The vote before we'd all played and before the errata So much has changed! Not just from the Slanns nerf but as I get a better understanding of the TOW. So my thoughts are: - hex and enchantment are quite difficult to get off given the turn order - enchantment tends to be better as hex can be difficult as you cast before you move so it's harder to be in range - enchantment need to be careful of your vision arc if you're side to side with units - necromancy just doesn't work... And the big one.... Okay so now we are forced into either taking ethereal, temple guard, or risking a pin-cushion-toad I personally think this means Assailment and a fighting frog is much more viable. The Slann has a good charge range and will disrupt units. I have been taking Higher State of Mind (ethereal) over my preferred Becalming Cogitation thanks to the errata. With a good assailment spell the Slann can do really well in combat. In terms of magic my original thoughts were elementism was the best with lots of good spells. High and necro was next with High having a few good and a few great and Necro having a few great and a few garbage (needing a lore familiar). Battle and Illusion were not worth considering. I now feel Necro is garbage all around. High has a good assailment and given nearly every Vortex ,Hex and Enchantment get dispelled anyway I think Drain is now C grade (not F). Battle Magic is definitely worth considering, a great signature spell helps Battle (plus a great magic missile and a good vortex) but I think you need a lore familiar so it's sort of swapped with opinion with Necro. Illusion is still garbage even with a lore familiar which is a shame as it has the best assailment spell. So I think Elementalism and High are equal and the only ones you do not need a Lore Familiar, although High slightly benefits from it more. Battle can work if you put effort it. Necro and Illusion don't work at all in my opinion.
Below are my updates although I'm ranking assailment as though you will consider combat, likely with Ethereal or perhaps because you absolutely have to try to flank something. Signature Apotheosis - F Monsoon - E/C (is the enemy got missile and/or war machines?) Elementalism Storm Call - F Flaming Sword - D Plague of Rust - A Summon Elemental Spirit - E Earthen Ramparts - D Wind Blast - A Travel Mystical Pathway - D High Drain Magic - D Walk Between Worlds - F Fiery Convection - A Tempest - D Corporal Unmaking - C Fury of Cain - B Shield of Saphery - C Battle Hammerhands - B Fireball - A Curse of Arrow Attraction - D Pillar of Fire - B Arcane Urgency - D Oaken Sheild - F Curse of Cowardly Flight - E Necro Dwellers Below - F Deathly Cabal - F Unquiet Spirits - B Spiritual Vortex - C Curse of the Years - E Spectral Steed - F Spirit Leech - C Illusion (add 6" to every range and you'd have a decent list imo) Glittering Robe - F Mind Razor - C Shimmering Dragon - D Column of Crystal - D Confounding Convocation - E Spectator Doppleganger - B Miasmic Mirage - C
@discomute interesting points and I think magic is certainly something that was heavily affected by the FAQ nerfs to Slann + Arcane Vassal. My favourite lore for the Slann is actually Battle magic now. Illusion, Elementalism and High Magic are great aswell. Necromancy is quite bad, it can be viable but only with certain builds and only vs certain armies. Battle Magic: It has great Magic Missile with Fireball and the best vortex in game with Pillar of Fire (the only one you can control). Hammerhands is a nice assailment spell for Ethreal Slann or your Skink Stegadons/Troglodon. Curse of Arrow Attraction Is a decent debuff spell if you're skink heavy. Arcane Urgency is the best conveyance spell, it allows blazing fast flanks and enables the comical 40" Terradon rockbomb. Lore familiar required. Illusion: Illusion is all about battlefield control + it's our best answer to Dragons. Spells have shorter ranges so you really need to play a tight game and position your Slann and Arcane Vassals correctly (Possibly hardest lore to use correctly but you can really neuter your opponents best units with it). Crystal Column and Miasmic Mirage are S-tier spells to me. I also find chucking Stegadon chief on the other side of the battlefield with Shimmering Dragon really funny. Lore familiar + Arcane Vassals required. Elementalism: Plague of Rust is one of the best debuffs + it has good range of 21" and Wind blast is probably the best magic missile we have access to. Rest of the spells are useful but nothing crazy. Lore familiar recommended. High Magic: Solid assailment and magic missile spells and great buffs. Walk between worlds giving Reserve Move + Ethreal to Slann is something I've been wanting to play with, Temple Guard + this spell might be a great way to protect the Slann and allow him to weave in and out of dispel ranges. Tempest is the best answer to Night Goblin fanatics. High Magic would be my choice in a more Saurus heavy list because of the great buffs it can give to infantry. In a regular skink heavy list I don't see the appeal of High Magic vs other lores. Lore Familiar recommended. Necromancy: You really need some way to abuse the powerful leadership debuffs it has, we have our Terror causing monsters but that's it (Vampire counts/Tomb kings have way more). Unquiet Spirits is a good magic missile. Spiritual Vortex is ok if you plop it in front of infantry/cavalry that wants to charge because of the 5" dangerous terrain. Curse of Years is a powerful hex but the 15" range makes it hard to get off (compared to Plague of Rust/Curse of Arrow Attraction that have 21" range). Lore Familiar required. Lore of Lustria: Apotheosis = It was merely ok when you could target the Slann with it to heal and make him cause terror. Now it's useless. Monsoon = I find monsoon quite decent actually. It's 5" Dangerous Terrain and it blocks LOS. Never gotten much use of drenching shooters/war machines but 3 monsoons raging across the battlefield makes it really hard to engage you. If I'm not picking Hammerhands for my priests I'm probably picking Monsoon.
