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The Deceivers is a playable 
Tzeentch faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer III with Shadows of Change. It is led by The Changeling.
How they play[]
General[]
Changing of the Ways: Hatch treacherous plots to manipulate the destiny of all beings.
Faction Specific[]
- Trickster Cult: Trickster Cults are hidden settlements that allows them to build Unit Recruitment buildings and two unique building chains: Symbiotic & Parasitic. They are created when winning a settlement battle or by using the Trickster Cultist.
- Schemes: The narrative goal for this faction which are a series of quests that rewards various bonuses. To win the campaign, the Ultimate Scheme must be completed.
- Cult Supplies: A unique resource that is spent on Trickster Cult buildings. Supplies are earned with Symbiotic buildings.
- Trickster Rifts: Create a network of portals to travel across the world which are permanent and cannot be closed or destroyed by the enemy. They are created through the technology tree but require specific schemes completed.
- Trickster Cultist: A unique hero that is used to establish Trickster Cults on enemy settlements. They are recruited through the technology tree but require specific schemes completed.
- Technology: Gains a unique technology tree that is available only to this faction.
- Winds of Magic Manipulation: This faction does not have access to this mechanic.
Faction Effects[]
- Immune to diplomatic penalties from tresspassing
- Establish Trickster Cults instead of occupying territory
- Can replenish and recruit in foreign territory
- Armies are hidden in regions with Trickster Cult buildings
Campaign[]
Legendary Lord[]
| Name | Lord Effects | Starting Army |
|---|---|---|
 The Shapeless Horror
What is truly left when you have forgotten your original form completely?
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Starting territory[]
The Realm of Chaos:
Immortal Empires:
Climate preferences[]
This faction does not occupy settlements, so it has no climate preferences
Victory objectives[]
Realms of Chaos[]
Complete the Ultimate Scheme
Immortal Empires[]
Short Campaign Victory[]
Long Campaign Victory[]
Diplomacy[]
Immortal Empires[]
Starting agreements[]
Immortal Empires[]
Strategy[]
Quite a challenging start. The Deceivers's cult buildings are quite costly, around 500-1000 (along with the Cult Supplies, which in the early game aren't really handy to come by) and to maintain a reasonable starting army of Tzeentch Marauders and Blue/Pink Horrors, it may go even lower but later in the mid-end game, The Deceivers can get quite wealthy and get a hefty diplomatic bonuses even with your enemy by building Court of Whispers and its upgraded version, the Parliament of Lies. Sacking and establishing cults doesn't provide much money, only 300-800-ish per settlement, razing does provide you a somewhat reasonable amount of money, but you need the settlement to be occupied to remain hidden, which is quite useful since pretty much everyone around dislikes you. Empire Theater starting tips:
For the Imperial Subterfuge, just set up a cult anywhere. It doesn't really matter. This is pretty much the easiest, 100% chance to get. Just don't use the starting cultist on Atldorf for the reason below.
For the Sylvanian Rift and Reikland Gambit, it's better to wait until there's no occupying army inside and attack when Castle Drakenhof/Altdorf is undefended since they have pretty strong garrisons. For the Sylvanian Rift, it's best to raze down to make it easier to spread Tzeentch corruption, and if Vlad is away, there's a high chance that the nearby Dwarf minor faction will claim that settlement for their own. You can use this chance, while they are still tired from colonizing ruins, to defeat that Dwarf Army to fulfill the Unstoppable Shield. Do remember that if a cult is established before (by spreading, by using a cultist), then you cannot sack it, forcing you to either make the cult get detected and destroyed, or raze it and build a Ravaging Host there (which is really time/money costly so just attack Altdorf when no one is in the garrison).
For the Unstoppable Shield one, it can be quite challenging since Dwarves are very highly armored and tough with high magic resistance, which is something Tzeentch is relied on: casting magical spells. It's better to do this one mid-game while the Dwarves are busy fighting against the Greenskins nearby and just focus on attacking undefended settlements. Do remember that there's attrition in a lot of mountain pathway, so either research the technology that reduces Winds of Magic teleport stance or pile it up and try to manually fight battles to reduce casualties.
For Target Practice, use your Halt Army ability. You can only progress this if you defeat armies, not settlements or set up your army somewhere in the way of getting to a razed settlement, but far enough to remain hidden (for a Deceivers's Army to be hidden, there has to be a cult in an occupied settlement). You can find these types of paths in areas with bridges. AI will tend to march through the bridge instead of going through the river on the campaign map. Because of this, having an army hidden nearby would ensure a 100% chance of battle, but not ambush since if an enemy's army bump into a hidden army, you can attack them.
For Infestation in the Empire, you can just let other factions deal with The Fecundites. If they get wiped out by someone else, you get the credit, too but if you want to get the form of Festus's form, you'll have to fight him yourself which can be quite hard.
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