Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dyvim tvar »

Haagrum wrote:[Even the much-maligned Power of Darkness is decent if you plan for it


Truth.

It's a good spell to have if you are running a Warlock or Dark Rider bus in which the Sorceress can hide in rank 2.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dalamar »

Wait, which lore has the six-dice, battle's-over-let's-go-home spell?

Last game I played against Life wielding Empire, took dwellers twice, still won the game so it's not Life
It can't be Death or Shadow since I tests are funny for elves.
Metal? lose a third of unit on average and maybe lose a character makes it worse than dwellers against most targets so not that.

Hmm... maybe Dark Magic? Yeah, If you send the vortex aligned with multiple enemy units you can devastate entire battle plan.

Remember, *most* armies have higher I than S. Vortex spells, unlike Direct Damage ones, can easily affect multiple enemy units and then get in the way of movement and everybody knows games of warhammer are won and lost in the movement phase.
Sure, it won't kill characters as reliably as Death or Life but man, the overall effect on the enemy army that Dark Magic brings can be and is devastating.

It's a very dark elven lore. If you want to sit back and play it safe, don't take Dark. I learned that playing my two towers list where Dark proved to be inferior to Life.

But if you play the typical fast dark elf list filled with multiple small, but hard hitting units, Dark can mean the difference between fighting an uphill battle and a complete rout of the enemy.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Haagrum »

Fair call, Dalamar - I never said Dark Magic was bad, only that it lacks a real game-ending super-spell. There are ways to make units more resistant to Black Horror that simply don't work for other big spells.

Black Horror is good, but IMHO it is not in the same league as Purple Sun, Mindrazor or Final Transmutation (or Cacophonic Choir or the Dreaded 13th Spell, for that matter). It has the comparative advantage of being in a lore with several other high-threat spells to offset this relative disadvantage.

Purple Sun sucks against Elves and WOC, but it is a match-ending spell against quite a few armies - plus, you generate more power dice from it. Combined with Miasma (which can be guaranteed), it's a serious threat even to I5 troops. Casting Mindrazor on ASF Ld 8+ models with 2-3 attacks and rerolls means that unit deletes anything in its path without a decent ward save. Miasma + Pit can really hurt even Elves. Final Transmutation kills 1/3 of the target and then causes Stupidity tests in a large enough radius that it can break a battle line. I'll grant that Black Horror beats Dwellers because it hits multiple units, but you need a bit of luck to get movement disruptions from a vortex spell.

TL;DR - Dark Magic is good, but other lores have more specialised tools for certain jobs.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Cold73 »

Black Horror not as deadly as Purple Sun and other spells....
Hmm....I don;t think i will mention this to my WoC opponent anytime soon. ;-)

Last time he lost over half his horde of Nurgle Warriors due to Black Horror....
I will admit that the Black Horror was pure icing on the cake...
I wanted to make him think twice about charging my WE in the following turn...but only managed to reduce his S and T by 1....... of his 40 now S3 Nurgle Warriors...23 failed their Strength test and died.

But I'm sure you are right that it is not deadly ;-)
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by marcopollo »

An interesting thought experiment is what type of battle magic combos you would take on Morathi. She can choose to roll for spells from a combination of shadow, death, and dark giving +D3 to her casting.

In the last 3 games I took doombolt, spirit leach (she has ld 10) and two shadow spells (hoping to get either mindrazor or whithering, or pit of shades taking miasma in other cases).

In the context of this discussion, I am only taking one dark slot for her. Now I run an MSU list with a scroll cady and one unit of warlocks, so I can usually avoid tarpit hordes.

On the topic of the dark attribute, I usually forget about it, to be honest. With so many other things to remember, I can count atleast 4 times I've forgotten it after the phase in the last two games.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Haagrum »

Cold73 wrote:Black Horror not as deadly as Purple Sun and other spells....
Hmm....I don;t think i will mention this to my WoC opponent anytime soon. ;-)

Last time he lost over half his horde of Nurgle Warriors due to Black Horror....
I will admit that the Black Horror was pure icing on the cake...
I wanted to make him think twice about charging my WE in the following turn...but only managed to reduce his S and T by 1....... of his 40 now S3 Nurgle Warriors...23 failed their Strength test and died.

