Legendary Lord improvement Ideas

cersbsb#2301

This is specifically about LLs and their Skill Trees/Traits/Items/Faction mechanics, not about Race mechanics (that's a whole other issue).

Empire:

Karl Franz - Give him back his Offices mechanic (in addition to the Elector Counts system) and tie it to a unique way to reliably confederate the other Empire LLs. Karl Franz is the Emperor and a genius politician, the fact that his politics mechanics are no different from Gelt's is a bit of a let down. By giving him the ability to reliably confederate the other LLs and put them into administrative Offices (Grand Theogenist, Supreme Patriarch, Huntsmarshal) for bonuses, his campaign could evoke the feeling of uniting and creating a strong Empire better.

Balthasar Gelt - Give him a reskin of Kislev's Ice Court mechanic called "The Colleges of Magic", allowing him to train Battle Wizard Heroes (and Lords when they get added) over the course of a few turns, giving them powerful traits. Also, please revert his skill tree nerfs. For some reason he is one of the only LLs who had their skills directly nerfed when ported to IE. Some of these nerfs are bizarre, like changing his +10 Armour to his army skill to +9, which does nothing except make the stat cards look stupid.

Dwarfs:

Thorgrim Grudgebearer -Give him either an active or passive ability that gives him significant Ward Save to represent him using the practically indestructible Throne of Power (due to Grungni's Rune of Azamar).

Ungrim Ironfist - Give him some stat/combat buffs. He is really struggling compared to other melee Legendary Lords, even ones he should directly counter. For a character who is supposed to be a beast in melee he needs a bit more love.

Greenskins:

Skarsnik - Skarsnik has one of the worst LL unique skill tree in the game... Give him better buffs to Night Goblins and Squig units. Currently the only buff he gives them over a regular Night Goblin Warboss is a bit of extra Charge Bonus. Night Goblins as a whole are completely shafted by the Tech Tree and skills that buff them (compared to regular Goblins), so giving them a bit extra won't be the end of the world. In order to make it more interesting, instead of making it a pure stat bonus, make it something more specialized, like extra uses of Spinning Loons for Fanatics, or a transformed version of Spinning Loons that does more damage/functions a bit differently, like how Tiktaq'to changes Drop Rocks for Terradon units. Also I would personally want him to get an Ambush attack stance, but since I know many people are opposed to more factions getting this ability, at the very least give him the Masterful Ambush stance (allowing him to Ambush at 10% Movement instead of 25%). The fact that he is somehow worst at ambushing than Taurox is ridiculous, and he already has skills that buff his armies in Ambush Battles, but isn't any better at Ambushing than other factions.

Additionally, he should get a Landmark building in Karak Eight Peaks that allows him to recruit Armored Squig Hoppers normally (without having to complete a certain level of Waaagh! for a limited quantity of them). It will give a better rewards for capturing it without being anything overpowered. Lastly he should start with a named Night Goblin Shaman called Duffskul with a unique trait that makes him a much better caster than the regular Goblin caster Heroes.

Vampire Counts:

Heinrich Kemmler - Make Krell a fully fledged Legendary Hero with his own Skill Tree and an ability to equip items. Give Heinrich skills that buff Wight units (Grave Guard, Black Knights, Wight Kings). These were the units he had a connection to in lore and on tabletop, not ethereal units. Since he is the strongest living Necromancers and Necromancers have a connection to ethereal units I am not opposed to him buffing them as well (at least until we get a Necrach LL). However the fact that he doesn't buff Wight units is bizarre. His main shtick in the lore is wanting to create an army of Wight Kings and his main shtick in tabletop was being inside a unit of Grave Guard and buffing them. He should also get Ghorst's Grave Guard summon instead of regular Zombie/Skeleton summon for the same reason. Personally I am also not a fan of him having a mount since it goes against his whole style of fighting within a unit of Grave Guard alongside Krell, but it doesn't bother me that much.

Helman Ghorst - Give his ability to summon Grave Guard to Kemmler. Him having this ability in WH2 was fine because he had nothing else going for him. But now, that he is more than unique enough on his own with his Zombie focus he doesn't need it anymore (and it doesn't make sense thematically/lore-wise either). If he has to have something unique to replace it (which I really don't think he does) he can get extra uses of the regular summon Zombies.

Warriors of Chaos:

Kholek Suneater - Remove the cap he has on how many Dragon Ogre Shaggoths he can have in a single army.

Sigvald the Magnificent - Could really use a new model and animations. His weird diaper looks stupid and his animations look way too brutish for someone who is supposed to fight extremely elegantly.

