Editing Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Kislev

This is the general tactics page on how to play [[Kislev]] in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]].

==Why Play Kislev==
*[[Memes|Kislev.]]
*Because you like Humans, but don't want to debase yourself by playing as one of the feeble westerners (or southerners in this case)
*You think that premodern Eastern Europe is underused as an inspiration for fantasy stuff.
*You will likely be playing a more generalist playstyle that leans more into mobile skirmishing and Cavalry.
*You want an excuse to blast Sabaton while playing in fantasy.
*<s>[[Furry|FUCKING BEARS!!!!!]]</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|In the name of Tzarina Katarin Bokha, this man has been been sentenced to death for degeneracy, move along citizen.}}
===Pros===
*'''Cavalry''': Kislev always leaned more towards the cavalry side on tabletop and that continues to be the case in TW. With Winged Lancers, Gryphon Legion, Bear Riders and Horse Archers you should have a very wide selection of horsemen to choose from, without the same crippling infantry [[Bretonnian|Bretonnia]] has
*'''Flexible Infantry''': Many of your ranged units, such as the Ice Guard, have weapons that allow them to fight in melee, similar to Shades and Lothern Sea Guard. This means them getting stuck in melee won't be too much of an issue as they can actually defend themselves.
*'''High Leadership''': I guess when Chaos is squatting on your front door nothing really scares you anymore. With high natural leadership and a passive that gives you more when you're at half health it'll take a lot to get you to run.
*'''Range''': You have plenty of skirmish units that also function decently well in melee. Virtually all of your infantry can shoot and you have a lot of mobile ranged options on top of that.
*'''Built for Total War''': While they have more of a pedigree then Cathy does as far as canon goes, they have mostly been ignored in the table top game, which means CA has broad latitude in making units for there army in a way other factions didn't not. See Bretonnia's limited unit roster for example. As such they have potential to be more balanced then the other factions with no glaring unit type holes.

===Cons===
*'''Lower Unit Numbers for Melee Infantry''': Unlike the standard 120 unit models of most melee infantry units, your Armoured Kossars only come in units of 90 and your Tzar Guards come in at 80.   
*'''Minimal Mount Options''': You'd better like horses or bears, because that's all anyone gets to saddle up on. Unfortunately, unless added in at a later patch or by popular demand, even Katarin is restricted to either a horse or a bear to ride into battle rather than a war sled (aside from her ice-gliding technique). 
*'''Absent Artillery''': Though you do have the Little Grom, which is more than some factions have, you have no other dedicated artillery units. Your rather robust cavalry and missile infantry can compensate somewhat but long range shootouts can and will turn against you if you can't close the distance.
*'''No Air Units''': This is not going to be a flying faction in any way. You have more than enough missiles to deal with enemy fliers but having to concede the sky means that your opponent has an easier time dictating the fight and choosing their targets compared to you.
*'''Harder Campaign''': Since you start right on the border of the Chaos Wastes, you're going to be dealing with a ton of Chaos armies marching your way. This can make the Kislev campaigns pretty tricky as you have so many Daemons from the north to deal with. Is it fluffy? Oh absolutely! Will you get sick of the never ending Chaos stacks pounding on your door? Sweet Ursun yes.
*'''DLC''': Yeah, this will be safe to assume. The Kislev starting roster is rather light compared to some of the other factions from prior entries (partly because the other TW:W titles only had four starting factions as opposed to TW:W III's six, and all the unit variants actually serve their own purpose instead of just "oh, here's the exact same unit but with shields" which caused bloat and partly because Kislev has a lot of units doing two roles at once so no need for a spear AND an archer unit when Kossars do both), so it's safe to say CA/GW kept some of the list in the back pocket for a cash grab. Get ready to join the very large "We need to fork over extra dough to be relevant in multiplayer" club.

