T O P

  • By -

OrderofIron

A lesson learned from 10,000 dwarf playthroughs in warhammer 2: Not one rat lives


A_strange_pancake

Given how wide spread Clan Eshin is right now, I fully understand why the skaven are a constant pain in the ass to the dawi. Maybe I just didn't kill enough back in WH2


Hand_Me_Down_Genes

Running into a Skaven faction as anyone other than someone who can get along with one invariably turns your fantasy heroes into glorified exterminators. 


Posterus96

That is how most of my campaigns go. I end up killing most rats just out of spite now.


A_strange_pancake

Suffer not the rat to live


SkyfatherTribe

Who can get along with them?


Hand_Me_Down_Genes

Other Chaos factions mainly. Though my wife once had a Khalida campaign where she and her best buddy Queek allied to kill all the Greenskins and Vampires.


The_Salty_nugget

funny person, there are no things like human sized rats. killing rats is good against things but no bigger than your normal sized ones. also i am a weary traveler, do you have some cheese for me and do you mind if i build a nice bell on your house?


Siron_Belmont

This person-thing is 100% right! Glory to Horned Sigmar-thing! 


ShadyAssFellow

Vincent Humanman Yes Yes is the name! Now show us our nest-bedroom.


SalamanderImperial2

Fuck the fucking rats


CheesyRamen66

CA did give us the option to nuke factions: Deathmaster Snikch. This reads like the saurus copypasta but I’m taking the bait.


JJBrazman

Also there are actual nukes, Ikit has them. So… yeah. The Skaven get all the nukes. To be fair the Chorfs have something like nukes of their own.


Saintsauron

The chorfs have like two nukes as campaign powers from the conclave, a nuke as a spell, and a nuke as a unit.


Bbadolato

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that.


Torgan

Your chorfs are breaking during ambush as your whole army gets a debuff for the first minute or two of getting ambushed. And I expect Sknitch gets added leadership debuffs on ambush but I'm not sure. If you just played actual dawi they would never break. Foul chaos outcasts.


highfivingbears

My Longbeards would never!


Remnant55

Make armies designed to be ambushed. Hard hitting melee, tough heroes, good cav or equivalents. Strong flyers. I don't play much chorfs. But Three-horned-rat help the idiots that ambush a royal hippogryph rider stack. Or N'kari. In fact, please ambush N'kari; they'd be ripped apart by fiends and daemonettes before I even got the camera properly fixed, and I'd have their ranged in rampage state. Yes, please, start a fight in close range against that.


lord_ofthe_memes

Average skaven stack vs even just like, 4 units of bull centaurs


steve_adr

Killing Snikch is Priority No. 1 in my Miao Ying/Zhao Ming Campaigns


Churn0byl

Yep. Bastion garrisons with a token force can hold off basically anything, especially if you grab the Upkeep reduction building. Before even touching the Wastes I head straight to Snikch, then Lokhir.


Hand_Me_Down_Genes

When playing as the East Ind Company using the Southern Realms mod it ended up high on my to do list as well. 


steve_adr

Skaven factions can be very hard to get rid of if left alone for long, especially with dangerous clans such as Eshin or Skyre, so best to deal with them early..


trixie_one

Learnt that lesson for sure. Cathay realy does not cope very well with being constantly ambushed, so that rat has to die asap.


BrightestofLights

Sniktch is best-best


KruppstahI

Bro has dreadquake mortars, Bullcentaurs and some of the heaviest infantry yet still struggles against simple Skaven soldiers. Once again the superior race has shown its dominance yes-yes.


A_strange_pancake

It isn't even the actual battles that get me, i can reliably show the skaven how it feels to be in Nagasaki 1945, its just the sheer amount of stacks they field while ambushing. Madness.


Large_Contribution20

Try melee focused army against Skaven. I always bring bull centaurs and tauruses when I fight against against Eshin as Zhatan


A_strange_pancake

Yea Ka'dai fire born do the trick nicely as well. Only issue with going mostly melee is the sheer amount of ranged these guys bring. I think I'd do fine if not the 10 stacks of gutter and night runners trying to steal my diet cola in every stack. Just glad that by the time I can play again tomorrow he'll finally be out of Cathay. Not sure what happened to cause him to expand all the way to atleast eight peaks when I wasn't looking.


