Morathi?

[Canadianguy]

The more I go over her write up the more I like her.
When reading how she picks spells "declare how many spells she will generate. From each lore before spells are generated. So does this mean she must have it listed on the army list ie doesn,t change over a tournie or is it fluid game to game. I think that latter but if not wow usefull!

[strategem]

The way I read it is that you can pick from game to game

[Canadianguy]

Sadly i was leaning the other way. Hoping you are correct.

[strategem]

When entering a tournament you only declare what lore the sorceress knows. In this case the lore known is Dark, Death and Shadow.
Spells are then generated at the beginning of each game from the known lores.
Its follows the same principle as Fate Weaver from DoC.

[Dalamar]

You declare before spells are generated, so just before the game starts. You change change her lores between games, just like the Everqueen can.

[Canadianguy]

I think she might be our most functional special character.

[Dalamar]

She always was.
Now Hellebron is really good too and the others have their uses as well.

[Demetrius]

Yep, I think its a toss up between Morathi and Hellebron for the best special character. Morathi is probably just ahead though because shes less fragile, and magic is important to DEs.

Thats said, all of our SCs are useful. IMO Malus and Lohkir got better, and are definitely useable in competitive play.
Tullaris fills a nice niche by giving us a source of frenzied executioners (or double frenzy!).
Malekith is usable, especially since hes gone down by 90 points, but he's nothing to write home about.
Shadowblade is still not great, but he has an awesome model which is a saving grace.
Kouran is still pretty bad, better than 7th, but not great. Too fragile, and wont be around long enough to give that Unbreakable to your overcosted Black Guard.

[Dooks dizzo]

We've been chatting a bit about Kouran here in my local area and right now we have agreed that the effect of his armor can kill models before they roll to wound. So at least for the moment he's pretty good as he can kill everyone who attacked him before he might get attacked.

[Dangerous Beans]

Hopefully this isn't considered threadomancy as I think theres a lot more to be discussing with Morathi - I think she lost out by not having the arcane/enchanted item but lore flexibility is nice (even though I preferred her Dark Loremaster ability).

I'd like to raise a couple of thoughts here:
SAY WHHHHAT?!

So she has 4 attacks and in the first round she's strength 6 and every wound drops the enemy's Attacks, Strength and Toughness?! I really really like this new ruling! Any thoughts on having a level 1 beast wizard too? Strength 4 Toughness 5? Yes please!!

Any thoughts on Lore choices for her? I reckon Death for 1 spell at least, you can default to Spirit Leech if all else doesn't work out well - her LD of 10 and flying ability makes her a strong candidate to deal out the snipes. Melkoth's always decent but by now you're watering down the chances of a double roll to pick one of your spells.

[Saintofm]

While I miss lore master, I love the fact I could spam the signiture spells of Lore of Death and Shadow unless purple sun and Whithering come my way.

Oh, you have higher initiative? Well that, and your movement, and your weapon skill has dropped. Oh, is that a low LD monster? Might as well get some free power dice from this.

[Dangerous Beans]

Actually, by pumping down a model's S or T by Withering / Enfeebling / Soulblight / Word of Pain, would Morathi end up killing them via combat and knocking the enemy's remaining stat off? Quite a tricky combo to pull off but that could be a serious nail in the coffin!

[Canadianguy]

She is incredibly efficient, effective and versatile.
Local tournie organizer agrees that she could change spells between games but he won't allow it as its a bit much. I sadly agree but man it would be fun :-).

I think my standard pattern will be 2 dark, 1 death and 1 shadow.
Others thoughts on her lore choices?

[Dalamar]

Yeah. If I run her (might be next week) she'll be 2 dark 1 shadow 1 death.
Roll all the spells if I get word of pain then I can skip miasma but spirit leech is a must on a ld10 caster.
Then again she can even go four signatures.

[Demetrius]

I ran Morathi in two games last night, she was great. The +d3 to cast is just brutal combined with Death Magic. I was running 1 Dark, 1 Shadow and 2 Death, but am tempted to go 1 Dark and 3 Death so I have a better chance of rolling Caress so I can fly around and double snipe things. Its just lethal. She was supported by 5 warlocks, the game I had double Soulblight was nasty as well. It hurts not having a scroll, but you can live without it I guess.

I strongly recommend her. If you already want to run a level 4 on a Pegasus, there is no reason not to take Morathi over a generic one.

[npow34]

Agree with all above. She is brillant! I run Morathi and a unit of 14 Warlocks. I think that running two units of 5 will drain needed power dice. This way I have enough to support both...hopefully if the winds are strong.

[Dalamar]

So I gave Morathi a try... and to be perfectly honest I haven't noticed much difference from using a standard level 4 on a pegasus.
Going to try Malekith next week.

[Canadianguy]

Did she only cast spells?
I am also nterested in her role in cc in very specific situations.

[Calisson]

Morathi with Death sig, at Ld10, mobile on a peggy? That's extremely powerful. Icing on the cake, she is likely to get some PD back...
Add Shadows sig, that's always useful.
Then Doombolt sig at +1 to cast.
Add another spell to taste, from either Lore.

Finally, she has some great potential in melee, with 4 KB attacks and her other tricks.

[Canadianguy]

Would be interesting if she rolls purple sun. With that much mobility, shudder!
I do think I would be happy with the 3 sig combo + 1 death but starting to wonder if 2 death or shadow are better.

[General Kael]

I've run Morathi in a few games and she hasn't been to hot She's been cannoned, run off the board and I don't know how many times she's successfully cast soul stealer and never gained one wound. Some of that is luck, and maybe some of it is on me but she hasn't played a major role in any of my battles. I took 4 dark magic spells because I wanted to try the lore and haven't been too impressed with it either. She is really good on paper and I'm not giving up on her yet but So far I'm unimpressed. I'm going to switch lores next to see if that changes things.

On a rules note some one said she is strength 6 on the charge but I see as strength 3 +2 for heart render. And does she get the +1 attack for paired weapons? because I thought that you don't get that when mounted.

[Gerner]

And does she get the +1 attack for paired weapons? because I thought that you don't get that when mounted.

You get for paired weapons, but not AHW.

[Haagrum]

On a rules note some one said she is strength 6 on the charge but I see as strength 3 +2 for heart render. And does she get the +1 attack for paired weapons? because I thought that you don't get that when mounted.

She's S6 on the charge assuming she casts Power of Darkness. Sulephet would also be S6 in that scenario. Not bad for a squishy wizard.

As Gerner noted, the rules for Paired Weapons and Additional Hand Weapons are slightly different. Paired Weapons always grants the user Extra Attack, even when mounted.

[General Kael]

Ok thanks I didn't know paired weapons and addition hand weapon rules were different.
And yeah power of darkness is great with her 7 strength 6 attacks plus stomp is pretty good for a wizard.

[nevaenuffbass]

I was Morathi's biggest fan, and maybe she is better in bigger games, but in 2000pts she performed poorly for me. Maybe my opponents were particularly good at shutting her down. But she killed about 10 elves and 3 ogres in 4 games, total. And 8 of those elves died to anzipals when she miscast on turn one and left the table for the attractive realm of chaos.

She is more than her listed price, in that she needs a scroll caddy, and when warlocks work as a lvl 2 caster we don't need another caster in our lists. I think the lvl 4, dark peg, cloak of twilight, dispel scroll is probably better value. Sure you don't get the magic prowess, nor the combat ability, but a boosted ward and dispel scroll and change from the points Morathi would cost. Even if this build (my mate calls her b1tch's sister) gets shiz down, her magic defence is better.