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 from 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 can raise Skeletons as if having learned 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.