Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Counts

This is the tactica for the Total War: Warhammer version of the Vampire Counts.

Why Play Vampire Counts?

• Because you want the realms of the living to drown in the night as the dark creatures consume their souls and bodies.
• Because you really, REALLY wanted Dracula to win in the novel.
• The enemy can't dive your backline if you have no backline!
• Because you aren't quite sick of zombies yet.

Pros

• God Tier Lords: Every Lord in your army is a caster of the Lore of Vampires, the strongest lore of magic in the entire game. Combine that with impressive melee stats and incredible mount options across the board, and Vampire Lords are among the most powerful in the entire game. Plus, with all the Bloodlines being playable you have plenty of even more powerful lords to choose from.
• Fantastic Heroes: Vampire Counts also have amazing heroes on both the battlefield and the campaign map. Vampires are casters that can fight almost everything and win using their high melee stats and regen. Wight Kings are superb tanks with high HP, a silver shield, and a nifty anti-infantry bonus. Necromancers are essential both on and off the battlefield, granting AoE regen to allies — improved further and adding a few buffs with a corpse cart mount. Outside of fights, have a group of ten Necromancers with the "Lore Keeper" trait run amongst your cities, granting 100% off construction costs, 100% research rate, and a massive "Boost Income" bonus. Banshees are great agents that have access to "Assassinate", "Damage Walls", and "Block Army". The "Devious" trait gives a stacking boost to action success chance and a lower action cost.
• Healing: Other factions have healing, but you are one of very few that can bring back dead models. This means that casualties aren't the biggest concern in the world for you as you can always just bring them back with a good Invocation of Nehek cast. Pro tip: Don't click that "end battle" button; instead, spend your remaining winds of magic to revive everyone and win the fight with zero casualties.
• Cavalry: Blood Knights are among the best cav in the entire game, and, combined with the ability to revive models, can be oppressive. Even Black Knights are pretty damn good for what they do.
• Air Power: With cheap expendable options like Fell Bats and crazy damage creatures like Vargheists and Terrorgheists, getting control of the sky as the Vampires is pretty easy. Just watch out for missiles and vortexes like tempest designed to kill fliers.
• Monsters: You got plenty of large damage dealing monsters for numerous occasions. From fliers to ground monsters to bats and dogs to harass skirmishers, you got a beast for nearly every occasion.
• Inexpensive: Most of your infantry choices are pretty cheap, which allows you to really lean into your more expensive troops and still have enough cash left over to get frontline to hold them in place. You can expect to outnumber your enemy in most battles, so be sure to use that.
• High Infantry Models: The zombie and skeleton units boast one of the highest model counts in the game. Pair that fact with your ability to bring back dead models and you have a blob to reckon with.
• OP in Domination: Powergamers, this is the new faction for you in multiplayer. Due to the amount of cheap unbreakable infantry and chaff they can spit out onto the field and the amount of healing they have, they can swarm points in bodies and once they have one they aren't letting go. Seriously even if you're losing the value trade by the thousands you can still win games just cause of how hard you are to get rid of. If all you care about is to win and get on the top of a leaderboard no one cares about, the Vamps are a one way ticket there.

Cons

• No Ranged Units: None whatsoever in the first game, meaning you are always forced to go all-in; otherwise, the enemy will just pick you apart. You do have plenty of tools to deal with enemy ranged, but you can still feel the inability to put out reliable damage from a distance. It also makes your siege defenses an absolute joke. The second game allows the recruitment of a small number of Sylvanian crossbowmen and handgunners after you unlock a Von Carstein Bloodline lord but they honestly aren't worth it unless you're going up against Drycha and her roided up treemen + treekin. Generally the lack of ranged is for game balance reasons, as VC already have brilliant cavalry, lords, monsters and excellent high tier infantry. Don't be tempted to download mods like Radious which give you cheap access to ranged as it makes the counts unstoppable and the game dull. Or do it, I'm not your mother.
• Flimsy Infantry: Believe it or not, literal walking corpses animated like puppets don't make the best fighters. While Zombies and Skeletons can hold the line, don't expect them to win without help. Your cav, monsters, heroes, and lords will be doing most of the work in winning the battle while infantry hold the enemy in place. Grave guard are not flimsy at all, but they are a lot more expensive.
• Reliance on Lords: Lords are important in all armies, but yours literally keep your shambling mounds moving and fighting during the battle. If they die, the rest of the army is sure to follow.
• Lack of Anti-Large: Aside from Blood Knights and Skeleton Spearmen, you'll be hard pressed to find anything in your Roster with Anti-Large damage. Facing off against heavy cavalry and monsters is not something you particularly enjoy.
• DLC: Yes, a weakness pretty much everyone has but still worth mentioning. Mortis Engines and Corpse Carts are very useful in your average battle – almost essential – and sadly you need to fork over dough if you want to get these key units.
• Slow Infantry: Zombies, walking skeletons, and possessed suits of armor are slow. Who knew?
• PC Killer: Large number of units with high model counts combined with vampire-focused maps specializing in fog and your frame rate can easily take a dive, even on beefy rigs. The campaign map isn't safe as vampire corruption covers the land in fog and particle effects. Lowering or outright disabling volumetric fog is a must.
• Predictability: A very similar weakness to the Dwarfs, but in the opposite direction. Where as the lack of mobility or offensive infantry means the Dwarfs can never play offense, your lack of ranged units, artillery or solid defensive infantry means you can never play defense. Experienced players will likely know what you're bringing and be able to counter.

