Editing Total War: Warhammer/Tactics/Magic (section)

===Skaven Spells of Ruin (Skaven)===
Summary of Strengths: 3 great damage spells with warp lighting as the standout, and a good lore attribute make this a very potent spell lore for damage. The ability to freeze flying enemies is situationally very good. 
:'''Passive - ''Musk of Fear''''': Upon casting a spell, enemy units are inflicted with -13 Melee Attack and -4 Leadership. Considering the relatively spammy nature of the Lore of Ruin (in particular Warp Lightning) this may help your tarpits out considerably but don't rely on it to turn the tide of battle on its own.
*'''Warp Lightning''': Cheap bombardment spell, iconic to non-Pestilens Skaven casters and surprisingly powerful for the cost. There are many ways to buff this spell in campaign but it's also perfectly serviceable in multiplayer. Don't ever be conservative with this spell - it's dirt-cheap and you'll need repeated casts of it to really dish out the hurt. Laugh maniacally like Ikit and blast those tarpitted blobs whenever you see them!
*'''Howling Warpgale''': An AOE spell which roots flying units in place.  Despite it's situational nature, it is absolutely vital that you take it whenever you start acquiring weapons teams. Skaven have no other counter to units who can fly over blocking troops to get at the squishy weapon teams in the back.  But with this spell you can pin those flying beasties in the air and make them sitting ducks for your artillery and jezzails.
*'''Death Frenzy''': A straightforward combat buff that can turn an outmatched fight into a much more balanced one. It's tempting to cast this on Clanrats to try to hold the line longer but there are better uses for this spell, like letting that Plague Censer-Bearer unit tear through your opponent's elite infantry and eliciting a serious WTF moment from them as you blow a hole in their infantry centre with crazed great-weapon rats pumped full of magic.
*'''Scorch''': A thin breath spell. One of the disappointments of the otherwise serviceable Lore of Ruin, it has a rather small hitbox that deals middling damage to anything not unarmoured chaff. Since the Skaven have better ways of dealing with unarmoured chaff, you're better off skipping this one.
*'''Flensing Ruin''': An unusual area-damage spell that Functions just like Final Transmutation (and has the same Winds of magic to damage ratio), it works best versus single entities and very small units (20ish or less unit size), if you get a group of good targets it's actually very efficient and powerful. Not worth using versus infantry and large units, just use warp lightning for them. Will effect any target clipped by its AOE in full just like flock of doom. 
*'''Crack's Call''': Another area damage spell, this time a straight wind spell that's similar to Flensing Ruin in its AP potential. The shape of the wind spell lends itself well to thinning out hapless infantry eating up your Skavenslaves and Clanrats, so it's up to you if you want to use this as a in-between the Warp Lightning casts you're hopefully already spamming.  
*'''The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell (Exclusive to Grey Seers of Ruin)''': ''Now'' we're talking. While only Grey Seer of Ruin lords can take this, it's the one spell both old 8th Edition veterans and Total War players will take regardless because of its sheer WTF potential - it's a large-area explosion spell that spawns a unit of sword-and-board Stormvermin right on top of whatever unfortunate infantry are left alive from the blast. The high Winds of Magic cost and long cooldown make this a risky proposition but when you see that chance to flip the table on that blob of chaff and create a dangerous opening in your opponent's formation, you turn to this spell. That said you're best off skipping this spell because lore of plague is a more efficient source of cheap summons and grey seers are a rubbish lord choice. As a funny side-note: Given that Skaven only had 2 lores prior to the Clan Eshin release, this actually also is the thirteenth spell in the Skaven spellbook.