[edit] Level 1

Bone Spike I

• 37 Energy
• Physical Conjuration
• Range: 25
• Cast Time: 2.0 Seconds

Summons a deadly hail of bone shards which are magicly hurled at your enemy (sort of a "magic missle" hah hah) dealing physical damage. The amount of damage is based on the Necromancer's level and particular combination of attributes. It is also possible to achieve "critical" or "epic" hits from time to time that can do massive ammounts of damage. (Epic hits are currently disabled. - 1/15/2007) Also, the effect of this looks more like a spray of bone darts rather than a bone spear.)

Power of the Grave I

• 18 Energy
• Alteration
• Range: 25
• Cast Time: Instant

Grants the Necromancer's ally unnatural vigor and intellect, increasing both constitution and intelligence by 9. This effect lasts one hour. Although the casting time for this spell is instant, the caster will need to wait a very short duration before casting the spell agian.

[edit] Level 2

Torment I

• 25 Energy
• Spiritual Evocation
• Range: 25
• Cast Time: Instant

Tormenting spirits attack the soul of your opponent, slowing movement by 50% and inflicting 139 to 151 damage over 32 seconds. (Sort of like the Darkeness line from EQ1. This is a snare coulpled with a DoT.)

[edit] Level 4

Awaken Abomination I

• 0 Energy
• Conjuration
• Range: 5
• Cast Time: 10 seconds

Awakens an abomination to serve the Necromancer's needs. The abomination is the Necromancer's most baisc and loyal minion. It will fight for the Necromancer, even unto it's own...death... Summoning an abomination takes only time... No power is required. Therefor trying to summon an abomination while in battle is only to be attempted as a last resort. The abomination resembles a sinister and agressive flesh golem with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth and powerful limbs tipped with razor sharp claws.

Blood Rite I

• 12HP, 32 Energy
• Alteration
• Range: 25
• Cast Time: 2.0 seconds

Transfers a portion of the Necromancer's life to their abomination. In essence the Necromancer is able to heal the abomination by sacrificing his own life. This all sounds rather selfless, the master making a sacrifice for his servant, ...oh but there is more... just wait until you learn about "Drain Life"...but that is a spell for a different level... (The in-game description says "heals for 130" though in practice I've only seen it heal for 104.)

Crippling Blight I

• 27 Energy
• Alteration
• Range: 25
• Cast Time: Instant

Cripples a Necromancer's opponent, lowering their damage output by 18. Most of the weakness will fade within 20 seconds, but the blight lingers for two excruciatingly long minutes.

[edit] Level 6

Instill Fear

The Fear spell is something to use with great care. Use it in a dungeon and you're bound to draw a lot of attention as the foe runs about telling all his friends about you and what you did to him. However, this can be a quick get-out-of-jail card if you find yourself in a sticky situation in some open areas.

Bone Spear of Nathrac

Bone Spear is a real direct damage spell. It does serious damage, so be prepared to have your enemy turn it's head from your minion and begin running right for you. This is a kill-quick combo if your Slayer is hacking away at your enemy while he has been DoT'ed with the Plague of the Flesh Eaters and you drop in this Bone Spear at around 1/2 health.

[edit] Level 8

Plague of Horrid Decay

Advanced DoT. This one does more than just damaging your enemy; it lowers their movement speed, lowers their attack damage by 10% as well as doing damage to them, but not as much as Plague of the Flesh Eaters.

Raise Guardian

He's a tank. Very low damage output, but he can really make an enemy mad at him and hold agro for the duration of a fight. The Guardian stays on the target you've first attacked and will not change targets even if you begin attacking something else, unlike the Slayer that attacks whatever you are attacking.

[edit] Level 10

Necropsy

Spell to harvest usable parts for the Abomination from slain foes.

Toxic Burst

Area effect damage spell.

Mend Flesh

Healing spell that is used to heal the Abomination.

Zombify

Mesmerizing spell that binds an enemy for about 45 seconds.

Summon Abomination

Does exactly that: summoning the Abomination.

[edit] Other Info

Necromancers are deeply embedded in High Fantasy, often as an evil and insidious character who raises the dead to do his bidding—often for dark purposes. While Vanguard might not be sticking entirely to standard high fantasy, the class does show many abilities that are core to the concept—and many other neat abilities on top of that.

The Necromancer was pretty popular this year at E3. It seemed to be a class that many people were excited to hear about and see in action. In fact, a good bit of the gameplay game-play demonstrations was with Necromancers.

So, why is it that this class was getting so much attention? Well, people just seem to love the idea of the Necromancer; the mage who raises the dead to do his bidding. It has an insidiousness about it that could appeal to many. However, let us take a closer look at this class with what was learned at E3 this year, thanks to a few developers at Sigil—largely David Forrest.

Necromancers are most notable for their loyal, undead servants, and they are usually implemented into games as a pet-based class. Vanguard is not straying far from that. However, Sigil is throwing in a few new ideas with their pets. That is, the player can loot parts of creatures and attach them to the necromancer to let it grow stronger and obtain new abilities. For example, you may obtain a rare ‘part’, such as an Ice Claw, which, when attached to your pet, enables it to use snares and roots. Like weapons and armor in the game, there will be rare drops for these parts as well.

The Necromancer also has numerous other abilities that can aid them in battles. They will have a Feign Death, four DOT lines, DD/Snares, DOT/snares, Curses, Auras, a ‘Wail’ line, which acts as an AoE fear spell that also deals damage, as well as a single-target fear. The Necromancer should have a powerful arsenal at their disposal as far as spells go.

Curses sound particularly interesting. They are related to the different DOT lines, which are named after various types of plagues, such as the Plague of Infestation, which causes scarabs to burst from the skin of the target. The curses are attacks that do not happen immediately, but instead take a bit of time to go off with fantastic effects, and do cost mana to cast. Once the curse is cast, it is activated once the DOT on the target has progressed far enough—or if multiple people are DOTing the mob.

To give an example of one of the curses, there is a DOT that drains the mana of the target (potentially a mana-tap), which the Curse of the Thought Worm—a level one curse—is related too. When the curse goes off, it deals extra damage, damages the mana of the target, and silences them for a duration when it goes off.

The Necromancer also has some crowd control abilities—although not as much as some of the other classes. One way in which the Necromancer can do this is with their Mummify ability, which essentially turns an enemy into a mummy that can not fight effectively. The Necromancer has several different Auras that they can use. One example of this would be a Chill Aura, which sends cold effects out from your position, snaring enemies as they get close to you, with a chance to root them for a short duration as the character rises in level.

This also gives the added benefit with AoE spells, such as Poison Blast and Corpse Explosion. With the enemies grouped around you, moving slow, you can gain hits on more targets.

Many people have fond memories of EverQuest and what Necromancer’s had to deal with concerning the faction system. That is, that they were not well liked by good races. It sounds as if Sigil is considered having this class (and possibly others) impact the faction system in Vanguard as well. Yet, it is not clear how this will work, or if it will end up being implemented at all. It was mentioned that High Elves would likely not consider Necromancers as evil, as they view the use of magic, not the magic itself, as good or evil.

Necromancers have quite a few abilities that they can put to use in Vanguard and they should be an exciting class to play for those interested in pet-based classes, or someone interested in a solid arcane-based class. One way or the other, considering the attention that it was given at E3, the Necromancer will likely be a popular class—and quite likely for good reason.

-Arrakiv's E3 Writeup On Necros