Total War: WARHAMMER III - Nagash – Lords of the End Times Review Summary

Nagash is awesome and thematic and the DLC is top-tier with a fun, replayable campaign, but persistent widespread bugs and a severely weak Nagash economy can block campaign progress.

Nagash is awesome and thematic: Players universally praise Nagash's representation, finding him powerful, fun, and faithful to his lore. His look, sound, and battlefield presence are highly acclaimed.

Top-tier DLC overall: Many reviewers consider this one of the best DLCs for the game, often calling it the best ever released. It is seen as a great addition for veteran players.

Campaign is fun and replayable: The campaign is highly enjoyable, with many players praising its replayability and flavor. It offers a refreshing and well-constructed experience.

DLC content is solid: The DLC's factions, mechanics, and units are generally well-received. Players find the new content enjoyable and substantial.

Nagash becomes invincible late-game: In the late game, Nagash can become nearly invincible, soloing entire armies and ascending to godhood. He is described as an unstoppable powerhouse.

Persistent widespread bugs in game: Many reviewers report numerous bugs throughout the game, making it feel unstable. Bugs are described as abundant and present in various aspects.

Nagash economy severely weak: Nagash's faction has the worst economy in the game, making it difficult to field armies and progress. The economy is described as trash, poor, and needing heavy balancing.

Campaign blocked by bugs: Bugs prevent campaign completion, forcing restarts and making long victories impossible. Blocking bugs and softlocks are common.

Crashes in quest battles: The final quest battle and other major quest battles frequently crash, making them impossible to complete. Crashes occur even on minimum settings.

Game crashes frequently: The game crashes often, including after updates, during mid-game crises, and after ending turns. Crashes lead to save corruption and frustration.

Black Pyramid tech tree: The faction features a Black Pyramid tech tree that uses sigils or tech points. It provides upgrades such as upkeep reduction and many small bonuses, and Nagash's strength scales with investment in it.

Nagash is overpowered: Nagash can become invincible, solo entire armies, and wipe out large numbers of units single-handedly. Players note he is unbreakable and never routs, making him a one-man army by around turn 10.

Mortarch unlock and confederation: Mortarchs are unlockable characters recruited through a system with conditions tied to the game map. The faction also has a confederation or subjugation mechanic for Mortarchs, with territory limits.

Undead roster amalgamation: Nagash's faction combines units from Vampire Counts, Vampire Coast, and Tomb Kings, plus a few new units. He has access to the entire undead roster and can mix units from multiple undead factions.

Endgame crisis and final battle: There is an endgame crisis mechanic called Lords of the End Times, fully enableable. The campaign ends with a massive final battle, including a final battle against Nagash when playing as other factions.

Final battle crashes frequently: Multiple players report consistent crashes during the final victory battle, especially in the Nagash campaign. The issue persists even with sufficient hardware and current drivers, and some users encounter the same crash multiple times.

Late-game or crisis-related crashes: The game crashes one turn after mid-game or end-game crises appear, and consistently around turns 70-80. Some also report crashing to desktop every turn past turn 10.

Game-bricking and save corruption: Crashes can brick the game entirely or corrupt save files, preventing players from loading saves or playing any faction. Save files may also fail to load outright.

Crashes after updates and DLC: Some crashes appear after updates, with one case solved by a subsequent update. Buying the DLC also leads to frequent crashes for some players.

Nagash campaign and mission crashes: Crashes occur consistently when starting the Nagash campaign and during the Last Nagash mission. These freezes and crashes happen regardless of graphics settings, even on low.

Strong overall DLC recommendation: Many reviewers recommend the DLC for its enjoyable content and fun factor, with some calling it a must-buy or the best DLC for Warhammer 3.

Buggy state prevents recommendation: Reviewers cannot recommend the DLC in its current buggy state, citing crashes, softlocks, and other issues that need fixing.

Wait for fixes and sale: Many suggest waiting for patches, bug fixes, and discounts before purchasing to ensure a better experience.

Not worth the price: Some reviewers find the DLC not worth its price, especially given its current state and lack of content value.

Worth buying at full price: Several reviewers state the DLC is worth the asking price and highly recommend purchasing it now.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $40.00.

Session length: 18.0h.

Enjoyment tends to arrive after the early resource and economy grind, when Black Pyramid upgrades and high-tier undead access create a strong power ramp. A notable minority finds the campaign boring or broken throughout, especially in multiplayer or when progression bugs appear.

Friction: Necromantic Energy scarcity limits buildings, unit caps, rituals, and army funding.; Weak early economy struggles to support the armies Nagash should field.; Nagash is weak early and surrounded by enemies.; Poor auto-resolve forces tedious manual battles.; Restrictive Mortarch and confederation requirements can block progression.; Multiplayer lacks narrative quests and the final battle; bugs can block campaigns..

Unlock drivers: Black Pyramid upgrades strengthen Nagash and undead units.; Growing empire enables high-tier undead recruitment.; Making Arkhan a Mortarch and defeating Settra/Brettonia removes early pressure.; Sacking and settlement trading can relieve economy strain.; Late-game abilities and recruitment turn Nagash into a powerful one-man army..

Co-op Narrative Campaigner: Plays long multiplayer or co-op campaigns with narrative progression and long-victory goals. Motivation: To share Nagash's complete narrative campaign, quests, and final battle with a co-op partner. Stance: no buy.

Nagash Power-Fantasy Devotee: Builds the Black Pyramid, mixes undead factions, and uses Nagash as a late-game one-man army. Motivation: To feel the fantasy of Nagash as an overwhelming undead lord who raises armies and dominates the battlefield. Stance: buy.

Hardcore Difficulty Seeker: Plays Very Hard or higher, optimizes expansion and tech, and seeks challenging late-game campaigns. Motivation: To master a demanding campaign with meaningful strategic choices and high-difficulty battles. Stance: buy.

The Windows 12-15GB VRAM cohort is predominantly negative, with frequent crashes and sound/FPS issues; the Windows 8-11GB VRAM cohort shows mixed results, from minor map FPS drops to campaign-start crashes.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Reports frequent crashes, sound bugs, and FPS drops, including in quest battles and late-campaign areas.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. One report notes only minor map FPS drops, while another cannot start the campaign due to repeated crashes.

Monetization: The reviews discuss paid DLC campaigns, their price-to-content value, bugs, and balance. Some praise the DLC as fun and worthwhile, while others complain about pricing, content quantity, and technical issues. There is no direct evidence of an in-game real-money shop, paid gacha, loot boxes, currency obfuscation, battle passes, or pay-to-win purchases. The monetization described is traditional paid expansion content, so the score remains in the fair low band.

Extensive content and units: The DLC is extensive, adding new units, heroes, and lords for multiple factions, including legendary heroes for Nurgle and Nagash. It includes content for Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, and Skaven alongside Nagash.

Nagash faction central: The DLC centers on the Nagash faction and its campaign, adding a new undead faction led by Nagash with reworked mechanics. It is described as the Lord of the Undead and includes unique mechanics and units.

Buggy launch and patches: The DLC shipped with blocking bugs, but multiple hotfixes and patches have been released to address issues. Reviewers note the base game already has a buggy baseline.

Path of Exile comparison: Reviewers compare the tech tree to Path of Exile's skill tree, with some calling it a rip-off. The Black Pyramid tree is praised as the best CA design for Total War.

Steep DLC pricing: Reviewers consistently find the DLC's price too high for its design quality, especially considering the cost for a single faction. Some note it is sold at full price and is not eligible for refunds.