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Tzeentch is a playable race introduced in Total War: Warhammer III. Tzeentch is the Chaos God of ambition, schemes, lies, magic and change.

How They Play[ | ]

  • Grimoires
  • Changing of the Ways
  • Tzeentch Corruption, Unholy Manifestations and the Great Game
  • Cults of Tzeentch
  • Winds of Magic Manipulation
  • Teleportation Stance
  • Unit roster: Tzeentch is a race that excels at spellcasting, missile firepower and flying units. Its units are protected by a magical barrier that absorbs damage and is replenished when not taking damage.

Background[ | ]

Tzeentch ā€“ the Changer of the Ways ā€“ is the Chaos God of magic, evolution, manipulation and trickery. He is flux incarnate ā€“ the God who truly embodies the endless, broiling change that is Chaos. It is Tzeentch above all who holds the terrible knowledge of fate and destiny in his talons. His worshippers are desperate to share in such lore but are merely pawns in the Great Game; another piece to move on the board and outplay the other Chaos Gods.

To serve Tzeentch is to invite insanity. His servants weave their own complex webs of influence and manipulation, founding cults in high society as well as armed legions of puppet-followers. They pay no mind to the fact that their master views such plots as mere petty distractions, for the Architect of Fate's own design is aeons in the making.

Factions[ | ]

Tzeentch factions are normal, non-horde factions who occupy settlements and control provinces.

Playable factions[ | ]

At the moment there are two playable Tzeentch factions. See individual pages for faction-specific info.

Minor factions[ | ]

Total War: Warhammer III

Factions introduced in The Lost God campaign:

Factions introduced in The Realm of Chaos campaign:

1 - Factions present in the Immortal Empires campaign.

In Battle[ | ]

General[ | ]

Casting spells generates favour from Tzeentch that can be used on the following army abilities:

Units[ | ]

Main article: Tzeentch unit roster


The Tzeentch army has access to daemonic and mortal units. All units have barrier and magical attacks.

Bullet icon empire magic colleges Magic[ | ]

Tzeentch spellcasters have access to 3 lores of magic:

When equipped with specific items, Kairos Fateweaver has access to spells from another six lores of magic:

In addition, both The Changeling and The Blue Scribes have special abilities/mechanics that allows them to use spells from lores of magic not available to Tzeentch. This makes Tzeentch one of the few races that can use all lores of magic in the game.

In the Campaign[ | ]

Unique Campaign Mechanics[ | ]

Icon tzeentch cotw Changing of the Ways
Main article: Changing of the Ways

Changing of the Ways is a series of actions unique to Tzeentchian factions that allows to change or observe things on the campaign map against enemy factions. All actions have a cost of GrimoiresGrimoires.

General Mechanics[ | ]

Event great game neutral Corruption
Tzeentch spreads 1 type of Chaos corruption:
Event Buildings Neutral Buildings
Main article: Tzeentch buildings
Event Technology Neutral Technology
Main article: Tzeentch tech tree

Tzeentch's tech tree is divided by 5 tiers of technology with 9 techs each. To unlock a new tier, the player must research a specific technology from the previous tier of technology. Some of the techs have specific requirements, such as having built a certain building, researching a technology or both and some have a cost of GrimoiresGrimoires.

Additionally, The Deceivers The Deceivers faction receives their own unique tech tree: The Deceivers tech tree.

Event Character Activity Neutral Stances
Stance Description Effects
Default Stance None

None

Traverses the world as normal. None
Stance March

March

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

Ambush

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

Raiding

Raids wealth from the local region.
  • Campaign movement Campaign movement range penalty: 50%
  • Campaign movement Campaign movement: -25%
  • Icon income plus favour Income generated from raiding: 25
  • Public order Control: -3 in the raided province
  • Growth Growth: -5 in the raided province
  • Attrition Immune to most attrition
  • Vigour Vigour in battle: Winded
  • Diplomacy Diplomacy: Penalties with raided factions
  • Income trait favour Income from all buildings: -100% (when raiding own region)
Military force active stance type set camp

Encamp

Sets up a defensive camp, allowing for recruitment and replenishment, regardless of territory.
  • Campaign movement Campaign movement range penalty: 50%
  • Replenishment Enables replenishment and access to the Global recruitment pool
  • Attrition Immune to most attrition
  • Campaign movement Campaign movement disabled when recruitment
  • Icon effects ambush Ambush defence chance: +75%
  • Morale Leadership: +5
  • Defence Melee defence: +5
Military force active stance type channeling

Channelling

Increases the favourability of the Winds of Magic when fighting battles.
  • Magic campaign Winds of Magic power reserve: +15 per turn
  • Campaign movement Campaign movement range penalty: 10%
Military force active stance type teleport

