Here´s a list of my favorite items & a few words on why I like them. I won't mention race specific items as they´re too narrow.
Magic Weapons:
1. Executioner's Axe: This magic weapon might be the very best weapon in the game. Not only is it reasonably cheap (50 pts), it gives you a great weapon (+2 Strength, strike last) & what might be the best ability in the game. If you roll a 6 to hit (yes to hit, not to wound), then your target is automatically slain, no matter their toughness, save or amount of wounds. Not even specialsaves can be used as no wound is ever inflicted, it just outright kills your opponent.
Imagine the odds on a 4 attack model (most lords have 4 attacks), 66,67% chance of killing your opponent, now imagine it on something frenzied, you're almost guaranteed a kill. You just have to make sure you survive long enough to use it since you strike last.
Even if you do fail to roll a 6, you still have +2 Strength & it doesn't allow any armoursaves. This weapon is insane!
2. Flail of Skulls: Imo the most reliable weapon in the game, it counts as a flail (+2 Strength first round of combat), the skulls then bite into their enemy, doubling each wound caused. At a mere 30 points, without any drawbacks of striking last, this is imo the most efficient weapon in the game, it gets the job done & it does it well. I also like the idea of a flail topped with skulls.
3. Parrying Blade: This is a rather odd choice compared to the other weapons, but this is actually one of my favorite weapons. Sometimes you need to make sure you have a few magical attacks in your army, this might be due to etheral enemies or something else. That´s when I bring this weapon, imo this is perfect on a wizard or army standard bearer, it gives the character a small amount of protection & it gives you a few more magic attacks.
I used this on my Liche back in the day, together with Cursed book as the only protection & he still survived most games. An extra plus is that it is one of few items that offer some protection against Executioner's Axe (by reducing the amount of dice the opponent roll, you reduce the chance of a 6 showing up).
Magic Armour:
1. Armour of Meteoric Iron: It´s rather hard to get a good save on a character on foot, but Armour of Meteoric iron does just that, a 2+ save while on foot is good protection vs anything except the strongest of characters & monsters. I like putting this on my Army standard bearer, which is usually rather weak (especially if on foot), it's cheap, it allows the bearer to stay alive vs troops (make sure you don´t accept challenges unless it really helps you), Another item that gets the job done.
2. Armour of Fortune: My favorite armour in the game, for a mere 15 points you get heavy armour & a 5+ specialsave, on a mounted character this usually means a good armoursave followed by a decent specialsave, very point-efficent.
3. Charmed Shield: Ok this is an item that might do nothing, but it might also save your characters ass, I´ve used this on everything from my general, my armystandard, fighty heroes down to lowbie champions that I include just to be able to challenge. The reason I like this isn't because it is great or even good, but rather because it might be great.
It might negate a hit that would do nothing, but it might also negate a hit from a Cannonball, deadly spell, an exploding Heart of Woe or a 6 from Executioner's Axe.
It´s the potential I like in this item. Just imagine the face of your opponent when he rolls a hit with his artillery, you fail the look-out-sir roll & then just shrug it off with your 5 Point shield, I´ve done it a few times, it's fantastic ;)
Enchanted Items:
1. Ruby Chalice: 2 of my old regular opponents played very shooty lists (High Elves & Lizardmen), this item stopped them from killing my main unit, -2 to be hit by shooting attacks is nothing short of amazing, even something reliable like an elven Bolt Thrower will hit the unit on a 5 or 6, add to it that it also punishes the opponent in close combat (-1 to hit) & well this is imo a well rounded item that helps you out no matter what.
2. Amulet of Fire: Magic is one of those things that can dominate a game of Warhammer 5th edition, this item is rather risky, but the reward is usually worth it, most opponents doesn't want to cast their deadliest spell on a unit containing this item, at the risk of it being dispelled on a flat 4+, that´s the charm of this item, it means most opponents target something else, something less valuable, just because of the 50/50 chance of their spell not working.
3. Heart of Woe: This is an item I often include in my armies more because of the fun factor, rather than the potential of damage. This item forces your character to die before it works, but it also means your character goes out with a Boom, I like putting this on a cheap hero or champion & direct his ass towards something nasty that relies on toughness or armour rather than specialsaves to survive, the character usually dies, but takes his target with him.
