Warhammer Total War: Warhammer III

[Tyrr]

I wish every faction would get a system like Kislev to choose the traits for their agents and generals. Right now you have to recruit and dismiss every turn until you get what you are looking for.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Demo.Graph]

I've just realised. That fortress...

It's on the enemy's side of the wall.

 

[Tyrr]

"Miao Ying" sounds like a Cat Girl.

 

[tabacila]

"Miao Ying" sounds like a Cat Girl.

https://old.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/qblr9v/miao/

So a pretty useless 9 minutes. Is it me or is CA's marketing department ashamed they are making strategy games? Not one single angle in that video was a camera angle an actual player would use.
At least they've learned to not show the recolored WC units up front and there was no sign of the magical butt ladders. If you can't fix your lazy shit at least hide it from the promo stuff.

The Exalted Flamers and Sould Grinders look good.

 

[tabacila]

Khorne campaign mechanics

Spoiler

KHORNE CAMPAIGN MECHANICS – KILL, MAIM, BURN
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III
Ben Barrett
October 25 2021

Welco-yes, yes, blood for the blood, skulls for the skull throne, we’ll get to that. It’s time for some more campaign mechanics, this time focused on the hunter of souls, the blood god, lord of murder, and the Chaos god of war, honour, courage, rage, strength, and hate – Khorne. His exiled bloodthirster, Skarbrand, leads the most savage daemons of the Chaos Realms, who bring their wrath down upon all the other peoples of the world. They do not deal, they do not show mercy, they simply produce blood and skulls for their patriarch. Onwards!


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SKULLS & THE SKULL THRONE

Well, it simply wouldn’t be Khorne without Skulls, would it? Such is the importance to Khorne of his most beloved body part that Skulls form as important a currency for his warriors as favour and gold for other factions. Luckily, in a game with a title like Total War, just about everything you do is going to generate them – battle, sieges, post-battle decisions, dilemmas, buildings, and anything else.


Skull Piles are even spawned by enemy armies doing battle, so you can collect the proceeds from your enemies fighting amongst themselves. Khorne does not care from whence the blood flows or the skulls come.


Skulls are used for a couple of things, but the deadliest is piling on the Skull Throne. Whenever a large stockpile has been collected, it is expected – neigh, demanded – that it be lain at the feet of Khorne such that he may pile the Skull Throne ever higher. Doing so rewards you with a massive set of buffs, including bonuses to post-battle loot and movement range bonuses after razing settlements.


For it is the nature of this beast to continuously fight and destroy, with little regard for the building of civilization. If Khorne must occupy a settlement, it will be at significant cost of Skulls as the place must be properly adorned, the buildings set just right, and the proper rituals enacted to explain exactly why the buildings are not torn down with the people. Sacking or Razing are better options 90% of the time.


Khorne has a unique set of options after destroying a settlement, but that doesn’t have to be the end…


THE BLOOD CALLS

When a Khornate force overruns a garrison, the settlement is doomed. If they are lucky, a quick death will follow. But the purpose of that death is varied. Two new options are available to Khorne forces razing a settlement. Skulls for the Skull Throne generates a thousand skulls for your purposes, destroying the settlement and killing the people – predictable, if useful.


Blood for the Blood God greatly replenishes your forces and also spawns a new Blood Host army nearby. This army cannot replenish or recruit but is otherwise unlimited in its capabilities and costs no upkeep. The power of these armies scales with how many you have created, though the number of units they spawn with can be increased through various means.


As you can imagine, this army can then wander off and raze another settlement, spawning another army… Who can then team up with their friends and head off to another settlement – and so on. These armies spawn with their full movement available, so they can get going almost immediately. Obviously, as time goes on and they suffer attrition, losses in battle, and more, they will begin to lose potency. But of course, any skulls generated from a suicidal battle are as valuable to Khorne.


Redoubling the power of these armies is passive colonization. Should a Khornate faction have a settlement in a province it shares with razed settlements, those settlements will eventually be automatically colonised – at no cost – by that faction. Of course, someone else can come along and take it first, but… well, that’s what Bloodletters are for. This means you can spawn armies or harvest skulls and favour all you like, and eventually take the settlement anyway.


Speaking of Bloodletting…


BLOODLETTING

Khornate armies exist for war and slaughter. Fighting sustains them as milk and bread may keep a mortal man ready to serve. Should they stop, they will begin to fade to nothing – lower replenishment and lower growth faction-wide, as well as less lust for battle from the army itself. The opposite is also true.


For every army you have that is rampaging across the land, it will have an impact on your growth rate, replenishments, global recruitment time, and more. As you can imagine, having a number of Blood Host armies all increasing your growth rate along with your main, more powerful armies is extremely powerful. With the amount of death and destruction handed out by a Khorne faction on a regular basis, they can also exist at a negative favour gain if needed, given the constant influx from battles fought.


UNHOLY MANIFESTATIONS & CULTS

As we mentioned in our previous, Tzeentch-based mechanics blog, there are a few shared areas for each Chaos God: Unholy Manifestations and Cults. They are special powers that can be used based on your corruption total, and developing foreign building slots in other factions, respectively.


The Unholy Manifestations for Khorne are:

• Eternal War
  • Unlocked from the start.
  • Spawns a small Khornate army to attack your own army (triggering bloodletting, giving you skulls, favour, and XP from the battle.)
• Call of Battle
  • Requires 1000 global Khorne corruption.
  • Gives an army +50% campaign movement range.
• Slaughter Incarnate
  • Requires 2000 global Khorne corruption.
  • Doubles an army’s skull gains from battle for several turns.
• Khorne’s Glare
  • Requires 3000 global Khorne corruption.
  • Disables a friendly army’s movement for several turns. At the end it razes the local settlement automatically and gives a massive number of skulls.

Pretty strong stuff, and remember that if Khorne is ascendent in the Great Game all their effects are increased even further.


