Ever wondered what Endless Spells are and how they work? Or did you use them earlier and want to know how they work in Age of Sigmar 3.0?
Then this is the guide for you!
A note on rules in Age of Sigmar 3.0: In this and other articles, we take an in-depth look at how Age of Sigmar 3.0 is played. In doing this, we often refer to the Core Rules of the game. Those rules are available as a free download from the Age of Sigmar website here.
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What are Endless Spells/Invocations?
First of all, Endless Spells/Invocations are models that represent magical or divine entities that can be summoned on the battlefield. They were first introduced at the beginning of Age of Sigmar 2.0 as a consequence of the Necroquake (a powerful spell cast by Nagash, the undying God of Death, that went terribly wrong and affected magic energies across all realms).
The main difference between the two is that Endless Spells are normally cast by the wizards of your army and follow the rules for casting magic spells, while Invocations are special prayers chanted by priests.
They both have a point cost that you need to pay in advance when creating your army list. You can see their point cost in the Pitched Battle Profiles of your army at the end of its battletome (or in the General’s Handbook).
But be careful, having a spell available for summoning doesn’t guarantee you will be able to play it every match, as we will see in a later section.
Some of these models can move after they have been summoned and are called Predatory. The rules for what they can do are described in their own individual warscrolls.
Let’s see in detail exactly how the endless spells work.
How do I gain access to Endless Speells models and rules?
There are two types of Endless Spells/Invocations: the generic ones and the faction ones. The generic spells are available to any wizard or priest of any army, while the faction ones can be cast only by wizards or priests of that specific faction. When that is the case it will be described in their own warscroll (or set of rules accompanying every model in Age of Sigmar).
In order to use an Endless Spell or Invocation, you must have the model and the warscroll for it. As with all warscrolls, you can find them in the AoS app or the related battletome.
Most spells have however been updated for Age of Sigmar 3.0, as Necroquake effects have been dissipated, therefore the most recent rules for the generic ones can be found in the General’s Handbook 2021.
For the faction ones you need instead to verify if anything changed in their own battletome (if published after July 2021 when the General’s Handbook was released) or in the relevant FAQ for that army.
If you are interested in the generic rules on how to cast and control them, then the updated rules for Age of Sigmar 3.0 are available for free or are also included in the aforementioned General’s Handbook or Core Rulebook (section 19.3 and 20.3).
The models for the generic Endless Spells can be found in specific expansion boxes like Malign Sorcery or Forbidden Power. The faction ones are instead sold in specific boxes for that army and they are usually in group of 3. Some armies do not have faction-specific endless spells.
Malign Sorcery is a set of 13 Endless Spells (some have more than one model), usable by any wizard. It has been recently re-boxed and is now available only from Games Workshop website for £40. The usefulness of these spells depends from edition, updated rules, point cost and army you play with, but some spells are evergreen and have been consistently a valid option in the past few years, like the Cronomantic Cogs. If you have the old box, this is the same but without the booklet and the printed warscrolls, at a cheaper price.
Forbidden Power instead is the re-boxed set with only the Endless Spells at a much cheaper price but available only from Games Workshop website for £25. There are now 4 spells, without booklet, printed warscrolls and Penumbral Engine (now sold separately also for £25). It is a good deal and contains some of the most useful generic Endless Spells available (their actual use will depend on the fluctuation of point cost and eventual FAQs) depending on your army.
How to cast an Endless Spell?
Endless Spells are cast the same way as ordinary spells: you roll 2 dice and the sum has to be equal or greater than the casting value of the spell. If you succeed, any enemy wizard or other model allowed to, within 30″ can attempt to unbind the spell by beating the value you just cast (called casting roll).
You can attempt to cast each spell only once per turn and each wizard can only attempt to summon one Endless Spell per turn even if they can cast multiple spells per turn.
Once you are able to summon the Endless Spell, you can position it, within the wizard, the distance mentioned in its warscroll. Every spell will have in the rules which effects apply after it has been summoned or moved, including damaging units or giving certain buffs or debuffs to nearby units.
