Looking for Necro/Dark Build Advice

[Dan the Human]

Hi all, I played CoH many years ago, and I am just now discovering the Homecoming community. I am going a bit against the grain and trying to find a primary/secondary combo that is very helpful for team play that is not /time, /thermal, /nature, or /kin. My goal was to play more of a support role on teams, and I thought Necro was the best primary to facilitate that. I also thought /Dark would pair best to stack magnitude on Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze with the Lich and the Dark Servant. I don't know very much about slotting sets for Necro/Dark. Does anyone with more experience have a build to share? Thank you for your help!

[tremor3258]

I can't give a ton of info from personal experience but for observational -

 

Necro/Dark is one of the all-time classics from the start of MMs., it's loaded down with to-hit and nice heals which helps zombie (and team, I suppose...) survivalbility.

 

Also for IO building Necro has four pets - or at least four things that take pet items, you can dump a ton of the globals into Soul Extraction if it helps tweak the rest of the horde.

[BGSacho]

I don't have experience with Necro/Dark per se, but my favourite MM secondary is /Dark, and I play a lot of Thugs/Dark and Demons/Dark

In order to really figure out how you want to slot a build, you need to analyze its strengths and weaknesses.

First, let's start with the bad stuff:

- Necro theoretical DPS is a bit on the low end due to the lich
- Necro pets are very fragile on their own, and Dark has limited buffing power
- The purple patch(https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Purple_Patch) significantly inhibits debuffs, and so does AV resistance.
- Dark has a high(but mitigatable) end consumption

Here's what you're getting out of your MM:

- If you can keep your pets alive, you will do more dps than most supports, even as a Necro
- Dark contains two strong, spammable mezzes - Terrified, and a very high mag Hold(you + lich + dark servant == 9+ mag!)
- Dark has a staggering amount of -hit, -damage, and a decent amount of -regen
- Dark has an amazing heal(Twilight Grasp)
- Dark has a res(Howling Twilight)

- You can combo Howling Twilight's stun with the epic pool Oppressive Gloom to pull a third mez out of your hat(4mag stun for 15+ seconds)
- Dark provides a very strong, stackable -res debuff(Tar Patch)

Here is how much -hit you can stack as Necro/Dark:

Grave Knights: ~5% x 2(they will fairly reliably cast either dark blast or gloom, even when meleeing)
Lich: ~5%(Dark Blast) + ~5%(Torrent) + ~5%(Tentacles + Life Drain, since they have a high recharge), + ~12%(Fearsome Stare)
Dark Servant: 30%(Chill of the Night) + 15%(Darkest Night) + 10-15%(Twilight Grasp stacks)  + 5%(Tentacles)
You: ~5%(Gloom) + 7.5-10.25%(Twilight Grasp stacks) + 11.25%(Darkest Night) + 11.25%(Fearsome Stare)

This gives you a total of ~135% single target -hit, and roughly ~85% aoe. Even just applying the radial intuition incarnate, this gives you ~160% single target and ~100% aoe. With the purple patch, that's still enough to completely floor the hit chance of any minions. You'd also be applying about 15-20% -hit to a +4 AV, which is OK, roughly in line with how much defense buff-oriented secondaries give.

But that's not all, you also stack -damage:
You: 15-22.5%(Twilight Grasp), 22.5%(Darkest Night)
Dark Servant: 20-30%(Twilight Grasp), 30% (Darkest Night)

This gives you a pretty potent ~90-100% -damage, which will absolutely wreck the damage of anything.

You combine this massive -hit and -damage debuffing(not to mention the casual mezzes flying around) with one of the best heals in the game - Twilight Grasp...and you have TWO copies of it!

Your buffed Twilight Grasp will heal roughly 400 hp, and your Dark Servant's (likely unbuffed) one for about 200 hp, at a very low endurance cost and recharge(8 seconds!). This means that as long as you're in control of the situation(and everyone is huddled around you to get the heal), very few things will really threaten you in any way.