Universal Traits

• Undead: Everything you have is undead. Duh. Refer to the general tactics page as to what that means.
• The Hunger: The Hunger gives the unit with it a small regeneration buff as long as it is in melee. All Vampiric units (Your Lords, Vargheists, Blood Knights etc.) have this.
• Vampiric Corruption: One of the core features your faction is based around in the campaign and is spread by a combination of your lords/heroes and buildings you construct in settlements you own. Vampiric Corruption is what keeps your armies stitched together and your people...pacified while your armies march on the lands of the living. Speaking of the land of the living, your armies will suffer attrition while striking out into low corruption provinces that you don't control, meaning you need to move quickly to capture neighboring settlements. You'll also need to remain on site until you can establish yourself; you must endure public order penalties in settlements with low Vampiric Corruption which can quickly lead to revolts should you turn a blind eye. Fortunately, once you have established sufficient Vampiric Corruption in a province, it becomes considerably harder for the living to reclaim it; they suffer attrition when venturing onto your lands and must spend a considerable amount of time purifying your corruption lest they have to deal with Vampiric rebellions of their own. Additionally, once Vampiric Corruption reaches high enough levels, it can begin to bleed into neighboring regions, hastening how quickly you can move in.
• The Dead rise again!: After each battle, any unit that is completely wiped out has a fairly high chance to come back to life. It can be a bit random and frustrating at times , but it can't be denied that it nullifies a lot of the attrition Armies far away from your cities suffer over the course of a campaign. Combine this with your free skeletons and Raise Dead and your armies will operate at full strength a lot more often than most other factions armies will. This ability is unique to the Vampire Counts + Vampire Coast.
• Causes Fear/Causes Terror: Every single one of your units causes fear, and your monstrous ones as well as your Lords all cause Terror.

Legendary Lords and Subfactions

• Mannfred von Carstein: the Legendary vampire Caster Lord himself, having the blender power of an already impressive normal vampire lord plus the full selection of Lore of Vampire and Death. Mannfred is the epitome of a Hybrid Lord; he already starts with a discount Arcane Conduit, and the additional magic power from this alone makes him easily on par with Teclis and Morathi. Unlike these two though, he also is a terrific melee combatant, especially when mounted on a zombie dragon. His access to two full lores is rare and exceptional, plus death and vampires are some of the best lores.

Mannfred starts in Sylvania proper with Castle Drakenhof. Starting as him can be a bit tedious, as your close proximity to no less than 4 different major order factions that really hate your guts (Reikland, Karaz-a-Karak, Karak Kadrin and The Golden Order) and the shit economy of the VC combined with ludicrous amounts of money your high tier buildings cost, make sure that you have a pretty bad time on Mortal Empires. Try not to push too aggressively into the Elector Counts that surround you, sow your Corruption and you should be fine, but always try to play it safe.

• Heinrich Kemmler: Would be the worst legendary lord if not for the fact that he can summon Krell. not much to say in MP except he is a necromancer that can summon a strong Wight King and if you pay more, can make your side win an engagement and not immediately die.

more interesting in campaigns as he is far removed from the vampiric cluster of Sylvania to spread mayhem to Bretonnia and Reikland from Castle Drachenfels in the Grey Mountains. He starts with two ghost units, has a good relationship with chaos, doesn't need to roll out the corruption carpet to move and improved recruitment of necromancers heroes.

• Helman Ghorst (DLC): He would have been the game's first legendary hero if CA had figured out earlier on how that would work, but he is an alternative starting lord for Sylvania. Despite Kemmler's street cred, Ghorst is actually the best and only necromancer lord you should consider in MP. Has Regen for protection and should always be on his special Lodestone corpse cart to give out his buffs to his troops and passive DPS. What makes him even more worth the cost is The ability to summon a unit of Grave guard or a Wight king instead of regular undead. All this and his price tag make him the best cost-effective caster choice if your trying to save money on a lord.

in the campaign, Ghorst is about bringing the zombie apocalypse into Warhammer Fantasy. His red line skills and research tree can buff zombies so much that he can bring a doomstack of nothing but zombies and still be able to grind Kugath and Greasus to dust in a war of attrition.

• Vlad von Carstein (FLC): Vlad is perhaps the best melee lord in the entire game, across all factions. He combines a terrific statline with a decent mobility, even on foot, an absurd amount of ward saves that total up to the possible maximum of 90% The Hunger, Regeneration and a massive self-heal plus the Lore of Vampires on top of that. Is there anything that he is weak to? Frankly, fire damage will put a significant dent into his defense line once his abilities are on cooldown as well as being tarpitted (although tarpitting isn't as effective against him as other lords, since he is easily able to slaughter any unit that gets thrown his way) or monstrous creatures, which can keep him busy for a considerable amount of time. Picking Vlad often means for your opponent to play around him and this is something you can and should exploit. Better if used as a second lord with Isabella in campaign, his faction benefits are very small (just slightly better campaign movement, vs Isabellas awesome bonuses).

in the campaign, he and Isabella will be almost as inseparable as the Sisters of Twilight due to their combat buffs when reinforcing each other. He leads one of the opposed VC factions next door to Mannfred's Sylvania. As your starting lord, he gives improved campaign movement and gives his personal army Siege attacker and army-wide Vanguard to not give the enemies time to mess with you.

• Isabella von Carstein (FLC): the alternative starting lord for the Von Carstein campaign, giving big bonuses for vampire heroes. In MP she is A Vampire lord with supportive ability giving out improved Offence and Regeneration to herself and other units. Comes with numerous buffs to monster units. She gives way better campaign bonusses than vlad and you get him for free anyway so ALWAYS start with her.

• The Red Duke (FLC, MP only): he is in the campaign but you have to confederate with Mousillon to use him. in MP he is more of a duelist lord then the Blood Dragon lord, with his El Syf hex making a target easy picking and cut though its Physical resistance in comparison to the Blood Dragon that is all in on only melee damage.

Units

Generic Lords

• Vampire Lord: Like most of VC, the army is held together by a few strong units with the rest being expendable support. The Vampire Lord is a strong melee fighter, able to blow through most infantry, and a caster of the Lore of Vampires. He is expensive in MP and paints a big target on his back to get shot down. Bloodline Lords largely make him obsolete.

• Master Necromancer: If you were to look up the word "Redundant" in a dictionary you'd find a picture of this dude's face. As a caster lord he's rather pointless because literally, EVERY lord in the Vampire roster comes with the Lore of Vampires, which is about all he brings to the table. I mean I guess he's cheap compared to a vampire but the bonus you get with them more than makeup for the price increase. Worse yet he has to compete with the hero version of the Necromancer, who literally does the exact same thing this dude does but for cheaper and you can have more than one of them in an army if you want. The Master Necromancer either needs a serious buff/rework to give us a reason to pick him over any Vampire or even the hero version, or he needs to just be removed from the game because honestly, I don't think anyone will miss him.

