A True Necromancer

Community General Discussion
1

The Necromancer, master of forbidden arts, wields the powers of death, decay, and blood to bend the living and the dead to their will. With three distinct specializations, they offer unparalleled versatility and thematic depth. Gravebound calls forth a permanent army of skeletal minions—priest, mage, and warrior—whose strength grows as the Necromancer empowers them, embodying the essence of an undead commander. Bloodwright manipulates the lifeblood of allies and enemies alike, siphoning vitality from foes to mend and protect their allies, embracing the vampiric arts of blood magic. Pestilence spreads virulent plagues and debilitating diseases, rotting their enemies from within while unleashing shadow magic to amplify the destructive power of their contagions. Whether commanding an army of the dead, healing through forbidden blood rites, or eroding foes with relentless afflictions, the Necromancer excels in dominating the battlefield with unholy power.

Spec 1: Gravebound (Pet-Based DPS)

The Gravebound Necromancer is a relentless commander of undead minions. They maintain control over three permanent skeletal companions, each with unique abilities, while empowering their servants through dark magic. This spec excels in sustained single-target damage, with tools to adapt to AoE situations and utility that leverages their skeletal army.

Core Mechanics

  • Permanent Minions:
    • Skeletal Priest (Support): Heals and cleanses allies.
    • Skeletal Mage (Ranged DPS): Casts frost and shadow spells.
    • Skeletal Warrior (Melee DPS): Deals physical damage and can tank smaller mobs.
  • Soulbinding: You have a persistent aura called Soulbinding that passively enhances the damage and abilities of your minions. Soulbinding scales with your primary stat (Intellect).
  • Bonecraft (Resource): Certain abilities generate Bonecraft, which you spend to enhance minions or cast powerful abilities. You can hold up to 100 Bonecraft at a time.

Abilities

Core Spells

  • Raise Skeletons (Passive): Your three skeletal minions are permanent companions that respawn automatically after 10 seconds if killed.
  • Plague Command (Focus Spell): Commands all three minions to focus on a single target, increasing their damage and granting them unique effects for 10 seconds:
    • Priest: Applies a healing-over-time effect to you and nearby allies.
    • Mage: Fires an additional shadow bolt at all nearby enemies.
    • Warrior: Gains cleave attacks and generates 100% more threat.
    • Cost: 20 Bonecraft.
  • Empower Minion: Boosts the damage or utility of a specific minion for 15 seconds:
    • Priest: Doubles its healing output and applies a shield to its primary target.
    • Mage: Casts a frost explosion that deals AoE damage and slows enemies.
    • Warrior: Gains 50% attack speed and taunts nearby enemies.
    • Cost: 30 Bonecraft.
  • Grave Shield: Redirect 30% of incoming damage to your Skeletal Warrior for 10 seconds. Grants the Warrior a temporary health boost equal to 10% of your maximum health.
  • Bone Shards (AoE): Hurls shards of bone at all enemies in a cone, dealing moderate physical damage and generating 10 Bonecraft per target hit.

Utility and AoE Spells

  • Bone Harvest: Sacrifices one minion, dealing damage in a 10-yard radius and providing unique effects:
    • Priest: Heals nearby allies.
    • Mage: Deals frost damage and slows enemies.
    • Warrior: Stuns enemies for 2 seconds.
    • Cooldown: 20 seconds.
  • Rotting Aura: Passive aura that causes nearby enemies to take increased shadow damage from all sources.

Ultimate Ability

  • Death’s Symphony:
    • Effect: Your minions enter a state of heightened power for 12 seconds, gaining the following benefits:
      • Priest: Channels a healing aura that restores health to all nearby allies.
      • Mage: Bombards enemies with frost and shadow explosions, dealing AoE damage.
      • Warrior: Gains a spinning attack, striking all nearby enemies for heavy damage.
    • During Death’s Symphony, your minions are immune to damage, and their abilities reset upon activation.
    • Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Talents and Passives

Talents:

  • Undying Minions (Passive): Your minions revive instantly upon death, but this ability has a 60-second cooldown.
  • Bone Puppeteer: Casting Empower Minion on the Priest now also restores 10% of your maximum health.
  • Chilling Domination: Your Skeletal Mage’s frost spells have a 20% chance to freeze enemies for 2 seconds.
  • Warlord’s Bones: Your Skeletal Warrior deals 20% more cleave damage, and its taunt has a reduced cooldown.
  • Master of the Dead (Capstone Talent): While Death’s Symphony is active, all Bonecraft costs are reduced by 50%.

