New Skill: Necromancy - This Week In RuneScape - News - RuneScape - RuneScape (2024)

Well, then. It’s finally here. RuneScape’s 29th skill. An all-new, stand-alone combat style. The doorway to another plane of existence. The source of unimaginable power. 'Scapers of the world, welcome: Necromancy is finally yours to master!

Sitting independently outside the triangle of existing combat styles, this fully-fledged combat system is approachable but deep and includes all new weapons, upgradeable armour, abilities and incantations. Conjure undead allies to battle alongside you, enhancing their impact with different abilities as you level.

Necromancy's story is at the heart of the skill, at every level. Performing Rituals - a crucial aspect of skilling Necromancy - restores enthralled souls to their rightful resting place in the City of Um. As you grow in strength and progress through quests, your training will be put to the test against not one but two brand-new bosses, who can only be battled with Necromancy.

Hermod will be your first challenge around in your Necromancy journey, offering a way to sharpen your bossing skills and acquire Necromancy gear materials - with a difficulty comparable to a God Wars Dungeon boss. Your final showdown will be Rasial, a challenging boss designed to put everything you've learned about Necromancy to the test - overcome him, and your skills will be well on the way to taking on the pinnacle bosses in Gielinor (such as Zamorak).

Today also marks the start of a brand new season of Necromancy! Check out our roadmap and see what's on the horizon:

This powerful skill was made possible only through the incredible work, passion and dedication of our Necromancy team. Recently, a few of the team sat down and shared insights into the process behind bringing Necromancy to, er, life. Read what they had to say in the pamphlet below!

Our Necromancy devs, supported by the entire RuneScape team, have worked incredibly hard to bring this breathtaking, groundbreaking skill to RuneScape. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank them for their exceptional work - and on their behalf, we wish you a wonderful launch day!

Remember: this is just the beginning. And we're so excited to have you on this journey with us.

Necromancy Team:

Mods Alec, Alex, Bak, Djinn, Dragon, Forza, Luma, Neil, Psmith, Rowley, Ryan, Skyefall, Sponge, Stacey, Timbo, Thom, Wing

Necromancy has been a massive undertaking, from the initial announcement to the First Look and those all-important final few weeks of preparation. And we’ve endeavoured to keep you updated every step of the way!

Here are some of the previous announcements and guides you might have missed, with loads of useful info for starting out on your Necromancy journey.

Check out the Release Date Trailer Blog for a list of useful items to have on hand, or dive into our dedicated Insights series to get more information on things like Combat, the story of Necromancy/The First Necromancer, the gorgeous City of Um and how to brush up on Rituals (your non-combat way to level Necromancy)!

Talking of first impressions, this skill has seriously progressed from those early previews - remember back in May when we gave a few creators a sneak peek of how it was shaping up? Ahh, how far we've come... Check out their initial videos - and compare with the more recent replays!

City of Um Task Set

With the launch of Necromancy and the City of Um comes a whole new task set! Easy and Medium tasks will be included with launch with harder tasks coming as Necromancy continues to grow.

We have also improved the Achievement tab with an Area task set tab check it out!

It’s the dawn of a new skill, and you know what that means - the Necromancy World's First Race!

Some of you will want to take things at your own pace; sit back and enjoy the journey with a new skill. But a dedicated few will be on a quest for glory. The glory of Necromancy's HiScores!

Whether you want to be first to 99, 120 or to defeat Rasial himself, it’s all to play for. And with Necromancy touching 22 years of combat content, as well as the Combat XP rework that also launches today (!) we're sure to witness many different strategies played out in the race to the top.

As with other World's Firsts, expect plenty of racers to be streaming here on Twitch. If you're planning to join the race, you can grab the watermark image below to throw on your stream and help other players - and us - find you and follow your progress!

We'll also be keeping you all updated with major milestones in the race on our social channels. To victory!