• Strigoi Ghoul King (DLC): Your single entity hunter compared to the infantry muncher that is a Vampire Lord. Is buck naked for defense except for having Regeneration in addition to the Hunger. Has Poison attacks in addition to high AP, plus an ability to give a burst of even more AP for himself and allies, making him the prime hunter of armored single entities. Its magic setup is a mix of Vampire and Death to help in his leader and hunter role, including a unique spell to summon crypt Ghouls/Horrors for a poisonous goon squad. Can be mounted on a Terrorgheist which improves his survivability, mobility. However, he is also made obsolete by bloodline lords, so buyer beware.

Bloodline Lords

The super-special lords that are unlocked via Blood Kisses in campaign. You can pretty much ignore the generic lords, because in both campaign and MP there's no reason to take them over these guys.

• Lahmian Vampire Lord: Focused on debuffing and being hard to hurt in melee. She is a mixed caster of Shadow and Vampire. Her role is using her high speed to jump on enemies and use Seduction to slow them down as they take punishment. In line with the Lahmians' subversive nature, she gives large bonuses to hero action success rates in campaign.

• Von Carstein Vampire Lord: A mixed caster of Vampire and Beast, with the ability to summon a Varghulf instead of a Manticore. His Storm of the Night will grant you an edge in the air superiority matchups. Does essentially everything a generic Vampire Lord does but better.

• Blood Dragon Vampire Lord: Around one of the best melee characters in-game with all the stats that matter (attack, defense, AP damage, magic, and a monstrous mount option). The "weakest" of the Bloodlines in terms of magic (which means he just has the pure Lore of Vampires instead of a mixed lore, and no access to Arcane Conduit, so take "weak" with a MASSIVE grain of salt.) His magic skill tree may actually be better than normal since you can get access to later spells with fewer points invested.

• Necrarch Vampire Lord: Your caster vampire. Not as good in melee as a normal Vampire Lord, but more focused casting, getting a mix of Death/Vampire/Beast's buff and debuff spells. Very good at keeping your magic tanks full enough to sustain you. Spell selections are not the best and the Von Carstein Lords work better as a caster. Raised Dead benefits are good though.

• Strigoi Vampire Lord: Essentially an upgraded Ghoul King, granting greater melee attack and defense. Their AP burst ability only affects themselves, and they get another way to give them a burst of HP. Same issues as a normal Ghoul King, but still better overall.

Heroes

• Wight King: Your standard melee hero and right-hand wight. Overall killy and tough. High melee defense and armour make him exceptionally tanky, and seating him on a barded nightmare makes him a very mobile threat. He works best as a mage hunter or single-entity tarpit for anything nasty with a low model count.

• Necromancer: Your main source of additional undead, magic support and staying power so that your forces don't crumble. Can be put on one of the three Corpse Cart mounts for additional boons. Competent caster but keep him away from melee. Recommend to put them in valuable provinces to boost income and have your lord cast instead. In multiplayer, they're good for sitting on a corpse cart as a stealth lore of vampire caster against factions that like to goon/magic missile your lord to death.

• Vampire: A strong fighter caster hybrid like the lord version. Takes up Shadow and Death, lores not fully covered by other units. Generally speaking, a bit of a glass cannon, although her massive regeneration buffs make her much more durable than equivalent heroes from the elven factions. They also have access to zombie pegassi, so their mobility is exceptional, even for a VC hero. Doomstacks very well with Isabella.

• Banshee: A terror causing Ghost goon with High AP. She defiantly needs to stay away from magic, but good at gooning. they kinda suck in actual fights, use them on the campaign map as assassins and saboteurs.
  • Has received buffs to their leadership, HP, Md, MA, APWD, Charge Bonus, and they inflict frostbite, although they lost 20% physical resistance as of IE.

• Krell (Kemmler Only): A Wight King with better base stats but, as a summon, cannot equip any items at all and will degrade over time (unless you fill his dedicated line in Kemmler's skill tree). Use him as a quick stop-gaps in your flanks or to wreck havoc in the middle of a blob, but don't expect him to last long.
  • As of IE, he no longer degrades over time

Melee Infantry

• Zombies: Dirt-cheap fodder to tie up your enemy, and you better hope that they do that job right, because they have the lowest stats of any unit in the game to the point where Betonnian Peasant Mobs would defeat them if it wasn't for their Fear passive. They got two things going for them, large unit size and hitpoint pool. Skeleton Warriors do their job better for only marginally more money and can even hope to kill some weaker enemies, so it's best to skip them.

MP tier: S. Most competitive builds utilize zombies in some way, either as a super cost efficient frontline/tar-pit, or as a summon to block charges/tangle up ranged units.

• • Has gained 10 leadership and a bit more HP as of IE.
  • The Tithe (RoR): Zombies with slightly worse stats who replace Expandable with Meat Shields and have 30 more models.

MP tier: A. For the cost, some prefer the extra unit of zombies but they still perform well as tar-pit.

• Skeleton Warriors: Spooky scary skeletons with Swords and shields. A more numerous variant of Empire Swordsmen basically. Doesn't hit as hard, but are undead and comes with 160 models in one regiment. Comes with a shield for good measure.

MP tier: B. 3x the costs of zombies for slightly more staying power. Useful against missile heavy builds thanks to its shields. It trades fairly against other chaff. Can become free upkeep with a tech.

• • The Konigstein Stalkers (RoR): Has mostly the same stats as above except for having better armor and having Poisoned which makes them a step up compared to normal skellies.

MP tier: C. For the price you might as well get Grave Guard, unless you're doing some weird poison centric list.

• Skeleton Spearmen: Basically identical to normal Skeleton Warriors except that they come with Spears and actually are the only infantry unit you have with a Bonus vs. Large. Not that this matters though, their performance is too bad against anything stronger than Mounted Yeomen. Honestly, I prefer these in campaign to zombies or warriors, at least they have slightly better MD and bonus vs large but personal preference and matchup will decide which you use most of. If you need a line of chaff, take Spearmen over Warriors or Zombies. Can become free upkeep with a tech.

MP tier: B. Slightly sturdier skeletons with anti-large.

• Crypt Ghouls: Cheap stalk skirmishers that work well against other low-level infantry. They have high damage + poisoned attacks, but their low armor and low armor piercing makes them unsuitable against units that can reliably fight back. Use them to rear charge low-tier melee infantry and surprise archers and war machine crews. Don't pit them against superior opponents like Chaos Warriors unless you're pinning them for cavalry or a Wind of Death cast.

