Monsters and Memories Necromancer Guide

01The Necromancer at a Glance

The Necromancer is the death-magic pet caster of Monsters and Memories — a cloth-wearing scholar of the soul who raises an undead minion to tank while they rot enemies away with poison, disease and corruption, and drain their life to keep themselves standing.

The official class page calls the Necromancer the “Master of Death”: a pet-focused magic damage dealer with life drain, corruption, control over the undead and a set of fears, snares and escapes. It is one of the strongest solo classes in the game, and a patient, methodical one — your damage builds over time rather than landing all at once.

02Is the Necromancer Right for You?

For a new player, the Necromancer is a forgiving way to learn the game: your pet takes the hits, your damage-over-time spells keep ticking while you kite, and fear or feign death can get you out of trouble. The skill to learn is patience — apply your spells, let them work, and don't over-pull.

03Choosing Your Race

Five races can be Necromancers at Early Access. Your class adds +4 INT and +4 DEX to your race's base stats, and you get 10 bonus points to spend at creation. Starting values before bonus points:

Spending your 10 bonus points

Intelligence drives your spell damage and mana pool, so it gets most of your points. Stamina comes next: many Necromancer spells cost your own health, and more hit points means you can use them more freely.

• Humans: +7 INT, +2 STA, +1 DEX.
• Gnomes: +5 INT, +4 STA, +1 DEX — you already have the most INT.
• Goblins: +6 INT, +3 STA, +1 DEX.
• Deep Elves and Deep Gnomes: about +6 INT, +3 STA, +1 DEX.
• Wisdom and Charisma do little for a Necromancer. Skip them.

Deep Dwarf, Troll and Var'nai are listed as Necromancer races on the official site but aren't playable at Early Access.

04Recommended Traits

You pick one trait from each of four categories at creation (see the New Player Guide for the full lists). For a Necromancer:

05Getting Started

Your starter quest

Every Necromancer begins with a class starter quest that teaches the basics and hands out your first gear. For the full step-by-step walkthrough, with every NPC, location and reward, see our Necromancer Starter Quest Guide. Individual quest pages: Necromancer Starter Quest (Night Harbor) · Burning Bones.

Where to buy spells and reagents

• Night Harbor: the Concourse of Souls is your guild hall. Your trainer and spell vendor are there.
• Reagents: each pet needs one — Bone Chips for skeletons, Zombie Skin for zombies and Ghoul Skin for ghouls. Keep a stack in your bags at all times.
• Underdocks and Ail’Vorith starters: ask a guard for the Necromancer trainer, and see our Underdocks and Ail’Vorith pages.

06Your Toolkit

Necromancer spells come in lines: you learn a spell, then buy stronger ranks as you level. Levels shown are when the first rank (and some upgrades) becomes available; a dash means the level hasn’t been published for a new spell. Renamed lines list the older names so you can match them up.

07Spells to Prioritize, Levels 1–28

You won’t be able to afford every spell as soon as it unlocks. This is the order that matters most for a new Necromancer: Levels come from community data compiled before the rework, so treat them as a guide and check your vendor.

Pick up the Pacts as your vendor offers them — Pact of Deathly Enduring for hard solo pulls and Pact of Eldritch Quickening for faster damage are likely to see the most use. Past level 28 the pattern continues: pet ranks first, then Shadows, Deluge and Rot, then life taps and pet buffs. Keep one pet line (skeleton, zombie or ghoul) current rather than buying all three.

08Playing in a Group

In a group you are steady damage, a spare healer in emergencies, and the person who fixes wipes. Your biggest job is fitting your damage-over-time style around everyone else.

Before the pull

• Ask who is mezzing. Your damage-over-time spells keep ticking and will break mesmerize. Only put them on the kill target.
• Decide about your pet. With a real tank, your pet is extra damage — keep it on the tank’s target and buff it with Fury of Death. Pact of Vampirism lets its hits drain life that heals your group. In a small group without a tank, it may have to hold the mob.
• Keep Unliving Shield up, and carry a few Lifestones to hand out.
• Know where your group’s bind point is. If things go wrong, you’re the one who can find and summon corpses.

During the fight

1. Let the tank build aggroDamage-over-time spells create threat on every tick. Wait for a few hits before you start.
2. Break resists, then stack DoTsSpirit Break the target, then add Deluge, Rot and Shadows. On long fights, keep all of them running.
3. Top up with life tapsLife taps heal you as they hit, so you rarely need your healer’s attention.
4. Help in emergenciesDark Embrace and Covenant of Life trade your health for an ally’s — use them if the healer is out of mana or down.
5. Drop aggro fastIf a mob turns to you, Feign Death. If the whole pull turns, Unholy Bulwark buys 15 seconds.

