Total War: WARHAMMER III Guide | Top 10 Hardest Campaigns

Total War: WARHAMMER III has over 100 Legendary Lords with their own campaign, and every few months, we get some more added to the game as DLCs. These campaigns range from pretty easy, due to the many features available, to extremely hard. Often, the suffering campaigns are the ones that have the weakest races or are suddenly surrounded by new enemies. They might also have been nerfed or are just generally a harder campaign due to thematics. 

Whatever the case, these campaigns are always a challenge, especially when faced with higher difficulties. This makes it a challenge to just survive, let alone complete the campaign objectives. While many might not find that fun at all, others thrive in the challenge and welcome it. For those who enjoy such a challenge, here are the top 10 Hardest Campaigns in the game as of patch 6.0.

Mazdamundi

To start things off, we have the Lizardmen with Lord Mazdamundi. Now, the Lizardmen have always really been in a very tough spot. The main and practical issue with Lord Mazdamundi is that he is the only one of the Lizardmen lords to start out with a very low-tier army. 

His starting area is pretty empty, so that's something going his way; however, those who surround him are strong opponents and generally have a better army overall. Enemies include Orcs and Dark Elves, all of whom just have a better frontline than the Lizardmen, so it requires Mazdamundi to look into everything himself.

He also can't just ignore a lot of the surrounding factions because they might just snowball. Things exacerbate when foes like Slaanesh come into play. You also need to keep up with a lot of armies to protect your realm, and with the Lizardmen generally having a very slow growth rate, you need to wait a while to get a stronger army.

Markus Wulfhart

The empire probably would've been in the top two on the list, except for Volkmar, who was down in Lustria. Before the DLC brought so many gunpowder goodies for the empire, they were struggling. Franz also faced a very hard campaign, surrounded by pretty much all the enemies you can imagine.

However, now, the only real hard campaign remains with Markus Wulfhart, even though it is just so barely. You are surrounded by enemies and have access to only a few units from your roster, and to top it off, the campaign mechanic makes it so that you simply have to fight everyone around you for a good while. You also have a lack of real allies around you.

Despite this, his campaign starts to get easier as the game progresses due to the recruitment of his hunters. This, paired with the ability to unlock the higher tiers of units, makes it so that you will finally be able to conquer Lustria.

Imrik

The High Elves have a very standard and baseline roster. They have something for every situation, and that makes most of them have an easier time. Even the harder ones, such as Teclis and Eltharion, can still enjoy some relative peace and easiness in their campaigns. Such is not the case for Prince Imrik of Caledor.

Not only does Imrik start separate from any potential allies, but he also has the misfortune of being surrounded by a lot of enemies. Chief amongst them is the Greater Demon Ku'Gath. The main issue with Nurgle is that there's very little Imrik can do to deal with Nurgle's plague.

This doesn't even include the Vampire Counts, Chaos Dwarves, Skaven, and Ogre Kingdoms, all of whom he has to face eventually. All of this also relates to having to deal with three forms of corruption, and in between all that, the High Elves' generally slow growth mix to produce a very slow-growing campaign with very little economic growth as well.

N'kari

Slaanesh's chief greater daemon certainly doesn't get far, just like her lore. N'kari starts in Ulthuan, surrounded by elves and even more elves. To her south stands Eltharion the Grim and Tyrion; to her west stands Alarielle the Everqueen. Amongst all of the opponents and the countless minor elven factions, you'll generally not get much room to breathe.

Slaanesh, as a race, focuses on being very fast and very deadly. Unfortunately, this makes them a bit of a glass cannon. This proves to be disastrous against the likes of the High Elves, who employ some of the best heavy cavalry in the game along with lines of cost-effective spearmen.

By the time you conquer Eataine or Averlorn, you will probably face a horde of Sisters of Avelorn or Phoenix Guard. Overall, you'll also not really get any allies and thereby remain virtually isolated from everything. As N'kari, you'll have to rely on your skill against factions that are built to counter your units, all the while facing off some of the best Legendary Lords in the game.

