Daemons of Chaos min/max essentials guide
 
 

Work in Progress

WIP
 
 
 

Armour Set Bonuses

The Daemon Prince can equip a wide variety of armour and weapons. You can play around with it and do whatever you want, but I completely missed the bonuses that some of the Armour Sets get on my playthrough:
 
 
The Chaos Undivided Plate Armour set gives the Daemon Prince 170 armour personally, and gives +20 Armour and +15% Physical Resistance to his army (so actually 190 Armour on the prince).
 
 
Slaanesh has a set (Scythed Arms, Ashen Wings, Fiendish Tail) that gives -25% upkeep for Slaanesh units in Daemon Prince’s army. You can get -30% upkeep from Daemon Prince skill tree. You can get -15% from maxing Chaos Undivided Daemonic Glory. You can get -20% from maxed Bloodletting. So that is -55% > -70% > -90% upkeep for Slaanesh units as you progress in the campaign.
 
 
Tzeentch has a set that gives +15% Barrier to Horrors and another set that gives them +10% ammo (that I think can be used at the same time as the +15% Barrier set). If you max “Transition’s Troopers” in the Daemon Prince’s skill tree and combine that with the +15% Barrier set, that gives Horrors (Blue, Pink and Exalted Pink) +25% Barrier and +6 Melee Defense.
 
 
Nurgle’s set gives +20% Replenishment for Nurgle Units.
 
 
Khorne has a small set that buffs Bloodletters and Undivided has another small set that gives +4 Melee Attack for the whole army but will cause you not to be able to get the Plate Armour set bonus, but you may be able to mix & match with a different set.
 
 
And you’d need to test this out, but I think you could swap to the Chaos Undivided set at the start of the turn, fight your battles, and then swap back to the Slaanesh -upkeep set before ending your turn.
 
 
Here is “thegamer.com’s” – []  thoughts:
 
 
https://www.thegamer.com/total-war-warhammer-3-best-daemon-prince-upgrades-guide/ – [thegamer.com] 
 
 
 

Daemon Prince Equipment Builds

First off, ignore old Reddit posts or forum posts decrying how weak the Daemon Prince is. After Patch 1.1 or 1.2 when his Melee Attack and Melee Defense got buffed, the Daemon Prince is now quite powerful.
 
 

MORTIS ENGINE

 
 
Nurgle’s Wings of Pestilence
 
Khorne’s Armoured Sentient Tail
 
 
^ With both of these items equipped, the Daemon Prince gets a double “Mortis Engine” effect which slaughters infantry units. Meaning even as the DP fights one unit, the death radius of the mortis effect is killing other infantry.
 
 
I combined those 2 with the items below in my run through:
 
 
Masquerading Helm (S
 
Armoured Plagued Body (N)
 
Light Armoured Gauntlets (K)
 
Oversized Heavy Armour (n)
 
Pestilent Chausses (N)
 
 

Ridiculously Good Army Buff Set

 
 
If you equip the full Chaos Undivided set that gives +20 armour and +15% Physical Resistance, that will be a ridiculous buff for your army. I imagine that which this set, you probably would not even need to use Tier 5 units, an army of Exalted Bloodletters or Exalted Daemonettes would probably be very effective. Bloodthirsters buffed by this set are probably absolutely ridiculous.
 
 

Reduced Upkeep for Slaanesh

 
 
There is a set that will give you -25% upkeep for Slaanesh units.
 
 

Anti-Large set

 
 
Slaanesh has a set that gives +80 anti-large bonus.
 
 
 

Best Army for Daemon Prince

Below is what is probably the most powerful army you can build for the Daemon Prince:
 
 
Daemon Prince
 
Plagueridden (hero) on Rotfly
 
Ground Hero (Hero not on a flying unit) or a regular Ground Unit that you can hide in a forest. You can have a 2nd Plagueridden for extra healing if you want.
 
17 Bloodthirsters
 
 

RATIONALE

 
 
The Daemon Prince flies. Bloodthirsters fly. Bloodthirsters are anti-large but also wreck infantry, basically they are good against everything. To put it in perspective they wreck ogres. Daemon Prince with a full stack of Bloodthirsters is a 7/10 doomstack. Now add a Plagueridden on a Rotfly with Locus of Fecundity and maxed Fleshy Abundance that can fly along with the Bloodthirsters and Daemon Prince and heal them to max health and you have a 10/10 Doomstack. You can add a 2nd Plagueridden for more healing if you want.
 
