Necro, how do you not choose Iksar?

[Swish]

iksars look mighty fine in a well tailored robe too... fashionquest dictates them to being the best choice, especially if you can get that cloth/animal skull headpiece.

swit swoo

[Tann]

iksars look mighty fine in a well tailored robe too... fashionquest dictates them to being the best choice, especially if you can get that cloth/animal skull headpiece.

swit swoo

but the run animation and most of their combat animations are awful, granted necro doesn't have to deal with combat stuffs after those early levels.

now a human vs. iksar monk fashionquest contest? human hands down

[iruinedyourday]

I would roll a dark elf for style.

Then i would play my iksar and or one of my shamans or my enchanters or epic mage or druid to farm stuff.

kek

I have a problem :(

[ctre]

Hmm

Well actually you should try a necro that is not an Iksar.
You are right . it is a harder challenge.

And if you can survive the extra punishment as a Necormancer, (non iksar).
you will be on average a better player.

Is it better to be an iksar???... ( I think it is safer ).
If you are raiding, then .. be an Iksar. .. other wise.. .. /shrug.. < your choice is here >

[Treefall]

Hmm

Well actually you should try a necro that is not an Iksar.
You are right . it is a harder challenge.

And if you can survive the extra punishment as a Necormancer, (non iksar).
you will be on average a better player.

Is it better to be an iksar???... ( I think it is safer ).
If you are raiding, then .. be an Iksar. .. other wise.. .. /shrug.. < your choice is here >

In my experience so far, up to 47...if you're more of an AFK player, taking a lot of breaks or camping set spawn timers as opposed to farming none stop, I think other races level faster, obv., and are just as easy.

50+ I can't speak for, but I'm sure Iksar takes off, especially if you are trying to farm as much as possible in the allotted playtime you have.

[Uton]

Seriously. I'm not the minmaxer guy but when you have Lich spells... How do you not go Iksar?

The only challenge with HP for me on a DE necro is at raids when there is nothing to cast leech spells on. I just leech off Gzaz, any well geard shaman with torpor can keep themselves healed while i twitch the clerics :P

It was only until several hours into the raid, at Vulak that I told him I had been helaing off him.

Anyway, regen is nice, iksar necro are deff superior, but in the end the work gets done. so shrug

[Pringles]

I would roll a dark elf for style.

Then i would play my iksar and or one of my shamans or my enchanters or epic mage or druid to farm stuff.

kek

I have a problem :(

I feel like you just logged into my account, wtf.

[solduios]

Erudite base mana pool is superior to Iksar by a lot. At any rate this can be useful for when soloing and mob resists a lot or you just need to burn some thing down. That being said Iksar are better on a mob for an extended period where mana regen/hp regen matter more.

In the end the difference is Iksar can be more lazy at managing taps and lich while Erudite with leach dot up are almost on par with Iksar but have a much larger mana pool to play with.

Only time I would say Iksar over another race is when FDing with lich.

[Uton]

Horribly unintelligent

[pharmakos]

Erudite base mana pool is superior to Iksar by a lot. At any rate this can be useful for when soloing and mob resists a lot or you just need to burn some thing down. That being said Iksar are better on a mob for an extended period where mana regen/hp regen matter more.

In the end the difference is Iksar can be more lazy at managing taps and lich while Erudite with leach dot up are almost on par with Iksar but have a much larger mana pool to play with.

Only time I would say Iksar over another race is when FDing with lich.

its not that hard to get to the 200 INT soft cap even as an iksar with all starting points in STA.

(but all STA is a bad choice for iksars still -- its better to hit 200 sooner so you can start focusing on +Mana gear)

[Uton]

Necro isn't all about mana pool brah. There is a balance between lich and regen that is more important than total mana. For that reason iksar are superior in all ways as a necro

[Faywind]

Necro isn't all about mana pool brah. There is a balance between lich and regen that is more important than total mana. For that reason iksar are superior in all ways as a necro

This.

[Uton]

This.

And yet... I chose dark elf. Purely nostalgia

[solduios]

its not that hard to get to the 200 INT soft cap even as an iksar with all starting points in STA.

(but all STA is a bad choice for iksars still -- its better to hit 200 sooner so you can start focusing on +Mana gear)

You will always have more mana as Erudite even capped due to higher base int

[pharmakos]

And you'll always have regen as an iksar ;)

[Troxx]

In a game like eq (during this era specifically) total mana pool means little in comparison to regen potential.

Exceptions:
-quad classes need a certain minimum to pull off the quad.
-raids or named encounters where you have plenty of prep and the fight ends relatively quickly
-those rare "oh shit" moments on some classes where having a larger pool means you could get the job done thanks to a slightly larger pool.

Aside from that, in 99% of grouping situations where you don't have an excess of downtime the dps potential or heal potential of a caster isn't really affected much by mana pool.

Very few of these scenarios ever apply to a necro, and it's for that reason that iksar necros will always have a very real and obvious advantage. They're undeniably the min/max choice for p99. For levels 1-49 the difference is small. Once regen kicks in during the 50s, they pull ahead by a large margin. I'd wager a DE necro could get to 60 faster than an iksar necro given the 20% difference in leveling speed, but one you hit 60 that could speed doesn't matter.

Having said that, necros of any race can be effective, just less effective than they would have been as a lizard.

Best reason to not be iksar? You like to look of other races better. At the end of the day, that's not a wrong choice. Do what makes you happy.

