Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground Factions: What You Should Know

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground has three distinct factions with their own playstyle and tactical features. Though the campaigns lay out the basics of the factions and how they summon units, it will take some time to fully grasp their capabilities. This short Storm Ground factions primer will help players get a head start on creatively composing effective tactics and clever strategies when they go into battle in campaign and multiplayer.

The three factions in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground are:

– Stormcast Eternals
– Nighthaunt
– Maggotkin

Here’s everything you need to know about factions in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground.

 

Stormcast Eternals

The Stormcast Eternals are the immortal holy warriors each carrying a piece of Sigmar’s (the God of Order) power with the mission of cleansing the realms of Chaos and destruction (they’re totally not “Space Marines, but fantasy”).

Of the three factions, the Stormcast are the most heavily-armored with average to above average hit point pools on their units and plenty of abilities to improve armor. With enough armor, the Stormcast units will even have a chance to ignore damage altogether, allowing them to carry on the fight where others would fall.

The ironclad veneer could give the impression that the Stormcast are a slow faction specializing in attrition and grinding their opponents down. This is absolutely not the case. The Stormcast durability and overall above average quality comes at a high summoning cost, meaning that they must use their troops decisively and efficiently for tactical success.

The perfect symbol denoting the Stormcast gameplan is lightning. The Stormcast essentially utilize Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war) tactics where they launch an overwhelming and decisive offensive and defeat their enemy quickly, where speed and efficiency of movement are key. Their impressive durability serves to get them to the decisive point unscathed and then carry them to victory. As such, close-in formations with units buffing each other with effects and improved armor is a favored approach to their battleplan.

Each faction in Storm Ground also has a unique way of summoning units, which further defines their playstyle. All factions have a far away rear summoning area, which should be used only in emergencies or at the start of any mission where there are few options. The Stormcast summoning specialty is that they can summon units right next to their hero, meaning they can quickly bring down units and form up without much concern for terrain.

 

Nighthaunt

The Nighthaunt are the undead followers of the God of Death who seek to conquer all the realms for their ambitious master. If the Stormcast are focused on a decisive action, then the Nighthaunt are the best example of an unstoppable creeping force that builds up and then overwhelms. In essence, they are a kind of swarm faction with generally cheaper units and abilities that can slow, pin, or debuff enemies.

Nighthaunt units hit plenty hard for their cost, but their main advantage is their overall lower unit cost, which allows them to get a head start on building up their forces. Momentum, troop conservation, and map control are vital facets of the Nighthaunt’s game plan as they seek to overwhelm their opponents with a vast array of ghastly units.

An effective method for Nighthaunt to slow enemies, build their momentum, and gain map control is the use of debilitating abilities. These can range from pinning enemy units in place while reducing armor or forcing them to flee in panic. This gives the opportunity to delay faster moving units or break up formations or terrain dependent deployments.

The summoning method for the Nighthaunt also feeds into their general playstyle. The Nighthaunt need to summon Wisps and place down Pyres to serve as summoning locations and beacons. Wisps serve as fuel for Pyres, buff and heal units, and act as temporary summon locations for units. Because of this system, the Nighthaunt need time to establish a safe area where they can continuously bring in and improve their units. Effective Pyre placement is crucial to Nighthaunt map control as they generate free Wisps if enemy units perish within range.

 

Maggotkin

The Maggotkin are the spawn and followers of the Chaos God of corruption, pestilence, and disease – Nurgle. If the Nighthaunt require map control to buy time, then the Maggotkin literally need to control specific areas of the map to win. The faction’s unique system is that they grow corruption of Nurgle on the map itself, which provides benefits to their own units and debuff enemy units if they happen to find themselves in these corrupted hexes.

The Maggotkin can be considered a kind of trench warfare combo faction where they use various units and abilities to build up the land in their favor and then utilize said land to buff their own offensive abilities. While Maggotkin units are generally more durable than the Nighthaunt, they lack the armor of the Stormcast. Patience, deliberate planning, and good positioning are crucial features to the Maggotkin’s approach to battle.

Though the lack of armor may work against the larger hit point pools of the Maggotkin units, the terrain once again plays a role and can act as a kind of armor in that fully corrupted hexes will heal Maggotkin units. In specific situations this can actually be more valuable than having tons of armor as a healing effect will always trigger, whereas armor isn’t necessarily guarantee of damage mitigation. Not to mention, it’s very difficult for non-Maggotkin to deal with corrupted besides from avoiding it, meaning the Maggotkin can create chokepoints and force enemies into disadvantageous positions.

Corruption of Nurgle is vital not only to the Maggotkin’s way of battle, but also to unit summons. There are two phases to Nurgle’s Corruption: Seed of Corruption and then full Corruption of Nurgle. All Maggotkin units can be summoned on fully corrupted hexes, but only several units can utilize the Seed of Corruption as a gateway. Also, depending on the player’s warband composition and their unit abilities, fully corrupted hexes can be spent on creating Nurgling units, which can, in turn, be used to further corrupt the landscape.

Though this was a basic rundown of each faction’s basic gameplan, the extensive customization system and vast array of unlockables can modify them to create new tactics and unexpected approaches. The path to success lies in understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each faction’s way of battle and optimizing it to successfully counter your opponent.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.

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