As an old Dark Elf tabletop player I'm really glad how CA got the old archetypes right here: Lokhir as Plundering Pirate, Rakarth the Beastmasteer hunting and taming monsters, Morathi Magical Battery summoning demons, Hellebron as Cult Leader sending out wave after wave of Crazy People, Malekith as Master Administrator and General Jack of all Trades on the battlefield and Malus just as One Man Beatstick crushing anyone who looks at him funny.
I just found malakiths campaign so bloody fun. Hard but fun. I found all my providence are super super solid an my growth is pushed to the Max frequently im able to make multiple 15 stacks that are more elite or chevrond than my enemies.
I’ve got to say I’m having way more fun on Lohkirs start than any other Lord I’ve played so far. His armies of Corsairs with some heroes and Scourge runners feels so thematic when it lands on shore just off a settlement and a Black Ark attacks while he reinforces, stalking his way to a flank attack. His ability to spam Black Arks with their 50% innate upkeep reduction boostable up to 75% with ease has made me the number 1 power since the first 3 turns. I’ve not built a land empire instead concentrating on controlling the seas, capturing and holding only major port settlements to raise my Black Ark capacity while Legendary Lord hunting for those sweet traits with Lohkir himself. Currently Lohkir has The Tower of Blessed Dread and two other support Arks following him on a lap of the world while each extra major port has a Black Ark garrisoned inside building up both the Ark and settlement before the Ark sets sail to harass the nearby ports, it’s an unbeatable strategy and I’m rolling in slaves and gold. Lohkir has +20 BvL, +5 BvI, +20 MD, Expert Charge Defence, as well as +6MD, +3MA +5 Armour for army just from traits so far! Pro tip: Black Ark buffs stack, replenishment, post battle loot, sacking income. Move the in battle groups of 3 Arks and 1 Lord for the buffs.
Bro, I was surprised that Spartacus had him listed as the worst. I can't say that I've played all the other Dark Elves Lords, but if he is saying that all the other Lords are stronger than Lohkir, there can't be no way. I absolutely steamrolled through Turn 60
He's so strong, his recent buffs make him almost malus tier in terms of 1 man solo'ing armies. I had so much trouble dealing with him as cathay on hard/hard
So glad Malus is no longer crippled by full on possession. Sure it has a couple of bad points but in TWW2 it full on prevented me from having fun. Now you can play him without worrying about your army stagnating and everyone hating you. Now you can just go super saiyan
Ngl lokhir is my absolute favorite, he's so unique and splitting your military between Cathay and lustria puts you in a really strong Position to confederate rakarth, and you have access to some great allies and trade, he definitely has an early challenge but it doesn't seem too bad though like a certain prince and emperor
Cant say I agree with you on this one, and fair enough, its your subjective list But, for example, Kraken Lord has quite a unique start location, fighting enemies no other Dark Elve fights, using black arks on the cathayan rivers is also really fun Jusy my suggestion, but maybe a campaign overview with list of pros and cons would be better? Making a community poll about the race, to see what people think about the factions, then listing all the positives and negatives so new players can compare it easily? Like, I really like that you are trying to make it easier for newer/less experienced players but I feel like a more objective aproach supported by your youtube community would be more helpful, since obviously people like many different things
The game is so great even in beta with the immortal map. It's very fun as archon to start in the north at the middle in the north and choose to go in the old world or the new! I use the mod that let you Confederate chaos leader you defeat. I am having a blast!
Honestly, I am really having fun with Lokhir at the moment and I didn't find it that hard of a campaign (playing on hard) compared to many others. The ability to spam black arks from the start really helps a lot. Cathay has a ton of port cities so they actually become useful and easy to upkeep. Thus far, I haven't even build a single recruitment building in my cities since the arks can reach pretty far inland. Just spamming economic buildings and some defensive once.
Cathay was a walk in the park. I confederated Karond Kar, and got drawn into this endless slog of beating on everyone in Naggarond, the all the Elves, Dwarves, Vampire Coast and Warriors of Chaos.
My favorite is Rakarth, I enjoyed his campaign on any of the maps and just his lore and playstyle fill so nice and satisfying to play. Hydras all the way!
I have been playing Rakarth and loving it as well. I will say that unless you are ready, taking Clarond Kar when it is offered is all but impossible to keep, however.
Nice job on this video series IS! Dark Elves were my favorite race from WH2, and the news about new slave system had me worried. I want to try all the races and features out, but I had to give my favorite a go and see how they are in WH3. Started a Malekith campaign and can say I’m having more fun than original! The new enemies around add some great spice, and I’m growing more fond of the new slave system than I expected! Still need to do more playing with it for a final verdict. Keep up the awesome work my dude!!
just a footnote: for malekith, the -15% construction cost does not necessarily stack with the factionwide discount. the skill "efforts redoubled" says the benefits apply to the local province, not factionwide. really enjoy these videos btw, the fun in playing different legendary lords is in how they each specialise the roster, and you showcasing their skill trees helps a lot with that.
@@Erligan Problem w that is having to use him defensively or wasting turns running him around to use it, which is why I never go that route. More income from post battle and more slaves is optimal for an aggressive campaign. You’ll get way more from that extra income than you ever would wasting time hopping between provinces for a minor cost reduction to buildings
I LOVE THESE VIDEOS, keep ‘em coming Sparty!!! 🤘🏼I’m having so much fun with Fellheart in Immortal Empires. Carved out Cathay and now using the sea lanes to reign terror by sea 🌊😈 the black arcs get so much use in the rivers of Cathay, I’ve found Fellheart’s campaign to be actually pretty engaging
One thing I've found is that Alith Anar is actually a pretty fun campaign now if you just wanna fight a bunch of different types of enemies. He can sort of outmaneuver everyone in the area because of his unique movement stance and all the small waterways. The only issue right now is that the upkeep reduction he has is bugged for Shadow Warriors so it's cheaper to upkeep the tier three Shadow-walkers over the tier two Shadow Warriors.
Excellent video! Can't say I much care about which lord is stronger, but just listening to you describe their mechanics was enough to make me want to play DE campaign.
