Editing Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Lizardmen (section)

===Monsters===
The big beasts and the creatures most opponents expect to face when fighting the lizardmen. Potent and powerful monsters, you have a dinosaur for every occasion; you'll simply need to choose the right ones. Beware of enemy tarpits if you don't have a high-level mage in your army; dinosaurs will take additional damage from their flanks and rear if they are surrounded and that can quickly wear them down.

*'''Feral [[Bastilidon]]''' - Your cheapest single entity dinosaur as well as your sturdiest. Feral bastilidons are effectively just a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] that you throw into enemy frontlines to stir up some chaos, cause some fear and just generally soak damage while the rest of your army dismantles the enemy. These guys can still earn you some crazy value against armies that field a lot of chaff infantry, like Skaven, Beastmen or Bretonnia.
::'''Campaign''': These guys are your entry-level monsters, being recruitable basically from the start of the game. As tanky anti-infantry monsters, these guys can net you some crazy value against the early-game armies of other factions for cheap-as-chips prices.

*'''Solar Engine Bastilidon''' - Your first, cheaper artillery option. Solar Engines fire off a single missile that simultaneously blinds and burns enemy units, reducing their combat effectiveness and dealing bonus damage against anything that regenerates health naturally. These laser bolts have a lower maximum range, are relatively slow moving and are much easier to dodge than the smaller, faster, harder to see bolts fired by the stegadon, but they have slightly higher damage per shot and a larger splash radius when targeting groups of infantry. In another contrast to the stegadon, the beams fired by the solar engine deal flat magical damage, meaning enemies with high magical resistance will largely shrug off the damage dealt by the solar engine itself. The only ''major'' drawback of the solar engine is that the Beam of Chotek, though an armor-piercing missile (its unit toolbar does not show the armor-piercing icon), deals relatively low bonus damage against armored units and as such will become less efficient compared to the stegadon when targeting heavily armored monsters over formations of armored infantry. At the end of the day, when all else fails, there's still a fully grown bastilidon underneath that laser crystal. Keep in mind, like every ranged unit, firing their missiles depletes their vigour and should be taken into account if you're planning on sending it into combat.
**'''Blessed Solar Engine Bastilidon''' - Perfect vigour's value cannot be overstated on a melee capable monster that would otherwise tire itself out just from holding a laser cannon in place. The greater defensive value of the bastilidon compliments the increased health quite nicely and will allow the blessed variant to stay in the thick of it considerably longer than others of its kind.

*'''Revivification Crystal Bastilidon''' - Your only non-magical source of healing, revivification crystals are one of the few healing options in the game that not only restores a unit's health but also actually revives dead models; a perk that's particularly valuable on your elite units like kroxigors or temple guard. A revivification crystal pairs excellently with a Life Slann in infantry heavy lists as you can very rapidly bring a unit back from the brink to near pristine (or whatever their healing cap is, depending on how used and abused they are), or for ensuring crucial monsters (like carnosaurs and dread saurians) become virtually unkillable. They are of limited use in a dinosaur army if your lord isn't a Life Slann, as their minor healing ability is short-ranged and can only target a single unit with a relatively lengthy cooldown between uses. Additionally, and this is a notable hitch, models don't start coming back to life until all the still living models have been fully healed up. This, consequently, makes it difficult to rebuild your forces if they're in active combat or taking damage from other sources. Having said that, they're still one of two sources of healing non-slann lords have access to and the only healing option that doesn't impose on your Winds of Magic reserve (which is still a plus, as other armies don't have such a luxury). As a bastilidon variant, it can also throw itself into combat with little fear. Pro tip: Don't click that "end battle" button; instead, use it to revive what you can and win the fight with fewer casualties.

