Necromancy seems incredibly under-developed/useless on the whole. I definitely feel the pull to try a Necromancer run-through, but don't see it really going anywhere.

I almost wish Beth hadn't wasted the time putting in what they did, and instead included something like spear or horseback fighting, or something that they could more easily justify as being an addition to a current skill set as opposed to a possible skill set in itself.

Anyone else feel that way, or am I just missing something when it comes to whats available for Necromancers?

It's underwhelming, especially considering you can pretty much accomplish the same task by going pure conjurer and summoning atronachs.

On top of that, you don't need a corpse to summon them either.

I haven't really tried a necromancer yet, but I was going to say that this is the first elder scrolls where necromancers actually ressurrect dead bodies instead of summoning zombies out of thin air. So, that's actually a good thing, since it makes it more necromancer like.

I guess if the zombies aren't powerful enough it's not much useful, but I'm sure mods will appear that will have you conjure an army of zombies for a longer period than 60 seconds when the creation kit is out.

Less necromancy spells, more summonable deadra.

You do have a point there, so they get the necromancer right... but it's sort of a pita. On the otherhand a necromancer typically has offensive spell to create the first corpse, so perhaps corspes aren't a problem and I'm just bad at it?

Honestly, I think necromancy is cool and all but I don't like being restricted by corpses and their level, plus, I find being hindered by lack of corpses annoying. I just don't see any reason to take it other than saving a perk point in getting to the 'twin souls' perk.

Necromancy is fine. You just need a way to get the first enemy to drop.

What you can do with necromancy once master , is to equip 2 dead bodies with a Summoning Staff (that you can forge at the atronach forge ) and raise them permanently with " dead thrall" .

Then you can have a conjurer companion (like that Dark Elf of the College ) who will also summon atronachs in combat , so that you have a small army when fighting enemies ..

If I get a thrall spell for creatures, then I'll be satisfied with it. Though I prefer the dripping slimy Oblivion zombies over the glowing blue NPCs of Skyrim.

I hadn't this far out, I was thinking about how to get to master level necromancy, and what I would have to give up to do it. This is my first TES game, so I don't know how it was used in the past. I do know that I got a raise zombie staff, and the zombie that stood up got OHKd by a jumping skeever. Disappointing to say the least.

There are combat sets sorely missing (spear, horseback fighting/archery, knife throwing for assasins), armor for horses and dogs sorely missing, etc. I just wish they had focused the resources on something else (something I find more useful, but others may not, hence the query).

Note to Bethesda - I do not believe that the previous poster is seriously suggesting horse armor.

If, by some freak notion, you do decide to implement a horse armor DLC...again...please include mounted combat, lances, and the ability to use necromancy on your horse if it dies. Yes, that's right...Dead Thrall Horse!

I suspect that the necromancy and ward spell mechanics were implemented with priority to NPC usage... meaning that they exist more for NPC's to use. Having the player use ward spells and necromancy is not the most efficient or convenient use of mana, but makes for entertaining builds, so I'm glad that they are there for us. Dead thrall can be outright hilarious when used upon the proper NPC's -- as JohnnyCaps suggested in building an "undead army".

-Loth

As I said, I have not played previous TES titles. I was just discussing this with a friend, and he said the same thing... "Don't mention horse armor, the whole crowd will freak out. Bethesda screwed it up last time with skin overlays that did nothing".

I agree. I want it to matter. I want to stand on an Ebony armored Shadow mere and fire arrows at bears while I pass them, not stop, dismount, take two hits while I pull out my weapon, and then spend the next 3 minutes with healing in my left hand and a war axe in my right. I want armor for my dog similar to the way they did it Dragon Age 2, with specialized armor sets and perks so I can pump dog up to be the wizard bane he was born to be, not some wiffle ball version of an Irish wolfhound that has no teeth left.

I have every perk in Conjuration and can safely say, Necromancy isn't that great at all really, it starts off fun but by the end it's just pretty damn pointless, you can conjure up a Storm Thrall incredibly easily wherever you like, yet with Dead Thrall, you rarely ever find anything decent that it works on, and when you do, it usually disappears immediately upon fast travel.

Actually it's not that bad I guess, it just doesn't seem anywhere near as powerful or as convenient. Just wish Dead Thrall worked more things, something like Frost Trolls would be great, and that they didn't disappear upon fast travel.

I'm really happy that they put in necromancy in this game, but it's a shame they butchered magic as a whole. Like the removal of all those cool creatures you could summon. They still need to include a mark and recall spell. (conjuration? In a way, it's like summoning yourself from one area to another. Teleportation and soul binding magic)
I agree that necromancy certainly needs to be expanded upon, but it in no way should be removed. Being a werewolf is subpar, but it would completely ruin lore if they didn't at the very least include them.

