Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Chaos Undivided Sorcerer

This is a discussion of skills for a hero unit in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos v1.72. A list of all our Warhammer: Mark of Chaos articles can be found here.

Chaos Undivided Sorcerer Skills
  • You get every skill at rank 0 as long as you fulfill the prerequisites.
  • The only Chaos Undivided Sorcerer in the game is in the Chaos Campaign. He has some unique and very powerful skills.
  • Any skill with no skill prerequisite deserves special attention because you can bank your points and get 5 ranks of it immediately when you reach the necessary level, instead of spending your points on low-level skills you may not want.
  • Look for passive skills that require no mana, because one or two really good skills on a hero will monopolize use of the mana pool anyway.
  • I recommend prioritizing Steal Soul, then Spell Focus and Wind of Death. Deflection, Magic Resistance, and Lord of Shadow are also good to have.
Combat Skills

Wind of Death (Level 0)
  • Powerful area attack that affects the target area with a 15% chance of reducing HP by 2. +3% chance to hit per rank.
  • At 5 ranks, it basically kills 30% of everything in its radius as very few models have more than 1 HP. Although it is a starting spell, it is extraordinarily powerful compared to the other attack spells available.
  • Get this, but not before Steal Soul, which needs as high a percentage chance of success as possible to be useful.
  • Wind of Death does not seem to work on units on a wall.
Wind of Death > Lord of Shadow (Level 15)
  • Increases the radius of the Wind of Death spell by 8% per level (40% at rank 5).
  • You won't always be able to take full advantage of the increase in radius because regiments typically arrange in a long column, so it won't often come into play.
  • The targeting circle will not increase in size to reflect the wider radius.
  • Although in general it is good to specialize a powerful spell, in the mid to late game (Chaos Campaign) your regiments will be strong enough that the panic of having to quickly mass-kill enemies is reduced, and you might instead save your mana for Steal Soul to win missions with zero net losses.
Spell Focus (Level 0)
  • Reduces the cooldown of all spells by 6% seconds per level.
  • 30% reduction at rank 5 is very good, especially when combined with the Staff of Corruption you can get quite early in the Chaos Campaign (-10% cooldown).
  • As an early skill, this is probably tied with Wind of Death as to which to take first. I personally went with Spell Focus as it helped me cast Steal Soul more often.
(no prerequisites) > Deflection (Level 5)
  • Increases the hero's defence against ranged attacks by 10% per level.
  • Every character has a different mix of damage resistance above and beyond their Armor Rating. Knights, for instance, take 264% damage from piercing attacks (ranged units!).
  • If your sorcerer is attached to a ranged unit and you keep him at range, then this is nice to have, especially since Marauder Axe Throwers have range 22 but Empire Handgunners have range 30, so there's time under fire while the regiment moves into range and (if you have several regiments) repositions to fire.
Deflection > Unseen Lurker (Level 15)
  • Teleports the hero to the target area. -5 Power cost per rank.
  • Unless you have a lot of mana in reserve, don't use this to enter a hot landing zone since you'll need spells once you're there to actually do anything useful.
  • You don't get to move the regiment the sorcerer is attached to. Using this will detach the sorcerer from the regiment.
Unseen Lurker > Infernal Storm (Level 25)
  • The Unseen Lurker spell creates an explosion where it starts. The explosion damages units in the area with 5% chance to hit, +5% per rank.
  • If you develop Unseen Lurker, you might as well take this to increase your chances of survival in the landing zone. Follow up with Wind of Death to ensure maximum carnage and to clear the landing zone.
(no prerequisites) > Magic Resistance (Level 5)
  • Increases the hero's magic resistance by 1 per level.
  • Consider adding Magical Ward from Command Skills to further increase magic resistance (passive Command skills apply to the hero whether they are attached to a regiment or not).
  • Magic is dangerous but a much less common occurrence than conventional weapons.
  • Helps with Skaven, who use unconventional attacks classed as "magic".
Duel Skills
These skills are only available during a duel. All other skills that need to be activated are disabled. Therefore, any points put here may be unavailable most of the time, and specializes your hero into an anti-hero build. Even so, it is hard to say whether you will get enough mileage out of a duelist hero because after a bout, he may have low health and no be able to handle a second bout. Damage is typically done by attrition unless you have invested a lot of points.