Passives:

  • Necrotic Bond: 5% of all damage you deal heals your minions.
  • Gravecaller’s Might: Your Soulbinding Aura increases all minion damage by an additional 10%.
  • Undead Synergy: Every time one of your minions critically hits, your next spell generates 10 extra Bonecraft.

Playstyle Highlights

Single-Target Damage:

  • Use Plague Command to focus your minions on high-priority targets, maximizing damage and triggering their unique effects.
  • Manage Bonecraft to empower specific minions when needed, especially during key phases of a fight.

AoE and Cleave:

  • Use Bone Shards and Bone Harvest in AoE situations to deal damage and trigger powerful utility effects.
  • Death’s Symphony is perfect for large-scale engagements, transforming your minions into a whirlwind of destruction.

Survivability:

  • Leverage Grave Shield and the Priest’s healing abilities to maintain sustain in battle.
  • Sacrificing your Warrior with Bone Harvest can stun enemies, giving you breathing room.

Strategic Depth:

  • Deciding when to empower minions or use Bone Harvest adds layers of tactical decision-making.
  • Managing Bonecraft effectively ensures you always have resources ready for critical moments.

Spec Fantasy

The Gravebound Necromancer embodies the essence of a commander of the dead, using their skeletal army to crush enemies and adapt to various challenges. Every ability and spell reinforces the theme of a Necromancer intricately bonded with their undead minions, making this specialization a unique and fulfilling playstyle.

Spec 2: Bloodwright (Healing)

The Bloodwright Necromancer channels the power of blood, draining life from enemies and using it to heal and empower allies. This dark healer thrives on balancing aggression and restoration, excelling in group support and sustain.

Core Gameplay

  • Primary Resource: Mana
  • Secondary Resource: Blood Charges
    • Blood Charges are generated by damaging enemies with specific abilities. These charges are spent on powerful healing or utility spells, rewarding proactive gameplay.
    • You can hold up to 10 Blood Charges at a time.
  • Healing is split between direct-target heals, group-wide effects, and life leech mechanics, making the Bloodwright versatile and dynamic.

Abilities

Damage Abilities (Generate Blood Charges)

  • Sanguine Strike: A ranged shadow-blood spell that deals moderate damage to a single target and generates 1 Blood Charge.
  • Hemorrhage: Inflicts a bleed on the target, dealing damage over 12 seconds and generating 2 Blood Charges over its duration.
  • Blood Nova (AoE): Detonates a wave of blood magic, damaging all enemies within 15 yards and generating 1 Blood Charge per target hit (maximum 5).

Healing Abilities (Consume Blood Charges)

  • Crimson Infusion: Single-target heal that consumes up to 3 Blood Charges to increase healing output.
    • 1 Charge: Moderate healing.
    • 2 Charges: Strong healing.
    • 3 Charges: Massive healing with a minor absorption shield.
  • Sanguine Link: Creates a blood tether between you and a target ally for 10 seconds, redirecting 20% of the damage they take to you while healing them over time. Costs 2 Blood Charges.
  • Life Surge (AoE): Expends 5 Blood Charges to heal all allies within 20 yards. The amount healed increases with the number of Blood Charges consumed.
  • Blood Infusion (Cooldown): For 12 seconds, all Blood Charges consumed heal an additional nearby ally for 50% of the original healing.

Utility Abilities

  • Vital Exchange: Transfer 20% of your current health to a target ally, healing them for 30% of their maximum health. (No Blood Charge cost; cooldown: 12 seconds.)
  • Hemostasis Barrier: Places a shield on a target ally that absorbs damage equal to 15% of your maximum health for 8 seconds. Costs 3 Blood Charges.
  • Crimson Veil: Sacrifice a portion of your health to cleanse all harmful effects from up to 3 allies.

Ultimate Ability: Vampiric Tide

  • Effect: For 15 seconds, all damage dealt by you or your allies within 30 yards siphons 15% of the damage dealt as healing distributed among all allies. Additionally, all Blood Charge-generating abilities generate twice as many charges during this time.

