Necromancy 101

[Deathcon]

 

 

 

AUGUST 7th RELEASE

 

This topic will be continually updated throughout the release of the new skill, i will try to make an easy to see change log.

I hope to be able to help inform others with information on the new skill by trying to figure out as much of the skill that I can, bringing a load of info to 1 place.

For now I just wanted to get the framework for the topic up as it gives me things to search for and a place to throw my ideas/opinions out there.

 

~Changelog~

Spoiler

-Ver 0.1.2 (8/1/23)

-Edited 2nd post to contain combat differences, Crit/Accuracy

 

 

-Ver 0.1.1 (7/27/23)

-Edited 4th reserved post with info on combat

-Edited section to include working/excluded xp buffs/items

 

-Ver 0.1.0 (7/6/23)

-Edited 4th reserved post with info on rituals

 

 

-Ver 0.0.5 (6/30/23)

-Edited Necro Prep worth reading since last update.

-Added Miscellaneous section to the final reserved post

        *Cool Images/Wallpaper material

 

-Ver 0.0.4 (6/8/23)

-Added What We Know section w/image

 

-Ver 0.0.3 (6/6/23)

-some cleanup and added to Necro Prep

 

-Ver 0.0.2 (6/4/23)

  -Necro Prep write-up (1st res'd post)

 

-Ver 0.0.1 (6/3/23)

  -initial submit

 

 

Previously I had done something similar for Archaeology release, I'm going to copy most of the formatting/Ideas from that thread

(https://www.the-gladiatorz.com/forums/index.php?/topic/30924-archaeology-101/)

 

 

Will try to flesh this out before release, adding information/possible ideas for items to get your hands on beforehand, potential methods to train, all that good stuff.

Granted a lot of Necromancy information shown related to ability tooltips/balancing is 100% subject to change so I will try avoiding things relying on such.

(Eg. If an ability does AoE no CD/lots of damage id refrain from mentioning using it for AoE training; could be reworked/removed etc.)

 

[Deathcon]

 

 

Pre-release Preparation

 

With how necromancy is currently structured it's a mix of combat and skilling. There comes some caveats to this though which may factor into how any of this could play out.

I'll try to explain my reasoning as best I can but I'm no mathematics expert so I'm unaware if some are even worth it, but I will cover the options.

 

What Can I Do Now?

Jagex released a list of quests/items/skill levels that are useful for Necromancy, however the quantities needed are unknown as of right now.

With this in mind we can make some educated guesses with some of the info we have.

Training via Rituals require some materials, namely bones and various ritual materials sold at a shop in the new city, Um.

 

Jagex's  Item List

Spoiler

• Pure Essence
• Overload Potions (premade Overloads will update to include Necromancy boosts - ones made after the update will require Extreme Necromancy Potions to make)
• Bones
• Big Bones
• Baby Dragon Bones
• Wyvern Bones
• Dragon Bones
• Dagannoth bones
• Airut bones
• Ourg Bones (update- includes from Graardor & Ogre Coffins)
• Hardened Dragon Bones
• Dragonkin Bones
• Dinosaur Bones
• Frost Dragon Bones
• Reinforced Dragon Bones
• Subjugation Chest/Head/Legs/Boots/Gloves
• Spectral Spirit Shield
• Draconic Visage
• Spider Silk Chest/Head/Legs/Boots/Gloves
• Mystic Chest/Head/Legs/Boots/Gloves
  • (Only the Blue Variant is currently used.)
• Algarum Thread
• Wool from Player-owned Sheep (Winterwold/Summerdown/Fallfaced/Springsheared)
• Metal Bars (From Bronze up to Bane)
• Igneous Stone
• Praesul Codex

 

Quantities for items above are at best guessing how they've handled ways of crafting in the past, Eg. melting Nex armors/malev/ gear to get essence which is used to make TMW items or Elite t92 armors

Gather quantities you feel safe so that you dont end up paying the premium on release week.

 

Jagex's Quest list

Spoiler

Useful Quests to complete

• Temple at Senntisten for Curses  - Necro curse/deflect
• While Guthix Sleeps - ??
• Kings Ransom - Necro prayer akin to piety.
• Ghosts Ahoy - ??
• The Jack of Spades - ??
• Vengeance (Fremennik Saga) - ??
• Nadir (Fremennik Saga) - ??
• The Blood Pact - ??

