Stormvermin vs Plaguemonks/censorbearers

[HouNDDoG]

ok, so in general as Queek I go with stormvermin and skrolk I go with plaguemonks/censorbearers but in general which unit is better as main infantry? I'm not very knowledgable about how stats and things all work but I see plaguemonks have no armor so would they be a bad choice as a main line? Does the damage they do compared to stormvermin make up for not having armor? It seems to me like skaven have two different infantry playstyles between clanrats/stormvermin and plaguemonks, and just wondering which should be the bulk of my infantry. Thanks.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Plague monks are far superior to stormvermin. They have extra bonus damage versus infantry, a considerable amount, and the censorbearers are comparable to other high-end AP units like greatswords (but not much else, as they are still skaven and rely on numbers over skill) if you have anti-range units like plagueclaw catapult, magic, and your own skirmishers, you can easily have plague monks as your main line

[HouNDDoG]

Ok, another question..does not having armor really matter much in an infantry vs infantry battle or does it only matter when my no armor monks are getting shot by arrows? Because Monks seem to hold up ok vs infantry but get shredded by ranged.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Armor means that units who don't deal armor won't do as much damage. For low armor, regular attacks and AP attacks hold no sway, so someone with 30 melee damage WILL deal 30 melee damage while someone with 20 melee damage and 23 armor piercing damage will deal 43 damage.
If a unit has high armor, the 30 damage will come down to about 5-10 while the 43 damage will come down around 28.
However, the plaguemonks have a high bonus vs infantry so kill the infantry before they can receive a lot of damage themselves. Range is their greatest threat

[kongle]

Both works, playing legendary I would always go with stormvermin halberdiers though. Having a line of plaguemonks, that fly high as monster units smash into them... No thanks. On the other hand, it will work, and they are cheaper in upkeep.

[Wyvern]

In campaign, its much more of a tossup, because AI is bad at flanking+causing intentional fear/terror routs. With their relatively high tankiness, stormvermin are actually rather potent, and shields are a huge boon against missiles. Plus, if youre dealing with factions that have a lot of magic damage(namely wood elves) the squishiness of the plague monks becomes further exacerbated. Censer bearers are honestly a class of their own i think, but you can always run deathrunners instead of them to get good AP+debuff(and due to stalk they dont tend to get shot to ♥♥♥♥ as easily)

In MP, the plague monks have two things going for them. 1) they're cheaper and 2)they have frenzy, and hence a limited immunity to psychology

Immunity to psychology is a make or break advantage in a lot of QM games.

[Zane87]

Originally posted by kongle:

Both works, playing legendary I would always go with stormvermin halberdiers though. Having a line of plaguemonks, that fly high as monster units smash into them... No thanks. On the other hand, it will work, and they are cheaper in upkeep.

Yeah my stance, too.
I don't expect Skaven infantry to do damage but they have to hold a lone and bind the enemy.

Stormvermins and especially with halberds are my preferred units for that.


The rest of my units does the killing and with reliable line infantry, they do so quite reliably.

[RCMidas]

Censer Bearers for anti-infantry, Stormvermin Halberds for anti-large/cav, Stormvermin Swords to tank missiles and other infantry until a more dedicated unit can flank.