*'''Ark of Sotek Bastilodon (DLC 1)''' - Functionally just a regular bastilidon, but with the ability to unleash an AoE burst of poison on all enemies surrounding it. As it's only a minor increase in cost over the feral version, the Ark of Sotek may be worth getting for the very minor amount of damage and extra poison it can apply to the invariable mosh pits bastilidons often find themselves in. Alternatively, you can get much more utility from the other two non-feral variants, and rely on your skinks to supply poison or your mages to deal burst damage to tarpits of infantry. In Campaign these boys are one of your mainstay units until tier 4 stegadons, with the lizardmens low growth and poor early-game economy the low-cost high reward of these guys can easily melt through tons of early game infantry, a must-get.

*'''Feral Stegadon''' - A wild stegadon, pure and simple. A living battering ram, stegadons are fantastic line breakers and are well rounded enough to survive the ensuing melee while dealing respectable damage in turn. Like all feral dinosaur variants, its only major weakness is a vulnerability to rampaging courtesy of its lower leadership. This is a forgivable flaw, considering how cheap they are and the fact that you can simply use Cold Blooded to snap them out of it definitely lessens the severity of an occasional rampage.

*'''[[Stegadon]]''' - A stegadon with a long-range ballista and skink handlers mounted upon its back. Stegadons serve as the second of your two artillery options and are arguably the best at dealing raw damage: the ballista is unerringly accurate and can easily snipe opposing artillery pieces, usually destroying the cannon/catapult models in question before they can get much usage. What's more is that, as it's connected to a single entity monster itself, the ballista is not vulnerable to these same tactics. Like Cygors or Steam Tanks, Stegadons compensate for the lack of firepower volume traditional artillery pieces can put out by retaining its long ranged assaults until it is either out of ammunition or has been killed. The stegadon's ranged attack generally struggles to deal significant damage to infantry formations due to the narrow projectiles and low splash damage (despite the bonus anti-infantry modifiers it gets). Regardless, the shot still deals incredible damage to heavily armored, single entity monsters (particularly a majority of mounted lords/heroes) due to their immense bonus AP damage. Even should you run out of ammunition or should your opponent try to tie it down in melee... it's still a stegadon. With skinks firing poisoned darts at everything surrounding its legs, it will put up just as much of a fight as its feral counterpart and then some. The only downside to the ballista is that firing it will drain the stegadon's vigour (even if it's standing perfectly still), meaning it'll likely perform less efficiently in any ensuing melee if it doesn't get a break between firing and fighting.
**'''Blessed Stegadon''' - Hoh boy, now we're talking. A massive buff to the stegadon's health will allow him to take significantly more punishment over the rest of his variants, but that's not really the main selling point here. The blessed stegadon is also gifted with perfect vigour; a massive boon to the offensive prowess of this beast. Being able to act as full blown artillery then rush into glorious melee combat to tear enemies a new asshole at peak performance is something no other faction can achieve remotely as effectively as these guys can. If a quest pops up in the campaign with these as a reward, you should do your damndest to accomplish it. They're well worth it.

*'''Ancient Stegadon''' - Where the stegadon does its best work from afar, the ancient stegadon needs to get up close and personal to do business. The howdah, though packed with significantly more ammo, is much shorter ranged and is primarily meant to soften up nearby targets for a follow up charge into melee. Ancient stegadons are somewhat tankier than other stegadon variants, though their limited range debatably renders them less effective offensively. In general, you should either spring for the Engine of the Gods or stick with a regular stegadon..
**'''The Thunderous One (RoR, DLC 1)''' - A beefed up ancient stegadon that calls down bolts of lighting every 20 seconds, the Thunderous One was made to wade into the enemy's front line and deal indiscriminate damage. Unfortunately, these bolts of lightning can and will deal friendly fire to your units. This can make it somewhat challenging to support its charge with infantry or cavalry, though allied single entity monsters typically won't mind the stray blast.

