Welcome to!A subreddit for all of those who love the Total War series. SummaryThe Dark Elves were originally Ulthuans that fled to the continent Naggaroth. Dark Elves are committed to cruelty and slavery, and represent the greatest threat of piracy in the world. Dark Elves are known in the Old World for massive destructive coastal raids. Their ultimate ambition is to conquer Ulthuan.It’s intuitive to compare Dark Elves to High Elves, but they actually behave more similarly to a Khorne/Tzeentch Daemons of Chaos army, combining glass cannon soldiers with a high damage offensive magic lore.Core ConceptsEternal Hatred, and Murderous Prowess. Dark Elves have two special rules that greatly improve their ability to deal damage in close combat. Both these benefits are rerolls, and since Total War doesn’t have a system like that, I just have to guess that Dark Elves will have proportionately higher attack values than other Elves.Dark Magic.
Total War Warhammer Dark Elves Unit Roster
Dark Magic is the Dark Elf unique lore, and behaves very similarly to the Lore of Tzeentch. Like everything in this army, the lore is entirely focused on hurting the enemy, most spells are direct damage, others are debuffs that affect the enemy’s ability to fight back. Dark Elf wizards are treated as being one level higher when casting magic from the Lore of Dark Magic.Not Worth Dying For. Dark Elves are not the bravest faction, and they have few tricks or abilities to help them stay in combat. The only thing that holds their line together are their leaders.Rebel Army.
Dark Elves tend to run slightly above average for soldier count.LeadershipMost Dark Elf armies are led by Tyrants of Naggaroth. Tyrants are poor combatants when compared to other lords, but can clear chaff very well. Tyrants are the leadership center of the army, and without one the frontline will flee at the first sign of trouble. To turn a Tyrant into an effective combat leader, it can be mounted on a Manticore, Cold One Chariot or even a Black Dragon.Sorceresses represent the wizards in this army, and they behave like standard fragile, defenseless wizards. What makes them unusual is they have excellent choice in mounts, they can ride anything from horses to Manticores to Black Dragons, but the most popular choice is a Dark Pegasus. Dark Elves have trouble hiding fragile characters, so instead a highly mobile Sorceress is a great option, and lets the Sorceress get into position to make use of her destructive offensive magic. As well as the Dark Magic lore, the Sorceress can use any of the generic magic lores.An unusual hero option are Khainite Assassins, which are among the best single combatants in the game, and certainly the most efficient for their points.
They may not be successful in attacking an Orc Warboss, but they can certainly kill enemy wizards more effectively than anything else in the game.SoldiersCheap rank and file infantry come in two forms, Dreadspears (spear and shield) and Bleakswords (sword and shield). The spears are obviously offensively slanted whereas the swords are defensive, they’re the closest thing to an anvil the army have and they’re not especially good at it.A third, slightly more expensive option are Black Ark Corsairs, the pirate fighting arm of the Dark Elves. Wearing their Sea Dragon cloaks, their armor reasonable and they can take either two hand weapons, or a hand weaponWitch Elves are an iconic unit, they’re extremely aggressive and have no armor whatsoever. They’re fragile and will die in droves, and are especially vulnerable to any form of shooting. They’re extremely effective combatants, and have a through-the-roof rate of attack. They’re also frenzied, which increases their combat ability but decreases your control over them.
Their attacks are poisoned, which gives them the ability to swarm and take down monsters very effectively. Where they struggle is against heavily armored enemies, this is an extremely niche unit.NSFWOften Witch Elves gather around a Cauldron of Blood, which gives nearby Witch Elves a Ward protection, and also increases their attack even further. Massive blocks of Witch Elves surrounding a Cauldron of Blood is a great spearhead to break the enemy line.NSFWFor heavy elite infantry, Black Guard of Naggarond carry halberds, and are Stubborn, making them effective longevity fighters. Har Ganeth Executioners behave similarly, but with giant, slow swinging two handed swords, which are great counters to the heavy infantry of other armies.ArchersWhere High Elves use Longbows, Dark Elves use repeating crossbows. Repeating crossbows have a high rate of fire at the cost of accuracy, they’re also high damage and armor piercing. Darkshards are not only excellent crossbow gunners but are very capable of defending themselves in combat, and are not especially vulnerable.Shades are skirmishers that can easily slip past the enemy line to their vulnerable backfield, they use hand weapons and repeater crossbows, and so they can either harass the enemy line from behind or attempt an assassination with their innate combat abilities as Dark Elves.CavalryDark Elves and Lizardmen both have access to Cold Ones, which are essentially Velociraptors from a certain movie.
