Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki

The Chaos Dwarfs, known in their own language as Dawi-Zharr or Dhrath-Zharr, are a playable race introduced in Total War: Warhammer III.[1]

How they play[]

  • Quest for Sacrifice:
  • Infernal Labour: An economy built upon gathering and using slave labour, capturing enemies defeated in combat and assigning them to Mining Outposts.
  • Hell-Forge: Increase your unit caps with armaments, and upgrade units for an ongoing armament cost per unit
  • Tower of Zharr: Use your influence and gain positions of power in the Tower to obtain powerful boosts
  • Industrial Might: Using convoys to trade crafted tools of war for resources.

Background[]

Malign, dark-souled and merciless, Chaos Dwarfs are known in legend as a warrior race of Daemonsmiths, craftsmen and brutal killers who have dominated the northern reaches of the Dark Lands for thousands of years.

Long separated from their kin of the west, the Dawi-Zharr have given themselves over to their dark master Hashut and allowed Chaos to work its twisted terrors on their minds and souls, transforming them into a calculatingly cruel reflection of what they once were. They are deeply learned in the sorcerous arts and obsessed with the control of hellish forces and fires of the deep earth, combining dark lore with artisanship and skill for metalwork and industry. Thus, the Chaos Dwarfs have produced a bewildering variety of strange and infernal war engines, Daemon-bound weapons and deadly tools of war, and their power grows still.

Factions[]

Playable factions[]

In campaign there are three playable Chaos Dwarf factions, each which its own starting position and led by a separate Legendary Lord. See individual pages for faction-specific info.

Minor factions[]

Factions introduced in The Realm of Chaos campaign:

In Battle[]

General[]

Chaos Dwarf armies have some room to be flexible but maintain their particular strategy of using heavily-armoured, fire-resistant elite units that are bolstered by a disposable caste of Labourers and Hobgoblin lackeys; serving as a bulwark for powerful gunpowder weaponry and long-range artillery trains. This flexibility is further augmented by powerful K'aadai demons, flying Tauruses and Bull Centaur Cavalry. Having the right combination of units is the key to victory.

Units[]

Main article: Chaos Dwarfs unit roster

Magic[]

Chaos Dwarfs have access to four lores of magic:

In the Campaign[]

Unique game mechanics[]

Tower of Zharr
Main article: Tower of Zharr

The Tower of Zharr is a political system where the Chaos Dwarfs factions battle to claim Seats of Power within the Tower, these seats are claimed by spending Conclave Influence. When a seat is claimed, it grants bonuses to the faction that owns it. The Tower of Zharr requires 75 Conclave Influence to be unlocked.

Labour
Main article: Labour Economy

Chaos Dwarfs utilize Labour to boost and maintain their economy. Labour is obtained when fighting battles, using the Transport Captives post-battle option and Convoys.

Hell-Forge
Main article: Hell-Forge

The Hell-Forge allows the Chaos Dwarfs to increase the unit capacity of their non-Greenskins units and grant them unique bonuses at the cost of Armaments.

Convoys
Main article: Military Convoys

Chaos Dwarf factions dispatch Military Convoys from Zharr-Naggrund to various settlements around the map to trade cargo. Money and Armaments can be traded for Labourers or Raw Materials. Convoys have a limit to how much cargo they can carry with more cargo selling for more profit.

Great Drill of Hashut
Main article: Great Drill of Hashut

The Great Drill of Hashut is the narrative goal for the Chaos Dwarfs in The Realm of Chaos campaign, the Drill is used to mine the powerful blood of Hashut. To power the drill, four Ancestor relics must be aquired and use on the Drill to win the campaign.

General mechanics[]

Corruption
Chaos Dwarfs spreads 1 type of Chaos corruption:
Buildings

Chaos Dwarfs have a straight forward building tree. Notably their settlements can be converted into Towers, Outposts or Factories and do not use the Growth system instead a specific resource must be used to upgrade their settlements. Towers provide the main buildings such as recruitment and advancement also Conclave Influence can be used when first occupying a Tower settlement to increase the tier of the Tower settlement with each level increasing the Conclave Influence cost. Outposts provide buildings that specialise on gaining Raw Materials and Factories provide buildings that produce Armaments and Income needed for the Chaos Dwarfs' economy. All buildings can be instantly built by spending Labour.

Diplomacy
  • Chaos Dwarfs are disliked by most races, and are hated enemies of Dwarfs, Greenskins, High Elves, Lizardmen, Tomb Kings and Wood Elves. They are tolerated by most Chaos races and, to a lesser extent, the Ogre Kingdoms.
  • Chaos Dwarfs cannot do confederation by normal means. Instead, Chaos Dwarfs can forcefully confederate major factions at the cost of an excessive amount of conclave influence in the Tower of Zharr mechanic.
Race Chaos Dwarfs' Aversion Aversion to Chaos Dwarfs
Daemons of Chaos, Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch 0 0
Norsca, Warriors of Chaos -10 0
Chaos Dwarfs -15 -15
Ogre Kingdoms -20 -20
Beastmen, Vampire Coast -40 -10
Bretonnia, Grand Cathay, The Empire, Vampire Counts -40 -40
Tomb Kings -40 -100
Dark Elves -60 -10
Skaven -60 -20
Lizardmen, Wood Elves -60 -100
Dwarfs, Greenskins, High Elves -100 -100
Technology

Chaos Dwarfs are a technologically advanced race, with a long and powerful tech tree which is divided by 3 branches: Military, Sorcery and Industry. Some of these technologies in the branches have a cost of Armaments, Conclave Influence and Raw Materials.

