Staff Of Sneaky Stealing Or 2 Dispell Scrolls, Which is better to spend?

[Badrug]

Hi all,
My friend recommended me to use SSS. Which one is better, do you think?
Staff of Sneaky Stealing or 2 Dispell Scrolls?
Both are 50 points.

[Renufus]

Both are good options. If you're running the usual setup (Warboss, BSB with spirit totem, lvl1) and are looking for raw, simple effectiveness, the Dispel Scrolls are probably the way to go. You're already rocking 6 dispel dice which is usually enough to handle most magic phases, and the scrolls give you two guaranteed shutdowns in case of some really lucky rolling or a particularly brutal magic phase where you really need to shut down that crucial spell or two.

However, the Staff is also nice as it basically equates to 8 dispel dice for a 150 point investment (banner+NG shaman+staff) which is about as good as it gets for any army defense-wise. Even Dwarfs don't get that kind of magic protection that cheap! I myself use the Staff because I find the scroll caddy terribly cliche and boring even if he is strictly more effective. Let Gork and Mork (ie the dice) decide what gets dispelled, that automatic dispel nonsense is for elves!

[Badrug]

My army will be Skarsnik + 2 Shamans + BSB (re-roll panic)
As you can see the full list in Army List pages.

[Groznit Goregut]

In my All Mounted list, I don't get the luxury of using the Spirit Totem, as I don't have a unit with ranks. I started off with the 2 dispel scrolls and was content. Someone recommended the Staff and I started to use it. I'm pretty happy with it. I can't say why I like it better. Maybe it's b/c it frustrates the other player to be short one power die?

If the enemy has effective magic in his list, I need to take it down fast or I suffer, though. Then again, with cavalry and a wyvern, I can get to almost anywhere I need fast...

[stikbrik prophet of mork]

I always use it just incase

if they lose a PD and I gain a DD it's a win-win situation

[Guthrag Da Devious]

I like the staff. I don't think its better, but its very much more annoying! Any army coming in fairly magic heavy will have a plan for using all their dice. Ruin that plan at the start by always stealing one of their dice. Its great fun.

[dave...OandG]

i like staff of sneaky stealing if you use offensive magic. its fun to take one of your opponents dispel dice and add it to your casting.

[warlord hack'a]

if you have 2 shamen then getting the SSS and the one giving you +1 on dispel attemps is sure to give you loads of defense if you have the totem also, you have 7 dispel dice and for each dispel role +1. And the enemy has one les PD..

However, I run my list with the spirit totem and one night gobbo shaman with one scroll and the mad cap mushrooms and of course 3 fanatics. so he's not a pure scroll caddy and 3 fanatics rerolling hits tends to hurt the enemy a lot....

[Groznit Goregut]

The latest Podhammer has a discussion about which is better. Well, not specifically our items, but items that give dispel dice vs scrolls. Their general consensus was that when VC came out, it was good to have lots of dispel dice to block the large number of smaller spells. With some of the powerful spells coming out these days, though, it might be better to take scrolls. The discussion came up when Chaos was able to cast that gateway spell that sucks a unit into the void and off the table. Those are best for scrolling. I'm sure the Slaan will have a few, as well.

Overall, though, they didn't say which is better, but just that it depends on who you are facing.

[Badrug]

Hmm, it makes sense.
Thx.

[Beithir Seun]

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but which would you say is better in a tournament environment where you have to be prepared for all-comers?

Would Scrolls be better because they can be useful against all spells, or would the extra dispel die be just as good?

[Shiodome]

not 100% sure on this one, but one thing that would weigh in favour of the sneaky staff for me is that it applies every turn... -1 power dice for you opponent is 1 less invocation of nehek, or 1 less flickering fire of tzeentch, every turn of the game. possibly 2 less of each you're gaining DD too. the staff can't be 'drawn' out or wasted as well. on the other hand the staff dictates that your shaman be a goblin, denying you the 'better' spell list of the big waaagh, and denying you the relative toughness of an orc shaman (t4, 5+ save on a boar means he's less likely to be succesfuly taken out by rank and file troops in b2b contact).

i think on balance for a tournament i'd prefer 2 scrolls. O&G's should have the numbers to take the hits from a lot of damage magic, we only need to dispel the 'big ones' (like pandemonium, gateway, or a well timed vanhels... the things you'd expect to find very frequently in a tounry environs) for those crucial game pivotal moments a scroll is just better. plus some increase resistance to character sniping, more chance of surviving our miscast table... for me these things would swing a close call in favour of the scrolls.

but personally i take the staff, just because it's more 'green' there's really not much between them imo

[Beithir Seun]

I'm playing an all-Goblin list anyway so the drawbacks of the Staff aren't really drawbacks


Good points on the whole though Shiodome, so thanks.

[Shiodome]

ah well if it's all goblins then take the staff... even in a tournament it's still a game and the fluffy option is always more satisfying/fun and stealing stuff from your opponent is far more gobliny than some generic scrolls.