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Ultimate Guide - Kislev

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2022-03-21 14:18:27
Ultimate Guide - Kislev

ESSENTIALS

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2769194941

^ See my "Ultimate Guide - Essentials for All Campaigns" for all the info that everyone should know, like how Rifts work, guide to the Realms of Chaos, how to Trade Settlements, etc.

This guide is specifically for Kislev, currently based upon my experience playing as Tsarina Katarin.

And like that guide says, before you start your Kislev campaign, take a look at the starting locations for each of the other playable factions. That way if you want to "Traverse Rifts" to reach their capitol and take them out of the race, you know where to go.

The Motherland

When playing as Tsarina Katarin, your goal is to beat Kostaltyn to "Loyalist Supremacy" (600 supporters), which if achieved will immediately force Kostaltyn to confederate with you. It will also give +100 diplomatic relations with any other remaining Kislev factions so if they have not already confederated with you, they should be ready to soon. Even the Ropsmenn Clan you start at war with should be able to be made peace with then eventually confederated with that high of a positive relations modifier.

You gain supporters from Buildings, Events, Fighting Chaos, and Invoking the Motherland (using the invocations).

You lose supporters from Events and from Fighting Kislev.

You want to check the change each turn just before you hit End Turn to what your actions that turn did with regard to supporters, because the support bar is tracking "Change this turn" rather than all the events which caused you to gain or lose support.

I noticed after destroying the Ropsmenn Clan on Turn 29 that Kostaltyn had 74 supports to my 7. And that is after I had been using the Dazh Invocation and had built at least 14 buildings.

STRATEGY

At the start of your campaign, you probably want to Invoke Tor because Katarin will probably only be gaining levels after battles, so Tor will out perform Salyak for gaining supporters. But as soon as you have a few heroes recruited, you want to start using Salyak because let's say you get 3 Frost Maiden and 1 Patriarch from recruitment or events and put them all in Katarin's army. Every time they all level up that is 5 supporters. So assuming you start using Salyak when Katarin is Level 10 and from Level 1 with all 4 of those heroes, and the max rank is 50, that is about 240 supporters gained just from those 5 leveling up to Rank 50. The more lords and heroes you get out fighting and leveling, the faster you'll get supporters. This is not counting the benefit from fighting Chaos or support generating buildings each turn.

In every minor settlement, you want to build at least the Palisade at Tier 2, and eventually Tier 3 Walls (more on that later); the market for income, and you want to build the Tier 3 Orthodoxy Church which gives 2 supporters per turn.

Once you take Gerslev from the Vanheimlings, keep checking to see if you can trade Gerslev to the Ropsmenn Clan in exchange for peace. Once you have peace, as your supporters grow your diplomatic relations modifier will also and eventually you should be able to confederate all of Kislev without violence. By confederating Kislev instead of conquering it, all those Kislev factions will act as a buffer against Chaos and Norsca and will grow their cities until you confederate them. If the AI gets a city to Tier 4 but then you capture the city, it will be reduced to Tier 3, possibly Tier 2 if you sack it first. Much better to confederate it.

Kislev starts with a barrack at Tier 1. At Tier 2, build both Growth buildings. At Tier 3, build the Watch House and Market. Once Kislev has the "City Watch" chain that gives extra units it should be able to beat off any attack on it by the Ropsmenn Clan while Katarin goes conquering elsewhere.

Invocations

You can start a new campaign and see what the base Invocations offer, no need to list them here.

All invocations always last 10 turns

I struggle to decide which Invocation I would upgrade first, Dazh or Salyak. Dazh because the upgrade provides the Elemental Bear summons to all your armies which is immensely helpful in battle, it could possibly be a lifesaver. On the other hand Salyak first for the extra growth and replenishment especially if you plan on keeping it active until you max support. I suppose you could do Salyak followed immediately by Dazh. Once you max support and have a decent amount of regions and trade, upgraded Dazh is the only Invocation I used for the extra money and the summons.

Tor would be the last I would upgrade because it only increases the Melee Attack by +3%

Upgraded Dazh

Supporters generated: 1 when constructing a building

Income from Trade: +20%

Income from All Buildings: +12%

Army Ability: "The Land Awakened" (all armies) - [Summons an Elemental Bear, 1 use per battle]

Upgraded Salyak

Supporters generated: 1 when gaining a character rank

Growth: +30

Control: +2

Casualty Replenishment Rate: +15% (all armies)

Upgraded Tor

Supporters generated: 2 when fighting a battle

Army Ability: "Wrath of the Bear" (all armies) - [+50% Base Weapon and AP damage, 3 uses]

Melee Attack: +8% (all armies)

Upgraded Ursun

Supporters generated: 5 when occupying a settlement

Causes attrition to enemy units within your territory

Army Ability: "The Bitterness of Winter" (all armies) - [Leadership, Speed & Vigour debuff, 3 uses]

Melee Defense: +5 (all armies)

Campaign Strategy Walkthrough

Just a quick tidbit, if being friendly with Stirland is part of your plan, you can Join War against the Jagged Horn Tribe in order to get a trade agreement with Stirland, the beastmen will get wiped out so no worries about going to war with them.

KEY INFO TO INFORM YOUR DECISIONS

1) Rifts left open very quickly (like 3 turns) cause 100 corruption of their respective chaos god which causes -300 growth, meaning that province aint making it to Tier 5 any time soon if it wasn't already Tier 5. And at around 7-10 turns being open a rogue chaos army spawns intent on ruining your day. If it isn't obvious, you really, really want to close any Rifts in your territory quickly, other than say 1 Rift you leave open for your Legendary Lord to travel through and which you can guard with a 2nd army, and only in a province where every settlement is max tier already.

