Arkhan the Black

* Promotional
* Portrait

## Attributes

* **Fire Weakness: -15%.** Damage of flaming attacks is increased by this amount.
* **Siege Attacker**: This unit can attack gates or walls, allowing you to instantly launch a siege battle without having to wait for siege towers or battering rams to be built.
* **Can Cause Fear**: This unit frightens all enemy units, reducing their leadership when nearby. It is also immune to fear. Fear penalties do not stack.
* **Encourage**: This unit provides a leadership bonus to nearby allies. Units within range of both the Lord's aura and an encouraging unit will receive the larger of the two bonuses.
* **Hide (forest)**: This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
* **Undead**: The unit is Undead (does not rout, immune to terror, becomes unstable when is low).
* **Missile Resistance**: 15%. Damage of missile attacks is reduced by this amount.

**Arkhan the Black** is a  Tomb Kings Legendary Lord unit introduced in *Total War: Warhammer II* with Rise of the Tomb Kings. In the campaign, he leads the  **Followers of Nagash** faction.

## Description

Arkhan the Black, known now and forever as the Liche King, was the first and most loyal of the evil Nagash's followers. He helped lead the coup which brought the arch-necromancer to power, and he was the first, after his Lord, to imbibe the Elixir of Life. Arkhan was the most adept of Nagash's pupils in the study of dark sorcery, and he quickly rose to become the necromancer's trusted vizier and principal lieutenant. He led many armies against Nagash's enemies and was never defeated in open combat. In the end, however, the sheer numbers of the Priest Kings' soldiers forced Nagash to retreat. It was Arkhan who led the suicidal counter-attack that gave Nagash the opportunity to escape. For over an hour he held back the Army of the Seven Kings through feats of martial prowess and powerful sorcery. Arkhan finally fell, not to a hero's sword, but to a single spear hurled by an unknown soldier. He stared in horror at the shaft protruding from his chest, knowing that it had pierced his heart. With his dying breath, he threatened that a terrible curse would befall any who touched his corpse, and with that, he slumped to the ground. Within seconds, dark flames had consumed Arkhan's flesh leaving behind only a blackened skeleton. Whilst the rest of Nagash's followers were beheaded and burnt, none dared risk desecrating Arkhan's remains, and so they covered them under a cairn of stones instead. Nagash did not forget his most able lieutenant, and when he returned to wreak vengeance on Nehekhara, Arkhan was reborn as the Liche King - the first of Nagash's nine Dark Lords. These foul beings were the foremost of Nagash's captains, and they brought despair and destruction to his foes.

## Attributes

* **Wizard**
* ▲ **Spellcaster**: This unit can cast spells.
* ▲ **Armoured**: Armoured units can block damage from any source apart from Armour-Piercing damage.

## Unit Abilities

#### Campaign only

* Reanimate
* Reanimate Upgraded
* Tombstrike
* Necrostrike

### Passive Abilities

* Crumbling
* Disintegrating
* Life Leeching
* My Will Be Done
* The Curse
* Wounds

#### Campaign only

* Befalling Curse
* Greater Arcane Conduit
* Evasion
* The Curse of Undeath

### Item Abilities

* Staff of Nagash
* The Tomb Blade of Arkhan

## Unique Items

* The Tomb Blade of Arkhan
* Staff of Nagash

## Mounts

* Skeletal Steed
* Skeleton Chariot

## Lord Effects

* Winds of Magic power reserve capacity: +10
* Melee attack: +5 (Lord's army)

### WH2

* Melee attack: +5 for embedded Heroes (Lord's army)
* Melee defence: +5 for embedded Heroes (Lord's army)

## Character Traits

### Personal Trait

 **The Liche King**: *The monarch of the Undead, the liege of the Unliving.*

* Winds of Magic power reserve capacity: +10
* Melee attack: +5 (Lord's army)

### Defeat Trait

 **Arkhan the Blackened**: *The Liche King may have dark sorcery and the power of the Great Necromancer, but that's not always enough when facing massed-ranks and hefty blades.*

* Diplomatic relations: +20 with Tomb Kings
* Weapon strength: +25% when fighting against Vampire Counts

## Talent Tree

* Skill Tree on TotalWarhammerPlanner (WH3)
* Skill Tree on TWWH Characters (WH2)

## Strategy

* Arkhan enjoys bonus diplomatic relations with Vampire Counts factions, and his regions never suffer public order penalties from Vampiric corruption. Heroes embedded in his army gain melee attack and melee defence bonuses, and all his armies factionwide gain a boost to their Winds of Magic Power Reserve.

## Gallery

* Concept Art