List of broken/bent items and abilities

[Lord Klobuk]

So I thought it would be usfull for new and inexperinced players to have a list of the most nasty items/combos in warhammer that they should watch out for.Nevertheless this also intrests me since I have not played against all the armies(I wouldnt have clue what i am up against skaven o.o).

For example:if you are fighting dark elves you might get into a challange whit a dark elf lord not knowing he has a 2++ save from the pendant of Khaeleth and also you might not use your Big bat screem against him that completly ignors this protection having no str value etc...

You can make this your top 5 or 10 or just list a few(up to you of corse),it can be any item or abillity from the army books or the BRB.Explain why you think it is broken/bent/powerful or just poorly FAQ-ed and if there is a way to deal whit it.

 

[The Sun King]

When playing against Skaven you should watch out for the Doom Rocket, probably the worst priced item in the game - last night I saw it take out 16 Savage Orcs.

 

[Bounce]

Annoyance of netlings. You can only hit on 6s in a challenge. Don't accept the challenge.

Cupped hands of the old ones. Slaan can bounce miscasts onto you.

The new banner of the world dragon, 2+ save from all magic. Making a blender lord useless.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Chalice of Blood and Darkness

 

[Seneschal]

The Warriors of Chaos Daemon Prince is similar to the Dark Elf "Dirtlord."

To help new players, I'll add that;

-Annoyannce of Netlings is typically found on a Wood Elf Treeeman Ancient or Highborn.
-The Slann are the frog guys from the lizardmen army.
-Banner of the World Dragon is typically found on a White Lion unit in the High Elf army.
-Chalice of Blood and Darkness is from the Chaos Dwarfs list.

 

[Lepaca]

Chalice of Blood and Darkness

Unfamiliar with this one. What does it do?

 

[Lord Klobuk]

Minus 1d3 power/dispel dice for both players at ANY point in the magic phase.Throw your last dice at a spell and THEN use the Chalice since you have no PD good for you but the opponent will have -1d3 dispel dice left

 

[Nightreaver]

TK can bring a lot more units to the table than you would expect because they don't need magic items that much (2.4-2.5k list will have ~90pts worth of magic items in it, spread across 4 lords/heroes and units).

Already mentioned various types of "immortal" dreadlord in DE lists, usually sporting 1+ armour save, 2+ ward save and S5 AP or S6 attacks. Sometimes you'll find him in a unit but most often he'll be riding a pegasus or a dragon. Another thing worthy of note here is the annoying BSB on pegasus with similar saves and great weapon, beware of him as he's cheap and sports +2 static CR all by himself.

No one mentioned the ultra doombull from Beastmen, sporting great armour save and getting extra attacks for each successful save he makes.

HE sheananigans of challenging with unit champion, bringing him back and repeating this ad nauseam to save valuable models from stuff like blender lords (in theory, VC and TK can do that too).

WE Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, if the table has 2+ woods on it then it may ruin someone's day (they can teleport whole unit from one wood to the other).

WE defensive lords/heroes, usually with glittering scales, annoyance of netlings and riding an eagle, other variants include fimbulwinter shard (another -1 to hit) and dawnspear (-1 to hit for entire unit if scores a wound). They are relatively cheap and can tie up things worth several times more points for some time, especially when they get boosted by some beasts/life spells.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I only have about four items to make the list really.

Becalming Cognitation
Chalice of blood and darkness
Sac dagger
Storm banner

 

[Nightreaver]

Oh, I just remembered something extra for DE:

Manbane + Rending stars on an assassin hiding within a unit of shades. Not only can he kill dragons all by himself when shooting, they can use the trick of revealing assassin, thus displacing one model slightly, and getting into charge range in your backline on turn 1. Nasty stuff.

