Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons of Chaos

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This is the general tactics page on how to play Daemons of Chaos in Total War: WARHAMMER.

Why Play Daemons of Chaos?

  • Because why choose between flavors of Daemons when you can have all of them?
  • Why would the denizens of damnation require mortal assistance to destroy the world?
  • It's not everyday we get a bad guy faction that is actually reasonably flexible so this is a nice change of pace.
  • Hey, what other factions lets you wreck the world with your perfect OC?
  • You're really loyal to the 8th edition army book
  • You really like playing dress up with your lord
  • When you want to play as "Chaos" you want your army to look like multicolored vomit from beyond the ken of man
  • Because you wanted some more time with the guy from the prologue cause let's be real, the story of the prologue campaign is more interesting than the main campaign.

Pros

  • Flexibility: Easily the biggest advantage this faction has over the Monogods. Since you have the Daemons from every god, you can actually pick and choose what kind of tactics you want to go for instead of going all out in one department. So if you want to rep Daemons but not get immediately counter picked because you picked Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle or Slaanesh this is the faction for you.
  • Unbreakable: What the fuck is going to scare you when you're literally a Daemon? Most of your units crumble instead of running away.
  • Terror: Fear and terror are going to be very common across your roster because, you know, literally crawled out of the pits of hell. Factions like Skaven or Beastmen who have leadership problems will find their forces running a ton.
  • Quality: Your units are all very good at what they do, and as such you have some very strong elite options that can fill out numerous holes in your roster. There really isn't a department that anyone can say you're weak in.
  • Resistances: Ward saves, physical resistance and magic resistance abound in this army. You can't throw a rock without hitting something that's resistant to some type of damage.
  • Everyone is here!: You are the only non DLC race that released with your entire 8th edition army book ready to go at launch. Your roster is MASSIVE, especially compared to your other game 3 counterparts and you have so many options to butcher your enemies with. Plus, no DLCS to worry about pay to win bullshit in multiplayer.
  • Garrisons: You have two garrison boosting building options for every settlement, stack both of these and you end up with unusually strong garrisons that can often beat AI armies solo, or easily crush them with an army garrisoned as well. helpful with the amount of enemies you face.
  • Doomstacks: Go undivided and you have access to all the elite units (soul grinders, greater demons etc) of all 4 factions, you also can get AOE healing on a flying mount from a Nurgle herald. Combine those and you have the possibly the deadliest single entity Doomstacks in the game currently. Undivded dedications is strongly recommended. Alternatively since all your hero's come from tier 3 buidlings you can pull off hero Doomstacks, and all 4 of your heroes are quite good in their role.

Cons

  • Lack of Specialization: The downside to trying to appease all the gods at once is you don't get quite as good in any one department as going Monogod. Khorne will out fight you, Tzeentch will out magic you, Nurgle will out last you and Slaanesh will out run you. Add on to the fact that you don't get any of the Exalted Greater Daemons or Mortals in multiplayer (and must specially recruit them in single player) and you can feel how much they outweigh you in certain ways. If you only want to play one playstyle, you'd be better off with Monogods.
  • Lack of Armor: Evidently armor is hard to come by in the Realm of Chaos. Aside from a few options (mainly from Khorne) armor values are pretty low so missiles might be a bit of a problem if you can't shut them down.
  • Expensive: As is the trend with factions that have a ton of high quality stuff, price points might be a bit high. While you do have some chaff in the form of Nurglings and Blue Horrors, expect to go into most fights outnumbered.
  • Multiplayer limitations: This isn't an issue in campaign, but your multiplayer battle armies are daemon only clubs. No mortals need apply. Also, I hope you like Daniel because daemon princes are your only lord choice. No exalted greater daemons or daemon herald lords allowed.
  • Lack of Updates: You know how most factions get major updates alongside DLC? And you know how you have your entire roster? Yeah... While some balances changes are inevitable, don't expect big additions to your roster in the form of DLC. Though we may get some of the DLC units of the Monogod factions, if we're lucky that is.
    • Exceptions may apply if CA gives Daemons of chaos pieces of DLC made for the dedicated gods. So if Khorne get's a DLC pack then Daemons might get a unit or two at the same time from that pack, but that is pure speculation.
  • Hard as FUCK: You are a demon so every single mortal hates you and is at war with you the moment they see you. Unlike the other daemons legendary lords who get some breathing room by starting either surrounded by demons (Skarband and N'kari) or at war with just one mortal faction (Kairos and ku'gath), you start at war with an empire province , kislev and wood elves and dwarfs and pretty close to them to boot, who will send waves after waves at you. Your only respite is with the Norscan tribes and beastmen you can talk with.