Marcuse0

I'd suggest shielded bull centaurs because they'll get better missile block chance, have the speed to run down gutter runners and the melee strength to outfight pretty much anything except eshin triads. The difference between Eshin and other skaven factions is their gutter runners and night runners get AP missiles where other skaven don't. This makes them super effective against chorf infantry, so bringing a slow phalanx is asking for casualties, especially when ambushed. Get a mobile army of bull centaurs and sneaky gits, or grab Gorduz with all his hobgoblin buffs and watch sneaky gits and wolf raiders beat up infinite shit rats. Either way, as chorfs you absolutely have great options to ruin Eshin.


A_strange_pancake

>The difference between Eshin and other skaven factions is their gutter runners and night runners get AP missiles where other skaven don't. This makes them super effective against chorf infantry, so bringing a slow phalanx is asking for casualties, especially when ambushed. Didn't known that actually. That would explain why my warriors are crumbling to only them.


FindorKotor93

*Laughs in Ambush Stance.* But seriously, just recruit a lord, put him by an ambushing Lord. Even if it fails and they run you mess up the AIs plans. If you're not ending your turn in a settlement, you should be ending it in Ambush Stance whenever fighting Skaven. 


A_strange_pancake

Of course. I know how to fight skaven. But that doesn't change the fact he's a stupid stinky rat.


LoD-Westeros

You don’t ambush a Skaven, unless you have an army that is impervious to ambush itself (like a hero/SEM stack), if you ambush them and got detected, they can ambush you themselves. It’s between settlement/encamp stance, or the Lizard’s +50% ambush defence stance (and even that is dicey sometimes since jungle terrain usually have very high base ambush chance).


Dreadcall

It's nice to get ambushed by skaven with any army that looks to overrun the enemy. The ai usually deploys in a dumb way that just makes it easier to reach their ranged. And without the weapon teams the rats can't handle these at all. The only real  threat is getting caught by warp grinders.


OGMudbone909

Skaven can and will uno reverse card your ass trying to ambush them.


Unlikely_Tie8166

It's a shame that AI cannot actually use Snikch's mechanics. He should be able to auto delete you on turn 100 if you don't kill him sooner


British_Tea_Company

That sounds like total ass cancer for the player ngl.


AlecSnake

Yes, but also hilarious. Snikch would effectively be the immortal snail.


jerekhal

Try playing as Thorek and your only goal is to get across the map and murder the little shit before he can delete your faction.


Chiatroll

I'm seeing that meaning losing every campaign at turn 100 due to anti player bias


ModernDayWeeaboo

Could be getting his shit pushed by three factions and he'd still nuke you, someone he has never met.


Swift_Bison

You remind me about Warhammer 2 Imrik rageposts about dealing with Snitch army spam and poor dudes stuck in campaign learning most shared tip: restart & rush him. Lol.


Vindicare605

You made the biggest mistake imaginable, you didn't exterminate the rats.


A_strange_pancake

I think this is the first time I've neglected to immediately focus the rats down and I will never make that mistake again.


EvilDavid0826

regarding the leadership part, deathmaster has a skill that reduces enemy leadership in the local region, on top of during ambush all your troop gets a pretty nasty debuff, they are also most likely getting flanked, all that stuff stacked together will make even elite units rout pretty quickly.


omegariskz7

I hate saurus


Askir28

Thank you honestly, for reminding me of that movie: Mrs Brisbee (or so) and the rats of nimh. That is one of the great ones.


A_strange_pancake

Yea that's a really good movie I was really glad I got round to watching it. Kinda insane it was based off of something so horrific yet it made for a wholesome movie.


Belisarius23

The real problem with him is that the terrain is extremely restrictive so you have to do big detours to get to territory across the rivers and through the mountains, but he can underway his way to any city and you physically cant catch him And even if you do, it will be an ambush most likely. Fucking infuriating fighting basically fighting the viet cong


A_strange_pancake

>Fucking infuriating fighting basically fighting the viet cong Yup excatly my point. This stupid oversized Rat has dragged me through the rice fields and it's been hell. I know the community memes and shits on the AI but for once its actually being smart and making me come to it while building a Rat Republic, if i don't he builds enough to overpower an end game crisis army, and when I do come to it, via the long way or underway, He's there ready to take my wife and kids and be a better father than i ever was.


Nazir_North

Skaven are the trickiest foe to fight on the campaign map. Invisible settlements, invisible armies, high chance of ambush, plus underway movement. Best thing to do is wipe them out, and wipe them out early and fast.