MP tier: C. Has interesting capabilities, but is in an odd place price wise.

• • The Feasters in the Dusk (RoR): Same as above, but with frenzy and a slightly higher pricetag.

MP tier: C. Basically a sneaky/killy/slower version of bats/dire pack. Slightly more survivable.

• Grave Guard: Spookier, scarier Skeletons. A straight, if a bit expensive upgrade from Skeleton Warriors and your go to choice for your main line in the late game. Their bonus vs. Infantry combined with decent armour and a shield make them formidable opponents that have little trouble with handling most other standard infantry.

MP tier: A. If you're looking for a sturdier frontline, this is it. Fares well against most low-armor infantry, can hold the line for quite some time.

• • The Sternsmen (RoR): Beefed-up Grave Guard with additional Regeneration and Charge Defence Against All. Put them as the core of your force the moment you get them.

MP tier: S. Worth every penny. With support they'll usually last the whole fight.

• Grave Guard with Greatweapons: It's in the name. Your dedicated can openers for dealing with armored infantry and anything in between. Lack luster source of armor piercing, having worse stats than the shielded version. Honestly you have many better sources of AP, they aren't very good in campaign, vargeists and hexwraiths/cairn wraiths are usually better.

MP tier: A. Vulnerable to missiles and a bit pricey, but allows your frontline to grind down most enemy forces. Can provide good support against armored monsters/cav, just don't use them to soak up a charge.

• • Has gained Magical Attacks and attacks faster in IE.

• Cairn Wraiths: High phys resist and high armor piercing damage makes them your "go to" infantry for dealing with heavy armor infantry like black orks who will eat grave guards for breakfast. They're completely terrible in every other way, trade terribly vs chaff units, and evaporate the moment anything that deals magic damage looks at them funny. Much better in campaign than multiplayer, the AI often doesn't counter then correctly, but hexwraiths may be a straight upgrade to these in many ways.

MP tier: B. Good mobile tarpit, can chip away at most armored foes. Don't expect high damage output, and if the enemy has any magic damage (as is common in MP) be prepared to watch them dissolve.

• • Has gained more health, leadership, and frostbite attacks in IE, but they've lost 20% physical resistance and they no longer have splash attacks... not that they were ever useful against hordes anyway.

Cavalry & Beasts

• Dire Wolves: CA sure love their Wolf units. The archetypical wolf pack which all the others are modeled after. High speed, strider, vanguard deployment and a decent charge bonus makes them a very flexible and reliable backline harrasser unit, at least against backlines that don't like being harassed, anything above the level of Empire Crossbowmen or Skavenslaves eats them for breakfast if left unsupervised. Can be a force to reckoned with if handled properly, but if you don't like microing around a lot, you're better off going for real cavalry later in the campaign.

MP Tier: B. In a slow faction with no ranged threats, a fast vanguard threat is invaluable for backline harassment. Useful for chasing off routing units as well.

• • The Direpack (RoR): Same as above but with additional anti-large. It's not significant, but can make a difference when assaulting low-tier cavalry.

MP Tier: C. Anti-large is nice, but lack of AP and high price tag make this a more situational pick.

• Fell Bats: Dire Wolves, but flying! Fell Bats don't really kill anything on their own, but their high mass means that anything they catch will be occupied with them for quite some time. Can be irritating as fuck when used right, but don't get attached to any one unit of them, because they lose against everything. one of those rare early game units that remain useful all game long in campaign.

MP tier: A. Flying tar-pit. Surprisingly survivable in melee due to high MD, fantastic price for how much disruption they cause, a must take against certain factions.

• • Fell Bats got quite the upgrade with IE; higher leadership, higher MA, faster attacks, higher weapon damage, more mass, and vanguard deployment. They're 50 gold more expensive in MP, but in campaign these guys have gotten even better.

• Black Knights: Now we're getting into the good stuff. Standard Black Knights have the interesting distinction that they are the only proper cavalry in the game that focuses on dealing damage against infantry. Decent armour, melee defense and a bonus against footsoldiers mean that they will execute this job very well, and to make the package complete, they are also very nimble.
  • They have been buffed across the board and have Magical Attacks in IE, BUT they are considerably more expensive in MP, costing 25% more.

MP tier: B. A heavily armored dire wolves. Good for backline harassment, and flank/rear charges. Not a lot of killing power for head on engagements, but is sturdy enough to tangle up more expensive enemy cav/monsters due to it's high armor/mass.

• Black Knights (Lances and Barding): Have extra armor with a much higher charge bonus because of the lance. Naturally in-between the high damage potential but expensive Blood Knights and the cheapness of Black Knights.

MP tier: C. Charge damage is potent, but lack of AP and shield as well as higher price tag make this unit tricky to use efficiently.

• • Haven't received as many buffs as their regular brothers, they have gained magical attacks and are only marginally more expensive compared to the 25% price jump of regular black knights.
  • Verek's Reavers (RoR): Same as above, but with Regeneration, thus giving this RoR extra survivability.

MP tier: B. Regen is nice.

• Hexwraiths: Mounted Cairn Wraiths with a blistering 94 speed, flaming attacks, and vanguard. Like all ghosts, they are very offensive with High ap damage and Terror but crumble quickly with their only defense being a 75% Physical Resistance. Useful at cutting up knights without magic attacks. Keep in mind that being ghosts means hexwraiths have almost no charge mass, so use them as elite unit hunters, not shock cavalry. Easier to use in campaign vs the AI.

MP tier: Situational A. In most situations this unit would be B tier, due to price and prevalence of magic in MP, as well as middling killing power. However Hexwraiths are actually a surprisingly effective elite cav hunter, and can even defeat dedicated anti-large cav like demigryphs!

• • Similar to other Ethereal units, they've lost physical resistance, but now inflict frostbite, have more health, and deal 100% AP damage.

• Blood Knights: Widely considered to be one of the best Cav units in the game in terms of cost efficiency. It already has meaty stats with a massive charge bonus and anti large, making it a perfect anti cav/monster tool, but add on top of that Frenzy and it will maul anything it charges. They are also great for the self sustain in The Hunger. The best part about them by far is the ability to bring back dead models so while they will lose one on one to Grail Knights and Demigryphs, you can always bring back casualties. Their only big weakness is their lack of AP.

