Lore of Shadows

The Lore of Shadows is a category of magic spells in the Total War: Warhammer series.

Smoke & Mirrors
A conjured shadow is just as obfuscating as a real one - the Shadow Wizard is a master or mistress of the 'concealing' arts =Spells=
 * The Passive of the Lore, active mapwide on casting another spell.
 * +12% speed (24 Seconds)

Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma
The caster weaves a confounding fog that numbs and deludes enemies, causing them to stumble and stagger.


 * Cost: 5 Winds of magic
 * Target: Enemy 100m
 * Type: Direct Damage
 * Duration: 14 seconds
 * -24% speed
 * Cases damage to combatants
 * Strong vs. multiple combatants

The Enfeebling Foe
When cast, this spell enfeebles enemy minds; they feel the crushing weight of reality bearing down upon them.


 * Cost: 6 Winds of magic,
 * Target: Enemy 200m
 * Type: Hex
 * Duration: 22 seconds
 * -27 Melee defence
 * -26 Melee attack
 * Overcast for 10 Winds of magic and 44 second duration

The Withering
The Wizard destroys their enemies from within, corroding foes' minds with doubt and crisis.


 * Cost: 7 Winds of magic
 * Target: Enemy 200m
 * Type: Hex
 * Duration: 40 seconds
 * -30 armour
 * -8 Leadership
 * Overcast for 14 Winds of magic and an area of effect radius

The Penumbral Pendulum
A spectral pendulum is summoned by the Wizard. On command, it swings, razor sharp and with lethal speed, through the foe.


 * Cost: 13 Winds of magic
 * Target: Ground 200 m
 * Type: Wind
 * Duration: 3 seconds
 * Causes massive magical damage
 * Small forward moving area of effect
 * Strong vs. multiple units
 * Overcast for 18 Winds of magic and greater armour piercing damage

Pit of Shades
The spellcaster opens a vortex leading into the Pit. Anything caught within it will be lost forever.


 * Cost: 13 Winds of magic
 * Target: Ground 200m
 * Type: Vortex
 * Duration: 13 seconds
 * Causes moderate magical damage
 * Huge stationary area of effect
 * Strong vs. multiple combatants
 * Good against armour
 * Overcast for 20 Winds of magic and more armour piercing damage.

Pit of Shades is stationary vortex. Its inherent armor piercing damage makes this spell useful against both light and heavily armored troops. As it is stationary, it is useful when units are bottlenecked or clumped together. Its initial expansion may toss lighter troops away from the subsequent pull and damage of the the rift that opens up. Due to the suction of the rift, units have difficulty escaping its effect radius after the initial expansion. When upgraded, Pit of Shades increases the armor piercing damage it does.

Okkam's Mindrazor
The supernatural solution is often the best; weapons materialise before the caster's allies, allowing them to slice through flesh, soul, and consciousness.


 * Cost: 10 Winds of magic
 * Target: Self, Ally
 * Type: Augment
 * Duration: 32 seconds
 * Imbues magic damage
 * +40% weapon damage
 * +40% armour piercing weapon damage
 * Overcast for 18 Winds of magic and an area of effect

= Strategy =

Lore of shadows is a strong lore with many hex and augment spells alongside some heavy damaging ones. The lore attribute is notable for lasting a surprisingly long time. The speed boost itself is not super significant, but the fact that it lasts for 24 seconds means that your units will be that slight bit faster for a while. Melkoth's miasma is a solid spell for slowing enemies down while also doing damage to them, it also works well with the lore passive, speeding all friendly units up to catch slowed enemies.

Penumbral Pendulum is a very strong "wind" spell that can wreck infantry formations. They can be very effective against stationary targets such as archers or the front line of an engagement. Pit of Shades is also notable for being the only stationary vortex spell in the game. This means that it can be cast without fear of friendly fire. It also means that it is easier to avoid as it won't be randomly moving.

Enfeebling Foe is another great spell for neutering the melee stats of a unit. Useful for critical engagements between lords or hampering a key unit on the battlefield. Use whenever you reach a critical engagement of the battle. This spell is useful for preventing damage from going through or increasing the likelihood of an enemy taking damage. Okkam's Mindrazor is a straight damage boost. it is percentage based so will effect units with higher values to begin with. Best used on more elite units or even a character that needs to hit harder. Notably, melee attack and defence does not increase, so their likelihood of dealing damage is the same. Enfeebeling Foe and Mindrazor can be used in similar scenarios or combined with another ability to win a fight (use enfeebling to reduce combat stats and Deadly Onslaught to increase damage for example).

The Withering is not very useful, lowering a single enemies leadership and armour is not very worthwhile. Overcast adds an area of effect that can help reduce the armour of many enemies, but still you are better of saving your Winds for another spell. The two effects are quite different and somewhat unrelated which makes it an awkward to use spell. If your enemy has high armour though, this ability can provide some niche utility for stripping it and making them vulnerable to a rear charge that could break their leadership.

Overall this lore has many strong spells, suitably it is a relatively subtle lore of magic that can swing the favor of battle in key engagements.

= Trivia =


 * Available to generic casters of nine races, the Lore of Shadows is the second-most commonly available lore. It is beaten only by Death, available to ten.

=Units=