Total War: Warhammer 3 update 5.3.1 patch notes – balance changes to new items and more

Check out what’s in the update from November 7, 2024

Creative Assembly / SEGA

Creative Assembly has published Hotfix 5.3.1 for Total War: Warhammer 3 on November 7, 2024, following the recent release of the major Update 5.3. This patch has several balance adjustments for the brand-new magic items in store that were introduced with Update 5.3.

Based on community feedback, changes have been made to the Idol of Zak-Alooog, Helm of Draesca, and Deathsinger/Doomsinger. The Idol has been buffed, reducing its penalty to the wearer’s movement range and fatigue. The Helm received a small chance to grant a mighty, unique trait at the end of a turn, essentially buffing it as well – and the same goes for the two sister swords with the lethal names.

Alongside these balance changes come many fixes dealing with problems introduced by the update.

Find the full Total War: Warhammer 3 update 5.3.1 patch notes below.

Total War: Warhammer 3 update 5.3.1 patch notes

Idol of Zak-Alooog

• Reduced the movement range penalty from -50% to -20%.
• Removed the fatigue penalty effect.

Helm of Draesca

• Added a 2% chance per end turn for the helm to grant a powerful unique trait, ‘Power of Draesca.’
• ‘Power of Draesca’: +20% HP, +20% character experience, +10% ward save, +10% research rate.

Deathsinger/Doomsinger

• Added a 5% chance per end turn for characters with these swords equipped to gain a unique trait when both are in the same region.
• Sister Swords: +10 melee attack, +10 melee defence, charge reflect attribute.

Performance

• Fixed a crash that occurred when attempting to exchange units with a camp that was being abandoned during the campaign.
• Fixed a crash that occurred while loading a battle with AI Control selected and Control Large Army toggled off in siege battles with large garrison armies.

Campaign

• Fixed a rare end-turn prompt for an idle character when that character already has a destination.
• Fixed an issue where players using the Orcs & Goblins faction could enter Tunnelling Stance when the army's movement points were below 100% while the Waaagh! Army View was selected.
• ​Fixed an issue where the Daemon Prince could not properly access the Harbour port building when occupying Erengrad.
• Fixed an issue in the Orcs & Goblins campaign where players were unable to target discovered Skaven settlements for a Waaagh! unless their capital was also revealed.
• Fixed an issue where the Waaagh's target settlement model would disappear after being razed. The model now remains visible without the need for a save reload.
• ​Added 'Fire While Moving' for Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers to the 'Improved Gyrocopter Engines' technology on the Dwarf tech tree. 
• Fixed an issue in Drycha's skill tree where the ‘Indoctrinator’ skill displayed an excessive number of character unit card variants. 
• ​Fixed an issue where certain effects that increased recruit rank for Nurgle units would not work when playing as the Daemon Prince. 
• ​Adjusted how the monetary reward for Bounties is calculated. Previously, the amount was based on the issuer's Treasury, which could fluctuate significantly regardless of their strength and had no relevance to the selected target. The new calculation considers the player's distance to the target, with higher rewards for immortal targets or province capitals. Additionally, distance is now measured from the nearest settlement owned by the player rather than just the faction leader's army. This change should generally result in Bounty targets being closer to the player.
• Adjusted the Bounty rewards system to ensure a balanced distribution of additional rewards. Players will now receive a consistent cycle through meat, camp growth, and rare ancillaries, reducing randomness and enhancing reward variety.
• Players can now decline a Bounty, triggering a new one to be issued on the following turn.
• ​Fixed a bug where hovering over the Ogre Bounties panel link in the help pages while the Bounties were open would cause the panel to flash extremely brightly.
• Improved the visual quality of the Worldroots Forest Health numbers when playing as the Wood Elves.
• Fixed an issue where lords, including Legendary Lords, would lose their last names in the UI when they were wounded. This issue affected both player-controlled and AI-controlled lords.

Zhao Ming’s Mercenaries:

• Fixed an issue causing Zhao Ming's Ogre Mercenary benefits to not apply to the new Mercenaries added in 5.3.
• Faction Trait: Added +10 Melee Attack and Defense to all Ogre Mercenaries.
• Skill Tree: Removed -25% recruitment cost for Ogre Mercenaries; added Guardian for all Ogre Mercenaries faction-wide; added +20% Weapon and Missile Damage for all Ogre Mercenaries faction-wide.

Battles

• ​Fixed an issue where defeating the Nemesis Crown-wielder, Knobber da Bossy Git, did not properly complete the quest objectives, preventing the battle from ending as intended. 
• Resolved an issue where the Empire's Steam Tank would fail to fire its main cannon after engaging in melee combat. Now, after exiting melee, the cannon will resume firing as intended, aligning with expected gameplay.
• Fixed an issue where Grave Guard Halberds mistakenly had Expert Charge Defence instead of Charge Defence vs. Large, reinforcing their role as dedicated monster hunters rather than generalist frontline defenders.
• Fixed a bug where ranged units were sometimes assigned targets just outside of their range, causing them to sit idle instead of firing.
• Fixed an issue where the "Howl of The Great Beast" ability incorrectly triggered a jumping animation for enemy Marauders.
• ​Fixed a bug where the Zombie Pirate Deckhands Mob was missing an animation.
• Resolved a visual issue where Skeleton Archers would snap to different positions and move back and forth excessively during the ‘shoot ready’ and combat idle animations.
• Fixed an issue where the weapon of Eternal Guards would disappear while under ranged fire.
• Resolved an issue with the twisted left arm of Blessed Kroxigors during their running animation.
• Fixed an issue where Skarsnik was missing his death animation in the post-battle screen.
• The Prologue's first Land Battle map had a ludicrous parallax setting on a single decal. The parallax setting has since been adjusted for a more pleasing viewing experience.
• Resolved an issue in multiplayer campaigns where the Ogre Kingdoms could receive bounties that targeted their teammates.