But I'm sure you are right that it is not deadly ;-)


I'm not sure what parts of "Black Horror is good" and "Purple Sun sucks against Elves and WOC" were apt to be misunderstood.

In the same scenario, if a 2-point Initiative-reducing Miasma had been used before Purple Sun, you would have done comparable casualties and scored yourself another 6-8 power dice, on average. If you'd put Mindrazor on the Witch Elves, I'm sure he wouldn't have charged them.

If the Soulblight/Word of Pain + Black Horror combination goes off, it's pretty good. I'm surprised that your opponent (1) let both spells through, (2) allowed you to position so as to get 40 Warriors hit by Black Horror, and (3) didn't take some magic resistance for such a large unit (unless the position in your local area is that MR doesn't work against Black Horror).

But since this is descending into :badh: territory...

Haagrum wrote:TL;DR - Dark Magic is good, but other lores have more specialised tools for certain jobs.


However, reasonable minds (and anecdotal evidence) may differ on this point.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dalamar »

Which is what makes Dark Magic so good in essence.

You will never end up with a selection of spells that will make you go "ok... nothing I can really use"

At Buckeye Battles I faced metal wizards three times. Heaviest armor in my list was 4+ on dark riders... Lets just say magic didn't kill a lot.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Red... »

Well, thanks for all the comments guys :) I've learned a lot and understand more of the nuances of dark magic. I can, particularly, can see more utility for word of pain now. I appreciate folks discussing the issue in depth and for making such well thought out and evidence supported arguments. All excellent stuff! That said, I have to say, Dark still just doesn't do it for me.

To start off, yes, dark magic is always usable. That's because its primarily direct damage spells, which are always handy, but they lack the awesome power of buffs and hexes that other lores posses. But I'll get back to that. Before that, I want to address some of the omissions from my original post, so I'll do that here:

- Benefit of +1 to cast. Yes, that's very nice and useful in some ways, but personally I'd rather have a lore that I want than taking one I don't just to get this boost.
- Being able to pick a single spell with the Tome of Furion: I'm never realistically going to use this - there are so many better arcane items out there (dispel scroll and staff of sorcery to name just two). I also generally find that my level 4 rolls at least one duplicate when generating spells, which gives her this ability effectively for free, without the need to waste her arcane item slot.
- Being able to hurt the enemy with the lore attribute: You're having a laugh right? The possibility of doing any damage with this attribute is so remote that its basically a ton of text to remember for no reason. If you get a double or a triple then you get to inflict a random amount of S1 hits against the enemy unit you targeted, with AP. Right then, so I have to get lucky on my casting dice, then roll 6s to wound even goblins, and then they get an armour save with just a -1 armour save modifier. Even ambushing beastmen units have more chance of doing damage than this thing...

Okay, so back to the spells issue.

The thing is, when it boils down to it, there are so many more preferable spells out there. Sure, with lore of darkness I can chuck out a few chill winds, doom bolts, and soul stealers and and do some damage to enemy chaff, but I would much rather have toughness 5 (or 7) regenerating blackguard who are regrown after dying (lore of life). I could even cast black horror (keeping my fingers crossed that I don't roll that misfire and obliterate my own mostly low strength army) to try to do some significant damage to my opponent, but I would much rather buff a unit of witch elves or corsairs with mindrazor (or hex their enemies with the withering) and watch them slice them into ribbons, before running them down (lore of shadow). I could even boost my wizard's unit with +1 strength, but I would rather buff either my wizard's unit or one nearby to it with +1 strength AND +1 from toughness (lore of beasts). I could try to shake my enemy's resolve with shroud of despair, but I would far rather prefer to fry them with final transmutation and then watch every unit within 12" take stupidity tests (lore of metal).

And that, for me is the kicker. Other lores have better spells which deliver more effective results. Lore of darkness is primarily damage based, which is far less preferable in my opinion to hexes and buffs, with Word of Pain and Shroud of Despair thrown in as sort of consolation prize nods towards the possibility of other options. If I wanted to run around using a bunch of un-inventive damage spells, I would go with lore of fire and be done with it. It's disappointing because fluffwise they could have made a lot more out of lore of darkness than they have.

