All playable Total War: Warhammer 3 factions and races

There are 96 Total War: Warhammer 3 factions spread across 24 different races. 16 factions are available with just the base game, while the rest can be unlocked by purchasing DLC, or earlier Total War games. This guide introduces every faction available in the game, and which DLC you’ll need to unlock them.

If you’re a Warhammer fan, we can recommend plenty of other great Warhammer fantasy videogames, and we have a useful guide to the best Total War games if you want to branch out into historical titles. You can learn more about the lore of the armies in Total Warhammer from our guide to the Warhammer: The Old World factions.

Every faction in this guide is playable in the Immortal Empires game mode. Those included in the base game, and in Total War: Warhammer III DLC can also be used in the Realm of Chaos campaign mode.

Here are all the playable Total War: Warhammer III Races and Factions:

• Beastmen
• Bretonnia
• Chaos Dwarfs
• Daemons of Chaos
• Daemons of Khorne
• Daemons of Nurgle
• Daemons of Slaanesh
• Daemons of Tzeentch
• Dark Elves
• Dwarfs
• Empire
• Grand Cathay
• Greenskins
• High Elves
• Kislev
• Lizardmen
• Norsca
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Skaven
• Tomb Kings
• Vampire Coast
• Vampire Counts
• Warriors of Chaos
• Wood Elves

Beastmen

You can learn more about the lore of the Beastmen in our guide to tabletop faction.

Bretonnia

You can learn more about the Kingdom of Bretonnia in our guide to the tabletop faction.

Chaos Dwarfs

These cranky corrupted dwarfs rely on slave labour to operate their many factories and mines, which they use to churn out dreadful, often daemonically possessed war engines. They debuted in the Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs DLC.

You can learn more about the their lore in our guide to the Chaos Dwarfs in the Warhammer tabletop game.

Daemons of Chaos

Sometimes, a truly powerful Daemon Prince is uplifted by Chaos Undivided, gaining the boons of all four Chaos gods. The Daemon Prince is a custom Legendary Lord that can gain a wide variety of daemonic boons throughout the campaign, and has access to each Chaos god’s unique daemons.

Daemons of Khorne

The Daemons of Khorne are manifestations of the blood-god. Its legions include red-armored warriors, red-skinned bloodletters, and a fair few slavering war beasts. Guess their color.

Don’t play Daemons of Khorne if you like making friends or playing a defensive game, the Daemons of Khorne don’t play nice, not even with other Daemons. You need to be collecting skulls for the skull throne, and that means war!

Daemons of Nurgle

The Daemons of Nurgle are emanations of pure decay. Their armies are full of slow, tanky, defensive daemonic units that inflict poison on enemies, and grind them down gradually in melee conflict. Their only ranged attacks come from missile cavalry: horsemen chucking axes or plague drones raining down pestilence from above.

In the campaign, Daemons of Nurgle has a unique playstyle, with buildings that go through a cyclical process of growth and decay.

Daemons of Slaanesh

The Daemons of Slaanesh are the scions of the prince of excess.

Daemons of Tzeentch

The Daemons of Tzeentch are manifestations of the weaver of fate, lord of change, changer of the ways, tricksiest of the Chaos gods.

Dark Elves

Dwarfs

You can learn more about the lore of the Dwarfs in our guide to the Dwarfen Mountain Holds.

Empire

You can learn more about the lore of the Empire in our guide to the Warhammer Empire tabletop faction.

Grand Cathay

Grand Cathay has always been part of the Warhammer World, but Total War: Warhammer III was the first time Warhammer fans saw what the faction looked like, as it never received models for the tabletop game. Inspired by the myths and history of China, Cathay is made up predominately of humans, but its leaders are immortal dragons.

Cathay is the biggest and possibly most powerful empire in the Warhammer world, separated from the Old World by the World’s Edge Mountains and the Mountains of Mourne. You can send caravans along the Ivory World to the Old World, raising income but facing perils along the way.

The Cathay faction is defended from the Chaos Wastes to the north by the Great Bastion – like the Great Wall of China, but defending against something far more deadly than Mongul horse archers. You’ll need to invest in its defences to ward off invasion from the ruinous powers.

The principle of Harmony defines Cathay. Campaign actions push the Harmony meter towards Yin or Yang – you’ll be at your most powerful when it’s balanced in the middle. Cathayan units are either Yin or Yang aligned, and keeping oppposite-aligned units close together will provide them both boosts.

Greenskins

You can learn more about the lore of the Greenskins in our guide to the Warhammer Orcs and Goblins tabletop faction.

High Elves

Kislev

Kislev is the northernmost nation in the Old World – at least, the northmost nation not fallen to Chaos. It’s inspired by Russia, with a massive fantasy twist. The tutorial campaign for Total War: Warhammer III follows a Kislevite prince’s expedition into the Chaos Wastes to free Ursun, Kislev’s bear god, who has been imprisoned by the dark powers, trapping the nation in perpetual winter.

Kislev has always borne the brunt of Chaos invasions – the city of Praag has a nasty history of being sacked – so taking the fight to the ruinous powers will earn you Devotion, a unique resource you can spend on rituals to the Kislevite dieties for nationwide bonuses, or to build your faction’s most powerful structures.

Kislev has a thing about bears – the unit roster includes war bear riders, bear-drawn war sleds, and even a gargantuan Elemental Bear summoned from the ice and stone of the land.

Lizardmen

You can learn more about the lore of the Lizardmen in our guide to the tabletop faction.

Norsca

Ogre Kingdoms

The Ogre Kingdoms were added via DLC. They’re a race of monstrous, gluttons, driven to a ravenous frenzy by their endless appetites and the demands of their hungering god.

Skaven

You can learn more about the lore of the Warhammer Old World Skaven in our guide to the tabletop faction.

Tomb Kings

You can learn more about the lore of the Tomb Kings in our guide to the tabletop faction.

Vampire Coast

Vampire Counts

Warriors of Chaos

Wood Elves

You can learn more about Wood Elves lore in our guide to the tabletop faction.