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For a necromancer strategy game beginner’s guide, start with Age of Wonders 4. Take the Tier I Tome of Necromancy, use Soul Harvest to turn victories into skeletons and Necromancers, and postpone wars against AI empires until a Tier II tome gives you a quality undead unit. Your opening army is deliberately disposable: skeletons and Decaying Zombies hold the line while Necromancers strengthen, revive and recycle casualties. After that, move toward Corrupt Souls or Banshees, then the Tier III Tome of the Great Transformation and its Wightborn transformation.
The same words describe very different games. Idle Necromancer: AFK Tap Hero is a mobile idle battler, while Conquest of Elysium 5 is an old-school turn-based map game with a Necromancer class. Their upgrades, currencies and combat rules do not transfer to Age of Wonders 4.
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Free plan / price | Platforms | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age of Wonders 4 | Manual 4X campaigns and tactical undead armies | Tomes, Souls, racial transformations | Standard PC list $49.99; Premium PC list $89.99 (US Amazon listings) | Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S | Oct 2026 |
| Conquest of Elysium 5 | Classic turn maps and Necromancer rituals | Hands, iron, raise-dead spells | $29.99 list on Steam | Windows, macOS, Linux via Steam | Oct 2026 |
| Idle Necromancer: AFK Tap Hero | Short AFK waves and mobile progression | Blood research, minion ranks, equipment | Free with in-app purchases | iPhone, iPad | Oct 2026 |
Why is Age of Wonders 4 the right starting point?
Age of Wonders 4 is a 4X turn-based strategy game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive. It launched on 2 May 2023 for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. You build a faction from a race, culture, traits and a starting Tome; “Necromancer” is therefore a Tome path rather than a fixed character class. The world map can use Classic Turns or Simultaneous Turns, but battles remain wait-for-your-turn tactical encounters.
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Shadow affinity is the natural home for necromancy and generally supports Expansion and Magic victories. The free Wolf Update, released with the Primal Fury content pack on 27 February 2024, overhauled necromancy. That update explains why older 2023 discussions call the skeleton book Tome of Souls while current in-game menus use Tome of Necromancy.
Metacritic lists an 83 critic Metascore (“Generally Favorable”) from 30 reviews and a 7.0 user score (“Mixed or Average”) from 160 ratings, with the listing accessed in 2026. A 2023 sales paragraph records more than 250,000 copies sold in less than a week by 9 May and a peak of 42,826 concurrent Steam players on 1 May. A PCGamesN review quoted on Metacritic on 27 April 2023 called it: “This is undoubtedly the best 4X game I’ve played in years, delivering top-notch exploration, combat, and diplomacy alongside a rewarding and dynamic customisation system.”
The numbers below come from Tome pages carrying a “last verified for version 1.015” banner, while the game continued receiving downloadable content, including Rise from Ruin on 9 March 2026 and Secrets of the Archmages on 16 June 2026. Confirm every cost and unit name in the tooltip displayed by your client.
What should a beginner upgrade first?
Choose Tome of Necromancy as your first Tome. It supplies the Soul economy, expendable undead, the Necromancer unit and the spells that make early fights self-sustaining. Rushing another Tome can improve research speed, but without Soul Harvest there is no necromancy engine to exploit.
Tier I: Tome of Necromancy
The Tome grants +2 Shadow affinity, Soulwell, Soul Harvest, +5 combat casting points, +5 world casting points and the Deathcaller ascension option. Soul Harvest releases Souls when a unit dies: the wiki formula is the slain unit’s Tier minus 1, or 1 if that result would be lower.
- Soul Collection: a sustained world spell that adds 10 Souls income for 30 Gold upkeep.
- Skeleton Reanimation: an empire upgrade that lets you spend Souls after killing racial units to create skeletons.
- Necromancer: a Tier II unit that strengthens undead and creates them from corpses.
- Necrotize: deals 10 Frost and 10 Blight damage, applies 2 Decaying for three turns, and turns a dying target into a Decaying Zombie until combat ends.
- Rotting Explosion: destroys a friendly Zombie or Skeleton; enemies within two hexes take 10 Frost, 10 Blight and 2 Decaying.
