The Saurus form one of the core species of the Lizardmen race, created by the Old Ones to be the warriors and guardians of their society. When the Temple-Cities are on the warpath, it is the Saurus who make up the hardened core of the fighting forces.
Saurus Warriors (Shields) is a Lizardmen melee infantry unit in Total War: Warhammer II. Holding the line against the enemy charge, braced with shields and fierce with primordial determination.
Saurus Warriors The standard, hardy warriors of the Lizardmen battleline. Their clubs are inelegant, but effective. When the Lizardmen march to battle, it is the Saurus.
Nov 02, 2019 Have any suggestions for the next Total War: Warhammer 2 Custom Battle? Just ask in the comments! Recorded on my desktop Intel® Core i7-9700K, 3.6 GHz (4.9 GHz Turbo Boost) ASUS MAXIMUS XI HERO.
Recently released in the second edition of the TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER series, the Lizardmen are a welcome addition to an already great set of games. This race is the oldest of all, being able to trace their lineage all the way back to the earliest days of the Earth. As expected, they have a wide range of units to choose from, fielding powerful mages or intimidating dinosaurs. This list will take a look at the best units the Lizardmen have to offer, which should help if you’re struggling to get a grasp of their army compositions.
Blessed Saurus Warriors (Shields) | Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki ...
Blessed spawnings & regiments of renown will be excluded as I want to focus on the more core units available!
10. Temple Guard
You’re wondering “why is their most elite infantry unit only in 10th place?” and I say to you good sir, why not? For how expensive they are, Temple Guard don’t bring enough to the table. Sure, they have great stats and can hold their own against a myriad of opponents but they’re very underwhelming. For some reason, they have bonuses vs large instead of effectiveness vs infantry. Most large units will deal heavy damage regardless, so they’re barely cost efficient compared to the other units on this list!
9. Terradon Riders
Flying units are exceptional in TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER. Well, in Warhammer in general. Terradon Riders are distinctly brilliant, as they have a number of awesome abilities. Vanguard deployment gives you a lot of flexibility as to what you’re going to be targeting. Reduction in missile damage means enemy ranged units can’t melt them as easily. Fire-whilst-moving is always a nice thing to have. Poison attacks give them the upper hand in most engagements. Combine this with their high base damages and even armor-piercing for an epic unit!
8. Bastiladon (Solar Engine)
Pin-point accuracy death lasers is what this unit is all about. Most artillery belonging to other factions have serious drawbacks, such as vulnerability to fast/flying units. Bastiladons don’t care, they’ll happily have enemies charge at them, more meat to squash I guess. A unit or two of Bastiladons with Solar Engines will increase your armies competence seven-fold!
7. Saurus Warriors (Shields)
Arguably one of the best infantry warriors in the entire game, Saurus Warriors (in general, not just this particular variant) make for an excellent front-line. Great all-round stats mean they can survive for a while, dealing plenty of damage and granting your other units a lot more room to be effective. For how cheap they are, there’s a reason Lizardmen are the highest tier race in multiplayer.
6. Kroxigors
The aesthetics behind Kroxigors are actually amazing, great hulking alligator-like beasts will always be an amazing sight. Their disappointing battle capabilities are a bit of a let-down, although they’re still a great unit. They are prone to cavalry charges but against infantry (particularly those that are armored), Kroxigors are ludicrously good for their price. In close quarters, they’re a nightmare to take down and they’ll easily cleave through multiple infantry units.
5. Bastiladon (Revivification Crystal)
We all know how difficult it is to kill Lizardmen units, they almost always have large swathes of health and armor. Add a Bastiladon equipped with a Revivification Crystal to your army composition and enjoy your easy victories. This unit will constantly heal-up any allied units you target, keeping them in the fight for even longer. Particularly great for healing up your lords, you really want this unit as soon as you can get your hands on it.
4. Horned Ones
Honestly, cavalry aren’t even required for a decent Lizardmen army. If you can find the space for a unit of Horned Ones though, they’ll provide huge advantages against a myriad of other foes. Powerful melee stats with a high charge bonus allows them to carve through infantry ranks like a knife through butter. They’re armored, shielding and have armor-piercing, bad engagements are few and far between for a unit of Horned Ones.