As for cults, Khorne’s potential Blood Cult buildings include:

• Hideout
  • Generates a steady supply of skulls per turn.
• Fighting Pit
  • Gives bonus skulls with every battle fought in the province.
• Lodge
  • Generates a large supply of skulls per turn if a lord of any faction is present.
• Arena
  • Destroys the cult upon completion but teleports your faction leader (and their army) to the settlement. Dunno what they would possibly do to an enemy city once they get there, it is a mystery.

TECH TREE

Khorne’s tech tree surrounds the number eight, with various pillars of techs available with eight techs each. Only three of them are required to move to the next pillar and there are eight pillars in total. This gives you a lot of options as to how quickly you want to move through the tree and what you want to prioritise when.


As you can imagine, much of Khorne’s tree involves the slaughter of his enemies, with one entire pillar dedicated to eight techs just with bonuses for fighting specific factions. The rest are a mix of technologies for making units better, cheaper, faster to recruit, and such forth. You can also buff Blood Hosts and you chance to colonise ruins with Drawn to Destruction.


The majority of techs cost skulls to research, Khorne not giving up his secrets with a donation to the throne. You must prove your might in battle to receive his gifts. Passive gains of skulls are also available, though one comes with a diplomatic penalty with all other factions – but come-now, you weren’t hiring Bloodletters and Skullcrushers to make peace, were you?


KHORNATE (AND DAEMONIC) DIPLOMACY

One element worth noting is that the mortal peoples of the world are… not fans of their daemonic invaders from the North. War is automatically declared between any daemonic faction and any non-daemonic faction it meets, with a couple of exceptions. Skaven are just mad/scheming enough to consider alliances, while Norscans, Beastmen, and the Warriors of Chaos are, of course, mortal servants. Slaanesh… well, we’ll get to them when we get to them, but what mortal can resist the God of Pleasure (and pain)?


Everybody else… not so much. Daemons may ally with daemons, but there’s always rivalries and Khorne in particular has a great hate of Slaanesh, despising the indulgences and eccentricities of his sibling. Also unique to Khorne are a number of diplomacy debuffs from technologies and decisions. Razing every city you come across and massacring the populace really does not make you popular, and nor does cutting the heads off everyone you meet and harvesting their souls for the God of Slaughter. The Exiles of Khorne, Skarbrand’s warband, even has diplomatic penalties with other Khornate factions, his legendary betrayal of their master far too much to forgive.


The note here being: don’t play Khorne to make friends. Play Khorne to make War (Total War, probably).


SO LONG AS IT FLOWS

Make war, commit slaughter, and engage in massacre and you will make a fine servant of Khorne. Skarbrand and his Exiles may not be the most subtle of factions, but they’re a hell of a lot of fun to play, and you have plenty of options for potential victims – and even some strategic alliances – along the way.


Or you could kill everything.

Lol at the spawning an army to attack your own army so you can farm XP and resources.

 

[Lacrymas]

So, it's a horde faction? Don't the Beastmen, especially Taurox the Brass Bull, do exactly this already? Warriors of Chaos too. Modern Total Wars totally neglect campaign play and mechanics imo, so no wonder the Beastmen, Warriors of Chaos, and Khorne are basically the same faction.

 

[tabacila]

I'm pretty sure all Chaos Gods factions will be mixed since they mentioned the ability to settle in the blog post. I guess they'll incentivize you to settle only landmark cities.

 

[Sunri]

So, it's a horde faction? Don't the Beastmen, especially Taurox the Brass Bull, do exactly this already? Warriors of Chaos too. Modern Total Wars totally neglect campaign play and mechanics imo, so no wonder the Beastmen, Warriors of Chaos, and Khorne are basically the same faction.

How is your setting going my friend

 

[Lacrymas]

So, it's a horde faction? Don't the Beastmen, especially Taurox the Brass Bull, do exactly this already? Warriors of Chaos too. Modern Total Wars totally neglect campaign play and mechanics imo, so no wonder the Beastmen, Warriors of Chaos, and Khorne are basically the same faction.

How is your setting going my friend

Waiting for CA to contact me to do a Total War My Setting.

 

[Fedora Master]

Skull Piles are even spawned by enemy armies doing battle, so you can collect the proceeds from your enemies fighting amongst themselves. Khorne does not care from whence the blood flows or the skulls come.

Khorne DOES care when it's just scavenging from corpses you didn't even make yourself. Wtf CA.

 

[baud]

TZEENTCH ROSTER

Spoiler

TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III TZEENTCH ROSTER REVEAL
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III
Ben Barrett


October 27 2021

It is time to bring more knowledge into the world and unveil some secrets of the Chaos Realms. So it is decreed by the Great Deceiver, the god of Magic, and thus is shall be. Welcome to the roster reveal for Tzeentch, the daemons of knowledge, betrayal, and magic. Like our other Chaos factions, it’s daemon-heavy with a focus on what makes this God special – do check out our summaries of the Tzeentch campaign mechanics for more.


As always, the below represents a game in progress. We’re moving steadily towards our planned release in early 2022, but there’s still plenty of tweaking to do. We want to hear what you think, but don’t get bogged down in any numbers specifics – plenty of balancing due as of yet.


Now, let’s see what infinite machinations and plans within plans get to bring to war…


TZEENTCH LEGENDARY LORDS

KAIROS FATEWEAVER

Kairos can see things that are hidden even to Tzeentch. His right head sees possible futures as clear as day. No scheme is hidden from its sight and the infinite possibilities of tomorrow crystallise into irrefutable fact. Kairos’ left head sees the past without the petty colourations of perspective and bias. Valuable as this vision is, it comes with a heavy cost. Both of Kairos’ heads are blind to the present; he cannot see time as it passes – only events that are to come or whose time has already lapsed.


Kairos as an entity has unsurpassed magical knowledge and capability. While unpredictable and quite, quite mad, he is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, unleashing all manner of powers to crush his enemies. He naturally combines well with the forces around him to provide supporting fire and heavy melee damage.


