Using Malekith

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Mikael.k
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Using Malekith

Post by Mikael.k »

Has any of you guys used malekith in your games? I´d be intrested in hearing how he has worked for you and in what type of army he would be best in :) He´s expensive, but kinda fun to combine a fighter and level 4. That 2++ save vs non-magical attacks does have its uses.
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Akholrak
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Akholrak »

I have played Malekith a few times with moderate success. What I like is he adds a lot to magic and to combat. The Supreme Spellshield I found is a great deterrent for opponents to not cast spells on the unit and the Circlet of Iron allows you to one dice a spell or two with little risk of Not Enough Power and dispel opponents spells easier.

In combat, Destroyer can get rid of magic weapons, although it is not a guarantee. 4 S5 attacks with Eternal Hatred and Murderous Prowess is respectable and can be buffed to S6 with Power of Darkness.

I only ran him on foot in a unit of Black Guard (it was a fluffy list), but I'm sure running him in Cold One Knights is also a viable option.

Be careful of combat characters with magic weapons. Whilst Destroyer can get rid of them, it isn't reliable, and if he fails to kill them then they have a fair shot of taking out your general and Lv4.
Last edited by Akholrak on Sun Nov 02, 2014 5:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mikael.k
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Mikael.k »

Was thinking that lore of dark magic can really boost Malekiths wounds (soulstealer?) and hex the hell out of them with word of pain :)
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Akholrak
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Akholrak »

The spell set up I like to go for is Power of Darkness, Doombolt, Word of Pain and Black Horror. Power of Darkness to increase Strength in combat and the additional dice to fuel the magic phase. Doombolt to handle enemy chaff, Chariots, Monsters etc. Word of Pain requires little explanation. Now, Soul Stealer is great to get additional Wounds, but I find it can be really difficult to gain many Wounds. I think I have gained about 4 altogether. I find it to be too situational to really have a major impact.
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Red...
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Red... »

Never played him, but:
That 2++ save vs non-magical attacks does have its uses.

It also means he can pretty much insta-killed by any remotely half decent enemy character wielding a magic weapon. Even with a 1+ armor save, an enemy lord with a high strength magic weapon is going to slice and dice him up pretty quickly

My other difficulty with him (besides the high cost) is that he has a slightly schizophrenic role: as a combat lord, you want him to be up front and central, getting stuck into melee stuff. But as a magic caster, you want him away from combat, to prevent being killed and to allow him full LOS for all of his spells. It's the same problem I have with Morathi. I'd much rather take a combat dreadlord and a backfield magic caster than try to combine the two.
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Haagrum
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Haagrum »

At the risk of shameless self-promoting... There's a theoryhammer tactics article for 8th ed Malekith in the DRAICH.

I've yet to use Malekith in a competitive match, but he's an excellent all-round choice. Sadly, that generalist ability comes at the expense of being a stand-out in any single respect (although he's a brutal CC fighter). Nevertheless, his abilities and items make him dangerous in every part of the game and he can be very hard to kill if he destroys magic weapons or puts a few wounds on with Soul Stealer. If Destroyer neutralised your choice of item, he'd be almost unstoppable.
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Omnichron
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Omnichron »

I've not used him myself, but watched a friend test him for a future turnament.

You can really benefit from using him in a cold one knights unit and the signature spell that gives you +1S. Having that spell together with some of the other dark lore spells (focused on close combat) and two units of Warlocks, you should have enough magic for close combat at least.

The problem I see with Malekith is that he is voulnerable to magical attacks... sure, if you manage to dispel an attempt to snipe him or use other magic on him/his unit, there will be a possible dead enemy sorceress. However, there will be times where you don't have what you need to dispel such spells, and then he might be about 600 pts wasted (and +100 for general). Also, with the meager S5, he won't be very good at some of the worst cheese chars or units out there. Everything demonic will kill him, as well as screams from VC too...

IMO, if you want a good special char, go for Morathi. Hellebron might be worth it too (although I've always wanted Morathi before Hellebron).
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Mikael.k
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Mikael.k »

Seems like opinions vary here :) I shall check out the tactics in DRAICH.
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Babnik
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Babnik »

in France, we see more and more tourney with special characters, compulsory as General choice!

Then I was fortunate to field our lord, the witch king, in 2 big tourneys recently. And he rocks!

Mounted on his Cold One, secured in a 12 strong unit of CoK. He will dominate most of magic phase thanks mainly to his extra power/dispel dice, after rolling! It is a huge asset to his magical capability (when played smartly of course).