Talents and Passives

  • Passive: Sanguine Reclamation: Whenever you heal an ally above their maximum health, the excess healing becomes an absorption shield that lasts for 8 seconds.
  • Talent: Bloodwell: Blood Charges can now be stored up to 15 instead of 10, allowing for greater flexibility in healing bursts.
  • Talent: Leeching Shadows: Your damaging abilities grant 5% leech to all allies within 10 yards for 8 seconds.
  • Talent: Flow of Vitality: Crimson Infusion now heals one additional ally for 30% of its effect.

Playstyle Highlights

  1. Damage-to-Healing Conversion: The core loop revolves around damaging enemies to build Blood Charges and spending them on healing. This ensures you’re always engaged with both offensive and defensive tasks.
  2. Reactive and Strategic: You can reactively heal allies with Crimson Infusion or Life Surge while planning for moments when Blood Charges are maxed for a massive group heal.
  3. Sustain and Utility: Abilities like Vital Exchange and Sanguine Link provide unique ways to mitigate damage and keep key allies alive.
  4. Group Synergy: The ultimate, Vampiric Tide, rewards coordinated group play by healing allies based on the entire party’s damage output.

This refined Bloodwright spec combines dark, thematic healing with innovative mechanics, offering a unique playstyle for healers. It’s ideal for players who enjoy blending offensive and supportive roles.

Spec 3: Pestilence (Ranged Disease-Based DPS)

A master of death and decay, Pestilence Necromancers wield virulent plagues and shadow magic to infect enemies, spread diseases, and rot their foes from within.

Core Gameplay

  • Primary Resource: Mana
  • Secondary Mechanic: Disease Mastery
    • Each enemy infected with your diseases grants a stack of Disease Mastery, increasing your spell damage by 1% per stack.
    • Stacks are capped at 20 and decay over time if diseases are not actively maintained.
  • Playstyle: A mix of damage-over-time (DoT) abilities and hard-hitting shadow spells that amplify based on the number of infected targets. AoE scenarios make the spec shine, but it can adapt to single-target fights by cycling disease applications effectively.

Abilities

Core Disease Abilities

  • Plague Bolt (Basic Attack): Fires a bolt of shadow energy at a target, infecting them with Festering Rot, a disease that deals shadow damage over 12 seconds.
    • Generates 1 stack of Disease Mastery per infected target.
  • Virulent Swarm (AoE): Releases a pestilent wave in a cone, infecting all enemies with Contagion, a disease that deals shadow damage over 8 seconds and has a 50% chance to spread to nearby enemies upon expiration.
  • Necrotic Burst (Cooldown): Causes all active diseases on a target to explode, dealing their remaining damage instantly as shadow damage and spreading diseases to nearby enemies.
  • Blighted Rupture (AoE DoT): Infects the ground at a target location with blighted energy, dealing AoE damage over 10 seconds and amplifying all disease damage by 20% to enemies standing in the area.

Shadow Magic (Damage Amplification)

  • Corrupting Touch: A ranged spell that deals shadow damage and increases the duration of all active diseases on the target by 6 seconds.
  • Withering Bolt: Fires a powerful shadow projectile that deals increased damage for each active disease on the target.
  • Dark Infusion (Buff): Instantly grants 10 stacks of Disease Mastery and increases disease tick rates by 25% for 8 seconds.
  • Plague Caller (Cooldown): Summons a swarm of infected crows to attack all diseased targets in a 15-yard radius, dealing shadow damage and refreshing disease durations.

Utility and Self-Sustain

  • Death’s Respite (Cooldown): Absorbs the life essence of all diseased enemies within 15 yards, healing you for 5% of your maximum health per enemy and dealing moderate shadow damage to them.
  • Rotten Barrier (Defensive): Surrounds you with a barrier of decayed energy, reducing damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds. The barrier’s duration increases by 1 second for each enemy infected with your diseases.
  • Plagueborne Resilience (Passive): Whenever a disease expires, you gain a stack of Decay Shield, reducing incoming damage by 1% for 8 seconds (stacks up to 5 times).

