total war warhammer 2 high elves campaign

It’s the one area of diplomacy that the Total War series has gotten right lately. That provides a delightfully thematic avenue for the High Elves to start wars without ever firing an arrow. Their campaign mechanics mainly deal with Influence, a currency earned mainly through making choices in court intrigue events that can be spent to bolster or sabotage relations between any two factions. Watching a unit of High Elf Swordmasters hold a charge is satisfyingly reminiscent of the prelude to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, with flashing swords cutting effortlessly through the varied horrors assailing their line. High Elf armies fill a niche that none of the previous factions really could, with a focus on small, expensive units that each represent the very peak of discipline and martial excellence.

Watching the High Elves in action is like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.The High Elves and their edgier Dark Elf cousins are about as far from reskins of one another as you can get, despite their shared heritage in the lore. On the campaign map, the Lizardmen are probably the least interesting of the four: maintaining the sprawling Geomantic Web that powers their highly powerful province edicts forces you to play wide, even while your major objectives contradictingly encourage you to circle the wagons and defend the core of your empire. Their mid- and high-tier units present interesting tactical considerations in each battle in the question of where and when to commit to the melee, since they’re prone to going into a rampage state and deciding they don’t need your stupid orders once they’re in the thick of it. The enigmatic Lizardmen (whom I’ve spent the most time with) have access to a combination of rampaging dinosaurs and highly potent magic to the field. Those factions are the headliners of this battle royale: four extremely distinct and fun to command armies that bring new ideas to the campaign and the real-time battles.

Total war warhammer 2 high elves campaign