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Come September, you won't need a single Total War: Warhammer game to play its colossal, trilogy-spanning Immortal Empires campaign

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TDGN Brief

From September 24, players will no longer need to own any Total War: Warhammer game to access the trilogy-spanning Immortal Empires campaign. The change arrives alongside the Lords of the End Times DLC, where purchasing any single character pack—for roughly $9—grants permanent access to the colossal campaign, making it a far cheaper entry point for newcomers.

Creative Assembly has confirmed that the Lords of the End Times expansion for Total War: Warhammer 3 will launch on September 24, bringing with it a major change to how the series' flagship Immortal Empires campaign is accessed. Previously, players needed to own all three Total War: Warhammer titles, then just Warhammer 3, to unlock the mode. From September, buying any single character from the Lords of the End Times DLC—priced at about $9 (£7.49)—will grant permanent access to Immortal Empires, which compiles content from all three games into one grand campaign.

The Lords of the End Times DLC itself adds four new legendary lords: the undead god Nagash, Boris Todbringer leading Middenland, the Glottkin's Nurgle-aligned hordes, and the Skaven Grey Seer Thanquol accompanied by his giant rat-ogre Boneripper. The expansion also includes a free update that overhauls the Vampire Counts faction, adding new units and mechanics. The base version of Immortal Empires will offer 14 different factions to play, with more available through additional purchases.

The decision to lower the entry barrier is a significant shift for the series, which has long required a substantial investment to experience its full scope. By tying access to a single low-cost DLC purchase, Creative Assembly aims to attract new players who may have been put off by the need to own multiple games. The change also means that during sales, the cost to unlock Immortal Empires could drop even further.

Coverage of the announcement was consistent across outlets, with IGN first reporting the September 24 release date and the DLC's details, while PC Gamer highlighted the new entry conditions for Immortal Empires in a later article. Rock Paper Shotgun focused on the free Vampire Counts update alongside the paid content.

  • Lords of the End Times DLC launches September 24, adding four legendary lords including Nagash and Thanquol.
  • Purchasing any single character from the DLC for ~$9 grants permanent access to Immortal Empires, no other game ownership required.
  • The free update overhauls the Vampire Counts faction with new units and mechanics.
  • Immortal Empires base version includes 14 factions, with more available via additional purchases.

This synthesis was derived and curated on the fly by TDGN’s newsroom from 5 outlets’ breaking reports, and updates automatically as coverage develops. It may contain errors — the outlets’ original reporting is linked below.

Who reported it, and when

  1. first IGN Total War: Warhammer 3 Just Confirmed the Release Date for Its Biggest Piece of DLC in the Series 10-Year History
  2. +4h TheGamer Is The Warhammer 40k Bond Worth It In Helldivers 2?
  3. +4h PC Gamer The Lords of the End Times are landing in Total War: Warhammer 3 on September 24, and everything's coming up rat men
  4. +19h Rock Paper Shotgun Total War: Warhammer 3 is getting a big free vampiric update in September, alongside the epithet-stuffed Lords of the End Times DLC
  5. +20h PC Gamer Come September, you won't need a single Total War: Warhammer game to play its colossal, trilogy-spanning Immortal Empires campaign

This page records how the games press covered one story. The reporting belongs to the outlets listed; every headline links to the original. Counts update as more outlets publish. The article itself follows below.

Quiet5 outletsfirst: IGN

Come September, you won't need a single Total War: Warhammer game to play its colossal, trilogy-spanning Immortal Empires campaign

PC Gamer · ·

Yesterday we finally got to see a full reveal for everything arriving in Total War: Warhammer 3's Lords of the End Times expansion and it's a whole heap of content. We've got Nagash and his undead legions, a fully-fleshed out Boris Todbringer and Middenland, plus the Glottkin's putrid hordes, and the greatest of Grey Seers, Thanquol and his giant rat-ogre, Boneripper.

But nestled among the reveals was also the announcement that when Lords of the End Times launches on September 24, you'll no longer need any Total War: Warhammer games to play the huge trilogy-spanning Immortal Empires campaign, which is the best bit of the series. From the official DLC summary:

"In a series first, purchasing any of the [Lords of the End Times] content grants access to the colossal Immortal Empires campaign with no need to own any of the Total War: Warhammer games, making it a great entry point for new players."

The entry conditions for Immortal Empires—the grand campaign which compiles content from all three instalments— have softened over the years. You used to have to own all three Total War: Warhammer games, then it was just Total War: Warhammer 3, and from September, it'll just be any individual Lords of the End Times character, meaning you'll be able to unlock Immortal Empires for about $9 (£7.49) in perpetuity.

In fact, when the Lords of the End Times lords go on sale, it'll potentially get even cheaper. Content-wise, the base version of Immortal Empires amounts to 14 different factions, and 24 legendary lords, and that's not including all the Free-LC lords and heroes added over the years, plus entire free factions like Bretonnia, who also have multiple playable characters.

Alas, while expansion factions and lords will be present in Immortal Empires, as it was previously, you'll still have to purchase individual DLC to unlock those—I recommend waiting for a sale and selectively picking up any extra races you're interested in trying.

You can currently buy Total War: Warhammer 3 for $9 in the 10th anniversary sale, but with this change in September, it'll actually be better content value to buy Nagash, Thanquol, Todbringer, or the Glottkin for the same price. You won't get the Realms of Chaos campaign, which is missable to be honest, but you'll get Immortal Empires, which contains its campaign map, plus one of the new DLC lords.

The same goes for Total War: Warhammer 1 and 2. The second game's Great Vortex campaign is a fun time, but its entire map is included in Immortal Empires. I've spent many hundreds of hours in every instalment in this series, but even I'll admit there's basically no point going back to individual games now Immortal Empires exists and collates all content.

And with its endgame rework plus all the new stuff, Lords of the End Times' release will be a great time to jump into Total War: Warhammer if you've been eyeing it for a while yet never made the leap.

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