Available Now: The ALT+Tab Crash Steam Beta Branch
Steam players who regularly encounter the ALT+Tab Crash in Total War: WARHAMMER III can now opt-in to a new Steam Beta branch and play with the fix we’re working to include in Update 1.1. By opting-in to the branch, you will automatically download a temporary, beta version of the game that includes a fix for this specific issue:
When ALT+Tabbing out of the game, the client will close out unexpectedly.
Please note that while you are playing on the beta branch, CROSSPLAY WITH THE WINDOWS STORE, EPIC, AND NON-BETA STEAM USERS WILL BE UNAVIALABLE. This is because you will be playing on a unique version of the game, which is incompatible with any other versions currently available.
OPTING-IN TO THE STEAM BETA
Here’s how to opt-in and download the special Steam Beta branch:
Login to your account on Steam
Find Total War: WARHAMMER III in your Library
Right-click the game and select Properties… from the context menu
Select the BETAS option from the list
Under the Select the beta you would like to opt into: field, select the wh3_public_test - WH3 Public Test branch
The new build will begin downloading (~588MB). Wait for it to finish before launching the game
Note that you can opt-out of the beta at any time by following the same steps while setting the beta branch to “None”. This will automatically remove the beta files and return you to the public, “live” build of the game (currently 1.0.2).
KNOWN ISSUES
There are a few known issues you may encounter by opting-in to the wh3_public_test branch:
CROSSPLAY WHILE PLAYING THE STEAM BETA WILL BE UNAVAILABLE. Steam beta players will ONLY be able to play with other Steam beta players until the fix is fully-integrated alongside Update 1.1.
Dragging your window to a monitor using a different resolution can cause graphical issues. You can drag the game back to your original monitor or you can re-launch the game on the second monitor to work around this problem.
Save Games will initially prompt a warning that they are incompatible with the new build. Verifying the integrity of your game files should let you work around this error.
REPORTING ISSUES
While we’ve run our own tests on the build, there’s always room for new problems to arise whenever it’s introduced to a new hardware/software environment. If you encounter any graphics or display issues related to this particular beta build—meaning NEW issues caused specifically by this beta—please take the time to reply in the discussion thread, here: 💬 [BETA FEEDBACK] WH3 Public Test: ALT + Tab Crash Fix Discussion We will be monitoring this thread for both positive (“the fix works”) and negative (“something went wrong”) feedback about the build, so feel free to post about your experience on the forum so we can react in time for Update 1.1!
NEED HELP?
Finally, if you are experiencing a technical issue or a new issue launching the game, there are several resources for you to explore to work around the issues:
Developer Diary: Looking forward to Update 1.1 and Beyond
Good day, commanders! We wanted to side-step for a moment and talk a little bit about our first major gameplay update coming early next month: Update 1.1. This is the first release to include a variety of fixes, gameplay balance changes, and adjustments to mechanics that have been at the heart of discussion in the public space. So today, we’re going to highlight some of these topics, provide some insight into our short-term plans over here at Creative Assembly, and look ahead to our long-term roadmap following the update.
A Foreword…
For those of you looking for details about the combined WARHAMMER map (“Immortal Empires”), the Blood Pack, or any other DLC you’re waiting to see added to the game, I’ll note in advance that we WON’T be covering those subjects in any great depth or detail today.
We know these are important topics to many of you who have been asking about them; unfortunately, the timelines of these projects are currently in flux as we reprioritize our work to establish a strong foundation for the game upon which we can build. The game needs to be in a solid place before we consider adding new content and features to the mix, so we’re in the process of reviewing the release timing of both Immortal Empires and the Blood Pack.
When we know more, we’ll take the time to spotlight the cool new content we have planned at that time. Until then, rest assured that we’ll share what we know as soon as we have a more concrete timeline in place!
Patch 1.1 Preview
Here we go! Update 1.1 is the first of our large updates to the game. Currently slated for early next month, the build will introduce a swatch of changes across a variety of areas: design improvements, gameplay fixes, and fundamental changes prioritized and based on the feedback we’ve seen since launch. Here are some of those changes:
REALM OF CHAOS
The Realm of Chaos has been one of the most prevalent discussion points amongst the community, and we’re using this update to implement several bug fixes and gameplay tweaks that change how it fits into the mechanics of the game. This includes several key changes:
The strength of the negative Realm traits has been reduced by roughly ~50%.
