My character is a pure mage with a focus in conjuration and destruction. I wanted to build him basically as a necromancer, same as I did with my first Oblivion char. However, it seems like there's no real advantage to the necromancy series of spells over the atronachs. The atronachs last just as long, are almost always tougher than whatever I'm killing, and with necromancy you have the annoying side effect that sometimes your raised minions don't pick up their weapon when they come back, leaving them unarmed for combat or scrambling for a weapon on the ground when a fight starts. There is the perk that gives them an extra 100 hp, which seems significant, but atronachs have their own perk that boosts "strength" (I'm guessing it means damage output?). What do you guys think... is there a place for necromancy besides just RP? I ended up investing in perks for both, but I use atronachs almost exclusively now, so I feel like I wasted some points.

bump

You could be right. As of right now due to the fact that reanimated corpses dont always use their weapons you run the chance your new zombie wont be as affective, except maybe as a distraction. Atronachs will always be effective, dont need a body to bring then into play and come in different flavors.

Now you got me questioning my Barbarian/Necromancer....[censored]

Necromancy is SOOOO fawkin cool in this game.

Good job with Conjuration Bethesda.

Well done.

I am having the same issues. Necromancy just does not seem to be all that effective in combat because I have to find a body, cast a targeted spell, all while the rest of the enemies are pummeling me, and then I get to have my undead minion.

If the spell was not targeted, but allowed you to raise an undead within a certain proximity, then it would be better, or if you could summon incorporeal undead like ghosts and wraiths rather than relying on using bodies, that would make it easier.

It might not be as effective, but it still has the "cool" factor of killing a guy, then raising him up to fight his former friends. Have to imagine that's going to have an effect on the enemies' morale.

One of the nice things about necromancy is that you can summon semi-powerful mages who may also be able to conjure. Plus, you can just use them as fodder if you don't think it would be wasting time compared to just going in with atronarchs. Until a patch goes in for zombies to pick up the nearest weapon, its pretty much up to the player. Honestly, Necromancy is a tiny bit more fun because of how creative you get to be. Atronarchs and Dremora Lords= Reliable; Necromancy=Semi-reliable and more fun

It's really up to personal preference. And I believe that potency perk for atronarchs is only strength, but I could be wrong.

The worst thing about necromancy in this game imo is the incredible bad AI. Most of the time my pets just stand behind a wall or get stuck on a bucket on the floor. But the moment I've killed the enemies, they suddenly remember how to walk past an obstacle... lazy bastards!

Small hint: if you reach about 90+ in Conjuration, you can get spells that summon Atronachs and reanimate dead bodies permanently, allowing you to keep your personal zombie army forever. Some guy in Winterhold sells them.

How many reanimations and/or Atronachs can you have summons/reanimated at once? Is 2 the max? Like can I have a Storm Atronach and a Reanimated Mage fighting for me at same time? etc etc

With the Perk you can have two total.. so like 2 zombies or two Storm Atronach, or one of each.

Actually brings up a questions, do Dremora Lords benefit from Atronach perks?

No. Dremora Lords are godawefully powerful without any buffs. I'd say the perk is needed to raise Atronachs up to their bar, outside of the Dremora's lack of ranged combat.

Necromancer is great early, peters off later, and then becomes awesome again at Master. Why? Because you have to find good bodies to raise. This is easy early on, when you have a choice between the average random foe and a familiar. Once you start getting better and better Daedra, then you'll rarely come across an enemy you'll want to raise that'll be equal to, say, a Daedra Lord. I have found some examples of this, however, it is very situational.

Once you get Dead Thrall, though, then things are once again Awesome for the Necromancer. What's better than a powerful NPC raised to your service? One that lasts forever.

There is something else worth trying that I'm probably going to shoot for now that I'm a Conjuration Master -- increasing Smithing and Enchanting. You can load a body's inventory and then raise them, which they'll use to switch out weapons and the like. Finding an awesome body and then loading it up with the best gear you can find seems like an interesting experiment in making a powerful minion.

I can't really speak to what is more effective yet but Necromancy is 100x cooler.

When I finally get dead thrall and the twin souls perk I'll be making all of my most worthy human enemies into eternal slaves.

I hate that gitch, I feel really stupid when my minion has no weapon.

Necromancy is nice early in the game, but in the long run I prefer the Daedra. Necromancy while cool. can only be used if there's a dead body lying around, and even then when you resurrect them it doesn't last forever(unless you get the undead thrall spell). Plus in the heat of battle its a lot easier to summon a Daedra than raise the dead.

I prefer the other summons because I can rely on them a lot more than zombies. Plus having a giant elemental golem, or a Dremora Lord at my beck, and call is just too good for me to pass up.

Though summoning Zombies does have that "fun" factor going for it.

from my experience summoning is clearly better but at the end of the day raising deadd is cool and still effective just not as good as summoning . I cant wait till i can have one of each , then i shaLL RULE THE WORLD!

Atronachs are definitely better as well as more convenient.

Do you know that for sure, about the DL? I would think that they would be affected as well. How can you tell, without testing or having the Creator?

As far as minions, I can't get them to equip anything, other than their given equipment. If I loot their body, and replace it with the same or different equipment, they don't equip it. I also have problems with them just disappearing. One minute they are right behind me, then they are gone. My active menu will show as many as three at a time. Yet none to be found.