Universal Traits

  • Daemonic: Undead with extra steps, really. Once your daemonic units lose enough leadership, they'll begin to lose health and fade back into the Warp in the same vein that undead units crumble away. The good news is that even if your daemons are doomed to evaporate, they'll at least stick in and fight to the last model.
  • Barrier: All Tzeentch daemons have two health pools; their regular health pool, and their Barrier health pool. As long as some of the barrier is left, it will absorb the damage of anything that hits the unit. It probably won't be too big, but it'll be enough to buy your troops some time to do what they need to do. It recharges when out of combat, so it encourages a hit and run ranged style of combat for your ranged units.
  • Cloud of Flies: A trait shared by all Nurgle daemons. As they stay in melee combat they actively gain Melee Defense, encouraging you to let them grind it out against the enemy.
  • Devastating Flanker:most of your Slaaneshi daemons have this special ability which doubles their charge bonus when attacking an enemy unit from the flank or rear.
  • Hellblade: Some (not all) of your Khorne daemons get this ability, which gives them 20% base and AP damage when they get 60 kills. Designed to reward you for being aggressive with your units with more damage. It'll be easier to get this off on squishy swarm factions (you'll get this fighting Skaven in no time) than smaller tank factions (good luck getting this fighting Dwarfs or especially Lizardmen and Woodelves with all their single-entity beatsticks), although it might be reworked to relate to damage instead of raw kills, anything else would make fighting especially against Ogres a nightmare.
  • Reign of Chaos: As your lord deals damage a meter on the right hand side of the screen fills up, unlocking three different abilities at three tiers. This meter can fill up more than once, meaning that as long as you keep dealing damage you can unlock these abilities pretty much endlessly. Unlike the other Chaos God factions, who have three set tiers of abilities, your army abilities randomly select from the army abilities of the other four Chaos Gods. You never know exactly what you'll get, only that it will be one of the four abilities for that tier.

Lords

Legendary Lords

  • God-Slayer: Customisable daemonic version of Lich King. You can customize not just the look, but the playstyle of him depending on which Chaos God (or Gods) you decide to worship. Looks alone aren't everything though. Each item you can customize also impacts the God-Slayer's stats and abilities. Should you take the Chaos Undivided route, you get access to the entire roster of all 4 gods (there seems to be a myth floating around that you don’t get certain units, that’s untrue, you get the entire roster for every god as undivided) to form the rank and file of your armies. What you lack in specialization you more than make up for in versatility. Keep in mind your tech boosts are not as strong at boosting some units as a monogod faction can be. Dedication to a specific god gives fairly minor benefits compared to just going undivided, as you still get access to tons of god gifts for all 4 gods. Think carefully before dedicating to only one, because you still dont have the faction specific techs the monogod factions do.
Be warned that he isn't very strong in raw stats unless you build in a specific direction, and because he has no skill tree he makes a mediocre caster unless you go full dedicated Tzeentch, and even then a hero is probably a better dedicated caster. Sadly, as fun as it is to mix and match in theory, practically speaking you really want to focus on one area with your parts and stick to it if you expect him to compete with other lords. As a default I recommend mostly khorne if you want high durability and melee power (strangely khorne parts tend to make you tougher than nurgle parts). The nurgle wings and khorne/tzeentch tails which cause DOT in melee are particularly good.
  • Be'lakor: Confirmed to be a LL for the Daemons of Chaos, he can be unlocked in campaign and custom battle by beating the single player campaign. Also confirmed to have his own faction when Immortal Empires launches

Generic Lords

-Heralds at lvl 15 can be switched to exalted greater demons but they loose slightly over half their levels to do so, you may sometimes be better off not upgrading. GUO are somewhat underwhelming in particular.

