II. A Break down how to duel each class.
Glossary:
(WSG) – Weapon Switch Glitch – This is the act of pressing down your key (Typically W) that you have set to swap weapons. What this effectively does is get rid of the FHR animation you would normally get for being hit with a damage causing skill/spell. Rendering you free to move about as you please.
”Chain Locking” – When you grab a name lock (With Right click spell, or unsummon lock), the trick is to put the mouse right around your feet, when the enemy teleports off, while still holding down your right click spell swap the skill to teleport. If they teleport again, it effectively teleports you onto the top left of them every time they teleport. If they stop teleporting and you hold down teleport, it will place you to the top right of them for your second “tele stomp”.
Golem Glitch – When in an NvN duel, after tele stomping a necromancer, your golem lands in a position to where even if the other necromancer had a name lock on you before you tele stomped the Golem will eat the spears and no damage will be done to the person on top. This effect only occurs if they are not “Up-Spearing”.
Up-Spearing – If a necro is over offensing, shoot up left at a 45° angle. Top left Corner of your screen. They will become fhr’d in your spear and die unless they double stomp.
Double Stomping - A double stomp is more or less chaining a person who is sitting still. You instead of immediately swapping to spear out of your stomp leave it on teleport for one more teleport then swap to spear.
Classes:
Assassin: A good trap sin will be trying to FHR you with a mixture of her traps, mind blast, and one of the following: Dragon Talon (Kick), Dragon Claw, or fire blast. Your best bet unless you are a pro at WSG spear is to be fast out of their reach. The main objective when dueling a trap assassin is to get her shadow down. You may think that she can just recast it but, one it gets frustrating to them which can force more errors and two it takes longer to recast it each time it is killed.
The best method for doing this is teeth (do not abuse this and run out of mana). You may be asking why it’s so important to down it I’ll explain, with her shadow up one it will tank more of your IBS, and on top of that it will have attacks to add onto the already annoying FHR that your typical 102 c/c sin has. Thus making it very difficult for you to attack or get out of FHR locks. Once you get the shadow down you will have the opportunity to get off a few spears on the sin before she can recast it. But even without a shadow the sin can fully FHR lock you. So make it 2-3 spears and get out. You will also want to be IBSing in the sins typical teleport patterns. You can even set them up by spraying a spirit train a certain direction goes to it and when they come in to try and lock you up with Minblast and Traps you are sitting in spirits. Get off a couple of spears they will try to run if your “train of spirits “is effective and you can chain teleport them down.
When you are WSGing away from a sin make sure you are never going toward them with WSG as it will not work well. It may appear to be working on your screen but in the game you are stuck and probably half dead by the time you realize. Always WSG away from them and never in straight lines. Always have some small amount of a semi-circle walk about it as to dodge traps. If they are not backing off your ass have spear on the right click on both weapon sides, keep your mouse near you when you’re WSGing stop for a second and get off a quick spear continue WSGing and spearing them if they continue to chase. If they try to run off as you have hurt them or downed their shadow with your WSG spearing chain them down and finish them off. If you are getting badly fhr’d by the more pvm style sins with 14 K traps even with the regular 11-12 k trappers. Cast your golem into their traps he will tank for you so you can get off a few spears. Hybrid sins are more or less the same thing, the only difference is to use prison vs them a lot whenever they look like they’re Mind blasting you to try and setup a tele stomp whirlwind this is usually deliberate as most of them do not lay traps as they are thinking about the WW attack. Prison them, and be casting spirits downward as they will be whirling through and under you not on top of you and those attacks will miss.
Amazon: One of the simplest classes for a necromancer. The sneakier ones will be using a mixture of multi when you’re far out and strafe when you get up close to attempt to FHR you. Then they will attempt to guided arrow you if you have to get out. Some of the crafty ones will also attempt to get off furies before they are dodge locked in an attempt to FHR lock you. The main things a necromancer must do vs. a Bowazon is to always keep up your Golem as his slow will ruin the amazon, Bone armor as it makes it so they can’t FHR you before you can dodge lock them, and always be on them do not give them time to set up. Additionally do not let them run down freely come from underneath them. Grab your lock stomp them. Your fist 3 attacks should be casting the teeth spell. Then cast a spirit to follow them if they somehow WSG out then be spearing them to dole out good damage. Typically they can only tank 2-3 of these in a 1v1. If they get out make sure to get a fresh Golem and bone armor up come in and stomp again. Teeth, Spirit, and then Spear. It is the ultimate in killing amazons. If they do FHR you with any of said attacks as a few of the very good ones should be able to pull a quick WSG the opposite direction of them and teleport behind the nearest wall or corner to shed the IGA’s and what not that are no doubt on your tail. Go back in Fresh dodge lock, and teeth spirit spear them dead. CS amazons just keep your range spirit the shit out of them when you get enough spirits on them stomp and dodge lock them. They will die almost instantly.