09Soloing

Soloing is where Necromancers shine. The class description says a Necromancer can find success both within adventuring parties and while adventuring alone, and the official page lists it as a strong solo class.

• Pet tanking: send your pet in, let it take the hits, then add Deluge, Rot and a life tap. On a hard pull, Pact of Deathly Enduring makes your pet tougher at the cost of some of your maximum health. Heal the pet with Mend the Dead between fights.
• Snare and kite: put Swirling (later Surging, Whirling) Shadows on the mob, add your other DoTs, and keep walking. The snare means it can’t catch you while the damage ticks.
• Fear kiting: Fear sends the mob running while your DoTs work. Damage can break fear early, so re-cast when it turns around — and make sure it doesn’t run into friends.
• Life taps as heals: finish fights with Life Drain or its upgrades to recover the health your pacts cost you.
• Blood Pact while resting: it boosts mana regeneration but costs health over time. Sit, regain mana, and drop it when you’re full.
• Undead are easy prey: Lull the Dead, Terrify the Dead, Restrain the Dead and Command the Dead make crypts and tombs much safer for you than for other classes — and your DoTs now hit undead for bonus damage up front.

10Leveling Path

A suggested route for a Necromancer. You can solo most of these spots, and your undead-control spells make tombs and crypts especially good hunting.

See Where to Level in the New Player Guide for more spots, and each zone page for maps and named mobs.

11Gear to Look For

Wear cloth and stack Intelligence first, then Stamina and hit points (you spend your own health on pacts and embraces), then mana. Charisma doesn't matter to you, so Necromancer-flavored items like the Skull of Whispers and Deathmask of the Witchlord — whose big CHA penalties hurt Enchanters — are excellent picks.

Early gear (roughly levels 1–16)

Upgrades for later

Stats from our item database. Item levels aren't published, so "early" is based on where they drop; the Night Harbor named NPCs are not newbie mobs, so check their level before trying. Browse the database for more INT cloth.

12Your Undead Minion

Your minion is your tank when you’re alone and your extra damage in a group. The rework turned the three main pet lines into short ladders of ranks, and between ranks your pet scales with your level, so it no longer falls behind while you wait for the next upgrade. Each type has its own reagent and signature ability, and they unlock at different levels — the skeleton comes first.

Pet abilities follow the Necromancer deep dive. Collectible pets found through exploration, and temporarily raising fallen enemies as extra pets, are still planned but not in the launch build.

Keeping your minion alive

• Heal it: Mend the Dead now has five ranks, so your pet heals keep pace across more of the game. A healed pet is cheaper than a new one.
• Buff it: Fury of Death (formerly Unrelenting Dead) raises its attack speed and Strength.
• Pact with it: Pact of Deathly Enduring gives it more AC, health and regeneration; Pact of Vampirism makes its hits heal your group; Pact of Coldlight makes it shed light in dark places. Each costs some of your maximum health.
• Carry reagents: every summon costs one. Running out in a dungeon is how Necromancers end up soloing without a tank.
• Command the dead: Command the Dead and Dominate the Dead take control of an undead enemy for a limited time.

Health and mana

• Sit between pulls. Meditation (from level 4) only boosts mana regeneration while you’re sitting. Resting at a campfire also speeds regeneration and builds the 15% Rested experience bonus.
• Pacts trade health for mana. Blood Pact, Death Pact, Shed Bones and the Lich chain raise mana regeneration while draining your health. Pair them with life taps.
• Life Drain and Leech Lifeforce give that health back while you fight. Reclaim Essence turns an unneeded pet into mana.
• Mind Surge and its upgrades give your mana to an ally. They restore more now but have a cooldown, so save them for a healer who’s about to run dry.

13Common Necromancer Mistakes

• Putting DoTs on mezzed mobs. They wake up and stay awake.
• Fearing mobs into other camps. A fleeing mob can bring back friends.
• Running out of reagents. No Bone Chips, no pet, no tank.
• Leaving a pact running in combat. Blood Pact and Death Pact keep draining your health; turn them off when you need every hit point.
• Trusting Feign Death blindly. It can fail, and mobs that already hated you may remember you. Have Unholy Bulwark as a backup.
• Letting the pet die between fights. Mend it before the next pull.
• Counting on Soul Tether. It only fires when your health is low and has a long cooldown. Treat it as an emergency save, not part of your defense.
• Stacking every Pact at once. Each one lowers your maximum health. Pick the ones the fight needs.

14Necromancer FAQ