*'''Engine of the Gods Ancient Stegadon (DLC 1)''' - Is all the gold armor embedded into your ancient stegadon not quite flashy enough for you? Just give it the ability to call down an orbital bombardment to glass swarms of warmbloods in the name of the Great Plan. The Stegadon itself is, functionally, an Ancient Stegadon. It behaves identically like one and has the exact same statline, but once you get to its abilities, things start to get interesting. It has two supporting abilities, Arcane Configuration (Winds of Magic Power Recharge rate boost) and the Portent of Warding (a 5% Ward Save for all allied units within 40m). These effects make EotG Stegadons fantastic supporting units simply from their presence alone. And yes, this applies to EotG Stegadon Mounts, so your Skink Priests have access to their own personal WoM batteries. The third, and debatably the main reason you're considering this ornate beast, is the Burning Alignment active ability. Though limited to only two uses, the Engine of the Gods can deal devastating damage to infantry focused lists if the Burning Alignment is used at just the right moment. It's particularly effective when fired into choke points or along your enemy's frontline ranks when they're tied up with your forces. Thankfully, the Burning Alignment ability is extremely accurate for (what is functionally) a wind spell; so long as you aim carefully and don't wander your lizardmen into it's path, you can drop it right in front of your forces with little fear.

*'''Ancient Salamander (DLC 1)''' - A single giant salamander, tempered with age, experience and able to melt opponents with extra spicy hellfire. Ancient salamanders are more durable than their lesser hunting pack kin and are more reliably able to survive the occasional melee scuffle, though it generally shouldn't participate in it. Instead, the ancient salamander truly shines when paired with fire slann, salamander hunting packs, fireleech bolas terradons, or solar engine bastilidons thanks to its ability to render enemy units flammable with its own fireballs. This flammable effect greatly improves the damage dealt by flaming attacks and when executed properly and will burn through most infantry-focused armies with terrifying efficiency.

*'''Feral Carnosaur''' - An offensive machine, the apex predator of Lustria (you know, conventionally) and a signature monster of the lizardmen, the carnosaur is a ferocious beast that specializes in hunting other monsters, skaven weapon teams, and artillery due to their innate anti-large bonuses and armor-piercing capabilities. They're considerably frailer than stegadons and bastilidons defensively, though they are much swifter and tear through most enemies far more quickly due to their much higher attack. When funds are too tight to take a Saurus Scar-Vet or Old Blood on a carnosaur, a feral version with proper support won't steer you wrong. Just make sure you keep a leader or hero with Cold-Blooded on standby in case they get a little carried away.
**'''Blessed Feral Carnosaur''' - The blessed carnosaur. Formerly the pinnacle of lizardmen might (the dread saurian says hi), blessed carnosaurs have all the anti-large, armor-piercing wrath of the regular carnosaur supplemented by a much more rounded defensive statline. Additional health and magic resistance makes the blessed carnosaur surprisingly survivable against a myriad of generic threats and allows it to commit to fights that regular carnosaurs would hesitate towards. They are still just as vulnerable as any other carnosaur to getting mobbed or picked apart from regular armor-piercing weapons and absolutely will rampage in a bind, so don't get reckless with your charges.
**'''Geltblöm’s Terror (RoR, DLC 3)''' - A Feral Carnosaur that never rampages and is blessed with both Vanguard deployment and the Strider ability, enabling it to keep up to speed in any terrain. Vanguard deployment and rampage immunity is a fantastic combination for a Lizardmen monster designed to fight other monsters, but don't get reckless.

*'''Feral Troglodon (DLC 3)''' - A Troglodon without a Skink Oracle to keep it in check. Troglodons are in essence a hybrid between an Ancient Salamander and Carnosaur in that they're able to burp up potent poisonous spit that's extremely effective against large targets. Troglodons are quite possibly the first real "skirmisher" single entity monster introduced: though they're quick for ground-bound dinosaurs, they should generally only engage in melee as a last resort or with ''heavy'' support because they are not designed to put up much of a fight. In a direct melee engagement against most other combat monsters, Troglodons tend to lose pretty handily. Their low leadership also tends to cause them to rampage quickly when caught up in a brawl. However, if they focus on kiting and sniping their targets rather than charging them, they can do frankly sickening amounts of damage.
**'''The Pale Death (RoR, DLC 3)''' - A Feral Troglodon that can buff itself and nearby allies in melee whenever it uses it's Primeval Roar, giving them a rather substantial Melee Attack bonus for a short while. Though a buff of 24 Melee Attack is certainly an eyebrow raiser, it only recharges when the Pale Death is actively engaged in melee combat. For 60 seconds. On a creature that's prone to rampaging at the drop of a hat, this is a very risky commitment without a Lord/Hero nearby to keep it in check.

