Warhammer/Tactics/Magic Items

With new armybooks no longer having rulebook-worth lists of magic items, big rulebook magic items became even more of a staple.

General Guidelines

This information is mostly covered in BRB, but it may be still worth repeating.

• 1) You can have only one magic item of each type per hero. Special characters are an exception to this rule.
• 2) You can have only one copy of each item in your army, unless specifically stated otherwise.
• 3) Most wizards cannot use magic armor, unless they can wear any sort of non-magical armor by default. Then they can buy any magic armor.
• 4) A hero, who can become a wizard (such as Shadowdancer, Warlock Engineer, etc.) cannot purchase Arcane items until they gain at least 1 magic level.
• 5) Paired weapons are not "additional hand weapon" and can be used while mounted.(under magic items it specifically states that they do so, ignore this *pg 501 core rulebook). Paired weapons simply require 2 hands (just like great weapons) and this does not prevent their use while mounted.
• 6) Magic weapons and magic shields, whether paired together, or separately with mundane equipment, do not grant a parry save.
• 7) Magic helm/shield does NOT replace mundane body armour. Magic shield replaces only mundane shield, magic helm replaces only mundane helm. (yes, I've seen people claim Dragonhelm replaces mundane heavy armour).

Item List

Magic Weapons

• Giant Blade: 60pts for +3 Strength. Pretty straightforward. Better taken on lords with numerous attacks or vs high Armor save armies.
• Sword of Bloodshed: 60pts for +3 Attacks. Most characters with this will become better at one thing - killing chaff, so maybe not worth it for S4 lords. Vampire and Chaos Lords will make full use of it though.
• Obsidian Blade: 50pts for ignoring armor saves. While may seem good for fighting stuff like Chaos Knights, higher S would be more effective in any case. It can be very good on some assassin set up heroes.
• Ogre Blade: 40pts for +2 Strength. Very nice. Allows a lord to take both this and solid defenses. Can be taken by heroes; heroes like skaven Chieftain can take this to hand out lots of pain cheaply.
• Sword of Strife: 40pts for +2 Attacks. Even worse than +3 version, as those two attacks are not really felt. Still, may be good on sime high-strength hero. Not worth it for a lord unless you are tight on points and want a few extra shots at them.
• Fencer's Blade: 35pts for WS10 and is a paired weapon. May be good for low-WS combat lords/heroes, though prevents from using a shield. Really shines on mage characters, drastically improving their chance to survive in melee, and also allows them to occasionally kill something too, which is hilaious.
• Sword of Anti-Heroes: 30pts for +1S & +1A for each enemy character in base contact with the wearer or his unit. Few armies really stack characters in a single unit, and those that do - namely Ogres and Brettonia - have a ways to keep them in second row. Still worth it with new rules bringing herohammer back.
• Spellthieving Sword: 25pts and each time you wound a wizard, he forgets a random spell. This would be funny as a free special rule on some creature, but totally not worth it as an item - and weapon at that - for a multitude of reasons. Skip.
• Sword of Swift Slaying: 25pts for ASF. Useless for any Elves. Low-initiative chars should go for Gold Sigil Sword, they won't feel the difference. High-initiative chars will gain re-rolls to hit from this, but they normally have high WS already. Debatable worth. Take for the re-rolls and to finish challenges before the other guy gets to strike.
• Sword of Battle: 20pts for +1A. Cheap and a little extra kill power, wouldn't bother with it on anything bigger than a hero.
• Sword of Might: 20pts for +1S. Nice, I guess, if you want to give your hero some extra punch and magic attacks, general out done by many other weapons but it is economical if you have plenty of attacks base or expect ethereals.
• Berserker Sword: 20pts for Frenzy which cannot be lost. +1A is not that great and downsides of berserker rage are not really worth the ItP (if the char has good Ld, he doesn't care for ItP that much, if the char has bad Ld, he will suffer from frenzy badly). Skip.
• Gold Sigil Sword: 15pts for I10. Maaaay be useful for low-I heroes (no lord would bother with it), though not great at all, Mostly situational.
• Sword of Striking: 15pts for +1 to hit. Actually, very nice. Due to how WS works (WS10 and WS3 hit WS2 on same roll), independent "to hit" modifiers are very nice.
• Biting Blade: 10pts for Armor Penetration. If you really want that 1ArP, just scoop 10pts more and get Sword of Might. Skip. Alternate Take: Could be useful in small games or on a budget character, especially if you find yourself going against high armor opponents like dwarfs.
• Relic Sword: 10pts for wounding anything on 5+, unless you need less. Could be neat for hunting Sphynxes, I guess, but I doubt it. Still, it's dirt-cheap, so may be worth taking on some cheap-cheap low-strength hero (say, a non-mage Warlock Engineer) to kill some monsters. Have some use on cowboy on Kadaii Destroyer hunt with 2+ Ward Save from Flaming.
• Shrieking Blade: 10pts for causing Fear. Given how fear works in current edition it is actually it is playable and competitive on single heroes destined to hunt ethereals or vs moral manipulation armies. Those have fear themselves so with Blade you don't worry about Ld bubble even with low-Ld heroe.
• Tormentor Sword: 5pts for granting Stupidity to a character/monster wounded by this. Once again, would be neat as special rule, useless as an item. As above, playable only on Ethereal hunter.
• Warrior Bane: 5pts. A monster of character who takes wounds from this weapon loses 1A per wound taken. Last item in the trio of "would be a nice special rule but is a shitty item" weapons. It doesn't affect attacks from, say Sword of Strife ('cos those are granted and not a character's own stat). And third one to collection of cheap weapons for cheap chaff/ethereal hunter. Has a lot of potential as an anti vampire/chaos lord weapon on a tanked out lord or champion.

