Introduction
The Necromancer has four different magical resources: automatically heightened grave cantrips, prepared occult spell slots, grave Focus spells, and further grave spells unlocked by feats. Each solves a different part of the turn. Treating all four as one list is how a prepared caster ends up with three ways to do the same thing and no answer when the battlefield changes.
This guide covers the spell plan from Impossible Magic without reproducing spell text. Start with the Necromancer class guide for the thrall engine and fatal methods, then use this page to decide which magical tool earns a turn, a Focus Point, or a precious prepared slot.
Rating Key
| Marker | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ● | A dependable choice for most Necromancer builds. |
| ● | Strong when the map, party, or fascination supports it. |
| ● | Useful, but needs a specific target, lane, or encounter. |
| ● | Usually a poor blind preparation or feat choice. |
The Spell Plan In One Minute
| Resource | What it should do | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Grave cantrips | Carry routine turns, place pressure, or make a thrall square relevant without spending a daily resource. | Spending a ranked slot when a cantrip or thrall action already changes the board enough. |
| Prepared occult slots | Cover defense, movement, a different target, recovery, information, and a decisive swing turn. | Preparing several spells that duplicate a grave spell's job. |
| Grave Focus spells | Convert thrall position, a grim fascination, or a dangerous lane into a tactical payoff. | Casting one every round without considering the action cost or next encounter. |
| Feat-granted grave spells | Give a build a deliberate new answer at the levels where its current lane stops being enough. | Taking a spell because its name is dramatic when the party cannot set up its target. |
Hot Take: A Necromancer who hoards Focus Points while spending ranked slots on ordinary combat pressure has the resource plan backward. The renewable grave package should handle the turns built around thralls; slots should answer the problem that package cannot.
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Start With The Repeatable Turn
At 1st level, the Necromancer prepares one 1st-rank occult spell and five cantrips. The dirge expands by two eligible spells each level. That is real prepared-caster flexibility, but it is not permission to solve every combat round with a slot. The class already has grave cantrips plus create thrall and thrall charge in its core package. Build the ordinary spell list around the gaps they leave.
Before deciding on a grave spell, ask what your turn looks like when it is not the right time to spend a Focus Point:
- A grave cantrip can attack from, create, move, or exploit the useful square you prepared.
- A thrall action can make a flank, obstruct a route, or establish the origin for a later spell.
- An ordinary occult cantrip gives you a reliable answer when the target, range, or defense makes the grave tool a poor fit.
- A prepared slot should create a larger swing: protection, escape, a new save to target, recovery, information, or a fight-changing control effect.
The cantrip guide helps with the no-slot layer. The occult spell guide and combat spell guide help fill the remaining jobs. Do not let a good grave spell convince you that your prepared list no longer needs a backup plan.
Choose A Starting Fascination For The Job
The class starts with necrotic bomb and a grave spell from one grim fascination. The right choice is less about a permanent ranking than the work your party needs done.
| Fascination spell | What it adds | Best table fit |
|---|---|---|
| Blood Infusion ● | Lets a destroyed thrall return a small amount of vitality healing to a living creature, with the amount improving as the spell heightens. | A party that frequently has an ally near the square you were already ready to spend. |
| Bone Spear ● | Gives you a line attack and improves thrall Speed. | Maps with lanes, enemies that stand in a row, or a plan that needs thralls to reposition quickly. |
| Dead Weight ● | Pressures a creature's Fortitude and leaves difficult terrain when the thrall is destroyed. | Chokepoints, retreat paths, and a party that can exploit slowed movement. |
| Life Tap ● | Lets a thrall strike with spirit and void effects and can restore vitality on a successful hit. | Long days, a useful Fortitude target, or a group that benefits from incremental recovery. |
Bone Spear and Dead Weight are the broadest combat defaults because a line and difficult terrain are useful across many parties. Blood Infusion rises when a party can reliably stand near the sacrifice point without exposing the recipient. Life Tap is a good endurance choice, but remember that its recovery rule has a timing restriction. It is not an unlimited between-fights healing engine.
Necrotic Bomb remains the common baseline. Use it when you need a simple offensive grave spell and the fascination tool is not the right shape. The best starting package is usually one baseline and one specialization, not four spell effects competing for the same turn.
Buy Grave Spells That Change The Board
Class feats open further grave spells. The Necromancer feat guide explains the feat packages; this section explains what the spell is buying in play.
| Spell lane | Strong options | Why it earns the feat |
|---|---|---|
| Personal protection ● | Muscle Barrier, Song of Soul | A tactical caster occasionally needs to survive the square it had to occupy. These are valuable when the build is exposed or expects to use a closer delivery angle. |
| Lane pressure ● | Bony Barrage, Deathly Scream, Bloody Tendrils | These reward a group that can identify where enemies will be, rather than hoping they happen to remain in range. |
| Map alteration ● | Zombie Horde, Conglomerate of Limbs, Bridge of Graves | The best option when access, occupied squares, or a retreat route decides the encounter. |
| Party support ● | Sanguine Transference, Bind Heroic Spirit | Their payoff depends on allies being in position, which makes communication more valuable than a solo damage comparison. |
| Specific target answer ● | Calcification, Reanimate Foe, Temporary Possession | These can be excellent into the right target, but are too conditional to take without knowing why the campaign will present that situation. |
The important split is between a spell that adds an option and a spell that produces a new plan. If your party already controls a chokepoint well, another narrow line effect may be redundant. If it cannot cross a gap, hold a door, or preserve a threatened ally, a map or support spell may change more encounters.
