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I am fairly new to WHFB and I have been using a Slann Mage Priest with the Lore of Life. I've enjoyed the lore very much with the augments and dwellers spell. I was curious to see what other lores would be an effective one to use with the mage priest?

Depends on how many Stegadons you use and if you use single or double Slaans.

Single Slann: Shadow
Single Slann: Light
Single Slann with lots of Stegs: Life
Double Slann 1): Bunkered Slann with Shadow (main) & Higher State Slann with Death (secondary)
Double Slann 2): Shadow (main) & Life (secondary)

Those Lores play best to the strengths of the Lizardmen.
You can also try the others if you want, a Slann is good at everything if configured right.

Fire has mostly damage spells but lacks augments & hexes.
Beasts is fine but the Slann can't Transform (FAQ).
Heavens can be used by Skink Priests thus less used on a Slann.
Metal is just weak and/or situational.

I actually think Metal has great potential if, and only if, you know the whole thing. Sure, it's got two spells that only work if your opponent has quality armor saves in the first place, but the augments are awesome, especially when combine with the naturally decent but not great lizardman saves, and final trans is, on average, more effective than dwellers, particularly against elites. Having to roll for 4 spells, rather than getting all seven, really guts this lore (where, say, shadow doesn't suffer too much from it).

I run 1 engine of the gods steg and another ancient steg and life bloom from life has kept them up for a lot longer than they should. I will try light and shadow thanks for the tips.

Beast can do some disgusting things, but you need to build your list around it, by including loads of scarvets (probably on cold ones) in a single unit and then having the slann Beast of Horros / Impenetrable Pelt them all ftw. You end up with a deathstar, but one that tastes quite a bit different from the temple guard nonsense with life - Beaststar is ultra-aggressive and tears faces off, Lifestar is ultra-defensive and refuses to die.

- Salvage

Beasts also offers some really fun options for Ethernal Slann. You take the Fencers Blade, Ethernal and Plague of Tepok, with Crown of Command and Terror if you have the points. It gives you a Slann you is hard to hit let alone hurt and with Beasts he can turn into a wrecking ball. The Stubborn Crown means he can tarpit as almost as effectively as a Dark Elf Lord. Plague of Tepok is cheap and because you never take Transformation you should always get the spells you want.

For more serious/competitive games your Lore choice varies a bit depending on your list. In general you want to be taking a Lore which makes up for the weaknesses of your list and buffs your strengths. I generally avoid lores like Fire or Death, which are almost purely damage based, since Lizards have a well balanced book which can dish out damage all over the place. I would also avoid Heavens, its damage spells are pretty meh (Comet hurts, but its terrible against so many armies) and its buff spells are outclassed by other lores.

For a standard Saurus heavy list Life or Light are probably the best options. Life is a defensive option, getting around the terrible Initative of Saurus/TG by making them almost impossible to kill but still has Dwellers for a dangerous unit killing spell. Its most commonly used in a Temple Guard block, providing a solid center to your list and with Throne you don't have to worry about blowing up your own unit too much. Light is the more offensive option, you make your Saurus I10 or ASF +1A so they hit first and mess units up. It also has good magic missiles for causing damage and some decent defensive buffs with Phas and Net. Its biggest advantage over Life is that it has boosted versions of its buff spells which can effect multiple units at once. Its main disadvantage is the lack of a direct unit killing spell, Time Warp lets you wreck units but usually won't change a game the way Dwellers or Purple Sun can. You can run Light in a Temple Guard block, but it is generally better if you don't. Without protection from Throne you pretty much have to take Cupped Hands if you want to go inside a Temple Guard block, and because you can effect multiple units with AOE buffs its actually easier to just take more Saurus and run around on foot (usually with Ethernal and 2+ ward against Fire to avoid Dwarf cannons).

Shadow is a great lore and is very scary on a Slann. It can do the same job as Light, replacing your buffs spells with debuff spells on the enemy. You still have a spell which lets you wreck units in combat (Mind Razor) but also get Pit, which can directly kill off units as well. However I would hesitate to take it over Light, again because Light gets AOE buffs rather than single target buff/debuffs. Its definitely a very good option for lists with multiple Slann, I've run lists with Light + Shadow which worked pretty well.

Metal is actually a very good lore for Lizardmen in some builds. With Stegadons being war machine fodder Lizards can actually struggle to deal with well armoured units, which Metal takes care of without thinking. In are more traditional Saurus based list it clearly falls into the 'situational' category but in a list which is heavy on Skinks and/or Skrox units its definitely the way to go. You have massed poison shots to deal with units without armour and Metal takes care of the elites. You can also make use of the Scaly Skin buff (Skinks with armour saves makes them even more annoying, and very helpful in Skrox units to stop you dying in huge numbers) properly and use the Auguments and debuffs to full effect.

When 8th started I ran life on my SMP in a SMP bunker and the army was essentially unkillable.

I ran it with fire today... hopelessas I play too aggressively, better if he is flying around at long range shooting.
I ran light a couple of times, but he and his unit of TG always ended up out of range to support other units.

I've never tries shadow as the augments and hexes are devestating when used by lizardmen, and I wanted to try things a little less maxed.

I tried Shadow today and I was happy with how it played. I think Life is my lore though. I find it plays to my defensive play style very well. I did lose half of my temple guard to a cracks call(sp?) spell.

Actually, this is an easy choice. If you have three or more Stegadons, you should nearly always take Life, as it synergizes so well with any sort of multiple wound models in the army. In any other army build, Light is best. Light offsets every single weakness in the army with relatively easy to cast area effect buffs, two extremely efficient magic missle spells, and a long range hex that can really screw up an oppoent's battle plans. Light also synergizes extremely well with the Heavens default spell that your skinks will be sporting, as Ice Shard Blizzard combined with either Pha's or Speed of Light will win you any combat outright.

If you are playing a large enough game to run two frogs, then they should always be Light and Shadow.

My friend sometimes does Double Slann with Light+Life, both loremasters.


Light is a good lore that counters the main weakness of the army, low Inititive. you can give units I10, ASF, and WS10. kroxigors with GWs can strike at I10, yes its very disgusting.

Grey Templar wrote:My friend sometimes does Double Slann with Light+Life, both loremasters.


Light is a good lore that counters the main weakness of the army, low Inititive. you can give units I10, ASF, and WS10. kroxigors with GWs can strike at I10, yes its very disgusting.

The main shortcoming of Light is that you really need to get Speed of Battle off. Otherwise it wont do much.

Tehenhuain on an EotG or Mazzie are hillariously good in LOLadon armies. With Beasts from Tehe' and whateer-you-want from Mazzie you can own like crazy. Also, I am not sure how Smoke and Mirrors could work with Mazzie, but it has the potential to for many lulz with a Fly Priest.

I really like Metal as a Lore for Slanns. Large, heavily armored blocks suffer greatly. The spells really help soften hard units that Saurus will fight forever, so they can eat the lighter units.

I feel like Life gets too much love sometimes. It's fantastic for Saurus in CC but doesn't kill as much at the outset. I prefer more offensive magic to cut huge chucks out of the enemy lines so the Saurus have to do less work, rather than spend forever clubbin' things to death.

Death and Shadow are two of my favorites. Although Death calls for Focus of Mystery in most cases, which is sad...