Conquest of Elysium 5: Beginner’s Guide to the Necromancer Faction (Twiceborn Trick Explained)

In today’s guide, we’re going to break down how to play the Necromancer faction in Conquest of Elysium 5. This class can feel confusing and punishing if you don’t understand one vital mechanic:

If you don’t know how to use Twiceborn and manage insanity, your early game economy will suffer badly.
If you do understand it, the Necromancer completely transforms into a scalable, snowballing faction.

This post will walk you through:

Your starting position & resources
The correct early-game opening
How to use Twiceborn to fix insanity and create Corpse Mages
How to transition into mid game, find corpse-rich sites, and build armored undead
How to become a Vampire, and what to do with your Hands of Glory and major summons

Part 1 – Your Starting Position as the Necromancer

When you start a game with the Necromancer, you’ll almost always begin with:

A Dark Citadel
1 Gallows
1 Farm
A Necromancer (your main caster)
A Necromancer Apprentice

Your key resources are:

Gold – for recruiting regular troops and upgrading some units
Iron – for upgrading undead into armored variants
Hands of Glory – your critical resource for rituals, masteries, and big summons
Corpses – the true “currency” of the Necromancer; used for raising undead

Sometimes you’ll get lucky and start near something like an Old Castle Ruin, but don’t rely on that. The core gameplan works no matter what your start looks like.

Early Game Opening: First Few Turns

Step 1 – Gather Your Army

At the start, you’ll typically:

Select your main army at the Dark Citadel
Transfer all troops to your main commander

If you are not using any mods that boost your starting defenses, you may want to:

Leave 2–3 units behind to defend your Dark Citadel
Otherwise, an early scout or weak AI force might snipe your starting base

In the video example, I’m using a mod that gives extra starting defenses (ballistas), so I take everything. If you’re playing vanilla, be a little more cautious.

Step 2 – Move to the Gallows and Raise Dead

Your first move is almost always:

Move your stack onto the Gallows
Select your Necromancer Apprentice
Click Use Special Power → Raise Dead

Then end the turn, and:

Cast Raise Dead again next turn to squeeze out as many undead as possible early

This will:

Convert local corpses into Zombies, Solace, Longdeads, and possibly Longdead Bowmen
Bulk up your army with expendable chaff and some solid ranged support

You’ll notice that each time your Apprentice uses Raise Dead, their Insanity goes up.

Managing Insanity on Your Necromancers

When you hover over your Necromancer or Apprentice, you’ll see an Insanity value, for example:

Insanity: 10 → means a 10% chance they will be unable to act that turn

A few key points:

Insanity is the “cost” of using Raise Dead and certain rituals
Insane commanders sometimes skip their turn
Early on, if your Apprentice is traveling in the main stack, a little insanity doesn’t hurt much
Later, you’ll want a way to reduce or manage insanity, and that’s where the Twiceborn trick comes in

For now:

Use Raise Dead enough to bulk up your army
Don’t stress too much about a bit of insanity on the Apprentice

Step 3 – Start Expanding Safely

Once you’ve raised a decent number of undead (say ~30–40 units total):

Hit S to remove slow units if needed (so your army moves at a decent pace)
Start moving out to capture:
- Villages, towns, and small settlements
- Lightly defended sites where you have a clear numerical advantage

Example early choices:

A small town with 9 defenders versus your 38–40 units is usually safe
A site with a Siege Catapult or many strong defenders is not an ideal early target

What to Avoid Early On

Siege Weapons (Catapults, Ballistae)
- Any site that says “Strikes anywhere” can randomly kill your Necromancer or key casters
- Not worth the risk early, even if you outnumber the defenders
Strong casters or elite defenders
- If you see a Vampire, high-level mages, or heavily armored units early, skip them until you’re stronger

Instead, use weak enemy stacks (like Goblins or militia) as fodder – kill them, then Raise Dead on the battlefield to pull their bodies into your army.

Capturing Your First Port and Using Trade

Ports are especially valuable for the Necromancer because they often provide:

Hands of Glory per month
Trade income

For example, a Port might give:

+2 Hands of Glory
+2 Trade

Once you’ve captured a Port:

Open the Trade Administration screen
Decide how to use Trade:
- Convert Trade into Hands of Glory (recommended early)
- Or into Iron (more relevant once you’re upgrading undead)

Early on, I recommend focusing Trade on Hands of Glory, because:

You want to unlock Twiceborn and Ritual of Mastery quickly
That’s how you build your early-game ritual engine

The Critical Trick: Twiceborn on Your Apprentices

This is the single most important mechanic in this guide.