Stances
Stance Description Effects

None

Traverses the world as normal. None

March

Increases this army's campaign map marching range.
  • Campaign movement: +50%
  • Recruitment: Disabled
  • Vigour in battle: Tired
  • Ambush defence chance: -25%
  • Should the army be attacked, retreat will be impossible; if it loses the battle it will be wiped out
  • Battle initiation: Disabled

Ambush

Conceals this army, allowing surprise attacks against passing enemies.
  • Campaign movement range penalty: 25%
  • Hidden until discovered or battle initiated

Raiding

Raids wealth from the local region.
  • Campaign movement range penalty: 50%
  • Campaign movement: -25%
  • Income generated from raiding: 194
  • Gain Labour based on strength of this army
  • Control: -3 in the raided province
  • Growth: -5 in the raided province
  • Immune to most attrition
  • Vigour in battle: Winded
  • Diplomacy: Penalties with raided factions
  • Income from all buildings: -100% (when raiding own region)

Encamp

Sets up a defensive camp, allowing for recruitment and replenishment, regardless of territory.
  • Campaign movement range penalty: 50%
  • Enables replenishment and access to the Global recruitment pool
  • Immune to most attrition
  • Campaign movement disabled when recruitment
  • Ambush defence chance: +75%
  • Leadership: +5
  • Melee defence: +5

Use Underway

Uses the Underway to traverse the world.
  • Minimum requirement to assume: Not moved this turn
  • Traverse underground terrain that would normally be impassable
  • Immune to most attrition
  • Ambush defence chance: +25%
  • Nearby hostile armies may intercept this force in the Underway
  • Should the army be intercepted, retreat will be impossible; if it loses the battle it will be wiped out
  • Battle initiation: Disabled
Post-battle options
Option Description Effects

Transport Captives

Lets put these captives to work as Labourers in our mines.
  • Labour

Ransom Captives

Our miners are already at capacity, so ransoming these captives would be more efficient.
  • Treasury

Conscript Captives

The captives that we don't force onto the frontlines can be put to work to look after our units and repair our vehicles.
  • Army replenished
Settlement options
Occupy as Outpost Occupy as Factory Occupy as Tower Sack Raze
You occupy the settlement and establish a mining Outpost.


Outposts enable the extraction of Raw Materials via mines (requiring Labour) and provides Hobgoblin recruitment only.

You occupy the settlement and construct a factory.


Factories expend Raw Materials to generate Armaments and income and provide more advanced recruitment options.

You occupy the settlement and construct a tower.


Towers provide all recruitment options and buildings to advance your faction's strength and status.


Towers require a large amount of resources from Mines and Factories to develop.

You do not capture the settlement but instead steal wealth and damage buildings. All captives are enslaved, control is reduced, and the previous owner will like you a lot less. All buildings are destroyed and the settlement is torched. The previous owner will like you at lot less.
  • Control: -10
  • Province instability: -5
  • Labour
  • Control: -10
  • Province instability: -5
  • Labour
  • Control: -10
  • Province instability: -5
  • Labour
  • Province instability: -10
  • Treasury
  • Labour
  • Treasury
  • Raw Materials
Occupy Settlement at level:
  • : Conclave Influence: 50
  • : Conclave Influence: 75
  • : Conclave Influence: 100
  • : Conclave Influence: 225
  • : Conclave Influence: 375
Commandments
Commandment Effects

Masterful Architects
  • Rush Construction Labour cost: -10%
  • Construction cost: -10% for all buildings

Military Doctrine
  • Recruitment cost: -20% (armies in province)
  • Recruit rank: +2 (armies in province)

Higher Quotas
  • Income from Refinery buildings: +10%
  • Armaments output: +10%

Billowing Smoke Stacks
  • Control: +2
  • Chance of a plague spreading: -25% (armies in province)
Inventory

Downloadable content[]

DLC list
Chaos Dwarfs can be expanded upon with the following paid and free DLC:
Name Base game Paid/free Type
Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs Total War: Warhammer III Paid Race Pack

Trivia[]

  • Up until their release in Warhammer III, the only Chaos Dwarfs in the game were the crew of the Hellcannon, a Warriors of Chaos unit. In the tabletop game, the Hellcannon was also usable by the Chaos Dwarfs in addition to the Warriors of Chaos.

Gallery[]

Concept Art[]

Screenshots[]

References[]