Daemon Legendary Lords will no longer be burdened by the negative traits of their respective patron god.
Traits gained in the Realm of Chaos will now be removed when a Legendary Lord completes the survival battle within that realm.
When a player intercepts an AI Lord at the Forge of Souls, their souls will now be lost—forcing them to restart their collection. This should make it easier to disrupt the Souls race.
The “Protection” building chain can now be used to prevent rifts from spawning in the province in which they're built.
The rewards for gaining Souls have been improved by providing additional bonuses for a limited period of time.
These changes are intended to make the Souls race less urgent and give you the chance to approach the battlefield in different ways. We will, of course, continue to adjust the mechanics in the future, but look forward to seeing how these changes impact your experience as you jump in after 1.1.
SUPPLY LINES
A prevalent issue reported by the community: a fix to address the bug where the upkeep cost of the Supply Lines mechanic would fail to update after disbanding your armies will be included in Update 1.1.
INFANTRY RESPONSIVENESS
Another noteworthy topic is how infantry units turn and respond on the battlefield. While changes have been made that should improve the rate of responsiveness to (roughly) match that in Total War: WARHAMMER II, we still have work to continue improving the AI behavior in combat. We’ll have more news about this in future updates that we’ll share with you later!
FACTION BALANCE
As mentioned previously, the team will be making various tweaks to the different factions based on your feedback and the win rates of the different factions. There is a fine balance to walk between how strong a faction is perceived vs. how they perform on the battlefield, but we hope to learn from both as we buff or reduce a faction or specific unit(s).
For perspective, here’s a look at the win rates in ranked matchmaking and the multiplayer Domination mode:
Here are some quick notes from the balance team as to how they’ve chosen the initial balance tweaks of the different factions in 1.1:
The Ogre Kingdoms, in general, are overperforming heavily in both ranked matchmaking and tournaments. We are making some significant adjustments to the units based on community feedback and our metrics.
Grand Cathay is currently (by far) the biggest underperformer in ranked matchmaking and in Domination tournaments. We think that Cathay is best when their army is large—such as in land battles—which is why we are increasing the size of all starting armies in Domination. We’ll be monitoring these changes to see how the meta progresses in the months ahead.
While Kislev is slightly underperforming in ranked matchmaking (according to our metrics), they seem to be performing adequately in the tournament environment. There are a few units that particularly stand out, and so we are looking to make smaller tweaks while observing the effects of other changes and bug fixes.
Nurgle has been doing well in ranked matchmaking, however we know they don't do well in the tournament environment. We are also concerned that the slowness of most Nurgle units make them vulnerable to larger armies with ranged firepower, which can result in heavy losses before the Nurgle units are able to engage in melee combat.
In Update 1.1, we are fixing several issues with charges, bracing, and impact damage. We feel it’s too risky to touch the Slaanesh units without having a good understanding of what effect these will have, so we’ll keep an eye on things and make adjustments in the future based on feedback.
We are currently happy with the state of Khorne and will continue monitoring how they perform in relation to the other balance changes made this month. Our systemic changes should not be shifting the faction much in either direction, but we will watch closely!
What do you think? We’ll share exact details once we’ve locked them in for 1.1 and look forward to hearing what you think once you get your hands on them next month.
BUG FIXES
With every build, we will be looking to fix, test, and package as many bug fixes into the build as possible—again, working towards that strong baseline for Total War: WARHAMMER III. Update 1.1 certainly gives us the opportunity to tackle some of the key issues you’ve helped us identify; if all goes according to plan (i.e. everything passes testing and is confirmed to not have any side effects) here’s a taste of some of the key fixes coming your way:
ALT+Tab Crash Fix: We’re aiming to have a Steam Beta in your hands next week, and will let you know as soon as it is available. Depending on its success, we’ll bundle and share this with the rest of the community in Update 1.1.
Gift of Slaanesh: A conflict between the “Everlasing Gift” tech and “Gift of Slaanesh” upgrade will be resolved in the update.
Prologue Sticks after the Battle of Fort Devingard: Not after 1.1, it won't!
Soft Lock when ending your turn after losing Yuri: Not anymore; also fixed in 1.1.