Azazel - Give him access to all the Slaanesh Daemon units, Lords and Heroes and remove the limit on how many of them he can field in a single army. He is the Captain of Slannesh's Daemonic Legions and is a Daemon himself, the fact that he is even in the Warriors of Chaos race at all is a stretch. He should be a true WoC-Daemons of Slaanesh hybrid, even leaning more heavily into the Daemons side.

Valkia - Improve the bonuses she gets from Bloodletting (currently they are pretty bad). I also find it weird that she doesn't have access to the Skulls for the Skull Throne and Blood for the Blood God mechanics despite being the literal bride of Khorne. Those mechanics are so connected to Monogod Khorne and disconnected from the WoC mechanics though, so I don't know how they can be implemented for her.

Belakor - Should get access to all Daemon units, Lords and Heroes. He is a Daemons of Chaos Undivided character, and CA themselves stated that the only reason he is in Warriors of Chaos is because they didn't plan ahead and designed the entire Daemons of Chaos race around Yuri/Daniel (also the excuse of "Daemons at the level of Heralds and Exalted Greater Daemons wouldn't follow him" kind of falls flat when his faction fields these Daemons in the Realms of Chaos campaign). Personally I also think it would be cool if he had a Skill that buffs Soul Grinders, as a nod to the Realms of Chaos campaign.

Beastmen:

Khazrak - Ideally I would love to see Redmaw (his Chaos Hound) as it's own unit with it's own model (or part of Khazrak's unit and model) but I know that's a bit much to ask for. At the very least he should get Redmaw as a unique Follower which provides unique benefits. Additionally he should lose the Chariot since it doesn't make sense for him to ride it thematically. If we have to have a Chariot LL than he should keep it just until we get Gorthor.

Morghur - Ideally I would like to see his model and animations redone to fit the Akira monstrosity he is in the lore, but I get that that is a bit much to ask for. He should however get his missing items: The Stones of the Skull Cave (increasing Miscast Chance of enemy casters and turns them into Chaos Spawn if they die from miscasting) and the Skull-Weave (decreases Melee Attack in an aoe around him and grants him Terror).

Taurox - Make him spread Khorne corruption instead of Undivided corruption and give him access to Minotaurs of Khorne.

Wood Elves:

Orion - Give him better combat stats (he is supposed to be a literal demi-god, but he isn't all that impressive in-game). Increase his Speed to match Wild Riders so he can more easily charge alongside them (I know he gets a Speed boost from the Wild Hunt but his speed should be higher by default). Make his Offices bonuses better (they are pretty bad at the moment). Make his Wild Hunt a campaign ability that can be activated whenever the player wants (but on a cooldown) rather than happen automatically every few turns. Lastly, like Khazrak I would have loved for his Hounds to have been included better into battle than a Gehennas Golden Hounds recolor, but I get that that is a tough wish to grant. At the very least make them also a unique Follower with a unique bonus.

Norsca:

Wulfric - Should lose the Mammoth mount and buffs as it makes no sense for him thematically (Mammoths aren't even Norscan units, they are Kurgan). His unit bonuses should focus of Marauder Champions and Hunters. Should get access to unique Teleportation mechanic between points in each of the Sea Regions (functioning kind of like Belakor's teleport mechanic) to represent Seafang's ability to teleport anywhere within a body of water . Should get unique bonuses for killing Legendary Lords (to represent him being "The Eternal Challenger"), either granting temporary bonuses to him/his army/his faction for a few turns after doing so, or giving him/his army/his faction stacking permanent buffs for each additional unique LL he defeated in battle.

Throgg - Needs new voice lines to represent his intelligence. Should get access to every type of Troll (and buff them) in the game. Should get access to a Rakarth-like Monster recruitment mechanic focusing on the more fowl monsters (from the WoC and Beastmen rosters) to represent him being "The Monster King".

High Elves:

Teclis - Get rid of the Phoenix mount. It makes no sense lore-wise and thematically and he is plenty strong even without it.

Alith Anar - Should be able to embed his unique Assassin Heroes into armies and use them in battle. they are already usable in custom battles, why not in the campaign as well?

Alarielle the Radiant - Needs the Greater Arcane Conduit skill (the fact that regular Archmages have it but she doesn't is bizarre). Also needs better Spellcasting related skills as a whole, all of her Winds of Magic related skills have been changed into horrible +% When Increasing skills (in general I think all of these +% When Increasing effects are horrible and should be reverted back to plain +X WoM reserve, even if only by +3 or +5, or a fixed amount of +X WoM per turn, rather than a percentage only when increasing). Even without these changes she was barely a better caster than a regular Archmage which is weird.