Or..... Wandering Deliberations - Dark Magic - Magic Missile Demonology - Magic Missile Elementalism - Debuff whoever your TG are fighting Lore of Lustria (Saurus Char Heals) or Monsoon (anti Shooty vs someone like dwarfs or elves) Chuck a ring on it and you have a toad that is three war machines and all the other benefits a Gen BSB brings. Always stay close to TG cause they are his boys.
Some great thoughts there. I really don't like Curse of Arrow even with a skink heavy army. It's hex which is always difficult (21 is nice tho) but even so, shoot 20 shots you reroll 3, probably an extra 1.25 hits on aveage and then we have to get through toughness and armour. It's a lot of work for minimal results in my opinion. Arcane Urgency you've made me reread. I still think it's D but maybe it could be C. I can see use for the Bastiladon. I wish I could agree with the use for Terradon (my beloved Rippers would love to get out of LoS for those archers) but the range requirement I think will restrict a lot of that. Yes you could make this work with clever positioning but casting is no guarantee so it could also leave you in a less than ideal space. I'm definitely keen for trying Battle soon after reading your thoughts. However on illusion I have to disagree. Dragons can just fly over Crystal Column it does absolutely nothing unless you can somehow manage to block LoS. AND - the range is 9"!! So even to get it close enough to effect a dragon you have to put 375 glass canon right in front of it. It's garbage against dragons, probably best for interfering with death star blocks of infantry which aren't super common. Miasmic Mirage is even worse. It's 15" and it's a Hex so you have to rely on them leaving their asset close and in visual sight of your Slann at the end of their turn. Yes my Troglodon was instrumental last game with getting Curse of the Years off via Arcane Vassel but it's once per turn, and having LoS was painful (I presume you need it?). I'm sorry I have to respectfully disagree. Dark's Magic Missile is a C Daemonology is an A Elementalism' sig is an F. (What's so great about -1 init and -1 move? That is 12 inches that is cast before the Slann moves and cannot be cast into combat?) Saurus Characters can only be healed if they are not on a dinosaur, are you really taking enough of those that Apotheosis is worth it? Ruby Ring is the internets.darling but it's level 2 so really better on something that can stay outside of their level 4 dispel range. I mean overall it's not the worst selection of Spells but you're paying 40 points for Wandering Deliberations to have a worse selection than rolling for High or Elementalism. And then you have to pay a TG tax.
Yeah k, "C grade" MM is still better than no MM. A unit with three MMs is pretty damn good imo. You need to be in the pocket to deal damage. Put your flying mage where it makes sense. Or vassal it.. regardless, if their lvl 4 is dispelling, so are you The elemental sig is to potentially tips the scales for an impending character battle or discourage a charge especially a flank, with a bastiliadon buffing your boys it can make it interesting... it is a game of inches. Apoth: TG beefed up with Saurus Chars that don't seem to die do a good job mincing almost anything put in front of them. Fear into terror is nice in certain instances depending on base contact with the character. Or heal your lone boys out there. Monsoon: obvious TG tax? Depends on who your fighting but your often hitting on 3s or 4s and often wounding on 2s or 3s. Meanwhile you mage is beind them throwing rocks. Protected more than almost any other lvl 4 People sleep on TGs but they are reliable damage output and relatively tough and defend the Slann like he is still bunkered... Almost.... Definitely not biased.... Don't look at my name.
We can agree to disagree I think, although I've recently been made aware of a vocal minority who think in the shooting phase a caster can only cast one magic missile OR one vortex, since TOW treats it like a shooting attack. I'm strongly against this for various reasons but it's something to keep in mind. PS. TG's are fine enough but expensive heavy infantry really doesn't seem to be OW efficient in my mind. If you care about such things. Running two blocks of Saurus is a bit rough but of course it's not all about power.
Yeah I noticed that too. If that becomes part of the next faq and it's only 1 spell in the shooting phase thrn then that changes everything. I can't see them going down that route but you never know.
I could perhaps see one magic missile (though I doubt it), but to remove both magic missile and vortex?? Far out, I'd stop taking Slann to be honest.