The final Total War: Warhammer II DLC is upon us, and what a ride the last three and a bit years have been. We've had dino stacks, rat stacks, sphinx stacks, dragon stacks, and even walking pirate ship stacks. But the time has come to bid a fond farewell, and what better send-off than revisiting the first ever Total War: Warhammer DLC race, the Beastmen. All aboard the minobus, destination doom.
The Silence and the Fury sees metal minotaur, Taurox, race to find the Heart of the Dark, a monumental Beastmen herdstone capable of plunging the world into an age of slaughter. But hot on his trail is Oxyotl, the chameleon skink hunter, hoping to put a dart in the brass bull before he unleashes said ritual. It's a good setup, but as with recent lord packs it's mainly there to establish the final battle between Taurox and Oxyotl.
At the centre of this new lord pack lies the long-awaited Beastmen rework, and while it's tricky to wrap your head around, rest assured it solves a good deal of Total War: Warhammer's horde gameplay issues. Essentially, Taurox raises a herdstone - similar to a Norscan or Wood Elf outpost - in a destroyed settlement, which establishes a bloodgrounds in adjacent regions. Razing settlements and fighting battles in this area racks up Marks of Destruction (the Beastmen victory resource) that in turn grants more armies and herdstones.
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The next - and final - big DLC for Total War: Warhammer II is only days from release, and today we get a look at how the new lizardmen army stacks up against the already revealed Beastmen rework and unit roster. It turns out, the new lizardmen commander has some tricks up his sleeve that will help considerably in evening the odds against the mighty Taurox.
The new lizardmen legendary lord is the chameleon sniper Oxyotl. As the latest Total War blog post explains, Oxyotl is a skink chameleon who has trained himself to be at home in the Realms of Chaos. He's stealthy both on the battlefield and the campaign map, able to do devastating damage at range without being detected, and capable of teleporting across the map in order to pursue the directives of his Visions of the Old Ones.
These visions inspire missions, and Oxyotl's campaign is about careful selection of which of these to pursue, since you'll be getting more of them than the available time allows you to complete. Fortunately, Oxyotl can teleport himself and his army to Visions sites as well as to his capital city and one other player-defined location at will. It's worth noting that this teleportation ability works in Mortal Empires, too.
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As you may have herd by now, Total War: Warhammer 2's final DLC pack, The Silence and the Fury, comes out tomorrow. Alongside that comes a big free update for the fantasy strategy game, and developer Creative Assembly has helpfully published the patch notes so we can have a look at what will be changing.
You won't need to own the new DLC for this patch to have a significant impact, although some of the biggest changes are coming to the beastmen faction. That means you will need to own the original Total War: Warhammer and its Call of the Beastmen expansion for any of the beastmen rework changes to apply to your game, unless you pick up the new expansion.
If you do, you're in for some fun. The beastmen "have undergone some ferocious faction furtling," Creative Assembly says, in order to dig into their Warhammer lore and make their campaigns more entertaining. Beastmen commanders will now earn dread for completing missions, burning down towns, and winning battles, and dread can then be used in the Rewards of Dread panel that, among other goodies, offers various legendary lords.
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