LORDS OF THE END TIMES DLC Trailer, Nagash, Analysis, New Units, Lords & Lore Total War Warhammer 3
The great work can begin. Rise my mortars. You will come to me and submit it. Come to me and witness my ascension. The world is and I shall come to me and for eternity you will serve. Certra does not serve. rules. Oh, I am dead in this world. Well, hello there and welcome back on this rather auspicious day if you’re a strategy game fan. Anyway, DLC’s, new engines, and new titles have all been announced, and there’s yet more to come that has not yet been unveiled. I am Eddie Pride from Milk Cookies of War, and the end times is finally upon us. In summer 2026, provided there are no further delays. Bone daddy Nash, the great necromancer, is coming out of retirement to drown the world in the winds of death. This posi is coming with him, whether they want to or not. As Cornelius Fudge would say, he’s back. Now, just to clarify in case you were confused, the new fantasy Total War has not yet been announced and has not been revealed at this Total War showcase. Seems that Creative Assembly has a partnership with Game Awards, and that full reveal will come one week from now on December 11th, the place where they’re presumably going to have a lot more reach and marketing pull outside our community. Shame is not going to be revealed today. That is unfortunate, but it could be a fantastic opportunity to get more eyes on the series outside the people who normally play the games. So, if you’re hoping for Game of Thrones, Red Wall, Lord of the Rings, 40k, Lego, Total War, or something else, all that will be popping off in 7 days. We have other reveals to get to today and tomorrow. The blue balling on the new fantasy title shall continue until morale improves. For now, let’s focus on The Lords of the End Times, which has the potential to be one of the most exciting and most divisive DLCs in the history of this trilogy, which is frankly saying a lot. It’s been a rather tumultuous couple years, hasn’t it? For those who don’t know, the end times was the widely reviled conclusion to the story arc of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. A narrative that assassinated beloved characters both literally and metaphorically that brought about the ruin of empires, saw unlikely alliances blossom a new and outright forgot to close the narrative on more than a select few major players. It was a hurried, incoherent rush job that left a severely sour taste in the mouths of many, coloring the public opinion of Age of Sigmar long past the point that it rightfully deserved. So, the question is, why in the everchosen hell would Creative Assembly choose now of all times to release this beast after a rocky couple years of dastardly drama? Well, the end times also happens to have some of the coolest units, models, and characters in the setting with some specific examples serving as those emergency panic button type legendary lords who will push product unto themselves. when they show up, when you see them on your screen, there’s a good chance you’re going to want to play with them. We’re not talking Sea Lord Alen. We’re not talking Sale the Faithless here. We’re talking a couple echelons above that, maybe more. Nash is one such example, but he’s not the only one. And as I’ve said many times in the past, the story elements, the narrative of Warhammer Armageddon is the main reason why it was so divisive and generated so much controversy. But that doesn’t matter all that much when a player can alter the outcome the second they boot up their campaign for the first time. This is a sandbox strategy game. It’s up to you as the player. And so the end times greatest weakness is also one of its greatest strengths and what will almost assuredly be Critter Assembly’s main selling point and marketing push here. And that you can and will reforge the ending, potentially averting disaster and the end to a setting we have grown to love. If you hated how the End Times ended things, here’s your chance to, you know, write the ship. More to the point, CA’s being very clear the End Times is not the last piece of content or DLC for Total War Warhammer. While I understand people’s trepidations on that topic given the last couple years, you don’t have to take their word for it at all. You just need to think about the business and financial implications of cutting off support long before any new game is ready to launch. I don’t think they want to do that to themselves. They definitely don’t want to generate yet another storm. They fumbled the bag hard with Three Kingdoms after an awesome launch that had their highest concurrent player count ever. They are very cognizant of the backlash and rebellion that would ensue should that same fate befall Warhammer 3. As always, if DLC sells well, they will continue supporting the trilogy for a long time to come. I would bet long after the next Fantasy and Historicals have released. But if things don’t sell well and lose them a bunch of money, which a DLC this big certainly has potential