Level

Blade Fury

Required Level

18

Prerequisites

None

Difference from the LoD version

Less weapon damage. More damage per level. The damage of 2H weapon isn't halved.

Pros

A good support fire from behind the minions. Also good to make the first corpse. Even 1 point works fine.

Cons

Not so effective when the weapon's melee mods (ED%, Crushing Blow, Elemental Damage, etc.) are poor.

Life Tap

Required Level

24

Prerequisites

Amplify Damage (1), Iron Maiden (12)

Difference from the LoD version

None.

Pros

Can leech from unleechable monsters. Saves the life of your minions and party members.

Cons

No offensive effects. Useless when all your minions and party members are in good health.

Synergies

Amplify Damage: +1 Second Per Level
Iron Maiden: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Amplify Damage: +2% Life Stolen Per Level
Iron Maiden: +2% Life Stolen Per Level
Decrepify: +2% Life Stolen Per Level
Blood Golem: +2% Life Stolen Per Level

Lower Resist

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Amplify Damage (1), Dim Vision (6), Iron Maiden (12), Decrepify (18)

Difference from the LoD version

Can't lower target's Poison or Magic Resistance. But can lower Magic and Poison Resistance by synergy.

Pros

Can lower all of the target's resistances by synergy.

Cons

Can't lower target's Magic Resistance and Poison Resistance without synergy.

Synergies

Weaken: +1 Second Per Level
Dim Vision: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Summon Resist: -1% Target's F/C/R Resist Per Level
Pierce Flesh and Bone: -3% Target's Poison and Magic Resist Per Level

Pierce Flesh and Bone

Required Level

30

Prerequisites

Amplify Damage (1), Dim Vision (6), Iron Maiden (12), Decrepify (18)

A new ES skill

A specialized version of Lower Resist for Poison and Magic Resistance.

Pros

The lowering effect is very strong.

Cons

Lowers only two types of Resistance.

Synergies

Weaken: +1 Second Per Level
Dim Vision: +1 Second Per Level
Decrepify: +1 Second Per Level
Summon Resist: -1% Target's Poison and Magic Resist Per Level