He, along with every other unit in a Tzeentch army, also comes with Barrier. This is a damage shield that regenerates quickly outside of combat and protects against all harm, acting as effectively another health bar. It makes hit-and-run attacks with flyers (plenty of those, you’ll notice below) and cavalry particularly effective, along with allowing you to cycle out your standard melee troops if applicable. It’s also another area that can be buffed and altered through technology and skills, most of which are very powerful.


Unique skills and abilities:

• Fragments of Magic – allows Kairos to acquire and equip fragments of other spell lores, giving him access to several spells from that lore. Only one fragment can be equipped at a time.
• Staff of Tomorrow – Kairos’ powerful artifact allows him to reduce all his spell cooldowns in an instant.
• Gaze of Fate – paralyze a unit to prevent its movement and vastly drop their melee attack.

TZEENTCH LORDS

EXALTED LORD OF CHANGE

A Lord of Change is hideously unpredictable and manipulative. Behind its gaze lies a curious and wreckful mind, deeply intelligent, yet as uncaring of consequence as it is fascinated by it. It is like a child playing upon some gigantic anthill, poking with a stick at its inhabitants and laughing at the hopeless antics of their defence. Nothing pleases him more than to see the world broken and made anew, to redirect the course of a life or even history itself, spilling hope upon the ground while raising the ambition of others up to an unexpected pinnacle of power.


As well as being fierce melee combatants, Lords of Change are powerful spellcasters. Casting spells in a Tzeentch army fuels your ability to call upon the powers of the God of Magic, special army abilities that are charged by the winds of magic seeing use. These are powerful effects that can blitz enemies from the field with ease – and with every lord and plenty of heroes, and even some standard units, having access to spells, are easy to exploit.


Tzeentch’s spellcasters specialise in either the Lore of Metal, with all the spells you’re used to, and the Lore of Tzeentch, which includes:

• Blue Fire of Tzeentch
• Pink Fire of Tzeentch
• Treason of Tzeentch
• Glean Magic
• Tzeentch’s Firestorm
• Infernal Gateway

This is a purely offensive school, with four spells that deal direct damage and the others debuffing enemies to their doom. You’ve now seen a selection of the new spell lores we have coming in Total War: WARHAMMER III – we’ll be actually detailing these schools and their spells very soon.


HERALD OF TZEENTCH

As the magically fashioned slaves of Tzeentch, Horrors are considered automatons to be expended as part of a carefully wrought plan. Should a servant of greater power be required, Tzeentch will create a Herald, a more stable type of Horror. Such Daemons have enough consciousness to direct others of their kind without constant guidance from a Lord of Change, directing furious sorcery against Tzeentch’s enemies.


To mount-up, a Screamer must be transmuted into a new form before it can safely be used. These Discs of Tzeentch retain the flattened and manta-like shape of the Screamer, but their magical bodies are transformed into unlikely shapes and aspects as part of the binding ritual.


Heralds have little patience at the best of times, and none at all in training Screamers and Discs. They therefore consider ‘borrowing’ a chariot from an Exalted Flamer to be entirely in keeping with their status. Such a feat requires great cunning indeed if the Herald in question wishes to escape the Flamer’s wrath. However, all these trials and tribulations seem as naught once the Herald is free to swoop and dive across the battlefield on his new possession, cackling madly as he unleashes his fearsome Sorceries upon the enemies of his Dark God.


Spell lores: Metal or Tzeentch
Mounts: Disc of Tzeentch or Burning Chariot


TZEENTCH HEROES

CULTIST OF TZEENTCH

Tzeentchian cultists are a unique group. Clandestine worship of their God is more common, especially in Cathay, than for other Gods, due to his secretive and manipulative nature. At the same time, interpreting their God’s wishes is more challenging than for the straight-forward Khorne or Slaanesh where copious amounts of bodily fluids are usually enough. Strange masks, complicated rituals, and endless scheming and plotting mark the Cultists. If anything, a chance to do the glory of their lord with a simple battle is preferable.


Growing their cults and spreading the ways of Tzeentch is massively important, however. His schemes require sacrifices, blackmail, bribes, and most of all knowledge. A cultist may work for years as part of a machine he barely understands, even being convinced of his own failure (and expecting the mutations that come with it) when the scheme succeeds on a wider scale he cannot understand.


They have unique access within the armies of Tzeentch to the Lore of Fire, making them a useful option for further battlefield damage and control. As they grow in power, they can also learn to summon daemons direct from the Chaos realms, including great Lords of Change themselves. While their time on the battlefield will be limited, their power is not.


Spell lore: Lore of Fire
Mount: Chaos Steed


IRIDESCENT HORROR

Pink Horrors, collected magic as they are, can sometimes be granted capabilities beyond the norm, and the authority and sanity that comes with it. These Iridescent Horrors are masters of the magical arts and powerful combatants, proving the greater of even some champions. Their deadly skills are enhanced further with locus magics that allow them to greatly buff their allies at a moment’s notice, or summon more through portals to the Chaos Realms.


Lores: Metal or Tzeentch
Mounts: Disc of Tzeentch or Burning Chariot


TZEENTCH UNITS

TZEENTCH INFANTRY

BLUE HORRORS OF TZEENTCH

Blue Horrors are sullen and malicious, like evil-tempered children, and sneer and grumble their way through a battle. Once spawned, they add a deeper whining note to the incessant chortling of the group as they attempt to grapple with enemies and squeeze the life from them, before inevitably wandering off in search of fresh entertainment.


Notable characteristics:

• While classed as melee troops as that’s where their proficiency lies, Blue Horrors are capable of vomiting up magical fire. This gives them an impressive first punch on a charging enemy.
• All daemons suffer from instability when their morale is low, making them begin to disintegrate on the spot, rather than flee from battle.
• Despite their pathetic stature when compared to more senior daemons, Blue Horrors are still a fearful sight for the mortals of the world, gibbering mouths and flailing, deadly limbs.

