Necromancy
| Necromancy | ||
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Basic Necromancy: allows 10% of the creatures killed in combat to be brought back from the dead as skeletons. | |
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Advanced Necromancy: allows 20% of the creatures killed in combat to be brought back from the dead as skeletons. | |
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Expert Necromancy: allows 30% of the creatures killed in combat to be brought back from the dead as skeletons." | |
Background information
Necromancy is a Secondary Skill that all Necropolis heroes - both Death Knights and Necromancers - start with. No other heroes have Necromancy as a starting skill, nor can they learn basic Necromancy by levelling up. Even Witches are no longer offered this skill in later versions of the game. Non-necropolis heroes can learn Necromancy only from Witch Huts and Scholars, and only if the mapmaker specifically allows it.
Recommended for: N/A. Heroes either start with this skill, or are typically unable to learn it.
On many maps, especially XL maps with droves of low-level creatures, Necromancy is considered overpowered by tournament players, and its use is therefore frequently banned in competitive play.
Description
- Basic Necromancy enables a victorious hero to raise as Skeletons up to 10% of enemy creatures killed in combat, with a minimum of one.
- Advanced Necromancy enables a victorious hero to raise as Skeletons up to 20% of enemy creatures killed in combat, with a minimum of one.
- Expert Necromancy enables a victorious hero to raise as Skeletons up to 30% of enemy creatures killed in combat, with a minimum of one.
All enemy creatures, except cloned creatures and elementals that are summoned during battle, can be raised as skeletons.
When a victorious army contains Skeleton Warriors but no Skeletons, and no empty army slot is available, Skeleton Warriors will be raised instead of Skeletons, but only 2/3 of the usual number.
Heroes with a specialty in this skill
- Isra the Death Knight
- Vidomina the Necromancer
Artifacts affecting this skill
- Amulet of the Undertaker (Neck). Gives +5% Necromancy to a hero's Necromancy skill.
- Vampire's Cowl (Shoulders). Gives +10% Necromancy to a hero's Necromancy skill.
- Dead Man's Boots (Feet). Gives +15% Necromancy to a hero's Necromancy skill.
- Cloak of the Undead King (Shoulders, combination artifact assembled from the other three Necromancy artifacts). Heroes without Necromancy receive a Necromancy percentage of 30% (i.e., similar to learning Expert Necromancy). Heroes with Necromancy receive +30% to their total Necromancy percentage on top of the +30% Necromancy provided by the individual artifacts and can raise Walking Dead, Wights and Liches at, respectively, Basic, Advanced and Expert Necromancy. Note: Available only in the Shadow of Death expansion.
Buildings affecting this skill
In-depth
The exact number of skeletons raised depends on a hero’s total Necromancy percentage. This is calculated by summing all the Necromancy percentages as provided by a hero's Necromancy skill prior to combat (including any Necromancy specialty), Necromancy artifacts, Necromancy amplifiers and the Soul Prison, . Thus, a level 10 Isra with Advanced Necromancy, the Amulet of the Undertaker, two Necromancy Amplifiers and a Soul Prison has a total Necromancy percentage of (10 × 0.05 × 20% + 20%) + 5% + 2 × 10% + 20% = 75%. The maximum percentage is 100%.
The number of raised skeletons is separately calculated for each enemy stack and is not affected by whether either a victorious or a defeated hero had any health artifacts such as the Vial of Lifeblood equipped:
- If an enemy stack consisted of creatures with 6 health or more, the number of raised skeletons from that stack is equal to the number of creatures killed multiplied by a hero’s total Necromancy percentage.
- If an enemy stack consisted of creatures with less than 6 health, the number of skeletons raised from that stack is equal to the total number of health points of the killed creatures multiplied by a hero’s total Necromancy percentage.
The total number of skeletons raised equals the sum of the number of skeletons raised from each separate stack.
To illustrate, a hero with 35% Necromancy will raise 5 Skeletons if she defeats an enemy hero who has fled after losing one stack of 8 Stone Gargoyles, one stack of 1 Gremlin, and 15 Gremlins from one stack of 20 Gremlins. That is, 35% of 8 Stone Gargoyles is enough for 2 skeletons, the stack of 1 Gremlin consists of too few hitpoints to raise a skeleton from, and the 15 Gremlins that were killed provide 60 health, of which 35% (i.e., 21 health) can be raised into 3 skeletons. The total number of skeletons raised is therefore 2 + 0 + 3 = 5.
Finally, when having killed at least one enemy creature, even if it is just a Peasant, victorious heroes with Necromancy will always raise at least one skeleton, regardless of their total Necromancy percentage.