Blood and Battle A Beginner’s Guide to Khorne in Total War Warhammer 3

Unleash Chaos in Total War Warhammer 3 - A Beginner's Guide to Khorne

Quick Links

• Khorne’s Playstyle
• Key Units
• Unique Mechanics
• Legendary Lord
• First Ten Turns

Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne! Khorne, the Chaos God of War, Rage, and Strength, brings an aggressive and brutal edge to Total War: Warhammer 3. Specializing in powerful melee units, Khorne can quickly dominate the battlefield and campaign map, providing a fun, fast-paced playstyle backed up by a deadly army roster.

This guide will cover the fundamentals of a successful Khorne campaign, including army and campaign recommendations, unique mechanics, Legendary Lord, and advice for the first ten turns.

Updated September 23, 2023, by Sean Murray: Khorne might be the most straightforward faction, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need some strategy. That’s why we’ve updated this guide with improved formatting and more breakout tips to make your Khorne play that much better.

Khorne’s Playstyle

With so many factions to encounter in the Immortal Empires map, Khorne has a variety of matchups, as some factions will be able to deal with his fairly one-dimensional play style more easily.

Best Matchup	Vampire Counts
Worst Matchup	High Elves

Khorne plays in the exact opposite way to factions such as Tzeentch. His strengths lie in powerful, aggressive melee infantry and cavalry, and he lacks any substantial spell-casting or missile units. Your preferred play style will generally remain similar in most matchups: run at the enemy and kill them!

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You should expect to win most infantry contests (or, at the very least, inflict heavy casualties), and you can protect your flanks with some strong cavalry options in the form of Bloodcrushers and Skullcrushers.

Your best bet against factions such as these is to either flank them with cavalry, smash through their frontline, or go over the top with Bloodthirsters. You should dominate in melee, and your units are not slow either, unlike Nurgle.

Battlefield Tips

Strangely for the God of War, Khorne can sometimes struggle on the battlefield. Other factions possess a greater variety of options, whereas he will always have to be the aggressor. It is best to lean into the role, not waiting for your opponents to engage, but instead, be proactive.

Blasting through the weakest point of your opponent’s line is your number one priority, as this can allow you to surround enemy units or run at their range, forcing them to kite. While you excel in melee, you should be aware of any enemy spells that might punish you for blobbing.

You will not have any spells of your own and are instead reliant on Lord and Hero abilities and Army Abilities. While some of these can be useful, microing spellcasters is not something you will have to worry about when playing Khorne.

Khorne may not have the most creative of rosters to choose from, but you will have some of the highest-damage Infantry in the entire Warhammer world.

CampaGameTopic Tips

While Khorne can field some strong units on the battlefield, it is on the campaign map where he truly shines. The combination of Blood Host, Bloodletting, and Blood For The Blood God allows you to maintain momentum even in the very early game.

They provide the perfect storm for enabling an aggressive playstyle. Gaining movement after razing and winning battles is extremely powerful, and the casualty replenishment provided by Bloodletting means you won’t need to stop and heal as much as other factions. Utilize Blood Hosts to capture minor settlements while your main army tackles the heavily defended areas.

Both sacking and raiding will help with your cash flow, and remember that Blood Hosts are very expendable and should be thrown away if income becomes a severe problem. Being able to replenish in foreign territory is absolutely incredible and means you can keep up the pressure without waiting to heal.

However, this military might does come with a drawback. Khorne is awful at diplomacy, receiving negative relations with every other faction. Get any deals you can in the early game because, by the time you have rampaged across half the world, nobody is going to like you very much…

Key Units

Unit	Description	Tips
Bloodletters of Khorne	Very cost-effective, high damage, semi-low durability	Your starting melee infantry, these are fantastic for trading up against more valuable enemies, thanks to their magical and armor-piercing attacks
Minotaurs of Khorne (Great Weapons)	Khorne’s best anti-large unit, good speed, high damage	Preferred to the standard Minotaur variant, these are great for taking down large single-entity monsters, such as Terracotta Sentinels
Bloodthirster	Large, flying, single-entity monsters with massive damage output and good speed	Great choices for attacking enemy ranged units, these winged Daemons are strong in melee and make a great doomstack

Unique Mechanics

Skulls

Rather fittingly for the Skull God, you will want to gather as much of this unique currency as possible. There are plenty of ways to generate them, including battles, buildings, sieges, and dilemmas. Enemy armies will spawn piles of skulls for you to collect, and Khorne can become quite reliant on these, as they are needed to occupy settlements and research technologies.