Besides these already significant debuffs, /Dark sports a decent -regen to counter AVs. Between you and the Dark Servant spamming Twilight Grasp, you will have roughly -250% regen stacked. You can also cast Howling Twilight for another -500% regen for 30 seconds, but it's unlikely you'd be able to perma it, so you can view your -regen as roughly -500% combined over a long fight

With the following in mind, here's a basic outline of a build, which slots your pets and takes the key Dark powers. The focus of slotting is on getting high -hit in key powers, introducing as many endurance recharging gimmicks as possible and slotting all the amazing recharge options available to MMs.

The pet slotting is a bit subjective - I personally think MM pets don't need recharge slotted(you already have a lot of global recharge and shouldn't really need to keep recasting them), and that damage/utility procs are more effective than the stats IOs can give you. 
 

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Necromancy
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Zombie Horde -- SprMarofS-Acc/EndRdx(A), SprMarofS-EndRdx/+Resist/+Regen(5), CmmoftheM-Acc/Dmg(5), SprCmmoft-Dmg/EndRdx(7), ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(7), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(9)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- TchoftheN-Heal(A), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(42), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(42), ThfofEss-+End%(43), Pnc-Heal/+End(43)
Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 4: Gloom -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), GldJvl-Dam%(33), GldJvl-Acc/Dmg(33), CldSns-%Dam(33)
Level 6: Enchant Undead -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Darkest Night -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(43)
Level 10: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), EndRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Grave Knight -- SprMarofS-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprMarofS-Dmg/EndRdx(13), SlbAll-Build%(13), ShlBrk-%Dam(15), TchofLadG-%Dam(15), AchHee-ResDeb%(17)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(19), RedFrt-Def(19), GldArm-3defTpProc(21), GldArm-End/Res(21), GldArm-ResDam(23)
Level 18: Soul Extraction -- SprCmmoft-Rchg/PetAoEDef(A), SprCmmoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprCmmoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprCmmoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), EdcoftheM-PetDef(37), SvrRgh-PetResDam(40)
Level 20: Fearsome Stare -- SphIns-ToHitDeb(A), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(34), SphIns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SphIns-Acc/Rchg(34), SphIns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), CldSns-%Dam(36)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(23), Rct-Def(25), Rct-Def/EndRdx(31)
Level 24: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(25)
Level 26: Lich -- SprMarofS-Dmg(A), SprMarofS-Acc/Dmg(27), CldSns-ToHitDeb(27), CldSns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(29), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29), CldSns-%Dam(31)
Level 28: Petrifying Gaze -- UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg(A), UnbCns-Dam%(45), Acc-I(45), GldNet-Dam%(45), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(46), NrnSht-Dam%(46)
Level 30: [Empty] 
Level 32: Dark Empowerment -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 35: [Empty] 
Level 38: Dark Servant -- SphIns-ToHitDeb(A), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(39), SphIns-Acc/Rchg(39), SphIns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), SphIns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(40), CldSns-%Dam(40)
Level 41: [Empty] 
Level 44: [Empty] 
Level 47: [Empty] 
Level 49: [Empty] 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Supremacy 
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(3)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3)
Level 1: Zombie 
Level 12: Grave Knight 
Level 26: Lich 
Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon 
------------

The rest depends on what you want to do with your support build. You can go the tanking route by taking Fighting, an epic Armor and Provoke, or take more support skills(Fly/Hover, epic holds, etc) to round out your kit with useful set bonuses.

Some of the slotting choices are fairly optional if you're struggling for slots:
- Panacea in TG(not as effective as Theft)
- Damage proc in Fearsome Stare(overall not a huge increase in dps)
- Slotting Petrifying Gaze(you might want to skip this power and slot an epic hold instead)

Edited January 3, 2020 by BGSacho

[Dan the Human]

Thank you that was extremely detailed and helpful! I really appreciate it.