Really pleased to see both Malus and the Cold One units doing well! Got a Morathi/N'kari co-op campaign lined up with my sister that I'm really optimistic about. Feel you may be sleeping on Lokhir though? Honestly seeing him on the bottom is just encouraging me to give him a try to see!
Great run downs of all the campaigns. Dark elves feel super fun to play in IE as the world is larger with more ports for black arks to pillage. My first immortal empire campaign I chose was Morathi, still playing it. While true her immediate area is not highly contested, I had lizardmen and a Twilight sisters declare war on me by turn 10, and then around turn 50 a tide of high elves came at me, had 7 20 stacks of different high elf factions coming at me. Been a really fun campaign thus far. I landing on Ulthuan and beginning my invasion.
Great video. Pleas keep them coming for the other races being ported over as well. Very much appreciated the rundown on the changes and comparisons! Lizard men next please :D
Lokhir is straight up one of my favourite Dark Elf campaigns. I don't... understand. Vanguard, Stalk, AP missiles, Lokhir also getting Vanguard and Stalk... he's so fun. And his placement is fantastically interesting. Sailing those Black Arks into the rivers and lakes inside Cathay is so neat. Can go straight out that grand canal too.
Who doesn't love the Dark Elves?! I can't decide who I am going to start with after I finish the Vampire Counts....maybe Morathi for that Slaaneshi feelin in my soul.
I absolutely loved my campaign as Lokhir, mainly because Cathay is still pretty empty in terms of LLs which meant I was fighting two massive Cathayan empires, with my fleets of black arms harrying the river cities. This also got incredibly monotonous sadly. Cathay just kinda feels empty.
Lokhir needs more flavour. His bonuses and lore incentivizes you to keep to the coastal regions, move around with your black arks and raid, but CA gives you bog standard "control X settlement" victory objectives... and some of those are pretty far inland of Cathay, including the Red Blades mission. Two ideas to make him more fun : - give him some of the Vampire Coast mechanics, namely shipbuilding, infamy and coves, but no pieces of eight or shanties - change his short victory conditions from controling to raiding, and spread them out across the world to incentivize staying on the move : keep some in Cathay (including some inland you can access from rivers) but add Tower of the Sun (which he once full on slaughtered to the last man in tabletop lore), some in Lustria, some in the Southlands, maybe Marienburg and Altdorf. When you're master of the seas, then you can think about retaking Ulthuan
Malus' campaign is sooo much fun. I've played two campaigns of his, one I cut through Norsca because Throgg decided I needed to die on turn 5. The other one I blitzed all the way through Sigvald and Valkia and united with Hellebron to overthrow Malekith and am in the process of pushing through a surprisingly powerful Cylostra to rescue Morathi from Taurox and Mazdamundi
Really enjoying ths series and the in depth look with refreshing enthusiasm. I have no opinion about this, DElfs are among my least played factions, not that I dislike them, but usually I go for more focused races and when I want to play ranged I want explosions and atillery.
Ya know I used to think the same way but now out of the last 4 campaigns I've played 3 we're delfs, I've been playing a Rakarth one now having a lot of fun using a mix of fast moving chariots and high powered crossbow cavalry with the variety of Beasts he gives you, hell I have an army with mammoths, bears, and carnosaurs and another one with stegadons, mammoths and hydras : )
Malus is also my favorite dark elf. Having just finished his book series, I'm noticing a bit more of the easter eggs in the game. Id love there to be a book series on my favorite skaven, Ikit >.>
@@mattswanson3568 I have not read Thanquol's books yet. Can I get into that without having to read all of Gotrek and Felix? Thanquol and Nagash are perhaps the only 2 people in WH3 I'm waiting for them to add.
@@eviljoshy3402 I would say so, but I also read the gotrek and Felix books first lol. I think it's more of a thing where you catch a lot of Easter eggs if you know their stories. Either way thanquol is amazing, just the epitome of skavendom 😂
@@eviljoshy3402no just read w.e series you want in the Old World. I highly suggest getting the Nagash series and the Sundering series about Malakith, Alith Anar, and the division between the Elves leading to the civil war, creation of the Druchii, and the destruction of Ulthuan.
@@Sevatar_VIIIth I've actually read all those but ty. I started the series with Nagash's trilogy. Something about the worlds first necromancer called to me. Sundering was good and Sigmar was too. Vampire wars was okay. I was thinking about reading the book about the war between the elves and the dwarves.
Malus is my favorite character, you can occupy the settlement next to him and sell Hag Graef turn 1, then use the "change start location" mod to put him back to his start location in WH2 right under kugath. Its a great time honestly.
Malekith became my fav, but my approach to him is completely different: +100% income from looting and stuff in his warleader line makes so much money that a bit cheaper buildings don't matter, and growth becomes more of a factor, but, most importantly, he gets +2 to new lord rank, and another +2 and +1 from special buildings in the 2 starting provinces, so you just need 4 of those tier 5 +1 lord rank buildings, and then you can recruit lvl 10 lords and gamble their name of power until you get what you want lol (funnily enough though, the first time I did that I rolled shadowdart 5 times in a row) Malus is also a beast, but I prefer to confederate him. The first time I got him I was trying to get him killed (was a bit too far from everything), so I kept sending him alone into suicidal charges against full stacks of enemies, and he kept wiping them out lol
Rakarth is incredibly bugged right now. Pretty much nothing seems to be working. No quest rewards from whip of agony quest, no set effect from his armor, harpies still have upkeep cost even with his skill unlocked, karond kar gets eaten by alith anar before confederating is possible because the gather slaves quest is broken... I'm sure there are even more bugs (who knows if his other skills are even working?) but these already demotivated me enough to go play something else.
Ah a fellow malus lover. tbh same I love playing malus cause I can send him to mostly any battle and then just leave him alone and I get to have him do all the work while my other dark elves just defend my cities for the slaanesh rebellions
I feel like everyone has missed the big bonus for Lokhir. It’s the HUGE sacking bonus. Weapon, talents, special rite, multiple black arks bonuses stacking, getting an Assassin with scavenge and the Cruelty trait added. I made 300k in 2 turns by popping the rite and sacking multiple ports and cities along the coast of Ulthuan and the Plague island. I’ve heard of people taking it to even further extremes.