==Faction traits==
*'''By Our Blood''': A trait all Kislev units have, when their health drops bellow 50% health they get Unbrekable for 30 seconds, once per battle, meaning they can better hold out when they take a lot of damage all at once. Probably is a more of a two edged sword, since as mentioned before, you are not all that good at soaking up damage and can lead to problems down the road, since one unit fleeing can easier cause your whole frontline to collapse once the buff runs out - it will just take a bit longer. That said, the three daemon factions and ogres are good at dealing a lot of damage via charges or magic or both so it may also help a lot.

==Lords==
===Legendary Lords===
*'''[[Tzarina Katarin]]''': The new Tzarina after daddy went MIA fighting Chaos. She's a mage lord character with access to the Lore of Ice and at least 1 bound spell. She is faster than other infantry lords thanks to her ability to ice-surf over the map. She has surprisingly good combat stats for a mage, though her lack of armor and AP means you shouldn't throw her against dedicated combat characters. In lore, she had a horse and sled mount, but in game the sled mount was replaced with a bear due to [[Nurgle|Nurgle's centennial party]], so we can hope it may appear later.

*'''[[Kostaltyn]], Supreme Patriarch of The Great Orthodoxy''': This greased up Rasputin looking mother fucker is a new character likely created by CA and GW in order to help flesh out Kislev's roster. Supreme Patriarch of the Cult of Ursun and leader of the great Orthodoxy thing, basically Kislev's Volkmar, so safe to expect a lot of buffing and support abilities as opposed to him being strictly a combat lord. His lore stats that he is VERY hard to kill, being stabbed twice but kept on fighting, implying he is also going to be very tanky. He, along with the Patriarch, also have 4 buffing abilities, though we only know about Ursun's Roar giving charge and leadership and Salyak's Lullaby giving healing. Not a fan of his Tzarina.

*'''[[Boris Ursus]]''': Unlocked by holding the major cities of Kislev as Katarin, and winning a quest battle. Your super-heavy melee lord, Boris rides his unique bear mount Urskin and wields a halberd. He has anti large, an AoE damage ability, and a host of buss for himself and other nearby units, many of them activated as his health gets low. Boris is designed to get into the thick of things and hold the line forever, with By Our Blood making him especially difficult to get rid of. But as fearsome as his combat stats can get he's not going to be beating Skarbrand in a duel. Put him in a death star where he can support other units and his toughness and decent damage output will make the enemy think twice about trying to assassinate him. His campaign provides buffs and upkeep reduction to War Bear Riders.

===Lords===
*'''[[Boyar]]''': Your pure melee lord with a horse and bear mount. They will primarily act as a Budget Boris and provide a solid melee combat character to support your main army. He uses double axes, so while we don't have his stats yet we can imply that he does relatively high damage for a generic melee lord but in turn in a bit more vulnerable to missiles, especially on the mount.

*'''[[Ice Witch]]''': Magic Lord for Kislev, with the lores of Ice and Tempest. Has a bound AoE damage spell as well as a Snow Leopard summon. Can ride a horse or a bear.

===Heroes===
*'''Patriarch''': Kislevite warrior priest of the Great Orthodoxy. This chad rides a bear and can cast four miracles, one each for the gods Ursun, Dazh, Tor, and Salyak. Two of them buff charge bonus and leadership or heal units around the Patriarch. While his mount means he's likely to be at least decent in melee, like his Empire counterpart he's primarily a support character and will probably lose to dedicated duelists.

*'''Frost Maiden ''': Hero version of the Ice Witch. Has the same magic and same mounts at a cheaper cost, so she will be surprisingly decent in melee for a mage character but nothing spectacular.

==Units==

===Infantry===

* '''Armoured Kossars''': An armored infantry choice featuring variants with an axe and shield and a mace-like great weapon. They trade out the bow with a pistol that allows them to fire off a shot before combat is joined, which can help them weaken an enemy before the main engagement begins.
*'''Tzar Guard''': The elite infantry line for Kislev wearing thick snazzy fur cloaks, and their only pure melee infantry since they appear to be the bodyguards of the Tzar. Have a sword and board and greatsword variant.

