Naughty by Nature: The Final Dark Elven Careers

The only time thinking about evil this much can't be wrong.

By Brock "Brokain" Ferguson

Well, we took a look at the High Elves and the possibilities of their two missing classes. Now we take a a look at their cousins, the Dark Elves and what we can possibly expect. Once again, this is all speculation with just me making it up as we go along. I'll try to back everything up with some conspiracy theory type facts so if you think I'm off my rocker, just remember... it's probably Coyote's fault (which is my standard position when I'm wrong about anything). Now, on to the geek talk!

Like the High Elves, we've already been introduced to two of the Dark Elven classes. As the Tank Archetype, the hate driven Blackguard
march at the forefront of Malekith's dark army. Always on the front lines, the Witch Elves fly into battle like the divas of destruction they are, hungering for more sacrifices for their dark god of murder, Khaine. Unlike their cousins, the Dark Elves are missing their healing career. However, they still need their Ranged DPS career as well.

Once again, the main Warhammer Online site provides us with plenty of material to speculate with. However this time, unlike the High Elves, only one of the classes revealed on the site was already in the back story or the lore. The Witch Elves.

From the main Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning site:

From The Age of Reckoning pt.II: ...The fierce Witch Elves of Khaine prepare for bloody sacrifice to the Lord of Murder.

Unlike all the other classes revealed, the Blackguard wasn't mentioned in any of the lore or the back story. A complete surprise out of left field, they present an anomaly to all my theories presented thus far. So, it is here that I invoke the "Coyote Method of

Investigation" and say "Pffffft! Supporting facts? We don't need no stinking supporting facts!" and pretend the anomaly doesn't exist! Prompting you to say,"What anomaly, Brokain?". Exactly. Moving on...

Now, we need a Ranged DPS career for the Dark Elves and there's a few to choose from in the back story. To start with, we have the Beastmasters of Karond Kar

From the main Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning site:

From The Age of Reckoning pt.II: ...The Beastmasters of Karond Kar are ordered to select the strongest and most ferocious creatures in their pens and ready them for battle.

From the Dark Elf Army- House Ulthorin:Along with every warrior of the House, the Black Ark Nemesis conveys Beastmasters and their fearsome creatures of war...

The Convent Sorceresses

From the main Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning site:

From The Age of Reckoning pt.II: ...Morathi, the Hag Queen, summons forth the most powerful Sorceresses from the Convents and trains them to lead the armies of the Dark Elves.

From the Dark Elf Army- House Ulthorin:Along with every warrior of the House, the Black Ark Nemesis conveys... powerful masters of Dark Magic across the sea.

And I'm going to pull a suprise class out of nowhere, cause if EA Mythic can do it once, they could do it again. The Assassins

From the Games Workshop site, regarding Assassins:

During the revelries of the Death Night, the Witch Elves roam the streets of the Dark Elf cities, and all who cross their path are offered to Khaine. Amongst those taken are young babes, who are offered up to the Lord of Murder in the Cauldron of Blood. Most perish, but those chosen by Khaine emerge unharmed, and are then initiated in the dark secrets of Khaine. They are raised to be Dark Elf Assassins, the masters of death and the bringers of oblivion.

Now I chose the Assassins instead of the Shades because with the Witch Elves already in the mix, and it having already been said in an earlier interview that the Cauldron of Blood will be making an appearance, the Assassin class fits both the Age of Reckoning lore and the large amounts of DPS needed to fill a ranged DPS class... plus Assassins are practically Ninja and Ninja are totally awesome.

Now with those three options, it's an even match. Either would do well at ranged DPS, and any of them would be a popular career choice. However, I'm going to rule out the Sorceresses and I'll explain why later. So between the Beastmasters and the Assassins, which would be the most likely choice? I would have to say the Beastmasters of Karond Kar.

Why not the Assassins you ask, especially after I brought them out of nowhere? Originally while writing this I was leaning towards the Assassins, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that limiting a ultra high damage dealing machine and all around cool class to mainly ranged is a crime and EA Mythic more than likely wouldn't do that. Assassins are better for up close and personal DPS. The kind where you say "HEY! That hurt..." and fall over dead.

The Beastmaster is already listed in the lore and makes a wise choice as Ranged DPS in the same way the Squig Herder career does. Sending in the pet to hold off the target so that you can plunk away creatively with arrows or throwing daggers or those really stretchy rubber bands that really sting when you get hit with one. The other reason I like Beastmasters is based on the description from the Games Workshop site

From the Games Workshop Site, regarding Beastmasters:

They are the famed Beastmasters. When a child shows talent for taming animals he is sent to the city of Karond Kar to study under the masters who dwell there.

The Beastmasters are also in charge of the slaves, for humans, Orcs and their like are no more than beasts themselves. Beastmasters are experts at getting the most out of their stock, and are always chosen from amongst the most robust and resourceful of the Dark Elves.

This could mean that unlike the squig herder, the Dark Elves would have access to a wider variety of pet types, and having played a Creature Handler in Star Wars Galaxies and a Hunter in WoW, I loves me some variety in pets.

Now this prediction still has room for doubt. If they give a pet class to the High Elves as was mentioned some time ago, Beastmasters would be difficult to implement in my opinion with out upsetting a sense of balance. I would expect one of the High Elven careers to be a pet class as it would balance out Order, since Destruction already has one in Squig Herders.

All right, I hear you finger wigglers out there saying, "Ok, wait just a second Brokain. You eliminated the Sorceress career way to early!" Yes, I did and now here is why. While I have absolutely NO doubts that the Sorceresses would be extreme damage dealers as Ranged DPS, I didn't see any other choices that would make a decent Healer career. Remember that I'm taking the majority of my speculations from the official site's lore and backstory.EA Mythic would have to bend the lore heavily to have a Beastmaster turn Healer. However, it could be argued that much like the Arch Magi, the Sorceresses could do both healing and damage. The Games Workshop site also adds a little back up for this train of thought.

From the Games Workshop Site, regarding Sorceresses:

Call upon the Convents of the Sorceresses and entreat their aid, for their magical prowess will blight the warriors of the opposing army, scorch their souls from their bodies and bring ruination and curses aplenty upon their heads

This description implies that Sorceresses use disease (blight) and curses, standard fare amongst evil healing classes in many MMOG's. This would actually be an acceptable conclusion in the sense that both groups of Elves originally hail from the same source of magic and thus the same fundamentals of use. The application may have changed, but the basics remain the same.

With the Dark Elves, there's a lot of room for discussion, especially on the Healing career front. What I've presented hold a few flaws. The foremost being that male Dark Elves are never taught the mystic arts, thus the Six Convents of Sorceresses rule magic. It's doubtful that EA Mythic would add a second all female class to the mix, so they'd need to take some creative liberties here. Another flaw is that no opposing healing career mimics another that closely. EA Mythic would need to implement some changes so that we wouldn't end up with a Dark Elven Arch Mage. It's not at all improbable that a Dark Elven style cleric could be introduced.

There'll be speculation on the final two classes of what typically tends to be one of the more popular races in any MMOG until EA Mythic decides to reveal them. Until that time, you can bet that we as fans will keep bringing up and debunking all the possibilities, hoping that our favorite careers somehow get dropped into the mix.

Feel the need to discuss this article with other Warhammer fanatics? Head on over to the Warhammer Class discussion Forums and tell us what's on your mind.

Find these views insightful and unique or feel the need to prove that I'm one of 99 trained monkeys at a typewriter? Let me know at [email protected]