 
IMPORTANT – Since all of the above fly, you need a ground unit so that you don’t lose due to the leadership penalty against an all-flying army. If you only want 1 hero in the army then you can just have the Plagueridden be on the Nurgling Palanquin and hide him in the trees and just bring everyone back to him at the end of the battle to heal, but then you miss out on him providing magic support during the battle (or softening the enemy up with Stream of Corruption before you send in the Bloodthirsters).
 
 
I’d probably have 2 Plagueridden with one on a Nurgling Palanquin and hide him in the woods at the start of the battle.
 
 

ALTERNATIVES

 
 
If you want to keep everything in the Slaanesh family, you could have the Daemon Prince buff Marauders of Slaanesh and get the -15% Slaanesh Upkeep from the Undivided line along with Lightning Strike, then keep going down the Slaanesh line and then buff either the Keeper of Secrets or the Soulgrinder of Slaanesh… or both. A stack of Keeper of Secrets or Soulgrinders will probably also be a Doomstack, especially with 1 or 2 Plagueridden (and you only need 1 since Keepers and Soulgrinders are ground units).
 
 
NOTE – the Soulgrinder of Slaanesh is Anti-Large and has Soporific Musk which is great. A good tactic might be some Alluress or Keeper of Secrets as anti-infantry, and then 10+ Soulgrinders (Slaanesh) for anti-large duty. The benefit of going Slaanesh is that you can transition from Marauders to Soulgrinders/Keepers/Alluress pretty easily.
 
 
A doomstack of Soulgrinder of Nurgle would also be very effective with their long range.
 
 
And I’m sure a Lord of Change or Soulgrinder of Tzeentch stack would be a doomstack.
 
 
Basically any of the Soulgrinders or Tier 5 single entity monsters are probably going to be a doomstack, especially with 1-2 Plagueridden to heal them.
 
 

HERO DOOMSTACK

 
 
If you dedicate most settlements to Slaanesh and build the Reverence building, you could probably get 17-18 Alluress heros pretty quickly. Get 1-2 Plagueridden to heal them and put them all in the Daemon Prince’s army, and that should be a Doomstack. Maxed Alluress are really strong and actually quite survivable.
 
 
Note that their Locus skills of the same name don’t stack, so there is no point in giving them all 1 Locus skill and popping it immediately.
 
 
Instead if you decide to go let’s say 15-18 Alluress (think groups of 3), in a grouping of 3 Alluresses, give each Alluress one of the Locus skills. Repeat per how many groups of 3 Alluress you decide to recruit. In battle, if you sent them all in together at one point, use 1 of each Locus and then when the skill wears off use another from another group of Alluress, so that you perpetually maintain a powerful debuff on the enemy and great buffs on your units.
 
 
 

Dedications

When you dedicate a settlement to a chaos god, that settlement gets a basic unit you can recruit without having to construct any military buildings.
 
 
Slaanesh gives you Marauders of Slaanesh
 
Nurgle gives you Nurglings
 
Tzeentch gives you Blue Horrors
 
Khorne gives you Chaos Warhounds
 
 
All dedications get access to Chaos Furies.
 
 
Marauders are anti-infantry and really great.
 
Nurglings are a great tarpit unit but they struggle to kill fast enough.
 
 
One poster recommended Blue Horrors and I can see that working if you are good at micro-ing them so that they use all their ammo and their shields regenerate before they go back into melee, but I personally thought they got slaughtered in melee so your mileage may vary.
 
 
Chaos Warhounds are units for rear-charging already engaged enemies and chasing down routing enemies, you’re gonna have a bad time if you need to recruit an army and these are all you have available.
 
 
 

Campaign Walkthrough

Heads up. Once you take Bay of Blades etc on the southern coast of your starting peninsula, you may get attacked by Empire factions, however, they may not due to being busy getting curbstomped by Skrag. Also, expect N’Kari to eventually attack you if he secures the north.
 
 
The goal of this walkthrough is to advise you of the most efficient way to beat the campaign as I see it. However, you have a TON of options and versatility with the Daemon Prince so you don’t have much to worry about.
 
 
0) Remember the souls race. You probably will have to go into the first realm with Marauders of Slaanesh, but ideally by the Second Rift Wave you will have your single-entity doomstack ready to go, either with Bloodthirsters, Soulgrinders (Slaanesh)/Keeper of Secrets or Alluresses, with with 1 or 2 decently leveled Plagueridden for healing.
 
 
1) Dedicate Doomkeep to Slaanesh. Recruit Marauders of Slaanesh. Turn 2, move south toward Bay of Blades but stay in Doomkeep territory and recruit more Marauders of Slaanesh.
 
 
Your first 3 buildings in Doomkeep should be the Reverence building, the Control Garrison building, and the Income building.
 
