RS3 Necromancy Combat Guide

Necromancy uses a main-hand siphon and an off-hand conduit. The siphon does your own attacks; the conduit lets you conjure undead spirits that fight beside you. Two resources sit on top of adrenaline:

• Necrosis: built by Touch of Death (4 stacks), and by your basic attack during Living Death. Finger of Death spends up to 6 stacks and costs 10% less adrenaline for each one, so at 6 stacks it is free. You can hold up to 12.
• Residual Souls: built one per hit by Soul Sap. Volley of Souls spends all of them for one big hit, and Soul Strike spends one to stun. You can hold 3, or 5 with the soulbound lantern.

Necromancy sits outside the combat triangle and uses the “neutral” affinity against everything, so one set of gear works on any monster. Its abilities are fewer and each one matters more than in the older styles, which is why it is the easiest style to pick up.

Start the quest Necromancy! at the portal just north of the Draynor lodestone. It is free to play and teaches the basics, then takes you to the City of Um, the skill's home. Free players can train to level 20; members go to 120.

In Um you perform rituals (Necromancy's non-combat training) to fill the Well of Souls, which opens the talent tree, and you learn Necromancy prayers from Selene. Rituals also make the ectoplasm your conjures use and the impure essence your runes are made from, so an Ironman does both side by side.

Necromancy has 22 abilities, grouped below the way the in-game ability book groups them. Each row gives the Necromancy level that unlocks it, what it costs or gives in adrenaline, its cooldown, any weapon it needs and what it is for.

Level is your Necromancy level. One tick is 0.6 seconds. “GCD only” means the ability has no cooldown of its own beyond the 1.8-second global cooldown. “(codex)” marks an upgrade you unlock by reading a codex.

Ability names, levels, cooldowns and adrenaline from the RuneScape Wiki's ability data (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), checked 2026-10-10. The descriptions and advice are ours.

With a siphon and a conduit equipped you can conjure spirits that attack whatever you attack. Each conjure costs one ectoplasm and lasts about 40 seconds, up to a minute with all three Spirit Pact talents. You can have one out at first, two from level 52, three from 84 and four from 106, but never two of the same kind.

• Skeleton Warrior (level 2): steady melee damage that builds up over time. Your first conjure and still a good one.
• Vengeful Ghost (level 40): heals you through its hits, which saves food on long fights.
• Putrid Zombie (level 40): a poison aura for groups, and a big explosion on command.
• Phantom Guardian (level 70): takes the edge off incoming damage.

Each conjure has a matching Command ability that spends it for a burst of damage or an effect. Conjure before the fight starts so your opening globals go on damage, and recast when they run out.

Incantations are Necromancy's spells. Unlike the spellbooks, they are always available alongside any style and are cast on yourself. They cost necrotic runes: spirit, bone, flesh and miasma runes, which you craft with Runecrafting (levels 1, 20, 40 and 60) from impure essence. Impure essence comes from a ritual that turns pure essence into it from 24 Necromancy, and small amounts can be bought from Thalmund's Wares. Most incantations are unlocked on the talent tree.

Talents unlock and upgrade conjures, Spectral Scythe, incantations and the Spirit Pact duration boosts. Each costs one talent point, which you earn from Necromancy and Defence experience gained in Necromancy combat (not from rituals or quests). There are 21 talents, choices cannot be undone, and in the end you can own them all.

Each tier opens at a Necromancy level once enough souls are in the Well of Souls, which you fill with rituals. Some talents also need quests: the incantations need Rune Mythos, several tier 5 and 6 talents need Tomes of the Warlock, and Split Soul needs The Temple at Senntisten.

Some talents in a tier need a higher Necromancy level than the tier itself (Threads of Fate 44, Spectral Scythe 62, Life Transfer 76, Undead Army 99).

This is a starting point for single targets, not an optimised bar. It works from about level 60 and grows with you.

1. Before the fight: conjure your Skeleton Warrior and Vengeful Ghost (or Putrid Zombie for groups), and cast Invoke Death once you have it.
2. Open with Touch of Death for Necrosis, then Soul Sap for a Residual Soul.
3. Let your basic attack fill the gaps while the two basics come back.
4. Use Finger of Death whenever you have 6 Necrosis (it is then free).
5. Use Volley of Souls when your Residual Souls are full.
6. Use Death Skulls whenever you have 60% adrenaline, and Bloat on targets that will live a while.
7. At 100% adrenaline use Living Death, then spam Touch of Death, Finger of Death and Death Skulls while it lasts.

On Slayer tasks, add Threads of Fate and Spectral Scythe and let the area damage do the work. Keep Vengeful Ghost out on long trips: its healing adds up.

Necromancy gear is mostly crafted. The Deathwarden robes (tank armour, worn with Defence) and the Deathdealer robes (power armour, needing Necromancy too) are upgraded tier by tier through the Kili's Knowledge quests, alongside matching siphons and conduits. The top tier comes from Rasial, the First Necromancer. The Necromancy gear ladder lists every step with where it comes from.

Necromancy works on nearly every boss because nothing resists it through the triangle. Two are tied to the style: Hermod, the Spirit of War, an early boss whose Hermodic plates make and upgrade the Deathdealer robes, and Rasial, the First Necromancer, for the tier 95 weapons and robes. A few monsters only take damage from the style they are weak to, such as the Dagannoth Kings, so Necromancy cannot hurt them. The boss progression order has the full list with gates.