Hello, Total War: WARHAMMER community! Welcome to the final instalment of the Thrones of Decay blog series. Much like Grandfather Nurgle, we come bearing gifts, but thankfully not ones of a pestilent nature. Instead, we have some exciting free content to dive into detail about, all of which you’ll get to experience for free when Patch 5.0 arrives alongside Thrones of Decay’s launch on April 30th.
But before we get to that; If you’ve been with us these past few weeks, you’ll no doubt know that our next DLC is shaping up to be a showdown of mohawks, maggots and machines as we welcome exciting new content to the rosters of the Empire, Dwarfs and Nurgle. Click on the links below in case you missed it to get a detailed look at the new paid content, as well as details on the free race updates.
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Strap into your palanquin, and let’s dive in.
FREE LEGENDARY LORD: EPIDEMIUS, NURGLE’S TALLYMAN
Lore Introduction:
Epidemius is Nurgle's chosen Tallyman, one of the seven Proctors of Pestilence, and the cataloguer of all the Plaguelord's myriad diseases. His path through the realms is an unpredictable one, for he goes wherever the spoor of pestilence leads him. He is busiest of all when Nurgle's power is strong, for the might of the Plaguelord is inextricably linked to the constantly shifting ebb and flow of disease. Campaigning armies, with all the poor hygiene that entails, offer a glut of work for the Tallyman, but also present rare opportunities for his more unusual studies; it is a rare privilege to observe a mortal's decline as their body and soul is ravaged by disease, but the experience is often over far too quickly. Fortunately, there are always more victims to study...
Campaign Details:
As Nurgle’s Tallyman, Epidemius must oversee his master’s domination of the world through the spreading and cataloguing of plagues. As these plagues spread far and wide between non-Nurgle victims, they contribute to his Tally of Pestilence, greatly increasing his power.
The Tally of Pestilence system counts the number of non-Nurgle armies and settlements currently infected by Epidemius’ plagues. The greater the number of infected targets, the greater the gifts Epidemius has access to, including campaign bonuses and unique abilities. However, the Tally of Pestilence can both increase and decrease as plagues heighten and wane, so you’ll want to ensure some degree of momentum.
Within the Immortal Empires campaign, Epidemius ventures forth from the Forest of Decay.
Faction Effects
Gains powerful rewards based on the number of plagues active on non-Nurgle factions
+25% plague cultist campaign movement range
Recruitment rank: +2 for Plaguebearers of Nurgle and Exalted Plaguebearers of Nurgle
Cycle time: -1 for Plagueflesh Poppies buildings
Lord Effects
Ability: Tallyman's Blades
Passive ability: “Regeneration” when fighting against an enemy with a Plague
Melee attack: +5 when fighting against an enemy with a plague
Battle Details:
Epidemius is the epicentre of his army, and excels at being a support specialist, blessing the grotesque gifts of the Urfather upon his troops to enhance their combat prowess. Should he wish to examine potential experimental candidates up close, his Nurgling-hoisted Palanquin will transport him into battle, whilst his disease-imbued rusty sword will rip the enemy ranks limb from limb.
New Abilities:
Tally of Pestilence:
Intensity based passive ability that improves as friendlies continue to kill.
Increases melee attack.
Increases weapon strength.
Epidemic Outburst:
Active explosion that damages and knocks-back enemies.
Increases his mass.
Increases his acceleration.
The Tallyman’s Blades:
Summons Exalted Plaguebearers that degrade over time.
Upgraded version summons Exalted Plaguebearers that do not degrade.
Sands of Sickness:
Chain augment that can spread buffs to allies, and de-buff foes.
Improved melee damage reflection.
Improved vigour per second.
Reduced enemy melee defence.
Reduced enemy speed.
New Campaign-Only Battle Abilities:
The Urfather’s Blessing:
Passive ability that activates when enemy hit points are low, causing damage to the enemy.
Summons one unit of Nurglings when nearby enemies die.
The Urfather’s Gift:
Passive ability that activates when hit points are low, causing damage to the enemy.
Summons one units of Spawn of Nurgle when nearby enemies die.
The Urfather’s Boon:
Passive ability that activates when hit points are low, causing damage to the enemy.
Summons two units of Spawn of Nurgle when nearby enemies die.
The Urfather’s Benevolence:
Passive ability that activates when hit points are low, causing damage to the enemy.
Summons a Great Unclean One when nearby enemies die.
Epidemic Outbreak:
Upgrade for Epidemic Outburst.
Active explosion that damages and knocks-back enemies.
Increases mass.
Increases acceleration.
Spreads the Lethargy Contagion on nearby enemy troops.
Reduced cooldown.
How To Unlock:
Epidemius can be unlocked by linking your CA Account to your playing platform of choice. More details on how to do this can be found here.