Skulls can also be used to activate The Skull Throne, a powerful ten-turn buff that grants your armies multiple benefits:

• Increased movement range after razing
• Increase to post-battle income
• Army ability to summon a unit of Bloodletters
• Increase to Blood Host unit numbers on spawn

Blood Hosts

One of the strongest unique mechanics to grace the trilogy, Blood Hosts allow you to keep up map pressure and provide an advantage for razing instead of occupying. Choosing the Blood for the Blood God option when razing provides a casualty replenishment rate for your army and spawns a friendly Blood Host army.

You cannot add to or take away from these armies and should treat them as expendable resources. These armies can help you continue your rampage across the map and are entirely built to generate momentum.

Bloodletting

Similar in nature to the Greenskins Fightiness mechanic, Bloodletting encourages you to keep up your aggression throughout the game, granting multiple bonuses to your armies for continually winning battles. This synergizes greatly with Blood Hosts, as you will be fighting a great number of battles.

Although Khorne normally exists with an income deficit, Bloodletting is a reliable way to reduce army upkeep and increase casualty replenishment, both crucial for maintaining momentum.

Unholy Manifestations and Corruption

All Chaos Daemon factions possess the Unholy Manifestations mechanic, whereby they may exorcise a powerful rite with a cooldown. Khorne’s Manifestations require a certain amount of Khorne Corruption to unlock and become enhanced when he is in Ascendance in The Great Game.

Khorne has the following Manifestations available to him:

Manifestation	Description	Tips
Eternal War	Spawns a small Khornate army that immediately attacks your own army.	Very useful for increasing your Bloodletting meter and generating Skulls/income. The army is extremely weak.
Call of Battle	Grants a large increase to campaign movement range for one turn.	Useful if you want to make an aggressive play or catch up to a fleeing enemy army.
Slaughter Incarnate	Doubles Skull gains from battles for several turns.	Nice for increased Skull generation. Best used when you know you will be fighting a large amount of battles.
Khorne’s Glare	Disables a friendly army’s movement for several turns. At the end, it razes the local settlement and gives a massive number of skulls.	Useful for when you need a large supply of Skulls or when you are going to disband the army anyway.

Cults

All Chaos Daemon factions can create Cultist settlements within other faction areas. Within these, you can construct special Infrastructure buildings that can passively generate resources. While free Skulls are certainly nice, the most intriguing building is certainly the Arena.

Legendary Lord

Khorne’s chosen Legendary Lord (ironically) is Skarbrand the Exiled. The greatest of the Exalted Bloodthirsters, Skarbrand once grew so arrogant he dared to strike Khorne when his back was turned. Khorne merely laughed and cast Skarbrand down from the Brass Citadel, doomed to exile for eternity. Skarbrand now wanders the Warhammer world, seeking to amass as many Skulls as possible to regain Khorne’s favor.

A devastating melee Lord, Skarbrand gains bonuses to Blood Host unit creation, Regeneration for himself, and wields a devastating unique weapon, Slaughter and Carnage, that grows stronger with each kill he makes on the battlefield.