 
2+) Build up your army with Marauders, then capture Bay of Blades. I *think* the faction that owns Altar of the Crimson Harvest isn’t at war with you at the start so if you can leave them alone for now, that would be great, otherwise capture it then move north. Capture Longship Graveyard then Icedrake Fjord and secure your province. These should all be Slaanesh settlements, build the Control Garrison building and then the Reverence building so you can get money and Alluress. Select the Growth Edict once you own the whole province to get Doomkeep to Tier 5 asap.
 
 
Then you want to capture The Monolith of Katam > Graeling Moot > Altar of Spawns. Dedicate each of these to Nurgle. You want a Nurgle reverence building in each settlement so you can get 4 Plagueridden, which should be enough. If you need a 5th, build the Military building in Graeling Moot that gives +1 Plagueridden for a 5th Plagueridden.
 
 

Bjornlings in The Vanaheim Mountains

 
 
You have a choice on how you deal with the Bjornlings in The Vanaheim Mountains at the tip of the peninsula. They should own all 4 settlements up there. You can ally with them and leave them alone, or you can war on them to capture those 4 settlements. Capturing the settlements will give you more income and possibly allow you to turtle up in that peninsula with an army or 2 for defense while the Daemon Prince collects the souls. If you choose to attack Bjornlings, you might choose to go north from Icedrake Fjord and take them out then come back down and take The Monolith of Katam etc. Or, follow my walkthrough, then send a 2nd army to take them out while going east with the Daemon Prince to expand and defend your southeastern flank.
 
 
Black Gulch ruin is actually a Skaven settlement. Once you secure the above areas, you want to capture Altar of the Crimson Harvest if you haven’t already, Black Gulch, The Forbidden Citadel, and The Tower of Khrakk. Khrakk is probably going to be a constant target of the AI so prepare accordingly.
 
 
Once you’ve secured the peninsula with Slaanesh and Nurgle settlements making you lots of money, you should be able to afford the Daemon Prince’s doomstack and at least a 2nd and hopefully 3rd army to defend.
 
 

FIRST RIFTS WAVE

 
 
The first wave should come soon after turn 30ish. Make sure your Daemon Prince’s army is ready to enter a rift as soon as one spawns nearby. There should be a rift near Doomkeep, also one spawned for me between Black Gulch and Tower of Khrakk. I recommend entering Slaanesh’s realm first. If you think you can make it to the end and win, go for it to try and win the campaign after 4 waves of rifts instead of 5. If not, I think the 2nd Choice offers +200 Growth for 15 turns (my Essentials guide has the link to what each Slaanesh choice offers), which is fantastic (especially if you have captured a bunch of territory already). If you think you won’t be able to beat Slaanesh’s realm, you should take the +200 growth and plan to get your doomstack right by Rift Wave 2.
 
 
————-
 
 
Honestly at this point, due to the design of the souls race, you don’t want to expand much further because it just makes it harder and harder to defend. Instead I recommend giving the Daemon Prince a doomstack and then having the Daemon Prince’s army go around sacking then occupying settlements (but then leave them empty, demolish anything left after sacking and don’t build it back up), and rinse & repeat until the next Rift Wave comes along, then have the Daemon Prince jump into the next Realm immediately. Rinse & Repeat until you are able to fight the final battle and win the campaign.
 
 
The benefit of this is minimal settlement defense battles (obviously defend your built up area but you can just auto-resolve and lose the sack settlements). Settlements you lose you can just bring the Daemon Prince back to the area and sack and occupy it again. This allows you to move quickly and take out dangerous factions like Skrag. This should also give you a huge warchest that you can use to recruit additional sack armies to help the Daemon Prince or keep up his work while he is in the Realms of Chaos. If an AI faction gets ahead of you in the souls race, you can use this strategy to go wipe them to end their threat. For example, Kislev and Kairos were ahead of me in the souls race, so I wiped out Kislev and then when the 5th wave of rifts came, I jumped straight in to beat Kairos to the 4th soul needed to open the Forge of Souls and the final battle.
 
 
Or you can even not bother with all that and instead just defend your home area clicking End Turn over and over until you can enter another Realm and collect another soul.
 
 
 

Thoughts after my own Campaign

“Turn 2, move north toward minor settlement north of you but stay in Doomkeep territory and recruit more Marauders of Slaanesh. Alternatively, go south if you intend to attack Bay of Blades and secure your starting province, stay in Doomkeep territory, and recruit Marauders.” (draft)
 
 
1 Redditor advised not to capture the Bay of Blades or any of those port settlement on the southern coast because it will cause you to discover the Empire and Woodelf factions who will send armies to attack you. This advice sounded reasonable so I followed it, but after I finally felt ready and captured those port settlements, I never really had to deal with any harassment on the south coast because the Empire factions got curbstomped by Skrag the Slaughterer. But perhaps if I had taken the coast right at the start Nordland and Middenland would have harassed me while i was trying to conquer elsewhere at least until they got annihilated by Skrag, so up to you whether you want to risk it.
 