Magic Armour

Unless stated overwise, helms grant +1 armor save, stacking with armor and shield.

• Armour of Destiny: 50pts for heavy armor with 4+ ward save. A nice second way to get 4+ Ward save. No, it is NOT worth it for Lords not capable of taking mundane heavy armour, as it prevents Enchanted Shield, which totally compensates for it. Giving it to a cheap hero can turn him into a hilarious unkillable midget.
• Trickster's Helm: 50pts for helm, which causes the enemy to re-roll successful to wound rolls. Take it on high-T lords to troll the living hell out of low-S enemies. Rerolling that occasional 6 needed to wound is priceless.
• Armour of Silvered Steel: 45pts for 2+ armor save which cannot be improved by any means. Apparently, silvering somehow makes regular steel armor twice as good. Anyway, this is a nice item for a hero on foot with no shield. Consider combining this with Talisman of Preservation to become unkillable. Just keep in mind, 2+ is not top armor save, so you are 1-point more vulnerable to ArP or S4+ attacks than an average 1+ chaos guy. Also, anything that ignores armor saves makes this item completely useless.
• Armour of Fortune: 35pts for heavy armor with 5+ ward. Sees little use due to being 4th way to get decent ward save and few armies have so many generic characters.
• Helm of Discord: 30pts for a helm which makes a single character in a unit in base contact with wearer's unit to check Ld each turn. If a character fails his Ld test, he cannot attack and is hit (not wounded) automatically that turn. Not reliable, not cheap, but can be funny in friendly games.
• Glittering Scales: 25pts for light armor which grant -1 to hit to enemies hitting the wearer. Dues to reasons explained above, this is awesome, expecially if you don't have to replace your heavy armor for it (or can compensate for it somehow).
• Shield of Ptolos: 25pts for a shield, which grants 1+ armor save against shooting. Clearly designed for a lonely character, but isn't too cheap and that character should have decent armor save already (up to the same 1+). Keep in mind, this shield grants 1+ armor save - it doesn't improve an existing one (so no armor saves agains S10 shooting).
• Spellshield: 20pts for a shield with Magic Resistance (1). Not really good. If you want a cheap MR caddy in your general's bunker, talismans are much better at this role, and MR caddy hardly needs a magic shield, he shouldn't get into the harm's way anyway.
• Gambler's Armor: 20pts for heavy armor with 6+ ward. Really cheap, grants a tiny bit of protection. Could be nice if you need 3rd char with 6++ save.
• Dragonhelm: 10pts. Beauty and the beast rolled into one. Relish the beauty of 10pts item granting +1 armor save stacking with shield and armor, combined with 2+ ward save against flaming attacks - making Lore of Metal wizards cry tears of molten lead (as well as Lore of Fire and Lore of Hashut wizards). But if you have a proper regeneration save, this becomes a real beast, as regen's only weakness - flaming attacks - becomes non-existent. Always, always take eithe this or Dragonbane Gem on a lone character, or you die horribly. Also, take either one and get into combat with any newfangled K'daai. Priceless!
• Enchanted Shield: 5pts for a shield which grants +1 to armor save. Very, very, very nice. Really useful in absolutely any situation - on your General, on a cheap side hero, on Waystalker with no protection. Never leave your home without this somewhere in your roster.
• Charmed Shield: 5pts for a shield which allows you to ignore the first hit suffered on a roll of 2+. Note, it ignores a hit only, and you have no contol over what hit you ignore. So, it can prevent a hit from slave and then allow you to eat a killing blow in the face. Still, really cheap, better than regular shield and keep in mind that "automatic hits" are hits as well, so they can be ignored.

