Necro secondary

[prophey]

New to the game and been playing alot with demon/dark. Enjoying it alot but i've had my eye on necromancy abit on the side, was wondering if anyone could help me not only pick one of the higher performing ones for PvE but either help with a build itself or a link to one? Thank you so much in advance 

[Tacheyon]

Dark is one of the better pairings for Necro.  A big reason is the Lich uses a lot of the those powers so everything stacks nicely.  So you get a lot of controls to help stop the enemy from attacking and give your pets that extra time to defeat everyone.

I also ran a Necro/EA and that was interesting.  Since your pets are almost all melee you can keep them in the Faraday Cage for a nice boost to their RES.  Plus you can keep their END up so they attack more.  Just the final power Amp Up doesn't work on your pets (just players) so it's a toss up if you want to get it.

Storm is just a top tier power on anything.  Slot a KB to KD and a ACC in Gale and you can keep most things on their back while your Zombies whale on them.

 

Necro is a versatile set. You can make almost anything work with it.

[Six-Six]

empathy. even the undead need a little love and understanding

[pblue]

I like my zombie henchmen. I have a Necro/Storm and a Necro/Force Field at 50. Despite being very different secondaries, my strategy is the essentially same; knock down your foe and let the zombies pile in a feeding frenzy. There is something very cruel yet satisfying about that.

[kelika2]

Thermal > Dark > Sonic > FF were the most "fun" I had with necromancy.  But even then this was a firefarmed to 50 for all the slots for the aura buff IOs

 

Thermal Shields (22%) + resist IOs (30-35%) got my pets into the 50-60% resist range, plus healing, plus forge for zombies (vomit) for trash, and knights for bosses/avs

Dark is what you already expect, all that -tohit and such paving the way

Sonic bumped my pets up into the 70-80%~ resist range but I was pretty dependent on Aid Other, while their single slotted Golgi lifetap at 32 helped I was still hovering over the aid other button for most of this characters lifespan.  Was rather neat having my grave knight with sonic dispersion and using sonic siphon on bosses

FF was same as sonic for the most part

[TheSpiritFox]

My tier list of what I'd enjoy playing with a zombies is probably thermal=nature>Dark>elec>everything else

[Coyote]

I really like Sonic with them. If you invest in it, you can punch up the Resist to 82-85 minimum, depending on how much into ED you push the enhancements, then their self-healing does a good job keeping them upright. Between that and green inspirations, you don't have to Aid Other as much, and are free to blast... and the Necro attacks add -ToHit, so by focusing on Bosses you can decrease incoming damage even more.

[pblue]

Also, Steamy Mist (from Storm) + zombies is, in effect, John Carpenter's "The Fog".

[biostem]

23 hours ago, prophey said:

New to the game and been playing alot with demon/dark. Enjoying it alot but i've had my eye on necromancy abit on the side, was wondering if anyone could help me not only pick one of the higher performing ones for PvE but either help with a build itself or a link to one? Thank you so much in advance 

I'm not a higher-end player by any means, but one thing to consider is that your tier-1 and tier-2 minions are mainly melee.  With that in mind, consider the electric secondary - particularly Faraday Cage, which will allow you to setup a zone that grants significant damage resistance and status protection.  You can then use the chaining-heal to bounce between those minions and keep them topped off.

 

Barring that, I am rather fond of the nature secondary.

[DocMidknight]

   I'll throw out my current necro experiment....necro/thermal because who doesn't like to see burning zombies. I leveled up a necro/cold and it was fun, kinda sturdyish but lack of healing hurts the pets. Then I decided to try and level up a thermal build and while low level it seems to be interesting with my plan to turn the grave knights and lich into mini proc monsters to take advantage of some of their attacks. With 2 shields, 2 heals and some buffs from thermal it should do some really wonderful things for your pets and keep them upright through most mobs.

[Nexros]

Just posted a build for Necro/Dark then saw this! Very strong tankermind, clears very fast also: 

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

Necro/Nature and Necro/ElecAff are probably 2 of my more interesting and fun experiments with necro MM's (leveling up anyway; I don't have any that are close to being level 50). I tried Necro/Cold because it's potential should be pretty good (and popsicle zombies is hilarious), but I couldn't bring myself to get it past the teens without a heal and I didn't want to dip into the medicine pool (I, personally, prefer secondaries that lack heals on primaries that are already tough/can heal themselves, but that's just me and my personal playstyle). I had a Necro/Thermal for a while and it's certainly a solid pairing as well if you don't want to go with the classic /dark. I just also thought it was a tad on the boring side--it's a more sit back and play approach and I like to be a little more active with my MM's. I teamed with someone who had a Necro/Rad that seemed pretty interesting.