- Necrotic Projectiles: a Tier II enchantment with a 90% chance to inflict Decaying on listed ranged, mage, support and skirmisher units.
Soulwell supplies Souls and Mana from adjacent Research Posts and Conduits; it does not provide Knowledge. Keep research and mana infrastructure growing because the later power spikes are Knowledge- and Mana-intensive.
Tier II: Tome of Souls or Tome of Doomherald
Your second Tome is the first major fork. Tome of Souls adds Soulbinders, Soul Overflow, Feast of Souls, Summon Banshee and Bone Horror Reanimation. Soul Overflow applies Strengthened, adds 20 maximum health and clears two negative effects; Feast of Souls heals 20 health, or 40 for an undead target. Bone Horror Reanimation creates one Bone Horror for every four tiers of non-racial units killed after combat.
Tome of Doomherald is the morale route. Player coverage of the Wolf Update describes Corrupt Soul as the first real power spike: a Tier III fighter that pressures morale and uses an always-hit attack that either executes a sufficiently demoralized target or deals 30 damage. Crushing Anguish is a useful opener, and Banshees combine with Corrupt Souls to break morale. The March 2024 player video that popularized this route says “a relatively low and weak early game” and that the rework feels “pipelined into their late game.” Its quoted Corrupt Soul cost (“45”) is an auto-transcript interpretation and is not a verified October 2026 value.
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Older May 2023 forum advice often recommended Tome of Souls as the first skeleton book, Doomherald for Banshees, Artificing for Iron Golems, and Great Transformation for Wightborn. Use the current client’s Tome of Necromancy entry for the Tier I skeleton package, then choose between Souls and Doomherald according to whether you need healing and Bone Horrors or morale pressure.
Tier III: Tome of the Great Transformation
This is the defining mid-game upgrade. Wightborn transforms your race into Undead and grants Life Steal: a non-repeating hit restores 10 temporary health, while a repeating hit restores 5. The undead sheet listed by the wiki adds +2 Frost Protection and +2 Blight Protection, but subtracts 4 Spirit Protection and 4 Fire Protection. Wightborn also grants Heartless, which halves morale changes, and immunity to Poisoned and Diseased.
Bone Dragon Reanimation raises a Bone Dragon after you kill a non-racial Tier IV or Tier V unit and spend Souls. It is the headline harvest, but it is not an opening-game plan: player reports found Bone Dragons were often “pipe dreams” until the army could already defeat Tier V enemies. Hunt affordable Tier IV and Tier V map guards when your forces are ready instead of starving your economy while waiting for a dragon.
Other Great Transformation tools include Fetid Legion, which gives listed units +10 health and Weakening Aura; Domain of Death; Necrotic Spires; and Desecrate Structure, which adds 5 Soul income on a resource node.
Which units should you build first?
Build a disposable screen first, recruit Necromancers as soon as the Tome allows, and replace skeleton filler with quality undead once Tier II and Tier III units arrive.
Skeletons: cheap, replaceable frontline
Skeletons are Tier I racial units created from the race of the unit you killed. The four forms are Skeleton Militia (polearm and the most bulk), Skeleton Warrior (shield and 5 Defense against non-flanking attacks), Skeleton Archer (ranged, 50 health) and Skeleton Mage (battle mage, 40 health and 12–36 Death Magic). All have Low Maintenance, immunity to Bleeding and the Expendable trait, so their deaths do not reduce allied morale.
They do not inherit your racial traits or racial transformations. A March 2024 player video cites 15 Souls per skeleton, but that is not a confirmed live October 2026 cost. Fill roughly three banners, then stop spending Souls on additional skeletons. Bank the currency for Necromancers, Corrupt Souls, Bone Horrors and eventually Bone Dragons. Rotting Explosion is a better use for surplus chaff once a battle contains a dense enemy cluster.
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Necrotize and several other effects create Decaying Zombies during combat. They use the normal Zombie profile but begin with four unremovable Decaying stacks. Decaying deals 3 Blight damage per stack, up to four stacks, and each stack reduces received healing by 25%. Use these zombies to absorb retaliation, surround a target and create a safe explosion position.
