Necromancer in ESO — Every Real Question, Answered

Getting started: unlocking, buying, and whether it's worth it

"How do I unlock Necromancer?" and "is the Necromancer class worth buying?" — Necromancer is a purchasable class, not part of the base game. It originally launched with the Elsweyr chapter and is sold as a standalone class unlock in the Crown Store; owning it lets you make a Necromancer on character creation. "Does Greymoor without the upgrade include Necromancer?" No — Necromancer is its own unlock and isn't bundled with a Greymoor purchase unless a specific edition explicitly lists it.

"Whats the best Necromancer build and is there a leveling guide?" and "is there a good up-to-date stamina Necromancer guide?" — there's no single 'best' build; it depends on role and content. For leveling, the honest answer is that Necromancer levels fine on either resource: slot Flame Skull (or its Venom Skull stamina morph) as a spammable, Skeletal Mage for a persistent pet that also grants Major Brutality and Sorcery (+20% Weapon and Spell Damage), and a class ability from each line so all three skill lines gain XP. Each line — Grave Lord, Bone Tyrant, Living Death — has 50 ranks.

"Why is there no Necromancer class — is it not in the lore?" It very much is; Necromancer is a full playable class. "Why is the Covenant using Necromancers?" and other lore-flavor questions are story matters, not mechanics — outside what the skill data can answer, so we'll leave those to the questline rather than invent an explanation.

Necromancer vs other classescommunity

"Should I play Necromancer or Arcanist?" and "how to decide between a Sorcerer and a Necromancer?" — these come down to feel. Necromancer's identity is the corpse system: many of its strongest effects (Boneyard's damage bonus, Shocking Siphon, Restoring Tether, Life amid Death's heal-over-time) require a corpse to consume. If you enjoy that setup-and-payoff loop, Necro rewards it. If you want a more self-contained rotation, Sorcerer or Arcanist may feel smoother.

"Best pet class — Sorcerer, Warden, or Necromancer?" All three have pets but they behave differently: Necromancer's Skeletal Mage/Archer and Spirit Mender are timed summons (20s and 16s respectively) that you re-cast, not permanent companions like the Sorcerer's. "Can Necromancers summon multiple identical minions?" Generally no — recasting Skeletal Mage replaces the existing one rather than stacking a second copy. "How useful is Necromancer in the late game compared to Templar and Warden?" It's competitive in every role but leans on setup; it isn't strictly ahead of or behind those classes, it's a different playstyle.

Race and attributescommunity

"What race for stamina Necromancer, PvP and PvE?" and "how good is Argonian Necromancer in PvP?" — race passives are class-agnostic, so the usual logic applies: damage-leaning races (like Khajiit or Orc) for DPS, sustain/tanky races (Argonian, Imperial) for survivability or healing. Argonian's potion and restoration bonuses make it a strong PvP healer/bruiser pick. "Should I change my Necromancer from Dark Elf to Bosmer?" and "how good is Orc for stamina Necro?" — the class doesn't care about your race, so only switch if the passives better match your role; the difference is real but modest, rarely worth a race change token unless you're min-maxing.

"Advice on PvP Necromancer attributes" and "why is 20k health suggested in this Necromancer build?" — 20k+ health is a common PvP baseline because it's the survivability floor most builds target, not a Necro-specific rule. Necromancer supports it well: Bitter Harvest and Death Scythe both scale their healing off Max Health, and the Last Gasp passive gives a flat +2412 Max Health, so investing in health isn't wasted on this class.

Magicka Necromancer DPS

"Help with skill distribution for magicka Necromancer DPS" and "how should magicka Necromancer be played now?" — the core loop is Flame Skull as spammable (every third cast deals 50% more damage and makes a corpse), Skeletal Mage for the +20% Weapon/Spell Damage buff, Boneyard on a corpse for its 30% damage bonus and Minor Vulnerability, and Sacrificial Bones/Grave Lord's Sacrifice for +15% damage to Necro abilities and DoTs. Shocking Siphon adds 6150 Shock Damage over 20s and a flat 3% damage-done bump while slotted, plus Major Savagery/Prophecy.

