Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Warriors of Chaos

"Change! Rot! Blood! Defile!"

– Game battle chant for Warriors of Chaos, shared with Norsca

This is the tactica for the Total War: Warhammer version of the Warriors of Chaos.

Why Play Warriors of Chaos

• BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE Sorry, that's the dedicated Khorne's faction motif now, you're undivided
• You don't need no damn Daemons to take over the world for the Chaos Gods
• Because you want to see the unending tides of damnation overrun all that is good and civilized in this world.
• Because back in my day only the bad guys wore Stupidly OP Armor.

Pros

• Top-grade Melee: Pound for pound, your troops are among the best in the entire game when it comes to melee combat. Though your reign as the undisputed combat champion of the game has come to an inglorious end due to feature/power creep (not even mentioning the coming of Khorne), precious other factions will be able to face you in melee and walk away unscathed.
• Armor: Regardless of which ever one of the Dark Gods you decided to suck off, they gifted you an ungodly amount of armor to protect your troops from the enemy. If for whatever reason the other guy decided not to bring AP against you, you've pretty much already won the fight right there.
• Monsters: You got some monsters that are unmatched in what they do. Shaggoths make dragons cry, manticores make great mounts and flying harassers, trolls will help win you the frontline even faster and hounds will make sure that all those pesky skirmishers don't screw over your troops on the way in. You best have answers for anti large though.
• Versatility: You're not quite the most versatile of factions, but with all of the high quality troops you have, you can deploy a wide assortment of tactics against all kinds of opponents. You can use rushes, monster mashes, artillery boxes, magic bombs, and make your lords into one man armies. With how much good stuff is at your disposal, you can come up with all kinds of crazy tactics to throw at your opponent.
• Strong Lords: Your lord options are pretty damn good. Archeon is one of the better duelist characters, Kholek kills whatever he is fighting, Sigvald is the king of "never die" and Sarthoreal is a raid boss with impressive magic abilities. Even generic sorcerers are pretty damn good for what they do.

Cons

• DLC Faction: The original controversy from the first game, the Chaos Warriors were originally locked up as a pre-order bonus for the first game, slapping those who didn't do so with an extra $8 tax to play as them. For penny-pinching fans, this can make them a hard sell.
• Limited Skirmishing: You do have some mounted skirmishers, but odds are they aren't going to be the reason why you win the fight. You are not going to be beating your opponent in the skirmishing phase of the fight.
• No Ranged Infantry: Aside aforementioned skirmishing cavalry, you're generally bringing a battle axe to a gun fight. In any shooting match, you're gonna lose.
• Slow: The downside of all that armor? It makes you slow as all hell. This, combined with the con listed above, means you are pretty vulnerable to enemy ranged attacks. Be sure that you devote a few of your troops to getting on those skirmishers and making sure they can't do to much damage to your troops on the way in.
• Expensive: Sadly, all this good quality comes at a price. With how expensive a lot of your troops are, odds are you will probably be outnumbered in whatever match up you are going up against. Expect to rely on quality over quantity when you are choosing to rep team WOC.
• The campaign is terrible: Their campaign is in dire need of a rework (that hopefully comes with Warhammer 3). The horde mechanic the WoC revolve around has never been particularly fun to play as, and only continued to age poorly as Warhammer 2 went on. Maybe CA had a point when they originally planned to hold them back for Game 1, they feel incomplete and kind of pointless. Add to this that elementary stuff from the Lore such as specific pledges to the Dark Gods and Demons are missing (with Archaon being the Champion the Chaos Undivided and all that, except you also can play as Sigvald who is a Champion of Slaanesh with no access to Demons of his patron) and you got yourself a dumpster fire of epic proportions. There are mods like Ultimate Chaos that seek to alleviate the worst of it, but most of them are of dubious quality and other can break entire campaigns (like the Chaos Outposts Mod). If you want to play WoC in Singleplayer, better wait for Warhammer 3 and hope it gets better.
  • Good news is you're confirmed for a rework in summer of 2022, so you won't have to wait too much longer

The campaign und unique mechanics (The Old World)

Only one Norscan tribe can be awakened per province. It is recommended to awaken them in the province capital.

