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Warriors of Chaos require the Chaos Warriors Race Pack to play.

The Warriors of Chaos are a race and faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer via a DLC pack. The Warriors of Chaos faction is playable in campaign, multiplayer and custom battles. They have 3 legendary lords.

The Warriors of Chaos are barbaric, Chaos-worshippers from the far north. They are a migrating horde that seeks to bring ruin and destruction to the world. Corrupted and mutated by the power of Chaos, they have become something less than human... and also something more. A Warriors of Chaos army primarily consists of melee infantry, including heavily armoured Chaos Warriors, alongside huge, mutated monsters such as Dragon Ogre Shaggoths and two-headed Chaos Dragons.

How they play

A summary of Chaos Warriors gameplay:

  • Units: Lightly armoured marauders backed up by elite heavy-armoured warriors and huge monsters. Few ranged options.
  • Regiments of Renown: These are unique, more elite versions of regular Warriors of Chaos units.
  • Horde: In the campaign, they are a horde faction who do not occupy settlements, but their encamped armies act as mobile settlements.
  • Chaos corruption: Warriors of Chaos spread corruption, and take attrition damage if there is not enough corruption in an area.
  • Awaken the Tribes: Warriors of Chaos can choose to awaken a Norscan tribe after winning a battle against certain Norscan settlements. Awakened tribes become vassals to the Warriors of Chaos.
  • Destroyers: Warriors of Chaos are hated by most factions, and cannot engage in trade. Economy is based on attacking enemies.

Background

Fear me, mortals, for I am the Anointed, the Favoured Son of Chaos, the Scourge of the World.

To explain Chaos is to define the undefinable; it permeates the world - the ultimate foe against which the forces of Order must battle to survive. Chaos - and all magic, for that is of Chaos - seeps into the world from the two poles, one of which lies at the Realm of Chaos in the far north. This is the legacy of the Old Ones, an ancient star-faring race who, in their arrogance, used the immaterial dimension to travel and manipulate the tangible. Unknown to them, the empyrean was home to the sub-conscious desires, aspirations and emotions of all sentient races. Over time, this force coalesced into the Chaos Gods – the Ruinous Powers. It is these omnipotent beings that control the fates of all, viewing the world as a game board, the mortal denizens on it as nothing more than playing pieces to be pushed aside and destroyed at will. The Chaos Gods have many names and aspects. For most in the Old World who are aware of such things they are Khorne - the Blood God, lord of murder, rage, violence and battles; Tzeentch - the Arch-Manipulator, master of magic and weaver of time; Nurgle - the Lord of Decay, father of plagues, poxes and contagions; Slaanesh – the Dark Prince of Chaos, the great summoner of excess, desire and perversion.

To the north of the Old World lies Norsca and beyond that the Chaos Wastes, which lie in the shadow of the Chaos realm - its people the Gods’ primary pawns. The Northmen congregate in tribes. They are savage and brutal, for the lands are harsh, full of ice-covered fjords and roving monsters. No crops grow here so they must raid south to survive. They do this not just out of necessity but for glory and the chance to be recognised by the Chaos Gods. Those that do well will be gifted with all manner of mutations, and for the very few, even Daemonhood. However, those that disappoint the Ruinous Powers will be turned to Chaos Spawn - mewling mountains of flesh, teeth and tentacles.

And so Chaos armies march south, consisting of Chaos Marauders, the aforementioned fur-clad barbarians, and Chaos Warriors - particularly ruthless fighters chosen by the Ruinous Powers and gifted with arcane suits of all-encompassing armour. A Chaos force is also accompanied by a mass of mind-fraying creatures – from Hellcannons to Dragon Ogres and abhorrent Spawn. These hordes can be raiders that cross the icy seas in longships, large armies that raze entire cities, or full-scale invasions where entire nations quake in fear, convinced the End Times are upon them… And quite possibly they are, for now is the time of the Three-Eyed King. Archaon the Everchosen gathers his countless servants, who are ready at their Lord’s whispered command to bring doom down upon all!

In Battle

Unit Roster

Main article: Warriors of Chaos unit roster

Lightly armoured marauders backed up by elite heavy-armoured warriors and huge monsters. Melee focused roster, only ranged options are Hellcannons (artillery) and magic. Generally a fairly elite army that will often be outnumbered by the opponent.

Warriors of Chaos spellcasters have access to the Lore of Death, Lore of Shadows, Lore of Fire and Lore of Metal.