Ultimate Ability: Pestilent Apocalypse

  • Effect: Unleashes a massive cloud of disease in a 20-yard radius for 15 seconds. Enemies inside the cloud are instantly infected with all of your diseases, take 30% increased disease damage, and spread diseases to any enemy they come into contact with.

Talents and Passives

  • Passive: Virulent Hunger: Whenever a disease deals critical damage, you gain a small heal equal to 3% of the damage dealt.
  • Talent: Pestilent Persistence: Diseases last 25% longer and tick 10% faster, but their initial application deals 15% less damage.
  • Talent: Epidemic Surge: Necrotic Burst now spreads diseases to additional enemies and increases their potency by 10%.
  • Talent: Plagueweaver: Casting Withering Bolt refunds 2 seconds of cooldown on Virulent Swarm or Blighted Rupture if at least three diseases are active.

Playstyle Highlights

  1. Single-Target: Keep diseases like Festering Rot and Contagion applied, and use Corrupting Touch and Withering Bolt to maximize damage. Necrotic Burst provides a burst of damage by consuming active diseases.
  2. AoE Dominance: Utilize Virulent Swarm, Blighted Rupture, and Plague Caller to spread diseases and maintain stacks of Disease Mastery for significant AoE damage.
  3. Sustain and Utility: Abilities like Death’s Respite and Rotten Barrier offer survivability, rewarding good disease management for defensive boosts.
  4. Ultimate Impact: Pestilent Apocalypse creates an opportunity for massive AoE pressure and rewards planning with stacked diseases.

Spec Fantasy

The Pestilence Necromancer thrives in creating chaos and overwhelming enemies with unrelenting decay. Diseases are your arsenal, and you are a harbinger of unyielding rot, spreading plagues that cripple and corrupt entire battlefields.

Mastery: Essence of Death

The Essence of Death mastery enhances the Necromancer’s abilities based on their connection to death magic, scaling uniquely for each specialization:

Spec 1: Gravebound (Pet-Based DPS)

  • Effect: Increases the damage of your minions by X% and reduces the cooldown of minion-related abilities like Empower Minion and Bone Harvest by X%.
  • Theme Integration: The more mastery you have, the stronger your skeletal minions become, cementing your role as a commander of the undead. The cooldown reduction ensures frequent usage of empowering abilities, creating a seamless loop of minion domination.

Spec 2: Bloodwright (Healing)

  • Effect: Increases the healing done by your abilities by X% and grants a chance for Blood Charges generated through offensive abilities to refund one charge upon consumption.
  • Theme Integration: Your mastery in blood magic allows you to siphon life more efficiently, amplifying healing output while increasing your ability to balance offense and support. The refund mechanic promotes active Blood Charge management and keeps the rotation dynamic.

Spec 3: Pestilence (Disease-Based DPS)

  • Effect: Increases the damage dealt by your diseases by X% and grants them a X% chance to tick twice in one interval.

  • Theme Integration: The mastery accentuates your control over plagues, making diseases more potent and unpredictable, amplifying damage output in both single-target and AoE scenarios.

  • Design Philosophy

  • Thematic Cohesion: “Essence of Death” represents the Necromancer’s mastery of life-draining magic, decaying forces, and dominion over the undead, tying all three specs together under one core identity.

  • Scaling Versatility: The mastery scales well across all specs, ensuring that increasing your mastery stat on gear always feels rewarding, no matter your chosen specialization.

  • Spec-Specific Rewards: Each spec gains a meaningful benefit tailored to its playstyle, whether it’s increasing minion power, amplifying disease damage, or making healing resources more efficient.

Examples of Mastery Scaling

  • Gravebound: With 20% mastery, minion damage increases by 20%, and minion-related cooldowns reduce by 10%.
  • Bloodwright: With 20% mastery, healing increases by 20%, and there’s a 20% chance to refund a Blood Charge.
  • Pestilence: With 20% mastery, disease damage increases by 20%, and diseases have a 20% chance to double-tick.
3 Likes
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any feed back would be amazing

3

Just make Unholy DK fully ranged and Int scaling.

1 Like
4

In the Bellular video detailing the german survey, he mentioned that wow doesnt really have a horde (sp?) class - in regards to the necromancer. Does anyone know what he means?

5

It means he doesn’t believe Demo warlocks are real.