to do, well, anything is on or off the table at that point. But that’s always been the reality of business from the outset of this trilogy. Nothing has changed on that front whatsoever. So, in the end times, there are a handful of major threats and storylines that shape the world as it was, and each essentially gets their own book and cover. Arkin the Black and Manfred von Karststein successfully resurrect Nagash in a battle at nine demons which is depicted in the trailer here. The Scaven blow up the chaos moon Morslib rening it down on Lustrial while the temple cities of the lizardmen literally become spaceships and sail off into the void beyond leaving the planet behind with Mazda Grimlock Lord Croak Nikkai and Gorok the great white lizard seemingly paying the ultimate price to delay the ratman onslaught and take as many of the clan pestilins down with them as they can. The sundering of high elf and dark elf is undone with Malakth being proclaimed the eternity king and unifying the elven races. I should think the elven section is amongst the worst elements of the end times if not the very worst. It ignores millennia of genocide and having Alf and R of all people tacitly give his blessing to the Witch King is patently insane given his own family history and what he’s done to the dark elves over the last 2,000 years. No matter how you slice it, it’s super weird. And again, Alphan Rar here is begrudgingly complicit. It requires a thorny cursed arrow near Malakus’s heart to ensure his loyalty, but it’s still pretty much Gracier Thanwell’s ascendants and the unification of Scavenom, overrunning the surface world and summoning the avatars of the great horned rat, the vermin lords, culminating in an arms race to seize storm fiends and other Frankenstein abominations come to life from clan moulder and swarm across surface world. And ultimately, the Lord of the End Times himself, Archon, the Everchosen, uniting the disperate tribes of chaos, sending forth infinite legions led by the champions of chaos to the far corners of the world with Nurgle taking the driver’s seat here. Monstrous trio of the Glatkin cutting deep into Marionberg and the Empire at large. There’s the battles at Halfingan, Altdorf, Aberheim, and ultimately Midenheim, where a doomsday device is detonated deep within the inner sanctum there. and the world explodes to be reborn in Age of Sigmar. It is a crazy ass time to be a part of the Warhammer world when all this is popping off. Obviously, there are other important elements as well, many of which happen offscreen like Grimgore’s destruction of Cath. There’s the extinguishing of the flame of Olrich by Techlas and so on, the incarnates of magic. But those five are the core pillars really and the five main books. the resurrection of the Gash, the Glockin invasion, the elven civil war and Malikus Birthright, the rise of the horned rat, and the lord of the end times who heralds the end of the world culminating in the fight of Menheim and the nuke going off under the city. Which begs the question, what the hell kind of DLC is this, right? Is this part one of a continuing series that will slowly expand as this like living breathing canvas long into the future? Or is it all just going to be tackled in one fell swoop and we just haven’t seen most of it yet? Cuz right now, what has been shown only scratches the surface of what the end times entails. Right now, this looks like an undead DLC through and through. Because lords of the end times as a title, lords, not lord does not even remotely cover it if it’s just nash and some mortars. Nagash is only one facet of the end times. He is a there’s a multi-pronged thing going on here. The forces of order are beset on all sides. It’s hard for me to call a only undead DLC lords of the end times. I just don’t think it fits. That isn’t to say that what we see here isn’t already awesome. It is Nagash’s the most requested and hyped lord with the possible exception of Thanqual. It’s them and Nefarata as the three truly iconic characters remaining. And my sweet girl nephew is coming in this update as well, which I’m very excited for. The vampire counts by the time this DLC launches will have gone literally 10 years, a full decade since their last paid DLC with the grim and the grave. And Helman Gors was not it player. So the vamps deserve this. The undead deserve this. But from the Scaven, from Nurgal, from the Empire, from Cafe, there is Ner a peep in this trailer, which means either that this is truly a Nagash DLC that the title is perhaps somewhat poorly chosen, or that what we see here is just one faction and there will be similar reveals for the other factions later on. That has been the trend for Creative Assembly over the last year or two. They don’t show everything in the first reveal. they show like part of it and slowly roll things out over time. This is coming out in summer, then there’s plenty of time for more reveals. There may be more in this DLC. And that’s definitely what I’m leaning towards. If the intention is to