The next Total War Warhammer 3 DLC turns the High Elves into a nautical terror

Total War Warhammer 3 Tides of Torment is the next big expansion for the colossal strategy game, and developer Creative Assembly recently took it back into the kitchen to spend a little longer cooking up something special. Now, it’s finally ready to show off its work. In a new CA dev chat, senior community manager Nastya Dolgosejeva is joined by senior game director Rich Aldridge, lead battle designer Milcho Vasilev, and DLC game director Todor Nikolov to discuss what we can expect from the new-look High Elves and the corresponding TWW3 7.0 update.

There’s a fundamental majesty to the sheer scale of Total War Warhammer 3, which achieves the impressive feat of being the most broad and comprehensive offering among the many great Warhammer games available nowadays. For all its ups and downs over the years, it remains a worthwhile stalwart among our pick of the best strategy games on PC. As such, CA’s recent decision to hold back its next DLC was borne from a desire to ensure a future filled with highs rather than lows.

“We brought the DLC to a playable state, we started playtesting it, we got feedback, and it turned out that it wasn’t hitting the quality bar that we had set for ourselves,” Nikolov explains. “We needed more time to ensure that the first-day experience for our players is the one that they would like to see.” The developer has done a good job recovering the public opinion of past disappointments such as Shadows of Change, but it’s keen to get things right out of the gate this time and please the people who buy it at launch.

Joining Slaanesh legendary lord Dechala and Norsca’s Sayl in the pack is High Elf prince Aislinn. As the Sea Lord of Ulthuan and commander of the navy, Aldridge says he’s “quite different” from the other High Elf factions, bringing plenty of nautical flavor to proceedings. “He’s efficient to the point where he’s just being brutal to the enemies of Ulthuan,” Nikolov remarks. “He’s single-minded in going after his target, which is usually a real or perceived threat to the High Elves.”

“He really does think that offense is the best defense,” Vasilev laughs, “and preventative strikes on other shores are not something that he’s going to be shy of doing, despite what other High Elves think about it.” Aislinn’s not just a master tactician; he strides into battle with dual-wielded swords and his signature tabletop trick of amplifying the prowess of his ranged units.

“It has been a while since we last updated the High Elves and they were in need of some love,” Nikolov says. “We know that a lot of players really want to play them.” As such, you can expect wider upgrades to the race at large, such as allowing them to form confederations between different factions, something Aldridge compares to the Dwarfs’ Great Book of Grudges. Several of the existing High Elf legendary lords will also be improved: “We really do want to have Teclis be one of the greatest mages out there,” Vasilev hints.

You can expect plenty of new units too, of course. Skycutters – the notorious flying chariots pulled by great eagles – are joining the lineup in two variants, one with archers and another with bolt throwers. Some characters, including Aislinn, can also use them as a personal mount. Naturally you can expect lots of seafaring options too. Oceanids are powerful animal infantry created from water, making them highly resilient to physical damage, while their big brother the Sea Elemental is even more imposing.

On the hero side, you have Mist Mages, which act as supportive casters that can buff your ranged units or cloak them in stealth to move through the shadows. They’re even capable of summoning Oceanids directly onto the battlefield. Expect Aislinn to pose a serious threat from distance, then, with the animations to match: “We really spent a lot of time and effort to try and do a bit more there,” Aldridge says, “you will be able to see ships attacking ports from the sea rather than hopping off onto land.”

You can expect some similar polish for the other factions as well. Slaanesh will gain new Dark Elf units and “a general pass of things like tech, buildings, all the stuff that people enjoy. We think they’re in a pretty good state at the moment,” Aldridge explains. “We are looking at things around cults and if we can do any improvements there, and around holy manifestations. Just trying to tighten up what we’ve got there.”

Norsca will get an overhaul for its Monstrous Arcanum. “We are changing the way you hunt monsters, they’re now going to be much more region-specific,” Vasilev reveals, “and after hunting those big nasties you’re going to receive some interesting trophies that unlock different abilities that you can use in battle.” Nikolov emphasizes that the team is considering ways to better capture Norsca’s pillaging tendencies, and notes that you’ll get all of the faction’s units with Sayl, even if you don’t own the original Norsca DLC.

The focus with Tides of Torment is once again on the Immortal Empires mode. Aldridge notes that all three of the new characters will have specific narrative paths they can follow, but adds that you’re free to just play them in a more sandbox fashion if you prefer. As Dechala, for example, you’ll be encouraged to build “really opulent pleasure palaces” using the thralls that she lures into her service.

Nikolov says Creative Assembly is now planning to release the Tides of Torment DLC “somewhere in late October,” but we’ll have to wait until closer to then for an exact date.

Need a refresher on the Total War Warhammer 3 races? We’ve got your back. Alternatively, take a look through the best grand strategy games on PC right now.

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