3. Feral Carnosaur
Sometimes you just want to send your dinosaurs in and watch the havoc that follows. This T-Rex lookalike gives you exactly what you think, a monstrous, bloody beast that seemingly enjoys feasting on hundreds of soldiers. Insanely high base damages (with armor-piercing!) are offset by the fact there’s only 1 per unit but in all fairness, they’d be broken if they came with 2 or even 3. Anti-large units won’t even favor their chances against a Feral Carnosaur!
2. Chameleon Skinks
Widely regarded to be the best skirmishing units in the entire game, Chameleon Skinks are a must-have for any Lizardmen army. Their Chameleon ability grants them a whopping 40% missile damage reduction, that’s insane!
Put them up against any other ranged unit and they’ll come out on top, all for a piddly 600 gold. Vanguard deployment compliments their stalk ability well, as your opponent will never know where they’re coming from. Add to this with the fact they can fire whilst moving and you can understand why they’re so highly rated!
1. Ancient Stegadon
The biggest, most absurdly powerful unit available to the Lizardmen is the Ancient Stegadon. After centuries of blood-shed, they’re well versed in the art of war. Often out-living their crews by many years, their hides have grown accustomed to combat. This unit is as close to invincible as you can get, requiring plenty of focus fire over a large period of time before they eventually fall. There’s not much point even trying though, as you’ll lose way too many units trying to take it out. Of course, this is justified by an extremely high cost. While this monster is on the battlefield though, no other Lizardmen unit comes close..
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There are an absurd number of elements at play in Total War: Warhammer 2's campaign,from diplomacy to taxes to properly lining up your units for battlefield advantage and even onto game-changing magic rites.
Simply playing the game, let alone getting close to winning, can be a daunting task for a newbie -- which is why we've put together this Total War: Warhammer 2 Lizardmen faction guide.
Below we cover everything you need to know to exterminate those treacherous warm bloods who just can't ever leave well enough alone and stop mucking about with the forces of Chaos.
The Best Lizardmen Lord for Your Total War: Warhammer 2 Campaign
You have two legendary Lord options right off the bat: Mazdamundi, the spell-casting Slaan, or Kroq-Gar, a saurus oldblood general who is focused on direct melee combat and bonuses to nearby units.
Which Lord is best for your Lizardmen army? It depends on what you want out of your campaign. Kroq-Gar begins at a different point of the map and has a slightly harder starting difficulty in the campaign. On the other hand, Mazdamundi has many advantages for the new player because he allows access to an additional Slaan Mage-Priest and offers reduced Rite costs -- but he's also terrible at diplomacy. His many long range spells more than make up for that, however.
Picking Lord Mazdamundi
High Elf Spearmen VS Saurus Warriors (Shields) | Total War ...
The Geomantic Web
No matter which Lord you choose, the big advantage to the Lizardmen is the Geomantic Web that connects cities in your provinces by magical forces. The Web is incredibly useful -- so you should always conquer an area with a Web node whenever you can, and upgrade it like crazy.
Saurus Warriors Total Warrior
The various Alignments on the Web give you drastic bonuses if you pump them up to tier five. To improve the Web to its highest strength, you need to keep nodes connected to cities of equal Geomantic strength and keep up your relationship with neighboring settlements. Don't forget to build Geomantic Markers and Lodestones on cities that aren't connected to the Web as well.
Always make sure there's space in capitals for Geomantic structures and upgrades. If you are regularly adding to and upgrading the Web, you will frequently be flush with gold and bonuses that will keep you one step ahead of the other factions.
Starting the Geomantic Web
Warhammer II Lizardmen Campaign Strategy
It's worthwhile to be fairly aggressive early on during the campaign, taking on the Skaven and Skeggi but ignoring or getting diplomatic with the Empire to the south.
After taking the Monolith of Fallen Gods, its probably time to get a new Lord and start building up a secondary set of armies so you can tackle problems on different areas of the map at the same time.
Either of the Lizardmen legendary lords have access to four powerful rites that are costly but offer big bonuses. The Rite Of Ferocity is the least expensive, and often is also the most helpful because it gives you bonus experience, gold, and recruitment -- so your armies can pump up faster.
