Total War Warhammer 3: Lords of the End Times reworked Archaon the Everchosen for two new endings: “Lord of the End Times” mode after Short Victory and the new Chaos Invasion End Game Scenario. This guide will provide you with tips and tricks on how to achieve both new Archaon endings in the game.
How to Play as Archaon & Become the Lord of the End Times
Regardless of the endgame scenario that you choose, both will use the new Devastation mechanic and give Archaon massive power. If you decide to play as Archaon, then here’s what you can expect:
- Subjugate the Legendary Lords by defeating a qualifying lord in battle, who will join your roster as a controllable character.
- Warriors of Chaos will join you in full confederation as settlements.
- Mono-God Lords will join you, and their settlements will become a loyal vassal faction.
- Note that if one of these lords dies without you subjugating them, you later get a dilemma to fight their army and claim them.
Here’s a complete list of all eligible and non-eligible lords when you play as Archaon:
| Factions | Lords |
|---|---|
| Warriors of Chaos | Kholek, Sigvald, Azazel, Festus, Valkia, Vilitch, Be’lakor, and Glottkin. |
| Khorne | Skarbrand, Skulltaker, and Arbaal. |
| Nurgle | Ku’gath, Tamurkhan, and Epidemius. |
| Slaanesh | N’Kari, Dechala, and The Masque. |
| Tzeentch | Kairos and The Changeling. |
| Cannot subjugate | Beastmen, Chaos Dwarfs, Daemons of Chaos (Daniel), and Norsca. |
With all that in mind, here’s how to unlock the Lord of the End Times mode:
- You need to achieve a Short Victory first, then choose the option in the resulting dilemma pop-up, which is irreversible.
- For a Short Victory, you need to collect all Treasures of Chaos and prepare a warband by maintaining 80 troops and reach Archaon Rank 40.
- Control at least 8 Dark Fortresses and confederate or vassalize at least one faction of each Chaos God.
- Occupy about 30 settlements and control their territories.
Once you’ve achieved the Short Victory, here are all the changes in the Lord of the End Times mode that you can expect by focusing on the spread of Devastation across the world to power up and achieve the apocalyptic victory:
- You and your vassals can no longer conquer or hold new settlements.
- The campaign becomes pure destruction.
- Once you despoil enough regions in a province, the province becomes a Devastated hellscape.
- Increased income from looting.
- Order factions will unite against you.
How to Fight in the Chaos Invasion End Game Scenario
If you decide to play against Archaon, then this narrative of the End Game crisis will trigger in Immortal Empires campaigns, where Archaon starts with an extremely high Ward Save on himself and his army, making him practically unkillable. So all you can and need to do is weaken him as much as you can. Here’s how:
- Defeat his invasion armies for a small reduction of 1% Ward Save per army.
- Capture and destroy the 5 key Invasion Fortresses for a major reduction of 10% Ward Save each.
- Once you sufficiently weaken Archaon, there will be a final confrontation, and all devastated areas will be restored.
These are the main points that you will have to follow if you want to defeat Archaon. Here are some more tips on how to defend against the Chaos Invasion:
- Prioritize the Invasion Fortresses over every single army, as you don’t need to clear all 50 armies to weaken Archaon.
- Use the crisis UI to track remaining fortresses, armies, Ward Save, and razed regions.
- Form alliances with Order factions and defend key regions while launching targeted strikes on fortresses.
- Bring magic attacks and survive the initial waves, then counterattack the fortresses.
