Editing Total War: WARHAMMER (section)

====[[Skaven]]====
[[File:Skaven_Wallpaper.jpg|center|800px|thumb|YES-YES, MIGHTY-WARRIOR-CHAMPION. KILL-KILL ALL THINGS!]]
Officially confirmed on the 16th of August, the Skaven and most of their monsters and machines are the fourth race for the game, and [[Just As Planned|the 13th race revealed]]. As if anyone didn't know. They are led by [[Queek Head-Taker|Queek Headtaker]] for the main faction (Clan Mors) and the subfactions being led by [[Lord Skrolk|Lord Skrolk]] (Clan Pestilens), [[Ikit Claw|Ikit Claw]] (Clan Skyre), [[Tretch Craventail|Tretch Craventail]] (Clan Rictus), and [[Deathmaster Snikch|Deathmaster Snikch]](Clan Eshin). [[DOOMWHEELS]] and hell pit abominations are confirmed. As for their mechanics, skaven cities are actually hidden, looking like ordinary ruins to some effect although attentive players will notice massive Skaven corruption around those ruins; a surefire indicator of a strong Skaven presence. Beyond that, Skaven also have unique mechanics in the Food mechanic. Skaven are hungry vermin after all, and massive Skaven populations need Food to survive. Unlike other factions that can sustain themselves Skaven aren't really farmers as such and so food shortages are a constant concern. Some advanced Skaven buildings create some food and exploiting natural food sources such as rich pastures and farmlands generate large amounts of food, but ultimately the best source of meat is the enemy; start raiding or simply eat the enemy dead, whichever works best. The more Food in your stores the better, but you can also spend Food to build more powerful settlements and increase the amount of Clan Rat reinforcements you can call per battle.

Skaven also have to deal with Skaven corruption. Skaven Corruption (AKA Rat Rot) is an indicator of how many Skaven are in the area, and can be increased (or decreased) by certain buildings: a Breeding Pit for example increases Rat Rot as more and more Skaven are born while an industry building such as a Gold Mine lowers it as Skaven die in horrible conditions. The higher the Rat Rot the more disorder the local province suffers because of an unruly population, but the higher the Rat Rot the stronger the army buffs (such as more Clan Rat reinforcements in battle) so you need to find a sweet spot that works best for you. Not to mention that high Rat Rot means lots of Skaven (duh) which shows the AI exactly where your under-empire is. Skaven also have to deal with Loyalty like the Dark Elves, and keeping Lords happy is surprisingly easy to do. Give them massive armies, give them shinies, and keep winning battles and you'll be fine. Interestingly however, is that each faction works better with certain types of Lord. For example: Queek hates Grey Seers while loving Warlords and recruiting Seers to lead your army isn't wise as his buffs mean that Warlords gain stronger Loyalty while Seers get lower Loyalty, making Warlords the go to for that faction. They also have access to a movement stance that lets them ambush when attacking, and the "Menace Below" ability lets you summon Clan Rats anywhere on the field, with amount of usage dependent on how much food you're willing to give up for it and the level of Skaven corruption in the area. The "Under-Empire" mechanic added at the same time as the Prophet and the Warlock has further differentiated the Skaven campaign by letting them build in other faction's cities ala the Vampire Coast. The difference being that you can build them anywhere, not just in ports, and have a wider range of options. Some let you mooch off their income, gain more food (Praise the Horned Rat!), or even build up a force to take over the city.

As can be expected, battle wise the Skaven's main strategy in combat is to overwhelm their enemy with cheap disposable rat fodder, while using their elite monsters and warmachines to do the real work while the enemy is busy with the slaves. Having some of the best artillery options in the game, and powerful, albeit fragile at times, monsters. The low leadership of the Skaven in general is a problem, but on the flip side they recover it much quicker than other races to compensate for how fast they break. Leading to a feeling of constantly getting swarmed with waves of them as they break only to return moments later. The Lord Pack's addition of the Clan Skryre units only bolstering their options, with additions like the Warplock Jezzails and Ratling Gunners adding much needed long range units to their arsenal, and the Doomflayer adding a (relatively) low tier armor piercing option great for dealing with those pesky Dwarf-things.

