AoS I don't know how you guys are winning without sallies.

Good point, and interesting approach.
I feel that sometime you can deal with screen units via magical bombardment, so you can go for the big targets behind when you drop the sallies, but it's not always possible and it could fail anyway.

The bonus point for sallies, is that they are very beginner-friendly. you don't need to master the art of synergies and teleport tactics to have them work.
You point them, you shoot, you kill.
this is a useful feature, and it's very helpful to people that are not top players (in the same way you don't need to be a master of tactic, to use a VLoZD and rip faces).

From that pov, i believe that sallies can help someone in winning games that otherwise would be a loss. It's a strong unit that can be countered by a savy opponent, but gives problems if you are not able to protect your key units.

 

Salamanders are still playable, but they are now overpriced. I certainly haven't found them mandatory. I am lucky to live in the Northwest of the US where a lot of the top players in NA happen to be. IMO Salamanders are not mandatory. Chameleons, Kroak, Skinks, and Terradons have all been able to kill what I needed removed.

An important thing to remember about the game as a whole is that the total amount of damage you need to present to cripple most armies is pretty small. Generally killing about a 1/3rd of the opponent's army is enough to outscore them. This is why mobility is such a premium stat or ability. Being able to get the units where they are more beneficial to overwhelm an objective can be all it takes to win a close game.

Honestly, Kroak is the only unit that feels mandatory to me. Bound Geminids are a close second. Either -1 to hit or -1 to attack characteristics is huge. They also pump out consistent mortal wounds. And provide a great source to finish off enemy support heroes who are hard to reach. Commet's Call, Geminids, and couple Celestial Deliverance is enough to put down the majority of non behemoth heroes. Everything else in our battletome can take it from there.

 

This is partly why I like Chameleon Skinks so much. I think multi blobs of regular skinks can do very well, but I am dubious of my support heroes staying alive against a capable and competitive opponent. Salamander are also solid.

I do however think Razordons are worth considering. Unbuffed, they do similiar damage to unbuffed Skinks. They benefit almost equally as well from Serpent's Staff. If you consider their shooting in the charge phase when within 3" and their combat profile they make for a versatile unit with decent output. I currently like a unit of 3 terradons more for the same points price, but they aren't as bad as much of the community views them to be. I would no longer build any army around them. However, Salamanders and Razordons got a lot closer after the massive point hike.