Legendary Lords and Subfactions

• Archaon the Everchosen: at the start of the Total War it was a joke that he was the Neverchosen, but recent progressive buffs have been slowly improving him. Still waiting to see if he will ever get his title back from Kholek but he is currently usable in multiplayer. He is currently a strong generalist fighter and Fire wizard hybrid. He is among the strongest melee lords stat-wise in-game even before taking items. being a fire wizard also grants him the ability to clear out mobs, snipe lords, or buff damage of troops depending on your needs. He does still have some flaws. He doesn't get the AOS version of Dorghar, so no monstrous mass to help easily break out from tar traps. He is very expensive in multiplayer even when running nacked(don't do that) so you have to buy only what you need.

In the campaign, you're definitely not friends with anyone (at least not without doing a lot of favors). Chaos Warriors are cheaper, and gain bonus weapon damage for each chevron (27% more damage by rank 9).

• Kholek Suneater: Given how prevalent he is seen, most players think of Kholek as the face of Warriors of Chaos despite the advertisement. But why wouldn't you as he is the best legendary lord the WoC have in MP. He's a massive, tough Dragon Ogre monster lord that runs around unhindered and deals massive damage to both infantry and monsters. Even better when gooining around with his Dragon Ogre boys.

His campian bonuses gears towards Dragon Ogres, giving reduced recruitment cost and upkeep while buffing attack for Shaggoths. Kholek also spreads more Chaos Corruption.

• Prince Sigvald the Magnificent: Used to be bad but got significantly better after The Twisted & The Twilight update. A powerful and quick foot dualist that will never suffer fatigue penalties. His small size, perfect vigor and very high melee stats make him slippery, but when combined with the regen from his unique item he ties with Gor-Rok for the tankiest lord in the game.

Despite his overwhelming ego, his campaign has him being most in touch with Norsca, having a stronger diplomatic bonus, and have practically the same unit version of the unit with them having the Norsca "Rage", with it upgrading to the superior "Berserk" at late vetrency to keep marauders viable. Getting a Ld bonus against men encourages you to go after the south or vassal Norsca.

• Sarthorael the Everwatcher: Looking back it's surprising we got a greater deamon so early on before game 3. Not available in the campaign (for WoC anyway, Norsca can unlock a different Lord of Change over the course of the Campaign) but playable in multiplayer. A giant lore of metal caster with a lot of missle resistance. Well used a battering ram to disrupt gun faction with his mass and terror as the rest of the army hounds on their position but prefers to run through the lines to new spots of safety to cast his spells.

Units

Generic Lords

• Chaos Lord: Cheap melee lord. Can take a poison mace if you want this lord to be supportive. He can also be put on a flying mount for manticore gooning. These guys have been power creeped to hell and back so despite their reputation on the table top and what you'd think from Chaos, they're one of the worst generic lords in the game. Never take one unless you're roleplaying in campaign or memeing.

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord: Saves points by fusing Chaos Sorcerer as your lord option and still being a good melee fighter. Comes in Death, Fire, Metal, or Shadows. Once you start putting him on mounts he's pretty much objectively better than the standard lord since he can also wield magic. Will be your main generic lord in campaign, though in multiplayer the Legendary options are just better.

Heroes

• Exalted Hero: Melee hero, often a part of the manticore goon squad. their stat line is honestly kind of absurd for the price, as they can beat pretty much any other standard melee hero in a one on one fight. In multiplayer they can also take the Mark of Khorne, making them especially scary when moving in packs. Definitely one of the better melee bodyguard heroes.
• Chaos Sorcerer: Tankier than the traditional wizard as they have a large amount of armour and are a low-end melee character. It would be best if you didn't let them fight good melee units, but they are still a force multiplier on the charger when on a mount. Comes in Death, Fire, Metal, or Shadows.

Melee Infantry

• Chaos Marauders: Your budget line, but you often fill up your numbers with them given how expensive everything else is. They are how you go wide in WoC. Posses low armor but can still cause some more expensive units to struggle against them. They have pretty good stats as far as melee chaff go, so they should earn back their cost fighting other low level troops.
  • Chaos Marauders (Great Weapons): Cheap Ap Damage but not as good as Chaos Warriors (Great Weapons) since the Marauders are very fragile with trading away what little defense a Marauder gets.