MP tier: A. Only reason they aren't S tier is lack of AP. Has a home in many competitive lists.

• • Higher leadership, base weapon and AP weapon damage, having the new buffed The Hunger so they're even tankier in a fight, but they've suffered the same 25% price hike that Black Knights have in MP.

• Mournguls*: If you own the Vampire Coast DLC, you can now recruit Mournguls as the Vampire Counts. Function the same as they do in the Vampire Coast.

Chariots

• Corpse Cart (DLC): Called a Chariot but is actually a slow-moving buffing unit. They come in 3 variants; Corpse Cart, Unholy Lodestone Corpse Cart and Balefire Corpse Cart. The normal Corpse Cart gives a cheap melee buff and the Unholy Lodestone gives additional regeneration. Balefire nerfs enemy wizards' ability to cast, but that's often hard to get much value from. If you're running a mobile army, they are way too slow to keep up. You should stop using them in the campaign's late game, use a Mortis Engine instead for they fill the same role but better.
• In IE, Balefire Corpse Carts now grant +20% fire resistance, flaming attacks and magical attacks to friendly units. They can turn a relatively weak frontline into a true killing force.

• Black Coach: An unstoppable engine of destruction if you're into cycle charging. Extremely quick, deals fire, magic and AP damage at once and to top it off, also causes fear and terror. It has a bunch of passive abilities that make it much better at leaving unfavorable encounters, however, it is quite susceptible to being intercepted by other heavy cav, utterly useless against big monsters and also quite expensive. Bringing one is quite the gamble, but at least a fun one.
  • Black Coaches now give a variety of AoE buffs to your dudes the more things it kills, making cycle-charging it even more valuable; Black Nimbus remains the same, while Black Scythes gives +50% AP damage and flaming attacks, and Unholy Vigour will restore vigour to your dudes, making it an extremely valuable buffing unit, but a more direct offensive one compared to the purely supportive Corpse Carts or the Mortis Engine.

• Mortis Engine (DLC): The biggest gun the counts have to offer and is downright terrifying one. Mortis Engines are basically upgraded, ethereal Corpse Carts that not only buff up your undead minions to unholy strength, but also sap the HP of the enemies frontline. They might be slow, but are scary and big targets, and them being ethereal also means that it is quite the hassle for your opponent to get rid of it.
  • Now with Magic Attacks in IE!
  • The Claw of Nagash (RoR): Everything that makes the Mortis Engine great, but with the addition of a Chilling Aura that slows enemies around it to make it more difficult to escape its AoE damage aura.

Monsters

• Vargheists: They might not look like much, but are actually one of the most cost-effective monstrous infantry in the game. For a meager cost of 700 gold, you get a flying, fairly fast regiment of creatures with Frenzy and The Hunger, that also delivers a tremendous beating with 80 weapon strength, decent melee attack and AP damage. Vargheists will carry your early game armies well into the lategame. Their flight allows them to only pick encounters of your choosing and they certainly have little trouble shutting down enemy flyers that might come your way. Take multiple units and keep them cycle charging from the rear to keep them alive.
  • Vargheists have gained nearly triple their mass in IE, making it a lot easier for them to escape tarpits or barrel things over on the charge.
  • The Devils of Swartzhafen (RoR): Vargheists with Terror and Vanguard, which makes them into even more useful shock troops.
• Crypt Horrors: Vargheists, but with poison, and on the ground. Actually not half bad. They retain a good weapon strength and still get AP damage. If you can't win the air battle, Crypt Horrors aren't that bad of a choice, actually.
• Varghulf: This is an iffy one. On campaign, they're absurdly hard to get for a unit with such low survivability. On the other hand, they can reliably engage all infantry in the game and come out on top. Needs good micro and some attention. When they are exposed to things with bonuses against large, they just melt away. Hit and run with them for maximum effect, they do it very well. Has less mass than other giant monsters so it will lose duels against beings its size.
• Terrorgheist: If a ranged unit starts attacking them, the breath attack is ready and the said unit is not immune to Terror then burn them, sometimes those two alone are enough to make the ranged unit rout. A specialized, regenerating anti large ap monster, ok vs infantry but really best used on large targets/monsters. breath is wasted on infantry, hit single entities with it.
  • Terrorgheists are now healthier, have higher leadership, higher MD and MA and a hefty bit more mass, making the more durable all-round, with a modest price increase in MP.

Campaign Only

• Sylvanian Crossbowmen: Identical to Empire Crossbowmen, providing you with much-needed ranged fire. Running out of morale makes them rout, which will affect the morale of undead units as well.
• Sylvanian Handgunners: Identical to Empire Handgunners, providing you with much-needed ranged fire. Running out of morale makes them rout, which will affect the morale of undead units as well.

Tactics

Multiplayer Strategies

You are currently THE fear faction, as obvious as it may seem. Your armies of spookiness are designed to take advantage of enemy leadership and get them to shit themselves and run off the field. Your powerful Lords and monsters also act as nice encouragement to get them to flee. Generally your plan in most battles is to invest in your Lord, a few strong units like Blood Knights or Terrorgheists, then spend literally everything else on chaff. Have your chaff soak up enemy fire then use your OP healing to keep your actually important units alive. Better scare them off fast too before they start stabbing your skellies and zombos and realize "Hey, these things are actually really easy to kill". Keep your Lord alive too, for if they die, the game is pretty much over. Anywho, here's how to pilot the champions of the night:

• Beastmen: What used to be one of your best matchups is now one of your worst and it's due entirely to two monsters -- Ghorgons and Jabberslythes. You rely on drowning your enemies in a tide of zombies and skeletons while your characters and monsters do the work of actually killing things. The Ghorgon will kick the crap out of all of your monsters one-on-one, even the anti-large Terrorgheist. The Jabberslythe has its own Mortis Engine effect and a poison vortex that let it chew through hordes of zombies like a puppy through a bowl of kibble. The good news is Beastmen have terrible leadership, low armor and aren't great at winning a war of attrition. Lore of Death is very good against them and be sure to focus down any Wargors who might be buffing the leadership of their infantry. Drown Jabberslythes in a mix of Skeleton Spears and zombies, ideally backed up by a Corpse Cart; they might not win but you can slow the Jabber down. Beware of the occasional Bestigor build designed to counter tarpits. Deal with any Ghorgons quickly, especially the Bloodbrute Behemoth, as they not only can kill your monsters but the Bloodbrute in particular poses a big threat to your lords. Blood Knights, Terrorgheists, debuffs, magic missiles, throw them all at that four-armed cow until it goes down or runs away. Be sure not to bring any ethereal units in this matchup; the Jabber's madness aura deals magic damage.

