Building Around Death Magic, What things to consider.

I've used light magic, and a pure Nehkara list, and tried out all sorts of things, but only dabbled in death magic twice, both times relatively ineffectively. My first build unfortunately did not take the relatively short range of the lore into account. The second list with Arkhan I think failed do to my lack of speed.

I wanted to sort of brainstorm on doing a good death list and came up with the following questions for myself.

Magic:Should I go with Arkhan? If so should I take a 2nd caster for support? If I don't take Arkhan what level should my death caster be? Assuming I go with a level 3 or 4 Hierophant? (point scale here 2-2.5k)

Items:Does a death caster profit especially well from certain magic items?

Philosophy:Should my list be defensive to get the most out of the lore? If I don't play defensively should my death caster be in a Horseman bunker?

Unit selection: Are there any units which synergize well with the lore? Poorly?

If you're going to go Death, I feel you need to go all out to be able to get the spells that rock. A level 4 is therefore essential. As for items, well nothing, as usual, other than maybe a scroll. However, you still have to have a lvl 4 Nehekhara as your hierophant, and that's just poopy.

Therefore, I'll strongly suggest Arkhan. For 60 points less than a L4 Death (because you have to take that L4 Nehekhara tax), you get +1 WS, +2 S, +1 T, +1 I, +2 A, +1 Ld, +1 Spell and Cast/Dispel. You also get Light Armor, the ability to store 3 unused dispel dice, and the Tomb Blade when things get dicey. Not only that, but he has the Curse in case he does somehow bite it, as well as options for a Chariot, which is just plain AWESOME for a TK caster.

Of course, he's flammable, but really, in the face of all the perks, it's negligible. There's absolutely no reason to take a regular L4 Death when we have Arkhan available.

And what does he do then for your army? He synergizes well with any Ld effects (Fear, Stupidity, Frenzy, Catapults) because of Doom and Darkness, he obliterates low-I armies with the Purple Sun, he cuts off characters and good-armored opponents...in other words, nearly every popular trick army out there these days. Not only that, but with casualties you can continue to generate power dice to power up the Nehekhara spells, allowing the magic phase to keep on rolling.

Useful back up casters are L2 Nehekhara priests. These buff your dudes and debuff enemy units; a great thing!

As for army set-up, defensive is what Tomb Kings do best. That doesn't mean non-moving; my army is often moving, shifting, positioning, just check out some of my older battle reports. The Death wizard doesn't have to be close to be effective. Every spell except The Fate of Bjuna is 24+ inches. Heck, I've launched off a Purple Sun at that range often enough, just to draw out dispel dice, scrolls, or inhibit movement. When you get to shotgun range (12") your both in trouble and ready to deal the most death.

Regardless of who you take, you'll generally want to start with Death spells to draw out the anti-magic and make more power dice, then shift into Nehekhara spells, then finally plop the casket when he's out of dice, making it an easy cast.

Protect your caster, don't be afraid to send a purple sun through some skeletons to get more power, and have fun.

I agree that Arkhan is certainly on top when it comes to Death mages, although I wouldn't cut a stock L4 out altogether.
Considering Arkhans hefty price tag, its essentially a choice between taking 5 levels of Death for 360pts, or 8 levels of Nehek/Death for 420pts. It just depends on how highly you rate Nehekharan magic. I personally don't like it, but that might vary with they army. Chariots are built for Nehek magic and so if you plan on taking a lot, consider the L4 Hierophant.
Another point is that by taking Lord choices, you get access to Arcane items. I'd be reluctant to take a Hierophant without an Earthing Rod or any Sphinx without a Dispel Scroll.

Both are perfectly valid choices with their own strengths. Just a case of how much use you can get out of Nehekharan magic really. Worth mentioning that Soulblight + Dessicate effectively gives S5 arrows which is huge.



In terms of army list, just have a look at what Death Magic actually offers:

- Sniper spells to remove characters
- Doom and Darkness, which I just can't do without
- Soulblight to strip S/T
- Purple Sun to lol-skill your way through Lizards, Bretonnians and Dwarfs
- Aspect of the Dreadknight which is a bit cack



Sniper spells are useful against anyone but take some of the edge off your combat requirements. By this I mean that you won't have to sink big points into heavy-hitters (Knights, Tomb Guard) to kill his important units. Certainly nice to have and means you aren't relying on your combat troops as much, so you can afford a bit more firepower/utility.

Doom is just fantastic. I love you Doom. Works very nicely with Scatapults, particularly upgraded ones. 30pts is steep but it means your opponent will be needing those break checks on -4, which is bloody difficult when even the General is normally Ld9. Note that this doesn't work so well with Terror because you would cast it after charges are declared.

