Necromancer

"Raise an army of the dead by draining souls!"

— Former Specialized Adventuring! Description

Necromancer is a class. It is only available during Expert Mode games.

This class received a major overhaul in Feb. 2017; the previous version can be found here.

Master Of Death

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! Tooltip
 * As a Necromancer, you are the Master Of Death. You gain 1 Soul Power every 8 turns. Necromancer skills can be used while dead.
 * As a Necromancer, you are the Master Of Death. You gain 1 Soul Power every 8 turns. Necromancer skills can be used while dead.

If the Class Talent is active: You can use ALL your Skills while dead.

Soul Power: X

Triggers in Y turn(s).

Category: Buff
 * }

Effect

 * You instantly gain 4 Soul Power when you gain this effect. Then, you gain 1 Soul Power every 8 Effects Phases (beginning on the 8th Effects Phase after gaining this effect.)
 * The Dead status doesn't prevent you from using Necromancer skills standardly.
 * If the Class Talent is active: The Dead status doesn't prevent you from using ANY skill standardly.

Drain Soul

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! Drain Soul (Curse) Tooltip
 * Your soul is being drained. If you die while under this Curse, PlayerName will steal a part of your soul and gain 1 Soul Power.
 * Your soul is being drained. If you die while under this Curse, PlayerName will steal a part of your soul and gain 1 Soul Power.

Duration: X turn(s)

Category: Debuff, Magic, Curse
 * }

Standard Use

 * Target any player.
 * If they are alive: Give them 2 turns of the Drain Soul Curse connected to this skill. (You can give this Curse to multiple players and to the same player multiple times simultaneously under different Debuffs.)
 * Drain Soul: When you die, the player with the Drain Soul skill connected to this Curse gains 1 Soul Power, also you lose this effect. This effect can stack under different Debuffs and cannot be extended.
 * If they are Dead: Nothing occurs besides this skill going on cooldown.

Passive Effect

 * Soul Power is stored in this skill.
 * After a Drain Soul Curse connected to this skill activates and wears off, if the player the Curse drained is Dead, this skill's cooldown resets.
 * If the Class Talent is active: After a Drain Soul Curse connected to this skill and draining another player activates and wears off, if both you and the player the Curse drained are Dead, you gain 1 extra Soul Power, Soul Speed for 6 turns, and a Soulstone, and you are revived.

Standard Use

 * Up to 1 Skeleton, 1 Zombie, and 1 Specter (or instead, an upgraded form for each) can be summoned (gained as an Unremovable Buff) at once due to Army Of The Dead. Each basic minion summon costs 2 Soul Power. Each upgraded minion summon costs 3 Soul Power, along with the corresponding basic minion Buff gained due to Army Of The Dead. (You cannot attempt to use 3 Soul Power and an upgraded minion to summon another upgraded minion or attempt to summon an upgraded minion without the corresponding basic minion.) (Any summon attempt with insufficient Soul Power fails and won't cost any Soul Power.) You can unsummon (losing the Buff) a basic minion to gain 1 Soul Power or an upgraded minion to gain 4 Soul Power.
 * The tooltips of all the minion Buffs are in the expandable chart above. Note that they all have visible turn counters in their tooltips listing how long until they next trigger. The detailed effects for when they activate in the Effects Phase are as follows:
 * Skeleton: A random enemy player is knocked back 6 spaces.
 * Skeleton Berserker: A random enemy player is knocked back 6 spaces and is given 3 turns of Bleeding.
 * Skeleton Thief: A random enemy player is knocked back 6 spaces. Also, you steal either 4 Rupees or a random item from that enemy.
 * Skeleton Knight: A random enemy player is knocked back 6 spaces and is given 1 turn of Temporary Defective Dice.
 * Bone Mage: A random enemy player is knocked back 6 spaces and is given 3 turns of Bone Mage Silence.
 * Zombie: A random enemy player is given Zombie Infection for 2 turns.
 * Burning Abomination: A random enemy player is given Zombie Infection for 2 turns. They also have a 50% chance to gain 1 turn of Fire.
 * Perverted Corpse: A random enemy player is given Zombie Infection for 2 turns. They also gain a random STD from the generic STD-givers (2) pool.
 * Rotting Corrupter: A random enemy player is given Zombie Infection for 2 turns. If the target is Dead, you gain 1 Soul Power instead.
 * Starving Ghoul: A random enemy player is given Zombie Infection for 2 turns. Also, the Ghoul eats a random Food item the target has. (Effectively, the Food item is just removed from the game.)
 * Specter: You gain an Ethereal Gem.
 * Chilling Ghost: You gain an Ethereal Gem and Faerie Frost.
 * Cleansing Spirit: You gain an Ethereal Gem. Also, you lose a random Disease or Poison Debuff if possible.
 * Spectral Cleric: You gain an Ethereal Gem. Also, you lose a random removable Magic Debuff if possible.
 * Shimmering Soul: You gain an Ethereal Gem.
 * This Buff also passively grants Magical Mind and Flow Of Magic. This part of the effect is not related to the Effects Phase.


