Patch 5.2 is a patch for Total War: Warhammer III, released on 20 August 2024. The previous update was Update 5.1. The first hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.1 released on 23 August 2024. The second hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.2 released on 29 August 2024. The third hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.3 released on 10 September 2024. The fourth hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.4 released two days later on 12 September 2024. The fifth hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.5 released on 24 September 2024. The sixth hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.6 released two days later on 26 September 2024. The final hotfix, Hotfix 5.2.7 released on 8 October 2024. This Patch was replaced by Patch 5.3 on 31 October 2024.
Patch Notes[]
Campaign[]
Dwarfs[]
The Deeps - New Campaign Feature
All Dwarf factions now have access to a brand new campaign feature called The Deeps. After constructing the 'Great Gate' building in your settlements, you'll gain access to a new location beneath your Karaks - the Deeps. These deeper locations within a Dwarf hold, extending down to the Underdeep, offer ample opportunities to expand your settlements beyond their original limits. There is a brand new building tree available within the Deeps, providing opportunity to do things you couldn't do in your existing settlements such as sealing your hold, smelting your Oathgold, just to name a few. However, all Dwarf players should be aware that expanding into the Deeps is a costly endeavour, you'll need permission from the High King and will also need some patience to clear blockages.
With this feature, we aim to address feedback from the last Dwarf update, which indicated that some players felt the Dwarfs had an overly expansionist and aggressive playstyle. This addition provides Dwarf players with the option to focus on "playing taller," investing more in existing settlements and adopting a more defensive strategy. There is much more to discover with this feature, including new gameplay opportunities and unique elements.
Read more about these changes in our Patch 5.2 Dev Blog.
Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, Slaanesh[]
Chaos Cults - Feature Rework
We've received extensive feedback on the Chaos Cults feature since its release and so we've decided to make a number of changes and additions to enhance its depth and dynamism:
- Cults can now be created by Cultist agents for all factions that use the feature.
- This change means Cults will no longer spread through corruption. Instead, Cults can now produce corruption themselves.
- There's also a new unique campaign-only agent called the Cult Magus who can create improved Cults - available through upgrading an existing standard Cult.
- The building tree for all four Chaos Gods has been expanded, now offering more than double the previous number of building choices. There are 36 building options across all Cults, spread across the categories of Machinations, Rituals, and the Cult Magus' unique choices.
- We've completely revamped the buildings and effects across all Cults, focusing more on unique and interesting gameplay effects and creating synergies between certain buildings for more interesting gameplay.
- And of course the Cults effects are different depending on which God they are centred around, with the effects focusing on the specialties and gameplay of the races.
- Chaos Cults now utilize the Discoverability feature, meaning you will need to manage a Cult’s visibility to avoid its discovery by the region owner. Likewise when not playing as a Chaos faction you'll now be able to discover and ultimately remove Chaos Cults.
Global Campaign Feature[]
Unusual Locations - New Campaign Feature
The Warhammer world is rich with lore, and we're very keen to make the world feel more alive wherever possible as well as providing more unique and interesting gameplay experiences throughout your campaigns. This new campaign feature will provide the opportunity to stumble across 20 new unusual locations in your settlements throughout the course of your campaign. The locations provide unique and interesting effects, sometimes with trade-offs, along with unique events, traits, and items. We’re confident that fans of the lore will enjoy discovering some lesser referenced places from the Warhammer world. These locations are often linked to specific regions or sets of provinces and may come with additional restrictions. You also have the option to remove them from your settlements if you prefer.
Much like we know everyone enjoys discovering landmark locations, we think you'll enjoy discovering these. While we've focused mostly on the Old World locations and lore this time, let us know if you enjoy the feature and we can look to add more in future updates.
Grand Cathay[]
Ivory Road Update
We've heard your feedback regarding the Ivory Road feature and how the Chaos Dwarfs Convoys feature supersedes it in some ways. To address this, we've made the following improvements:
- Cathay can now dispatch multiple caravans. As a Lord of Shang Yang, Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon may dispatch two caravans from the start of the campaign, and a newly added technology available to all Cathayan factions can add another caravan slot
- Caravans will gain a unit depending on which location they complete their journey at. For example, arriving at Erengrad will grant a unit of *Akshina Ambushers, along with a unique item
- Three new destinations have been added to the Immortal Empires campaign: Nuln (Empire), Barak Varr (Dwarfs) and Gisoreux (Bretonnia) - each giving a unique item and adding a unit to the caravan
- A number of small UX improvements and bug fixes have also been implemented. For example, you can now see the amount of cargo the caravan is carrying, as well as the maximum available, when an event appears that could add to the caravan's cargo
Campaign UI Updates[]
Settlement Resource Tooltip[]
We've improved the tooltip displayed when hovering over the resource icon on the settlement label, making it function similarly to the landmark tooltip added previously.
