What's the deal with necro?

Ok...I just got my necro/thermal MM to 26 and got my Lich summon.

For the first time I I took a really good look at the the lich powers and kind of went meh!

The damage for Torrent seems insane(3.8 smashing). Dark blast is a ho hum 19.8 and about on par with tenebrous tentacles.

What is the main strength of the lich anyway? -to-hit? When I got my Oni on my ninjas, I was like: 'YES! BURN EVERYTHING!!'

I'm honestly not sure what to make of the lich. Even the assault bot seemed more effective when I first got it before the final pet upgrade.

Control, Is the MM Pet, with most control powers or the better ones but yeah, not much of a powerhouse like others.

Not ever boss pet is all about damage. After 32 you'll see what the Lich can do...in terms of control

I'm fine with it being a control-heavy pet...but to not even have one decent attack with the first upgrade is kind of crazy.

Having at least one decent attack wouldn't make the lich a damage-heavy pet by any means. It's not like the other pets in the set are that dangerous to compensate.

If you want Necro to do damage, you put your Knights (tier 2) into melee. And you let the zombies run around throwing toxic puke cones. Slot them for damage.

Period.

The Lich is a controller. All the other pets and you will die before the Lich does. Slot it for -tohit. And when you get to 47, the Hami-O Mezzers.

Don't forget the Spirits. It's worthwhile letting a Henchie die every time Soul Extraction is up in order to get a Ghostie out too, they're pretty effective. My Necro had it basically perma (in fact I've had 2 ghosties out at once occasionally for a few seconds). Spirits don't have any AOE but they do bring more ranged damage (which stupidly long range), a melee hold & damage power which hits hard and a Life Drain.

Which Henchie you sacrifice is up to you, the higher tier the Henchie was the more HP and Damage the ghost will do. I used to use Zombies simply because getting a Zombie to die is trivially easy (Go attack that spawn). However if you do it with a Knight it's interesting to note that you only have to apply the Second, level 32 upgrade and he'll have all of his powers (due to the fact that the upgrades cause model switches for Knights)

As others have noted Knights should always be in melee. You want them doing those hideous Broadsword attacks on things. If you can stick an Achilles Heel -Res proc into them as well so much the better, each Sword attack will have a chance to proc then. I have Goto Defensive bind for getting Knights in close (after which I'd use "Attack Aggressive" on whatever I wanted to die).

For a while I was trying to get my lich killed to summon the spirit with the highest pet. I would send it in and watch it's heath dip precariously low and then stop and start rising. Then me and the other guys would run in and see a group standing around doing nothing while the lich blasted them for negligible damage.

At that point my glass cannon zombies could eat them with no danger. I wouldn't want to try that at /X8, but it's silly how much control they have.

I have a necro/pain at lvl 43 now. I too was a bit "meh" at first, but now I LOVE THE LICH!!! He rarely dies (sadly, because I would LOVE to make him a ghostie), nearly always keeps the enemies under control for the zombies to grub on, and he continually points out the plot flaws in old "Super-friends" cartoons!!! It makes the rest of the undead gang crack a few skulls, chew on a frontal lobe or two, and mock the few who dismiss the amazing power of necro!!! Give your undead a little more time and you will NOT be disappointed! Have a great day!

Thanks for the encouraging comments all. I've decided to stick with it and roll with the Lich. I do already see him being very effective at controlling the mobs that I tell him to attack.

I'll slot for -to-hit and see how things go. The good news is that once I get Forge, I can slap it on my Knights to make them even more effective in combat. That's something to look forward to as I gain a few more levels on my way to 32.

For what it's worth you can boost his damage a little by including the Cloud Senses proc (though admittably it's not the cheapest IO out there). It'll obviously not put the Lich on par with offensive tier 3s, but with 3 cones to proc from it can still add up.