With Total War Warhammer 3 coming out, it’s worthwhile to take a look at the factions we invested hundreds of hours into in Total War Warhammer 2. From silly goblins to sneaky rats, we are taking a look at them all. For what purpose you may ask? To pick out which one is the best to play with of course! This list will be ranking them from worst to best in terms of general playstyle, campaign, and when to pick them. Keep in mind that even the worst-ranked faction may offer a playstyle that works for somebody. Positions on the list are mostly based on my personal experience and professional players’ opinions.
15. Warriors of Chaos
Warriors of Chaos is not the most enjoyable of an experience, especially considering how samey it feels
At the bottom of the list, we have Warriors of Chaos. They are a rather bland faction with a small roster and very few unique mechanics. Most of your time playing as them will be spent on recruiting Chaos Warriors and their more powerful equivalents.
The overall opinion on Warriors of Chaos remained the same across the Total War Warhammer 2’s lifespan. This comes from the fact that the Warriors of Chaos haven’t been updated much since release. However, experts still see some positives with them on the campaign map.
The stronger part of their campaign starts comes from their ability to wipe out Norscan tribes and get some presence by awakening them. These are the only sources of allies you may achieve and the closest you will get to owning a city. Warriors of Chaos are a horde arm which means that they don’t settle cities but carry all of their buildings and upgrades with their lord. Losing a lord in such an army means losing recruitment options or bonuses from the buildings they had. On top of that, cities that get razed by them usually get resettled making progress hard to achieve.
When it comes to their game plan, it’s rather straightforward. The economy is pretty bad for Warriors of Chaos so instead of biding their time and building up they just rush and sack settlements. Raiding and sacking are the names of the game with Warriors of Chaos so make sure to bump up income from those.
Choose This Faction if:
- You like simple tactics
- Want to steamroll
- Don’t worry about unit diversity
Warriors of Chaos details: Warriors of Chaos - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
14. Norsca
Monsters, norsemen, and wolves lead to a fun list of units to experiment with
Norsca is a faction with more versatility than Warriors of Chaos, edging the former out for this spot. Norscan tribesmen form various units of sturdy infantry with the potent aid of ranged units and monsters.
Overall opinions on Norsca are split. Some enjoy the playstyle while others find them lacking. The professional opinions are split as well, considering the weird roster functionality. Oftentimes, people find their mechanics fun and engaging but the rest of the experience is a bit too slow.
A lot of power Norsca has comes from monsters and anti-large power. They partially struggle to provide a decent cavalry or melee infantry. Of course, they aren’t fully incapable of holding the line, Marauder Champions can take the hits and a few units can occasionally hit decently hard but nowhere near the other factions’ melee units.
Norsca can utilize the tribe confederation mechanic to build up their map presence. When you defeat a leader of an enemy tribe in battle you can confederate their tribe. This means that all the settlements they own become yours along with any lords or armies currently in their employ.
Utilizing this mechanic allows for a quick setup for Norsca, easing the rest of the campaign. On top of all that, the monster hunt mechanic gives you a fun side objective to engage when not conquering. Winning these monster hunts gives you unique units to use in battle. Gotta catch ‘em all!
Choose This Faction If:
- Monster armies are your style
- You like snow maps
- Enjoy doing hunt side quests
- Like trolls
Norsca details: Norsca - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
13. Dwarfs
Short and armoured, dwarfs are ready to sustain any punishment
Dwarfs come in with thick armor and short height. Their roster boasts many pieces of artillery and gunpowder weaponry. With them, they bring the unique magic of runes as well for a unique spin on the magic system.
Dwarfs are a faction that didn’t get much love since their appearance in Total War Warhammer 1. The occasional additions didn’t shake the opinion on dwarfs much. Professional players noted their lack of updates frequently and refer to it as the key reason for dwarfs falling off. In the meantime, most of their neighbors on the campaign map got rather sizable DLCs that changed them a lot.
Regardless, their roster is still formidable, something the pros can’t ignore either. War machines and powerful guns blast through just about anything. In the campaign, their excessive firepower allows them to reduce the number of casualties suffered by quite a decent margin. The artillery pieces they can deploy make it so most smaller armies will never even get to your troops.