 

 

Jagex's Skill List

Spoiler

• 15+ Smithing for forging Necromancy Weapon upgrades
  • Necromancy weapon upgrades are earned by levelling Necromancy and completing various requirements
  • Once unlocked, each Tier upgrade will require a Smithing level 5 levels lower than the Tier (ie. Tier 90 would require 85 Smithing)
• 15+ Crafting for Necromancy Armour upgrades
  • Necromancy armour upgrades are earned by levelling Necromancy and completing various requirements
  • Once unlocked, each Tier upgrade will require a Crafting level 5 levels lower than the Tier (ie. Tier 90 would require 85 Crafting)
• Runecrafting for new Runes, used in Incantations
  • Incantations are not required to experience Necromancy Combat, which is primarily ability based, but massively benefits your experience.
  • You can craft Spirit Runes at Level 1, Bone Runes at Level 20, Flesh Runes at Level 40, and Miasma Runes at Level 60
  • Runes can also be acquired from other players

Multiples of these runes can be made, the levels for 2,3,4,5x +? are unknown,  *High likely hood RCing these on release with max benefit/boost to runes/hr will make you rich.

 

• 10+ Prayer for Necromancy Prayers
  • Prayers are a useful tool in upping your Necromancy potency or survivability
  • Base Necromancy prayers require level 10, with their strongest variants available at 46 Prayer.
  • To access the best prayers and curses in the skill, you'll need to be at 99 Prayer
• 11+ Herblore for Necromancy Potions
  • Necromancy has a variety of unique stat-boosting potions as well as effects from some existing potions
  • The core boosting potions are Necromancy Potion (11), Super Necromancy Potion (79) and Extreme Necromancy Potion (93)
  • Overloads and Elder Overload Salve are very useful, especially for high level content - unlocking at 96 and 107 respectively. Overloads made now (pre-release) will have Necromancy benefits on release.

 

Reminder that Overloads will require Extreme Necro potions / Supreme Ovl will require Super Necro potions.  Get those 2 steps out of the way now (pre-release)

 

 

 

*I am not a financial advisor or market enthusiast.

 

Necromancy Prep + Reasoning

Maikeru video on Necromancy Prep

 

He touches on some good points/reasoning for some of the things he's collected.

I've taken a similar approach in what I'm stockpiling, combat related items to boost damage/kills per hour.

Low lvl creatures in my slayer dungeon anticipating crowds at lower lvl monsters or open world in general,

stockpiling slayer points, Pre-obtaining Igneous stone to make Necro Zuk cape after doing Kiln with necro.

"Abusing" stackable accuracy/damage buffs at lower levels when you dont have your full toolkit as a style.

Things like Salve[e] / Perked hybrid gear (Akrisae/Sliske) / Ghost hunter gear / Familars (Blood reaver/Ripper(Passive)/Kalg)

Aggro potions to help group up mobs/ bring them over to you

 

 

 

XP Boosts Worth Considering

Boosting your combat exp will net you more Necromancy XP, plain and simple...however with a new skills launch there's XP embargos. Certain buffs will and will not work.

Listed below are some of the XP buffs to consider looking into if they potentially work.

Spoiler

(We don't know every working buff YET but it's seeming increasingly likely obtainable buffs in-game will be allowed, anything MTX unlikely, will edit when info is known)

Boosts confirmed working= Yellow

Boost not working= Red

The following experience boosts will function with Necromancy:

• Inspire Awe relic power
  Torstol incense sticks
  Wise Invention perk
  Bik god book

 

 

No bonus XP gains during the embargo

Fort Forinthry rested state

Prime Gaming rewards (e.g. umbral chests)

Treasure Hunter stars

No direct XP during the embargo

Quest reward XP (e.g. quest lamps)

Jack of Trades aura reward

Prime Gaming rewards (e.g. umbral chests)

Treasure Hunter lamps

Existing combat daily challenges

Tears of Guthix (minigame)

No XP boosting item earned via purchases

Premier artefact

Pulse/cinder cores

Wisdom aura

Festive aura

Enlightenment aura

Desert Pantheon aura

Skilling backpack

Rock of Resilience

 

No DXP Live events

Refer a Friend bonus

Demon slaying outfit

Ghost hunter outfit

Sceptre of enchantment (and variants)

Scrimshaws of sacrifice/corruption

 

*Some items on this list are unlocked via gameplay and generally would be allowed but the reason for these items not being able to be used as they are not direct unlocks which the player can earn, they are reward items which are given to the player via various methods or luck. All items which are allowed can be unlocked by players via in-game and/or skill advancement.

 

 

 

 

Boosting Combat KPH

NOTE: If you are using poison it will reduces your gained XP by however much % it does to the mobs total HP.

If you deal 55% of the mobs hp in poison, you get 55% less xp from that mob.