  • Daemon Prince Undivided:
  • Daemon Prince of Khorne:
  • Herald of Khorne: A melee focused lord who can be mounted on a Bloodcrusher or Blood Throne and has various AoE buffing abilities that boost the killiness of nearby units. - can be leveled into an exalted bloodthirsty at level 15
  • Daemon Prince of Nurgle:
  • Herald of Nurgle: A slow and tanky hybrid lord with either the Lore of Death or the Lore of Nurgle. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or a Palanquin of Nurgle.- can turn to an exalted great unclean one at level 15- but I dont recommend it, honestly a flying spellcaster is probably more useful than a GUO.
  • Daemon Prince of Tzeentch:
  • Herald of Tzeentch: A dedicated caster lord with access to either the Lore of Metal or the Lore of Tzeentch. Can be mounted on a Disc of Tzeentch or a Burning Chariot, both of which give him added range attacks. - level 15 turn into lord of change option
  • Daemon Prince of Slaanesh:
  • Herald of Slaanesh: A fast and deadly hybrid lord with either the Lore of Slaanesh or the Lore of Shadows. Can be mounted on a Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot. Has the Devastating Flanker ability, as well as Loci buffs for nearby units. - level 15 turn in exalted keeper of secrets

Generic Heroes

  • Alluress: A hybrid hero with the Lore of Slaanesh and/or Shadow magic along with AP in melee. Your only hero choice with the Devastating Flanker ability. Can ride the Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot. Have selectable locus abilities and poison and magical attacks on all mounts. fragile but deadly.
  • Bloodreaper: He appears to be a combat/support character for going around murdering groups of infantry while also giving offensive buffs to your units. He can ride both a Juggernaut and a Blood Throne, making him a strong mobile threat. With AP and anti infantry he's a scary melee character that can also give other units a helping hand. Has an ability that gives 66% spell resistance to nearby allies, so a useful against magic heavy armies like Tzeentch or the Vampire Counts. or you can pick a locus to boost weapon damage or melee attack. Amusingly every single skill in his combat tree boosts weapon damage in addition to a secondary stat. They get insane weapon damage leveled and equipped with good gear.
  • Iridescent Horror: A more dedicated wizard hero, and also your only ranged hero. They have some Loci abilities that allow them to buff troops in combat without using magic. They come with the Lores of Metal and Tzeentch and can mount up on a Disk and a Burning Chariot. On the chariot he comes with a missile attack, allowing him to be pretty decent at kiting enemies. lore options aren't great but they can get a very powerful winds recharge skill to act as a winds battery if you dont want to use their own spells.
  • Plagueridden: Another hybrid hero with the Lore of Nurgle/Death and a lot more survivable in melee than the Alluress. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or Palanquin of Nurgle. locus can do damage over time, or heal. Possibly the most useful lore options for many army setups as both death and nurgle are great, if using monsters then the nurgle AOE heal is amazing. spirit leech always great too on any flying mage. like all nurgle applies poison.

