necro gear

[doomboy]

i am making a necromancer, and i just wanted some advice on what gear to get. i'm currently at level 18, but i'm seriously lacking gear. drow necro.
the reason i ask is because i'm not a VIP, hence half the items suggested are unavailable to me.
packs i own: phiarlan carnival, devil assault, the vault of night, sentinels of stormreach, attack on stormreach, IQ and dreaming dark, the vale of twilight, the devils of shavrath, the red fens, (basically all the packs that come with underdark pre order, vale of twilight and shavrath.)
any suggestions for gear? i already have death's touch.

[HAL]

There are tons of threads in the Caster forums for necro gear.

[sheepface]

Rerolling to sorc would be a good start ...

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

Rerolling to sorc would be a good start ...

Maybe checking out the upcoming changes discussions on the lama boards would be even better, and probably save you some headache and disappointment.

[Jay203]

necro will still be fine, unless you plan on running Epic Hard/Elite a lot with it :P

[Hikup]

necro will still be fine, unless you plan on running Epic Hard/Elite a lot with it :P

Wrong. Haunted in it's current horrendous form will effect all levels, from 1-20 and 21-25.

Roll a sorc, almost as quick killing trash and at least 1 more update (hopefully) before they're nerfed to stroke melee epeens

[Jay203]

Wrong. Haunted in it's current horrendous form will effect all levels, from 1-20 and 21-25.

Roll a sorc, almost as quick killing trash and at least 1 more update (hopefully) before they're nerfed to stroke melee epeens

oh? thought he just replaced Hard to Kill with Haunting
since Hard to Kill was only for Epic Hard and Elite, i assumed such is the case with Haunting as well
guess not

[doomboy]

lol, thanks for the gear suggestions as for the sorc, i'm already making an ice savant alt.

[Purgatory]

Skiver is from necro.

[doomboy]

Skiver is from necro.

in my initial post, i mentioned the packs i had. necro was not among them.

[EllisDee37]

The event items are pretty nice starter gear for necro. Epic Robe of Shadow from Mabar (october) and Epic or ML16 (or both!) Ornamented Dagger from crystal cove (probably september-ish) are easy to get.

Useful crafted gear can be made unbound, like greater enchantment bracers of (whatever) with a guild augment for hp or sp. You could probably pay a high level crafter the essences to make it for you.

You need demon sands for torc and a host of other very nice caster gear. Necro has a lot of nice caster stuff but meh, I'd push that down the list since there are so many good packs you still need. Maybe just necro4 on sale, but then you miss out on huge potential savings by getting the bundle on sale. The magewright's set in secrets of the artificers is nice starter gear; gotta love +2 spell pen on wail for maybe an hour's worth of farming, heh. The set bonus also gives +1 spell focus mastery.

[doomboy]

The event items are pretty nice starter gear for necro. Epic Robe of Shadow from Mabar (october) and Epic or ML16 (or both!) Ornamented Dagger from crystal cove (probably september-ish) are easy to get.

Useful crafted gear can be made unbound, like greater enchantment bracers of (whatever) with a guild augment for hp or sp. You could probably pay a high level crafter the essences to make it for you.

You need demon sands for torc and a host of other very nice caster gear. Necro has a lot of nice caster stuff but meh, I'd push that down the list since there are so many good packs you still need. Maybe just necro4 on sale, but then you miss out on huge potential savings by getting the bundle on sale. The magewright's set in secrets of the artificers is nice starter gear; gotta love +2 spell pen on wail for maybe an hour's worth of farming, heh. The set bonus also gives +1 spell focus mastery.

yeah, i've been aiming for some Mabar loot, in October, of course. as for the packs, well those are a bit of a way off. as i do have an artificer alt, i am aiming for secrets of the artificers next, then maybe GH/demon sands.
i have made some experimental GS crafting recipes, mind telling me what you think?

1. (bracers) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...1=19&bonus2=48

2. (sickle(1)) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...=195&bonus1=19

3. (sickle(2)) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...3=204&bonus1=7

4. (cloak) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...3=149&bonus1=8

this is the first time i've tried to make GS recipes, any feedback is appreciated. (and i know i'll need a cleanser to use the bracers and cloak together)

[EllisDee37]

i have made some experimental GS crafting recipes, mind telling me what you think?

1. (bracers) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...1=19&bonus2=48

2. (sickle(1)) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...=195&bonus1=19

3. (sickle(2)) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...3=204&bonus1=7

4. (cloak) http://crafting.cubicleninja.com/ind...3=149&bonus1=8

this is the first time i've tried to make GS recipes, any feedback is appreciated. (and i know i'll need a cleanser to use the bracers and cloak together)

My personal opinion? Not in love with them. I don't think I line up very closely with conventional wisdom, though, so feel free to ignore this advice until we get a second opinion from pretty much anyone else.