Barbarian: There are so many different styles of Barbarian play it is absurd to be honest. The most successful trend of late is a mixture of leaping Teleporting blindly (C/T) from off screen into a tri-whirl, and if there are prisons up zerking/concentration. This makes the necro rely more heavily upon his IBS, finding puddles to stand on as to not get leaped into complete FHR annihilation. Or casting prison on the barbarian, and IBSing and spearing when possible which is not much. BVC’s are now very hit and run. So be casting spirits in their path to get to where they like to blind stomp you (I define blind stomping as coming from off-screen without a lock and placing yourself in a position to land almost on the person without getting a name lock utilizing C/T) So put spirits in front of them here and as they get closer put spirits in their inevitable whirlwind placement so that they will land in them. If you are shooting straight at them the spirits will be following them and they will have time to walk out of whirlwind get away from your slow spirits and tele off. Also when they stomp you can tele out of where you were and spear where they are now whirl winding the air you just occupied. For the ones who try to zerk you down be quick about getting away as it is very easy to chain zerk people. If they are chain zerking you try a couple of times and it will make them go back to relying on ww’s south walk their zerk and up spear them then gtfo. Merely hiding in prisons will not work anymore we must now lure them into us by using puddles as they think they will get away with leap fhring us we are on a puddle and not being fhr’d at all. Quickly tele out and spear them down as mentioned before. The morale is do not try to tank barbs in walls or prisons any more unless they suck. Use your char advantages that it has and range his ass down.
Druid: Elemental druids there are three main play styles on these. Three different styles of using summons as well. The first play style is all out offensive, the second is hit and run allot, the third is Defensive. You will run across all three a lot. The three mixtures of summons is as such: One plays with only wolves, the next plays with only bear, the third is a compilation of wolves and bear depending on how much life you or they have left. The overly aggressive druids can be a pain in the butt, but can also make it quite easy for you to dole out allot of damage if you’re smart. They will blindly dash in and stomp and try to chain you like they would a zon. You do not get dodge locked. With this fellow whether he have wolves or bear up teeth until vs the wolf using one until there are no wolves or oak up. Swap to spearing 1-2 times and get out. Vs. the bear using kind get down his oak and you can spear him through the bear. Be ever vigilant when dueling druids to avoid getting caught in an under stomp where they just nado up and you’re dead. Do not always walk straight south ever. When a druid does get under you, you have two options walk up a little spear and get out or just get out. They will mostly do the same thing, they will get out trying and going to recast. This is the perfect time to attack. Always remember to attack from a distance. All a druid has to do is cast nados in any direction and they will hit you. The same works for hit and run druids. Verse a defensive druid it is purely avoiding spammed nados, as well as being able to be very accurate with spear. Get your locks on him, his summons, and spear. Does not waste mana on any other attack just spear him. Always be careful to know when to walk and when to teleport out. Do not ever stick in there always be walking so that you’re not an easy target. On a side note do not ever have your golem up as he wanders around allot a smart druid will sit off screen grab a lock on him and wait for you to teleport then bam you are dead from a golem lock. So leave him unsummoned. Melee druids, pretty much to be treated like CS amazons with DR on instead of lightning res gear. Vs rabies druids do not use golem as the rabies can spread to you through them. They do typically have allot of life so do not stomp before they are almost completely dead as most of them can fhr lock you in a heartbeat. Use your range and be smart.