Crash fixes: Several crash fixes have been implemented based on your reports both here and with our Support Team. This will be an ongoing effort as we work to get everyone in and playing the game!
Shadow Shroud: Be’lakors ability “Shadow Shroud” is now associated with his unique trait.
“Corrupted By”: Factions will now be able to remove negative “corrupted by” traits when in a region dominated by their favored corruption.
Achievement Issues: Whether unlocking achievements the wrong way, not unlocking achievements at all, or unlocking duplicate achievements, we’re implementing fixes for many of the achievements available in the game.
...and more!
This is by no means a complete list: there are plenty of behind-the-scenes fixes and other fixes that require testing confirmation before we’re comfortable committing to their inclusion in the update. We’ll share the full list in Update 1.1, and encourage you to continue consolidating the bugs and other issues you find into threads here on the forum, or contacting our support team if you’re experiencing technical issues.
But wait…there’s more!
While the Assembly Kit is still in the works as we prioritize our fixes to the core game, we are excited to share that we’ll be aiming to release the mod manager and enable Workshop support alongside Update 1.1. We plan to continue expanding the toolset and options at your disposal in the months and years to come, but we hope this will kick-start the modding efforts of the community as we continue to work on official updates to the game.
Beyond 1.1
What comes after Update 1.1? Well, this is only the beginning…
As we’ve mentioned throughout our posts, the goal at this very moment is to iron out the technical wrinkles, improve the stability and performance of the game, and adjust the balance and gameplay based on ongoing commentary from the community. This is all with the very specific goal of establishing a strong baseline for Total War: WARHAMMER III: one that supports the ongoing growth of the game with new content, new factions, and new modes for you all to explore.
Like WARHAMMER II, our plan is to eventually pair large content drops with regular game updates: bug fixes, balance changes, and the sort. However, we are also looking to raise our game above WARHAMMER II by introducing major patch updates between our key DLC releases: allowing us to address bugs, balance concerns, and other adjustments on a quicker cadence than previous games. All of this is aimed at establishing a more reliable cadence of releases once we’ve established a strong foundation for the game and its future.
Looking Ahead to the WARHAMMER III Roadmap
We know that many of you are eager for a long-term roadmap of what’s coming down the line, which very much includes many devs here at Creative Assembly who are excited to share our plans. We read you all loud and clear.
We’re in the process of pulling together a look at the year ahead that we hope to share you after the release of Update 1.1. Things are in flux at the moment as we rebalance the work on WARHAMMER III with future projects; so, once things settle and cement a bit, we’ll be sharing more about the year ahead and a general “what” and “when” things will be coming to the game. We’ll let you know when we have that ready to go!
Closing Out
*Whew*… Thanks for making it through this wall of information! We hope these posts are helpful for those of you looking to understand what we’re working on and working towards with the game. We’ll keep the information flowing and will continue adjusting how and when we communicate based on your reactions, feedback, and expectations!
And again: thank you all for your ongoing support and passion to see WARHAMMER III reach its FULL potential! There’s certainly room to grow, but we’re confident we’ll get there: with your feedback serving as guidance, and with all we have planned to expand and grow the Total War: WARHAMMER universe. Thanks to all of you who continue to be a part of the conversation, offer feedback with the quality of the game at heart, and help others who are having trouble playing the game. You are the core of this community, and we will continue to be your biggest fans as we work to improve your game!
Total War: WARHAMMER III - Patch 1.0.2
Good day, commanders! Today we’re happy to introduce Patch 1.0.2, which brings fixes for several key performance, multiplayer, and installation issues to Total War: WARHAMMER III.
Our primary goal with this release is to raise the baseline for our community: assisting those who have been unable to play and implementing the first performance fixes for those of you experiencing framerate caps or issues running the game on certain high-end rigs. Both performance and stability will be a long-term and ongoing effort for the team, all of which begins with raising the bottom bar for those most impacted by technical obstacles or issues.
Following today’s build, we will be working towards two major milestones to which you can look forward:
Steam Beta of the ALT+Tab Crash Fix. The team is fixing a few final graphics issues that popped up as a result of the fix before submitting it to QA for review. Once verified, it will be uploaded and made available as a Steam Beta branch, which will allow affected players to verify that it works on their system before it is approved for an official game build.