[RothenOrderCOH]

I have been running Necro / Time. It is a really fun build. I am a big fan of Necro and have been looking into Necro / Storm and Necro / Nature for my next level 50 run. Level 50 Necro / Dark M is a power house. Just remember to take care of yourself, because you're going to be in the middle of the action with them. Also use your key binds to keep them grouped. They like to take off running after things if you're not watching them and keeping them under control.

[BZRKR]

I hit 49 on my Necromancy/Electrical Affinity/Mu Mastermind, and I find him a hoot to play.

 

[Nexros]

On 1/27/2021 at 8:21 PM, RothenOrderCOH said:

They like to take off running after things if you're not watching them and keeping them under control.

This has definitely gotten a whole lot better with recent minions behavior changes! It used to be very taxiing to manage zombie runners, but I don't think they'll chase a target more than 100m from the MM any more. You just have to resist the temptation to follow them, or they'll keep chasing 😂

[Senbonbanana]

I'm enjoying my necro/kin.  I had a necro/dark on live, so I wanted something a bit different.  Kin works well with the pets that favor melee.  Plus, who doesn't love crack zombies after SB?

[Crysis]

On 1/24/2021 at 4:01 AM, pblue said:

Also, Steamy Mist (from Storm) + zombies is, in effect, John Carpenter's "The Fog".

I made my Necro/Storm into Michael Jackson and “Thriller”

[Force Redux]

I'm gonna necro this Necro thread to chime in for... Dark Miasma!!!  😁😁😁💀💀

[Nexros]

On 4/27/2021 at 5:05 PM, Force Redux said:

I'm gonna necro this Necro thread to chime in for... Dark Miasma!!!  😁😁😁💀💀

Sry!! I'm not sure how that happened hahaha. I mean.... DARK MIASMA, RIGHT?!

Edited May 1, 2021 by Nexros

[Story Archer]

Necro'ing this thread again - I'm seeing a lot of hype for the Necro/Dark pairing... I've been on the fence for a while on what my first MM should be, and I'm torn between Necro/Dark and Necro/Cold, so much so that I've put off making the character til I decide.

 

The benefits of /Dark have been mentioned above and are clearly very strong, but with Cold you get the Ice shields and strong options for both large mobs (Sleet, Heat Loss) and hard targets (Infrigidate, Benumb). Am I overlooking something or is Dark that clear of a winner?

[tidge]

I played with /Dark on Live... in the Homecoming era I don't think the Dark secondary is as dominant. The PBAoE Heal of Twilight Grasp, plus the Dark Servant Pet were game-changing in the Live era. I don't have a /Dark MM on Homecoming, but here is what I would definitely get:

• Tar Patch, because of Slow (some good set options, and helps keep henchmen alive by delaying enemy offense) but mostly for AoE -Resistance
• Twilight Grasp, although PBAoE heals are wonderful... this is a power I'd probably mostly want for -Regeneration
• Howling Twilight, because it is a crazy good AoE stun
• Shadow Fall for MOAR Defense
• Dark Servant (see other threads for slotting options)

I would probably try to include:

• Fearsome Stare, provided I could have 4xCloud Senses + %Psi from Glimpse (i like Fear and I like cones)
• Darkest Night, but this would probably be a mid/late-build power pick without extra slots.

I am not keen on single-target holds, so Petrifying Gaze would not be a high priority. I like the set options and I like the %proc options, but as spawn sizes increase single-target holds become less important for my play style. YMMV. Black Hole is a niche power for me.

 

My opinion of /Cold is that it has fewer obvious skippable powers. I would also want to maximize global Recharge to reduce the recharge times of Benumb and Heat Loss.  I like the many options for slotting global Defense/Resistance pieces.

 

I don't like Snow Storm as much as a slow. Frostwork is a sly power... many good set choices could go in this, but planning to use this all the time on a henchman (which would be its best default use for a solo player)  seems like a sort of mental trap that closes off different options the MM may have (to improve offense).

