Useful or not - rat ogre is cool. So id take him. Well, sooner or later anyways. Might not start with though. Or youre basicly asking about tv1000 starting roster?

I have early days of the team on mind. As blitzers will became more skilled and dangerous, i will probably need him less and less. And some tips, he looks fragile for a big guy, more active play with him is needed, cant wait for MVPs.

starting roster 1:
4 gutters
2 blitzers
1 thrower
rats

starting roster 2:
2 gutters
1 ogre
2 blitzers
rats

so..wait for ogre or wait for runners?

Well, if its wins you want, i would bet on the runners. Anyway you runners can just about score from one to the other for td.. Rat ogre is just sort of aggressive support. However, he is the third player on your team with guard access. No block might be trouble, but mighty blow + frenzy do help at making those CAS's. Prehensile tail isnt half bad either.

id go either:

A)

2 Blitzers
4 Gutter Runners
1 Thrower
4 Lineman
3 Rerolls
1 Apothecary
Total 1,000k


B)

1 Rat Ogre
2 Blitzers
3 Gutter Runners
6 Lineman
3 Rerolls
Total 1000k

(note - no thrower)

Normally I would say wait for the big rat, and definitely get him later. But considering you'll be going against some skilled teams (meaning teams from previous seasons if it was not clear) you might need him to make a dent in their lines.

Wild Animal is not that big of a problem. As long as you Block/Blitz with him only on a roll of 1 it will stand there and do nothing. And he doesn't lose his tackle zone like Really Stupid/Bone-head.

While 8 armor is just average he shouldn't get knocked down so often. With an average 3 strength team it would take 4 players to get 2 dice against him. If he keeps 4 players busy it's worth it.

Mighty Blow and Prehensile tail my ass.

I gained first SPP with my Kroxy somewhere around half of season and I barely managed to level him up once, even with mighty blow.
I stopped someone thanks to prehensile tail like 3 times in whole season. Well, maybe it discouraged someone to try to dodge, but that's impossible to tell and account for.

..yet there it is. -1 to dodges.

Actually there better the coach and the better he/she understand all the skills in game, the easier its to threaten them with possibilities. Newbie will just "do" without thinking and either fail or be succesfull depending on how the dice go ...but the more "aware" coaches will think about all those possibilities.

Like shadowing. Seems often so useless and many (most?) players pretty much ignore it. But you put that shadowing player next to ball on ground and wait and see if the opponent dares to to pick up the ball and try to dodge away with - the more experience coach will notice and will think about that.

Alot of stuff actually seems to get more difficult as you get more better as you stop to think about all the possibilities and threats you suddenly start noticing. ...i suspect this is one of the reason i like to play my weekly match with a bottle of beer if possible - i waste slightly less time on thinking and its usually good thing ;)
...and dont forget it makes cage breaking on defence all that much easier compared to doing it with st2 runners.

I played skavens in the dirst season and used your starting rooster 2.
I discovered that the gutter runners were way better than the ogre rat. In fact, I wasn't able to win matches until I got at least three of them.
So I advice you to go directly for the four gutterrunners, and buy the ogre rat later. The gutter runners are the best players in your team. In fact, they alone can, and will, win matches, all the other positionals are there to make it easier for them.

On the topic of Skaven, I played a match today with a relatively low level skaven team (TV 1080, only 1 leveled player). This team has 3 gutter runners and the rat ogre. I won 5 - 0 against goblins.

I found myself using my Rat Ogre waaay more than i ever would my traditional Lizard Kroxigor, but even 3 GR's felt super overpowered.

So for a big guy, he's ok, and has a cool touchdown animation.

In the end, methinks if you want your team to *POTENTIALLY* survive longer, go with the Rat Ogre. But if you're the type to go balls-to-the-wall for touchdowns, those 4 runners are scary as all hell. Even just three was an awesome thing to behold.

Final of Season 2 will be played:

Thursday 18:30 GMT

20:30 Central Europe
21:30 Eastern Europe
13:30 East Coast USA
10:30 West Coast USA


I'll try and get it up on:
http://www.twitch.tv/realaningan

Thanks for the timely announcement, cant wait to see the final match :).
Good luck to both you and EA, may the best player win.

*Checking beer and chips* Very nice, may the best dwa.. ah I mean player win ;-)

is 10:30 am too early for a drink? It is? Damn...

I will probably not have the time to watch the final or start the prize distribution (unfortunate clash of schedules). If I can't start the prize distribution today, then I will do so at the very next opportunity - please watch this thread tomorrow!

I'm completely buried in work (again).
So if you don't hear much from me until next Tuesday that's why.

Final: http://www.twitch.tv/realaningan/c/3063304