 

 

-Cinderbane Gloves/Weapon psn+++

-Overloads

-Offensive Prayers (a means of prayer restore)

-Adren potions

-Useful pocket slot (Grim/Ful/Wen book)

 

-Any flat damage boost to monsters:

Salve [e], Ghost Hunter Equipment, X Slayer Perk, X Slayer Ability, Genocidal Perk, Necklace of Salamancy, Relevant Slayer Masks

 

 

Necromancy Combat Caveats

 

Accuracy

Your abilities will consistently hit, but accuracy now dictates how successfully your attacks find their mark. Damage will scale down to a minimum damage floor based on your accuracy.

Your attacks will land, but accuracy will now inform how much of the attack got through to your target. Tooltips have been adjusted to showcase a clearer indication of how this works.

This means things like Salve ammy  provide a big increase due to double dipping if you aren't already 100% hit chance.

 

 

 

Critical Strikes

Jagex are testing the waters with a different crit system for necromancy.

Currently the % of crit you have is the chance to roll in the 95-100% of your damage potential.

 

With necromancy your crit % is baseline 10%

Crit chance with Necromancy is a straight % chance to deal 25-75% MORE damage

Bonus damage from crits are increased via levelup brackets.

This critical strike damage increases as you level Necromancy, all the way up to a critical strike dealing 1.75x (or +75%) damage.

 

 

 

[Deathcon]

 

What We Know

Reminder this is all WIP/NOT FINAL/Things can change or be removed.

 

You will have to click twice to enlarge the image

Spoiler

 

[Deathcon]

 

 

Rituals

Spoiler

Rasial, The First Necromancer, has enthralled the souls of the underworld. The City of Um, the residence of the undead, is a wasteland. As the hero of this story, it's going to be up to you to risk it all to free and partner with the undead - and put a stop Rasial's plans to destroy the cycle of death.

Rituals, our non-combat skilling pillar of Necromancy, is how you will free these undead souls from The First Necromancer's grasp and restore the City to its former glory.

Non-Combat Skilling

Rituals are a core activity of Necromancy, producing resources that are used in combat, and narratively, attracting Um's previous residents back to the Well of Souls.

Rituals form a crucial part of the Necromancy experience, interwoven with the narrative and your power growth amid your combat-driven adventures across Gielinor. They also offer an alternative way to earn XP in Necromancy outside Combat, with ways to customise the experience to focus more on resources you need, more intensive XP based Ritual Skilling or even a more AFK playstyle.

What Is A Ritual?

Rituals take place at the Ritual Site at the entrance of the City of Um, a place of power in front of the Well of Souls - the vessel that holds the resident souls of Um. This is a non-instanced area, so you'll be surrounded by other Necromancers on their own journeys too!

You begin by selecting the Ritual you want to perform from your available roster. Each Ritual has requirements that must be met, which will generate an output of various rewards.

Input

The input is called a Focus, a unique centerpiece for each Ritual usually based on its intent (ie. bones to attract Souls). These can be stored in a box on the Ritual site.

Ritual Site Setup

Along with the Focus, you'll also need to set up the Ritual Site with two components:

• Glyph: Use Ghostly ink to write in the language of the dead. These can be functional, or later, be alteration glyphs that change elements of the Ritual (more on that later)
• Light Source: What Ritual would be complete without candles?

Outputs

Each Ritual offers different potential rewards, but these are the core outputs that can come from completing a Ritual:

• XP: You know what this is! Complete the Ritual for XP gains.
• Reagents: These are resources used in Necromancy, such as Impure Essence for Necrotic Runecrafting or an equipment upgrade
• Souls: The number of Souls you will attract to the Well of Souls, which is needed to access more Talents

Requirements

These are elements of the Ritual that require certain Necromancy levels or certain Quest completions.

Performing Rituals

You start by selecting a Ritual to perform at the pedestal in the centre of the Ritual Site, which will place down your Focus Object.

Next, you'll need to proceed to clean all the Glyph stones (a simple click to clean!), followed by drawing Glyphs in Ghostly Ink on the highlight locations.

Finally, you need to place Light Sources for the Ritual.

With all the necessary items in place, you begin the Ritual from the reciting spot. The Ritual will last a set amount of time, based on its level and alteration glyphs (we'll get to those shortly). No inputs are required once the Ritual begins

While additional inputs are not required for Necromancy Rituals, you may want to be paying attention.

