Skaven is perhaps quite overpowered in Total War right now. It comprises of ridiculously cheap meat shields along with very advanced technology and amazing beasts. This Total War: Warhammer 2 Skaven Guide will tell you how you can utilize the Skaven to its fullest potential.
It will mention the Lords, the strengths and the weaknesses of each decision you can make and what is the best strategy to employ when using the Skaven.
For more help on Total War: Warhammer 2, you can refer to our Rituals Guide, Lizardmen Faction Guide, and Dark Elves Faction Guide.
Total War: Warhammer 2 Skaven
Skaven Lords
The Queek Headtaker is heavily armored and pierces armor. His two main strengths are fighting against multiple infantry and dueling other lords. He has a plethora of abilities that can be used to wreak AOE damage or push back enemies so he can focus on an enemy lord. The Dwarf gouger and trophy heads are perfect for dueling.
Lord Skrolk is the Skaven lord that specializes in magic damage. He has a lot of damage to make up for his hideousness. Abilities like the Plague and Pestilent Breath are amazing for destroying multiple enemies at once and he can summon rats to act as meat shields for him.
Trech Carventail leads the Clan Rictus Faction. His abilities include anitlarge that allows him to fight enemies as big as horses. This lord is also armoured so any damage inflicted upon him is useless unless it is from an armour piercing source. This lord is also a melee expert allowing him to be perfect in both melee attacks and defences
Ikit Claw leads the Skyre faction, and is an excellent engineer! He has also mastered the Wings of magic and his special abilities include Musk of fear, brass orbs and unlimited power.
Clan Eshin is led by the legendary lord Deathmaster Snikch who is the chief assassin and prime agent of Lord Sneek. He is well known for the unimaginable destruction caused by him and the fact that no one can really reveal his location. His special abilities include Deathmaster Sigil, concealment bombs, scurry away and slippery.
Skaven Units
The infantry unit known as the Skaven Slaves are the main meat shield of the army with an ability called expendables.
What this means is that if they die or retreat, they will not have a negative impact on the leadership of your allies. This means they are perfect when paired up with lords.
Clam rats are more heavily armored and have better stats than the Skaven Slaves and can be used as a mainstay of the early to the mid-game army of the Skaven.
The Storm Vermin is the best of the Skaven infantry and are armored heavily. They can be used to fight large battles due to them being much better at everything than the other infantry available for Skaven. These are good for mid to late game upgrades over smaller infantries.
The Plague Monks are upgrades over the clam rats that have more damage and less armor.
They are heavy damage dealers and they have frenzy, which means that as long as they have more than 50 leadership, they have bonus damage.
They have very low health so watch out for archers. They can be upgraded to Plague Monks sensorbearers that have armor piercing attacks.
Deathrunners have vanguard deployment to deploy really close to their enemies at the start of battles. They have the stalk that allows them to stay hidden in the battlefield to flank enemies as well.
Scaven race also has special army ability called The Menace Below in which the free units of degrading clanrats into the battle that has a cooldown timer.
If you have enough food and scaven corruption in the province you can summon enough of these clanrats.
Skaven Archers
Skaven Slave slingers are the archer rendition of the Skaven Slaves. They can be used to force the enemies to attack you and peel off the enemies.
The Skaven Knight runners are the same as the Deathrunners in the fact that they have vanguard deployment that allows them to deploy close to enemy lines. They also move really fast and can fire while moving so they are great for harassing enemies early on.
Engineering
The Poisoned winged Globadiers throw poisoned globes that have warp stone gas that is great against large units and armored opponents. These Globadiers are heavily armored which makes them great for late game fighting.
The Warpfire throwers are amazing anti-infantry units. They absolutely destroy enemies that have no armor. Use your lord to engage the enemy and let them huddle together and then rain hell on them using the Warpfire throwers.
Gutterrunners have a snare net that is a throwing net that slows the target. This is great for attacking the frontline of the enemy. They can also attack while moving and have a great amount of speed.
Skaven Artillery
The Plague claw catapult is great for taking out a multitude of infantries at the same time. This is used to soften up opponents or take out the enemy towers or gates during the course of a siege.
The Warpfire cannon is amazing for destroying large units. Monsters are essentially cannon fodder and you can easily destroy dragons/other beasts with it. They also have an extremely long range.
The Doom wheel, well what can I say? Use it to roll over the enemy lines and fire lightning from its front and sides to absolutely destroy enemies regardless of their armor. The Doom Wheel is perfect for destroying infantry heavy forces.
Skaven Monsters
The Rat ogre has the agility of a rat and the power of the ogre. They are armor piercing and are used to crash into the enemy lines.
They work sort of like the cavalry and can be used to just smash the enemy formation. They can also force through the enemy lines and attack their archers at the back.
The Hellpit Abomination is by far the most powerful unit in the Skaven army. It has a chance of regaining health if it falls below 10 percent.
It causes terror, has regeneration and pierces armor. Seriously, what else do you need? Anti-Large units may be a counter to it so try to avoid them. When it dies, Skaven Slaves come out to get revenge.