DE are my favourite faction I finished Malekith's campaign recently but I noticed 2 things. 1st is that the new slave mechanic is unsustainable as I could get 500-1000 slaves per battle but I was losing 2600 per turn. Most of the time I had slaves for just 1 turn and then they disappeared. 2nd thing is their victory conditions doesn't make any sense as you have high recruitment already from arks and tech, and there is no global recruitment for them. That needs quick fixing I hope CA will get it done in September hotfix.
The main thing I really dislike about malekith’s campaign is that so many of the settlements the game wants you to take early on are in yellow climate which just kind of grinds me
what you forgot about Lokhir: you can stack black arks by taking ports and within turn 20 or so you can have up to 4-5 arks and their building auras for armies stack. so you can recruit lvl 7 units immediately and get 60% more loot after battles and this 60% is only ONE black ark aura. so it can go up to 300% more gold for every battle. this is insanity.
Not sure how but I played as Hellebron and all chaos factions loved me.. Trade agreements with valkia, sig, belakor, nkari,.. Sig did betray me but Valkia took care of him for me.
"Lustria is no longer packed" my brother tell that to skrolk who has hexoatl, itza, spine of sotek dwarves, new southern sentinel lizards, vampire coast, some random elves and some dead dudes over the mountains to the west of him. People were saying lustria is less dense but uh skrolks first 20 turns is still in the running for most brutal in IE
I think the Lokhir difficulty issue is noticeable in a fair amount of campaigns this is especially noticeable in the original monogod lords. All of them start surrounded by factions that hate them with little to no allies near them. I tried and want to play Kugath but I literally can't leave my starting province. I go for Ghorst, Greasus B-lines my settlements, I go for Greasus, Ghorst B-lines my settlements. Kaoros has a similar issue with tiq-tak, Teclis and Krokgar. N'Kari with Allarielle and Eltharion. Skarbrand it kinda works cause Khorne
Lokhir is the easiest campaign. On Legendary in wh2 i had most of the west in 60 turns, now it has dozens of black arks asap, yeah, you cannot now make 50k from each province but it usually worked like from 30 or even 40 turn and now early game is easier. Adding Anath Raema rite it became easiest faction, also black arks now upgrade very fast. All you need (have to do) is to capture main ports. Just dont go inside the continents, for the exception only maybe NW of Naggarond in case of confederation
Would you include a link in the description for the playlist your video is included in? You have so many videos it's hard to find similar videos. Loved this one, and your recent warriors of chaos one also. Thanks!
@@italianspartacus Thank you :) Love your content man. I've only been a viewer for about 6 mo., but you're one of my go-to's for all TW WH stuff. Keep up the great work.
I've had a lot of time to play lately and I love Dark Elves so I've played them all except Malus in TW:W3 Mortal Empires. All on legendary. I'd rate Morathi as best. She can knock out flying toad fast, and ally with Skeggi, blue vipers and clan gritus by like turn 10. They will be a shield around your starting province. I had taken all of Ulthuan by turn 46 IIRC. Military Ally with N'kari. Morathi is the best because the High Elves will be an increasing annoyance the longer they are left alive. Due to proximity Morathi can take Ulthuan the fastest. She also has a really good skill tree. I'd rate Malekith and Lokhir as shared 2nd. With Malekith make peace with the skaven and take Mung's starting province so you get the corner of the map fast and to take out Valkia early. With Lokhir you can just take the first 2 provinces and build tall, then make black arks and move all your armies and arks to take Lustria through sea lanes. You don't care about losing the starting provinces. They are just there to stick around as long as possible for bonus income. 3rd place for me would be Hellebron. Hellebron on a manticore is IMO one of the strongest LL's in the game. Manticore is the best mount in the game, waaay better than dragons. She has an easy start. Leaving one open to choose what to do. 4th place Rakarth. Not a fan of the LL or his theme. This is mostly a personal preference not powergaming related. Not rated: Malus. Haven't played him yet.
Lohkir needs a horde mechanic and just attach the blessed dread to his character like a vampire coast lord. Lohkir is a slaver. He she be able to pack up his stuff and move somewhere else if a situation is looking like crap.
My Rakarth playthrough experience is pretty bad as i couldnt change the firing mode to multishot of his bolt thrower and confederating with Karond Kar was completly biting my own a** as it was only 1 small settlement with an army wich instantly turned traitor while surrounded by Alith Anar on all sides #fun
Ive had a very different experience with Rakarth. The first province was easy but after that both the lizard prophet and markus started constantly sending 20 stacks, faster than my two armies could replenish. On top of that the karend kar mission was aborted for some reason 4 turns after I got the quest. On very hard - very hard difficulty it was not enjoyable and I was done after 30 turns or so.
Not nitpicking just pointing out at 6:43 you say that Khatep is on Lustria below Rakarth but that is actually a minor faction called Deserter's of Khatep led by a generic lord named Behedsun the Deserter. Really small mistake I just wanted to point it out for clarity. Khatep is in his pretty much same location as WH2 just below Grombrindal's new location.
@@italianspartacus Hell yes brother thank you for all the dope content!! These videos are really helping me weed through the like 30+ sick campaigns we just got to find the ones that fit my playstyle best.
Are Hellebron's Blood Voyage armies not bugged in IE? I remember them being a disaster in ME so much that I stopped playing her faction enough though I love her character in the books.
I never really had a problem with cathayan factions as fellheart. Because villich was keeping them sufficantly engaged untill I was well established with the whole coastline to call mine along with two provinces back home at karond kar. Edit* also seems you didn't mention that fellheart also has that karond kar confederation oppertunity.
Vampire Coast has some more interesting mechanics with loyalty, because all lords have a different way to get it. Still doesn't feel like it comes up that often.