 * Each minion summoned (or upgraded) with Army Of The Dead initially activates on the 3rd Effects Phase after being summoned (or upgraded) (or due to Command Undead.) It then activates every 6 Effects Phases (beginning on the 6th Effects Phase after the initial activation.) (If unsummoned and resummoned/reupgraded, a minion once again initially activates on the 3rd Effects Phase after being summoned (or upgraded), then begins the 6 Effects Phase cycle.)
 * You can use 4 Soul Power to activate Undead Haste for the rest of the game. This option changes the amount of Effects Phases between activations for all of your Army Of The Dead minions from 6 to 5.
 * A newly summoned (or upgraded) minion after activating Undead Haste will still activate initially on the 3rd Effects Phase after being summoned (or upgraded) before commencing with the 5 Effects Phase cycle.
 * A currently summoned minion when Undead Haste is activated will not be affected by Undead Haste until after that minion's next activation in the Effects Phase (or due to Command Undead.)


 * If the Class Talent is active: Choose to use the Talent. Then, target any player.
 * If the target is alive or you have less than 2 Soul Power: Nothing occurs besides the Talent option being reset and going on cooldown for 7 turns.
 * If the target is Dead and you have at least 2 Soul Power: Revive the target, give them Volatile Zombie, and lose 2 Soul Power. Also, the Talent option is reset and goes on cooldown for 7 turns.

Event Use

 * Use Army Of The Dead against the Bearded Phantom of the Archaeology Dig; if you succeed, you lose 1 Soul Power and gain the Bearded Phantom Buff for 5 turns. This effect can stack under different Buffs. (You fail if you have 0 Soul Power.)
 * Bearded Phantom: When this effect wears off, a random enemy player is attacked; if they currently have no Drain Soul Curse from you, they are Incapacitated. If they do have a Drain Soul Curse from you, they are killed.
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! Bearded Phantom Tooltip
 * You have enslaved a Bearded Phantom. It will soon randomly attack an enemy player! Go Beardy go!
 * You have enslaved a Bearded Phantom. It will soon randomly attack an enemy player! Go Beardy go!

Triggers in X turn(s).

Category: Buff, Magic
 * }

Standard Use

 * If not on cooldown: Choose one minion you currently have summoned due to Army Of The Dead. Then, target an enemy player if you chose any Skeleton type or Zombie type minion, or target any player if you chose any Specter type minion. For a Skeleton or Zombie type minion, the targeted player is instantly affected as though they were a random enemy being affected by the minion in the Effects Phase. For the Specter type, the targeted player is instantly affected as though they were you being affected by the minion in the Effects Phase. Either way, the chosen minion's activation cycle for the Effects Phase is reset so that its next activation occurs in 6/7 Effects Phases (or 5/6 if Undead Haste is active.)
 * If on cooldown: Use 1 Soul Power to lower this skill's cooldown by 6. (This option can be selected but does nothing if the skill is not on cooldown.)
 * If the Class Talent is active: When you use Command Undead to target another player with a Skeleton or Zombie type minion, the target receives the Dark Touch effect for 3 turns.
 * Dark Touch: If you die with this effect, a temporary random Undead Minion (a minion as a Buff which could be any Army Of The Dead minion) is summoned for the player who gave you this effect, and you lose this effect. The minion will have 7 Effects Phases of duration, activating first on the 1st Effects Phase after it is summoned and second on the 7th Effects Phase after it is summoned. For both activations, the minion's target will be a random other player if it's a Skeleton or Zombie variant and will be the player who gave you Dark Touch if it's a Specter variant. Dark Touch can stack under different Debuffs.

