Yup, dex and AC... and it's more than feasible to level (it's very very strong when under 40, I would level up duoing most of the time ....and my favorite to duo with were just added DPS like a monk, since I could heal myself and tank and heal the monk if they got hurt too. Or another necromancer for shadow pacting each other).
I've always been more survivable than my pet. And I never had much to twink myself with (Pockete was my only other character, so twinked me with what she could get at level 18).
AC is super important though. One of the first parses I did was testing the difference between 530 AC and 650 AC.... against just a green guard in front of the freeport bank.
It took the average damage per hit from 50 (with 530 ac) to just 26 (with 650 AC). That's a hugeeee difference, and why casters normally get destroyed by anything in melee, even greens. But if they push their AC up with some focus on armor, they can actually become a LOT more survivable.
In general though, after 40 things start to hurt a bit more.... and good armor becomes way more critical. Since the threshold for not taking full damage each hit rises higher as the mobs get higher.
It works in classic, and when kunark comes there are a host of items that can keep pushing up the AC for damage mitigation (like a mask that has 12 AC on it).
I still don't know how it works after 50 (never tried it, it's just theory from then on).
I thinkkkk it should be powerful.... since I can already go toe to toe with planar monsters pretty ok (not enough to fully tank them for too long).
But when I get more lifetap dots and better mitigation, I think I'll be able to, especially if I throw in the fast casting lifetap.
Today my AC was hitting 690 with buffs, which is pretty good for a caster!
For hate, I was using the Staff of Undead Legions most the time (a couple of the fights have it against a living cleric, and still had good DPS).
But the 2nd set I linked I was using a staff of writhing (for the extra proc). I also have that dagger that procs the summoned DD if I fight summoned things (for the hole probably), but not shown here.
To give you an idea of the power of procs (combined with vampiric embrace proc) , I fought a hill giant without my pet.... just lifetap dots and my melee.... and by the end I had done 850 damage in procs alone. It's really pretty frequent with about 190 dex.
BUT in Kunark things change even more, with some reallyyy nice caster weapons (making it worth it to try and get some strength and haste items). Like I can't wait to see what the parse is with a rod of annihilation (
https://wiki.project1999.com/Rod_of_Annihilation )
I expect to be hitting for 40-80 per hit with it, which should up my DPS pretty well. If I can hit 1/3rd DPS of my pet at later levels, it will be a lot.
The level 60 necromancer pet hits for 62 max (so chance of a quad, but probably more on average 2 or so hits?).... with a 48 damage lifetap.
By comparison, at level 60, vampiric embrace should be proccing for 72 damage, and then hitting for 40-80 per hit myself in melee (and that's before using any magic on top, like putting on a 100 damage a tick lifetap dot).