Skip to content
Open in Editor

> Necromancy DPM Advice necromancy

This channel will go over general damage output lessons, ability prioritisation, crafting a rotation, a learning path, common mistakes, and tips and tricks.

> Ability Prioritisation

⬥ Generally, high damaging abilities should be prioritised and used more often than low damaging abilities.

⬥ To compare abilities, use RS Analysis' Necromancy Page, and add your gear.

Note: This does not give an ability rotation, only a damage comparison chart. It does not consider Ability Cooldowns, Adrenaline, Necrosis Stacks necrosis, Residual Souls residualsoul or any specific PvM encounter.

> Building a Necromancy Rotation

⬥ Similar to other styles, a typical Necromancy rotation uses the strongest basics available to build adrenaline, and spends it on the strongest available thresholds, ultimates or special attacks.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• To achieve this, we must think about the following key considerations:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Ability Cooldowns

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Adrenaline

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Conjures conjureskeleton conjurezombie conjureghost

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Necrosis Stacks necrosis

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Residual Souls residualsoul

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ Boss HP and phases

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• If these considerations are well accounted for, you will be able to improvise rotations effectively.

⬥ In addition, here are more specific fundamental concepts which are key to high DPM Necromancy rotations:

1. Maximising Conjure conjurearmy uptime during rotations and prioritising using Command Ghost commandghost

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎a. commandghost empowers the Vengeful Ghost conjureghost to apply the Haunted haunted debuff to its target for 4.8 seconds per hit, causing the target to take up to 10% increased damage from all attacks (capped at 20% of the commanding player's ability damage, applying to all styles).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ This also increases the healing capability of the ghost.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ This synergises best with abilities which either hit under 200% ability damage per hit or hit multiple times, such as Bloat bloat, Volley of Souls volleyofsouls and Death Skulls deathskulls

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ This indirectly increases damage dealt by Split Soul splitsoul via increasing the size of each hit.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⬩ This also increases the damage dealt by poison poisonicon, reflect damage, typeless hits from reaverpouch, god book procs and other sources.

2. Using deathskulls whenever possible if the Necromancy Zuk cape igneouskalmor is owned.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎a. deathskulls with igneouskalmor is the strongest Necromancy ability and does not require any prebuilding of stacks which use up global cooldowns. It bounces up to 6 times (hitting the main target 4 times).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎b. deathskulls without igneouskalmor is still a very strong ability, but it costs 100% adrenaline rather than 60% and only bounces up to 4 times (hitting the main target 3 times). It should therefore not be the priority and should be only used when you have excess adrenaline.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• See the 'Ability Mechanics' section below which covers the mechanics of deathskulls in more detail.

3. Ensuring that Living Death livingdeath, splitsoul, Invoke Death invokedeath and Threads of Fate threadsoffate are used in the most optimal situations.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎a. livingdeath synergises with touchofdeath due to it providing 6% additional adrenaline whilst livingdeath is active, which is crucial for getting 3x deathskulls in a livingdeath which provides massive damage.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎b. splitsoul synergises well with multi hit abilities, so try and use it alongside deathskulls and volleyofsouls

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎c. invokedeath is optimally used during downtime parts of a fight when the gcd spent won't actually slow down the kill.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎- During immune periods in a fight such as phase transitions at AoD/Kerapac

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎- Before the boss spawns

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎d. threadsoffate is useful for clearing large groups of mobs.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎- Elite Dungeons

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎- AoD amalgamations bloodamalg iceamalg shadowamalg smokeamalg

4. Prioritise the use of Touch of Death touchofdeath, Soul Sap soulsap, and auto-attacks necroauto as follows:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎a. touchofdeath > soulsap > necroauto outside of livingdeath

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎b. touchofdeath > soulsap = necroauto (decide based on the situation) within livingdeath

> Aura Choices

⬥ Both Mahjarrat Aura mahj and Supreme Invigorate Aura invigaura are extremely useful depending the situation

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Mahjarrat mahj provides 5% damage

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Supreme Invigorate invigaura provides 10% adrenaline reduction on Ultimates allowing for more high damage abilities to be used.

⬥ Vampyrism Aura vampaura and aegis can also be used while learning or for more difficult content, and both synergise well with reaverpouch.

⬥ It is worth checking individual boss guides, as the best choice of aura is often content dependant

Equilibrium Aura equilibriumaura does also have use cases in which it is best in slot

⬥ Early game before you have access to crit chance buffs such as biting4, grim, and kalgpouch

⬥ Late game AFK content

⬥ Some poisonable content when used alongside a ranger using bik arrows

This aura does function best with different perk setups, so be wary of using it without the research in relevent guides.

