Harvester - Stamina Necromancer PVE Build

Written guide updated for updated for The Scribes of Fate DLC: Q1 2023

Older video but still relevant.

The Elder Scrolls Online Stamina Necromancer build! Wait…What do we call this? Stamcro? Stam Necro? Stamancer? Stamromancer?! Pick your poison, I’m sticking with Stam Necro, regardless of the term used to describe it, this class is INSANE! 

This stamina Necromancer build is built for HIGH DPS and MASSIVE ultimate gain! The point of the ultimate gain is of course to be able to use ultimates as much as possible but with a much higher group beneficial purpose!

The Necromancer is equipped with a buff EXCLUSIVE to this class only! The colossus ultimate, has a built-in Major Vulnerability which increases all damage done to the targets affected by 30%! While this is a short-duration buff it is the ONLY one of its kind in the game. So to fully utilize this you need either multiple necromancers staggering this ability OR high ultimate regen for more uptime…OR BOTH!

As a Necromancer, you DO have pets and you CAN raise the dead but the Necromancer is very different in comparison to the many you may have seen in other games. The pets that are controlled by the Necromancer instead of being lifelong companions/minions, are in fact “fire and forget” burst damage and time periods of power!

Unlike the sorcerer you do NOT need to double bar your pets or else they will die, they are fired, they do their stuff and then they are gone. Ready for you to fire off a NEW one constantly summoning more and more disposable pets as you go.

The BIG bonus to these pets and types of spells/skills is that the Necromancer ALSO can utilize corpses! Much like the Templar can consume corpses for the sake of stamina return and heals, The Necromancer (depending on skill choice) can heal, regain stamina, magicka, and even ULTIMATE! Yes, you can actually CONSUME ultimate with the Necrotic Potency skill, from dead bodies…And here is the crunch…
Those skeletons, minions, and skills you fire and forget, actually lay down corpses once they are dead! WHICH by the way, YOU can CONSUME with Necrotic Potency!
So, not only can you consume enemy corpses, but also FRIENDLY ones as well! 

If you are new to the Necromancer you can of course spam abilities, look awesome, and have lots and lots of fun. BUT if you are advanced enough, or understand enough of the class to have very good situational awareness and understanding of their passives and skills, you can become VERY powerful indeed!
To be a good Necromancer you need to know what is going on around you, time your attacks, strategically place skills to benefit you, and always keep an eye on those dead bodies.

This can be somewhat of a selfish class, and let’s face it, a Necromancer SHOULD be since it utilizes sacrificial type abilities for personal gain, BUT at the same time, if used well can be extremely beneficial to any group! Their power is incredible if wielded correctly.

This build overall has high damage as initially stated, but it also has very good survival. The orc passive for healing from weapon abilities is already a nice touch, our Necrotic Potency ability also heals us for consuming corpses as well as gaining ultimate…And utilizing Briarheart actually means that while devastating the enemy with constant damage, you can constantly HEAL when you critically strike. Being that one of our main passives is actually a crit chance INCREASE, our damage AND survival actually goes UP when targets are low health due to the sheer amount of crit output!

One more major bonus to the Stamina Necromancer specifically is its damage TYPE! It has a mixture of poison and disease meaning poison status effects(single target 6-second damage over time effect) and disease status effects (minor defile reducing healing received and health recovery by 15%) are both VERY active, so you can cripple the enemy with high uptime of both. And above all as far as the damage TYPE is concerned is, this class is a jack of ALL trades!

Instead of being a heavy single target, or heavy DOT, or heavy direct damage, it actually has a balanced combination of all 3! We have GREAT damage over time, huge direct damage, and a LOT more aoe potential in our class abilities than any other stamina setup utilizing class skills.
Also, the way that abilities can work in tandem with other abilities of the Necromancer, make this feel much more like a “class” rather than a character using “weapon skills”. We still have a couple of weapon skills for sure, BUT we can and DO use a LOT of class abilities on this setup making it feel VERY unique!

Most stamina struggle with an area of effect damage but this does NOT.  For once a stamina class setup can borderline MATCH the potential of some Magicka setups while NOT sacrificing a single target to do so!

One more thing to note for our survival…we have 1250 extra health JUST for being a Necromancer in our passives! How awesome! This means recovery food does not make us “ultrasquish” like many other classes!

Key bonuses to the setup

  • High damage output in both single target AND AOE!

  • Fire and forget abilities/pets which do NOT require double baring of the same skills (unlike the sorcerer)

  • Incredible ultimate gain from our Necrotic Potency IF used correctly!

  • Major Vulnerability (30% damage done increase to target for EVERYONE) from our Colossus Ultimate

  • At execute range we have a passive which greatly improves our critical chance!