2) The more territory you own means the more Rifts that directly impact you instead of the AI. You can prepare for this with heroes to a decent extent, but note that if you have 10 provinces where you'd want Rifts closed immediately so they don't destroy Growth, then you'd need 10 heroes dedicated to closing the Rifts, and to close 10 Rifts with heroes in 1 turn would cost 15,000 gold.

3) Scrag the Slaughterer starts to the southwest of Reikland (which is to your southwest). Know that if you don't take out Scrag the Slaughterer early, he becomes a wrecking ball against Empire factions. This sucks because if Reikland is destroyed or can't grow enough to build the building to get Hellstorm Rocket Batteries, then you cannot get Hellstorms via alliance, and that is tragic. So I definitely recommend killing Scrag and cleaning out that southwest corner of the map quickly. You can then sell any regions you capture to Reikland or another Empire faction to build them up nicely so that hopefully they go north to crusade against chaos, and so that you can get those sweet, sweet Hellstorms.

4) Legion of Chaos (the Daemons of Chaos faction) starts in Doomkeep which is straight north (maybe slightly northwest) of Kostaltyn's start.

5) Castle Drakenhof to your south has a Gold Mine...

6) You're probably gonna be stuck with just 3 Frost Maidens for awhile, so think carefully how you plan on using them. Will you embed them with Katarin and fight, or use them to Steal Research and Assassinate enemy heroes? Frost Maiden hero actions will gain you 10 Devotion each time you succeed by the way.

Walkthrough

Important Reminder that you can sell or gift settlement to factions that neighbor the settlement you are wiling to trade...

Capture Gerslev. I made the mistake of going east capturing Ropsmenn Clan's settlements in Eastern Oblast province before taking Praag. If you want to take Praag, blitzkrieg it and then try to get peace with Ropsmenn Clan, perhaps by offering them Gerslev. But otherwise you don't want to fight other Kislev factions as that slows down your supporter growth.

I recommend you go south and capture Waldenhof and Konigstein Tower first so that Stirland doesn't get them, and then capture Castle Drakenhof. Get that sweet, sweet Gold Mine.

Becomes allies with Zhufbar and Karak Kadrin to your east, they will act as a buffer for you against the dangers to the east, keep an eye on them to make sure they don't die. You can also ally with the Kraka Drak Dwarfs to your north, like the Empire they too need help to survive because they are in the path of Chaos and Norsca coming south.

Once you capture the Vampire Count territory, what to do about the Empire? On the one hand, the Empire factions should be easy to conquer if you want the territory. On the other hand, they make for great allies, if you keep them all alive you could go for the 10 Military Alliance achievement. Only annoying issue is if someone of the Empire factions go to war with others, how to get them to make peace with each other so you can have alliances with all and get them to go crusade against chaos.

If you do decide to conquer Empire territory, I'd still probably go no further than Hochland (meaning conquer Ostermark, Stirland, Ostland, Talabecland, Wissenland, and Hochland, securing everything to the south of Kislev and west of your Dwarven allies). I'd try to save and keep alive Reikland, Middenland and Nordland, and possibly Marienburg. I might take Marienburg though if the port provides insane wealth like Erengrad does.

If you secure your south and southwest quickly (only having Empire factions and maybe Laurelon the Wood Elf faction left alive below Castle Alexandronov and the Bay of Blades), and by this point you will probably have done at least the first Rift wave, hopefully you are fast approaching 600 supporters and the confederation of all Kislev. Once you confederate all Kislev, you no longer have separate AI Kislev factions to act as a buffer, so now you have a whole new front to your north, northwest and possibly northeast if the Skaven from Karak Vlag come at you via the pass east of Novchozy. But if your South and Southwest are secure then this should be no problem and even a joy because now you can focus on eliminating the Legion of Chaos and Norsca to your immediate northwest and then figure things out from there. Just remember to keep a bunch of Patriarchs in your territories and enough gold to close the next waves of Rifts.

If you have done all this then you really just need to not make any monumental mistakes and beat the other factions to get all 4 souls, and then win the final battle.

Bonus Research Tip!

If you are not researching anything, winning battles can reward you with an Ancillary that gives +10% to Research Rate (this ancillary is called Student for Kislev and can only be assigned to Heroes). I also got one of these from a successful Steal Research action by a hero, so hero actions while no research is active may reward as well. So get in the habit of ceasing all research at the start of your turn, fighting all the battles and performing all the actions you need to do in your turn, hopefully gaining a bunch of +Research Ancillaries (do not forget to assign them to your Heroes), then Resuming research before you End Turn.

Technology

There are 4 Tech groups: The Land, Kislev, Erengrad, Praag.

Note that in order to unlock the 2nd Tier of Erengrad and Praag Tech, you have to own those cities.

Research Order:

Ice Sculpting

Ice Court Discipline

Ice Court Control

Ice Court Indoctrination (only if you plan to buy Ice Witches every chance you get to hunt for a lord with the best 3 traits, because otherwise your economy can support so few lords that a new Ice Witch every 7ish turns should be plenty to supply an Ice Witch whenever you are ready to add a new army)

Campaign benefiting Tech you want early:

Cold Storage (+5 growth)

Improved Lookouts (+1 Recruitment capacity)

Currency Exchanges (Awake the Land commandment gives +2 income)

Salyak Cult Customs (for the +10 growth and extra replenishment)

Troll Country Pathfinder (+5% campaign movement range)

Devotional Creed (Plagues suuuuck and you want that extra devotion early)

Unit benefiting Tech you want early:

Pirate's Weapons

Hooked Axe Blades

Glacial Prism

Convalescence

Great 2nd Tier Tech:

Orthodoxy Interdiction (+2 Global Recruitment which is huge because you will use it a lot)

Siege Mentality (gives more ammo to all ranged infantry and benefits you in sieges)

Improved Harbour Defenses (important note! - This tech requires you to own Erengrad which may take awhile, and I believe this tech only benefits walled settlements, because I had a Minor Settlement that only had the Tier 2 Palisade and it was "Encircled" for a couple turns before the enemy attacked, and I had this tech, but got no extra supply. I believe a settlement must be "Besieged" which requires walls, and then you'll get extra supply based upon how many turns you were besieged)

Unit Specific:

Toughened Sanctions and Arabyan Fire is great for War Sleds

I never used Armoured Kossars in my armies, but Breechloaders tech would have been beneficial for garrison units.

