Rat Ninjas And Demon Elves In New Total War: Warhammer 2 DLC – The Shadow & The Blade
No franchise has a fan base more rabid for DLC than Total War. While so many other games release map packs and weapon bundles to the disdain of their audience, Total War fans eat it up like a puppy with a pig ear. While this has always been the case for the series, it’s become a way bigger deal with Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2. It’s easy to see why. Each DLC—be it new Legendary Lord or an entire faction—significantly alters the game and offers new playstyles. Sure, some of them are a bit overpowered. No one is arguing that Clan Skryre’s rat nukes aren’t bananas. But on the other hand, the game now has fucking rat nukes. That’s so baller.
Each Total War: Warhammer 2 DLC has added to the overall awesome. We most recently had a mad huntsman fighting a giant crocodile in the forest. Before that was the aforementioned rat nukes vs a lizardman race war. Not into lizards, rats, and elves? Well how about an army of zombie vampire pirates with boat golems? Or an entire race of Egyptian skeletons with animated war sphinxes? And hey, if none of those tickle your fancy, try out one of the nine original teams from the first Total War: Warhammer. Every new installment feels like a fine new addition to your lightsaber collection. You must have them all. And I do. You bet your ass I do.
They’ve been teasing the new Total War: Warhammer 2 DLC for a while now, and I am pleased to say the wait was worth it. The newest addition is titled The Shadow & The Blade. This installment features fan favorites Malus Darkblade and Deathmaster Snikch. Malus is a very serious elf who serves as host to the demon Tz’arkan. He’s part prison, part prisoner, and part partner with the demon, but he is 100% grumpy about it. I’ve seen posts demanding Malus since Warhammer 2 released, so finally all you hot topic 20-year-olds can live out your edgiest of edgelord dreams.
Meanwhile, Snikch is a rat ninja with an extra knife he holds with his tail. His story is that he’s incredibly good at stabbing things, and has no complicated feelings about it. Party on, rat ninja.
Both Malus and Snikch will each get to lead their own faction, with new challenges and playstyles reflecting the leader. Malus will have to choose early between holding onto the mighty slave city of Hag Graef of focusing on raiding expeditions. As the campaign progresses, he will choose between giving into his demonic impulses or keeping them at bay. Meanwhile, Snikch will want to assassinate things. He’s so good at it that other rats will ask him to assassinate things for them. Doing so will net you mega-awesome-best-rat points, which can be spent on extra tokens at Chuck E. Cheese.
The Shadow & The Blade also comes with a host of new units, which you can find more about on the Steam Store page. It launches in conjunction with a new surprise Bretonian lord, Rapanse de Lyonesse. Rapanse will continue the proud tradition of pairing each new DLC pack with free content. More information about her faction coming soon.
The Shadow & The Blade is launching December 12th for $9. If you buy it before launch, you get 10% off. You can check it out here on Steam. Every time one of these comes out, don’t try to talk to me for a week. Consider this my proof of life for the seven days no one can find me from December 12th-19th.
