Total War: Warhammer II

Box art.

Total War: Warhammer 2 (TWW2, WH2) is a videogame developed by Creative Assembly and published by SEGA, set in the Warhammer Fantasy world by Games Workshop. It is a sequel to Total War: Warhammer, and will be followed by Total War: Warhammer III. The game introduces five new playable races: High Elves, Lizardmen, Dark Elves, Skaven and Tomb Kings. There are also two new campaigns called Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires, as well as many other new features.

Total War: Warhammer II launched worldwide on September 28th, 2017.

Blurb

Millennia ago, besieged by a Chaos invasion, a conclave of High Elf mages forged a vast, arcane vortex. Its purpose was to draw the Winds of Magic from the world as a sinkhole drains an ocean, and blast the Daemonic hordes back to the Realm of Chaos. Now the Great Vortex falters, and the world again stands at the brink of ruin. Powerful forces move to heal the maelstrom and avert catastrophe. Yet others seek to harness its terrible energies for their own bitter purpose. The race is on, and the very fate of the world will lie in the hands of the victor.

Prince Tyrion, Defender of Ulthuan, guides the High Elves in their desperate efforts to stabilise the vortex as it roils above their home continent. Atop his palanquin-throne, the Slann Mage-Priest Mazdamundi directs his Lizardmen war-hosts as they surge northward from Lustria. He, too, is intent on preventing cataclysm, though the methods of The Old Ones must prevail. The Witch King Malekith and his sadistic Dark Elf hordes spew forth from Naggaroth and their labyrinthine Black Arks. He tastes great weakness in the vortex – and great opportunity in its demise. Meanwhile a fourth, secretive race stirs, their motives obscured by sinister plots and machinations. The time for revelation is nigh...

Five races, five outcomes, a single goal: control of the Great Vortex, for good or ill.

Gameplay

For a detailed gameplay overview, see the main page of this wiki.

The second in a trilogy and sequel to the award-winning Total War: WARHAMMER, Total War: WARHAMMER II brings players a breathtaking new narrative campaign, set across the vast continents of Lustria, Ulthuan, Naggaroth and The Southlands. The Great Vortex Campaign builds pace to culminate in a definitive and climactic endgame, an experience unlike any other Total War title to date.

Playing as a Legendary Lord from Warhammer Fantasy Battles, players must succeed in performing a series of powerful arcane rituals in order to stabilise or disrupt The Great Vortex, while foiling the progress of the other races. Each Legendary Lord has a unique geographical starting position, and each race offers a distinctive new playstyle with unique campaign mechanics, narrative, methods of war, armies, monsters, Lores of Magic, legendary characters, and staggering new battlefield bombardment abilities.

Shortly after launch, owners of both the original game and Total War™ WARHAMMER II will gain access to the colossal new combined campaign (Mortal Empires). Merging the landmasses of The Old World plus Naggaroth, Lustria, Ulthuan and the Southlands into a single epic map, players may embark on monumental campaigns as any owned Race from both titles.

New playable races

5 new playable races (a total of 12 playable factions each with their own campaign start position) in the base game. Each race has a unique flavour and gameplay mechanics.

Base game:

• High Elves
• Dark Elves
• Lizardmen
• Skaven

DLC races:

• Tomb Kings
• Vampire Coast

New features

New game modes:

• Eye of the Vortex - a new campaign with a new map spanning 4 continents.
• Mortal Empires - a new huge combined campaign for people who own both TWW1 and TWW2. Added free shortly after launch.
• The Laboratory - a new experimental battle mode, added free shortly after launch.
• Free For All - a new mode in multiplayer.
• Multiplayer compatibility - players who own both TWW1 and TWW2 can play any race they own from either game in online multiplayer.

Other new features:

• Climate - the old regional occupation system is replaced by a new climate system where races can conquer anywhere, but will gain bonuses/penalties depending on how suitable the local climate is.
• Treasure hunts - races can now treasure hunt in ruins and shipwrecks, with "choose your own adventure" style gameplay.
• Rogue Armies - new AI factions now roam the map with mixed rosters made up of many races.
• The Sword of Khaine - a powerful item that any faction can acquire in campaign mode. Added in a later update.

DLC

Free and paid DLC content has been released for the game. See our DLC page for full details.

• Rise of the Tomb Kings
• The Queen and the Crone
• Curse of the Vampire Coast
• The Prophet and The Warlock

Pre-order editions

Before the game was released, it was possible to preorder a special Lizardmen-themed Serpent God Edition which came with a number of extras such as a map and puzzle cube. This version is now hard to find.

Links

• Steam store page