Lokhir may not have a ton of interesting Mechanics, but he starts with a black ark on turn one. On turn 14 I have black guard and hydras among other things. To say it’s a difficult campaign when you have access to tier 4/5 units by such an early turn feels disingenuous.
My first campaign was Lokhir. I don't know if you noticed but his bonuses from sacking in range of Black Arks stacks, and he can get a LOT of Black Arks. I have a fleet of ten of them and was making 150K from sacking an average city. Can't wait to see what happens when I have 30 Black Arks :)
My first try at a campaign was lohkir. I took 5 or so cities along the coast and realized that I was so far south that any attack in the north would be a disaster. The quest was pulling me even further south. Just kinda lost interest at that point. After reading the comments here maybe I'll give it another try
Lohkir has the most interesting start pos of any DE lord. How are Rakarth, Morathi, and Hellebrone ranked higher than him? Also Malus' gimmicks are shit and a chore. The real list goes: Malekith (top) -> Lohkir -> Hellebron -> Morathi -> Rakarth -> Malus (bottom).
One question is Malus no longer gimped having no replentishment at higher tzarkan bar? cause that was the main reason i never really played his campaign
Been bouncing around between starts and lords a lot. Decided to try Daemons of Chaos again in IE... seems like that was a huge mistake. I know you can't really do a Worst to Best on Daemons, but am curious if I'm just doing it wrong, or if Daemons / Daniel just has an AWFUL start location and path to grow or it's just me.
Im playing as Malekith and im struggling with Sigvald and Alith Annar in my campaign. They are tag team me and i allways have to defend another front. Of course, each campaign can play out different. Economy as Naggarond is really good, all mines and slaves, combined with low construction costs and technology is giving me huge amount of gold to upkeep armies.
Hellabron is alot more fun now, I remember on the release of dlc, being really dissapointed, blood death were difficult to attain and attacking ghrond was not fun. currently playing her and really enjoying the slave mechanic, something I didnt in warhammer 2
I really enjoyed lokir I just dont like corsairs. His campaign is fun its really solid. But malakith campaign just feels so good it's far harder now on very hard very hard. Plus his perk of 25% upkeep on all basic infantry is disgusting so strong
I think Malus should give buffs to all dark elf cavalry units, not just cold ones. Dark elves don`t have dedicated cavalry expert in the roster and Malus is the perfect candidate.
so as morathi i am unable to build up the gates on ulthuan at all causing me to be stuck with a lvl 1 building and weak as fuck garrison. is that intended or bugged?
When's the Empire future DLC video you were talking about coming? I'm holding off playing Empire until a DLC, so I'm really curious about your thoughts on it.
Honestly I really been enjoying Lokhirs campaign. You start in a funky area but after you take care of the few schmucks you’re jet settin around the world baybee. Crankin out the black arks sackin and slavin. On another note thank god cold one knights are actually dope now. There’s noooooo way such a cool ass unit shouldn’t be good to use and recruit. Evil elves on brolic velociraptors is just the business
cold ones.. in lore they are quite unruly. i would have liked a different take on primal instincts though. instead of them randomly going berserk, they should have gone berserk on all units when leadership reaches zero. sorta like elephants in rome 1.
I understand this is a subjective ranking based on the player preferences, but for the life of me, how is Malekith's 15% construction cost reduction powerful, unless you turn him into a courier touring your provinces, instead of leading armies in battles... as an example. Blood Voyage, Daemonettes, Lokhir going south, and a lot more sounded weird too, I wonder wether they were tested or just imagined as possibilities.
I'm personally under the assumption that the reason why Makekith's construction cost reduction is powerful because it costs less to build up newly conquered territory. As you're moving through a province, you're bound to be rebuilding it with growth buildings and more if you managed to conquer the settlement at a higher level. While it can seem little, every little saved adds up; especially for the early campaign since background incomes are nerfed compared to WHII and you're having to make critical decisions as to what to spend on.
As an old Dark Elf tabletop player I'm really glad how CA got the old archetypes right here: Lokhir as Plundering Pirate, Rakarth the Beastmasteer hunting and taming monsters, Morathi Magical Battery summoning demons, Hellebron as Cult Leader sending out wave after wave of Crazy People, Malekith as Master Administrator and General Jack of all Trades on the battlefield and Malus just as One Man Beatstick crushing anyone who looks at him funny.
I just found malakiths campaign so bloody fun. Hard but fun. I found all my providence are super super solid an my growth is pushed to the Max frequently im able to make multiple 15 stacks that are more elite or chevrond than my enemies.
I’ve got to say I’m having way more fun on Lohkirs start than any other Lord I’ve played so far. His armies of Corsairs with some heroes and Scourge runners feels so thematic when it lands on shore just off a settlement and a Black Ark attacks while he reinforces, stalking his way to a flank attack.
His ability to spam Black Arks with their 50% innate upkeep reduction boostable up to 75% with ease has made me the number 1 power since the first 3 turns.
I’ve not built a land empire instead concentrating on controlling the seas, capturing and holding only major port settlements to raise my Black Ark capacity while Legendary Lord hunting for those sweet traits with Lohkir himself.
Currently Lohkir has The Tower of Blessed Dread and two other support Arks following him on a lap of the world while each extra major port has a Black Ark garrisoned inside building up both the Ark and settlement before the Ark sets sail to harass the nearby ports, it’s an unbeatable strategy and I’m rolling in slaves and gold.
Lohkir has +20 BvL, +5 BvI, +20 MD, Expert Charge Defence, as well as +6MD, +3MA +5 Armour for army just from traits so far!
Pro tip: Black Ark buffs stack, replenishment, post battle loot, sacking income. Move the in battle groups of 3 Arks and 1 Lord for the buffs.
Bro, I was surprised that Spartacus had him listed as the worst. I can't say that I've played all the other Dark Elves Lords, but if he is saying that all the other Lords are stronger than Lohkir, there can't be no way.
I absolutely steamrolled through Turn 60
He's so strong, his recent buffs make him almost malus tier in terms of 1 man solo'ing armies. I had so much trouble dealing with him as cathay on hard/hard
@@wolferegalia Lohkir is #1 DE lord its not even close.
