Spirit of the Jungle

Spirit of the Jungle is a playable Lizardmen faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer II with The Hunter and the Beast DLC. It is the first Horde faction for the Lizardmen, led by the legendary lord Nakai the Wanderer.

How they play
A summary of Lizardmen gameplay. See the main Lizardmen page for more details.


 * Units: In battle, Lizardmen have strong melee units, powerful magic users, and many monsters. However, their ranged units are just average.
 * Blessed Spawnings: These are elite Lizardmen units in limited supply, similar to Regiments of Renown.
 * Rampage: Overall, Lizardmen have good leadership. However, many of their units can potentially rampage and go out of control in battle.
 * Rites: Lizardmen can perform several rites in campaign to bolster themselves or recruit Slann Mage-Priests.
 * Astromancy Stance: A unique army stance which increases map vision and ambush chance.
 * Lord Kroak: Lizardmen factions can embark on a quest to recruit the unique hero Lord Kroak.

In battle
Nakai primarily provides buffs to Kroxigors and Sacred Kroxigor.

In campaign

 * Operates as a horde faction.
 * Settlements can only be occupied and cannot be looted, sacked or razed.
 * When occupying settlements, the player must choose one of three Old Ones to dedicate special temples which is part of the unique Temples of the Old Ones mechanic.
 * Occupied settlements are transferred to Defenders of the Great Plan faction, a permanent vassal, and generate Old Ones' Favour which is part of the unique Old Ones' Favour mechanic.
 * Old Ones' Favour mechanic: Occupying settlements and settlements owned by the vassal generate Old Ones' Favour which is used to unlock powerful units and technologies.
 * Temples of the Old Ones mechanic: Occupying settlements build a number of temples dedicated to the Old Ones which unlocks powerful units and bonuses.

Rites
Spirit of the Jungle has access to four rites with three being unique to the faction and one being a common Lizardmen rite.


 * Rite of Awakening: this common rite adds a Slann Mage-Priest to the lord recruitment pool and select their magic lore between Fire, High Life and Light;
 * Rite of Allegiance: this unique rite causes attrition to enemies in all regions belonging to the vassal;
 * Rite of Mastery: this unique rite improves the armour, recruit rank and weapon strength of Kroxigor units;
 * Rite of Rebirth: this unique rite spawns a non-replenishing army of Blessed units.

Legendary lord choices

 * Nakai the Wanderer - an extremely powerful melee lord.

Unique faction effects

 * Jungle Nexus: Nakai's horde unlocks units, while other hordes in the faction use global recruitment to get access to them.
 * Spawnings of the Ancients: Nakai's vassals occupy the settlements conquered. More settlements controlled come with increasing rewards.
 * Recruit rank +3 for Kroxigor Ancient.

Nakai lord effects

 * Melee defence +5 for Kroxigors and Sacred Kroxigor.
 * Recruitment cost -10% for Kroxigors and Sacred Kroxigors.
 * Starts with Kroxigors and Sacred Kroxigors.

Starting position

 * Eye of the Vortex campaign
 * Monument of Izzatal (Spine of Sotek (province))


 * Mortal Empires campaign
 * Albion
 * When not playing in Mortal Empires, the faction starts in Lustria. This is apparently due to the fact that their presence messed up the balance of Norsca.

Victory objectives
Vortex Victory: Domination victory: Short
 * Eye of the Vortex
 * Construct a total of 40 Temples
 * Destroy The Huntsmarshal's Expedition faction
 * Win the Final Battle of Itza quest
 * TBA
 * Mortal Empires
 * Vassal holds 40 settlements
 * Destroy the following factions: Clan Moulder, Grimgor's Ardboyz, Sylvania and World Walkers
 * At the start of the turn, have at least 1000 Old Ones' Favour
 * Construct 1 of each of the following buildings: Exalted Star Chamber

Long
 * Vassal holds 70 settlements
 * Destroy the following factions: Clan Mors, Clan Moulder, Clan Skyre, Grimgor's Ardboyz, Naggarond, Sylvania, The Huntsmarshall's Expedition and World Walkers
 * At the start of the turn, have at least 3000 Old Ones' Favour
 * Construct 1 of each of the following buildings: Exalted Star Chamber
 * Ensure that any military presence belonging to the following factions exists only in the Chaos Wastes region: Warherd of Chaos and Warriors of Chaos
 * Ensure that Archaon the Everchosen is in a wounded state

Diplomatic traits

 * Compliant
 * Cold-Blooded Logic

Strategy
As with all horde factions, post-battle loot will be your primary source of income. It is best to not recruit other lords and focus solely on Nakai's army until the late game when he has more income from his vassal settlements to offset the supply line penalties to upkeep. Use your early background income to build up your army and start with researching the technologies to reduce unit upkeep and recruitment costs. Increasing unit replenishment is also a priority to reduce army downtime and be in better shape to fend off enemy aggression. Do not forget to Demand Payment from your vassal every few turns, as they will never spend their money.

Losing Nakai's army will result in defeat, so caution with each movement and engagement is imperative. Nakai should seek to form alliances with the other Lizardmen factions in Lustria as quickly as possible, as his vassal will not recruit armies of its own. Assist your allies armies in taking out the enemy factions when possible, but keep in mind that you will need to occupy and maintain a minimum number of vassal settlements to win the campaign. Selecting which temple to construct for each settlement will need to be based on obtaining the buffs that support your army composition.

The quests for hunting down each the four lords of the expedition will provide a large amount of Old Ones Favor if they are completed. The quests will be aborted if they are defeated by another opponent. Either way, the Battle for Itza quest will initiate for a final showdown with Markus Wulfhart.

In Mortal Empires, one should take over Albion and can then decide to go wherever they please. Norsca is an obvious target, in which case it is best to research immunity to snow and chaos attrition technologies first. Another option is the Empire or Ulthuan. However, Nakai's campaign is truly for a wanderer who wants to seek out and destroy the enemies of the Lizardmen.