Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki
Advertisement

Beastmen require either Call of the Beastmen or The Silence & The Fury to play.

The Beastmen are a race introduced in Total War: Warhammer. They have 4 playable factions.

Beastmen are mutant creatures of Chaos, part human and part beast. Primal and full of rage, they roam the forests and wilderness. The Beastmen despise all civilization, but have a special hatred for humans and Wood Elves, who they see as usurpers. Beastmen forces primarily consist of fast-moving melee infantry as well as larger monsters. They suffer from low-leadership and low armour, but can be recruited in large numbers and are hard-hitting.

How They Play[ | ]

  • Icon horde Horde: Armies act as mobile settlements when encamped. Growth is tied to Bestial rageBestial Rage, which increases by fighting and winning battles.
  • Bullet bst bloodgrounds Herdstones and Bloodgrounds: Beastmen pay no upkeep, but are limited by unit and army caps. When razing a settlement, they can erect a Herdstone. Causing further Devastation will increase Marks of Ruination, unlocking unit/army caps.
  • Bullet bst dread Dread: A unique resource gained after victories, spent on upgrades, confederation and unit cap increases.
  • Bullet bst beastpaths Stances: Beastmen armies have a chance to ambush by default, and use Beast-Paths to cross impassable terrain.
  • Bullet bst the dark moon The Dark Moon: Beastmen have unique dilemmas which trigger every 7 turns, when the Chaos Moon is full.
  • Bullet bst units Roster: Lightly armoured, mobile, hard-hitting units, and many monsters.
  • Icon corruption chs Corruption: Beastmen spread Chaos Corruption but don't take any penalties in areas without it.

Background[ | ]

"Tear down their totems, befoul their colours! Kill the kings and burn the priests! Into the mud with them, break their skulls and eat their hearts!"

Beastmen are a bestial, Chaos-touched race of horned creatures who dwell in the dark forests of the Warhammer World. Most resemble a sickening blend of horned beast and man, though there are many other variations such as some resembling dogs, pigs or insects, and those in the Far East are said to resemble tigers or apes. Beastmen are especially common in the Chaos Wastes, The Old World and Naggaroth. They range through the secret Beast-Paths of the woods, ambushing the unwary or the isolated. Most victims of the Beastmen are killed, but those who are not suffer a far worse fate...

Beastmen first arose in the ancient past when the polar warpgates collapsed and the raw magic of Chaos first spewed into the world. It was in that time of mutation and madness when the energies of Chaos touched the world, that man became animal and animal became man. Even still, the beastmen will replenish their numbers by capturing human women, or adopting mutant babies abandoned by parents in the forest.

The Beastmen have an ancestral memory of the Time of the Beast, when primitive tribes of humans were prey and Beastmen ruled supreme. Now they look upon the walled cities of men with rage, and seek to tear down every stone, defile every shrine, and return to the true primeval chaos of the wild.

The true children of Chaos, Beastmen belong body and soul to the dark powers from their very birth. The Dark Gods have no need to woo Beastmen with divine gifts and offers of immortality, for the Beastmen instinctively serve Chaos with their bestial, violent nature. As such, the attention lavished on mortal humans (even those who have no wish for such attention!) by the Dark Gods causes the Beastmen to react with a jealous rage.

Beastmen herds are made up of a collection of creatures, from man-sized Ungors and Gors, to troll-sized Minotaurs and horse-like Centigors. These are accompanied by horrifying monsters such as Cygors, Ghorgons and Jabberslythes, while Harpies and Feral Manticores fly overhead.

In Beastmen society, status is determined by size, strength and the size of one's horns. So it is that the more bestial Gors rule over the smaller, human-like Ungors. The spellcasting Bray-Shamans perform a mystic role, reading signs and omens, communing with the Dark Gods and performing black rituals and sacrifices at sacred sites.

Every so often, a powerful Beastlord or Doombull will unite the herds, drawing them to a sacred Herdstone under The Dark Moon, and uniting them into a mighty warherd to ravage the lands of men, or even the hallowed boughs of the Wood Elves against whom they wage a secret war amongst the trees.

In Battle[ | ]

Main article: Beastmen unit roster


Beastmen forces primarily consist of fast-moving melee infantry as well as many larger monster units that cause fear and terror. This includes a monstrous infantry hero called the Gorebull. They suffer from low Leadership and low armour, but are quite cheap to recruit and very hard-hitting. Beastmen also have many units which can vanguard deploy.

Generally, a battle with Beastmen will be won or lost early on. Beastmen often rush towards the enemy, since they are weak to ranged attacks and have few ranged options themselves. Though the Cygor is a powerful monster artillery unit.

Most Beastmen units have the ability Primal Fury (Minotaur units have Bloodgreed and non-Beastmen units like Giants, Harpies, and Razorgors have neither) which gives melee attack, speed, and charge bonus so long as the unit's leadership is above 50%. This emphasizes the play style of aggressive and fast charges that fade away as units get weaker and lose morale. Finally, almost every unit on the roster has the Woodsman (Attribute) which allows them to pass through trees and are unhindered by that terrain type.