At Buckeye Battles I faced metal wizards three times. Heaviest armor in my list was 4+ on dark riders... Lets just say magic didn't kill a lot.

I've made this point before, but it's worth repeating here anyway (sorry for the digression): lore of metal is not primarily an anti-heavy armour lore anymore. It hasn't been since the moment 8th was released (the continued prevailing belief that it is continues to baffle me). Of the seven spells in the lore, only two are actually limited to hurting heavily armoured foes (searing doom and ghenna's hounds), while the others do radically different things (glistening scales is an armour buff, enchanted blades of aiban is an attack buff, plague of rust is an armour save permanent hex - which is equally good against lightly armoured units as heavily armoured ones and only loses effectiveness against units with no armour save at all, which is actually fairly rare in warhammer fantasy - transmutation of lead is a cross characteristic hex, and final transmutation is a mass killer which hurts heavily armoured elites and lightly armoured hordes in equal quantities). I run metal regularly and always find that enemy armies have at least one or two units with a 4+ armour save or better, which I can use searing doom against if I get stuck with it, but the other spells are all useful regardless of my opponent.

That said, I'm glad that others get use out of lore of darkness - the more variation we have in our community the better it is for our opponents, ourselves, and the game. So let the free and frank disagreement continue - I won't tell Malekith on you, I promise... ;)
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Cold73 »

@Red well spoken....and I'm glad we can agree to disagree on something. ;-)

So far I've always had a love for Dark Magic simply because it gives me a threat in every phase of the battle.
I do agree that the lore attribute isn't much....but you don't want to know how many times the lore attribute helped my Doombolt to get the last wound of a warmachine when i roll bad in the first case...or even remove the last one or 2 archers when doombolt fails to kill all 10 of them.... but i do agree those are just lucky saves...and you cann't rely on luck.

I will try Lore of Life a few times more...so far it has done very little to me... Dwellers Below is hard to get off....and the rest of the spells only protect one of my units in combat...while the others are unprotected.... But as promised I will try...and will probably step away from my mostly MSU list when i do so.

I've used lore of Shadow so much in the last edition...i really needed something with a bit more challange.... Shadow came so naturally to me that playing with it was no longer interesting.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dalamar »

Red...
The spells you're describing as ones you'd rather use... are from what? 3 different lores of magic? Do you normally use that many wizards?

I've had quite a few games with Life using my two towers and I figured out something important. In more than one occasion I wanted my magic to be more aggressive, to help me dicfate the flow of the fame. Life can't do that.

As for metal and low armor, look above. Without high armor targets, metal suddenly becomes a lore easy to prioritize dispelling against. So what you will cast transmutation and glittering robe? I know your other spells are pretty much useless so I don't have to worry about them.

For Death magic, spells are split into early game and late game spells, again making dispel prioritizing rather easy.

And shadow? Aside from miasma shadow is just a difficult lore to cast.

Dark magic? Combines miasma and enfeebling foe into one spell and is easier to cast boosted than even one shadow equivalent? Yes please!
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Daeron »

I haven't had that many games with the Lore, but I must say I really enjoyed using it (in a non competitive environment). I tend to pair up my level 4 Dark Magic Sorceress with 2 units of 5 Warlocks and a two tower list, which gives me 2 heavy combat units that fight their fights pretty damn well on their own.


Power of Darkness
I'll only swap to this spell on a level 4 in a large battle against a combat focused enemy. It's not something I like to rely on, but I will use it when my Sorceress ends up in combat, to get out of it. Most of all, I'll take when the other spells are lackluster.

Doombolt, la creme de la creme.
The fact this is a signature spell is perhaps the single most important argument in favour of this Lore for me. It's one of the top answers against what I fear the most: monsters, chariots, mobile troops that can't get caught so easily.

Chill Wind
Used it only once. I'd consider it against Wood Elves and Empire but I didn't face them lately. Against Dwarves the low strength makes it ridiculously weak.