Soulblight is for Archers. Large numbers of arrows will just destroy a target that is reduced to T2/3. As mentioned above, this works wonderfully with Dessicate and is probably the best reason to roll 2 LHP rather than Arkhan.

Purple Sun and Dreadknight are just 'there'. Hard to factor into your army plan because the Sun is so dependant on opposition, while Dreadknight is pretty manky anyway.


Common theme here, is that Death wants a range-heavy force. I would say the Core section is best made from a blend of Archers and Horsemen. I wouldn't take Chariots without a Nehekhara Hierophant, but they become awesome if you do go that route.
Rare section should ideally be a Casket and pair of Scatapults. The Skulls upgrade is a much safer bet with Death magic. Also, since you've probably invested a fair bit into magic by this point, look at the Hierotitan. He's a very, very good deal regardless of your army design.


The Special section is much more open I think. Sphinx aren't quite so hot because Soulblight really doesn't help them except the breath weapon, and having a Purple Sun roaming around is just asking for trouble. Knights and Tomb Guard really need Light magic to make the most of them and so perhaps they are wasted potential with Death.
Carrion certainly work, while Stalkers and Bowshabti are as useful as ever. Really the Special slot is the most open for a Death-army and you should just take whatever you are most comfortable with.

Two points worth clearing up.

It doens't really give you an effective S5, just means against T3 troops you're wounding on 2s which is awesome. They still give their full armour save however so plan accordingly.

On Doom, yes its great and plan for a bit of next turn charging in regards to your terror bombs. Line the Necrosphinx up close enough to charge and cause them to run if the scatapults don't do their job. Secondly it will help with them failing fear tests making out units harder to hit.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. It has given me some good ideas of what to work with. I see that catapults are really a necessity. I think I'll build a defensive counter attack list and see how it works.

I don't quite agree with this sentiment.

First, the Warsphinx can, and often does, benefit from Soulblight outside of its breath weapon. Reducing T by one substantially increases the viability of its Thundercrush attack. Heaven forbid you manage to Desiccate and Soulblight some hapless enemy unit. You're looking at wounding on 2s vs. every infantry unit in the game outside of ones with increased T through Life or Beasts. Additionally, Doom & Darkness makes it more likely an enemy will fail it's Terror/Fear checks. Fear is more important here in a protracted combat as it relates to Thundercrush, meaning you'd potentially be hitting on 3s and wounding on 2s to drop a small pie plate on a unit in CC. I can assure you, when this works it's a thing of beauty and once it works, many dispel dice will be thrown to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I'm inclined to agree with you, however, on Purple Sun. The only reason I ever cast it (and I"m surprised no one mentioned this yet) is to subsequently eat it with the Kanopi. I'm of the mindset that you should not run a Lord-level Death Wizard without it. Lord forbid if you also have Arkhan on the board...I've yet to run Arkhan but I see the potential for a nigh endless magic phase like we used to enjoy before we got our new book if you can get the right spells (i.e. all 3 RiP spells at our disposal).

=> You are absolutely correct to point out his strengths, and I understand he has worked well for you, but I have a personal gripe about referring to the other caster as a "tax" and totally glossing over/outright dismissing what that other caster adds. It may not be valuable to you, but the extra attempt to channel, the additional variety/flexibility of spells, and the ability to continue dispelling at level 4 when the standard L4 Death guy muffs a roll are all good things. It's not a tax, it's a requirement.

=> Sort of, but not quite. S5 would also help against armor. These shots are still S3. Warriors, dwarfs, and indeed anything with armor will still laugh at S3 shots that only ever hit a third of the time. EDIT: Damn you, Jimmy.


Also, to the OP, don't forget that many tournaments (and some horribly misguided individual players) refuse to allow you to use special characters. This means you could get used to how your army works with Arkhan, only to find yourself at a loss as to what to do when you are not allowed to use him.

I perfer light and nehek as mainstays, however I really like getting a lvl 2 of death in my list. Even more so If I am taking a king. I mainly want him for spirit leech to deal with the sniping duties, however any spell but dreadknight are also good to have, except maybe bjuna due to it's 12 inch range.

=> You are absolutely correct to point out his strengths, and I understand he has worked well for you, but I have a personal gripe about referring to the other caster as a "tax" and totally glossing over/outright dismissing what that other caster adds. It may not be valuable to you, but the extra attempt to channel, the additional variety/flexibility of spells, and the ability to continue dispelling at level 4 when the standard L4 Death guy muffs a roll are all good things. It's not a tax, it's a requirement.

Ah, fair point. I suppose it was poorly worded, but in the context of building around Death magic as the OP desires, it is indeed a tax to have to take 210 points of something else before he can even begin to Death it up properly.

