Beating the Necromancer with the Beastmaster

[webcatcher]

So I played a game tonight as the Beastmaster against the Necromancer (and I'll say here the my default mage is the Forcemaster, so I'm not totally fluent with all of the BM's tricks). I was using a harmonized lair and a dog pack + Redclaw. He was using libro mortuos with zombies and he dropped an idol of pestilence on turn 1. I got beat pretty good and I'm not entirely sure where to go from here. Resilient makes the Necro's creatures harder to kill than the BM's and idol of pestilence put me on a timer. Any suggestions?

[sIKE]

So I played a game tonight as the Beastmaster against the Necromancer (and I'll say here the my default mage is the Forcemaster, so I'm not totally fluent with all of the BM's tricks). I was using a harmonized lair and a dog pack + Redclaw. He was using libro mortuos with zombies and he dropped an idol of pestilence on turn 1. I got beat pretty good and I'm not entirely sure where to go from here. Resilient makes the Necro's creatures harder to kill than the BM's and idol of pestilence put me on a timer. Any suggestions?

Go to a few big strategy and cast a creature out there that regenerates Unicorn pops into bind. to nullify the effect of the IoP. Next is beefing up the number of dice rolled, the eaisst being nature are some enchantments. So then add in a couple of Ward Stones, and you should be on your way. A mid-to big flyer to focus on the mage could help along the way....

[DarthDadaD20]

I would say keep that pressure on the enemy mage. If you can distract the Necros army by just moving around, but have pressure on the necro, you have a chance. Flying, abet all of the tools at the necros disposal to deal with it (Such as skeletal archers, mame wings, and attack spells) a flying Grizzly bear has saved me from the necro in many a game.

If you can- keep his army occupied with one of the BMs creatures that have a defence and guard as much as possible to keep your mages zone safe.

Another route is to buff up that BM, and aggro the necro ASAP. The BM can get buffed rather quickly so if your build is ready to do so, use that. Either the Necro is going to have to deal with you, or he is going to summon a mass of undead. If the BM is buffed and in his face- he is more likely to abandon his plans to try and try to Dispel your Vampirism and Bear Strength.

The necro uses Wall of Bone and heals them often- this is for a good reason....he NEEDS that time to set up. Have Eagle Claw Boots at the ready and use them! Climbing is amazing for a mage.

My best advice for any build when fighting the Necro is to take away his time he needs to set up. and if he gets set up, keep using ranged attacks, move around the arena, and use tricks such as force spells, walls, stuck conditions, tangle vine, anything to hamper movement- and then even use the Bloodthirsty trait against them with creatures that have crazy defence (Which the BM has).

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ok here's a few strategies I've picked up. I play primarily Beast Master and one of my best friends is a necromancer.

1. Go with flyers. Turok and the Thunderift Falcon squad. Zombies can't hurt flyers generally speaking. Put a Nullify on to protect from Maim Wings or Drain Life.

2. Cheetah Speed and Mongoose Reflexes. Zombies start swarming you this lets you avoid them better.

3. Get in there and wail the stuffing out of the Necromancer. He'll be busy trying to get out as many zombies as possible.

4. Consider assigning a heavy hitting creature like your pet to start tearing into his Graveyard or other spawn area.

5. Dissolve his evil spawn book. Yeah he can put it back in his spell book but that costs him.

6. Yeah Unicorns are a good idea for countering IoP.

7. Put out your totems and keep those Call of the Wild cards ready.

8. Use cheap walls to slow down his zombie horde. They'll probably break the walls down but that's wasting time on their part. Time they could be using to chase after you.

[dark_dar]

First of all, sorry for posting in such an old post, but I've recently played this matchup as a beastmaster and this was pretty fun. It was also tough, but as we both aren't too good with the game, we made several mistakes and mine were just not that serious I guess 
Necromancer started with dropping ring that gives his discounts and his evil book while I rushed to NC and put down a lair in FC. Next turn necromancer build 2 walls around his corner and started summoning small zombies using his book - he wanted to feed the Shagot Zara with them later (I'm almost sure that I'm spelling this wrong  . I harmonized my lair and summoned a falcon, while running further to his corner.
Then I started to summon wolves and broke though the wall, while necromancer built Idol of Pestilence, and summoned Malakoda together with Shagot Zara. So basically I was receiving 3 damage per turn just for standing near this guys. I focused down the Malacoda while attacking necro with my beastmaster, and when I finished it, he responded with Poison Cloud.
At this time his Shagot Zara had around 4 counters, but his mage was pretty hurt by my pet wolf with vampiric and bear strength. Wolf also got flying later in order to save it from massive zombies attacks. In the last round I teleported my mage from the danger zone and managed to finished mage with my flying wolf.
The matchup is definitely hard for beastmaster, as zombies are very hard to kill and Deathlock can destroy all your plans to save your creatures. I'm not sure what to do with fed Shagot Zara either, I just managed to kill necro fast enough, because his defenses were not strong enough. What benefits beastmaster is the fact that all zombies are bloodthirsty, so they can't guard if they feel any wounded creatures around.

[Dmon3k]

Do you have any attack spells in the build because direct damage is always nice against the undead.  Fire might be problematic for the beastmaster because of the  the triple cost but burns on a zombie are nice especially if they stick for multiple rounds.  If not surging wave can potentially push/slam Shaggie keeping him out of your hair for a bit.   

[Aylin]

Hellfire Trap is a decent method of accessing a Fire attack outside of the Fire school.

[sdougla2]

Kralathor is always nice against the undead. Of course, I'm looking for other ways to handle it, as I don't want all of my nature mages to use Kralathor as their anti-Necromancer measure.

[dark_dar]

You just need to kill necro before he overwhelms you with zombie horde  I might need to think about Kralathor, but it's so hard to squeeze him into my spellbook... I don't even have place for any attack spells.

[dexmark]

My Beastmaster technique where the Necromancer gave up and surrender..

1) Bring the Panther out (1st turn).
2) Bring lots of move spell (Push or TK) - if the Necro is hiding behind guarding mobs then pull the Necro out just next zone to your charging animals.
3) bring the conjuration that gives your animals charge (Can't remember the name)
4) Then eventually add wings to your Panther and enchantment
5) Bring some birds

That's it.  Goal is to always hit the opposing mage with a lot of charging birds and a very elusive panther.

[Shad0w]

@Dark

I do not have an issue with necroing a thread as long as you are trying to get the topic going again and people are responding. My issue is when people necro stuff just to "bump" it or if the thread is extremely old. For example somebody tried to necro an 18 month old topic. If the topic is ovr 6 months old I have to question the reason for the response.