Necromancer

The Apprentice Necromancer / Necromancer / Necromancer Lord is an Unholy/Eldritch Boss that appears in the Ruins.

Ancestor's Memoirs: The Necromancer
"Mastery over life and death was chief among my early pursuits. I began in humility, but my ambition was limitless. Who could have divined the prophetic import of something as unremarkable... as a twitch in the leg of a dead rat?

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I entertained a delegation of experts from overseas, eager to plumb the depths of their knowledge and share with them certain techniques and alchemical processes I had found to yield wondrous and terrifying results. Having learned all I could from my visiting guests, I murdered them as they slept.

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I brought my colleagues back with much of their intellect intact - a remarkable triumph for even the most experienced necromancer. Freed from the trappings of their humanity, they plied their terrible trade anew: the dead reviving the dead, on and on, down the years. Forever.

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- The Ancestor.

History
As one of his earliest pursuits for forbidden knowledge, the Ancestor began to conduct experiments which would grant him mastery over life and death. His experiments started out small and humble, but his ambition and his experiments grew so large that he realized he would need aid. So he invited several scholars to study with him, only to murder them in their sleep after he'd learned all their secrets. To show off his newfound powers, he had them brought back through necromancy with much of their intellect intact, but with none of their humanity left, they have transcended beyond life and death, and become undead immortals.

After the Ancestor's ascension, the Necromancer and his Apprentices took over the Ruins, using their magic to bring the corpses buried deep beneath the ground and the fresh supply from the Hamlet back to life as their servants, and continuing their unholy experiments with necromancy. Without any spark of humanity or humility, the Necromancers stopped questioning if what they were doing was right, and their experiments became ever darker and more twisted over time.

By the time the Heir arrives at the Estate, the Ruins are completely overrun by the Undead, and the Necromancer and his Apprentices have mastered their dark arts. With their experiments, they have not only transcended life and death, but they have become something beyond human understanding. They stripped away what remained of their former human selves and became creatures of pure evil; towering, fierce, terrible, nightmare made material. They have perverted of the natural cycles of life, death, decay and renewal within the Ruins and replaced it with their own twisted version, an endless cycle of desecration and reanimation of the dead, where life is death and the dead are alive. It only matter of time before they are planning to spread this unnatural cycle of unlife and undeath to the Estate and the rest of the world.

While these devils have unholy hatred for all that lives, they seem to have an unusual amount of tolerance towards the Cultists and their blind and deranged leader that have taken over parts of the Ruins, and turned them into temples for the Old Gods. Why would the undead skeletons kill anyone whose heart still beats and yet work alongside cultists without question? Is it because the Necromancers and Cultists have some kind of secret pact... or is it perhaps that the Necromancers’ dark arts and the Cultists’ blasphemous religion have more in common than we know?

The only way to end this cycle of death and unlife is to slay the evil puppet masters that are behind this horde of undying abominations, so that the dead can stay dead.

Behavior
The Necromancer starts in rank 1. Each time he uses an attack he creates a Skeleton in rank 1, steadily pushing himself back until he is in rank 4. His attack does not have to hit a hero in order to trigger this ability - therefore the only way to stop him summoning a minion in a turn is either to stun him, or for there to be 3 of them existing already.

Unlike most unholy creatures, the Necromancer has low resistance to Bleed, which possibly ties in with the fact that he is part eldritch. For a boss, he is also quite susceptible to being moved about. Exploiting these attributes could be very crucial in taking The Necromancer down with minimal hero casualties.

Trophy
After completing the Necromancer's champion quest, he will drop his collar as a Trophy.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* The Summon Skeletons ability has the chances of summoning the following and will occur regardless if the abilities land or not:

Strategy
The most recommended way to deal with this boss is by having a character take care of the skeleton as he spawns them, while having the other characters focus on stacking bleed/blight on the Necromancer. In terms of priority, sword and shield skeletons must be felled to mitigate damage coming from the adds. You may safely ignore any of the club-wielding skeletons the Necromancer summons (i.e. Bone Rabble, Bone Conscript, and Bone Militia) because of their relatively low damage and lackluster utility.

The Crusader is particularly good at defeating the skeleton adds, as he deals increased damage to Unholy. As long as you don't let him move out of your hit range, the battle should have no other issue than stress, as his attacks aren't particularly devastating. Alternatively, instead of bleeds and blights, one could position 2 crusaders with the Holy lance ability in either the 2nd and 3rd or the 3rd and 4th ranks to use a strategy similar to the Gatling gun combination that use the highwayman's point blank shot to position the other highwayman and deal damage.

The Hound Master can cause bleed and attack any rank, so he is highly advisable.