Their base game Legendary Lords are Queek Headtaker and Lord Skrolk. Later joined by Tretch Craventail (FLC), Ikit Claw (Prophet & the Warlock DLC), and Deathmaster Snikch (Shadow & the Blade DLC).

:: [[Queek Head-Taker]] leads '''Clan Mors''' as the primary subfaction starting in Yuatek in the Vortex Campaign, but switches it up by starting in Karag Orrud in Mortal Empires. His unique faction effects are a decrease in loyalty to Grey Seer recruits, and Queek steals a percentage of the XP gained by other Lords in his faction. His Lord effects buff his armies when fighting against Dwarfs or Greenskins, increased number of uses for the "Menace Below" and a significant upkeep reduction to Stormvermin and Clanrats. With the addition of the "Under-Empire" mechanic he also starts with an Undercity beneath Karak Eight Peaks. His quest items include the Warpshard Armour and his trusty war pick Dwarf Gouger. Queek is in an odd position of being designed to be both the vanilla Skaven experience in the Vortex Campaign while also being a participant in the race to the Eight Peaks in Mortal Empires. Complete with a unique building chain once he gets there. So campaign wise his start can actually be a bit of an uphill battle. With the addition of the Under-Empire mechanic, he also has the benefit of starting with an undercity below Karak Eight Peaks right from the get-go in Mortal Empires; which makes it a bit easier to take over the place if you set it up right. Battle role wise Queek is the quintessential duelist Lord, with his weapons and abilities catered to his role of demolishing single entity characters. He's pretty sturdy, and can do pretty decently in a crowd of troops unlike assassins, but he has Verminous Valor as assurance should you find him surrounded.

:: [[Lord Skrolk]] leads '''Clan Pestilens''' as a subfaction, starting in Oyxl in both Vortex and Mortal Empires doing his best to spread, well, pestilence through the lands. The unique faction effects consist of construction cost reductions for Clan Pestilens related buildings, and a significant cost reduction for the "Pestilent Scheme" Rite. His sole Lord effect is a significant reduction in upkeep for all Plague Pestilens associated units. His quest items include the Rod of Corruption and The Liber Bubonicus. Role wise Skrolk is technically a hybrid Lord, being able to hold his own in melee decently enough. However he leans heavily into the spellcasting side of things, with his unique ability from the Liber Bubonicus being of particular note. Being able to devastate a single entity target with its damage nuke. Campaign wise he is pretty consistent with the goal of spreading ruin to Lusria, but it can be a pretty rough time due to the sheer number of other factions involved in that party. Allying with the resident edge lords and stocking up on Plagueclaw catapaults is highly recommended to survive the subsequent murder orgies. There wasn't a lot of incentive to actually go crazy with the spreading disease, but that has changed as of the Potion of Speed update. Such incentives include economic bonuses to settlements you control suffering plague and combat bonuses to your plagued armies. Clan Pestilens also has an increased capacity to spread plagues (including a sub-faction unique under city building, shorter cool down time for Rite of Pestilence, and their plague is more contagious).

:: [[Tretch Craventail]] is not last but is certainly the least of the Skaven Lord choices, leading '''Clan Rictus''' as a subfaction far from home in the Clawed Coast province in both Vortex and Mortal Empires, being unique as the only Skaven faction present and willing to live in Nagarythe. His main unique faction effect is a public order bonus whenever a diplomatic treaty is broken, though he also buffs Stormvermin by granting them a +3 boost to recruitment rank and an Encourage aura similar to Dwarfen Longbeards. His Lord effects consist of attack bonuses during ambushes, and after retreating when attacked, as well as the classic vanguard employment for his whole army. His sole quest item is The Lucky Skull Helm. Role wise Tretch is meant to be good at survivability and that's about it. He technically also fulfills the anti-large role among the Skaven Lords, but he isn't anything special in that department. But to make up for those lows, he has the hilarious ability "Stay Here, I'll Get Help!", which makes him invisible as he runs away while giving those he leaves behind a small buff. Overall, Tretch provides the most down to earth Skaven experience compared to his infamous contemporaries. You're encouraged to play the rattiest rat that ever ratted, as being surrounded by factions that generally can tolerate the Skaven allows him to try and use allies as meatshields until they're no longer useful and betraying them when they're at their most vulnerable.