Word of Pain
The unboosted version should have been three points cheaper to cast to be in line with other lores and usable for a level 2. It could have read "reduce BS or WS" since it's extremely unlikely you'll benefit from both anyway... yet we're paying for it.
Aside from that, I love it. It's miasma and enfeebling in one. It has uses before combat, and in combat it ensures a quick victory. The spell just works.

Shroud of Despair
I've only had limited success with it so far, having never succeeded in a leadership bomb. But then I rarely needed to so far.

Bladewind
It's not brilliant.. I usually have other priorities but I might keep it around against some opponents, including shooting units.

Soul Stealer
I seriously dislike the new mechanics. Too much rolling and checking for a mediocre spell. I bothered casting this only once so far but that's also because my Sorceress rarely was in danger (my troops chew through the enemy rather quickly).

Black Horror
I cast it only a couple of times and struggle with it, but I struggle with Vortexes in general (cast 3 purple suns once with only 3-4 kills against Dwarfs).

------

So why would I pick this lore over another? Because with a level 4 it's likely to give me the two spells I like the most: Doombolt and Word of Pain. All the rest is mediocre, but nice to have.
Doombolt really helps me out so much it's unbelievable, and it makes the Lore infallible. Yes, I like it that much.

It might be the result of a very limited metagame that's dominated by Elves (High and Dark) and Dwarfs, with the occasional Chaos Warriors, Daemons, Wood elves and beastmen.
I rarely saw the need to take another lore than Dark Magic since the new book.

Vs Lore of Metal
I like lore of metal. More importantly, it's a lore I want to love and like but unfortunately it failed me miserably quite a couple of times. Searing Doom is rarely cost effective, and this immediately weighs on the Lore as a whole.
I regularly end up with rubbish spells, which are severely limited by range (and the boosted versions narrow you down to one or two spells unless you get lucky) and applicability.

For this Lore to work, I need a lot of spells in it to open my options but Tome of Furion is no longer available. Now I would dare only to use it on a Level 4... Which I should try again one of these days, I suppose.

Vs Lore of Life
I simply haven't played this lore a lot. Last time I did, I felt I lacked options. It didn't translate so easily to results for me. It's something I have to work on.

Vs Lore of Shadow
This would be its biggest competitor, I think. The Lore of Shadow rarely disappoints me, thanks to Miasma but I haven't found any particular reason to pick this one over Dark Magic. I do like Pit of Shades but it's a bit limited in use. Mindrazor is amazing, but Word of Pain usually does the job. It's definitely a Lore I'd try again.

Vs Lore of Death
I should probably go to tournaments and watch how it is used, because I don't seem to get it :D
I struggle with the purple sun, and the rest "works but never makes wonders happen". I should try it on a dark steed mounted Sorceress some day. I just never bothered, since Dark always worked out on foot for me.

Vs Lore of Beasts
Not tried it with my Dark Elves yet. It looks promising but feels wrong :)
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by T.D. »

Daeron wrote: I should try it on a dark steed mounted Sorceress some day. I just never bothered, since Dark always worked out on foot for me.


Or on a Peggie. This is where the fun resides :D
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by dms505 »

I agree with most of Dalamar's assessments. While Dark doesn't have the best of every type of spell, it has a slightly lesser version of MOST of the best spell types out there. It's the options of our two or 3 favorite battle magic lores combined into 1 lore. It's a rare occasion where I find there is a no decent spell choice with Dark. I find this to happen more often with Shadow (not in combat, or need to 6 dice it) or Death (low range, single target).
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dalamar »

Currently I rate dark magic in 3rd position.
Right after lore of slaanesh in 2nd
And lore of hashut in 1st.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Gidean »

Cold73 wrote:+1 for Dark Magic

Since most of the spells have been very well explained now, I don;t think i have to add anything to that.
Well written comments everyone.



Literally. +1 Makes our level 4s into level 5 so to speak. :)
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Watchmaster »

I've used Dark in twelve games so far, and haven't found reason to drop it. Most valid points have already been made, but I thought I might as well throw in my experiences so far. The context here is: Lower point games, monster/chariot heavy MSU list, sorceress on foot with level varying between 2 and 4. Occasionally I'll take the Tome. Opponents have been a pretty even mix across the board.

