The Ultimate Ranged Races - Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires

[@triploshadow]

One thing you left behind about wood elf ranged superiority is that they can actually shoot inside forests and their shots have way more vegetation piercing than any other ranged unit in the game meaning that Wood elf archers are way less impeded by trees than all other archers. This can be effectively exploited by basically fighting other ranged factions or monster/cav factions inside the woods where their combat ability goes to shit. Also their melee units fight better in the trees so basically you are the only ranged race that doesn't get massively cucked by trees.

[@JackDemonXD]

I know this is a month old but, the thing with the Sky-Junk is, it has snipers sitting in it that have INFINITE ammo... the ammo counter on it is only for the rockets. (so although not amazing, it is still useful, even when it "runs out")

[@ZoltarWOT]

I like dark elves, especially Morathi with her new Slaneesh units but other characters are also good. Lokhir is very interesting with his new starting location and easy access to sea lanes. So many great mods and overhauls. My most played race in Warhammer 2 by far.

[@supermandra8275]

What are your go to mods for Dark Elf gameplay?

[@ZoltarWOT]

@@supermandra8275 I honestly don't remember, sorry, I don't have the mods installed anymore, I always delete thematics mods after every campaign

[@Kurthimself]

It’s so sad that vampire coast isn’t even a contender here, they were the selling point for war hammer 2 for me

[@CJ-wh7ik]

Yeah, it's weird. When I played it in tw2 i used armies 10+ handgunners

[@drazdian]

Bought this game a few days ago, timing is perfect was looking for a race with really good ranged to play

[@barraRapa]

Xbox game pass?

[@ximbabwe0228]

Vampire Coast is paid DLC but if you like ranged, it's awesome. It's just the empire but it doesn't matter if you lose your whole army. And you can horde recruit mortars at tier 2 😎

[@rodh1404]

While I agree with everything mentioned about Wood Elves and fully agree that their ranged units are awesome, bear in mind that the Wood Elves have NO artillery options. And while they have ridiculously long range for ranged units, if their enemy DOES have artillery, then they are going to be at a range disadvantage. They do have good methods of eliminating enemy artillery, so it's not a huge disadvantage for them, but it's something to be aware of.

[@ates423]

Vampire coast has some of the best artillery. The dwarves have really unique ranged units down to their high tier melee infantry, basically shotguns, grenades helicopters, flamethrowers (super strong you’ll always get 200 kills with it), etc. Imo however. Skaven does it the best. Try clan Skyre you won’t be disappointed. Mini guns, gas mortars, nukes, plague catapults, warp flamethrowers, shielded snipers. Each unit works cohesively with each other and you’ll really want to diversely recruit every type of range unit in your army to really see the ranged potential.

[@kohtalainenalias]

Is this guide for especially WH3? These stats don't apply to WH2?

[@paulszymanski2513]

Vampire coast is a ranged faction.

[@XenomorphsWrath]

they are, but most of their range either down right sucks or is outclassed by the other factions in damage / ease of use :| - don't get me wrong, I like the pirats :) but their units are more around cheap and disposable.

[@VikingsNeverDie]

Problem with Dark Elves is range. 130m for most units, this means they get slaughtered by 160+m archers.

[@trianqren127]

Just move forward? Lmao xd

[@garroshhellscream594]

Darkshards have a silver shield. It's not that horrible.

[@Twilight5007]

I think DE have fun unit but they are looked down on because they are usually fighting high elves which out-range them heavily making it seem weaker. Slaves are also kind of a detractor from them.

[@ryanfrancis3839]

It sure feels like Jezzies and Ratling Boys are the 2 best ranged units in the game. Kinda map dependent, but if you have LoS then BRUH

[@rodh1404]

I've always found Ratling Gunners to be a bit disappointing. Their (relatively) short range and the need for a direct line of sight means they often don't do much on the battlefield. Warplock Jezzails are much better, mostly because of their long range. They're still limited to line of sight and they're best used for sniping high value enemy units, but while I'll happily leave behind Rattling Gunners, I usually place a few Warplock Jezzails into every army I can.

[@triploshadow]

Ratling guns and jezzails are amazing but if you get a forest map they are very limited.

