Total War: Warhammer

Nehekara lore felt kinda weak to me. If you focus on buffing your main monster it kinda works, but Death, Light and Shadow all seem to be stronger options.

I'd agree that any magic is better then no magic, though.

Depends, if you have a backline of skeleton archers then getting a big chunk of AP damage on them† can do very nice things. It's definitely a more micro-intensive lore of magic, though. And remember, the lore effect is healing and replenishing models, so not only does it have the buff/debuff benefits, it's a map-wide restoration like Lore of Vampires. In campaign, where you can get so many winds of magic? Regen cap here I come.

Light or Death is definitely more directly useful for damage, but I'd take Nehekhara over Shadow. Its vortex spell has ridonculous duration and the passive is better.

It's also on Khatep so, got to make the best of it. You could totally ignore it with Settra but that's still pretty poor.

† Cursed Blades is also super cheap (5 on overcast! Before reduction!) and giving your line of skeleton spearmen even more bonus vs large and AP damage? That's handy. And if you don't need the anti-large, great for holding on against lizardmen etc.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 10:20:17 AM

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I was planning to have a front line consisting of Tomb Guard (both variations), have Skeleton Archers support them and use constructs like Ushabti, Bone Giants and maybe Necrosphinx or Warsphinx (can't decide on which one would be better) to deal with bigger problems.
Basicaly: Tomb Guard stall them, Archers whittle them down, constructs mop up.

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Really depends what you're fighting. Infantry and archers? Warsphinx. Dealing with monsters? Necrosphinxes. I think tomb scorpions can also be really good, but I didn't use them or sepulchral stalkers much.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 10:58:45 AM

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The thing about those buffs is that, while pretty great, only hit a single ally unit. I'd much rather use Occam's Mindrazor that buffs an entire line, or just use the Pendulum to instantly swing a fight in my favour. As for the archery buff, while the extra reload is nice, Skeleton archers only do 1 AP damage, and 140% of 1 is still not particularly much. Skullstorm is real fun if you're defending a chokepoint, but those maps are basically a free win anyway, so it's not needed.

And there's the passive healing buff, which is, like, 56 hitpoints. Yaaaaaaaay.

Now I do believe I haven't explored Tomb Kings as much as I could, so I'm planning on starting a Khalida Mortal Empires game next. Think I'll experiment a bit more with the Nehekhara lore and get back to you.

However many hitpoints per unit, across the battlefield, every time you cast a spell, resurrecting fallen units adds up, though. And all you want the front line to do is endure.

You're right on the AP mod (I thought it was modifying the base damage more), but that's not insignificant on Ushabti. Or when shooting lightly armoured targets (higher base damage), which are still numerous if you're not fighting dorfs. Though the real fun debuff is the Incantation of Dessication: ~40s, -30 melee attack and defence to any enemy units in an area. Before overcasting, after it's even more damaging to melee attack; -44 reduces every enemy to basically minimum (2 melee attack on Swordmasters, anyone?)

Occam's is 18 and overcasting to get the Ao E, though; its mods are bigger but so is the cost. And Shadow has a garbage passive.

Seriously, I think Nehekhara plays to the strengths of the Tomb Kings more: hold them in place, endure, and let one or two monsters wreck everything. Plus when your frontline is just there to hold them and die, doesn't matter if skullstorm wanders into your own lines.

(Though this is shadow vs nehekhara, obviously light and death are available)

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 11:22:52 AM

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So, got any recommendations how should I build my army for Khalida? I obviously won't be going for Chariots (I still need to work on my micro). I would go Tomb Guard (4 normal, two Halberds), maybe 4-5 skeleton archers, 4 Ushabti, 2 Bow Ushabti, Bone Giants, Warsphinx, Necrotect, Liche Priest.

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That's a lot of ranged units to protect, and little to protect them with. Try fitting in some sepulcher stalkers to deal with cavalry and flying units.

Really? Feels heavy on the melee to me for a ranged-focused army. Though it's a bit mixed in that regard with sphinxes and necrotects. Like, 6 tomb guard + 4 ushabti + lord + necrotect is already most of the army. 4 Ushabti and a sphinx really feels overkill to then sub out range for flanking?

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 12:57:30 PM

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Tomb Scorpions' main advantage is their really wild attack animations for two reasons. The first is that it means they hit more targets than other monsters, which means they have better odds of killing more targets as well as sending units flying out of the formation. The second is that it makes them harder to pin down since their attack animations can take them out of a formation really easily. At least one of their attack animations sends them underground so they can't even be hit for a bit.

As a result, they are very good front line disruptors and are usually best suited to slamming into infantry lines early on before you get Warsphinxes or are in multiplayer against factions who aren't carrying two hundred pounds of ammo.

Start of match* I did not come here to be Queen of the Ashes. Five minutes later* I AM FIRE I AM DEATH

I was thinking more along the lines of subbing out two ushabti. The infantry line would still be plenty hefty, but the extra anti-large/poison on the flanks will do a lot of work keeping the missile line safe from cavalry and flyers.

