With the new DLC, Total War: Warhammer 3 turns everything upside down and even literally introduces the Apocalypse into the game. While everyone is excited about new victory conditions and a revised endgame, MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus cheers about one of many overlooked changes: Vampires are getting better, and quite a lot!
Okay, I understand that everyone is excited. In the latest dev stream, the creators of Total War: Warhammer 3 talked about the upcoming changes from Patch 9.0. The biggest change: the entire endgame is being overhauled.
Instead of just throwing an invasion from some faction at you, the world is really coming to an end – or almost. One of three possibilities is open:
- Archaon, the Everchosen and greatest Champion of Chaos, unites Chaos and must be defeated,
- Nagash, the first Necromancer, one of the most powerful wizards in the world and Lord of the Undead, wants to take control and banish all life,
- or a Skaven crisis occurs with… well, a lot of rats. A lot. Of rats.
Especially Archaon is exciting, because he literally destroys the world of Warhammer Fantasy in the lore. Accordingly, you can imagine the endgame: all other factions must unite, Archaon starts out almost invincible and what he occupies cannot be reclaimed. The whole thing is a global war – Total War, indeed.
Moreover, all leaders – and there are over 230 if you consider all DLCs – will now have their own, Lord-specific victory conditions. Yes, that’s cool and all. But the really big change is for Vampires!
Finally, I can become the true Lord of the Undead
Now that we’ve gotten the unimportant apocalypse nonsense out of the way, let’s get to the important part of the news: the Vampire Lords are finally getting their long-overdue overhaul. They have been part of the game since the first installment of the series in 2016, but have only received one minor adjustment since then.
Now, with the upcoming Patch 9.0, the entire faction is getting a massive rework:
- Units will no longer be normally “recruited”; standard recruitment is now Necromancy.
- In exchange, there are two new resources: corpses for units between tier 1-3 and a previously unnamed currency for the strong units at tier 4 and 5.
- As is customary for necromancy, recruitment happens “immediately.” To ensure it’s not too strong, there are unit limits like with the Tomb Kings.
- Limits can be increased by building buildings – those very buildings that were previously necessary for recruitment.
Additionally, Vampires will get their own climate: undead wasteland. Any region can be transformed into such a wasteland using the new resource. Perfect if you want to free the entire world from the burden of life (like I do). So… the world of Warhammer cough.
Build your own vampire… if you can find one
Creative Assembly is taking it even further. Vampires will now become something like the “ultimate” unit of the undead faction. Instead of just summoning them like heroes or commanders, you will first have to locate them with the new patch.
Vampire tombs can be located in settlements, but you must first occupy or make them accessible through conquest or with a hero. After that, you can awaken and empower the vampire.
You select a bloodline to which the vampire belongs and grant it special advantages. The developers provide as an example that the leader arrives directly with their own army or brings special items or traits. Vampires are meant to be rarer, but all the more powerful. By the way: Isabella and Vlad can also act as commanders in each other’s faction, not just as heroes anymore.
As someone who has already freaked out, because D&D finally gets real vampires as a class and has a great weakness for bloodsuckers (that aren’t mosquitoes), this was the absolute highlight of the stream for me. That… and a piece of information we already had.
The Queen of Vampires is coming with the new DLC and even free for everyone
Patch 9.0 will be released alongside the latest DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3, Lords of the Endtimes. For that, the developers have introduced a third commander, so far we officially know three:
- Boris the Red (or Boris Todbringer in the English original)
- Nagash himself
- and the Glottkin, three mutated brothers and champions of Nurgle
The fourth lord in the DLC will probably be Thanquol, a Skaven leader with… questionable background, even for a Skaven. Lords of the End Times, along with Patch 9.0, is expected to be released in summer 2026, but a release date is still pending.
In line with the vampire update, another character is coming into the game: Neferata, the Vampire Queen and one of the first vampires in the history of Warhammer Fantasy. However, she will not be part of the paid DLC, but will come as FreeLC, meaning free for everyone.
Vampires play an important role in the entire world of Warhammer Fantasy, not just because they are apparently powerful beings, which will soon be finally reflected in Total War: Warhammer 3. At least one of them is responsible for the apocalypse: The world of Warhammer Fantasy only ended because a guy couldn’t cope with his wounded ego
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