• Chaos Warriors: The spiked anvil of Chaos. High all-around in offensive and defensive stats except for speed. In general, Chaos Warriors in this faction are much more well rounded than their Monogod cousins. They are better defensively than Khorne, faster than Nurgle, more offensive than Tzeentch and more durable than Slaanesh. They're the nice in between that allows them to fill a wider variety of roles. Often beat out other line infantry in the grind. They Lack AP, so not effective against other high armour targets.
  • Mirror Guard(RoR): A strong point used in Marauders and Warriors. Moves faster, higher defense, and don't falter against Fear or Terror.
  • Chaos Warriors (Great Weapons): your AP troops effectively upend other armored infantry like Dwarfs.
  • Chaos Warriors (Halberds): Your Anti-large infantry out classes Great Weapons if facing Calvery and Monsters.

• Aspiring Champions: A small unit of Chosen with Magical attacks. They fill a role as support units, having the Encourage ability which gives extra Leadership to your lines, being a moral anchor if your lord is way from your front lines. The magic attacks are also a cheap way to crush enemies that rely on Physical resistance for protection. What really screws them over is their pitiful amount of health, so once they actually start fighting they will drop like flies. Honestly probably better left at home, unless you are really dedicated to defending them.

• Forsaken: A niche, fast damage dealing unit, being both fast and having good armour. Good at mulching through low armor units and used as foot flankers. They don't do well against Armor-piercing or elite infantry. Generally going to be way better used against low armor factions like Beastmen or Skaven and kept away from high armor stuff like Dwarfs or Lizardmen.
  • The Daemonspew: Blessed by Nurgle, they have poison attacks and melee attack debuff aura. A supportive unit to mix with your line blob to make an elite unit easy to handle.

• Chosen: Oh my. Chosen, pound for pound, probably the best heavy melee infantry in the game, also comes in Great Weapons and Halberds variants like Chaos Warriors, baring some regiments of renown. They will never run away, their stats are terrifying, and they are absurdly tanky. They are every bit as scary as their reputation makes them out to be. Like any heavy elite infantry, they are slow with low model counts, so they will suffer severely from being targeted by artillery, magic, or AP Missles.

Beasts

• Chaos Warhounds: Cheap and fast harassment unit, shutting down Skirmishers, Calvary, Missile units, and Artillery Crews that will target your slower-moving Warriors. Against a lot of skirmish power these doggos are a good way to get archers and other ranged threats off the field and you won't miss them too much if they die.
• Chaos Warhounds (Poison): Now give it a poison debuff to attacks. It can also catch those slippery units with a nibble and support in melee by making the difficult unit easier to kill while also reducing their damage.

Cavalry

• Chaos Knights: your melee cav, strong and able to win lots of protracted fights. Best used in a supporting role since they're somewhat cost-inefficient compared to demigryphs/blood knights. This version is probably best used against heavy missile factions like Elves, as they will be able to block some of the incoming fire and chase them down. They're better in a grind too, though you'll have to pull out eventually (Yeah, yeah I know, insert Slaanesh joke here).
  • Swords of Chaos:(RoR): Knights with Flaming weapons but with a smaller model count, but most useful in keeping your characters safe and letting your whole army get a temporary speed boost.
• Chaos Knights (Lances): Cycle charging cav. While the shield makes them good at resisting missile fire, the tremendous charge bonus is a bit of a waste on the skirmishers on the other side. As such, best to use these guys against other cavalry, monsters, or for rear charging infantry. Just make sure that you are keeping an eye on them, while they do have tanky stats they can still crumple surprisingly quick if you leave them in a grind.

Missile Cavalry

If you want shooting but don't want to spring for artillery, you only have skirmish cav. Like most Skirmish cav, you need to use some micromanagement to make sure a real opponent doesn't chase them out of the game and use their ammunition efficiently instead of AI autopilot everything.

• Marauder Horsemen: You cheapest shooting unit. Useful in taking things out annoying units air and harass units with a low Missile resistance. Fragile with the same protection as a Marauder. Their cost efficiency makes them a go to in a lot of competitive lists.
• Marauder Horsemen (Throwing Axes): Trades Missile range for AP. Suited for harassing armored foes from a distance but won't take punishment well like the normal variant.
• Marauder Horsemasters: A slightly upgraded version of Horsemen with the most important upgrade being significantly better armor. Lets it take punishment and trade better when engaging in melee with other Skirmish units and other lesser melee units.