Enter the underworld in style with the Necromancy Founder Pack! This brand-new pack gives you instant access to cosmetic rewards that will get you on-theme for Necromancy, including the Death Shroud Cape, Rivers of Souls Aura, Solace Companion Pet and three exclusive titles!

Cape - Death Shroud Cape

Aura - River of Souls

Companion Pet - Solace

Titles

• Citizen of Um
• Friend of the Dead
• Herald of Harold

Pick up the Necromancy Founder Pack for £8.99 / $9.99 / €9.99. If you don't already have an active RuneScape subscription, you can instead pick up the Founder Pack with 1 Month of Membership* for a limited time offer of £12.99 / €14.99 / $14.99**.

Desktop ‘Scapers can purchase via our website - just head over to the Marketplace and check out the Spotlight tab to grab your pack. On mobile, get yours directly from the Marketplace Special Offers!

*Founder Pack + 1 Month Membership bundle for non-members only. This is a recurring membership package. Subscription will renew automatically at $12.49 / £8.99 / €10.99. See the Cancel Subscription Support Page for how to cancel.

**Founder Pack + 1 Month Membership offer price valid until 31st December 2023 - normally $22.48 / £17.98 / €20.98

Monday August 7th | 16:00 Game Time | Necromancy Launch Stream

It's time to dive in! Mod Doom will be joined in the City of Um by Mod Spear and a hallowed horde of J-Mods as we journey across a variety of community streams, showcase some gameplay and chat with you about the experience so far. Watch the show live at Twitch.TV/RuneScape.

All these wonderful creators will all also be streaming Necromancy on Monday, so drop in and support their journey!

Starts August 8th | Ends August 9th | Mysteria

Mysteria constantly rotates various versions of Treasure Hunter over the course of two days!

Starts August 10th | Ends August 16th | Solstice Showdown

Battle against the Solar and Lunar Inquisitors to earn their new Inquisitor armour! Collect sigils from the defeated knights for the chance to unlock the new Boulder pet or the Running Scared Walk Override!

