The Power of Bone Knights!! (With Data!!)

[Morton Jr]

Battle clerics with proc hammers you summon were amazing

Adding haste in old EQ Made you proc less btw ( EQ Emulator is nerfed tho )

[Zoolander]

Originally Posted by N0tClassic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How would a Human perform with this spec

ive tried it and It worked up to 25 where I stoped.

as human u will have close to none int as a human necro with an AC/DEX build (below 100int with ec-tunnel gear and with dex invested at creation)

[Natewest1987]

Tried it as well, though only for an afternoon - so just a bit. Made it to level 9 pretty quickly.

It was fun for a little bit, but I was maybe seeing 1.5 proc average per fight depending on its length. Usually had two procs of vampiric embrace. I know different weapons probably have different ppm, but any proc that would actually make a difference is gated by level and coin anyway. This might be fun for someone rolling around with the undead staff - in a fight lasting long enough to proc it, but otherwise it’s just not gonna be that fun.

Now if I could have the dagger of conflagration from kunark... maybe.

Also I think comparing it’s damage output to a charm pet is a little misleading. Like was that charm pet haste buffed + item haste, dex buffed, and given proc weapons ? Because otherwise it’s not doing it’s full potential either

[Ivory]

Originally Posted by Natewest1987 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Also I think comparing it’s damage output to a charm pet is a little misleading. Like was that charm pet haste buffed + item haste, dex buffed, and given proc weapons ? Because otherwise it’s not doing it’s full potential either

A necromancer can charm a high level undead, give them all the same things.

So bone knights "could" go past an enchanters sustained pet damage even. Just on a raid usually not everyone who can charm a pet is charming a pet... and for casual hunting, it's a pain keeping stuff charmed (and is more risky).

Why mess with a charmed pet and risk a troublesome break... when you can just rampage with a trusty bones instead?

[Ivory]

Originally Posted by majorwalrus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I would love to see a stream or a recording too!

I made a video, except I recorded in low resolution by accident https://youtu.be/Upl7ZhP1eSU

First was melee slaying a giant.

Then I went to guk and cleared from the safe hall to the lord room.... and also 2 more off towards frenzy in 25 minute. But that includes buffing and making pets.

So is pretty good pace.

[majorwalrus]

Originally Posted by Ivory [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I made a video, except I recorded in low resolution by accident https://youtu.be/Upl7ZhP1eSU

First was melee slaying a giant.

Then I went to guk and cleared from the safe hall to the lord room.... and also 2 more off towards frenzy in 25 minute. But that includes buffing and making pets.

So is pretty good pace.

This is GREAT! I wanted to see this build in action at level 50. Thanks for the video!

[Tunabros]

Originally Posted by Ivory [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I made a video, except I recorded in low resolution by accident https://youtu.be/Upl7ZhP1eSU

First was melee slaying a giant.

Then I went to guk and cleared from the safe hall to the lord room.... and also 2 more off towards frenzy in 25 minute. But that includes buffing and making pets.

So is pretty good pace.

ok im sold im gonna make a bone knight now

[jolanar]

Man it would be super neat if there was a way for a bone knight to cast all the same spells but not have to be in melee range.

[Ivory]

Originally Posted by jolanar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Man it would be super neat if there was a way for a bone knight to cast all the same spells but not have to be in melee range.

Being melee is what makes it so stronk. Pets trying to tank isn't so great. You end up in a race to kill the target before they outpace you in your pet healing (shadow pact is good, but it's only like 80 healing a tick.... pets can't last alone like that, especially not in a fast pace of fighting). That's why usually necros will fear kite instead, to save their pets from damage (which is a good way to fight! I do ice giants like that, but not the best option in a lot of situations).

So you are filling in the weakness of the pets healing by tanking yourself (since you can heal yourself really good). Then the pet becomes more like a strategic shield. Send in first to start the fight and set up your lifetap.... then before it gets too hurt, jump in and melee while it heals through its lifetap proc and natural regen.

You can FAR FAR outtank your pet until 40's... then the pet becomes pretty decent at taking hits, but still isn't like a mage earth pet or anything.

And the melee of boneknight isn't shabby either (it works out to be a lot better DPS over X amount of time than the mana could get you from medding.... ESPECIALLY since most of the damage is going to be dot damage, and mobs will die before you get a full dot duration off).

It's all about minimizing downtime and being the most efficient in terms of damage and recovery.... which anyone who has tried it past 20 or so knows about. Once you find yourself in unrest and clearing the entire yard non-stop alone or with a duo partner.... well, that never stops.

I've tested how a normal necromancer and a tanking strategy works against each other. In sky on the first island, there was one mob up... and me and another necromancer were seeing who could hurt it furthest before needing to feign.

By using my mana to trade off tanking with my pet, I was able to get it hurt it with melee twice as much as they were with dots (their pet just died too fast and he wasn't able to keep up, then needed to feign).

We both took a couple stabs at it too, so it was our prefered strategies against an unfearable mob (though, after that I used hate-kiting to get it down really low! But then I made a mistake of trying to unsummon my pet to reset the agro, and discovered the island was too small to give me time to resummon it... and I was too lazy to try again. But that's really similar to fear kiting since you need so much room, but good against monk GMs and things, like I killed the monk GM in qeynos like that, the one that enrages when low and all them things)

Anyhow.... bone knights is strong!! And also, gnomes is great!

[Natewest1987]

Ivory do you have any comments for efficiency through the leveling process? Obviously it works fine with your current end game setup, but how did this fare before you had access to these toys?

Were you able to tank sand giants when it was level appropriate and you had level appropriate gear?