Soul Attraction percentage is an indication of the chance and types of random events that could occur, housed at the top of your screen. These random events throughout your Ritual can be interacted with for a chance to gain extra rewards, from XP bonuses to additional resources. While we don't want to spoil the experience of discovering these for yourself, these events are an optional way to boost your gains from Rituals.

Once your progress timer hits zero, the Ritual is over and you'll gain your Outputs! Outputs head straight to a Ritual Chest so you can focus on completing as many as you'd like before picking up your hard-earned rewards.

While we've shown an example of a low-level Ritual above, more potent Rituals will be unlocked as you level Necromancy. Don't fret about remembering all these Rituals though - the Ritual interface will highlight all the things you need to do.

Customise To Your Playstyle

Remember the alteration glyphs we mentioned? As you progress your Necromancy level, you'll gain access to these bonus forms of Glyphs that allow you to customise elements of your Rituals to fit your needs or playstyle. Here are the various types of Alteration Glyphs you can unlock:

• Multiply: Represents growth and expansion. Increase the items gained from the Ritual when completed.
• Speed: Represents speed and rapidity. Decreases the time it takes to complete the Ritual
• Attraction: Represents guidance and attraction. Increases the Soul Attraction percentage.

With these alteration glyphs unlocked, you'll have more control over your Ritual experience - however, at a cost of more complex or rarer components. Do you focus on gaining more reagents at the cost of more XP potential, or do you ramp up the intensity of random events looking for maximum potential gains? The choice is yours.

Rewards

Now you have the knowledge of how Rituals work, it's time to tell you why they are important in your journey as a Necromancer.

One of the most critical parts of Rituals is to commune with the dead and return them to the Well of Souls. The number of Souls in the Well of Souls (which is permanent and does not deplete) is tied to accessing more potent Talents, which accelerate your Necromancy powers with new or upgraded abilities. As you venture across Gielinor growing your Necromantic power, you'll want to regularly return to the Ritual site to bring more souls back to the City.

Rituals also have an important part to play in your Combat gameplay loop in a more direct fashion. For example, if you want to use Incantations - Necromancy spells outside your Core abilities that offer additional benefits such as accessing Shield Defensives without a Shield - you'll need to convert Rune Essence into Impure Essence for use in creating Necrotic Runes.

And of course, for those times when engaging in Combat doesn't fit around your schedule or you're simply looking for a change of pace, Rituals are another route to levelling Necromancy in a way that works for you.

That's all we're revealing on Rituals today. Now it'll be over to you to learn the potential of these Rituals and restore the City of Um to life once your Necromancy journey begins on August 7th!

 

 

Now that the dust has re-settled somewhat i figure I'd highlight some good information when it comes to training with rituals.

60 is a good milestone point, boosting with overloads to reach 66 allows for the use of multiply II glyphs which can speed up communions heavily using mementos at this stage to head for 3k souls to finish the Hermod Quest.

Only breakpoints of 100/200/300/400/500% of multiply do you gain an extra material, 2 multiply II's is only 80%.

 

 

 

 

Combat

Spoiler

"Life is a game. What would make you think that death is any different?" - Rasial, The First Necromancer

 

Conjuring up Necromancy has been a long process, and soon our ritual will be complete when Necromancy rises Aug 7!

This will be the fourth combat style for RuneScape, and the first added to the game in over twenty years. What makes this new style different, and what potential does it offer for the future? Time for a deep dive…

Um-charted Territory

RuneScape has never done this before. A new combat style is a hugely ambitious undertaking, especially when you want it to be approachable to new players and gratifying for combat experts.

But we knew it was the right time and the right game for innovation - the world of Gielinor is already blessed with immensely powerful enemies to battle and overcome, and Necromancy offers you a chance to topple these foes in a totally new way!

The system has been built from the ground up, with all players in mind. Necromancy rewards the casual adventurer and the newbie, while also offering an immensely powerful toolset for combat-hardened experts deep into their theorycraft.

Aspiring Necromancers can start their journey into the City of Um and level their way to level 20 in free to play but beyond that it is a members skill. Necromancy is a non-Elite skill, which means there are no prerequisite skills you need to level to get involved (although there are a few that it wouldn’t hurt to have some experience in).

For the combat committed, meanwhile, this skill goes all the way up to level 120 - plenty of Necromancy for you to sink your spectral teeth into! With that in mind, your overall combat level will now cap out at level 152! that’s a big step up.

Approachable To Everyone - Like Death, and Taxes

Starting your journey to become the most powerful Necromancer couldn't be easier.

Necromancy begins with an extensive tutorial, introducing you to all aspects of the skill, along with plenty of story moments to inspire you for the adventure ahead.

