Warhammer and Total War fans rejoice, the legendary fusion of these two series is back for another round. But you don’t have to be an established fan to have a good time with Total War: Warhammer 3. This is a delightful romp through a fantastical real-time strategy title that will put a smile on the faces of seasoned veterans and newcomers alike.
Jumping into an established series can be a little intimidating, especially when it is as dense with options as Total War: Warhammer 3 is. Worry not, we got you covered with all the beginner tips you need to help you put your best foot forward on the battlefield.
Don’t Skip The Prologue
We get it, tutorial sections are often bland. However, despite the game giving you the ability to skip it, if you are unfamiliar in the least with the Total War series, that would be a terrible mistake. This prologue will take you through everything from maneuvering your troops, to building your settlements, to using the terrain to your advantage.
Also, we are pleased to report that prologue makes for an enjoyable, little campaign. Is it just a thinly veiled tutorial? Of course it is. However, it will give you all the basic information you desperately need while simultaneously providing an enjoyable, bite-sized narrative.
Be In Command Of Your Commands
There are a bunch of commands that are going to be thrown at you, and some are likely to get lost in the shuffle. Here are a couple of the most important ones. Holding Ctrl and double left-clicking the mouse button on a unit will select all the units of that type. This is great if you are looking to quickly grab all your cavalry units or archers.
If you ever just want to quickly select your entire army, you can press the Ctrl and the A key together. Pressing Alt, Ctrl, and then holding the left mouse button down will allow you to orient the direction of multiple units. Lastly, if you have lost sight of your lord (which can happen when things get particularly chaotic), you can pan to your lord by using the home key.
Move As One
A great thing to do at the beginning of a battle is to organize all your troops and move forward at the same speed. You can accomplish this by locking your units into a group. This way faster units won’t leave everyone else behind (and clash with hordes of enemies alone).
To do this, you simply click on all your units while holding the Ctrl key, then you press the group key that is located below your units, and finally press the lock icon that will be located above the units on the left side. While this is very useful for moving all your units in formation, you are probably going to want to unlock the units and separate them once you reach your destination.
Spread Your Units Wide
Don’t concentrate your armies into giant globs if you can avoid it. This makes them more vulnerable to cannons and easier to flank. Wider is better. When you are selecting your units, hold the right mouse button and drag them out wide. This will help you have a wider front. One important thing to note is that this does not work if the units are locked into a group.
It will also give you the ability to fold in around your enemy if they get too clustered in the center. This means that the weakness this formation helps protect you against is also the weakness that you can exploit in your enemies.
The Tactical View Is A Lifesaver
Just by pressing the tab key, you can snap into a view that shows the entire battlefield with crystal clarity. Do not hesitate to use this when executing different combat maneuvers. Heck, even if you are just mashing your forces up against an enemy's forces (not typically the most advisable play, but you do you), it is good to zoom out just to make sure you aren’t missing opposing forces flanking you.
One thing to keep in mind is that the tactical view only shows what you can see. If enemy units are currently concealed, you will not see them in the tactical view.
Flanking Is Important
A big part of combat is going to revolve around protecting your flank and attacking your opponent's. The best way to set up a flank is to use Shift and the right mouse button to create a path for your selected units to follow. This will allow you to navigate them around different terrain. This is an especially strong strategy to use if there are different terrains that may help conceal your troops. However, even if you are on a large, open battlefield, flanking is still important.
Similarly, you want to have a plan to potentially deal with your enemies attempt to flank you. Utilizing the tactical view will be helpful, as will be positioning your units in a way that it isn't easy to circle around them and get to your vulnerable mages, archers, and read ends.
Live To Fight Another Day
If there are troops still alive, but taking heavy damage, you should consider letting them run so that they may live to fight another day. There is a handy-dandy command at the bottom of the screen for withdrawing from battle (the default hotkey is set to the U key). If a unit is heavily damaged, it may make sense to use the withdraw command.
You won't be able to withdraw a unit if it is surrounded by enemy units.
Once a unit starts to withdraw they will automatically retreat to the edges of the map. You don’t typically have to worry about them once they have broken away from the giant melee.
Control The Flow Of Time
In the top right corner of the screen, you have a set of controls that will allow you to pause, slow, and fast-forward time. If things are getting out of hand, feel free to pause the action and get the bigger picture of what is happening. This will also allow you to issue multiple commands to multiple units located around the map without fear of being attacked by the enemy as you do so.
You can also play through a combat encounter in slow motion, which is a great option for people who are feeling out of their depth, or if you just need to activate a number of commands in quick succession. Lastly, if you are just marching your troops across the battlefield, you will probably want to use the fast-forward function to reduce the tedium. Use these controls wisely and your life will be much easier.
Key Bindings Are Super Useful
We get it, you want to jump in and mix it up, but the best thing you can do is to make sure that the many commands in the game are linked to buttons that make sense to you. Total War: Warhammer 3 gives you the ability to bind the majority of commands to different keys. You should take advantage of these.
An especially important keybinding to keep in mind is for the spells. You have the ability to bind spells to different keys. If you are using heroes with tons of spells, this is a godsend. If you find yourself using a certain function or spell frequently you should probably bind it to a key and make your life easier.
Diplomacy Can Be The Best Policy
You don't need to take the Total War name too literally, there is a diplomacy option for a reason. Especially when starting off, you are likely to be surrounded by other nations. There is no need to spread your resources thin and wage war with everyone. In fact, building an impressive army can be as much a bargaining chip for diplomacy as it is a means to claim territory through combat.
If you are planning to wage war to the north, consider making allies to the south. That way your flank will be covered without necessarily needing to keep an auxiliary force on standby. One important thing to keep in mind: while treachery can be fun, others won't look too kindly on it. You have a reliability rating and the more you transgress, the worse it will be. Everything is a balancing act, so we aren't saying you should never dissolve a treaty, but just understand that there will be consequences if you do.