Mid-Level Grave Spells: Build Around A Scene
As spell ranks rise, the grave list offers more dramatic effects. Do not rank them only by the largest possible damage outcome. The decisive questions are whether you can place the needed thrall, whether the enemy must remain in the space, and what the party does after the spell resolves.
| Mid-level job | Good candidates | Preparation question |
|---|---|---|
| Punish a packed lane | Bloody Tendrils, Bony Barrage, Skeletal Lancers | Can the party force or predict a line before your turn? |
| Make movement expensive | Zombie Horde, Dead Weight, Conglomerate of Limbs | Is the map small enough, or the route narrow enough, that terrain actually matters? |
| Turn a thrall into a rescue tool | Sanguine Transference, Blood Infusion, Life Tap | Can an ally safely stand near the chosen square when you need it? |
| Answer a creature instead of its hit points | Calcification, Reanimate Foe, Recurring Nightmare | Does the campaign regularly offer the target or defense this spell needs? |
Skeletal Lancers and Bloody Tendrils reward planned firing lanes. Zombie Horde and Conglomerate of Limbs reward a party that understands where it wants the enemy to stand. They are not passive terrain decorations. Tell allies which route you want to protect, then create the thrall that makes the threat credible.
High-Rank Spells Need A Finish Line
The high-rank grave spells are tempting because they look like a complete encounter plan. They still need an answer to a practical question: what does the party gain before the enemy gets a turn?
| Spell | Use it when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Dread Mosquito Storm ● | Repeated pressure or a persistent hazard changes the enemy's safe space. | A long effect is only strong if the encounter will continue in its area. |
| Flesh Tsunami ● | The battlefield is crowded enough that a broad disruptive answer changes several turns. | Do not let allies occupy the path you must use. |
| Recurring Nightmare ● | A Will-facing effect and repeated pressure answer the actual creature in front of you. | Mental and immunity checks still matter. |
| Reanimate Foe ● | The target and timing make a defeated enemy more valuable as a board piece than a simple removal effect. | It is not a generic opening-round spell. |
| Perfected Thrall ● | Your build has enough thrall use that a more capable piece changes its repeated turn. | A better thrall does not remove the need for useful placement. |
| Living Graveyard ● | The encounter deserves a capstone board effect and you can establish the area before it is too late. | Reserve it for the scene where the table will feel its full duration. |
At 19th level, the class gains its unusual 10th-rank Epitaph spell. Treat that spell as its own endgame resource, not a reason to underprepare the rest of the day. A top-rank payoff is strongest when the lower-rank package still provides positioning, control, and recovery around it.
Prepare Ordinary Occult Slots For Missing Jobs
Necromancer grave spells already cover a great deal of thrall-related pressure. That makes ordinary occult preparation more valuable when it is broad, defensive, or answers a different target. A practical daily dirge often has these jobs covered before it adds another attack effect.
| Prepared-slot job | What to look for | Why the class needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Different defense | A spell that uses a defense your grave package does not already pressure well. | An intelligent enemy, a poor attack lane, or a strong Fortitude target can make the familiar answer wrong. |
| Defense or escape | Protection, concealment, movement, or a way to repair a bad position. | Thrall placement sometimes requires the Necromancer to be visible or closer than ideal. |
| Utility and information | Detection, communication, magical analysis, and campaign-specific access. | Prepared occult casting should matter outside initiative. |
| Recovery and condition answers | A spell that preserves an ally or removes the problem that will end the expedition. | A small battlefield advantage is not worth much if the party cannot continue. |
| One decisive control slot | A spell that makes a difficult lane, target, or encounter substantially easier. | This is where a limited slot should feel limited and important. |
Use the heightening guide when deciding which effects remain worth a higher-rank slot. Keep highly occasional answers on scrolls, wands, and staves where the campaign's item access allows it. That leaves daily preparation for the jobs you expect to perform, rather than every narrow possibility you can imagine.
Focus Points And Action Cost
The Necromancer begins with a two-point Focus Pool because it knows necrotic bomb and a fascination spell. Between encounters, the class can Refocus. Its rules also let it recover more efficiently by destroying a thrall, which is a meaningful reason to think about the last useful square from the prior scene.
That does not mean every combat should start with a two-action grave spell. Check the full turn:
- Does the spell need a thrall already in the correct square?
- Can you create or move that thrall and still make the spell matter this round?
- Does the spell leave you exposed, stationary, or out of a defensive action?
- If this is a short encounter, will the Focus Point pay for a better board than a cantrip, a thrall action, or a prepared slot would?
The Focus spell guide has the general resource rules. For this class, the practical lesson is simpler: make the Focus Point buy a position, target, or outcome that another resource cannot produce cheaply.
Three Daily Spell Packages
| Build | Grave focus | Prepared occult slots | Feat direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lane controller | Bone Spear or Dead Weight | A different defense, movement, and one large control effect. | Bony Barrage, Skeletal Lancers, or terrain-changing spells. |
| Attrition support | Blood Infusion or Life Tap | Defense, recovery, information, and a dependable non-grave pressure option. | Sanguine Transference, protection, or support spells. |
| Map architect | Dead Weight plus a thrall-delivery plan | Mobility, exploration utility, and one answer to a creature your terrain will not stop. | Zombie Horde, Conglomerate of Limbs, or Bridge of Graves. |
These are starting points, not permanent identities. A dungeon of narrow corridors favors a different dirge from an open battlefield, and a party with excellent healing changes how much recovery you need to carry. Prepared casting is the permission to adjust, so use it.
Related Guides
Continue with the Necromancer class guide, Necromancer feat guide, PF2e spell guide hub, occult spell guide, cantrip guide, Focus spell guide, three-action economy guide, and magic item guide.
