Giant Slayers

Giant Slayers is a Dwarfs unit introduced in Total War: Warhammer II in the Resurgent Update.

Description
There are many Troll Slayers who wish to find death, but secretly fear it. There are others, however, who are just too ferocious to readily die. These rare few become Giant Slayers: obsessed Dwarfs who have found that not even Trolls could offer a sufficient enough challenge to give them the glorious ending they crave. They continue to seek out combat and a proper death wherever they go, many of them becoming morose drinkers when they aren't in the midst of battle. Giant Slayers continue to sport the spiky orange Slayer crest, but they tend to be covered with far more tattoos.

To become a Giant Slayer a Troll Slayer must slay a giant. This stricture can result in awkward gaming, as a Troll Slayer might commit all manner of valourous deeds without finding a giant to test his mettle against. It seems unfair to prevent a Troll Slayer from advancing into the Giant Slayer career because he hasn't had the opportunity to fulfil a particular criterion.

However, it does seem apt to prevent a Slayer from progressing along his path until he performs an act of physical prowess which rids the world of an enemy of the Dwarfs. The Slayer path is wrapped up in shame, honour and self-sacrifice, and any Dwarf who does not pursue his oath may well wallow in despondent stagnation. In order to move on the Troll Slayer in question must rid the Old World of some sort of menace to the Dwarf race by besting it in combat. This could be a warren of Skaven, a Vampire, a Chaos Cult or anything that presents a challenge equivalent to slaying a giant.

Ability

 * Deathblow

Strategy
Giant Slayers trade the Whirling Axes missile defense of normal Slayers for Armour-Piercing. In addition, changing to the greataxe means they lose 8 melee defense--combined, they are even more vulnerable than the normal Slayers! This tradeoff comes with great benefits, however, as the Giant Slayers gain in just about every other department. Charge Bonus, Bonus vs. Large, much higher raw melee attack, and a massive boost to AP damage makes the Giant Slayers the ultimate glass cannons, capable of utterly shredding the enemy's valuable cavalry or monster units, but almost guaranteed to take heavy casualties in the process.

As such, the same basic rules apply as to regular Slayers--Giant Slayers should never be allowed to take an enemy's charge if at all possible, or to be focused by missile fire. Hold them in the wings until the battle is properly engaged, then point them at high value targets and watch the carnage. Using a unit or two as guards for your artillery is also an excellent role for them (though they would probably disagree if asked). While no Slayer unit is cheap, Giant Slayers' large recruitment and upkeep costs mean you need to consider more than any other Dwarfen unit exactly how you're going to use them--they are too expensive to allow to be destroyed if you can at all help it!