FORSAKEN OF TZEENTCH

Many Warriors of Chaos find that the rewards of the gods turn out to more closely resemble afflictions than blessings. In time, many Forsaken lose any capacity for rational thought, setting aside sophisticated weaponry in favour of jagged teeth and twisted claws. They have no intelligence glinting within their black eyes, for their minds churn with nothing more than thoughts of killing and devouring everything they can catch. These atavistic warriors often bear ever-twisting assortments of mutations, including writhing tentacles, chitinous claws, extra heads and hairy, grasping limbs that push out through their armour.


Notable characteristics:

• One of very few dedicated, melee-only ground units in Tzeentch’s roster, and vital for holding early battles in campaign.
• The madness of the Chaos Realms and the infection of their bodies makes Forsaken immune to Psychology but liable to Frenzy.
• Given their high armour compared to almost everything else on the Tzeentch roster, you’re going to get a lot of use out of Forsaken – depending on your playstyle, anyway.

TZEENTCH MISSILE INFANTRY

PINK HORRORS OF TZEENTCH

Pink Horrors are identified by their luminescent pink skin and their squeals of high-pitched laughter. Spellcasting fills them with joy, and they emit especial merriment as eldritch energy screeches from their upraised hands. When wounded, a Pink Horror exhales a final lunatic cackle before rapidly decomposing.


Notable characteristics:

• Vomiting burning hellfire spells magical, firey doom for most other low-tier units.
• Also boast greater melee capabilities than their blue cousins, making them a useful hybrid unit.
• Gibbering, delighted buffoons, which I personally feel a distinct connection with.

EXALTED PINK HORRORS OF TZEENTCH

Pink Horrors that have proven sufficiently powerful, cunning, or mad and survived many battles, not to mention the raucous, random happenings of their home dimension, may become Exalted. They wear golden trappings and consider themselves first among the lower servants of Tzeentch. Quite how much actual respect, or even knowledge, other higher daemons are paying to them is unknown, the ever-higher pitch of their excited squeals means, at least, they are having a good time.


Notable characteristics:

• A further upgrade in all forms over the Pink Horrors.
• Their concentrated warpfire will out-damage even the Celestial Dragon Crossbows of Grand Cathay.
• Their delight at magic and desire to see it increases Winds of Magic recharge rate for the army, stacking with each unit.

TZEENTCH CAVALRY AND CHARIOTS

CHAOS KNIGHTS OF TZEENTCH

Knights of Tzeentch are feared throughout the Old World and beyond as merciless butchers capable of turning the course of battle with a single charge. They are towering brutes atop immensely powerful Chaos Steeds, rider and mount clad in thickest plate, each section of armour crafted by a master Daemonsmith. A Knight’s greaves are jagged blades, well suited to slicing through the flesh of the enemy. Even the frightful reputation of the Knights of Tzeentch is a weapon in its own right, crippling those who would stand against them before a single blow is struck.


Notable characteristics:

• Lack the massive-impact charge of standard cavalry, but are far more effective in a pitched battle.
• Heavily armoured, unlikely to flee, and fast to strike, causing fear with their thunderous charge.
• The addition of a Tzeentch barrier to the power of Chaos Knights makes them absolute tanks.

DOOM KNIGHTS OF TZEENTCH

Doom Knights are some of the most powerful mortals the world has ever seen, taming Discs of Tzeentch, and thus consider themselves superior even to other champions of Chaos. Screeching through the air like few before them, they would be a wonderous sight to behold if their coming did not always spell death and, as is their namesake, doom. There is no escape from the Doom Knights, and they show no mercy.


Discs are the Daemonic steeds of Tzeentch. These bizarre creations are neither Daemon nor construction, but a nightmarish blend of the two. Coruscating with mystical force, Discs fly above the ground, skimming gently forwards upon the Winds of Magic. The Discs themselves are far from defenceless, lashing out around themselves with bolts of magical fire, or manifesting whirling tentacles and ripping claws to slash at enemies that approach too close.


Notable characteristics:

• Flying shock cavalry that are more than a match for any foe.
• Trade their ground-borne cavalry allies’ armour and defense for vastly superior speed and power.
• The strongest melee-focused unit in Tzeentch’s arsenal.

BURNING CHARIOT OF TZEENTCH

Burning Chariots of Tzeentch hurtle across the Realm of Chaos like incandescent meteors, bringing the Great Sorcerer’s chosen emissaries to every corner of existence. As they blaze through the heavens of the mortal world, Chariots of Tzeentch are commonly mistaken for comets, which are in turn interpreted as omens of great events and terrible wars. The Discs and Screamers which make up the bizarre chariot are drawn to raw magic like moths to a flame, and therefore to the Exalted Flamers, who exude tasty sorcery from every pore and wrinkle of their fungoid flesh.


Notable characteristics

• The ranged firepower of an Exalted Flamer, as is mounted on the Burning Chariot, is the strongest anywhere in the world – more than even siege weaponry.
• Such are the devastating energies being pulled from the warp by the Exalted Flamer, it will run out of power quickly, at which point it must contest with foes in melee.
• The combination of extremely fast, very powerful area attacks that can fly out of harm’s way with ease is potent.

TZEENTCH MONSTERS & BEASTS

CHAOS FURIES (TZEENTCH)

Furies are yowling shards of malevolent energy – Chaos in its purest form. With little in the way of intelligence, they are utterly subservient to the whims of the Dark Gods, and shift in aspect and power as the balance of the dark pantheon alters. They are easily subjugated by other Daemons, whom they regard with a mix of dread and awe. Furies swarm at the edges of the battle, avoiding the thickest fighting if they can. Only when they sight a vulnerable victim do they descend, a wailing mass from which there can be no escape.


Notable characteristics:

• These Furies trade the Frenzy of Khorne for the Barrier of Tzeentch.
• This makes them far more effective as hit-and-run units, and a natural first step before Screamers and Doom Knights can enter the fray.
• A cheap and effective unit for counter-attacks and flanks, especially given their vanguard deployment.