FREE HERO: GOLD WIZARD
Lore Introduction:
The soaring eagle is symbol of the golden Wind of Chamon and is considered by outsiders as a representation of the Gold Wizard’s assumed superiority over their fellow men. In truth, Gold Wizards are aloof in the extreme and the powers they wield on the battlefield do little to dispel such beliefs. It is speculated that they indulge in intellectual vanity to compensate for their often-marred physiques, as constant tinkering with acids and molten metals has left some students of Chamon scarred, burned or mutilated, leaving only their minds with any claim to perfection. Those who successfully unlock Chamon’s secrets, however, do so with frightening results, learning the ways of transmutation to warp armour and weapons to ensure victory for their sides.
Battle Details:
Like all wizards, Gold Wizards are most effective when supporting armies from a distance, using their inherent mastery of the Lore of Metal to reduce even the most heavily clad enemies to nothing but smouldering rubble. They can increase their battlefield manoeuvrability through the unlocking of the Barded Warhorse or Imperial Pegasus, and if all else fails, he can be thrown into the front lines to bonk people on the head with his massive metal staff.
New Items (randomly dropped in campaign):
The Armour of Tarnus:
Passive augment that activates when casting spells.
Grants ward save.
The Gold Standard:
Active augment.
Grants a single unit invulnerability.
NEW CAMPAIGN FEATURE: THE NEMESIS CROWN
Lore Introduction:
Long ago, the Master Runesmith Alaric the Mad forged the accursed Nemesis Crown from Warpstone, the only material strong enough to bear the awesome power of the Rune of Ages. Horrified by the evil he had inadvertently created, he hid the Crown away in the futile hope it would remain undiscovered, yet its whispers still emanate across the world as it yearns to be found.
Gameplay Details:
If you’re interested in all-powerful arcane items that grant unmatched power at the small cost of some debilitating effects such as worldwide diplomatic penalties, keep reading the forbidden text below on how to obtain it.
The Nemesis Crown is a powerful artefact that can be discovered by any faction and increased in level to grant their leader and forces great strength, but at a cost.
It appears throughout a campaign, providing hints of its location, and will be revealed once a faction owns a region in the province where it is concealed at the start of a turn.
Upon discovering the Crown’s location, a campaign marker will appear to fight a battle for the option to either keep the Crown and gain its power or seal it away to be discovered later elsewhere in the world.
Once attained, the Crown can be levelled up by winning a set number of battles. Its current and next level’s effects will be viewable in the panel accessed via the Nemesis Crown button at the top of the main campaign interface.
The Crown will be retained if its bearer wins battles within the number of turns specified in the panel and next to the Nemesis Crown button. If lost through defeat or inactivity, the Crown can still be discovered later elsewhere in the world.
Will you wield it or destroy it?
Modder Shoutouts
With Thrones of Decay and the accompanying free updates, we realise that we’re tackling content that our modding community has in some way already visited and may not be as necessary after the update. Thanks for the awesome work. We’ve tried to get a list of names to shoutout, apologies if we didn’t catch everyone!
Eslpeth Von Draken | Theodore Bruckner | Daemon/Dragon Slayers: Mixu
Epidemius: Stratovarius | Dead Baron
Nurgle Lord Of Nurgle| Nurgle Sorcerer: Masterdelta41
Empire Engineers: ChaosRobie | ZombieFlanders | Cataph
Garagrim Ironfist: The Dwarf Legendary Character team
Malakai Makaisson: Dead Baron | Sol
Land Ship: Chaos Robie | Snek | Thom | HKrul
Steam tank (Volleygun): Chaos Robie
Nuln Ironsides: Decomposed | Snek
Hochland Long Rifles: Decomposed | Dead Baron
Thunderbarge: Chaos Robie | cjsoldier1331
Plague Ogres: The Mortal Warriors of Nurgle team
Bile Trolls: Elon | The Rotblood Tribe team
Pestigors: The Beasts Most Foul team
Slayer Pirates: The_Inquisitor | Greenphoenix23 | R1kko
Thunderers (Grudgerakers): Greenphoenix23 | R1kko
Doomseekers: Axelgolas | Spartan VI
Knights of the Black Rose: Loupi | Graetor
Gotrek & Felix: Chapter Serf | Backmechuisa
Empire Mechanics: Pear
Gold Wizards: Dead Baron | Xoudad |Chaos Robie | Prop Joe
Nemesis Crown: Rhox | Inu
Underway: Lorghul
Dwarf Miner Army Ability: Greenphoenix23
And so ends the final blog update for Thrones of Decay. We’ll be back later today with Malakai's gameplay showcase, and you can look forward to next week with notes for Patch 5.0 – as well as Thrones of Decay’s launch on the 30th of April. We hope you’re excited for what’s to come and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about the content.
See you on the battlefield!
– The Total War Team