Monsterous Infantry

• Chaos Trolls: A regenerating bag of HP and AP damage. Do need some babysitting to help with their low Ld. Better for Marauder lines for that extra Damage and Monstrous mass. To be honest, probably not worth it in most situations because of that low morale and weakness to fire.
  • Chaos Trolls (Armoured): Pay extra, so Trolls are less likely to run when they take damage. These guys came out before CA realized we like variants that serve different purposes and aren't just straight upgrades. Still probably not worth bringing though.
• Chaos Spawn: Line breakers, they do go down quickly from guns but are a cheap way to tie up multiple line units as they don't stop attacking until they are all dead. They can tear apart lighter infantry lines if they get their hands on them, and can really help supplement a cheaper frontline. Generally better than trolls, as while they lack AP they will actually stick around to do their damage.
  • Wyrd Spawn: (RoR) Spawn blessed by everyone's favorite crazy Bird, these guys have armor sundering so they can actually help against armored troops and have resistance to magic. They can also walk thorugh trees for some reason. Don't ask me why.
• Dragon Ogre: Your anti-large monstrous cavalry. These boys will kick the hell out of any cavalry or monster they get their hands on, although their vulnerability to missiles means they can be a bit of a risk against super missile factions. Try your best to keep them safe, probably best on the flanks where they can deal with cav and go into the back line or flank when that is done. Can send infantry flying if needed.
  • Summoners of Rage: (RoR) Have magic attacks and an infantry clearing bound spell. It takes out Physically resistant enemies or give you another edge in a fight.

Monsters

• Chaos Giant: A big infantry smasher, but easily sniped and hammered with ranged and anti-large attacks. Remove them, and they can frolic through even the heaviest of armor. Do yourself a favor and don't get one, it'll get shot to pieces before it can do anything useful.
• Chaos Feral Manticore: One of the most cost effective flying monsters in the game. It has an impressive statline for the cost so it can actually do a good bit of work diving into backlines or helping goon out enemy characters. It's big problem is Rampage, so you will likely lose control over it, though it is decently cheap so don't worry too much if it goes nuts. Often used as a mount for characters in multiplayer, but there is nothing wrong with taking this guy by himself.
• Dragon Ogre Shaggoth: An anti-large monster duelist. Are you scared that the enemy might have a dragon, big scary tree, crab monster or freaky rat monstrosity from hell? Throw this thing at it and if it doesn't kill it it'll get it damn close. Of course, it's also a massive bullseye for every AP missile unit on the field, so you got to make sure that it's kept safe. Often paired with Kholek to make a Dragon Ogre goon squad.

Chariots

• Chaos Chariot: A pretty standard heavy chariot. Will get absolutely dumpstered in a prolonged fight but will devastate enemies on the charge. Bring against heavy armor factions that can't lock it down like Dwarfs.
• Gorebeast Chariot: Slower than standard chariots, but has more AP damage for fighting higher armor. Generally not a good deal thanks to the price since standard chariots can simply do what it does better.

Artillery

• Hellcannon: Big gun with homing projectiles and damage that includes a Ld debuff. It also comes with an unbreakable Chaos Dwarf crew who will keep firing until they're killed to the last man. Somewhat of an odd man out in the Chaos roster since their playstyle is more geared towards bumrushing the enemy than noob boxing around the artillery, but there are no complaints about having one to round out your army. Depending on the matchup, you can force the enemy to come to you if they can't artillery dual with the cannon. If you got the attention to spare, taking manual control of them allows you to fly the projectile.
  • The Soul of Damnation: (RoR) A tad beefed up Hellcannon. Stats identical, but has the addition of the Soul Devourer ability that makes it reload faster when enemies are near.

Tactics

Multiplayer Strategies

You're... pretty damn strong in multiplayer to be honest, despite the fact you're currently a meme faction on campaign. You got a lot going for you, from strong lord choices, good magic lores, really good infantry, cavalry and monsters, and even an alright skirmishing core with Marauder Horsemen. Your only real major weakness is just how expensive everything is, and even then you got it better than the High Elves in that category. In game 3 you are likely to get even better toys to play with, so as long as you don't get any super insane nerfs (which isn't likely since most of the player base play campaign and think you suck) it should only get better from here. Here's how to win glory for the Chaos Gods:

• Beastmen:
• Bretonnia:
• Warriors of Chaos:
• Daemons of Chaos:
• Dark Elves: Dark Elves have more than enough ranged AP to melt your infantry and heavy calvary. Hellcannon(s) could find their crew being harassed by Furies or Dark Riders. Dragon Ogres, if they can make it, can handily deal with calvary and monsters.
• Dwarfs: You'll win the infantry fight, assuming your slow frontline survives the heavy artillery bombardment. Use manticores, hounds, calvary, and/or furies to mess with Dwarfen ranged. Big monsters like the Shaggoth should stay out of this, unless you like watching 2000 gold get shot to shit.
• Empire:
• Grand Cathay:
• Greenskins:
• High Elves:
• Khorne: Obviously we will know more when when Warriors of Chaos are playable during the game merging, but based on what we've seen so far, these guys are basically you but with no magic and less skirmishing, but are much better at what you do: rolling over everyone in melee. Chaos Warriors will be mulched by daemonic infantry, and if they aren't the great weapon variant by Khorne Warriors as well. A wide frontline will crumble quickly and their skulls will give Hellblade bonuses to Khorne's units. Flesh Hounds can harry your skirmishers, and Khorne's calvary will likely kill yours. Overall a bad match for you.
• Kislev:
• Lizardmen: Though a flexible faction with many tools to use against you, you have relatively little to fear from their infantry. Saurus are tanky SoBs, but grindfests will generally work out in your favor due to your superior offensive statlines. Though you'll never catch any Skink units, the only ones you need to pay any real attention to are the Red-Crested variety, which will still melt in combat against your forces without extensive support. Instead, your primary concern will be the myriad of monsters the lizards are almost assuredly bringing to bear against you. Chaos Warriors or Chosen with Halberds will be your bread and butter for pinning such beasties down. Dragon Ogres and Shaggoths also make fantastic hunting squads for isolated dinosaurs and will utterly dumpster them if they can get in the thick of it. Additionally, though the Lizardmen do technically have a higher ranged roster to chose from, your Hellcannon can lay waste to their forces long before even their artillery can attempt to retaliate. Just be particularly cautious of Razordon Hunting Packs, Troglodons and potential Ripperdactyl strike squads.
• Norsca:
• Nurgle:
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Skaven: First thing's first, leave the Chaos Warriors and Chosen at home. Not only do you not need them to deal with most Skaven frontlines, but they will get ripped apart against Jezzails and Mortar teams. Mauarders are the frontline of choice as they will help deal with Clanrats and Skavenslaves relatively quickly and for cheap. Hounds are also pretty much a requirement in order to get behind the rats and take out the weapon teams before they are able to do irreversible damage. Finally, Spawn are your friends, as they help shred Skaven infantry, murder Rat Ogres and are unbreakable so some of the scarier Skaven units won't be able to spook them off. For magic lores, go with something that can deal with swarms like Fire or Shadows. Sigvald is your best bet here as a lord since Jezzails are some of the best SEM snipers in the game and Sigvald is really hard to kill.
• Slaanesh: This matchup sucks. Slaanesh epitomizes the very concept of anti-armor and even their basic troops will run laps around yours. You will want to go as cheap and wide as possible with your front-lines, they're dead meat anyways. Bring some marauding horsemen with throwing axes to try to chip away at the unarmored daemons before they make it into combat and use a hellcannon or two to blow holes in their formations when possible. Get a Fire or Shadows caster to throw some wind/vortex spells about to get past Slaanesh's higher melee defense and disrupt their formations. A Chaos Giant might not be completely out of the question due to Slaanesh's complete lack of missile units, but don't expect much from it. Unfortunately, this matchup is just heavily out of your favor no matter which way you slice it.
• Tomb Kings:
• Tzeentch:
• Vampire Coast:
• Vampire Counts:
• Wood Elves:

Campaign Strategies

Wait til game 3 where they will hopefully get a rework. You're welcome.

Total War: Warhammer Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Magic Banner Immortal Empires
Total War: Warhammer	The Empire Dwarfs Greenskins Vampire Counts Bretonnia Warriors of Chaos Beastmen Wood Elves Norsca
Total War: Warhammer 2	High Elves Dark Elves Lizardmen Skaven Tomb Kings Vampire Coast
Total War: Warhammer 3	Kislev Khorne Tzeentch Nurgle Slaanesh Grand Cathay Ogre Kingdoms Daemons of Chaos Chaos Dwarfs