Total War: Warhammer 3offers players two dozen races to choose from, ranging from generic ones like humans and elves to more exotic ones like Lizardmen,Skaven, and Tomb Kings. Most of these races are only playable in Immortal Empires, a massive grand campaign map that encompasses the entire world of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.
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As you might imagine, balancing all these different races is a very difficult, if not downright impossible task. Even though you’re able to have an enjoyable campaign with any of the game’s many races, it’s no secret that some of them are significantly better than others in terms of mechanics, unit rosters,starting positions, and/or Legendary Lords. The good news is that this makes it easy to separate the fun races from the dull ones.
Jumping into Immortal Empires can be a bit intimidating if you’re new to the series but don’t worry because we’re here to help. After pouring hundreds of hours into Warhammer 3, we finally decided that now would be as good a time as any to put together this tier list. We’re going to explain our reasoning for these rankings as we go along, so let’s just jump straight into it.
Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Races Tier List
The four main factors we took into account when ranking all the races are: unique campaign mechanics, army strength, battlefield effectiveness, and fun factor. There are few downright terrible races in Warhammer 3, so you can expect most of them to excel in at least one or two of those areas. Races with more Legendary Lords tend to rank a bit higher since they provide players with more options, however, there are a number of exceptions to that rule.
S Tier Races
Legendary Lord/s
Warriors of Chaos
Chaos Dwarfs
Tomb Kings
TheWarriors of Chaoswent from being the worst race back in the original Total War: Warhammer to one of the best in Total War: Warhammer 3. With no less than eight Legendary Lords to choose from, the Warriors of Chaos put most other factions to shame when it comes to variety. Except for maybe Sigvald and The Decadent Host, all other factions and Legendary Lords feel unique and interesting in their own way. A couple of them are perhaps too overpowered at the moment, so expect some nerfs at some point in the future.
Even though we have quite a fewcomplaints regarding the price of the DLC, we’re overall pretty happy with the Chaos Dwarfs. The Chorfs have a solid roster with very few useless units while also offering some of the most well-paced campaigns in Immortal Empires. While a lot of other races allow you to build doom stacks and steamroll everything halfway through the campaign, that’s not really an option here. Chaos Dwarf units are powerful, but they’re also difficult to recruit in large numbers, which is ultimately a good thing since it forces you to plan ahead.
The Tomb Kings hold up remarkably considering they haven’t received any major updates since they were first introduced in Total War: Warhammer 2. This race gets some unique advantages that make them extremely powerful, the most important of which being the lack of upkeep and recruitment cost. It can take a bit of time to get used to the unit caps, but once you do, it will make you wish that other races had something similar because it would help a ton with balancing issues. The only thing that feels outdated here are the Books of Nagash, but otherwise the Tomb Kings are still in a very good place in Immortal Empires. Settra, in particular, continues to rule and is as fun as ever to play as.
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A Tier Races
Greenskins
High Elves
Wood Elves
The Skaven received a lot of love from the developers in Total War: Warhammer 2 and it still shows. Pretty much every Legendary Lord plays differently than the others, withIkit Clawand Deathmaster Snikch being easily the best of the bunch. The race is dragged down a bit by a couple of annoying mechanics like Under-Cities and Loyalty that, while lore-friendly, subtract from the fun factor instead of adding to it. There’s also a huge discrepancy between Skaven factions, with some being vastly more enjoyable to play than others. Clan Skryre and Clan Eshin are definitely S tier, but some of the others are closer to B or even C tier.
The Greenskins are another race that used to be terrible, but these days they’re a force to be reckoned with. The rework that came at the end of Warhammer 2 greatly elevated the Greenskins and put them on par with other strong races. The biggest issues here are related to their units, especially the goblins. The Greenskins desperately need a Legendary Hero that can do for them whatGorduz Backstabberdoes for the Chaos Dwarfs. Either that, or an update to Skarsnik. His campaign isn’t as fun as it used to be and he doesn’t have any good bonuses for goblins to justify focusing on them past the early game.
The High Elves are starting to show their age a bit in Immortal Empires, but they’re still in a decent enough spot. Their unit roster is as well-rounded as ever and they get access to some of thebest Lores of Magicin the game. In addition, they’re also extremely strong both in terms of economy and diplomacy. The only thing that feels outdated is Intrigue at the Court, a mechanic that few players liked even back in Warhammer 2. Meanwhile, a couple of their Legendary Lords like Tyrion and Teclis could use a rework because they don’t offer anything special at the moment.