Working with combat veterans, content creators, and building on feedback from early playtests, we've refined the tutorial process so it's easy to engage with. Improvements have been made at a system level to ensure that Tooltips are clearer, with an emphasis on clarity in both presentation and wording.

Changes to accuracy, cooldowns, targeting, damage type and more have been included so each description is clear, concise and understandable!

Example of the older(left) style of Tooltip and the newer(right) more modern style

More Abilities - Now And In The Future

As you grow and develop, you'll gradually discover more and more abilities. Each new ability unlock has been paced so it has its own opportunity to shine, letting you learn the nuances and interconnection it has with other abilities before the next one arrives, To help minimise information overload.

We've shifted the focus of combat to make learning manual skills easier, more rewarding, and gratifying - while keeping Revolution* viable at the same time.

Players will be able to use Revolution to automatically fire abilities, but learning when best to manually use each ability will yield the greatest reward. The systems presented with Necromancy are easy to pick up but offer even greater power to those who are willing to experiment.

*For those of you who don't know, Revolution is a system that enables the game to use abilities on your behalf, rather than having to manually activate them yourself.

A Real Handful

The tools of your newfound power are twofold as you channel both aspects of your new powers through new main and off-hand weapons!

Harness necrotic energy with the Death Guard, and wrench souls from foes while reaving through adversaries with deadly accuracy. This mystical weapon harnesses the powers of the undead to grant its wielder unimaginable strength.

To get your feet grounded you'll start off with a basic attack

Which fires a blast of necrotic energy and generates adrenaline and soon after, the Finger of Death ability.

Which spends adrenaline to deal a massive chunk of damage - some classic builder-spender gameplay to get you into the flow.

With Finger of Death unlocking more of its potential as you gain access to more of your necromancy kit, its adrenaline cost is reduced based on how many stacks of Necrosis you have - but, you won't have the ability to generate Necrosis stacks just yet. These interactions begin to unfold and interlink as you level up! Your abilities grow and evolve as you harness your new strength.

Another example, later in your journey, you can utilise Soul Sap to snatch a soul from your foe to acquire a Residual Soul, before launching it back with Soul Strike, stunning the target and dealing damage.

You could, however, continue to deal ongoing damage as you use Soul Sap to add more Residual Souls before launching a full Volley of Souls, dealing massive damage and spending all your Residual Souls at once.

These moment-to-moment decisions empower you to truly play your way - as you grow in confidence and experience, your ability bar fills with new and incredible powers.

We've also moved away from Thresholds in this new Combat Style, as their complexity in adrenaline requirement and cost didn't fit - instead, we're focusing on more standard abilities that simply do what they say, giving you a clearer picture of when is best to use each ability to wreak havoc on your foes.

Illuminating Presence

Next, complimenting that power with the Skull Lantern, your new off-hand weapon! The Lantern’s eerie glow gives wayward souls a guiding light, bringing those freed from the thrall of The First Necromancer to your aid. They’ll then take up arms in their various forms to do battle on your behalf.

You can use it to conjure a Skeleton Warrior, Putrid Zombie and Vengeful Ghost using the resource Ectoplasm which you gain from Rituals.

Then while you're battling you can use the Command skill to have your conjures use special attacks such as the Putrid Zombie hurling themselves at enemies to explode in a miasma of putrefaction, dealing a huge amount of spirit damage to enemies within range. Utilising these conjures - and their Command abilities - at the right time is a crucial element of becoming the most powerful Necromancer you can be.

But be careful in order to channel and maintain your conjures you must be equipped with your necromancy weapons, swapping will cause your conjures to expire instantly.

Don't worry - you can still use Summoning familiar alongside this! Your Blood Reavers, Minotaurs or Beasts of Burden won't be out of a job.

In fact, as you grow stronger you can have an iteration of each kind of conjured spirit at a time. Lead a squad of undead into battle and let them wreak havoc!

Conjuring warriors to fight by your side is at the heart of Necromancy, and the core tenets of the style will continue to develop and grow as we utilize player feedback and suggestions to build on the skill in the months and years ahead.

Wielding these two weapons and mastering their abilities is crucial to achieving the goal of becoming the most fearsome and venerated Necromancer in Gielinor.

Incredible Incantations

Support your abilities and demonstrate your mastery of the skill with a range of potent new incantations! They work similarly to a Spellbook, amplifying your combat capabilities or opening up new options on the battlefield.

One such incantation is Bone Shield which comes in 2 flavours and allows you to call upon Shield-based defensives without needing to switch from your Death Guard and Lantern.

You can toggle this incantation on to be ready when the moment calls for a defensive - preparation is everything!