Dark Elves:

Lokhir Fellheart - his Blessed Dread Black Ark should be connected to him and function similarly to Vampire Coast Shipbuilding. I get that in WH2 CA were opposed to porting DLC mechanics into base game factions, but now, in WH3, neither Vampire Coast nor Dark Elves are base game races. It makes much more sense for the Blessed Dread to be a part of Lokhir than a separate ship with a separate captain that sails alongside his ship. He should also lose his Dragon mount. He is a duelist, and there are enough Dragon riding DE LLs as it is.

Lizardmen:

Mazdamundi - He needs better spell casting skills. He was already way underwhelming as a spell caster despite being supposedly the best living caster in the setting, due to a lack of cooldowns/WoM cost reducing skills (on tabletop he had Loremaster: Everything rule which should have been implemented into Total War and given him decreased WoM Cost and Cooldowns on all of his spells). Now all of his WoM increasing skills (and all of Slaans' skills of that type) had been changed into useless +% when increasing. To add insult to injury, while other spell caster LLs with multiple items get a set bonus that provide them with +10 WoM reserves, because Mazdamundi is the "race leader" his set bonus only provides extra Allegiance points gain % with Lizardmen. His Ruination of Cities, which should be a devastating spell is also extremely underwhelming and unpredictable.

Kroq Gar - Should get buffs to Cold One and Horned One cavalry, since they fit him thematically and lore-wise.

Tehenhauin - His final sacrifice active ability should be permanent rather than only last a set amount of turns. I would also like him to buff Red Crested Skinks a bit more. I know he already buffs them plenty but the fact that Oxyotl is just plain better at buffing them sits wrong with me.

Nakai - Should get his Sacred Blade of Quetzl unique missing weapon.

Skaven:

Queek Headtaker - Should start with a Chieftain named Hero called Ska Bloodtail with a unique trait. Should get a mechanic to represent his trophy collecting. I am not sure how to kitbash one without creating an entirely new mechanic from the grounds up. Maybe make it so he gets stronger versions of Legendary Lords' defeat traits, and doesn't have a cap on them? Or maybe make it separate item slots like Dwarf Runes, that he can fill with up to three unique items he can get from killing LLs.

Lord Skrolk - He is really struggling. He has one of the worst LL skill trees in the game. He doesn't buff any Clan Pestilence unit at all. He should buff Plague Monks (both regular and Censor Bearers) and Plagueclaw Catapults as well as any Clan Pestilence unit that might be added in a future DLC (maybe based around the tabletop Lustria expansion). His Plague mechanic is also extremely static. I get that giving him a copy of Nurgle's Plague mechanic is a bit much. But maybe a toned down version like Yuri/Daniels, where he can equip Plagues for different armies?

Tomb Kings:

Settra the Imperishable - He needs his Scarab Brooch of Usirian. It was arguably his strongest and most significant item in both the tabletop and lore (it was the main reason why Nagash was scared shitless of him) and provided him with a very hefty amount of Ward Save and made him practically immune to Magic (in-game it could be translated into something like 15% Ward save and 30/40% Spell Resist). His Chariot of the Gods could also really use a buff, it is currently objectively worse in every way compared to his Warsphinx mount when it should be better.

Grand Hierophant Khatep - Khatep was shafted hard by CA. He is missing one of his items (and for some reason the item he does have has the ability of the one he doesn't) which should have made him a much better spellcaster. He is missing his Loremaster: Lore of Nehekara skill from tabletop, and is overall an awful caster LL (especially with the changes of his skills into +% WoM when increasing), not any better than a regular Liche Priest. He also has a pretty bad skill tree and is missing his Hierophant skill that should have provided Regeneration in an aoe around him.

High Queen Khalida - Her Blessing of Asaph ability (the ability that buffs missile attacks in an aoe around her) should either be Army Wide or a regular stat bonus for missile units. The fact that it has a tiny aoe around her goes completely against her purpose as a melee focused LL, as it incentivizes her to stay in the backline.

Arkhan the Black - Should have his skeleton color be changed to charred black to better represent his appearance in the lore.

Vampire Coast:

Aranessa Saltspite - Should have access to more Mortal units and be a true Mortal-Undead hybrid faction, maybe even leaning more heavily into the Mortal side. I'm not asking for whole new models. Use the existing Sartosa pirates models, just give them different weapons like Great Weapons, or Handguns. Additionally, put them next to the Mortars and Cannons as crew instead of Undead. The fact that Aranessa is even a part of an Undead race is already a huge stretch.