Combat

• Several monsters have been rebalanced in line with modern standards.
• In particular, this affects a sizeable chunk of early-mid-game monsters:
• The current list includes primarily monsters from Turael/Spria to Mazchna.
• With the Evolution of Combat a number of monsters were harshly balanced, meaning now a variety of monsters get one-shot or deal essentially no damage. As a result, we've committed some time to redo the balancing on a fair number of the early-to-mid game mobs.
• Essentially, we've made a greater number of monsters more appealing for their respective levels, which means they will deal more damage and get 1-shot far less often.
• We're confident these should be more appropriate for their respective levels, but if there are mobs that you feel have been over-buffed or you think could do with another look, let us know!
• Likewise, we'd like to extend these changes to more of the game, so if there's anything in particular you'd like to get a rebalance - again, let us know.
• Tank gear lifepoints:
• Necromancy tank gear benefits from updated lifepoint values.
• In the other styles, tank gear typically doesn't grant a LP boost until 70+ and even then it's a very small amount.
• We're trialling bigger boosts for Necromancy tank gear (up to 50% lifepoint increases), and starting from level 1, so it competes slightly more against power gear.
• If this is received favourably by players we will look to roll it out across the other styles.
• Spectral Spirit Shields are now Necromancy Shields (previously Magic) and have the same passive effect as other Spirit Shields.
• Igneous Kal-Zuk Capes will be removed from worn and/or keepsakes (key refunded) and go into either your backpack, Bank or to be reclaimed from General Graardor in the Zuk area of Senntisten. All owned Capes will then be converted into a 'hardened' variant, which can be broken down into its constituent Ket, Mej and Xil Capes. To reform the igneous Kal-Zuk, players will need to obtain the Necromancy Cape variant - an Igneous Kal-Mor (made from a TokHaar Kal-Mor and an Igneous stone) - and combine all four capes back into the Igneous Kal-Zuk.
• Weapon special attack changes:
• Special attacks that universally affect combat styles will now also apply to Necromancy. Examples include:
• Barrelchest Anchor (Sunder) - can now also sometimes drain Necromancy attack or strength.
• Bandos Godsword (Warstrike) - can now also sometimes drain Necromancy attack and strength.
• Two Summoning Familiar special attacks have been slightly amended:
• Bloated Leech (Blood Drain) - can now also restore Prayer, Archaeology and/or Necromancy.
• Phoenix (Rise from the Ashes) - can now drain Necromancy.
• Prayers/Curses - certain Prayers and Ancient Curses have been renamed to better reflect what they do, add consistent naming and avoid confusion with new Necromancy Curses.
• Protect from Missiles → Protect from Ranged
• Sap Warrior → Sap Melee Attack
• Sap Ranger → Sap Ranged Attack
• Sap Range Strength → Sap Ranged Strength
• Sap Mage → Sap Magic Attack
• Sap Magic Strength (unchanged)
• Sap Spirit → Sap Adrenaline
• Sap Strength → Sap Melee Strength
• Deflect Missiles → Deflect Ranged
• Leech Attack → Leech Melee Attack
• Leech Ranged → Leech Ranged Attack
• Leech Range Strength → Leech Ranged Strength
• Leech Magic → Leech Magic Attack
• Leech Magic Strength (unchanged)
• Leech Strength → Leech Melee Strength
• Leech Energy → Leech Run Energy
• The Invigorating perk has been rebalanced to better support the new basic attack system.
• Now gives 5% additional adrenaline perk rank to basic attacks (was 10%).
• Adrenaline gained from Tsunami, Incendiary Shot and Meteor Strike is now specific to the related combat style's critical strikes (e.g. after using Tsunami, Necromancy critical strikes will not generate extra adrenaline).
• Some minor tweaks to how and where basic attack adrenaline is granted to non-Necromancy combat styles:
• Basic attack adrenaline is no longer given to magic AoE abilities that hit multiple targets.
• Magic now calculates adrenaline from basic attacks based on weapon speed, like melee/ranged.
• Tuska's Wrath has been tweaked to prevent rapidly resetting the ability for Slayer tasks by logging out/using the Altar of War:
• No longer goes on extended cooldown on Slayer task use.
• The empowered effect now goes on cooldown, which is shown separately on the debuff bar.
• Updated Kalphite Queen's base hit chances to be more in line with their intended values.
• The 'Bash' and 'Revenge' abilities have been tagged as 'Offensive' abilities.
• The target information panel will now display your last known hit chance against the monster.

XP

• Changed how XP is awarded when tagging a monster.
• Previously the tagger would gain all XP even if they did a very small amount of damage.
• XP is now shared based on how much damage was actually dealt.
• Fixed an issue where Elite Dungeon monsters would give extra XP for each group member that attacked the monster.
• Changed the current combat XP formula, which was a bit confusing and made various assumptions about the stats of monsters. As a result, changing the stats of mobs could have huge changes on the XP they granted. We're looking to both simplify the XP system so it's easier for players to understand, and reduce the amount of combat XP players can get as it's spiralled into astronomically large numbers.
• XP from monsters is now calculated directly from its hitpoints (as it was pre-EoC), currently at a rate of 50 XP per 1000 HP. This still accounts for the damage you deal, so if you deal half a monster's life you'll get half the XP when it dies.
• We're going to monitor XP rates and may increase or decrease the XP per HP accordingly.
• Removed a workaround for high defence monsters that would halve the stats of any monster that was 'taggable'.
• We weren't keen on how two monsters could have identical stats, yet their end defence and accuracy values could differ so greatly.
• This also allows us to put more value behind weapon and gear accuracy, particularly with Necromancy's new hit chance system.
• We'll be monitoring feedback on these and adjust individual cases accordingly.
• Reduced the benefits from stat boosting in combat.
• Previously a level 90 player boosting to level 99 combat stats would outperform a player with base level 99 combat stats.
• Boosting stats will now cause you to perform in an equal manner (e.g. boosting to 99 would cause your damage to be the same as a player with base levels 99)
• The system was deemed unnecessary and confusing for players to calculate their damage, especially due to the manner in which it was implemented; boosting multi-hitting abilities far more than singular hits.

