MKsmash

Why am I not surprised? GW spites destruction again. Just another day of AOS.

I've played Aos for a while now, and few things have remained constant. The first few years of it's existence barely count for much considering how much change GW had to do to get Aos working. However, as a Destruction player, I don't know of I've ever been at the top of the heap. There was a brief period where stonehorns were a top tier thing of their own, being close to unkillable by halving all damage. But other than this brief, FAQ'ed out phase, destruction has never been the best, or even close really. Ironjawz originally were a middle-tier army that eventually fell a long way before getting to Orruk Warclans now. They're our best choice, but still would struggle to be considered an A tier army. When they were released they were powerful, but quickly fell because of tzeentch, OBR, and lumineth. Bonesplitters had some tricks with Kunnin'Rukk before but now they just suck. Beastclaw Raiders were a solid army for a while, but it took 4 YEARS to get a new book. Gutbusters didn't even get one until recently in Ogor Mawtribes. Speaking of which, Mawtribes is one of the worst battletomes I've ever seen. Terrible subtractions, completely unintuitive and bad scenery, and warscrolls that desperately needed love and got none, rendering them useless (*ahem* gorgers *ahem*). Gits also had to wait a while to get a book, but when they did, they were rewarded with completely useless allegiance abilities and an army that required 180 stabbas to perform well, or force you to go with the randomness of the squigs. This could've been considered a "fun" army, but couldn't even get that. Finally, Sons of Behemat. Coming in the wake of overpowered armies of Order, Death, and Chaos, they were to be my great hope for destruction, their chance to break into the high A-tier/S-tier class....but they didn't. While there hasnt been quite enough evidence yet, they simply don't have enough tricks in the bag to survive KO's shooting, OBR's durability, Tzeentch's magic, or Lumineth's.....uh..... everything. Does anyone else feel Destruction is the neglected child of the Aos family?

That actually looks pretty strong - the only thing I would consider adding is a weirdnob for teleportation shenanigans. Units of 6 gruntas hit hard, especially with an ironfist and warchanter, big arrowboyz units punch pretty hard, and the krusha provides for a big dangerous beatstick.

I think I've purchased at retail price from GW only a few times. I have always, and will always, keep ordering through local stores for 20% off. They have been around since before I was born, and aren't in danger of going under(as far as I know, of course)

I agree. The damage seems reliable, but very low.

You can make custom warscrolls, unofficially. I've spent a lot of time here 😂 https://runebrush.pa-sy.com/warscroll/

Fair, mortals are becoming more and more common, meaning he is less killable for sure. With weirdun, ironclad, and daubing of mork, he has 2+ save, 6+ wound mortal wound save, and 4+ ignore enemy spell save, which helps with helps with blocking mortals. And fwiw, when ethereal was an option, you still couldn't take it with ironclad. Ironclad adds to save, and ethereal Amulet ignored all modifiers, not just negative ones. I find that brutish cunning in straight IJ isn't necessary, given that I always have mighty destroyers available. The big thing with the Krusha when you play is its distracting factor. You don't need it to survive all game, and I expect it to do die everytime. As long as it provides a massive target that takes a while to chew through while doing enough damage, it's doing its job. I like to play mind games by overhyping it to make sure it gets targeted and they ignore the rest. Another huge difference between Waaagh and IJ is that IJ is a true alpha strike army. I will pretty much NEVER screen a Krusha, it will charge right in or get teleported. I don't like the boss mainly because of speed. He's one of the slowest units in IJ (Krusha much faster, goregruntas fast, ardboyz big charge bonus). I know he can be a big combat beast, but I can't get him in. I also rarely use the +1 to hit CA, and save my points for rerolling charges and Mighty destroyers. He may be less good, but I just wouldn't say 100% worse

With all due respect, not sure I entirely agree with this. Aside from mortal wounds, you can make the maw-krusha an ever-growing, nigh-unkillable beast. I still prefer ardboyz over brutes, but brutes are now good enough to be useable. 1-2 weirdnobs, 2 chanters, and 6-9 goregruntas (one unit) will do wonders. You definitely want Ironfist, it works wonders. In terms of subfaction, I generally go tribeless, as crazy as it sounds. Ironsunz is the best subfaction, and it's not very good. Go tribeless and you get to choose a command trait - take that ironclad for a 2+ save Krusha or Brutal cunning combined with Ironfist for 2 free Mighty Destroyers per turn. As much as I love the Krusha, I know you don't XD. The foot boss will still work, you'll just lose some hitting power and a target for the enemy's shooting. The points youll get allow you to fit in 9 gruntas, which is very difficult to do with a Krusha.

Despite the easy painting fact and then being the heroes and all that, they are still deceptively difficult to play well. At first glance, it looks like you can do anything with the faction, mainly making a cool elite melee fighting force with dragons and cavalry, while its actually a magic and/or shooting army.

Hallelujah! I'm so sick of Stormcast.

I agree with @PlasticCraic here. Fyreslayers are very difficult to fight - heed his advice, it may be your own only chance lol.

Fyreslayers is...tough. Their Hearthguard berserkers do a lot of damage. A lot. With mortal wounds. Attacking twice. Additionally, they're difficult to kill. Targeting their heroes will weaken them, but it'll still be dificult. Fyreslayers is probably the best melee army in the game. Slaanesh has big nasty things called Keeper(s) of Secrets. They move fast and hit hard. Slaanesh also has good magic and some mean tricks, such as making you fight last. If you survive all this, they're relatively easy to kill. Be warned though: for every 2 Keepers you kill, he'll someone another one. Slaanesh has a lot of summoning, and it will be all KoS's. Bloodgullet will give you the tools you need to buff your units. I have found no reason to use Meatfist - bad ability, bad artefact, mediocre CA, and mediocre CT. Use FLoSH's - they're fast, powerful, and hard to kill. Ironguts are also solid, doing lots of damage. I would not take Leadbelchers against Fyreslayers, their shots won't be enough to be effective. They wouldn't be bad against Slaanesh, though. Gluttons will at the very least provide a great screen, they should be able to do damage. Fyreslayers are very strong in general, Slaanesh is pretty good but punishes the high wound count of Mawtribes.

I want Destruction to take a major role in the lore, and I want Destruction armies to be more competitive. Nothin else.

Gonna have to disagree here. Destruction is one of the weakest competitively. They have great magic in Big Waaaaagh, but Bonesplitterz are frankly not great and IJ are too slow for the allegiance (you need to rely on outside means for Mighty destroyers). Ogor shooting is very unreliable, and all the shooting units are better in melee anyway. Stonehorns, some of the best units in Destruction, took a hard nerf with the GHB, as there is no more Ethereal Amulet, gryph-feather, thermalrider, etc.

Destruction is missing something competitively, IMHO. They lack shooting and powerful magic, which dominate the meta right now. The Mawtribes book is oftentimes dysfunctional and seems half-assedly made. GSG relies on 180 grots, as squigs and troggoths (which are awesome) suck. Warclans has Ironjawz, our most competitive army, but it falls apart against magic and OBR. Bonesplitterz is good against monsters, but not many armies are using big monsters besides....Mawtribes, another Destruction army (and perhaps Tyrants Khorne). Not only do we need more armies and more units for each army, we need major buffs. GHB 2020 crippled destruction by allowing only 3 endless spells in a list (hurting GSG) and getting rid of all the malign sorcery artefacts (hurting IJ and OM).