This will allow you to preview the unique building chain available for construction in that settlement.
Campaign AI[]
Preface[]
As part of Patch 5.2, we’ve incorporated much of your feedback to improve the overall challenge presented by the Campaign AI during the mid to late turns of your campaigns. We’ve also made a minor update to the difficulty settings.
Recruitment & Unit Qualities Refresh: We have been hard at work fine-tuning the Campaign AI recruitment system to make it more robust and effective. We have also streamlined how unit qualities (the value the AI uses to measure a unit's power) are designed and balanced.
Buildings Scores and Synergies: We updated the Campaign AI building system to improve its progression in the mid to late game of a campaign. We have increased construction priority on Main Major Settlements to accelerate how quickly the Campaign AI can unlock higher-tier units (for example from advanced military buildings). We have increased construction priority on Special Resource buildings (e.g., gold mines) compared to standard income buildings. Lastly, we did a construction priorities balance pass on the two most problematic factions: Tomb Kings and Lizardmen.
Example of AI army composition change for Lizardmen on turn 50:
Disclaimer: Please note that AI faction potentials can vary from campaign to campaign. The following images are two specific samples used to convey the design intent and may not represent the exact composition of all Lizardmen AI armies.
Before:
After:
Increased Challenge on the Higher Difficulties: Based on your feedback, we have increased the difficulty buffs applied to the AI by approximately 20%, in accordance with their faction potential
Recruitment[]
Unit Qualities system update
- WHY:
- Upon further review, we noticed that the Unit Qualities values (the numbers the AI uses to evaluate the power of a unit for the purposes of recruitment) had a high number of inconsistencies which was causing problems with the Campaign AI recruitment behaviors
- The intent is to make the Campaign AI recruitment more robust and consistent
- WHAT:
- We've overhauled the Unit Qualities value system
- If available and when the budget permits it, the AI will more consistently recruit more powerful units
- Where possible, the AI will try to increase the variety of units recruited
- We've overhauled the Unit Qualities value system
Buildings[]
Major Settlements Construction Priorities[]
- WHY:
- When reviewing AI construction, we observed that the AI sometimes took a considerable amount of time to upgrade their main settlement building chains
- For example, by turn 40, Altdorf was still averaging only tier 2
- This refers to the overall AI system acting slowly in upgrading primary settlements, which significantly hampers its ability to advance their tech level
- When reviewing AI construction, we observed that the AI sometimes took a considerable amount of time to upgrade their main settlement building chains
- WHAT:
- We have increased the construction priority on each tier of the major settlement building chain for every faction in the game
- This includes unique main settlements where a major faction starts, such a Altdorf
- Note that this increase is applied only when the faction does not already have that tier of a major settlement
- This should mean that the AI now prioritizes getting their first major settlements up to tier 5 much more effectively than before, which should help improve the Campaign AI's progression over the length of a campaign
- We have increased the construction priority on each tier of the major settlement building chain for every faction in the game
Special Resource Buildings Construction Priorities[]
- WHY:
- We identified inefficient AI planning for economy buildings, specifically regarding Special Resources
- WHAT:
- We have increased Special Resources construction priority to be higher than that for normal income buildings
Bespoke Faction buildings Scores & Synergies update[]
Lizardmen:
- WHY:
- After an extensive review on Lizardmen recruitment, it became evident that they struggle to recruit high-tier monsters in the later turns of the campaign
- This triggered a database review of their building construction synergies, which revealed both a major bug (blocking them from building the Beasts building in major settlements) and inefficient building synergies
- After an extensive review on Lizardmen recruitment, it became evident that they struggle to recruit high-tier monsters in the later turns of the campaign
- WHAT:
- We removed Smith (Weapon Crafters' Commune ) building requirement to unlock the Temple Guard unit in the Saurus military building chain
- This was done for two main reasons:
- To allow better building synergy in major settlements, where the Smith building is not required for the Saurus military building chain
- To allow easier recruitment of the Temple Guard units
- This was done for two main reasons:
- We removed Smith (Weapon Crafters' Commune ) building requirement to unlock the Temple Guard unit in the Saurus military building chain
- Overhauled the building synergies
- Skinks chain
- Construction priority in major settlements has been decreased
- Note that the major settlement building chain itself also unlocks the first tier of Skinks
- Note for Nakai, that he unlocks Kroxigors from his main major settlement chain
- Construction priority in major settlements has been decreased
- Terradons chain
- Default Terradons (tier 2 to tier 4)
