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Patch 8.1 Now Live

Total War: WARHAMMER III · Community Announcements · July 09, 2026

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Hi everyone, Patch 8.1 has now arrived in Total War: WARHAMMER III, with a primary focus on Campaign AI improvements, as well as introducing some new Landmarks, Technologies, and a swathe of bug fixes and adjustments across the board. As always, should you run into any new issues after updating to 8.1, don’t hesitate to report it over in our dedicated bug reporting sub-forum. See you on the battlefield! — Steve Coleman // Senior Community Manager


1. Campaign AI Improvements

[p align="start"]With Patch 8.1 a number of Campaign AI changes and improvements have been added to the game:

Campaign AI Prioritisation 

What did we change?

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[p align="start"]There are certain Campaign AI tasks that lead to its armies clustering and idling e.g. focusing on defending key regions therefore, we’ve added a new mechanism that allows us to control exactly what the Campaign AI prioritises, depending on how many turns have passed since campaign start. Using this new mechanism we’ve de-prioritised tasks e.g. defending key regions in the late game, as contextually they are not that useful at this stage of a campaign anyway.

How will this change affect you in-game?

[p align="start"]We expect this to solve a number of cases where Campaign AI armies are clustered and idle around settlements, and the mechanism we’ve developed make this tweak also allows us to more easily solve similar Campaign AI behaviour issues in the future.

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Campaign AI End Game Scenario Balance Update

What did we change?

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[p align="start"]Utilising the mechanism above defensive tasks for end game factions have had their priority decreased, making the late game more dynamic and much more interesting to play as the Campaign AI will seek to expand and compete instead of turtling up and behaving reactively. The priority of tasks that target enemy forces is increased slightly.

How will this change affect you in-game?

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[p align="start"]End game factions should be less prone to idling and clumping around a settlement, and situations where multiple end game factions end up in a stalemate (not attacking each other, only defending) should decrease.

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Campaign AI Known Issues

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[p align="start"]There are a series of AI related issues that we are working on solving, including:

2. New Landmarks

[p align="start"]Patch 8.1 adds 4 new landmarks focused in Cathay to add additional buffs and benefits when conquering in the east:

Settlement  

Tier  

Building Effects  

Name / Brief  

Village of the Tigermen  

III  

Recruitment cost: -15% for all Tiger Warrior units (factionwide)

  • Ability cooldown: -20% for innate abilities Guiding Strike, Master Strike and Predatory Instincts of Sawai lords (factionwide)

  • Spell intensity +10% for all Clawspeakers (factionwide)

  • Wound recovery time: -2 turns for Sawai and Clawspeaker

Monument of the White Tiger  

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Shang-Yang  

III  

Income: +500 per turn

  • Unlocks hero recruitment: Alchemist 

  • Hero capacity: +2 for Alchemists

  • Hero recruit rank: +2 for Alchemists (factionwide)

  • Ability cooldown: -20% for abilities “Alchemist’s Elixir of Puissance”, “Alchemist’s Elixir of Iron Skin” and “Potion of Healing” for Alchemists (factionwide)

House of Secrets  

Nan-Gau  

IV  

Unlock recruitment of Terracotta Sentinels

  • Upkeep: -10% for Terracotta Sentinels (factionwide)

  • Recruitment rank: +2 for Terracotta Sentinels (factionwide)

  • Defensive supplies: +200 for all settlements factionwide

  • Defensive supplies: +50 per turn when under siege (factionwide)

Terracotta Road  

Shi-Wu  

V  

All armies ignore movement cost when embarking or disembarking from ships

  • Sea Lane movement: -1 turn

Grand Maritime Lift  

3. New Technologies

[p align="start"]

[p align="start"]8.1 also introduces two new technologies for the Tiger Warriors faction, focused on reducing upkeep while increasing recruitment rank, speed and damage output across the roster:

Tiger's Call:

Honed Senses:

4. Additional Campaign-side Updates

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[p align="start"]Onwards to the full patch notes!

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PATCH 8.1.0

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Campaign

General

Faction Mechanics

Characters

Units

Balance

Events & Missions

Items

Technologies

Skills, Abilities & Traits

UI

AI

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Battle

General

Balance

Units

Skills, Abilities & Traits

UI

AI

Maps

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Performance

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Visual

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Audio

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Misc.

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Battle Balancing

Bhashiva

Tiger Warrior Sawai

Clawspeaker

Tiger Warrior Stalkers

Tiger Warriors (all)

Taoyan the Merciless

Celestial Dragon Guard (Melee and Crossbow)

Terracotta Sentinel

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The Green Guardian (Terracotta Sentinel RoR)

Astrogoth Ironhand

The Masque of Slaanesh

Slaangors

Dechala the Denied One

Druchii Anointed

Preyton

Devotees of Slaanesh

Champions of Slaanesh

Scourge of Arden (Preyton RoR)

Seeker Chariots (mount version included)

Hellflayer

Exalted Seeker Chariot

Chaos Lord of Slaanesh

Daemonettes of Slaanesh

Alluress

The Marquis of Masochism (Keeper of Secrets RoR)

Cultist of Slaanesh

Chimera

Bloodshriek Chimera (Chimera RoR)

Dread Maw

Fimir Noble

Beorg Bearstruck

Riders of the Mighty Serpent RoR

Kurgan Horsemen (Dual Weapons)

Kurgan Horsemen (Great Weapons)

Wulfrik the Wanderer

Throgg

Fimir (All variants and characters)

Feral Mammoth

Curs’d Ettin Runecaller

Soul Crusher RoR

Toad Dragon

Tamurkhan

Rot Flies

Plague Ogres (both variants)

Nurglings

Rot Knights

Plagueridden

Herald of Nurgle

Epidemius

Billious Thunderguff RoR

Great Unclean One

Cultist of Nurgle

Changeling

Screamers of Tzeentch

Shrieking Skyrays RoR

Flamers of Tzeentch

Cockatrice

Iridescent Horror

Vilitch the Curseling

Blazing Squealers RoR

Aekold Helbrass

Blue Scribes

Mutailith Vortex Beast

Aeson the Fallen

Burning Chariot of Tzeentch (all variants, mounts)

Lord of Change

The Golden Griffin on Theurgy



⚠ IMPORTANT



If you experience any issues after downloading the update, please take a moment to Verify the integrity of the game files first to ensure there were no issues when downloading. A step-by-step guide can be found in this article. If the issues persist, please visit our support site for additional troubleshooting steps and assistance.



🧱 MOD WARNING



Please note that user-generated mods may have compatibility issues with new game updates. If you are encountering performance or stability issues following a release, is recommended that you disable any mods you're running. If you continue to experience issues, please visit our support site for additional troubleshooting steps and assistance.

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