faithfully recreate the board and pieces and play at the outset of Warhammer Armageddon, you cannot do a full end times expansion without Nash, Glockkin, and Thanquil. All three are required, which makes me a little disappointed there weren’t any hints about them today. Even if it was just something like the rat at the end of the Warhammer 2 cinematic trailer and you see the rat and the glowing eyes and little cackling, something like that would have been cool. It didn’t happen. All right, what’s being included here? Obviously, in Gash is front and center. He’s the greatest necromancer in history. He’s the first. He’s the supreme lord of undeath. He who shall not be named the Voldemort to Manfred’s Peter Petty group. You done messed up too many times, Manfred. He’s arguably the most well-rounded character in the entirety of Warhammer Fantasy Battle from a combat perspective. An absolute terror in every single aspect of the game with an insanely cool model. Towering over infantry like a greater demon. He’s an army unto himself. He’s a godlike spellcaster, a terrifying melee combatant, legendary lord who can summon legions with the flick of a finger. We’re talking about the Chad Catra. Obviously, who the hell’s Nagash? But the start of your campaign, you’ll likely be quite a bit weaker. And a logical way to handle that is to start him out literally like Voldemort when he is first resurrected by Peter Benigrew. He comes out of the cauldron spinly, thin, famished, weak, or at the very least not at full power. Then you explode into that full power once certain thresholds are met. He’s literally a level five wizard on a chart that only goes up to level four. Tells you how good of a spellcaster he is. utilizing death, light, nagar, and vampiric and undead magic. Can summon entire units of zombies, skeletons, graveguard, direwolves, fell bats, tomb king’s chariots, ushabi, black knights, and necropolis knights. He’s a towering giant of a skeleton with a statline to make even greater demons blush, and crazy ass items that round out any role you want to throw him into. If you want to buff up his already top tier casting, equip Alakan, the staff of power. grants him huge magic reserves and recharge rate, allowing him to cast out the ass. Give him a killing blow. Give him more, the black armor, granting huge ward saves and physical resist. Zephant Nebar, the mortise blade, a dueling weapon that makes him hit on par with blood thirsters and everchosins. Nagash is a character that has no easily exploited weaknesses, no chinks in that proverbial armor, just an obscene cost for an obscene legendary lord who will be a major lateg game threat to the greenkins, dwarfs, and tomb kings from his seat at Nagashi’s. More than anything, he represents the force of nature. The undead truly are Armageddon sweeping up from the south while the demons close in from the north and the Scaven emerge from their tunnels below. It is not a good time to be the Forces of Order. So, we’ll have to see what, if anything, they receive to combat these Avenger level threats. How do you balance him? Well, he’s going to be insanely expensive. Literally like 2/3 or half the cost of your entire army. Probably the most expensive lord in the entire trilogy, surpassing even Archon the Ever Chosen with every single spell he can employ. And then there’s also, you know, starting the campaign as a little weakling, a little Voldemort straight out the cauldron once you get the ball rolling. Yeah, his late game should be beyond terrifying. All nine Mortars from the end times are confirmed, which means Ark in the Black, Mortar of Sacraments, riding his dread abyssal Razar, the doom of traitors. These are the hounds of userion, flying underworld beasts that devour the souls of sinners using what looks like Camrian Warfin animations here. Vlad Mort’s arc of shadows will be there of course who joined because Nagash promised to restore Isabella to unlife but takes a prompire approach in the end times because he wants to rule from Aldorf. It’s always been his ambition to be emperor of the empire and indeed fights alongside them at Having and during the Glacan siege. Manfred von Karststein Mortar of night riding Ashigarth gorgger upon the meek. Ashigarth Ashigarath no idea. Uh Krelll Mortar of despair Luther Harkin Mortar of the abyss. Nefraata, Mortar of Blood, my favorite Warhammer Fantasy Battle character on her Dread Abyssal Nagatron, the Adavore, which feasts upon gluttonous souls. Deer Helsnix and the Nameless, otherwise known as Constant Dragonfells, the great enchanter. He went to his house in Vermentine. He’s got a long history with Genevieve Diodon and kind of the Nagash and early Warhammer before Nagash was really fleshed out. One of the oldest and most influential early Warhammer fantasy battle characters or villains. And finally, we have Wallik Harkin, Grandmaster of the Blood Dragon Order, who at the battle of Halfingan turns to the worship of Korn, the blood god, promised an eternity of slaughter and marshall skill. In that