Tooltips

• As part of Necromancy, we've made an effort to modernise combat tooltips.
• Necromancy only:
• Tooltips now show exact damage values.
• Tooltips now have inlined sprites when denoting effects/buffs or other abilities.
• Tooltips now state the damage type (Necromancy damage etc).
• We will be looking to roll these changes out to the other styles in the future.
• Game-wide:
• Increased width of tooltip boxes.
• Cooldowns are now displayed in exact measurements (e.g. 2s→2.4s).
• Damage caps are now displayed on abilities which have unique caps (e.g. shatter).
• Changed the colour, opacity and text colour of tooltips for better visibility.
• Changed tooltip formatting.
• Object tool tipping (game-wide):
• Objects now state their 'tier' not 'level'.
• If there is an accuracy/armour disparity with tier, it's noted (e.g. armour (T70))
• Off-hand weapons no longer display accuracy.
• Tank armour now shows the damage reduction offered.
• Subtype added to the equipment:
• E.g. ranged (Power)/(Tank)
• Weapon attack rate updated to seconds (e.g. fast→ 2.4s)

Potions

• Necromancy potions have been added to the game:
• Necromancy potion (11 Herblore) - Marrentill and Cadava Berries.
• Super Necromancy potion (79 Herblore) - Arbuck and Blood of Orcus.
• Extreme Necromancy potion (93 Herblore) - Super Necromancy potion and a ground Miasma Rune.
• Overload potions now require extreme Necromancy potions to be made.
• Existing overload ingredient sets are no longer tradeable, and can be traded in by talking to any Grand Exchange Clerk for the old ingredients.
• Supreme overload batch recipes now require 3 of each ingredient to make, instead outputting 4 potions.

Bug Fixes

• Players can no longer gain Slayer Helm bonuses from the Obsidian Helm against TzHaar if they're using a combat style that does not match the Helm.
• Fixed a bug… ha, bug... where the Kalphite Queen could still be instakilled by the Guardhouse Instakill upgrade.

General

• The total number of action bars has been increased from 15 → 18.
• The total bank space for all players has been increased by 50.
• Old Crone has been renamed to Netty.
• Necrovarus has been graphically updated.
• The ruins north of Draynor, used to access the City of Um (as well as War's Retreat and Death's Office) have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise to face the Draynor Lodestone.
• The Necromancer's Tower has been graphically updated.
• Death's Office has been graphically updated.
• Runecrafting Pouches and ethereal bodies have been given a ‘configure' option. This lets you set a preferred order when filling them! Impure Essence is only added as an option after completion of the Rune Mythos quest.
• default/Pure Essence - will attempt to fill with Pure essence first, then Rune, then Impure.
• Rune Essence - Rune, then Pure, then Impure.
• Impure Essence - Impure, then Pure, then Rune.

Community Showcase

Scapers' Screenshots

Pink Skirts Player Events

Each week the Pink Skirts put on a selection of fun activities that everyone can join. Here are the main events this week:

Twin Furies

• Hosted by: M e r c y & Helpscape
• Date/Time: Monday August 7th, 16:00 Game Time
• World: 35
• Location: Zamorak Lobby
• FC: Helpscape

Penguin Tour

• Hosted by: Miss Misty
• Date/Time: Thursday August 10th, 20:00 Game Time
• World: 60
• Location: Edgeville Bank
• FC: Miss Misty

Stealing Creation

• Hosted by: Lady Spyra, corbettreprt, and Fast SC
• Date/Time: Saturday August 12th, 19:00 Game Time
• World: 99
• Location: Stealing Creation Lobby
• FC: Fast Sc

If these don't take your fancy, take a look at the full events schedule here. There’s sure to be something you’ll enjoy!