If you prefer turtling to rush, dwarfs are going to fit you like a glove. Just about all dwarf units are extremely slow but robust. Even the most basic of dwarfs have a ton of armor that needs to be chewed through before the opponent can even think about reaching the back lines. Heck, even the back lines have a ton of armor so expect your short, grumpy soldiers to last a long time.
Lastly, their magic has no cost to cast. This means that long battles benefit dwarfs because they'll be able to get more of their spells off. Dwarfs’ rune magic is also immune to any effects that influence regular casters because it doesn’t use winds of magic. All of their runes do share a cooldown so make sure to get the most out of the ones you cast.
Choose This Faction If:
- You are a fan of turtling
- Love holding grudges
- Like having a ton of armor
- Enjoy gunpowder weaponry
Dwarfs details: Dwarfs - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
12. Vampire Counts
Speed and durability are key selling points of Vampire Counts and as such will fit those who enjoy such style
Spooky skeletons and creatures of the night are what fill out the ranks of Vampire Counts. The necromantic might of these undead lords makes for some colorful armies and terrifying playstyles.
From the perspective of experts, Vampire Counts are interesting factions with some struggles to overcome. The biggest struggle is their low amount of ranged units.
The reason this factor is so impactful is due to the way difficulty works in the campaign. Normal difficulty is pretty standard and Vampire Counts shouldn’t feel this detriment much here. However, higher difficulties make melee fights unfair due to all the buffs AI gets for their melee armies. Of course, if you aren’t going for higher difficulties they will do quite fine with their assortment of units.
Another concern is the fact that their undead units require a lord to stay up. If your lord falls, these units will start crumbling into dust. Keeping the lord safe and avoiding bad positioning is mandatory Otherwise, the entire army may soon follow after their lord has fallen.
The Vampire Counts may seem weird and slow at first, with their shambling zombie hordes, but as soon as you unlock a few monsters things start to change. These monstrous units give Vampire Counts armies speed and damage. On top of that, the lores of magic Vampires get are extremely fun to play with. Their magic can keep the undead in the fight for an excessive amount of time, potentially winning you the match through resilience alone. Go for Vampire Counts if you like endurance, speed, and Halloween vibe.
Choose This Faction If:
- Enjoy meat shields
- Love undead
- Don’t enjoy ranged armies
- Want unique and potent magic
- Want an agile and durable army
Vampire Counts details: Vampire Counts - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
11. Bretonnia
Horses, horses for days is what Bretonnia does the best. Cavalry will never be found lacking in a Bretonnian army.
Knights and peasants work together in the Bretonnian roster. Their campaign is one of endless charging and knightly quests. The stereotypical knights of Arthurian legend make up more than half of this faction’s roster so you bet there’s going to be a lot of horsing around.
The overall opinion on Bretonnia seems to be that they are in a decently good place. However, Bretonnia may be one of the hardest factions to play. It’s the cavalry focus that does it. Just about any cavalry needs to be micro-managed to get the most out of them, leaving such units in melee for too long without supervision or aid may lead to some extreme losses and potential defeat. On the other hand, if you learn how to play cavalry, Bretonnian cavalry will trample most armies with ease.
One of the most important mechanics to Bretonnia is the peasant economy. You have cheap peasant units that can be quickly recruited. However, if you go above a certain cap the economy will start to suffer. Managing these numbers is as much of a key to winning as proper cavalry charges are. Most of the time, you’ll be using peasants to tie down enemy forces while knights get into the optimal charging position. Other times, they will provide a good source of chaff to occupy the enemies with.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like horses
- Cavalry and micromanaging
- Economy management seems fun
Bretonnia details: Bretonnia - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
10. Beastmen
Rampaging across the lands is a fun time with Beastmen, especially with their access to free units and extra boons from their mechanics
Formerly touted as the worst faction to play, its Beastmen. These Chaos worshipers with animal body parts like getting into the thick of it and wreaking havoc. Bulls, goats, giants, and boars are all at your disposal with this faction.