Lokhir was always my fav too. It 's incredible fun to dominate the seas with black arks.
So glad Malus is no longer crippled by full on possession. Sure it has a couple of bad points but in TWW2 it full on prevented me from having fun.
Now you can play him without worrying about your army stagnating and everyone hating you.
Now you can just go super saiyan
Oh they removed the -100replenishment bollocks? Damn, I might go for him then :)
Ngl lokhir is my absolute favorite, he's so unique and splitting your military between Cathay and lustria puts you in a really strong Position to confederate rakarth, and you have access to some great allies and trade, he definitely has an early challenge but it doesn't seem too bad though like a certain prince and emperor
not to mention he just looks so damn good
And the absolute black arc spam.
@@magma1lord you get an arc and you get an arc, everyone gets a fucking AAAAAARRRRRRRRCCCC
Cant say I agree with you on this one, and fair enough, its your subjective list
But, for example, Kraken Lord has quite a unique start location, fighting enemies no other Dark Elve fights, using black arks on the cathayan rivers is also really fun
Jusy my suggestion, but maybe a campaign overview with list of pros and cons would be better? Making a community poll about the race, to see what people think about the factions, then listing all the positives and negatives so new players can compare it easily?
Like, I really like that you are trying to make it easier for newer/less experienced players but I feel like a more objective aproach supported by your youtube community would be more helpful, since obviously people like many different things
The game is so great even in beta with the immortal map. It's very fun as archon to start in the north at the middle in the north and choose to go in the old world or the new! I use the mod that let you Confederate chaos leader you defeat. I am having a blast!
Honestly, I am really having fun with Lokhir at the moment and I didn't find it that hard of a campaign (playing on hard) compared to many others. The ability to spam black arks from the start really helps a lot. Cathay has a ton of port cities so they actually become useful and easy to upkeep. Thus far, I haven't even build a single recruitment building in my cities since the arks can reach pretty far inland. Just spamming economic buildings and some defensive once.
Cathay was a walk in the park. I confederated Karond Kar, and got drawn into this endless slog of beating on everyone in Naggarond, the all the Elves, Dwarves, Vampire Coast and Warriors of Chaos.
My favorite is Rakarth, I enjoyed his campaign on any of the maps and just his lore and playstyle fill so nice and satisfying to play. Hydras all the way!
I have been playing Rakarth and loving it as well. I will say that unless you are ready, taking Clarond Kar when it is offered is all but impossible to keep, however.
@@robadamson1 We just need to wait for the 1st patch to move alith anar away from karond kar so it's gonna be easier
Rakarth is just one of my favorite characters overall. The monster mash playstyle is a lot of fun, and he's got a great voice actor.
I love Rakarth and the whole monster mash playstyle, but I dont like the location he starts in - for some reason I just dont enjoy fihgting lizardman.
Your excitement is infectious in these. Well done. Dark Elves weren't even on my radar to play yet.
Nice job on this video series IS! Dark Elves were my favorite race from WH2, and the news about new slave system had me worried. I want to try all the races and features out, but I had to give my favorite a go and see how they are in WH3. Started a Malekith campaign and can say I’m having more fun than original! The new enemies around add some great spice, and I’m growing more fond of the new slave system than I expected! Still need to do more playing with it for a final verdict. Keep up the awesome work my dude!!
just a footnote: for malekith, the -15% construction cost does not necessarily stack with the factionwide discount. the skill "efforts redoubled" says the benefits apply to the local province, not factionwide.
really enjoy these videos btw, the fun in playing different legendary lords is in how they each specialise the roster, and you showcasing their skill trees helps a lot with that.
Just put Him in the province, where you want to build stuff, to stack those bonuses, not so big of a problem.
@@Erligan Problem w that is having to use him defensively or wasting turns running him around to use it, which is why I never go that route. More income from post battle and more slaves is optimal for an aggressive campaign. You’ll get way more from that extra income than you ever would wasting time hopping between provinces for a minor cost reduction to buildings
I LOVE THESE VIDEOS, keep ‘em coming Sparty!!! 🤘🏼I’m having so much fun with Fellheart in Immortal Empires. Carved out Cathay and now using the sea lanes to reign terror by sea 🌊😈 the black arcs get so much use in the rivers of Cathay, I’ve found Fellheart’s campaign to be actually pretty engaging
Would love to see your ratings for the High Elf campaigns, especially since you also love them yourself!
One thing I've found is that Alith Anar is actually a pretty fun campaign now if you just wanna fight a bunch of different types of enemies. He can sort of outmaneuver everyone in the area because of his unique movement stance and all the small waterways. The only issue right now is that the upkeep reduction he has is bugged for Shadow Warriors so it's cheaper to upkeep the tier three Shadow-walkers over the tier two Shadow Warriors.
Excellent video! Can't say I much care about which lord is stronger, but just listening to you describe their mechanics was enough to make me want to play DE campaign.
Really pleased to see both Malus and the Cold One units doing well!
Got a Morathi/N'kari co-op campaign lined up with my sister that I'm really optimistic about.
Feel you may be sleeping on Lokhir though? Honestly seeing him on the bottom is just encouraging me to give him a try to see!
Great run downs of all the campaigns. Dark elves feel super fun to play in IE as the world is larger with more ports for black arks to pillage. My first immortal empire campaign I chose was Morathi, still playing it. While true her immediate area is not highly contested, I had lizardmen and a Twilight sisters declare war on me by turn 10, and then around turn 50 a tide of high elves came at me, had 7 20 stacks of different high elf factions coming at me. Been a really fun campaign thus far. I landing on Ulthuan and beginning my invasion.
Great video. Pleas keep them coming for the other races being ported over as well. Very much appreciated the rundown on the changes and comparisons! Lizard men next please :D
Lokhir is straight up one of my favourite Dark Elf campaigns. I don't... understand.
Vanguard, Stalk, AP missiles, Lokhir also getting Vanguard and Stalk... he's so fun.
And his placement is fantastically interesting. Sailing those Black Arks into the rivers and lakes inside Cathay is so neat. Can go straight out that grand canal too.