Talismans

• Talisman of Preservation: 45pts for a 4+ ward save. Your general must wear this, or you die horribly! Unless he is a Slann or Annointed of Asuryan or something.
• Obsidian Lodestone: 45pts for Magic Resistance(3). Consider keeping a cheap-cheap hero with this in your general's bunker.
• Talisman of Endurance: 30pts for a 5+ ward save. Third way (after ToP and AoD) to get decent ward save.
• Obsidian Amulet: 30pts for Magic Resistance (2). Nice for secondary (wizard's) bunker or for general, if MR(3) is too expensive for you.
• Dawnstone: 25pts for re-rolling failed armor saves. If you already have decent ward save from armor, this is very nice. If your ward save is inbuilt, take this and Armour of Silvered Steel and become completely invulnerable.
• Opal Amulet: 15pts for 4+ ward save against the first wound suffered. Meh.
• Obsidian Trinket: 15pts for Magic Resistance (1). Tied with Lichebone pennant for providing minimal MR to a bunker. IMHO, Lichebone Pennant wins, as it is a best banner for a bunker, while there are better talismans for a hero (or you may just want to skip buying another the hero altogether)
• Talisman of Protection: 15pts for 6+ ward save. This item makes Gambler's Armor look bad. ToP + Enchanted Shield costs less than GA + mundane shield, and grants better protection if the character had at least light armor by default. Still, not the best option, because of...
• Seed of Rebirth: 10pts for 6+ Regen save. Unless enemy has Flaming Attacks, this grants same 6+ ward, but 5pts cheaper.
• Dragonbane Gem: 5pts for 2+ ward save against flaming attacks. See comments for Dragonhelm.
• Pidgeon Plucker Pendant: 5pts for 5+ ward save against wounds caused by fliers in CC. Funny item, but useless.
• Luckstone: 5pts for rerolling a single failed armor save. Yeah. Unless you have nothing else to spend points on.

Magic Standards

• Rampager's Standard: 55pts for rerolling failed charge distance. Not bad, but due to its cost can only be taken by BSB, so not really worth it in most cases.
• Wailing Banner: 50pts for Terror. With how Terror works, the pricetag and scarcity of banners, not worth it. Skip.
• Ranger's Standard: 50pts for ignoring all difficult terrain. Too expensive, pass.
• Razor Standard: 45pts for Armor Penetration. Not really bad. Take on S4 unit to ignore heavy armor or light armor+shields.
• War Banner: 35pts for +1 Combat Resolution. Very nice if you need more static CR.
• Banner of Swiftness: 15pts for +1M. It's cheap and many units would love increase to M.
• Lichebone Pennant: 15pts for Magic Resistance (1). Cheap, nice.
• Standard of Discipline: 15pts for 1+ Ld, but the unit cannot use General's bubble. Absolutely must be in almost every army which have Ld-issues and can brought it on table without much pain. Keep General in same unit with Standard and your Ld is one point higher for almost free. Obviously if your unit generals unit standard can be magical. Otherwise - very situational, but can be nice to make some Elves or smth, with Ld8-9 across board completely idependent from General, allowing said General more movement freedom.
• Banner of Eternal Flame: 10pts for Flaming Attacks. Very cheap and nice to screw up Regenerating units. Be wary though, a single chump with Dragonhelm/Dragonbane Gem can tarpit your entire unit in place. Funny thing to have it on your main unit with some magic attacks inside as those are unaffected by Bannner and still are counted as non-flaming. That way you will kill weaker heroes with 2+ Ward but unfortunately tougher guys and units with said Ward are out of reach (Dragon Princes?).
• Gleaming Pennant: 5pts for allowing you to re-roll a single failed Ld test. Nothing spectacular, but veeery cheap, and can find its use in armies with no BSB or who are spread across the board.
• Scarecrow Banner: 5pts for causing Fear in fliers. I won't even comment on that.

