Total War Warhammer 3 patch 4.2 is here, as developer Creative Assembly delivers a hefty series of upgrades across the board for its fantasy strategy game, with a particular focus on new heroes, units, and spells for its controversial Shadows of Change DLC. The latest Total War Warhammer 3 patch notes are absolutely vast, but we’ve run through them to pick out the key highlights you need to watch out for as you dive into TWW3 update 4.2.
The big headline feature for the Total War Warhammer 3 patch 4.2 notes is the expansion to its Shadows of Change DLC. Following controversy around the expansion pack’s higher price point and the amount of additional content it introduced to what is already one of the most expansive strategy games on PC, senior game director Rich Aldridge delivered a series of three blog posts talking about the new Shadows of Change improvements. If you don’t own the DLC, however, there’s still a lot to look forward to in the update.
There’s all manner of new units, heroes, and spells for all three of the Shadows of Change factions (Grand Cathay, Tzeentch, and Kislev). Cathay gets the giant archer Saytang, the defensive Gate Master, and flying monsters the Great Moon Bird and the Celestial Lion. The forces of Tzeentch are bolstered with multi-mawed Changebringers, fast-moving Centigors, and its axe-wielding exalted hero and Chaos lord. Finally, Kislev is joined by its Golden Knight, Naryska Leysa, a powerful ranged/melee brawler in Druzhina, a cheap warrior unit, and the flightless but fearsome Frost-Wyrm; it also gets six new spells for Mother Ostankya and her Hag Witches.
That’s the focus for Shadows of Change, but there’s an absolute mountain of other changes to be found in the full 4.2 patch notes for everyone, even if you don’t own that particular piece of Total War Warhammer 3 DLC. Kislev’s legendary lord Tzarina Katarin gets a new ice sled that allows her to traverse the battlefield in style and at speed, smashing through enemy lines as she goes.
Elsewhere, the Rampage attribute has been reworked; CA says, “Rampage has always been one of those attributes that’s been a little bit nebulous in the way that it actually works.” Now, a unit with Rampage will be uncontrollable – it’ll move around randomly until enemies are nearby, at which point it will target the nearest enemy unit available.
There’s also a huge raft of balance changes to dig through, so be sure to check out the extended patch notes if you’re interested in the nitty-gritty for your favorite Total War Warhammer 3 races. It’s worth noting specifically that Grand Cathay has had a hefty balance pass for its technology tree, with “a push to remove underwhelming or filler effects that were nice to have, but not potent enough to pursue,” and with some additional buffs to make all technologies feel viable and encourage experimentation.
Total War Warhammer 3 patch 4.2 is out now. We’ve also rounded up the best Warhammer games in 2024 for plenty more fantastic ways to spend time in the universe, or you can check out the best Total War Warhammer 3 mods to spice up the game even further.
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