Total War: Warhammer 3 - Thrones of Decay DLC Overview

By: Filip Galekovic

7 May 2024

It's expansion o'clock here at 2Game nowadays, with some truly exciting releases dropping in early in May 2024. On the Total Warhammer side of things, in particular, we've got a bit of a game-changer for the title's post-launch support: the Thrones of Decay DLC.

We've spoken at some length about Total War: Warhammer 3 and its immense amount of content already. Here we have three full grand strategies' worth of content bundled together under the Immortal Empires umbrella, which makes every subsequent new DLC that much more interesting and meaningful.

Now, compared to Total Warhammer's previous expansion packs, Thrones of Decay is a fair bit different. This one release is, in fact, three whole DLCs mushed together into one huge expansion pack. The big deal? You can purchase each of these three separately or as a universal bundle.

What is Total War: Warhammer 3 - Thrones of Decay?

First things first, then: Thrones of Decay is a super-charged Legendary Lord DLC that Total Warhammer has been getting since 2016. Essentially, we're looking at a universal bundle of Lords, units, and gameplay mechanics duct-taped together in a way that makes sense, gameplay-wise.

In total, those who purchase the full Thrones of Decay expansion pack get immediate access to all of the following content:

Tamurkhan, the Maggot Legendary Lord
Elspeth von Draken Legendary Lord
Malakai Makaisson Legendary Lord
15 unique new units
3 new Heroes
9 all-new Regiments of Renown

It's a hefty value addition to what is already a massive game, but the question that poses itself is: why are there two different ways to purchase this DLC? Players can essentially side-step parts of it, should they choose to do so, but why is this choice even available?

Get the full Thrones of Decay DLC for Warhammer 3 today!

Why are there three different Thrones of Decay DLCs?

The answer is simple: Creative Assembly is simply allowing players to save money by being able to purchase just one of the three new Legendary Lords, should they choose to do so.

The thing to remember about Immortal Empires, in particular, is that you can still come across all the other races, Legendary Lords, and units out and about, even if you don't actually own a license for them. So, if you have absolutely no intention of ever playing as, Tamurkhan, for example, there may be no point in buying him at all.

While some of us will be adding all three new Legendary Lords and their respective armies into the roster, then, some might choose not to do so. Down below, we'll help you make that choice!

Nurgle: Tamurkhan, the Maggot Lord DLC

The immense Tamurkhan is bound to thrill all fans of the Pestilent God. As one of the most prolific followers of Nurgle, Tamurkhan is a viral chameleon who subsumes his enemies' strengths upon taking them down. Anyone who faces Tamurkhan in battle and fails to cut him down risks being absorbed into this champion of Nurgle, making him that much more powerful in turn.

In practice, the particularly powerful heroes that Tamurkhan defeats in battle end up fueling the Chieftains' fealty. This Legendary Lord's unique mechanic allows him to recruit up to 6 special heroes that provide passive and active bonuses to Tamurkhan's faction, such as unique new armies, buildings, and more. Players eager for their armies to continually evolve and change with each new victory will find much to love with Tamurkhan, that's for sure.

The Maggot Host faction
Toad Dragons of Nurgle unique unit
Tamurkhan's Chieftains mechanic
Access to The Rotting Riders, The Angels of Decay, and Noxbringer Regiments of Renown

The Empire: Elspeth von Draken

A fiery foil to Chaos at large, Elspeth von Draken is an exceedingly powerful sorceress with a penchant for crimson. Also known as the Dark Lady of Nuln, Elspeth soars across the skies on a unique Carmine Dragon, casting exceedingly powerful spells from the relative safety of the lower atmosphere.

As powerful as Elspeth might be as a lone hero unit, her true strength lies in her intriguing mixture of technology and paranormalcy: she can establish the aptly named Nuln's Imperial Gunnery School, which infuses black powder with powerful magic. Death magic's never been quite as potent as it is under Elspeth's rule, with Amethyst troops in tow.

Wissenland & Nuln faction
Marienburg Land Ship unique unit
Imperial Gunner School and Gardens of Morr mechanics
Access to Grundel's Defenders, the Hergig Jaegerkorps, and Wonder of the Age Regiments of Renown

Dwarfs: Malakai Makaisson

A mad scientist in more ways than not, Malakai Makaisson is a Slayer and Engineer dedicated specifically to progress at the cost of nigh-everything else. Makaisson has an extreme need to continuously prove himself in almost impossible combat encounters, making the new Malakai's Adventures mechanic a key driving point for this Legendary Lord.

Whereas Elspeth and Tamurkhan are more than keen to engage their foes in close combat, Malakai is a ranged support character instead, loading a variety of heartstopping ammunition to debuff his foes way before engaging them in open combat.

Masters of Innovation faction
Thunderbarge unique unit
Malakai's Adventures and Spirit of Grungni mechanics
The Brotherhood of Grimnir, Long Drong's Slayer Pirates, and the Grimdelvers Regiments of Renown

A New Era of Total Warhammer

This is a very promising development, if you ask us. By allowing players to pick and choose whichever parts of a new DLC release they want, Creative Assembly is both making players happy and leaning more heavily towards the game's sandbox nature. This is, after all, a full-fledged Warhammer tabletop made into a video game. It only makes sense that its DLCs ought to behave that way, too.

With that in mind, we do not currently know what the final 2024 DLC bundle is. Creative Assembly is yet to announce more details as to what it entails, exactly, but that information should be coming in sometime soon, as the hubbub around Thrones of Decay dies down. Do stay tuned, then!