Units

Infantry

  • Chaos Warriors of Khorne: slower but heavily armored infantry in sword and board, dual axe, and halberd variants. slower and more defensive than your demon troops, if desperate for shields then the basic are good, but dual axe wont keep up with exalted demons in infantry killing power, halberd are your only anit-large troop with charge defense and AP so are a useful and viable niche unit all game long.
  • Blue Horrors of Tzeentch: Horrors will have a flaming range attack to pepper enemies from afar, though they will likely be the worse of the lesser daemons in combat (not that they will be useless). They will serve as your chaff infantry, meant to throw off some magic volleys then run in and die to hold for your more important troops. The range attack is meant more so as a precursor attack before charging into melee, especially since they only have 5 ammo. probably not going to see much use for legion, you have better screening units.
  • Bloodletters: Your mid tier Khornate unit, meaning that unlike Furies these guy might actually kill what they're fighting. They wield great swords with fire, magical, AP damage and anti-infantry, so they're really good at busting through armored infantry. As Daemons they're also unbreakable and contain nice defensive buffs, which is good because 30 armour isn't great. They will likely be your cheapest source of AP in the infantry fight, which will make them highly desirable when fighting heavy armor. a good reliable troop choice to build an army around, well rounded and deadly. Easier to use than Demonettes.
  • Exalted Bloodletters: Bloodletters plus. They're a very similar unit only just much better at the job but also much more expensive. These guys will let you carve through more elite options than your standard Bloodletters can. many guides have called these the best troops in the game so far, they can take any infantry unit in the game head on and win.
  • Daemonettes: Very fast, very AP heavy, and very squishy Daemonic infantry unit. Roughly equivalent to Wardancers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Has Devastating Flanker. Worse than bloodletters in frontal fights but better on the flank, performance depends heavily on how well they are used used. in legion lists you may be better off with seekers or chariots from Slaanesh as they have better speed, charge and poison.
  • Exalted Daemonettess: Faster, killier, sexier Daemonettes. Roughly equivalent to Bladesingers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Have the Devastating Flanker and Soulscent passive abilites.
  • Nurglings: The first real swarm unit in the game. While there are technically only 60 models in a unit, those models consist of roughly 5-6 Nurglings meaning there's roughly 300 of these little shits in the same unit. In terms of use, they're chaff and look to be damn good chaff at that. They have Vanguard in order to block the enemy attack and mostly just exist to waste the enemy time and wear them down. fast, vanguard deploying chaff unit with poison. tarpit with these then charge in your Demonettes and Bloodletters.
  • Plaguebearers: The tank to your Daemonettes and Bloodletter's spank. As slow as zombies and minimally armored, but decent melee stats, regeneration/poison, and a fuckheug HP pool means they'll hold for ages and grind most basic infantry to dust through attrition. keep in mind they are too slow to keep up with your faster units, if you want mobility maybe use Nurglings in their role instead. or if you want box tactics use then to guard pink horrors while they rain fire on the enemy.
  • Exalted Plaguebearers: Aside from being a standard upgrade, they have the ability to throw a smaller versions of the Plague Drone’s Death’s Heads at foes as they approach, similar to Dwarf Miners and Chameleon Stalkers.

Missiles

  • Pink Horrors of Tzeentch: Upgrades to the blue guys. Has a better flaming range attack, and actually decent melee stats. Sadly, it has been confirmed that they will not split into Blue Horrors upon death. Will likely replace Blue Horrors once you have the money for them, as they do everything that they do but way better.
  • Exalted Pink Horrors of Tzeentch: And the Pink Horrors will be replaced by these guys. They come with insane ranged damage, out damaging the elite skirmishers of other factions, and increase the Winds of Magic recharge rate for your army as long as they're alive. This will be one of your likely Doomstacks in the late game, as strong missiles combined with extra magic is something no one will want less of. low AP on the ranged attack, but with a missile damage of 35 heavily armored units still won't like being hit by these guys.

Cavalry and Chariots

  • Plague Drone: Same as Nurgle, your armor piercing flying cavalry. Comes in two variants, standard melee (essentially an upgrade of rot flies) and a ranged version that tosses Death’s Heads at their foes. you have two flying non-monster options as legion, Nurgle or Tzeentch. These offer poison and some ranged power, with decent melee ability. but late game a blood thirster or unit of doom knights may out compete them.
  • Bloodcrusher: An angry Daemon riding a Robo-Rhino. Well armored and has an Anti Infantry bonus.
  • Blood Shrine of Khorne: A support oriented single entity chariot. Tt will likely be the weakest of the motorcycle Khorne units in combat but will provide leadership and melee attack buffs to nearby units. Plus, it heals while it's in melee so the poorer melee stats won't be the worst thing in the world for it as it'll be hard to bring down. not really very good, not tough or killy enough late game and their buff aura is kinda weak.
  • Burning Chariot: A flying ranged focused chariot that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the entire game. It can apparently shred monsters but has low armor and ammo to compensate. basically a better exalted flamer with flight, its ranged attack doesn't have a ton of AOE so its usually better vs single entities, and very low model units. if you only wants one of these consider just using a herald on one instead. or having a herald lead 1-2 more as a hero/lord/monster sniping team.
  • Pox Rider: Essentially just an upgrade to the Plague Toads, only with Plaguebearers on top of them instead. lack luster for legion, everything they can do is better done by other units.
  • Seekers: Extremely fast light cavalry, unfortunately they don’t even have any armour, so cycle charging might be your best strategy when using them. Has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment, making them well suited for getting right up in the face of range-heavy armies. also provide poison which is great. can be used instead of demonettes as flanking units in a legion list due to greater speed, charge, and poison.
  • Heartseekers: Named after the unit champion of Seekers, these things are most likely meant to be a straight upgrade. Unlike your regular Seekers these guys have the Soulscent passive ability which increases their armour piercing and melee attack capability when within range of an enemy unit with morale wavering or lower. Also has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment.
  • Seeker Chariot: A low model chariot unit with poison and Devastating Flanker. Super fast for a chariot but probably even more brittle when trapped in prolonged melee.
  • Hellflayer: Essentially acts as a giant lawnmower, able to plough through infantry. Unfortunately it’s a wide target so might get singled out by ranged fire. Has Devastating Flanker but unlike the other chariots this one also has the Soulscent ability.
  • Exalted Seeker Chariot: An extremely fast but extremely fragile single-entity chariot that will mow down any heavily armored infantry it comes across. Has Poison, Perfect Vigour, and Devastating Flanker.
  • Doom Knights: flying monstrous cavalry with good stats and high armor, though at this level you have to ask if a Bloodthirster or Lord of change is better for a similar roll. use as hit and run to maximize their barrier.
  • Skullcrushers: deadlier and tougher than Bloodcrushers with better stats and less focused on infantry killing, not immune to morale but unlikely to lose many fights. more expensive though. probably better overall than the crushes due to more killing power and versatility.

War Beasts

  • Chaos Furies (Undivided): Basically Chaos Furies who incorporate aspects from all the chaotic factions, with a preference depending on which side you are currently favoring.
  • Flesh Hounds: They share the same speed as normal Warhounds (95) but have a much smaller model count per unit but are much stronger and tougher. They also have magic resistance of 50% like Furies do. They seem to inhabit that space of smaller war hound units from Drycha and the Norscans, and act as light cavalry. You have better light cav from slaanesh and flying cav from nurgle, not sure these have a great use for legion.
  • Screamers of Tzeentch: flying ap anti-large harassers, with barrier of course, good early but should be replaced later on. need to be micro'ed for maximum effectiveness.