4 Likes
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Blizzard could just do something similar to the Conquest of Azeroth WoW server, they have a necromancer and you can see it on YT. This game needs to be more frequent with creating new classes, the gameplay gets stale quickly otherwise.

7

DoT-based and pet-based ranged spellcaster DPS? Sounds to me like they’re coming for more warlock spells.

1 Like
8

I appreciate the time and effort you put into the post. You really are passionate about a Necromancer.

I was reading through everything and there was something that stood out to me. You definitely made this through passion and what you think would be interesting and cool. But, in doing that you have given the spec pretty much all strengths. It is built in a way where it looks like it would be very good in all situations. In addition to giving it very strong sustain and survivability.

There is a lot of interesting things here, but I would look to the other side of the coin as well. I would make a sheet with two columns for each spec for the class. Then build what the strengths are. Then list the weaknesses. Then attempt to balance the strengths against weaknesses, with existing class/specs to ensure that Necromancer isnt always the best choice to bring in all content.

The distant other end, where I have no experience is PvP. I see this class being a monster in PvP, and I have no idea where to go with suggestions there.

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While I admire the effort and time that went into this, it’s simply too much like Death Knights.

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He mentions both Demo and UH DK.
A more reasonable take would be that he doesn’t think they offer what he would consider a proper horde class ought. Which can go either way depending on what then constitutes a “proper horde class”.

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I 100% agree thank you for asking I am super passionate about this topic ill edit and at those changes immediately. I to don’t really know how to balance a class this is a very rough concept that I really want to flush out but its hard sometimes because it can be drowned in the forums.

Any other input

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Spec 1: Gravebound (Pet-Based DPS)

Strengths:

  • Sustained DPS: With three permanent minions, Gravebound excels in sustained damage, making it highly effective in long-duration fights where consistent output is key.
  • Versatility in Combat: The synergy between the Priest, Mage, and Warrior allows flexibility in adapting to different roles, offering healing support, AoE damage, and tanking.
  • Minion Empowerment: Through abilities like Empower Minion, you can boost your minions’ damage and survivability, allowing them to shine in multi-phase encounters or prolonged boss fights.
  • Pet Scaling: As a pet-based DPS class, it scales well with Mastery and pet buffs, making it a good choice for players who enjoy a minion-centric playstyle.

Weaknesses:

  • Requires Minion Management: Gravebound can be cumbersome in fast-paced, high-mobility fights where keeping track of and empowering multiple minions becomes challenging.
  • Relatively Lower Burst Potential: While the spec offers sustained damage, Gravebound may not have the burst capabilities of other specs, making it less effective in fights requiring high initial damage (e.g., add phases or short-lived bosses).
  • Pet Vulnerability: If your minions are killed, they can be a significant setback since they need to be revived or replaced, which can be a challenge in high-damage situations or AoE-heavy fights.

Spec 2: Bloodwright (Healing & Support)

Strengths:

  • Highly Adaptable Support Role: Bloodwright excels in healing, especially in situations where damage needs to be mitigated and healing throughput is critical, such as progression raids or tank healing.
  • Siphoning Damage for Healing: The ability to siphon health from enemies and redistribute it to allies allows for resourceful healing in intense moments of damage, which makes it very effective in high-damage phases.
  • Self-Sustain: The Bloodwright has excellent self-healing through siphoning life force, which makes it resilient in solo play or in situations where healing demands are lower.
  • Flexible Playstyle: It can switch between offensive and defensive roles effectively, making it a solid pick for players who enjoy switching between dealing damage and providing healing as needed.

Weaknesses:

  • Limited AoE Healing: While effective in single-target healing, Bloodwright may struggle with large-scale AoE healing compared to other healers. It requires good positioning and timing to get the most out of Blood Charges and siphoning.
  • Healer with Less Utility: In high-demand healing roles, Bloodwright can feel less versatile compared to other healing classes, as it lacks some of the wider utility or cooldowns that dedicated healers have (e.g., AoE healers or buffing abilities).
  • More Complex Playstyle: The balancing act between siphoning health and healing allies can be complex, requiring careful management of Blood Charges and the timing of siphon abilities, which might not appeal to players who prefer simpler, more direct healing mechanics.