Update 1.1. The game’s first major gameplay, balance, and bug-fix update is in the works, and the team has pulled together a wide variety of changes for you to enjoy. We’ll talk more about what to expect in the update this week, though its arrival date is still TBD as the team puts it through all the necessary testing and approval cycles.
Whether you’re experiencing issues or enjoying the game at its fullest, you are welcome to join us on our official channels where you can join the conversation with the rest of the community:
Finally: thank you for being a part of this journey, which is only just beginning... We have plenty more in store as we prepare both the fixes and brand-new additions to the game, and genuinely appreciate your patience, your passion for Total War and WARHAMMER III, and for your honest critiques as we build on the strong foundation established by the WARHAMMER series over the past six years. We share your excitement and eagerness to see Total War: WARHAMMER III grow, expand, and set a new standard for the series, and can’t wait to join you all on the battlefield that lies ahead. Keep making your voices heard, and we’ll be back here soon with more details of what lies ahead for the WARHAMMER team.
See you in the Chaos Realms!
— The Total War Team
📃 PATCH 1.0.2
GAME
Improved our build-authoring process, which will reduce the excessive install times required for relatively small patches. We expect to further reduce these install times with the next game update.
Fixed a problem where the vertical sync (VSync) setting was being forced on for some players—artificially limiting the framerate regardless of system specs.
Resolved game stuttering issues when playing the game in Windows 11 with Intel Alder Lake (12th-generation) processors.
Fixed an issue that caused the game to hang on first boot in certain languages.
The game will now display an error if installed to a folder path that uses non-English characters. Doing so will cause the game to be unresponsive. To alleviate this, we recommend changing the installation location to a folder or folder path that doesn't include non-English characters.
MULTIPLAYER
Fixed an issue that caused battles in multiplayer campaign to desync.
General multiplayer services improvements.
⚠ NEED HELP?
If you experience any issues after downloading the update, please take a moment to Verify the integrity of the game files first to ensure there were no issues when downloading. A step-by-step guide can be found in this article.
If the issues persist, please visit our support site for additional troubleshooting steps and assistance.
Inform: Patch 1.0.2 arrives next week; more game news to follow!
Good day, everyone! Following up with another quick note about the upcoming build schedule.
Since announcing the 1.0.2 plan last week, we have more clarification to share with you:
The update will not arrive today, but will be available next week.
It will include the performance improvements noted last week—such as the forced V-sync and ongoing issues with Alderlake generation processors—in addition to fixes for desyncs and boot issues preventing certain players from playing or enjoying the game.
Unfortunately, the fix for the ALT+Tab crash resulted in new graphical issues, so we will NOT be bundling it with 1.0.2. Rather, the plan is to host the fix as a Steam Beta branch once it has undergone further testing. This will allow players to opt-in to the branch and try it out themselves if they’d like, as well as report any issues that might be related to their particular hardware or software setup that can be addressed before releasing it to the larger audience.
We’re also implementing the first of several improvements to the Steam patching process with this build, which should cut down the amount of unpacking time required once you’ve downloaded the update. We will continue making adjustments to this system in the future to improve how the files are packaged, downloaded, and installed on all platforms, so watch for those!
Following Patch 1.0.2, we’ll talk a bit more about Update 1.1: the first major gameplay update for Total War: WARHAMMER III. This is aiming to include several bug fixes, balance tweaks, gameplay changes, and mechanical improvements to a variety of areas in the game.
Here are just a few of the areas that will see improvements in 1.1:
The Chaos Realms, negative traits, realm rewards, and rift management
Numerous balance tweaks to the Factions
Bug fixes (including the Supply Line bug)
…and much more!
Many of these changes are based on feedback from the community—with many more of your comments, critiques, and ideas being worked into our future updates. Following 1.1, we'll provide a longer-term look at what's coming in the future. It’s clear that *MANY* players are waiting to hear more about the Blood Pack, Immortal Empires, and other new content coming to the game, and we’re excited to share more about those projects once we’ve established a strong baseline for WARHAMMER III
More information next week! Watch for it here and on our other official social channels.