[@planb8700]

​@@rodh1404 well their range isn't that short being able to boost it to 170-180 it you play skyre combined with low rate of reload and near infinite ammo kinda dummy when you get half decent maps even if they can't shoot till half their range they'll melt lines

[@anthonymichael1259]

I've just never been too interested in playing slavers. I make an exception for chaos dwarfs cuz their campaign is insanely fun and unique (and I like their artillery and guns) but I wouldn't even say CDs are my favorites. I usually play good guys and/or undead. Maybe I'm just basic D:

[@RagnarokiaNG]

People hound Ikit Claw for using nukes while the Sisters of Twilight are casually carpet bombing everywhere they go with full armies of hawkriders.

[@bjack1547]

Malekith has always been my favorite. Now you can field many easy cheap armies of spears and dark shards and take on anything.

[@TheKolboShow]

I love the Dark Elves. I am probably one of their biggest cheerleaders. But I think the reason why they have become unpopular as of late is because of their lackluster slave mechanic.

[@TheKolboShow]

That said, their roster is perfectly fine. ( imo )

[@ericposey-vt5ej]

I love the idea of dark elves but something about their campaigns is intensely boring. I can't even put it into words but other than Morathi, I just can not play them past 30 turns. It's weird that I have completed 3 morathi campaigns though (more than any other lord). So whatever she has fixes the faction for me. Might be the voice actress.

[@barraRapa]

@@TheKolboShow you also can save-scum names of power to stack those you want, like improve shades

[@garroshhellscream594]

I honestly would love them even with the slave mechanic, but they are too... huh, cringe. It's one of those designs where it's hard to appreciate them if you can't close your eyes on the aesthetic.

[@Vaprous]

0:20 - Yeahhhh ....Dark Elves suck mechanically but there's no denying that they are a ranged powerhouse: their literal basic ranged unit, the Darkshard, is utterly terrifying. High range, modest armor piercing, decent model count, accurate, has a shielded variant and most importantly: dirt cheap. 550 gold and 137 upkeep for a unit that absolutely can just slap anything in its path if supported with a staunch wall of defenders? Horrific when you consider they can combine this with the "Reaper Bolt Thrower" artillery weapons that are incredible versatile; it makes for a faction whose most basic bread-butter tactic is to turtle behind a staunch wall of frontline combatants while their ranged drowns their enemy in high damage projectiles. When combined with all their excellent ranged skirmish cavalry, it makes them all the scarier.

[@Navinor]

While the Dark elf armies are strong their roster is rather limited compared to other factions. Furthermore their campaign is simply NOT fun with the new slave mechanics. When you want to expand later you are severly crippeld by the new slave mechanic. This race went from my top race in WH 2 to my least played race because of the "reworked" slave mechanic.

[@Pyromaniac77777]

How is their roster limited? It is one of my favorites in the game, and I own all DLC for all 3 games. Harpies, Hydras, manticores, Kharibdyss, Medusa, even just their monsters are in a great place. But then you’ve got multiple ranged options, AP on all, Darkshards one of the best early units in the entire game hands down, Corsairs with Handbows for skirmishing/flanking, the amazing Scourgerunner Chariot for antilarge, Shades for range and multiple variants of those to suit your needs. Cavalry sucks but Doomfire Warlocks are badass and worth mentioning and using. We’ve got Witch Elves to cause rampage and tear shit up, Har Ganeth executions for killing all but the best infantry in the entire game, Black Guards for an excellent holding line and antilarge, plus the Sisters and Daemonettes for quick flanks and gutting low tier infantry. Heroes we got Death Hags, Sorceress, Assassins, Masters, each fulfilling different roles. Back up your comment please. It’s ridiculous.

[@merriebee7701]

If you don’t mind me asking, do you maximize you battles? In my recent play through as Malus, you actually expand exponentially faster than in WH2. I agree the passive slave system is boring but the income + growth + cost/time reduction is pretty good. One sacrifice to Kaine rite in emergencies is enough for maximum capacity. I loved the old system because it really felt like you’re a ‘slaver’: maximizing the efficiency of your economy. Nowadays you’re incentivized to attack everyone for maximum efficiency, which turns out to be fun. DE aren’t as ruined as I first thought (I didn’t touch the DE for a long time as I thought they were ruined from WH2 and I was mad)

[@minidude112]

Agreed!... What it seems many on the other side here do not understand is that for some, for me at least the new slave system stole the the Excel sheet and many cheeses. In theory this is good, but all it does is streamlining the process to not only make it less fun in a way but just more shallow. It simplifies a mechanic that were for many already pretty simple. It puts it in a box. The insane and brutal amount of tediousness from public order and with the easy feature of buffing up one province to hold all slaves removed is just not good at all. This on legendary, very hard with no relative mods of course. With anything else that could be an entirely different story. I see Malus is mentioned here. He is one of the few exceptions I would say. Well not really. But his power, mechanic and start pos. makes it better. However his mechanic could also even further makes the already unbearable public order problems worse. You could indeed expand fast, but at the cost of a lot of tedious shit though..