The professional and casual experience with Beastmen wasn’t the best for the longest time. The faction had major issues with poor roster and mechanics being the best way to succinctly put it. Nobody who played them had much fun considering that the only way to win was to build a ton of Minotaurs and Cygors.
However, this is no longer the case. Beastmen now get to recruit a lot of cheaper units for free and possess several new powerful monsters. Their campaign mechanics are still hit or miss but usually leave enough fun to be had.
While Beastmen are a horde army they can do something similar to settling. Beastmen armies can make Herd Stoneson top of destroyed settlements. These Herd Stonespump out corruption and grow armies for Beastmen until used. The more you kill in the vicinity of Herd Stones the more armies you’ll get. Once used, it’ll give you a huge number of units to wreak havoc with.
Beastmen are all about engulfing the enemy in sheer numbers and charging monsters. While they may need a bit of time to get going, it’s a worthwhile wait. They can provide a steamrolling experience Warriors of Chaos give while also letting you create more versatile armies.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like rushing in
- Enjoy amassing armies
- Want to steamroll the campaign
Beastmen details: Beastmen - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
9. Tomb Kings
With Tomb Kings, your economy will do just fine constructing the buildings while free armies allow you to keep conquering
We are bringing skeletons back, in fact, here’s a whole faction of them. Tomb Kings mix undead warriors and terrifying constructs into a tireless army. The cool visuals are only made cooler by the devastating impact their units have on the battlefield.
Tomb Kings made a decent splash when they first appeared but have simmered down since. The low amount of extra content for them being the key culprit. Experts see Tomb Kings as a good faction to go for in order to avoid a lot of attrition and economic management. The goal with Tomb Kings is to get properly established and swallow the adversaries with skeletons.
Picking Tomb Kings means playing it slow early on. Getting a pack of cheap units is great but there’s a limited amount of those you can have at a time. Have fun razing smaller settlements with your undead soldiers and then use the proceeds to fund a truly formidable army that mixes them up with awesome-looking constructs.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like great-looking units
- Want the early rush of free troops
- Enjoy strong monster units
- Like ignoring attrition
Tomb Kings details: Tomb Kings - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
8. Dark Elves
Dark Elves aren't the most potent ranged elves but they definitely are the most diverse
Now for a faction with just a bit more life associated with them. Dark Elves are a sadistic, violent faction with so many weird roster additions that you can mix and match for hours of engaging campaign runs. On top of that, they have the most fashion sense out of all factions.
Dark Elves have been favorably received due to some serious stand-outs in their roster. Just about any professional player knows to fear Shades and Darkshards. They are potent missile infantry that will eliminate just about any enemy. The third unit to frequently utilize is Black Ark Corsairs which provide you with a unit that can shoot and move, perfect for kiting.
The problems they may run into are ones relating to weak melee units, which is why you get monsters into the army. Their lords also work off of a loyalty mechanic which allows them to rebel and turn against you if their loyalty drops too low. It’s an engaging mechanic but one that can hamper their power overall.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like having a selection of fast units
- Enjoy strong ranged units
- Like having access to strong magic
- Want to splash some monsters into armies
Dark Elves details: Dark Elves - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
7. Vampire Coast
Vampire Coast provides great range, artillery, and monsters but be vary of fast enemies or suffer the loss of gunline
For those who are easy to please in terms of playstyle but not as much when it comes to the theme of their army, we have Vampire Coast. This beautiful offshoot of Vampire Counts has a ton of firepower to offer. Inversely to Vampire Counts, most of their units are slow with a lot of ranged options to form potent gun lines.
Experts playing Vampire Coast have a few opinions to share. The most consistent one is that they have some of the strongest gun units in the game. Those gun units come in variants too. Long-range, anti-armor, chaff killers, flying gun infantry, no matter what you have in mind the faction most likely has it.
The advantage they hold over other factions who use guns is that their gun lines are reinforced by massive undead monsters. Undead hermit crabs may not seem like the most obvious choice for a front-line monster but it is most certainly a potent one.