Monsters

  • Soul Grinder of Tzeentch: This thing channels the power of Zeus to chuck lightning bolts from its hands that do AP and Anti Large damage. It seems to be a very versatile unit as it can deal with large units from afar and still deal some good damage up close. It also has magic attacks, so it will also be hitting for most of its damage. Still pretty decent in melee, but it's the Anti Large range attacks you want this thing for. Their ranged attack is ok but has low ammo, honestly I think they are the least useful soul grinder but still good.
  • Soul Grinder of Khorne: A tanky cannon platform that can fire while moving. It also comes with a scattergun that does 800 damage with 120 range. The Khorne soul grinder can chop up the Tzeentch + Nurgle variants in melee, but gets it's ass handed to it by the Slaanesh version who traded the cannon away for anti-large choppy power.
  • Soul Grinder of Nurgle: Looks and acts like a 40K Plague Hulk, only replace the sword with a claw. It's good, anti infantry artillery and good melee power plus toughness.
  • Soul Grinder of Slaanesh: A purely melee version of the Soul Grinder with 75 speed, anti-large, and lots of armour piercing damage. compare and contrast with greater demons, I'd usually take a Bloodthirster or Keeper of secrets over this personally. but still good. Tougher than either greater demon but less mobile.
  • Flamers of Tzeentch: A mobile flamethrower unit that can pump out ludicrous damage to targets. Apparently still ok in melee, though don't expect them to last long against most dedicated melee units. They require good positioning to use effectively, especially since they only have 10 ammo. Notably it's the first flamethrower unit that has AP damage, which might signal some hope for things like Irondrakes or Warp Fire Throwers.
  • Exalted Flamer: A single entity purple version that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the game, able to deal heavy damage to elite units and single entities. Downside is that it has very limited ammo, so every shot has to count. It also applies Fire weakness in both melee and ranged, allowing it to set up your other unit to do more damage to the enemy.
  • When shooting, it fires a single stream of fire that hurts anything it hits, but doesn't "splash". It's good against single entities, or really bunched up infantry.
  • Burning chariots are this but flying so pretty much a straight upgrade.
  • Burning Chariot: an exalted flamer on a flying chariot. Much, much better than if it was "on foot".
  • One difference as well is that it has crazy animations (colission attacks) when in melee, such as flying straight up and crashing back down. Animations aren't just for looking pretty, but affect how many models you hit/can hit you back. Does it mean you should keep it in melee? No, absolutely not, but it does mean that they're not totally useless.
  • Minotaur's of Khorne: Or "Khornatuars" as stated in the blog reveal (Khornbulls sound better, don't at me). Compared to normal minotaurs these guys will have way heavier armor and will get stronger as they gain more kills, meaning they are designed more for sustained combat than the hit and run style of the Beastmen version. They come in a dual axe version for anti infantry and a great weapon version for anti large. The dual axe variant may be kinda redundant with your exalted bloodletters or blood/skull crushers for infantry killing. The great weapon variant definitely will butcher large enemies but ask yourself if a halberd chaos warrior wouldn’t be tougher and more cost effective. Use with care, they are expensive and have small unit sizes. Great speed if you want mobile antilarge, But bloodthirsters do mobile anti large even better. Good but hard to find a place for versus other units potentially.
  • Fiend of Slaanesh: Imagine faster and bigger Rat Ogres with poison and you’ll get the idea. Able to keep up with the rest of your forces, but unfortunately have just as much armour as other Slaaneshi daemons. Has the Sophoric Musk passive ability which lowers enemy melee defense and melee attack. good flanking monstrous infantry unit.
  • Lord of Change A flying bird that is said to be a full spellcaster. In campaign there are technologies that can unlock more spells for them, but game footage so far shows that in multiplayer they're limited to the Blue Fire of Tzeentch and the Pink Fire of Tzeentch. they arent good spellcaster though due to lacking overcast and cost reductions. It is a decent monster in melee, though don't expect it to go toe to toe with a Bloodthirster any time soon. in undivided armies not as useful because you lack the magic buffing technologies the monogod faction can get and ways to boost their barrier. They are ok but I cant see any situation where a Bloodthirster wouldn't be better. you can just use iridescent horrors on mounts if you want a flying mage. best used as hit and run to take advantage of barrier.
  • Bloodthirster: The smaller, more accessible version of its Exalted cousin. It trades a lot of the scary combat stats in return for Anti Large, making it more of a dedicated monster fighter. Aside from that, it functions as a cheaper version of the Exalted lord version. tough, deadly, fast, probably the easiest greater demon to use for undivided, and with a nurgle herald healing will never die.
  • Rotflies: Riderless Rotflies. They appear to be melee only, using their flight speed and armour piercing to harass enemy back lines.
  • Plague Toads: A surprising addition from the Forge World Throne of Chaos book, but a cool one non the less. Fairly slow, being giant amphibians and all, but have a very high charge bonus and do well against infantry. probably avoid, legion has better ant infantry options from slaanesh and khorne.
  • Great Unclean One: Nurgle's big bulbous boys of mass and rot capable of withstanding the blast from a hell cannon and shrug it off. These jolly green giants are casters of the lore of Nurgle and the massive swords they wield can shear through armour. like lords of change they aren't as useful in undivided as they are for pure Nurgle due to lacking some powerful tech buffs and they cant keep up with many faster units you're likely to use in an undivided force. highly vulnerable to ranged and low maneuverability. probably skip, a Nurgle soul grinder is much more versatile and can play a similar role.
  • Keeper of Secrets: Slaanesh's Greater Daemon unit is fast, has lots of weapon strength and armor piercing, as well as Blissful Rapture, Devastating Flanker, and Strider. Can cast two spells from the Lore of Slaanesh: Lash of Slaanesh and Acquiescence. Will likely be a powerful duelist character but will struggle with dealing with hordes compared to the other Greater Daemons. Probably more powerful for undivided than for pure Slaanesh because while they dont have the same tech buffs they can be healed by Nurgle heralds which can pretty much eliminates their relative fragileness. great flankers and duelists. You need to use their speed, mass, and devastating flanker ability to hit and run targets for best affect.