His Lord effects are:

Effect	Tips
Increased Campaign Movement range after winning a battle	Absolutely ridiculous! Skarbrand is unrivaled in his aggression, constantly advancing across the map, and synergizes amazingly with The Skull Throne’s movement increase after razing.
Lower recruitment cost when in razed or enemy territory	Very handy as you will not be sitting around in friendly territory for very long

Important skills to level on Skarbrand include:

• Blood Feast
• Unholy Resilience
• Drinker of Blood
• Restless Fury
• Locus of Endless War
• Lightning Strike

Skarbrand can use many of the utility skills, as they will allow him to keep his army constantly moving and replenishing. Although it can simply be more fun to turn him into a one-unit doomstack by buffing his combat strength…

First Ten Turns

Realm Of Chaos First Ten Turns

When playing as Skarbrand the Exiled in the Realm of Chaos campaign, you will begin in the Bloodfire Falls province, holder of the Infernius settlement.

Turn	Objective
One	Immediately activate The Skull Throne
	Attack and destroy the enemy Gharhar army (try to manually fight)
	Level Route Marcher on Skarbrand
	Move and attack The Brass Glacier (best to manually fight to preserve your army)
	Raze the settlement with Blood for the Blood God
	Move Skarbrand as far South as possible and choose Daemonic Portal stance, recruit three Bloodletters of Khorne
	Level Inspiring Presence on Skarbrand
	Move your new Bloodreaper South to try and catch up to your army
	Demolish the Kennels in Infernius and build a War Amphitheatre
	Research Serial Killing in the Technology Tree
Two	Move both of your armies as far South as you can without marching
	Activate the Eternal War Unholy Manifestation on Skarbrand’s army
	Defeat the small force, and this should grant you enough movement to attack Deathaxe’s Monolith with your Blood Host reinforcing
	This will be a hard battle but very winnable with both of your armies
	Raze the settlement with Blood for the Blood God
	Build a Khornate Calefactor and upgrade your War Amphitheatre in Infernius
	Level Skulltakers three times and Blood Feast once on Skarbrand
	Move Skarbrand North West and enter Daemonic Portal stance
	Move the Bloodreaper South
Three	March your Blood Hosts North West and move Skarbrand along with them. Recruit one more Bloodletters of Khorne if you have lost any units. If not, refrain from doing so
	Move your Bloodreaper along behind them (one day he will catch up)
Four	Move Skarbrand right up to The Folly of Malofex, and finally embed your Bloodreaper into his army
	Move both Blood Hosts up (not in March) to reinforce Skarbrand
	Declare war and attack the settlement (will be an easy victory)
	Raze the settlement with Blood for the Blood God
	Move the three moveable armies up to the enemy army above you (sometimes they won’t be there) and attack them, taking Casualty Replenishment rate as your post-battle loot
	March all three armies North, keeping them together
	Level Blood Feast twice on Skarbrand and Training and Brutal Charge on the Bloodreaper
Five	You should have one Blood Host lagging behind the rest. Move them West towards Chasm of Torment
	Move the rest of your armies to attack The Shifting Monolith, this time occupying after the battle
	Level Brutal Charge on Skarbrand and Kill! on The Bloodreaper
	Move your Northern Blood Hosts South West towards Chasm of Torment (there might be a Beastmen army hovering around, if so, you can deviate to go and kill it)
	Build Cultist Camp in The Shifting Monolith
Six	Either move Skarbrand South to join the Blood Hosts or send him to kill the Beastmen beforehand
	Attack the Chasm of Torment with the Blood Hosts and raze it with Blood for the Blood God
	Move all Blood Hosts West toward the Fortress of the Damned
	Level Kill! on Skarbrand
	Upgrade The Shifting Monolith settlement
	Research Skull Harvesting
Seven	Move your gang of Blood Hosts (with or without Skarbrand) to attack the Fortress of the Damned
	Raze it with Blood for the Blood God
	Upgrade the Infernius to an Infernal Citadel
	Keep moving the Blood Hosts North West
Eight	You might meet N’kari coming down South. If so, welcome him with the full force of your Blood Hosts
	Keep Skarbrand on the move, as well as your Blood Hosts
Nine	Move all Blood Hosts up to The Palace of Ruin and prepare to attack it on the following turn
	Your capital might have been attacked by now. This is not really a problem, as you will simply reclaim it upon your return. Killing off N’kari is much more important
Ten	You should have four Blood Hosts outside the Palace of Ruin, so attack with all four, and occupy the settlement, building a Soul Keep as the primary building
	The Seducers of Slaanesh might now be dead
	Your next move will be towards The Fetid Catacombs and continue your unstoppable rampage, spawning Blood Hosts and occupying province capitals.