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Soulbound, supplied by Soulbinders or Domain of Death, adds two Souls when the unit dies and gives the killer a 30% chance to rise as a Decaying Zombie. This turns attrition into a resource loop, but only after the relevant Tier II or Tier III upgrades are online.
Necromancers: your first quality support
Recruit Necromancers immediately after unlocking them. Their Raise Undead action is once per battle: on a foreign corpse it creates a Decaying Zombie; on your own undead it performs a stronger revival. Use Strengthen Undead first, then preserve the action for a corpse or fallen frontliner. If no useful corpse exists, their ranged attack is still worthwhile. After Wightborn, Strengthen Undead can affect your whole racial roster.
Corrupt Souls, Banshees and harvested monsters
Corrupt Souls are the first fighter replacement for skeleton filler when you follow the Doomherald route. Their morale damage and execute mechanic reward opening with Crushing Anguish and attacking already-frightened targets. Banshees are morale-focused battle mages available through the relevant Tier II route. Bone Horrors and Bone Dragons are harvest units for the mid and late game, not tutorial replacements for a weak starting army.
How should you fight during the first 50 turns?
Your first battles should be resource-positive node clears, independent camps and weak marauders. Do not declare war on an AI empire while your army consists mainly of skeletons. The beginner loop is kill, raise, absorb the counterattack, then recycle the expendable unit.
- Scout before committing. Use your ruler and scouts to identify world-map nodes, independent camps and marauder groups you can defeat without risking the ruler or a Necromancer.
- Cast Necrotize on a target you can finish. The spell’s damage and Decaying stacks matter, but the corpse is the real reward. Killing the target during the same battle gives you a Decaying Zombie.
- Strengthen, then Raise. Have a Necromancer strengthen an undead frontline unit before using Raise Undead. Do not spend the once-per-battle action on a corpse that cannot hold a position.
- Cluster enemies before exploding chaff. In a large fight, place a disposable Zombie or Skeleton within two hexes of several enemies and cast Rotting Explosion. The wiki damage is 10 Frost plus 10 Blight and 2 Decaying; the exploded unit is gone.
- Reanimate only until your banners are functional. After combat, create skeletons until about three banners are filled, then bank Souls for quality units and later harvests.
- Manual the dangerous fights. Auto-resolve becomes practical when replacements are cheap, but manually fight battles that threaten your ruler, a Necromancer or a valuable city. A community comment on the Wolf Update video specifically recommends replacing auto-resolve casualties.
Do not start an AI war before a Tier II Tome is online. Your early cities should prioritize Knowledge, research posts and Mana production over endlessly expanding the skeleton count. Necrotize every safe battle; Gifted Casters and other sources of extra casting points are unusually valuable because this spell is the engine of your corpse supply. Military victory is natural because every battle can replenish the army, while Shadow’s expansion-and-magic identity also supports a Magic victory.
Know the undead tax
After Wightborn, Fire and Spirit damage are your clearest defensive liabilities because the listed protections are reduced by 4 in each category. An enemy built around one of those damage types is manageable; an empire stacking both should be contained or removed before it reaches your cities. Keep living backline units and culture troops relevant because skeletons are too weak to answer every damage profile.
What does necromancer mean in the other games?
Idle Necromancer: AFK Tap Hero
This iPhone and iPad game is free with in-app purchases and the App Store listing shows 4.6 out of 5 from 7.2K ratings. Its features include 20-plus minions, 30-plus equipment items and Blood research. A player wiki guide, not an official balance document, estimates 146 units per week from daily and weekly quests without a campaign bonus: 105 from 15 common summons per day, 34 from three rank-1 summons per day plus 13 weekly, and 7 from one free summon per day.
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For Kingdom 1 normal through hard, the guide recommends spamming Bat Swarm; its lifesteal lets it occupy the middle of an enemy formation and stop cannons. Bat Swarm remains the early recommendation through Kingdom 1 nightmare and the Tombs of Ruin unlock. In Kingdom 2, skip most epic units, raise legendary units to at least Gold 2, and build one tank plus one damage dealer. Examples from the guide include Blood Golem with Vampire Drinker or Scarlet Sword, and Gargantuan with Pyrogheist, Wraith or Fanatic for skeletal teams. Wraith can answer bosses with an instant-kill effect, while Witch Doctor healing falls off in later stages.
