Necropolis: Necromancy

Necromancy is the result of practicing the dark arts to raise creatures from the dead. The principles of Necromancy have been drastically altered in version 2.1 (and 1.5), and Necromancers are now able to raise undead creatures of all levels, not only skeletons, depending on the type of creatures killed in combat. At the end of each victorious combat, the life taken from the killed enemies determines the maximum amount of undead creatures that can be raised, and the Necromancer can choose to raise them or not. If he/she does, he/she uses Dark Energy points (as each undead creature raised costs DE points) from a pool shared by all of the player's heroes, that only regenerates at the start of the week.

In the new Necromancy system, there are 3 questions to answer:

• What type of undead creatures are raised from combat?
• How many such creatures can be raised?
• How much Dark Energy does it take from your weekly pool?

How many undead creatures are raised?

Undead creatures can only be raised after a victorious combat, and their proposed number depends on the hit points of the killed enemy creatures (except mechanical and elemental):

Hit_Points_Raised = Hit_Points_Killed x Necromancy

where Necromancy mainly depends on your hero's skills and the number of Pillar of Bones in your cities (see below). The number of undead creatures raised is capped by the number of killed creatures.

Necromancy	20%	30%	40%	50%	+5%	+10%	+10%	+50%

Therefore, if you killed 470 Hit Points worth of creatures, and your overall % of units raised via Necromancy totalled 40%, you would receive 188 Hit Points worth back, which is 47 Skeletons, or 37 Skeleton Archers for example. Provided of course you killed at least that many creatures.

Necromancy Modifiers
	Eternal Servitude (Necromancy) Effect: The hero can also raise fallen friendly undead units
	Herald of Death (Leadership) Effect: All joining neutral creatures will be transformed into the undead creatures of their respective level Requires: Recruitment
	Lord of the Undead (Enlightenment) Effect: +5% Necromancy Requires: Scholar
	Amulet of Necromancy (artifact) Effect: +10% Necromancy (1.5/2.1) (3.0: Reduces rising costs by 10%)
	Pillar of Bones Effect: +10% Necromancy and +150 points of Dark Energy (for each Pillar owned) Requires: Town Level 6, Mage Guild 1 Cost: 1000, 10
	Tomb of the Lost (Grail structure) Effect: +50% Necromancy and +150 points of Dark Energy Requires: Tear of Asha

Dark Energy: How much do you have?

Dark Energy is the commodity which makes raising undead units possible. All of your heroes share a Dark Energy pool, from which they draw points to raise undead troops. The amount of Dark Energy in your pool depends on your heroes' levels and skills and the buildings constructed in your Necropolis towns:

Dark Energy Pool = 200 + Hero_Bonus + Building_Bonus

where:

• Hero_Bonus: each hero contributes to the pool according to his level. His Mastery of the Necromancy skill then basically serves as a multiplier (see the table below).
• Building_Bonus: each Pillar of Bones in your kingdom contributes 150 Dark Energy points, as does the Tomb of the Lost (Grail structure).

IMPORTANT 1.5 Note: The Dark Energy Pool formula has been amended to 250 + Hero_Bonus + Building_Bonus. Where the Hero Bonus is doubled, and the Pillar of Bones bonus is reduced from 150 to 20 DE points.

In Tribes of the East (3.0), the values are the same as in 2.1.

Level 1	1	2	3	4	Level 21	48	97	145	194
Level 2	1	2	3	4	Level 22	52	105	158	211
Level 3	1	2	3	4	Level 23	57	114	171	228
Level 4	1	2	3	4	Level 24	61	123	185	246
Level 5	1	2	3	4	Level 25	66	132	198	265
Level 6	1	2	3	4	Level 26	70	141	212	283
Level 7	2	5	7	10	Level 27	75	151	227	303
Level 8	4	9	13	18	Level 28	80	161	241	322
Level 9	6	13	20	27	Level 29	85	171	256	342
Level 10	9	19	28	38	Level 30	90	181	271	362
Level 11	12	24	36	49	Level 31	85	191	287	382
Level 12	15	30	45	60	Level 32	100	201	302	403
Level 13	18	36	55	73	Level 33	106	212	318	424
Level 14	21	43	65	86	Level 34	111	223	334	446
Level 15	25	50	75	100	Level 35	116	233	350	467
Level 16	28	57	86	114	Level 36	122	244	367	489
Level 17	32	64	97	129	Level 37	127	255	383	511
Level 18	36	72	108	145	Level 38	133	267	400	534
Level 19	40	80	120	160	Level 39	139	278	418	557
Level 20	44	88	132	177	Level 40	145	290	435	580

Dark Energy: How much does it cost?

