Necromancy

From Heroes of Might and Magic III
(Redirected from Basic Necromancy)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Secondary skills
Expert Air Magic.png Air Magic
Expert Archery.png Archery
Expert Armorer.png Armorer
Expert Artillery.png Artillery
Expert Ballistics.png Ballistics
Expert Diplomacy.png Diplomacy
Expert Eagle Eye.png Eagle Eye
Expert Earth Magic.png Earth Magic
Expert Estates.png Estates
Expert Fire Magic.png Fire Magic
Expert First Aid.png First Aid
Expert Intelligence.png Intelligence
Expert Interference.png Interference Horn of the Abyss
Expert Leadership.png Leadership
Expert Learning.png Learning
Expert Logistics.png Logistics
Expert Luck.png Luck
Expert Mysticism.png Mysticism
Expert Navigation.png Navigation
Expert Necromancy.png Necromancy
Expert Offense.png Offense
Expert Pathfinding.png Pathfinding
Expert Resistance.png Resistance
Expert Scholar.png Scholar
Expert Scouting.png Scouting
Expert Sorcery.png Sorcery
Expert Tactics.png Tactics
Expert Water Magic.png Water Magic
Expert Wisdom.png Wisdom
Necromancy
Basic Necromancy.png Basic Necromancy: 10% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (5% in HotAHorn of the Abyss.
Advanced Necromancy.png Advanced Necromancy: 20% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (10% in HotAHorn of the Abyss.
Expert Necromancy.png Expert Necromancy: 30% of enemy creatures killed are resurrected (15% in HotAHorn of the Abyss.

Necromancy is a secondary skill that enables the hero to raise killed enemy creatures as Skeletons (or Skeleton Warriors). All Death Knights and Necromancers start with basic Necromancy skill, except Isra the Death Knight and Vidomina the Necromancer, who both start with advanced Necromancy. Other hero classes cannot learn Necromancy, but they can acquire it from Scholars, Pandora's Boxes, Seer's Huts, Events or Witch Huts (unavailable by default).

Bug: AI heroes always raise exactly 1 Skeleton (or Lich), even if it should've raised 100% of the creatures slain. In Horn of the Abyss Horn of the Abyss, this bug was fixed but another bug appeared: AI somehow raises more Skeletons than it should be.

Heroes with Necromancy as a starting skill:

Heroes with Necromancy as a specialty and a starting skill:

Skill-affecting factors:

Additionally, with Cloak of the Undead King, it is possible to raise other undead creatures instead of Skeletons. However, the cloak does not affect the skill percentages.

Horn of the Abyss[edit | edit source]

In Horn of the Abyss, the skill percentages are decreased to 5%, 10% and 15%. Horn of the Abyss

How it works[edit | edit source]

All killed enemy creatures can be raised as skeletons. This includes sacrificed creatures, cloned creatures, summoned elementals and even war machines. If the victorious hero's army has no empty slots available and no Skeletons, but includes Skeleton Warriors, the killed enemy creatures will be raised as Skeleton Warriors, but only 66.6% compared to Skeletons. If there are no available slots and no skeletons (either kind) in the army, none of the killed enemy creatures are raised.

The number of skeletons brought back at the end of the combat depends on three main factors:

  1. Number of creatures in killed stacks
  2. Amount of health of killed stacks
  3. Level of Necromancy skill

First, the total number of raised Skeletons can never exceed the number of creatures slain in combat. Second, the total health of raised Skeletons can never exceed the total health of killed creatures. Third, the level of Necromancy skill used in calculations can never be more than 100%, although it is technically possible for a hero to have Necromancy skill above 100%. These rules in Shadow of Death are applied to every killed stack individually (in Horn of the Abyss Horn of the Abyss the amount of creatures raised is calculated by the overall number of killed creatures), and always rounded towards 1.

The health of the enemy creature killed affects the efficiency that it is revived as per table:

1 hp = 16.6% efficiency
2 hp = 33.3%
3 hp = 50% efficiency
4 hp = 66.6% efficiency
5 hp = 83.3% efficiency
6 hp or higher = 100% efficiency

So a hero with 50% necromancy, who killed 100 creatures with 6 hp or higher, will obtain 50 skeletons, whereas if he were to kill 100 peasants (who have only 1 hp), only 8 skeletons would be obtained. This can be also interpreted as the hero being able to revive only 50 HP total (8 skeletons have 48 HP).

Additionally, with Cloak of the Undead King, the same rules apply to Walking Dead, Wights and Liches. As they have more health, less is raised. And if a hero only has upgraded versions in the army and no free slots, the "two thirds rule" is applied (the health difference between basic and upgraded creatures does not play any role in this case).

Chance to get[edit | edit source]

Out of total 112 for Shadow of Death, and of (112 + Interference chance) for Horn of the Abyss Horn of the Abyss.
Banned skills change the probability.

Town Class Chance to learn
Town portrait Castle small.gif Castle  Knight   0
Town portrait Castle small.gif Castle  Cleric   0
Town portrait Rampart small.gif Rampart  Ranger   0
Town portrait Rampart small.gif Rampart  Druid   0
Town portrait Tower small.gif Tower  Alchemist   0
Town portrait Tower small.gif Tower  Wizard   0
Town portrait Inferno small.gif Inferno  Demoniac   0
Town portrait Inferno small.gif Inferno  Heretic   0
Town portrait Necropolis small.gif Necropolis  Death Knight  10
Town portrait Necropolis small.gif Necropolis  Necromancer  10
Town portrait Dungeon small.gif Dungeon  Overlord   0
Town portrait Dungeon small.gif Dungeon  Warlock   0
Town portrait Stronghold small.gif Stronghold  Barbarian   0
Town portrait Stronghold small.gif Stronghold  Battle Mage   0
Town portrait Fortress small.gif Fortress  Beastmaster   0
Town portrait Fortress small.gif Fortress  Witch   0
Town portrait Conflux small.gif Conflux  Planeswalker   0
Town portrait Conflux small.gif Conflux  Elementalist   0
Town portrait Cove small.gif Cove  Captain   0
Town portrait Cove small.gif Cove  Navigator   0
Town portrait Factory small.gif Factory  Mercenary   0
Town portrait Factory small.gif Factory  Artificer   0


User commentary

[Show user commentary]
[Hide user commentary]
Some may find the information in this section subjective or irrelevant.

Necromancy is the basis of Necropolis faction. By default there cannot be a Necropolis hero without this skill and the chance of upgrading this skill is also very high, so if a very important basic skill like Wisdom or Earth Magic is offered together with improving Necromancy, ignore Necromancy. You will get it sooner or later.

For heroes from other towns, the Necromancy skill is undesirable as Skeletons are weak, slow and will spoil morale.

Necropolis and Necromancy are often considered to be overpowered, and therefore frequently banned in multiplayer games (and tournaments).


See also: