Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay Review: Gunpowder, Grudges, and Gangrene

Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay is the latest DLC in the franchise and adds three new Legendary Lords to the game: Elspeth von Draken, Malakai Makaisson, and finally, Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord. It has been developed by Creative Assembly and Feral Interactive and published by SEGA and Feral Interactive.

I've been hammering away at the DLC for quite a while now, and I'm delighted to say that it is probably the best one yet since Total War: Warhammer III - Forge Of The Chaos Dwarfs DLC. With the introduction of three new Legendary Lords, challenges, mechanics, and units, I've had my fair share of fun over the past few days. That said, here's my hands-on experience with Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay.

Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay: A Slayer, Graveyard Rose, and Maggot Lord set loose in the world

Akin to the Total War: Warhammer III - Shadows Of Change DLC, Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay adds a lot of value to the base game in many ways. It introduces three new Legendary Lords and a few heroes as well. With each faction added to the game, a brand new mechanic is added as well. These are unique in nature and will add value to your session as well as intrigue,

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There's a storyline for each Legendary Lord that keeps you going as you click the end turn button every few minutes. Depending on your playstyle and faction type, you can even select which Legendary Lord you would like to purchase separately. That being said, it is time to dive into Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay review.

First impressions and gameplay

Elspeth von Draken

Seeing the Empire as a playable faction in Total War: Warhammer III was a sight for sore eyes. No doubt, Chaos Dwarfs have some amazing artillery to offer, but when it comes to good old-fashioned humans using gunpowder to blast things to smithereens, the Empire does it best. Enter Elspeth von Draken.

Known by a few aliases including the Graveyard Rose, Elspeth von Draken is a force to be reckoned with. I love playing as Isabella von Carstein. Given her Lore Of Death, the spells are amazing, to say the least. I remember fondly going head-to-head with Bretonnia and the Empire in older Warhammer Total War titles. As such, to see a living entity have access to the Lore Of Death was rather fascinating.

That said, since I'm not big on spells for the most part as I'm more of a sword and guns sort of player, let me start by talking about one of the USPs of Elspeth von Draken.

When commanding this Legendary Lord and her armies, you can expect to bring a lot of gunpowder units to the Fight. I'm not talking about just artillery, but a whole array of firepower that includes infantry, cavalry, tanks, and even a landship. As such, bombarding the enemy from afar is going to be scenic. Sit back, relax, and watch as lines of enemy units disintegrate as they advance.

The Imperial Gunnery School (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

This is where things get even better. Let me introduce you to the Imperial Gunnery School. This mechanic is exclusive to Elspeth von Draken and will give you upgrades for all field units that use firearms. You will need Schematics, a new resource that has been added to the game to use this mechanic. Once you've acquired enough, select the unit you wish to upgrade and make it happen.

The best part about these upgrades is that they are permanent. Once purchased, they last until the session does. To sweeten the deal even further, the upgrades don't just improve upon stats, but add attributes and abilities as well. I learned early on that investing in these was for the best. Even with base rank units, I could still do considerably more damage than usual.

Gardens of Morr is a fun new mechanic (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Another mechanic exclusive to Elspeth von Draken is Gardens of Morr. They essentially allow you to teleport between friendly or neutral Empire-owned settlements. If you plan on playing wide with one or two elite armies, setting up a teleportation system is going to be in your best interest. With Skaven and Orges lurking around your borders, you must hop between settlements fast or risk having them overrun.

That being said, seeing the Empire finally arrive in Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay makes me a happy player. A good old-fashioned line of infantry with cannons at the back supported by tanks is something I've missed for a while now. Although they can be played in Immortal Empires, this feels much closer to home.

Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord

Watch out for plagues (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Grandfather Nurgle is my go-to Chaos God for most situations. I know Korn and Tzeentch can be alluring, and let’s not even start with Slaanesh, but Nurgle has my heart. Given the faction mechanics, I do find it rather challenging to recruit units that I need, but it’s all part of the plan eventually. With the Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay DLC comes Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord.

Of the three new Legendary Lords introduced, he would have to be my second favorite. While the DLC does not radically change much about how the forces of Nurgle function, it does add a cool new mechanic to the game called Tamurkhan’s Chieftains. This essentially allows you to hire Heroes to embed into your armies, but it’s radically different from the base game.

Chieftains make for powerful allies (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Each Chieftain comes with their own mini goals if you may as well as units that are unique to them. Depending on which units you would like to add to your armies, you have to hire and work your way towards obtaining them. As mentioned, with each hero having their goal and own prejudices against certain factions, you will have to fight them to gain your Chieftain’s trust and unlock more perks.

Of course, this will take you on wild goose chases across the map and into enemy territories, but the end result will be six powerful Chieftains that will give you access to units from their respective factions. I don’t know about you, but I love some Chaos Dwarfs in my army. I have a soft spot for devious dwarfs. You can also recruit mammoths, cygors, chaos frost dragons, and many more units from other factions.

Wonder what Grandfather Nurgle has cooking (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Keeping these Chieftains aside, being part of Nurgle’s bandwagon also means that you can create Plagues. They are useful to a large extent and will require a resource known as Infections to use. They grant both positive (on your own armies and settlements) and negative (on enemy armies and settlements) effects at once. Depending on the type of plague you’re creating, you could do a lot to your enemy without even sallying out to fight them.

Certain plagues can weaken their armor value, cause attrition, increase upkeep, and even lower healing caps. At the same time, if the plague affects your units, they will gain buffs for all the aforementioned things. It is, in the truest sense, a double-edged sword that carves away at both you and your enemies. The only upside is that the force of Nurgle is okay with being cut with a rusty blade.

Malakai Makaisson

Ironclad airship on the horizon (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

When it comes to Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay DLC, Malakai Makaisson has got to be my favorite new Legendary Lord. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t tinker much with The Great Book of Grudges (something that has kept me away from playing Dwarfs in the past), but I love everything about this.

Two new mechanics have been introduced here: Malakai's Adventures and Spirit of Grungni. Let me start with the second one first.

Spirit of Grungni, or let’s just call it his airship, is Malakai Makaisson’s flying fortress to put it aptly. You can recruit units and build structure on the go in this horde sort of mechanic. This flying airship offers incredible perks if you are able to level up the building chain. Why even bother creating military buildings at base camp when you can just create them on the go?

Airship comes with all the bells and whistles (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

This has allowed me to rapidly push into enemy territory and take settlement after settlement in quick succession. With the ability to heal and recruit units on a whim, I cannot begin to express how good it feels playing Malakai Makaisson.

To add to the fun, Spirit of Grungni is also an ability that you can use in battle. When activated, a massive ironclad airship can be summoned onto the battlefield to rain death and destruction upon your foes. Although the unit degrades over time, it’s more than enough to even the odds, especially with Malakai Makaisson’s artillery already raining down on the enemy

Spirit of Grungni in action (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Speaking of him, he is also an absolute unit in the truest sense. Yes, Elspeth von Draken and Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord are powerful Legendary Lords, but Malakai Makaisson is built differently. With just a few accessories, I’ve got his missile strength to 4,000 (which is bonkers).

I’m pretty confident that if I min-max stats and accessories alongside a few runes from the Forge, I could get a much higher damage output, but for now, this will suffice. Besides, if you ever need more firepower, you can also get a Thunderbarge towards the mid-game. Coupled with a few Irondrakes, your front lines will never shatter.

Coming to the second mechanic, Malakai's Adventures, this too, is a whole new level of dynamics added to the game. This fun little sub-quest within the main storyline really takes the cake. You have to complete several challenges/tasks against different factions. Each one grants you rewards and improves upon a certain unit’s stats.

It's time to go on adventures (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Granted, some of these will be challenging, but the rewards will be worth the effort. The best part about this is that it sort of weaves itself into the campaign. You will not find yourself going off-route to complete most of these tasks. In a way, it also pushes you to wage total war against enemy factions across the board.

That being said, if you enjoy the smell of gunpowder on the battlefield and a defensive line of Dwarfs, Malakai Makaisson is going to be your go-to Legendary Lord in Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay DLC.

Performance and sound

Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay, provided by SEGA, was played on a system having the following configuration:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
RAM: 32 GB

Throughout my Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay playthrough with all the new three Legendary Lords, I encountered no issues. The game ran smoothly and as always, everything worked as intended.

In terms of sound and SFX, everything is amazing. From the cannons cracking while firing from the Spirit of Grungni to Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord cleaving his way through opponents, everything is perfect. That said, players can expect only the very best in terms of visuals and sound in Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay.

In Conclusion

Spirit of Grungni can clear out entire units (Image via SEGA and Feral Interactive/Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay)

Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay DLC is probably the best one yet. It not only adds to the overall lore of the ever-evolving game but also adds value to the new Legendary Lords that have been added. Their unique mechanics and units that they bring to the game are going to make new playthroughs feel very different.

For me, Malakai Makaisson is likely going to remain my go-to Legendary Lord for a while. No doubt, Elspeth von Draken and Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord are amazing, but there’s something about a Slayer/Innovator that gets the blood pumping. I’ve already engaged with the Chaos Dwarfs and I cannot wait to wipe them off the map.

If you’re new to the franchise and plan on picking up the Total War: Warhammer III - Thrones Of Decay DLC, I would suggest starting off with Elspeth von Draken. The Empire is a solid place to start and will give you a good understanding of warfare and other factions in general. Don’t be fooled, although most units are mere mortals, they put up a good fight against enemy factions.