Cold Ones are not especially fast, and are stupid, meaning some turns they may unpredictably opt to not move. This makes them poor as backline flankers, and will have trouble getting to the enemy backfield. But in combat they’re excellent, the knights riding them hit hard and so do the dinosaurs they’re riding. There’s also a chariot pulled by Cold Ones, and manned by two charioteers. Both units are excellent on the charge and are great frontline flankers, who don’t have to travel far.Dark Riders are among the best light cavalry in the game, and carry spears, and should be upgraded to carry repeater crossbows. They’re harassers of the highest order, and some Dark Elf generals opt to ignore infantry entirely and run an army of mostly these. It’s very hard to chase them down and they can attack and retreat with near impunity.One of the most overtly powerful units in the army are Doomfire Warlocks, which are fast cavalry, and as a unit are collectively considered a level 2 Wizard.
That level goes up by each additional rank they have, and cast spells from the Lore of Death and the Lore of Dark Magic. They’re also no slouches in combat and can certainly defend themselves, and they’re fast enough to get backfield. They really fill every role in combat except the frontline.MonstersMonsters of Naggaroth, and the sea around it are captured by Beastmasters, in game High Beastmasters are heroes which act independently and can goad monsters into being even more destructive in combat. The rarest monster a Beastmaster will enslave is the Kharibdyss, a deep sea monster that’s forced to fight for the Naggaroth army.
Kharibdyss are among the best monsters for chewing out walls of infantry, and are a great substitute for Witch Elves as linebreakers.The most notorious monster in tabletop is the War Hydra which is almost as good in combat as a Kharibdyss, but also has fire breath and regenerates wounds, like a troll. The only counter to this is fire, and this monster is one of the reasons bringing some form of flaming attacks is mandatory in a well-rounded army.
The attack power of the War Hydra decreases as it’s injured, representing its heads being ripped off.How They PlayDark Elves are focused entirely on offense, and can’t grind it out and endure like other close combat armies. Dark Elves struggle against small arms fire, Dwarf or Empire gun lines are a particularly bad matchup, and it takes great generalship to overcome. Where Dark Elves compensate is combining great melee damage with great ranged damage, and also great magical damage. Whereas Warriors of Chaos can only focus on close combat, Dark Elves are offensive in every facet of the game. Dark Elves are the best army for exploiting weaknesses.Dark Elves in the MetaDark Elf tournaments lists come in two varieties, entirely skirmishing light cavalry, or a massive block of Witch Elves. Dark Elves are very effective at high level play but with so many bad matchups they can be a crapshoot.
I don’t know if CA will consider this a problem or not. I have no experience with HEMA or the likes of. But from what I've heard and seen, even a master swordsman will be pressed by and intermediate spear user. The reach and speed when changing between head and feet as targets, is very hard to overcome.The TW titles have often used spears as cheap'ish infantry (unless they are elite phalanxes) This is as far as I know not really accurate. Spears (and later halberds and other polearms) have nearly always been the main weapon of armies. Red faction guerrilla cheats pc god mode. Not only due to the easy of production, but also the importance of reach in melee combat, and the ease at which an untrained peasant becomes a threat with a spear.The romans are of course a notable exception to this. But then, they were kinda exceptional in general.Also, TW games and video games in general like to create roles due to balance and gameplay.
In reality, nothing is stopping a soldier from carrying a spear until the combat gets chaotic and formations scatter, and then switch to his sword/axe/other short weapon.
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