Lore of Death

The Lore of Death is a lore of magic introduced in Total War: Warhammer.

Lore Attribute

Life Leeching
Spellcasters who practise Death Magic can channel the life force of foes into their spells.
	Passive Ability Lore of Death
Type	Augment of the Winds
Target	Self
Reserves Per Second	+0.10
Duration	25 seconds
Enabled if	Casting
Triggers when casting spell

Spells

• Aspect of the Dread Knight
• Aspect of the Dread Knight Upgraded

Aspect of the Dread Knight
An invisible aura of horror surrounds the Wizard’s allies. Only the bravest foes now stand before them.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	4 Winds
Type	Augment
Target	Self or Single Ally
Imbuement	Magical Attacks
Leadership	+8
Can Cause Terror
Can Cause Fear
Range	200 metres
Duration	16 seconds
Cooldown	29 seconds
Affected units	Affects allies in range(max: 1)

Aspect of the Dread Knight Upgraded
An invisible aura of horror surrounds the Wizard’s allies. Only the bravest foes now stand before them.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	8 Winds
Type	Augment
Target	Self and Allies
Imbuement	Magical Attacks
Leadership	+8
Can Cause Terror
Can Cause Fear
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	32 seconds
Cooldown	29 seconds
Miscast chance	50%
Affected units	Affects allies in range(all)
Added effect area Extended effect duration

• Spirit Leech
• Spirit Leech Upgraded

Spirit Leech
The Wizard extends an ebon hand towards the chosen foe, leeching its spirit through tainted sorcery.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	8 Winds
Type	Direct Damage
Target	Single Enemy
Damage Per Second	33-67
Range	100 metres
Duration	13 seconds
Cooldown	32 seconds
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(max: 1)
Causes damage to combatants Strong vs character Strong vs a single combatant Weak vs multiple combatants

Spirit Leech Upgraded
The Wizard extends an ebon hand towards the chosen foe, leeching its spirit through tainted sorcery.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	11 Winds
Type	Direct Damage
Target	Single Enemy
Damage Per Second	33-67
Range	300 metres
Duration	13 seconds
Cooldown	32 seconds
Miscast chance	50%
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(max: 1)
Extended cast range Causes damage to combatants Strong vs character Strong vs a single combatant Weak vs multiple combatants

• Doom & Darkness
• Doom & Darkness Upgraded

Doom & Darkness
Spirits of the departed assail the Wizard’s foes, sapping their resolve and causing dread among their numbers.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	5 Winds
Type	Hex
Target	Single Enemy
Leadership	-16
Range	200 metres
Duration	36 seconds
Cooldown	43 seconds
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(max: 1)

Doom & Darkness Upgraded
Spirits of the departed assail the Wizard’s foes, sapping their resolve and causing dread among their numbers.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	10 Winds
Type	Hex
Target	Enemies
Leadership	-16
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	36 seconds
Cooldown	43 seconds
Miscast chance	50%
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(all)
Added effect area

• Soulblight
• Soulblight Upgraded

Soulblight
Harnessing the sickly power of Shyish, the Wizard weakens the foe's will to survive the battle.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	8 Winds
Type	Hex (Area)
Target	Enemies
Base Weapon Damage	-25%
Armour-Piercing Weapon Damage	-25%
Armour	-30
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	20 seconds
Cooldown	45 seconds
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(all)

Soulblight Upgraded
Harnessing the sickly power of Shyish, the Wizard weakens the foe's will to survive the battle.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	14 Winds
Type	Hex (Area)
Target	Enemies
Base Weapon Damage	-25%
Armour-Piercing Weapon Damage	-25%
Armour	-30
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	40 seconds
Cooldown	45 seconds
Miscast chance	50%
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(all)
Extended effect duration

• The Purple Sun of Xereus
• The Purple Sun of Xereus Upgraded

The Purple Sun of Xereus
A colossal orb of purple-edged darkness materialises - those who do not escape its crystalline touch are doomed for eternity!
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	18 Winds
Type	Vortex
Target	Ground, All
Damage Per Second	11 (63%)
Duration	11 seconds
Radius	12 metres
Movement Speed	2 metre per second
Range	150 metres
Duration	11 seconds
Cooldown	54 seconds
Affects units if:	Not on or below a platform
Huge, randomly-moving area of effect Good against armour Strong vs multiple units

The Purple Sun of Xereus Upgraded
A colossal orb of purple-edged darkness materialises - those who do not escape its crystalline touch are doomed for eternity!
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	24 Winds
Type	Vortex
Target	Ground, All
Damage Per Second	11 (63%)
Duration	22 seconds
Radius	12 metres
Movement Speed	2 metre per second
Range	150 metres
Duration	22 seconds
Cooldown	54 seconds
Miscast chance	50%
Affects units if:	Not on or below a platform
Extended effect duration Huge, randomly-moving area of effect Good against armour Strong vs multiple units

• The Fate of Bjuna
• N/A

The Fate of Bjuna
Following the fate of the unsmiling warrior, Bjuna, the targets of the caster’s ire will laugh themselves to death.
	Spell Lore of Death
Cost	22 Winds
Type	Direct Damage
Target	Single Enemy
Damage Per Second	125-250
Range	100 metres
Duration	18 seconds
Cooldown	52 seconds
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(max: 1)
Causes damage to combatants Strong vs 25 men unit or above Strong vs multiple combatants Weak vs a single combatant

The Fate of Bjuna does not have an overcast version.