• Bretonnia: On the one hand, Bretonnia is a pain because they field a lot of cavalry and you lack anti-large. On the other hand Blood Knights are one of the few cavalry units that can take on Grail Knights and win, especially since they can be resurrected while The Lady's simps cannot. Bretonnia's front line probably hasn't eaten more than one potato in the last week so they're pretty easy to roll over with zombies and skeletons, but one or two Grave Guard and a Corpse Cart can give you a good core to fall back on. Bring a few bats or wolves to take out archers and a Wight King or two can fend off Paladins. Bring a few bats or wolves to take out archers and the occasional trebuchet.

• Chaos Dwarfs: Your roster lacks good anti-monster options, has a lot of vulnerabilities to fire damage and hates attacking range-heavy armies. Guess what the Chaos Dwarfs have in spades? You want to avoid this matchup if you can but if you can't your best hope is that they bring a chaff heavy army. Everything you have causes Fear or Terror and Greenskin Labourers can be easily routed. You on the other hand will want to go cavalry heavy both to shut down the enemy ranged units but also to outmaneuver the Chaos Dwarfs' relatively slow roster. Your Blood Knights are probably the best counter you have against both heavily armored Dwarf infantry and any of the big monsters that may company them. Avoid sending your bats and wolves after actual Dwarfs unless you have to, they won't make a dent in that armor. Instead, save them to go after the Hobgoblins. A Black Coach won't go amiss here, so long as you can keep it from getting blown apart.

• Warriors of Chaos: This matchup has all the complexity of a 6-year old smacking Bionicles into each other in his room. It's one of your best matchups because you have 3 HUGE advantages that turn the game in your favor: Fear/terror, Mobility, and Magic. Chaos is reliant on it's slow-moving infantry and monsters, which tend to have pretty middling leadership. This means that their heavy hitters are generally much easier to tarpit than other factions. Since every single unit in your roster causes fear (and many cause terror) this can really add up and cause early routs on key enemy units. You also have the mobility to dick Chaos around all day, and they really have very few options to do anything about it. The units they have that can keep up (like skirmish cav and hounds) really don't have much in the way of killing power. Finally, you have healing. They don't. Invocation of Nehek means you can make even less favorable trades go your way by regenerating models which can pay huge dividends over the course of a battle. Blood Knights are an EXCELLENT pick in this matchup due to their mobility, and they are probably one of the best responses to Chaos' large units. Mortis Engines can really get some work done as well, since you don't have to worry much about it being shot up by missiles. Ethereal units can make the Chaos gods cry if played right, because Chaos has pretty limited sources of magic damage (though you'll still have to worry about lore of fire). Invest heavily in your lord, play aggressively during the skirmish phase (you definitely want to take cav fights!), and do a good job of avoiding their big monsters (Chaos' best option here is usually Shaggoths), and you'll easily be able show the Warhammer world what a pussy-whipped failure Archaon really is.

• Dark Elves: Ironically, all that AP damage is actually wasted, since most of your units are pretty lightly armored. What you're really going to have to worry about are their monsters and anti-large. Their army is quite squishy, and your monstrous infantry and cavalry will have a grand old time stomping on most of their infantry options (though watch out for Black Guard, which can take out your cav and monsters, and still have time for coffee at the end). You can absorb a lot of their missile play with chaff, or use summons to take their Darkshards and Shades out quickly. Make sure to do so before they can get their shots into your lord or monsters though! Crypt Horrors or Vargheists can also be good for taking them out. Scourgerunners will kite most of your monsters to kingdom come, so bog them down with bats or wolves as soon as you get the chance. Your cavalry can easily outmatch theirs most of the time, but Doomfire Warlocks can be a problem with their bound doombolt spell. The worst units to deal with are their monsters. Kharybdiss can spell doom for many of your better units, but is pretty slow and easy to tarpit. Black Dragons can also be a problem in the air, and many of their lords have them as a mount option. Murderous Prowess also means you can't get the Dark Elves to rout as easily as most of the other factions which can be a very big deal, so make sure you're playing a longer game, and pay attention when it procs.

• Dwarfs: No lies, this is not going to be fun for you. Dwarfs are tough, have great ranged/artillery options, are resistant to magic, and their leadership is so high your fear and terror effects aren't as useful. Fortunately they're super reliant on protecting their back line and aren't great at dealing with large units in melee. Wolves, bats and Vargheists will serve you well here in shutting down their ranged units, Black Coaches can mow down Dwarf infantry for days, and your cavalry can almost always pick optimal engagements. Ethereal units are kind of a mixed bag; dwarfs don't have a lot of access to magic damage but their magic resistance makes it harder for your ghosts to hurt them. A few Grave Guard with Great Weapons can help get through all that dwarf armor but don't over-invest in them. Your biggest challenge will simply be reaching the dwarfs without taking too much damage. If the dwarfs have any characters mounted on Anvils of Doom (especially Thorek) then be careful with your casters; if they cast spells too close to those guys they'll eat automatic miscast damage.

• Empire: You can bring a similar build to Bretonnia, mainly zombies/skellies, blood knights, a few bats and wolves, maybe a corpse cart and a couple of Wight Kings. Try to avoid letting anything important get bogged down fighting Flagellants, summon zombies on their back lines and try to kill their lords and Warrior Priests so your Fear and Terror effects can have maximum impact. Never underestimate the strength of pinning an enemy lord between a zombie summon and a blood knight charge. If Outriders and Pistoliers make your life hell then throw bats at them until they go away.