First, my eyes are bleeding from trying to figure out how much each of your items costs in that planner. I much prefer the montreal planner.

I'd focus on ToD rings for your exceptional intelligence since you own that pack, saving your larges for accessories. To make yourself useful farming ToD rings, consider crafting a gs cold absorption dagger. Even a tier 2 one is super helpful and quite cheap.

My philosophy on accessories is that I always want hp equipped, I always want concop equipped, but I don't need sp always equipped; sp can be swapped in at shrines since by the time I'm done going into form and buffing I'll have used those sp anyway. So I like to have concop and hp on the same item.

Looking at the packs you own, I might target something like:

Head: Darkstorm Helm
Eyes: ConcOp w/45 hp
Neck: War Wizard's Amulet*
Back: Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak
Wrist: War Wizard's Bracers*
Hand: Ogre Power +6
Waist: Health +6
Feet: Boots of the Mire
Ring: Any ToD wizard ring (Rahkir's, Sanura's, or Kormor's) slotted with +2 excp int
Ring: Ring of the Mire
Trinket: Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone (unsuppressed)
Body: War Wizard's Robe*
Weapon: Staff of the Necromancer*

Source for everything above:
*Expansion (see loot info here)
Vale of Twilight
Phiarlan Carnival
Red Fens
Dreaming Dark

Get to cracking farming up that Darkstorm Helm tout de suite! Even the non-epic version is uber.

The war wizard's set gives all the sp you would get from a green steel sp item, saving you the need for a second green steel accessory. It has some overlap with the other gear in this list, but without demon sands, necro4, gianthold, harbinger of madness, or secrets of the artificers, the options were limited. (You have no access to any arcane lore item that I could find.) Besides which, the overlap actually helps while gearing up to reduce the amount of glaring holes you'll have while farming.

Until you pull a wizard tod ring for +9 int, just go with any lootgen clever +6 ring.

Ideally you can find a crafter to make you some unbound +6 str and con shards and craft them onto gloves and belt with guild augment slots for extra hp and sp, but until then any random lootgen will do.

The mire ring is very nice for the spearblock. I tossed in the boots because frankly I was at a loss for good caster boots from the packs you have. Run speed is nice, plus a little balance doesn't hurt, but it's not a great set at cap. You might consider tier 1 epic rock boots from the house c challenges via free daily tokens.

EDIT: Just realized this gearset doesn't include an enchantment focus item. Your best bet there is to find a crafter to make you a greater enchantment focus shard and slap it onto a pair of bracers to tide you over until you decide your next adventure pack, which could radically change your gear.

[doomboy]

My personal opinion? Not in love with them. I don't think I line up very closely with conventional wisdom, though, so feel free to ignore this advice until we get a second opinion from pretty much anyone else.

First, my eyes are bleeding from trying to figure out how much each of your items costs in that planner. I much prefer the montreal planner.

I'd focus on ToD rings for your exceptional intelligence since you own that pack, saving your larges for accessories. To make yourself useful farming ToD rings, consider crafting a gs cold absorption dagger. Even a tier 2 one is super helpful and quite cheap.

My philosophy on accessories is that I always want hp equipped, I always want concop equipped, but I don't need sp always equipped; sp can be swapped in at shrines since by the time I'm done going into form and buffing I'll have used those sp anyway. So I like to have concop and hp on the same item.

Looking at the packs you own, I might target something like:

Head: Darkstorm Helm
Eyes: ConcOp w/45 hp
Neck: War Wizard's Amulet*
Back: Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak
Wrist: War Wizard's Bracers*
Hand: Ogre Power +6
Waist: Health +6
Feet: Boots of the Mire
Ring: Any ToD wizard ring (Rahkir's, Sanura's, or Kormor's) slotted with +2 excp int
Ring: Ring of the Mire
Trinket: Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone (unsuppressed)
Body: War Wizard's Robe*
Weapon: Staff of the Necromancer*

Source for everything above:
*Expansion (see loot info here)
Vale of Twilight
Phiarlan Carnival
Red Fens
Dreaming Dark

Get to cracking farming up that Darkstorm Helm tout de suite! Even the non-epic version is uber.

The war wizard's set gives all the sp you would get from a green steel sp item, saving you the need for a second green steel accessory. It has some overlap with the other gear in this list, but without demon sands, necro4, gianthold, harbinger of madness, or secrets of the artificers, the options were limited. (You have no access to any arcane lore item that I could find.) Besides which, the overlap actually helps while gearing up to reduce the amount of glaring holes you'll have while farming.

Until you pull a wizard tod ring for +9 int, just go with any lootgen clever +6 ring.

Ideally you can find a crafter to make you some unbound +6 str and con shards and craft them onto gloves and belt with guild augment slots for extra hp and sp, but until then any random lootgen will do.

