Total War: Warhammer 3 Nurgle Faction Guide – Plagues, Cycle & More

WARHAMMER 3 FACTIONS: Daemons of Chaos | Grand Cathay | Khorne | Kislev | Nurgle | Ogre Kingdoms | Slaanesh | Tzeentch

The friendliest and kindest of the Chaos Gods in Total War: Warhammer 3 is the Plague God, Nurgle, who only wants to share all the wonderful poxes and diseases they’ve cooked up for everyone in the world to enjoy. As a result, Nurgle likes taking their time preparing the perfect contagious concoction before unleashing it on the world through their minions and followers.

Here are the main features of Nurgle’s faction in Total War: Warhammer 3:

– Plagues
– Nurgle’s Cycle
– Nurgle Army

And here’s everything you need to know about Nurgle.

 

Plagues

The core mechanic of Nurgle’s playstyle is the plague creation system. The main resource used for cooking up the ailments are infections, as they are needed to not only create the plague itself but also spread to a selected target. Players can also use infections to summon cultist Heroes that will go out into the world and spread whatever disease the player most recently created.

To create a plague, players will need to click on the Plague Cauldron icon in the campaign after which they will see the main Plague Cauldron screen. Then players will need to select a base disease, of which there are five: Pox, Buboes, Ague, Rot, and Palsy, and then any symptoms they’ve unlocked through technology or completing specific actions. There are also five super diseases, called recipes, that become available after unlocking specific symptoms.

Each plague and symptom has its own effects that can both benefit friendly Nurgle armies or negatively affect enemy armies and settlement. These effects can range from increasing replenishment and physical resistance to reducing enemy weapon strength or laying a steady rate of attrition on them.

The plague system is a crucial tool for expanding Nurgle’s influence through corruption, as well as augmenting friendly armies to perform more effectively. Players will need to stay actively involved in maintaining their ever-spreading diseases, as they do have a time limit and will need renewal, especially when new symptoms become available.

 

Nurgle’s Cycle

Nurgle’s fascinated with the entire cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The entire faction’s infrastructure and army recruitment reflect this fascination with its cyclical building system and unit pool recruitment system.

Typically, factions need to build a structure starting a tier one in a settlement and then progress systematically to the highest tier to receive the greatest benefit. Nurgle’s construction system requires players to only build the initial tier of a building and then over time, it will grow itself to higher tiers without any oversight. Once the structure grows to the highest tier it will then drop down to the lowest tier and start the cycle again.

This means Nurgle’s provincial infrastructure and economy ebbs and wanes, reflecting the cycle of life, which creates periods of low income or resource availability, but then over time grows into a powerhouse before once again returning to a more modest size.

Nurgle’s army recruitment system also works a bit differently compared to other factions. Firstly, when a Nurgle lord recruits units, they can recruit as many as they like in a single turn and they appear immediately, but in a damaged state requiring a few turns to fully replenish.

Secondly, the Plague God has a unit pool that grows over time, based on the life and death cycle of buildings meaning each unit has a finite number of copies that can be recruited and maintained across all armies and territories. Such a recruitment system means Nurgle can raise armies quickly and explosively, but they still require time to mobilize to reach full strength and they may be composed of a hodge-podge of units based on what’s available.

 

Nurgle Army

Speaking of units, Nurgle’s forces are the slowest moving of the four Chaos Gods, but have a significantly increased hit point pool and better defensive stats. If Khorne is about winning through sheer force and power, the Plague God’s armies win by outlasting and outgrinding their competition, mostly in melee.

Nurgle may lack much in the way of ranged units, so there may be little reason to protect the rear of a battle line, but this is where Nurgle forces need to pay extra attention, due to limited access to mobile units. Anything with a decent cavalry force or fast-moving infantry can cause much headache, so a consolidated formation with limited outflank potential will go a long way in winning battles.

Nurgle needs time to build up and mobilize to truly be effective in carrying out Chaos’ plan. Once they get the ball rolling, it’s nigh impossible to stop the endless plague march. What diseases will you cook up in the name of Grandfather Nurgle?

Total War: Warhammer 3 is available on PC.

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