That being said, I love Nehekhara spells too, they are awesome and I'd take them over Light any day. It's not that they aren't useful, it's that they aren't the focus of a Death army, so take a side seat when necessary. I still cram in four levels of the lore, it's just on L2's instead of an L4 so as to have room for Arkhan.

=> You are absolutely correct to point out his strengths, and I understand he has worked well for you, but I have a personal gripe about referring to the other caster as a "tax" and totally glossing over/outright dismissing what that other caster adds. It may not be valuable to you, but the extra attempt to channel, the additional variety/flexibility of spells, and the ability to continue dispelling at level 4 when the standard L4 Death guy muffs a roll are all good things. It's not a tax, it's a requirement.

Ah, fair point. I suppose it was poorly worded, but in the context of building around Death magic as the OP desires, it is indeed a tax to have to take 210 points of something else before he can even begin to Death it up properly.

That being said, I love Nehekhara spells too, they are awesome and I'd take them over Light any day. It's not that they aren't useful, it's that they aren't the focus of a Death army, so take a side seat when necessary. I still cram in four levels of the lore, it's just on L2's instead of an L4 so as to have room for Arkhan.

So you take 2 lvl 2 Nehkara casters and Arkhan? The possibility of having both Soulblight and Dessicate seems to me to be a big advantage of taking two lvl4s instead of Arkhan. (You did point out quite well the strengths of Arkhan). @Sleboda, your point is well taken. I will trying the list first against a group where special characters are regularly used. Though I have played against people who hate them.

I disagree. That's no more a tax than having to take clanrats, slaves, or stormvermin are a "tax" for the player who wants to build an army around plague monks.

It's just the rules. We have to have our highest level caster be a Nehakharan caster (normally) just as a skaven player still has to take a certain amount of core before he fills up on plague monks (normally).

In both cases, the word tax is a highly misleading thing. When we buy a $60 game and pay 10% tax, that $6 gets us nothing. When we buy the Nehek dude or a ton of clanrats, we still get something out of them in our armies.

Has anyone tried using Light mages together with Arkhan? For example, Arkhan + lvl 4 or Big A plus 2xlvl2? Does it have any immediate benefits?

I disagree. That's no more a tax than having to take clanrats, slaves, or stormvermin are a "tax" for the player who wants to build an army around plague monks.

It's just the rules. We have to have our highest level caster be a Nehakharan caster (normally) just as a skaven player still has to take a certain amount of core before he fills up on plague monks (normally).

In both cases, the word tax is a highly misleading thing. When we buy a $60 game and pay 10% tax, that $6 gets us nothing. When we buy the Nehek dude or a ton of clanrats, we still get something out of them in our armies.

Without intending to derail the conversation, the idea that we get "nothing" from sales tax is as silly as getting nothing from a unit you'd rather not take. The point is that somebody else is deciding how those monetary units are being spent-- whether dollars or points.

When the Nehkharan wizard you didn't want to take gives Smiting to a unit there is a benefit. When the road you drive down is plowed, sanded and salted in the winter, that's a benefit.

I think the idea of a "tax" in this instance isn't a bad analogy. It isn't perfect, but it's better than most other words.

Well, _obviously_ there is a benefit received from paying taxes. Clearly. It's not even semi-sortof-alittle close to the _direct_ benefits we are discussing here.

When I add a L4 Nehek to my army list, that army gets, directly, the benefit of additional functions within that army.

When I buy the new Slayer CD, the tax I pay on it does not get me an additional song. The tax may help keep a city street light turned on at night, which is a benefit, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my purchase. I don't even get to decide where that tax money is used, for goodness sake!

If I had to take the L4 Nehek and could not use him, at all, in the game but later that night when I was painting my unit of skeletons I somehow got them done faster because I added the wizard to my army, that would be closer to the benefits comparison of taxes.

"Tax" is a really bad comparison.

I think "Tax" is still a fair description.

Now, there are many things that are taxes in 8th edition. The biggest one is the "core tax" of 25% of your points. However, it is more equitable because it is levied against all 8th edition armies. That's why it is simply a requirement.

The requirement of a Lvl4 Nehekara caster before you can take a lvl4 Death wizard is an added cost not found in other armies. That's a tax. For Ogres, you can take a lvl1 gut user to take a lvl4, which would be a 40% tax. The Nehekara tax is particularly obnoxious because it is a 100% tax in points.

Obviously you get some benefit from having another level 4 wizard. However, that's trying to justify something that you weren't counting on in the first place.

That's why Arkhan is a bargain in the TK book because it brings your list some parity with most other books that have access to Death magic.

How about "Inconvenient Fee"