Dark Magic is still alive

[Auere]

Yesterday I finally got my hands on the new edition rulebook. I eagerly took 12 hours reading the whole thing - naturally taking a special look at the dramatically changed rules for magic and the new lores.

At first the new lores with their fancy spells and special abilities may seem very intriguing (and indeed some of them are!), but the new edition rules actually also favor our own magic lore.


Chillwind: Now that the shooting units generally are getting fewer but bigger in 8th a succesful chillwind is really going to hurt the enemy. As a signature spell, few spells compare with chillwind.

Doombolt: Is perhaps the only "weak" spell in the dark lore in 8th edition. But a bit extra damage is always somewhat useful.

Word of Pain: A very nice spell that is in many ways superior to the signature spell in the lore of shadows which greatly depends on your D3 roll.

Bladewind: The new warmachine killer. 3D6 close combat attacks will outright kill most warmachines, and I expect most enemy generals to be saving their dispel die for this one. In addition the horde and steadfast rules emphasize use of cheap infantry (<WS4) who die in droves to bladewind.

Soulstealer: This spell is going to be awesome in 8th! It is going to kill 1/3 of most regiments (T3) - which can be a pretty big deal with many regiments exseeding 30 models. The healing abilities are also very much welcome. Is best used together with focus familiar for the extra range.

Black Horror: This is still one of the best unit killers in the game. Compared to other template unit killers in the other lores it doesnt even scatter and it has a very low casting value. Can be cast by a level 4 on 2-3 die now!



It is also important to note, that now that you need to choose lores together with the list, it is important to have a lore with a great deal of flexibility, and I think that is where Dark Magic really shines. It is good against shooting armies (chillwind, word of pain, bladewind), good unit killer spells, pretty good against armour (soulstealer and black horror) and even has some character killing potential (soulstealer and bladewind). The spells have multible roles to perform and a level 4 with dark magic can quickly flood the enemy with low casting value "must dispells".


I am confident that even without an upgrade to our dark magic lore it is going to remain a mainstay in Dark Elf armies.

[Darktan]

well said, i'll be clinging on to the dark arts for a while yet, but not totally neglecting shadow.

[Tzelok]

I tried death for the first time recently, and found it really useful for taking out the one enemy mage, debuffing, and getting off the giant purple sun (despite it only killing 13 gors in a 70 strong unit....). Death was nice but seems too situational, I agree with Auere about dark being the most versatile and will probably revert back to the dark arts in no time.

[Dalamar]

Death excels at sniping characters (something that needs to be done with the improved BSB, increased general importance, and boosted power of magic) and then combined with shadow rolling the Purple Sun across the entire enemy battleline (it hits every model the template touches *while* moving, not just at the point where it ends (as it always has to end outside of a unit).

[Thanee]

Yep, Dark Magic is definitely still a Lore that can compete with the new rulebook Lores.

That Bladewind isn't distributed between crew and warmachine anymore (since there is nothing to distribute between ) is indeed quite welcome.

Bye
Thanee

[Fuzzydeath]

I'm looking forward to comboing Soul Stealer/Black Horror with the Toughness and Strength debuffs available from Shadow Lore

[Kula]

After playing a few games, I still find Dark very viable, especially against armies where T3 is dominant. As mentioned earlier, with the combination of shadow, its very nice indeed.

[Auere]

Another important thing to note, is that even though Dark Magic can be gruesome, all the spells are VERY easy to cast compared to other magic lores and will be cast by a level 4 using only 2-3 PD. (Actually only soulstealer and black horror require 3 PD)

Casting many spells will often make alot better use of her +4 to cast and really put pressure on opponents who do not have a level 4 caster to help their dispells.

It is also important to note that with the increasing popularity of the "Feedback Scroll", casting spells on max. 3 die pretty much ensures that it never causes more than one maybe two wounds.

This combined with the combination of a good selection of defensive items (PoK, Dragon Egg) and our ever impressing soulstealer can make a level 4 on pegasus with dark magic VERY hard to kill.