To harness your incantations you’ll need to harness four new Necromancy Runes: Spirit Runes, Bone Runes, Flesh Runes and Miasma Runes.

An example of how this works can be found in another incantation you earn further in your journey - Life Transfer. Utilising Runes, you'll sacrifice 50% of your life to extend your active conjured allies.

A risky choice, but potentially crucial while your conjured fighters battle in your name! Incantations offer even more depth and nuance to your Necromancy experience, allowing you to build a diverse and unique playstyle that's unlike anything you've seen before in RuneScape.

More Greaves, Fewer Graves

Combat without defence would be a fool’s errand. With such a rich and deep combat style as Necromancy, you’ll need armour that can withstand whatever is thrown your way!

Necromancy weapons and armour, can be crafted up to a whopping Tier 90, meaning you won't need the luck of the RNG Gods, or tons of GP, to get your hands on better gear(but they still help!).

As you grow stronger in Necromancy, you will unlock equipment upgrade tasks that - when completed - allow you to improve your gear using materials made through Necromancy and from Rituals.

Using pre-existing skills, you'll be able to forge these new weapons and armour to take on increasingly challenging enemies as you level.

With that in mind, you’ll start your path with Tank gear which is more focused on defensive potential (in particular Necromancy Tank gears starts giving a Lifepoint boost earlier then other current tank armours), which you can upgrade as you level through Necromancy.

From Level 70, you’ll be able to make a choice. Stay the course with Tank gear to focus on the suitability or pivot to an alternative Power branch for your armour, which foregoes some armour stats for ability bonuses that empower your attacks further.

Whatever you choose, you’ll be able to get your hands on fully upgradeable gear from Level 1, all the way through to Level 90. You’re probably asking: "Will there be anything beyond Level 90 in gear?" Yes. Tier 95 gear will be coming to Necromancy, but unlike the other Tiers, you'll need to earn these drops by fighting Rasial as a repeatable boss.

The finest of gear must be forged in the crucible of combat - this will be no exception.

Test Your Wight

Necromancy tells the story of the City of Um, of The First Necromancer, and you - his apprentice. As you grow in strength, and progress through quests, you'll put your learnings to the test against not one but two brand new bosses that can only be battled with Necromancy.

Our first boss, Hermod, will be a challenge in your Necromancy journey. Hermod is the more approachable boss of the two - designed to be similar in power to a God Wars boss - and drops items and materials to upgrade your gear.

Rasial will be the greater challenge in the later stages of your Necromancy journey, acting as a higher-skill Boss to put everything you've learned into practice. As a repeatable boss, Rasial will be the source of those powerful tier 95 Necromancy gear drops!

From these bosses, you'll be able to earn rewards that help you on your journey - and by being repeatable, act as a great way to hone your bossing craft and test your revenant resolve against them time and time again!

Made for Old Souls and New Necromancers Alike

The Talent Tree system will allow you to grow in strength, channeling the energy of the undead and the souls you free from The First Necromancer’s subjugation into harrowing new powers.

Here you’ll be able to upgrade and develop your conjuring skills, as well as unlock totally new incantations and abilities throughout the tree. Talent Points, used to unlock Talents, are earned via combat - and you unlock new tiers by filling the Well with souls via rituals.

With a lot of choices on offer as you level, you'll be making meaningful decisions on how to grow your power as you level up in Necromancy.

But don’t worry, by the time you master the skill, everything on the tree will be unlocked - you won’t miss out on any of the incredible abilities up for grabs.

A Challenge, Undertaken

In our First Look blog, we initially stated that we were limiting Necromancy combat xp rates to better preserve the journey of Necromancy and deliver that feeling of progression you want from a new skill. Learning from Archaeology, we're aiming to create a deep, fulfilling levelling experience.

This was originally going to be achieved by an artificial reduction in experience tied to levels - but instead, thanks to the hard work of the team, we have instead overhauled the combat experience system at its core!

Our goal is to deliver a more balanced, engaging and understandable experience flow - not just for Necromancy, but across all combat skill - this will launch alongside Necromancy

We have iterated on an HP-based XP system (which may be recognisable to long time veterans or Old School-ers) wherein the greater the foe's HP, the higher the XP yield for defeating them - currently at a rate of 50Xp to 1000 Health.

This directly scales with your damage dealt to the target, so your contribution to defeating an enemy is fair and reflected in your reward (meaning that to get the full experience you won't be able to swap styles or have someone else defeat the monster). To this end, several monsters have had their stats rebalanced to be more inline with modern standards.

