I'm surprised that Skulltaker is DLC, but tbh there aren't any BETTER alternatives either - Total War: Warhammer (2024)

Keyword: BETTER

I get that Skulltaker is a pretty generic Khorne character, but what even are the alternatives that'd have been better? The generic chaos Lord who rides a flesh hound rather than a juggernaut? A Bloodthirster whose TT model is indistinguishable from generic bloodthirsters? With Skarbrand and Valkia out of the way GW never made anyone all that interesting or unique looking.

As far as cool and unique goes only one left is Scyla, and while I wouldn't mind him being the LL (he's no worse than Nakai) be probably fits LH better.

You can prefer Skulltaker without resorting to absurd hyperbole, Arbaal is anything but generic.

And I don't know about better, the only thing Skulltaker has over Arbaal is that he has a more clear mechanic, we don't know yet who of the 2 is going to better.

​

mecanojavi99#6562 wrote:

You can prefer Skulltaker without resorting to absurd hyperbole, Arbaal is anything but generic.

And I don't know about better, the only thing Skulltaker has over Arbaal is that he has a more clear mechanic, we don't know yet who of the 2 is going to better.

Where did I say I preferred Skulltaker? He's just as generic as every other remaining Khorne LL candidates?

And Arbaal is generic af what are you smoking lol

His story boils down to he's such a mighty fighter he went to challenge Khorne, then he reappeared riding a large Flesh hound. He attacked Ind then got killed by Caradryan.

Ahem.

Skulltaker's literally just an upgraded BloodLetter.

Arbaaal the undefeated is vastly better. He's a human with a real story and a real arc.

Skaarrrrr is vastly better. He's a character so horrible that he's actually good.

​

Beast_of_Guanyin#8747 wrote:
Arbaaal the undefeated is vastly better. He's a human with a real story and a real arc.

He's just a chaos champion on a flesh hound.

His story arc is that he got bored of winning fights that he went to challenge Khorne, then he's gone for centuries and returned. He invaded Ind. Later a high Elf killed him. His weapon was an axe.

Skulltaker isn't anything special like Glottkin or Tamurkhan, but let's not pretend all the remaining Khorne LL candidates are any better.

​

GreenColoured#3418 wrote:

​

Beast_of_Guanyin#8747 wrote:
Arbaaal the undefeated is vastly better. He's a human with a real story and a real arc.

He's just a chaos champion on a flesh hound.

All characters can be simplified down into a dismissive line like this. It means nothing.

​

Beast_of_Guanyin#8747 wrote:

​

GreenColoured#3418 wrote:

​

Beast_of_Guanyin#8747 wrote:
Arbaaal the undefeated is vastly better. He's a human with a real story and a real arc.

He's just a chaos champion on a flesh hound.

All characters can be simplified down into a dismissive line like this. It means nothing.

And yet you still haven't brought forth jack to prove that Arbaal is anything more than Skulltaker...good job

​

GreenColoured#3418 wrote:
And yet you still haven't brought forth jack to prove that Arbaal is anything more than Skulltaker...good job

I mean, I could bring up the fact that Arbaal gets turned into a Chaos Spawn if he ever loses a fight. Which is one of the most unique things in WHFB.

​

DarthEnderX-#6513 wrote:

​

GreenColoured#3418 wrote:
And yet you still haven't brought forth jack to prove that Arbaal is anything more than Skulltaker...good job

I mean, I could bring up the fact that Arbaal gets turned into a Chaos Spawn if he ever loses a fight. Which is one of the most unique things in WHFB.

I’m pro Arbaal, but I must admit I find it hard to conceive how that can actually be translated in game mechanics.

do you just lose the whole campaign if he ever loses or flees from battle?

What if he’s an NPC faction? Do you only have to beat his army once to end his whole faction?

do they make him effectively a legacy character and when he comes back from being wounded it represents another champion being gifted the Hound and Destroyer of Khorne?(because the previous Arbaal is now a spawn)

Maybe they apply spawn-on-flee to his whole faction? So you can see it happen to your characters without losing your LL?

​

DarthEnderX-#6513 wrote:

​

GreenColoured#3418 wrote:
And yet you still haven't brought forth jack to prove that Arbaal is anything more than Skulltaker...good job

I mean, I could bring up the fact that Arbaal gets turned into a Chaos Spawn if he ever loses a fight. Which is one of the most unique things in WHFB.

Like that is of any relevance when it has 0% chance of becoming a mechanic in this game. Just like they didn't allow Tamurkhan to retain the body-snatching that is his signature ability.

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:
Like that is of any relevance when it has 0% chance of becoming a mechanic in this game. Just like they didn't allow Tamurkhan to retain the body-snatching that is his signature ability.

And yet they gave Changeling his shapeshifting mechanic. Which is even more complicated.

​

DarthEnderX-#6513 wrote:

​

TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:
Like that is of any relevance when it has 0% chance of becoming a mechanic in this game. Just like they didn't allow Tamurkhan to retain the body-snatching that is his signature ability.

And yet they gave Changeling his shapeshifting mechanic. Which is even more complicated.

How's that relevant when Arbaal's special "mechanic" would be an immediate campaign-loss if he ever loses a battle?

Taurox has a similar hard loss-punishment mechanic that CA failed to implement, so Arbaal won't get it either. It also doesn't make the character any more interesting at all.

I'd be happy with Ka'Bandha, a bloodthirster that is unique in as much as he thinks and creates long term plans to do Khorne's work.

Arbaal could gain huge buffs or debuffs depending on victory conditions. If CA had flipped the coin and gone with Arbaal I'm pretty sure they could've done something for him.

Arbaal is probably the FLC because really the only way to translate his mechanic is a subtle way. He'll get a variant of the Bretonnian favour of the lady mechanic (20% Ward Save for entire army, loses it if your army ever retreats). Probably tie into Bloodletting as well.

He'll be like Epidemius where its the base mechanic focus (Plagues) where there's a slight twist on it (Using Plagues Offensively and enmass)

​

davedave1124#4773 wrote:

I'd be happy with Ka'Bandha, a bloodthirster that is unique in as much as he thinks and creates long term plans to do Khorne's work.

Arbaal could gain huge buffs or debuffs depending on victory conditions. If CA had flipped the coin and gone with Arbaal I'm pretty sure they could've done something for him.

I have absolutely no doubt CA could have done something with Arbaal, in fact we'll find out if he's FLC. Fact of the matter is...the exact same thing applies to pretty much any other remaining Khorne characters, including Skulltaker. Skulltaker would probably have a mechanic that rewards hunting down LLs for rewards or something. Unfortunately Khorne has never been the most multi-dimensional faction.