Vampire Coastmechanics are weird, having a quasi-horde army approach. You can still fetch settlements but also benefit from some horde mechanics too. To wrap it up, the goal of the campaign heavily orients around finding treasure, very pirate-like. This means that a lot of time in the Vampire Coast campaign is spent going around the world collecting items to further your campaign objective. That’s why horde mechanics can come in handy for this faction, you are rarely going to make rounds back to the city to refill.
Great range and silly crabs are great but there’s something to keep in mind. Apart from a select few units Vampire Coast roster is extremely slow. It’s hard to maneuver the gun line into a more opportune position so make sure it doesn’t have to move much.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like guns
- You don’t want to approach the enemy
- Like crabs
- Wish Vampire Counts had more ranged units
Vampire Coast details: Vampire Coast - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
6. Lizardmen
Experiment with dinosaurs and lizardmen alike, create an army that can deal with anything
Next up we have big, fat lizards. Lizardmen are a society of various anthropomorphic dinosaurs who despise Chaos. They are interesting from a visual perspective with a potent slew of cool units.
Lizardmen have been considered among top factions for quite a while, only falling off recently. Professionals note the power of their economy, along with the potency of Geomantic Web mechanics. Put together, these allow lizardmen to build even the most expensive units in their roster.
Additionally, most of their Legendary Lords start in good locations, excluding Kroq-Gar and Nakai the Wanderer who have a bit of a harder time. This means the early turns will be a cakewalk for lizardmen, subjugating most of their neighbors with little issue.
Nakai is also the worst of the lot considering his faction is a horde faction, facing similar issues as Warriors of Chaos. However, he can assign vassals to cities you destroy to gain some extra income. Unfortunately, these vassals are badly programmed in terms of diplomacy and will get attacked by your allies because they aren’t recognized as a part of your faction.
The selling point of Lizardmen is their dinosaurs. While the ones who walk on two legs are cool enough, huge beasts of war are truly impressive parts of the roster. These huge dinos can fill many roles from fast charging units to artillery. Don’t sleep on the dino sun laser unit!
Choose This Faction If:
- You like having strong infantry
- Enjoy interesting mechanics
- Like dinosaurs
- Like having a ton of unit choices
Lizardmen details: Lizardmen - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
5. Wood Elves
Ranged potency and mobility of Wood Elves is why they are reserved as one of the most powerful factions in the game
Another elven faction follows, with a lot more nature and trees in their roster. Wood Elves are a very green elven faction with a decent potential for mayhem. They used to be lackluster but with some great units being added and their mechanics being fully revamped Wood Elves became crazy powerful.
Wood Elves have always had a decent ranged game. It’s a dead race whether they or High Elves are the true masters of ranged combat, as far as bow and arrow are concerned.
While you can expect to stick with ranged units for most of your playtime, Wood Elves are a great time. The speed and range allow for some fun maneuvers and when those fail you can always call upon the creatures of the forest. Be it tree men or glamorous mounts, the wilds will provide a great frontline for the archers. Their campaigns are decently fun for those who like having quick access to tons of different parts of the map.
Choose This Faction If:
- Enjoy strong ranged units
- Like mobility
- Like having access to healing magic
- Want to teleport across the map
Wood Elves details: Wood Elves - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
4. High Elves
Regular missiles, fire missiles, magic missiles, and everything else you may need to dominate the range are in High Elves arsenal
Following suit, we have another elf faction. High Elves are more oriented towards magic and an excessive amount of archery than nature. Their presence within top tiers is nothing new as their roster boasts exceptionally powerful units.
The professional opinion of the High Elves is frequently that they are strong but boring. With enough upgrades, a High Elves army can neutralize opponents before they even get close. Their archers aren’t as mobile as Wood Elves’ ones but offer a big splash of damage on most units.
The campaign mechanics of High Elves allow them to easily obtain friendly status with most of their neighbors. The starting locations for most of their lords are very safe so it’s very easy to build an army full of elite archers during early game.