battle, he rides a zombie dragon into one v one with Carl Frons and deathclaw and almost kills them. Just straight poops all over the emperor in solo mono combat. sends them both tumbling to earth which precipitates a mass route cuz everyone thinks Carl Frons and Deathclaw are dead. They are not after that battle but they are severely wounded and they need some time to conileles. Well, if that is true, that all mortars are to be represented in game, that is a ton of content already and perhaps lend some weight to the idea that this is an undeadonly DLC. But I’m honestly not clear on whether or not they will all get models and all be heroes or lords or if some of those characters like deer hellnicked and the nameless constant dragonfells will be like some kind of mechanic or menu instead. In the trailer, I think we only see like five or six of the characters. So, I think seeing Constant Dragonfells in the flesh would be wild if what they said is accurate, but it seems weird to not include him and deodor in that trailer if they’re coming. So, maybe there’s some miscommunication from the devs on that front. Obviously, Nefarata is going to be amazing. She’s McQueen. If she has a million fans, then I am one of them. If she has only one fan, it’s me. If she has no fans, then I’m dead. If the world is against her, then I am against the world number one simp. I’d crawl through a mile of broken goddamn glass just to hear her fart through a walkie-talkie. She’s a diplomatic manipulator that corrupts and infiltrates human society with a coven of hot vampire ladies who seduce lords and subtly sway government policy. She was originally planned to be in her own standalone DLC. Critly hinted at that very heavily, but she honestly makes much more sense here alongside Nagash. That has always been my vision for this End Times DLC is that when they come, they come together. That’s what she said. I just don’t know if she’s freec or part of the pack itself. There’s almost certainly going to be a free LC lord somewhere. If she’s getting moved from where she was originally, then perhaps that’s what they did with her. Either way, she’ll start in Silver Pinnacle with Handmaidaidens and Coven Thrones, I would assume. as Wallak Harkin leads the Blood Knights from Blood Keep near Carrick Asgarz in the Grey Mountains. There are not a lot of vampire count units left to be added. Coven Throne is really the big one. Now, when it comes to Wallik, he carries his blood chalice in the trailer, but does not seem to carry it in game cuz he’s wielding the two-handed crimson blade. Very creative naming conventions, I know. But I do hope he carries that chalice because I think it would make him look a lot more interesting and unique than just giving him questing night animations with a two-handed blade. We’ll see. I have no idea if he’s a lord or hero. He should be a lord when you look at the levels of characters and who’s been added thus far, but Toador did explicitly say Nagash and three more lords in this video are in this DLC. And so if Glkin and Monkey King or Kurt Hellborg or Toddy, someone from the order side presumably either Empire or Cth are already in, then he’s probably just a legendary hero. I do like Wallik Harkin quite a bit, but he is not on the level of some of these others in terms of needing unique mechanics or changing the game meaningfully. So, if it’s an undead DLC, I’m totally fine for him to be a lord. If this is a full-on end times DLC that encompasses chaos, order, all that as well, then he should not be taking a lord slot by any stretch, which does make it kind of awkward cuz I think he’s much more of a lord than he is a hero. Anyway, Archon’s getting a full refresh with the narrative experience, essentially the story of how you bring about the end times. So, probably will entail more quest battles and special events, as well as updated visuals for himself and Dorgar that are worthy of the 13th Ever Chosen. They took quite a bit of time to explain that. Dorgar’s already gotten a visual update. Apparently, they’re getting yet another one. That could be cool. And then there’s the campaign side. Devastation will be a huge mechanic here, both visually and in terms of its effects on the map itself. The end times will not be a standalone campaign from what I understand. It will effectively replace the endgame scenarios, though I think the option for those will still be there. And it’ll basically be rolled into the main game to keep things interesting and ideally prevent the boredom that sets in from autoresolving the map past turn 50 or whatever. I think that will be optional. I’m certain they have the foresight to not force certain narrative elements to occur if people don’t want to experience them. Obviously, it would feel really shitty if you’re playing as the lizard men and Lustria and you’ve conquered that entire continent and then you know the Scaven rain down wars live upon you and your entire continent explodes and you lose all your settlements. That would not be very fun. If you want