Total War: WARHAMMER III’s Lords of the End Times is being positioned as more than a large add-on for existing players: according to Senior Game Director Richard Albridge, buying one of its featured Legendary Lords can also provide a way into Immortal Empires without owning the base game. The release arrives alongside a substantial free update, whose features are separate from the paid DLC.
Can you play Immortal Empires without buying Total War: WARHAMMER III?
In an interview with Shacknews published October 5, 2026, Senior Game Director Richard Albridge said players can access Immortal Empires by purchasing one of the Legendary Lords featured in Lords of the End Times, even if they do not own Total War: WARHAMMER III. He named Nagash, Thanquol, Glottkin, and Boris Todbringer as the four Lords that can serve as a first step into the game’s offering.
That is the access model as described in the interview, not a complete statement of current storefront, platform, or regional terms. Check the live store listing for the specific Lord you want before buying; the interview does not establish prices or a platform-by-platform ownership matrix.
What does Lords of the End Times add?
The paid DLC is centered on its four featured Legendary Lords: Nagash, Thanquol, Glottkin, and Boris Todbringer. For established players, the draw is new playable content; for newcomers, Albridge says purchasing a featured Lord can also open access to Immortal Empires. The interview describes the expansion as “the biggest DLC we’ve done to date,” a characterization by the developer rather than a quantified comparison of content or play time.
Shacknews reports that Immortal Empires has “100+ Legendary Lord factions” playable after the DLC’s release. That is the article’s reported count, not an independently audited or guaranteed current total.
What is free, and what requires the DLC?
Creative Assembly’s August 17, 2026 update announcement says a major game update accompanied Lords of the End Times. The studio lists these free-update features:
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![Total War: Warhammer II – Blood for the Blood God II [Online Game Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/B1k-RwKkVlS.png._SL160_.png)
- From the icy peaks of Naggaroth to the arid reaches of the Southlands, each race struggles for dominion. As their conquests grow, the land turns crimson, and rivers run red with the blood of the slain!
- Blood for The Blood God brings a number of gory, mature-rated effects to Total War: WARHAMMER II
- A major Vampire Counts rework
- Neferata as a free Legendary Lord
- New End Game content
- An overhaul of Victory Conditions
- Updates to Lores of Magic
- An overhaul of the Immortal Empires campaign flyby
These are update features, not benefits to attribute to the paid DLC. The available announcement identifies the free additions but does not provide a full ownership or platform eligibility breakdown for each feature.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the developers see it as an entry point
Albridge told Shacknews that the scale of the release gave Creative Assembly an opportunity to bring new players into the series through Immortal Empires. He also described standalone faction DLC as a modular way to expand the game alongside full game updates and patching. That suggests a possible content strategy; it does not promise that future releases will follow the same format.
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- Warhammer 40,000
For someone choosing a first purchase, the practical question is which of the four featured Lords is most appealing, then whether the live listing offers the access described in the interview for their platform and region. Existing owners can instead weigh the Lords’ new content against the free changes arriving in the same update.
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