Raising an undead creature costs Dark Energy points, depending on the power of the creature:

Dark Energy Cost = Power / 25

The following table lists, for all the undead creatures, their Dark Energy cost (DE), and the living creatures that will be transformed into it. The number below each living creature indicates how many undead will be raised if 10 such creatures are killed with Basic Necromancy (20%), provided the corresponding Dark Energy cost is paid, of course. To get the final costs and quantities, round-down the result after multiplying.

DE: 2.16		1.50	3.00	2.00	3.00	6.00	6.00	8.00	8.00	3.00
DE: 3.36		2.80	4.00	4.00	5.60	2.00	2.40	4.00	5.60	4.00
DE: 4.20		1.53	3.65	3.06	1.18	1.41
DE: 6.00		1.88	3.06	1.53	4.12	0.82	1.41
DE: 9.28		3.75	1.88	0.75	10.00	3.13
DE: 12.48		3.68	1.58	5.26	6.95	0.53	13.16	3.68	3.16	2.63
DE: 20.72		1.33	2.67	4.00	1.33
DE: 29.56		5.14	5.71	1.71	5.71	1.43
DE: 46.64		2.16	1.36	0.72
DE: 60.72		2.91	1.20	1.09	2.91	3.27	2.91	2.18	2.55
DE: 87.20		2.32	3.68	0.69	0.84
DE: 103.52		2.40	3.32	3.98	3.62	2.40	2.80	3.50	3.80	2.00	2.40
DE: 126.96		2.67	2.67	1.60
DE: 156.20		2.50	3.00

The creatures that do not appear in this table can not be raised as undead. They are of mechanical (Gargoyles, Golems), elemental (Elementals, Phoenix, Fire Dragons) or divine nature (Angels, Unicorns).

As seen in the Necromancy Modifiers table above, undead creatures themselves are not raised through Necromancy, but through the separate method of the Eternal Servitude ability.

The Necromancy skill

	Basic Necromancy Allows a Necromancer to raise 20% of fallen enemy living creatures as own soldiers (A limited number of creatures can be raised per week). Influences the number of dark energy points.
	Advanced Necromancy Allows a Necromancer to raise 30% of fallen enemy living creatures as own soldiers (A limited number of creatures can be raised per week). Increases the number of dark energy points.
	Expert Necromancy Allows a Necromancer to raise 40% of fallen enemy living creatures as own soldiers (A limited number of creatures can be raised per week). Increases the number of dark energy points.
	Ultimate Necromancy Allows a Necromancer to raise 50% of fallen enemy living creatures as own soldiers (A limited number of creatures can be raised per week). Increases the number of dark energy points.

Associated abilities

	Banshee Howl Grants a hero an ability to call upon death itself in combat. All enemy living creatures receive -1 to morale, luck and -10% on initiative.
	Eternal Servitude The Necromancer receives an ability to raise some of the fallen undead creatures in his or her army after combat.
	Mark of the Necromancer Grants a Necromancer the ability to tie his or her own spirit to the spirits of any creatures on the battlefield until the end of combat. If linked creatures receive any damage the Necromancer will gain some mana, feeding upon those creatures' suffering.
	Howl of Terror Banshee Howl special ability additionally dampens enemy morale by -6.

Strategies

Necromancy is the most prevalent racial skill in the game. It is the lifeblood of the Necromancers, and, as such, there are a multitude of power-ups available for the skill from the town and the hero. Aside from the 2 different undead transformers (Unholy Temple and Herald of Death), it is possible to raise 100% of enemy units if there are enough Pillar of Bones built. Of course, that requires either a large pool of Dark Energy, or a careful contemplation over which troops to raise. Note that Leadership and Enlightenment are the two secondary skills needed to improve your prowess in Necromancy.

Howl of Terror

An extensive upgrade of Banshee Howl, Howl of Terror effectively always reduces enemy morale to a negative value, meaning even the most noble of Knights will cower in fear. Like Nature's Luck though, Archery will have to be forfeited, which can be a deal breaker if you're stacking a gargantuan number of Skeleton Archers and Liches with Necromancy. Boosting Banshee Howl effect, Howl of Terror requires the hero to spend a turn in combat to activate the Morale dampening, and one can wonder if it's really worth it. The answer is rather easy here, as the -6 morale penalty will make enemy troops lose some of their turns, effectively compensating for the turn spent. Moreover, Banshee Howl still comes with a -10% to enemy Initiative.

You can discuss Heroes V racial skills with the Heroes Community.

Thanks to ThE_HyDrA for creating and looking after the Heroes 5 section of Age of Heroes!