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The information is derived from countless heroic victories with near impossible odds since WH1. This is probably the only guide that have successfully incorporated and utilized multiple Thanes!

The Thane focuses on three core objectives to guarantee a victory:

• Equipping the best equipment and selecting the correct skills.
  
• Maximizing inflicted damage on battlefield with unique maneuvering and fighting formations.
  
• Healing between fights and knowing when to rest for optimal healthcare management.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782133378
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761667847
I have been playing since the first version and on Legendary difficulty. The Dwarf faction was my favorite!

I enjoy helping others and wanted to share and preserve the key findings. Other guides seem to be incomplete with lack of enough information, screenshots, and higher standards to guarantee successful runs.

The guide is for everyone, but much more friendlier to new players. The writing will be easy to follow and supported by plenty of screenshots for those who are too lazy to read everything! Everyone will be playing on the same level with the most experienced!

I have written plenty of detailed guides. Here are some of them:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2793028492
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1871229945
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664203139
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=742714265
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=653696559

The Dwarves bypass equipment scarcity with their own unique forge and are able to fully equip all characters. Normal restrictions are usually posed by random chance drops from battles and quests. The unique oathgold currency allows endless customization of equipment that are the most ideal to use.

Such benefits allow full customization of equipment and also creating more useful items through WH3's new fusing system. Additionally, the runes further enhance the characters by improving their defensive and/or offensive potency.

Thanes are the unsung powerhouse units that can hit and take as much punishment as a legendary lord! The evidence is subtle because their final esoteric stats are hidden in the skills and equipment.

Thanes can be thought of as the "Jack of All Trades" that perform various tasks to disrupt and destroy the enemy.

Their primary objective is to establish a beachhead with their Lord when conducting siege or attacking on an open field. They create a safe buffer zone between the enemy and the rest of the non-character units.

Their main specialty is to eliminate very difficult targets that would otherwise require a Lord for stopping power. These type of enemies have high survivability and include Lords, characters, and monsters.

The Lord and the Thanes alone can still successfully destroy most normal garrisons without the rest of the army. The assumption is that they have some decent equipment and several survivability skills.
Such maneuver significantly reduces losses and damage taken. It also buys time for the injured to replenish while not directly involved in any combat for that battle.

A blind spot that is out of tower range needs to be selected before deploying the army. The Lord and the accompanying Thanes need to charge the wall and climb up to fight the enemy garrison.

After some time, the enemy is softened up and they can go further inwards.

The Ironbreakers and other ranged units can provide covering fire without ever going inside the settlement. Unless, they are needed for capturing points.

The enemy does not fight fair and will use any means to win. This translates into being outnumbered by multiple armies and get flanked by their cavalry/flyers.

The solution is to move the army into the far corner of the map that is marked by white lines to force the enemy for direct frontal attack. The map needs to be studied first to determine which of the two corners are better. Am important factor to to consider is avoiding the area that have trees obstructing friendly artillery and ranged fire. Others include water (slows down land units) and buildings/rocks (to create a potential chokepoint).
For final formation, the left and right wings need to be fully sealed to avoid any enemy cavalry from reaching the more vulnerable ranged units. The characters can briefly break formation to stop the enemy charge and divert attention to themselves instead.

When artillery is available, they can start shooting at the first enemy army before positioning in the corner. The enemy will most likely wait for reinforcements before advancing and some units can be lured in a bit closer but will not follow.

The concept of this attack is to charge directly into the middle of enemy formation and become fully encircled. Lords and Thanes can take much more punishment than any other unit with its high armor, health, and melee defense.

For these reasons, AOE spells and Gyro payloads can be used directly on top of them as the enemy have clumped tightly around the characters.

Wrath & Ruin is a circular explosive spell that has the most effect on the enemy when they are tightly clumped around the characters.


Negation rune further reduce damage during the most intense combat!

The ideal army always require at least one Runesmith and an Engineer to increase chance of finding more equipment and for more campaign movement. They also perform long range AOE attacks and further boost ranged stopping power.

There is no exact number of Thanes that are required to be in the army but having more is better. The max capacity is determined by how many Hall of Oaths buildings have been constructed. Since they are tier 4 buildings, they must be constructed at the capital of each province and only a larger territory permits such options.