This system is also more elegant and understandable, making XP calculations easier for both developers and players to grasp in future!

If you're looking to theory craft based on these new calculations, the Wiki has been provided this information in advance so you can start diving into all the details. Find out more about the changes to monstershere and the combat experience here.

Current/Live

Post Necromancy Launch

We will also be launching a range of bugfixes at specific areas that affected XP rates - yes, including you, Shadow Reef!

Additionally, core combat systems you're familiar with have been completely reworked in new and exciting ways that make the systems easy to get to grips with.

Currently, existing combat styles deal basic attacks automatically in a cycle when not using an ability. You'll rarely see these if you're using Revolution to continually fire off abilities as they come off cooldown.

Necromancy will bring the basic attack to the forefront, turning it into an ability that's automatically cast for you when you aren't pressing an ability. It incurs a global cooldown, but generates 9% adrenaline - like Revolution, but for one ability. This becomes the ‘filler’ ability that's always firing between your manual inputs, ensuring that you keep a consistent damage output while you consider your next move.

You can even disable the automatic firing if you're so inclined!

On top of this, we've made major changes to how accuracy functions in Necromancy. Your abilities will consistently hit, but accuracy now dictates how successfully your attacks find their mark. Damage will scale down to a minimum damage floor based on your accuracy.

Your attacks will land, but accuracy will now inform how much of the attack got through to your target. Tooltips have been adjusted to showcase a clearer indication of how this works.

We've adjusted critical strikes, too! Necromancy has a base critical strike chance of 10%. When you hit a target, you're rolling a 10-sided die to see if it should be a critical strike, and if so, we apply a 1.25x (or +25%) damage multiplier to the attack.

This critical strike damage increases as you level Necromancy, all the way up to a critical strike dealing 1.75x (or +75%) damage. This also applies to existing critical strike systems, so for example, biting gizmos from Invention, Erethdor's Grimoire and Reaver's Ring will all work alongside these systems!

These systems are currently only going to be active with Necromancy but if the playerbase resonates with them we can look to include it in other combat styles.

Necromancy Experience Embargo

In order to maintain a healthy race on launch, XP-boosting rewards unlocked through gameplay* will work with Necromancy, any rewards which award direct or bonus XP will not work with Necromancy. The following experience boosting systems will not function for Necromancy:

 

• No bonus XP gains during the embargo
  • Fort Forinthry rested state
  • Prime Gaming rewards (e.g. umbral chests)
  • Treasure Hunter stars
  • No direct XP during the embargo
  • Quest reward XP (e.g. quest lamps)
  • Jack of Trades aura reward
  • Prime Gaming rewards (e.g. umbral chests)
  • Treasure Hunter lamps
  • Existing combat daily challenges
  • Tears of Guthix (minigame)
• No XP boosting item earned via purchases
  • Premier artefact
  • Pulse/cinder cores
  • Wisdom aura
  • Festive aura
  • Enlightenment aura
  • Desert Pantheon aura
  • Skilling backpack
  • Rock of Resilience
• Misc
  • No DXP Live events
  • Refer a Friend bonus
  • Demon slaying outfit
  • Ghost hunter outfit
  • Sceptre of enchantment (and variants)
  • Scrimshaws of sacrifice/corruption

*Some items on this list are unlocked via gameplay and generally would be allowed but the reason for these items not being able to be used as they are not direct unlocks which the player can earn, they are reward items which are given to the player via various methods or luck. All items which are allowed can be unlocked by players via in-game and/or skill advancement.

The following experience boosts will function with Necromancy:

• Inspire Awe relic power
• Torstol incense sticks
• Wise Invention perk
• Clan avatar
• Bik god book

Um-like Anything You've Seen Before

We’re so excited for you to be getting to grips with the fourth combat style, and the season of Necromancy that will follow. This is just the beginning: over time, we’ll be developing the skill even further, with new gear and abilities introduced as the skill evolves, offering alternative playstyles for Necromancy.

Most of all, we’re excited to see what you, our incredible ‘Scapers, will do with your newfound abilities. There’s so much to explore, and we know you’ll take this new skill in the most creative and exciting directions!

Get ready, folks. Your journey to become Gielinor’s greatest Necromancer begins right here on August 7th…

 

Making use of Salve [e] becomes monumental in increasing XP rates, as such, fighting undead/ghost creatures becomes one of the better ways early on to get good combat XP/hr.

Ankou/Bound Skeletons/Abyssal Beasts are an optimal PSD dungeon setup that you can rotate mobs around depending on your level brackets.

