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It seems to me that, with Defilers costing about the same as maulerfiends and hitting harder in melee+having shooting, the main advantage of maulerfiends is their smaller size and faster movement. Is there anything else to maulerfiends which makes them so popular?

 Danielle Rae wrote:
It seems to me that, with Defilers costing about the same as maulerfiends and hitting harder in melee+having shooting, the main advantage of maulerfiends is their smaller size and faster movement. Is there anything else to maulerfiends which makes them so popular?

It's mostly the movement at this point. To me, a defiler seems like a no brainer. twin hb/scourge defiler vs a mauler, I'll take that defiler every time.

Maybe worth looking at FW Blood Slaughterers as an alternative, if you're mainly after melee?

I personally find that the Maulerfiend has MUCH more consistent damage with fists doing flat 3 and Lasher tendrils doing 2, whilst pumping out more attacks overall in melee to really rip and tear.

I adore Defilers (and soul grinders, but please don't talk about them, my heart can only take so much disappointment...) but if you want a speedy cc daemon engine I do like Maulerfiends over defiler for the sheer amount of attacks it can put out, at very decent Str and ap /d2 or d3.


That said, Defiler suits multiple roles better and unless you have a plan (like Maulerfiend, lord discordant party Convoy) Defilers can be much better.

I'd second the Blood Slaughterers. They are absolutely amazing in combat. They shred everything, give them dual blades and they get 9 attacks if they're within an inch of infantry or 7 if not. Hitting at strength 10, -3 AP, 3 flat damage.

If that's not your cup of coffee, I'd always take defiler over Mauler.

From a cursory glance (I'll have to consider this soon myself), the Defiler has shooting but how good? I suppose if you are keeping it with a Lord Discordant, it's not bad. But I've been leaning to Maulerfiend instead because it has a better melee punch.

That said though I think the Defiler is a cool model, always did since it came out.

The 14w and the ability to pop smoke first turn means you will consistently get the defiler into combat over the mauler. And it's such a bullet sink. They just seem to absorb so much shooting

I've been wondering that my self. We've got 4 different engines filling 2 roles. Shooty engine or choppy engine. I really don't see enough difference between the different entries.