• Greenskins: Greenskins have few anti-large units, other than archers, which means a Varghulf or some Crypt Horrors are a good idea. This is especially true since Greenskins have shit leadership and Terror routs are very effective against them. Watch out for Black Orcs or Squigs though, as they all have Immune to Psychology. Unfortunately you also don't have a lot of great anti-large options and the Greenskins have plentiful monsters. You want a mix of Grave Guard (especially Great Weapons) to deal with Black Orcs, along with zombies or skeletons to tarpit everything else. Greenskins love their skirmish cav, tie them up with bats if you can.

• Grand Cathay:

• High Elves: You're one of the few armies that can contest the sky against the High Elves, though it's a risky proposition. With dragons, phoenixes, and Alarielle breaking out the Tempest spell it's very easy to lose the air war with a few bad engagements. Consider bringing the generic Von Carstein lord. His Varghulf summon will mess up the High Elf backline and he has his own version of Tempest that can prove decisive in clearing the skies. All your big flyers have their uses here, but you probably don't want to invest in both them and cavalry so pick one or the other. Big ground monsters will be magnets for arrows so maybe leave them at home. Focus on overwhelming the ground forces with cheap infantry and the usual bats and wolves combo. You'll be beating their elite troops with either your flying circus or some Blood Knights.

• Khorne: This is going to be a bad matchup for you. Bloodthirsters will beat the pants off of your monsters, the Skull Cannon will run circles around you, and if you try to drown them in chaff they'll just laugh in blood and skulls. Grave Guard with great weapons will be needed just for some AP. Forget the bats and wolves, bring Terrorgheists and Vargheists, you need armor piercing ant anti-large. They are absolutely going to try to goon your lord, so maybe put them on a Hellsteed just to keep out of reach. Black Coaches might be useful for running over Chaos Warriors and Blood Knights might not hit as hard as Khorne's cav but at least they can be healed and resurrected. All in all, it looks like you might have to go tight and elite to match the same thing.

• Kislev:

• Lizardmen: Good news, you don't care about their big, scary monsters because your undead soldiers will never run away from them. In fact, you're one of the best armies in the game when it comes to tarpitting them. Bad news, their big, scary monsters will generally slaughter most of your forces without a care in the world if you don't focus them down once they're in battle. Having said that, your first and biggest concern when facing a Lizardmen army will be their casters. Fire and Light Slann, in addition to Heavens Skink Priests, will utterly decimate your lines with their myriad of vortex spells. Slann in particular, due to having Banishment as a bound spell, will be your biggest concern. To this end, the first effective counter is to spread your forces out. Additionally, (Ancient) Salamanders and (Sacred) Kroxigors will be secondary targets due to their flaming/magical attacks being tailor made to ruin your day. If you can take out most of the Lizard magic, Hexwraiths will actually get some solid work done against their armored frontlines and cavalry. Skeleton Spears will be your desired chaff infantry; though more expensive than regular zombies, their spears will enable them to get not-inconsequential chip damage against the monsters they're tying down and their shields give them a bit more staying power against skink skirmishers and even Salamander Hunting Packs.

• Norsca: This can be a rough one. You might think 'Well, the Chaos matchup is pretty favorable, why not Norsca?' The answer to that question is mobility. Norsca is fast enough to keep up, and their constant pressure can wear you down if they are played well. Their skirmish cav will drive you to insanity if you don't manage to shut them down with bats or wolves, their infantry (and monstrous infantry) can go toe-to-toe with yours, and their monsters simply counter yours in most cases. Mammoths in particular are an absolute nightmare for your battle lines to deal with, and you don't have many ways to shut them down quickly. Skin Wolves and Marauder Javelins can take the fight out of your monsters in an instant, and they usually have an easy time positioning their anti-large units to take down your elite cavalry since you can't apply pressure at range. Your best bet is to try and leverage your magic to get their monsters to rout early; perhaps with a death wizard that has spells like spirit leech or doom & darkness. You can typically outfight them in the skies (with the Frost-wyrm being expensive and rather squishy) so use that advantage to the fullest to shut down their ranged (if they bring any) or pick off their skirmish cav. It's a hard matchup for sure, but not impossible.

• Nurgle:

• Ogre Kingdoms: This is a good matchup in your favor. Except for the firebellies, the ogres have a lot of trouble dealing with massed infantry. You'll need to take out their anti-infantry catapults and firebellies fast and after that the ogres don't really have many answers to a swarm of skeleton spearmen

• Skaven: This matchup kind of sucks, but you do have a few tools to make it work in your favor. Skaven have a ludicrous number of guns built to suit virtually every battlefield need, many of which are either magical, armor-piercing, shield breaking or some unholy combination of the above. They also have artillery and missile units (Warplock Jezzails) that excel at sniping single entities, like the lord holding your shambling forces together. Fortunately, Skaven are rather skittish and have a relative lack of cavalry. Black/Blood Knights and Vargheists can quickly tie down artillery and gunlines while your fear and terror causing wall of meat and bone close in. In fact, their complete lack of an aerial presence will give your flying forces effectively free reign to pick their engagements. But check their casters before committing your flyers. If the skaven brought lore of ruin, they can snare your air units with howling warpgale and shoot them to pieces.

• Slaanesh: Hey look, another faction that thinks ranged units are for pussies! Due to that, there really isn't much reason to invest in Bats and Wolves since there isn't much of a backline to dive. They're are much faster but also much squishier than you, so your goal here is to win a war of attrition. Make sure your lord has a flying mount, as due to the lack of missiles, so if they can fly and heal you're in a good spot. Your ground forces should comprise of Zombies whose sole job is to hold whatever deviants get thrown at them in place. Your killing force should go to your airforce, as Slaanesh doesn't really have a lot of ways to contest them. Vargheist and Terrorgheists should be able to choose their engagements and as long as you can keep them from getting pinned, you can have them avoid their bad matchups. Blood Knights won't catch their cav but if you can pin them in, they should be able to tear apart any Seekers or Hellriders they can get their hands on.