Teleport

Teleport throughout the world, bypassing impassable terrain with the opportunity to attack unsuspecting enemy armies.
  • Magic campaign Winds of Magic power reserve to move: 40
  • Campaign movement Teleport past terrain that would normally be impassable
  • Campaign movement Minimum requirement to assume: Not moved this turn
  • Attrition Immune to most attrition
Event City Neutral Settlement options
Occupy Loot & Occupy Symbiotic Trickster Cult
The Deceivers The Deceivers only
Parasitic Trickster Cult
The Deceivers The Deceivers only
Sack Raze
Wh3 main tze tzeentch occupy Wh3 main tze tzeentch loot Wh3 main tze tzeentch colonise Wh3 main tze tzeentch search ruins Wh3 main tze tzeentch sack Raze Settlement
You occupy the settlement. You gain wealth from looting, but buildings in the settlement are damaged. All captives are enslaved, Icon public ordercontrol is greatly reduced, and your diplomatic relations with the previous owner also suffer greatly. You sack the settlement and establish a Trickster cultTrickster Cult with a symbiotic building to strengthen the owner. You also steal wealth and damage buildings. Icon public orderControl is reduced, and the previous owners will like you a lot less. You sack the settlement and establish a Trickster cultTrickster Cult with a parasitic building to leech from the owner. You also steal wealth and damage buildings. Icon public orderControl is reduced, and the previous owners will like you a lot less. You do not capture the settlement but instead steal wealth and damage buildings. All captives are enslaved, Icon public ordercontrol 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.
  • Icon public order negative Control: -10
  • Icon province instability Province instability: -5
  • Icon public order negative Control: -30
  • Icon province instability Province instability: -10
  • Icon treasury favour Treasury
  • Icon grimoires Grimoires
  • Icon province instability Province instability: -10
  • Icon treasury favour Treasury
  • Icon grimoires Grimoires
  • Icon province instability Province instability: -10
  • Icon treasury favour Treasury
  • Icon grimoires Grimoires
  • Icon province instability Province instability: -10
  • Icon treasury favour Treasury
  • Icon grimoires Grimoires
  • Icon treasury favour Treasury
  • Icon grimoires Grimoires

Winds of magic manipulation[ | ]

Another ability unique to Tzeentch is his specific control of the winds of magic. Indeed, so tied are his machinations to them that many buildings have unique effects when the winds of magic are particularly strong, increasing their capabilities. To this end, Tzeentch can reduce the winds of magic in one province where he has a settlement to increase it in another, at will.

As well as providing the aforementioned buffs to his buildings, this allows for armies with multiple spellcasters ā€“ thatā€™s going to be quite a lot of your Tzeentch armies, believe it or not ā€“ to benefit heavily in terms of the power reserves available to them. Itā€™s also worth noting that there have been some large changes made to the nature of the Winds of Magic and power reserves in battle, which we will detail soon. The upshot is that this ability should never be discounted to ensure victory.

Unholy Manifestations[ | ]

Unholy Manifestations unlock as more corruption for your god is spread across the land. The upgraded versions have heavier effects ā€“ generating more of a resource or dealing more damage to an army, for example. Hereā€™s the Unholy Manifestations for Tzeentch:

  • Scriveners of Insanity
    • Unlocked from the start.
    • Allows a friendly army to generate a big batch of grimoires over the course of several turns. The army cannot move during this time, and must be in enemy territory.
  • Mutagenic Energies
    • Requires 1500 global Tzeentch corruption.
    • Causes a target army to suffer attrition for a turn, regardless of situation or immunities.
  • Magic Flare
    • Requires 3000 global Tzeentch corruption.
    • Increases the Range and Barrier hit points of all units in an army. Barrier is a special shield all Tzeentch units have ā€“ weā€™ll detail this further in the upcoming roster reveal.
  • Night of Madness
    • Requires 6000 global Tzeentch corruption.
    • Target friendly army generates Tzeentch corruption and control (renamed from public order) loss in a province, as well as increasing the armyā€™s Winds of Magic power reserve. It cannot move during these turns.

Cults[ | ]

Cults can form once a god is particularly dominant in a region. This cult becomes a foreign building slot, owned by you, that can construct unique buildings based on your dedicated god. Tzeentchā€™s options are:

  • Sanctuary
    • Generates grimoires per turn.
  • Repository
    • Generates more grimoires per turn but requires high winds of magic level.
  • Sanctum
    • Generates a decent amount of income but also requires high winds of magic level.
  • Campus
    • Destroys the cult but increases winds of magic here and in all adjacent to Tempestuous.

Teleportation[ | ]

Unique to Tzeentch and unlocked through the tech tree, his armies can go into the Teleport stance. This costs Winds of Magic reserve power to adopt but is exceptionally powerful. Not only does it allow crossing of impassable terrain ā€“ say, mountain ranges, rivers, patrolled areas ā€“ but instantly triggers an ambush battle should you target an enemy army. Itā€™s a one-shot move, so you must re-adopt the stance if you wish to go again on the next turn but getting to ambush armies as you like can really swing a war your way. This level of power is why it is locked in the later game for Tzeentch, requiring various techs to unlock.

Strategy[ | ]

Click here to add a strategy!

General[ | ]

Ranged attacks and Magic spells are the mainstays of Tzeentch's armies. Melee units are not effective at dealing damage, and so mainly serve as chaff to hold enemy units in place while projectiles and spells output damage. The Winds of Magic capacity and channeling rate for Tzeentch armies are higher than any other faction. Army abilities charge up the more Winds of Magic is expended in casting spells during the course of the battle.

All Tzeentch units have barriers that absorb damage from attacks before health points start to be depleted, and they will regenerate after not taking damage for a certain amount of time. The more mobile units can take advantage of this by repeatedly retreating to allow their barriers to regenerate before entering the fray again, thus prolonging their survivability. The barriers are not affected by damage reduction, and thus will always take full damage from all sources. In campaign, barriers are balanced by a lower than average health replenishment rate.

Downloadable content[ | ]

Event Diplomacy Neutral DLC list
Tzeentch can be expanded upon with the following paid and free DLC:
Name Base game Paid/free Type
Champions of Chaos Total War: Warhammer III Paid Lord Pack
Marked Chaos Warriors Total War: Warhammer III Free Unit Pack
Shadows of Change Total War: Warhammer III Paid Lord Pack

Gallery[ | ]

Concept Art[ | ]

Screenshots[ | ]

Videos[ | ]

Trivia[ | ]

  • The Advisor, the mysterious old man who guides the player, is an agent of Tzeentch.
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