Best weapon for Dreadlord?

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Columind
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Best weapon for Dreadlord?

Post by Columind »

I was wondering what is your usual choice of magic weapon for your dreadlord.

I usually use him on a black dragon, and used to just give him a lance, until I understood the need for a magical weapon when I played ethereals...

I like the concept of the chill blade...but it doesn't work that well agains high toughness opponents (like dwarf lords, LZ, etc)

Sword of ruin is nice, but expensive...

Heartseeker seems a bit useless...too bad.

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Post by Dalamar »

Whip of Agony when deathpiercer goes to hunter noble
If FAQ allows for Null Talisman and another talisman then my dreadlord will have sword of might instead to free up points for the Null Talisman
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Post by Bounce »

I would go for the Deathpiercer. You still get your high strength from the lance, but now it is magical and with Killing Blow you can take down those tough enemy heroes like Dwarves and Vampires.
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Post by - human »

I like the crimson death, but it has to be paired with some kind of magical armour or protection due to the lack of shield carrying.

Whip of agony does look interesting though...

I think weapons like sword of ruin, heartseeker, etc. can be paired with the potion of strength for a really nasty combo.

Sorry I couldn't give you a more direct answer!
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Post by Dalamar »

But with deathpiercer on your dreadlord you're risking quite a chunk of points if that killing blow charge fails.
Master with deathpiercer has almost the same chance of getting that KB and in case he fails nothing is really lost.
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Post by Dggrj »

Dalamar wrote:But with deathpiercer on your dreadlord you're risking quite a chunk of points if that killing blow charge fails.
Master with deathpiercer has almost the same chance of getting that KB and in case he fails nothing is really lost.
So your strength goes down in subsequent rounds, but you keep KB on your attacks, which remain magical, so you still have a greater chance of getting KB over time, and it's only 25 points. He's likely got something massive between his legs, or a solid COK unit backing him up, so I've found it to be pretty nice. Effect for points, IMO, really hard to beat. Why not give the hunter noble the normal lance so that even less is lost when he is?
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Post by Minsc »

On a Dragonrider I usually have Crimson Death.

My Dragon usually get's "stuck in" (especially vs Dwarves), so keeping the Dreadlord at S6 in subsequent turns of closecombat is vital for me.
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Re: Best weapon for Dreadlord?

Post by Emal »

Columind wrote:I was wondering what is your usual choice of magic weapon for your dreadlord.

I usually use him on a black dragon, and used to just give him a lance, until I understood the need for a magical weapon when I played ethereals...

I like the concept of the chill blade...but it doesn't work that well agains high toughness opponents (like dwarf lords, LZ, etc)

Sword of ruin is nice, but expensive...

Heartseeker seems a bit useless...too bad.

Talk to me.


Since my main oponent is daemons and vampires i dont have to rely that much on high strenght, just trying to take down as many models as possible, and therefore i usaly take the hydra blade combined with the pedant of kaleth and the potion of strenght followed up by placing him on a cold one inside a unit of 5 knights with a warbanner.

This gives a solid unit that can be uterly devestating on the charge as well as being durable, and having a potential 7 attacks on the dreadlord + one for the cold one he is able to chew through units efectivly.
When he faces greater daemons or vampire lords on the other hand he is forced to pop open that potion in order to be able to take down a f´wound or 2 from those nasty buggers, if he fails to kill them at least he can survive with the pedant and rely on the rest of the knights for combat resolution (killing things and warbanner)

This is my favorite.

But if i face high elves i usaly take the blade of ruin, pedant of kaleth, enchanted shield and a cold one (I realy like cold ones)
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Post by HERO »

Minsc wrote:On a Dragonrider I usually have Crimson Death.

My Dragon usually get's "stuck in" (especially vs Dwarves), so keeping the Dreadlord at S6 in subsequent turns of closecombat is vital for me.


If you want a killy Lord, Crimson Death is the best choice imo. But if you take Crimson Death, you kinda have to take Armor of Darkness or else he'll only have Heavy Armor + Cloak.

But then again, if you're using him to hunt other heroes, you probably won't need anything other than Pendant of Khaeleth.
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Post by Minsc »

If you want a killy Lord, Crimson Death is the best choice imo. But if you take Crimson Death, you kinda have to take Armor of Darkness or else he'll only have Heavy Armor + Cloak.


Crimson Death, Armour of Eternal Servitude, Pendant of Khaeleth.
Combined with a Seadragon cloak, he has a 4+/ Reverse /Reg save. 2+ Armour vs shooting. (He has a shield, wich he obviously doesn't use in CC.)