TheWood Elveshave a pretty unique playstyle that focuses more on defense than offense, at least on the world map. Your enjoyment of them will largely depend on whether you like that sort of playstyle or not. In combat, the Wood Elves can be a bit micro-intensive, but they have access to a couple ofpowerful Legendary Heroesalong with some solid Lores of Magic to help make things easier for new players. If you’re looking to give the Wood Elves a shot, we recommend sticking with the Heralds of Ariel or the Wargrove of Woe. The other two factions are pretty underwhelming by today’s standards.
Khorne is the best mono-god faction at the moment and that’s mostly thanks to Skarbrand. His playstyle is pretty basic but tons of fun and revolves pretty much exclusively around combat, which is to be expected. If you’re playing Immortal Empires for the strategic aspect, you probably won’t like what the Exiles of Khorne have to offer. But if you love roaming around the map aimlessly, leaving nothing but carnage in your wake, this is definitely the race for you. In many ways, this is the best race in Warhammer 3 for beginners because it’s so simple to play. And it’s also pretty fun for veterans who want to take a break from the complicated mechanics of some of the other races.
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B Tier Races
The Empire
Vampire Counts
Vampire Coast
Grand Cathay
The Empireis the quintessential middle-of-the-pack race. They have a lot of things working in their favor, including a versatile unit roster, access to tons of Lores of Magic, and everyone’s favorite poster boy, Karl Franz. At the same time, all their mechanics are pretty terrible, most of which aren’t even unique to them. They also have pretty bad starting positions in Immortal Empire, especially the aforementioned Karl Franz. At the moment, none of The Empire factions are particularly enjoyable to play as on the campaign map, however, their units still shine on the battlefield and help elevate the race as a whole.
The Beastmen are in a decent spot at the moment, but they could use another update or DLC to flesh them out even more. The main issue with the Beastmen is that they’re a horde faction and those have always felt a bit off. Aside from Taurox, who plays similarly to Skarbrand, the Legendary Lords aren’t amazing either. Luckily, the Beastmen do have a pretty good unit roster that prevents them from dipping into the lower tiers, but that alone isn’t enough to recommend them over a lot of the other races.
Like most races introduced in the original Total War: Warhammer, the Vampire Counts have a lot of shortcomings. First off, their starting positions in Immortal Empires are bad pretty much across the board, with the only exception beingHelman Ghorst. Meanwhile, the Bloodlines mechanics was a mostly failed attempt at adding some flavor to the Vampire Counts and is more of a nuisance than anything else. The Vampire Counts do have a lot to offer on the battlefield, but they still need a lot of help on the campaign map.
Bretonnia is the only DLC race that was given away for free, so we can’t complain about them too much. Having that said, the whole Chivalry mechanic could use some work, and it wouldn’t hurt CA to introduce a few new units either. The heavy focus on cavalry certainly makes Bretonnia unique, but it also makes their armies a bit of a nightmare to control if you’re not good at micromanagement. On the other hand, Bretonnia can also be one of the best races out there for players who do enjoy dynamic battles, so it’s all a matter of perspective.
The Vampire Coast is an interesting race that’s dragged down by a few questionable mechanics and an even more questionable Legendary Lord in the form of Aranessa Saltspite. Engaging with most of their unique mechanics feels like doing a bunch of busy work with very little payoff. Where the Vampire Coast shines is on the battlefield where their gunpowder units, artillery, andbig monsterscan turn even small skirmishes into epic-looking battles. Unless you’re fighting on maps with lots of forests, in which case you’re better off hitting the auto-resolve battle.
Kislevare currently doing fairly well, but the race is likely one or two years away from reaching its full potential. What we already have is fine, we just need more of it. There’s not enough variety to keep things interesting, either in terms of units or Legendary Lords. Boris Ursus, in particular, feels out of place at the moment and needs a lot of changes because his starting position is plain awful and he can’t even make full use of Kislev’s unique campaign mechanics. Kislev’s main saving grace are its hybrid units and cavalry that open up the possibility for some very interesting play styles.
Grand Cathay is in a similar situation to Kislev. Their unit roster is arguably a little bit better, but they only have two Legendary Lords, one of whom (Miao Ying) has a terrible starting position. The Grand Bastion is an interesting addition but having to spend most of the early game trying to defend it is extremely annoying. At least Zhao Ming has a good starting position. Mechanics like Harmony and the caravan system are better than what Kislev has, but they’re nothing to write home about in the grand scheme of things. While the race is bound to get better with time, for now it’s just okay.