Drain Life (Level 0)
  • The next melee attack will also heal the hero by 1 HP if successful. +5% chance to hit per rank.
  • Presumably the bonus means your next melee attack is also at a bonus chance to hit, instead of this spell having a chance of activating.
  • It's an okay skill, but in the mid to late game, as far as duelling goes, it's costly in mana for repeated use as a primary duelling skill.
Drain Life > Power of the North (Level 15)
  • Breaks the magic of the opponent and freezes him for 3 seconds. +20% chance per rank to inflict 2 damage.
  • Automatically works to freeze the opponent for 3 seconds. This can give you a head start on the 8 seconds to cast Warrior Familiar.
Drain Life > Master of the Winds (Level 15)
  • Decreases the cost of all spells by 2% per rank.
Drain Life > Master of the Winds > Warrior Familiar (Level 25)
  • 8 seconds to cast. The hero summons a Warrior Familiar to aid him. The Warrior Familiar will periodically deal damage to the opponent with 50% chance to hit. Lasts 20 seconds. +10% chance to hit per rank.
Supernatural Resilience (Level 0)
  • Decreases the attacker's chance to hit by 10% per level.
  • Not clear how long this lasts, but -50% at 5/5 ranks is huge.
Supernatural Resilience > The Terror (Level 5)
  • Special attack that terrifies the opponent for 10 seconds. Every successful hit causes an additional 5 morale damage to the opponent while the terror lasts.
Supernatural Resilience > The Terror > Dreadfeaster (Level 15)
  • Each point of morale loss caused by the hero has a 1% chance per level to restore 1 HP to the hero.
  • Supposing you hit 10 times over the 10 seconds of The Terror. That is 10 x 5 = 50 morale damage. At 5/5 ranks in Dreadfeaster, that is 50 x 5% = 2.5 HP regained.
Command Skills
Command skills work on the hero if they are not attached to a regiment.

Divine Inspiration (Level 0)
  • The hero and the attached regiment gets +5% bonus experience points from each kill.
  • +25% experience, which includes the hero. Limited use on units since they are capped at level 3, but +25% experience for a hero who can mass-kill with Steal Soul and Wind of Death is very good.
  • You can't attach this hero to every regiment type, so if you don't lose your regiments often, the regiment bonus is typically wasted as well.
Steal Soul (Level 0)
  • Drains health from up to 5 targets with 30% chance to hit. The amount of damage inflicted will heal or resurrect the attached regiment's units and the hero. +10% chance to hit per rank.
  • At 5/5 ranks, this is 80% of 5 units, or about 4 HP per casting.
  • Definitely maximize this as soon as possible.
Steal Soul > Blood Sacrifice (Level 25)
  • Sacrifices 10% of the attached regiment to restore 40 morale points. At least one unit is consumed in the process. -5 power cost per rank.
  • If you're losing so badly as to have morale reduced to a critical level, you are probably better off fleeing or using Steal Soul to save the regiment instead of killing of what's left with this spell. If you do cast this, hopefully you will have enough mana left to immediately cast Steal Soul.
(no prerequisites) > Call of the Chase (Level 5)
  • Increases the movement speed of the hero and its attached regiment by +2% per level.
  • You are still limited by endurance for running, and even +10% on an unmounted unit might not make a huge difference.
  • The prerequisite is Eagle Eye, which affects ranged regiments. Therefore, you are probably going to attach a hero with this skill to a ranged regiment, which is typically infantry (only the Empire has a mounted Handgunner regiment).
  • Same as the Chaos Champion Command skill, except there is no prerequisite. Would be great for Chaos Knights, except the Sorcerer cannot get a mount and therefore cannot be attached to the mounted Knight units.
(no prerequisites) > Magical Ward (Level 5)
  • Increases the hero's and the attached regiment's magic resistance by 0.5 per level.
  • Consider getting this if you also took Magic Resistance, to stack Magic Resistance on your hero.
Magical Ward > Boon of the Gods (Level 15)
  • When Charged, the attached unit has a +10% chance per level to avoid damage caused by the charge.
(no prerequisites) > Swift Command (Level 15)
  • The hero's and the attached regiment's attack speed increases by 3% per level.

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