Starbane offers the Eldar a deployment specific ability . I play Eldar and I like the exhaustion factor.

Shadowsun offers a deployment ability . Ragnar and Kith too (I do like playing Dark Eldar too ).

Cato , Straken , Nazdreg and Zarathur all offer passive abilities for their factions .

What do you prefer based on how games go ? Do you like a warlord with a passive ability or aggressive assault ability based on deployment .

And is one warlord's passive ability better than other passives ? Or do you like hitting a unit with 2 , forcing a shield possibly , with Ragnar or bringing in Khymera with Kith ?

I like abilities that help the warlord survive. Like Starbane's exhaustion ability. Or if not, boost my units/damage output.

I personally like both and while I know it's not the real awnser you are looking for I feel each Walord has a very different type of game against other factions, so in order to know how to play against all factions I currently play each Warlord available when I have the time to do so.

In general however I like the control type of Warlords, like Starbane but I feel it's harder to pinpoint what each Warlord currently represents since the card pool to draw decks from is still very limited for each faction. Once Eldar and Chaos can make more decks with the drops their Warlords would likely prefer I'll my make definate choice.

I like the deployment abilities. Starbane's and Kith's in particular. I think they put your opponent under a bit more pressure knowing that wherever these two go, there's the potential for a significant change to the situation in that planet.

Deployment ability. I have a tendency to forget the passive ability from time to time, specially Straken's were it affects only 'type' unit not all units.

Personally I like the deploy hit that Starbane has . If you dont exhaust a unit for an upcoming battle , exhaust one thats getting command !!

Ive noticed since Cato seems passive and Blackmane is more deploy , then we should be seeing an opposite run in ability ' types ' from the upcoming faction warlords . Think the new DE warlord , cant remember his name , is a passive one with Torture events involved ... opposite Kith who is deployment based !! should be interesting.....

Personally I like the deploy hit that Starbane has . If you dont exhaust a unit for an upcoming battle , exhaust one thats getting command !!

Ive noticed since Cato seems passive and Blackmane is more deploy , then we should be seeing an opposite run in ability ' types ' from the upcoming faction warlords . Think the new DE warlord , cant remember his name , is a passive one with Torture events involved ... opposite Kith who is deployment based !! should be interesting.....

Yep I feel the first double cycle will have passive and agressive Warlords for everybody. In special Urien who is quite the opposite as opposed to Kith. Which makes me even more excited by what the new Eldar Walord will bring us.

Zarathur and therefore the "passive" abilities are where it is at, IMNSHO. I get to use Zarathur 4 or 5 times a turn - and he CERTAINLY changes the situation as people hit for one more, no matter who they are. Whereas with Shadowsun et al. you only get to use them once a turn, most likely.

Warpstorm can be huge. Warpstorm for 3? Awesome.

Killax is right: there's more to the question than meets the eye.

Personally, I have a slight preference for Deploy abilities, as they give more flexibility in whether you choose to stick around or not. Often, retreating with the Warlord is a necessary option.

I think though, that for anyone who wants to understand and master the game, its necessary to try all Warlords with each of their ally options, and play half a dozen games at least with each of the 16 combinations. A lot of things don't become clear till you play.