that, obviously that’s going to be an option. I imagine it’ll be an option if you don’t want that as well. But yeah, the campaign map’s going to change dynamically as those events unfold. There will be warpstone meteor showers raining down. Volcanic activity oozing from the hills and mountains. Continents can be left literally barren. As I said, you can expect this caven to blow up the Chaos Moon and devastate Lustria at some point. And that devastation can be wielded like a super weapon by some factions. Nash is a prime example. You’ll almost certainly be able to start and complete his great ritual as his endgame, turning vast swats of the map to undeath as you collect his famous toms. Realistically, there’s only one worth claiming, the one wielded by Morgan, Wrathbringer of Haskanesh, and the Black Creek Raiders. That’s me. I’m a lord in Immortal Empires cuz I’m super cool. And he will quite literally be able to wield the Black Pyramid in battle and on the campaign map with a unique lore of magic. He will float alongside his armies, presumably becoming a mobile settlement and Nekron Gaus turret. He can summon his mortars by luring them from other factions where they will receive significant stat boosts, new mounts, and new abilities befitting of that mortar status. Naturally, Nash will also have a unique roster that draws from all three undead races, the vampire counts, the tomb kings, and the vampire coast. Morgast Archive, Tomb Heralds, and the Chemrich Titan from Monstous Arcanum are all confirmed, fixing to be one of, if not the biggest units in the entire trilogy, possibly even larger than the Murworm and Dread Sorian. And these changes seem to be geared on fixing one major problem, the endgame of Warhammer 3 or Immortal Empire’s campaign. It’s a problem that exists in pretty much any strategy game, any RTS game. making the endgame interesting. End times is certainly one way to do it, and it’s going to be a lot better than the current modifiers and options we have right now. New bespoke music is being written for the big reveals and events of the end times campaign that will kick in when the crazy stuff happens. There will be different skyboxes. You’ll see the chaos moons blooming large. Provinces will work differently when cataclysms strike cities. There will be new battle maps. And Nagashi Zar is getting a custom and unforgettable battle map with Elder Flame and a super creepy vibe. They showed a screenshot rather art. It looks really It looks really good. Another really good point here, the Realms of Chaos battlefields are also confirmed coming to Immortal Empires, which hopefully means the campaign map element will be incorporated as well, that you’ll be able to teleport or travel there and fight other armies for loot and glory, similar to the Realms of Chaos campaign. It was a shame to lose all those assets and the switch over from Realms of Chaos to Immortal Empires. It’ll be really great to have those return. A lot of time, effort, and energy went into them. And moving forward, any DLC you purchase now will give you full access to Immortal Empires without having to own Warhammer 1, Warhammer 2, or Warhammer 3, lowering the entry point barrier for all players. My understanding is that means if you buy Lords of the End Times, you get access to Immortal Empires and can play any of the Lords that are included in it. So yeah, already there is a lot to discuss and a big question that may or may not be answered by interviews or blogs that come out around the same time this video goes live. We have not been told yet explicitly. Is this a Nagash DLC focused entirely on the undead or is this a full-on true end times expansion with the works as the name implies? Obviously I really want Thanwall and the Glotkin and the units they could potentially bring to the table. Furman Lord, Storm Fiends, Put Future, Blings, so on. But it’s not clear in the video, as we’ve been given, if this is but a taste or the entire meal. The answer to that will make a huge impact on price and general sentiment, I think. So, let me know in the comment section below. Hope you all enjoyed and get ready because I’ve got a lot of stuff to cover today and over the next several days, including the new historical Total War game, the fantasy reveal one week from now, the new Total War engine, and Dawn of War 4.
LORDS OF THE END TIMES DLC has been announced and revealed for Total War Warhammer 3 as Nagash the Great Necromancer and Supreme Lord of Undeath leads his Mortarchs into battle to unleash his Great Ritual, as we discuss the trailer, talk about the new units and new unit rosters, Warhammer lore, Legendary Lords confirmed like Nagash, Neferata, Walach Harkon, and special units like the Khemric Titan, Morghast Archai, Tomb Heralds, and a massive amount of reworks and sweeping changes to the campaign map to reflect The End Times of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
Lords of the End Times DLC for Total War Warhammer 3
Nagash DLC Trailer
#TotalWar #TotalWarWarhammer3 #LordsOfTheEndTimes