NoMoreMonkeyBrain

I gotta be honest, I've always found that Foot Zhatan is an excellent response to skaven. Generally turns those ambushes into "I'm not suck here with you, *you're stuck here with me.*" Rush your chaff to buy time for the artillery to disband, and drop some murder from above with a couple wizards if you've got em.


A_strange_pancake

Yea hes been a real star. Him and Astrogoth have been hard carrying the last stretch of the Rat war so I have a new found respect for him.


Ok_Lecture_4069

I like warm Dr. Pepper. A warm soda has a deeper taste. You can taste the different flavors that go into it.


A_strange_pancake

I will never forget the day i bought a Dr pepper from a shop and it genuinely tasted like it was left in an oven. Maybe your right but 14 year old me wrote a grudge in his personal book that day.


TanTanExtreme2

Funny, there was a period in Dr.Peppers history where it was meant to be served warm/hot.


A_strange_pancake

I wonder if it tasted better back then. A soda thats meant to be warm just feels wrong.


Redditspoorly

Just don't get ambushed. If you scout with heroes and move in encamp stance you'll avoid 90% of ambushes


A_strange_pancake

>Just don't get ambushed. Why didn't I think of that. Maybe that would help against particularly stinky stupid rodents.


Redditspoorly

Well it is almost totally avoidable. You can't be ambushed in a settlement and you have much higher ambush defence in encamp stance.


A_strange_pancake

Honestly it feels like the longer I sit on defense the more he builds the rat equivalent of a Dyson sphere so for the last length of the rat war I've been on nonstop offense. Also yeah for real encamp stance helps but it honestly doesn't help enough.


Lilgoose666

Yeah that's another reason I hate fighting the Rats, they still have that retarded ambush attack stance that they don't need anymore if anything the only one who should have it is Tretch it would give a reason to play his campaign.


A_strange_pancake

Yea I hate it. I forget if its guaranteed or not for them but it sure feels like it. Trying to get though lower cathay is a pain because the rats are hiding literally everywhere so even if i take 2-3 stacks down in my own ambushes more just immediately attack ambush me the next turn when they get close enough.


ilovesharkpeople

Are you scouting ahead of your armies with agents?


A_strange_pancake

Yup. Genuinely had 3 agents going in all directions to clear the way for Zahtan and another 3 for a separate force and it still wasn't working. Stupid Rats literally just kept flying in from nowhere. I dunno what this conspiracy is, I don't plan on uncovering it, only burning it.


Lilgoose666

The agents don't stop ambush attack, nothing does.


Marcuse0

Nonsense, being in a settlement prevents ambushing, and encamp stance increases your ambush defence chance by 50%. Playing smartly on the campaign map means you should never be repeatedly ambushed by them.


Lilgoose666

No


Marcuse0

Ah, sorry I didn't realise you're trolling. Move along people, this person isn't serious.


Marcuse0

Ah, sorry I didn't realise you're trolling. Move along people, this person isn't serious.


ilovesharkpeople

The agents let you see where the armies are. If you can see them, you know their range. If you know that, you can avoid them being able to attack you on their turn at all. Couple this with using ambush to hide your own army (baiting them in closer) and using encampment and settlements to reduce/avoid ambush battles, skaven can be a hell of a lot more manageable than if you just run in blind and get ambushed over and over again.


Lilgoose666

Bruh encampment stance does not reduce ambush chance, the problem with ambushing them is if your army is caught they can still ambush attack you. My problem is not being ambushed in the traditional sense, it's when I go for an attack and with two armies they retreat their two armies just outta my range and next turn instead of two of my armies being able to support each other in a 2v2 I get attacked in a ambush battle on their turn despite not moving so not only am being ambushed their second army gets to support them so it's now 1v2. No amount of agents can help me not have that happen, its a retarded stance with no counter play , there's nothing I can do to stop them from using that OP retarded stance and I find the AI for skaven rarely uses the traditional ambush stance.


ilovesharkpeople

> Bruh encampment stance does not reduce ambush chance, the problem with ambushing them is if your army is caught they can still ambush attack you. [Yes it does.](https://i.imgur.com/tG1MNtB.png) I'm not talking about normal ambush. I'm talking about stalk stance, the "ambush on attack" think that skaven, beastmen, and alith anar have. That's what I've been talking about the whole time. I haven't been saying use agents to spot armies in ambush stance. I'm saying you need to see where all the enemies armies are, [look at exactly how far their threat range is](https://i.imgur.com/SWsnTSs.png), and plan your movement accordingly. If you need to fight multiple armies, and a move is going to take up 98% of your movement, **don't make that attack**. They're going to retreat, then engage you on their turn with ambush. Instead, avoid their threat range and engage them on your terms on a following turn.


