LAZY BONES! - One Bar Necromancer Build

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

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the Necromancer Class was EASY!?…

Stop ‘wondering’ you are in the RIGHT PLACE!!

This build “Lazy Bones” has been carefully designed to consider players of ALL skill levels, from the very beginner to the extreme to allow you to perform flawlessly in ALL PVE content as a SOLID and VIABLE dps/dd option for those that want to play with a ONE BAR and SIMPLE style! Just because you like playing with ONE BAR doesn’t make you a BEGINNER, but it IS “beginner friendly”.

There are thousands of players in the world, MANY of which struggle to maintain high/decent damage (subjective perspective but still we all like to “do the deeps”) INSIDE mechanics, because sometimes it can be overwhelming having too many things to focus on at once. Not to mention of course many people suffer from mobility issues especially when it comes to hands (using keyboards, mice or controllers).

This becomes a problem for some, and a divider amongst players who want to “do the harder stuff” because people find things far too complex of physically difficult to perform in or FEEL like they are restricted if they don’t or can’t play specific builds and/or playstyles that their friends may try to encourage them to play. Fear of “not being good enough” is not really something that HAS to be a thing. There is something for everyone in ESO. It’s about what you personally can play, and preference. There is no best…only what’s best for YOU.

MAYBE you are really good at mechanics but just cannot hit the numbers you want to at the same time? Maybe the build you are using is too complex? Or outside of your physical ability? Don’t worry! Today we FIX that!

With a SOLID set in stone easy to use setup, you now have FAR more time to pay attention to mechanics if they are tricky, slow down the pace of the fight if things are too overwhelming, and ALLOW you to pump out MORE than enough dps for all content at the same time! No button smashing, no complex timers, no 360 no scope required! You can perform just as well as someone with crazy APM output (actions per minute) with less than HALF the effort!

The Necromancer on the surface can be considered one of the most difficult classes to master. Too many cool skills and cannot use them all? A little squashy? Too complex to track corpses and awkward skill timings? Not any more!

I have designed this to consider, application of damage, survival, ease of use, accessibility (all gear on normal difficulty or traded) and of course THEME! It’s no good being an “easy build” if you negate or ignore what the class is all about. That means YES, even though i have given you only 5 skills and a heavy attack, ALL of the above HAVE been considered and you will still be a 100% rotten to the core Necromancer. You raise skeletons, you summon ghosts and you play with dead bodies and souls. It’s ALL there!!

The build is setup in such a way that you realistically have to simply maintain a wall of elements and heavy attack. That’s IT! However, i have also worked in blast bones for a spamable of sorts and  a heal along side some HIGH stacking passives to do the rest of the work for you!

With you only having access to 5 skills and an ultimate, one bar builds can FEEL restricting. But making the right choices changes that dramatically. This build is a prime example of what you should be doing if you want to be successful in harder content with one bar.

The combination of sets and skills allow for constant healing, constant damage and constant high resistances/survival along side one CRUCIAL factor…Infinite sustainability of resources!!

We also benefit massively from the most BASIC mechanics in the game and it boosts your damage output so much just by building for that and taking advantage of it. We are utilizing heavy attacks but also supplying off balance, AND have constant empower!

What does this mean? Off balance has a 7 second up time and 15 second down time per target. During this time your heavy attacks do 70% more damage AND give you back double the resource vs the basic amount you would normally receive. Your heavy attacks also do splash damage for 100% of the damage done, being aoe that also stacks with the 10% increase to aoe (lightning staff passive), pushing your single target and aoe damage through the roof!

While these times are ones to be taken advantage, there is another bonus (empower) that CONSTANTLY gives you 80% increase to all heavy attack damage! So yes that means, ALWAYS doing high dps with your heavies with HUGE bonuses during off balance when it happens. And it will, a LOT.

The sets have been mixed to allow for MORE heavy attack damage along side flat damage bonuses to boost both that and other skills at the same time AND adding heals, defeating the “but i don’t have crit surge” issue most people out side of the Sorcerer class have!

Important Points:

  • Easy to acquire gear with no veteran content or trials required! All base game and/or tradeable!
  • HIGH resistances
  • HIGH health
  • Constant healing
  • Free damage from heavy attacks boosted by a combination of sets, basic mechanics and passives!
  • VERY simple rotation, maintaining two duration skills and a spamable!
  • Capable of ALL content with NO bar swapping required!
  • Less time worrying about complex rotations and more time to LOOK around the room and understand/apply mechanics!

    ENJOY!

