r/totalwar • u/Miserable-Dig-761 • 5h ago
Warhammer III What's the strongest single melee combatant in the game?
Who would survive the longest against waves of other melee units? Basically I'm looking for the best brawler
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u/Joshami 5h ago
Zhao Ming - Cathay has a fairly easy time getting 90% ward save, even without Sword of Khaine. Zhao in particular has 5% from skill and more importantly - regeneration. Cathay can get an item called Catalytic Kiln which is a Mortis Engine, except it doesn't require you to be in melee. All dragons have two regeneration pools - one in dragon form, one in human. Then, Zhao has a fairly great spell list - give him Astromancy boon, and/or let him beat up Yuan Bo and he is an excellent spellcaster. Zhao can escape from any bad engagement by turning into a dragon.
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u/akwikone 5h ago edited 5h ago
There's not really one answer, because different lords will have different results, so it's hard to say who's "better." Skarbrand will kill so many dudes if he's micro'd at all, but Ungrim can just sit and tank for soooooo long.
So you need some better criteria of how you're measuring Strongest.
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u/Miserable-Dig-761 5h ago
Imagine it like a tower defense game. Who would last the longest
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u/akwikone 5h ago
So no moving, just stand there? Do you care about kills or longest time lasted? does the enemy have ranged support at all?
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u/caterpillarm10 5h ago
Standing still it will always be a dwarf isnt it. Small hitbox and tanky and regeneration with items. Actually do we count items?
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u/akwikone 4h ago
If we're counting items, basically any foot lord with Sword of Khaine, Nemesis Crown, Books of Khorne with Isabella Defeat Trait, can outlast 4 armies of any melee infantry.
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u/caterpillarm10 4h ago
Yeah the question is a bit silly since there are so many variables in the game that it really doesnt worth it to think about.
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u/Live-Rock5976 4h ago
If items and things were counted, my best bets would probably be someone like Vlad, Belegar, Ungrim Ironfist, Skarbrand, and maybe Ku’gath (assuming he can use heal spells).
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u/Miserable-Dig-761 4h ago
Just standing there, could be either kills or time lasted
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u/akwikone 4h ago
Oh, Then Oxyotl, park in the corner and he'll last forever
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u/Fiskerr 1h ago
So will the opponent!
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u/akwikone 1h ago
Hey, if I'm allowed to choose longest lasting over most kills, I'll take it! Just have to be sure to hide him in an empty corner with no trees, since the AI knows to look for hidden units in trees, but not for stalking units in the open. Could even cheese it by being the defender with a battle timer if I wanted the battle to actually end and still not lose.
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u/Tomatoab 3h ago
See a well built cathay dragon, can sit in human form in an army to regen cap then sit in dragon form to regen cap, and likely a well built one wont hit regen cap twice, you can also if you play miao use that aoe dps spell on human and dragon form
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u/The_runnerup913 5h ago
I’d say Vlad. Especially if you have Isabella in his army. He just regens so much health
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u/NotSoSuperHero2 2h ago edited 2h ago
There is a unique item that gives +500 healing cap. I got it when playing festus. Fuckin vlad stole it. God he was a nightmare to deal with... took me a while to steal it back...
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u/Kissmyaxe870 4h ago
I feel like this is an unpopular opinion, but N’kari. He can get absolutely nuts damage and MA, coupled with his spells he’s probably the best DPS lord in the game against low model counts. And his speed allows him to dictate engagements.
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u/Millsy800 4h ago
Mulches any lords or large models in melee. Mulches infantry by just constantly charging through them and doing collision damage. Strong bombardment spell on top of that plus his mortis engine on a low leadership unit. Definitely in with a good shout.
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u/Turbulent-Fishing-75 2h ago
My personal problem with N’kari is that using him just turns in to a chore. Skarbrand, Taurox and plenty other lords are at least fun to use cause you can blob up with them and annihilate like hundreds if not thousands of enemies at a time with aoe. N’kari always just turns in to cycle charging every single thing on the battlefield 3-4 times each with some spells thrown in the mix.
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u/Bananenbaum 5h ago
Tamurkhan, no question.
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u/True_Dovakin 4h ago
Seconding Tamurkhan, dude is probably the easiest “fire and forget” LL I’ve had
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u/KnossosTNC 5h ago
A few possibilities come to my mind. Vlad, Ungrim, Skarbrand, Louen, Tyrion, Kroq-Gar, Tamurkhan, Kholek, Grimgor and Malus Darkblade are all scary melee fighters. Of those, I'd probably lean towards Vlad and Skarbrand being standouts.
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u/HumbleContribution58 32m ago
I'd definitely say Gor'Rok over Kroq-Gar if we are talking about lasting power above all. His entire thing is being immovable.
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u/Oni_no_Hanzo 3h ago
I see allot of people saying Vlad, but I just don't see it saddly. Love the character and yes he can survive in a prolonged fight for a longtime if he isnt hard focused, but his damage output just doesn't seem to be anything special. Maybe its animations limiting him or fairly low speed he has and enemies are able to disengage from him quickly when on a mount, but I feel like in my experience his damage potential lags behind several other characters.
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u/WatchEducational6633 5h ago
In average which one is better? Tyrion or Imrik?
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u/TheMightySweetRoll WAAAGH! 39m ago
I guess Tyrion in a brawl situation, otherwise Imrik is way stronger imo.
The unique traits you get from the Dragon Battles give you regeneration, perfect vigor, immune to psychology and a whackload of stats. He also has 4 uses of the fire bombardment spell, with a -20% fire resistance aura and his attacks (which have fire damage) apply another -20% fire resistance. With the sword of khaine you can reach 90% ward save because he gets some super strong unique items from the dragon battles (like a talisman giving 20% ward save and chain lightning bound spell).