SCREAMERS OF TZEENTCH


Screamers are glimmering sky-sharks that ride upon the Winds of Magic as a bird glides upon the breeze. They roam the tides of magic, preying upon the shadow-souls of mortal creatures, lone Chaos Furies and other unfortunate magical ephemera. Once the Screamers catch their doomed prey it is torn to pieces in an eye-blink, the gossamer shreds of its soul-stuff offered up as a gift to Tzeentch. So swift and agile are Screamers that they are highly sought after as steeds, however their instinctive nature swiftly proves calamitous should their controller’s attention wander.


Notable characteristics:

• Lightweight and unarmoured, they are still powerful once locked in melee combat, acting as Tzeentch’s equivelent of early cavalry.
• Must be quickly moved in and out of combat to exploit the Barrier and their charge bonuses to its fullest.
• A giant, flying, blue sky shark that lets out a hearty scream at every opportunity. Who among us cannot identify?

SPAWN OF TZEENTCH

A creature visited by too many gifts of the Dark Gods inevitably succumbs to madness and mutation, and becomes a Chaos Spawn. A once-humanoid form that has sprouted and burst into an obscene and monstrous anatomy, mutated almost beyond recognition. The eyes of the original creature peer out, a glint of its former personality barely perceptible amidst the fleshy ruin. Chaos Spawn are creatures of unspeakable horror, their twisted bodies sporting an impossible array of spines, eyes and mouths.


Notable characteristics:

• Another of Tzeentch’s rare melee-dedicated land units, though trading armour for power.
• A low model count and lack of defenses make this a tricky unit to hold the line with, but their powerful blows and pure ferocity make them a unique part of Tzeentch’s roster.
• Sort’ve like a land-based screamer, psychologically. Same.

LORD OF CHANGE

As might be expected of a creature born of pure magic and bound to the will of the Master of Sorcery, a Lord of Change is a potent spellcaster. The Winds of Magic obey his every command, allowing him to summon whirling tempests of change and mutation, blast the enemies of Tzeentch with bolts of multicoloured fire or unravel the mind of an enemy spellcaster from the inside. Although a Lord of Change elects to use magic and trickery to further its ends, he is still a fearsome fighter. Countless heroes have underestimated these strange creatures, thinking their wiry frames and fluttering wings fragile.


Notable characteristics:

• A fully-fledged spellcaster and devastating single-entity monster AND flyer all in one, handy, affordable bird-shaped package.
• Can gain even more and more powerful spells from various campaign technologies.
• Won’t go toe-to-toe with a Bloodthirster, but it still plenty powerful enough to lay waste to mortal formations.

FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH

Flamers are capable of a fair turn of speed, expelling gaseous ichor through the fungoid ‘skirt’ at their base to bound and leap across the ground with considerable mischievous gusto. A Flamer uses its blazing limbs to hurl bolts of magical flame at the foe. This is not fire in its truest sense, but a roiling cloud of Chaos energy. It does not burn, but warps reality. A Flamer’s victim might briefly feel invigorated, before collapsing into a writhing puddle of flesh.


Notable characteristics:

• While not on the same level as the Exalted Flamers, ground-bound or mounted, standard Flamers still output a ludicrous amount of damage, and operate as small groups rather than solo.
• Much like Pink Horrors, will need careful placement to ensure maximum damage, but can annihilate when placed correctly.
• As a later-game, powerful monster unit, can still hold their own in melee combat, especially after applying a few burns to their victims. They also apply warpfire in melee, making any support fire very effective.

EXALTED FLAMER OF TZEENTCH

A Flamer uses its blazing limbs to hurl bolts of magical flame at the foe. This is not fire in its truest sense, but a roiling cloud of Chaos energy. It does not burn, but warps reality. A Flamer’s victim might briefly feel invigorated, before collapsing into a writhing puddle of flesh. The Exalted Flamers are able to channel magical flame to a far greater extent than their lesser brethren, and can conjure up great billowing sheets of Warp-magic, or hurl bolts of sorcerous change that make the very air sizzle with their passing.


Notable characteristics:

• Likely to be the most powerful ranged attack on the battlefield, including siege weapons.
• Spray warpfire in a cone, making them extra deadly against formations or single entities. The Warpflame debuff increases damage taken from fire attacks, strengthening almost the entire Tzeentchian army against the target.
• Low ammunition means they will inevitably end up in close-combat – they don’t excel, but they will hold their own.

SOUL GRINDER (TZEENTCH)

When a Daemon’s physical body is slain, he can surrender his true name to the Forge of Souls. The dark bargain thus sealed, his crippled essence is bound to a mighty Warp-metal hulk. Thus is he reborn as a Soul Grinder. A Soul Grinder’s clanking tread shakes the ground with every step, and it is devilishly fast for a creature its size, able to scuttle swift as a horse’s gallop, or even faster should the scent of battle touch its nostrils. Piston-driven legs thud home with sickening force, crushing to bloody paste those beneath.


Notable characteristics:

• Compared to its Soul Grinder friends in other factions, Tzeentch’s hurls a long-range, anti-large set of magic spears at any targets.
• Magical attacks ensure maximum damage, alongside armour-piercing.
• Blue, which is a cool colour.

FORCE YOUR WILL, ENACT YOUR PLAN

As a God of change, manipulation, and magic, it naturally isn’t just your armies that make the difference for Tzeentch. Machinations enacted via his campaign mechanics are just as likely to ruin an empire as the death of their generals and heroes. Of course, when all else fails – or, more likely, just as planned – warpfire, claw, and fang to the soft underbelly of mortals is likely to work.

 

[baud]

MAGIC CHANGES

Spoiler

MAGIC IN TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III – THE STORM COMETH
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III
Ben Barrett
October 29 2021

The winds of change blow through Total War: WARHAMMER III, and all your armies will feel the impact. Or, well, at least the ones with spellcasters. As part of our general update of game systems in WARHAMMER III, we’re tweaking the Winds of Magic, power reserves, casting spells, and even adding a whole new battle ruleset for particularly magical encounters in the realm of Chaos – Storm of Magic.


