《全面战争：战锤3》新更新为亡灵军团带来“更有意义的目标”并进行大量平衡改动

Creative Assembly has just rolled out a new Total War Warhammer 3 update aimed at improving battle balance and progression in the wake of Lords of the End Times. The latest round of DLC introduced a fresh faction to the grandiose strategy game, but the Nagash campaign has left Undead Legions enthusiasts feeling a little underwhelmed. TWW3 patch 9.0.3 therefore delivers "updates based on your valuable feedback," alongside wider balance changes for other characters, units, and spells, including a Lore of Nehekhara overhaul. There's a whole lot in here, so let's take a look at the big stuff.

CA admits that Nagash's campaign "isn't hitting the right balance between challenge and enjoyment," pointing to the Undead Legions' economy, Sigil progression, Necropolises, and Mortarch subjugation as a few of the most notable pressure points. Fixing these has been a core priority in these new Total War Warhammer 3 patch notes, although the developer adds that it's "already looking into further fixes and changes for the next release" alongside everything introduced here in patch 9.0.3.

To lift some of the early game economic pressure, CA has introduced some "meaningful goals" to the Black Pyramid progression. You'll be able to grab a 40% upkeep reduction node for Nagash early on, while additional such benefits can be unlocked in early sections for the Tomb Kings, Vampire Coast, and Vampire Counts. Alongside this, you'll now gain additional battle income based on your difficulty setting, scaling from 20% more on easy down to 5% on hard, with no benefit applied at higher tiers.

Alongside this comes Undead Legions buffs designed to increase the generation of Sigils in the early game, and "a more rewarding pace" for Black Pyramid progression. Necropolises get multiple improvements to make them feel more valuable throughout the campaign, even once you have unlocked more Grave Call potential. These include improved garrisons, combat bonuses for units under siege, local recruitment cost reductions, army movement bonuses, and lowered factionwide upkeep when provinces are devastated.

CA says overly restrictive Mortarch subjugation objectives have been "one of the most consistent" complaints from players. In an attempt to give you greater freedom to expand where you please, there's been a big reduction in location-specific objectives, which are replaced by "thematic objectives that can be completed from every location." Additionally, most Mortarchs will now submit to Nagash "once he has clearly surpassed them in power," although you can still manually hunt them down if you want to speed things up. Note that these changes will require a fresh-start campaign to activate, so as not to disrupt existing playthroughs.

Among the wider balance changes, of particular note are the adjustments to Lore of Nehekhara for the Tomb Kings and Undead Legions. Neru's Incantation gains 'Immune to Contact Effects,' Ptra's is weaker but lasts twice as long, while Sakhemet's now has lower base damage but with some extra armor piercing. Usirian's makes Winds of Magic cheaper to cast but with a longer cooldown, and Usekhp's benefits from a Vigor debuff and greater radius, although it no longer applies the greater melee attack bonus.

Beyond that, the rest of the patch notes include fairly sweeping balance changes for units in battle, targeting those where "their balance did not properly reflect our intentions." The Undead Handmaidens have had their knockback nerfed, as its high potency caused some Lords to "pale in comparison." Several Empire units get buffs to improve their viability, with particular focus on the Teutogen Guard, who get a new melee attack animation that should deal damage more consistently.

The Skaven are being "reigned in a little." The maximum missile resistance bonus for Verminlords and Skreech Verminking drops from +60% to +30%. Stormfiends get a bigger hitbox to "better represent" their actual size, and an extra 150 gold slapped onto the cost of Warp-Doom Magma Cannon. Virulent Batteries on Plagueclaw Catapults deal less armor piercing vortex damage.

Among the remainder of the list are a collection of more specific tweaks to other outlier units. Look out for slower Chaos Dwarf Trains, the 'Disorganized' effect on Blessed Field Trebuchets, and slight nerfs to multiple Marauder Horsemen and Bearmen variants, as well as Dechala's Dance of Destruction. On the other hand, there are buffs to Mangler Squigs, Yhetees, the Exalted Seeker Chariot, the Phoenix Guard, and the Soul Grinder of Khorne.

Total War Warhammer 3 patch 9.0.3 is live now. It's certainly a hefty upgrade that should make Nagash's campaign in particular feel better, although CA promises there are still quite a few more improvements in the works still to come. In the meantime, the developer directs players to its bug-reporting forum to submit any additional issues, and welcomes further feedback.