Spend Blood carefully: buy at least one common and two rare items for the weekly rarity quest, but reserve equipment purchases for legendary gear. Keep the two research bonuses balanced, reroll a legendary only when it already has at least two good bonuses, and do not spend 50 Blood when two daily ad rerolls are available. Summoning is the last Blood sink, and the guide warns: “Don’t level up the necromancer too fast. You can have all unit gold 5 and necromancer bronze 2, it will work.” The same guide states, “This guide is written by a player, and is related to their experience. It gives good advice about what to do, but it is not absolute!”
Conquest of Elysium 5
Conquest of Elysium 5 is Illwinter’s classic turn-based map game, released 17 August 2021 and listed at $29.99 on Steam. Its Necromancer is a full class, not a Tome choice. The central resources are Hands and iron, and many battles can be auto-resolved as stacks rather than fought on tactical hexes.
- Send Hands toward cities, slums, gallows and criminal tiles; hamlets and farms often provide none.
- Use free raise-dead spells as the core opening tool, then spend iron to improve Soulless and Longdead with armor and special weapons.
- Banefire archers and Bane bones are efficient specialist upgrades in a 2024 player guide; verify its cited Hands and iron costs in the current client.
- Use ravens to scout, and do not risk your only commander in a battle you cannot replenish.
- A Goblin Chieftain can add inexpensive goblin chaff, while later Lich, vampire, demilich and Abomination commanders provide quality and staying power.
The game rewards finding settlements that generate Hands, raising what you kill and choosing cheap specialist upgrades over vanity elites. Those priorities are different from Age of Wonders 4’s Soul economy and manual tactical combat.
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How this guide prioritizes choices
The order follows the actual dependency chain: first establish Soul Harvest, then field enough expendable bodies to win safe map fights, then buy quality undead with Tier II resources, and only afterward commit to Wightborn and Bone Dragons. The comparison separates 4X campaigns, old-school turn maps and AFK waves by genre, session style, upgrade currency, unit quality, platform and combat control so that advice from one game is not mistaken for another’s.
Frequently asked questions
Is Age of Wonders 4’s necromancer a separate starting class?
No. You create a faction from a race, culture, traits and a starting Tome, then follow Shadow and necromancy Tomes during the campaign. A ruler can therefore pursue a necromantic build without selecting a permanently locked “Necromancer class” at faction creation.
Are the 15-Soul skeleton and 45-Soul Corrupt Soul costs guaranteed for October 2026?
No. Fifteen Souls per skeleton comes from a March 2024 player video, and the “45” Corrupt Soul figure is an uncertain auto-transcription. Treat both as historical guidance and read the live in-game tooltip before spending Souls.
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Does Wightborn permanently transform the whole empire?
Wightborn is a major race transformation, so it changes your racial units and their defensive profile for the rest of the campaign. It is not merely a temporary battle enchantment; plan around the added Frost and Blight protection and the larger Fire and Spirit vulnerability.
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Is Idle Necromancer available on Android?
The cited App Store listing identifies iPhone and iPad. No Android availability is established by the information used here, so check the store for your device rather than assuming the mobile title has feature parity across platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Age of Wonders 4’s necromancer a separate starting class?
No. You create a faction from a race, culture, traits and a starting Tome, then follow Shadow and necromancy Tomes during the campaign. A ruler can therefore pursue a necromantic build without selecting a permanently locked “Necromancer class” at faction creation.
Are the 15-Soul skeleton and 45-Soul Corrupt Soul costs guaranteed for October 2026?
No. Fifteen Souls per skeleton comes from a March 2024 player video, and the “45” Corrupt Soul figure is an uncertain auto-transcription. Treat both as historical guidance and read the live in-game tooltip before spending Souls.
Does Wightborn permanently transform the whole empire?
Wightborn is a major race transformation, so it changes your racial units and their defensive profile for the rest of the campaign. It is not merely a temporary battle enchantment; plan around the added Frost and Blight protection and the larger Fire and Spirit vulnerability.
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Is Idle Necromancer available on Android?
The cited App Store listing identifies iPhone and iPad. No Android availability is established by the information used here, so check the store for your device rather than assuming the mobile title has feature parity across platforms.
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