Beastmen have several Regiments of Renown available. These are elite, unique versions of standard Beastmen units.

Magic[ | ]

Beastmen spellcasters have access to 4 lores of magic:

Beastmen do not rely on magic too heavily, and can take an army with no spellcasters. However it can still be a powerful strategy for them, as they have access to summons and direct damage spells. Uniquely, from Total War: Warhammer II onwards, Malagor the Dark Omen has access to a combination of spells from the Lore of Wild, Beasts, Death and Shadows. This sets him apart from other Beastmen casters.

In the Campaign[ | ]

Unique campaign mechanics[ | ]

General mechanics[ | ]

Inventory[ | ]

Factions[ | ]

Beastmen are an Icon hordehorde race who don't generally control settlements or have defined territory, but they can still erect Herdstones and lay claim to Blood-grounds, eventually preventing others from colonising an area.

Playable factions[ | ]

In The Old World campaign, Khazrak, Morghur and Malagor are in same generic Beastmen faction. In An Eye For An Eye, only Warherd of the One-Eye is playable. The information below is accurate for Total War: Warhammer II onwards:

Minor factions[ | ]

Total War: Warhammer

Factions introduced in The Old World campaign:

Factions introduced in The Season of Revelation campaign:

Total War: Warhammer II

Factions introduced in The Eye of the Vortex campaign:

Total War: Warhammer III

Factions introduced in The Realm of Chaos campaign:

  • Wh dlc03 bst beastmen rebels crest Beastmen Rebels - This faction was in TWW1 and TWW2 files but only actually appears in TWW3

Downloadable content[ | ]

Event Diplomacy Neutral DLC list
Beastmen can be expanded upon with the following paid and free DLC:
Name Base game Paid/free Type
Call of the Beastmen Total War: Warhammer Paid Race Pack
Morghur the Shadowgave Total War: Warhammer Free Legendary Lord and faction
The Silence and the Fury Total War: Warhammer II Paid Lord Pack
Great Bray-Shaman Total War: Warhammer II Free Lord
Shadows of Change Total War: Warhammer III Paid Unit Pack
Thrones of Decay Total War: Warhammer III Paid Unit Pack
Total War: Warhammer III Paid Unit Pack

Trivia[ | ]

  • At the start of some campaigns, the Advisor will greet the player "Tduigu-Uis" and "Nuis-Ghurleth" (the s in the latter is silent). "Tduigu-Uis" is a greeting and "Nuis-Ghurleth" is a title.
  • Beastmen got a complete and total overhaul in the final update for Total War: Warhammer II, alongside the release of The Silence & The Fury. Prior to the update, all Beastmen Legendary Lords had the same faction in Mortal Empires, but they were split into separate factions after the update.

Strategy[ | ]

Beastmen are quite a unique race, with a economy unlike any other race(Although it could be said they are similar to the Tomb Kings) in that none of their units cost any upkeep and every unit outside of their 3 basic units(Ungor spearmen herd, Warhounds, and Ungor Raiders) operate with unit caps alongside having army caps. Unlike the Tomb Kings, who make at least some money through their buildings Beastmen make essentially 0 income from any of theirs, and rely on a much more aggressive post battle loot economy, which is further encouraged by their Bestial Rage mechanic, which requires more battles to be taken advantage of. Instead of settlement buildings Beastmen rely mostly on their horde buildings, which grant them various bonuses like army abilities(Vile entropy etc) Hero recruitment, and post battle loot, alongside giving them access to more units. They also enjoy a innate (but not very large) chance to ambush attack enemy armies like the skaven in their regular stance, which can be used to great effect against range heavy armies.


As the beastmen rely on dread to unlock so many essential things such as Army, Hero, Unit Capacity and even confederating other Beastmen lords it is important to be able to obtain a lot of it. In order to do so you want to have more armies active to fight more battles and raze more settlements to generate said dread. For this reason, it is advisable to finish your first herdstone ritual when you'll get enough marks of ruination to unlock your next army and herdstone capacity, which will essentially double your turn to turn dread gain assuming the second army is as active as your first. It is also highly advisable to actually see which settlement would create the most bloodgrounds around it when a herdstone is placed since the more territory you get to fight enemies in to collect herdstone ritual points, the easier it will be to accumulate more, in turn accelerating the rate at which you'll unlock additional herdstones and army capacity.


It should be noted that some major faction capitals that provide factionwide bonuses unique to them if a herdstone is placed there and should be prioritized.

See Special Herdstones

When starting a Beastmen campaign as someone newer to the race, it is advisable to simply take some time and have a look at the various mechanics the Beastmen possess, since there are a good few of them and some players may end up missing some as a result. Dread especially has a ton of uses, and players probably want to get a feel for what upgrade or purchase they want to prioritize with their dread whether it be items and followers, Unlocking legendary lords, or increasing unit or hero caps.

All in all, the Beastmen after the update became much more powerful, unlike their dark and rocky past and are now quite risk free and fun to play as, offering a unique campaign where you bring the world down to a heap of rubble.

Videos[ | ]

Advertisement