Necromancy
| Necromancy | ||
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Basic Necromancy: 10% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (5% in HotA)  .
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Advanced Necromancy: 20% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (10% in HotA) .
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Expert Necromancy: 30% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (15% in HotA) .
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Necromancy is a secondary skill that enables the hero to raise killed enemy creatures as Skeletons (or Skeleton Warriors). All Death Knights and Necromancers start with basic Necromancy skill, except Isra the Death Knight and Vidomina the Necromancer, who both start with advanced Necromancy. Other hero classes cannot learn Necromancy, but they can acquire it from Scholars, Pandora's Boxes, Seer's Huts, Events or Witch Huts (unavailable by default).
Bug: AI heroes always raise exactly 1 Skeleton (or Lich), even if it should've raised 100% of the creatures slain. In Horn of the Abyss , this bug was fixed but another bug appeared: AI somehow raises more Skeletons than it should be able to.
Heroes with Necromancy as a starting skill:
All Death Knights
All Necromancers
Heroes with Necromancy as a specialty and a starting skill:
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Isra the Death Knight (Advanced Necromancy) -
Vidomina the Necromancer (Advanced Necromancy)
Skill-affecting factors:
Amulet of the Undertaker – artifact increases Necromancy skill +5 %. (2,5 % in HotA) 
Vampire's Cowl – artifact increases Necromancy skill +10 %. (5 % in HotA) 
Dead Man's Boots – artifact increases Necromancy skill +15 %. (7,5 % in HotA) - Necromancy Amplifier – structure increases Necromancy skill +10 %. (bonus stacks if you have multiple towns with this building) (5 % in HotA)
- Soul prison – Necropolis grail structure, which increases Necromancy skill +20 % (bonus stacks if you have multiple towns with this building via Map Editor)
Additionally, with Cloak of the Undead King, it is possible to raise other undead creatures instead of Skeletons. However, the cloak does not affect the skill percentages.
Horn of the Abyss
In Horn of the Abyss, the skill percentages are decreased to 5%, 10% and 15%.
How it works
All killed enemy creatures can be raised as skeletons. This includes sacrificed creatures, cloned creatures, summoned elementals and even war machines. If the victorious hero's army has no empty slots available and no Skeletons, but includes Skeleton Warriors, the killed enemy creatures will be raised as Skeleton Warriors, but only 66.6% compared to Skeletons. If there are no available slots and no skeletons (either kind) in the army, none of the killed enemy creatures are raised.
The number of skeletons brought back at the end of the combat depends on three main factors:
- Number of creatures in killed stacks
- Amount of health of killed stacks
- Level of Necromancy skill (calculated by adding up hero skill level, artifacts and Necromancy Amplifier)
First, the total number of raised Skeletons can never exceed the number of creatures slain in combat. Second, the total health of raised skeletons can never exceed the total health of killed creatures. Third, the level of Necromancy skill used in calculations can never be more than 100%, although it is technically possible for a hero to have Necromancy skill above 100%. These rules in Shadow of Death are applied to every killed stack individually (in Horn of the Abyss the amount of creatures raised is calculated by the overall number of killed creatures), and always rounded towards 1.
The health of the enemy creature killed affects the efficiency of raising skeletons as per table:
| Creature hp | Necromancy efficiency |
|---|---|
| 1 hp | 16.6% |
| 2 hp | 33.3% |
| 3 hp | 50% |
| 4 hp | 66.6% |
| 5 hp | 83.3% |
| 6+ hp | 100% |
As an example, a hero with 50% necromancy who kills 100 creatures with 6 HP or higher will obtain 50 skeletons, whereas if they were to kill 100 peasants (a creature with only 1 HP), only 8 skeletons would be obtained. In the first case the number of skeletons raised is limited by the total number of creatures available (100 creatures * 50% efficiency = 50 skeletons). In the latter case by the total HP of the killed creatures, as each skeleton requires a minimum of 6 HP to raise ((100 HP / 6 HP) * 50% efficiency = 8 + ⅓ ≈ 8 skeletons). This can be also interpreted as the hero being able to revive only 50 HP total (8 skeletons have 48 HP).
Additionally, with Cloak of the Undead King, the same rules apply to Walking Dead, Wights and Liches. As they have more health, less is raised. And if a hero only has upgraded versions in the army and no free slots, the "two thirds rule" is applied (the health difference between basic and upgraded creatures does not play any role in this case).
While a hero might level up from an encounter and as a result increase their necromancy expertise - e.g. from basic to advanced - the level that is applied to the encounter is the one the hero had already attained when the encounter started. Level ups in necromancy, when they are attained by winning an encounter, only apply to encounters going forward.
Chance to get
Out of total 112 for Shadow of Death, and of (112 + Interference chance) for Horn of the Abyss .
Banned skills change the probability.
| Town | Class | Chance to learn |
|---|---|---|
 Castle |
Knight | 0 |
| Castle |
Cleric | 0 |
 Rampart |
Ranger | 0 |
| Rampart |
Druid | 0 |
 Tower |
Alchemist | 0 |
| Tower |
Wizard | 0 |
 Inferno |
Demoniac | 0 |
| Inferno |
Heretic | 0 |
 Necropolis |
Death Knight | 10 |
| Necropolis |
Necromancer | 10 |
 Dungeon |
Overlord | 0 |
| Dungeon |
Warlock | 0 |
 Stronghold |
Barbarian | 0 |
| Stronghold |
Battle Mage | 0 |
 Fortress |
Beastmaster | 0 |
| Fortress |
Witch | 0 |
 Conflux |
Planeswalker | 0 |
| Conflux |
Elementalist | 0 |
 Cove |
Captain | 0 |
| Cove |
Navigator | 0 |
 Factory |
Mercenary | 0 |
| Factory |
Artificer | 0 |
User commentary
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Necromancy is the basis of Necropolis faction. By default there cannot be a Necropolis hero without this skill and the chance of upgrading this skill is also very high, so if a very important basic skill like Wisdom or Earth Magic is offered together with improving Necromancy, ignore Necromancy. You will get it sooner or later. For heroes from other towns, the Necromancy skill is undesirable as Skeletons are weak, slow and will spoil morale. Necropolis and Necromancy are often considered to be overpowered, and therefore frequently banned in multiplayer games (and tournaments). |
See also:
- How does the necromancy skill work exactly? Heroes Community thread started by angelito.
- Secondary skills