:: [[Ikit Claw]] leads '''Clan Skryre''' as a subfaction, starting in the Star Tower in Vortex and in '''''Skavenblight''''' in Mortal Empires. The unique faction effects consist of a boosted research rate, increase in loyalty for new recruits, construction cost reduction for Engineering buildings, and exclusive access to the "Forbidden Workshop" mechanic. His Lord effects include starting with a Warpstorm Doomrocket, a significant upkeep reduction to Weapons Team units, as well as increased recruit ranks for them. His unique quest item is his halberd Storm Daemon, and he starts with his unique armour the Iron Frame. He can also be mounted on either a Doomflayer or Doomwheel, neither of which were options for him on the TT. Campaign wise he is undoubtedly the strongest among the Skaven, if not in the entire game up to this point. With the Forbidden Workshop giving insane amounts of both to Clan Skryre units (most of which were already powerful at a base level), and the ability to use '''nukes''' in battle and on the campaign map. With the ability to build Doomrockets to wipe out units on the battlefield, and the exclusive ability to make Doomspheres in under-cities to blow up the cities above ground. As for Ikit himself, he is pretty much good at everything. Seriously, he is tough to kill due to his armor, can dish out good anti-large armor piercing flaming and magic damage in combat, and has a flamethrower as a ranged weapon to boot. Which can be upgraded to add anti-large bonuses on top of its already significant damage. He also has access to the Brass Orb vortex spell ability from the get go, and can gain a strong magile missile ability from his halberd. To top it all off he is also a spellcaster, and a disgusting one at that due to the sheer amount of Warp Lightning spam he can rain down upon his foes. Also CA gave him a jetpack, with a ton of unique combat animations to go along with it. Which conveniently also contributes to making him harder to kill. And if all of that wasn't enough, you can put him on a DOOMWHEEL, so have fun with that.

:: [[Deathmaster Snikch]] leads '''Clan Eshin''' as a subfaction, starting in El-Kalabad in the Vortex and in Flayed Rock in Mortal Empires. Their unique faction mechanic is Shadowy Dealings which gives a variety of agent actions that can be done by Eshin characters in exchange for food or schemes; but some make them unavailable for some time afterwards. You can get more schemes by doing the Nightlord's Say-So missions, but those are obtained by Snikch's level and take him out of commision each time they are done. But they are well worth it since the end game schemes are hilarious, letting you take over other Skaven armies, destroying entire armies at sea, destroying everything but the main building in a settlement, and even completely wiping out an entire faction and replacing them with rebels. Clan Eshin also has Great Clan Contracts as a mechanic, letting them accept missions from the other clans in exchange for food, money, and increased reputation with those clans. Looking like a pretty good representation of Clan Eshins for hire nature in Skaven society. This also grants them bonuses and cost reductions for the respective units of the Great Clan you do missions for. This mechanic will help greatly to alleviate Eshin's other faction effect, a hefty 200% increase in recruitment cost for non-Eshin units. And to top it all off, no Eshin Lords will defect from low loyalty and all Night Runners and Gutter Runners AP warp infused projectiles. Lord effect wise he has an increase to ambush success chance, increased melee attack for embedded heroes in his army, and concealment bombs. In battle he is pretty much what you'd expect, a close combat monster who excels at slaughtering enemy characters. He has the usual Eshin physical resistance (though lacking in the missile resistance department), vanguard deployment, stalk, Weeping Blades for that whopping 50% armor reduction on contact, and he also has an interesting trait where his damage increases the lower a target's HP is. In terms of unique items he has his Cloak of Shadows that debuffs the melee defense and leadership of units around him. As well as the Whirl of Weeping Blades which grant him a unique ability which roots him to the spot and makes an AoE vortex around him that dishes out a pretty good amount of damage. And going with the recent trend of giving every character and their mothers a slow/net ability, he also has the Deathmaster's Sigil which stops a character in place for a somewhat measly seven seconds. Which is usually more than enough time for Snikch to finish the job provided he is close enough. Following the animation creep since Prophet & the Warlock, Snikch unexpectedly has a unique set of combat animations (surprising since everyone was expecting them to just reuse the Deathrunner animations), where he goes full-on Naruto on everyone. Teleporting around to slash through groups of infantry, which (much like Ikit) actually makes him somewhat difficult to hit or pin down.