On the defense front, the Rite Of Sotek can be incredibly useful, hampering enemies within your province and making ambushes more deadly.
Lizardmen Rites
Be sure to go through the quests in the early game to earn gold and Ancient Plaques, since you'll need those for the rituals. In particular, be sure to rush to the Mirror, Mirror quest so you can build a trove at the quest location and generate a steady stream of Plaques.
Whenever a ritual is being enacted, random forces of Chaos will pop up behind your province lines near cities enacting rituals (or near cities that are undefended). The other factions will also be able to see where you rituals are being enacted and will show up to ruin your day. In other words, don't try to expand while you are doing a ritual, because you need armies to protect your cities during those times.
On the expansion front, you can mostly ignore the frozen regions as places to hole up, since (as you'd expect from a cold blooded people) the Lizardmen will see public order plummet in cold regions. The best spots to conquer and fortify are jungles and deserts, although anything that isn't frozen and snowing can work in your favor.
Saurus Warrior Vs Spear — Total War Forums
While adding to your Lizardmen empire, don't forget to take into account the level of upkeep and expense going on with your expensive lizard armies, so build economic buildings and do anything you can to keep the gold flowing in.
On the tech tree, feel free to go where you like, focusing on whichever unit or building type you use most. I've found upgrading the solid mid-level saurus warriors to be an effective strategy, but it is also worthwhile to grab a few upgrades on the tree that help increase public order in your provinces, since corrupting influences will frequently appear.
Lizardmen Tech Tree
Warhammer II Lizardmen Combat Strategy
Before battle while you are still moving around the world map, don't forget that the Lizardmen get the Astromancy stance for armies. While this reduces your mobility, it improves your visibility and lets you ambush easier, in addition to providing vanguard placement in battles.
Besides your powerful Lords, there are essentially two types of Lizardmen to deploy in combat: your slower and harder hitting beasts and saurus warriors, or your cheaper, faster skinks. (Check out our full list of Warhammer: Total War II unit rosters for the full rundown of all the units at your disposal.)
The skinks are good for maneuverability, since they move faster and can redeploy to flank enemies from the side or behind, although in many case you'll want to save your swift mounted units for that strategy. Skinks also break morale and flee regularly, which isn't always a negative, since it lures big melee units away from the main fight.
Choosing the Astromancy stance
If you've got a hidden unit waiting nearby in the trees or just have some ranged units ready to reposition, fleeing skinks can actually turn the tide of battle. When you work up the tech tree, chameleon skinks can be your sneaky, hit and run units to always vex the enemy and take out unprotected units.
More Saurus Warriors Total War Images
Unlike some of the other factions, sending your saurus units past enemy lines can actually work to your advantage, because they go berserk so easily. Berserk units get big bonuses to combat, but they also don't respond to your commands.
If a squad of saurus warriors goes berserk on the edge of a battle and wastes their time chasing a faster unit of ranged archers, then they are essentially out of the battle. Saurus hilariously trying to chase mounted archers is a sad way to lose a battle. If they are in the thick of combat near a whole bunch of vulnerable melee units, however...
On the opposite side of that, don't be afraid to have your big bruisers flee before they go berserk if things are going badly, so you don't lose highly experienced troops and have to start over with fresh recruits.
Where the Lizardmen trail behind the other factions is in powerful archers, but their later game artillery pieces also happen to be dinosaurs that can more than hold their own in melee, so don't be afraid to put them in harm's way!
Saurus Warriors, What About Them? — Total War Forums
After battle, eating the enemies of course is a great way to replenish your forces, but unless you are heavily beaten down and expect another battle soon, you should probably choose the option to sacrifice the survivors instead for all that extra experience.
A horde of skinks popping out of the tree line can spell doom for your enemy
Those are all the basics you need to know to dominate the Total War: Warhammer II Vortex campaign map! Do you have any other effective Lizardmen strategies we didn't list here? Let us know your best Lizardmen tactics in the comments below! And stay tuned for more Total War: Warhammer 2 guides here on GameSkinny.