Power of Darkness- Haven't used it. She's with a RXB unit, and they're not too keen on CC. Doesn't seem too promising, though.

Doombolt- Spectacular. Range is a little short, cost is a bit high, and the boosted version is indeed a trap; that said, I've killed an obscene amount of models with this spell. I'll almost always drop something for it. Sorts gyrocopters right out, and that's a big deal to me.

Chillwind- I've found this suprisingly useful. There's a lot of rival elves in my meta, and they all seem to be packing bows or rxbs to varying degrees. Killing a few and lowering their shooting for a 5+ casting value is very handy, and I appreciate the extra range since my caster has limited mobility. If facing Wood Elves, I'll sometimes take this over Doombolt, depending on what they're fielding. It lowers their ballistic skill instead of giving a minus to hit, so it'll still affect true flight arrows or tomb king archers.

Word of Pain- This is it. If I'm using a lvl 2, it's worth the cost of the tome to guarantee getting it. With the boosted version, I've ground down and broken Skullcrushers, Longbeards, Savage Orc Biguns, and other nasty units that should have blown through my guys in a turn. It's as close as I want to come to a "WIN" button.

Bladewind- I see the potential, but haven't had any luck so far. Every time I've rolled it, I'm facing massed WS5 T4 guys, and I've never gotten it at the same time as WoP.

Shroud- Never tried casting it. On foot at the back of the lines, I'm usually not close enough to make it worth it.

Soul Stealer- This is my Bretonnian slayer, which is important, as everyone seems to have collected them at my store. I know anecdotal evidence is suspect, but I've been able to punch huge holes in lances before they ever get across the table, ignoring their good armor without activating the extra ward save. On foot, I really appreciate the great range of the boosted version.

Black Horror- Never tried it.

Lore attribute- Nothing to complain about; tacks on some free damage here and there. The thing that kills high toughness stuff, in my experience, is quantity of hits, not quality, and I've put a surprising amount of wounds on critters with this. The nice thing is, it will occasionally force the enemy to try and dispel something they wouldn't otherwise, for fear of that final wound getting through and slaying their tree man or whatever. I know I've lost a ton of wounds on my stonehorn to it, probably 1-2 per game. It's like they get a free Soul Quench cast on him, in addition to whatever else the actual spell did.

At the end of the day, I know I can guarantee two great spells if I take Dark and the Tome on a level 2. Doombolt and WoP have carried the battle many times for me.

I agree with Dalamar that the lore is better served from a mobile platform, but it's been going well enough so far. Once I get my sorceress on steed model done, she'll take Dark and this one will get Shadow, Heavens, Metal, or Beasts.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Scyloc »

Just a couple of comments regarding some of our Dark Magic spells:
Chillwind:
If you compare Chillwind to the standard #1 1d6 S4 hit spells. Its actually very good. Its slightly better vs T3 shooters. Worse vs T4 shooters. But much better vs high T targets like warhachines, but also monsters/chariots etc. For a very cheap spell, its actually not that bad. Great vs Elves.

Bladewind:
Its cheap! While its not very good vs elves and WoC, vs mostly everything else its a decent spell to throw on opponents wizard bunker. When your throwing Bladewind vs a unit of damaged wizards (1w left), it suddenly becomes a very decent threat. For a very cheap cost.
The spell is really hurt by the fact that it lacks in effectiveness vs elves.

Shroud:
Damn that range. This spell/lore would have been so much better if it had been a 24" one unit -1 lds debuff with no Ins Pres and Hold your ground. Its too situational right now.

Soulstealer:
S2 really hurts. And the scatter. It would have been much better if it just wounded everything on 5+ or 4+. Or perhaps as a direct damage spell with 24" range and 2d6 S2/3 no as hits, regain wounds on 4+.

All in all a good lore, with a great combination of spells, if only a couple of them were slightly better. Doombolt shines though.

Personally i havnt used Dark as a main lore much. This is primarily because Warlocks grant access to Soulblight and Doombolts, which gives so much versatility to our magic phase. Shadow, Death, Life with garanteed magic missiles and combat debuffs are just a great combinations. Or even metal (even though im not a fan) or light.