Spec 3: Pestilence (Disease-Based DPS)

Strengths:

  • AoE Dominance: Pestilence excels in multi-target and AoE fights. Diseases can spread rapidly across multiple enemies, dealing significant sustained damage to groups of targets, especially in raid or dungeon scenarios where you need to handle multiple adds.
  • High Damage Over Time (DoT): The spec is built around applying diseases that keep dealing damage over time, making it excellent for long encounters where uptime is a key factor.
  • Strong Synergy with Mastery: Mastery: Essence of Death significantly boosts disease damage, rewarding players who stack mastery and focus on disease spread and DoT uptime. This leads to very high output if diseases are maintained properly.
  • Flexible for Rotting Debuffs: The spec can weaken enemies over time, making it an excellent pick when you want to debuff or slow down enemy forces. The synergy between diseases and shadow magic offers high thematic consistency.

Weaknesses:

  • Single-Target Performance: While Pestilence shines in AoE and DoT-heavy encounters, it can struggle with pure single-target fights, where the focus on disease spread may not be as effective as other DPS specs.
  • Management of Disease: Managing multiple diseases and ensuring that all DoTs are active can be a challenging task, especially in high-mobility fights where uptime on diseases is harder to maintain.
  • Vulnerable to Movement: The spec heavily relies on disease uptime to maintain high damage, so fights with frequent movement phases can hinder the effectiveness of Pestilence, especially if it leads to lost DoTs.

When to Pick Each Spec:

  • Pick Gravebound if you enjoy a pet-centric playstyle, like having multiple permanent minions that can fill different roles in combat, and if you’re looking for sustained DPS in prolonged fights. It’s great for raid environments where managing adds or being a constant presence in longer encounters is key.
  • Pick Bloodwright if you want to be a flexible healer with a unique theme of siphoning health, offering strong single-target healing while being resilient in high-damage phases. It’s ideal in situations that require adaptability between healing and mitigating damage for allies.
  • Pick Pestilence if you love dealing AoE damage, have a strong focus on disease management, and want to decimate groups of enemies. Pestilence is best suited for AoE-heavy encounters but can be less effective in pure single-target damage.

The Necromancer class has distinct thematic and mechanical differences from the Warlock, even though both are masters of dark magic. Below are the key areas where the Necromancer diverges to carve its unique identity:

1. Minion Management

  • Necromancer:
    • Necromancers rely on three permanent minions simultaneously (Gravebound), each with distinct roles (healer, mage, and tank/melee DPS).
    • The Necromancer’s gameplay revolves around empowering minions in real-time and tailoring their actions to adapt to specific encounters. This makes the playstyle more interactive and tactical compared to Warlocks.
    • Minions are central to the Necromancer’s identity across all three specs, whether they’re healing, fighting, or enhancing plagues.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlocks have one active demon at a time from a selection of specialized options (e.g., Imp, Voidwalker, Felhunter).
    • While their demons enhance their power, Warlocks focus more on direct spellcasting than micromanaging their demon.

2. Thematic Focus

  • Necromancer:
    • The Necromancer embodies death magic, plagues, and blood manipulation, tying them to the undead and decay.
    • Their powers are tied to themes of necrotic energy, disease, and the manipulation of life and death, including healing through blood siphoning and spreading pestilence.
    • They feel more like general commanders of death, with a clear connection to decay and life-draining magic.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlocks are rooted in fel magic and chaotic energy, often summoning demons or wielding powers associated with infernal realms.
    • Their aesthetic is more about corruption, curses, and chaos, focusing on enslaving demons rather than raising undead.

3. Resource Systems

  • Necromancer:
    • Necromancers have unique resource mechanics like Bonecraft (Gravebound), Blood Charges (Bloodwright), or disease mechanics (Pestilence). These resources emphasize synergy with their abilities and minions, requiring more tactical management.
    • They are less reliant on long cast times and instead focus on synergizing minion commands, plague spreading, and blood siphoning.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlocks use Soul Shards, a resource primarily consumed for casting high-damage spells or summoning powerful demons.
    • Their resource system is simpler and more spell-centric, focusing on powerful direct spells like Chaos Bolt, Malefic Rapture, or Summon Demonic Tyrant.