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been decreased
- TikTaq'to Terradons (tier 2 to tier 3)
- Construction priority in major settlements has been decreased
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been increased
- This will promote more flying units recruitment by an AI TikTaq'to
- Default Terradons (tier 2 to tier 4)
- Smith
- Construction priority when a Skink chain is present has been decreased
- Changed the trigger condition for this synergy to start when the Skinks chain is at tier 3 (where the Smith is needed)
- Construction priority when a Saurus chains is present has been removed
- With the update to the relevant unlock condition this synergy is no longer relevant
- Construction priority when a Cold Ones chain is present has been decreased
- Construction priority when a Skink chain is present has been decreased
- Great Beasts chain
- Default chain
- Construction priority in major settlements has been considerably increased
- Previously, this condition effectively blocked this chain from being built in major settlements
- Construction priority on all building tiers has also been increased to ensure the Campaign AI continues to upgrade the building tiers with high priority
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been reduced
- Construction priority in major settlements has been considerably increased
- Nakai's chain
- Increased construction priority to high, to match other advanced military buildings
- Default chain
- Cult of Sotek chain
- Increased construction priority to high, to match other advanced military buildings
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been reduced
- Reverence of the Old Ones chain
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been reduced
- Construction priority when a Great Beast chain is present has been decreased
- Slann (Star Chamber)
- Construction priority after at least one has been constructed per faction has been considerably lowered
- Scrying Pool
- Construction priority in major settlements has been reduced
- Food/Farm (Skink Foraging Camp)
- Construction priority has been increased
- Construction priority after at least one has been constructed per faction has been considerably lowered
- The building unlocks Skinks technologies research, and it is important for the AI to build one per faction
- Nakai building score values overhauled to focus construction more clearly on military buildings, whereas before all building types had the same construction priorities
- Skinks chain
Tomb Kings:
- WHY:
- After close review of the late game, it was noted that the Tomb Kings AI recruits too few tier 4+ units (The high tier Constructs)
- Particularly so in the very late turns of a campaign
- After close review of the late game, it was noted that the Tomb Kings AI recruits too few tier 4+ units (The high tier Constructs)
- WHAT:
- Income chain
- Updated construction priority in high-tier major settlements to apply to all levels of income buildings
- The AI should not look to further build income in a major settlement that reaches level 4 but rather leave those slots open for the tier 4+ exclusive buildings
- Added a new rule to prevent further construction in a major settlement once the major settlement reaches level 5
- The intent here is to allow the AI in level 5 Major settlements to focus more on advanced buildings construction instead
- Note that Tomb Kings do not have unit upkeep, so their economy is less reliant on income buildings
- Updated construction priority in high-tier major settlements to apply to all levels of income buildings
- Growth chain
- Major settlements which have reached the max tier, have had their construction priority for growth buildings removed
- This means the AI will not construct any Growth buildings once the major settlement has reached level 5
- Major settlements which have reached the max tier, have had their construction priority for growth buildings removed
- Cavalry chain
- Construction priority in minor settlements has been reduced
- Construction priority in major settlements has been increased
- Citadel (Bone Giant + support)
- Considerably increased construction priority to match advanced military buildings
- Note that the previous values were extremely low making any other building have a higher probability of being constructed over this one
- Considerably increased construction priority to match advanced military buildings
- Warsphinx
- Increased construction priority to match advanced military buildings
- Removed per faction priority reduction as it was unnecessarily deprioritizing the building construction
- Note that this building increases the unit cap by just +1
- Necrosphinx
- Increased construction priority to match advanced military buildings
- Removed per faction priority reduction as it was unnecessarily penalizing the building construction
- Note that this building increases the unit cap by just +1
- Hierotitan
- Increased construction priority to match advanced military buildings
- Removed per faction priority reduction as it was unnecessarily penalizing the building construction
- Note that this building increases the unit cap by just +1
- Prevented Income and Growth buildings from being constructed in Khemri, Lahmia, Pyramid of Nagash
- Note that all these Unique settlements have a unique buildings available and special resource buildings as well (gold, diamond)
- The intent is to prioritize available construction slots for more important and unique buildings, such as landmarks and special resources.