Aggressive Cultivation and Ice Rites would be fantastic for the Elemental Bear summons from Dazh, along with Fortify the Land and Ur-Stones if you could get and afford Elemental Bears in your armies.

Streltsi Arsenal is essential if you are going to use lots of Stresltsi but they are so expensive and you can can field Ice Guard so barely used them.

Bear Baiting would be fantastic once you have Boris Ursus and a full stack of War Bear Riders.

Battle Strategy


Ultimate Guide - Kislev image 91

Before I go into all the options that use either Kossars, Kossars (Spears), or Ice Guard, you should know how to set them up. If you just line them up in a long line, the enemy is going to charge into them, prevent them from shooting, or end up mulching them in melee and you will lose.

Instead look at the image above and follow this advice. Let's says you have 14 Kossars (Spears) or Ice Guard, doesn't matter because it works the same for both.

You take 7 of them, and create a line. Then select the 2nd unit from the right, the middle unit, and the 2nd unit from the left, and then on your keyboard, look at the arrow keys below Delete, End, Page Down, with those units selected press the Down Arrow Key 2-3 times.

Then line up the other 7 behind those 3 creating a third line. You could leave that third line as is, it may be fine, or you can again select the 2nd unit from right, the middle, and 2nd from left of the third line, press the down key 2-3 times, and now you have a 4th line. If you have another 2-4 units, you can probably figure out where to put them if you follow the pattern of the formation.

This formation seems to confuse the AI who hesitate to charge, and if they do, they get stuck on the outer units will those behind are able to continue firing. This also allows unit to rotate as needed to target different threats, especially if you keep the unit as square as you can instead of being in a thin line.

Doing this I was able to beat Khorne and Slaanesh armies that I probably would have lost handily to if I had just lined my forces up in a line like a newbie.

KATARIN OPTION 1

You get your 3 Frost Maidens (1 with Ice Magic and the other 2 with Tempest Magic) and 1 Patriarch asap and embed them with Katarin. Max Scouting with just 1 of the Frost Maidens, max Replenish Troops and Salyak's Lullaby (and get Healer at Rank 21) with the Patriarch. Fill the rest of Katarin's army with Kossars (Spears). With Katarin and your Ice Magic Frost Maiden use Ice Sheets to slow down the enemy while your Tempest Frost Maidens cast Upgraded Gust of True Flight on as many Kossars (Spears) as they can, then have Katarin & Maidens use Guardian Call to summon 4 snow leopards to tank the enemy, then when the leopards die use your Lord and Heroes all on War Bears to tank the enemy, all while your Kossars rain death on the enemy. The Patriarch heals Lord & Heroes with Salyak's Lullaby at the end of the battle.

When you are able to, transfer all the Kossars (Spears) to another lord and replace them with Ice Guard (I'd go all Glaives for the Armor Piercing and Anti-Large but if money is terribly tight or you want some of them to be anti-infantry you could go half Glaives and the rest regular Ice Guard)

Use the exact same strategy that worked with Kossars (Spears) with the Ice Guard.

This army is basically a light Doomstack so you should have no problem beating the campaign once you have your Ice Guard Doomstack-lite.

OPTION 2

Same as 1 but instead of Frost Maidens you put 3+ Patriarchs in Katarin's army. Katarin and the Patriarchs (ideally on War Bears) will tank the enemy while your archers rain death. The Patriarchs can heal everyone with Salyak's Lullaby. Upgrade to Ice Guard when able same as before. The benefit of this is that maxed combat skills Patriarchs (particularly equipped with magic items) and very tanky and deadly.

OPTION 3

Same as Option 2 but if only one Replenish Troops will benefit the army, then have Katarin and 1 Patriarch who has max Replenish Troops and Salyak's Lullaby, and then have the other "tank" units be Snow Leopards or War Bear Riders or War Sleds (Light or Heavy) and finally Elemental Bears. If Elemental Bears, use the Patriarch's Salyak's Lullaby to heal all the single-entities at the end of the battle.

Replace Kossars with Ice Guard when able

Option 3.5 is have Katarin and 1 Patriarch with those same skills, and have the rest just be Kossars (Spears) then Ice Guard when able, make up for lack of heroes with increased firepower.

OTHER LORDS

Once you get him, Boris Ursus could go all War Bear Riders with 1 Patriarch for healing and replenishment, since Boris gives -50% upkeep for War Bear Riders.

Kostaltyn does not buff any specific unit, but he does reduce recruitment costs to 0, so use him to recruit everything if you can. I'm not even sure how he does it. Firebrand reduces recruitment cost by -50%. The Burning Brazier by -10%. Leader of Renown by -15%. He got the Musterer trait which gives -5%. He has a Militiaman follower who gives -5% for infantry. That's -85%, but under Campaign Effects it says -80%, so not -100%, and he is not in a province with the Relief Columns commandment active, yet he can recruit even Elemental Bears from the Global Recruitment Pool for 0 gold. Crazy.

Oh, but if you start your campaign as Kostaltyn, then Patriarchs get 20% Ward Save. Which means you give Kostaltyn 19 Patriarchs on War Bears with maxed Combat skills and Salyak's Lullaby to heal and you have a proper Doomstack.