And his shield makes the unit, worth over 400pts, a real anti-magic bunker. So great VP denial unit.

I never lost it in 10 games. Just make sure to pick wisely the close combat and have a champion or +4 ward save-BSB in the same unit to take care of risky challenge.
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Thraundil
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Thraundil »

Babnik wrote:in France, we see more and more tourney with special characters, compulsory as General choice!

Then I was fortunate to field our lord, the witch king, in 2 big tourneys recently. And he rocks!

Mounted on his Cold One, secured in a 12 strong unit of CoK. He will dominate most of magic phase thanks mainly to his extra power/dispel dice, after rolling! It is a huge asset to his magical capability (when played smartly of course).

And his shield makes the unit, worth over 400pts, a real anti-magic bunker. So great VP denial unit.

I never lost it in 10 games. Just make sure to pick wisely the close combat and have a champion or +4 ward save-BSB in the same unit to take care of risky challenge.


Do you have any experience with facing hypermobile death starts who might be able to break the unit via static CR? I love your comment on the magic durability of knights... One of my main concerns with knights is their squishyness. But put Male-boy in there, and that becomes a non issue. Hmm. Food for thought :D
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Babnik
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Babnik »

Thraundil wrote:
Babnik wrote:in France, we see more and more tourney with special characters, compulsory as General choice!

Then I was fortunate to field our lord, the witch king, in 2 big tourneys recently. And he rocks!

Mounted on his Cold One, secured in a 12 strong unit of CoK. He will dominate most of magic phase thanks mainly to his extra power/dispel dice, after rolling! It is a huge asset to his magical capability (when played smartly of course).

And his shield makes the unit, worth over 400pts, a real anti-magic bunker. So great VP denial unit.

I never lost it in 10 games. Just make sure to pick wisely the close combat and have a champion or +4 ward save-BSB in the same unit to take care of risky challenge.


Do you have any experience with facing hypermobile death starts who might be able to break the unit via static CR? I love your comment on the magic durability of knights... One of my main concerns with knights is their squishyness. But put Male-boy in there, and that becomes a non issue. Hmm. Food for thought :D


Well, when I mean using Malekith in a CoK unit, obviously it was not the only unit of my army. Malekith become interesting from 3000pts only. So ranks are also included with 40-strong spearmen with banner of swiftness on the flank and many harpies units just behind to redirect or to deal with opponents warmachines.
Also 4 reapers can help a lot to deal with hypermobile units.

So YES I have experience.

P.S: Concerning squishyness, may I remind you that's the main weakness for DE. You have to deal with it anyway. And at least Cok have 2+ save.
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Lord Zarox
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Lord Zarox »

Anyone else tried our liege lord on a black dragon yet? I used him at 2000 (just because I can) the other day against dwarfs, which I know is not ideal since he is a MASSIVE points sink, but it was more of a fun battle. However I made a few crucial mistakes with him

1. For starters, I was playing against dwarfs - an army with copious amounts of magical high S shooting
2. I was too passive with him and pretty much did nothing with him for the first 2 turns in an endeavour to avoid the organ guns :O whilst my vanguards tried to deal with them, allowing him to get crippled beyond combat usefulness (but not killed) by the dwarf cannon.
3. I didn't take soul stealer which, despite its poor accuracy, is extremely useful for keeping Malekith alive. 3 wounds is very few as far as 500+pts lords (with no universal ward saves) go.

Basically I got absolutely 'hammered' by the dwarfs - Malekith (and most of the rest of my army) was killed by the organ guns - as his gyros and organ guns stopped literally all my chaff from getting to his war machines and I was running 4 vanguarding units! I still think running Malekith on a black dragon has some potential. I think the key is just to slam him into the closest enemy unit without magical attacks as fast as possible, and basically keep him in combat as often as possible so he can't be shot at or magicked to death.
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Kaleth stinson
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Re: Using Malekith

Post by Kaleth stinson »

I'm using Mally for an upcoming tournament next weekend. I'm a tournament player that likes to bring the best and unusual lists I can. The only reason I have mally this time and not the far superior Morathi, is because of the harsh Giant Fanatic comp.

I'm bringing a deathstar consisting of 15 CoK FC with AP banner, Mally and Bsb on Co GW and 4++. After playing some games with him I have concluded that Dark magic is perfect for a CoK bus.

Summary: Mally might be a viable choice if you have the comp that favors him.
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