Bake or Die Necromancer

Necromancer is Bake or Die’s 300 Gold Nugget summoner. You start with the Undead Staff, you absorb souls from the dead, and you spend those souls on allied zombies that hold space you would otherwise hold with your face. It ranks A on the class tier list, under Bombastica for raw clear and above kits that cannot put extra bodies in a doorway. It is not a budget buy. Gunslinger at 65 is still the S-tier you should own first.

The staff is not a secret sniper. Direct damage is not the point. The point is a second front line that does not need bandages, plus slightly better night visibility so you actually see the runner that was going to eat the generator. If you want explosions, pay 250 for Bombastica. If you want the night to fight itself, pay 300 here.

Undead Staff and souls

Every match with Necromancer equipped puts the Undead Staff in your hotbar. Kills and corpses feed a soul pool. Summon Undead spends that pool to spawn allied zombies. Those allies are your turret that walks. They peel the diner door, they eat hits that would have been yours, and they fail if you dump them into a boss the moment you have one soul.

Soul economy is the skill. Bank for a packed night instead of leaking singles into the parking lot. Level 3 doubles capacity, which is the difference between a pet and an army. Until then, think in small packs that refresh, not in a permanent undead parade. If a summon walks into barbed wire you placed, that is a you problem, not a perk problem.

You still need a personal answer for the one zombie that ignores the army. A $150 Revolver, a $200 butcher knife, or a teammate Gunslinger covers that. Do not sell the staff to fund an Exo Rifle. The class identity is the army. The rifle is a hobby.

Level perks

Level 1. Slightly increased visibility at night, plus Summon Undead. The vision perk is easy to ignore and then miss when you play Gunslinger again and walk into a runner. The summon is the class. Use it on the funnel, not as a flex in the desert at noon.

Level 2. Summoned zombies deal 20% more damage and have 20% more health. This is when the army stops being a distraction and starts winning lanes. If level 2 feels weak, you are summoning into open ground instead of a choke. Geometry still beats minion count; survive nights is the funnel lesson the staff cannot skip.

Level 3 — Undead Army. Soul capacity doubles and summoned zombies gain 5% speed. Double cap is the real headline. Speed is how they rotate from door to generator without arriving after the explosion. A level 3 Necromancer who never spends the extra souls is a 300 Nugget night-vision stick. Spend them.

Night visibility and diner math

The night vision is “slightly increased,” not a fullbright cheat. It is enough to pre-aim the alley and not enough to skip lights, mines, or a closed second door. Play the class like a dark Gunslinger who brought friends. Place summons where you would place an Auto Turret: on the one open funnel, not in four decorations.

Day phase still exists. Corpses that feed souls also feed pies. A Butcher teammate grinding ingredients is a gift; you get souls, they get trays. Bake enough Cash to keep a backup gun and turret ammo. Necromancer does not replace Technician. A walking army plus a planted turret is how A-tier looks like S-tier on a good squad.

Fire Zombies and other elites will dumpster a small pack. Do not spend the whole bar the instant an elite appears; peel with the staff, kite, and resummon after the elite is committed. Bombastica’s guaranteed Fire Zombie every night is a scheduled test of this habit if you share a server with one.

Bombastica vs Gunslinger vs this kit

Bombastica at 250 deletes clumps with pies and Overcharge. Necromancer at 300 occupies clumps with bodies. If your wipes are “too many in the door,” both work; Bombastica is faster and hungrier for oven time. If your wipes are “I cannot be in two places,” Necromancer is the kit that stands at the generator while you stand at the counter.

Gunslinger at 65 is not in this conversation as a rival. It is the prerequisite. Own the cheap S-tier, then spend 300 on an army if guns bored you or if solo nights still need extra HP that is not Juggernaut. Skipping Gunslinger to rush Necromancer is how people own a staff and no plan for the zombie that walks past the army.

Mad Scientist is the other summon-adjacent kit and it is login exclusive. Mutated Crawlers and a Hand Cannon are not a reason to wait. Wizard at 600 is spells, not minions. Doctor at 75 keeps your living teammates up; it does not keep summons up. Buy Doctor for squads, Necromancer for extra dead teammates.

How to spend the 300

Do not buy Necromancer as your first class. Do not buy it because the lobby model looks cooler than a Revolver. Buy it when you can already hold early nights, when 300 Nuggets will not delay Bombastica if you actually wanted Bombastica, and when you are willing to micro an army instead of holding M1. Level it to 3 before you call it mid. Level 1 Necromancer is a vision stick with a pet. Level 3 is why the row costs more than Gladiator and Doctor stacked.

Boss nights: send the army into adds, not into a single target that one-shots pets. You personally shoot or staff-peel the boss. Beat bosses lists the named fights; your job is to arrive with souls already banked, not to start absorbing during the enrage.

Souls on the staff are a second health bar for the diner. Spend them before the wave, not after the generator is already on fire. The 300 Nugget class only looks expensive until you watch a packed night bounce off an army you remembered to summon.