Total War Warhammer 3 Magic Guide

Welcome to our Total War Warhammer 3 Magic Guide, Part 4 of our series of guides to Total War Warhammer 3 for Beginners. Today we will cover the use of magic in battles, as spells are potent, but players can waste it if they don’t know what they are doing with it.

Check out the list of articles in this beginners series of guides:

Also, the affiliate link to purchase Total War Warhammer 3 from Steam is here: https://sovrn.co/vouhli4

Also before we start, don’t forget to check out our merch store if you’re in the US. We sell dnd dice sets, gamer t-shirts as well as gamer room decoration.

Intro: Total War Warhammer 3 Magic

So in Total War Warhammer 3 magic is very different from magic used in other games Rpg games in that there is no benefit to having multiple wizards in the same army with the intent of having them both cast spells.

The reason is that rather than each mage having an amount of mana or spell slots, all wizards in your army use the same Winds of Magic system.

It’s a bit complicated for a beginner to get their head around, but basically, there are three things you need to know about your magic resource which is:

Power
Power Reserve
Recharge

The power is the amount of energy to cast spells that you have currently available to use, so every time you cast a spell, it will use up power from the winds of magic to cast that spell.

The power reserve is the amount of power that is in reserve. This value works in tandem with the recharge rate, so the recharge rate is the time it takes for power to go from the reserve to the main pool for usage.

This is why typically, it is not that useful to have multiple wizards in the same army, as they will have to share the same power. Also, remember that spells also have a cooldown time after usage.

Now to cast a spell, you left-click on the spell, and then you left-click on the unit or area you want to cast a spell on the map. If you decide not to cast the spell, right-click, which will cancel the spell selection.

To overcast a spell, double-click on the spell, so you see two blue chevrons underneath the spell, indicating the spell will be overcast. More on overcasting later in this article

Types of Magic

There are 12 main types of spells in Total War Warhammer 3 magic system, which are:

Augment
Regeneration
Hex
Magic Missile
Wind
Breath
Direct Damage
Bombardment
Explosion
Hiding
Vortex
Summons

Augment

So, augment spells are a particular favourite of mine and what they do is they increase the stats of either one of your choice or all friendly units in the spell area and possibly give them an attribute.

Now, if you’re a beginner and just getting used to the game, these spells are probably the ones you should start with (and Hexes), as you need to target a unit or units in combat (most of the time) to get the benefit of these spells.

I particularly like ones that target multiple units because if you have a good old-fashioned scrap with many of your units, you can buff many of your units simultaneously.

The spells that only target one unit you should probably cast on a Lord or Hero to help keep them alive in combat.

Regeneration

Regeneration spells heal one or multiple units over time and can even raise units from the dead. The Lord of Life has one of these spells and the Lore of Vampires.

These are good to cast into a melee to help keep your units alive. Just be aware that if you have won a battle, but you still have the power, you can hold off ending the fight so you can use these healing spells on your forces so that when they come out of the battle, they will have healed more than if they hadn’t

Hex

Hex spells are like augment spells, except instead of buffing your unit or units, they debuff an enemy unit or units. Players can use these in the same way, and you can stack a debuff on enemy units while buffing your own.

Mainly the Lore of Death has the hex spell Doom and Darkness that, when overcast, reduces all enemy units’ leadership in the target area by 16 but also has the augment spell Aspect of the Dreadknight, which makes your units have terror.

Also, while I said that it’s not normally useful to have multiple wizards in the same army, stacking buffs from multiple lores can be potent and combine it with an improved recharge rate or power reserve ability. You can have some impressive combinations.

Just remember that for all the rules I have created, there are times when players can break them. You just need to understand why you are breaking the rules.

Magic Missile

These spells shoot a missile toward the enemy. They can miss or be blocked by terrain and require a line of sight.

Now, if you were thinking about Magic Missile from DND, while these types of spells are called Magic Missile type, that’s not because they all do the same thing. It’s more of how they deliver the effect to that target.

So an example I am familiar with is the spell Fireball from the Lore of Fire. This magic missile spell shoots a fireball at a target that explodes on contact, potentially targeting multiple enemy units.

One thing about magic missile spells is that they can miss, so you should use them when the enemy is not moving, mainly when engaged with your units.

Power is precious, and its usage can mean the difference between winning a hopeless battle or losing a fight. There have been many instances where magic has turned the tide for me, so use it wisely and don’t waste it.

Also, if your wizard is on a horse or a flying creature, you can move around the battlefield to get a good position to fire a magic missile spell into the enemy’s rear.

Wind

Wind spells are spells that travel in a straight line. They are the reason I said to stagger your front line in the previous post.