Strengths

 * You can use your Necromancer skills even while Dead.
 * Even if you fail in getting SP with Drain Soul, you will get +1 SP every 8 turns thanks to Master of Death.
 * Skeletons have a static knockback amount, allowing for guaranteed same-spacing.
 * Skeleton Thief can steal a lot of Rupees and items if summoned early enough in the game.
 * Skeleton Knight's Defective Dice can prevent a huge amount of space gain by players with Empowered Dice (esp. Warlocks and Paladins) as well as players with Speed Boost, Hyper Hyper, etc. (esp. Enchanters) and potentially stall them for many turns in the endgame by lowering Command Undead's cooldown by 6 turns for 1 SP.
 * Bone Mage can shut down a player who is spamming magic or prevent a revive at a key time.
 * Zombies apply a slowing Disease.
 * Rotting Corrupter can be used to build your minion army more quickly and store more resources for the endgame.
 * Starving Ghoul can disrupt a Food stockpile.
 * Specters give Ethereal Gems which can be used to make Ethereal Gloves and Spirit Slippers. The Gloves can be used to revive yourself among other uses, while the Slippers can be repeatedly brought off cooldown with new Ethereal Gems and used to sprint to the finish line.
 * Chilling Ghost's Faerie Frost can prevent losing spaces with the Time Bomb, with The United Nations, with The Bear!, with Saruman, with a bad guy or with the Indian chief in The Wild West, or if you are being shot at by a player with Hypno Glasses (at the cost of dying.)
 * Cleansing Spirit can remove Diseases like Gonorrhea and remove Poisons like Pufferfish Poison.
 * Spectral Cleric can remove Curses and can remove Temporarily Denied when past the finish line.
 * Shimmering Soul has strong magic synergy.
 * The Archaeology Dig's Bearded Phantom is typically difficult to beat. Army Of The Dead is one of the few ways to do so.
 * In very long games, full level minions with Undead Haste can be very strong.

Weaknesses

 * Weak in early game.
 * No skills for disposing of junk items like Jinxed Jewel Of Encumberment.
 * Reincarnation in your Resurrection Phase can suddenly and unexpectedly cause you to become unable to act.
 * If a kill opportunity suddenly pops up, using Drain Soul will cause a slight delay that can allow a player to escape danger.
 * If you are slightly too slow with Drain Soul and the target dies before you use it, you'll typically have to wait 3 turns before getting another draining opportunity.
 * Being constantly on the lookout for Drain Soul opportunities can take up a lot of mental resources useful for other strategizing.
 * You require Boots and Gloves to make the most out of your Ethereal Gems; a Gem's utility is much more situational otherwise. For this reason, Saboteurs and Quantum Physicists can effectively counter much of Necromancer's strength. If you're poor enough, Warlock's Goldfiend can make it difficult for you to even purchase Boots or Gloves at The Market.
 * Paladins and Priests can remove Drain Soul from themselves (and other players in the case of Paladin), and a Paladin will gain Empowered Dice.
 * Lawyer's Sue can make killing another player painful. If you are not careful with counterplay, Lawyers can also use Confiscate Evidence to steal your Spirit Slippers or steal your Light Wand to prevent you from having a Revive.
 * Evil Barrier and various Curses can prevent you from removing Temporarily Denied with your Spectral Cleric at a crucial moment.
 * Bone Mage can be countered with Magical Mind.
 * If you gain Frost Immunity to protect your Boots and Gloves, your Chilling Ghost cannot apply Faerie Frost to you.
 * In an FFA game, some Skeleton and Zombie Minions require good luck to be useful without Command Undead.
 * Enemy players can view your SP through your Master Of Death Buff tooltip and can also see turn counters for and the names of your Undead Minion Buffs.
 * Mystic Shop can appear as a random event, in Cards Of Fate, or through the Arcane Portal in The Haunted Mansion during Halloween, giving non-Necromancers access to one of Necromancer's "more exclusive" strengths. Ethereal Gem can also be found in Reinforcements.
 * If there's not enough predictable death occurring throughout a game, your endgame strength can be underwhelming.
 * In very long games, space gain from Spirit Slippers can become underwhelming.