Who doesn't love the Dark Elves?! I can't decide who I am going to start with after I finish the Vampire Counts....maybe Morathi for that Slaaneshi feelin in my soul.
Great video ! Good insights I think same format for other factions would be really interesting.
The most important takeaway from this: If you play Malus Darkblade, you don't have an army, what you have is a Malus Delivery System.
I absolutely loved my campaign as Lokhir, mainly because Cathay is still pretty empty in terms of LLs which meant I was fighting two massive Cathayan empires, with my fleets of black arms harrying the river cities.
This also got incredibly monotonous sadly. Cathay just kinda feels empty.
Lokhir needs more flavour. His bonuses and lore incentivizes you to keep to the coastal regions, move around with your black arks and raid, but CA gives you bog standard "control X settlement" victory objectives... and some of those are pretty far inland of Cathay, including the Red Blades mission. Two ideas to make him more fun :
- give him some of the Vampire Coast mechanics, namely shipbuilding, infamy and coves, but no pieces of eight or shanties
- change his short victory conditions from controling to raiding, and spread them out across the world to incentivize staying on the move : keep some in Cathay (including some inland you can access from rivers) but add Tower of the Sun (which he once full on slaughtered to the last man in tabletop lore), some in Lustria, some in the Southlands, maybe Marienburg and Altdorf. When you're master of the seas, then you can think about retaking Ulthuan
Malus' campaign is sooo much fun. I've played two campaigns of his, one I cut through Norsca because Throgg decided I needed to die on turn 5. The other one I blitzed all the way through Sigvald and Valkia and united with Hellebron to overthrow Malekith and am in the process of pushing through a surprisingly powerful Cylostra to rescue Morathi from Taurox and Mazdamundi
I like this series a lot keep them coming Sparty!
Really enjoying ths series and the in depth look with refreshing enthusiasm. I have no opinion about this, DElfs are among my least played factions, not that I dislike them, but usually I go for more focused races and when I want to play ranged I want explosions and atillery.
Ya know I used to think the same way but now out of the last 4 campaigns I've played 3 we're delfs, I've been playing a Rakarth one now having a lot of fun using a mix of fast moving chariots and high powered crossbow cavalry with the variety of Beasts he gives you, hell I have an army with mammoths, bears, and carnosaurs and another one with stegadons, mammoths and hydras : )
Malus is also my favorite dark elf. Having just finished his book series, I'm noticing a bit more of the easter eggs in the game. Id love there to be a book series on my favorite skaven, Ikit >.>
He's not ikit, but if you haven't read the thanquol books they're amazing. I'm just waiting for them to add him to total war
@@mattswanson3568 I have not read Thanquol's books yet. Can I get into that without having to read all of Gotrek and Felix?
Thanquol and Nagash are perhaps the only 2 people in WH3 I'm waiting for them to add.
@@eviljoshy3402 I would say so, but I also read the gotrek and Felix books first lol. I think it's more of a thing where you catch a lot of Easter eggs if you know their stories. Either way thanquol is amazing, just the epitome of skavendom 😂
@@eviljoshy3402no just read w.e series you want in the Old World. I highly suggest getting the Nagash series and the Sundering series about Malakith, Alith Anar, and the division between the Elves leading to the civil war, creation of the Druchii, and the destruction of Ulthuan.
@@Sevatar_VIIIth I've actually read all those but ty. I started the series with Nagash's trilogy. Something about the worlds first necromancer called to me. Sundering was good and Sigmar was too. Vampire wars was okay. I was thinking about reading the book about the war between the elves and the dwarves.
Would love to see high elves at some point in the future.
Malus is my favorite character, you can occupy the settlement next to him and sell Hag Graef turn 1, then use the "change start location" mod to put him back to his start location in WH2 right under kugath. Its a great time honestly.
I personally recommend the mod to unlock all Slanesh demons with Morathi. Helps her get the feel of a mini dlc.
Malekith became my fav, but my approach to him is completely different: +100% income from looting and stuff in his warleader line makes so much money that a bit cheaper buildings don't matter, and growth becomes more of a factor, but, most importantly, he gets +2 to new lord rank, and another +2 and +1 from special buildings in the 2 starting provinces, so you just need 4 of those tier 5 +1 lord rank buildings, and then you can recruit lvl 10 lords and gamble their name of power until you get what you want lol (funnily enough though, the first time I did that I rolled shadowdart 5 times in a row)
Malus is also a beast, but I prefer to confederate him. The first time I got him I was trying to get him killed (was a bit too far from everything), so I kept sending him alone into suicidal charges against full stacks of enemies, and he kept wiping them out lol
Hag Graef has a building that reduces your army upkeep there, so it's effectively Cathay's wall and cheap to defend.
Rakarth is incredibly bugged right now. Pretty much nothing seems to be working. No quest rewards from whip of agony quest, no set effect from his armor, harpies still have upkeep cost even with his skill unlocked, karond kar gets eaten by alith anar before confederating is possible because the gather slaves quest is broken... I'm sure there are even more bugs (who knows if his other skills are even working?) but these already demotivated me enough to go play something else.
This is my experience as well. Pretty much every minor Dark Elf faction is destroyed within the first 10 turns.
Don’t forget that diplomatic bonus as Malekith - easy confederations and alliances are great.
Great video! Please do Skaven next!
Ah a fellow malus lover. tbh same I love playing malus cause I can send him to mostly any battle and then just leave him alone and I get to have him do all the work while my other dark elves just defend my cities for the slaanesh rebellions
I feel like everyone has missed the big bonus for Lokhir. It’s the HUGE sacking bonus. Weapon, talents, special rite, multiple black arks bonuses stacking, getting an Assassin with scavenge and the Cruelty trait added. I made 300k in 2 turns by popping the rite and sacking multiple ports and cities along the coast of Ulthuan and the Plague island. I’ve heard of people taking it to even further extremes.