What is Twiceborn?

Twiceborn is a ritual that can only be cast in Citadels and Graveyards
For the Necromancer, the Dark Citadel is unique and extremely important
When a Necromancer or Apprentice with Twiceborn dies, they are reborn as a Corpse Mage

Why is this so powerful?

Because:

A Corpse Mage regains sanity every turn
At Necromancy Level 1, they might regain 1 sanity per turn
At Necromancy Level 2, they regain 2 sanity per turn

This turns your necromancers from:

“One-use, insanity-riddled casters”

into

“Self-recovering ritual batteries that can Raise Dead over and over again.”

How to Use Twiceborn Properly

Unlock Twiceborn
- Use Hands of Glory on your main Necromancer to unlock more rituals until you see Twiceborn
- Don’t spam high-tier rituals yet – focus on getting this engine online
Cast Twiceborn at the Dark Citadel
- Select your Necromancer Apprentice
- Move them to the Dark Citadel
- Use Special Power → Twiceborn

You’ll see a small icon indicating they’re now Twiceborn.

Deliberately Let the Apprentice Die
- Send the Apprentice into a battle where they are likely to die
- For example, a risky siege or a fight with dangerous enemies

When they die:

They will revive at the Dark Citadel as a Corpse Mage
Their Insanity will be much lower, and they will regain sanity each turn

Upgrading the Corpse Mage

Once you have a Corpse Mage:

Check their Necromancy Level (usually Level 1)
Use Ritual of Mastery on them

You’ll notice:

Ritual of Mastery may cost less on certain mages depending on prior rituals
After using it, your Corpse Mage becomes Necromancy Level 2
They gain stronger spells (e.g., Wither, Terror)
They now recover more insanity per turn

Repeat this process for all your Necromancer Apprentices:

Twiceborn → Death → Corpse Mage → Ritual of Mastery
Result: a battery of Corpse Mages who can raise undead endlessly without perma-locking themselves in insanity

⚠️ Do NOT do this with your main Necromancer.
Once they become a Corpse Mage, they can no longer become a Vampire or Lich later.

Why Keep Your Main Necromancer “Alive”?

Your main Necromancer is your:

Primary ritual unlocker
Future Vampire or Lich

If you turn them into a Corpse Mage, you lose access to those late-game forms.

So the plan is:

Use your main Necromancer to unlock rituals and eventually ascend
Use Apprentices → Twiceborn → Corpse Mages to do the heavy lifting of battlefield raising and repeated rituals

Transitioning to the Mid Game

By the time you reach mid game, you should have:

Several Corpse Mages
A few solid undead stacks (50–200 units)
A network of captured towns, ports, and resource sites
A decent monthly income of Hands of Glory

Now you’re ready to:

Use Dark Knowledge to find corpse-rich sites
Upgrade undead into armored variants
Capture key structures like Old Castle Ruins and Ancient Temples
Ascend your main Necromancer into a Vampire

Dark Knowledge: Finding Corpse-Rich Sites

To transition into the mid game, you’ll want:

Old Castle Ruins
Ancient Temples
Graveyards, Ancient Battlefields, and other sites with lots of dead bodies

This is where the ritual Dark Knowledge shines.

How to Use Dark Knowledge

Recruit a Necromancer Apprentice at a site (like an Old Castle Ruin)
Unlock their rituals until you get Dark Knowledge
Set them to Repeat Ritual → Dark Knowledge

What Dark Knowledge does:

Reveals random parts of the map where there are many corpses
Often points you to Old Castle Ruins, Graveyards, or other powerful sites

This gives you:

Scouting information
Targets for future expansion
High-value locations for raising huge undead armies or performing major rituals

Using Conversions: Armored Longdeads and Other Upgrades

On the Recruitment screen, scroll down to see Conversions:

Here, you can:

Convert Solace into Armored Solace
Convert Longdeads into:
- Armored Longdeads
- Bane Fire Archers
- Bane Bones

For most games, your default choice will be:

Armored Longdeads

Why?