Necromancer: NvN, the rules are simple. Only Spear, Golem, Teeth, and Teleport (Of course battle orders). This is to eliminate too much running and spamming. The way I play necro vs. someone who is not really adept at it is the “Circle Method” This is where you teleport around your opponent in clockwise or counterclockwise patterns to attempt to catch a name lock in the corner of the screen. Spear 1-2 times and stomp then be down spearing. Versus better necros I prefer to be up close and personal always on their screen looking to stomp golem glitch and get it over with using a variety of patterns whether it’s faking to come in for a lock and acting like I’m running away from them so they will corner tele to try and catch me but I stop and have my mouse in their teleport pattern. Grab a quick lock and I’m on them before they can finish getting their mouse in a position to try and beat me to the lock. I’ll zig zag on your screen until I push you into my lock while making it hard for you to lock. The main thing I have found in NvN is that when you are on screen with the other person you are either at the advantage and got the lock in and are attacking, or you did not get the lock and they are attacking. If you are at a disadvantage get out. Corner tele, Shake do whatever you have to do to break the chain you are probably in. (Shaking is teleporting back and forth left to right. It can also be used to come in and attack without them being able to lock you.) Now some people prefer to walk and wait for you to come in so they can get their lock off or just continue to up left wsg spear you or regular walk spear you as you try to stomp them. If you are teleporting up to someone and they are using the walking method do not stomp. What instead you will do is get under them grab your lock or get out. If you grab your lock first spear 1-2 times then stomp. In any NvN matchup I honestly prefer to be coming from the bottom as it makes it more difficult for them to adjust from shooting at me trying to get a lock to go to “Up Spearing”. I will also walk a lot if I think they beat me to the lock wait for them to stomp tele off causing them to lose their lock, and it is a perfect setup for the “Fake runaway” technique. Golem, probably the most confusing part of NvN is how your golem works. When you tele stomp someone and there is nothing like a ditch or whatever in front of the person you are dueling you will land on the top left of them. Even if they have a name lock on you at the time your golem will eat the spears. They will not hit you. Now to ignore the golem all one has to do is shoot up left have your mouse at the top left corner of your screen. This will ignore their golem and most likely FHR them unless they can pull la quick WSG and get out or teleport out. If you find someone is “Golem ignoring” you a lot then start spearing before you stomp. 1-2 spears. Just don’t be too far away. If you prefer to be fancy and are quite good at chaining people do a “Double stomp”. (A double stomp is more or less chaining a person who is sitting still. You instead of immediately swapping to spear out of your stomp leave it on teleport for one more teleport then swap to spear.) My style of NvN requires you to be very fast at locking, very fast at getting out when you do not have the lock and out smarting your opponent. Watch where they go when you teleport somewhere near them know how and where you are pushing them have your mouse there waiting stomp and spear. Now one thing I always do and it has won many close and tight duels for me is to make sure my golem is full life and trying to keep him bo’d. If you both start spearing at the same time on similar necros the one whose golem tanks more will win. The best life for NvN is 4181 = or >.
Paladin: a. Hammer din, this should be a matchup you can take advantage of. Because unlike every class with the exception of trappers you can break synch. Most good hammer dins rely on synch to be invisible and either stomp you or put hammers under you so that they are invisible and have you walk down into them. Never walk to far south, ever. The main way to prevent death via synch stomp is with Teeth. Hammerdins all have set synch patterns that they like to use. Learn the hammerdin you’re duelings synch paths. And teeth them. Vs very fast hit and run Hammer dins your best bet will be putting IBS in their synch paths. The path that is. Your only chance to hit a hammer din who is close to you is spear. You must constantly be spearing them while making sure in the back of your mind you are ready to walk as per they will stomp you if you sell out to spear them. Pull a quick prison on them and start spearing get ready to walk. Once again as is like the Elemental Druid, never walk straight down that makes it easy to synch under you or just pull a quick under tele and you’re dead before you know what hit you. I personally enjoy casting Golem on them to make synching impossible and staying close to inflict as much spear damage as I can without getting stomped. Constantly prisoning and spearing.
b. V/T, A smiter with Fist of the Heavens as his attack on swap or used to gain name lock and tele smite you while you are in FHR Animation. Most will see how their FOH does damage wise Vs. you. If this fails they will typically abandon it and resort to trying to charge you down and smite you. The most effective way to duel against a V/T is to bone prison him and you teleport at him (Be IBSing this whole time) and prison him then spear him in the prisons. Make sure to not get telesmited. Just south walk and spear up then get out and re-prison him continue to do until he is dead. Make sure to always have Golem, and Bone armor up for this matchup. FOH and smiters, they don’t need a full section of explaining each. Duel a smiter how you would duel a V/T without worrying about FOH. Duel a FOH like a V/T with no smite. Prison if they’re using Enigmas. Spirit spear. Both are very easy classes to kill. Auradin, same thing stomp and spirit spear.