Strategies

 * Being able to determine when people are going to die is important to get SP and raise your minions faster; this is especially important early game when trying to get your minion cycles up and running. Pay attention when players get in a duel, get inside of Schrödinger's Box, go inside the Pyramid, have AIDS or untreated Malaria or are Dehydrated, etc.
 * Situationally, it can be a good strategy to kill yourself with ACME Rocket, ACME TNT, Dark Sacrifice or launching yourself with the Catapult while draining your own soul. You'll die, but you can kill others/move forward/apply Debuffs to enemies/gain Life Insurance/lose Diseases in addition to gaining 1 SP.
 * If you think you're going to die soon and you can't prevent it (e.g. you're Dehydrated, have AIDS, have Jinxed Jewel Of Death or Pipe Bomb, are about to be the target of Diss Card: Death, etc.), drain your own soul.
 * Ethereal Gem can be combined with Boots or Gloves. Ethereal Gloves can be used to revive yourself, esp. with a low cost Charged Light Wand from The Magic Shop. Spirit Slippers can be used for sprinting.
 * Ethereal Gem can be used on your ACME Rocket, ACME TNT, Tome Of Hellfire, Genesis Device, Defibrillator, Hellpriest or Charged Light Wand/Orb/Staff with Revive. (Beware that the Ethereal enchantment will prevent recharging at The Magic Shop if you don't have a means to remove it (i.e. with Enchant or Balm Of Anubis.))
 * If the Adventure Time reference event is chosen, you can get an Orb for use with Shimmering Soul. Also, the Enchiridion casts Wormhole and provides all 5 Magic Crystals, which can be used with Shimmering Soul. Black Dragonling can provide Magic Crystals for use with Shimmering Soul.
 * If the Dr. Who reference event is chosen, you can gain Boots and Gloves repeatedly without use of a Wildcard, so your Specter's strength is more secure. However, Mystic Shop being available through the Arcane Portal as well as the reward for completing Dr. Who's quest can make Ethereal Gloves more accessible to non-Necromancer players in longer games.
 * If the Board Game Of Thrones reference event is chosen, you can gain Boots and Gloves by becoming a Stark or become a Targaryen to have some sort of defense for your Boots and Gloves against Saboteur. If you become a Targaryen, you can also periodically get a chance to obtain a Magic Crystal from The Dragon, and if you somehow gain an Orb, it can be charged with Ancient Dragon Claw, which will have synergy with Shimmering Soul. There's also an ever so slight chance to steal a Black Dragon Egg which will grant Magic Crystals once hatched. However, Ring Of Spell Deflecting can hinder your magic usage if you are using Shimmering Soul.
 * If the Interdimensional Portal Gun reference event is chosen, Chilling Ghost can prevent losing spaces while getting the max reward from Fantasy World.
 * Rod Of Asclepius and Sir Lancelot's Ring Of Dispel synergize well with Zombies and Drain Soul respectively. Many other Artifacts (esp. The Grim Reaper's Scythe) can help with building up Soul Power.

