AoS Is a slann necessary?

[Tokek]

That is indeed one of the biggest issues with summoning, the arbitrary range limitations. I would've loved if they at least Always let you summon stuff in a (small) bubble around the summoner regardless of enemies nearby. It feels kinda gamey and stupid that a summoner can be locked down simply by having enemies in his vague proximity.

Sometimes the only unit you can legally summon are chama skinks because you can invoke their deploy in hiding rule - and if we are honest with ourselves that is a bit of a rules loophole we are exploiting and which might get patched in a future FAQ.

LoSaT might be your get out of jail card here but it is just not reliable enough to build a strategy on IMO, if I will lose the game by rolling a 1 or a 2 I already know what will come up on that dice.

Anyway back to the Slann: if you have Realm spells in play then all of the command traits have merit.
1. Re-rolls are hard to come by these days so a re-roll every hero phase is good.
2. You probably have a Skink Starpriest anyway but Curse of Fates is still one of the best spells out there and who takes Starseers anymore?
3. Double-teleport. Enough said.

If endless spells are part of your strategy I would tilt towards Arcane Might. If your preferred approach is summoning then Great Rememberer is the usual choice. For diversity of spell-casting Vast Intellect gives you access to one of the best spells around and which you will almost never stump up the ludicrous points cost to access via the Starseer.

 

[Hugh Wilson]

Totek and Canas,

that was the conclusion i was coming to regarding summoning. You can so easily get zoned out quickly that you cant utilise the summoning as best you can.

From reading these comments, having a few games and looking in more detail at the warscrolls available. I think at 2k the Slann is probably essential, but not necessarily for summoning.

The biggest boons from it seem to be the board wide dispel (especially with Arcane might for the re-roll) and the access to 3 realm spells.

If only the starseer wasn't so expensive then you could more easily get it and an Arcane might slann in the same list, hopefully its points get adjusted in the upcoming GH2019.

I think im going to build an try a couple of lists based around a spell casting Slann, a starpriest or two, astrolith, Eotg, a ton of skinks, razordons, something meaty/baity/smashy (maybe a big unit of kroxigor or stegadons) and endless spells.

Hopefully i can get a few games in soon to try it out

 

[Canas]

To be honest, I think it's Kroak's biggest advantage over a normal slann. He can actually do something besides summoning with relative ease. Thus avoiding being locked down as easily.

 

[Killer Angel]

Without the realm rules the Slann is much more of a one-trick pony and I remain to be convinced that it is a good enough trick.

Even without ealm Rules, a Slann is still a 2-tricks pony.
If you don't opt for double teleport, a Slann with Curse of Fate and Starlight, backed up by AB, is still a good choice.

 

[Tokek]

Even without ealm Rules, a Slann is still a 2-tricks pony.
If you don't opt for double teleport, a Slann with Curse of Fate and Starlight, backed up by AB, is still a good choice.

I personally would always have a Starpriest so more of a trick-and-a-half pony The added Starlight spell becomes a handy backup for when your Starpriest is out of position or has been killed

But I take your point, the lack of any decent spells does at least have a partial answer in Vast Intellect.

Between Great Rememberer and Vast Intellect the choice feels like it comes down to a second teleport vs Curse of Fate both of which are good choices to have. Unless you have realm spells or a dedicated endless spell strategy Arcane Might is of limited value - re-rolls on unbind are nice but in your own hero phase you are getting a re-roll on one of 3 unimpressive spells which is inevitably unimpressive. With realm spells in play and especially if you want to leverage endless spells Arcane Might is a lot more tempting.

 

[Killer Angel]

I personally would always have a Starpriest so more of a trick-and-a-half pony The added Starlight spell becomes a handy backup for when your Starpriest is out of position or has been killed.

The starpriest is nice also for the serpent staff.
But if you are fielding mostly units that don't really rely on bites (rippers, bastiladon, stegadon, skinks, razordons....), then a Slann with Vast Intellect lets you save the points of the starpriest.
A pity that, with the increase of the range for unbinds, V.I. is now a little less reliable.

 

[tom]

Figure this is a good place to ask but feel free to correct me..

It was clarified that the slann cannot benefit from extra range when setting up endless spells, nor does the "within 3 inches" increase, somewhat reasonably.

What I can't work out is whether the realm spells get increased range from bwv, slann casting roll over 10 and from the astrolith bearer. My instinct is yes since they are normal spells.

For spells that work in an aoe (from the caster) such as crown of asphyxiation (3" base) I would also expect this to increase, in line with the reaping and silverwood circlet for sylvaneth. An aoe explosion on the other hand I can't see that it would be increased..

 

[nomis]

I use a slann for Lords of Space and Time. Teleporting is a big part of my game as seraphon, especially when it comes to taking objectives and trying to distract an opponent away from something else.

 

[tom]

I use a slann for Lords of Space and Time. Teleporting is a big part of my game as seraphon, especially when it comes to taking objectives and trying to distract an opponent away from something else.

I've been burned so many times now that 1-2 is a fail and you have a unit out of the fight . On what units are you using the ability, those already in combat?

 

[nomis]

Generally I use it to get my skinks around the field to take objectives. In a kind of deep strike approach. I use the great rememberer to get the two attempts, making it a bit more effective.

I often kept getting nailed in games and then I started to use a more skink heavy list - For taking objectives they are great - especially with the shadowstrike starhost.

 

[tom1017]

You can use "Lords of Space and Time" without a Slann, right?

 

[nomis]

Correct! But you do to use it twice.

 

[Canas]

Figure this is a good place to ask but feel free to correct me..

It was clarified that the slann cannot benefit from extra range when setting up endless spells, nor does the "within 3 inches" increase, somewhat reasonably.

What I can't work out is whether the realm spells get increased range from bwv, slann casting roll over 10 and from the astrolith bearer. My instinct is yes since they are normal spells.

For spells that work in an aoe (from the caster) such as crown of asphyxiation (3" base) I would also expect this to increase, in line with the reaping and silverwood circlet for sylvaneth. An aoe explosion on the other hand I can't see that it would be increased..

yeah, realm spells still benefit from it, or well until someone uses some extreme case at a tournament and abuses it I gues.

 

[tom]

yeah, realm spells still benefit from it, or well until someone uses some extreme case at a tournament and abuses it I gues.

Yeah, it was crazy how fast they jumped on that, and over nerfed things.

 

[Canas]

Yeah, it was crazy how fast they jumped on that, and over nerfed things.

meh, GW has a tendency to do that. Rule of one is a similar band-aid solution where everything gets nerfed due to some abusive cases (while still leaving other abusive cases intact, but who cares about consistency ) but yeah, this one was rather fast...