• Tomb Kings: The Counts have an edge over their Nehekaran brethren. Since the Counts are likely the best rush faction in the game, shutting down their artillery and missiles should be second nature. Flyers really matter in this matchup, since all the Tomb Kings have in the skies is the piss-weak Carrion. The Vampires are far superior in the infantry grind (although the Tomb Kings Monstrous infantry is a whole different story, with Sepulchral Stalkers and Ushabti being a huge pain in the undead behind to deal with), and have an edge in the cavalry matchup (though Necropolis Knights can be threatening). The biggest stumbling block is the Tomb Kings constructs, which can be seriously tough if not dealt with effectively. Luckily, you do have a few armor piercing options like Hexwraiths or Blood Knights to counter, or failing that, you can usually shut them down with your lords or hero units. However, watch out for the Necrosphinx with it's ludicrous bonus vs. large. You really just want to lean into the rush element of the VC army, since if the Tomb Kings can withstand your initial assault, things can turn very bad for you.

• Tzeentch: Difficult matchup, since they have scores of flaming and/or ranged attacks, but you can still shine here. Your Blood Knights are better cavalry than anything Tzeentch can throw at you, so you will need a few in your army to take care of the cavalry, kill single entities and flank the horrors. Your Crypt Guards are actually pretty good at tanking fire with their shields, so you will need a frontline of them, you can add one or two great Weapons variants to do some damage once they're in melee. Bring a mortis engine or two to keep the frontline alive, but don't bring them into contact before your Crypt Guards have reached melee. Summons can tie down Horrors and Flamers temporarily.

• Vampire Coast: Once you close the distance, the coast turns into mush. The trick is getting there without getting shot half to hell. In this matchup, a more mobile build will be to your advantage. Make sure you're using your environment, and don't feed too much into their skirmish game. It's tough to bring monsters against The Vampire Coast cause they can get shot full of holes before the battle has even started. The Varghulf CAN work if micro'd well but it's pretty risky and Terrorgheists and Mortis Engines are a HUGE no-no. Trees are helpful to keep your units from getting shot, and you can usually outmatch them in the skies and with cavalry. You're going to need to rely on those flyers and cav for your killing potential, so if there was ever a time to drop that extra money on a unit of Black Knights or Blood Knights, it's this matchup. Also, Ethereal units don't tend to work out great because the Vampire Coast has a good few units with magical attacks.

• Vampire Counts: Skip the bats and wolves this time, they're no use here. You're both going to be tearing your hair out over how to deal with the other's big monsters. Victory will probably come down to who can snipe the other's lord first.

• Wood Elves: You know the "We have more bodies than they have ammunition" quote? Well, the wood elves have more ammunition than you have bodies and they're fast enough to stay three steps away from your rotting soldiers at all times, so don't try your usual Infantry blob + Wind of Death combo. Bring some Dire Wolves and/or Fell Bats to run down Glade Guard and Waywatchers and bring out the heavy hitters; Black Knights and Blood Knights are likely going to be your go-to core; they're fast enough to catch up to and slaughter any wood elven infantry while Blood Knights can actually tangle quite well with Wild Riders/Great Stag Knights, so long as they're not the ones getting hit by the initial charge. This is also one of the matchups a Black Coach can actually get some solid work done, if the Wood Elven player has any Dryads/Tree Kin on the field. You'll want to shy away from bringing any ethereal units against them; Tree units don't give a shit and several of their ranged units happen to be packing magical arrows.

Domination

General Tier Rank: S

Grab Ghorst with only his cart and mortis effect, a couple Necromancers with heals, summons and the power recharge ability, 4 Crypt Horrors, and then just spam skeletons and zombies. There, you're probably going to win roughly 90% of your battles. Everyone will fucking hate you and you really aren't going to have that much fun but hey, at least you win. Because you have so many cheap infantry units that are all unbreakable once you have a point you're pretty much never going to lose it unless you really mess up. Combine all of this with your incredible healing and not even Nurgle will be able to keep up with you in the blob. My only warning is watch out for nerfs, because at some point you are absolutely going to get smacked with the nerf bat.

However, there is one faction who was put in domination whose whole purpose for existing is to burn ass and drink ale, and they’re almost out of ale, the dwarfs, you’re probably wondering right now, “dwarfs? Aren’t they considered a poor faction for domination?” In most cases yes, and that’s because of their poor speed, however they are more than capable of kicking the smug teeth out of any vampire that think their being funny by spamming trash, with irondrakes, blasting charges, bombers and flame cannons, they are one of the best factions for clearing out chaff without depending on magic, and you know what most of your army is? TRASH units, mobs of expendable unbreakable units will quickly cease to exist once the dwarfs start raining hellfire on you, to fight this, you will need to be much smarter than flooding the points as the dwarfs will laugh their asses off while drinking their pints if you do that, best prepare some Pepto-Bismol as fire rains down on you, remember that 90% wins? This the 10% where you lose

Campaign Strategies

• You don't have any artillery or ranged units, so be ready for sieges to take longer, & for siege assaults to have more casualties as you scale walls & storm gates.
• Create a fortified Northern boundary for the inevitable Chaos/Norsca invasion.
• Establishing good diplomatic relations with anyone will be a challenge. Don't expect trade agreements with anyone besides Mousillon.
  • On the other hand Vlad now has an easier time with the Empire due to one of his new skills giving him a whooping +40 to relationship with Franz and co, so at least this part will be less of a harrow.
• in immortal empires mannlet now starts in the middle of the 'southlands bloodbowl' with such amazing people such as skarbrand as neighbors. with every single major race combination right on your doorstep this is shaping up to be one of the most difficult campaigns.
• IMMORTAL EMPIRES In Immortal empires the vampire counts have been heavily hit with the nerf-bat. the removal of free skeletons as well as the nerfs to magic alongside their generally weak roster are a tough pill to swallow. They're shaping up to be reworked post-launch or have some sort of DLC in the future because for now just stick to playing warhammer 2 if you want the vampire counts experience. Unless they remove the easy to spam necromances you can still just mass recruit them to boost income in your richest province so at the very least you should have a powerful economy still, that counts for a lot.

Total War: Warhammer Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Magic Banner Immortal Empires
Total War: Warhammer	The Empire Dwarfs Greenskins Vampire Counts Bretonnia Warriors of Chaos Beastmen Wood Elves Norsca
Total War: Warhammer 2	High Elves Dark Elves Lizardmen Skaven Tomb Kings Vampire Coast
Total War: Warhammer 3	Kislev Khorne Tzeentch Nurgle Slaanesh Grand Cathay Ogre Kingdoms Daemons of Chaos Chaos Dwarfs