Nakai

Remember all the problems with Lord Mazdamundi? Dial that up to 11…, and you'll get Nakai the Wanderer. He starts with arguably one of the weakest starting armies in the game, being unable to auto-resolve his first battle. He comes with all the structural issues the Lizardmen face and adds all the issues with playing a horde faction.

There's not even too much to say about him since most of his issues are just that. He is a mix between a horde and a settlement faction and somehow mixes the worst aspects of them. He will constantly be starved for money and thus will always have a weaker army. He'll also often be starved for allies, and the 'Children of the Old Ones' faction he establishes will usually be beset and destroyed if he moves from an area. Not too much wandering is allowed if you have to babysit someone.

Skarsnik

Now, this slot would've gone to Belegar Ironhammer, his DLC counterpart over at the Dwarves. However, over the years, Belegar's campaign has gotten easier and easier, and now, it's virtually easy to just Karak Eight Peaks in the first few turns, granted it requires some cheese. The infinitely harder campaign is found in Skarsnik, the brilliant night goblin who also wishes to take over the Eight Peaks.

That should simply explain why he's so bad. He mainly buffs goblins, and well, goblins aren't even close to being the good parts of the Greenskins roster. He also is a support lord, meaning he's not gonna be soloing most martial legendary lords. While Gobbla will make short work of any prospecting units, he also doesn't get any heroes to help him out in the campaign either.

To top it off, he starts around dwarves, and well, the dwarves are known for their armor. While night goblins and goblin artillery might just make a dent in their numbers, you'll hardly be able to rely on your other goblin units until you get to Eight Peaks.

Katarin

Kislev. That's right, almost all of the final entries are just Kislev. For Tzarina Katarin Bokha, it is somewhat easier because of her pretty good mechanics and starting the army. However, much like in lore, Kislev is absolutely surrounded by Norsca and Orcs. You'll constantly be facing minor factions of them, all the while the Vampire Counts brood to the south.

You will even face Skaven from Clan Moulder; overall, you will have no shortage of enemies. That is not to even mention all the chaotic factions that'll eventually come for you. You also have to project not only yourself but also your nearby allies. You need them for early-game income, and if they get wiped out, you'll be in a lot of trouble. The sheer amount of enemies is generally what makes this campaign hard.

Boris

The entire point of Boris's campaign is that he's there to rip and tear until it is done. He starts in the smack dab in the middle of the chaos wastes. He has no real allies aside from Katarin, and you'll slowly and eventually be worn down until there is nothing left. All the issues with Katarin still apply. You still have a great many enemies to deal with, and you'll always be starved of resources and units. This makes Boris's campaign a great challenge.

Arkhan the Black

So, the Tomb Kings… They are a handful. The dusty old bone men already have hard campaigns with unique mechanics that basically prevent them from recruiting new armies without some heavy investment of time and canopic jars. You are also limited in recruitment, and since everyone in Nehekhara is undead, you'll barely have any economy.

And that's just an issue for the Tomb Kings themselves. As for Arkhan, you have a campaign in a region that is dominated by at least 20 legendary lords. You have a very easy chance of over-extending yourself and finding yourself at the wrong end of a Bretonnian cavalry charge or dwarven volley. Speaking of the dwarves, all your enemies will have a good chunk of armor, which you'll have a tough time getting through. So, even if you manage to fight them on even footing, you'll be hard-pressed to make a dent with most of your units.

Konstaltyn

Remember every issue with Katarin? Add that and a ton of other issues. You still have all the vices of the Kislevite roster and location issues. On top of that, you are at war with one of your kin and on poor terms with all of your other Kislevites. This leaves you starved for allies, as any other potential alliances are easily wiped out by the likes of Azazel and Ku'gath.

Where Katarin herself is a scary foe and buffs some of the scariest units in the Kislevite roster, Konstaltyn buffs some of the worst. He is also a support Lord instead of one that fights, making it so that you'll have to rely on Generic Lords or Heroes to hold the line. 

You're surrounded by enemies, and you'll probably not even befriend Katarin, so you're left with trying to do all that the world will inevitably throw at you, be it Chaos, Skaven, Ogres, Vampires, or other Kislevites, and you don't have the likes of Boris to help you fend for yourself.

Also, check our Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction Review and other guides on Total War: Warhammer III below:

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