Ice Witches can copy Katarin's army composition both with Kossars (Spears) and Ice Guard, but Ice Guard will be their normal price and Ice Witches aren't as tanky as Katarin is. Or...

LIGHT WAR SLEDS

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/syt8nd/pro_tip_for_anyone_struggling_with_a_kislev/

^ you can read the comments from that post to verify what I'm saying below.

Light War Sleds are ridiculously good. If Ogres terrify you, bring Light War Sleds. LWS can kite while shooting with Armor Piercing missiles (and they have a ton of ammo), they can snipe lords and single monsters like Stonehorns, and then once all the single entities and anti-large units are dead and if they are out of ammo, they can charge into infantry like chariots and as long as you keep them moving and cycle charging (which is a lot easier with sleds than cavalry) they will eventually slaughter all the infantry.

And if you mess up an a few sled units die, LWS are just 1 turn to replace, even from Global Recruitment if you have the Citadel of Praag unique building built. I haven't tested this out myself yet, but u/Clawsonflakes says that Heavy War Sleds are even better because "they're invulnerable" and don't die.

Now, Light War Sleds are faster than Heavy War Sleds, which may make them better at running away from enemy anti-large, but if Heavy War Sleds are really that tough and have even more mass for charging through infantry, they may be a true doomstack. I would possibly consider a stack of Light War Sleds to be a Doomstack, or at least a Doomstack-Lite.

Also, during training, Ice Witches and Frost Maidens may get the prompt to choose between 2 traits, one trait that gives -30% upkeep for War Sleds, and one that gives -30% upkeep for Little Grom units. I always choose War Sleds. If you have an Ice Witch with that -30% War Sled trait, plus the -17% upkeep from Quartermaster and Renowned & Feared, combined with just 1 Frost Maiden with the -30% War Sled trait, that is -77% upkeep for War Sleds. Add 1 more Frost Maiden with -30% War Sled Upkeep, and you have -107% upkeep for War Sleds.

ELEMENTAL BEARS

And of course, Elemental Bears are probably Kislev's version of Carnosaurs or War Hydras or Dragons, etc, that is to say Doomstack material. Basically make a full stack of Elemental Bears with 1-3 Patriarchs on War Bears with Salyak's Lullaby to heal them back to full health at the end of the battle, and you have a true Doomstack.

Light War Sled Epicness Commentary...

Additional comments regarding Light War Sled epicness:

"They dont get stuck. That is their #1 attribute. They also turn much faster than cav as well. They dont do that [thing] where they stop if you turn them at too great of an angle, they just [go]."

u/jennis89

On Turin’s early access stream his 14 stack of light war sleds went up against 2 full stacks of demons undivided - 40 units and he managed to win without losing a single unit.

u/NotUpInHurr

SHH you're letting everybody know! I love the war sleds, they're so so so good! Auto-resolve wrecks them which is why they probably don't get as much use, but if you like manually battling they absolutely destroy everything

u/Abort-Retry

"Auto-resolve wrecks them"

That's a positive when you are trying to lure out the defenders of walled settlements

u/No_House9929

These are the key to winning a kislev campaign. Enjoy them before an inevitable nerf. Don’t even do “combined forces” literally just 17 stack these guys with an ice court mage with the reduced upkeep and the heals/replen from the patriarch

Norscans invading from the north? Believe it or not, war sleds

Legion of chaos invading kislev itself with three stacks? Believe it or not, war sleds

Skrag gobbled up your allies and invades the south? Believe it or not, war sleds

Tough garrison with a full stack inside? Believe it or not, war sleds

Edit: one additional note, the bane of this army is walled settlements so it sounds ridiculous but your best bet in that scenario is trapping an enemy army inside so they think they can sally out. Then crush them in the open field and auto the remaining forces that routed

What To Build In Cities

KISLEV

You start with a barracks, you can level it to T3 or not depending on whether you want Streltsi, but you really only need T1 for the Kossars (Spears). Level up to Tier 2 then build both +Growth buildings and level to max at each tier. At Tier 3 build the City Watch and the Market and level them to max at each tier. At Tier 4 build Bokha Palace and Grand Citadel and level them to max tier. At Tier 5 build the Temple of Ursun and the Animal Den and level them to max tier. If you end up with a better Major settlement to put a barracks in (where it doesn't take up a slot needed for a better building), then you can demolish the barracks and build the Convent of Ice (which you only need in Kislev for the +1 to Frost Maiden capacity, a very expensive building just for that).

CASTLE DRAKENHOF

Tier 1 build the Roadhouse for the +Growth and level it to max as you go. Tier 2 build the Breastworks and level it to max as you go. Tier 3 build the Gold Mine (you need the money). Tier 4 build the Toolmaker (for the income boost and the Light War Sleds) and the Market, level them to max. Tier 5 build a Farm for more income and the Convent of Ice for +1 Frost Maiden. At Tier 5 you can demolish the growth building and build either the Grand Ur-Szalas for the 24 furs (boosted 50% by the Tier 5 Caravans) or build the Orthodoxy Church for +1 Patriarch.

In Sylvania's minor settlements, build the +Growth building, the Garrison building, and Orthodoxy Church, until Drakenhof is Tier 5 then demolish the Growth building to build a Trade Quorum (market).

HELL PIT

Tier 1 build Growth and max it along the way, Tier 2 build Garrison and max it, Tier 3 build Exotic Animal Market and max it, Tier 4 build Market Square and max it, Tier 5 build Convent of Ice and demolish the Growth building and build either the Smithery for +Global Recruitment Capacity and income boost, the Grand Ur-Szalas for the furs boosted 50% by the Caravans building, or an Orthodoxy Church for +1 Patriarch.

