Assuming you are playing Coalesced, a single deep strike unit that can force your opponent to hang back with some of their army can be really useful Chameleons Skinks are the "normal" unit that would be used for this for Seraphon, but gaining Cities as allies brings Shadow Warriors into the conversation Chameleon Skinks: 5 models, 4+ ward, 10 shots, no rend but mortals on 6s, can re-teleport later Shadow Warriors: 10 models, 10 shots, better profile w/ rend, decent in melee The points costs are also nearly identical. Toughness wise, they are nearly the same, 10 5+ save vs 5 6+/4++. Shadow Warriors are more likely to lose some to Bravery checks since they will be losing more models. Damage wise, Shadow Warriors outpreform Chameleons (as long as they are in cover) against anything short of a 2+ armor save. 10 models is also a bit better for taking backfield objectives, which is what the unit is here to do in the first place, plus Shadow Warriors could actually want to charge some chaff units to finish them off, as they do get 20 attacks in melee. A final advantage they have is a unit champion, allowing them to Redeploy/Unleash Hell etc as needed. Thoughts? are Chameleons outclassed? is the later turn teleports really that useful?
generally yeah shadow warriors do it better. sure you can port chams again but with how glass they are that wount come up often.
Late to the party, but skinks bring to the table seraphon's abilities. It's not only a matter of fluff, but i tend to mostly use chameleon skinks in coalesced, cause they give teleport, while in starborne there's lesser need of it. So skinks will have scaly skin, while shadow warriors won’t. And while It's true that warriors have more models to control obj, skinks are fewer in numbers so it’s easier to make sure they will be in cover to have the ward.
depending on your list you would want to almost always bring 1 unit in coalesced just so you have access to that secondary where you get 2 units on the enemies side of the board. 115 pts to score 2 VP guaranteed is totally worth it.