How to Play Seraphon in Warhammer Age of Sigmar (4th Edition)

Seraphon are built around a battle trait commonly called The Great Plan. During deployment you choose one Asterism - a celestial pattern that grants an army-wide ability for the game. A later Battlescroll update lets a skilled general work through additional steps of the Great Plan over the course of the battle, so more Asterisms can come online in later rounds rather than being locked to a single choice. This raises the faction's skill ceiling: sequencing which Asterism you unlock, and when, is a real decision.

The four Asterisms cover different needs:

• Itzl the Tamer - companion (beast/mount) weapons gain improved critical hits, boosting your dinosaurs' output.
• Quetzl the Preserver - a defensive rend reduction against attacks on your units in your own territory.
• Sotek the Deliverer - an army-wide Move bonus for aggression and board control.
• Tepok the Seer - a bonus to casting rolls, leaning into Seraphon's magic identity.

Exact numbers and unlock conditions are set by your current faction pack, so read your warscroll rather than relying on the summary above. The takeaway: pick your opening Asterism to match your list and your plan for the first two turns, and treat the Great Plan as an unfolding sequence, not a one-off pick.

Seraphon have four battle formations ("Starhosts"), each granting a distinct army ability. Pick the one that matches how you want to win:

• Eternal Starhost - a teleport/redeploy theme (Celestial Translocation), letting units reposition near your wizards. Great for objective play, ambushes, and a magic-led list.
• Sunclaw Starhost - a Saurus/Kroxigor melee package (Vengeance of Azyr) that rewards leaning into your infantry brick and companion beasts with extra pile-in and mortal-damage output.
• Shadowstrike Starhost - a Skink-focused formation (Nimble and Quick) emphasising speed and mobility for a screening, harassing, objective-grabbing playstyle.
• Thunderquake Starhost - a monster-mash (Scaly Monstrosities) that buffs your big Monsters, ideal if you want a wall of Stegadons, Bastiladons, and Carnosaurs.

There is no single "correct" pick - each formation pushes the army toward a different archetype. Confirm the current ability wording in your faction pack, since formation effects are among the things Battlescrolls adjust.

• Slann Starmaster - the classic Seraphon centerpiece caster: high-level magic, summoning celestial reinforcements, and channeling spells through Skink wizards. The heart of a magic-led list.
• Lord Kroak - an elite Slann-tier caster who can reach across multiple spell lores; a heavy points investment but a magic powerhouse.
• Skink Starseer / Skink Starpriest - support wizards that multiply your casts and dispels and buff nearby units; a Starseer is a popular reliable second caster.
• Saurus Warriors / Saurus Guard - your resilient infantry core; Guard are the tougher bodyguard option for protecting characters.
• Kroxigor (incl. Warspawned) - heavy-hitting Saurus-allied brutes for melee punch, strong in a Sunclaw-style build.
• Skink riders - Terradon, Ripperdactyl, and Raptadon (Aggradon Lancers, Hunters of Huanchi) - fast harassers, screen-clearers, and objective-grabbers that define the mobile Skink game.
• Bastiladon and Stegadon (Engine of the Gods) - durable monsters carrying arcane relics for shooting, healing, or utility; solid, tanky board pieces.
• Carnosaur-mounted heroes (Oldblood / Scar-Veteran) - hard-hitting melee monster-heroes that thrive against wounded enemy monsters.

Exact roles and strengths shift with points and Battlescrolls; treat this as a starting map of the roster, not a fixed tier list.

Seraphon reward a fluid, reactive style. Because the roster spans magic, melee, speed, and monsters, most lists are toolbox armies rather than one-trick builds. A typical gameplan: use Skinks and fast riders to screen, grab objectives, and dictate the early board; anchor the midfield with tough monsters and Saurus; and let your Slann or Kroak tilt fights with spells, mortal damage, and summoning.

The Great Plan is your engine. Open with the Asterism that best supports turns one and two - Move for aggression and board control, casting for a magic list, or the defensive/critical options to protect a key push - then unlock further Asterisms as the game develops so your army effectively gets stronger over time. Lean on your chosen formation to commit to a plan: don't build a Skink-speed list and then fight like a monster brick. Play the objectives, use summoning and teleports to answer threats, and let your reactive tools punish your opponent's overcommitment.

A frequent trap is treating Seraphon as a pure magic army and ignoring how much of their winning comes from objective play, movement tricks, and monster durability. Another is over-investing in a single expensive caster (Kroak or a Slann) and leaving too few bodies to hold ground.

At the competitive level Seraphon have tended to underperform slightly - hovering around the middle-to-lower pack in win rate through late 2025 - not because of one bad unit, but because many warscrolls land just under the curve, so the army rewards tight, skilled play more than raw power. Points cuts in 2026 aimed to ease that. Practically, they can struggle when forced into a straight melee slugfest without their magic and mobility doing work, or against armies that shut down casting or out-muscle their monsters. Play to the toolbox, not to any one pillar. As always, the current Battlescroll and GHB can shift where the army sits, so check the latest updates.