Discordia vs Skerath

[Etheric]

Is it even a close comparison? Are there some situations where one is the go-to model over the other? Which situations are those?

They both have sprays, but Skerath gets the Banshee-like Dahlia. Discordia gets the defensive aura. Skerath doesn't drain your focus. Discordia gets all the "friendly faction model" stuff (not that a large-based spray model could really benefit from ranked attacks, but there are others).

What's the consensus? What's the dissenting opinion? Why?

[Bartacus]

I own both, Discordia's in most lists but I've never fielded D&S. I keep meaning to but I don't run Myrm heavy so don't feel the need to free up the extra focus that badly.

I suspect the consensus will be that D&S only become really viable around 50pt level but will be interested to hear from people who have actual experience running them.

[TIEActor]

I like them but they are really terrain dependent for their survivial. Generally in most games I feel that skrath was "usefull" but not nessisarily the game changer or clutch player. He sprays dudes, possibly eats annoying solos like vilmon and Dalhia can be a big pain in the but with haunted melody up standing in front of a unit but other then that.....they're just ok had a little hurting in survivablity unless they're camped in the woods. If you can find some trees mid feild somewhere then they can be impossible to dig out, I will give them that.

[joelker41]

Dahlia and skarath are very matchup dependent. They are also counter synergistic vs Cryx because Melody doesn't effect undead but Sprays are really nice vs Cryx.

Discordia does more direct damage (POW 14 vs POW 12 with Corrosion) and has twice the damage in melee with access to an Arcanist and a second initial. Discordia also takes hits much better. To top it off Disco has +1 MAT/RAT.

I put Dahlia and Skarath in lists where I am aiming to fight living infantry and counter stealth. Khador/Mercs with Kayazy, IFP, etc) or need to hold objectives because she is untargettable by most things in a concentrated area.

Overall Discordia is just better, even with the fury system Skarath still can fall short.

[Cyryst]

I love D&S, i played them in my Circle and I played them in my Ret. I own the Discordia kit and never made it yet (i really really should) but I have D&S at hand to grab they are a point cheaper, it just works out. They can get pathfinding thats a bonus, as TIEActor said Dahlia can be a real pain in the butt versus certain match ups with her Haunting Melody and when she is shes almost invaluable. I prefer to run D&S one flank with a banshee the other to really shut charges down, the Banshees no spell casting can even give Dahlia more survivability. When I play Ossyan I quicken the snake, when I play halbs, D&S move up behind them casting serpent strike on 3 or 4 when they are expecting to receive a charge.
I'm not saying Discordia is bad, her stats are solid but my game experience is with Dahlia and Skareth and I love those 2. + when I use Haunting Melody and gum up all my shield wall opponents I like to sing "look at my snake, my snake is amazing"

[Tol]

Skarath shines at higher points games because it frees up Focus to give to one Heavy Jack (like a Phoenix, or even Discordia) and then leverage the lesser warlock rule to buy attacks and do all that stuff that Skarath can do without impacting your focus allocation.

At the 35 point level that can be hard, but with the Leagues giving bonus points for games 50pts and larger, you can't go wrong with including Skarath on your force.

EDIT - Also, Critical Consume is AMAZINGLY entertaining. This past Wednesday Skarath crit'd against the Covenant of Menoth and the Covenant's card states that it is to be treated as a small base model, so, bottoms up. The model that otherwise can only take one damage point at a time, was completely consumed in the one attack.

Skarath then claimed the contested objective, and we won the game for four league points.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

What I have been wondering as I have D&S because I thought the minis were great is a similar thing to most Lesser Warlocks.
"So you mean, I have to kill Little Bob and Big Jim is gone?!"

I mean, if I were playing with RoS against an opponent with a Lesser Warlock, I would be thinking that getting rid of a Heavy for the effort of getting rid of a 'strong solo' seems worth diverting some attention to.

Unlike Wrong Eye or Rorsch, Dahlia is as delicate as a flower,

and whilst her spell might stop living things from assaulting her, 'jacks still can, as can various other nasties. And with an area of but 8", she can still be shot by the better shooting units out there. Or a boosted attack roll 'jack....

Whilst DEF16 is horrid to shoot, all it takes is one hit and that is reasonably likely to take her out....

How are you users of D&S keeping here alive from those other threats I have mentioned?

+++

After studying D&S, I was a little disappointed to see that Skarath isn't actually a powerhouse in mêlée, which is something that Heavy Beasts are 'supposed' to be about. Instead they give us a very Retribution style Heavy who is okay in combat and decent at shooting. Bah!

Very fitting, but I wanted a muscle Heavy. Brun Cragback's bear, Lug, gets flank off him, sending its 'okay' P+S 15 much higher with that third dice. 'Effectively' 18.5, which would have been wondrous. And Lug becomes MAT 7. As accurate as Dicordia, with more punch. And 4 Fury to access, not 3 Focus.

And Brun can also flank from Lug. And caste Stonehold, which reduces damage by one dice. And he can auto damage transfer to Lug.

Instead we get something less hitty and with a spray that we can access via Discordia XD

*sigh*

I guess it is for balance reasons, but still....
I look on with envy :P

Funnily enough, Brun and Lug are not popular for Searforge, Circle or Trollbloods.
HAHAHAHAHA!

If only Skarath had a second initial, or was P+S 18....

[Cyryst]

Dahlia camps fury, is the first way she doesnt get one shot by an enemy jack, and shes well out of range of anything that could walk up to her in smash her in the face, generally. I usually have them meandering around behind the infantry, skarath will be 3ish inches behind the front line while dahlia will be 2 to 3 inches behind skarath, upkeeping Haunting Melody, usually stopping units from getting shield wall or doing sideways charges, things like that.
Skarath still hits about as hard as a Warpwolf who hasnt warped for strength, so for me coming from Circle it was as pillow fisted as everything else at base level.
Actually I pretty much play the pair like a really expensive support model, not as a heavy option.