I'd say thats enough, who needs Armour of Darkness? ;)
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Post by HERO »

Too many points for my taste :)

But yeah that's a lot of protection.
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Post by Columind »

No one uses the chillblade or the heartseeker?Just curious...
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Post by Burizan »

Heartseeker is good. I think it works out better than hydra blade (unless used in combination with potion of strength), and by an even larger margine in 2nd+ round of combat.

I often field dreadlord on dark steed with hydra blade / pot of strength / PoK so I can deliver 4+d3 s7 attacks where they are needed and still break small units easily. The PoK means you dont even need to be scared of cannonballs, and it is quite likely your opponent will waste a reasonable amount of shooting/magic at him before realising he has to take on the rest of yuor army too.
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Post by Lexy »

I use the same set up as Burizan:

hydra blade, potion of strength and PoK.
the hydra blade helps you against RnF and the potion of strength, when you really want to get killy.
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Post by Aspiring executioner »

No one uses Caledor's Bane? I find that S7 perfect for piercing armour or wiping out chariots while on his Dragon. I verse Lizzies reguarly so ignoring scaly skin saves in every round of combat is very helpful if my Lord fluffs his attacks or he holds or something.
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Post by Dalamar »

35 points means I can't use it with total protective combo ;)
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Post by Izirath »

I will equip him with Deathpiercer, AoD and Pok. With an awesome save, and kb for my opponents general, it will be good. He'll ride a dragon hes got some nice attacks.
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Post by Sabreur »

Best reason to take heartseeker is if there's a CoB nearby so that you can gaurantee the KB

In other cases, it seems Hydrablade is slightly better

Chillblade is not worth it because Blade of Ruin is just better.

I kinda like soulrender for its point cost, but if you plan putting your lord in a ranked unit, just give him a GW and the unit w/ Banner of Murder does the same thing (and affects the whole unit) for not much more pts.

Anyone bother with the Executioner Axe? Its better than before, so very tempting, but the point cost means very little protection...maybe in a unit with Hag Graef banner makes it work (and probably a CoB nearby is essential too....). Could be pretty nasty
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Post by Izirath »

If you're meeting a monster it'd be cool. I'd like to use it, hehe.
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Post by Emperorpenguin »

sabreur wrote:Chillblade is not worth it because Blade of Ruin is just better.


I dunno, the ability to prevent an enemy character hitting back is pretty potent!
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Post by Sabreur »

Problem is, against T4, you only have 1 in 3 chance of actually wounding on a Toughness Test (compared to 1 in 2 with blade of ruin), and there's a good chance that an enemy character will have a ward save these days, so even less chance that those 1 in 3 wounds actually stick to ensure your foe loses his attacks. I guess it might be alright against high elves and maybe brets/empire, but I would still prefer the greater number of wounds you are likely to get from blade of ruin, plus its a little more useful in an all-comers list (which I always use).
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Post by Tenebrae »

sabreur wrote:Best reason to take heartseeker is if there's a CoB nearby so that you can gaurantee the KB


This was recently suggested to me as 'the ultimare solution against vampire lords'.
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Post by Zeth »

Aspiring Executioner wrote:No one uses Caledor's Bane? I find that S7 perfect for piercing armour or wiping out chariots while on his Dragon. I verse Lizzies reguarly so ignoring scaly skin saves in every round of combat is very helpful if my Lord fluffs his attacks or he holds or something.


Caledor's bane is alright, but DP, CD, and SR all offer something more for cheaper IMO.

S7 is great for breaking chariots, but really I never have a problem dealing with chariots. With the amount of S7 around anyway few people are willing to take a lot of them anyway.

DP offers KB, which is amazing when I put my lord up against an opponents. This plus PoK creates one of the scariest duelists in the game.

CD allows my lord to be powerful in multiple rounds of CC.

And SR is a great option if a lord is on foot, especially in a unit with the ASF banner (although I always mount my lords).

Caledor's bane, is a great weapon but S7 is rarely as important as Killing blow or S6 always.

Tenebrae wrote:
sabreur wrote:Best reason to take heartseeker is if there's a CoB nearby so that you can gaurantee the KB


This was recently suggested to me as 'the ultimare solution against vampire lords'.

Except that Vampire lords can take a 15 armor that makes them immune to killing blow and poison. Everyone vampire player I've played uses it now with the amount of KB in DE and DoC.
Take all of my posts, when taking about balance, from a perspective of an all-comers list.
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Post by Sulla »

On a dragon rider, I would say death piercer is the best idea... that way, you have good odds even if challenged by a hero with good enough armour to bounce the dragon's attacks.

Normally I prefer the cold one mounted lord for the 1+, pendant combo combined with the heartseeker. That's because I love the cauldron so much but it doesn't really support a dragon lord so well.
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Post by Andrejko »

Sword of Ruin has got to be my favourite. I think it provides a solid base and depending on what army you are facing you can then select other items to complement this.
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