> General Living Death Rotations livingdeath

The following unlocks are assumed:

⬥ Ring of Vigour rov or its passive effect after the Extinction quest.

⬥ Igneous kal Mor igneouskalmor

⬥ Omni Guard omniguard and Soulbound Lantern soulboundlantern are used.

Keep in mind the following:

⬥ These are only suggestions to work from, and will not necessarily be applicable at all bosses or situations.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• For boss-specific rotations, see their respective guides.

⬥ Conservation of Energy relic conservationofenergy is highly recommended for adrenaline refunds from deathskulls and livingdeath.

> 1) Rotation: livingdeath + mahj + igneouskalmor + adrenrenewal

(Prebuild) conjurearmylifetransfercommandghostinvokedeathsplitsoulcommandwarrior

Beginner Rotation without Residual Souls residualsoul

vulnbomb (tc) + deathskullssoulsaptouchofdeathnecroautosoulsaplivingdeath + adrenrenewal (same tick)touchofdeathdeathskullsfingerofdeath ‎ ‎→ necroautonecroautofingerofdeathnecroautonecroautodeathskullstouchofdeathfingerofdeathnecroautonecroautofingerofdeathcommandskeletondeathskulls

Rotation with Residual Souls residualsoul

vulnbomb (tc) + deathskullssoulsaptouchofdeathnecroautosoulsaplivingdeath + adrenrenewal (same tick)touchofdeathdeathskullssoulsapfingerofdeathnecroautosoulsapnecroautonecroautodeathskullstouchofdeathfingerofdeathsoulsapfingerofdeathnecroautovolleyofsoulsdeathskulls

If struggling to use the Adrenaline Renewal adrenrenewal on tick, please see the Common Mistakes and Tips section within this guide for an explanation. Alternatively, wait an extra tick before casting the first deathskulls so that you have enough adrenaline to cast it.

Notes:

⬥ ‎ ‎Following this rotation, deathskulls will be on a 12 second cooldown ready to be used again. This allows you to get three deathskulls within the ‎ ‎livingdeath, with an additional use of deathskulls before and an addition use of deathskulls after livingdeath.

⬥ Split Soul splitsoul can be used mid rotation if it cannot be cast beforehand.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Divert divert can be useful to ensure that your adrenaline doesn't fall too low during the ‎ ‎livingdeath due to using a global cooldown to splitsoul.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• If ‎ ‎divert gives excess adrenaline, bloat may be useful (as it is very effective during splitsoul).

⬥ If using invigaura, use livingdeath one ability earlier and weave in bloat, omniguard spec ‎ ‎deathguard90 eofspec as adrenaline allows.

For specific rotations, please see the relevant boss guide.

2) Rotation: livingdeath + mahj + igneouskalmor (no adrenrenewal)

⬥ This rotation would be mostly similar to the above, however after using livingdeath, basics will have to be used to build to the first deathskulls.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• This will result in only two casts of ‎ ‎deathskulls within the livingdeath.

⬥ This rotation will be required at some bosses, such as TzKal Zuk tzkalzuk if using adrenrenewal on Har Aken haraken or the Ambassador ambassador after spinners if using adrenrenewal at the start of the fight.

3) Rotation: Outside of livingdeath + igneouskalmor

⬥ Outside livingdeath, bloat, omniguard spec or deathguard90 eofspec should be treated as higher priority.

⬥ For longer phases, bloatomniguard spec and then using Death Spark deathspark procs by weaving necroauto between touchofdeath, fingerofdeath and deathskulls will be strong.

⬥ Command Skeleton commandwarrior has higher priority outside of livingdeath as fingerofdeath and basics are weaker.

⬥ Volley volleyofsouls also remains extremely strong as it is not affected by Living Death livingdeath, and Flanked Soul Strike soulstrikeflank can be strong in some encounters (such as Solak solak and Nex Angel of Death aod).

⬥ This can also be a good time to use splitsoul as it synergises especially well with bloat and volleyofsouls.

4) Other Variations

⬥ While other variations are not listed here, feel free to ask in #pvm-help, and if you think it's worth listing open a suggestion to add it here!

