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Wood Elves require either Realm of the Wood Elves or The Twisted and the Twilight to play.

The Wood Elves are a playable race introduced in Total War: Warhammer. It was added as part of Realm of the Wood Elves DLC.

Wood Elves are playable in campaign, multiplayer and custom battles. They have 4 legendary lords, Orion, Durthu, Sisters of Twilight and Drycha.

The Wood Elves are a mysterious race of fickle elves and their forest-spirit allies, who dwell in the magical forest of Athel Loren. Their military features elite elven units who tend to be only lightly armoured, along with forest spirits such as Dryads and some monsters. Their archers are some of the best in the game.

Wood Elves have the following playable sub-factions: Wood ElvesTalsyn, ArgwylonArgwylon, Heralds of ArielHeralds of Ariel and Wargrove of WoeWargrove of Woe.

How they play[ | ]

A summary of Wood Elves gameplay:

  • Units: Elite but fragile elf units supported by fast cavalry. Forest spirits and dragons provide physical might and firepower to support the elven armies. The Wood Elves can field no dedicated siege weapons.
  • Offices: Can promote lords to offices on the faction's unique version of the Elven Council, conferring various bonuses.
  • Amber: Unique resource used to recruit units or research faction-specific technologies. This is a critical resource in the first Warhammer game, but it has been lessened in Warhammer II.
  • Wood Elves settlements: Unique settlement system, unaffected by climate or regional occupation. Wood Elves rely on securing key settlements to provide Amber or support their main settlements. All settlements outside of the main settlement are little more than outposts.
  • Oak of Ages: A special settlement which gives faction-wide buffs. If it dies, the player loses.
  • Forest Health: The central mechanic for the Wood Elves, introduced in The Twisted and the Twilight. Wood Elves now fight to maintain and heal their local magical forests, gaining numerous benefits for succeeding. Settlements labeled Heathlands are critical to raze, capture, or ally with.
  • Worldroots: Special stance that allows Wood Elf armies to bypass terrain, similar to Underway.
  • Deeproots: A cooldown reliant variant of the Worldroots that allows the Wood Elves to travel to magical forests across the map.
  • Sword of Khaine: Wood Elf (along with High Elf and Dark Elf) factions can draw the Sword of Khaine in Total War: Warhammer II.

Background[ | ]

Tall, slender humanoids who live within the ancient forest of Athel Loren, the Wood Elves are a mysterious race who rarely emerge unless coming to its defence. Although sometimes appearing cruel, in reality they are a neutral power who act only to maintain the balance of their environment. Elves are not just long-limbed, they also live for thousands of years, which naturally makes other races seem trivial and irrelevant; only the preservation of their forest home matters, everything else ā€“ the affairs of mere ā€™mayfliesā€™ ā€“ is of little importance or consequence to them.

Although incursions are driven back, there are constant threats to the Wood Elvesā€™ forest home and way of life. In order to combat Athel Lorenā€™s many foes, they have developed elite warriors and can call on the forest itself in its defence. In addition to this martial strength, beneath the forest floor lie the Worldroots, enabling subterranean travel; Elven armies ā€“ led by their perennial King in the Woods, Orion ā€“ emerging to surprise and defeat those who encroach upon Athel Lorenā€™s glades and boughs uninvitedā€¦

Factions[ | ]

The Wood Elves are a non-horde race who occupy settlements and control provinces, however they use a special colonization system different to all other races.

Playable factions[ | ]

In campaign there are four playable Wood Elf factions, each with its own starting position, and led by separate Legendary Lords. See individual pages for faction-specific info.

NPCs[ | ]

  • Prophetess Naieth - gives quests and objectives to the player, if they play as the Heralds of Ariel.
  • Daith - provides improved or temporarily-upgraded items to the player, if they play as the Heralds of Ariel.

Minor factions[ | ]

On the campaign map, many minor factions are grouped together as Wood Elves. These all have a diplomatic positive racial bias towards each other, and use units from the Wood Elves unit roster.

Total War: Warhammer

Factions introduced in The Old World campaign:

Factions introduced in The Season of Revelation campaign:

Total War: Warhammer II

Factions introduced in the Eye of the Vortex campaign:

Factions exclusive to the Eye of the Vortex campaign:

Factions introduced in the Mortal Empires campaign:

Mortal Empires also includes the minor factions from The Old World and The Eye of the Vortex campaigns.

Total War: Warhammer III

Factions introduced in the Immortal Empires campaign:

1 - Factions present in the Immortal Empires campaign.

In Battle[ | ]

Unit Roster[ | ]

Main article: Wood Elves unit roster

Missile-focused Elven unit roster with a variety of enchanted arrows and fast-moving cavalry, including stag mounts and flying missile cavalry. These are contrasted with tanky forest spirits who can absorb damage, but cannot deal much without technological or hero upgrades. Wood Elves units tend to be lightly armoured, even compared to High Elves or Dark Elves. However like other Elven races, they rely on elite troops - quality over quantity.

As of The Total Waaagh! Update, all Wood Elves units have the Woodsman (Attribute) which allows them pass through trees and be unhindered by that terrain type.

Legendary Hero choices[ | ]

Wood Elves players can recruit the following Legendary Heroes when playing a campaign or in custom games. See the individual lord pages for information on their various bonuses in campaign.

  • Ariel - the Queen of the Wood Elves and an amazingly powerful caster who can decimate her foes.
  • Coeddil - one of the 3 eldest ancient treemen who is incredibly vicious and capable of turning the tide of battle singlehandedly.