中文版请在我们的Bilibili专栏查看


First, let’s detail the changes we’ve made to the Winds of Magic system which, while not a full overhaul, should make using spellcasters a more enjoyable prospect with more interesting consequences and greater strategic decision making. The core is that armies will now have a variable Winds of Magic reserve pool that increases or decreases based on the strength of the winds in their area. Some examples:

• A basic, early-game starter army begins with 50 reserves of magic. It is in a region with Blowing Winds of Magic, providing +0 reserves per turn. Assuming nothing special happens, it remains that way.
• That same army moves into a region with Calm Winds of Magic, which reduces by 10 per turn. It will have 40 reserves at the start of the next turn and will continue to drop the longer it remains here. If it is a daemon-faction army, it will eventually start to receive debuffs – with the opposite true at the other end of the scale. More on that in a moment.
• Once again that army moves, presumably on some sort of marathon, into a new region, this time with Strong Winds of Magic, providing +5 per turn. It also adopts the Channeling stance, increasing it by a further +15, and is joined by a hero with the Magical Reserves skill, giving an additional +20% gain whenever the reserves are increasing. Its total bonus is +22 on the following turn, and it will cap out at 100 within the next few turns – if it finally stops moving.

Hopefully, that’s fairly clear. There are numerous other ways to increase or decrease your reserve pool, or impact your enemies – dilemmas, research, skills, items, post-battle decisions, and so on. One of the key factors, when playing daemon factions, is that even if you have no or minimal spellcasters, you’ll want to keep an eye on it for the benefits of high reserves and the drawbacks of low. Those are:

• All daemon factions receive replenishment rate, leadership, and physical resistance debuffs when at low reserves.
• At high, the buffs are campaign movement range and:
  • Tzeentch – barrier recharge speed.
    • Remember that the Winds of Magic have a lot of implications for Tzeentch and can be manipulated directly.
  • Khorne – spell resistance.
    • Note that Khorne has no spellcaster units, so this is the only real benefit for them.
  • Nurgle – melee defense.
  • Slaanesh – speed.

So, what about in battle? This reserves pool represents the amount of magic you have to draw on through the course of the fight. It slowly moves from the reserve pool to your power pool from which you directly spend it on spells. If the reserves run out you will need to either make-do with what you have or find a source of magical power on the battlefield – draining it from an enemy spellcaster with a Tzeentchian ritual, for example.


The opening, deployment-phase gamble for power from your reserves works much the same, though your total starting power is always a percentage of your starting reserves. Ergo, higher reserves, more power, no matter how bad your luck. Your reserves will return to their pre-battle level once you are back on the campaign map – this is partly for balancing and fun reasons, but also represents how the Winds of Magic are never drained, simply channeled.


But what if, just as an example, you took your army – mortal or otherwise – inside the Chaos Realms where the Winds of Magic are unpredictable and powerful? A constant roiling storm of devastation and regeneration? A Storm of Magic, if you will.


STORM OF MAGIC

Storm of Magic is a new battle ruleset for Total War: WARHAMMER III, one that is always active in the non-Khorne Chaos Realms. If you are to fight a battle there, other than a Survival or Quest battle, it will use these settings.


Straight off the bat, reserves are infinite in the Storm of Magic. How quickly you can move them to your power pool will still be important, but you will never run out of energy to channel into big booms, magical lasers, or spirits.


The Storm of Magic also changes as the battle goes on, each lore having a chance to be the next in ascendancy. Which lore is currently empowered has a number of effects, laid out below, as well as giving you access to that lore’s Cataclysm spell as an army ability, charged by any spellcasting (by either side) on the field. Once charged, the change to the next random spell lore begins to count down – you lose access to the Cataclysm spell if the lore changes before you cast it. You can only use this Cataclysm spell if your army has a spellcaster, though the passive effects of an ascendant lore are still applied without one.


Cataclysm spells are ludicrously powerful abilities that mark the end of that lore’s ascendancy once unlocked, with one cast available for each side of the battle. They include massive buffs to allied troops; huge, persistent heals; or a fair share of devastating thunderstorms and volcanic eruptions. They are, simply, not very fair.


Here’s what each lore gets. Note that there is no requirement to be using that lore on one of your spellcasters, you still get access to the passive buff and cataclysm spell so long as you have any caster. There also aren’t Cataclysm spells or special effects for every lore in the game, just those laid out below.

• Lore of Beasts
  • All units become immune to psychology and gain charge bonuses.
  • Cataclysm Spell: Merciw’s Monstrous Regiment.
    • The strength of the wild is imbued on one unit’s weapon damage, armour-piercing, melee attack, and physical resistance.
• Lore of Life
  • All units gain perfect vigour.
  • Cataclysm Spell: Storm of Renewal.
    • A tree sprouts from the ground as raw life-energy flows across the battlefield, providing a huge regeneration aura.
• Lore of Death
  • All units gain armour-piercing melee damage
  • Cataclysm Spell: Ashes & Dust.
    • A suffocating dust cloud chokes the life from enemies in a wide area after a short wind-up.
• Lore of Fire
  • All units get bonus melee attack
  • Cataclysm Spell: Magma Storm.
    • A massive eruption protrudes from the ground, burning everything in the area in magical fire.
• Lore of Heavens
  • All missile units deal extra damage and extra armour-piercing damage
  • Cataclysm Spell: Thorsen’s Thunderstorm
    • A great storm develops above the battlefield, annihilating an area with lightning bolts.
• Lore of Light
  • All units gain magical attacks and immunity to psychology.
  • Cataclysm Spell: Time Amok
    • The flow of time is altered over a portion of the battlefield, improving allies’ reload skill, speed, and melee attack.
• Lore of Metal
  • All units receive bonus armour and missile resistance
  • Cataclysm Spell: Gehenna’s Golden Globe
    • A great molten sphere emerges from the earth and rolls across enemy forces.
• Lore of Shadow
  • All units get faster charge and movement speed
  • Cataclysm Spell: Dance of Despair
    • A haunting tune envelops enemies in an area, reducing their leadership, melee defense, and melee attack.