Artillery

  • Skull Cannon: Your only artillery option, not counting the soul grinders. It has good range and damage, and its mobility allows it to keep itself safe from enemy ranged and cavalry that try to take it out. Plus, if something does get its hands on it, it'll be hard to kill with its high armor and ability to regenerate in melee. With good micro this thing has to potential to be frustrating as hell to play against. Of course, it has only 18 melee defense so if something does catch it it might take some hits, but they'll have to actually catch the damn thing first. If it runs out of ammo it can replenish it by killing enemies in melee.

Campaign Strategies

You start off in Norsca at war with Nordland, a nearby Norscan tribe and Kostaltyn.

It would be wise to maintain a non-agression pact with Skarbrand so he doesn't curbstomp you. . . although you start with it, a stable diplomacy with him may be easier said then done with the most bloodthirsty bloodthirster to ever thirst for blood in all of space and time, maybe think about dedicating to Khorne above the others.

Expand you territory towards the Kislevite factions while waiting for the Rifts.

Early on, you will get a mission to take the Bay of Blades, just ignore this. Taking the settlement will make you discover Laurelorn Forest, which is a bad idea unless you fancy being invaded by Wood Elves.

When building armies don't be overwhelmed by your giant roster, try to focus on using the best units from each faction and focus on synergy between units, use strategies that work for the monogod factions and then think which other units synergize. For example, Bloodletters or Khorne Chaos Warriors are amazing main troops that have great killing power and decent/good survivability, good support options are from Slaanesh (fast flankers with access to poison) to do hammer and anvil tactics, Nurgle (flanking flying units both with poison) and Tzeentch (Pink Horrors for ranged fire or Flamers) Warpflame makes them weaker to fire damage so boosts the Bloodletters' flaming attacks. Find units that work then support them. dont try to do everything at once. In campaign try to always have a few key abilities in your armies 1. units with poison like from nurgle or slaanesh to debuff the enemy, 2. a source of healing (so a nurgle lord/herald with the locus or lore of nurgle.), 3. anti-large (lots of soul grinders late game you'll need to kill. 4. some ranged or artillery (lot of campiagn fights are easy to cheese by camping near towers with ranged units), 5. hero's ( you get a lot of gear from all the fighting you'll do and properly leveled and geared hero's are extremely strong, plus provide army buffs from locus abilities.

When choosing how to allocate Glory, some things to prioritize early might be wings from Nurgle, tails from Khorne/Tzeentch and the first head from Khorne. This combination lets Daniel regen in melee and provides him two Mortis Engine effects. Other than that, the first bonus mechanic to unlock should be switchable plagues from Nurgle, one of them lets you vanguard deploy your whole army like you're Vlad.

Multiplayer Strategies

Having the favor of all 4 chaos gods means you can take advantage of their roster in ways nobody else can. Bring a plaguebearer frontline and support them with fast Slaanesh flankers. Trigger fire vulnerability with flamers of Tzeentch right before you slam your enemy with flaming attacks from bloodletters and skullcannons. Stack your army with expensive Khorne heavy hitters and back them up with healing from the lore of Nurgle. Use your imagination and go nuts.

Alternately, you can go for a mostly monogod strategy. Your opponent has to spread himself thin to prepare for every crazy combination you can pull out of your ass so a good chunk of his army will be stuck with unfavorable matchups if you go all in on one god. Building rosters for particular match-ups was a big part of TW2 and the unpredictability you get as Chaos Undivided means you have a high chance of winning the pre-battle mind game. Someone who brought a bunch of armor piercing to deal with armored Khorne units isn't going to be happy when they find out you bought an unarmored Nurgle/Slaanesh STD themed army.

