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Good assessment sebster. Yes, probably good in 2k+ battles. Though they will defo draw the most attention.

When i roll with slayers expecting shooting, which is often, i'll usualy have a banner bearing the rune that gives a 5+ ward save vs all shooting to all units within so many inches. then ill have a small cluster of Elite infantry (2 units), counter shooters (Quarrelers or Thunderers), and usualy a war machine (organ gun or GT) all covered by the banner. often my slayers don't take too many casualties in such situations, though they die a bit more if i choose to do the advancing.

A unit of slayers can contain a small mess of them in ranks (though the 30 slayer size limit hurts), with a front rank of Giant Slayers weilding two weapons so that you generate 15 str 4+ attacks, with 5 supporting str 3+ attacks. In a horde that will often work out as 21 str 4+ attacks +14 str 3 attacks if fighting a 5 man width unit, or 30 str 4+ attacks +20 str 3 attacks against another horde.
No other dwarf unit i am aware of can muster that kind of offense, and while that kind of Slayer unit is likely going to go bye-bye every game for a lot of points, it's damned impressive offence, especialy when supported by war machines/counter magic/counter shootee, and or other infantry. You can even throw a rune-axed slayer character in there to do multiple wounds, to make 6 str 6 attacks with a masterrune of skalf and two fury runes, or to make multiple attacks with no armor saves allowed. with the Skalf and Fury combo you are looking at 3 more attacks than otherwise, with great wound potential and -3 to armor on top of all those crazy little guys. Temper that with the knowledge that they are doomed, but that kind of offense is capable of winning battles in a whole new way for Dwarfs in 8th ed... if you can make use of it in your strategy... When you consider that offence, and that against 1/3 to 1/4 enemies in fantasy they have the same survival chance as hammerers but will never, ever, run, i'd say they at least are a very solid choice if you are willing to spend suicide points.

Point for point, I don't think fielding a ton of Giant Slayers really pays off, right? I mean, how many wounds and S5 attacks can you field in the equivalent amount of regular warriors?

And won't they give up their points just as fast as a regular slayer?

Also, I'd like to point out that an infantry model only gets one supporting attack. So it'd be 21/7 attacks and 30/10. Still impressive, of course, but compared to the 14 and 20 S6 attacks that Hammerers can dish out while maintaining an armour save and being either better (than regular slayers) or a lot cheaper (than giant slayers), I'd have to say Hammerers are still, generally, better.

But I suppose Slayers should be relatively specialized. And at least 8th made them useful in the way they should be, instead of arrow-sponges and speed bumps.

Well you only need 5,7, or 10 to fill the front rank depending on how what formation you are planning on maxing to, and one less if you use a slayer character. A horde attacking a 5 wide gets 14 supporting attacks, and a horde attacking a horde gets 20 supporting attacks, that's what i ment, though i may have phrased that strangely.Technicaly the only time that they will die is in challanges and if the opponent allocates to them, as they are treated as unit champions... so the casualties will come from the rear cheaper 11 point per model slayers while the 'champs' in front, the giant slayers can just swing away. Theoreticaly this might not always work for you depending on how you play these situations, but it certainly Can work.

Oh. Huh. Right. Forgot we were talking about hordes, here. You worded things just fine.

Even so, I can't imagine playing someone who wouldn't spread out the attacks onto the Giant Slayers as evenly as possible and bring 'em down. Unless they just weren't aware of what was going on, but I don't count that.

I just don't think that a Slayer champion is a worthwhile method for increasing a unit's killing potential. For +15pts, you get +1WS and +1I to make you more survivable. Still T4, and still no saves. They're useful for absorbing challenges and wasting super killy characters, like other champions, but at 26pts a pop, I don't think they're really worth it for much else.

Slayer champs also get +1 A and +1 S.
Going from WS4 Init 2 with 2S3 or 1S5 to WS5 init3 with 3S4 or 2 S6 is a pretty big jump.
But init 3 is still too low for a T4 naked model; you're way to likely to die before you swing; unless you take lots of slayer champs, then you are way to expensive.

-Matt

What I mean was, you spend 15pts, and the only aspects of the upgrade that make you more survivable are +1WS and +1I, which are almost non-existent defensive boosts.

So, yeah. Agreed.

The only value I could see in taking a Giant slayer would be to extend the life of the unit for tarpitting purposes, particularly if you expect to face big nasties (like greater daemons or dragons). But just for the stats in normal combat? Not really worth it, I think.