They have 2 armor, a shield, and pierce resistance
They take reduced damage from ranged attacks, making them excellent frontliners
You can convert excess Iron into meaningful staying power for your undead army

In the example, I had:

Around 50 Armored Longdeads
Some Bane Bones for additional punch

This turns your early chaff into skilled, much harder to kill undead infantry.

Taking a Dark Castle (Example Siege)

Once you have:

A solid undead army (100–200 units)
Multiple Corpse Mages
Plenty of armored undead

You can start targeting sites like Dark Castles or other fortified locations.

In the example:

I left my main Necromancer behind because the defending mage had Plague and other nasty spells that could kill him
I sent in:
- A Captain to lead
- Two Corpse Mages as support casters
- A big undead army to overwhelm the defenders

After the battle:

We won
The Dracolich did most of the damage
We only lost minimal units
We picked up a nice item (Orb of Projection)

This is the mindset:

Use overwhelming numbers and expendable undead to take dangerous sites, while keeping your main Necromancer safe.

Becoming a Vampire: Your Mid–Late Game Power Spike

Once you control an Old Castle Ruin and have enough Hands of Glory, you’ll gain access to rituals like Blood Rite.

Blood Rite → Vampire

Using Blood Rite at the right structure allows your Necromancer to:

Transform into a Vampire

Vampire benefits:

Immortal – As long as the castle they’re bound to is not destroyed, they revive after death
Flying – Can move over terrain and reach settlements quickly
Powerful fighter – Can solo many enemy stacks and lightly defended settlements

In the example:

I used Blood Rite to transform my main Necromancer into a Vampire
Then I sent him alone to attack a defended site
He soloed the entire enemy force, demonstrating how strong Vampires are for expansion

From here on:

Your Vampire can fly around the map, quickly capturing settlements and expanding your economy
Your Corpse Mages can stay with big armies or sit on corpse-rich sites, raising undead and casting rituals

Major Summons and Other Necromancer Rituals

There are many other Necromancer rituals we haven’t gone into in full detail, but here are a few key points:

Major Summons

Once you have a steady flow of Hands of Glory, and you aren’t currently:

Creating more Corpse Mages
Creating more Vampires or preparing for Lichdom

then it’s usually a good idea to:

Spend excess Hands of Glory on Major Summons

These can give you:

Big monsters like Tartarian Spirits – giant, tanky map-clearers
Carrion units – immortal scouts great for grabbing undefended sites and revealing the map
Wraiths and other ethereal undead – powerful combatants, especially useful in late-game challenges

Raise Animals

If you control an Ancient Forest, the Raise Animals ritual can:

Give you powerful undead animals
Often stronger than generic humanoid undead from Raise Dead
Useful for frontline bulk and extra hitting power

Summary: The Necromancer Gameplan

To recap, here’s the beginner’s gameplan for the Necromancer:

Early Game
- Move to the Gallows and spam Raise Dead with your Apprentice
- Build an early army of undead chaff and longdead bowmen
- Capture villages, towns, and especially ports
- Use Trade → Hands of Glory to accelerate ritual unlocking
Twiceborn Engine
- Unlock Twiceborn on your main Necromancer
- Cast Twiceborn on Apprentices at the Dark Citadel
- Let those Apprentices die → become Corpse Mages
- Use Ritual of Mastery to upgrade them to Necromancy Level 2
- Never do this on your main Necromancer (you want Vampire/Lich later)
Mid Game
- Use Dark Knowledge to find corpse-rich sites (Old Castle Ruins, Graveyards, Temples)
- Convert Longdeads → Armored Longdeads using Iron
- Build large undead armies led by Corpse Mages
- Take stronger sites like Dark Castles with overwhelming force
Late Game
- Use Blood Rite (and similar rituals) to turn your main Necromancer into a Vampire
- Use the Vampire to fly around and rapidly expand
- Spend spare Hands of Glory on Major Summons (Tartarians, spirits, wraiths, etc.)
- Use your immortal and ethereal units to dominate the map

Final Thoughts & Call to Action

That’s the beginner’s guide to the Necromancer faction in Conquest of Elysium 5 and the Twiceborn insanity engine that makes the whole playstyle work.

If you found this guide helpful:

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Drop a comment and let me know:
- What faction or class you’d like me to cover next
- Your favorite and least favorite part of the Necromancer
- Any strategies you’ve discovered that I didn’t mention here

See you in the next one, and may your enemies feed your growing undead horde. 💀