Total War: Warhammer 3, the final title in Creative Assembly's epic grand-strategy trilogy, launched for PC in February 2022. The game steadily expanded over the following year, with the most notable addition being the Immortal Empires campaign that brings together the maps and factions of all three Total War: Warhammer titles. However, it looks like Creative Assembly is far from done supporting its game.
The developer recently announced the first major DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3, called The Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs. The expansion will add the titular Chaos Dwarfs as a brand-new faction playable in both the base Warhammer 3 and Immortal Empires campaigns. The twisted cousins of Warhammer Fantasy's steadfast, stubborn Dwarfs, the Chaos Dwarfs are dedicated to greed, tyranny, and relentless industry.
Who are Warhammer's Chaos Dwarfs?
In the early ages of the Warhammer universe, Dwarfs expanded steadily up the World's Edge Mountains, with a few enterprising clans then heading east onto the dismal plateau that borders the Mountains of Mourn - known as the Dark Lands. When the malign forces of Chaos first swept the world in the Great Catastrophe, these isolated Dwarf Holds were cut off from their western kin and presumed to be swept away by the tide of Chaos.
However, the truth was more unsettling. Abandoned by the Ancestor Gods in their hour of need, stranded Dwarfs turned to the worship of Hashut, the Father of Darkness and a minor Chaos God of fire, greed, and tyranny. Corrupted by Hashut's Chaotic influence, the new Dwarfs were mutated with long tusks and other marks of Chaos, with some even transforming into half-Dwarf, half-Horse Bull Centaurs. The most startling change was that some Chaos Dwarfs started to be born with magical abilities.
These Sorcerers eventually rose to become dominant in Chaos Dwarf society, leading their people into a new age of magic, greed, and industry. As a twisted and perverted reflection of the industrious Dwarfs, the cities of the Chaos Dwarfs are dominated by great forges, where steam-powered monstrosities forge weapons of war for the Chaos legions, Orc and Goblin slaves toil in endless mines, and sacrifices to Hashut are thrown into vats of boiling metal.
The Chaos Dwarfs on the Campaign Map
Rather than copy the simple, resource-based economy of their uncorrupted kin, the Chaos Dwarfs' economy in Total War: Warhammer 3 is more closely tied to fellow slave-takers, the Dark Elves. Chaos Dwarf players will be able to put battle captives to work as Laborers, increasing productivity in their provinces at the cost of increased unrest.
Unlike most factions in Total War: Warhammer 3, Chaos Dwarfs can choose between three different kinds of settlement when conquering new territory:
- Outposts - Predominantly use Laborers to produce Raw Materials, a unique Chaos Dwarf resource that is used to construct certain buildings, can be sold through Convoys, or converted into Armaments.
- Factories - Convert unused Raw Materials into Armaments, which are primarily used to train Chaos Dwarfs units and upgrade them through the Hell Forge system.
- Towers - Well-defended province capitals of the Chaos Dwarfs, best suited for producing military units.
On the political side, all Chaos Dwarf empires compete for ruling seats in the Tower of Zharr system. Each seat takes a different amount of the unique Conclave Influence resource, and grants the empire that holds it a set of unique bonuses. Once enough seats in a particular District have been filled, all Chaos Dwarf empires will gain access to the seats in the next tier of the tower. The summit of the tower contains only three seats, each of which grants immediate confederation with another Chaos Dwarf empire.
Chaos Dwarfs on Total War's Battlefield
While Chaos Dwarfs have retained some of the battlefield tactics and doctrines of their uncorrupted kin, their magical abilities, slaves, and unusual allies give their roster considerably more flexibility. Just like the Dwarf faction in Total War: Warhammer 3, any units of pure Chaos Dwarfs will be focused on heavy artillery, slow but tough infantry, and powerful ranged weapons. However, their low numbers mean that each Chaos Dwarf army will be supplemented by a collection of Orc and Goblin slaves, Bull Centaurs, and daemonic creatures like the K'daai.
The first of these groups, the battle slaves, fill the same role as Skaven slaves or basic Goblins in other armies, providing a cheap shield to absorb enemy fire and attention while more valuable units maneuver into position. This gives the Chaos Dwarfs considerably more offensive power than their defense-orientated kin, a strength which is reinforced by Bull Centaurs and Hobgoblins, powerful cavalry and flanking units which are completely absent from the standard Dwarf roster. Finally, elite monsters like the K'daai Fireborn bring weight and fire damage, allowing the Chaos Dwarfs to pierce the hardiest defensive line.
This multi-faceted roster is further enhanced by the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers themselves, powerful spellcasters with access to the Lores of Fire, Metal, Death, and the race-specific Lore of Hashut. While uncorrupted Dwarfs have only their rune magic to support them on the battlefield, Chaos Dwarfs have access to the full range of buffs, debuffs, and damage spells that these Lores offer. The addition of magic and cavalry to the traditional Dwarf roster of heavy infantry and artillery might make it seem like the uncorrupted Dwarfs are simply inferior to their fallen kin, but there are so few Chaos Dwarfs that players will have to carefully hoard their more elite troops.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is available now on PC.