PRAAG

Tier 1 build both Growth buildings, Tier 2 build the City Watch, Tier 3 build the Citadel of Praag and the Magnus Gardens, Tier 4 build the Market and the Marble Quarry (unless you still don't have the Toolmaker for Light War Sleds yet, then build the Toolmaker instead of the Marble Quarry I guess), Tier 5 build the Convent of Ice (or another Orthodoxy Church if you really love Patriarchs and don't care for Frost Maidens for some reason) and either the Toolmaker or the Marble Quarry depending on what you did at Tier 4.

ERENGRAD

By the time you confederate Erengrad it will probably already be Tier 4, but this is how I would build it if it got razed and I had to start fresh. Tier 1 has The Harbour occupying 1 slot permanently so for the other slot build the Tallow-keepers Guild. Tier 2 build the Tribal Encampment (unless your position is really insecure then build the City Watch). Tier 3 build the City Watch and Frosthome. Tier 4 build The Lynsk Bridge and Market. Tier 5 build the Clay Pit and Convent of Ice.

Tsarina Katarin Skill Build

Lords & Heroes can now reach Level 50 in TWW3, which means 49 skill points to spend. You can spend them on:

Character Skills (Yellow)

Battle Skills (Red)

Campaign Skills (Blue)

Note that if you haven't played Warhammer 2 prior, then Warhammer 3's Red on Red UI might make you think "what, each skill line is red, what are you talking about?" I completely understand your confusion. Pull up your Lord's skill screen, and at the top left (to the left of the Lord & Hero portrait bar), there is the circular "Rank" icon that if you hover your mouse over, will break down how you have spent skill points so far, and you will see the colors I mentioned.

Katarin has an inherent Lord Trait that gives -50% upkeep reduction for Ice Guard units. At the start of my campaign Ice Guard were barely more expensive than Kossars, and at one point in my campaign I noticed that Ice Guard were actually cheaper than Kossars with her. She also buffs them with Indomitable Spirit and Shield of Ice, so all this noted, Ice Guard should end up being the main units you give her besides any heroes, if not a whole 19 stack of them.

First 5 skill points you spend

Route Marcher > Ice Maiden's Kiss (IMK) > Ice Sheet (IS) > IMK 2nd point > IS 2nd point

You can hold off on her magic line after those skills.

ESSENTIALS

Skip the Warhorse, but get Katarin on the War Bear at Rank 14 immediately.

Get all of Katarin's Unique Character (Yellow) skills from Ice Mistress -> Shield of Ice (you unlock Ice Mistress at Rank 12, and one guide I read recommended saving up skill points from Rank 7 to 12 so that you can buy all 6 unique skills immediately at Rank 12, and I probably agree with that, they are really good skills)

Guardian Call unlocks at Rank 12 as well, so I'd put just 1 point into it at Rank 13 if you already got all the Unique skills.

Red Line: You want max Best of the Court and Skirmisher Traditions to buff her Ice Guard. Inspiring Presence and Rally are a given, so this means you need to figure out where you want to spend another 3 points. Skilled Craftsmen would be my first choice to buff War Sleds and Little Grom, because you might want 1-2 Little Grom in your army, or you might want a couple Light War Sleds to distract and pull away enemies so they all don't charge your Ice Guard at once. But since you will be starting out with just Kossars available to you, you might max out Firing Drills for them (and if you lose some Ice Guard you can always replace them with Kossars in a pinch so this skill could still be of benefit even once you've replaced Kossars with Ice Guard on Katarin). Or, if you intend to eventually have a few Elemental Bears as a frontline to stop and bunch up the enemy so your Ice Guard can shoot unhindered, and maybe use Snow Leopards in their place until then, then Creatures of the Land would be an excellent choice. Up to you. Depending on what you choose you may end up throwing a skill point into Battle Engineers or Ursun's Favored.

Blue Line: After Route Marcher, put 3 points into Reassuring Presence (you'll thank me when you enter Nurgle's realm or if your army gets afflicted by one of Nurgle's plagues). I'd put the 4th point you need to proceed in Leader of Renown. Get Draftmaster and then max Lightning Strike

and Quartermaster and then get Renowned & Feared.

Yellow Magic Line: Now we come back to her Magic line. Max Death Frost, get Evasion, then get Magical Reserves, Earthing, and max Heart of Winter, then get Arcane Conduit.

(8) points so far for Guardian Call, War Bear, and Unique skills

(9) points for Red Line

(13) points for Blue Line

(12) points for Magic Line

= 42 points spent, 7 remaining

Note that if you aren't going to have any other units besides Ice Guard in Katarin's army and decide that Skirmisher Traditions isn't worth wasting 4 other points to get it, then that saves you 5 skill points

=37 points spent with 12 remaining if you just max Best of the Court and stop in the Red Line.

But since your Ice Guard are going to easily be Rank 9, I think it is worth it.

So assuming 7 points remain, up to you at this point what to do.

Red Line Focus: If you went with Creatures of the Land because you plan to use Snow Leopards and/or Elemental Bears, then get Ursun's Favored, Snow Leopard Stalk, 2 more points to max Guardian Call, then 3 wherever you want (get all three remaining 2nd tier Red Line skills, or invest into maxing another 1st Tier Red Line skill in case you want to try something different).

Blue Line focus: Max Logistician and Alert, then throw the final point wherever.

Magic Line Focus: max Crystal Sanctuary, max Frost Blades, get Frost Shield, leaves 2 free points for whatever.

Note that maxing Guardian Call does make that Snow Leopard summon very deadly, but since it only lasts for about a minute it isn't really worth it. Likewise Snow Leopard Talk isn't worth it unless you plan to use Snow Leopard buffed by Creatures of the Land.