:: [[Throt the Unclean]] leads '''Clan Moulder''' as a subfaction, starting in Atorak in Vortex and in Hell Pit in Mortal Empires. His unique mechanics are Growth Juice, which he gains overtime as well as from killing, allowing him to recruit a ton of beasties for no cost outside upkeep. His second, more unique mechanic is his Flesh Laboratory, allowing you to upgrade individual Monster and Infantry units with various mutations at the risk of them becoming unstable. Go wild and give those Rat Ogres invisibility! Give a Brood Horror to randomly shoot lightning! Make that Hellpit Abomination a vampire! What could go wrong? His unique items are Creature-Killer, which gives everyone around him Anti-large and Immune to Psychology, and the Whip of Domination, which gives a big leadership buff to basically every Skaven monster in the game. He has regeneration, armor piercing and Anti-large, making him perfect for taking down your opponents big monsters, while he also buffs your own monsters to ensure they run rampant all over your opponent.

Their rites include
::'''The Dominating Scheme''': Increases food generated, growth, and public order in all provinces. As well as decreasing recruitment costs. Costs 3000 gold, and requires you to issue the Expansionist planning commandment in a province.
::'''The Pestilent Scheme''': Recruits a unique Plague Priest hero called a Pestilent Scheme Priest, that will spread a plague in an enemy settlement at the cost of its own life. Costs 1000 gold, and requires you to build a Pestilent Nave building.
::'''The Thirteenth Scheme''': Boosts diplomatic relations with Skaven by 13, provides a chance of loyalty increase each turn, reduces enemy hero success chance, increases your own hero success chance, and gives the army ability Clanstone (with varying effects depending on the faction) to all forces. Costs 1313 gold, and requires your faction leader to be rank 7..
::'''The Scheme of DOOOOM!''': Recruits a unique Warlock Engineer hero called a DOOOOM! Engineer, that will destroy an enemy settlement's walls or create an Undercity (with a special building to boot!) at the cost of its own life. Costs 800 gold, and requires you to research 3 technologies.
::'''The Revitalising Scheme''': Exclusive to Clan Eshin. Restores all units in all armies to full health, and brings any wounded or recovering characters back into action. Costs 2500 gold, lasts only one turn, and requires you to research five technologies.
::'''The Sudden Kill Scheme''': Exclusive to Clan Eshin. Boosts missile damage for Night Runners and Gutter Runners, boosts speed, gives stalk, and snipe to all units in every army. Costs 1000 gold, lasts only one turn, and requires you to win 3 battles.

Their roster can be found [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/skaven-army-roster here], and their trailer [https://youtu.be/k8EQ1KNkpmw here].

[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Skaven| More specific tactics here]]


<gallery mode="nolines">
File:Clan_Mors_Emblem.png|Clan Mors
File:Clan_Pestilens_Emblem.png|Clan Pestilens
File:Clan_Rictus_Emblem.png|Clan Rictus
File:Clan_Skryre_Emblem.png|Clan Skryre
File:Clan_Eshin_Emblem.png|Clan Eshin
File:Clan Moulder Total War.png|Clan Moulder
</gallery>