The mire ring is very nice for the spearblock. I tossed in the boots because frankly I was at a loss for good caster boots from the packs you have. Run speed is nice, plus a little balance doesn't hurt, but it's not a great set at cap. You might consider tier 1 epic rock boots from the house c challenges via free daily tokens.

EDIT: Just realized this gearset doesn't include an enchantment focus item. Your best bet there is to find a crafter to make you a greater enchantment focus shard and slap it onto a pair of bracers to tide you over until you decide your next adventure pack, which could radically change your gear.

thank you for your help, as for the enhancement bonus, i can GS that and as for how expensive it will be, don't worry about that.
:youunderestimatemypower:
luckily the new loot looks pretty cool. anyone else who has any input on my recipes or has a better one, please do reply.

[EllisDee37]

thank you for your help, as for the enhancement bonus, i can GS that

I don't follow. If you mean enchantment focus, no you can't.

[Fefnir_2011]

Head: Darkstorm Helm (eMask of Tragedy is also good)
Eyes: SP/HP Goggles with Conc Opp (I swap mine in when I shrine and use the HP/CoOp for walking around)
Neck: Torc/Twisted Talisman (Kind of an open slot till you get your Torc)
Back: eCloak of Flames (eMirror Cloak is also good and might happen faster)
Wrist: Thaarak Bracers (nice spot for Toughness till you can slot it with tokens)
Hand: Casting Dexterity is nice for using a shield, and can get guild augment slot for more HP
Waist: Con +6 GFL Amrath belt (till you can slot those effects)
Feet: eRock Boots (Dustless Boots are a nice situational item too)
Ring: Exceptional Int Ring
Ring: eRing of Elemental Essence (for nuking, could slot a lot of things here)
Trinket: Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone / Eardweller
Body: eDiabolist's Robe/eIllusionist's Robe (the latter is easier to get, and you might complete Mirror Cloak or Tragedy while farming)
Weapon: I like to use Light & Darkness and upgraded Death's Touch while running challenges, swap in a Cannith Crafted Greater Enchantment Focus item when CCing epics, and Skiver and eOrnamented Dagger for boss nuking.

Challenges are a great place to get filler gear. Using daily tokens I saved up for about a month I was able to run tokens and get the Tier 1 Rock Boots and Cloak of Flames in a couple hours. Carnival is easy to run and PUG, and has nice beginning gear for a Pale Master. I didn't suggest anything too difficult to farm out, so you could adapt easily to the gearing coming with the XPAC.

[EllisDee37]

Neck: Torc/Twisted Talisman
Wrist: Thaarak Bracers
Body: eDiabolist's Robe/eIllusionist's Robe

He doesn't own the packs for the stuff in red, nor does he foresee owning them any time in the near future.

Also, the kind of shield usage where you spend two feats on shield prof/mastery and then equip a casting dexterity item may be a thing of the past once the expansion goes live. I don't actually know that this is true, but it's worth closer analysis.

[Fefnir_2011]

He doesn't own the packs for the stuff in red, nor does he foresee owning them any time in the near future.

Also, the kind of shield usage where you spend two feats on shield prof/mastery and then equip a casting dexterity item may be a thing of the past once the expansion goes live. I don't actually know that this is true, but it's worth closer analysis.

Sorry, didn't think when i put the Thaarak bracers down, it really only adds 20 HP and a little bit of DR anyway. As for Diabolist's Robe and Torc, he has Devil Assault and is looking to getting Demon Sands. Doesn't really matter much regardless, as getting Illusionist's Garb will be faster than the robes, and neck is always gonna be a placeholder till you get a Torc on a caster.

As for shield usage, it's perfectly viable in the here and now, and I did not mention anything about Shield Mastery. the extra DR from shield blocking and carrying a shield in general will always be helpful anyway, even if all you're doing is shield blocking in a Wall of Fire. Every little bit of survivability helps.

[EllisDee37]

As for Diabolist's Robe and Torc, he has Devil Assault

My bad, missed that in his OP.

As for shield usage, it's perfectly viable in the here and now, and I did not mention anything about Shield Mastery. the extra DR from shield blocking and carrying a shield in general will always be helpful anyway, even if all you're doing is shield blocking in a Wall of Fire. Every little bit of survivability helps.

My wizard shield blocks all the time, but he never needs to cast while doing so. In your example of shield blocking in a firewall, no casting needs to take place while actively blocking.

Typically I'll cast my dots/aoe, swap to shield and block. I'll swap back to normal casting weapons if I need to reapply, then swap back. Works pretty well for things like soloing adq.

So while I totally agree with you about shields being useful, I think slotting in casting dexterity is less so. Especially since if you go the "always swap to shield, never cast with it" approach you can happily lug around a +5 tower shield of axeblock for maximum dr. It's only with shield mastery that casting dexterity items become important.

[doomboy]

I don't follow. If you mean enchantment focus, no you can't.

sorry, craft that.