I sailed to Naggaroth with Rakarth early, helped Malekith and gavev him 6 settlements. Proceeded to confederate him and Malus
DE are my favourite faction I finished Malekith's campaign recently but I noticed 2 things. 1st is that the new slave mechanic is unsustainable as I could get 500-1000 slaves per battle but I was losing 2600 per turn. Most of the time I had slaves for just 1 turn and then they disappeared. 2nd thing is their victory conditions doesn't make any sense as you have high recruitment already from arks and tech, and there is no global recruitment for them. That needs quick fixing I hope CA will get it done in September hotfix.
The main thing I really dislike about malekith’s campaign is that so many of the settlements the game wants you to take early on are in yellow climate which just kind of grinds me
what you forgot about Lokhir: you can stack black arks by taking ports and within turn 20 or so you can have up to 4-5 arks and their building auras for armies stack. so you can recruit lvl 7 units immediately and get 60% more loot after battles and this 60% is only ONE black ark aura. so it can go up to 300% more gold for every battle. this is insanity.
My boy Malus has become the true terror that he was meant to be
Malus was my favorite in TWW2 too, even with his penalties. Totally worth it. It was just too much fun.
haah thats weird, Lokhir was the most fun to me yet (all campaigns i played, not only dark elves). love the new position and everything about him.
Love the series! Ty Sparty!
Lokhir needs some vamp coast faction mechanics. He should be a black ark. Having an officer mechanic would be nice too at the very least
Not sure how but I played as Hellebron and all chaos factions loved me.. Trade agreements with valkia, sig, belakor, nkari,.. Sig did betray me but Valkia took care of him for me.
Awesome guide man, Vampire Counts next?
"Lustria is no longer packed" my brother tell that to skrolk who has hexoatl, itza, spine of sotek dwarves, new southern sentinel lizards, vampire coast, some random elves and some dead dudes over the mountains to the west of him. People were saying lustria is less dense but uh skrolks first 20 turns is still in the running for most brutal in IE
I think the Lokhir difficulty issue is noticeable in a fair amount of campaigns this is especially noticeable in the original monogod lords. All of them start surrounded by factions that hate them with little to no allies near them. I tried and want to play Kugath but I literally can't leave my starting province. I go for Ghorst, Greasus B-lines my settlements, I go for Greasus, Ghorst B-lines my settlements.
Kaoros has a similar issue with tiq-tak, Teclis and Krokgar.
N'Kari with Allarielle and Eltharion.
Skarbrand it kinda works cause Khorne
Lokhir is the easiest campaign. On Legendary in wh2 i had most of the west in 60 turns, now it has dozens of black arks asap, yeah, you cannot now make 50k from each province but it usually worked like from 30 or even 40 turn and now early game is easier. Adding Anath Raema rite it became easiest faction, also black arks now upgrade very fast. All you need (have to do) is to capture main ports. Just dont go inside the continents, for the exception only maybe NW of Naggarond in case of confederation
Would you include a link in the description for the playlist your video is included in? You have so many videos it's hard to find similar videos. Loved this one, and your recent warriors of chaos one also. Thanks!
Should be linked at rhe end and in the upper right corner!
@@italianspartacus Thank you :) Love your content man. I've only been a viewer for about 6 mo., but you're one of my go-to's for all TW WH stuff. Keep up the great work.
More worst to best videos please!! Keep them coming.
I've had a lot of time to play lately and I love Dark Elves so I've played them all except Malus in TW:W3 Mortal Empires. All on legendary. I'd rate Morathi as best. She can knock out flying toad fast, and ally with Skeggi, blue vipers and clan gritus by like turn 10. They will be a shield around your starting province. I had taken all of Ulthuan by turn 46 IIRC. Military Ally with N'kari. Morathi is the best because the High Elves will be an increasing annoyance the longer they are left alive. Due to proximity Morathi can take Ulthuan the fastest. She also has a really good skill tree.
I'd rate Malekith and Lokhir as shared 2nd. With Malekith make peace with the skaven and take Mung's starting province so you get the corner of the map fast and to take out Valkia early. With Lokhir you can just take the first 2 provinces and build tall, then make black arks and move all your armies and arks to take Lustria through sea lanes. You don't care about losing the starting provinces. They are just there to stick around as long as possible for bonus income.
3rd place for me would be Hellebron. Hellebron on a manticore is IMO one of the strongest LL's in the game. Manticore is the best mount in the game, waaay better than dragons. She has an easy start. Leaving one open to choose what to do.
4th place Rakarth. Not a fan of the LL or his theme. This is mostly a personal preference not powergaming related.
Not rated: Malus. Haven't played him yet.
Lohkir needs a horde mechanic and just attach the blessed dread to his character like a vampire coast lord. Lohkir is a slaver. He she be able to pack up his stuff and move somewhere else if a situation is looking like crap.
Fellheart is the mad lad🥵, it's fun raiding the Riverlands of cathay before leaving to lustria
My Rakarth playthrough experience is pretty bad as i couldnt change the firing mode to multishot of his bolt thrower and confederating with Karond Kar was completly biting my own a** as it was only 1 small settlement with an army wich instantly turned traitor while surrounded by Alith Anar on all sides
#fun
Thanks for the video
Ive had a very different experience with Rakarth. The first province was easy but after that both the lizard prophet and markus started constantly sending 20 stacks, faster than my two armies could replenish. On top of that the karend kar mission was aborted for some reason 4 turns after I got the quest. On very hard - very hard difficulty it was not enjoyable and I was done after 30 turns or so.
Glad ur doing more total war warhammer videos! Love the format!
Not nitpicking just pointing out at 6:43 you say that Khatep is on Lustria below Rakarth but that is actually a minor faction called Deserter's of Khatep led by a generic lord named Behedsun the Deserter. Really small mistake I just wanted to point it out for clarity. Khatep is in his pretty much same location as WH2 just below Grombrindal's new location.
Dude thanks so. Much for. Keeping me honest. I saw the faction and decided I didn't want to deal with them and moved north. Completely forgot!
@@italianspartacus Hell yes brother thank you for all the dope content!! These videos are really helping me weed through the like 30+ sick campaigns we just got to find the ones that fit my playstyle best.