I haven't made a necro yet, mostly because I don't want to play iksar and can't bring myself to roll a necro of any other race.

[Colgate]

You will always have more mana as Erudite even capped due to higher base int

i don't think that's how it works

[Uton]

i don't think that's how it works

Makes me laugh tho

[Danger]

On red, would the leet wall hax of a gnome be worth it to not go iksar?

[Uton]

I think they can do tinkering to make an eye of zomm clickable? That is very useful when you are fd with 10% hp and need to lich.

The wall hax are rly cool but I reserve gnomes for mage, cuz it's fricken fun.

However for raiding scene there are very few mobs to heal off if and an eye of zomm will aggro everything (think it's lvl 1?)

I would say for necro the wall hax is situational and iksar regen is forever... so you decide

[Uteunayr]

How has this gone on for 27 pages?..

[Monty405]

I am passionate about fashionquest.

[Treefall]

How has this gone on for 27 pages?..

Because a link to your guide wasn't the first response.

[Beinen]

How has this gone on for 27 pages?..

I also think some of the newer players could use more youtube videos. :) :) I know you've put time into your work, and i'm very appreciative! I know all of us are. This is a topic I struggled with myself when I created the necromancer. When I started this post my necromancer was level 22 dark elf, and I lost hp sitting with the lich on. I researched and saw that a iksar would still gain hp sitting at that point and it ate me alive from the inside, literally and figuratively that another race would have that kind of dominance if this forum readers will allow me to use that term. I first thought I would go gnome for tinker, then dark elf for stats, and finally ended up making an iksar. I am raiding and even if i'm not I still have to use the mana expensive non-efficient life taps over time(BoD) as often as my necro friends/guildies have to. I feel as though I have won this time in the race selection and i'll reserve my gnome choice for another class as the regen isn't as big of a deal to any other class than Necro->monk->shaman/SK. That is my opinion on the order so no need to argue that everyone.

Again, thanks for all you did for the necromancer community.

[Bathcat]

I went Erudite cause of style. Minimum turkey, maximum smooth

[Uton]

when does Circlet of Shadows get nerfed

[ctre]

I went Erudite cause of style. Minimum turkey, maximum smooth

You just like the cricket bat forged forehead.

[beta]

For pvp iksar is the best... For fashion iksar is the best

Master race

[Lowlife]

For pvp iksar is the best... For fashion iksar is the best

Master race

Please elaborate on the pvp effectiveness of the Iksar

[Nagash]

Please elaborate on the pvp effectiveness of the Iksar

They are born with the hatred of any other living thing, that split second you will hesitate, they won't.

[Bionic]

I'd take a Erudite with the higher mana pool and racial +5 SV Magic for PvP.

[Uton]

5mr doesn't give you infinite regen

[Vexenu]

Erudites are flat out superior for PvP, at least during Kunark-era. With high-end Velious loot Iksars pull ahead again.

People don't realize how abysmal the low-INT Iksar mana pool is when wearing normal Kunark resist gear. Compare:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Erudmancer

to

http://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Iksarmancer

500 extra mana blows away regen in PvP fights, most of which are either won or lost in under 2 minutes as an INT caster. This is especially true for Necros who often rely on spamming lifetaps for both offensive (unresistable) and defensive (healing) purposes. 500 mana is 2.5 extra casts of Deflux, totaling approximately 500 damage and 750 healing in PvP. That's a 1250 HP differential in a 1v1 (500 damage to opponent, 750 self healed). 2.5 casts of Deflux takes approximately 12 seconds, or two ticks. Can an Iksar regen 1250 HP in two ticks? Obviously not. Iksar regen doesn't even begin to make up for their severe mana disadvantage in 99% of PvP fights.

But to be fair, that's really about the only strong argument for not going Iksar. Unless you are planning to PvP on your Necro in Kunark-era gear, make the lizard. High end Velious gear practically nullifies the Erudite INT advantage and regen once again reigns supreme.

[odiecat99]

All about the stylish, awesome FD animation. No other race matches the beauty of the overly Shakespearean, glorious flop. The others just lay on their sides and curl up like they are weak and pathetic.

Really, I see 2 big reasons for not being Iksar.

1) You made your character pre-Kunark. Not everyone can reroll, or should. I did because it was important to me that my character not be a throttle on my performance.

2) You have a subjective attachment to another race. There is no one who can tell you you shouldn't be a Dark Elf Necromancer if you find value in being a Dark Elf. That's subjective, and that's the way you assign value. That's why when I updated information on the necromancer page, I stated "Go Iksar if you care about min/maxing and having a leg up in terms of efficiency. Non-Iksar can still get the job done." If min/maxing is something which concerns you (being the numerically best race), then go Iksar. But there are other concerns people can have when making their character.

My concern in telling people to go Iksar so often is because too many people come to Project 1999 from games like World of Warcraft, where race by and large doesn't matter much at all. Because of this, they pick any race, and by the time they are level 40-50 and start to learn the class a lot more, it hits them: Oh, Iksar is numerically better. Now, if you're someone who values the race you chose over the regeneration, AC, etc. Then you wont have a problem, and all of this "Go Iksar!" shit wont bother you. But if you're someone that does care, suddenly you're trapped with a character, and you'll keep leveling the one with the inferior race (in terms of min/max) because of sunk costs. That is what I want to prevent people from doing. People should know the value of Iksar, and of the other races, before making a choice so they never feel trapped in sunk costs.

Your sig makes me wanna vomit