> Important Ability Mechanics

Living Death livingdeath

livingdeath transforms the player into a skeletal Death form for 30 seconds (cooldown 90 seconds) and provides various buffs and cooldown resets to certain Necromancy abilities during that time:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• necroauto generates 2 Necrosis stacks per use

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• touchofdeath generates 6% extra adrenaline

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• fingerofdeath deals 50% extra damage (multiplicative)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• deathskulls has its cooldown reduced to 12 seconds

⬥ Additionally, upon casting livingdeath, the cooldown of touchofdeath and deathskulls is reset, allowing for their immediate use.

Death Skulls deathskulls

deathskulls Ability

⬥ The damage of each bounce of deathskulls will be 100% of the initial hit, so if the initial hit is a critical hit, the remaining hits will also be critical hits.

⬥ The speed at which Death Skulls will bounce at depends on the distance of the target the Death Skulls is aiming for: when bouncing 0–5 tiles away, there is a 1.2-second (two game ticks) delay per bounce. When bouncing for the full six tiles, there is a 1.8-second (three game ticks) delay per bounce.

⬥ Using Death Skulls again while the skulls from a previous use are still bouncing will not override nor cancel it out; a player may have more than one active Death Skulls at the same time.

⬥ The ability can be enhanced by wearing the igneous Kal-Mor igneouskalmor cape; wearing it reduces the adrenaline cost of Death Skulls to 60% (from 100%) and causes it to bounce between two additional enemies (from four to six).

⬥ This results in deathskulls hitting the main target 4 times with igneouskalmor or 3 times without.

deathskulls Targeting

⬥ When Death Skulls is selecting a new target to bounce to, it looks for all potential targets within 6 tiles of the previous target, and uses the following prioritisation:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎1. Monsters which are not immune to damage

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• If there are multiple monsters in range, the one with the highest life points will be selected

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎2. The player (no damage is dealt to the player)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎3. Monsters which are immune to damage

⬥ If there are no new targets within range of the previous target, then Death Skulls will stop bouncing.

Bloat bloat

⬥ Bloat deals 135%-165% ability damage on hit, and applies a damage-over-time debuff to the target that hits 25% of the initial hit in 1.8-second intervals since the initial hit.

⬥ This will last for 19.8 seconds.

⬥ If the initial hit is a critical hit, the damage over time hits will deal corresponding damage.

⬥ If the initial target dies while still influenced by the effect, it can spread to up to nine enemies at most a game square away who will then attack the player and suffer from the Bloated debuff for four hits. The debuff can spread even further if the affected enemies are killed quickly enough with other enemies nearby.

⬥ If you have spare adrenaline which you wont need for deathskulls, bloat is usually the strongest single ability to use. It can do over 28,000 total damage in a max gear setup (without splitsoul) over its full duration at the cost of only 20% adrenaline.

Skeleton Warrior conjureskeleton

⬥ The Skeleton Warrior deals 22%-28% necromancy spirit damage every 3 seconds.

⬥ It generates 1 Rage stack with each attack, and each Rage stack increases its damage by 3%. This is capped at 25 stacks, or a 75% damage buff.

commandwarrior empowers the Skeleton Warrior to perform rapid hits (every 0.6 seconds) for 6 seconds.

⬥ This is very efficient to use pre boss fights or between phases, as it will allow the Skeleton Warrior to stack Rage quickly.

⬥ With Spirit Pact 3 spiritpact3 and four or five pieces of the First Necromancer's Equipment firstnecrorobetop, conjureskeleton will be able to naturally stack to 24 or 25 Rage stacks over its lifetime without commandwarrior.

⬥ If the encounter lasts long enough to obtain 25 stacks, each cast of commandwarrior (no matter how many Rage stacks you have when it is used) will be almost equal to fingerofdeath outside of livingdeath (assuming the Skeleton is able to attack optimally).

⬥ In addition, lifetransfer will add an extra 7 attacks per use, which will be approximately 70% of the damage of fingerofdeath outside of livingdeath. This makes it very strong if the encounter lasts long enough, as it can be often casted before the fight, and will also extend the duration (and healing) of conjureghost to make up for the drawback.

Spectral Scythe spectralscythe spectralscythe2 spectralscythe3

⬥ Spectral Scythe should be avoided for all single target encounters due to its very low damage and very high adrenaline cost. It can however be used in Area of Effect (AoE) scenarios if you have spare adrenaline, or threadsoffate is on cooldown.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• spectralscythe Cast 1 costs 10% adrenaline and does AoE damage in a cone (similar to cleave).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• spectralscythe2 Cast 2 costs 20% adrenaline and does AoE damage within 2 tiles around you (similar to cane)

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• spectralscythe3 Cast 3 costs 30% adrenaline and does AoE damage within 2 tiles of you (similar to meteorstrike), with damage increased by 1% per 1% missing life points on target

⬥ Casts 1 and 2 have a 25% chance to generate 1 residualsoul per hit

Blood Siphon bloodsiphon

⬥ This should only be used in scenarios where a boss has many minions and healing is useful, such as at telos within font 3 (as it will heal a large amount). This can otherwise be discarded as an ability.

