Progression tips
Here’s what you can expect when you play as Thorek Ironbrow in Total War: Warhammer II‘s Vortex campaign.
Hoarding Oathgold
Oathgold is a resource used by the Dwarfs. It’s spent whenever you craft weapons, armors, enchanted items, talismans, character runes, and banner runes via the Forge. Oathgold can be obtained by completing missions, selecting a post-battle action vs. armies, recycling items in the Forge, striking down grudges, and as bonuses from characters. Oathgold is also generated by certain buildings (i.e., Armory, Trading Depot, and special resource buildings).
Thorek’s faction-wide bonuses allow him to amass more Oathgold while spending less when creating runes. The Artifacts tied to his campaign progression also don’t require Oathgold to craft.
Collecting Artifact parts and settling grudges
When you look at the Forge screen, you’ll see dozens of items that you can craft (mentioned earlier). Weapons, armors, and the like require Oathgold and specific resources (i.e., marble, iron, golden idols, and more). You’ll have access to these resources as long as you’ve got buildings that manufacture them or if you have a trade agreement with a faction that has them.
Now, once you eliminate the first Clan Mange army that’s out in the open, you can capture the Mine of Bearded Skulls. This nets you the Right Half of Tongs piece that’s needed for one Artifact (Thungni’s Tongs of the Runesmith).
Compared to regular items, Artifact parts can only be obtained via conquest. By clicking on a part’s icon, you’ll see its location on the campaign map. You have to capture, sack, or raze the target settlement to secure that piece. Alternatively, if the target settlement is a ruin, you can simply search it (you don’t need to colonize or successfully solve the puzzle) to claim the piece.
Regarding grudges, Thorek will still get these types of missions to retaliate in case something bad happens to his armies or settlements. For the most part, though, the important grudges are tied to the Artifacts that you’ve yet to obtain. If you can successfully obtain an Artifact, you’ll settle that particular grudge and obtain Oathgold as well. Likewise, the severity of grudges will go down, giving you decent faction-wide bonuses related to public order, research rate, and diplomatic relations with other Dwarfs.
Diplomacy and confederation with the Spine of Sotek Dwarfs
During turn 2 of your Total War: Warhammer II Vortex campaign as Thorek Ironbrow, you’ll be presented with a dilemma to confederate with the Spine of Sotek Dwarfs. All you need to do is win two battles against the Skaven, and you’re likely to do this by the time you take over Subatuun which is owned by Clan Mange. For the dilemma itself, I suggest choosing the “Up To Code” option as this gives you a lot of Oathgold. The public order malus is fairly low and it’s only temporary.
As for diplomacy with all the other factions, it seems that the Southern Sentinels and Cult of Sotek will become your best friends due to having similar rivals down the line. More than likely, you’ll have to do battle with Clan Pestilens and the Blessed Dread since they’re in the way. Beyond this point, you’ll need to choose your foes and friends wisely. Given the locations of Artifact parts, you’re bound to go to war with leaders who are holding these regions (i.e., Teclis, Khalida, Gor-Rok, Lord Mazdamundi, Ikit Claw, and Luther Harkon).
Rune Magic rework
The release of Total War: Warhammer II – The Silence & The Fury coincides with a free Dwarf rework concerning the usage of Rune Magic.
Unlike regular spells that use the Winds of Magic, the ones that Dwarfs have are completely distinct and separate (so you won’t need to worry about reserves anymore).
Here’s how Rune Magic works:
- Barring special circumstances, Rune Magic is available to Thorek Ironbrow, Runelords, and Runesmiths.
- Once you’ve unlocked the relevant Rune Magic skills, the spells gain an “overcast” feature (double-click) that makes them more powerful, though miscast chances do apply.
- Each spell has a lengthy cooldown before it can be used again (i.e., 120 seconds).
- When a spell is cast, all other runes enter a global cooldown on a per-character basis. This means that the character won’t be able to use any other Rune Magic that they’ve unlocked until that cooldown has elapsed.
- Still, different characters can cast their own spells since they have their own timers. For instance, get troops to clash and clump together. Then, Thorek and his Runesmith can both cast “Rune of Wrath & Ruin” at the same time to blast entire packs of hostiles within seconds.
Anyway, let’s talk about the other facets related to Thorek Ironbrow. You can head over to our guides regarding the Artifact Vault/Forge, Klad Brakak quest battle, and The Lost Vault final battle.
Total War: Warhammer II – The Silence & The Fury is available via Steam. Meanwhile, Thorek Ironbrow is available as a free download. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
