Plague Monks: the quarantine has been lifted, but we are still going to die
Entry posted by Ineffectual Clawlord
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You, dear reader, might have heard that Monks have been reworked and that you, dear reader, should be furious. How furious? Let's take a look.
AoS_Skaven_Warscroll_card_Plague_Monks.pdf
Edit: fixed the stave damage. A sad day, as it appears I can't read.
How much damage does it do?
Comparison Staff (30 models) vs. Blades (20 models)
Save Staff charge Blades charge Staff no charge Blades no charge
2 8.33 6.96 5.56 4.63
3 16.67 13.89 11.11 9.26
4 25 20.83 16.67 13.89
5 33.33 27.78 22.22 18.52
6 41.67 34.72 27.78 23.15
- 50 41.67 33.33 27.78
Alright, you mutter, but we used to do more, didn't we?
How much damage did we lose?
(Foetid Blades, 30+ bonus applied, damage per model)
Save Old Charge New Charge Old no charge New no charge
2 .46 .35 .31 .25
3 .83 .69 .56 .46
4 1.2 1.04 .8 .69
5 1.57 1.39 1.05 .93
6 1.94 1.74 1.3 1.16
- 2.22 2.08 1.48 1.39
Between 10% (vs 6+) and 24% (vs 2+) for Blades. Particularly for higher saves PM lost a lot of their effectiveness, which has implications for list building (see below).
Now that you have dried your eyes, i hear you sobbing about staves, which were always stronger on the charge.
Do I have to change my staves now?
The basic problem is similar to the classic sword vs. spears debates: one has lower damage but 2" reach. It all boils down to a simple ratio: how many staves do I need to get into combat to break even with blades.
As a rule of thumb: 25% more.
Losing the 30+ bonus doesn't change this ratio, losing the 20+ bonus means the ratio shifts to 34%, but at this point this is only theoretical, as you won't have problems fitting <20 25mm bases into combat.
How can I change the ratio?
By affecting the hit-roll, as it is the only difference between the profiles. Having a worse chance to hit, staves profit more from re-rolls and +to hit (but also suffer more from - to hit).
Corruptor CA: 10% more
Vigordust Injector: they now have the same profile, and every additional model is a damage bonus.
So when do I choose staves?
If you want to use Vigordust or the Corruptor on your PM, then this is a very strong option, as you should easily get those additional models in. Otherwise, getting 25% extra models in requires you to keep enough of them alive so that it matters.
So... change them?
That depends. The difference, in most cases, isn't dramatic. Blades are, as before the safer option, while staves have higher damage potential.
You read all this, but your grumbling does not cease.
How does this compare to our other options?
100 pt damage efficiency vs. 4+ save. (What is the problem with this metric? )
It compares the damage you would get if you invested 100 points into the unit, and I take horde-discounts into account. This makes it easy to compare units with different price tags, as there is very little human intuition involved when e.g. comparing a unit that costs 70pt and on average does 6.2 damage to a unit that costs 380pt and does 27.4).
However, this should not be used to reduced the complexity of unit evaluation to a simple number. Rat Ogors for example are multi-wound models and don't lose combat effectiveness until they took 4 wounds, compared to PM who lose damage equal to the wounds taken. Special abilities (Night Runners), movement (Wolf Rats), saves (Stormvermin) of course have to be taken into account as well.
There is also the underlying assumption that all the models you bought for 100 pt actually get into combat. This might not be easy with e.g. a full 30 block of Acolytes.
It also favors units with horde discount.
Plague Monks: charge 14.9
no charge 9.9
Stormvermin 6.6 (extra attack: 9.8)
Rat Ogors/Wolf Rats 4.7 (Moulder buff + Rabid Crown: 7.9)
Acolytes 3.5 (MMMWP + Spark: 11.7)
Censer Bearers 8.3 (PM nearby, charge)
Night Runners 3.2 (40 shots, 20 melee attacks)
Dispirited by our lack of options, anxiously you ask:
What about my Furnace?
Given the price advantage of now 40 points to the Bell, it's worth asking by how much the damage is increased. (per model, vs. 4+ save)
charge (% increase) no charge (% increase)
re-wound
Blades 1.04 -> 1.32 (27) .69 -> .88 (28)
Staves .83 -> 1.06 (28) .56 -> .7 (25)
+ attack
Blades 1.04 -> 1.39 (34) .69 -> 1.04 (34)
Staves .83 -> 1.11 (34) .56 -> .83 (48)
Noteworthy increases, although not amazing when compared to e.g. MMMWP, which for SF or Acolytes more than doubles the damage. The Furnace is a good option if you want the additional battleshock immunity, but is by no means mandatory.
Seeing you lie on the floor like a fainted goat, I ask myself:
How does this change list building?
The change definitely emphasized the role of PM as a destroyer of the poor and downtrodden, aka the blokes without armour. Before they actually had enough damage output to just crack open all but the most hardened (2+, 3+ re-rollable) armour, now they will struggle a lot more. This makes it even more important to combine them with high rend and mortal wounds.
Being the sophisticated creatures that Skaven players are, most mixed lists already did this anyway. I feel that with the small price increases we have to deal with, double PM lists are still an option, but probably more matchup dependent. A typical 20-20-20 Clanrats + 40-40 PM list might want to drop one group and include 20 CR and 15 Acolytes/3 Ratling Guns.
Personally I'll take a look on how the meta develops in the future, but want to test replacing one group of PM with a group of Warpfire-Ratling-Doomflayer Stormfiends , as they now seem to be more in line regarding their damage output.
Conclusion: did we die and is this hell?
I like to rant about GW's design decisions and arcane reasoning as well as the next man, but this was actually well done. As a Skaven player of course I would have preferred a less harsh penalty (e.g. a better on 6 ability), and this will hurt pure Pestilens lists a lot, which were already among the lower performing lists.
They did achieve their goal of making PM vastly less annoying to play, and especially play against, while also not ruining the unit or necessitating a switch to one or the other gear option. For this they do deserves respect.
It might have been nice though not only to have been beaten with the stick, but to have been offered a carrot afterwards. Half the units being essentially never played, with another bunch being one the fringe, it would have been nice to see some price reductions. Lowering Rat Ogors to 90 pt would not have broken the faction, but allowed them to be a viable alternative. Alas, maybe the next GHB will ease the pain of our brothers Eshin, Moulder and Verminous.
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