Total War: Warhammer 3 will finally get an order-aligned vampire
Update (March 21, 2023): Developer Creative Assembly has revealed how to get the free legendary heroine once update 3.0 is out for Total War: Warhammer 3. You can learn the details in our guide on how to get Ulrika Magdova.
Original (March 15, 2023): Total War: Warhammer 3’s upcoming DLC, Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs, won’t just add the titular Dawi-Zharr and their fearsome war machinery into the strategy game. Update 3.0, which comes with this fiery expansion pack, will contain a free legendary hero character recruitable for Kislev and the Empire – Ulrika Magdova Straghov.
Ulrika is an established Warhammer Fantasy character, who appeared in the popular Gotrek and Felix novels and now follows the two heroes from the literary series into the PC game. Born as a noblewoman in Kislev, Ulrika was connected to Felix through a short and stormy love affair. She was then turned into a vampire against her will, roaming the Empire and Kislev while trying to do right both as a vampire and as a noble of those lands, fighting the influence of Chaos.
That said, she was at one point still on board with a plan to kill Emperor Karl Franz and take over the Empire, only drifting away from this plot after she was betrayed herself, so the definition of good and evil is blurry as always in this grimdark setting.
In any case, Ulrika is going to be the first playable vampire character in Total War: Warhammer 3 that aligns with the factions of order, since both the Vampire Counts and the Vampire Coast are clearly evil, if not sided with Chaos. She’s going to be a hybrid infantry and caster unit, adept at melee and ranged combat as well as using spells from the Lore of Shadow.
Fans are happy about Ulrika’s inclusion, though some are unsure how they feel about getting a legendary heroine instead of a full legendary lord as the traditional free offering accompanying the update.
Ulrika Magdova Straghov will join the battle on April 13, 2023, when update 3.0 and the Chaos Dwarf DLC are released. If you’re wondering which units, lords, and heroes the Dawi-Zharr will field, check out our Chaos Dwarfs guide.
A name you won’t find on that list is Shar’tor the Executioner, a powerful Bull Centaur some fans had expected to come to Total War: Warhammer 3. Though Shar’tor was originally designed for Warhammer Fantasy, he did not get released before the End Times wiped that universe out. He was included in Age of Sigmar instead, which unfortunately makes him ineligible for Total War, Creative Assembly has confirmed.