  • Beastmen: Nurgle Daemons are a great option against the squishy beastmen. Their lack of range units means Tzeentch Daemons are free to damage them without risk, so long as you have some meatshields to guard them with.
  • Bretonnia: Nurgle and Tzeentch Daemons are very useful. The former stops the Bretonnian charge while the latter burns them!
  • Daemons of Chaos: Everything you can do they can do. This mirror matchup can be very tricky to plan for. Bring a relatively balanced roster and try to pick apart your foe by targeting their daemon's respective weaknesses.
  • Warriors of Chaos: Slaanesh daemons. The slow, cumbersome warriors of Chaos are known for their armor and few other daemons are better suited to tearing through such things. Tzeentch daemons wouldn't go amiss here for skirmishing potential and Nurgle Daemons are useful for sponging some of the punishment grindfests can deal out to your squishier Slaanesh/Tzeentch units. Khorne can do well here as well, though Slaanesh's units will be a bit more efficient at chewing through the majority of the WoC roster.
  • Dark Elves: Slaanesh Daemons are a must to rip-through their armor, otherwise Tzeentch ranged units will get some solid value against most of their unarmored forces.
  • Dwarfs: Slaanesh units through and through. As one of the de-facto armor factions, Slaanesh AP will be invaluable for popping open this tin-can army.
  • Empire: Flexibility vs flexibility
  • Greenskins: Nurgle units are great at bashing the Orcs in melee. Tzeentch Daemons easily outclass them at range.
  • High Elves: A wide and varied roster armed with magic, missiles and monsters for virtually every scenario. Leave Nurgle to stew at home, High Elves simply have far too much ranged output for them to get much value. Slaanesh will also slightly struggle due to the relative lack of armor to be found on their units, though their ability to dive in and tie up the various missile units until your Khorne Daemons can get stuck in isn't to be underestimated. Tzeentch units will do wonders with their staggering ranged DPS, you'll just want to take a care against any cavalry that may dive them.
  • Khorne: Biggest advantage is access to various Lores of magic. Use Nurgle melee units combined with Tzeentch range. Slaanesh can be useful against some of the armored units to be found within, but no non-Khorne unit will be able to survive a grindfest unaided.
  • Lizardmen: When facing the Lizardmen, you'll want to go fast and hot. Slaanesh units are fantastic at dealing with much of the armored front line and can get solid damage in against their monsters. Additionally, Tzeentch Flamers and Chariots can deal shocking burst damage against their monstrous units. You may want to take some Screamers to help chew through their cavalry and to help screen the skies from any Terradon Riders or Coatls.
  • Nurgle: Use Tzeentch Daemons to whittle them down and force them to rush you, that's when you use Slaanesh Daemons to flank and finish them off.
  • Ogre Kingdoms: Tzeentch/Nurgle or Slaanesh/Nurgle combo is great here
  • Skaven: Khorne units will absolutely curbstomp Skaven in a straight fight, though you'll want to run some Slaanesh cavalry to help disrupt their gunlines until the Blood God's servants can catch up to the fray.
  • Slaanesh: A combined Nurgle-Tzeentch army would counter and decimate Slaanesh pretty thoroughly. Leave Khorne at home.
  • Tomb Kings: With a relative lack of armor and a general aversion to fire, Khorne and Tzeentch demons will be your go-to picks here. Some anti-large would be recommended to deal with their constructs.
  • Tzeentch: Play mostly with Slaanesh units with a few Tzeentch/Nurgle air units. Use Nurgle's Lore to heal the squishy Slaanesh units. Khorne will struggle to deal with all the ranged pressure, but if you can successufully drain the relatively low ammo reserves from their units, Khorne daemons will mince pretty much any unit you throw them at.
  • Wood Elves: This is one match up Daemons Undivided has a better chance than all of the Monogod factions. Combining Nurgle units (to absorb hits and slowly advance at the Wood Elves) with Tzeentch (for ranged fire damage to quickly obliterate squishy Elves and their Forest Spirits) or Slaanesh (to outflank and brutally overrun them) to deal a lot of damage. Khorne, though quite potent in their own right, will struggle slightly to keep up or outperform the other factions against the wood elves. True, they'll generally win whatever combat you toss them in, but their lack of range and slightly slower movement speed holds them back against this skirmish faction. Nurgle demons at least have the girth and healing support to shoulder through the elves' ranged volleys.
Total War: Warhammer Tactics Articles
General Tactics
Total War: Warhammer
Total War: Warhammer 2
Total War: Warhammer 3
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