Stormfiend

A Stormfiend is an even more potent evolution of the Skaven Rat Ogre first created during the End Times. It represents the ultimate and brutal combination of Clan Moulder's bio-engineering and Clan Skryre's sadistic techno-magic, which togther have created a hulking behemoth clad in bullet-proof metal armour and equipped with massive gatling cannons or armoured gauntlets around which warpstone energy swirls.

These monstrosities are amongst the greatest and most unstoppable monsters the Under-Empire has to offer.

What is the origin of the Stormfiend? toggle section

The Stormfiend, an evolved Skaven Rat Ogre, was birthed during the End Times. This creation is the culmination of Clan Moulder's bio-engineering and Clan Skryre's techno-magic. The Stormfiend is a formidable behemoth, armored in bullet-proof metal and armed with gatling cannons or armored gauntlets. Clan Moulder's breeding experiments improved the rat ogre, while Clan Skryre's weaponry increased its destructive capabilities.

Provided by: Fandom

What are the unique features of a Stormfiend in comparison to a Skaven Rat Ogre? toggle section

Stormfiends, an advanced variant of the Skaven Rat Ogre, are the result of Clan Moulder's breeding experiments. They possess warp-metal armour integrated with their flesh and a brain-beast attached to their spine, enhancing their reasoning. The weaponry from Clan Skryre provides them with a unique slaughter capacity, including warpfire projectors on their forearms. The brain-creature enables them to tactically engage enemies from afar with lethal warpfire.

Provided by: Fandom

What kind of weaponry does a Stormfiend typically wield? toggle section

Stormfiends, a formidable evolution of the Skaven Rat Ogre, wield an array of weapons. They may bear armor with spinning cleaver-blades for melee combat, or Windlauncher mortar-fists that lob Poisoned-Wind Globes. Some Stormfiends utilize Grinderfists for tunneling and combat, while others are armed with electrified Shock Gauntlets. The armor conducts warp lightning, making proximity lethal. For firepower, Stormfiends may be equipped with Ratling Cannons.

Provided by: Fandom

What clans are responsible for the creation of the Stormfiend? toggle section

The Stormfiend, a formidable evolution of the rat ogre, is a product of Clan Moulder's breeding experiments and Clan Skryre's techno-magic. Clan Moulder contributes the creature's bio-engineering, and Clan Skryre supplies the weaponry, resulting in a beast with immense strength and destructive power.

Provided by: Fandom

How does the Stormfiend rank among the monsters of the Under-Empire? toggle section

The Stormfiend ranks among the most formidable and unstoppable monsters in the Under-Empire. It is an advanced rat ogre, a product of Clan Moulder's breeding experiments and Clan Skryre's weaponry. Its warp-metal armor and massive gatling cannons or armoured gauntlets with warpstone energy make it a lethal force. The Stormfiend's tactical awareness, granted by a brain-beast melded to its spine, and its superior capacity for slaughter set it apart from other rat ogres.

Provided by: Fandom

Role[]

Stormfiend Vermintide 2 — A Stormfiend as depicted in *Warhammer: Vermintide II*.

Rat Ogres are hulking flesh-beasts, stitched together out of component parts assembled or grown by the Skaven's Clan Moulder. They combine great strength and savage ferocity with the speed of a Skaven. However, just because they were a successful breed and sold to nearly every Warlord Clan that could afford them did not mean that Clan Moulder was not still tinkering with the recipe for their creation. Indeed, the flesh manufacturers of that clan were never satisfied, but were always seeking ways to make their monstrous creations ever more deadly.^[1a]

In the end, it was Throt the Unclean, a Master Moulder of the settlement of Hell Pit, that hit upon a solution. While others fixated on developing longer claws or grafting multiple arms, Throt set about getting to the root of the matter. Rat Ogres did not lack in brawn or fighting potential: they lacked in mental capacity. They were small-minded creatures with a singular instinct to kill. It took much training from packmasters to lead them into battle, and even then the brute-beasts were difficult to control. Thus, what Throt attempted to improve was Rat Ogres' woefully tiny brains, reasoning that if the beasts were smarter they could be given weapons to use.^[1a]

