This is still in the process of being organized and completed. For the moment, it's just a collection of the tactics mentioned in the Trail of Blood.

[Translator's Note: Unfortunately, Mr. Undercrypt's corporeal demise brought about an unexpected Halt to further tactical compilation. Those tactics listed here should remain viable, but certain advanced strategems are left Undisclosed. – B]

Level 1

Melee Solo

When your weapons and your raw strength (aided by your twisted magics) are enough to finish off your victims, indulge in some personal bloodspilling. Even though our physical attacks are quickly eclipsed by our magical arts, it is important to engage in melee once in a while. This builds both offensive and defensive skills; offensive skills are convenient, but defensive skills will keep you alive.

If you have the chance, familiarize yourself with a variety of weapon types. You never know what sort of grim tools you'll run across in the future.

You won't be able to melee solo for very long. Enjoy it while you can.

Melee with the Dead

One of the joys of necromancy is our ability to summon up a bony warrior to fight by our side. It makes the killing go faster, it makes you look necromantic, and it can provide you with a window of safety should you need to retreat. There's really no better time to start learning how to command your undead pet.

At this level, your companion is fairly brittle. Be sure that he's not taunting, and be at the forefront of the fight.

Level 4

Kiting

One your enemy has been striken with Darkness and is running slowly, you can easily outpace them. Run ahead of them, stop, then turn and cast a damaging spell on them. Repeat until your enemy is dead.

The advantage to this tactic is that it avoids getting your head beaten in by something stronger than you.

The disadvantages are many, however. If you're using a pet, your enemy will likely stop to kill your pet before it chases after you, which can be a drain on mana and bone chips. Also, all of our "damage over time" spells do less damage if your victim is running towards you, so you'll end up using more mana to cause damage. Since most of our damage is done through pets and damage over time, this isn't a terribly good tactic for necromancers, but it is possible.

Luckily, we have an even better tactic.

Fear Kiting

Fear Kiting is similar to standard Kiting, with one important exception. After the target has been hit with Darkness, strike them with Fear. They will then run away, slowly, while you cast more spells on them and your pet rips apart their backside.

The advantages are amazing. Properly engaged, the enemy is doing no damage to you, your damage over time spells are working to maximum effect, your pet is in no danger, and (if you keep a proper distance) you can recast Fear or Darkness as necessary without interruption. This tactic will allow you to defeat opponents significantly more powerful than yourself.

The disadvantages are important to know too, though. The most significant restriction is a necessity for space. Since you cannot control the course of the Feared enemy, you need to be fairly certain that they won't be running into others who would assist them. Large open spaces are generally the best choice. Fear Kiting can also be a severe drain on mana if multiple castings of Darkness and Fear are necessary. Furthermore, if Fear is resisted or when it wears off, the enemy will almost certainly head directly for you and ignore your pet, even if it's taunting.

This tactic isn't very popular in groups with most melee folk, as they dislike having to chase their enemy around. Rogues seem to enjoy it, though.

The disadvantages, though, are small compared to the advantages. Fear Kiting is a standard necromantic tactic. Learn it.

Level 8

The Pet That Would Not Die

Instead of casting baneful magics on your enemy, simply use Mend Bones and Dark Empathy to keep your minion in the fight. Lifetap to recover the health you lose.

The advantage here is that your pet typically does at least as much damage as your spells, so all you really need to do is keep ol' Boner intact. This is also useful on those few creatures that seem to resist your magics to a great degree.

The disadvantages are tricky. If you're fighting a hard-hitting foe, you might not be able to heal your pet fast enough to keep up with the damage it's taking. A few bad hits in a row can make a difference too, since there's a significant casting time and delay on our healing. Also, you need to do at least a little damage to the enemy – a single lifetap will suffice – or you will gain very little of the experience you would have otherwise gotten.

Reanimator

Don't bother with offensive spells or healing your pet. When your pet is about to die, call up another one. It takes some practice to get the timing down, since our summoning spells have long casting times. When you're casting the spell, just before the spell completes, give the "get lost" pet command to destroy your old minion so the new one can be summoned.

This is primarily a magician tactic, with few advantages for the solo necromancer. The lengthy spellcasting makes the timing difficult to gauge, and the high mana cost is somewhat prohibitive. Still, if you can't get any other spells to land, or if you've just got too many bone chips, it is an option. Again, be sure to do at least some damage yourself, or it's not worth the trouble.

Army of Darkness

Form a hunting party with five other necromancers. Every necromancer plays Reanimator, the minions of death battering down the victims and being replaced as they fall.

Advantages? Well, in the right areas, six necromantic pets are nearly unstoppable. One necromancer will probably be using Darkness to stop runners, but other than that, mana cost is minimal (until it's time to get a new pet).

The main disadvantage is the difficulty in getting six necromancers grouped together.

Level 16

Root Rot

Find a suitable target (at this point, an undead one) alone. Root it (at this point, with Hungry Earth). Drop three or four damage over time spells on it – Darkness, Heat Blood, Heart Flutter or Infectious Cloud, and Leach if you're using a health-to-mana spell (and you should be). Sit and meditate while your victim dies. Reapply Root and damage spells as necessary.

Since our damage over time spells offer the most damage for mana, this is a very efficient way to kill things, especially since you can meditate during the "battle" if there's room. You can keep your pet around for extra insurance if things go poorly, or you can do without.

The disadvantages are small but important. The biggest disadvantage at this level is the limitation to undead targets. If you can't get keep your victim rooted (hungry earthed?), you're really Kiting, and you lose a lot of the advantages – although if you've got your pet, you can quickly switch to Fear Kiting if the area supports it. Also, since these sorts of battles tend to last a bit longer than most, there's an increased potential for wanderers to join the fight.

Experiment with it now, but know that it won't become truly powerful until the standard Root spell is acquired at level 34.

Feign Pulling

Feign Death can be used to split up groups of enemies, allowing you to bring fewer of those enemies to your own group (or your pet) for destruction. It's something that's really best done by a monk, but don't let that stop you from giving it a try.

For the best results, approach the group of nasties that you'd like to split up, staying a decent distance away. Target one of them, and hit it with a fast-casting spell at maximum range – something like Siphon Strength is good, Screaming Terror is better, but any spell that does not do damage over time is fine. The group of monsters should now be chasing you. Start running back towards your group, but before you reach them, stop to cast Feign Death. (Knowing how long you have to stop in order to successfully cast the spell without interrupting yourself is something that comes with practice.) When you successfully Feign Death, the monsters should stop chasing you. They'll stand around for a bit, and then head back to their camp one at a time. When the last remaining enemy starts to leave, stand up, tag it again with a spell, and bring it back for the slaughter.

Note that a lot of things can keep this from working. If Feign Death fails, that's obviously a problem. It can be difficult to pull casters this way, since spells landing on you will break the feign. Some monsters won't forget you after you stand up, and might not be successfully split with this tactic. Things that run fast can be troublesome unless you've magically boosted your own running speed. Finally, if it does fail, you've got a lot of things pounding on you, which is usually bad.

When it works, though, it's impressive. If you're planning on spending some time in a single place, it might only be necessary to break the camp once, and you might not always have a monk around.