Morathi army composition?

[BlackSoul]

Hi, I have question about Morathi army composition and faction uniqueness. In skill tree she buff shades and heroes specially casters. She has access to demonets, but they have same role as witch elfs and sisters of slaughter. Demonets doesnt have any buff in techs or skills. So why bother at all? Dark elfs are better with ranged armies than hammer and anvil style. Any idea where are demoneths better than sisters?

[SBA77]

I think it's mostly just for flavor. I'm not sure how much it holds up today but in lore from at least 20 years ago, Morathi was a Slaanesh worshiper and had spread secret Slaaneshi pleasure cults all over the Naggaroth. Her getting access to Slaaneshi demons as well as spreading Slaanesh corruption (or just generic Chaos corruption in TWW2) are references to that.

It's just something they put in there to make the fans happy since they love details like that. Of course you are under no obligation to optimize all the time, so if you want make a thematic Morathi army with Slaanesh demons, then go for it.

[Aneerah]

It's kind of a lazy inclusion, though. If a faction gets 'flavor' units, at least make them comparable to the normal roster, whether it be through building upgrades or lord traits. I forget the name of it, but the dark elves have a technology that is related to Slaanesh that gives chaos undivided corruption as opposed to Slaanesh corruption. It hasn't been updated from WH2 to WH3... Anyhow!

I usually enjoy going for a couple of reaper bolt throwers to destroy towers in sieges, maybe 2 sorceresses, 3-5 other heroes (mostly masters, since they get decent mounts. Death hags too, but are less versatile.) and then the rest shades.

[SpeaksTooFast]

I have not played a Morathi campaign but to my understanding her optimal build is likely a few heroes and shades.

My preferred dark elf army comp if I'm trying to build strong armies is normally 6-8 heroes/hydras for a frontline, at least one caster, and fill out the rest with shades. It may be less optimal than pure shade spam but was a lot of fun to play.

I think the deamonets were mostly tacked on for flavor, which is cool but if you are felling min/maxy they are probably best if you just need some quick disposable shock troops and not worth the micro to keep in your standing armies.

All that being said if you build strong armies the AI will often just run away so having weaker forces to bait them into attacking or ambushes can also be pretty useful from a campaign perspective.

[Whatever100500]

Morathi's better unique skill-line (Tenacious) doesn't tie her to any particular units.

Insiduous line kinda buffs Shades (only in melee, when their true value is ranged), but Morathi can't get Barbstorm/Shadowdart, so while she can lead a Shade stack, she will be worse at it than a generic DE lord. Just not worth paying the premium price of Shades for that.

So, just build the usual cost-efficient shards + spears stack. Morathi + fire sorc + a few melee heroes will add enough value to make the stack strong enough as whole. Doesn't mean you need to fire initial daemonettes or shades - keep using them, just don't build more.

[Carog the Fat]

yeah if she had the ability to summon demonettes and give that ability to her lords that would be great and flavourful.

[DatHomieShnitzel]

Originally posted by Carog the Fat:

yeah if she had the ability to summon demonettes and give that ability to her lords that would be great and flavourful.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2855142590&searchtext=Morathi
Thank god for the Workshop innovating where CA either forgets or refuses to for the $60+ (potentially $200+ with the other two games plus just a FEW of the DLC) dollars people have spent with them. Not quite what you described but it doth provide an alternative.

[MulticornRB]

Don’t forget Scourgerunners, Doomfire Warlocks and Dark RIders. Shades are way better with a generic Shadowdart Sorceress.

[Aneerah]

Originally posted by Whatever100500:

Morathi's better unique skill-line (Tenacious) doesn't tie her to any particular units.

Insiduous line kinda buffs Shades (only in melee, when their true value is ranged), but Morathi can't get Barbstorm/Shadowdart, so while she can lead a Shade stack, she will be worse at it than a generic DE lord. Just not worth paying the premium price of Shades for that.

So, just build the usual cost-efficient shards + spears stack. Morathi + fire sorc + a few melee heroes will add enough value to make the stack strong enough as whole. Doesn't mean you need to fire initial daemonettes or shades - keep using them, just don't build more.

The way I see it, you get enough money to where it doesn't really matter if you're being a bit more cost effective with morathi, so I just go with shades instead of darkshards. Heroes are the way to go for sure, though.

[SpeaksTooFast]

Originally posted by Aneerah:

The way I see it, you get enough money to where it doesn't really matter if you're being a bit more cost effective with morathi, so I just go with shades instead of darkshards. Heroes are the way to go for sure, though.

I mean once they get leveled Morathi and a few heroes can carry 99% of the battles you fight... and as I mentioned earlier, having a stronger force may just deter the AI from fighting you so it's not just about paying troops.

[Aneerah]

I haven't found that to be a problem personally

[A.Pot]

I generally like to do armies based on what legendary lords buff so in the case of Morathi I like to do a hit and run focused army that heavily makes use of Shades and Scourgerunners with a Bloodwrack or two because it feels thematic to go with her.

[BlackSoul]

Thanks for comments. I feel same that Morathi faction not just her army will focus on shades as they are best for DE. It feel sad that demonets are just for flavor and forgotten with mechanics, skills and techs. I know there are few mods that trying to fix it, but I just cant find good use for them in ranged army other than 2 units as cheerleader mascots.
If I will play Morathi I will mod it her to have pool of them like Rakhar and make them expendable front line.

[KoboldUtopian]

Originally posted by A.Pot:

I generally like to do armies based on what legendary lords buff so in the case of Morathi I like to do a hit and run focused army that heavily makes use of Shades and Scourgerunners with a Bloodwrack or two because it feels thematic to go with her.

What is the point of the Medusae? They don't seem like they are particularly good at anything.

[Zeek]

Originally posted by CoerciveUtopian:

What is the point of the Medusae? They don't seem like they are particularly good at anything.

If you get them to shoot into a blob of infantry they can dish out serious damage.

Also moving them to the side of the enemy line and then having them shoot "down the line".

But yeah generally they are not very good compared to other stuff in the roster in my experience. I'd rather use more darkshards/shades/cav/hydras/dragon

[SpeaksTooFast]

Originally posted by CoerciveUtopian:

What is the point of the Medusae? They don't seem like they are particularly good at anything.

I found them pretty useful early game for the lords that start with one but don't think I normally recruited them as DE just had better options for what I wanted to do. As Zeek said they can punish blobs but so can most wizards and the monsters require more micro for it.