Dual-Class Synergies

 * Alchemist: Holy Hand Grenade and Sex Bomb can be utilized for killing/setting up kills for SP. Perverted Corpse can be utilized for spreading Diseases with Sex Bomb (with your Cleansing Spirit removing your own Diseases if you affect yourself.) After gaining Skip-A-Turn from Holy Hand Grenade, you can kill yourself with ACME Rocket/Volatile Oil (gaining 1 SP) and revive yourself if you have Revive from The Magic Shop to avoid skipping a turn. If used with Ethereal Gloves while Dead, Holy Hand Grenade never has to give you Skip-A-Turn in the first place, and ACME Rocket won't kill you. Transmute can dispose of junk items like Jinxed Jewel Of Encumberment, covering one of Necromancer's weaknesses.
 * Assassin: Killer Instincts and Drain Soul can each give a reward for your kills. Assassinate and Sprint are useful for killing. Killer Instincts Speed Boost, Sprint, and Spirit Slippers are key for sprinting, with Evasion also helping.
 * Druid: In short enough games, Druid + Necromancer can sprint to the finish exceptionally quickly as long as you drain enough souls. Shapeshift, Bear Form, and Snake Form (and even Crow and Wolf Form) are useful for killing. Shapeshift, Crow Form, Wolf Form, and Spirit Slippers are key for sprinting.
 * Enchanter: Condense Magic, Drain Soul, and Rotting Corrupter are solid tools for stockpiling. Necromancer and Enchanter can both stall the game and will benefit from stalling the game by storing up more resources. Though likely not optimal in most FFAs, Condense Magic can also be used for draining Souls with various Dark Crystal spells, Night Crystal's Cursed Wounds, and Happy Crystal's Weaponize and Detonation, among other spells. Arcane Relocation can be used for same-spacing for kills. Also, Enchant can be used for protection of your Ethereal Gloves and Spirit Slippers. Condense Magic can dispose of junk items like Jinxed Jewel Of Encumberment, covering one of Necromancer's weaknesses.
 * Merchant: You can use Trade Routes to repeatedly go to The Magic Shop for Revives (for use with with Ethereal Gloves or to revive and kill a player) and other spells to use with Shimmering Soul. (Beware that Flow Of Magic can interfere with killing a revived enemy player.) With Banking and Trade Routes, ACME Magnet, ACME Rocket, and Explosive Sheep are items which you can more easily access for SP.
 * Paladin: You can use Divine Blessing to remove Drain Soul or Zombie Infection and gain Empowered Dice. Perverted Corpse and Drain Soul can together apply 3 Curses/Diseases in quick succession that can be removed for 3 stacks of Empowered Dice at once if you have the Divine Blessing Talent. A Skeleton minion can be used to hit a player onto your space so you can knock them back with your Holy Hammer. Divine Blessing and Spirit Slippers are both useful for sprinting.
 * Saboteur: Tinker (esp. with Sabotage) can be used to create Mechanical items such as Lightsabers which can be used to kill and gain Soul Power. Hinder can be used along with a Skeleton minion to assist in this endeavor. Sabotage can prevent Shields and spell protection items from preventing kills as well. Tinker can dispose of junk items like Jinxed Jewel Of Encumberment, covering one of Necromancer's weaknesses. Burning Abomination can be used to burn an item made Highly Flammable by Sabotage while Hinder's Fire is still recharging or if Hinder's Fire somehow failed the first go-round.
 * Time Twister: Lock Time can be used to ensure you have enough Rupees. Bend Space can be used to put 2 or more enemy players on the same space; if you know that 1 of them has a usable Lightsaber or Pacman, Drain Soul is likely to succeed; if you know that 1 has a Sword, success is less likely but still worth considering. Lock Time and Bend Space can both be used to kill players with your explosives (esp. Explosive Sheep) to gain SP. Necromancer and Time Twister also can both stall the game and will benefit from stalling the game by storing up more resources. However, Not My Time Yet and Ethereal Gloves revival don't synergize well, and even if it activates, Not My Time Yet doesn't do much for Necromancer's skill cooldowns.
 * Warlock: For your own deaths and kills, Skull Collector and Drain Soul can each give a reward. Spectral Cleric can remove your Curses from Call Demon. Call Demon can produce Hellpriests that you can use to revive yourself alongside Ethereal Gloves or simply Ethereal Gems. Demon Fairy alongside a Gun can be used for kills. You can Drain yourself when you die to Chaotic Power.