Soul Strike soulstrike

⬥ This ability consumes a residualsoul to cast, and it will stun and bind the target for 5t (3s). It also does a small amount of splash damage to enemies within 1 tile of the target.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• This is useful where a stun is required, such as for telos or tzkalzuk challenge waves.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• The splash damage can be used to apply invokedeath to the target and to enemies directly next to the target.

⬥ Aside from the above applications, soulstrikeflank should only be flanked, which increases it from 150% average damage to 390% with flank4.

Deathguard Special Attack deathguard90 eofspec

⬥ This special attack costs 25% adrenaline, consumes all Necrosis necrosis stacks, and has a 30s cooldown shown on the debuff bar.

deathguard90 eofspec deals 405%-495% damage to the target, increasing both the minimum and maximum hit by 40% per necrosis stack consumed.

⬥ This special attack also stuns and binds the target for 4.8 seconds.

⬥ As this ability has a cooldown and costs adrenaline regardless of stacks, it is best to use it on high necrosis stacks.

⬥ Usually it will be used outside of livingdeath, as necrosis stacks inside livingdeath should be used on boosted fingerofdeath

Omni Guard Passive Effect - Death spark deathspark

⬥ Each necroauto generates one stack of deathspark

⬥ Upon reaching 5 stacks, the next necroauto is empowered to deal double damage

⬥ Stacks are lost upon switching main hand, even if it is to another Omni Guard

Omni Guard Special Attack omniguard spec

⬥ This special attack costs 30% adrenaline and has a 1 minute cooldown.

omniguard spec deals 360%-440% damage to the target.

⬥ The special attack also instantly readies the Omni Guard passive, allowing for the next necroauto to deal double damage

⬥ For 30s after use, the following abilities also ready death spark immediately: touchofdeath, fingerofdeath, and deathskulls

⬥ This effect is lost upon switching main hand weapons

⬥ Usually this is used outside livingdeath, with the goal to optimise the number of empowered necroauto over the duration

> Advanced Strategies

You may also wish to utilise advanced strategies within your rotation. An examples of these are below.

1) Bouncing Death Skulls deathskulls

⬥ If done correctly, deathskulls can be bounced between targets (including targets which aren't 6 tiles on either side, such as AoD Pillars aod, Kerapac Clones kerapac, Solak Roots roots)

⬥ There are multiple ways to do this, including visual in smaller teams/solo.

⬥ One way to do this is to:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Cast deathskulls 5-6 tiles distance from the initial target,

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Wait an odd number of global cooldown cycles,

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• dive towards your next target during the last global cooldown cycle.

⬥ Another way to do this is to:

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Cast deathskulls at 3-4 tiles range,

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Use two abilities (i.e. soulsapnecroauto),

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• While you are still in your global cooldown, dive towards your next target.

2) Smoke Cloud smokecloud

⬥ Casting smoke cloud smokecloud with a Necromancy weapon equipped incurs a full global cooldowns and as such can be inefficient over using a damaging ability, as Smoke Cloud smokecloud is a small buff based on Necromancy's crit system.

⬥ Smoke Cloud smokecloud can instead be casted losslessly by unequipping your main hand necromancy weapon if the auto attack cooldown is ready (such as before a fight), or if you wait for 1 tick after the end of the global cooldowns from a Necromancy ability.

⬥ Typically, this would look like this:

(Pre Fight - Lossless) Equip praeswand + on tick smokecloud + omniguard + deathskulls

(During Fight - Lose 1 tick) necroauto → equip praeswand and wait 4 ticks (or until you can use ability plus one tick) → smokecloud + omniguard + deathskulls

3) Threads of Fate threadsoffate

Often useful on any boss with many adds or minions, such as:

⬥ Angel of Death aod's four mages (Umbra, Glacies, Cruor, Fumus);

⬥ Arch-Glacor archglacor's Glacytes;

⬥ Beastmaster Durzag beastmasterdurzag's Chargers;

⬥ Elite Dungeon monsters or TzekHaar Monsters;

⬥ Rise of the Six Bosses guthan;

⬥ Solak solak's arms and legs;

⬥ Telos telos's golems blackgolem greengolem redgolem; and

⬥ Vorago vorago's Scopulus scopulus or Vitalis vitalis.

