Transforming an old necro mage?

[Jarnhound]

I am brushing the dust of my old necro mage and are in need of some advice.

If I was looking for mainly Wraithform/Wither spam, then 80 Necromancy should be sufficient?

I am considering dropping 120 Resist (since this is PVM/Events mainly char) and I am wondering what to pick up instead: Mysticism or Spellweaving? Is Mysticism any good without Focus/Imbuing to enhance the spells? Could it be viable standalone? I am mainly tending towards Mysticism for the ability to have a Rising Colossus tanking for me...

The template so far is
120 Magery
120 Eval Int
115 Meditation
110 Necro (will drop to 80)
120 Spirit Speak

I will actually be able to pack in 100 inscription as well, when ive adjusted the skills for item bonuses, in addition to either 120 spellweaving or 120 mysticism. So SDI is high on the list of gear priorities

 

[Yogi969]

I have a character similar to yours that I use mainly for champ spawns. I recently stoned his Necro to use on my Sampire and began training Necro again on the mage toon. He is around 85 Necro at this point and fizzles wither constantly, its pretty annoying. I am interesting in what the responses are here. I have been playing with the idea of adding Mysticism for the RC as well. A wraith/wither Necro with an RC tank would be pretty unstoppable in most champ spawns.

 

[CorwinXX]

Is Mysticism any good without Focus/Imbuing to enhance the spells?

No.

 

[Jarnhound]

So one path could be to ditch meditation (compensate with wraithform and max mana regen on items) and take 120 Focus instead?

120 Magery
120 Eval Int
120 Mysticism
120 Focus

So for the fizzling on 85 necro for wither doesnt sound good at all. To do reliable wither what is the recomended skill 90? 100? 110? UOGuide does not state that for the necromancy spells as far as I can see?

 

[CorwinXX]

So one path could be to ditch meditation (compensate with wraithform and max mana regen on items) and take 120 Focus instead?

Yes.

To do reliable wither what is the recomended skill

100

 

[Jarnhound]

Thank you Yogi969 and CorwinXX for the input. It is much clearer for me now what to do, certainly helps to discuss theese issues.

 

[Dizzy]

If you do, why do you need 120 magery? My mystic casts earthquake once in a while, but he doesn't have necro.

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[Fire Warrior]

So one path could be to ditch meditation (compensate with wraithform and max mana regen on items) and take 120 Focus instead?

120 Magery
120 Eval Int
120 Mysticism
120 Focus

So for the fizzling on 85 necro for wither doesnt sound good at all. To do reliable wither what is the recomended skill 90? 100? 110? UOGuide does not state that for the necromancy spells as far as I can see?

Wither will never fail at 100 Necromancy. Minimum skill to cast is 60, 80 will give 50% success, 100 will never fail. You could go with 80 or 90 but then you'll need skill jewelry.

If you end up with Magery you could use Mage Mastery to make summons harder to dispel (EV's). I havn't used Mystic yet but I hear RC is very very good in general for any PVM.

 

[Jarnhound]

Well the final skill template is coming into shape. Just need to work Spirit Speak up to 120 (is 117 now and moving oh so slowly)

Eval Int 110 (120 with +10 from Wizards Curio)
Magery 100 (120 with +20 from Crystaline Ring)
Focus 100 ( 120 with +20 from Crystaline Ring)
Necromancy 80 (100 with + 20 from Midnight Bracers)
Spirit Speak 120
Mysticism 110 (120 with + 10 from Bracelet)
Inscription 100
Total 720

Im mainly using the Crystaline ring for the + 20 SDI but adding + 40 skill is a huge bonus. Seems I will be able to accumulate around 110% SDI on the suit as well. A bit low on the resists (Phys 84/ Fire 63/Cold 52/Poison 62/Energy 62) but with inscription i could do magick reflection, else i just have to stay behind the Colossus

Looking forward to take him out for a spin

 

[Jarnhound]

Hmmm... went to Wrong for a test spin (and see if I finaly was able to down the Old Ogre Chef without to much fuzz). I tought I created a monster that would move down anything, but I might not be playing the template to its potential.

I didnt use any slayer books and kind of felt I had to use an unreasonable long time just to whittle down the lizzard men guarding the entrance. In the second floor i handled the pack of dogs and some named npc's, but on the ogre itself i hardly made a dent. Good thing is that i dont seem to lack mana to wither and flamestrike spam, but the whole experience was a bit underwhelming... thought 110 % SDI would give some top dammage...

The Colossus had a hard time keeping tanking and holding the ogres agro when i hit from distance with spells and most times I had to run for my life (which is not very pleasant in Wraithform) with the ogre breathing down my neck and taking 50% of my HP away in one blow, ... *sigh*

Guess its back to drawing board...

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

It sounds more like you don't know how to use any of the spells in conjunction with each other. Plus you have no melee defense.

To 120 SS just spam Curse Weapon. In Lich Form, with a Shadow Wisp up, and as much Med/Focus/MR on your character as you can.

If you changed 100 Scribe for 100 Anatomy you would have 120 Defensive Wrestle, and could hold slayer books/scrapper's while not needing to run away from everything that tries to hit you.

If the spawn you were on about is like most Ogre Lord type spawns in the game you can probably Energy Field it in and avoid any melee issues. If you can't trap it with terrain, you can Omen/Parra then cross Energy Field it on a spot.

