Necro in group
 

When I am in a group, I am not sure what my role should be. I send my pet obviously and DOT on reds or yellows, but blue mobs drop so fast it doesn't seem worth it.

While I am only level 12 now, what do necros do at later levels in groups?

Heal, especially when you get the cheap HoT, unless theres a lot of healing already. Buff AC. In the teens you get your first decent lifetap, and you can use that as your nuke. At 24 you get a decent DD.

master the flow of hp, trade yours for mana, then lifetap the mobs, then heal your party with life flow, tap the mobs for more hp, rinse and repeat.

Is twitch in the game? If so, use when needed to help out healers' mana but don't let them relegate you to doing nothing but being a mana battery.

Twitchbitch. Learn to be one. :p

I used to always spot-heal and twitch in groups with my necro on live.

Use lifetaps as your nuke since your loosing hitpoints anyway due to your mana regen.
Position your pet well so it can do maximum damage from the back of the mob.

Lower level snare (forget the name) is great for mobs that run and a nice additional treat you can give to your group.

Crowd control. You have a short duration mez, usually plenty for single adds. Use it!

In extreme case you can be a puller to split a camp for the group. Rarely necessary with so many forms of lull, and other classes that can FD, but it's still an option.

Buffs! You have resist buffs! If your mana is good, use them on the main tank and/or puller. You would be surprised how often the tank and puller have dots and/or debuffs of some kind. This lowers group DPS and increases the mana that the main healer needs to spend.

Necros have decent versatility when you think about it. Much more so than a mage or wizard.

Well stated. It's a class that I liken to a bard. You can either twist 3-4 songs at a time or sit back and play manasong. With a necro can simply twitch and send the pet and manatap when need be, or you can be button-mashing until your fingers hurt.

I've managed to off-heal groups on planes when the MH was afk (so long as it wasn't a tank), twitch, manatap, mez, root, even pull. It's a fantastic class when played correctly

Also - don't make a habit of it, but..

If the group gets too many mobs - pick one - snare it good, get it pissed and kite it off. *Sometimes* you can keep a mob locked down that way, but don't forget to load up dots on the MT's target too.

Soon as the tank can take the mob over - you can FD :)

I did that a few times with my Necro in the old days to get things under control - but be careful of when and how you do it.

Spend more time in groups too, a lot of Necros neglect to do that. That will really polish your skills.
But for now - the advice above won't steer you wrong ;)

And I'm assuming you know - but.. don't ever fear in dungeons.. lol

I fully agree with guineapig. Necro have a bunch of utilities and good dps. If well played you will be a valuable asset to your group!

As i like to have an eye open for exceptional players when i'm grouping, the player i was most impressed with was a necro. He was a fantastic player (forgotten who it was now though...) and was a great utility player.

The other class that i tend to notice stand out is a well played bard.