 

Blood reaver is generall regarded as one of the better familiars but Nihils also give +5% necro hit chance which could prove useful.

 

 

[Deathcon]

 

 

 

Things You Forgot About!

 

This one is for the higher-leveled readers but if you've been sticking your hand in the Maw for some time you will have a stockpile of enhancers!

-Volcanic Damage enhancers can help you get the  Fight Kiln knocked out quicker.

-Any Unfocused Damage enhancers can aid with a select few mobs

 

 

Ritual Tips

 

Repair all on the pedestal alongside a particular setting active.

Esc->Settings->Gameplay->Skills&XP->Necromancy

 

 

Ritual Distractions!

 

Shambling Horror:

 

Click on the Horror and watch the tiles for a sparkle.

Click Horror->Click correct tile

If you click incorrectly, you will need to re-click Horror.

 

 

 

Gear Upgrading

 

Use overloads for higher level glyphs (Multiply 2 & 3) level 66 & 103 respectively

Wait till level 90 to get more material out of your Subjugation robes with the extra glyph spots from unlocking T3 rituals(90req non-boostable)

 

 

 

 

[Deathcon]

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

~Cool ScreenShots/Wallpaper material~

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fedal]

Jagex themselves posted a list of existing items that will have a use in Necromancy. Throwing it in here

 

Around 1k of each type of bone is speculated to be enough. Bars and armour sets are likely to be Necro armour ingredients so not too many of those either.

[God Jamot]

I made a little resource page on good ways to gather these things ahead of time, for those who may not know of what some are/ would like to gather cheaply!

 

[Rinzael]

I bet you this is some what going to become diablo or poe. Everyone is going to summon skeleton armies and just boss with them afk.

[Deathcon]

Made additional edits for those keeping tabs on this thread.

[MrsDewwBerry]

On 6/3/2023 at 10:24 AM, Fedal said:

Jagex themselves posted a list of existing items that will have a use in Necromancy. Throwing it in here

 

Around 1k of each type of bone is speculated to be enough. Bars and armour sets are likely to be Necro armour ingredients so not too many of those either.

now question regarding this, I have slowly started to stock pile these items for the skill coming up so i can try and knock it out quick are these quantities of 1k each for getting the skill to 99 or just a certain rank?

 

also i have been horrible about keeping up with current events for this but is this skill going to a 120 skill or just top off at 99? or maybe even whatever invention is where it goes up to 150? 

[Deathcon]

7 hours ago, Mrs Deww said:

now question regarding this, I have slowly started to stock pile these items for the skill coming up so i can try and knock it out quick are these quantities of 1k each for getting the skill to 99 or just a certain rank?

 

also i have been horrible about keeping up with current events for this but is this skill going to a 120 skill or just top off at 99? or maybe even whatever invention is where it goes up to 150? 

1k of each bone is just a ballpark figure to unlock most things based on footage shown by content creators, it isn't clear how many/of what type will be beneficial.

 

You can level through combat so you don't need massive amounts of bones.

 

It's a 120 skill just like dg/slayer/farming/herblore.

[Rafi]

Looks like they’re continuing down the route of making the meta for combat ever more complex and hard to attain. 
 

Mostly I’m sad (for myself, not you all) that it’s a 120 skill. I’m gonna need another pandemic to come along to stand a chance!  I’m sure it’ll be fun though. 

[Starizard]

Is there a rough timeline on when the skill is being added?

[God Jamot]

3 hours ago, Starizard said:

Is there a rough timeline on when the skill is being added?

Most players are taking guesses at a October/Halloween type release. Probably for asthetic

 

Personally I think the skill will come either right before the Nov. DXP, or just after it. More like something to cap off our year on.

 

Jagex, has not released anything to give us an idea of a time frame yet. I think they ha a couple more game updates before they will.  Like that WC upddate to Forinthry 

[Starizard]

7 hours ago, God Jamot said:

Most players are taking guesses at a October/Halloween type release. Probably for asthetic

 

Personally I think the skill will come either right before the Nov. DXP, or just after it. More like something to cap off our year on.

 

Jagex, has not released anything to give us an idea of a time frame yet. I think they ha a couple more game updates before they will.  Like that WC upddate to Forinthry 

Got it! Thanks!

Edited June 12, 2023 by Starizard

[Deathcon]

https://twitter.com/RuneScape/status/1671918867319234560?s=19

 

News that Release date cinematic will be next week (Next week we'll find out when Necro skill drops)

[Mike 1]

See u guys August 7th 

 

[White Cousin]

very interesting, cant wait for the cinematic.

[Deathcon]

Big updates to a few sections