Beartillery Strategy

Credit to Brunchwolf for this army composition idea:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2768587082

Ice Magic Vs Tempest Magic

Ice Magic or Tempest Magic, which should you spec your Ice Witches and Frost Maidens with?

First thought, I feel like you run out of Winds of Magic (WoM) a lot faster than you did in TW:W2. One Redditor suggested because of that, you only really need 1 caster per army. There are however other reasons to have multiple casters in an army, especially if they have very beneficial traits. Just keep this in mind when making your decisions.

Second, the reality is that Ice and Tempest Magic complement each other. Bring at least 1 if not 2 of each in an army is a great idea, if it weren't for the limited number of Frost Maidens you can get.

You can see what each Lore of Magic has in the Spell Browser. To see the Spell Browser, click on New Campaign, click on Kislev, and then to the top-right of "Settings", click on the little icon that pops up a text box saying "Unit & Spell Browser", where you can check out the units and spells of any faction (you can select any of the races introduced to-date including from WH1 and WH2).

ICE MAGIC

Ice Magic has 2 key spells going for it, Ice Maiden's Kiss (IMK) and Ice Sheet (IS).

The problem with Tempest Magic's Hailstorm is that the AI will dodge it, so if you try to use it to lure the enemy AI to attack you then you will be wasting precious Winds of Magic doing so. The AI loves to line up its units in a line facing you, which is perfect for running your lord or hero up and casting a couple of IMK will do damage and will eventually cause the AI to start charging forward.

Once the AI is charging at you, then Ice Sheet is great to slow them down giving your ranged units more time to rain death on the enemy. Ice Sheet has a really large Area of Effect so you can catch a lot of enemy units in it. Ice Sheet is also really cheap, I think it costs 1 WoM on Katarin and 3 WoM when upgraded on a Frost Maiden. If you have an Ice Witch (Ice) and Frost Maiden (Ice) in your army, 2 Ice Sheet could cover most of the enemy army if placed well. Ice Sheet is very useful against Khorne and Slaanesh, particularly Slaanesh units which are ridiculously fast and hit like a train.

In summary, Ice Magic is great in field battles where you need to provoke the enemy to attack you (if you don't have a Little Grom) and to slow their charge with Ice Sheet, very important against Khorne and Slaanesh.

Upgraded Crystal Sanctuary could be good if you have a bunch of units together that you don't need to move and which you want to resist damage, it is just really expensive WoM-wise.

Heart of Winter can be good against a large group of bunched up 25+ troop units, but again it is expensive WoM-wise.

I couldn't tell how good Death Frost was because I wasn't paying attention to it during battles I used it, it is probably better on smaller unit sizes because single-entities should have less health, and probably not very good on Ultra unit size.

Frost Blades seems to only apply to one unit so it is probably situational or you would need multiple Ice Magic users to buff multiple melee units.

TEMPEST MAGIC

Tempest Magic has a lot of great damage and support spells, making it better than Ice Magic in many ways. It is better for sieges since Hailstorm can be cast against units on walls. It can also be good in field battles as long as you have a frontline that will stop and bunch up the enemy.

Hailstorm:

Freezing Winds: -25% enemy speed map-wide when you cast a spell. Wish this were in Ice Magic, but I think the intent is that if you cast Gust of True Flight it will slow down the enemy giving your guys more time to fire. Would combine really well if you have an Ice Mage cast Ice Sheet and then your Tempest Mage cast Gust of True Flight for -50% enemy movement.

Gust of True Flight: +30% Range & Accuracy. Not-overcast, this would be great on a single Little Grom. Overcast, this spell is devastating on multiple Little Grom or on a bunch of Kossars or Ice Guard. Combines really well with Freezing Winds and Ice Sheet.

Swiftwing: I never used it, but if you are buffing melee units, like Tsar Guard or Elementals Bears or Bear Cavalry, this could be beneficial especially since it is an Area of Effect spell. One Tempest mage could buff multiple melee units. Sucks that Frost Blades is single target only.

Biting Wind: A damage spell that goes in a straight line, great if you can get the enemy to line up.

Hawks of Miska: Damage spell that does no friendly-fire damage.

Blizzard: Big explosion spell, great if you can get a bunch of enemies balled up on one spot and then BOOM!

SUMMARY

You will only have access to 3 Frost Maidens at the start of your campaign and only after you research the Frost Maiden tech that gives +1 for each tech. If you confederate a Kislev faction that has a Frost Maiden you can go over the cap but then you are stuck with whatever traits that hero has.

Note that Tsarina Katarin is an Ice Magic user.

Option 1: Get 1 Ice Magic and 2 Tempest Magic Frost Maidens. Put all 3 in Katarin's army. Use Katarin and the Ice caster to cast Ice Sheets to slow down the charging enemy, while using the Tempest caster to cast upgraded Gust of True Flight on compact groups of Kossars, Ice Guard or Little Grom (you'll need to test how many units can fit in the area of effect). Make sure you also have the Freezing Wind skill on your Tempest casters so that it procs when you cast Gust of True Flight to combine with Ice Sheets to really slow down the enemy.

Option 2: Get 2 Ice Magic Ice Witch lords when you can afford additional armies in addition to Katarin, and have all 3 Frost Maidens use Ice Magic. Have 3 armies with an Ice Magic lord and Ice Magic hero, in order to have 2 casts of Ice Sheets to slow down most of an enemy army, particularly Khorne and Slaanesh.

Option 3: Get 2 Ice Magic Ice Witch lords when you can afford additional armies in addition to Katarin, and have all 3 Frost Maidens use Tempest magic. Run an Ice Magic lord with a Tempest magic hero in three armies. They will complement each with Ice Sheet and Freezing Wind and Gust of True Flight. You can also use the Tempest caster's damage spells in sieges or when enemy blobs present great opportunities for nuking.