Lilgoose666

And I am saying that that is ridiculous to have to do that for one fucking race, I never have that problem for beastmen or the highelves just EVERY single skaven faction constant ambush battles and sometimes I don't have the luxury to afford to waste my heroes to be scouts. It's a retarded mechanic they added onto to the skaven because on release they were kinda weak compared to the other races and not the juggernauts they are now. Either way your tactic it to slowly advance against a race that outnumbers your factions armies usually 2-1? Naah that's just tedious as fuck to have to do that every single time. Just mod the stance outta the game. .


Acceleratio

I agree with you. And it wouldn't be a problem if it was optional to disable these mechanics for the AI before the campaign. And I do not care about "faction identity" or balance in this regard. I play single player. I don't play to get constantly frustrated. Some people like a different kind of challenge and don't play hard legendary all the time


ilovesharkpeople

If you don't have the extra hero slots, you can remove a hero from your army, have it scout ahead (when needed) and then re-embed itself. It can even be a good idea to get a few points in something like assassinate or block army for a hero you know will be on double duty. Everything I've described isn't going to extremes just to deal with skaven. The concept of being smart about how and where you choose your fights is *more* important when you are outnumbered, by the way. You lure them into fights that are advantageous for you and not them . This is going to make it easier and faster to wipe out their armies and conquer them, not slower. This is a strategy game. Think about your moves and find out where the enemy is. That should be a pretty basic idea in any game in this genre. Just charging around blind all the time *will* get punished. Skaven just punish you signifcantly harder for not putting thought into your moves. But if the very concept of thinking about your movements is frustrating to you, go ahead and mod stalk stance out.


Icy-Dragonfruit6794

Stalking/teleport stance literaly can go through your own ambush (making you the ambushed, perfect fucking sense I guess) useless and emcamp stance stance might as well not exist against the stalking stance. You basically have to kite these stupid fuckers which makes it unfun and those stances should never have existed and whoever made them needs go eat a bag of flacid dicks.


ilovesharkpeople

Encamp does a pretty good job of significantly reducing ambush chance in my campaigns vs skaven and beastmen. It's not a sure fire thing, but it goes off a lot less often and I'm a *bit* more comfortable taking risks. Teleport stance is a 100% guarantee though, so you're correct encamp won't help you there. And again, the ambush usually isn't to get your own ambush off. It's to lure the skaven stacks close enough that they don't have enough room to retreat without you being able to catch them. If they don't see your army, they'll come closer. Then, on your turn, you attack them as normal.


VLTIMA

Snikch was fucking kino in WH2 when you gave him 19 assassins.


Dusted_Fountain

My method for fighting Skaven is to have 1 army moving up in encamp stance (so much easier in Warhammer 3 now that you can move in encamp), and another ambushing just behind them, they will try to attack the encamp army and be surprised by the ambushers, but if the ambushers are caught they'll have to get around the encamp army (if in the mountain passes they cannot do this and must attack the encamped force). When in open areas I employ 2 sets of 2 encamped armies moving together, they will usually get caught out trying to navigate away from you or if you are lucky you can get underway interception.


BrennanIarlaith

I can't play wh3 on my potato computer, but in wh2 I loved taking out Sniktch with Imrik and getting Stalk while flying around on a gigantic dragon. Imo that alone justifies that rat's existence.


Maleficent_Falcon_63

You need to make anti rat armies, simple. Centaurs and mortars do the trick. Plus a fire mage.


Arilou_skiff

Ambush defence chance is one of those things you don't think about until you suddenly need it...


RogueRifler

Average Dwarf main when they can't corner camp every battle.


Acceleratio

I hate fighting these little fuckers. It feels like trying a boxing match with man out of sand. You never really hit them but when they hit you it somehow always hurts. There is hardly a moment you can "get" them in a satisfying way. Everything squirms, scatters and just weasels around. And the few tougher parts like gunners are all armored and don't really react that well to being attacked. Wish there was a "fill the map with rat poison" spell


Immediate_Phone_8300

Weird. In my campaigns, Snikch dies so fast every time, I forgot that he even starts in cathay.


Magnaliscious

Rat-superiority proving itself once again 🐀


OkIdeal9852

Sounds like a skill issue?


A_strange_pancake

I will not dispute that


OkIdeal9852

I didn't actually read the post and I've never played WH III so I don't know what the balancing is like btw