Good day, commanders! It’s been about a week since we updated you about the team’s current work plan, so we wanted to drop back in here with some inside insight into where we’re at as we continue to prioritize and package fixes for our next patch. Note that this is far from the *comprehensive* roadmap many of you are looking for right now, but don’t worry: that will come later on as we’re able to shift our focus from establishing a strong baseline to adding future content to the game. Rather, we want to highlight our focus on the game’s foundation (right now), talk about some of the worst issues impacting certain players (and what they can do while they’re waiting), and when you can expect changes to the game in the near (and near-ish) future!
Patch 1.0.2 Timeline
First off, the big question: when can we expect the next update?
The team is working hard on our next small patch, which is targeting fixes at the most disruptive issues reported since the game’s release:
ALT+Tab Stability: Accounting for a majority of our crash reports, the ALT+Tab crash is the primary issue under investigation. While we have a fix in testing, the complexity of the issue requires a substantial amount of review to ensure it doesn’t break anything else in the game. So, while we very much hope to include it in the next build, the results of our testing will determine whether it is safe to do so or whether it is held until the next-next update.
Unintended V-Sync Lock: Some users have noted that in certain circumstances, their game framerate will be capped at a low number regardless of their hardware capabilities. We’re working on a fix to make V-Sync behave if you want to flex on the game.
Further Alderlake Improvements: Windows 11 and Windows 10 users should no longer see performance stuttering related to their 12th generation Intel processors.
Battle Desyncs: Some players have desyncs during multiplayer battles. That’s bad, so we’re working to fix that up.
Issues when the game is installed to a path using non-ASCII/non-English characters: In this scenario, the game would crash upon booting. Players encountering this issue will now receive a warning message so the game can be moved to a supported location only using English characters.
The list may look short, but introduces numerous fixes for complex issues in the underlying code of the game. This is a scary business, since making a change to one area of code—to the systems that make the game run or ensure that other code runs properly—can have a ripple effect into those other systems and mechanics. Think of it like trying to remove a single stick from the middle of a pile of sticks without moving them… It’s often difficult, if not impossible.
With that in mind, our teams are testing the build thoroughly for any unforeseen impacts of the changes. The goal? To release a stable build for the game next week—currently targeting March 10—but with the foreknowledge that we may hold it until March 17 to ensure that it doesn’t introduce any worse problems into the game than what we’re aiming to fix. We will keep you informed of the timeline as things solidify, and encourage you to check out our ongoing list of known issues and workarounds if you’re experiencing any of them right now.
Game Crashes and Stability
Ensuring you’re able to play the game is our foremost focus, and we are continuing to work towards implementing fixes for the worst of the game crashes you’ve either brought to our attention on the forum or—with massive thanks to those who have done so—sent along with diagnostic files to our support team!
Crashes can emerge due to a range of factors: including conflicts within the game’s code to issues with the hardware or software programs of the player’s computer. This is why we recommend running through (at minimum) these basic troubleshooting steps if you’re encountering issues:
Ensure you have downloaded all the latest Windows Updates. You may need to reboot your PC and run through them a few times to make sure you have all the latest files.
Ensure you've downloaded the latest Graphics Driver update for your card. Make sure you visit the website of your card’s manufacturer to download and install the latest updates.
Close out of or disable any/all background programs—especially peripheral and gaming hubs. Specifically, issues have been found when running Razer Cortex and Citrix.
Add WARHAMMER III as an exception to your antivirus and firewall. This will ensure that these programs are not interfering with your ability to launch and play the game.
And, of course, if none of those solutions work, we want to hear from you to see what we can learn about the problem! There may be a factor we’ve not considered, and contacting us may not only result in a solution for you, but for others experiencing the issue, as well!
Gameplay Issues
Beyond the initial issues we’re working to solve, we’ve also been keeping track of all your commentary about the gameplay, balance, siege battles, the journey into the Chaos Realms, how auto-battles are resolved, and all the other aspects of the game you love, maybe-less-than-love, or would like to see updated/altered in the future. We’ve been reading, listening, and taking notes—particularly those of you who have taken the time to explain the problem, how it impacts your play, and including constructive ideas where we can improve that experience. These posts are illuminating as we look to understand and improve improving a system in the game. So, to all of you: THANK YOU for setting a high bar; your contributions haven’t gone unnoticed…
To the point at hand: for all the gameplay concerns and feedback you’ve been providing, we’ve been pulling together lists and planning out the first big gameplay balance and bug-fix patch scheduled for early next month. It’ll take time to come up with the full list of what will show up in the release, but we’ll let you know more exact details as we get closer; stay tuned!