Corpse Skin/Flame Strike/Evil Omen (You cast the Omen after the FS but it lands before the damage goes off bumping the damage by 25%).
If it's something weaker to energy (even after Corpse Skin) then use Chain Lightning/Omen.

Mass Sleep is as good as an Invis and will get monsters to re-target your Colossus. If it's a monster that counter attacks on damage (I don't know the specific monster you're talking about) then anything you cast on it will get it re-aggro'd on you no matter what. Soloution = don't cast on it and play support for your Colossus.

Corpse Skin + Colossus is a bad idea as Corpse Skin raises physical resist and Colossus hits 100% physical damage.

Mass Sleep/Chain Lightning/Meteor Swarm/Mass Curse and some others can all be targeted either on the monster directly or on the ground/walls for extra range.

Mysticism/Necro are not a good combination. Mysticism is massively defensive and largely about Colossus and hide/heal/support. Necro has perfect synergy with Magery and is massive offensively. Having all three spreads you to thin and is counter productive.

You could use the Necro Mastery Command Undead to Tame a pair of Skeletal Dragons to take out as your tank if you feel the need to have one. Or bond a pair of Bake Kitsune's for use with a Dark Wolf.

 

[Dizzy]

I'm always amazed at you combat knowledge.

Sent from mTalk

 

[Jarnhound]

Lord GOD: You are right, i dont really know the best combinations and how to truly play the template. But after trying it out now in various cirmcumstances i can't other than agree with this:
"Mysticism/Necro are not a good combination. Mysticism is massively defensive and largely about Colossus and hide/heal/support. Necro has perfect synergy with Magery and is massive offensively. Having all three spreads you to thin and is counter productive"

The way I played this char before was throwing on Protection then Wither down spawn, with an occasional earthquake to pick up more spawn. I had a -0 Mageweapon (Staff of the Magi) that also helped with defense. So Mysticism is really not bringing anything to the template the way I try to play it, that 2 EVs cant do with less hazzle and skillpoints...

I am pondering if I should move the Mysticism back to my Gargoyle imbuer and maybe pick up throwing for that template. A Gargoyle Mystic Thrower is something ive never played, but read lot of good stuff about it.

Also I have completed the Spellweaving Quest to try out that school of magic, never done any SW before, so I'm a bit curious. But the hardest part seems to find spellweaving scrolls on Europa, some farming is probably required before the spellbook is filled (not much for sale on that shard).

I was initially reluctant to the idea with 100 anatomy instead of inscription, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I would loose 5 % SDI and Casting focus and also have to adjust my suit, since i cant really use magick reflection. But I would reduce the need for Protection and be able to have a pretty good defense and keep the possibilty to use spellbooks/scrappers.

Finally thank you for the input on sequencing spells for best effect (had no idea that corpse skin increased physical resists).
I have a long way to go and lots to learn...but one step at the time and we will be getting there....

 

[CorwinXX]

A Gargoyle Mystic Thrower is something ive never played, but read lot of good stuff about it.

As to me it's not as good as a Thrower and it's not as good as a Mystic.

Also I have completed the Spellweaving Quest to try out that school of magic, never done any SW before, so I'm a bit curious.

SW has some "tanking" spells. I myself don't like SW but it's very popular so it should be good.
And I can help you a bit with scrolls.

I was initially reluctant to the idea with 100 anatomy instead of inscription

Without Anatomy you have 70 defensive wrestling (80 if you are a human).
As to me even 100 Parrying loos better than 100 Anatomy. But I may be wrong here.
But I like idea to drop Inscription.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Also I have completed the Spellweaving Quest to try out that school of magic, never done any SW before, so I'm a bit curious. But the hardest part seems to find spellweaving scrolls on Europa, some farming is probably required before the spellbook is filled (not much for sale on that shard).

I was initially reluctant to the idea with 100 anatomy instead of inscription, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I would loose 5 % SDI and Casting focus and also have to adjust my suit, since i cant really use magick reflection. But I would reduce the need for Protection and be able to have a pretty good defense and keep the possibilty to use spellbooks/scrappers.

Finally thank you for the input on sequencing spells for best effect (had no idea that corpse skin increased physical resists).

I believe Swoop is good for Spellweaving scrolls. I don't know what else or if there's anything easier, perhaps Miasma. I believe you get two for doing the quest, Summon Fey and Field from a quest.

I think you should learn to play without Reactive Armour/Magic Reflect/Protection on as it helps make you a better caster overall to be able to time spells. Avoid making auto-targeting macros as they will lock up if you get interrupted. Instead have separate keys for spells/targeting (personally I don't know many people that don't use the mouse wheel for targeting).

Corpse Skin does this to resists: +10/-15/+10/-15/0.
Wraith Form does this to resists: +15/-5/0/0/-5. So having 75 fire/energy will keep you at 70 in Wraith Form. The +15 physical will keep you at 70 if you need to turn Protection on. (Imo it is best to play out of Protection the majority of the time so you can combo spells and learn timing, it is only a second circle spell so casts fast and you can toggle it on in an emergency if needed, then turn it off after.)

Below is an example of Necro/Mage, using a mid range SDI suit, with a Dragon Slayer Scrapper's casting Chain Lightning/Omen combo on a Hydra (and by the looks of it one with 0 resists) doing 952 damage.