1. Black Amulet: Very powerful wardsave, but the thing that makes this one stand out is the fact that it rebounds any wounds it saves back onto the attacker.
2. Dawnstone: This item really isn't as great as it first looks, while re-rolling a 1+ or 2+ armoursave is good, it doesn't really save vs the problematic characters, the ones with high enough strength to bypass your armour, but I still like this item because of nostalgia, it was my go to item when it comes to protection for a very long time until I realized how much better most other protective gear was.
3. Jade Amulet: This might be my favorite magic item in the game, it costs a mere 5 Points, gives its wearer a 2+ wardsave against 1 wound suffered. Killed an enemy with Heart of Woe? No problem. Failed that look out sir roll against that Cannonball. Don't worry. This item is basically never useless, for just 5 Points you get was is basically 5 out of 6 times better than an extra wound. I really can't tell how many times this 5 point item has saved an important characters ass.
Bound Spells:
1. Pipes of Doom: Expensive as hell, the damage output is rather low & it can only be cast on cavalry units, but the important thing here is that said cavalry unit can't charge, by using this item vs a Bretonnian player, I forced him to change his list to include scrolls just because he got fed up by this item.
2: Ring of Corin: Removing enemy magic items before they can be used is always good, especially in open list games.
3: Ring of Volans: This one is more because of the fun factor than raw power, you have no control over which spell it contains, but casting a teleport or protective spell with an army that normally don't have access to such spells can be very useful, timing it when the opponent has run out of winds of magic cards might be game changing.
Wizard Arcana:
1. Staff of Osiris: Bound spells are generally a good thing to have in warhammer, this is one of my favorites, I like putting it on a mounted character, that way I have a portable Bolt Thrower, which means you get an easier time hitting the flank of a nice juicy knight unit.
3. Dispel Scroll: Yes I know, it's boring, but it's reliable, it's what keeps magic from dominating, I used to run a level 4 wizard with Chalice of Sorcery, 2 Scrolls & Jade Amulet backed up by a level 1 with scroll as well as a champion with Amulet of Fire just to make sure my opponent wouldn't get too many spells through. In general I go with 1-2 scrolls, this makes sure I can dispel that critical spell when I'm all out of winds of magic cards.
Magic Standards:
1. Banner of Defiance: While static combat resolution wasn't as great as actually killing your opponent, having a static combat resolution of 7 (3 ranks, doubled + banner) meant that the opponent had to kill a whole lot of enemies to win a combat. I really like this banner on defensive units with many ranks, you can just take the charge & drive the enemy away, while you may not pursue, the odds are quite big that you can catch the fleeing unit in your turn.
3. Standard of Shielding: This banner is a personal favorite, I've used it on medium cavalry such as Winged Lancers & Marauder Horsemen to give them a decent 3+ save, I've put it on Knights of the White Wolf to get them to a 2+ save, not to mention all the 2+ save cavalry which gets them to a 1+, making them immune to S3 attacks. This banner is also good for turning basic 5+ save infantry into decent tankers, not to mention all elven spearmen, which get a 3+ save. Chaos warriors with Chaos armour can have the same save as heavy cavalry!
The only times I don't think this banner is useful is when the unit has no save to begin with or you want a unit to retain its status as fast cavalry.
Some fun combos I used to play with:
Heart of Woe + Potion of Strength: Gulp down that potion, charge the toughest opponent there is, cause a wound or 2, die on the retalion & go out with a boom!
Even better for Undead with Carstein Ring, the Vampire can nuke the enemy & return to Life at full health!
Skull Staff + Ring of Corin: As the opponent has to reveal any items that come within 12" you don't have to guess, I used this combo for a long time on a flying wizard to remove the enemies Black gems of Gnar & Crowns of Command.
Cloak of Mist and Shadows + Talisman of Obsidian: Expensive, but now you have a character that can only be hurt by Magic Weapons, so he can fly around causing mischief in the enemy backlines, very useful if they have some form of ranged attack or can cast spells. I believe you can imagine how annoyed an Orc & goblin player with lots of fanatics is by this build.
I haven't mentioned some staple items such as Crown of Command, Black Gem of Gnar, Forbidden Rod etc etc, it's not because they're not good, quite the opposite, they're so good that they've become boring imo & I try to stay away from them unless it's very competetive gaming.
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