On the subject of Denuvo...
Another divisive topic of discussion we’ve noticed is in regards to Denuvo. While the team is *extensively* testing the product to determine its full impact on the game, there are a few misconceptions that have been presented as evidence that we would like to clear up:
Denuvo was included in press and content creator review builds. Why their performance was impacted post-launch is something we are actively working to understand, but the program was not purposefully omitted and then later added for the sake of the reviews.
Denuvo has been a part of previous Total War titles. This does not absolve it of any potential issues it is causing (which, as mentioned, we will continue to work to determine), but it is also not a new technology to the series. If it is causing problems now, there may be some other factor at the heart of the problem that you/we can explore together.
The impact of Denuvo on performance is not yet conclusive. Many players have presented evidence both ways, and there are likely to be many factors that weigh into the conversation. When we are confident in our results, we will make a call at that time.
With all of that in mind, we would ask that you be patient as we seek out answers in the matter. Calling for its removal and derailing otherwise constructive discussion threads is both disruptive and rarely adds any new or helpful information to the conversation at hand. As such, we’ll be treating any off-topic comments about the technology as spam (per the Steam posting guidelines)—issuing warnings as we work to provide a space for our players to have healthy, constructive, and (of course) critical discussions about the game.
There are plenty of threads where you can continue to discuss the topic, but wielding it as a weapon of disruption is something we will be working to discourage.
Patch Downloads on Steam
Finally, we’ve also heard your feedback about the last update on Steam, which was only a few gigabytes but required a full and lengthy unpack of all the game files. In an effort to improve this experience, we’ve kicked off an investigation with the hope of preventing this issue from affecting future builds.
The good news is that this only impacts the unpacking of the game, which means that you’re not having to download any additional information beyond the initial patch. So, be patient, let it run, and we’ll see what we can do to make things better in the future!
Wrapping Up!
We know that the first weeks after a game’s release can be bumpy, and we are continuing to listen, report, and represent your voice over here at Creative Assembly. We’ll be here on the forum to answer your questions, solve problems, and share information as we learn more, and appreciate everyone helping to communicate and build this community that will last for years to come!
More to come! For now, we’ll see you on the battlefield!
—The Total War Team
Total War: WARHAMMER III – Patch 1.0.1
Good day, everyone! With the first week of Total War: WARHAMMER III behind us, we’re continuing our work with the community to identify the most pressing issues as the team prepares, tests, and packages solutions in these upcoming builds. To catch up on our upcoming release plans, you can read our recent post on the topic here:
Today’s release contains the first handful of fixes we were able to safely package into an update across all our platforms, and is targeted at early reports of multiplayer and performance issues in the game. We are already working on another package of fixes coming your way soon and will announce more about that when we have a timeline we can share.
As always, your feedback about the issues you’re experiencing and the efficacy of these fixes are essential to our process, so don’t forget to join us on our social channels to share your experience:
Thanks again for being a part of this journey; we look forward to all the changes still to come, and will be sharing more about the next steps in the near future!
— The Total War Team
📃 PATCH 1.0.1
Fixed an issue where the multiplayer lobby would refresh too quickly, preventing players from being able to select and join a room.
Fixed an issue which prevented invites to a multiplayer lobby from working properly.
The game now runs in DirectX 11 compatibility mode for all users by default. This is to prevent instances where users inadvertently ran on the legacy implementation of the DirectX 12 beta.
Improved how 12th generation Intel CPUs (aka 'Alder Lake' family) interact with the game, providing more consistent framerates when running on these processors.
IMPORTANT
If you experience issues after downloading the update, please take a moment to verify the integrity of the game files to ensure there were no issues when downloading. You can find information on how to do so in this article.
Who is Ku’gath Plaguefather: An Interview with Lead Writer, Andy Hall
Ku’gath is a tinkerer in his own way, endlessly fascinated by the inner workings of life itself and the intricate damage he can inflict on mortals. He has long preferred lurking on the outskirts of mortal kingdoms, where he can keep a closer eye on the effects of his contagions and pathogens. Thus we find him in the campaign, up to no good slap-bang in the middle of the map.
