You can choose from five factions: The Empire, Dwarfs, Greenskins, Vampire Counts, and Chaos Warriors. Each faction has its own corresponding campaign map, where real-time battles take place against other factions and hostile clans.
This guide will give you some important hints on how to win battles during some of the hardest campaigns in the game: Greenskins, Vampires, and Chaos Warriors.
Greenskins Campaign Tips and Tricks
Orks and Goblins struggle the most against Dwarfs, who have so much armor and attack power that they easily bypass the cavalry charges from the side of Greenskins. Another issue is the proper management of economy that can make it hard for you to wage battles on two fronts of north and south, if not addressed properly.
Here are specific steps you need to apply, if you have trouble dealing with Dwarfs. The early game will take a few turns before you can set up your faction in a good position:
First, you need to set up a cavalry building in your capital and upgrade the basic units.
Send your first three units to battle against a rival Ork clan. And generally, fight in the early game as much as you can in order to get the “Waaagh!” as soon as possible.
Travel to Iron Rock and start building up your Goblin Wolf Rider cavalry.
Head to north-east for the final battle with the rival Ork clan and recruit three more units.
Now, you should have enough money to get another leader, who will keep the rest of the Orks in order.
Your next battle will be against Dwarven Gyrocopters and you should have “Waaagh!” by that moment, as well.
Start the battle with the archers and then send in the melee troops. The battle will be hard, so you will need to keep healing regularly and use your “Waaagh!” to finally take the settlement.
After the battle is over, the main Dwarf clan will notice you and send their troops to give you a hug… no, not really, they’ll be slashing you. So take your time to prepare for the next exhausting battle. Here is some general advice:
Before entering the battle with Dwarfs, head back to south and fight some rival Orks for more resources and upgrades.
After that, you can go back to fight the main Dwarven army. This is where your “Waaagh!” may play a significant role.
The best way to use “Waaagh!” is to put your enemy in the circle and wait for the end of your turn – this is when “Waaagh!” will be truly effective, although may seem a bit slow.
Since your army will keep growing and you will keep recruiting more trolls, the management of such army will get expensive. For this reason, you need to set up a few settlements on your way and finish quests in order not to go bankrupt.
Put enough points in your Leadership traits, as Orks and Goblins tend to quickly lose any respect for authorship, and may quickly disband if your leader isn’t convincing enough.
Vampire Counts Campaign Tips and Tricks
Vampires may have a few distinct weaknesses, such as a complete lack of ranged troops, but on the other hand, they can be absolutely devastating on the battlefield. That is why in order to succeed in this difficult campaign you need to include more melee units and have a strong focus on magic.
As always, your early turns will require you to make your first essential choices, such as the choice of a leader and which units to build. Here are a few tips for the beginning of the Vampire Counts campaign:
The best vampire leader is the Legendary Lord Mannfred von Carnstein. He is both very good at melee and magic – two of the most important features in this campaign.
Your two main spells should be “Life Leech” and “Invocation of Nakash,” and your special recruitment option “Raise Dead” will allow you to bring your dead troops back to life.
For your first few battles you can use Varghulf and Ghouls. Later on you’ll be able to recruit more troops consisting of Skeletons and Direwolves, but don’t get too carried away with Zombies, as they are essentially useless.
For your first serious battle against the undead at the settlements adjacent to your capital, you will need to put your Zombie troops forward to distract the enemies, while you summon your “Life Leech” spell on the enemy hero.
Then, follow up with your Varghulf and Skeletons to surround the enemy and charge with your troops once again for the victory.
In order to keep succeeding in this campaign, you need to sustain your economic position. This means that you need to conquer as many cities as you can, such as Eschen and Templehof. After that comes the army of Chaos, and this is how you should prepare yourself:
You need to move fast and conquer rich provinces, such as Reikland and Marienburg. These will allow you to build another strong army capable of holding off the Warriors of Chaos.
Then, you will encounter the battle of the Greenskins vs. Dwarfs. There, you will have to choose the side that you want to support.
Keep buffing up your hero’s Survivability and Combat skills. Also, upgrade your Grave Guards and Black Knights – probably two of the most important units for your late game.
If you’re suddenly low on money, build Necromancer Towers and Vampire Crypts for the additional income bonuses.
Chaos Warriors Campaign Tips and Tricks
Chaos Warriors are a bit like Vampire Counts – they have some weaknesses, but their unique strengths compensate them in full amount. Out of three available Chaos Lords, you should always pick up Kholek Suneater, as he is practically undefeatable.
Kholek can be significantly upgraded throughout the campaign. Your first and foremost task is to make him immune to attacks, thus put all effort into buffing his defense skills, such as Storm Rage, Lord of the Storm, Eye of the Gods and others.
Then, proceed to develop the rest of his build with such skills like Tribes of Chaos and Lightning Strike, which is very effective against stacks of enemies.
The strategy with Kholek differs greatly from the rest of the campaigns, where your leader usually moves forward after the first few waves of troops. In the case of the Chaos leader, you send him first to break down the stacked formations and then single out the rest with your infantry.
However, choosing the right leader is not enough to succeed in the Warriors of Chaos campaign, so here’s how you should approach the rest:
First, recruit Marauders and upgrade your city.
Then, head to Baerlingson’s Camp and attack it. After the battle you will receive an option to Awaken Tribe, which will allow you to earn a strong ally.
After that move towards Frozen Landing. After encamping this settlement, you will need to upgrade your city once again and recruit more Marauders.
Attack and sack Frozen Landing multiple times until you can recruit your first Giants, and then Shaggoths and Hellcannons.
As for the economics management, you will have enough Favour to spend, so use it to bribe other tribes, as this will significantly boost your Lord’s leadership.
The campaigns will never go as smooth as they should, so always leave room for improvisation. Sometimes the AI can get really aggressive very early in the game, so you shouldn’t worry too much about finishing all the quests in one sitting. Just be patient and carefully calculate your next moves towards final victory.
What other tips on the most difficult campaigns in Total War: Warhammer can you share? Leave them in the comments section below.
