ESO’s Necromancer skills decide the difference between life and death, quite literally. This class features a new main quest line that ties in with the Season of the Dragon, a new 12-player Trial, Sunspire, and Skyrim-like dragons. While there’s loads on its way to the land of the cat people this summer, we’re most interested in the ESO Necromancer class.
For most roles in The Elder Scrolls Online, the dead just get in the way; you’re constantly nudging them out of the way as they fall at your feet. Now, however, you can use the myriad forbidden ESO Necromancer abilities to turn lifeless hunks of erstwhile mortal meat into the loyal foot soldiers of your next army.
But while that might make you sound as all-powerful as Game of Thrones’ Night King, playing as The Elder Scrolls Online’s Necromancer class is a much riskier business. The practice of raising the deceased has a long and troubled history in Tamriel, and summoning monstrous beings is deemed a criminal act. You’ll be castigated by some and even cast out by others, but if you’re up for the challenge and subtlety required to master the dark arts, step right this way for the full list of ESO Necromancer powers.
The three ESO Necromancer skills branches are:
Grave Lord
Grave Lord is the DPS role for ESO’s Necromancer and offers the most scope for elemental attacks and raising corpse for deadly damage dealing.
Actives:
- Frozen Colossus (Ultimate): Unleash a frostbitten Flesh Colossus to pulverise enemies in the area. The Colossus smashes the ground three times dealing AoE frost damage. Each smash applies Major Vulnerability to any enemy hit for three seconds, increasing damage taken by 30%
- Flame Skull: Lob an explosive skull at an enemy, dealing flame damage. Every third cast of this ability deals 20% increased damage
- Blastbones: Summon a flaming skeleton from the ground after 2.5 seconds. The skeleton runs after the target and explodes when it gets close to them, dealing flame damage to all enemies nearby. Creates a corpse on death
- Boneyard: Desecrate the ground at the target location, dealing frost damage over ten seconds. Consumes a corpse on cast to deal 20% more damage. An ally standing in the graveyard can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing frost damage to enemies in the area and healing you for the damage done
- Skeletal Mage: Unearth a skeletal mage from the dirt to fight by your side for 16 seconds. The mage attacks the closest enemy every two seconds, dealing shock damage. Creates a corpse on death
- Shocking Siphon: Violently drain the last spark of life from a corpse, dealing shock damage over 12 seconds to all enemies between you and the corpse. While slotted, your damage done is increased by 3%
Passives:
- Reusable Parts: When an enemy dies within four seconds of being damaged by one of your Necromancer abilities, your next Blastbones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender cast is free
- Death Knell: Increases your critical strike chance against enemies under 25% health by 10% for each Grave Lord ability slotted
- Dismember: While a Grave Lord ability is active, your spell and physical penetration is increased by 1500
- Rapid Rot: Increases your damage done with damage over time effects by 10%
Bone Tyrant
This is the Necromancer role for tanks. This skill tree uses the dead to create barriers between you and your team and buff your health.
Actives:
- Bone Goliath Transformation (Ultimate): Become a horrific Bone Goliath, increasing your max health for 20 seconds and immediately restoring health. While transformed, your light attacks and heavy attacks restore health
- Death Scythe: Slice into your enemy’s life force, dealing magic damage and healing you for the first enemy hit. The heal grows in power for each additional enemy hit, up to five times. This portion of this ability scales off your maximum health
- Bone Armour: Wrap yourself in hardened bone, granting you Major Resolve and Major Ward, increasing your physical resistance and spell resistance for 18 seconds. Creates a corpse when the effect completes
- Bitter Harvest: Snap the lingering life from fresh corpses, granting you 2 Ultimate and heals every one second for two seconds per corpse consumed. This ability scales off your maximum health. While slotted, your damage taken is reduced by 3%
- Bone Totem: Place a totem of bone at your feet that gives Minor Protection to you and your allies for eight seconds, reducing your damage taken by 8%. After two seconds, the totem instills fear in enemies, holding them in place for four seconds
- Grave Grasp: Summon three patches of skeletal claws from the ground in front of you, snaring your enemies by 50% for five seconds and inflicting Minor Maim for five seconds, reducing their damage done by 15%
Passives:
- Death Gleaning: With a Bone Tyrant ability slotted: whenever an enemy you are in combat with dies within 28 metres of you, restores 100 magicka and stamina. This effect can occur once every two seconds
- Disdain Harm: Reduce the damage you take from damage over time abilities by 10% while you have a Bone Tyrant ability active
- Health Avarice: Increase your healing received by 2% for each Bone Tyrant ability slotted
- Last Gasp: Increase your max health by 2000
Living Death
This Necromancer healer skill tree drains the very last spark of life from the poor souls of The Elder Scrolls Online to replenish the health of yourself and your allies. Your Living Death Ultimate can even bring back multiple members of your team from oblivion.
Actives:
- Reanimate (Ultimate): Bring your allies back from the brink of death, resurrecting up to three allies at the target location
- Render Flesh: Sacrifice your own power to repair damaged flesh, healing you or an ally in front of you but applying Minor Defile to yourself for four seconds, reducing your healing received and health recovery by 15%
- Expunge: Embrace the power of death, removing up to three negative effects from yourself. While slotted, the cost of all your abilities are reduced by 3%
- Life Amid Death: Release residual fragments of fallen souls at the target location, healing you and your allies. Consumes a corpse on cast to continue to heal you and your allies in the area over five seconds
- Spirit Mender: Conjure a ghostly spirit to do your bidding and stay by your side for 16 seconds. The spirit heals you or the lowest health ally around you every two seconds, restoring health. Creates a corpse on death
- Restoring Tether: Siphon the last remnants of life from a corpse. While slotted, your Healing Done is increased by 3%
Passives:
- Curative Curse: While you have a negative effect on your Healing Done is increased by 8%
- Near-Death Experience: While you have a Living Death ability slotted, your critical strike chance with all healing abilities is increased by up to 20% in proportion to the severity of the target’s wounds
- Corpse Consumption: When you use an ability on a corpse, you generate 10 Ultimate. This effect can occur once every 16 seconds
- Undead Confederate: While you have a Necromancer summon active, your magicka recovery and Stamina Recovery are increased by 300
And that’s your lot, those are all three ESO Necromancer skill branches you will be using as the base of your new class builds now that the ESO Elsweyr expansion has landed.
Waking the Dead: ESO is one of the best MMOs on PC
If you’ve sapped the last embers of life from Bethesda’s fantasy multiplayer game, then take a look at these free MMOs – that’ll certainly give you more than enough to be getting on with. You might not be able to wield the dead and have them do your transgressive bidding in those other games, but perhaps you can use this time to at least make sure you’re messing with the deceased on the quiet, away from the prying eyes of your local town guard.