Skaven Spells of Plague

Skaven Spells of Plague is a lore of magic introduced in Total War: Warhammer II. It is unique to the Skaven race.

Lore Attribute

Plague Rash
Itchy, nasty buboes are spread as the spells of Plague are cast, infecting the enemy populace with sickness.
	Passive Ability Skaven Spells of Plagues
Type	Augment
Target	Enemies
Speed	-10%
Vigour per second	+1%
Effect range	Map-wide
Duration	5 seconds
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(all)
Enabled if	Casting
Triggers when casting spell

Spells

Pestilent Breath
The Skaven utters a vile phrase and belches forth an impossibly foul cloud.
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	8 Winds 11 Winds (Overcast)
Type	Breath
Target	Ground, All
Damage Per Second	20 (0%) 30 (0%) (Overcast)
Duration	2 seconds
Radius	12 metres
Movement Speed	24m/s
Contact (Overcast)	Poison! (Overcast)
Range	100 metres
Duration	8 seconds
Cooldown	32 seconds
Miscast chance	50% (Overcast)
Additional poison contact effect
Expanding tear-shaped attack Strong vs multiple units

Bless with Filth
A foul mist wraps around the weapons of an allied pack, their blades dripping with noxious filth.
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	4 Winds 7 Winds (Overcast)
Type	Augment (Area)
Target	Ground, Self, Allies
Imbuement	Poison!
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	22 seconds 44 seconds (Overcast)
Cooldown	29 seconds
Miscast chance	50% (Overcast)
Affected units	Affects allies in range(all)
Extended effect duration

Wither
Chanting passages from the Liber Bubonicus, the Wizard casts a hex of wasting and corrosion.
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	6 Winds 10 Winds (Overcast)
Type	Hex (Area)
Target	Ground, Enemies
Armour	-30 -60 (Overcast)
Range	200 metres
Effect range	35 metres
Duration	50 seconds
Cooldown	37 seconds
Miscast chance	50% (Overcast)
Affected units	Affects enemies in range(all)
Greater effect on armour

Vermintide
Behold the Vermintide; the Wizard calls and the rats will answer!
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	7 Winds
Type	Summon Unit
Uses	5
Target	Ground
Range	50 metres
Duration	1 second
Cooldown	41 seconds
Affected units	Affects allies in range(max: 1)
Summons a unit of Clanrats Good at defending spellcaster Summoned units degrade over time

Plague
The caster unleashes a vile disease that scours the battlefield in search of victims to infect and instantly petrify.
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	11 Winds 16 Winds (Overcast)
Type	Vortex
Target	Ground, All
Damage Per Second	8 (100%) 12 (0%) (Overcast)
Duration	20 seconds
Radius	15 metres
Range	150 metres
Duration	20 seconds
Cooldown	50 seconds
Miscast chance	50% (Overcast)
Increased armour-piercing damage
Large, expanding area of effect Strong vs multiple units Good against armour Weak vs a single combatant

Pestilent Birth
Like a pregnant boil bursting forth, the ground bursts open and pus-coated Plague Monks emerge to do battle at the verminous summoner’s bidding.
	Spell Skaven Spells of Plagues
Cost	16 Winds
Type	Summon Unit
Uses	2
Target	Ground
Range	50 metres
Duration	1 second
Cooldown	48 seconds
Affected units	Affects allies in range(max: 1)
Summons a unit of Plague Monks Good at flanking enemies Summoned units degrade over time

Variations

The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell
The Curse of the Horned Rat is the dreaded 13th spell – the fabric of reality is torn and the Horned One’s children spill forth!
	Spell Skaven Spells of Ruin
Cost	20 Winds
Type	Explosion
Uses	2
Target	Ground, All
Explosive Damage	81 (33%)
Range	150 metres
Duration	13 seconds
Cooldown	52 seconds
Summons a unit of Stormvermin Summons a unit of Stormvermin (Sword & Shield) (Overcast) Huge explosion area Strong vs multiple units Summoned units degrade over time
Available to Grey Seer (Plague) only

Units

Daemons of Chaos

Unit
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙

Skaven

Unit
Lord Skrolk	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙
Grey Seer (Plague)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Plague Priest	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙

Tzeentch

Unit
The Changeling (Formless Horror: Lord Skrolk)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙
The Changeling (Formless Horror: The Blue Scribes)	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙

Warriors of Chaos

Unit
The Blue Scribes	🗙	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	🗙

Strategy

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Skaven spells of plague fit specifically into the skaven playstyle of swarming the enemy and demoralizing them.

• Plague Rash (Lore Attribute) does the reverse of the Lore of Shadows by reducing enemy speed. Skaven don't have many fast moving units and their infantry is naturally faster than most others, so this can help catching enemies or preventing yourself from being outmaneuvered. Also useful if you're expecting heavy cavalry presence, or armies like the Beastmen with naturally fast units, can be a nice addition.
• Pestilent Breath is a fairly standard breath spell, useful for damaging blobs and disruption. Since Plague is a far superior damage spell, however, you usually benefit saving your winds for that instead.
• Bless with Filth is a buff spell that grants an area of units poison attacks. Great to use with skavenslaves to allow them to debuff the enemy, greatly increasing their utility. Especially with the high model count numbers the Skaven possess, a very solid cheap spell.
• Wither is a reasonable debuff spell, useful for neutering elite units if you're scared of your own elites getting stomped. If you opted to bring Stormvermin, this introduces one of few opportunities for Skaven to win the infantry battle.
• Vermintide is an incredible spell that can single-handedly carry battles, and entire campaigns if desired. Comparable to Raise Dead, but Skavenslaves/Clanrats are far faster than zombies. Incredible useful for flanking, tarpitting units, harassing and disrupting backrow units, and not too expensive either. A must-take from this lore.
• Plague is an expanding burst spell that does a very respectable amount of damage. You're likely to hit your own units with it due to its size, but as Skaven, that's more than acceptable. One of the best blob killers in the game.
• Pestilent Birth is similar to Vermintide, but summons plague monks instead. This is a costly summon, but plague monks are solid fighters that can put up much more of a fight than Skavenslaves can. Can be devastating on a flank, not advisable to use these as a tarpit for elite units, as their damage potential gets wasted in that predicament, and their staying power isn't exceptional.

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