But what of Khorne, raging against magic (as he does against everything)? His forces receive further bonuses to their natural spell resistance in a Storm of Magic, toughening against the unnatural forces around them, but not the benefits of the ascendant lore. Such is his anger at the Storm that Khorne gains the ability to summon daemons more easily, allowing for a surprise Bloodthirster should your opponent get too cocky.


On the flipside, Tzeentch’s mastery of magic means that a Tzeentch army in a Storm of Magic battle gets to pick what the first lore in ascendancy will be, making it possible to tailor their strategy. His forces also have a lot of abilities, through armies and characters, to increase the rate at which their power recharges from the reserve – making an infinite reserve quite strong.


That’s all for the Winds of Magic today. We’ll be back soon with a look at all the tasty new lores coming to WARHAMMER III, their spells and effects.

 

[Jaedar]

Meh. The big problem with magic is that having a single mage is already enough to solo many stacks, and having more than one provides almost no extra benefit.

 

[Tyrr]

Multiple mages give you a larger mana pool and higher mana regeneration in battle. Through item/followers/skills.
Some factions, like VC, want to have 3+ spell casters per army.

 

[underground nymph]

How do you micro that shit? I find it hard to keep even one caster busy.

 

[Raghar]

How do you micro that shit? I find it hard to keep even one caster busy.

I press "P" Click on all buttons and do other stuff, then press "P" again.

 

[Tyrr]

How do you micro that shit? I find it hard to keep even one caster busy.

You don't have to cast with all mages. You can cast with just one and only use Arcane Conduit and items for mana regeneration on the other mages. Don't forget to put every mage in a separate group.
You can also spread them out, so there is always a mage nearby. Vampires are great because they are both casters and good fighters (with hunger). So they are more useful than just mana batteries.

Edit: I forgot another good reason to put multiple mages into an army: Magic Detection (+magic item find)
It stacks with every mage and you will noticeably find more magic items after a battle.

 

[Jaedar]

https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-3-new-magic-lores-new-spells/

Spell viewer now actually states the damage and damage types of spells, which is the best change to magic they've shown, and they don't even draw attention to it.

 

[Tyrr]

https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-3-new-magic-lores-new-spells/

Spell viewer now actually states the damage and damage types of spells, which is the best change to magic they've shown, and they don't even draw attention to it.

TW:WH had always so many hidden stats and values, I hope they show even in WH3.
Many of these hidden stats you only learn about in the balance patch notes (like unit mass) or when they explained the changes in the new cavalry re-balance beta patch (like "collision damage modifier" or weapon reach).

 

[tabacila]

Kairos' unique faction mechanics:

Spoiler

PLAYING AS KAIROS – THE POWER OF THE FUTURE, THE PAST, AND ALL MAGIC IS WITH YOU
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III
Ben Barrett
November 3 2021

Welcome back to TotalWar.com, today we’re talking specific mechanics for a faction. In this case, Kairos Fateweaver, Legendary Lord of the Oracles of Tzeentch in Total War: WARHAMMER III. While he is, in fact, the only Legendary Lord for the Chaos God of Trickery in our opening salvo for the game, we still felt it was valuable to split this out from the general Tzeentch mechanics so you could see how things work in two batches.


中文版请在我们的Bilibili专栏查看


This article will cover the information that, in WARHAMMER II, was on the right-hand side of the screen when you selected a Legendary Lord. They are further split into faction mechanics and lord mechanics. Faction is usually discounts, in-battle abilities, or special resources that version of the race has access to. It can also be shared between two legendary lords if they represent the same faction – there are no shared factions in launch WARHAMMER III, however. Lord mechanics usually apply to the lord’s abilities, in battle or on the campaign map, as well as unique bonuses units in their armies receive.


WARHAMMER III’s launch legendary lords lay somewhere between WARHAMMER II’s launch lords and our later DLC lords in terms of complexity and unique elements. There is a lot going on in WARHAMMER III with the standard campaign mechanics, the uniqueness of the new factions and their campaign mechanics, many of which we haven’t told you about yet. However, we do want these launch lords to feel interesting and powerful even once we’ve blown the doors off with our DLC and FLC lords and their weird and wonderful capabilities. Naturally, it’s also our job to look back on this sentence in the coming years and say we were totally wrong because we made DLC and FLC way better than we expected. We’ll check in down the road and see how we’re doing.


As well as those mechanics, we also will give some information about start positions, including basic stacks and settlements. While we can’t show off the campaign map quite yet (it’s a large and surprising beaut), it should give you a little tease of what to expect and let you start building a campaign in your head.


Also, this is the first time we’re going to give some hard numbers for effects. These could change before launch, we’re still in development, and if you screencap them and put them on Reddit as definitive fact we’ll send Taurox after you.


Alright. Caveats given, ground prepared, let’s get on with it.




ORACLES OF TZEENTCH FACTION EFFECTS

• Enemy reinforcement time prediction accuracy: +100%
• Battle reinforcement time: -50%
• Hero action success chance: +15% (all characters)

Starting simple but interestingly. The first two are naturally in use whenever you’re fighting huge battles towards the end of the game with many stacks converging to determine the fate of the world. Tzeentch knows all and sees all, and is far better at positioning his forces and knowing the location of the enemy than others. Something of an invisible buff, you probably won’t realise how much this has helped when it has, but you’ll be winning suspiciously more battles than you expect. In the chaos of the broad conflicts that can happen in WARHAMMER III between multiple factions and alliances, you also may see more battles with reinforcements than you’re used to.


It’s also the first you will have seen of some changes we’ve made to how reinforcing in battles works. There is now a timer for reinforcement, determined by various factors, making it easier to take on two armies with one smaller one as they are naturally split. It also means that a tiny army backed up by a bigger one is a much less dangerous prospect, as you can win the battle before their reinforcements arrive. The Lightning Strike ability has also been modified to a three point skill and now massively increases enemy reinforcement time for the first two ranks, enabling Lightning Strike battles at the third. Finally, if you’re the one with reinforcements on the way, you can move the reinforcement marker on the map to a place of your choosing, at the cost of extra time until the reinforcements arrive.


