Creative Assembly will be releasing the next DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 early next month. Curse of the Vampire Coast will introduce an entirely new faction; the Vampire Coast, along with four new Legendary Lords to lead it. The studio previously suggested that additional free content would be released alongside the DLC, and that has now been detailed. Firstly, there will be a Free-LC which will introduce the Dark Elf Legendary Lord Lokhir Fellheart. Lokhir will be playable in campaign and lead a new Dark Elf faction. Alongside that Free-LC will be a major patch called the Aye-Aye! Patch, which brings major changes to the Vampire Counts faction along with general bug-fixes and tweaks.
Heinrich Kemmler and His New “Barrow Legion”
Heinrich Kemmler is one of the Vampire Counts Legendary Lords who was part of the faction’s original roster in Total War: Warhammer. Although Kemmler is not actually a vampire, he is a powerful human necromancer. The Aye-Aye! Patch gives Kemmler a major overhaul. In fact, it separates him from the Vampire Counts significantly and gives him a new faction; the Barrow Legion. Heinrich Kemmler will now be a playable faction leader in the Mortal Empires campaign. The Barrow Legion starts in the region of Blackstone Post, a new Province Capital in the Northern Grey Mountains.
For the first time, Kemmler will actually be able to gain a mount; he will be able to ride a Barded Nightmare into battle. The Barrow Legion also gains the unique ability of being immune to the attrition which Vampire Counts armies take when in un-tainted lands. Kemmler will also have access to the new Bloodlines mechanic described below; “He can also use the new Bloodlines mechanic to awaken the fabled Vampire Lords of yore,” says Creative Assembly.
Bloodlines: A New Mechanic for Vampire Counts
The second major change coming in the Aye-Aye! Patch is a new gameplay mechanic called Bloodlines. This will be a significant new feature for the Vampire Counts faction in the Mortal Empires campaign. The Bloodlines mechanic will allow players to awaken ancient Vampire Lords from the five great Vampire Bloodlines; “The Lahmians, the Von Carsteins, the Blood Dragons, the Necrarchs, and the Strigoi.”
Players may awake no more than three “Arch-Lords” from each of these bloodlines. Each new ancient vampire which awakes grants significant faction-wide bonuses based on their character. They also have unique skill trees themed around their unique vampiric bloodlines. Waking up one of these lords isn’t easy, however. Players must pay a high toll in Blood Kisses, a new and unique token. Blood Kisses can be gained by vassalising another faction, killing any faction leader, or either assassinating or wounding an enemy character as a result of a Hero action. Each new ancient vampire costs progressively more Blood Kisses to awaken.