- Income chain
Higher Difficulties updates[]
Feedback indicated insufficient challenge on higher difficulties
- WHY:
- To allow the higher difficulty modes to achieve their intended difficulty calibration and to give a slight boost to the AI across all difficulty levels
- The following changes were also created with the intent of improving the overall AI recruitment behavior, particularly when recruiting high-tier units in the later stages of a campaign
- WHAT:
- Increased by 20% difficulty buffs applied to the AI based on their faction potential
- This affects: XP gains, construction costs, recruitment costs, upkeep, growth, and replenishment rate
- Added Global recruitment duration reductions
- Very Hard: -1 global recruitment duration
- Legendary: -2 global recruitment duration
- This effectively makes global recruitment as fast as the local recruitment, on legendary mode only!
- Increased by 20% difficulty buffs applied to the AI based on their faction potential
Battle[]
Orcs 'n goblins reinforcements! After some deep thinking, a pair of new units arrive to the Greenskins faction for all owners.
Goblins[]
But wait? We already have 'Goblins'?
The new Goblins unit wields Swords and Shields, while the existing unit has been renamed to 'Goblins (Spears)'
When the game originally released in 2016 (time flies, doesn't it?), there were no goblins with swords, so the spear-wielders took up their generalist role in the roster. With the introduction of Goblins with swords, the two units can now be more specialized. Goblins with spears now enjoy standard spear benefits like Bonus vs. Large, Charge Defence, and a more defensive profile - perfect to meet all your cheap meat-shield needs.
Also joining the fray...
Orc Boyz (Spears)[]
When the opposition gets big, get a bigger stick. These Boyz come equipped with a standard spear package of line holding ability, Charge Defence and Anti-Large - all while retaining the signature Orc Boyz heft.
Battle Map Tree Cluster Update[]
We received a lot of feedback regarding certain old and new battle maps having odd-looking clusters of trees that neither looked good nor served any tactical purpose in the battles. In response, we embarked on a journey to address this issue by reworking those tree clusters - making them look more natural and offering better tactical options in battles, or removing them entirely where they were not needed. Since there are a ton of maps that could benefit from such an update, we’ve decided to release them in batches with each patch rather than making you wait until all are completed.
For 5.2 we have updated the following battle maps:
- The Old Peak – Old World Mountains
- Persistent Peak – Old World Mountains
- The Olden Pass – Old World Mountains
- Retired Ridge – Old World Mountains
- Crumbling Cliff – Old World Mountains
- Olden Crag – Old World Mountains
- Xing-Po Floodplains – Cathay Farmland
- Turtle Fields – Cathay Farmland
- The Dragons Den – Cathay Farmland
- Dragon River Run – Cathay Farmland
- Floating Farms – Cathay Farmland
- The Path to Kunlan – Cathay Farmland
- Floating Farms – Endless Cathay
- Forest Hill – Empire Forests
- Howling Hills – Empire Forests
- The Reik Marsh – Empire Forests
- The Midden Crossing – Empire Forests
- Forests of Bone – Norscan Forests
- Ogre Camp – Norscan Forests
- Reikwald Forest – Empire Forests
- Witch Grove – Empire Forests
- Old Forest Road – Empire Forests
- The Path to Nuln – Empire Forests
- Ogre Camp – Empire Forests
To help convey these changes, here are a few before and after shots of some of the maps noted above:
Community Maps[]
Bordeleaux Landing by Bob Dat Builder[]
We have reinstated the 'Bordeleaux Landing' map after resolving implementation issues in collaboration with the original creator 'Bob Dat Builder', ensuring it now aligns with their vision.
Thank you to 'Bob Dat Builder' for working with us on more accurately representing their initial implementation.