Man I took your advice went for a Malus campaing, its just the best hahaha so much fun.
Very good idea for a series
Are Hellebron's Blood Voyage armies not bugged in IE? I remember them being a disaster in ME so much that I stopped playing her faction enough though I love her character in the books.
I never really had a problem with cathayan factions as fellheart. Because villich was keeping them sufficantly engaged untill I was well established with the whole coastline to call mine along with two provinces back home at karond kar.
Edit* also seems you didn't mention that fellheart also has that karond kar confederation oppertunity.
Lokhir starts with a black ark. You can build shades by turn 5, sea lane to Central America and win lol
Vampire Coast has some more interesting mechanics with loyalty, because all lords have a different way to get it. Still doesn't feel like it comes up that often.
Lokhir may not have a ton of interesting Mechanics, but he starts with a black ark on turn one. On turn 14 I have black guard and hydras among other things. To say it’s a difficult campaign when you have access to tier 4/5 units by such an early turn feels disingenuous.
More of this kind of video please
I tried some different races when trying out ie, but the one that got me sucked in after the first few turns was morathi. It's a damn good campaign.
My first campaign was Lokhir. I don't know if you noticed but his bonuses from sacking in range of Black Arks stacks, and he can get a LOT of Black Arks. I have a fleet of ten of them and was making 150K from sacking an average city. Can't wait to see what happens when I have 30 Black Arks :)
Another great video your informative videos like this are great 👍
When are you gonna finish your 40k Primarch video series my dude!
My first try at a campaign was lohkir. I took 5 or so cities along the coast and realized that I was so far south that any attack in the north would be a disaster. The quest was pulling me even further south. Just kinda lost interest at that point.
After reading the comments here maybe I'll give it another try
Lohkir has the most interesting start pos of any DE lord. How are Rakarth, Morathi, and Hellebrone ranked higher than him? Also Malus' gimmicks are shit and a chore. The real list goes: Malekith (top) -> Lohkir -> Hellebron -> Morathi -> Rakarth -> Malus (bottom).
One question is Malus no longer gimped having no replentishment at higher tzarkan bar? cause that was the main reason i never really played his campaign
My legendary lord is rarely in his own lands... to lower construction costs...
Been bouncing around between starts and lords a lot. Decided to try Daemons of Chaos again in IE... seems like that was a huge mistake. I know you can't really do a Worst to Best on Daemons, but am curious if I'm just doing it wrong, or if Daemons / Daniel just has an AWFUL start location and path to grow or it's just me.
It's not just you. Daniels starting location is really awful.
Im playing as Malekith and im struggling with Sigvald and Alith Annar in my campaign. They are tag team me and i allways have to defend another front. Of course, each campaign can play out different. Economy as Naggarond is really good, all mines and slaves, combined with low construction costs and technology is giving me huge amount of gold to upkeep armies.
Hellabron is alot more fun now, I remember on the release of dlc, being really dissapointed, blood death were difficult to attain and attacking ghrond was not fun. currently playing her and really enjoying the slave mechanic, something I didnt in warhammer 2
I think that in the future they will receive another retouch, for the beta is a beginning
It does seem the changes to the slave Mechanic hit Lohkir the hardest.
That and the nerfs to Lohkir and his faction.
I really enjoyed lokir I just dont like corsairs. His campaign is fun its really solid.
But malakith campaign just feels so good it's far harder now on very hard very hard. Plus his perk of 25% upkeep on all basic infantry is disgusting so strong
Ngl this is a great video format
@ItalianSparticus Shouldn't Malus have a crossbow (lore). Also would love a guide/tips on a Malus play through
Lokhir Fellheart the Krakenlord of Karond Kar is displeased
I think Malus should give buffs to all dark elf cavalry units, not just cold ones. Dark elves don`t have dedicated cavalry expert in the roster and Malus is the perfect candidate.
so as morathi i am unable to build up the gates on ulthuan at all causing me to be stuck with a lvl 1 building and weak as fuck garrison. is that intended or bugged?
TBH, I both agree and disagree, but the thing I like is that none of them have a "bad campaign"
When's the Empire future DLC video you were talking about coming? I'm holding off playing Empire until a DLC, so I'm really curious about your thoughts on it.
Honestly I really been enjoying Lokhirs campaign. You start in a funky area but after you take care of the few schmucks you’re jet settin around the world baybee. Crankin out the black arks sackin and slavin. On another note thank god cold one knights are actually dope now. There’s noooooo way such a cool ass unit shouldn’t be good to use and recruit. Evil elves on brolic velociraptors is just the business
I don't wanna play with Lokhir ir Rakarth while Alith Anar is is Carond card, I have a feeling, that they're stole opportunity from me.
cold ones.. in lore they are quite unruly. i would have liked a different take on primal instincts though. instead of them randomly going berserk, they should have gone berserk on all units when leadership reaches zero. sorta like elephants in rome 1.
Hoping for a best to worse skaven video next
Hold up lustria not crowded? Alberic, markus, gor-rok, skrolk, teheuhuian(whatever), luthor and rakarth. Srry to say but thats till crowded
would be nice if you took the victory conditions into consideration.
I won't be playing them anytime soon until the new slave mechanic gets overhauled again.
Dark elves are generally broken due to the black ark growth - Malus issa stronk boi
It's way to fast lol
I understand this is a subjective ranking based on the player preferences, but for the life of me, how is Malekith's 15% construction cost reduction powerful, unless you turn him into a courier touring your provinces, instead of leading armies in battles... as an example. Blood Voyage, Daemonettes, Lokhir going south, and a lot more sounded weird too, I wonder wether they were tested or just imagined as possibilities.
I'm personally under the assumption that the reason why Makekith's construction cost reduction is powerful because it costs less to build up newly conquered territory. As you're moving through a province, you're bound to be rebuilding it with growth buildings and more if you managed to conquer the settlement at a higher level. While it can seem little, every little saved adds up; especially for the early campaign since background incomes are nerfed compared to WHII and you're having to make critical decisions as to what to spend on.
Hopefully I'm not the only one who heard "Gaaays of Khaine" hahaha