Kislev:

Tzarina Katarin - Change her Lore of Magic to be a mixed Lore of Tempest and Ice instead of just Ice. the Lore of Tempest is just a split of some aspects of the Lore of Ice from the lore, so it's weird that Katarin can't use some spells from it. Also, I know that asking for new models is too much, but please give her her Sled Mount (preferably pulled by Oblast Elk who would also be a Mount option for Ice Witches instead of Bears), it is such an iconic part of her character and makes way more sense than a Bear mount.

Tzeentch:

Kairos Fateweaver - Make his Fragments of the Winds of Magic items take a separate, unique item slot rather than the Arcane Item slot. Currently they function as a borderline downgrade due to taking this item slot when they should be a sidegrade.

Daemons of Chaos:

Yuri/Daniel - Make his different body parts (and especially weapons) much more distinct from each other in the bonuses they provide, at least with the late game body parts. Rework his Skill Tree to be much less bloated with too many skills with unimpactful effects (you don't have to change the skills, at the very least merge them to cost less skill points overall). Give him a unique method to confederate the other Monogod Daemon LLs (maybe like Belakor and Archeon, by destroying their last settlement).

Ogre Kingdoms:

Greasus Goldtooth - Greasus current state is a travesty. Greasus is the richest character in all of the Warhammer setting and has a huge trading empire, this isn't nearly represented enough in-game. Give his faction stacking bonuses based on how many trade partners he has (sort of like how some Warriors of Chaos factions have stacking bonuses based on how many vassals they have). Alternatively (or additionally) he could get stacking bonuses based on how much gold he currently has in his treasury. His bonus to trade income should also be larger than it currently is. Give him a Bribe mechanic that functions like Slaanesh's Seduction mechanic to represent his "Everyone's Got a Price" rule better than the lackluster combat ability he currently has (though it shouldn't replace this combat ability). Additionally, Greasus should be extremely terrifying in melee, at the same level of Grimgor. His splash attacks and Weapon Strength should be increased to represent his massive Strength 10 hits from Tabletop. He also desperately needs new animations so that he could actually turn and attack without getting stuck in clunky animations.

Greasus' Big Names should either be significantly buffed or he should be able to equip them all simultaneously (the Big Names mechanic really needs a second look overall. It is just objectively a much worse and less interesting version of the Warriors of Chaos' Boons of Chaos mechanic). The idea that for some reason he stops being "The Shockingly Obese" when he is the "Tradelord" and vice versa is kind of stupid in the first place. Greasus' buffs to his army should also be more substantial, specifically in regards to Ogre Bulls and Ironguts (units that won't become overpowered with a few extra buffs). He should increase their Leadership, Armor and Weapon Strength even more than he currently does to represent his status as Overtyrant and his ability to afford the best weapons and armor for his army.
In regards to his model, get that the Gnoblar carpet isn't an option and that going back and modeling a different "mount" for him is too expensive, but at the very least he needs new animations. He is barely functional with how clunky his animations are... If remodeling him was an option, I think a Palanquin carried by Gnoblars (in the same way Ku'gath is carried by Nurglings) will look much more royal and fitting for one who is "too rich to walk". Additionally, said Palanquin could have much better turn and attack animations because it doesn't need to take the wheel directions into consideration. If the Cart is a must, at the very least add some furs and more gold... At it's current state it makes Greasus look like a homeless person, especially with how he lies down on bare wood.

Skrag - Skrag is barely better than a generic Slaughtermaster. He needs better skill tree buffs to his casting capabilities. He should also buff Gorgers more than just increase their casualty replenishment rate... I get that he buffs them with his item, but that buff is very circumstantial, doesn't mesh all that well, and isn't that good in the first place. What he provides in very specific circumstances using his item other lords provide more of to their trademark units with just a passive skill in their skill tree.
Additionally, as the Prophet of the Maw, Skrag's interactions with the Offerings to the Great Maw mechanic should be much more substantial. they should either be much cheaper for his faction, or provide increased effects, or bonus effects (kind of like how Thorgrim receives extra effects when he completes a Grudge) Lastly, Skrags' Big Names should either be significantly buffed or he should be able to equip them all simultaneously (for reasons stated above).

cersbsb#2301

*Also just remembered:
Malus Darkblade - give him better buffs to Cold One Cavalry (he barely buffs them and they are a **** unit anyway).