Iksar Necro help -

[Andragore]

Never played in iksar or a necro - just wondering if someone with experience couls guide me in spending initial 30 points on start up, maybe first few things to focus on? Thanks!

[Godefroi]

Hey there,

I have a 60 iks necro.

we have low int, and even with high end kunark gear, it's kinda tough to max int (unless you intend to play a lot and will app to have top guild to either get VS gloves or PD items).

In kunark I'd have said max INT at start, so you can reach the cap and then switch to HP once well geared.

With Velious to be released soon ( [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] ), I'd say go for STA, since velious gear will make capping int VERY easily. Once capped you then want to maximize your HP.

Hope this helps.

cheers!

[Andragore]

Thanks - I appreciate the advice! Would there be any sense in splitting the two - 15 and 15?

[Halius]

http://wiki.project1999.com/Sesserdr...Strategy_Guide

Great guide for Necros. I don't have one personally, but that is what I would use if I made one [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[jarshale]

Split points into into str/stam. It's easy to get int gear and you really don't need a big mana pool anyway thanks to lich.

[Gryk]

One stop shop!

[Uteunayr]

I'm glad people are finding my guide useful enough to link around!

After seeing this post, I decided I wanted to know better just what would be the best starting stats presuming the top of the line, end-game raiding content gear. Thought I would share my thinking...

What starting stats are best to minimize intelligence clipping? Well, it is always going to matter what gear it is you are using. However, I do not know much about Velious loot, as Velious is something I am completely new to. So I went with the Wiki's list of top of the line raiding gear in Velious. Using the lowest int items of every category on that list, there is a total of +159 intelligence.

Please note, some high end items listed have no intelligence, and some sub-high end items may have intelligence in those slots, so we should not assume that +159 is the maximum intelligence a necromancer can have at end game, nor that the higher level gear a necromancer has, that it is a linear progression up to 159. A mid ranged necromancer may have more intelligence on their gear than a higher geared necromancer. Additionally, there may be alternative gear for each slot that may be superior to the more int heavy items.

Since intelligence caps at 255, this means you will be at exactly 255 with 96 starting intelligence. According to the wiki, the starting stats of an Iksar Necromancer is 70 stamina, and 85 int.

Lets take a hypothetical Iksar Necromancer:

You get 30 points to distribute. If you were to go 25int/5sta, you'd get 110 int, 75 sta.

With that build, and capped out end-game raiding gear (presuming that there are no other comparable/viable alternatives with greater emphasis on stamina rather than intelligence, a shaky presumption for me to make), you would lose 14 Intelligence to the 255 cap.

Those 14 intelligence points, if they were instead put into stamina at character creation (96 int/89 sta), you would gain approximately 28 HP (assuming you don't go over 200 stamina). You lose approximately 28 HP by going the 110 int, 75 sta route, as those 14 points disappear in the >255 range.

Now, if we add in the enchanter buff for +20 intelligence (lets just assume that you always have an enchanter with you to provide it), this means that the 96 sweet spot drops down to 76, and an Iksar automatically loses 9 points of Intelligence to the cap.

So, I guess what I am getting at here is that you need to think about the question in relation to what you believe you are likely to do, and what you have the desire to do. Do you expect to get the absolute high end gear, getting that solid +159 intelligence? Do you want to be only capped when you have an enchanter with you? Is the 28 HP you gain by going full stamina worth the loss of 70 mana (when over 200 int but under 255 int) or even 140 mana (while under 200) while you're still not optimally geared?

Ultimately, I don't believe you're going to be destroyed as a Necromancer if you go 25int/5sta. The 28 HP will not obliterate your potential. You're an Iksar, you already have Regen, you're fine. Alternatively, I don't think you'll be destroyed if you're 5 int/25 sta, as even if you don't reach 255 intelligence, you'll be favoring a harder to find stat (and some may value HP significantly more than mana, more than 1:1).

I would suggest that you weigh the considerations of what you plan to do with your Necromancer, and come to an informed decision about it. For me, I do not expect I will get the absolute top of the line gear, as all of that gear is highly contested, not only between guilds, but between people within the guilds (lots of all/all gear on the list), and so I do not have a problem being a 110/75 Iksar myself.