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ChaosPATCH 2026.10.14

Which Total War: Warhammer III Faction Should You Play After the Tomb Kings?

By VGSources Team 9 min read

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For the safest next campaign, play Settra. Total War Academy identifies Settra as the easiest Tomb King start, citing helpful growth and public-order effects. If you want to leave the Tomb Kings, there is no evidence-backed universal winner: choose according to what you enjoyed—undead identity, constructs, campaign systems, or a particular kind of challenge—then confirm that your account owns the required game or DLC.

Start with the decision that actually matters

“What should I play next after Tomb Kings?” has two different answers. If you want a lower-friction campaign while keeping the same race, Settra is the most defensible recommendation because Total War Academy calls him the easiest King to start with. That is official guidance, not a current independent ranking, and the page reflects an older campaign context.

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If you want a new faction, the official material does not establish that Grand Cathay, Kislev, or any of the Chaos factions is objectively the best follow-up. SEGA’s WARHAMMER III portal presents those factions as part of the game’s seven-race, hundreds-of-units sandbox, but the reviewed pages do not provide current, comparable difficulty, battle-style, or campaign-system measurements. The right choice therefore depends on the part of Tomb Kings you want to keep or abandon.

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Check ownership before choosing a campaign

Access is not identical for every player. WARHAMMER III includes Immortal Empires and the launch races and Lords listed in SEGA’s official guide. Other races and Lords can require the relevant earlier game or a DLC entitlement. Purchased content must be present on the same game client as WARHAMMER III.

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  1. Open the game client you will actually use. A purchase on another platform or account may not unlock the faction in this installation.
  2. Check the official ownership guide and the faction’s store entry. Confirm whether the content is included with your edition, requires an earlier Total War game, or is separate DLC.
  3. Verify the Lord is selectable in the campaign setup screen. This catches regional, edition, account, and installation mismatches before you plan a campaign around that Lord.
  4. Check the current patch and content status. Unlock rules and availability can change, so do not rely on an old guide or a video recorded on a previous build.

Do this check before buying anything. The available evidence does not establish a universal DLC purchase that every Tomb Kings player should make.

If you want the smoothest transition: choose Settra

Why Settra is the cautious recommendation

Total War Academy calls Settra the easiest Tomb King start and points to faction effects that improve growth and public order. Those benefits address two common sources of early-campaign friction: building up settlements and keeping newly acquired territory stable. They make Settra the logical “learn the race without adding another layer of difficulty” option.

Settra also preserves the parts of the Tomb Kings campaign you already understand: the undead theme, construct-heavy identity, and race-specific progression. You can concentrate on refining your opening decisions instead of learning an entirely different faction economy and roster.

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What the recommendation does not prove

The Academy page is older, and its description is not evidence of current live balance. Patch changes, reworks elsewhere, difficulty adjustments, and later content can alter the relative experience. Treat “easiest” as the official guide’s recommendation, not as a newly tested ranking or a promise that every player will find Settra effortless.

Rank #2

If you have already completed Settra and want a genuinely different challenge, moving to another Tomb King is more informative than simply selecting a different race at random.

Use your previous Tomb King experience to pick a second campaign

Khatep: a deliberate challenge

Total War Academy characterizes Khatep as a hard start and highlights his distant starting position. That combination is relevant if the part you enjoyed was solving a difficult strategic map rather than expanding quickly from a secure base. Because this description comes from older guidance, confirm the opening situation in the current build before treating it as a precise difficulty forecast.

Choose Khatep when you want a familiar Tomb King identity with more pressure on early positioning and logistics. Do not choose him merely because an old guide labels him difficult; patches can change the practical severity of that start.

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Arkhan: pressure from surrounding enemies

The Academy also describes Arkhan as a hard start, specifically mentioning difficult enemies around him. This is a better fit for a player who wants immediate diplomatic and military problems while retaining Tomb King systems.

Again, the evidence supports the existence of that official warning, not a current numerical ranking against every other Lord. Inspect the campaign map and current faction effects before committing to a long campaign.

Khalida: homeland protection and ranged identity

Academy guidance presents Khalida as focused on protecting her homeland from vampire corruption and mentions an ammunition bonus for her archer legions. That gives you a clear thematic choice if you liked the Tomb Kings’ conflict with undead rivals or preferred a ranged-led army.

The exact bonus belongs to the game context described on that older page. Do not assume the value, wording, or balance is unchanged in your current build. Use the in-game faction effects and tooltips as the final authority.

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Do not mistake Patch 6.3 for a full Tomb Kings rework

Creative Assembly describes Patch 6.3 as an update rather than a full rework. It changes several systems that can materially affect how a Tomb Kings campaign feels:

  • Confederation rules and related effects
  • Canopic jar economy and uses
  • Lord and faction skills
  • The technology tree
  • Books of Nagash and associated effects
  • Campaign pacing and connected balance issues

Liam Newman, Senior Live QA Technician on Total War: WARHAMMER III, wrote: “These updates are not full reworks but they do come directly from the ongoing feedback we’ve received from you – whether through our community hub, our legacy forums, Reddit, and the general chatter we see out there online, so thank you for it and I hope you enjoy the updates in the patch.”

The practical consequence is simple: older “Tomb Kings are slow” or “this technology path is mandatory” advice may no longer describe the current campaign. Read the 6.3 notes and inspect the live tooltips before judging a faction from a pre-patch guide. Patch 6.3 can improve or alter the experience without turning every Lord into a new faction.