===Hybrid missile units===
*'''[[Kossars]]''': Bow and axe troops, early game troops which with their decent melee stats can fend for it self in melee to some degree unlike most other archers. Running light cavalry into these guys may cost you some more horsemen than you may have initially bargained for, especially if they're the Kossar with Spears variant which actively have anti-large. They are also your cheapest infantry unit meaning in the early game and probably multiplayer they will fill the role as your front line.

*'''Streltsi''': Their weapon is a gun that is also an axe. A mid tier missile unit with armor piercing in melee and at range. Again, like a handgunner that can fend for it self a bit in melee. these guys are going to be most useful against heavily armoured factions (Dwarfs, Khorne, Warriors of Chaos) but against more lightly armored factions there really is no point (Skaven, Wood Elves, Beastmen.) Absolutely useless against Tzeentch as daemonic projectiles ignore their armor and barrier is not affected by their armor-piercing ammo.

*'''[[Ice Guard]]''': These ladies are what happens when a Sister of Avelorn and a Lothern Sea Guard have a baby, only it came out human somehow. Wielding a magical bow with frostbite, a dual sword variant for fighting infantry and a glaive for cavalry and monsters they will be pretty hard to crack, though they will likely be super expensive to make up for it. Unknown right now what capacity these ladies will be most useful in, but they will likely make up a fairly elite fighting unit that can also double as a ranged piece.

===Cavalry===

*'''Horse archers''': Fast skirmishing Cavalry, though fragile they have decent melee offense so as long as you don't get hit they can charge on occasion. 

*'''Kossovite Dervishes''': Your quintessential light cavalry unit with high speed and Vanguard Deployment. Given what we've seen from Winged Lancer, they will likely have very high charge and speed compared to most light cav but they will likely be squishy even by light cav standards. Don't ask me why they're called Dervishes when this is an Eastern European themed faction not an [[Araby|Islamic one]] (also noteworthy is that at least in some maps Araby have a region called "The Land of Dervishes"), true Russia proper does go that far South but not Kislev.

*'''[[Winged Lancers]]''': The Winged Hussars have arrived and they are a mid tier cavalry unit. With anti large and a big charge bonus they are typical cycle charges. Charge in, get back repeated. There big difference is that they are very fast and that they DO have fear representing how they caused a panic check on the table top during a flank charge.

*'''[[Gryphon Legion]]''': An elite group of Winged Lancers who act mostly as mercenaries but are sworn to show up when the Tzar/ina calls for there aid. They're not an ROR are but are instead a ""The same unit but better" in the same vein as Reiksguard are to Empire Knights. With fear and high speed they threat to be dangerous units

*'''War Bear Riders''': with a less cool than expected name, the war bear riders are still here to kick and then eat some ass. good stats, good armor, anti large, and armor piercing they are anti-large cavalry experts.

===Chariot===
*'''Kislev War Sled''': Similar to the War Wagons from the Empire, only this time pulled by bears. Described by their unit spot light as having light (presumably more ranged focused) and heavy (presumably more melee oriented) variants. One of these has "wings" like their heavy cavalry. These are gunpowder units so they should have decent armor piercing.

===Monsters===
*'''Snow Leopard''': Described in the roster reveal as being very fast and very good at killing large enemies, but seems to be a single-entity monster. Presumably has anti-large and frostbite but almost zero armor. Most likely will be a support unit, designed to bog down enemy cavalry/monsters so that your slower and heavier troops can catch up and put on the hurt. Good at sniping enemy artillery, particularly monstrous artillery, and decent at fighting chariots. Do not expect it to fight anything like a stegadon or soul grinder though; these things are as fragile as an icicle. 