You may wish to utilise Threads of Fate threadsoffate to use Soul Sap soulsap to stack many Residual Souls residualsoul, to easily stack souls for volleyofsouls. This will synergise well with soulsplit for a large heal.

Please note that Invoke Death invokedeath used before Threads of Fate threadsoffate will apply Mark of Death to all targets hit with the next ability.

4) Off-Style main hand Swapping bbc lengmh praeswand

This allows access to strong non-Necromancy abilities.

When using Necromancy, you are able to switch your main hand weapon while keeping the lantern on to keep conjures alive. This can be used to cast abilities such as:

⬥ Greater Ricochet with Caroming 4 gricocaroming casted with a one hand main hand crossbow bbc.

(Typically with Hydrix Bakriminel Bolts (e) hydrixbakri) can be strong when used at bosses such as Nex nex, as its Mages have a soft hitcap (i.e. higher hits do reduced damage), so multiple smaller hits are more powerful. In addition, the adrenaline generation from hydrixbakri can be useful.

⬥ Seren Godbow EOF Special sgb eofspec casted with a one hand main hand crossbow bbc.

This can be used for large monsters (such as Raksha raksha or Telos telos in P5) to deal a large amount of damage where adrenaline allows, and other abilities may be on cooldown.

5) Despawning and Resummoning Conjures Early enhancedexcalibur

⬥ This can be used on phase transitions (where you might not be able to do damage) to refresh Conjure timers.

⬥ This would typically be done by equipping an off-hand weapon (such as the Enhanced Excalibur enhancedexcalibur) to despawn Conjures, then re-equipping a lantern soulboundlantern then using Conjure Undead Army conjurearmy.

⬥ However this does reset the Rage stacks of the conjureskeleton.

> Common Mistakes and Tips

Basic Ability Prioritisation

People may assume that, in livingdeath, soulsap should always be ignored in favour of necroauto, as necroauto generates two Necrosis Stacks necrosis.

This can depend on adrenaline, but some common ability combinations are contained within the table below.

This shows that soulsap can have priority over necroauto even during livingdeath for longer encounters, especially if used for soulstrikeflank or a stacked volleyofsouls. This however depends on the scenario.

In addition, this shows that soulsap and necroauto can mathematically line up to be very similar damage ranges during livingdeath and as such the opportunity cost of a mistake is less. The general basic ability priority of touchofdeath > soulsap > necroauto will be the best option in most scenarios, inside and outside of livingdeath, especially where commandghost has been used.

Adrenaline Renewal adrenrenewal Timing

⬥ Using adrenaline renewal adrenrenewal on the same tick as livingdeath lets you livingdeath + adrenrenewaltouchofdeathdeathskulls.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• This requires Ring of Vigour rov (can be passive), Conservation of Energy conservationofenergy and either Fury of the Small furyofthesmall or Supreme Invigorate Aura invigaura.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• This allows you to get up to 3x deathskulls in livingdeath.

How to do it:

⬥ Use livingdeath followed by ‎ ‎adrenrenewal quickly.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Consider having the keybinds adjacent.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• Learn the proper timing, DO NOT spam click.

⬥ Do not queue livingdeath - This prevents you from using adrenrenewal on tick.

Video example:

Note: You should see 24% adrenaline on livingdeath cast tick rather than 20%.

⬥ The proper input timing of livingdeath + adrenrenewal after using an ability can be affected by ping due to the RuneScape's global cooldown and tick system.

⬥ Watch the global cooldown incurred by the ability (1.8 seconds, or 3 game ticks (0.6 seconds each)).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• If good ping, input livingdeath + adrenrenewal when the divider or light reaches green.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎• If bad ping, adjust as needed and input prior to green.

> Related Channels

For information on Necromancy Abilities you can refer to #Necromancy Abilities. This guide will refer to rotations and DPM advice rather than what each ability does.

If you have any questions about Necromancy DPM, please feel free to ask in #pvm-help.

See #revolution-bars for a list of revolution bars.

See #Necromancy for recommended gear upgrade progression from early game to t70.

See #Necromancy for recommended gear upgrade progression from t70 to best in slot.

See #eof-specs for information on any other Necromancy Essence of Finality specs eofspec.