 
1 Redditor advised to essentially abandon Doomkeep and just go north capturing settlements, dedicating them to Slaanesh, and recruiting Marauders to replace loss, and go take out N’Kari and that whole area in the far northwest because it would eliminate enemy attacks from the north and west and make for easier defending. This could actually be good advice but I’m not sure it is necessary because the Doomkeep peninsula is actually pretty defensible once you secure all of it and can have an army or two to defend it while the Daemon Prince is away.
 
 
 

Economy

All chaos gods get a straightforward +income building, and all the chaos gods get two buildings that give +1 to hero capacity, one is a military building and one is a Reverence building. The Reverence building gives +income if a certain condition is met.
 
 
Slaanesh followed by Nurgle are the best choices to dedicate your settlements to money-wise. Khorne and Tzeentch suck.
 
 
Slaanesh’s option gives +income as long as you have 50+ control, which isn’t difficult to achieve.
 
Nurgle’s option gives +income as long as you have 5 Growth Points or 200 Growth.
 
Khorne requires an enemy lord to be present in the province or region (you don’t control this).
 
Tzeetch requires the Winds of Magic in the province/region to be Tempestuous (you don’t control this).
 
 
 

Daemonic Glory

Key Points:
 
 
If you choose to devote yourself to one chaos god, doing so locks the other options and allows you to get more rewards of your chosen chaos god. If you choose Chaos Undivided, you can max Undivided and max Tier 1 of every chaos god, you just can’t access their 2nd tier. Note that maxed chaos undivided gives you access to all units and the Chaos Fury summon skill in battle.
 
 
Chaos Undivided is the best choice given all of the amazing things it gives. It grants a battle skill that lets you summon 10 units of Chaos Furies. It gives you an armour set that gives an insane buff to your entire army (+20 armour & +15% Physical Resistance). And access to all units.
 
 
However, if you decide you want to play a specific devotion run, the benefit is how quickly you can focus on maxing out one god’s favor.
 
 
 

Daemon Prince Skills

Only invest 1 point into the starter skill that opens up a skill line and only if you plan to invest in that line. You earn enough Glory fast enough that you don’t really need more, and once you max out the glory those extra skillpoints you spent on earning more glory will be wasted.
 
 

Skills to get in each line:

 
 
Undivided: 1 point to start, max the Growth skill and then 1 point in the “reign” skill or another skill of your choosing, 1 point in the middle skill to move on, then max Lightning Strike, then max the -% upkeep skill of the type of unit you plan to heavily use in your final army composition (ideally just 1 of the chaos gods, although if you go something like Khorne Frontline with Tzeentch ranged them maybe maxing both should be fine, but you should try to focus, especially since upkeep reduction isn’t as important as other skills since they only impact the Daemon Prince’s army).
 
 
Alternative: Don’t invest any points into the Undivided line, because if you give the Daemon Prince a 10/10 Doomstack then you can probably beat anything you go up against so don’t really need Lightning Strike, growth skill will be a waste once all your settlements are max tier, and upkeep reduction for just one army isn’t that important.
 
 
Khorne: Max Unholy Terror Troopers if you plan to use Bloodletters. Alternatively, if you plan to sack a lot and not use Bloodletters, max the +Sacking income skill. Choose something to max in the middle tier, and in the final tier of skills, max the skills that buff the Bloodthirster.
 
 
Nurgle: Max the +Replenishment skill. That’s it, unless you plan to ignore my advice to use Marauders of Slaanesh and use Nurglings instead in which case buff the Nurglings, or if you plan to use Soulgrinders of Nurgle, then go to the end and max both skills that buff the Soulgrinders of Nurgle.
 
 
Slaanesh: Max Temptation’s Troopers. Grace & Guile and Beguiling are good too if you don’t need those skill points elsewhere. The +Ambush chance skill is great if you plan to ambush.
 
If you plan to use Keepers of Secrets or Soulgrinders of Slaanesh instead of Bloodthirsters, then go down the line and buff 1 or the other or both as needed.
 
 
Tzeentech: Max Transition’s Troopers if you plan to use Horrors. The Great Sorcerer is great to buff you Winds of Magic. Reinforcer can be useful.
 
 

 
 
This is all about Total War: WARHAMMER III – Daemons of Chaos + Armor Set Bonuses & Equipments; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!