Total War: Warhammer 3, the final installment in The Creative Assembly's grand strategy trilogy, is launching next month. The third game will feature a brand-new map, with many new factions and units for players to master. Total War: Warhammer 3 dives deeper than ever into the vast depths of Warhammer lore, bringing players into close contact with the terrible Chaos Gods for the first time.
The Chaos Gods, also known as the Ruinous Powers, are four uniquely-powerful daemonic deities, both created and sustained by the fears and passions of the mortal world. They are Nurgle, Khorne, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh, and each has their own philosophy, goals, and armies. In Total War: Warhammer 3, players will be able to fight for a Chaos God by playing as their daemonic champion.
- Nurgle: Ku'gath Plaguefather
- Khorne: Skarbrand
- Tzeentch: Kairos Fateweaver
- Slaanesh: N'Kari
The Chaos factions are nothing like the mortal empires of Cathay and Kislev, and each of the Ruinous Powers will play very differently in the game. To understand how to win victory for them, players will need to learn each God's goals and specialties.
Nurgle, the Lord of Pestilence
Nurgle is the most ancient of the Dark Gods, the embodiment of death, decay, and disease. He is most often depicted as an immense, rotting hulk, with rolls of decaying flesh, weeping sores, and flies swarming around his broken antlers. His symbol is a triangle made of three circles, representing his lordship over the eternal cycle of birth, suffering, and death.
Of all the Chaos Gods, Nurgle is the most cheerful and affectionate, and he takes great pleasure in spreading the "gifts" of his plagues into the mortal world. His daemons inherit this generous personality, and often struggle to understand why mortals try to stop them spreading Nurgle's blessings. New converts to Nurgle are normally lured by the promise of escape from suffering, as although Nurgle's followers are as susceptible to his diseases as anyone, they are only strengthened by their corruption and feel nothing even as their bodies decay.
The Plague Lord's armies revel in their patron's blessings of filth and disease, and go into battle knowing that the love of Grandfather Nurgle is with them. Due to their infested, plague-ridden bodies, daemons and cultists of Nurgle are some of the toughest units in the Warhammer universe. In Total War: Warhammer 3 this will manifest as huge HP values and often health regeneration. This - combined with Nurgle's generous use of poison and disease - turns every battle against the Lord of Pestilence into a drawn-out war of attrition.
Khorne, the Blood God
Khorne is the second eldest of the Chaos Gods, and quite possibly the strongest. Also known as the Blood God or the Lord of Murder, Khorne is the embodiment of rage, war, honor, courage, and hatred. He is most often depicted as a vast, winged warrior clad in titanic brass armor, seated on a throne of skulls. In his gauntleted hand he clutches a sword that could split nations, while at his feet an endless battle rages in his name.
It's often said that Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, only that it flows. He is the least subtle of the Chaos Gods, as his only goal is to bathe the world in battle and bloodshed. His daemons and mortal followers devote themselves to this creed, and worship the Blood God through mindless violence and the glory of victory.
Khorne's armies are a red tide of mortal berserkers, blood-soaked mechanical constructs, and daemons born only for war. Magic is anathema to Khorne, who considers it dishonorable, making him the second faction in Total War: Warhammer to not have any wizards. Ranged weaponry is also a rarity in Khorne's armies, as being in the thick of the melee is itself a tribute to the Blood God. Players who take the side of Khorne in Total War: Warhammer 3 will rely on brute strength, heavy armor, and martial fury to overcome their opponents.
Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways
By far the most enigmatic of the Chaos Gods, Tzeentch is the embodiment of magic, destiny, lies, change, and trickery. The Changer of Ways has no established manifestation, as his alien, formless nature means that every mortal and daemon perceives him differently. However, the daemons that follow him often take on Lovecraftian forms, with tentacled monstrosities, avian freaks, and ever-mutating beasts being common.
The polar opposite of Khorne, Tzeentch touches the Warhammer world with a subtle hand, guiding and manipulating the fate of empires for his own inscrutable amusement. His followers often devote themselves to mastering magic, and use it both to ensnare new followers and to devastate the battlefield. It's impossible to guess the true plans of the Changer of Ways, and his disciples are wound up in a million conflicting plots and schemes.
The armies of Tzeentch in Total War: Warhammer 3 are both empowered and protected by the magic of their patron. All units in his faction receive a protective barrier to absorb damage, which charges quickly out of combat. This allows a player dedicated to Tzeentch to mitigate the squishiness of their ranged and magic-heavy army through hit-and-run tactics. While fast-moving Screamers and Discs of Tzeentch harass the enemy, they are vulnerable to the magical fire of Horrors, Flamers, and the terrible Lords of Change.
Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure
The youngest of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh only manifested after civilization had advanced far enough to indulge in his spheres of excess, pleasure, passion, and decadence. Slaanesh is most often depicted as a beautiful and androgynous young man or woman: lithe, effortlessly elegant, and infinitely seductive.
Slaanesh rejects the destruction and decay of Khorne and Nurgle, preferring instead to spur mortals on to ever greater feats of indulgence and decadence. As such, Slaanesh is more closely involved in the politics of mortal nations like Kislev than any other Chaos God. This is reflected in Total War: Warhammer 3 by having Slaanesh be the only daemon faction with full diplomacy options, as well as the ability to set up cults in courts across the world.
However, it would be a mistake to assume that Slaanesh's focus on pleasure and indulgence makes his armies weak on the battlefield. The perfection of the art of killing, the incredible emotions tied up in death and murder, are equally cherished by the Dark Prince. In the battles of Total War: Warhammer 3, Slaanesh's armies are as deadly as they are elegant, striking with incredible speed while their beguiling and distracting nature confuses and entraps the enemy. At the same time, the many cults of Slaanesh are at work both on and off the battlefield, allowing cities to be taken without a fight, and enemy units to be tempted into swapping sides.
Whichever of the Chaos Gods players choose to serve, they will challenge both the mortal world and the other Gods for supremacy. In the name of decay, blood, fate, or decadence, only one can reign supreme.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is launching on February 17 for PC.