Guide: Strategy guide for the Skaven mod by Sombre “Die manthings die!”

[Kheldron]

Are you really sure of this ?
I'm pretty sure damage doesn't stack, it really looks the same. But the area of effect would be nice if confirmed.
After some testing, I must say I have a hard time to notice any difference in the poison clouds area with or without quickness.

I tried with small numbers and grid and it seems a censer does a 2-3 squares of poison cloud per strike regardless of the bless

It's hard to tell with huge numbers because of the "fog" of war

They still move and strike faster which is never bad, but enough to justify it over better scales or other bless?

[vfb]

I had a go with Skaven, and was trounced fairly early by Ulm's hordes, including indy Machakan archers. But I did manage to raid him with some N6-blessed Censer Bearers, I think there were about 12 in the group. They ended up with 5 or 6 afflictions each, which eventually put an end to thier effectiveness.

[Trumanator]

Originally Posted by Kheldron

Are you really sure of this ?
I'm pretty sure damage doesn't stack, it really looks the same. But the area of effect would be nice if confirmed.
After some testing, I must say I have a hard time to notice any difference in the poison clouds area with or without quickness.

I tried with small numbers and grid and it seems a censer does a 2-3 squares of poison cloud per strike regardless of the bless

It's hard to tell with huge numbers because of the "fog" of war

They still move and strike faster which is never bad, but enough to justify it over better scales or other bless?

A W9 dragon isn't the worst thing you can have awake.

[vfb]

I really prefer a Green Dragon for Skaven, if you're going that route. Regen keeps your Censer Bearers from dying in their own poison clouds.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Stavis_L

Er...Dark Citadels cost 1200 gold and take 5 turns to build...not what I'd call cheap and utterly disposable. Only the various "City" type forts are more expensive.

Er we're both wrong, they're 1000/4 - and I meant Ermorian castles.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Kheldron

Are you sure? I was under the assumption that the poison clouds couldn't stack...
That would be great.

If so, I guess you should go for N6 at least unless you want to see your censers drop like flies from your clouds.

They already take 1-2 dmg/turn as it is, I can't imagine them surviving it without a good regen. I shall test it though

I had no problem expanding with either of the pretenders designs I mentioned.

However, after playing a bit more, I also like..

W9d4n6 D7 ish frost father. With or without Air/blood.

Anyone that doesn't take a w bless with these guys is just nuts.


1. Two flavors of sacreds. Both with big weapons. These guys hit *hard*.
2. You are going to get tore up by missile fire. Close. ASAP.
Water helps you do this.
If you go with the Air Bless, you can let your sacreds act as archer decoys. It does WORLDS for skaven survival.

3. Censers have a secondary effect. Bite has a secondary affect. Death blessing *seems* (vfb should check this) to increase the afflictoin chances of both hit and secondary effect.

4. I've been playing with kind of quirky build as well.
D9 or F9.

When blesses, it replaces poison secondary effect.
When NOT blessed, you have billowing clouds of poison.

Wierdly, I'm still getting *some* poison clouds, even with a divine blessing.....

Still, someday I'd like to try to use something like this in a mod.

[chrispedersen]

Might be worth giving sacreds (and sacred cmdrs) recuperation.

Oh also I'd rather see the warpstone consistently be either

Death/Blood
Blood/Nature
Death/Nature

rather than fire/death. I also really didn't follow astral for a mostly underground race.

[Sombre]

Random responses:

1. Taking water bless to help skaven close and avoid missile fire doesn't make sense. It only helps the sacreds close and without support they'll die horribly in combat (though they'll kill equal value usually). Meanwhile the rest of your army will be shot as normal.

2. Death blessing does indeed increase afflictions from poison clouds. It has no bearing on the second effect of pestilent bite though, which is the disease affliction, not damage. It's also mr negates iirc. The disease not the bite.

3. Regarding warpstone, it doesn't exactly fit any path in dom3. I haven't defined it as F/D in the mod either. Only warpfire is F/D. Warplightning uses E, poison wind uses E/D, moulder breeding is B/E (earth representing the requirement of warpstone) and pestilens plague magic is D and B (and uses less warpstone). So if anything warpstone itself, as a resource, is a mixture of E/F/D gems.

Skaven having nature makes no sense at all to me. They're this unnatural hyper industrialised urban race that consumes, warps and destroys everything they come into contact with. It's true that the crossbreeding spells are B/N in dom3 as are many of the poison spells (also involving W), but I have to look at the bigger picture and its death, fire, earth and a little blood that fits the skaven. Regarding astral, it doesn't make sense for anyone other than the grey seers, but for them it makes total sense to me. They're masters of mental magic and they're called 'seers' for a reason. If you're thinking 'hey in dom3 astral magic = magic of the stars, celestial bodies etc' then ok, but keep in mind the Grey Seers are completely obsessed with tracking Morrslieb (the evil moon in WHFB) and the warpstone meteorites that fall from it. That aside I'm concerned with the wider range of spells in astral, most of which aren't directly tied to anything celestial.

[Stavis_L]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

Er we're both wrong, they're 1000/4 - and I meant Ermorian castles.

Hrm...did you check in-game? I was referencing Edi's spreadsheet, where both types of Dark Citadels (the land and water versions) are listed as 1200/5. If you can confirm we should post in Edi's database thread as a typo correction.

As far as disposable fortresses, perhaps the "Dead City" castle (listed in Edi's db as 800 gold, 3 turns, 10 admin, 100 supply and 200 defense) would be both thematic and suit your gameplay goals. Using something with the "Ermorian" tag that's not Ermor or even Ermor related seems less desirable.

[Kheldron]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

Anyone that doesn't take a w bless with these guys is just nuts.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

If you go with the Air Bless, you can let your sacreds act as archer decoys. It does WORLDS for skaven survival.

I totally agree about the Air bless (I said as much in the guide) but I'm not sure to follow you. You seem to advise Water over anything then promote Air in the same sentence or so, then Fire and in a previous post Astral (which indeed rocks imo)...

---> ???

Anyway, one good point about Air is that it will open up a nice magic path for the mid-late game.
Air bless also gives you SR 75 which synergizes well with skaven friendly firing constructs.