Necro undead fear: Panic the Dead vs Dread of Night

[Bierp]

I hit 51 today and was reviewing my spells. I'm a bit perplexed by Dread of Night.

According to the wiki it has a shorter duration than the 29 spell Panic the Dead but costs twice the mana.

It casts 0.25 seconds faster and it has a -25 MR check. Do those two improvements really make up for it running less long?

Might there be another difference (max level affected?) that isn't mentioned on the wiki?


-Qaden

[Potus]

I always used Spook the Dead. It's a whopping 10 mana.

[Uteunayr]

Situational. If you're fighting a higher level undead that has a good bit of MR, you'll want that -25 MR. There's a decent number of times when Invoke Fear fails but Trepidation will succeed because if the -25 MR.

Most of the time, it's either spook spam or Panic. Dread is entirely situational.

[Bierp]

Ok, I'll buy that, thanks.

Now, can you explain why we get the root spells in the order we do? Paralyzing Earth at 49 but Enstill at 53 and Immobilize at 58? This is different than any other class. I struggle to think the 20/40 mana or the slightly faster cast make that worth it.

Just seems odd. Don't think I'll be breaking camp at 53 to run out to get Enstill. :)


BTW, huge thanks for your necro guide. It's been my bible! :)

[Uteunayr]

Enstill is the one I haven't been able to figure out. It is a slow cast root, so it should be Root -> Enstill -> Paralyzing Earth, and then the other line is for the fast cast roots, Immobilize -> Fetter. I can offer you no logical explanation for Enstill being after Paralyzing Earth, other than, at times, a shorter duration but lower mana costing root can be better. I know with my shaman, I use Enstill over Paralyzing Earth ever since the 1% failure crap.

And not a problem. Glad it has been helpful. :)

[Potus]

Ok, I'll buy that, thanks.

Now, can you explain why we get the root spells in the order we do? Paralyzing Earth at 49 but Enstill at 53 and Immobilize at 58? This is different than any other class. I struggle to think the 20/40 mana or the slightly faster cast make that worth it.

Verant was really dumb and didn't want to give Necros a lot of upgrades in Kunark for gameplay balance concerns. That's why you get weird stuff like improved invis at night and defoliation.