*'''Elemental Bear''': A massive, unbreakable bear made of ice, stone and the will of Kislev’s people. It is more is capable of throwing hands (paws?) with any greater demon. Rivaling the Dread Saurian in size, it has a breath attack to accent its melee power.

===Artillery===
*'''Little Grom''': No, they didn't kidnap Grom and put him on a diet. It's a giant ass ice mortar pulled by polar bears. Does it get any more Russian than that? Since it's a single model artillery piece it will likely do heavy damage, though it will likely sacrifice the pure damage of other huge artillery like Queen Bess and The Hellcannon in exchange for mobility and ''maybe'' better melee stats. I mean it's pulled by polar bears, it should be able to defend itself. Appears to be channeling Grom's spirit however, as it has 'collision attacks' dealing additional attacks when colliding with enemies. Better get out of the way of the bear train coming for your ass

==Multiplayer Strategies==
You have two big themes in your roster, aggressive cav and hybrid infantry. Compared to Empire Cav Winged Lancers and Gryphon Legion are faster, harder on the charge, but less durable, meaning they are focused way more on hit and run and not as good in grind fights. Combine that with the fact that most of your infantry double as melee and ranged troops, and you are basically a far more aggressive Empire. However, it requires a lot of finesse to pull off, as your troops, while brave, are hardly durable and will fall apart fast. You ''can'' use Little Grom to play defense, but generally you seem to be better on the attack. Once the game comes out and we have multiplayer experience we will let you know how to gain victory for the Motherland!

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Beastmen| Beastmen]]''': With their speed and vanguard, beastmen will and can get into melee weather you like it or not, the good news is that you heavily out range them and most of your units are combined arms, and there only missile unit that isn’t the cygor or centigors with axes is crap, combine with lore of ice and tempest, you can slow them down heavily and help even the odds, the bad news is that because many of them are so fast and combine that with a huge charge bonus and stalk, you frontline can quickly crumble if they aren’t careful with what they fight, bring kossars with spears to be your front line, they’ll make a beastmen player think twice before charging his monsters into the frontline, to kill the cygor if they bring one, ice guard and your missile cav will be your best bet, have some streltsi to turn any gorgons, jabberslythes or bestigors in ground beef should he bring any.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Bretonnia| Bretonnia]]''': This is an interesting one, as you're both very cavalry focused but in different ways. Bretonnian cav is slower, tougher, and has greater variety. Your cav is faster, hits harder, is more fragile, and has less access to anti-large, aside from bears. Your front line will probably be armored Kossars with shields, who will roll right over Bretonnian infantry. Your back line will probably be Kossars with spears and maybe one or two Ice Guard with glaives to slow down Bretonnian cav with their frostbite ranged attacks. A lot is going to depend on who gets the better cavalry engagements. You really need to charge and not be charged to succeed on this front. A Snow Leopard might be helpful for slowing down enemy knights to set up charges for your Lancers. Consider bringing one unit of War Bear Riders so you have a strong anti-large sweeper to scare off flanking attacks on your archers. Both Lore of Ice and Lore of Tempest have their uses here, either to slow down the Bretonnian knights so they eat more ranged fire or to speed up your own cavalry for those decisive charges. 