 

[The Sun King]

@ Nightreaver: You mention TK, WE and Beastmen... sure they have some good combos here and there but all three armies are probably the worst armies out there so I wouldn't worry too much about their "OP" item combos They need them in order to just survive

 

[Nightreaver]

@ Nightreaver: You mention TK, WE and Beastmen... sure they have some good combos here and there but all three armies are probably the worst armies out there so I wouldn't worry too much about their "OP" item combos They need them in order to just survive

Well, VC aren't considered top tier contender either

 

[Johnny-Crass]

And we dont have any bent items . Funny how that works

 

[Nightreaver]

It depends how you look at it. If you're playing some really big games and take VL on big Z with nightshroud and stuff you can have a pretty tough nut to crack (no S bonuses vs T6 means that most stuff will be wounding you on 6, and gets -1 to hit etc.). The blender lord is quite cheesy too.

But it all boils down to what you really consider bent/broken. A single item/ability all by itself or a combo you can build around it. Then you have to take into account the local meta and any composition rules (if any). In my area there are comps that typically target DE, DoC and Skaven (no more than 3 warlock engineers, can't use more than 12PD in a single round, can't use greater deamons etc.), reducing their potential at cheese and cookie-cutter builds. Also, people tend to take otherwise underused units which can ruin some of the top of the pack armies' day. TK sepulchral stalkers for example make a joke out of DE immortal dreadlords or dreaded deamon princes (reading bat reps from recent tournaments brought many surprises).

 

[Johnny-Crass]

See what i consider bent items are things that are not meta depended but instead universally strong items

 

[Cela Shyish]

The Banner of Avelorn in the High Elves army book is very powerful and something to watch out for

 

[Corien Sumatris]

OK: Hellheart? nobody out there hate this item like I do? All wizards within 5d6" suffer a miscast. The only army that this wouldn't upset is Dwarfs (for obvious reasons), and it upsets vamps more than most! and it can be taken on hero level casters like a Firebelly(which aren't broken good, but they're beasts in themselves).

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Hellheart is too random to be me broken imo

 

[Corien Sumatris]

It is random, yes, but can end an important magic phase before it starts. Maybe I've just had bad luck against it though, but man has it ruined my day more than a few times!

 

[The Sun King]

Hellheart isn't broken, our local Ogre player has stopped using it because it never really did anything. Johnny is right about the randomness too.

@ Nightreaver: Hmm don't know why you don't think that VC is top-tier... I know I'm top tier, but maybe that's just due to my epic gaming skills lol

 

[Narenzade]

Nothing is broken in the game, but there's a lot of nasty stuff out there. So I'm listing the best stuff more or less.

VC - Red Fury, Terrorgheist

DE - Sac Dagger, Pendant of Kaleth, War Hydra

Empire - Steam Tank

Skaven - Doom Rocket, Hellpit A-Bom

High Elves - World Dragon Banner

Warriors of Chaos - Daemon Prince, Skullcrushers, Mark of Nurgle

Daemons of Chaos - Plaguebearers, Skullcannon, Mark of Nurgle

Ogre Kingdoms - Maneaters, Ironblaster, Mournfang

Orcs and Goblins - Doomdiver, Savage Orc Big Uns

Beastmen - Minotaur Bus (I guess)

Tomb Kings - Casket of Souls, Screaming Skull Catapult

Wood Elves - ...

Lizardmen - Slann, Salamanders

Dwarves - Flame Cannon

 

[Corien Sumatris]

I would tend to agree that there is nothing "Broken" in this game, there are just good units versus not so good units. And a dwarf flame cannon? I feel organ guns are significantly better point for point. They seem a touch too random and you can't put an engineer with them, thus no rerolling misfires unless you spend a ton for a master engineer. Don't get me wrong, if you get a perfect shot off with it then it is absolutly devistating but it's getting that perfect shot that's iffy.

@Sun King: Duh Johnny is right! when is he not? I guess it is just that I've had bad luck, or I was just relying on my magic phase a bit to much. I also havn't played against ogres in about a year and they were my 3rd game with the vamps, so I was probably playing the vamps wrong too. Live and learn I guess.

 

[The Sun King]

@ Corien: It's dangerous to rely on the magic phase, even without the hellheart sometimes you just roll double ones

 

[Johnny-Crass]

The flame cannon is horrible. The chaos dwarf magma cannon on the other hand is the best warmachine in the game...

 

[Corien Sumatris]

What is the Magma cannon? I haven't looked into/ever played against the Chaos Dwarfs