Units with the Lore of Death

Beastmen

Unit
Malagor the Dark Omen	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙
Great Bray-Shaman (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Bray-Shaman (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Chaos Dwarfs

Unit
Sorcerer-Prophet (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Daemonsmith Sorcerer (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Daemons of Chaos

Unit
The Daemon Prince	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Exalted Great Unclean One (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Herald of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Plagueridden (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Dark Elves

Unit
Morathi	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	✔	🗙	🗙
Supreme Sorceress (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Sorceress (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Greenskins

Unit
Azhag the Slaughterer	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Giant River Troll Hag	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

High Elves

Unit
Teclis	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙
Archmage (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cavill	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙
Mage (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Loremaster of Hoeth	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙

Kislev

Unit
Hag Witch (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Lizardmen

Unit
Slann Mage-Priest (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Norsca

Unit
Azrik the Maze Keeper (WH1 & WH2 only)	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙	✔
Shaman-Sorcerer (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Nurgle

Unit
Exalted Great Unclean One (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Daemon Prince of Nurgle	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	✔
Herald of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Chaos Sorcerer Lord of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Plagueridden (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Chaos Sorcerer of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Ogre Kingdoms

Unit
Slaughtermaster (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Butcher (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

The Empire

Unit
Elspeth von Draken	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Amethyst Wizard	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Tomb Kings

Unit
Arkhan the Black	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Liche Priest (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Tzeentch

Unit
Kairos Fateweaver (Fragment of Shyish)	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙	✔	✔
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Archaon the Everchosen)	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Arkhan the Black)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Azhag the Slaughterer)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Elspeth von Draken)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Kairos Fateweaver)	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙	🗙
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Malagor the Dark Omen)	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	🗙
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Mannfred von Carstein)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Morathi)	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	✔	🗙	🗙
The Changeling (Formless Horror: The Blue Scribes)	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Vampire Coast

Unit
Burke Black	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vampire Fleet Admiral (Pistol-Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vampire Fleet Admiral (Polearm-Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vampire Fleet Captain (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Vampire Counts

Unit
Mannfred von Carstein	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Necrarch Vampire Lord	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙
Strigoi Vampire Lord	🗙	🗙	✔	✔	✔	🗙	🗙
Vampire (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Warriors of Chaos

Unit
Archaon the Everchosen	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙	🗙	✔	🗙
Daemon Prince of Nurgle	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	✔	🗙	✔
Chaos Sorcerer Lord of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Chaos Sorcerer of Nurgle (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Chaos Sorcerer (Death)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Strategy

Despite its ominous title, the Lore of Death is an awkward and fairly poor school of magic which is best avoided if you have a choice, unless the hero or lord wielding it has good enough traits to make them worthwhile on their own merits. It focuses on bypassing armour in numerous different ways.

• Life Leeching is a pretty good passive, simply rewarding you with more magic the more you cast, making Death magic practitioners good secondary wizards if you already have one.

• Spirit Leech is an obvious choice to cast upon problem SEMs and lords, but it absolutely cannot take out anything powerful on its own and needs to be followed through with attackers. It's a strong contender to max out first so you can overcast it for maximum effect.

• Aspect of the Dread Knight is a nice, cheap buff which is definitely worth investing in if you're fighting Daemonic or Undead enemies who are vulnerable to magic attacks.

• Doom & Darkness might help you break some enemies quicker when cast at the right time, but it's rare to see it have a noticeable effect.

• Soulblight is similarly mediocre and even more expensive. Reducing enemy damage output is much less valuable than increasing their own susceptibility to damage so you can get rid of them faster, and armour is one of the less important stats.

• The Purple Sun of Xereus certainly looks impressive and can annihilate clumps of enemies... sometimes. It moves randomly, so it may decide it's not interested on staying over your foes. This is the price of a relatively quick casting time for a nuke spell. Obviously you need to cast it well away from your own troops.

• Fate of Bjuna is an extremely potent unit killer, but it also has an insanely high cost. Pick a target for it carefully because without plenty of Arcane Conduits it may well be the only sizeable spell you'll get to cast that battle.

Trivia

• The Lore of Death is the most widely-accessible lore in the game, being available to generic casters of fifteen races as of Thrones of Decay's introduction of Elspeth von Draken.

Magic General Winds of Magic · Unique spells · Bound spells · Summons Lores of Magic Lore of Beasts Lore of the Big Waaagh! Lore of Dark Magic Lore of Death Lore of the Deep Lore of Fire Lore of the Great Maw Lore of Hashut Lore of Heavens Lore of High Magic Lore of the Hag Lore of Ice Lore of Life Lore of Light Lore of the Little Waaagh! Lore of Metal Lore of Nehekhara Lore of Nurgle Lore of Shadows Lore of Slaanesh Lore of Tempest Lore of Tzeentch Lore of Vampires Lore of the Wild Skaven Spells of Ruin Skaven Spells of Plague Skaven Spells of Stealth Lore of Yang Lore of Yin Unique Lores of Magic Cataclysm Deliverance of Itza Runic Magic