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Well I would say that The vampire counts lore is the best but then I am biased, with the lore of shadows coming in at a close second what do you think?
Ps it can be the 8 basic lores and all army specific lores as well.

I'd say Light. It's a gun line that also makes you awesome in combat.

The best is the Big Waaagh! So much smashy, and it's pumped by your units being in combat!

Id say chaos. Ive seen chaos demons wreck vc magic phases

Thanks for the comments but I don't mean necercerrily verses each other I just mean overall. I say the lore of vampires because one it's powerful and two its the only reason VC are good. If they didn't have magic they would lose EVERY match!

Heavens, it has a stackable negative Ld modifier that is easy to cast and it is capable of pushing your enemy's general and/or BSB out of range when they need it most and its effects are usually subtle enough that you can trick your opponent into not putting enough effort into dispelling them, making it much easier to cast them.

Also comet spam, nuff said.

I'd have to say death what better way to wreck someones day than purple sun or character sniping + additional PD for every wound inflicted.

sounds like a winner to me.

Shadow

 Krellnus wrote:
Heavens, it has a stackable negative Ld modifier that is easy to cast and it is capable of pushing your enemy's general and/or BSB out of range when they need it most and its effects are usually subtle enough that you can trick your opponent into not putting enough effort into dispelling them, making it much easier to cast them.

Also comet spam, nuff said.

Iceshard Blizzard stacks? Surely not with itself?

It seems theres a lot of love for Heavens in my local meta too... suits me just fine, I'm probably going to be using lots of skink priests until i can convert something into a 'counts-as' slann.

I'd say life overall. Shadow is amazing. At low points ruby ring + fireball just destroys people. It's actually banned at our local meta because if you could take that combo, you took that combo. (It won the past 4 500 point tournaments. All players who had it placed top 3 every time.)

I think it really depends on the army your taking. And how it meshes with your list.

Shadow is the most powerful lore, hands down.

 Micky wrote:

 Krellnus wrote:
Heavens, it has a stackable negative Ld modifier that is easy to cast and it is capable of pushing your enemy's general and/or BSB out of range when they need it most and its effects are usually subtle enough that you can trick your opponent into not putting enough effort into dispelling them, making it much easier to cast them.

Also comet spam, nuff said.

Iceshard Blizzard stacks? Surely not with itself?

It seems theres a lot of love for Heavens in my local meta too... suits me just fine, I'm probably going to be using lots of skink priests until i can convert something into a 'counts-as' slann.

Yes, all spells stack. Even instances of the same spell. page 31.

Note that bonuses and penelties from Hex, Augment, and other spells are cumulative, but normally cannot take any characteristic above 10 or below 1.

As we are not told that multiples of the same spell are not cumulative as per this section they do indeed stack.

So lets say i have 3 skink priests, and all of them have the signature spell... i could totally screw with whatever big block is locked up with my warriors... -3 to hit ( so probably 6s or 7s) and -3 leadership (to what.. 6? )

Thats pretty potent - although you are sacrificing some other pretty useful spells to do it

Given your enemy does not dispel those - especially regarding the fact he gets a straight +1 or +2 bonus with his lvl 4

Furthermore, you have 1 debuffed enemy unit while the rest is completely unaffected.

it most important is to choose the right one for your army, the more things that you supply, ranged attacks if your army does not have, combat if your army is weak, resistance if your army is weak....

I do not believe in magic lore better

 Felixjaeger wrote:
it most important is to choose the right one for your army, the more things that you supply, ranged attacks if your army does not have, combat if your army is weak, resistance if your army is weak....

I do not believe in magic lore better

And also to consider your ability to get the spells off reliably. For instance, there's no doubting that Shadow is a very powerful lore, with some absolutely deadly spells, but with my Empire army power dice are at a premium, especially when combat is met the lore's powerful hex and buff spells are directly competing with my warrior priest's buffs.

On the other hand Fire is generally considered a weak lore, but I find it has a very useful place within my army - with plenty of direct damage spells I find I can have a turn or two where my mage gets all my power dice and lends some very handy support to my artillery, and when combat is met the buff spells are fairly cheap and don't dice away from my Warrior Priests.

And that's why it's a bit strange to see people talking about army specific lores. I mean, the without their lore the Vampire Counts would be unplayable, but that's all factored in to the design of the army. It isn't a powerful or weak, lore, it's the lore you have to take to make the army work.

Before I read this thread, I was sure people would say Shadow the most. Now that I've read this thread, the only thing I'm sure of is that the Lore of Vampires is, by far, not the strongest lore, which is something that I've been sure of since the dawn of time.

It isn't the most damaging but it is still pretty damn good for us. A sig spell that can raise quite a few models with each casting, and can be single die spammed. Then we have a spell that lets us move (even if we can't charge) and gains rerolls to hit. Then there is a rerolls to wound, a decent magic missile, a spell that raises a new unit that is worth 0 points to the enemy. Curse of years is pretty brilliant as a magic defense since it wastes your opponent's power dice to dispell. And of course there is the thing that does d6 wounds per rank, which is brilliant against any army that can take us in a war of attrition.

It doesn't have any big 'I win' spells but I still think it is one of the best Lores out there (though not the best) simply because anything you roll is going to be good.

There is no best lore. Each lore works differently for each army.

For instance, shadow works wonders on DE, but on VC it isn't as effective.

No way, man! The stuff that it does is not as useful as other lores, for the most part, in my opinion. Shadow, for instance, has far more versatility in spells that can be boosted for a benefit no matter what else is going on in the battle, a better 6th spell, and a killer signature. Even if you consider the spells equally powerful, the added versatility of shadow raises it above vampires (as does almost every other BRB lore).

The BRB lores are a weird case though. Whereas the army book lores are all extremely well balanced, the BRB lores reek of poor balancing.

So, what's the story with the BRB lores? I mean, 8th edition is released. The very next armybook released after the new edition (in essence, the first 8th edition armybook) immediately starts scaling back the power of the lores presented within. Why such an immediate and drastic change? And that calls into question - what were they thinking with the BRB lores?

it so much depends on what army you are playing because of the deep synergy. Guo and heavy infantry Daemons. Lore of life was my go to. For my tomb kings it's death and nehek. However my vote.

I think beasts is really strong.

Wysaans is very solid.
Flock is meh, but for an 8+ to cast, you can start chipping away at high t stuff with low armour, like war machines.
Pann's and SAvage require having a decent character close by. Savage Beasts on a herald of slannesh is out of control.
amber spear, solid anti monster help
Curse helps wreck hordes, win combat, win movement phase.
Transformation gives you a sweet beast of dooooom. And a good reason to have an amazingly well painted model on the display board.

I would say it depends on the situation and who your facing

Heavy Armored armies - Metal
Low Initiative armies - Death
Low Tuff and low saves - Fire
Need buffs? - Life Light and Shadow
Need effective anti-dead magic - Light
Need to cripple? - Death and Shadow

I'm not as up on the army Lores, however they tend to be tailor made for the army they belong to.