8th Ed. Skink Chief is useless?

Hi there, I digged up a bunch of old models from the 5th edition and I am picking the game up again.

Forgive me for asking seemingly noob questions but the Skink Chief seems very weak and I am having a hard time to find where to put them.

I thought of putting it in a unit of Skrox, which is the best option I think. (But the debate of character joining Skrox is still going it seems)

I thought of putting it in a unit of Skinks, giving it a stronger melee attack. However Skinks die in a blink of an eye so as the general of my army (I am starting with 500 points games) I worry if it will get killed easily.

Using it in a unit of Skink Skirmishers.... and giving him a blowpipe will make him a very good shooter, however I feel that the 55 points and 3 Attacks are awfully wasted.

Finally, I am absolutely confused about the choice of giving a Skink Chief a SPEAR.

A unit with spear will get an extra rank of attack..... but Skinks can never have spear to begin with, isn't it?

Am I missing something?

Finally, how would you guys use a Skink Chief? Or would you avoid it altogether? (and go for a Scar Vet, which can be used in a 500 points game just fine as well)

 

The spear is there for if u give him a teradon I guess ( spear equals + one str on the turn you charge if you have a mount) , also, I think your best bet is putting him on a stegadon w/ a stegadon war spear, I've messed around with him in almost every role and besides steg I don't really like the skink chief. I'd go with a skink priest or scar vet at 500, hope this helps

 

Option 1: Pop on bird (or give cloac of feathers) add deffence gear, turn 2 charge warmachines, lone wizards if you have high enough armour (3+) even small shooter units.
Option 2: Put on steg maybe with warspear, have a shadow slaan nearby to give the stegadon some air time.

 

in a nutshell, yes skink chefs are useless. there are a few combos that are useful in some situation, but in an "all comers" army i would take something else instead.