What magic to use?

Shadow has proven to be about the best magic to get for my lvl4, but i have yet to find the perfect match for my lvl2.


Many option are possible, but since he only gets to pick 2 or 3 spells, i gotta keep in mind that i might end up with the 2 or 3 "worst" choice, which happens from time to time.



Lore of Death :
Not only do you have to manage to cast, but you also need some good rolls to do damage.

usefull spells :
Caress of Laniph ; can kill elf, but since it only wounds on 4+, its not guaranteed.
2d6 = 7 on average. Minus their Str, that's 4. 2 wounds that can be warded.
SoulBlight ; anything that reduce Strenght and Toughness is good in my book. It nullify Dark Elfs weakness, and make combat so much easier.
Purple Sun ; well, yeah. It can be a game breaker, and it can be a suicide, but the risk is worth it imho.

useless spells :
Spirit Leech ; considering the mage is Ld8, You actually need a lucky roll to expect to do a single wound.
Aspect of the DreadKnight ; Fear and Terror aren't game breaker imho, with BSB being so powerful in 8th, and so many unit immune to those.
Fate of Bjuna ; 12" range kills this otherwise elf-killer spell.
Doom and Darkness ; unless you manage to cast it on his General, it will never be that great. And it is subject to discussion as to how it affect surrounding units, and i usually try to avoid that kind of discussion.

So if you end up with Spirit Leech, aspect of the DreadKnight and Fate of Bjuna, you won't be casting much during a game.



Lore of Dark
It has some nice spells, which works great on paper and are easy to cast, but i have yet to make anything worth a 180 pts character with it.

usefull spells :
Doombolt ; easy to cast, and S5. Can do a good job against something hard to kill, but won't do much otherwise.
Word of Pain ; reducing WS to 1 and getting hit on 5s is nice.
Soul Stealer ; S2 hits is not much, but when you think its also no armor save, you realize its a can-killer. The added bonus that it gives wounds back is nice, but the fact that it only has a 12" range make it very situational.
Black Horror ; another great can-killer, but once again, its short range make it pointless.

useless spells :
Chillwind ; yes, you can't shoot the following phase if you take a wound, but with 24" range, the only thing you can target are units with ranged weapon, who arent too frequent in 8th edition.
BladeWind ; needing to hits before wounding makes it a risk imho, unless you manage to cast Word of Pain on the unit before.

Short range on Soul Stealer and Black Horror is really a turnoff. It's more offensive than Death or Shadow, but it doesnt really bring something that you NEED on the table.



Lore of Metal
Metal is often considered as a lore that is good only against high armor army, like Bretonnian. When you take a closer look at the lore, it has alot more to offer. The downside is that most spells are cast on 9+ at least, so they are much harder to cast than most other lore.

usefull spells :
Plague of Rust ; for Dark Elf, where S3 is king, reducing Armor Saves can do a great job to add to our killyness. And the fact that it is a Remains in Plays also helps forcing your opponent to throw Power Dice at dispelling it.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban : +1 to hit in close AND range is huge. This makes a unit of Crossbowman very hard to charge. With Magical Attack, its also a nice way to deal with Ethereal.
Glittering Robe : adding 2 to our armor saves can basically make a unit of warrior turn into a unit of Cold One.
Transmutation of Lead ; reducing WS, BS and Armor Saves can do a good job at keeping our units alive.
Final Transmutation ; Horde killer. If there's 30, you should be killing 10, that helps alot.

useless spells :
Searing Doom ; Its debatable that its useless, as it can do quick work of Blood Knight and such, but since its not everyone that has high armor, its not such a great spell, and its just D6 or 2D6 hits...
Gehenna's Golden Hounrs ; the fact that the opponent can take a look out sir on each hit, its hard to consider this spell viable.

The only reason i'd avoid this lore is really how high you need to roll to get a spell through. Since Shadow already has its fair share of hard to cast spell, i feel that with these two lore together, failing to met the required casting value would happens too often.