Necromancer Class & Subclass Options
When starting out, this is by far the easiest class to learn the game with. I have done necro, but had to switch back to another class because I like a bit more challenge, but that is a personal prefference. You will get great gear that's easy to gather, and you have the ability to go into higher level areas because of all your minions, and a good selection of tanks from the beginning.
The main stats for necro are intelligence and wisdom. It is also suggested to train constitution for life tapping, and some charisma to reduce your chance of being targeted in a fight, and dexterity to increase your chance of dodging attacks. Intelligence and wisdom are the only two requirements though, with a strong suggestion for constitution.
So that being covered, what are the best class setups for the necromancer class? The below character builds are my opinion based on playing necro and talking to others who have played longer. These are not the only options, just what I believe to be the easiest options when learning the game.
Necro Cleric Mage, warrior thief druid
When starting out at lower levels this is a pretty powerful class to go with. You have a lot of minion choices as a necro which deal quite a bit of damage, and you have all the healing options of a cleric. Add to that the sharing of wisdom between all three classes, and intelligence between necro and mage, and you are pretty well set on stats. You will have charisma which is also part of both your top two classes as well, and it will ensure easier soul stealing down the road.
The classes after the top 3 are all basically personal preference. My suggestion is always warrior as fourth, this way you get the extra hp and hp regen as you level warrior and train constitution. It is also possible to get valor and retreat down the road without too much work. Thief works as a good fifth class so you can get shadow bind at level 15, along with all the utility thief stuff like search, lock picking, and sneak. Druid slots in perfect as a sixth class because you don't need anything from it except maybe unnatural spring for brewing, and mud walker at level 10 to help with movement loss in swampy maps. The stat boosting spells of brawn for strength and agility for dextarity come at level 10 and 12, but they are not necessary. If you feel you'll need these boosts then swap druid and thief, but remember shadow bind is a level 15 thief skill and is very helpful on the mainland and beyond.
The best thing about this class is when you hit level 30 necro you'll be a level 25 cleric, and you get the skill petition incarnate. The incarnate is one of the highest damage dealing mobs in the game at any level. And as a level 30 necro you can have out 3 skeletal knights, an incarnate, and a clay for a tank. With this setup you will be dealing a crap load of damage. The second nice thing is the level of your sanctuary. As a necro you should be recasting sanc, and as second class cleric your ssanc would be higher than anyone but a first class cleric. This reduces the amount of damage you take by a very considerable amount. Then finally you will get access to the haven spell at level 29 cleric, which is around level 34 in your necro class. This allows you to cast a healing spell on a room that heals all your minions at once. This is a very useful spell for a minion class like necro.
The biggest issue for this class set up is the lack of offensive options. It is not bad by any means, but it is not the best you can do as a necro either. Necro's mainly deal in cold damage, with some toxic. Cleric's have a fire spell, and then mainly curses. The cleric offensive spells are weak though, and they don't get better options until closer to level 38. You will have healing and cursing options, but without cleric cast your curses won't be strong enough for higher level areas. You'll be mainly relying on your minions and your necro spells to do the damage. Mage as your third class will be useful for the utility mage spells like shield, displacement, elemental shields, and crystal coat, but your cast level will be too low to do much damage.
If you would like to have necro damage, more offensive spells, and also an incarnate the next class setup is the way to go. It takes longer to get all the above, but when you do you have an extra powerful character.
Necro Mage Cleric, Warrior Thief Druid
This is the necro class setup quite a bit of people use. It allows for all the necro benefits, and also the ability to use most of the mage spells to do useful damage in fights. Add to that the ability to scribe early, and even chain scribe with some effort and you have a great fighting and idling class. Then later down the road at level 35 necromancer (level 25 cleric) you'll have the ability to get an incarnate, then you'll not only have spells for every type of damage, you can also have possibly one of the most powerful grouping of minions in game.
When it comes to training stats it can't be much easier. Your first and second class share the same two stats. This means you can focus solely on intelligence and wisdom at the start, which some attention paid to charisma and constitution down the road. This makes it very simple to level up and get all the spells you'll need without stressing over stats.
One of my favorite things about this class setup is the ability to scribe scrolls at level 28 mage, and use the necro skill life tap to drain HP to replace mana. This allows for a much faster rate of scribing. In my opinion there is no better combination for leveling up fast, great offensive output, and also some non-combat perks like scribing scrolls.
The biggest downfall to this setup is the lack of some of the cleric spells which are very useful. A spell like haven isn't going to come until you are level 38 in necro, and using mend bones the entire time to heal can get annoying. You will also not have the ability to use healing touch for quite a long time, and it is a great way to heal outside of combat. The trade off is the extra mage damage you are able to do. If you want more damage go with mage, If you want more healing and a faster incarnate go with cleric.
Druid class and subclass options