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C Tier Races
Dark Elves
The Dark Elves always felt a bit… wrong. On paper, they’re a good race with several powerful Legendary Lords, access to strong Lores of Magic, and a solid unit roster. Their main problem is their unique mechanics, with both Slavery and Black Arks being very underwhelming. The only Legendary Lords worth playing right now are Malus Darkblade and, to some extent, Rakarth. We recommend giving everyone else a wide berth until the Dark Elves get a much-needed update or rework.
The Lizardmen aren’t nearly as fun to play as in Immortal Empires as they used to be in Total War: Warhammer 2, with their only saving grace right now being Oxyotl. The big dinosaurs are still cool, but most of their other units feel boring nowadays and having to constantly deal with Rampage is the complete opposite of fun. That said, the Lizardmen’s biggest problem remains the Geomantic Web, which is easily one of the worst mechanics in the game. Improving that would go a long way toward making the race more interesting.
The Oracles of Tzeentch’s current starting position is better than it used to be, but it still doesn’t feel great. Among other things, Kairos’ starting position greatly limits his options in the early game. Unlike his neighbor Oxyotl, the birdman can’t spice things up by teleporting all over the map. Kairos himself is a fun Legendary Lord, but the race’s research tree isn’t well-designed, and it doesn’t help that it’s tied to the Changing of the Ways. The unit roster also has a number of problems and pretty much forces you to recruit the same two or three units en masse because all the other ones are significantly weaker.
The Seducers of Slaanesh have some interesting mechanics, but their gimmicks tend to get old quickly. If you don’t like interacting with the vassals system, this is arguably the worst race to play as. But an even bigger problem is the unit roster, which is comprised almost exclusively of glass cannon units. There are, of course, exceptions like Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, but pretty much all the units exclusive toSlaaneshrequire a lot of babysitting and micromanagement in battle. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make combat more stressful than it should be, especially during sieges.
The Dwarves have been one of the weakest races in the game for a while now and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. The only thing the Dawi have going on for themselves is a solid roster with plenty of artillery andstrong infantry units. Unfortunately, pretty much every battle involving the Dwarves plays out the same because of their slow movement speed and lack of offensive options. Outside of battle, the Dwarves are an absolute slog to play as. A couple of their Legendary Lords do have some redeeming qualities, but the race as a whole is in dire need of a big rework.
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D Tier Races
Ogre Kingdoms
Daemons of Chaos
Norsca are pretty good in multiplayer but don’t expect to get much enjoyment out of them in Immortal Empires. The race only has two Legendary Lords to choose from and a unit roster that’s becoming more and more outdated with each passing day. Players have been demanding a rework for years now, but it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get one anytime soon. Until that rework finally arrives, I’m afraid Norsca will remain stuck firmly in D tier.
The Ogre Kingdoms are another race that sounds good on paper but turns out to be very disappointing once you actually start playing them. All their mechanics feel half-baked and their armies are way too vulnerable to ranged units and artilery. Large units, in general, can be tricky to work with unless you can support them properly, so having a roster comprised almost entirely of them is usually a recipe for disaster. However, the biggest problem here are the Camps. Ogre Camps are difficult to defend, take a long time to develop, and don’t provide as much value as a regular settlement until the mid-to-late game. They’re sort of like a worse version of Black Arks and make the Ogre Kingdoms worse than they could be. The race would still be in a bad spot even without them, mind you, but at least they wouldn’t be sitting at the bottom of the barrel.
Speaking of the bottom of the barrel, Nurgle is the worst mono-god race in Total War: Warhammer 3 and it’s not even close. If you thought Dwarf units were slow, you haven’t seen anything yet. Leading a Nurgle army in battle is like watching paint dry, at least for the most part. Unlike the Dwarfs, Nurgle doesn’t have much to offer in terms of artillery and ranged units, meaning you’ll have to be aggressive while playing a slow army. Needless to say, that’s a bit of a pain. Even more of a pain is Ku’gath’s starting position in the middle of nowhere. And don’t even get us started on the cyclical buildings.
Last and certainly least we have the Daemons of Chaos led by the infamous Daniel. Most people would agree that having a customizable Legendary Lord is still a great idea. However, the way that idea was implemented leaves a lot to be desired, to say the least. The biggest problem with Daniel is that he doesn’t have a skill tree and there’s only so much you can do with Daemonic Gifts. Even at max level, the Daemon Price is significantly weaker than most other Legendary Lords. The Daemons of Chaos are currently just a worse version of the Warriors of Chaos and should be avoided at all cost.