Edited by Kayeka on Mar 1st 2021 at 2:11:30 PM

This is why I'm asking for help with proper army build. I feel like I screwed up the build for Khalida. All I'm sure of is that I want to have Skeleton Archers, Ushabti Archers and Bone Giants in the army, with Lore of Nehekara/Light Liche Priest and Necrotect supporting them.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

Ah, yeah, the four Ushabti is the part I'd have thought is excessive; if you're turning it into that much of a melee blob fight at that point you might as well accept this army is going to be all constructs and double up on the necrotects.

Could just try quick battles to see which army you think works best for you.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 1:14:04 PM

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I checked a bit, and found an interesting suggestion for an army for Khalida:

• Khalida herself
• Lore of Nehekara Priest
• 6 Tomb Guard (one of them is Ro R)
• 4 Skellington Archers
• 2 Great Bow Ushabti (one Ro R)
• 2 Stalkers
• 2 Bone Giants
• 1 War Sphinx

I'm thinking of modifying it to have a Necrotect somewhere.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

Necrotect is more for the heals; mostly ranged/skirmish constructs mean it might not be at its best. Nehekhara priest doesn't have the spot healing but if you're making use of it should keep the war sphinx topped up (especially with some target fire to keep any anti-large away from it).

The RoR suggestion is probably more for ease of fielding earlier.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 1:20:22 PM

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The Tomb Guard suggestion was for the Ethereal ability. And, regarding lores, I am fine with both Light and Nehekara.

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

Tomb Guard very rapidly replaced normal skeletons for me since they were much more effective, even against Saurus.

Anyway beastmen are dead, Tlaqua is gone, and I’ve started with the rituals, which I’ve been holding back on due to being at war so much. I’ll destroy Zlatlan before I start the next one and then maybe build more armies to invade Khemri’s territory. Maybe I’ll also use the Underway to get into Imrik’s territory since I’m at war with the Knights of Caledor anyway and they’re right next door to me. The more food sources and money I have the more armies I can build after all.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

I mean yeah, you can get so many Tomb Guard after expanding there's no reason to consider normal skeletons. Skeletons might have more warriors but they have even worse armour and awful HP/attack/defence/leadership. 'Cause they're meat shields.

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Well, "meat" shield.

But yeah, Nehekhara Warriors can tide you over, but Tomb guard is the only real option for mid-late infantry lines. Pretty decent, too. Good saying power with a couple of constructs supporting. Still can't get anything done by themselves.

Achieved short campaign victory as Pirates of Sartosa. To get the Long Campaign Victory, I need 2 more Pirate Wharfs. The issue here is growth, rather than lack of proper settlements (I have at the moment 83 settlements under my control, and 24 provinces).

I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...

I’d advise that you phase out Khalida’s skeleton archers for Great Bow Ushabti eventually. They’re amazing units that make skeletons irrelevant in the late game. I’d also advise going for halberd Tomb Guard over sword Tomb Guard for the extra tankiness since your build is based on using ranged units for killing. The anti-large will also be useful for intercepting cavalry that tries to flank you and get to your archers.

Edited by Millardkillmoore on Mar 1st 2021 at 12:26:25 PM

So, eventually replace 4 Skeleton Archers with 4 additional Great Bow Ushabti? And, I was thinking to go 6 Tomb Guard, with with two of them having halberds.
Alternatively, replace 4 Skeleton Archers with 3 Great Bow Ushabti and one Halberd Tomb Guard?

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All halberds, if you can. Your infantry is just there to hold, and halberd/spear infantry have way better melee defence but worse attack. When they don't need to kill, just endure, that's very nice.

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The Sword version is great for Settra. With redline buffs and all of his unique skills, he can turn them into super elite infantry. But for just about anyone else on the Tomb Kings, use Halberds since your infantry is just their to hold the line while your constructs, chariots, and ranged units do the killing.

If your current setup is 4 Skeleton Archers and 2 Great Bow Ushabti, I’d recommend dropping the 4 archers and replacing them with 3 more Ushabti for a final total of 5. Use the extra army slot this frees up for an additional Halberd Tomb Guard. Then replace all of your basic Tomb Guard with the Halberd version. You can keep the Ro R sword Tomb Guard if you want, but I wouldn’t keep any of the basic version in my final army.

This is very much an endgame army, so don’t worry about using this exact composition if you don’t have the unit caps for it at the moment. But those Great Bow Ushabti should shred anything, especially if you have Khalida invest in their redline buffs.

Edited by Millardkillmoore on Mar 1st 2021 at 12:25:34 PM

Well, if we're giving general Tomb King army comps, "here is a super specific lord setup" might be a bit too confusing, with regard to stuff like Settra. It's why I wouldn't mention it.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 1st 2021 at 8:30:57 PM

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