Total War: Warhammer 3 developers, Creative Assembly, have released a new batch of DLC, featuring three different races, under the banner Thrones Of Decay. With new Legendary Lords, Heroes and mechanics for the Empire of Man, the Dawi, and the demons of Nurgle, it can be difficult for fans to sift through the new stats to discover which units in their normal army compositions can be replaced. Some of the new offerings, particularly the huge additions to the unit roster for each of these factions, are fantastic.
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Here are the new units from Thrones Of Decay, ranked in order of how useful they will be to their armies. This list has excluded Legendary Lords, Heroes, and Regiments Of Reknown, focusing instead on how these units fill out rosters that have been missing certain unit types or are lacking in soldiers with specific abilities. Although a few of these units can form powerful doomstacks, the units here are ranked according to their utility and roster completion, as opposed to simple raw power.
Updated by Connor Hogg on May 14, 2024: This article has been updated to offer a clearer, more defined understanding of the list's ranking criteria, along with providing greater clarity regarding the effects of poison on enemy units in the Plague Ogres entry.
16 Goblin Hewer - Dwarfs
Low Ammo Artillery
A new piece of artillery for the Dawi and their new Slayer Engineer Lord, Malakai Mikaelson is the Goblin Hewer. The unit is a chain mechanism that fires cleaving axes at a target, doing massive damage. It is carried into battle by a smaller unit of slayers — unarmored warriors who are quite vulnerable but hit very hard.
The weakness of the Goblin Hewer stems from its low ammo count: the Hewer can only fire twice before the slayers will run into melee. However, thanks to Mikaelson's abilities that have been brought to the army, ammunition can be replenished, letting the dwarfs keep cleaving.
15 Slayer Pirates - Dwarfs
High Damage With A Handy Ranged Option
Another addition to the dwarf roster, the slayers gain a ranged option in the Slayer Pirates. These are just like the high weapon strength Slayers, but these nautical warriors also wield handguns. They keep the unbreakable trait of slayers, meaning they will not flee from combat, and they can fire while they move, so although their ranged attack has little ammo, they can use it as a skirmish tactic to draw smaller enemy units into melee, where they will use their large damage output to wreak havoc. They have zero armor, so they can often drop faster than expected.
14 Bile Trolls - Nurgle
Troll Option For Nurgle
The first Nurgle unit on the list, Bile Trolls provide Nurgle with a troll option that reveals itself as a fairly effective anti-infantry unit. Bile Trolls have the usual regeneration trait and a corrosive aura that decreases the weapon strength of nearby enemies. The unit does a fantastic amount of armor piercing damage and can also reduce enemy melee defense. The unit suffers from a low leadership score, and it can be outclassed by some other anti-infantry options, but the poison attacks of a Bile Troll are nothing to frown at.
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13 Plague Ogres - Nurgle
Anti-Infantry With Big Charge
Serving as a better, although more expensive, anti-infantry option when compared to the Bile Troll, Nurgle is gifted another monstrous infantry unit — Plague Ogres. An Ogre corrupted by the will of the plague god, plague ogres have a huge mass and act as an excellent counter to elite infantry, with a charge bonus against bracing defenders and poison attacks.
Poison both decreases enemy speed and weapon strength and does slow damage to a unit's vigor. Plague Ogres are quite slow themselves, but they are capable of tearing through weaker infantry and debuffing whatever gets in their way.
12 Land Ship - Empire
Super Artillery-Chariot Built To Charge
The Empire's first new unit to feature on this list, the Land Ship makes its position in an army clear through a combination of its charge bonus and its surprisingly low melee defense. The Ship has to act as a chariot — it has huge armor-piercing ability, fires guns during its whole attack, and causes fear, which lets it do a sizable amount of damage to a unit it plows into.
The low melee defense means that the chariot has to be charged in and pulled out to make the most of its power. It can travel faster, getting to very impressive speeds, as long as it travels in a straight line, and it explodes when it is destroyed to do a last chunk of damage to the enemy.
11 Pestigors - Nurgle
Cheap Tanky Unit For Chasing
Corrupted Beastmen join the ranks of Nurgle. Pestigors are a cheap infantry unit with low armor and defense but a decent chunk of health, ensuring that they will not fall in battle too quickly. They have a high leadership score too, and their high speed and poison attacks make them a perfect unit for chasing routed units away; Pestigors can give chase and slow with their poison attacks.
They also have armor-piercing attacks, making them a good early option to add to an army and even capable of being a flanking unit late game with vanguard deployment. Their great axe attacks do a good amount of damage; perfect for taking out meddling units that try to flank.
10 Steam Tank (Volley Gun) - Empire
Massive Damage At Short Range
A new variant of the Steam Tank, the Volley Gun Tank has the potential to do a lot more damage than either of the other Tank variants. The damage output from the volley gun means faster firing and a higher missile strength. The armor and charge bonuses mean that the tank can roll over any enemies who get too close, but the short range will mean that this could happen quite often. It will certainly be situational in army composition, but the massive damage and stylish animations may be worth it for some players.
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9 Thunderbarge - Dwarfs
Slow War Machine To Roll Over Foes
Another Dwarf unit — and a huge war machine that is sure to impress on the battlefield — the Thunderbarge is an airship covered in guns. The unit flies over, attacking ground units and constantly firing its cannons and guns while it drops bombs below.
The unit is permanently flying, which means it can avoid melee damage from below, but any flying units could pose a threat to its low melee defense. It can speed up, at the cost of some of its health, but otherwise is quite slow. The leadership bonus the awe-inspiring ship gives to nearby units makes it a great centerpiece for an infantry block.
8 Toad Dragon - Nurgle
Anti-Infantry Bullet Sponge
A massive monstrous addition to the cast of Nurgle's fighters, the Toad Dragon looks incredible on the battlefield. Acting as a massive infantry destroyer, the toad dragon has a breath attack to spread its damage, while its huge weapon strength and poison attacks let it slow and slay any frontline defenders.
It is a great damage soak with a large health bar and a bonus to missile resistance, and its mass makes it a model worth charging into any smaller units.
7 Nuln Ironsides - Empire
Good Ranged Option, Suffers In Melee
Nuln Ironsides fill out a gap in the Empire roster that was left by the Empire Handgunners who had a passable ranged attack and could cope in melee combat too. Nuln Ironsides are more specialized. The Ironsides have twice the missile strength to shred through any distant targets.
Their range is the same as Handgunners, but Ironsides get a bonus to their reload times and their accuracy if they remain in place on the battlefield, and their poor melee attack means that they will not hold up in close combat and should be kept as a powerful backline — especially if they can find high ground.