Option 4: Go all Tempest Magic other than Katarin, back up Katarin with a Tempest caster and have the other 2 armies be both Tempest casters for maximum nuking in sieges and field battles when you blob up the enemy.

Ice Witch & Frost Maiden Traits

BEST TRAITS UPFRONT

-30% War Sled Upkeep (unless you go Brunchwolf's Beartillery army composition)

Ranger (Fantastic for Kossars, Ice Guard, War Sleds and Little Grom alike)

Better Bows (only Ice Guard, would be fantastic if you could also get Ranger at same time with this)

^ Best 3

Eldritch Defender [-15% all attrition] (very good when dealing with Nurgle Plagues)

Perfect Vigor [Perfect Vigor]

Builder [-20% cost for all buildings in [u]Province[/u]]

Economist [+12% all building income in [u]Province[/u]] (very good on Frost Maidens)

Quiet Warrior [-25% Hero action cost]... ideally combine with:

Assassin [+10% assassinate chance]

LIST OF TRAITS

Your Ice Witch lord and Frost Maiden have to be paid for first and then "trained" over the course of 6 turns. When you are "training" your Ice Witch lord and Frost Maiden heroes, you get to select which Lore of Magic you want them to use and then you also get to select 3 traits for them to have. Each trait is an RNG dilemma where you choose between 2 options. Here are some of those options that I saw, note that if I don't know what the other option is it is because the option I list is probably the better option which is why I always choose it:

-30% War Sled Upkeep vs -30% Little Grom Upkeep (before I saw Brunchwolf's Beartillery guide, I would have said always choose -30% War Sled Upkeep, but if you decide to put 15 Little Grom's in one army then the -30% Little Grom Upkeep trait will be great)

+12% All Building Income vs +30 Growth (I'd choose income, growth eventually becomes useless)

+7 Weapon Strength for Infantry vs +10 Charge Bonus for Cavalry

Ranger [+7% Missile Strength for all Ranged units in Lord's army] vs ? (I always choose Ranger)

Better Bows [+10% Missile Strength for Ice Guard] vs Better Swords [?% Ice Guard melee buff]

-4 Corruption vs +4 Control

Glacial Blaster [AoE explosion around character] vs Ice Shard Wielder [ranged attack]

Martial Magician [+10% power reserve change when increasing] vs ?

Perfect Vigor vs ?

Battler [+5 Armour & +4 Melee Defense] vs ?

Fighter [+4 Melee Attack & +8% Weapon Strength] vs ?

Builder [-20% cost for all buildings in local province] vs ?

Quiet Warrior [-25% Hero action cost] vs ?

Ownership is Theft [Steal Technology research rate +10%] vs Assassin [+10% chance to assassinate]

Stalker [gives Stalk to unit] vs ?

Eldritch Defender [-15% casualties from all attrition] vs ?

Uses For Frost Maidens

You get a limited number of Frost Maidens (FM) at the start and it is painfully difficult to get more. Erengrad's Tier 5 "Frosthome III" gives +3 FM, otherwise you need a Tier 5 Convent of Ice (very expensive to build) just to get +1 FM, and the Convent can only be built in Major Settlements, of which there are only 4 in Kislev lands, Kislev, Praag, Hellpit and Erengrad. You'll likely also get Castle Drakenhof as well so that makes 5, to get more you'll probably need to conquer Empire lands or go up into the Peninsula that Legion of Chaos occupies at Doomkeep, and conquering the whole peninsula I think only gives 4 more Major settlements...

So you need to decide upfront how you want to trait and use your Frost Maidens. A lot of the traits are RNG but if you are lucky and/or determined you can go for a specific strategy:

MONEY MAKER

This strategy means trying to get Economist (+12% all province building income) on all of your Frost Maidens. Then put 3 skill points into Boost Income for an additional +6%. At Level 20 choose "Magistrate" for another +2% as well as -10% construction cost (which would combine fantastically with "Builder" trait but I only saw that option presented for Ice Witches so far). That is a total of +20% income from all building in a province. Get a Tollkeeper follower (+12% all buildings income in Province) and a Tax Collector follower (+10% all buildings income in Local Region) for another +22% income, for a total of +42% income. Do this with as many Frost Maidens as you can and put them in your richest province (Kislev at first, then maybe Sylvania, and then definitely Erengrad). Assuming you are stuck with just 3 FM for awhile and assuming you manage to get them to Level 20 and get both followers, that is +126% income in a province. At Turn 133 my Tier 5 Erengrad with all income buildings gives 3798 gold, so if I did my math correctly, +126% income could equal approx. 8550 gold. And of course as you unlock more Frost Maiden slots and get more "Economists", you can boost even more income. Very Nice.

UPKEEP REDUCER

Brunchwolf's Beartillery army composition may be awesome but I haven't tried it yet, but if you did get an army of 15 Little Grom then -30% upkeep for them would be fantastic, combine the -30% Little Grom upkeep trait with Tempest Magic for the Upgraded Gust of True Flight to make a cheap but devastating army . Otherwise go -30% Upkeep for War Sleds, because War Sleds are ridiculously good.

Either way, If you choose 1 Ice Witch and 1 Frost Maiden that each have the desired -30% upkeep trait, that is -60% upkeep. Ice Witch lord can also get Quartermaster (-9% upkeep) and Renowned & Feared (-8% upkeep) in the Blue Line for a total of -17% upkeep, which combined with the -60% upkeep = -77% upkeep for either War Sleds or Little Groms. Of course you could add 1 more Frost Maiden to make it -107%, or you could use that -30% upkeep Frost Maiden in another -30% upkeep Ice Witch's army for another -77% upkeep army of either War Sleds or Little Groms.