 

I might skip Infrigidate: Yes it is a great candidate for %damage (but add Accuracy and the Achille's Heel %-Res first!), however the real appeal to me (for a MM) is the incredible raw Defense Debuff. If the henchmen have enough Accuracy/ToHit, this aspect is less important. I'd certainly have it while leveling; I'm just not sure if I'd use it in a 50 build, no matter how much I'd want to. YMMV.

 

My attitude to MMs is that the multi-hench MM shouldn't be trying to damage enemies with their own attacks, especially not against single-targets. Single target debuffs are better than single-target MM attacks IMO.I wouldn't fault anyone for 6-slotting Infrigidate, I'm just putting my cards on the table as far as my own slotting priorities.

 

TLDR: I like Dark for the relative simplicity, /Cold looks to me to require a more active playstyle that requires chasing Global recharge.

[Psyonico]

1 hour ago, Story Archer said:

Necro'ing this thread again - I'm seeing a lot of hype for the Necro/Dark pairing... I've been on the fence for a while on what my first MM should be, and I'm torn between Necro/Dark and Necro/Cold, so much so that I've put off making the character til I decide.

 

The benefits of /Dark have been mentioned above and are clearly very strong, but with Cold you get the Ice shields and strong options for both large mobs (Sleet, Heat Loss) and hard targets (Infrigidate, Benumb). Am I overlooking something or is Dark that clear of a winner?

/Dark is a great thematic secondary for Necro, I've got a Necro/Dark around level 30 and he's very safe, I skipped Petrifying Gaze and Black Hole.

 

Cold is a good secondary overall, and since starting at 26 your pets can heal themselves, I could see this being a strong combination.  You could slot Life Drain as a heal instead of an attack for your own survivability.

 

I wouldn't discount the attacks on Necro.  They each have a chance of spawning an uncontrollable pet, so you can get 3 extra pets out of taking the 3 attacks.

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, Story Archer said:

Necro'ing this thread again - I'm seeing a lot of hype for the Necro/Dark pairing... I've been on the fence for a while on what my first MM should be, and I'm torn between Necro/Dark and Necro/Cold, so much so that I've put off making the character til I decide.

 

The benefits of /Dark have been mentioned above and are clearly very strong, but with Cold you get the Ice shields and strong options for both large mobs (Sleet, Heat Loss) and hard targets (Infrigidate, Benumb). Am I overlooking something or is Dark that clear of a winner?

I've got 2 lvl 50 Necro/dark MM's that I often dual box and play together and bring the horde. That said I've even taken one of my Necro/dark MM's into a 1v1 arena match against an EM/Regen scrapper, and I made it the full ten minutes without dying. They can be very resilient in bodyguard mode plus all the -tohit and twilight grasp to top off.

 

Cold is a great secondary though too, so it's up to you. The only downside I see to Necro/cold is you're the weak link, your pets can be shielded while you don't get to shield yourself. That said you can still self heal with life drain to an extent.

[UltraAlt]

20 hours ago, Story Archer said:

The benefits of /Dark have been mentioned above and are clearly very strong, but with Cold you get the Ice shields and strong options for both large mobs (Sleet, Heat Loss) and hard targets (Infrigidate, Benumb). Am I overlooking something or is Dark that clear of a winner?

 

Electric.

Shock those dead corpses back to undead life.

Turtle up in defense mode.

Target through your strongest pet. 

Heal through them and heal yourself and the other pets nearby (which they should be in defensive mode). Buff them, and the same thing happens.
Shield where you are, and you shield yourself and all your minions.

 

Of course, as always, it depends if you are playing the game or the end-game and if you want to play to the strength of the set or not.

I'm really loving electric on masterminds.

[Warlawk]

Necro Elec is a great combo and very Frankenstein thematic. I like the way the short CD on both the shield and the damage buff line up so that you can Soul Extraction and them pop them both to be sure the extracted specters stick around and do plenty of damage. Since all the henchies except the lich are melee you can get some good value out of the resist zone and lich has some CC that can actually benefit from Amp Up. I have one at 50 and it was great fun.

 

Nec/Time is strong as well. /Cold is always a fantastic set, the built in heals on the pets help fill that hole.