Fashion First!

eso, fashion, necromancer,

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

Head: Sapiach Medium Helm
Chest: Fargrave Guardian Light Robe
Shoulders: Ebonheart Pauldrons Heavy
Legs: NO PANTS!!! *whistles*
Hands: Medium Arkthzand Armory Bracers
Belt: Light Fang Lair Sash
Feet: Light Deadlands Gladiator Shoes
Staff: Sea Giant Staff

The colors are black all around.with a hint of purple and bronze/brown. Specific colours are Legates Black, Sergeant’s Charcoal and Overlord’s Purple.

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 are 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?

  • Thaumaturge
  • Biting Aura
  • Deadly Aim
  • Weapon’s Expert
  • 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 or combat in general just quality of life.

  • Boundless Vitality
  • Bloody Renewal
  • Fortified
  • Siphoning Spells

 

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

The Rotation is SO simple you do not have to stress with too many complications at ALL with this build!

Activate Unstable wall of elements, and hold heavy attack! You don’t have to let go of the button. The skills can be fired DURING a heavy attack and they will queue up ready for the fully charged heavy attack to finish. PERFECT timing.

Every 10seconds reapply Unstable wall of elements.

The other part of the rotation on top of that is, activate blast bones while holding heavy attack. When it blows up, press it again. This will line up perfectly with a heavy attack channel for no gaps.

So technically speaking, hold heavy attack, fire blast bones whenever it is NOT greyed out, and maintain an unstable wall once every 10 seconds! Maintain that all day long!

ONE more addition is detonating siphon. This has a massive duration, a whopping 20seconds! So, if there is a body on the ground (Eg. your first blast bones), activate the skill. Throughout your entire time fighting, you will have a corpse every single time you fire a blast bones so always have the fuel required to activate it. If it runs out, apply it, fire and forget until next time!

Recap.

Hold heavy attack, fire blast bones every time it is not greyed out while CONTINUING to hold that heavy attack. Maintain wall every 10seconds, apply detonating sipon when there is a corpse and don’t use again until it runs out.

If you want to know how to START that? Simply fire blast bones, then wall of elements (unstable wall), and apply siphon when it blows up. Then, hold heavy attack and keep firing skeletons! Maintain two skills, easy peasy. Demonstrated more in the video (use the time stamp) enjoy!

Poisons, Potions, & Food

For this build since we have MANY buffs and bonuses that potions already apply we do NOT need expensive potions! You can use trash pots OR if you are feeling a little flush you can use Tri-Pots all day long. NO spell pots, NO weapon pots ever required! Also since we have infinite resources we can take advantage of the flattest strongest bi stat food! Flat magicka flat health all day long with no down sides!

Tri-pots:  
Columbine + Mountain Flower + Bugloss + Lorkans Tears

Food:
Minstral Banana-Bunny  Hash – Small game(1) + Bananas(2) + Seasoning(3)
Melon-Baked Parmesan Pork – White Meat(1) + Melon(2) + Cheese(3)
Solitude Salmon-Millet Soup – Fish(1) + Tomato(2) + Millet(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!

Note you can use a crafted staff on the back bar if you don’t have a Maelstrom weapon,

We are using the Thief mundus stone alongside 64 points into Magicka We are a High Elf but other races are also usable. Dark Elf, Khajiit or Breton are great substitutes.

Gear Sertup

Flip horizontal on mobile device

SlotGear SetWeightTraitEnchantment
HeadBriarheartMediumDivinesMagicka
ShouldersSlimecrawLightDivinesMagicka
ChestSergeant’s MailHeavyDivinesMagicka
WaistBriarheartMediumDivinesMagicka
HandsBriarheartMediumDivinesMagicka
LegsBriarheartMediumDivinesMagicka
FeetBriarheartMediumDivinesMagicka
Ring 1Sergeant’s MailJewelryBloodthirstySpell Damage
Ring 2Oakensoul RingJewelryBloodthirstySpell Damage
NecklaceSergeant’s MailJewelryBloodthirstySpell Damage
Weapon 1Sergeant’s MailLightning StaffPreciseShock/ Weap+Spell dmg

NOTE: YOU are the one bringing Off Balance to the group, meaning you should utilize the shock glyph and wall of elements in order to MAINTAIN this due to it’s high status chance and control, both pushing your heavy attack damage and resource gain for YOU and the group.

However, if someone else already can guarantee full control of this in your group, you can change your glyph to weapon and spell damage. This WILL give you more damage but ONLY in this situations. This is very important to note, if you have no off balance you WILL get less dps.

Don’t be fooled by dummy numbers, the dummy already has it! The build is designed  for CONTENT!

Enjoy and don’t forget to share and/or hit that YouTube sub button!

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