AoS Question about Terradons vs Salamanders

Hello. New here so this question might be answered some else, so if it is sorry!

I've seen a lot of competitive lists dropping Salamanders in favour of Terradons, why is this? I was under the impression that Terradons where to squishy to be that viable but is their killing power worth it?

Thanks!

 

Thanks that helpful! Sorry I have another question if that’s ok. What’s the best weapon combo to give your skinks? People just ignore the club?

 

Boltspitters and shields is the "easy" answer. There's definitely an argument for clubs, I however don't feel the need to double down on damage in an army that has damage oozing out of it's every scroll and struggles with keeping models on the actual board.

In my experience shields allow your 40 blocks to be a little more flexible and the extra damage from clubs is entirely unnecessary.

 

I have this theory. If you want a blob of 40 Skinks and buff them (Priest+Starpriest) then go for Bolt+Shield. If you want some screens to protect from a charge an important unit so you can charge the next turn, then javelins+shield.

However, if you want a decent melee unit, a blob of 40Skinks with clubs+shield is able to do a decent amount of damage, they go 4/4/0/1. Our friend @Caleb ex nihilo did a video on his YouTube channel about this topic. Check it out.

 

Thanks I will check out his videos. They seem great!

 

Are you able to elaborate more? I just don't see it, I've often have salamanders win me the hand game due to their significant damage output and the 4+ save, they almost always last the entire game. I also have enough skinks that I don't need to worry about using Terradons to block teleports

 

Terradons have a bigger burst than Salamanders when they drop their rocks, but worse damage without their rocks. Competitive play tends to favour controlled burst damage because a big controlled burst can take out a priority target at an opportune moment. The Salamanders might do more damage overall, but since it becomes in a big burst it's "less" relevant in a competitive enviroment.

To give an example with some completly imaginary numbers:

The terradons might kill a Carnosaur in a single turn and then say 20 skinks over the rest of the game.
While the Salamanders take 2 turns to take that Carnosaur and then kill 40 skinks over the rest of the game.

The terradons will be favoured by competitive players because they killed the big priority target quicker, even if the salamanders did significantly more damage overall. Because competitive play puts a very very heavy focus on killing that priority target as quickly as possible, and is willing to sacrifice a lot for that.

Aside from that:

Terradons are significantly faster so it's easier to move them around to whereever they're needed. Damage-wise they're not terrible, unless you desperatly need rend, and they're of course dirt-cheap. Making them decent reserve-units who rush around the battlefield plugging in holes whereever needed, or threaten the occasional lost hero or lonely objective.

 

The thing for me is I can see how that works on paper, but in practice, no competitive player I know it's going to put their priority targets in a position to have rocks dropped on them. Now they can't drop down 3" away and move, it's far less reliable, whereas I can sit in cover with buffed sallies with their 2+ save and hit you over and over. I also don't have faith in a 50/50 roll to do my damage. But hey, if it works for you guys, more power and all.

 

Bear in mind you can drop your rocks during any movement, walking, running, charging, piling in, retreating. It's surprisingly easy to get your rocks on top of something.

As for the 50/50 damage, most players will probably be using a terradon chief as well. Though even without a chief you'l already average 9 mortal wounds in a full unit of terradon, which is already a decent enough threat for most opponents.

 

Problem is that terradons are easier to take out than salamanders. Terradons are better at punishing players dues to their speed to get at an open target, but against opponents who wont give you that chance, the terradons dont do anything and are very vulnerable especially against shooting.
So far terradons haven’t seen much play so its hard to state wether the theory works in practise

 

Pretty much my thinking. I'm definitely going to take out your Terradons before you get a chance to drop rocks. I've had my salamanders take out 2000 points by themselves and have the sustainability to last all game while being focused.