Clanrats

Clanrats is a Skaven melee infantry unit in Total War: Warhammer II. The cornerstone of the Skaven military, less numerous but better trained than the slave class.

Description
The bulk of most Skaven armies are formed of Clanrats - a vast and verminous horde of ratmen that make up the warrior class. These Skaven belong to any one of thousands of clans scattered throughout the underground burrows, strongholds, and bursting cavern-cities that make up the Under-Empire. Of all the teeming masses, only the worker dregs, the shiftless Skavenslaves, are more numerous than the Clanrats. When a Warlord gathers his might for war, the Clanrats are front and centre, occupying a key place in the battleline. They form into great blocks to overwhelm a foe with their weight of numbers and the fury of their attack. If the Warlord can afford the price and is in reasonable standing with Clan Skryre, then a Weapon Team might accompany the regiment. These arcane devices of destruction are viewed suspiciously by the Clanrats, who frequently suffer due to their all-too frequent technical failures.

Strategy
While significantly more expensive than skaven slave and coming in slightly smaller unit sizes, Clanrats have the melee stats to actually do some damage against weaker enemies and will last a bit longer. The shielded version is always preferable, but the unshielded one is worth discussing because it is spawned by The Menace Below ability. They will happily maul artillery crews and ranged units with weaker melee stats and can also be spawned behind enemy units already engaged in front to do some good damage. They can also be used to plug holes in your lines and intercept charges. If you have the Warp Bomb ability available, a great tactic is to spawn them in the middle of a bunch of enemy infantry such that can't escape when they rout and then use Warp Bomb when their health drops below 50%. The results are particularly impressive on a wall packed with attackers who have no means of escape.

don't bother recruiting lots of them, and don't expect them to really do anything in combat besides keep your enemies away from your precious artillery and weapons teams. don't be scared to sacrifice them when bombarding the enemy with spells, doom-rockets, artillery or whatever.