Shudder, Necromancy. I've played way too much previous TES games and the Mages Guild has built in me an intolerance for those that prefer the company of rotting dead things.

But that's besides the point. Its in this game, but too limited. Necromancers should be a pet class, meaning they should have a permanent thrall that upgrades when their necromantic power upgades. Otherwise they are just a plain old mage unless they fight a group of enemies and one falls over dead. Also, a huge number of the dungeons we delve into are crypts, a necromancer has a TON of potential thralls in there, why does he have to wait to kill someone first?

There are approximately 4 "levels" to raising undead, "Raise Zombie" is level one, which means it will summon the weakest zombie. You'll need to find/buy Spell Tomes for Revenant or Dread Zombie if you want powerful zombies, or hope you find more powerfully enchanted staves.

For the most part I like the way that necromancy is implemented in Skyrim. Requiring an actual body to reanimate is much better than pulling a creature out of the ether (that's summoning, which is good too).

The only thing I don't care for is the different levels of spells. I have always despised magic systems that implement power increase by incrementally more powerful versions of the same spell. It's lazy and clumsy.

Have the strength and/or duration of a reanimated entity rely upon one's skill in the school with some bumps from perks. They've done some of that (perks for increased power and duration), but still limit what you can reanimate by spell.

There are some crypts that have dead bodies you can reanimate without having to first vanquish. Skeletons are a personal favorite. Too bad they are so weak. Seven Voyages of Sinbad anyone ?

I play necromancers/summoners in any rpg /MMO that allows it. Skyrim has done one of the better implementations.

If you have the magicka you can just use dread zombie on anything you wish to reanimate. It helps to declutter your favorites.

I have been using the Dead Thrall spell (with the perk for two summoned at a time) and using two former NPCs as thralls. Kornalus and Sebastian Lort. Both are beasts. They use ranged lightning and have a LOT of health. I have been using Kornalus for about 40-50 hours and Sebastian for about 20 or so. No problems keeping them long term. Occasionally one or the other might not show up immediately when fast traveling, but they always do after a while (entering a building subsequent to a fast travel, for example).

I heartily recommend using Dead Thralls. Also, you can kill one, then load him up with loot, re-animate him and you have another pack mule. They will equip weapons, as well. I have not witnessed my thralls equipping armor, but I have read some comments where others say that they do. edit: I take that back, I recall Kornalus equipping an ebony shield once.

If I use two master-conjurers, a follower who can conjure, and a dog, I have 8 fighting members on my team!!! If I am long traveling (as opposed to fast traveling) I don't even bother with bears, spiders or sabre cats anymore. They are dead before I can locate them and prepare for battle.

And another thing, why can't you raise decapitated enemies. Its a game and I want my headless zombies.

LoL! armor for companion dogs would be kick ass cool tho! heheheh

Just curious, does double-casting make Dead Thrall hit higher-level dead?

Necromancy with dead thralls easily blows away storm thralls, but you have to put effort into it. Dead thralls will use whatever weapons you put on their corpse before you raise them, some will even use summoning staves. They will also use armor that was on their corpse when they first died, but you can take that stuff and enchant it and upgrade how you want, then stick it back on the corpse. Another benefit of the dead thrall spell is that you get another storage mule, two if you have the twin souls perk.

The fun part about necromancy is the experimenting and collecting. The way the dead thrall mechanic works really enforces roleplaying a necromancer. Dead thrall corpses don't turn to ash when they die, you can walk a thrall to a place that doesn't reset, like a player home. The result is being a creepy wizard who collects dead bodies in the basemant of his cottage.

I have an idea that would make necromancy summoning tree perfect imho: make raise zombie, reanimate dead, revenant and similiar spells actually level capped thrall spells that worked only on humanoids, the master spell would work on level 50+ mobs. Then make the skill level 70 perk one that allows you to raise non-humanoids and push the hit point bonus down to 30.

Those who are really interested in the power of the dead thrall spell HAVE to look at this huge topic on gamefaqs: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/61115903
Losing thralls on fast travel is a bug and a workaround is discussed in that topic.

I wish they put more necromancy spells in.

Can't dual cast master level spells, so I'm afraid not.


I haven't found anything Dead Thrall works on that's as good as my Storm Thrall, but I'll keep looking that's for sure. And I never bothered upgrading their armour before, so I'll try that and see how it goes! Just hope I don't lose them after fast travelling.

How about more necromancy and more daedra?