The operations were dangerous work, for it was impossible to subdue a Rat Ogre -- they were either viciously fighting with all their might or they were dead, with little to nothing in between. Even when they were chain-bound with heavy fetters, it was difficult to do brain work on the Rat Ogres.^[1a]

Worse still, the experiments were abject failures. The more the creature could think, the less violent it became. Throt was all too aware that the sole reason Clan Moulder sold so many Rat Ogres was due to the creatures' mindless aggression. To rob them of their "kill-kill" mentality was out of the question.^[1a]

The next step for Throt was a logical one -- if he could not make the beast smarter, could he fuse the packmaster on to the beast itself? Not surprisingly, those packmasters who were chosen to be permanently stitched into the back of a Rat Ogre, their brains and vital fluids connected, were profoundly unhappy. As these packmasters now controlled over-muscled, hulking mauler-beasts, their dissatisfaction was all too apparent, and these experiments had to be cancelled.^[1a]

As there were no willing volunteers, Throt had little choice but to grow them himself. Through gruesome and repugnant techniques, Throt grew the required Skaven subjects and merged other parts with those of captives or slaves. The result was a batch of scrawny and submissive Skaven with unusually large brains. Once permanently integrated into a warpstone-powered harness and rigged with coils and tubes, the Skaven's body would become more and more atrophied. Eventually, if it lived long enough, the Skaven would become little more than a shrivelled husk with an auxiliary brain that could help steer the savage beast with which it was melded.^[1a]

Early results were astoundingly successful -- the Rat Ogres remained ferocious, but they could be briefly controlled by the far more sensible brain-creature hardwired into their backs. Unfortunately, there was a drawback: the Rat Ogres were able to use weapons now, but Clan Moulder quickly discovered they had nothing with which to make their new creation any more destructive than its previous iteration had been. The Rat Ogres could wield the enormous clubs or oversized swords taken from defeated Ogre tribes, but it made them no more dangerous then they had been before with their own claws, fangs and boulder-like fists.^[1a]

There was only one place in all the Skaven Under-Empire where the best weapons available could be found: the warpforges of Clan Skryre. Meaningful collaboration between the Skaven clans has always been rare, as neither side trusted the other. Even begun with good intentions, such brokered deals never ended well, as the temptation to take advantage, swindle, or somehow cheat has always been an overwhelming urge for any Skaven.^[1a]

However, Clan Moulder's timing could not have been better when Throt arrived in Skavenblight seeking Clan Skryre's aid. Clan Skryre was seeking allies, for Lord Morskittar had long been planning the demise of the Grey Seers. The Lord of Decay considered support for his schemes, especially from the Greater Clans, to be vital. This being the case, Morskittar's orders were to placate the beast-makers as much as possible.^[1a]

As it happened, Ikit Claw of Clan Skryre had been developing several powerful -- albeit problematic -- new weapons. In between his failed rocket launch attempts, the chief warlock had attempted to upgrade the devices of the weapon teams, but each new design proved too difficult for the teams to carry, too weighty for even larger crews to lift or aim.^[1a]

Although Ikit himself was hardly keen to work with Throt -- it was his belief that all those from Clan Moulder stank of offal -- the chief warlock was anxious to get back in Morskittar's good graces. It was not long before the improved Rat Ogres were being kitted out with the new weapons.^[1a]^[1b]

Ikit was surly to begin with. However, as each technical problem was overcome, he began to see great advantages. The hulking Rat Ogres could bear heavy weapon loads; a fact that allowed them to carry multiple guns along with the necessary ammunition feeds or warpstone-generator power sources.^[1a]^[1b]

Despite Ikit's misgivings, Throt proved especially adept. Without question, the Master Moulder sawed off bits of arm bone to facilitate the attachment of warpstone-forged gauntlets, or increased the rate of brain-juice transference to better allow the brain-creature to guide his brawny teammate. It was Throt who suggested an automatic cut-off mechanism on the ratling cannons, for it had proven impossible to get the Rat Ogre or its brainier counterpart to stop firing, resulting in them using up their ammunition in one sustained spray of bullets.^[1b]