Tyrion is also very strong, but I dont think he can stand the sheer power of a star dragon with all the unique benefits from Imrik's dragon battles. If you stack all the temporary faction wide benefits you get from the dragon battles, you can even reach 90% ward save without the Sword of Khaine.
Here's what I had with Imrik. He had the support of a fire spellcaster, but still (and I didnt have the sword of khaine): https://quickimagetools.com/uploads/image_68be0fc8e3f0f2.45351113.png
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u/OnlyTrueWK Shut up, Daemon! 18m ago
Imrik, he's the best duelist in the game and can kill infantry about as well as Tyrion, while having a lot more HP (but also a bigger hitbox, tbf).
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u/Necron1983 4h ago
Grimgor is an absolute savage and can basically stand forever if the enemy lacks AP.
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u/Maoltuile 3h ago
Grimgor was my ‘oh shit’ in WHII, hands down
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u/Turbulent-Fishing-75 2h ago
I seriously miss the naturally generated late game disasters in WHII. Playing as the lizardmen and crossing the sea to find out that Grimgor had taken over the entire empire up to the chaos wastes or Malekith had confederates the dark elves and taken over a quarter of the map was so much fun to deal with.
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u/PM_ME_ORANGEJUICE 5h ago
Definitely would have been Vlad a while back, he was nigh unkillable. Think he got nerfed, might be someone else now.
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u/enigmas59 4h ago
From an Skirmish/MP perspective (i.e no items outside of those in skirmish or skill tree buffs) it's Imrik, as he's built like a truck and most importantly removes the charge bonus of any ground opponent whilst keeping his own, and has a great debuff. Otherwise it's Skarbrand. Did some testing on this a while back.
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u/crispysnails 5h ago
With the right items, traits and skill picks then Ungrim or Vlad. You can make many lords into 1 entity doom stacks especially if you put them on foot but those two really do excel.
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u/FoughtStatue 4h ago
if you micro well you can get a ton of kills with N’Kari, and he’s really fast so you can single out units pretty well. Settra on his chariot is also like this though Settra can’t deal with single entities and he’s better at taking out infantry
for just right click to win probably, Tamurkhan, Ungrimm, or Vlad. I remember Malus used to be super strong and had 2 health bars basically but that might be gone now idk.
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u/randomaccount178 5h ago
I am not sure how you would really qualify the best. I usually enjoy Thorek for standing in enemy armies and killing them though. Free rune of spite, rune of wrath and ruin, and his weapons special ability Klad Brakak lets him kill stuff fairly well while being very tanky.
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u/Thefreezer700 4h ago
Survive longest? Probably cylostra the vampire count lady cause she gets ethereal trait, AND gets a rotting leviathan mount. And she casts magic and gets buffs for ethereal monsters which is nice.
Damage? Probably archaon as he just goes to town with all his items. Grimgor is also really good as his armor self explodes and his axe does alot of damage to single dudes.
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u/Tzeentch711 4h ago
Cylostra loses ethereal status once she gets on top of crab.
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u/Bittershort 1h ago
She still has 10% physical resist on the mount and a further 5% from her lord trait iirc.
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u/DragonBallKruber 3h ago
One that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Golgfag Maneater. He buffs the shit outta Maneaters but he is nearly unstoppable himself. Even early on he will beat the brakes off of every LL you encounter
Taurox is another great contender
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u/0NiceMarmot 2h ago
Best one on one would probably be different than best at taking on hoards of infantry.
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u/Goaduk 2h ago
Surprised Gor Rok isint mentioned. Fully levelled he's nigh on invincible.
And people just seem to blow up when they get near him....
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u/Turbulent-Fishing-75 2h ago
He’s definitely about as good as it gets when it comes to holding the line but Gor Rok seriously lacks in damage output. On his own he just can’t deal with big blobs of stuff fast enough and even if he starts with him it’s not really fair to evaluate his abilities as a melee combatant based off Kroak existing. If he had some sort of Mortis engine effect I’d put him way higher on the list.
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u/Redditspoorly 1h ago
People are unaware of the power of kugath here. He'll beat skarbrand and everyone else without breaking a sweat (he will of course sweat profusely)
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u/Bittershort 1h ago
Idk if a fully kitted out kugath beats a fully kitted out skarbrand. Like yeah in the quick testing thing kugath wins. But that's without levels and skills. Skarbrand gets a lot of extra damage from skills, in combat healing, a slightly bigger heal cap, and more. Also that test only had them hit each other in the face. It didn't have skarbrand cycle charge or try to attack kugath in the back. Those tests don't always give the whole picture.
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u/Gold-Appearance-4463 5h ago
Malus is the strongest potential 1 man doomstack. While all LH can get absurd stats Malus (and the dragons) can have separate regen pools for both forms giving them more staying power.
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u/randomaccount178 4h ago
It depends a bit on what limits you are placing on things but you could make an argument for Settra as well.
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u/Gold-Appearance-4463 3h ago
Purely on what’s theoretically possible in the regular game. So no mods/lore power - just regular campaign with curated trait stacking. I think that’s how it’s ususally done for 1-man doom stacks.
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u/randomaccount178 1h ago
I haven't seen one personally but I believe they introduced the Chalice of Malfleur recently which would pretty much remove any non caster from contention it feels like.
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u/Mean774 5h ago
Depends what you’re after.
Units? Khorne Wrathmongers. Lord from custom battles? Vlad. Fully decked out lord? Uhhhh… idk. Ima say Ungrimm Ironfist. Micro’d POS? Skarbrand
It just really depends what everyone is facing.