Arcane Items

Almost all items in this category are one-use only, unless noted otherwise. All scrolls, except Power Scroll, are used instead of dispelling attempt.

• Book of Ashur: 70pts for +1 to casting and dispelling attempts. Basically a bonus caster level with no bonus spell for almost twice the price. A nice item, but leaves your mage with 5+ ward save top, though can be less of an issue for a Slann or High Magic Archmage. This one ain't one-use.
• Feedback Scroll: 50pts to roll a dice for each power dice roled. On a 5+, the casting wizard takes a wound with no armor saves allowed. Questionable value, given its cost and the fact it cannot reliably kill a lord-level wizard with even 3+ ward save.
• Scroll of Leeching: 50pts to gain dispel dice equal to the power dice used for the spell. Very situational and too expensive because of it.
• Siverjir's Hex Scroll: 50pts to attempt to transform casting wizard into a toad. He has a chance to resist by testing on his wizard level. Once again, a bit too expensive - turning low-level wizards is a bit pointless, high-level wizards have a good chance to resist. Still, can be useful in smaller games, which often rely on low-level wizards. Also, it is hilarious.
• Power Scroll: According to the FAQ it now halves the casting value of an un-boosted spell. Might be good, as it allows a lvl 4 wizard to somewhat reliably cast Occams or Dwellers with two dice.
• Wand of Jet: 35pts for, basically, an additional power dice. Must be used after casting, so can improve a failed attempt, but still too expensive. Skip it.
• Forbidden Rod: 35pts for d6 additional power dice, causing d3 wounds to the wizard. Not really worth it - while a good magic phase could be worthy of sacrificing your wizard, this item can kill your wizard before he gets irresistible force - so not good. Could be used if your wizard has a ward save (5+ or greater). And 3 or more wounds. And a way to heal (lore of life, lore of vampires). And doesn't roll a misscast on any of its spells on the turn you get D6 extra dice. Still 8/81 chance to die. Extremely situational.
• Trickster's Shard: 25pts for an item that can be used before a bearer's magic phase, causing a wound to each dispelling wizard on a roll of 5+ for each dispelled spell. Normally of debatable worth, but take it on Loremaster or Slann with all signature spells & Ruby Ring of Ruin and get either a free casting phase or a dead enemy wizard.
• Earthing Rod: 25pts to reroll a result of a single miscast. Nice item, especially if you like to dish out big spells.
• Dispel Scroll: 25pts for automatic dispel. You know it, you love it. Always, always take it when playing against any Elves, WoC, DoC, Skaven (yeah, if you have a chance to dispel the Dreaded 13th, you must use it), etc. If you don't, you will be burned, cursed, hit by lightning, burned agains, frozen, lacerated, infected, scared, weakened, confused, transformed, impaled, disintegrated, raped by demonic or fey entities and dragged screaming into abyss.
• Power Stone: 20pts for two bonus power dice, but these must be used before rolling for the spell. IMHO, more efficient than Wand of Jet.
• Sceptre of Stability: 15pts for a Wand of Jet, but for dispel attempts. Can be useful.
• Channeling Staff: 15pts for a permanent item, which adds +1 to channeling attempts. Not bad at all, glorious if you have a Slann with the cheap little discipline that grants channeling on 3 dice instead of one.
• Scroll of Shielding: 15pts to get the target unit of enemy spell a 4+ ward save against that spell. Pretty good, especially against blaster wizards.
• Staff of Sorcery (FAQ'ed): 35pts for a +1 to every dispel attempt by the bearer. Only worth taking on a level 2 or level 4 mage, costs the same as a wizard level but "only" adds +1 to your dispel attempts. Still, dispelling at +5 can really shut down a magic phase. Or your level 2 mage dispells like a level 3 but costs less and is paid from your Heroes allowance instead of Lords.

