The Necromancer

* Portrait
* In Game
* Shapeless Malice
* Ring Form

"A Dark Power dwells in there, such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror, one that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out of the darkness. A Necromancer has come."
—Radagast

After his defeat in the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron fled into the far East, to lick his wounds and slowly rebuild his strength. A millenium later, his power had become great enough to cast a Shadow over Middle-earth and stir all evil things.

He began to dwell in southern Greenwood the Great, taking the long-abandoned Sindar fortress atop the hill of Amon Lanc. In time, the hill and fortress came to be known as Dol Guldur, and the surrounding forests, once free and green, were slowly changed into the dark and treacherous Mirkwood. Those who feared his dreadful presence and his sorcerous ways called him **the Necromancer**; rumors of the increasing Darkness in Dol Guldur soon attracted the attention of the White Council. After discovering it to be none other than Sauron, Gandalf the Grey became concerned that the Enemy could use the Dragon Smaug and retake the northern lands. While the Quest for Erebor unfolded, the White Council coordinated an assault upon Dol Guldur, apparently driving the Necromancer out of the fortress; Sauron had expected them to move and so fled from there to Mordor, where preparations were already underway for the coming war.

In Age of the Ring, the Necromancer is the faction leader of Dol Guldur. The Necromancer is unique because he also acts as Dol Guldur's Ring Hero, units can pick up the Ring and deliver it directly to the Necromancer - revealing him as **Sauron** and granting him a much stronger set of abilities.

## Abilities

### Default abilities

**Dark Presence** - Nearby Dol Guldur units afflicted by Slow Decay are no longer drained over time, become resistant to fear and terror, receive +33% damage and armour, and are healed by a small amount. Passive ability.

**Lord of Wolves (R)** - Summons a large Black Warg Alpha. A maximum of three may be out at any time.

**Level 3**: **The Abhorred Dread (T)** - The Necromancer casts a necromantic spell on enemies within the radius, dealing heavy damage and resurrecting the dead as Risen Dead under the player’s control. At rank 8, can be cast on Restless Barrows to summon a horde of Restless Warriors. Can't be used while using Shapeless Malice. Left click icon then left click on target enemies.

**Level 5:** **Shapeless Malice (C)** - The Necromancer becomes incorporeal, allowing him to move quickly across the map while terrifying nearby enemy units. Shapeless Malice does not allow him to attack. Left click to shift shape.

**Level 8: Wreathed in Flame (V)** - The Necromancer erupts in flame, blasting back enemies and setting the surrounding area on fire. Can't be used while using Shapeless Malice. Left click to activate.

### Ring Form abilities

Upon being given the Ring by a friendly unit, the Necromancer will cast Darkness across the entire map. This effect is identical to the 15 PP Darkness spell in Dol Guldur's list of powers.

**Dark Presence** - Nearby Dol Guldur units afflicted by Slow Decay are no longer drained over time, become resistant to fear and terror, receive +33% damage and armour, and are healed by a small amount. Deals damages to nearby enemies. Passive ability.

**Master of the Nine (R)** - Summons a Ringwraith. A maximum of three may be out at any time.

**Level 3: The Abhorred Dread (T)** - The Necromancer casts a necromantic spell on enemies within a large radius, dealing heavy damage and resurrecting the dead as Risen Dead under the player’s control. Can be cast on Restless Barrows to summon a horde of Restless Warriors. Can't be used while using Shapeless Malice. Left click icon then left click on target enemies.

**Level 5:** **Shapeless Malice (C)** - The Necromancer becomes incorporeal, allowing him to move quickly across the map while terrifying nearby enemy units. Left click to shift shape.

**Level 8: Wreathed in Flame (V)** - The Necromancer erupts in flame, blasting back enemies and setting the surrounding area on fire. Can't be used while using Shapeless Malice. Shorter cooldown with the One Ring. Left click to activate.

## Strategy

The Necromancer is easily the most integral hero to Dol Guldur, he greatly supports nearby units with his **Dark Presence** leadership which reduces the need to continue building structures at forward positions to prevent friendly units suffering Slow Decay. Whilst his melee attack deals good knockback damage, the Necromancer's true source of danger is **The Abhorred Dread** which not only inflicts a lot of damage to large groups of units, but also temporarily converts any fallen units to Risen Dead - potentially causing chaos within the enemy's ranks. Abhorred Dread starts off relatively damaging but increases in damage when the Necromancer reaches level 6. **Shapeless Malice** enables the Necromancer to quickly escape when at low health, but this ability has a relatively long cooldown which prevents the Necromancer immediately taking shape again and being able to cast his other offensive abilities; which considerably reduces his threat whilst Shapeless Malice is active. **Wreathed in Flame** is an excellent source of crowd control: it blasts back enemy units and burns any enemy units caught in the fire; these weakened enemies are then ideal targets for The Abhorred Dread.

In his Ring Form, the Necromancer's abilities are significantly enhanced: the Black Warg summon becomes a Ringwraith summon - the three Ringwraiths buff each other and Khamûl when they are nearby each other and so can wreck havoc along with Dol Guldur's empowered army. The Abhorred Dread's radius becomes greater which enables the Necromancer to resurrect even more units as Risen Dead. Wreathed in Flame's cooldown is reduced so that it becomes much more difficult to attack the Necromancer with melee units; especially considering Dark Presence deals damage to nearby enemies over time as well. However, it should be noted that even with the Ring, the Necromancer is significantly less durable than the other Evil Ring heroes Sauron or Smaug, and thus he should still be reinforced and protected with a proper army to ensure that he is not overwhelmed and killed.

## Trivia

* The Necromancer's visual design was based on a combination of Games Workshop's Necromancer figure, as well as unused WETA concept art for Sauron