We sat down with Lead Writer, Andy Hall, to talk everything relevant—in this case: the rot, the stench, the Nurglings, and much more.
HELLO ANDY – WHAT SETS KU’GATH APART FROM HIS FELLOW GREAT UNCLEAN ONES?
He’s a creative; an artist if you will, although his chosen canvas happens to be a bit of a biohazard! While his fellow Great Uncle Anon(e)s are more focused on spreading Nurgle’s gifts that already exist, Ku’gath wishes to tinker, tweak and experiment. Such a view has brought him into conflict with more than one of his corpulent kin, who believe that it is only the Urfather himself that should create contagion, while a Daemon’s role is solely as heralds and spreaders of infection.
One such sect, led by three Great Unclean Ones, known as The Afflicted Shroud, took it upon themselves to prevent Ku’gath from concocting anymore diseases. They cornered him, upon the mortal plane, in the Dragon Isles. Ku’gath was on the hunt for another rare ingredient, deep down in the sunbaked chasms.
To say they underestimated the Plagueweaver would be an understatement. As the Afflicted Shroud made their threats and demands, Ku’gath looked on amused. The Shroud’s self-designated leader, Grand Paraoxus, was delivering his final demands when Ku’gath briefly looked up with a wide grin. Grand Paraoxus was too involved in his sonorous delivery to notice, but the two other Unclean Ones – standing just behind their leader – did follow Brewmaster’s gaze and saw upon the top of the sheer sides of chasms, countless Nurglings looking down upon them. These were the Brewmaster’s children, and they fell gleefully upon The Afflicted Shroud every one of them infected with Ku’gath’s latest virus – one created specially to render down his own kin; a disease even the infamous constitution of a Great Unclean One would fail to halt!
Yet, Grand Paraoxus survived the Nurgling avalanche and fled across the sea, to Grand Cathay. Ku’gath followed.
SO, KU’GATH IS KNOWN IN THE CELESTIAL DRAGON EMPIRE?
Yes, he is known as Zin-Fa the Ever-Pustulent. A name that sends shivers across all the Grand Courts of Cathay. As Zin-Fa chased his prey he took great delight in visiting the many sights and cities of Grand Cathay and showed his appreciation by reciprocating with the many gifts he had created. In the southern and western provinces, crops withered, rice paddies were blighted, and the people took ill.
But the Ever-Pustulent was in a rush and so could not stop and admire his work, for he sought the remnants of the Afflicted Shroud. He caught up with Grand Paraoxus in the Central Provinces, close to the city of Shang-Wu. Yueyin, the white moon, glowed bright that night. A sign, that the Moon Empress was angered at this trespass. As the Great Unclean Ones sized each other up, a triumvirate of Dragons arrowed down from the sky. Led by Yuan Bo, the Jade Dragon, who rarely takes to the battlefield, and at his side was Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, who howled in joy at the thought of skewering fat daemons in front of his brothers! (He knew that Yuan would find that particularly distasteful). The final Dragon was wreathed in fire, Li Dao, ruler of the Southern Provinces who was outraged at the carnage Nurgle’s daemons had wrought!
So it was the Fire Dragon that delivered the killing blow. Yuan Bo, and Zhao Ming hemmed the daemons in… Zhao taunting Grand Paraoxus in his human form. Then Li Dao marshalled the Burning Winds to its fullest extent, both Daemons were set aflame and purged from the mortal plane. The smile never left Zin-Fa’s face as he knew he would soon return. Grand Paraoxus was not so content, for he would now feel the full weight of Ku’gath’s jovial wrath in the Realm of Chaos.
I ASSUME THAT KU’GATH HAS HAD RUN-INS WITH MANY OTHERS UPON THE MORTAL WORLD?
Oh, yes, he is a regular visitor and actually prefers the real world to the Realm of Chaos, although he has a secret laboratory under the Plague Lord’s manse, where he stashes his accoutrements and most promising experiments. But it’s the mortal plane where he is his most efficacious – assuming he can sustain himself. It is during such forays that the Brewmaster has encountered one race above all others that have penetrated through his scientific detachment to bring forth pure rage, and that is the Dwarfs. On a professional level he hates the bearded creatures for their resilience to disease. But on a more personal level the Plaguefather has suffered two shameful defeats against the Dwarfs that have earned a rare displeasure from his master.
