Necromancers in ESO are one of the more popular classes to play with, they shine in all roles, as damage dealers, tanks or healers due to their unique class skill lines.
All of Tamriel’s dead are a resource for you to manipulate and exploit, as nothing is forbidden for those who seek to master the dark arts. The Necromancer Class in ESO brings a unique style of play to The Elder Scrolls Online, allowing you to summon the undead and make use of corpses to overwhelm your enemies and empower your attacks.
The Necromancer is available with theElsweyr Collector's EditionorNecromancer Class upgradein the Crown Store. If you want to learn more about all classes that you can play in ESO please visit theClasses Overview Page.
Necromancer Class Introduction
Necromancers are a very popular class in-game,they can be played as damage dealers, tanks and healers. Overall, they are very common in ESO endgame content, such as harder 4-man groups or trial-groups. Below you can find a list of the pros and cons of the Necromancer class in ESO.Pros:
- good at everything, excelling at DPSing
- very dynamic gameplay
- can summon undead
- has useful synergies
- powerful passives
- powerful ultimates
Cons:
- rotation hard to master in endgame
- pets aren't permanent
DPS Necromancer Pros and Cons
The Necromancer class is most commonly played as a Necromancer damage dealer (DPS). Necromancers in ESO have a lot of skills that need to be recast from time to time, which are called DoTs (Damage over Time). They also bring along a very unique ultimate ability called Frozen Colossus which applies a strong debuff called Major Vulnerability on the enemy, increasing damage for everyone in your group.
Pros:
- high damage output
- powerful ultimate Frozen Colossus
- ranged and melee playstyle
- magicka and stamina builds are very effective
- good healing capabilities
- great solo spec
Cons:
- hard to master rotation in endgame
Healer Necromancer Pros and Cons
Necromancers are great healers. They also have a very own healer based class skill line that they can use. Necromancers also have a very powerful healer ultimate called Reanimate, which instantly resurrects up to 3 dead group members. This can be live saving in 4 player dungeons or even in 12 player trials.
Pros:
- Reanimate instantly resurrects up to 3 players,
- powerful burst healing ability Render Flesh
- strong AoE (area of effect) heal Life amid Death and Braided Tether
- high damage mitigation thanks to Spirit Guardian
- Major Vulnerability debuff thanks to ultimate Frozen Colossus
Cons:
- high cost ultimates
Tank Necromancer Pros and Cons
Necromancers are great tanks, they are often used in 4 player dungeons or as off-tanks in 12 player trials. Necromancer tanks often use Frozen Colossus to apply Major Vulnerability, which will increase the damage of the whole group by a lot. They can also use the Reanimate ultimate to instantly resurrect dead group members. To speed up ultimate generation they have access to Necrotic Potency which drains dead bodies and returns ultimate points.
Pros:
- good resource management
- easy survivability
- powerful ultimate abilities Frozen Colossus and Reanimate
- fast ultimate regeneration
- good support via buffs and debuffs
Cons:
- high cost ultimates
Necromancer Class Skill Lines explained
Next we are going to take a look at the three class skill lines that the Necromancer has. Of course you can use any skill line available in the game to create your own playstyle. Most, if not all builds do use a mix between class and non class skill lines.
You can find a full list of all the Necromancer class skill lines on the Necromancer Skills Overview Page.
Grave Lord Skill Line
TheGrave Lord skill lineis part of the Necromancer toolkit and has a focus on damage abilities. Imbue the dead with frost, fire, and lightning to bring ruin upon your enemies. Raise the relentless undead and allow your fallen enemies to intensify your unyielding assault.
Its Ultimate ability is Frozen Colossus. It is a very strong Ultimate ability that targets all nearby enemies and deals additional DoT damage. It also applies a powerful debuff for you and all other damage dealers. Glacial Colossus is one of its morphs and makes all enemies stunned on the last hit. Pestilent Colossus deals disease damage and the Colossus deals more damage with each smash.
Skeletal Mage is an extremely useful Necromancer skill as you oftentimes need a corpse to cast skills and this creates one. Watch this video to see how it’s used.
Boney Tyrant Skill Line
TheBone Tyrant skill lineis focused on defensive abilities. Bend and break the dead to your will and use their remains to create impenetrable barriers and extend your own life. Control the battlefield with the bones of the departed.
Its Ultimate ability is Bone Goliath Transformation. It transforms the player into a giant bone goliath and increases the Max Health by a very large amount, as well as restoring the same amount of health. Light and Heavy Attacks restore health as well, so this makes it a crucial skill in survival. Pummeling Goliath is one of its morphs and the caster gains an AoE (Area of Effect) Bash attack, bashing any enemy in proximity at once. Ravenous Goliath makes the player receive an aura that will drain all nearby enemies of their health.
Bone Armor and its morphs are an incredibly useful skill in this tree. Watch this video to see how it’s used.
Living Death Skill Line
The third and last skill line of the Necromancer-focused skill lines is calledLiving Deathand is focused on healing. Draw from the power of life and death to replenish and restore your allies. Resurrect your defeated comrades and keep them in the fight.
Its Ultimate ability is Reanimate and an incredible strong Ultimate for any specialisation. It brings your allies back from the dead instantly, reviving up to 3 group members. Animate Blastbones is one of its morphs and instead of resurrecting your fallen comrades, you consume all corpses in the area and summon Blastbones. Renewing Animation is the other morph and helps you restore Magicka and Stamina for each ally you attempt to resurrect.