MISSILE DAMAGE BOOSTER

If you want an army of absolutely Ridiculously powerful Ice Guard, see if you can stack multiple Frost Maidens with "Ranger" and "Better Bows" in Katarin's army or in the Ice Guard army of an Ice Witch with those same 2 traits. Better Bows only applies to Ice Guard.

"Ranger" applies to ALL missile units, so stacking multiple "Ranger" traited Frost Maidens in a "Ranger" Ice Witch army full of Kossars, War Sleds and/or Little Groms would make them Devastating.

RESEARCH THIEF & HERO KILLER

You can put your Frost Maiden's in your armies, but you they might find them better used on the campaign map. Frost Maiden actions give +10 devotion when playing as Katarin. You want as much bonus research as you can early on in the campaign to tech faster. The enemy will spam heroes at you and you need heroes to help close Rifts. For all these reasons, there is a good argument to be made to use your Frost Maidens first as Research Thieves and then as enemy Hero Killers, all the while generating Devotion to use for Invocations and Supporter Actions.

Quiet Warrior gives -25% Hero action cost. Ownership is Thief gives +10 research bonus upon Steal Research (awesome early game but sucks once Tech tree is complete, especially since you can get Student followers on all your heroes to help boost Research Rate). Assassin gives +10% assassination chance.

I would choose Quiet Warrior and Assassin, steal as much tech as I could, then use the Frost Maidens to try and permanently kill heroes and close Rifts.

Best Hero Skill Choices

This section is to advise about Hero Campaign Skills, like Scouting or Replenish Troops (well, and which of the Patriarch's special skills following "Ursun's Roar" to get).

FROST MAIDEN

Scouting is good if you embed a Frost Maiden (FM) in an army, FM applies +10% magic find chance base and max Scouting adds +15% magic find chance for a total of +25% magic find chance. Note that only 1 instance of Scouting will apply to an army, and it will be the Scouting from the last Frost Maiden to embedded in the army (so +25% will be replaced by 10% if you embed a Level 1 FM after embedding a Level 10+ FM).

Boost Income is good if you have the Economist trait and Magistrate skill and Tax Collector and Tollkeeper followers and plant such money maker heroes in your richest province. But it is eventually decent to invest in because at least it will boost your income slightly as you move your armies or heroes through your own territory.

Steal Technology is good at the start of the campaign if you will actually perform that action a lot.

Assassinate is always good for when you need to kill enemy heroes.

Assault Unit is mostly useless except in niche situations. Note that it is Assault "Unit" Not "Units" so it only impacts one unit in the enemy army (can be any unit including lords and hero). When I used this skill I used it on the enemy lord and reduced its health by half. Maybe this might be good on a really dangerous enemy like Level 50 Skarbrand, but I would only invest in this skill once your hero has all the others, since the skill cap is now 50.

Specialist is excellent and what you should get first if you plan on performing hero actions, because it boosts your chance of success and will save you a lot of money.

PATRIARCH

Salyak's Lullaby is the best of the Patriarch's special skills because it gives you 3 uses of a powerful Area of Effect heal that can heal your single entity units back to full health. Best choice.

Healer I went with on all my patriarchs because of the extra replenishment and hitpoints, and because it reduces the recharge of Salyak's Lullaby, which you may not think is super important but that extra -25% to cooldown can be the difference between fully healing your units or not before the final enemy runs off the map and forces the battle to end.

Bearkin is a very tempting 2nd choice to Healer, because it gives the Patriarch who selects it "Frenzy" making them a lot more dangerous in combat, especially once he has maxed his combat line skills.

Harsh Survivor might be a really good choice if you have 4 Patriarchs with it (or 3 Patriarchs and 1 Frost Maiden with Eldritch Defender) embedded with Katarin if she has 3 points in Reassuring Presence (-30% attrition). -100% attrition means Katarin would be invulnerable to Nurgle's Realm as well as to Nurgle Plagues which can afflict your army if you fight Nurgle's armies on the campaign map, or be inflicted by Nurgle Heroes I presume. Nurgle Plagues are really, really annoying. In fact, you might want to do this with every army, especially if you built lots of Orthodoxy Churches and have lots of Patriarchs and use your Frost Maidens for hero actions.

Replenish Troops - a Patriarch provides a base +8% Replenishment upon embedding him in an army. "Replenish Troops" at Tier 3 adds +9%, for a total of 17% Replenishment. Healer adds another +3% for a total of +20%. Note that only 1 Replenish Troops will apply its effect upon the army, and it will be the Replenish Troops of the most recently added Patriarch, so if you add a Level 1 Patriarch to your army, you need to un-embed your maxed out Patriarch and re-embed him if you want his increased replenishment to apply. (the Lord skill Logistician maxed out adds +6% replenishment, and the tech Convalescence adds +2%, for a total of +28% replenishment you can get in an army)

Cleanse Corruption is a good skill to have maxed out (-3 Corruption) given how many sources of corruption there are, especially if you added Harsh Survivor (-2), the Ritual Enforce follower (-2), and the tech Praag Remembers (-2), for a total of -9 Corruption. I don't know if Cleanse Corruption from multiple Patriarchs stack, but a quick look at a province where Katarin and 3 Patriarchs are suggests so, and I suspect so because Cleanse Corruption should not require a Patriarch to be embedded to take affect. You can check by clicking on a province, looking at the Corruption section on the lower left, and moving Patriarchs across the border from another region to the region you are comparing, and seeing if the negative modifier for "Characters" gets larger the more Patriarchs you have in the region.

Wound and Specialist are decent for when you need to clear out enemy heroes.

Damage Building and Hinder Replenishment I think are worthless and not worth investing in until you have no other skills to spend points on. If someone can make a case for when these skills would be useful I'd love to hear it in the comments.

Unlock Boris Ursus

Creddit to Saint Scylla:

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