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons of Chaos| Daemons of Chaos]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves| Dark Elves]]''': The biggest weakness of the Druchii is their staying power. If you can outlast their Murderous Prowess you are very likely to win the battle. By Our Blood should help with that, but the Dark Elves will still outclass you with melee infantry and AP ranged units. The good news is their cavalry is pretty bad and your Horse Archers will outrange their Dark Riders. An emphasis on kiting, with Horse Archers and War Sleds, might help with waiting out Murderous Prowess. Beware of Scourgerunners, however.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Dwarfs| Dwarfs]]''': The Dwarfs are a very defensive army, whereas you are something of a hybrid army that can alternate between range-focused defense and cavalry-focused offense. In this matchup you want to pursue the latter. Dwarfen artillery will pound you into the permafrost so you need to get up in their faces ASAP. A Lore of Tempest witch with Swiftwing will help with that. Bring Winged Lancers or Gryphon Legion (whoever has better AP), as well as War Sleds. Cycle charge the hell out of the Dawi. If you bring ranged infantry, bring Streltsi -- always pick AP where possible. Armoured Kossars are probably your best choice for melee infantry thanks to their shields and pistols, but with all the money you're sinking into the rest of your army you might have to cheap out on the front line a bit.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Empire| Empire]]''': You can't outgun them but you can outflank them. This battle is going to come down to who wins the cavalry battle. Your bears can hold their own against Demigryphs, your Horse Archers will out-range Pistoliers or Outriders, and your melee cav is faster than theirs. You need to rush the Empire, hitting them hard and fast. If you land the decisive charges this battle will go your way, but if you take the charges the relative fragility of your cavalry will be a problem. Bring a Lore of Tempest witch and make sure you give her Swiftwing, which will let you blitz across the battlefield.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Grand Cathay| Grand Cathay]]''': Generally the big advantages you seem to have over Cathay are mobility and the infantry fight. Don't bother engaging them in a shootout, you aren't going to win. Instead, take advantage of your cavalry and use them to get into that back line. Dervishes will get there the fastest but if you want something that'll punch through Jade Lancers the Gryphon Legion or Bear Riders should do the trick. In terms of infantry Cathay will probably go with a ton of halberds to deal with your cav so they probably won't break through your shielded units too fast and while your shielded Tzar Guard might have a rough fight against Dragon Guard they'll survive long enough for your horses and bears to mop up the backline and charge them in the rear. The other major problem is that you can't contest them in the air so your missiles might come under attack from Longma or the Dragon Twins. Streltsi can at the very least put a dent in them at range or in melee and Cathay's ranged troops will buckle way faster than yours, if you can compromise their Harmony.  Your ranged units might get swarmed, but they'll at least hold long enough to let you win the infantry fight and rally back to help them.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Greenskins| Greenskins]]''': This might actually be a pretty good matchup for you. Greenskins rely a lot on their skirmishers, their monsters, and their Black Orcs. Your faster than normal shock cav, plus your own skirmishers and light cav, can help deal with all those wolf riders and spiders. Lancers will be a good choice due to causing Fear. Thanks to By Our Blood your leadership will probably hold out against the poor leadership of the Greenskins, meaning that while you might take a lot of damage in the melee you probably won't break before they do. Aside from Black Orcs, Greenskins tend to have low armor so you can probably get away with mostly archers here, plus maybe one or two Streltsi to focus down Grimgor's buddies. Greenskins also struggle against the large monsters of other armies, so a unit of War Bears or even an Elemental Bear (if you can afford it) will be helpful for breaking the back of the Waagh. 