4. Specializations and Roles

  • Necromancer:
    • The Necromancer offers one healing spec (Bloodwright), setting it apart from the Warlock, which is entirely focused on DPS.
    • Necromancers lean into DoTs and pet utility (Gravebound and Pestilence) in a way that feels more supportive and utility-oriented.
    • Each spec reinforces the class fantasy of death: commanding minions, draining life, or unleashing plagues.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlocks are pure DPS across all specs (Affliction, Demonology, Destruction), with spec themes focusing on damage and control.
    • They lack healing or team utility outside of Healthstones, Demonic Gateway, and limited AoE crowd control (e.g., Shadowfury).

5. Gameplay Identity

  • Necromancer:
    • Gameplay revolves around strategic synergy with their minions, healing through unconventional means (Bloodwright), or managing disease effects (Pestilence).
    • The Necromancer offers unconventional utility, like healing through siphoning life, spreading plagues for area control, or empowering allies indirectly through pets and debuffs.
    • Their aesthetic is colder and more methodical, rooted in manipulation of death rather than destruction.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlock gameplay emphasizes destructive power through spells and demons. They are spellcasters first, with pets serving as a secondary aspect of their power.
    • Their gameplay identity revolves around ramp-up damage, DoT stacking, and chaotic bursts with spells like Chaos Bolt or Tyrant Summons.
    • Their destructive, chaotic energy feels more about raw power than tactical manipulation.

6. AoE and Cleave Differences

  • Necromancer (Pestilence):
    • Necromancers excel in sustained AoE through diseases that linger and spread, with synergies that keep damage rolling over time.
    • Plagues can act as both damage dealers and debilitators, offering additional crowd control options.
  • Warlock (Affliction):
    • Warlocks deal AoE damage through multi-DoT applications or bursts like Seed of Corruption, but they focus on overwhelming raw magical power rather than spreading diseases or relying on minions.

7. Utility Differences

  • Necromancer:
    • Healing: Bloodwright gives the Necromancer a healing spec, which Warlocks lack entirely.
    • Minion Utility: Each Gravebound minion has its own utility (e.g., Priest healing or Warrior tanking adds), making Necromancers versatile in handling diverse roles in combat.
    • Disease Synergy: Pestilence Necromancers can weaken or slow enemies with their plagues, offering debuff utility in addition to damage.
  • Warlock:
    • Warlocks focus more on utility tools like Healthstones (teamwide self-healing), Demonic Gateway (mobility for the group), and crowd control like Fear or Banish.

Conclusion

The Necromancer differs from the Warlock by offering a pet-centric, multi-role design, where minions, diseases, and healing are central to their identity. Their connection to death magic is more grounded and tactical compared to the Warlock’s destructive, chaotic, and fel-focused powers. Each class fills a distinct fantasy and gameplay niche, ensuring they feel complementary rather than redundant.

Let me know if you’d like any further elaboration!

1 Like
13

Right after we get Tinkers, I am on board with this.

1 Like
14

If priests and paladins can coexist, there’s plenty of design space between DKs and Necromancers.

2 Likes
15

Paladins and Priests can co-exist because Priest is 50% shadow. What spell school are Necromancers using that Death Knights can’t use?

1 Like
16

Part and parcel to the necromancer fantasy is the utilization of corpses. I don’t like it in PoE and I don’t like it here just getting skeletons/minions for free. I hate that they changed DKs to not need a body to summon their pet.

There simply aren’t enough bodies made regularly enough to support a good necromancer fantasy in this game. It worked in Diablo 2 because you had like 100 monsters per zone.

17

Not gonna lie, I’d really like to see the game get a true necromancer. UHDK, while very neat thematically, just isn’t enough to scratch that necromancer itch.

1 Like
18

Surely that’s what distinguishes the two, yes.

After all, the only thing distinguishing me from Evoker or Mage is lightning.

1 Like
19

I will admit that I didn’t read everything as there’s a lot, but there are a number of abilities and things that are almost direct copies of stuff currently in the game. For example, Bone Harvest is almost identical to Implosion for a demo warlock, at least when it comes to sacrificing minion to deal AoE damage. Warlocks also can heal their pets via damage.

I just see too many similarities to things already in the game that might make it a hard sell.

20

Well that and the fact that Evokers are dragons and have dragon abilities combined with their magical abilities.