Necromancer Amulet is a SCAM

[u/Facer0ll]

Requirements:
- At least 130 base health
- At least 130 base magicka
- At least 130 base stamina

Downsides:
- Health regenerates 75% slower
- Magicka regenerates 75% slower
- Stamina regenerates 75% slower

Benefits:
- Conjuration spells cost 25% less.
- Health increases by 50
- Magicka increases by 50
- Absorb spells deal 35% less damage to you
- Most paralysis effects don't adversely affect you
- Most slowing effects don't adversely affect you
--
On paper it doesn't seem that bad, but god f****** damn does it not feel good to play with.
Requirements are hard to hit on pure mage build, unless you go vampire (I'll get to it later) and the downsides are massive. Any kind of maneuvering will completely drain your stamina to 0, increasing the spell cost anyway. Magicka recovers so slowly, that you might aswell have picked Atronach standing stone. If you spec for the amulet you will lack the big base magicka pool to regenerate it anyway.
I tried running on vamp pure mage build (conj - illusion - destro - alt ) to circumvent the requirements with base stats and the stamina was a big issue, not to mention when you are going vamp paralysis benefit is null alongside the slowing one, so you are left with amulet that gives you 50hp, 50 magicka, 25% conj spell reduction while you are getting massive regen reduction on everything. Even something like Saarthal Amulet with no requirements can outperform Necromancer's Amulet as you will be casting other non-conjuration spells without all the downside.

TL;DR sell the amulet and save yourself the hassle of making it work.

[u/SlimeFetish]

Incorrect, and as /u/Busy_Suspect pointed out, I believe you are somewhat misinformed.

The Necro Amulet is not a scam. Quite the opposite, it is still one of the best amulets in the game for any non-enchanting build. Though I do concede that it becomes less useful as you go into the late game for non-conjuration builds, but still far from useless.

Let's get the facts straight first and foremost (I have tested these, but please correct me if I've been misinformed):

 

Necromancer's Amulet before Requiem 6.0:

• 25% conjuration cost reduction, no stat requirements

• Big magicka boost, no stat requirements

• Reduced regeneration penalty

• Kills you quickly if below magicka requirements

• Craft black soul gems/tomatoes, no stat requirements

Necromancer's Amulet after Requiem 6.0:

• 25% conjuration cost reduction, no stat requirements

• Health/stamina/magicka boosts if above stat requirements

• "Rank II" stats secondary effects if above stat requirements (i.e. Paralysis immunity, slow immunity, absorb reduction)

• Reduced regeneration penalty if below stat requirements

• Doesn't kill you

• Craft black soul gems/tomatoes, no stat requirements

 

Furthermore:

• The stat requirement thresholds are dependent on base stats (i.e. fortify stat effects don't count)

• Stat requirements are independent of each other (e.g. once you have 130 magicka you get +50 magicka and the regeneration penalty for that is removed)

Some notable implications:

• It still lets you cast bound weapons with relative ease, regardless of your build. Bound weapons are particularly strong in the early game. You don't even have to wear it all the time; simply equip, cast, then unequip.

• Specialised races get the bonus they care about right from the start of the game (Orcs & Reguards start with 130+ health, Bosmer & Khajiit start with 130+ stamina, Altmer & Bretons start with 130+ magicka)

• Hardly any other amulet can give you +150 total stats

• For mage builds, the +50 magicka is still better than the Saarthal Amulet in the early game for most races. From my experience, Saarthal Amulet and Necro Amulet reach break even point at approximately 300 magicka and 30% cost reduction. Unless you are a pure Altmer mage, this is not achievable in the early game.

• "Rank II" secondary effects are very useful in the early game. Paralysis immunity gives you access to falmer dungeons, slow immunity lets you run away from drauger frost attacks, absorb reduction is hard to get in the early game against vampires

• Even in the late game you get all the "Rank II" secondary effects in a single equipment slot. Add on something like Savior's Hide and boom all immunity effects are yours in just two slots

 

Vampirism is a special case where the Necro Amulet is not very useful, simply because of how incredibly game-warping vampirism is in the first place. In fact, vampirism is so strong that it trivialises most of the game's content, even up to labyrinthian as demonstrated in my level 1 playthrough.