Total War: WARHAMMER III Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves campaign overview, guide and second thoughts

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts

Hello everyone. In this guide I will cover:

- Victory conditions, faction and climate;

- Starting location;

- Diplomacy and outposts;

- Mechanics of the race and faction;

- Province edicts and army stances;

- Buildings and research;

- Lords and skills;

- Army compositions;

And give you my final notes on the specific faction. Hope you enjoy it.

For those that prefer the video:

https://youtu.be/3MdOFamvOmw

For those that prefer to read:

VICTORY CONDITIONS:

Short Victory

For our short victory, we need to destroy the faction of Eataine, to control the Lothern settlement in Ulthuan, and to occupy, loot, raze or sack 30 different settlements.

The reward is nice, +3 recruit rank to all units implies a lot more quality overall in your newer armies or a good way to replace your units with better ones.

This will take quite sometime, and it is one of the longest "short victory" conditions. Unless you utterly rush and sail to Ulthuan in detriment of expanding from your home province, it just will take time.

Long victory

For the long campaign victory, it is insane. You need to achieve the short victory, occupy, loot, raze or sack 75 different settlements; you also need to control the Shrine of Khaine settlement and the Eataine province; to top it all, you need to destroy the factions of Eataine, Avelorn, Nagarythe, Order of Loremasters(!), Yvresse, and Knights of Caledor(!).

The reward is +15% income from slaves. Really nice to secure a domination victory and get some more armies, but...

The issue is how much time it will take to accomplish this one. It is one of the long victory conditions that I can honestly say I would probably achieve domination before. Teclis and Imrik's factions are located really far away, so unless they are destroyed by someone else, you may be stuck having to rush them to just end the campaign.

Malekith is the Witch King of Naggaroth, and he enjoys more allegiance points from alliances with other Dark Elves, Diplomatic relations with other Dark Elves, Loyalty +2 for new recruits, and reduced upkeep for Black Guard, Dreadspears, Bleakswords and Darkshards.

All in all, decent bonuses, specially for the early game, to ensure you can avoid some close enemies, maybe confederate one or another Dark Elf faction, and have less issues with loyalty overall. The upkeep reduction helps in the early to late game, as Darkshards and Black guards are nearly always useful overall.

Climate is poor to average. Plenty of unpleasant and uninhabitable climates, making this a hard faction to play for domination. Tying in the long victory condition which forces you into undesirable climate, you can see how difficult it may become.

STARTING POSITION:

Somewhat of an easy starting location, but with only a 2 settlement province. Neighboring 4 settlement province may give you an opportunity for a solid military producing base, though.

Typical expansion should clear out the north if possible, and only then proceed into the south. However, you may always wish to directly to the objectives and into Ulthuan, although a continuous defense versus chaos may prove challenging.

Your typical enemies will be Chaos, including Norsca, Dwarfs, and High Elves, with Beastmen, Wood Elves and Lizardmen joining in. Dark Elves are quite the Evil faction and may find it difficult to get some allies.

DIPLOMACY:

You will have plenty of enemies and just a few potential allies, most of them Dark Elves. Essentially, some options for Chaos and Norsca are still there, specially if you gift someone a settlement, but be wary of that route.

Vampire Coast is probably one of the best ideas to persuade into an alliance because of the outpost potential. Do not expect it to be easy. If possible, secure their great artillery pieces and deck gunners for powerful combinations.

A note should be made that you start allied with Malus, which may prove great or bad depending if he sends you into unnecessary wars.

MECHANICS:

In terms of rites:

1- the first allows you to summon a Black Ark (more on those later).

2- the second one allows you to gain winds of magic, experience for sorceresses and supreme sorceresses, and hero action success for sorceresses.

3- Third gives increased casualties captured post battle, income from post battle, more casualty replenishment rate (20%!), and a damage army ability.

4- Fourth simply gives control and loyalty to all lords.

Overall, these are good options, all situational and you can certainly benefit from triggering them at the best moment.

Black Arks are amazing tools, a horde style army that can only be at sea, it provides an often better place to build up your military. This does not imply you cannot build in your settlements, but there are tons of possibilities with just using the Black Arks for military which you should consider. In addition, they provide replenishment for armies in their action range, and bombardment abilities, helping you take out coastal areas.

The Sword of Khaine may be a goal you wish to pursue. It cause control issues and lots of diplomacy problems, but Malekith is one of the characters that can actually deal with those negatives well, so consider taking the sword for a different experience.

The Slave mechanic has been modified from Warhammer 2 (For better or worse, depending on who you ask, but here is how it is now). It globally generates income, and if you obtain a good number of slaves, you get some nice buffs for your faction. Slaves are also needed for Diktats and for your rites.

Diktats are sort of secondary edicts. You can use slaves to gain +20 control for 5 turns;, 1000 gold when activated and +2 control per turn for 5 turns; or +50 growth and -10% construction costs for 5 turns. However, whether these are worth the number of slaves used is up to you to find out.

Loyalty is just a basic mechanic for your lords, if it goes to 0 they will form their own faction and rebel, so just... keep it higher 😉

Finally, one of the simplest and best mechanics for me is the Names of Power. Reaching level 10, each lord will be able to receive a random skill that ranges from average to almost Godlike. I will showcase those in a picture below. Suffice it to say you can come up with an entirely different playstyle just with a given Name of Power to a lord.

