A suggestion on how to fix Rampage for the Lizardmen

Nielspeterdejong

So... I kinda noticed that many aren't very fond of the new added Rampage to the Lizardmen, nor how the Coldblooded is now only a counter to a increasingly strong disability, even if their stats are increased: https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/9ut5cj/reading_the_patch_notes_as_a_lizardmen_player/

"The Lizardmen could have survived the meteor, but rampage caused them to run towards it. Natural selection at its finest." XD

However, I fully understand why CA went with that, as it is the Total War Variant of Predatory Fighter (which was a Lizardmen Table Top trait that made some of your units chase after routing enemies), but without the bonus attacks that Predatory Figher gave. Seeing as this is not TT, I thought I'd propose some of my suggestions on how to fix this while keeping Rampage on these units:

A: Lower the Leadership boon on Cold Blooded to 8, but let it give the target a boost to both Vigor and Speed as well. (perhaps also lower the cooldown to 45 seconds)

B: Give Saurus Warriors, Kroxigor, Carnosaurs, and all Cold One units a special "Predatory Fighters" trait which Replenishes their Hit Points as long as they are both in Melee and are Rampaging (so all the Carnivorous units, not all Lizardmen units as Feral Stegadons and Feral Bastiladons can hold their own). So a more restricted version of "The Hunger". (Perhaps also give Temple Guards Perfect Vigor and more Physical resistance, to give them the role of Vanguard holding the line, while the Saurus are there to grind away at the enemy).

The saving grace of the Lizardmen was Cold Blooded which allowed for some extra healing on their Lords. With that gone, they will need to gain their strength from somewhere else. Adding Healing to these types of units, as long as they are both in Melee and Rampaging, would be a good replacement of Predatory Fighters which gave them more attacks at the cost of chasing enemy units (unless a Skink Hero was nearby). With this the players will have more tactical options: Do they want to use it on a unit that is rampaging to re-engage them somewhere else? Or is the Hit Points Replenishment boon that Rampage provides (as long as they are also in Combat) worth it to save up the Cold Blooded Charge for another time?

This way your Saurus will endure a bit better, and you can then save up your Cold Blooded charges to pull rampaging units out of harms way. And Skink Heroes will become viable in competitive plays due to their low cost or mobility. Thus giving more power to your Saurus and Kroxigor, in exchange for no longer having healing on Cold Blooded. Thus the strength of the Lizardmen would be shifted more towards their Infantry and Cavalry (and feral Carnosaurs, which are meant to go after key targets, which Rampage greatly hinders), and less to their heroes. With their heroes now gaining a more supportive role as they were meant in the Table Top. Especially the more cheaper and mobile Skink Heroes.

Plus this will give more tactical options with Cold Blooded. Will you allow your Saurus Warriors to keep rampaging to let them last a little longer? Or do you want to use Cold Blooded on them and boost their Vigor and Speed so that you can re-engage them elsewhere? Instead of having to wait a long time between Cold Blooded Charges, and only letting it give a Leadership boon on the already high Leadership Lizardmen, you can now choose to save it to rescue rampaging Cavalry OR use it to boost their current low speed and move in between gaps of the enemies defenses! This would playing the Lizarden feel more rewarding and fun, and it would also compensate them for the lack of healing on Cold Blooded as well as their mediocre infantry.

OPTIONAL:

A simpler solution would be to keep the new Cold Blooded the way it is, give all Lizardmen units that Rampage the Frenzy trait (while keeping their current stats and cost the same, as they only have mediocre infantry, and the Rampage mechanic is still a big hinder). While giving the Temple Guard the Perfect Vigor and Immune to Psychology traits.

This way players can choose to use the Cold Blooded's Leadership boon on units with low Leadership, to make sure they can keep their Frenzy boon up, or they can hold on to it to save their units from tight spots. Right now the Lizardmen already have high Leadership, so unless they gain something from having a certain amount of Leadership, the leadership boon feels a little bit wasted om them.

Nielspeterdejong

Added an optional suggestion.