[@whitetiger8994]

dark elves are good but the short range make them the last on this list

[@Shadowhunterbg]

Gooood. I love the Wood elves the most from other elf factions.

[@TheShizzo]

I dislike the Dark Elves due to the slave system, they have issues with control. I wish we could move them around like before, but now all your provinces suffer control penalty...it's fine on lower difficulty but on legendary it's a lot of unneeded frustration dealing with all the public order.

[@minidude112]

^ What he said

[@DrFeltcher]

I really like Dark Elves, but I preferred them in WH2, I think a lot of people feel like they were dumbed-down in 3. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, they're fun and very strong. It's a shame they got the slave mechanic changed and it seems like that was because they are straight copying the old slave mechanic for Chaos Dwarves. Also the reason I prefer Shades with great weapons is because they have armor piercing melee attacks. So I can spam them in armies and not have to worry if they get caught in melee. You can just checkerboard them and it's mostly fine. I usually take sky junks because they can be moved much easier and they don't suffer line of sight problems because they are in the sky. Also I think I disagree with your opinion of Ratling Gunners, yes they have some line of sight issues, but they are extremely effective in open battles. I still make old school weapon teams armies in my skaven games. You just have to recognize that you have to pay close attention to terrain. Unfortunately lots of gun units in WH3 seem o have line of sight issues, hopefully they fix this soon

[@francescobianchi595]

There is a general dislike of the DE cus people didn't like the slave mechanic changes. The least played faction of IE rn

[@nicky640]

I like the Dark elves, they're just not the strongest ranged race

[@kohtalainenalias]

Are Wood Elfs also good in other ways? Good as a faction also?

[@freerangepork9072]

Wood elves are top tier imo. They have great ranged units, their cav is very good, not so much the early options but their stag knights pack a real punch, their elven infantry is solid offensive infantry, esp the bladesingers I think they’re called and the glaive unit, dryads are good early game and treekin and tree men hit hard and refuse to die. They have good magic, including lore of shadows, my favourite school, and their heroes are all solid, though not particularly amazing. They’re by far my most played faction in WH2 just because of how well-rounded their roster is, though they do lack any artillery, unless you’re playing the sisters, who are essentially a flying artillery unit.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Wait where's the Empire? Besides magic and cav, it's all range

[@adamliu2246]

Hi why is your game looks way better than mine mod?

[@joerogers6043]

Pirates and dwarves not good enough for u?

[@eazy_e6889]

All are very enjoyable except Cathay. Just can't get into them at all. My 5th would be Empire.

[@danilkorovin6012]

i don't like dark elfs coz i darkelf player simple

[@maxxordinate5088]

the new slave mechanic is a downgrade. thats why people dont like them, hopefully it gets revamped in the chaos dwarf dlc.

[@Phil_3491]

DEs slave System is trash, its just tedious and offers very little. There is no deptht behind it. You are obliged to Build only control/growth Buildings in your settlements. The slave rework is very annoying and takes away a lot from the DE as a faction. Major nuisance to deal with, nothing more. I only Play them because they were my fav faction in WH2, CA did them dirty, especially in the lategame

[@userpereuser3495]

I don't like DE because I'm only into factions of order ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@ximbabwe0228]

Malekith ends up working with the other elf races and the humans against chaos if that helps

[@minidude112]

@@ximbabwe0228 ooh! Very interesting. Cool

[@VikingsNeverDie]

@@ximbabwe0228 true, but only like 17 minutes before the world was gonna end, lmao

[@ximbabwe0228]

@@VikingsNeverDie also true

[@cryptosporidium01]

I find dark elves boring.

[@vrzymlask2560]

I dont like dark elves because they are just reskinned high elves

[@Arbaaltheundefeated]

Could as easily just say the exact same in reverse about High Elves...

[@Costin_Gaming]

Dark Elves are better early on and more aggressive. High Elves are better long term.

[@ZoltarWOT]

I dont like you because youre just reskinned your sister

[@ximbabwe0228]

They're both just reskinned empire with dresses and less varied infantry models

[@garroshhellscream594]

They are just reskinned lizardmens with pink skin and pointy ears, no tailes, no claws, no big teeths!