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Heralds of the Tempest is a playable Warriors of Chaos faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer III. It is led by Kholek Suneater.
How they play[]
- ?
Legendary Lords[]
Starting territory[]
Immortal Empires[]
- The Challenge Stone, Chimera Plateau
Climate preferences[]
Faction effects[]
Maximum active gifts: +1 for Gifts of Chaos Undivided
Dark Fortress settlement buildings grant additional Dragon Ogre Warband recruitment capacity
Empowered by Worship: Kholek gains +5% Weapon Strength, Mass and Armour for each currently vassalised faction
Victory objectives[]
Immortal Empires[]
Short Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 35 different settlements
- Control the following settlements either directly or through vassals and military alliances: The Challenge Stone, Fortress of Eyes
- Destroy the following factions: Imperial Wardens, The Northern Provinces
Long Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 80 different settlements
- Destroy the following factions: The Ice Court, Reikland, Karaz-a-Karak, Couronne, Talysn, Hexoatl, Eataine, The Northern Provinces
Diplomacy[]
Immortal Empires[]
Starting agreements[]
Immortal Empires[]
Non-aggression pact with The Warhost of Zharr
At War with The Fleshgreeders
At War with Tusked Sunz
Strategy[]
The Heralds of the Tempest, as well as all the Chaos Warrior is a very powerful faction, that can quickly gain momentum. Kholek´s easier access to Dragon Ogres in particular makes his armies extremely potent and offensively capable. Dragon Ogres being large, armor-piercing, anti-large and very fast mean they can counter essentially everything and the few things they cant go up against, you deal with using other units.
For being a Chaos Undivided faction that gains additional buffs for every marauder tribe that gets vassalized, the Heralds' start position is rather counterintuitive.
They start at war with an ogre faction to their south in the Mountains of Morn, thus laying out the path of conquest to their south. However, they have a non-aggression pact to their east with the Chaos Dwarfs and are on generally cordial terms with the chaos factions to their west.
Following the beaten path would lead Kholek into a region with no Dark Fortresses, no tribes to vassalize, and most likely a protracted battle with Grimgor and eventually Greasus. You might want to vassalize Grimgor, because despite being vassal, his aggressive AI behaviors are still the same. Just keep him in control to ensure that he won't destroy the last settlement of a faction that you want to vassalize or capturing a Dark Fortress that you want.
Instead, the best option is to begin expanding Westwards as soon as the Fleshgreeders and Tusked Sunz are subjugated. Fortunately, Grimgor can often be staved of from attacking you by simply not being aggressive against him and if on very hard-Legendary, you can offer to join a war on his side to even potentially net a non-aggression pact depending on the turn.
Heading west opens up the pathway to an entire cluster of dark fortresses and a whopping 3 Marauder tribes before you decide on your next expansion area. You can choose to head deeper into the Chaos Wastes or attack Kislev or Norsca.
Before then, you will contend with Septic Claw. This Nurgle-corrupted area will provide unique units that you can scoop up. It is worth considering whether you should focus on Nurgle technology to begin with.
After Septic Claw is taken out and you enter the Chaos Wastes north of Kislev, you will eventually have to contend with both Archaon and Boris Ursus. Fortunately, Archaon tends to be passive and rarely forms a large empire in the early game. This will allow you to sweep the Kul and Tong from under his feet. Boris also rarely has time to form a formidable army or build an exceptional garrison, making him an easy target for expansion.
With the Dolgan, Kul, and Tong under your thumb, you can now choose to expand in two directions. You can either head downwards towards Kislev and absorb Baersonlings, the Goromadny Tribe, and beyond into Norsca, or you can head west and grab the Khrag and continue your expansion through the Chaos Wastes. Alternatively, if you have the means and armies to do so, you can do both at once.
It is worth noting, however, that Katarin and Kostaltyn will more than likely have grown quite powerful at this point. With the additional units from Shadows of Change, mid-game Kislev are now quite capable chaos killers, with plenty of armor-piercing ranged units. So proceed with caution and expect Kholek to become a pincushion.
Regarding which of the gods´ technology you should pick, this is very much up to your preference. All of them bring with them great benefits. Although you could make a solid case especially for Tzeentch in particular, and secondarily Nurgle. Tzeentch offers plenty of boons, having been the monogod faction to receive the most toys following Shadows of Change, the addition of the barriers on your Aspiring Champions, and also plugging the lack of anti-large infantry in early game with the Marauder Spearmen. Receiving both Aekold Helbrass and The Blue Scribes relatively early can help plug holes in the roster. While Nurgle does not provide as many benefits currently ( writing this prior to the release of Thrones of Decay ), there is still an argument to be made in favor of picking him. Taking control of the Septic Claw territory will grant a region with high Nurgle corruption and thus providing marauders, forsaken and chaos spawn of Nurgle in your warband recruitment. Which makes having the Rusted Branding technology quite useful, as you will be able to start upgrading them at once. The Lore of Nurgle and its healing spells is furthermore very useful for a faction that relies heavily on monstrous units. So having an army with a Nurgle caster lord earlier should definietly be considered.
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