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/High Elves| High Elves]]''': The strength of the High Elves lies in their archers and their big flying monsters, while their cavalry is only sort of OK. They will definitely outrange everything except Little Grom (which they can focus down with Bolt Throwers) so you probably want to focus on a more mobile army. War Bears and their anti-large bonus will be very useful for protecting against dragons and phoenixes. Bring Kossars with spears or Ice Guard with glaives for your ranged core, as they can also fend for themselves when the bears aren't nearby. Focus down the monsters with ranged units and slow them down with Frostbite effects while trying to get your speedy cavalry into their archers.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Khorne| Khorne]]''': Khorne is slow, heavily armored, and you do not want him getting into melee at all. As a result it might be best to focus on a very mobile Kislevite army, with lots of Lancers and War Sleds. Back them up with a Witch who has the Lore of Ice to slow Khorne's forces down even more while your sleds shoot them to pieces. If the Khornates reach your front line then By Our Blood will help you hold for a while but this is not a fight you're going to win. You better have Little Grom and some Streltsi on hand to shoot through all that Chaos Armor before your infantry breaks, otherwise this is going to be a short match. At least once the front line does break your Streltsi still have AP in melee.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Kislev| Kislev]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Lizardmen| Lizardmen]]''': This one is probably going to be rough. The Lizardmen are a walking wall of armoured scales that rules at grinding you down slowly while big dinosaurs stomp on your face. By Our Blood will be helpful, but the Lizardmen will probably outlast it. Focusing down their dinos with Streltsi will be imperative. They're a fairly slow army so your cavalry will have an OK time cycle charging them, but the relative fragility of your cav may also mean they'll break before the lizards do. If nothing else a unit or two of Dervishes to run down Chameleon Skinks will be useful. Consider bringing Little Grom, as unless the Lizardmen bring the regular Stegadon they probably can't focus your bear-cannon down and it can hold its own against Terradons or Ripperdactyls.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Norsca| Norsca]]''': These guys will be a pain in your neck for most of the SP campaign, so you'll get a lot of experience fighting them. They generally work very similarly to the Beastmen, so some of the same tactics apply. One difference is you will definitely outrange Norsca. Make the most of this, especially since your hybrid infantry will be more resistant to Norsca's preferred tactic of swamping your back lines with war hounds and wolves. Just watch out for their anti-large capabilities. If you bring War Bears or Elemental Bears to hold off their mammoths you will need to protect them, otherwise they will get chipped down fast.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Nurgle| Nurgle]]''': Nurgle is slow and generally doesn't have a lot of armor, which is good news for you. All of your archers (mounted or otherwise) will deal decent damage to them while your cavalry will run circles around them. Bring a Lore of Ice witch and you can slow them down even more. This is a game of keep-away where you try to shoot and cycle charge the pestilent horde until they crack. Nurgle's best answers to this are his handful of ranged and fast troops. Plague Drones/Toads, Furies, Soul Grinders and probably Ku'gath will all be primary targets. Consider going elite for your front line, as Nurgle can't really punish unshielded units and your Great Weapon Armored Kossars or even Tzar Guard will be better at carving through Nurglings and Plaguebearers. Don't try to outlast Nurgle in melee, it won't work. Focus on damage.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Ogre Kingdoms| Ogre Kingdoms]]''': Ogres generally have low armor and nearly their entire army is made of monsters and monstrous infantry. This means Kossars with spears are an excellent cost-effective choice. They'll deal most of their damage and will also be able to defend themselves if the Ogres push into melee. Bringing some War Bears to help focus down the bigger monsters the Ogres can field might be wise. Most ogre units are also relatively slow, so kiting builds of Horse Archers and War Sleds may be viable, and your fast cavalry will be able to run circles around these lumbering brutes.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Skaven| Skaven]]''': Play this like your Norscan neighbors would. Go for a cheap front line of Kossars and otherwise focus on lots of light cavalry to overrun the ratmen's flanks and take out their ranged units. Play your cards right and the worst you'll have to worry about are the Moulder monsters, who can easily be killed with regular old arrows. Just don't try to get into a ranged duel with the rats -- it will not end well.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Slaanesh| Slaanesh]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Tomb Kings| Tomb Kings]]''': 

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Tzeentch| Tzeentch]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Coast| Vampire Coast]]''': 

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Counts| Vampire Counts]]''': Definitely a match where you want to bring Little Grom, which will be able to hold its own against bats and wolves. You want to go in with a heavy defensive build, putting your money into your ranged units, which since you have so many hybrid missiles means you can probably hold your own against vampire chaff. By Our Blood will help you hold out against the Fear and Terror effects of the undead, which buys time for you to shoot. Consider bringing a Patriarch to heal and buff your front line so they last even longer.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Warriors of Chaos| Warriors of Chaos]]''': 

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Wood Elves| Wood Elves]]''':

[[Category:Total Warhammer]] {{Total War Warhammer Tactics}}