Formations by line:
1. Lord & Characters (2-5 Thanes)
2.4 Ironbreakers
3. 2-3 Grudge Throwers
4. 3-6 Gyrobombers (favored over traditional ranged for its survivability and payloads)

Thanes are shielded with a very high starting base armor and decent melee defense. Most of their skills are actually useful by being compatible with their ultimate purpose. their combat and and survivability instead of just leadership and charging.

At Rank Level:
2. Blade Master
3-5. Full Plate Armor
6. Hard to Hit
7. Foe-Seeker
8-10. Scarred Veteran
11. Wound-Maker
12. Deadly Onslaught
13? Ironbeard (When Ironbreakers are in the army for more ammo) & 1 Keeper of the Gate

One Thane with Keeper of the Gate skill emits the Guardian aura for all nearby characters to further reduce physical damage.

14-23. Maximize remaining skills to level 3 and invest points in more melee attack and defense
24. Rune of Grimnir
25-27. Relentless (Improves charging and hunting down stragglers)
28-33. Devastating Charge & Resolute
34-36. Indomitable
37-39. Training (can be selected earlier after Rune of Grimnir)
40+. Misc Skills

Dwarves are able to obtain very early rare items by fusing cheaper items together that would normally require extensive tradeable resources and more oathgold.

The new WH3 equipment fusing system allows combination of same type up till rare quality. From then on, it is fusing rares to roll for another random rare item.

The overview of fusing system:

Useful fused rare items include:




The most useful items are not always rare quality and can vary with its benefits. An example is the healing potion that is uncommon quality and heals considerable amount during a single battle. When available, the item needs to be replaced with the Ironwarden's Tankard.

Another one is the common talisman called Seed of Rebirth that gives the same permanent regeneration as Old Guard's Tankard without the restriction!

Unwanted equipment can be recycled for oathgold with higher quality yielding more. Rare items give 130 oathgold, which is 10 more than what was used to fuse. Uncommon items break even and commons lose oathgold.

The assumption is that the recycling feature is used only on fused equipment versus getting an equipment of choice from the Forge.

Each equipment has various attributes with unequal values. Certain types are inferior by limiting its use against certain races or having lower than 50% health conditions.

The ideal gear is free of these conditions and brings the most benefits during normal use to make the most use. Key categories include survivability and combat performance. The rest can either be fused for a better one or recycled for fresh new equipment.

The most important attributes are ranked by its priority:

The Ironwarden Hammer is the best overall weapon due to perfect vigor. Thanes will be able to slash the enemy into pieces without having to catch a breath.


Dragon Scale Armor causes fear and further disrupts the enemy!


The Old Guard's Tankard provides health regeneration only when out of combat. The Seed of Rebirth is superior to this item without the restriction and need to be lucky to find it.


The Ironwarden Tankard is an invaluable item that provides endless health regeneration throughout the battle.

All non-Lord characters need to equip students and archivists for faster research. Lords need slots open to equip banners for additional buffs.

Characters like Lords and Specialists have the ability to fully heal in battle with the right equipment. Unlike normal units, they are single entities and their healing is not capped by those who are still standing. Instead, healing limitations only apply when taking considerable damage in a single battle and are only reset with each fresh battle.

The healing equipment are primarily through passive regeneration and require much time. For the full benefits, battles must be drawn out as long as possible and continue after a victory until the last enemy unit is either destroyed or retreated.
The only exception is the healing potion that are single use for each battle.

Certain research technologies further enhance Thanes.

One of the enemy factions can possess the Khaine sword, which is the most powerful weapon in the game. The Lord who uses such sword will be very difficult to defeat and will require several characters to team up and defeat the target. The injured do need to get out of the battle for damage control and healing before getting back into the fray.

When victorious, the sword can be equipped but will be bounded to the user. A series of events occur that gives the option to forfeit the weapon. The sword must be held at all costs despite causing bad relations, negative control, and etc. The army's stopping power will almost be doubled and are able to defeat multiple armies alone.

As time progresses, battles become much more difficult as the enemy uses more late tier and elite units. Thanes are able to overcome these new challenges as elite powerhouse units. With each victory, they become stronger with every level up and reach their full potential with the best equipment!

This guide was written by Laguna Queen et al. (2022) on Steam, and not to be republished without crediting the authors and gaining their permission. We can be reached through the the guide comment section below.

We have no guide sites outside of Steam and please contribute to the actual creators, not plagiarism websites!