For the other part, a hefty hero success chance boost has obvious benefits. Tzeentch heroes break down like this:

• Iridescent Horror: Assault Garrison, Assassinate, Assault Units
• Cultist of Tzeentch: Damage Walls, Wound, Hinder Replenishment

Get scheming.


KAIROS FATEWEAVER LEGENDARY LORD EFFECTS

• Can unlock unique items that can be used to customise Kairos’ spell selection
• Enemy Hero action success chance: -50%
• Ambush defence chance: +50% (Lord’s army)

Let’s just quickly deal with those latter two before we explain the former – plenty to like there, both early and late when hoping to avoid your enemy’s more deadly objectives. It also means you’re going to need to defeat Kairos in his idea of a fair fight, should you be facing him on the campaign map.


But the meat is Kairos’ ability to wield spells from various magic lores beyond his own. This is done through skill points placed into a unique row from level 11 onwards. There are no prerequisites, meaning you can choose which lores to take without caveats. Each base lore – beasts, death, fire, heavens, and so on – has its own fragment of power that can be equipped by Kairos once he has unlocked that skill. A second point can be put into each skill to decrease cooldowns and costs, as well as unlock the ‘passive’ effect while casting for each lore, when that item is equipped. These go into Kairos’ Arcane Item slot.


Each item will disable two spells from the Lore of Tzeentch and enable two spells from the chosen lore, along with their overcast variants. Here’s a rundown of each, and we’d recommend the Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki for details on the passives and spells that aren’t unique to WARHAMMER III and our spell lores blog for everything else.

• Fragment of Ghur
  • Lore: Beasts
  • Spells gained: Curse of Anraheir & Transformation of Kadon
  • Spells replaced: Glean Magic & Infernal Gateway
  • Passive: Wild Heart
• Fragment of Shyish
  • Lore: Death
  • Spells gained: Fate of Bjuna & Purple Sun of Xereus
  • Spells replaced: Treason of Tzeentch & Tzeentch’s Firestorm
  • Passive: Life Leeching
• Fragment of Aqshy
  • Lore: Fire
  • Spells gained: Piercing Bolts of Burning & Flaming Sword of Rhuin
  • Spells replaced: Glean Magic & Infernal Gateway
  • Passive: Kindleflame
• Fragment of Azyr
  • Lore: Heavens
  • Spells gained: Comet of Casandora & Curse of Midnight Wind
  • Spells replaced: Treason of Tzeentch & Tzeentch’s Firestorm
  • Passive: Roiling Skies
• Fragment of Ghyran
  • Lore: Life
  • Spells gained: Regrowth & Shield of Thorns
  • Spells replaced: Treason of Tzeentch & Tzeentch’s Firestorm
  • Passive: Life Bloom
• Fragment of Hysh
  • Lore: Light
  • Spells gained: Birona’s Timewarp & Net of Amyntok
  • Spells replaced: Treason of Tzeentch & Tzeentch’s Firestorm
  • Passive: Exorcism
• Fragment of Chamon
  • Lore: Metal
  • Spells gained: Transmutation of Lead & Final Transmutation
  • Spells replaced: Glean Magic & Infernal Gateway
  • Passive: Metalshifting
• Fragment of Ulgu
  • Lore: Shadow
  • Spells gained: Occam’s Mindrazor & Penumbral Pendulum
  • Spells replaced: Glean Magic & Infernal Gateway
  • Passive: Smoke & Mirrors

KAIROS FATEWEAVER START POSITION

Kairos starts his campaign on the border of Cathay, with a region capital in his control, a Warriors of Chaos faction – Khazag – inhabiting two of the settlements, and the minor Cathay faction Imperial Wardens in the final slot of that region. The Imperial Wardens also have an army on your borders.


Uniquely, you are not at war with Khazag and can use the Changing of the Ways to take their nearby settlement as early as turn two. On the other side lies a minor Khorne faction, Kharneth’s Sons, some more Tzeentchian followers in the Flaming Scribes, and a few native denizens of the Dark Lands. Tutorials, natural inclination, and the fact you can’t make peace will push you off towards Cathay, but those Bastion Gates are not easy targets, and the powerful armies of Miao Ying will regularly rove outside the walls to try to sack your settlements.


Well-placed walls and picking off or subjugating the other Warriors of Chaos faction, the Dreaded Wo, will serve you well. Alternatively, you could head west towards the rest of the Chaos Wastes and the fringes of Kislev or strike straight South looking for a way into Cathay from the mountains.


Kairos’ starting stack consists of himself, three units of Blue Horrors, two packs of Screamers, and one unit of Furies. It’s agile but certainly on the weaker side of starting stacks overall, and while we’ve rated it as a normal starting difficulty, you’ll certainly have to plan some good invasions and use Tzeentch’s mechanics to the fullest to make progress. Playing defensively and gathering your power to sprint up the tech-tree, as well as making some strategic alliances to your west and south, is another option.


WEAVE YOUR VICTORY, OR FALL TO THE PAST

Kairos Fateweaver is a thinking player’s legendary lord, though one just as prone to rampant savagery as intricate plans. Get you a Greater Daemon who can do both and conquer the world in early 2022 with Tzeentch.

Biggest piece of info imo is how reinforcements are being changed. Their arrival is now timed and if you win again the initial army before their reinforcements arrive you win the whole battle.

 

[razvedchiki]

haha lol, the only advantage the ai has is in numbers.

 

[baud]

a few native denizens of the Dark Lands

that'd likely to be greenskins and ogres, but do you think they'll add chaos dwarfs on release?

 

[Tyrr]

a few native denizens of the Dark Lands

that'd likely to be greenskins and ogres, but do you think they'll add chaos dwarfs on release?

I first though Chaos Dwarfs would be the pre-order DLC. But after they already put Snotlings and Ogres in WH2, it must be Ogre Kingdoms.

 

[tabacila]

Yeah, I'd be really surprised if the 'surprise' pre-order dlc race isn't Ogres.