Nighthaunt Spells

[Cargo Cult]

Can anyone give a view on the ranking of the Nighthaunt spells in terms of effectiveness? Most of the lists seem to have a preference for Soul Cage. Can someone explain why?

Thanks

[themortalgod]

My personal ranking is:

1. Shademist: Because making tough units tougher is never a bad idea.

2. Soul Cage: Because locking a unit in CC and forcing them to attack last has a huge impact on their versatility.

3. Spectral Tether: To keep our leaders alive longer.

4. Spirit Drain: Very situational, but against certain targets it can do work. 

5. Lifestealer: Not bad but Spectral tether is a better tool for healing.

6. Reaping Scythe: Would be amazing if we had any character that are actually combat monsters. Unfortunately we don't and our best combat leader already has built in re-rolls (reaped like corn)

[Neck-Romantic]

I agree with the ranking, though Shademist and Soul Cage are interchangeable. 

[ianob]

1) Soul Cage - Nighthaunt are an alpha army, alpha armies that get to manage their alpha even better is... even better,

2) Shademist - Debuffs are always strong, debuffs that target a unit are stronger especially with the new 30" dispel range

3) Spectral Tether - Relatively poor, but better than the other spells, probably always third pick

4) Reaping Scythe - Relatively poor because of our lack of good casters for it, even worse because if you play vs Nagash he will use to murder you, quite good if you ally in Arkhan, overall not great though

9999) The other two spells - the hottest of garbage.

[Garxia]

I agree that Soul Cage and Shademist in no particular order are the best, but still don't get why people are rating Lifestealer that low, it's basically Spectral Theter + 1D3 MW with only +1 casting cost. Can be pretty handy on a mounted Knight of Shrouds with Midnight Tome.

[ianob]

7 minutes ago, Garxia said:

I agree that Soul Cage and Shademist in no particular order are the best, but still don't get why people are rating Lifestealer that low, it's basically Spectral Theter + 1D3 MW with only +1 casting cost. Can be pretty handy on a mounted Knight of Shrouds with Midnight Tome.

There's a giant gulf between casting on a 6 and casting on a 7, especially with Stormcast Comet around. Also Spectral Tether automatically heals the wounds, Lifestealer needs a target to suffer wounds which means if they save them (Deathless Minions, Disgustingly Resilient, etc) then you can end up with no healing.

Sometimes a less powerful, more reliable effect is better.

[themortalgod]

3 hours ago, ianob said:

There's a giant gulf between casting on a 6 and casting on a 7, especially with Stormcast Comet around. Also Spectral Tether automatically heals the wounds, Lifestealer needs a target to suffer wounds which means if they save them (Deathless Minions, Disgustingly Resilient, etc) then you can end up with no healing.

Sometimes a less powerful, more reliable effect is better.

Its also critical to remember that tether heals a target allied hero while lifestealer only heals self. Being able to heal any hero makes it far more versatile.

And yes, the difference between 6 and 7 is formidable. Difficulty 6 is 72% success chance. Difficulty 7 is 58%

[Cargo Cult]

9 hours ago, themortalgod said:

Its also critical to remember that tether heals a target allied hero while lifestealer only heals self. Being able to heal any hero makes it far more versatile.

And yes, the difference between 6 and 7 is formidable. Difficulty 6 is 72% success chance. Difficulty 7 is 58%

But I suppose if you make the casting with a six then these days a likely implication of that is that it will be easier for the opposition to make the unbind?

[themortalgod]

8 hours ago, Cargo Cult said:

But I suppose if you make the casting with a six then these days a likely implication of that is that it will be easier for the opposition to make the unbind?

Yes, but if the opposition is wasting unbinding on tether, then your more powerful spells go through untouched unless the player has a heavy load of unbinding.

Moreover though, if you roll a 6, the other spell wouldn't have cast anyway. So you are still better off with the easier spell. 

[GeneralZero]

Spell lore question: chose 1 spell for each wizzard.

1. if I chose 1 spell, do all wizzards in my army know it? (like endless spells?) or is it 1 spell specifically for this wizzard?

2. may I choose the same spell twice for 2  different wizzards?

[themortalgod]

2 hours ago, GeneralZero said:

Spell lore question: chose 1 spell for each wizzard.

1. if I chose 1 spell, do all wizzards in my army know it? (like endless spells?) or is it 1 spell specifically for this wizzard?

2. may I choose the same spell twice for 2  different wizzards?

1. No

2. Yes, but you can't cast it more than once per turn.

[Nullius]

Reaping scythe is pretty good if Nagash casts it and puts it on his sword. Turns him from hit-or-miss to pretty devastating.

[themortalgod]

1 hour ago, Nullius said:

Reaping scythe is pretty good if Nagash casts it and puts it on his sword. Turns him from hit-or-miss to pretty devastating.

You would need an awfully big game to ally Nagash into NH allegiance.

[ianob]

15 hours ago, themortalgod said:

You would need an awfully big game to ally Nagash into NH allegiance.

More likely an enemy Nighthaunt Scythe that Nagash steals and casts Also works great on Arkhan.

This is actually a reason not to use Reaping Scythe in NH. It's ****** for you, potentially devastating for your opponents to have access to though!

[Nullius]

19 hours ago, themortalgod said:

You would need an awfully big game to ally Nagash into NH allegiance.

Haha true. I guess that would be the only way for him to cast it. Or maybe a doubles tournament.