The Hellion as well can cause bleed, and attack all positions. Her Iron Swan ability is useful for constantly dealing damage to the Necromancer when it is at the very back.

A Plague Doctor could also be a useful Hero for her blight abilities since many of the mobs in the Ruins are immune to bleed effects and since the Necromancer's resistance to bleed and blight are identical. A Plague Doctor can also be useful through her Disorienting Blast ability which can stun the Necromancer if not on the 1st rank, and shuffle its position to the front where frontline fighters like the Leper or the Crusader can hit him.

Heroes such as the Occultist or Bounty Hunter can constantly pull him to the front and put him in range of your heavy-hitting frontline fighters, though they will need trinkets to assist in this at higher difficulties.

This fight becomes much harder on higher difficulty levels, as the Necromancer starts to spawn armored enemies and on the highest difficulty all enemies spawn in with Stealth as well.

Upon killing the Necromancer, the quest will be completed and the battle will finish. As of the Color Of Madness patch, all of the Necromancer's summoned minions are life-linked to him and will expire when he does.

Barks
Every base game hero (and Musketeer) has a unique bark as a reaction on each of Necromancer's attacks. DLC heroes - Flagellant and Shieldbreaker - don't have unique reactions and can use only generic barks. Some heroes share their unique and generic barks.

The Flesh Is Willing =

Generic

 * ...unearthly cold!
 * What can one do against such reckless hate?

Abomination

 * My mind's pillars crumble beneath the weight of my fate!

Antiquarian

 * I feel his evil pouring forth from the censer!

Arbalest

 * My heart burns with regret!

Bounty Hunter

 * Unearthly cold!

Crusader

 * It wields evil like fire!

Grave Robber

 * Agh! How dare you touch me!

Hellion

 * It grasps at my soul!

Highwayman

 * Reanimated bones...how can such a thing exist!?

Houndmaster

 * We are alone in our empty pursuit of justice!

Jester

 * It reflects our hatred back at us!

Leper

 * I can hear its soul! Screaming out in pain!

Man-at-Arms

 * Its evil nature defies my tactics!

Occultist

 * It conjures a fell energy!

Plague Doctor

 * Aah! It raises blisters with a touch!

Vestal

 * (gasp) It steals my breath!

Musketeer
The Crawling Dead =
 * There is no courage inside me! None!

Generic

 * Anchor me, friends! Don't let them pull me down!
 * Fiends from the Pit, you shall not have me!

Abomination

 * For all of my other's sins, I am beyond forgiveness!

Antiquarian

 * I am still corrupted by the will of my long-dead master!

Arbalest

 * All of my regrets! My misdeeds!

Bounty Hunter

 * Brace yourselves! Stand your ground!

Crusader

 * Fiends from the Pit, you shall not have me!

Grave Robber

 * Anchor me, friends! Don't let them pull me down!

Hellion

 * It has enslaved the spirits of dead warriors!

Highwayman

 * Gods! The earth crawls with these bastards!

Houndmaster

 * No comrade would see to our backs!

Jester

 * You think you know evil. And then...

Leper

 * Helpless souls! It binds them to its will!

Man-at-Arms

 * I can hear the screams of my brothers!

Occultist

 * These black arts... Fascinating and terrifying...

Plague Doctor

 * Even putting bones in the ground is no defense!

Vestal

 * Fiends from the Pit, you shall not have me!

Musketeer
Six Feet Under =
 * It is a mirror showing me my infinite flaws!

Generic

 * I see my doom!
 * Must it all end in such blackness?!

Abomination

 * I fear I am merely a figment of its unholy imagination!

Antiquarian

 * I killed him... please let him stay dead!

Arbalest

 * Why did I run away?!

Bounty Hunter

 * Grim visions... But they are mere tricks.

Crusader

 * I see... I see an old man, alone on his death bed!

Grave Robber

 * One tomb too far... My final resting place?

Hellion

 * It speaks of my death. And I am unafraid!

Highwayman

 * I... I see my death! Stabbed in the back by an ally!

Houndmaster

 * This world is for the cold and hard, not the idealist!

Jester

 * It shows me my death! Pain... such horrible pain!

Leper

 * It whispers of my death. But I know it well.

Man-at-Arms

 * Is it to be my death? At long last?

Occultist

 * What is this vision? Torn apart from the inside??!

Plague Doctor

 * It whispers my doom. We are all but dust.

Vestal

 * Must it all end in such blackness?!

Musketeer

 * Why did I feel I had to prove myself to the club?!

'''All Areas

 * Bone Rabble

'''Ruins

 * Bone Soldier
 * Bone Courtier
 * Bone Arbalist
 * Bone Defender
 * Bone Captain
 * Bone Spearman
 * Bone Bearer