Enchanted Items

All "potions" are one-use (obviously)

• Wizarding Hat: 100pts for becoming level 2 Wizard who uses a random school (roll before rolling for spells). Also grants stupidity. Note that it overwrites existing wizard levels, so take it on a combat character only (also, they normally have some innate defenses so they can survive goin naked). Can be hilarious, granting proper magic lores to Greenskins, Skaven or Dwarves.
  I can do magic me!

Dwarfs don't have access to the common magic items from the rulebook. And they would never use some shoddy man-made (or worse!) magic item which is not a proper runic item. Twice not in order to cast magic! Tromm

• Fozzrik's Folding Fortress: 100pts for a free watchtower in your deployment zone. Normally not the best item, but there's a skub-tastic tactic involving a giant horde of archers with archmage sitting in the tower, although that tactic is easily foiled by a single skaven spell. =)
• Arabyan Carpet: 50pts for flying. Although most flying mounts cost about the same, this is a nice item for, say Ogre Tyrant, Skaven Warlord on War-Litter (yeah, it's still "on-foot"), etc.
• Crown of Command: You automatically win, wait, wrong game. 35pts for Stubborn. Remember, a stubborn character makes his unit stubborn. Can be really worth it, depending on your army.
• Healing Potion: 35pts for restoring d6 wounds. Not a bad item, I guess.
• Featherfoe Torc: 35pts to make flying creatures and their riders re-roll successful to hit rolls against the wearer and his unit. Unlike other "anti-flier" items, this one is actually pretty cool, severily crippling the likes of Great Eagles, Ripperdactyls, Pegasus Knights, Warhawk Riders and Princes on Dragons. If you know enemy army includes a lot of fliers (ahem, high elves, ahem), take it and drink your WE/Lizardmen friend's tears when he has to reroll all of those successful Killing Blows.
• Ruby Ring of Ruin: 25pts for a bound Fireball. Not bad, especially if you plan to play the dispel game. Also works well with less hitty lores (like most popular Life or Shadows), providing a cheap hitter spell they lack.
• The Terrifying Mask of EEE!: 25pts for an awesomely-named item, which grants the wearer Terror and disallows allies using this model's Ld. Name's great, crunch - not so.
• Potion of Strength: 20pts for +3 Strength for 1 turn. With enough attacks, this baby can drop a monster in a single turn, or allow a character win a duel with Chaos Lord. Maybe.
• Potion of Toughness: 20pts for +3 Toughness for 1 turn. Can allow a character to survive a round in a duel with Chaos Lord. Maybe.
• The Other Trickster's Shard: 15pts for forcing enemies in base contact with the bearer to re-roll successful ward saves. Always take it against Daemons or for character hunting. Phoenix Guard, Dwarves and Forest Spirits also don't like it, really. Remember two things though: 1) Regeneration is NOT Ward save. 2) Parry save IS Ward save.
• Ironcurse Icon: 5pts for a unit-wide 6+ ward save against war machines. Really depends on your opponent. Can be nice against Skaven, Empire or Dwarves.
• Potion of Foolhardiness: 5pts for ItP and Devastating Charge for 1 turn. It's really cheap, but there are better items.
• Potion of Speed: 5pts for +3 Initiative for 1 turn. Combine it with Savage Beast of Horrors to DECIMATE things before they can even move.

Tips

It is totally not necessary to have a magic item in each slot, it is not D&D. Heavy or Light armour with shield do their work just fine, unless you are aiming for 1+, Halberd or even Great Weapon are good and cheap either if you can surive without a shield. Don't be afraid to take a naked Annointed of Asuryan or an extra Skaven Chieftain, if you have a use for them, but can't afford to get them full magic gear - the default is perfectly fine. You are not obliged to max out the magic item allowance on each of your characters either. Almost-naked Vampire Lord is still formidable enough.