Choose This Faction If:
- Want ranged supremacy
- Don’t mind the monotonous playstyle
- Want easy diplomacy benefits
- Want to establish a strong economy early
High Elves details: High Elves - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
3. Greenskins
Grom is one of the most powerful lords that manages to boost the weakest units in the Greenskins rosters into killing machines
Although not mechanically a horde army, Greenskins can form some formidable hordes. Unique campaign mechanics allow Greenskins to take a ton of extra troops into each encounter. Overwhelm your foes with the green tide and reap the rewards of plunder afterward!
Greenskins rework has been praised as one of the best reworks by members of the community. They both point to the potency and usefulness of the new Waaagh mechanic which gives the Greenskins access to quick army boosts.
Being able to expand your territories through confederations also adds to the speed of expansion. The confederations happen when you beat the leader of those tribes in a battle, that is the diplomacy of Greenskins.
Waaagh mechanic is their key strength. It’s a meter that, when filled, provides every lord currently on the map with an extra army. Not units, army, the units within it may change depending on the associated lord. This means the Greenskins can reach 40 troop armies and swallow the opponents in bodies. Sometimes literally, as some of their units and one of the Legendary Lords don’t shy away from humanoid meat.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like having a ton of units
- Enjoy rampaging across the map
- Like being durable in battle
- Enjoy having wildly different Legendary Lord starting positions
Greenskins details: Greenskins - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
2. The Empire
While there are many of options to consider, artillery and guns are a good backup plan
Now it’s time for the old reliable. The faction most players usually end up picking first, that being the Empire. It’s a human faction in a world filled with inhuman monsters and weird races, offering a form of understandable familiarity to the newbies.
When it comes to the Empire, many experts would suggest them as an entry army. The immense amount of units to choose from makes it easy to tailor them to your preferred playstyle. Unless your playstyle is stacks of monsters, that’s one thing they lack. You can get tanks instead which is probably just as good.
The expert opinion on them seems to change depending on the patch but the overall thoughts are positive. This stems from the aforementioned versatility as well as their mechanics being decently straightforward. The Empire mechanics are all about choices and rewards rather than feeling like restrictions, which is why they get so many accolades from professionals.
Playing with the Empire will involve a lot of diplomatic choices that are meant to keep the minor faction working for you rather than against you. This can lead to interesting push and pull between the player and the NPC factions without hampering your advance. Of course, balancing the opinions and needs of minor factions has its benefits. Winning their favor will result in potent buffs and colorful regional units so it’s worth the hassle.
The biggest downside of the Empire is that they don’t have a really spectacular huge unit. Mind you, this isn’t necessarily a problem that will mechanically impact you. However, it does mean you’ll never get to trample your foes with a massive unit like Chaos Giant. The best the Empire can do is bring in a Steam Tank to dip all nearby enemies in scalding hot steam.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like generalist factions
- Enjoy having access to every type of unit
- Like trying new things out
- Don’t mind having any monsters
The Empire details: The Empire - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
1. The Skaven
More monsters mean extra options for rushing down infantry
Lastly, we have rat-like Skaven. The masters of shadowy dealings and warpfire technology. Not to forget dabblers in bio-engineering, their portfolio is surprisingly big for a race of overgrown rats. The faction with the most units and most love received can pan out as nothing else but a strong faction.
The state of Skaven early on wasn’t the best. They had the numbers and the meat shields but nothing to use either on. This is not the case anymore. Whether you ask a pro player or a casual one what the strongest faction is they’ll probably point to Skaven.
The Skaven strength comes from their warpstone weaponry. They have literal miniguns and snipers in a world where most people use muskets, it’s hard to call that a fair fight. Mechanically, these weapons can decimate units while the hordes of weak rats hold them down.
The strongest among Skaven is Ikit Claw whose campaign bonuses and mechanics make Skaven weapon teams even stronger. With a whole slew of reinforcing mechanics to work with Skaven, and especially Ikit Claw, are a great choice. Other Skaven are no slouches still, being able to engage other parts of their colorful roster to support weapon teams.
Choose This Faction If:
- You like having meat shields
- Enjoy powerful weapon teams
- Want a faction with versatile playstyles
Skaven details: Skaven - Total War: WARHAMMER Wiki (fandom.com)