The first was against the walls of Karaz-a-Karak, the Dwarf Capital held firm. The tenacity of the Dwarfs proves too much for his most prized plagues. The Daemons, under the Brewmaster’s direction, breach three layers of defences but four remained unsullied. The Dwarfs rally forth their throngs and Ku’gath is banished by the strong arm of King Stromni Axehand.
WHAT WAS THE SECOND TIME?
To compound Ku’gath’s hatred further, he suffered an even greater defeat. Three Dwarfholds—Karak Mar, Karak Nal and Dok Duraz are lost to rampaging Daemons. Zhufbar should have fallen too, it is due to the iron resolve of its defenders. Zhufbar’s fall was tasked to Ku’gath. His failure to conquer while three rival Greater Daemons succeeded, lost Father Nurgle a wager against his rival gods and status in the Great Game. Ku’gath is banished to the Forge of Souls for his failure.
DOES THAT MEAN KU’GATH IS EXILED, LIKE SKARBRAND?
No, Nurgle seems to be a more forgiving god than Khorne. And so only spent a few centuries within the Forge. But as long as Ku’gath keeps creating his poxes and plagues then he will remain one of Nurgle’s most favoured servants even if he keeps failing to crack open those Karaks! Perhaps the player can help with that when we release the game!
Thanks, Andy!
Does Ku’gath appeal to you? The slow, inexorable victory of a rolling tide of Plaguebearers and Nurglings. The joy of laughter and drone of Nurgle’s incoming gifts, all backed by a master plague artificer and one of the deadliest beings there is. Join him now in Total War: WARHAMMER III.
Total War: WARHAMMER III Worldwide Release Times
It's almost here! Total War: WARHAMMER III releases this Thursday, February 17th, and we want to be sure you're ready to step up and command your armies the moment they arrive! To that end, we've created this helpful map to give you an idea of when the game arrives in a time zone near you:
Haven't pre-ordered the game yet...?
Players who have will not only have the opportunity to pre-load the game early, but will automatically unlock access to the Ogre Kingdoms faction! Make sure to pre-order your copy:
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
To ensure you're ready to play on day one, we're excited to announce that anyone who has pre-purchased the game will be able to pre-download it starting February 15th on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and Game Pass.
Want to find out when it’s released in your area?Click here for a handy time zone conversion for cities all around the world.
Steam Pre-Installation Instructions
Open your Steam client.
Find Total War: WARHAMMER III in your library.
Click the INSTALL button.
Steam will begin the pre-load the game, which you can follow in the ‘DOWNLOADS’ area. If you encounter any problems starting the download, try fully exiting and restarting Steam to see if that helps. If you unable to begin the download after several hours, please contact Steam support for assistance.
Total War: WARHAMMER III File Size
The approximate installation size is ~120 GB, so we recommend starting early. Please also make sure there is enough space available on your drive to install the game. There will also be at least one more patch prior to playing, so you'll want to have a majority of the files ready-to-go if you want to play on day one!
We look forward to seeing you leading your favourite Warhammer force on the battlefield and will see you later this month with more Total War: WARHAMMER III news!
—The Total War Team
CONNECT WITH US!
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
Join us for the CHAOS CLASH Tournament Finals this Weekend!
It’s nearly time! With the arrival of Total War: WARHAMMER III to the big stage of battle in less than a week, the search for the greatest champions and commanders of the game has begun!
With Turin and ItalianSparticus overseeing the competition, fifty of the strongest WARHAMMMER III players joined the preliminary stages of the CHAOS CLASH tournament to vie for supremacy. Now, this coming Saturday, February 12th, our final 10 champions will battle it out in the game’s Domination Mode to see who emerges as the victor.
Join us this weekend on the official Total War and Xbox Twitch channel, on YouTube, or right here on the Steam Store page to catch every moment of the action:
The winner of the tournament will not only take home the crown and glory as WARHAMMER III's first esteemed champion, but will receive a brand-new, custom-built PC ready to take on the live battlefield—courtesy of our friends at Novatech and Intel!
Excited yet? Come tune in to see the best players in the world take on the competition, command their armies, and master the battlefield!
We'll see you there! ⚔
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