Sorceresses:
a. Fire,
i. Vita Fire sorceresses are not terribly difficult for Necromancers as Hotspurs are GM You don’t need more than SOP vs them though. The thing to avoid is chasing them into a bunch of spam. If they are trying to turn it into a game of you chasing them into their spam. Remember that your spam auto locks onto things. IBS them down. For most however all you will have to resort to is the circle method and stomp. You tank twice as much as they do.
ii. ESFB is a different beast all together. Your main strategy vs them if properly build will be to walk spirit them until their mana breaks and then spear them down. FB is easy to walk. More so than any other attack other than traps. Walk them and spirit them down. 5-6 good spirits should about break the mana and if you’re doing it right you will notice by their life dropping allot more than the previous spirits. That is when you have the opportunity to go in for the kill. You may get up spammed allot if you’re not careful to double stomp them and not blindly chase them. I would almost recommend if they are successful at getting away from you to mana regen that you continue to try and walk spirit them or ibs them down so that you do not die to chasing. But do not under any circumstances attempt to out tank a high ES sorc unless it’s a blizzard sorceress, and still exercise caution there. Break the mana then attack.
b. Lightning,
i. Vita lightning, most players of lightning sorceresses have gotten good at shooting without name locks. What they are masters at is hit and run as they cannot depend on the large differential in damage from one attack to the next. So you will have to have them come close to you with allot of IBS so that they fear being far enough for you to IBS and make it a game of you spearing. A high roll lightning hit can FHR you but if you hit first they are already dead. Play it like nvn but you always have the advantage.
ii. ES Light, you honestly should not be able to beat a well-played well geared es light sorc. Yet if you play it perfectly you can. You have to play it quite similarly to how you beat an ESFB. It’s just twice as hard. Do not think that you can FHR them you cannot unless their mana is broken.
c. Cold,
i. Vita Blizzard, They will try and defense you to the max, they will corner blizz, self blizz and run away. They are fragile so most anyone decent on them is very defensive on it as well. They hit very hard so always keep up your Golem as he is cold immune. You will want to Spirit these ones down if they are staying far away. With the knowledge in mind that they wish to “Corner(C/T*) Blizz” you. (Corner Blizzing is putting the mouse in the top left or top right corners of your screen either with your character screen or your skill screen up and casting blizz as it will cast well beyond the normal parameters of a blizzer. This is also done without the use of C/Ting) Most are more comfortable doing it with the top right part of their screen so ibs the bottom left part of yours. Do not stomp blizz sorcs, they have all developed the thought that self blizzing is equivalent to skill. So do as if you are Vs an Elemental Druid or a Hammer din. Tele close be on screen and spear do not stomp. If the blizzer is good enough to walk your spirits make it a point to prison them. They will no doubt be teleporting out of this. This is the one exception where I will stomp them and spear a couple of times and get out before they can self blizz.
ii. ES Blizz is really the same thing as Vita it just takes more hits to kill them. They also do not FHR as easily as Vita.
Team Pking: Now when you think of a Necro mancer what can he do in a team duel that can most benefit the team? What are his strengths and weaknesses compared to most of the most popular Team PK characters? He has allot of range, is very fast, Can help physical damage literally by 100%, can trap people that are fhr’d so they can’t WSG. In addition they do decent damage. My definition of a necro mancer in a Team PK environment is an enabler and a closer. He enables other people to get kills by providing Amplify damage perhaps his most important job in the entire duel. This enables Barbs, Druids, Amazons, and Hdins with a grief, Smiters, everything that does physical damage to be that much more effective. You provide bone prisons provided its GM to BP said person thus trapping them for a druid to come in and finish a kill. With Mind blast and a bp on an amped opponent with a druid right there they never had a chance. The most important thing is to not waste mana, IBS constantly, keep the other team amped and do not die ever. Run to someone who compliments you. Never 1V1 this is a team duel. Even if you are better than the other person lure them to a druid or better lead them to a Trap sin. Mind blast, bone prison, stomp, spear = dead. Be a smart team player not a selfish one who wants an ace. On necro you will not ace many 4v4’s ever. As a closer your job is to make sure you are the last one to die on your team. You can run away constantly and dish out allot of spears. Spirits are almost pointless unless the person chasing you is a barb or a fellow necromancer. You want to go in with your decent damage at the end of a duel and clean up anyone left around. A huge trick is to make sure you are accompanying the strongest dueler on your team at any given time to assist them in killing and keeping people off of both of you with Amp and IBS spam. If you have a zon you can do the fake run away thing but rally to the zon amp them quickly if they aren’t already and they will get multi sprayed down. Same goes for Druid, sin whatever. Do not try to 1v1 ever unless you are the only one left.
This post was edited by Egardner on Mar 20 2017 09:28am