  • Just for critical hitting, we can HEAL from our set (Briarheart) so we potentially have a built-in “crit surge” (sorcerer ability)

  • High use of class skills, making it feel like a totally unique setup/class/playstyle

  • High health bonus!

  • The more you understand about the class, the more powerful you are if you have the ability to take advantage of the situation at the time, ESPECIALLY if there are many many BODIES!

Fashion first!

necro,stamcro,stamina necromancer

As demonstrated in the video, our fabulous setup and dress choice for this character is as follows:

Head: Light Akavai
Chest: Heavy Scalecaller
Shoulders: Heavy Dragonguard
Legs: Heavy Meridian
Hands: Light Apostle
Belt: Light Tsaisci
Feet: Medium Apostle
Front bar: Bouyant Armiger Daggers
Back Bar: Bouyant Armiger Bow

The two colors we are using are Legate Black and Hollowfang Cruor

Skills

Champion Points 2.0

The NEW Champion Points 2.0 introduced in the Q1 2021 DLC: Flames Of Ambition is quite possibly the BIGGEST change/addition to The Elder Scrolls Online since One Tamriel! And these were further altered in the Blackwood Chapter, giving us a lower base for capping out some of the essentials and also adding some more slotables!

Before it was a case of “I have limited points as a CP, so HOW should I spend them”? Now that is NOT the case as SUCH! Now, it is a case of, buy ALL the things, but which SLOTABLES should you take?

Everything before was a passive bonus with huge diminished returns, awkward calculations, and was messy to all players for the most part. The new system underlines NO diminished returns, no majorly confusing passives, and the ability to buy EVERY single passive available for tanking, DPS, and healing on the SAME character with enough points to spare for buying slotables. Being able to slot 4x special slotables from each tree when there is an abundance of them means you are only limited by your CHOICES, not by your CP.

Buy all the passives, CHOOSE which slotables to take vs the situation, and the rest of the points are spare. Or are they? Well here is the crunch…Once you go over 1800ish (depending on slotable choices, some are more expensive in the Craft tree) you basically have every single passive available PLUS 4 slotables per tree…

If you JUST wanted to focus on combat alone (all red and blue passives and 4 slotables for each one) you only actually need around 1600cp to be completely maxed in those areas. And if you wanted to go FULL glass cannon, only really focusing on one damage type you can achieve your max potential for that as low as 900 or so! You won’t have any resistances or healing bonuses from the Warfare (blue) tree doing this, but you can at least cap out the hard-hitting stuff, right? And this is considering slotables too so there is no harm in actually deliberately specing for a couple of damage resistance slotables instead even at THIS stage.

For tanking it is even easier! Push for your slotables and stack your resistance passives and it is game over! The rest are just a bonus!

So what’s next? Well, if you have higher champion points you can buy more slotables and switch stuff per situation as and when needed. If you don’t, then if you want to swap it will cost you gold for respecing. So in a nutshell, 1650-1800 (depending on build) is you’re pretty much done! Anything else is convenient due to not needing to spend gold swapping things you already have access to! How cool is that?

SLOTABLES!

No matter what, THESE are the most important parts of the Champion Points 2.0 system. So this is your main FIRST goal when pushing for the build. You need to slot these even if they are not max level. However, there are swap-outs for situations as explained in the video.

BLUE (Warfare) are important for resistance, heals, and damage. Red (Fitness) are important for resources, health, and Crowd Control counters. Green (Craft) are literally quality of life! (aka your choice so not THAT important for combat).

It doesn’t matter what level you are at anymore, you can play ALL content regardless of your champion points level because during Flames of Ambition all players/characters had their base stats improved to make everyone somewhat more balanced at lower levels.

However, as mentioned above, the slotables are your main goal. Unlock the prerequisite passives to unlock access to your slotables if there are any…fill them up, and then just grab the remaining passives as you go.

300, 600, 900 champion points are not really important as checkpoints anymore for optimization. Just fill as you go, because ALL characters can have ALL passives with NO negative effects unlike before!

What should I aim for with this build?

  • Master At Arms
  • Fighting Finesse
  • Deadly Aim
  • Backstabber

Instead of Backstabber If you cannot get behind the enemy (example: Dragon in Sunspire), then Thaumaturge should replace it in those situations.

If you find you are in multiple large pull situations with many adds while using Whirling Blades, you should swap to Biting Aura.

  • Rationer
  • Liquid Efficiency
  • Treasure Hunter
  • Steed’s Blessing

These really are up to you but these are most useful IN content for loot and movement if not in combat.

What you do with this tree is NOT make or break for mechanics nor combat in general just quality of life.

Some people like to steal, craft, use less potions, whatever, it’s your choice.

  • Boundless Vitality
  • Rejuvenation
  • Fortified
  • Bloody Renewal

These are designed to increase your health/armor and at the same time manage your resources.

High recovery and return for being active in combat and GETTING kills really helps you in content.