Now a critical use of these spells is that you can control the line the magic travels in by holding down the left click on the map, allowing you to rotate the direction the sorcery will travel in.

You almost always want to ensure that the spell travels in a 90-degree arc so you can attempt to hit multiple units with it.

Players should use these spells when their front lines are engaged so that the enemy can’t quickly move out of the way, but try not to hit your troops with them.

Also, never use the base angle of the spell to go 0 degrees straight north, as this is a useless angle and will typically only hit one unit, so always try to hit multiple units with these spells.

Also, the affiliate link to purchase Total War Warhammer 3 from Steam is here: https://sovrn.co/vouhli4

Breath

Breath spells are similar to Wind spells in that players can rotate them, but instead of travelling in a straight line, they have a cone-shaped area of effect. Pretty much everything that applies to Wind spells applies to them.

Breath spells are usually shorter range but more potent than Wind spells, but as I said before, make sure the units your targets are engaged.

Direct Damage

Direct damage spells directly damage a target; the great thing about them is that, unlike a magic missile, they can’t miss. These spells are simple to use, but some are hero or lord killers, which can be handy.

If you take out the enemy lord, their army will suffer a leadership penalty which can help the whole army break

Bombardment

Bombardment spells target an enemy unit or area and bombards them from above. Players can use these spells in two ways. You can use them when your lines are engaged, and you can use them if the enemy is not moving and just sitting there.

A good use of these is in enemy sieges. If the enemy is blocking a gate with their units, you can drop a bombardment spell on the enemy to weaken them mainly because their units will concentrate on keeping the gate secured.

Because these spells attack directly from above, there aren’t generally blocked by a line of sight, unlike magic missile spells, so keep that in mind.

Explosion

Explosion spells cause an explosion that radiates outward from a central point, damaging and knocking back all units (typically including your own).

Some explosion spells radiate from the caster, and others radiate from a target point, so the ones released from the caster must be used with care, as they can damage your units.

If the enemy swamps your caster, you can explode. Then this can punish the enemy for doing so, as these spells do a lot of damage.

The others, like Foot of Gork, radiate from a target area, so players can use these like bombardment spells at choke points or for attacking large clumps of enemy units sitting still.

Just like bombardment spells, it’s better to attack an enemy that isn’t moving as it will make them easier to hit, but even more than bombardment spells, be careful not to hit your units.

Also, if one of your units is losing and is swamped by many high-value enemy targets, it might be worth dropping an explosion spell on them to get a good swap.

Hiding

Hiding spells are spells that cause a unit to become invisible. Players can use these for many things, including positioning themselves to get behind the enemy and target them with other spells.

Also helpful in getting out of trouble if your wizard gets attacked. As I said in the previous post, mobility is key.

Vortex

Vortex spells are unique because they stay on the battlefield for some time, damaging all nearby units. Most move randomly, but others will stay still or home in on enemies.

Now, these spells are mighty, but they can also damage your troops, and since, in most cases, you can’t control where they go, players should use them differently from other spells.

They are great when playing against a defensive force that wants you to come to them. If you drop one of these spells in the middle of the formation, it will cause them to run away from the spell.

The best way to think about them is as inaccurate mortar fire whose job is to keep the enemy pinned down so your front-line troops can assault their bunker.

If the enemy is too busy trying to dodge a vortex spell, then they can’t bring all their ranged units to bear down on your approaching army.

These tips don’t apply to all vortex spells but the ones that move randomly. Players can use them like bombardment spells for those units that stay still.

Summons

Summon spells are the last category that summons a unit temporarily. These spells can have many uses, such as defending the caster if the caster is charged.

But I often like to summon a unit behind the enemy front line when the enemy is engaged and then have the called unit charge the enemy unit or units in the rear to help break those units.

Overcasting: Total War Warhammer 3 Magic

To finish this guide, we will cover overcasting. So overcasting is casting an upgraded version of a spell for better effects, including having that augment spell buff all friendly units in an area instead of one at the chance of the caster taking damage if the spell is miscast.

If a spell is miscast, the wizard will still cast it, but the caster will be damaged. You can see the miscast chance of the magic in the character upgrade tree.

You can also reduce the miscast chance by upgrading the spell in the upgrade tree and getting earthing from the upgrade tree, among other things.

Thank you for reading Part 4 of our Total War Warhammer 3 Guide for Beginners. You can find Part 5 on Diplomacy here: Total War Warhammer 3 Guide Part 5

Also, the affiliate link to purchase Total War Warhammer 3 from steam is here: https://sovrn.co/vouhli4