Topic: "best" one-two punch with magic.

[Ricardo-PB]

Ok, so another of those "what is best" but this one really involved in specific army tactics etc.

So, what are the "best," -in your opinion- TWO schools of magic (or 1x2) to take with your empire army. Assuming of course you have the two mages or The popemobil or, well, let's include Sigmarite Praying to that. Also, how do you deploy em' mages (bunker, lone).

Please include the kind of army this is for, your entire list isn't needed but, if you say you take two Fire Mages then I'm sure we would like to know if you take no or 6 cannons. The point being to see how this synergy works with your army.

I'm working on taking A shadow and Life Mage, but I'm thinking maybe shadow and light or shadow and death.

Thanks!
R

[galrion]

I'd like to know this works out in practice too.  Based on paper I think you could get some great synergies using light and shadow, and a cool theme to boot! 

[Ricardo-PB]

Yeah, my army is a Hochland army, and my idea is that there is an old Wizard tower in the middle of the forest, with two brother Wizards in it. They each know several schools of magic, and they left the Colleges to learn more. Of course you can only pick one in-game, but, that gives me some flexibility.

I also custom made my general from GladeGuard/Freecompany/Gladerider/Wizard parts, and I think he'll work nicely as a wizard (with many many weapons) as well... as he has the Flaming Sword and Fire-Wizard head.

[Ricardo-PB]

(I am leaning towards light+shadow btw, but I feel that Shadow (4) + light (2) would work better?)

[galrion]

That's how I'd run it.  Maybe someone that's actually run the combo could chime in?

[GenOmar]

Fire - flame cage...Heavens - Wind Blast.
move 'em back and they all take S4 hits!
although I find it difficult to get those combos off as most opponents see it coming.

[Ricardo-PB]

So does that generally work for you? What kind of army list?

[poboom]

Harmonic convergence + Stank is alright. Rerolling 1s to wound (it wounds most everything on 2s) and rerolling 1s for its armor save makes you pretty hard.

And you cant go wrong with Fire + Fire

[darkman889]

I was actually gonna say I enjoy fire; not on a competitive level but it sure is a lot of fun.  Flame cage is an awesome spell, a poor mans Dwellers...

[Scarr Gunliner]

Well, Shadow and Fire are the best lores against the new Tomb Kings.

I personally think Death and Fire is a good combination.

[Holy Hand Grenade]

Shadow works great with other lores that have stat tests-  like Dwellers (Life), Purple Sun (Death) or Black Horror (Dark).

Light & Light work great together.  Higher damage on Banishments of course and getting Speed of Light and Birona's Timewarp both off on a unit in combat = slaughterfest.

[Ricardo-PB]

Yeah, I think light + light + popemobil vs demons would be cool.

[Eglard]

Shadow (lvl 4) and Life (lvl 2).

Other than that my army includes a horde of halberdiers, flagellants and greatswords, 2 small knight units, 3 small missile detachments and archers, pistolers and a few cannons and mortars. A lector, warrior priest and a bsb are also a must, to grant hatered and stability to my army.

Life mage is there to boost the units that need most supprot. I have been thinking about chaning him to a fire wizard, and giving someone the ring that casts a fire missile. For me magic is to support the big infantry units, to give me the edge. Of course the occasional pit of shades on saurus warriors is great, but that is something I am not counting for. 

[RobertShepherd]

Shadow (lvl 4) and Life (lvl 2).

I agree, but due to the nature of the lores, I'd go Life (lvl 4) and Shadow (lvl 2).

For life, the level 4 is optimal because life depends a lot on getting the right combination of spells. You really want throne / dwellers / flesh to stone / whatever (depending on the matchup, obviously) and you have a much better chance of getting a good spell selection with a level 4. Plus, life becomes exponentially more powerful the more spells you have to cast, since throne makes everything else better. A level 2 can never get the most out of life because he either can't get throne, or if he gets throne, the opponent will just let it through and dispel the one other spell he might cast, whatever it is.

For shadow, a level 2 is just fine because the default spell, Miasma, is so fantastic that you are almost never making a sacrifice by downgrading to it. This means a level 2 shadow has a good chance of getting a good spell selection just because he can roll two dice and drop one. There's really no worst-case scenario there; miasma + pendulum is probably the worst possible spell selection a level 2 shadow mage can conceivably have. As an added bonus, miasma is an ideal spell for a level 2 mage because you can cast it on a 3+ using one dice. Good for forcing though choices for your opponent or sneaking that last spell in at the end of the phase.

[Fluffy1]

shadow with itself, basically miasma+pit of shades

although another effective combo is hammer of sigmar + flamecage or commet.

[Cannonofdoom]

I like the Lore of Shadow's toughness reducer combined with the Lore of Mortar's Total Devastation spell.

[RobertShepherd]

I like the Lore of Shadow's toughness reducer combined with the Lore of Mortar's Total Devastation spell.

This is a good sentence.

[Mechanical Monkey]

I generally take life or shadow on my lv 4 and then beasts or fireball on my lv 2. Beasts has an awesome signature spell, as does fire.

[chaospuppet]

I like the Lore of Shadow's toughness reducer combined with the Lore of Mortar's Total Devastation spell.

That's pretty much my battleplan, I use a L4 for Shadow and the Altar for Light, though I've been known to run a L2 light wizard as well.

Even though everyone knows what is coming - its a choice of stopping that or any one of a host of game-changing spells that are also coming...

The first time any opponents uber unit gets a direct hit from a mortar when the withering is on they won't forget it. It's also not the type of spell that attracts dispel scrolls because it's going to happen to a unit every single turn (unless something goes terribly wrong!).

It is best used on massive horde units and elite troops, even with decent armour saves the sheer number of wounds caused by that combo is frightening!

[hochi]

one quick question... if you have RiP spells... can you cast them more than once? (not in the same phase) so that you have the same spell in play from the same wizard/priest more than once?

[Ricardo-PB]

I like the Lore of Shadow's toughness reducer combined with the Lore of Mortar's Total Devastation spell.

+1

Yeah, that was my thinking.

So people don't like life lvl2?

No one takes heavens or metal?

[Ricardo-PB]

So, what else would be good with a lvl4 shadow mage?

[SmokinBrown]

I like the Lore of Shadow's toughness reducer combined with the Lore of Mortar's Total Devastation spell.

+1

Yeah, that was my thinking.

So people don't like life lvl2?

No one takes heavens or metal?

I've occasionally ran a lvl4 and a lvl 2 life cause i never get dwellers or regen when running just the lvl4, as my luck knows no (lower) limit.

[GenOmar]

one quick question... if you have RiP spells... can you cast them more than once? (not in the same phase) so that you have the same spell in play from the same wizard/priest more than once?

To the best of my knowledge each caster my have their RIP spell in play. If they recast it the first one ends. So yes if you have more than one WP/AL you can have more than 1 of the same spell in play.

[Scarr Gunliner]

I use Metal with my Dark Elves and I think it's a pretty good lore. It's fantastic when combined with Outriders and with Mortars. Heavens is a pretty good lore if you use it with Metal, as if you charge a unit of knights against, say Marauders, and the knights are buffed with both Enchanted Blades and Harmonic Convergence, then they re-roll nearly any fails on To Hit, To Wound and Armour Saves.