PROVINCE EDICTS AND ARMY STANCES:

Edicts:

Control +4;

Income from all buildings +5%;

income from post-battle loot (factionwide) +5% , slaves reduced per turn (negative) -50, recruit rank +1 and weapon strength +10% to your armies in the province;

enemy hero action success chance reduced -25%, ambush chance improved +20%, chance of interception improved +25%;

growth +50, slaves reduced per turn (negative) -50, income from slaves improved +20%.

The biggest issue with the edicts is how they can give you great stuff at a cost of slaves. This implies you really have to check every turn to ensure you are not just losing slaves for nothing useful, so be wary of it.

Army stances:

Channeling increases magic reserves and gives replenishment in foreign territory; requires 10% movement;

Raiding requires 25% movement, provides you with slaves, makes you immune to attrition;

Ambush costs the typical 25% movement;

Forced march, fairly typical

A note on army stances is how you do NOT have replenishment and immunity to attrition at the same time. No encamp. This severely diminishes your ability to wage war in unfavorable climates, which you have a lot to worry about.

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts (continuation)

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves campaign overview, guide and second thoughts image 64

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves campaign overview, guide and second thoughts image 65

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves campaign overview, guide and second thoughts image 66

BUILDINGS AND RESEARCH:

Naggarond itself has 4 special buildings if you consider the port too. They are useful, but you will need to plan out your buildings to get the most of it.

Full military province requires 7 buildings, however, 3 of them can be fully built on a minor settlement. Perfect for your neighboring 4 settlement province. Those buildings also have perfect unit types, allowing you to muster quite an army with just tier 3 units, really. The Dark Elves have arguably one of the best early game compositions since they do not have the issue with lacking armor piercing at all.

Infrastructure has:

1- Growth, replenishment rate, slave capacity, income from slaves; When slaves are high - more growth;

2- Income; When slaves are high - income from slaves, slave numbers reduction(negative);

3- Control; When slaves are high even more control;

4- Reduced control (negative), slave capacity, slaves per turn increased;

5- Campaign movement range, growth, income from trade, slave cost reduction for diktats, income from all buildings.

Overall you have good options that may have some changes when slave numbers are high; however, slaves are very determinant overall and there are few ways to increase them than just keep fighting.

Research is very powerful for the Dark Elves. The building that provides research also gives you all the casters which is useful, btw. Their tech tree is one of the best in giving campaign and army buffs, and it is definitely worth your time, so be sure you check it out and plan ahead.

LORDS, SKILLS:

Malekith himself has great campaign map buffs, rather than battle ones. He is, however, one of the best hybrid melee/caster there is in the game. He can get any decent army composition and win with it very easily.

Redline skills have an interesting early-mid game compositions, but lacks some good synergy later on. They are costly, but you do get some nice combinations for lategame armies.

Blue line has replenishment and reduced upkeep in the last part, and you may of course pick Lightning Strike, as well as renowned and feared. However, it may be costly with your caster lords to spend so many skill points here.

A special note for Beastmasters who have tons of great buffs for Cold ones and most creatures. You can definitely have some fun with combinations around those.

The schools of magic are all centered around damage, which is the mainstay of the army as well. Dark Elves can dish out tremendous amounts of damage throughout the campaign, and the magic certainly works well with the concept.

Finally, the names of power mechanic can give you tremendous army differentiation alone. Study those options and decide whenever you reach level 10.

ARMY COMPOSITIONS:

Below you find some army compositions that I would try (and have in my own campaigns). As always, I used the standard caster, and added a few heroes that I would try out, but you are welcome in changing those of course. The yellow number is the number of redline skills necessary to fully buff all those units, note how average it is.

Malekith does not have any specific units he buffs, so anything goes with him. Two choices, based on some shades for missiles, solid infantry line, and some cavalry or monsters in the second choice. You may want more or fewer missiles units, really your call, he is already a beast fighting. Those armies work well with any lord, specially one with a Name of Power to upgrade some specific units.

The third suggestion is an army based on early game units with some nice fast moving cavalry. It may be difficult versus elite enemies, but you can use this wonderfully as a sweeper army.

Fourth suggestion is a rather standardized army, you can of course tweak the numbers.

Beastmasters have buffs for several creatures, so they should be a solid option for you to throw in some different armies, in conjunction with the names of power, this should lead to vastly different and sometimes exotic possibilities. Special note for that nearly single entity army that only needs 10 redline skills to fully buff up.

FINAL NOTES:

The slave mechanic implies that the Dark Elves are encouraged to fight, pillage, sack, raid, etc. One particular interesting idea is to take advantage of any Black Arks and just send them out as pirate ships, raiding a shoreline for plunder and slaves, rampaging different enemies while you slowly solidify your initial position.

The overall synergy from the army is interesting with few weaknesses but a strong emphasis on damage-dealing capabilities.

Your army consists of:

Great infantry;

Great missiles;

Great cavalry, but expensive;

Great single entities;

Good flyers;

Emphasis on armor piercing;

Somewhat reduced health;

Replenishment is good, but severely reduced because of climate issues.

Let me know what you guys think, as always, hope this helps you decide to play the Dark Elves.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940452205

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves campaign overview, guide and second thoughts

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts

Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Malekith - Dark Elves Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts (continuation)

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