When you allready have 2 warlock units, dark doesnt give much extra.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by marcopollo »

It is also important to distinguish the hierarchy of your sorceress/warlocks. The role of a level 4 is much different than a scroll caddy. Dark on a level 4 is fine. You get a variety of good spells. There are better lores for a lv 4 in my opinion.

On a lv 1 or 2, I am not so sure that dark is worth it. PoD is not something I need from my caddy (sword of anti heros - black amulet is good -- but that is only for lords). Doombolt I get with warlocks -- although good damage potential, range is a drawback. The other spells are dice dependent.

On lv2 I like life for healing/protection in two tower lists. I like fire/shadow on MSU lists.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by dms505 »

Dark on a level 4 is fine. You get a variety of good spells. There are better lores for a lv 4 in my opinion.


I agree here. I think using a lvl 2 with Dark and the tome is solid and will always be worth it being able to choose a spell. It's like taking a lvl 1 for Wyssan's but you can choose a better spell up the ladder. If you had to choose 2 spells to take they would probably be Bolt and Word of Pain. Done.

Level 4's are better with Metal, Life or other lores with other 6 dice spells.

In general you can get 2 spells per turn if your lucky. Word or bolt are great for a single choice at 3 dice and then the rest go to the lvl 4 for the option of 1 big spell or a couple small ones.
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Crowmire »

My personal thoughts are that it's a good lore, but with lack of augment spells,it requres units that can manage on their own.

When the new models came out I just bought some kits, many of which I used as bitz. That means I play alot with stuff that were good in last edition and decent in the current, like corsairs, shades, black guard. I don't have hordes of witches or executioners. So my choice has been lore of beasts, i really like that lore. Shadow is alternative, but I played that with previus book so much I prefer the beasts for a change.
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Gidean
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Gidean »

All I know is that boosted Doombolt is usually a waste of 6 dice when you use Warlocks. !mad!
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Akholrak
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Akholrak »

Gidean wrote:All I know is that boosted Doombolt is usually a waste of 6 dice when you use Warlocks. !mad!


Why do you think this? I have done some significant damage with the 4D6 Doombolt added with the 2D6/3D6 hits from the attribute only to take no damage in return from the miscast. Against some targets, I think the potential of the spell can really psych your opponent out.
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Dalamar
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Dalamar »

Because casting a doombolt on 6 dice with warlocks has roughly
3.5 per die x6 = 21 + level 2 wizard = 23

less than 50% chance of successful cast.

Hence more often than not you end up wasting 6 dice. Then the times you succeed but without IF it can be dispelled.

But if you happen to get it off successfully then you average 14 S5 hits, which depending on a target can:
Reduce a unit to manageable size
Kill an important single model
Do nothing.

For a 24 to cast spell. It is utterly not worth it unless you're desperate.
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Akholrak
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Akholrak »

I must just have some good rolling then as the times I have attempted to cast the boosted version I have usually succeeded in getting it off and causing a modest amount of damage to my opponent. Also, against the right target(s), those additional hits can do damage too. Sometimes they'll add nothing, others, they might just drop the last wound on the target you intended to kill. I can see the math behind your point, but in my experience it has rarely proved wasteful.
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Haagrum
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Re: Is lore of darkness any good? I would contend not...

Post by Haagrum »

A further comment on Power of Darkness: in a low-dice magic phase, this can be a great tactical spell.

Yesterday I was in a local tourney (1250pts) and was casting POD on one dice with my level 4. It failed to work twice out of 8 or so attempts. The remaining times, my opponents were throwing multiple dice at stopping it (they generally had level 1 or 2 mages). When the total number of dice was below 7, this was a big deal, since the spell either went off and gave me a large PD advantage, or my opponent blew a couple of dice dispelling it, with the same result. The risk from Not Enough Power was minimal since there were 5 Warlocks in the army as well.

Having more or less gamed my opponents into not dispelling POD after three turns, a late successful cast meant my Corsairs unit was comfortably able to dislodge a unit of Leadbelchers from a building (by slaughtering them all in one turn).

TL, DR: Power of Darkness has reasonable tactical utility beyond the mere +1 Strength bonus.
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