To trial the new weapon-beasts, a handful of them were released into a sealed slave pen. The results were spectacular. The weapons were improved and more deadly than ever. Better still, they were not carried by Skaven, but by hulking brutes that could more easily shrug off enemy arrows. In the few cases where enemies got close enough to attack the newly-dubbed "Stormfiends," they found themselves mauled, crushed, or battered by club-like weapon barrels.^[1b]

When the Skaven overran Tilea during the End Times, the Stormfiends were unveiled before the Warlord Clans. The sight of a Rat Ogre armed with doom-flayer gauntlets and wearing armour full of spinning blades wading through a street battle was enough for many to place orders immediately.^[1b]

Skaven warlords simply stood agog as they witnessed three ratling cannons borne upon a single Rat Ogre, whirring away to single-handedly halt enemy countercharges. Soon, Clan Skryre and Clan Moulder could not produce the up-gunned weapon-beasts quickly enough, no matter how many Warptokens they overcharged.^[1b]

Notable Stormfiends[]

The Scartorn, a powerful warpack of Stormfiends employed during the End Times.

The Scartorn - The Scartorn were a warpack of Skaven Stormfiends that was armed entirely with Doomflayer Gauntlets. The thick-layered hide of the Scartorn was so crisscrossed and gouged with scarifications that they stood out even amongst the patchwork monstrosities that were their Rat Ogre kin. With Doom-Flayers for hands, and whirling blades all over their heavily armoured carapaces, no few of their red welts and disfigurements were from their own devastating weaponry.^[1e]

Blackfire Warpack - This trio from Hell Pit infamously annihilated the town of Beronna in Tilea.

Scratterfire Teams - Capable of unleashing a tide of warpstone-infused bullets, Scratterfire Teams of Stormfiends annihilated entire slave legions during weapon-testing exercises.

Stormfiend Wargear[]

In secret warpforges deep below Skavenblight, Grey Seers, Plague Monks and Warlock-Engineers have joined forces to create a terrifying range of new weapons and equipment for the Skaven forces and their Stormfiends.^[!c]

Doom-Flayer Gauntlets - By attaching huge, motorised, iron balls and whirring blades onto the ends of a Stormfiend's arms, a truly fearsome tunnel-fighter was created. To further protect these close-combat maulers, they bear heavy armour adorned with spinning cleaver-blades.^[1c]

Windlaunchers - Some Stormfiends bear paired Windlauncher mortar-fists. Mundane armour offered no protection against the vapours released by the Poisoned-Wind Globes lobbed into the fray by these weapons. With each shot, a new glass orb filled with gaseous death clicks into position, ready to be fired.^[1c]

Grinderfists - Some of Throt the Unclean's Stormfiends were adapted to carry Warp-Grinders, allowing them to create their own tunnels by vaporising soil, rock and roots alike. Once in combat, such a Stormfiend will grind at the foe, disintegrating flesh with ease.^[1c]

Shock Gauntlets - For the ultimate in shock assaults, Stormfiends armed with electrified gauntlets were produced by Clan Skryre. Powered by warpstone generators, it is the heavy armour the beast wears that is the true weapon, for it conducts arcs of warp lightning that wreath the Rat Ogre's body in crackling energies. Simply being near one of these creatures is enough to sizzle many foes to a burnt crisp.^[1d]

Ratling Cannons - For pumping out sheer firepower, there is little that can match a Stormfiend equipped with Ratling Cannons. Three sets of eight-barreled weapons bedeck this hulking muscle-beast, enabling it to pour forth warpstone-bullets which riddle entire enemy units with holes.^[1d]

Warpfire Projectors - Stormfiends armed with Warpfire Projectors wade into battle shooting arcs of green-black warpfire from their heavy gauntlets. While these great cones of unnatural flame occasionally miss their target, it is a small price to pay for the devastation even a single shot can wreak upon enemy regiments.^[1d]