If you want a new race, choose by the change you want

The official portal names Grand Cathay, Kislev, and the four Chaos Gods among WARHAMMER III’s available factions. It does not, in the material reviewed, rank them against Tomb Kings. The table below keeps the comparison honest rather than filling unsupported cells with assumptions.

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Option What is supported Best reason to investigate it after Tomb Kings What is not established Ownership check
Settra Total War Academy calls him the easiest Tomb King start and cites growth and public-order effects. You want a familiar undead campaign with less initial friction. The Academy guidance is not proof of current live balance. Confirm Tomb Kings access and the Lord’s availability in your client.
Khatep Academy describes a hard, distant start. You want a Tomb King campaign that tests positioning and expansion. Its present-day difficulty relative to other Lords is not established. Confirm the Lord is included in your installed content.
Arkhan Academy describes a hard start with difficult surrounding enemies. You want familiar systems under immediate external pressure. Current enemy pressure and balance may differ from the older guide. Confirm the relevant Tomb Kings entitlement.
Khalida Academy emphasizes defending her homeland from vampire corruption and mentions an archer-ammunition bonus in its game context. You want a homeland-protection story or a ranged emphasis. The exact bonus and current tactical value are not verified here. Check the live faction panel and ownership screen.
Grand Cathay SEGA lists Grand Cathay as a WARHAMMER III faction. You want a clear thematic break from Tomb Kings. No current official comparison of difficulty, army style, or campaign systems to Tomb Kings was provided. Check whether your edition or DLC includes the relevant Lord.
Kislev SEGA lists Kislev as a WARHAMMER III faction. You want a different setting and faction identity. No supported ranking against Tomb Kings is available in the reviewed material. Confirm the faction and Lord unlock in your client.
Chaos factions SEGA’s portal presents the four Chaos Gods as WARHAMMER III options. You want the sharpest thematic departure from an undead kingdom. The reviewed pages do not establish which Chaos faction is easiest, most similar, or best next. Ownership varies by faction, Lord, edition, and DLC; verify each one.
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A practical decision path

Choose Settra when friction is the problem

Pick Settra if your Tomb Kings campaign taught you the systems but punished you with slow growth, unstable settlements, or an awkward opening. His official “easiest start” designation makes him the safest continuation while you learn the effects introduced or changed by Patch 6.3.

Choose another Tomb King when the identity is right but the challenge is wrong

Pick Khatep if a distant start sounds interesting, Arkhan if nearby enemies are the appeal, or Khalida if homeland defense and ranged armies are what you remember most positively. Treat each description as a direction, not a guarantee, and verify the current tooltips.

Choose a new race when familiarity is the thing you want to escape

Start with the theme rather than an unsupported difficulty claim. Grand Cathay, Kislev, and the Chaos factions are official WARHAMMER III choices, but the available material does not tell us which is the smoothest bridge from Tomb Kings. Select the faction whose setting and premise you want to learn, then use its current in-game advisor, faction effects, and campaign objectives to assess the opening.

Stay with Tomb Kings temporarily if you liked the systems most

If canopic jars, Books of Nagash, technology, and confederation were the reason you kept playing, a new race may remove the very systems you enjoyed. Patch 6.3 changes those areas without being a full rework. Play a current Settra campaign—or revisit another Tomb King after reading the patch notes—before concluding that you need a different race.

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How to test a faction without wasting a campaign

  1. Read the current faction panel. Note starting effects, objectives, and any ownership warning shown by the client.
  2. Play through the opening turns on the intended difficulty. Test the first settlement decisions, recruitment options, diplomacy, and immediate threats rather than judging from the loading screen.
  3. Check the systems you actually care about. For Tomb Kings, that may mean canopic jars, technology, Books of Nagash, confederation, or campaign pace; for a new race, identify its equivalent core loop from the tooltips.
  4. Restart without treating the first result as a balance verdict. An opening can feel difficult because it is unfamiliar. Compare the decisions you had to make, not just whether the first battle was won.
  5. Only then commit to a long campaign or purchase. Confirm that the required game and DLC remain installed on the same client.

What the upcoming content announcement changes—and what it does not

Warhammer Community announced on 13 August 2026 that the Lords of the End Times DLC was due to release on 24 September 2026. The announcement named four Lords and described new units, scenarios, gameplay updates, and revised victory conditions. It did not provide a comparative analysis of which faction Tomb Kings players should choose next.

Because that date is an announcement rather than independent confirmation of your current installation, check the client and the latest official notes for availability. New content can change ownership options and campaign choices, but it does not turn the announcement into evidence for a best-next-faction ranking.

The short answer

Play Settra if you want the safest, most familiar follow-up; Total War Academy explicitly labels him the easiest Tomb King start. Choose Khatep, Arkhan, or Khalida when a specific challenge or theme from their older official descriptions appeals to you, while checking the current build. Choose Grand Cathay, Kislev, or a Chaos faction only because you want that new identity—not because the available official material proves one is mechanically superior after Tomb Kings. Before any choice, verify the current patch, faction unlock, edition, DLC, and same-client ownership.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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ChaosGrand CathayKislevSettrastrategy gamesTomb KingsTotal War: WARHAMMER III

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