For example the Chronomantic Cogs have a casting value of 6 and a range of 6″. This means with 2 dice you have to score at least 6 to cast it successfully (including all buffs and debuffs to casting). After it has been set up, within 6″ of the summoning wizard, you can decide if you want to increase the flow of time (add +1 to charge roll for all units within 18″ of the spell) or decrease it (every wizard within 6″ can cast 1 additional spell).
If a spell is unbound or dispelled, you can attempt to re-summon it in your next hero phase.
Predatory Endless Spells
Some spells are stationary and once summoned they remain there until they are dispelled or a method mentioned in its warscroll determines how to remove it from play.
Some other spells instead have a Move characteristic and are called Predatory Endless Spells. They now move at the end of every hero phase but before that, you need to determine who controls it. The summoning wizard always controls his spell as long as he is within 30″ of it, but he can control only one spell at a time. All other spells become wild.
The player whose turn it is then starts moving all his controlled endless spells followed by his opponent. If there are wild endless spells, the player whose turn it is starts picking one of them and moving it, alternating with his opponent. It is possible to cast an endless spell, lose control of it (outside of the 30″) but still moving it within your own hero phase.
For example, a Purple Sun of Shyish has a casting value of 8 and a range of 6″. At the end of your hero phase, you have to roll a dice to see if you still control it, on a 5+ it becomes wild. If you succeed, or if you don’t and you pick it as the first wild spell you are going to move, you can move it up to 8″ in any direction, remembering it cannot overlap with other miniature bases but it can pass through them. You can then damage all units he passed through or within 1″ of it once it stops.
How to remove an Endless Spell?
There are three ways to remove an Endless Spell:
- Dispel it
- Move it outside of the battlefield
- Any method mentioned in its own warscroll
To dispel an endless spell, any friendly wizard or priest (including your own) within 30″ of it, can roll two dice and beat the casting value of the spell. If successful, the spell is dispelled and removed from play.
It cannot be summoned again in the same hero phase.
The wizard and priest who attempted the dispel, independently of the result, cast 1 fewer spell or chant 1 fewer prayer that turn.
How to summon Invocations?
Invocations work similarly to Endless Spells but with some noticeable differences:
- Invocations can be summoned only by priests using one of their prayer attempts.
- The summoning player always controls the Invocation independently from the distance between the priest and it (unless otherwise specified).
- Other priests can attempt to banish an Invocation (but wizards can’t)
To summon an Invocation you roll one die and you have to equal or beat the answer value.
To banish a summoned Invocation a priest within 48″ of it, can use one of his prayer attempts and roll a dice to beat the answer value. If successful, the Invocation is removed from play and cannot be summoned again in that turn. Only one attempt can be made per turn per spell.
What did change in Age of Sigmar 3.0 with regards to Endless Spells?
- You cannot dispel an endless spell and cast it again in the same hero phase. The same applies to invocations banished in the same turn.
- Endless spells are moved at the end of the hero phase, in each hero phase (rather than at the beginning of the battle round). This means they are not moved immediately after being summoned.
- Summoning wizards always controls their spell as long as they remain within 30″ of it, don’t summon another Endless Spell or die.
- Priests can dispel Endless Spells.
- Most spells went up in points to compensate for the double movement per round (each hero phase).
- All warscrolls have been rewritten (if in doubt, you can find them in the FAQ or in the General’s Handbook 2021).
- Certain spells were empowered when played in certain mortal realms. This is now gone.
- The Balewind Vortex is now definitely gone.
- You cannot take Endless Spells from allied factions anymore (as they are not under your Pitched Battle Profiles).
Are Endless Spells/Invocations mandatory?
If you are starting playing Age of Sigmar in this new version, you can absolutely ignore Endless Spells and Invocations even if your army has access to some faction specific ones.
Once you get accustomed to the core rules, then you can start exploring which options are available to you. But they are not so powerful that you have to include them from the start.
At the moment there are two expansions available with great models for painting projects and some useful spells: Malign Sorcery and Forbidden Power.
See our army overview to check if your army has access to Endless Spells or Invocations!
Are the Endless Spells worth it? That depends on your army. They add a new strategic component that can shift the balance of the fight, but not all of them are equally good. Some, like the Chronomantic Cogs, are extremely useful and are often played in competitive games.