"Help weaving Necromancer Flame Skulls" — Flame Skull is a projectile, so light-attack weave between casts as normal; the every-third-cast bonus rewards a steady cadence. "Why don't PvE magicka Necromancers use a lightning staff on the front bar?" This is a build-preference question the data can't settle numerically, but the general reasoning is that Necro's damage comes largely from class abilities and DoTs rather than heavy-attack channeling, so the staff choice follows the DoT/penetration priorities — Dismember gives +3271 penetration while a Grave Lord ability is active, and Rapid Rot adds +10% DoT damage.

"How do I improve my magicka Necromancer DPS?", "why is my magicka Necromancer so weak?", "need help reaching 60k DPS", "can you kill Twilight Matriarch on magicka Necromancer?" — the fix is almost always corpse discipline: if you skip Boneyard's 30% bonus or let the Sacrificial Bones 15% buff drop, your numbers crater. Keep a corpse generator up (Flame Skull's third cast, Grave Grasp's Ghostly Embrace morph, or a dying pet) so your corpse-consuming abilities always fire. "Are magicka Necromancers good for PvE?" Yes — they're a solid trial/dungeon DPS when the corpse loop is maintained.

Stamina Necromancer, bow, and one-bar

"What is the meta for stamina Necromancer DPS?", "advice on stamina Necromancer build", "help with stamina Necromancer parse" — the stamina morphs mirror the magicka loop: Venom Skull as spammable (it counts any Necro cast toward the third-cast bonus while slotted, which smooths weaving), Blighted Blastbones for burst plus Major Defile, Skeletal Archer (which ramps +15% per hit) for the pet buff, and Detonating Siphon for its 3% damage-done and DoT. "Dual wield vs two-handed on stamina Necromancer?" and "is a stamina Necromancer archer viable?" — both weapon lines work; the choice is about your spammable and cleave needs, and yes a bow/archer setup is viable, especially with the Venom Skull cast-counting trick.

"How to min-max an 80k DPS one-bar Necromancer", "can you make a one-bar Necromancer that works?", "is a ranged Necromancer DoT build possible?" — one-bar Necro is real because so much value is passive-or-persistent: Skeletal Mage/Archer, Sacrificial Bones, and Siphon all tick for their full duration (16–20s) from a single bar. Grave Lord's Sacrifice extends its buff to 20 seconds specifically to help one-bar uptime, and Summoner's Armor cuts Blastbones/Mage/Mender cost by 15%. Whether you hit a specific number depends on gear and CP we can't quantify here — but the class is well-suited to it.

"Help sustaining stamina on Necromancer", "how to retain stamina on an Orc stamina Necromancer" — Necro has built-in sustain tools: Death Gleaning restores 666 Magicka and Stamina whenever an enemy you're fighting dies within 28m, and Mortal Coil (Restoring Tether morph) and Mystic Siphon add resource returns while siphoning a corpse. Lean on those before reaching for external sustain sets.

Healing and tanking

"What would a Necromancer healer build look like?", "which set should I use for Necromancer healer?", "how do Restoring Tether and Shocking Siphon work?" — Restoring Tether heals 5544 Health over 12s to everyone between you and a corpse (Braided Tether widens it to allies around you too, healing 5742); it and Shocking Siphon both need a corpse. The Living Death line rewards healing with Near-Death Experience (up to +12% healing crit) and Curative Curse (+12% healing done while you have a negative effect on you). Spirit Mender/Guardian is a persistent heal, and Life amid Death's Enduring Undeath morph can consume up to 5 extra corpses to stretch its HoT. We don't have set data here, so pick healing sets by role rather than a specific recommendation.

"Help getting started in Cyrodiil as a Necromancer healer" and "what would a Necromancer healer build look like for Cyrodiil?" — the corpse dependency is the catch in PvP: bodies aren't always where you need them, so slot reliable corpse generators (a dying Spirit Mender/Skeletal Mage) and lean on Render Flesh/Resistant Flesh for targeted heals that don't need a corpse.