Magic[ | ]

Wood Elves spellcasters have access to 5 lores of magic:

Regiments of Renown[ | ]

Wood Elves have several Regiments of Renown available. These are elite, unique versions of standard Wood Elves units.

In the Campaign[ | ]

Wood Elves forces

Orion and Durthu, flanked by Tree Kin, Wild Riders and Glade Guard. Hawk Riders and a Forest Dragon can be seen above.

Chaos Invasion[ | ]

Wood Elves remain neutral during a Chaos Invasion.

Wood Elves settlements[ | ]

Main article: Wood Elves settlements.

The Wood Elves use a totally different settlement system to other races, and are unaffected by regional occupation or climate. Instead, they build Forest Settlements inside the wood of Athel Loren. These have access to the full range of Wood Elf buildings and many building slots. Outside of this, they can only construct outposts in Heathlands or vital locations.

In Immortal Empires, Wood Elves may construct an outpost in any settlement.

The Oak of Ages[ | ]

The Oak of Ages is a special settlement which the player starts in control of, for both the main Wood Elves faction or Argwylon. It provides faction-wide bonuses as it is upgraded, which requires Amber. To win the campaign it is necessary to fully upgrade the Oak, and if the Oak is destroyed the player will lose the campaign.

Amber[ | ]

Bullet icon amberAmber is a powerful resource that improves the Oak of Ages and the forces of Athel Loren. Amber is obtained through capturing territories or forming diplomatic agreements (usually alliances) with other factions. Amber is required to meet the campaign's Wonder victory conditions. Lacking enough Amber causes various economic problems. This was changed in Total War: Warhammer II, with Amber now being acquired through missions and being used to research technology.

Offices[ | ]

Bullet icon elven councilWood Elves Offices is a unique campaign mechanic, similar to the Fleet Offices for the Vampire Coast factions. Players can assign lords to various positions on the council, conferring different bonuses. All Wood Elf factions have their own variants of this.

Worldroots[ | ]

Bullet icon worldrootsWorldroots are a magical, ancient network of roots from the Oak of Ages, extending across the world. Elven armies can enter the Use Worldroots stance to use the Worldroots. This is done to avoid impassable terrain and enemy forces. While in this stance they can ambush or be intercepted, resulting in a Worldroots battle on a special battle map.

The Wild Hunt[ | ]

The Wild Hunt is a unique event for Talsyn, and is not available for other Wood Elves.

Forest healing[ | ]

In Total War: Warhammer II, Wood Elves can heal magical forests to win the campaign. They do so by conquering adjacent regions and fighting battles against intruding armies.

Buildings[ | ]

Main article: Wood Elves buildings

Which buildings are available differ depending on the type of settlement, as per the Wood Elves settlement system.

Technology[ | ]

Main article: Wood Elves tech tree

Elven god-based technology tree, with two main branches boosting campaign map strategy/economy and battle performance.

Inventory[ | ]

Stances[ | ]

Special stances: Bullet icon worldrootsUse Worldroots

Common stances: March, Encamp, Ambush, Raiding, Channelling.

Post-battle options[ | ]

Wood Elves post-battle options for captives are as follows:

  • Kill Captives
  • Release Captives
  • Take On Captives (vs. other Wood Elves)
  • Abduct Captives (Mortal Empires only)

Settlement options[ | ]

Wood Elves have these settlement options when they have captured a settlement:

  • Raze
  • Seeding (creates Asrai Lookout, for settlements outside Athel Loren)
  • Occupy (for magical forest settlements)

Followers[ | ]

Main article: Wood Elves followers.

Originally did not have any, but they were added in the Foundation Update.

Climate Preferences[ | ]

The Wood Elves have all climates available to them as Suitable, but have a unique settlement system.

Commandments[ | ]

The Wood Elves have no commandments.

Start Position[ | ]

  • Both Talsyn and Argwylon start in Athel Loren.
  • Heralds of Ariel start in the Witchwood in Naggarond
  • Drycha starts in the Gryphon Wood, north of Sylvania

Victory Conditions[ | ]

Victory conditions for the Wood Elves in the campaign:

Ultimate campaign victory
  • Ensure that the following building has been constructed: Oak of Ages (Thriving)
  • Win the following battle: Defense of the Oak

Wood Elves names[ | ]

See also: Wood Elves names

Strategy[ | ]

Click here to add a strategy!

Wood Elves are incredibly delicate, and reliant on ranged damage to take out most of their enemies. As a result, you'll need to keep yourself moving away from the enemy, and avoid being surrounded. Fast races, such as Bretonnia, or armored races, such as Dwarfs, will be significantly more difficult to handle as a result. Focusing fire on threats (Such as cavalry or enemy ranged units) can mitigate this somewhat.

When facing Wood Elves, Vanguard Deployment and Cavalry can take away their advantage very quickly.

As of Warhammer II the Wood Elves can field armies of forest spirits to tank enemy attacks for them, greatly increasing their faction's overall durability. However, their elven infantry and riders are still fragile.

If the Oak of Ages is not available to promote public order (like in the Eye of the Vortex map) then don't tax provinces that aren't magic forests and build 1 outpost building that promotes public order in its own and in each neighboring province in each province that is not a magic forest-the multiple small bonuses to public order add up.

DLC[ | ]

Videos[ | ]

Trailer[ | ]

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