Regiments of Renown

Warriors of Chaos have several Regiments of Renown available, which were added in the Foundation Update. These are elite, unique versions of standard Warriors of Chaos units.

In the Campaign

Horde

In the campaign, Warriors of Chaos are a horde faction who do not occupy settlements or control provinces. To construct buildings, their horde armies must enter into encamped stance. This also means they do not have any commandments.

Additionally, horde infighting causes Marauders units in the Warriors of Chaos horde armies to take attrition damage if they are too close to each other. This is contrast with Beastmen who do not have this disadvantage. Earlier versions of the game had all the units take attrition instead of just the Marauders.

Legendary Lord choices

Warriors of Chaos players can choose from the following lords when starting a campaign. See the individual lord pages for information on their various bonuses in campaign. Despite being available in custom battles and multiplayer, Sarthorael the Everwatcher cannot be used in the campaign.

Chaos corruption

Main article: Chaos corruption

Warriors of Chaos spread Chaos corruption which benefits them, but harms other non-Chaos factions. If an area has too low levels of chaos corruption, Warriors of Chaos armies take attrition damage.

Diplomacy

Warriors of Chaos are hated by most other factions (the major exceptions are Beastmen and Norscans). They cannot engage in trade at all.

Awaken the Tribes

Main article: Awaken the Tribes

Warriors of Chaos can choose to awaken a Norscan tribe after winning a battle against certain Norscan settlements (regardless of which factions currently owns the settlement). Awakened tribes become vassals to the Warriors of Chaos.

Tribes which can only be found by being awakened:

Other Tribes which can be awakened

Marks of Chaos

Marks of Chaos are special inventory items available to the Warriors of Chaos. They operate similar to banners.

Inventory

Buildings

Main article: Warriors of Chaos buildings

As a horde faction, Warriors of Chaos have a rather limited selection off buildings which, as noted, can only be built in encamped horde armies.

Technology

Main article: Warriors of Chaos tech tree

The Tech tree of Warriors of Chaos consist of a central trunk that carries an increasing cost of Favor to advance through and gain the favor of the Dark Gods, and branches that are gated behind each node of the main trunk.

Stances

Warriors of Chaos stances

Post-battle options

Warriors of Chaos post-battle options for captives are as follows:

  • ?

Settlement options

Warriors of Chaos have these settlement options when they have captured a settlement:

  • Awaken the Tribes (certain Norscan settlements only)
  • Raze - Razing a settlement creates a Chaos Portal at it's location, which spreads Chaos Corruption for a time.
  • Loot & Raze

Followers

Main article: Warriors of Chaos followers.

Faction effects

Archaon

  • Leadership +5 for Chaos Warriors units
  • Recruitment cost -15% for Chaos Warriors units
  • Diplomatic relations -20 with all factions

Sigvald

  • ?

Kholek

  • ?

Start Position

Wh main chs chaos

Warriors of Chaos start in The Chaos Wastes.

Victory Conditions

Victory conditions for the Warriors of Chaos faction in campaign:

Short Campaign
  • ?
Long Campaign

The same as the short campaign, with the following additions:

  • ?

Strategy

Click here to add a strategy!


A good strategy with the Warriors of Chaos is a hit & run technique. Being deep into negative income is something not favorable but not terrible because of all the looting and razing you'll be doing you'll be gaining more favor than you are losing. When you recruit lords you should transfer units to the new lord in order to save time and build with that unit to decrease cost for units. Use the new lord to raze settlements so that they may gain population surpluses themselves and to gain exp. Attrition will not be a problem in the mid to late game due to higher units such as the Chosen but it will for Chaos Warriors. You'll need a lot of cavalry to take care of artillery and ranged units especially for the Dwarfs, one of your greatest enemies. Your greatest weakness will be ranged units and armored units but your cavalry will have armor piercing and speed making the Dwarfs and The Empire easy to take care of if you know what your strengths are.

DLC

As noted above, Warriors of Chaos require the Chaos Warriors Race Pack DLC for Total War: Warhammer to play.

Minor factions (Chaos)

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

Introduced in The Old World campaign:

Introduced in Eye of the Vortex campaign:

Introduced in Mortal Empires campaign:

Chaos Invasion

During a Chaos Invasion, if the player is not playing Warriors of Chaos, then the Warriors of Chaos will descend upon the world to attack with all four legendary lords. They can also be joined by the Warherd of Chaos and the Bjornling Norsca Tribe.

If the player is playing Warriors of Chaos, then they will have to contend with a rival faction of Warriors of Chaos headed by Sarthorael the Everwatcher.



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