Spirit Mender is a very useful passive heal. Watch this video to see how it’s used.
Below you can find a full list of common Necromancer builds. If you are a new player we do recommend starting with the beginner guides. However, you can also go take a look at the endgame builds to see what the class can look like when you reach the endgame.
Beginner Necromancer Class Guides & Builds
The Beginner Necromancer guides and builds are meant for new players. They introduce you to the Necromancer class and give you a good starting point for your adventure in ESO.
- Magicka Necromancer Guide
- Magicka Necromancer Beginner 160CP Build
- Stamina Necromancer Guide
- Stamina Necromancer Beginner 160CP Build
PvE Solo Necromancer Class Builds
The PvE Solo Necromancer builds are optimized for solo gameplay. The builds below have a good balance between damage, survivability, healing and movement. Everything you need to get through ESO alone. Of course, you can also use these solo builds in a group, especially useful in random groups.
PvE Dungeon & Trial META Necromancer Class Builds
The Meta Necromancer builds listed below are meant to be played in a group. The Meta Necromancer builds have a very cookie cutter approach and rely heavily on other group members.
- Magicka Necromancer DPS
- Stamina Necromancer DPS DW/Bow
- Stamina Necromancer DPS 2H/Bow
- Necromancer Healer
- Necromancer Tank
- Werewolf Build
If you are interested in PvP, you can take a closer look at this page, as it lists a variety of PvP builds and explains them in detail.
Is the Necromancer Class Beginner Friendly?
Necromancers is a fairly beginner friendly class if you pick the right skills. They get access to a good heal right at the start called Render Flesh, this is especially important if you play solo. Necromancers get also access to their main spammable Flame Skull right at the start, giving them an edge in dealing lots of damage to enemies early on. Plus you also get access to Death Scythe which can be used for AoE (area of effect) damage and also heals you based on numbers of enemies hit.
Leveling up the class skill lines will also give you access to powerful abilities such as Blastbones, Boneyard, Skeletal Mage and Spirit Mender].
Magicka Necromancer Damage Dealer Showcase
Magicka Necromancers are powerful magicka users which benefit a lot from their class abilities and passives. They have powerful passives such as: Death Gleaning, Last Gasp, Reusable Parts, Death Knell, Dismember, Rapid Rot, Curative Curse, Corpse Consumption and Undead Confederate. Magicka Necromancers also have a lot of powerful class abilities such as: Necrotic Potency, Ricochet Skull, Stalking Blastbones, Unnerving Boneyard, Skeletal Arcanist, Mystic Siphon and Spirit Guardian.
Magicka Necromancers also always use the Glacial Colossus ultimate to deal a lot of damage and apply the very good Major Vulnerability debuff on the enemy.
The video below shows theSolo Magicka Necromancer Buildin action, clearing the veteran mode Vateshran Hollows Arena.
Stamina Necromancer Damage Dealer Showcase
Stamina Necromancers in ESO are very powerful and also used in every stamina based group. Similar to the magicka version they benefit from great passives such as: Death Gleaning, Last Gasp, Reusable Parts, Death Knell, Dismember, Rapid Rot, Curative Curse, Corpse Consumption and Undead Confederate. Stamina Necromancers also have access to plenty of stamina based class abilities, which is unusual for a stamina based setup. The following abilities are very powerful: Venom Skull, Blighted Blastbones, Skeletal Archer, Detonating Siphon, Ruinous Scythe, Necrotic Potency and Spirit Guardian
Stamina Necromancers also always use the Pestilent Colossus ultimate to deal a lot of damage and apply the very good Major Vulnerability debuff on the enemy.
The video below shows theSolo Stamina Necromancer Buildin action, clearing the 4-player veteran hardmode dungeon City Of Ash 2 solo.
Healer Necromancer Showcase
Necromancers are suprisingly good healers thanks to their passives and skills. They also have a full class skill line dedicated to healing which makes it even more appealing and arguably the most powerful ultimate in the game. Lets start with the ultimate called Reanimate, you can resurrect up to 3 dead group members instantly, this is the most powerful healer ultimate in the game and can prevent wipes in dungeons or even trials, kind of like a panic button.
Necromancer Healers can also use Glacial Colossus to apply the Major Vulnerability debuff if you want to play more offensively. Great class based healing/support abilities are: Resistant Flesh, Expunge and Modify, Renewing Undeath, Spirit Guardian, Braided Tether and Necrotic Potency. Useful class passives are: Curative Curse, Near-Death Experience, Corpse Consumption, Undead Confederate, Last Gasp and Death Gleaning.
Below you can find a video to see aNecromancer Healer Buildin action, the video is from theVanaEvr youtube channel.
Tank Necromancer Showcase
Necromancer Tanks are very powerful thanks to a lot of useful class abilities and passives, they even have an own class skill line dedicated to tanking. Necromancer Tanks also have access to powerful ultimate abilities, you can either play offensively with Glacial Colossus to apply Major Vulnerability debuff, play defensively with the Bone Goliath Transformation to become unkillable, or use the Reanimate ultimate to resurrect dead group members instantly.Necromancers have plenty of great tanking based class abilities, the most important are: Hungry Scythe, Beckoning Armor, Deaden Pain, Agony Totem, Empowering Grasp, Expunge and Modify and Spirit Guardian. Important class based passives are: Disdain Harm, Health Avarice, Last Gasp, Corpse Consumption and Undead Confederate.
For more information on the Necromancer Tank I do recommend checking out theNecromancer Tank Build.
