Loop Hero class guide: Necromancer

Playing Loop Hero as a warrior or rogue is fun and all, but going on a loop crusade with an army of undead minions by your side is way cooler. Here’s everything you need to know about the stats, equipment, and traits of Loop Hero’s third playable class: the necromancer.

Necromancer stats and abilities

The two previous Loop Hero classes were vastly different from each other, and the necromancer continues that tradition. He’s not much of a fighter himself, but he has the unique ability to summon skeleton minions to do the fighting for him. You can play as a necromancer once you build the crypt in your base camp.

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

The first important necromancer stat is his maximum number of skeletons. While starting out with only two, you will soon be able to upgrade this with your equipment or traits. See a ring with a +1 skeleton stat in your inventory? Equip it right away.

Then there is the summon quality and skeleton level. The first will determine the type of skeleton you summon (more on that later), and the second will determine their strength. An equally important necromancer stat is the attack speed. You may not have realized this, but attack speed increases the speed of your summoning (the rate of new skeletons spawning on the battlefield — up to your necromancer’s max number of skeletons) rather than their actual attack speed. Upgrade this with new equipment to always have a fresh supply of skeletons at your side.

Necromancer equipment

Time to take a look at the necromancer’s equipment slots. This magical hero fights with a grimoire instead of normal weapons. The grimoire has a major influence on the summoned skeletons’ levels. On top of that, he can wear two rings and an amulet. The amulet is the most important defensive gear, as it determines your hero’s magic HP.

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

Although the necromancer’s focus is on his skeletons, don’t forget about the magic HP, which grants the necromancer an additional HP bar on top of the physical one. You might need to choose high magic HP over good secondary stats from time to time. After all, you can make the strongest skeletons ever seen in Loop Hero, but it won’t matter if your necromancer dies.

Necromancer summon quality and skeleton types

Perhaps the most complicated necromancer stat is the summon quality. Every time a skeleton is summoned to the battlefield, it has a certain chance of being one of the five skeleton subtypes. The higher your skeleton quality stat, the greater the chance you will summon a higher tier skeleton.

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

The first skeleton type is the friendly skeleton, a well-balanced but weak fighter. Your first summons will likely all be friendly skeletons. Once you start upgrading the summon quality, you will increasingly get skeleton warriors and skeleton guards. The skeleton warrior has low base health but a higher attack power and speed compared to the friendly skeleton. The skeleton guard has a lower damage output, but his HP and defense are very high. On top of that, opponents aim their attacks at the guard as soon as he enters the battlefield.

Finally, you will be able to summon the skeleton archer and skeleton mage. The archer can only spawn if there are at least four melee skeletons on the battlefield. Both types do great damage and cannot be directly attacked by your enemies.

Necromancer deck build

The best way to quickly build a high summoning speed is by placing forests (+1% attack speed) and thickets (+2% attack speed). Combine these with river cards, which will double the speed effects.

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

Desert and sand dune cards can also be a great choice for the necromancer class, as they decrease your enemies’ HP. Although the description reads “decreases all creature HP,” your skeletons aren’t affected. On top of that, the necromancer himself has his magic HP which isn’t affected either.

The best necromancer traits

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

These are some of the best necromancer traits:

• Field Practice. This trait provides an amazing boost as it gives your skeletons +0.25 level every time you return to the campfire tile.
• Laying Down One’s Life. Damage dealt to the necromancer will be evenly split between him and the skeletons. This can be a true lifesaver as your necromancer is quite weak, especially in early game.
• Edge of Impossible. You get a 20% chance to exceed your maximum number of skeletons by two during your last summon. This is great for endgame necromancers who already upgraded their max number of skeletons stat.

Summon quality or skeleton Level?

For all his scary summoning powers, our necromancer is still a bit of a weakling. In early loops, you can give your survival chances a nice boost by investing in equipment with summon quality as a secondary stat. This increases your chances of getting a skeleton guard early on, which will deflect damage from your necromancer.

Image: Four Quarters/Devolver Digital via Polygon

In mid- to end-loop though, it’s mostly up to you. Do you want to focus on numbers? Then you can raise a big skeleton army based on summoning speed, which will overpower your enemies even if the skeletons aren’t that strong. If you’re more interested in raising a few more powerful minions, max out on skeleton level instead.

Enjoy being the new overlord of the undead!