"What are interesting sets for Necromancer tank?", "can a Necromancer tank taunting with Beckoning Armor and Unnerving Boneyard?", "questions about Necromancer and bash" — Beckoning Armor pulls and taunts ranged attackers (taunt lasts 15s) while giving Major/Minor Resolve, and Unnerving Boneyard applies Major Breach (-5948 resistance). Both are legitimate tank tools. Bone Armor grants Major and Minor Resolve for +5948/+2974 resistance for 20s. "Do Necromancer Reanimate/skeletal summons scale with CP passives or sets?" and "what CP and sets affect Skeletal Archer scaling?" — pet-scaling specifics aren't in our data, so we won't state exact multipliers; the archer's own +15%-per-hit ramp is confirmed, the rest we can't verify numerically.

PvP: burst, survivability, and the Goliath question

"What is the burst combo for magicka Necromancer in PvP?", "questions about magicka Necromancer for PvP", "how do I survive in light armor on magicka Necromancer PvP?" — the classic setup layers Glacial Colossus (Major Vulnerability, +10% damage taken, plus a 4s stun on the final smash) with Blighted Blastbones and a spammable. For survival, Bone Tyrant carries you: Disdain Harm cuts DoT damage by 15% while a Bone Tyrant ability is slotted, Bitter Harvest's Deaden Pain morph grants Major Protection (-10% damage), and Bone Totem gives Minor Protection plus fears. "Does Necromancer have a Major Expedition skill?" Not in the class kit shown here — you'll typically source Major Expedition from a weapon line, alliance, or set.

"Which Colossus morph should Necromancers use?" — Glacial Colossus for the stun and longer 17s Major Vulnerability, Pestilent for ramping Disease damage and the Diseased status, Frozen (base) for cost. "Can you buff Necromancer Skull Throw?", "is Necromancer Goliath bash spam intended?", "why is the Necromancer Emperor overpowered?", "why hasn't Goliath bash been adjusted on console?" — these are balance-opinion and dev-intent questions we can't answer with skill data. What the data does confirm: Pummeling Goliath's bash hits multiple targets for 1799 Physical Damage, which is the mechanic those bash-spam complaints are about. Whether it's 'intended' or when it changes is a patch-notes matter, not something the ability text settles.

"Which armor weight for a non-CP PvP stamina Necromancer?", "is stamina Necromancer overpowered in no-CP?", "how are Necromancers for PvP?", "why does Nightblade hard-counter Necromancer?" — armor weight is a survivability-vs-sustain tradeoff, not class-locked; medium leans offense, heavy leans durability. The Nightblade matchup complaint is about burst and stealth pressure interrupting Necro's setup-heavy loop — a real playstyle friction, but a balance discussion rather than a data point.

The 'fix Necromancer' complaints and honest gaps

"Can you fix Necromancers?", "how to fix magicka Necromancers in PvP?", "why is magicka Necromancer bad in Battlegrounds?", "how to improve the Necromancer class?", "why are most Necromancer skills still bugged or badly designed?" — these are the most-repeated threads, and they're feedback rather than answerable mechanics. The recurring theme players raise is the corpse dependency: abilities that need a corpse (Boneyard's bonus, both Siphons, Tether, Life amid Death) are strong on paper but awkward when bodies aren't available — which hits hardest in fast, spread-out Battleground fights. We can't promise a fix; we can confirm that's the design tension the complaints point at.

"How do Necromancers handle corpses?" — corpses come from dying enemies, dying Necro summons (Skeletal Mage, Sacrificial Bones, Spirit Mender all make a corpse on death in combat), and specific casts like Flame Skull's third throw or Ghostly Embrace. "Why doesn't Necromancer use Soul Gems?" That's a name overlap — Soul Gems are a resurrection/enchanting item unrelated to the class's corpse mechanic. "Is there a Salvation set equivalent for Necromancer?", "which sets combine with Elemental Catalyst?", "does Warden bear work with Necromancer sets?", "is there a way to replicate the Necromancer staff effect?" — all set-interaction questions our data doesn't cover, so we won't invent numbers; check a current set database for those.

"What can a vampire Necromancer be good for?", "advice on building a vampire Necromancer", "help with Necromancer vampire morphs", "help with Necromancer stamina werewolf build" — Vampire and Werewolf are cross-class systems; their interaction with Necro is about the usual tradeoffs (Vampire's damage-taken and ability-cost stages, Werewolf's transform uptime), not unique Necro synergy in the data here. "What's the most important part of Necromancer combat to you?" and "where is the class rep thread?" are open community/forum questions rather than build ones — the rep thread lives on the official forums, not in-game.