Further Tips:

• Another option is to GameTopicore the Slaaneshi faction and immediately go and destroy the Gharhar. However, this will likely lead to you chasing a Slaaneshi army around in your territory or sacrificing your capital.
• After taking The Shifting Monolith, you can also send Skarbrand North by himself and let the Blood Hosts attack N’kari.
• You will end these first turns having conquered two provinces, spawned an unhealthy amount of Blood Hosts, and be on the verge of destroying the Seducers of Slaanesh. Not bad for only ten turns!
• If you come across any Skull Piles left by other armies, you should pick them up as you travel.

Immortal Empires First Ten Turns

If you are playing the Immortal Empires campaign, you will instead start in The Barrier Idols province, holder of the Deff Gorge settlement. Placing you among various enemies, but primarily Greenskins, makes for a fun campaign that lets you jump right into the thick of the action, something Skarbrand appreciates.

Turn	Objective
One	Don’t embed your Bloodreaper into Skarbrand’s army, as this will limit your movement this turn
	Attack the nearby Top Knotz army, taking casualty replenishment if you sustain hefty injuries
	Level Inspiring Presence on Skarbrand
	Attack and raze Agrul Migdhal with Blood for the Blood God
	Enter Demonic Portal stance and recruit three Bloodletters of Khorne
	Level Route Marcher and Blood Feast on Skarbrand
	Now embed your Bloodreaper into Skarbrand’s army
	Upgrade The Forge to The Armoury in Deff Gorge
	Research Serial Killing in your technology tree
Two	Move both of your armies as far West as possible
Three	Normal move your Blood Host West and move Skarbrand in Demonic Portal stance along with them
Four	Attack and encircle Gor Gazan with Skarbrand, and move the Blood Host up to support
	Should be a very easy auto-resolve, so attack and raze the settlement with Blood for the Blood God
	Level Blood Feast on Skarbrand and Increase Mobility on your Bloodreaper
Five	Move all three of your armies up to Stormhenge and raze it with Skulls for the Skull Throne
	Level Brutal Charge on your Bloodreaper
	If you are having money problems, you can also sack the settlement
Six	Research Spread Rage in your technology tree
	Attack any nearby Top Knotz with your combined armies, and make your way towards Galbaraz using march stance
	Level Blood Feast and Brutal Charge on Skarbrand, and Increase Mobility and Kill on your Bloodreaper
Seven	Move up to Galbaraz and attack it, occupying it, as it is the provincial capital
	Build a War Ampitheatre in Galbaraz, and level Kill on Skarbrand and your Bloodreaper
	At this point, your aim is to try and finish off the Top Knotz by razing their final two settlements
Eight	Move all your armies towards Gronti Mingol
Nine	Attack Gronti Mingol, and raze it with Skulls for the Skull Throne
	Move South East towards Floating Village, upgrading any settlement that levels up and making sure you are building down the right side of the Capital building line
Ten	You probably won’t be able to reach anywhere important this turn, but keep marching towards the Floating Village, and finish off the Top Knotz in the next couple of turns
	You have a good selection of next targets, but the Knights of Origo will likely have declared war on you at this stage, so they are a decent choice

Further Tips:

• Due to how important early game momentum is, try to manually fight your battles and preserve as many troops as possible.
• The Knights of Origo may cause issues, especially if they come and start occupying any ruins, so keep a watchful eye on them.
• Try to initiate diplomacy with Harbinger of Disaster and take any allies you can get, as Skarbrand is not very popular…

Next: Total War: Warhammer 3: How To Beat The Trials Of Fate

That’s it for the guide! Remember, with Khorne, it’s all about embracing the bloodshed and letting the skulls pile up. So get ready to smash, slash, and conquer your way to victory. Have fun!

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