Pros and Cons of Skaven

[samwise]

Hey guys. I'm just interested in hearing everyone's opinions as to the pros and cons of skaven.

[Paranoia]

Pros:
1: Fast. Duh.
2: Poisons are very decent. Had the last Patch not increased Poison Resistance from Toughness (and Undead existing in general) I would claim broken even. And I was not fan of that fix, as that made Arm Mutations needlessly worse too.
3: They excell at breaking apart different kinds of defences, which together with (1) enables them to perform very efficient Hit&Runs and/or assassinations.

Cons:
1: While their Ranged is good, it lacks some reach.
2: Apart from Warpguards, their Armour options are limited.
3: Apart from Rat Ogre and a Spell, no immunities for Leadership based tests.

[Kittenpaw]

Pros:
They make good dodge units, which is helpful against Armbands and Bracers that over-ride parry.
High Alertness and Initiative can allow you to take on Scattered deployments (better loot) like Haunter in the Darkness and have a large advantage.
Mobility

Cons:
Generally low toughness and strength, especially if a dodge build. Combined with lack of heavy armor... watch out if you get hit.
Poison not landing can be rough, if full poison builds.

[Warlord]

Pros: Rats
Cons: Rats

[Ol' Knife Ears <3]

(((Pros)))
-Movement range. In my experience I've found movement to be one of the most important stats in the game, allowing for better positioning and looting.

-Swarming. In a game where dogpiling is the optimal strategy, the Skaven have skills that increase the effectiveness of ganging up on a single or outnumbered units.

-Capes. Their units have capes. Capes are awesome.

-Globadier. Skaven have the best unit in the game. Globadier makes up for their subpar lieutenant units, and unlike many specialists, he doesn't require any unique or upgraded gear to perform. His globes are all he needs.

-Night Runner. This is one of the best ranged units in the game. He starts off lacking, but build him as a mobile gunner and he will erupt into a beastly unit. A well built Night Runner can blow away daemons and other units that usually give the skaven trouble.

-Wyrdstone immunity. Bad wyrdstone rolls can lose matches. Skaven warpguards are utterly immune. This is a way bigger boon than most realize.

-Best rep. Fylch is so irritating he's simply endearing.


(((Cons)))
-Easily scurred. Low leadership makes skaven struggle against daemon units. Deployment missions + story missions with daemons can give them a lot of trouble if you don't actively prepare for it.

-Terrible magic. Eishin Sorcerer is one of the worst casters in the game, only beating out the abominably bad Doomweaver. He's not a bad unit by any means, but compared to other casters he is sorely lacking. His spells are subpar, his stat maxes are all over the place, and due to the nature of his spells he tends to fizzle and blow himself up more than most. He also has to double up as a babysitter for the Rat Ogre, limiting his options in combat.

-Both tank units aren't very good. The African American Skaven can be built in many ways, but he cannot excel in anything. He tends to underperform compared to his fellow officers. The Rat Ogre is probably one of the best Impressive units when maxed out, but he struggles immensely in the early stages. Other impressives have ways to survive their early stages; Rat Ogre does not. Also he dumb.

-Skaven Captain is fragile at all points in the game. A warband with a tough, strong captain is usually well positioned to tough out most situations. A few missed dodges can see the skaven captain being carried back to the hideout in a mop bucket. And it is easy to get him in bad situations since he's so bloody fast, you can be tempted to run him out after loot or into an engagement, forgetting his dodging is his only real defense. And sometimes the dodge doesn't wanna be a team player.


It looks like the cons may outway the pros, but don't be fooled. Skaven are hands down the best warband. All of their little benefits wind up making the experience way easier, while their downsides can be easily compensated for with proper preparation.

[Prince Kaine]

It's the most well rounded warband, as they can use all the strategies in game, they can be shooty, they can use magic, they can be very resilient, they can be great dps.... They excel at movement and poisons too.

For the magic the eshin sorcerer is probably one of the most underrated units in Mordheim. Great range defense, morale immunity, good debuffs and an aoe really damaging if you take the time to set it up.

Range is good, can deal decent damages with warplock pistols or apply numerous debuff thx to shurikens. Only issue is it's low range, your rat can get into harms way when trying to get decent shots.

If you need tank units the black skaven is decent, but why bother when an LGT warpguard is just an absolute monster for tanking purpose. Also skavens can diversify a lot in defense, bringing a mix of parry/dodge/MR/armour that can be quite troublesome to deal with (especially when you have heavy armour tank unit moving 80m/round and able to reposition)

DPS is also a forte, between armour/dodge/parry passive bypass, damage passives, damage skills and buffs they can out damage anything but the cult of the possessed.

Finally they are the best at looting a map. They can get away playing 8vs10 with 2 guys running all around the map and looting it within 3 rounds.

It is my favourite warband, for their versatility, and Fylch.