Its a cool niche item that became not so niche, so volvo just removed it. Necronomicon being too desirable might be the reason, so imo we could just make it less desirable for heroes who usually don't build Necro.
Here are some possible tweaks:
- Necronomicon starts with 0 summon charges and gains charges when an enemy hero dies nearby (like urn). After using a charge Necronomicon goes on CD and if through items or abilities the item CD gets refreshed or lowered, using the Necronomicon again while the existing summons are still alive will still expend a charge but will only relocate the current summons to the location of the caster. The idea is to discourage spamming Necrobook to Rat and Deward as well as to make CD reduction and Refresher inefficient on Necronomicon.
- Necronomicon Warrior Passive True sight is now an active ability with 24 second CD. The active ability allows the Necronomicon Warrior to see all invisible units and wards nearby for 12 seconds. This to nerf Necro Warrior's "free" gem, since it provides truesight over a large area with little risk to the caster which feels broken compared to other sources of true sight where there are clearly drawbacks.
- This part is probably bullsh*t but here goes. Instead of 2 sages masks Necronomicon buildup could include costlier and trashier small items like 2 robes of magi + 2 belts of strength + recipe. The idea is to discourage casual Necrobooks since not a lot of heroes want 2 robes each with matching belts similar to how Nullifier buildup sucks.