So a good balance of flat, contributing slotables are helpful as a DPS build.

The video below explains how the changes work in more detail. Of course, over time, additions will be and have already been made to the system but the main BASE of it is the same.

Rotation

Front bar: Light Attack, Blastbones, Light Attack, Deadly Cloak, Light Attack, Venom Skull, Light Attack, Blastbones, Light Attack, Siphon, Light Attack, Venom Skull, Light Attack, Blastbones, Light Attack, Barbed Trap, weapon swap 

Back Bar: Light Attack, Endless Hail, Light Attack, Poison Injection, Light Attack, Skeletal Archer, Light Attack, Soul Trap, weapon swap.

Use Necrotic Potency as and when you feel like scooping up bodies, if you have it slotted. Apart from that, the rotation never changes. ENJOY!

Poisons, Potions, & Food

Potions really are up to you but they DO offer a crit chance bonus AND a 20% increase to your weapon damage and recovery while giving a burst of stamina back at the same time.

Food is very simple, the highest level food you can consume with 2 stats only, MAX health and MAX stamina. There are 3 variations of recipes but all are the same in the stats they give so your choice which one you use.

Poison:  
Alkahest + Nirnroot + Nightshade + Fleshfly Larvae

Weapon Power Potions:
Dragonthorn + Blessed Thistle + Wormwood + Lorkhan’s Tears

Food 
Recovery Food:
Artaeum Takeaway Broth – fish(20) + Torchbug Thorax(5) + Powdered Mother Of Pearl (5)
Dubious Camoran Throne – White meat(1) + Beetle Scuttle(1) + Insect Parts(1) + Guts(1)

Flat food:
Sticky Pork And Radish Noodles – White Meat(1) + Radish(2) + Flour(3)
Garlic Cod with Potato Crust – Fish(1) + Potato(2) + Garlic(3)
Braised Rabbit with Spring Vegetables – Small Game(1) + Greens(2) + Seasoning(3)

If you would like to make your own potions, I now have a fully functioning potion maker on the website. Here you can TEST any combination of potion or poison you like and check the outcome without having to know the combinations in-game! Check here for the App, working on Android and IOS – Potion Maker

Gear Setup

Below is a chart showing the overall gear set-up, noting the optimal set requirements in terms of weight, enchants, and of course, traits!

We are using the Thief Mundus stone. We have 64 Attribute points are into stamina!

We are an Orc but other races are also usable. Redguard, Wood Elf, or Imperial are good substitutes, also some people like the Khajiit.

Flip horizontal on mobile device

Optimal Setup

SlotGear SetWeightTraitEnchantment
HeadAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
ShouldersAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
ChestArms Of Relequen / Aegis Caller / Roar Of AlkoshMediumDivinesStamina
WaistArms Of Relequen / Aegis Caller / Roar Of AlkoshMediumDivinesStamina
HandsArms Of Relequen / Aegis Caller / Roar Of AlkoshMediumDivinesStamina
LegsArms Of Relequen / Aegis Caller / Roar Of AlkoshMediumDivinesStamina
FeetArms Of Relequen / Aegis Caller / Roar Of AlkoshMediumDivinesStamina
Ring 1Azureblight ReaperJewelryBloodthirstyWeapon Damage
Ring 2Azureblight ReaperJewelryBloodthirstyWeapon Damage
NecklaceAzureblight ReaperJewelryBloodthirstyWeapon Damage
Weapon 1Black Rose Dual WieldAxeNirnhonedPoisons
Weapon 2Black Rose Dual WieldDaggerSharpenedPoisons
Weapon 3MaelstromBowInfusedWeapon / Spell Dmg

Alternate Setup

Flip horizontal on mobile device

SlotGear SetWeightTraitEnchantment
HeadStormfist / VeildrethHeavyDivinesHealth
ShouldersStormfist / VeildrethLightDivinesStamina
ChestAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
WaistAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
HandsAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
LegsAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
FeetAzureblight ReaperMediumDivinesStamina
Ring 1BriarheartJewelryInfusedWeapon Damage
Ring 2BriarheartJewelryInfusedWeapon Damage
NecklaceBriarheartJewelryBloodthirstyWeapon Damage
Weapon 1Briarheart1 Handed / AxeNirnhonedPoisons
Weapon 2Briarheart1 Handed / DaggerSharpenedPoisons
Weapon 3Master’sBowInfusedWeapon / Spell Dmg

While daggers are more crit change and axes are more crit damage, so it makes sense to only have axes if your crit is HIGH (and ours is so so) when it gets to execute, our crit CHANCE goes up dramatically, so that is when the axe starts to kick in.

Necromancer passives, bloodthirsty, and crit damage all at the same time at low health does actually make a substantial difference on the build. BUT if you prefer you can stick with two daggers instead. Your choice!

Gear Locations

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