The Necro Summoner on UO Outlands is one of the best templates for players looking to conquer high-end PvM (Player vs. Monster) content. By blending the raw utility of traditional Magery with the specialized enhancements of Necromancy and Spirit Speaking, this build transforms standard summons into powerful “undead” variants that act as both formidable damage dealers and durable meat shields.
The build revolves around the Vengeful Spirit ability, which grants your summons increased stats and damage at the cost of a slow, constant HP decay. This mechanic necessitates a more active playstyle than traditional pet builds, as you must strategically time your summons and support them with Necromancy debuffs like Corpse Skin or Mind Rot to maximize their efficiency. By mastering the synergy between your Spirit Speaking skill and your Aspect gear—typically Void, Death, or Eldritch—you can tailor your character to be either a back-line commander focused on summoned followers damage or a hybrid battle-mage who weaves heavy spells between their summons’ attacks.
The Skill Template
- Magery (120): Necessary for primary casting and the base for Necromancy.
- Necromancy (120): Used to enhance summons and apply debuffs like
Corpse Skin or 
Mind Rot. - Spirit Speaking (120): Critical for increasing summon skills, stats, and resistance to dispels.
- Herding (120): Grants a massive damage bonus to your summons (known as the “Herding Bonus”) and allows you to “target” specific enemies for your followers to focus on.
- Meditation (80): For mana regeneration.
- Evaluation Intelligence (80): Increases spell damage.
- Inscription (80): improving spell damage and buff durations while reducing dependency on reagents
Aspect Choice
Your Aspect Choice defines whether your Necro Summoner leans into raw summoned followers power, spellcasting utility, or pure sustainability. Because this build manages “decaying” undead summons, mana efficiency and skill bonuses are your top priorities.
- Eldritch Aspect (Recommended):
- Best for: Hybrid builds that want high personal spell damage alongside powerful summons.
- Key Benefits: Provides a massive passive bonus to Spirit Speaking and Inscription skills. It also features the Energy Surge special, which creates a “Mana Well” to help you maintain your summons during long fights.
- Void Aspect (The Sustained Farmer):
- Best for: Solo farming and players who struggle with mana management.
- Key Benefits: Focuses heavily on Mana and Health Regeneration. While it offers lower raw damage than Eldritch, it provides unmatched consistency, ensuring you always have the mana needed to re-summon pets when they decay or die.
- Death Aspect (The True Necromancer):
- Best for: Players focusing specifically on Necromancy abilities and mob control.
- Key Benefits: Enhances Necromancy points and increases your Unholy Symbol capacity, allowing you to use abilities like Corpse Skin or Vampiric Embrace more frequently. It is often more affordable for early-game progression.
- Fire Aspect (The Glass Cannon):
- Best for: High-DPS solo farming where your summons are strictly used as “meat shields” while you nuke targets.
- Key Benefits: Offers the highest raw Spell Damage bonus, often outperforming Eldritch for pure speed-farming, though it lacks defensive or utility bonuses.
Strategy Tip
Many veteran Necro Summoners start with Void or Death for low-cost, steady farming and then transition to Eldritch once they have the gold to invest in Mastery Chain links (like Mana Refund or Aspect Special Chance) to maximize their spell power.
Summoner’s Tome & Wizard’s Grimoire
For a Necro Summoner, the “Codex” system is primarily handled through the Summoner’s Tome and the Wizard’s Grimoire. These items act as permanent, non-lootable progression systems that specifically enhance your summons and your own spellcasting.
The Summoner’s Tome
This is the most critical tool for your build. It allows you to spend “Summoner Points” to permanently upgrade each specific summon.
- Requirements: You must have at least 80 Magery and 80 Spirit Speaking to benefit from the tome.
- How it Works: As your summons kill monsters, you earn experience for that specific spell type.
Recommended summons
the Necro Summoner relies on specific summons to balance survivability and high damage output. Since your 
Vengeful Spirit ability turns these into “undead” variants that decay over time, choosing the right combination is key to efficient farming and bossing.
- Earth Elemental (The Ultimate Tank):
- Usage: Mandatory for almost all high-end gold farming and bossing.
- Why: It has the higher armor, making it the most durable sponge for boss mechanics.
- Key Upgrade: Focus on the Earthpull, Spirit Pact, and Grounded nodes in your Summoner’s Tome.
- Fire Elemental (The DPS Specialist):
- Usage: Paired with an Earth Elemental for balanced farming or used in pairs for maximum clear speed.
- Why: It offers high ranged damage and possesses the
Epic Barrage ability, which ignores armor. - Key Upgrade: Focus on the Fanning The Flames, Unstable Sorcery, and Wildfire nodes in your Summoner’s Tome
The Wizard’s Grimoire
While the Summoner’s Tome focuses on your pets, the Grimoire focuses on your Magery spells.
- Requirements: You need at least 80 Magery and either 80 Meditation or 80 Evaluation Intelligence.
- Usage: You can upgrade spells like
Greater Heal (to keep pets alive longer) or offensive spells like 
Flamestrike to finish off enemies your summons have softened.
Recommended Upgrades
Mana Vampire (Priority Max):
- Effect: Increases the mana refund chance for your hostile spells.
- Why: This is considered the “bread and butter” for summoners. It allows you to chain heavy spells like Flamestrike without depleting your mana pool, ensuring you have enough left to re-summon pets immediately when they decay.
- Greater Heal:
- Effect: Provides an additional “heal over time” (15%–35%) after the initial burst.
- Why: Since Necro summons lose HP naturally, this upgrade significantly improves your ability to “fight the decay” and keep your tankiest summons (like Earth Elementals) alive through heavy boss hits.
Mass Curse / Curse:
- Effect: Increases your spell damage against the target by up to 25% for 60 seconds.
- Why: It acts as a massive damage multiplier that stacks with your Necromancy debuffs (Corpse Skin/Mind Rot), allowing you and your summons to melt high-HP targets.
- Flamestrike:
- Effect: Adds a Damage over Time (DoT) effect (15%–35% of final damage) over 15 seconds.
- Why: This is your primary offensive nuke. The added DoT helps finish off mobs while you focus on repositioning or managing your summon’s health.
Boss Rotation
When fighting a boss, the ideal rotation is to land Mass Curse (Grimoire) followed by Corpse Skin and Mind Rot (Necromancy). This setup maximizes the damage from your Fire Elemental’s attacks and your own Flamestrike nukes, which will often trigger the Grimoire’s DoT for even more pressure.
Final Thoughts
As you advance, remember that your greatest hurdles will be mana management and summon uptime. Investing early into your Summoner’s Tome and Eldritch or Void Aspect will pay dividends by reducing the friction of the decay mechanic. Once you have stabilized your mana through the Wizard’s Grimoire, the build truly opens up, allowing you to dominate virtually any corner of Avadon. It is a rewarding, high-ceiling template that rewards knowledge of monster weaknesses and precise spell timing.