Grim Dawn will add a Necromancer class in its upcoming expansion, Crate Entertainment announced today. Seems like every ARPG game wants a necromancer now. Let’s see what Grim Dawn’s version will offer.
The story behind the character is contrasting to that of the other class to make its debut, the Inquisitor.
The Archovian Oligarchs who ruled the land, wanted someone to take the blame, as a distraction for their failed empire, and the Necromancers hated by the people, were chosen for this. Banished to the Steps of Torment, they suffered fatally, except for Uroboruuk who could not be killed. The Oligarchs in their greed for power, extracted his secrets, and with the spell as a distraction, the shrewd Necromancer escaped. The Arkovians who were delighted with their immortality, discovered that they were cursed, and could not heal their wounds, or die. They became the undead, trapped between life and death, and went mad. Uroboruuk’s revenge was a terrible one. The Necromancer resurfaced after centuries Uroboruuk and swore to restore necromancy to its former glory, and this is how the Order of Death’s Vigil was born. As a result, Necromancers cannot join Kymon’s Chosen during the storyline.
Grim Dawn Necromancer Skills:
While the Necromancers will rely on Aether and Vitality magic, they will also use Cold and Poison damage, in addition to weaving magic into ranged and melee weapons as well. Similar to Diablo 3’s leech, Grim Dawn’s Necromancer will use Drain Essence, to drain health from enemies to heal himself. The hero will be able to reanimate skeleal remains, i.e., fallen foes, to raise skeletons. But these minions will only stand for a while, (time-limited), after which you will need to summon new ones. Grim Dawn’s necromancer will allow you to raise three skeletons, and there is a chance of more powerful minions to emerge at higher ranks (of the skill). This can be warriors, archers, mages and revenants. While this does sound like random spawns, we certainly hope these are individual skills, which are part of the skill tree. 3 skeletons sounds a bit low (compared to Diablo II’s Necromancer) but the number of summons can be modded with masteries (and possibly items). These will also allow the undead minions to be more powerful, and at fully trained levels, will reset the cooldown (of the skill), when you slay a foe.
The Necromancer’s Cold damage may come in the form of Necrotic Edge, a spell which is described as “striking with the chill of the grave”, which will kill the foe, and will cause even the most resolute foes to falter, when they see the spell in effect. That possibly means it will freeze nearby enemies, but the follow up to that says that this is a weapon skill with strikes with chilling fear, and does an area of effect damage by cleaving additional foes, when used with melee weapons.
You can conjure wraiths from enemy souls too, and also attack with disease and rot (Poison nova?). The class combination names will be as follows: Apostate, Cabalist, Death Knight, Defiler, Reaper, Ritualist and Spellbinder.
Let’s be honest here, this Necromancer class sounds very similar to what Diablo III has had in the works since last year. So it is a little hard to believe that Crate just had a “similar idea”. Titan Quest, (the game engine and mechanics on which Grim Dawn was built), was a blatant rip-off of Diablo II, and it seems somebody is still up to the same tricks.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing Grim Dawn, I really like the game, and have a good 75 hours on Grim Dawn, and 147 hours on Titan Quest Anniversary Edition (had more on the original), and I play both games every week. I also have Torchlight 1 and 2, along with Diablo 3 on my PC. As a serious ARPG gamer, I can't help but think about the timing behind Crate’s announcement, and the character class. It does seem like they want to counter Diablo 3’s upcoming expansion. In Grim Dawn’s defense, the expansion adds 2 classes, while Diablo III’s adds one..
Good news for me though, as I will play the character on both GD and D3. Which one would be the better one is something we have to wait and see.
Grim Dawn’s Necromancer class will arrive in its upcoming expansion sometime this year.