before i go on, ive sent this question in game in the general chat several times and ive gotten 99% responses back as Death Knight. i know an Unholy DK is the closest thing to a Necromancer since the undead minions and death skills, but im looking specifically between the two spell casters. A Warlock or Shadow Priest.
Now here is my opinion. i know warlocks are based around death magic and summoning demons as their servants therefore very close to a necromancer but Shadow Priests have Vampiric abilities (vampires being considered undead) and shadowy apparitions (spirts/ghosts) as well as unholy magic.
would love some of the communities input as to what you think between the two.
In the warcraft universe, necromancy is derived from demonic power.
kil’jaeden creates the Lich King for the purpose of creating an undead army to control Azeroth. Also the Burning Legion as we learned in the Legion expansion used the soul of Argus to essentially make themselves immortal through resurrection of their slain demons constantly, essentially making them undead and unstoppable through continued reanimation.
Shadow Priests do not draw their powers from anything demonic, but instead from the old gods and the void. Their powers are not demonic in nature, and in warcraft lore this means less association with undeath.
TL:DR: In warcraft lore specifically, undeath is a power that is more in line with the demons of the burning legion than the void and old gods, hence warlocks more in line with necromancy.
Then you want Demonology Warlock since its a pet class, the void fiend has too long a CD and short duration to be effective. You’re constantly summoning minions to do your bidding and you can sacrifice the Imps to explode. Nether Portal is a great way to get more minions by your side.
Had WoD ran with it as a theme for shadow priest, the Draenei do/did have Soulbinders who took the souls of their greatest heroes and bound them to constructs. That is about the closest I think you get lorewise aside from Death Knights.
IMHO neither are anything like Necromancers… Shadow Priests have nothing to do with undead and demons are not undead either, they are demons. DK’s are the closest thing we have and its lame because they are not even true casters…
Necromancers summon and commune with souls, warlocks also can raise dead members of their team through shoving their soul back into their body. Warlocks are alsso the first death knight, warlock was just a precursor of the necromancer as we see in DKs, like the first gen DK was just warlocks walking around in paladin bodies.