General[]
New Shadows of Change Background[]
In response to community feedback, we've introduced an additional main menu background for the Shadows of Change DLC. The new background shifts focus from character-centric art to an environment-focused theme, echoing the atmospheric style of our previous releases.
Bug Fixes[]
PERFORMANCE[]
- Resolved a rare crash that occurred during the end turn cycle when a character died.
- Fixed a potential crash that could occur when changing the campaign province governor.
- Resolved a performance issue that occurred when capturing the point during a Conquest battle.
- Fixed a potential soft lock at the start of a multiplayer campaign when sequential turns are enabled.
CAMPAIGN[]
- Fixed the Mournhowls' 'Wolf of the Wastes' skill not applying to the Daemonspew (Forsaken) RoR unit.
- Fixed issues with missions where the 'own X amount of provinces' objective was completing too early.
- Fixed a bug where the foreign slot removal button could appear offscreen at some resolutions.
CAMPAIGN ANIMATIONS[]
- Fixed a bug where the Supreme Sorceress was missing some animations.
- Fixed a bug where Morathi had no animations when mounted on Sulephet after reloading a save or selecting the mount.
BATTLE[]
- Fixed the reinforcement direction for Luthor Harkon's army in the Nakai's Golden Tributes quest battle.
- Fixed an issue with the chokepoint map 'Broken Bluff – Badlands Wastes,' where vanguard units could deploy anywhere on the map, including the enemy deployment zone.
BATTLE ANIMATIONS[]
FixedResolved an animation issue with the shoulder armor of the Exalted Hero of Nurgle when mounted on his Chaos Steed.
- Fixed a bug where the Bretonnia Lord's cape becomes rigid and clips into the horse during an idle standing animation.
- Fixed a bug where, during battle, the Shade's sword would sometimes spin out of their hand while performing a melee attack animation.
- Fixed a bug where the Toad Dragon can no longer swallow the Elemental Bear during combat, aligning with the intended design.
- Fixed a bug where the Orc Labourer's defends animation root wasn't properly aligned.
AUDIO[]
- Fixed an issue where Clar Karond was using the wrong VO in diplomacy.
Rollback Builds[]
We have updated the definitions of our rollback builds on Steam. To view these rollback builds, right-click "Total War: WARHAMMER III" in your Steam library, then select "Properties" > "Betas" > "Beta Participation." Within this section you will find our builds which are now named as follows:
- Last Update (the last version where the first integer changed e.g. 5.0.0)
- Last Patch (the last version where the second integer changed e.g. 5.1.0)
- Last Hotfix (the last version where the third integer changed e.g. 5.0.1)
- Last Release (the last time any of the version numbers changed)
For further understanding, here is a definition of each of those release types and their integers:
- Update: This type of release increments the first integer in the client version (#.0.0). These releases primarily introduce paid new content (DLC).
- Patch: This type of release increments the second integer in the client version (0.#.0). These releases introduce a combination of (some or all) free new content (FLC), quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.
- Hotfix: This type of release increments the third integer in the client version (0.0.#). These releases are more fluid and reactive with a focus on addressing critical issues and/or topical community feedback.
We hope these new definitions are more flexible, making it easier to identify and choose the version you need while continuing to stick to the level of versioning you prefer.
We'd like to say another huge thank you to everyone who's provided us with their feedback and suggestions, as well as those who have reported their bugs since the release of Thrones of Decay, Patch 5.1 and the subsequent hotfixes. If you run into any new issues after updating to 5.2, please be sure to report them using our dedicated bug reporting sub-forum.
Recently we sat down to record another video with Rich, Sean and Mitch from the dev team which we'll be sharing next month, but until then, keep talking to use about your experience with Total War: WARHAMMER III over in the CA Community, as we love reading your feedback and regularly use it to identify new improvements that we can bring into the game.
Until next time, we'll see you on the battlefield!
—The Total War Team
⚠ IMPORTANT[]
If you experience any issues after downloading the update, please take a moment to Verify the integrity of the game files first to ensure there were no issues when downloading. A step-by-step guide can be found in this article. If the issues persist, please visit our support site for additional troubleshooting steps and assistance.
🧱 MOD WARNING[]
Please note that user-generated mods may have compatibility issues with new game updates. If you are encountering performance or stability issues following a release, is recommended that you disable any mods you're running. If you continue to experience issues, please visit our support site for additional troubleshooting steps and assistance.