The State of the Necro

[Micaiah 5]

There's been an alarmist tendency since the patch to claim that necro in raids is dead, but my personal testing suggests to me that this pronouncement is largely unfounded. Loss of necro dps is not as large as people seem to think.

Pre-patch death magic build necro had a dps of 21,000 at the golem with realistic buffs. Golem testing obviously presents a lot of problems for necro, however, as it doesn't allow them as many minions (if testing with rise), doesn't take epi damage into account, doesn't factor in damage from condi transfer, and doesn't allow necros to benefit from their runes of thorns.

Post-patch I tested a necro blood magic build with normal boons + alacrity (because assuming a dual chrono comp I would consider this a realistic boon). My testing gave me a pretty consistent reading of 19k dps even with my less-than-qt quality rotations. On top of this 19k we have to add the additional party damage gained from blood magic traits that add life siphon damage to allied attacks that the golem can't take into account, and which don't appear in the death magic build. The fact that this damage heals allies coupled with the utility that transfusion provides make the blood build fairly supporty as well.

 

Certainly some fights are ill-suited to necro (and condi damage generally), such as KC, but this was the case before patch. Necros can no longer build up massive damage on fights like Sabetha's, but we've only been bringing a single necro for flak-kiting anyway, and necro is still the best class for that role imo. But in fights where necros have historically been good, they will likely continue to be so. VG, Slothy, and Matthias all still have plenty reason to bring a necro or two for decent ranged damage, party condi management, transfusion, and the party support gained from the blood magic line. In my professional opinion, rumors of the necro's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[Mevic 20]

I haven't done the math but, why would ppl say reapers suck now? for a skill you can use once every 180 seconds? and minions that die fairly easy to aoes? I believe the rarely lived a lot more than 30 seconds anyway. Maybe the loss is bigger if you are tanking and use rise but apart from that case, yeah I think ppl are overreacting. + tests are made in scenarios where minions are not killed/CCd/chilled/crippled/etc, so ofc immortal minions like it as pre patch are going to make a difference.

[Micaiah 5]

The nerf to lich form apparently fucked up all jagged horrors summoned by any means, either intentionally or not. It also apparently prevents dying minions from leaving behind death novas which further hits dps. Fortunately, necros have had an alternative blood magic build that's been only slightly behind the death build excepting certain fights like sabetha where you could build up tons of minions over the course of the fight. The ultimate result is that, rather than killing necro, they've instead just decreased necro build variety. There's no longer a situation in any raid fights where necro can dps above other classes, though they can still be useful in many fights due to their utility.

Specifically I would recommend

VG 2 necros

Gorse 0-1

Sabetha 1

Slothy 1-2

Bandit camp 1-2

Matthias 1-2

escort 2

KC 0

Xera 0