*'''Feral Dread Saurian (DLC 2)''' - The single largest monster in the game, dread saurians are nigh uncontested in raw damage output and are more than capable of killing every other unit in the game in a straight fight. Unfortunately for you, your opponent will be able to field ''far'' more units than your dread saurian will be able to deal with at once and most of said units will likely be picking it off at range. As a massive, lumbering behemoth, dodging even slow moving projectiles is well and truly beyond the dread saurian and it will take tremendous damage on the approach. Even once it arrives in melee, the sheer volume of bodies capable of surrounding it and poking it with anti-armor/anti-large sticks will wear it down quite quickly. Their size also provides another source of jank whenever they get bogged down by hordes; they'll struggle to properly path their way through the crowds (it doesn't help that the Dread Saurian also has relatively low mass considering it's literal size) and their attacks, while lethally brutal, also tend to miss depending on the terrain it's fighting on. They are also prohibitively expensive and will eat up a significant portion of your funds, meaning the rest of your army will be extremely limited in number. Ensure you have a proper supporting mage (a life slann is essential) if you're bringing one.

*'''Dread Saurian (DLC 2)''' - The single largest monster in the game, now wearing a howdah filled to the brim with skinks. A modest price bump from the already exorbitant feral variant will grant the regular dread saurian a higher leadership, ranged attacks and poison. There's little reason not to go ahead and splurge for these upgrades, feral or not the dread saurian will be the centerpiece of your army which you'll do everything to keep alive.
**'''Shredder of Lustria (RoR, DLC 2)''' - The single most expensive beast you could ever field, and boy does he do work. In addition to all that a dread saurian can bring to bear, the Shredder of Lustria is stacked with the full complement of veterinary stat buffs and a leadership debuff for all enemies surrounding it, a perk that, when combined with the innate fear and terror dread saurians cause, will make most enemy infantry run the ''fuck'' away very fast. If that weren't enough, the Shredder of Lustria also encourages all nearby allied troops, buffing their leadership. After all, who wouldn't be inspired by seeing the apex of lizardmen might devouring any and all who oppose the Great Plan? Speaking of the Great Plan, you're going to need one: considering how much money you're sinking into this puppy, you're going to need to really budget the rest of your army carefully.

*'''Coatl (DLC 3)''' - Previously a relic of a long lost bit of Lizardmen lore, the Coatl makes a rather striking return as the premier Lizardmen flying monster. The Coatl, though packing two casts of Urannon's Thunderbolt and one cast of Lesser Chain Lighting as bound spells, is designed more as a source of support for ground-bound allies. Infact, the main draw to the Coatl isn't its combat capabilities (which are mediocre at best), but for the fact that it grants all allied units under its wings Stalk. Yes, everything from that unit of Red-Crested Skinks to that Dread Saurian doomstack becomes invisible and untargetable until they're either far too close to do anything about or the Coatl "lands" or dies. As a faction desperately starved of long range missile units, this is a massive boon for protecting your high-value targets on the approach. Once the Coatl has safely delivered it's charges into battle, it still can serve as an excellent disruptor of backline units, Snipe artillery or single entity monsters with thunderbolt or punish a large blob with lesser chain lighting. Just be careful: even your Terradons move faster than this thing and its size does it no favors when trying to dodge missile fire.
**'''Spirit of Tepok (RoR, DLC 3)''' - A Coatl that has Banishment and Shield of Thorns as bound spells instead. The option to lean more heavily into a support role does suit the Coatl quite well, though this largely depends on what lord choice and focus your army has. If you brought a life slann or a skink priest, a regular Coatl might get you more mileage.