Lords of the End Times guide: how to approach Boris, Thanquol, Nagash and the Glottkin

One clarification first, because it governs how to read this guide: the DLC launches on 24 September 2026. Nobody has played these campaigns yet, so there is no community meta, no proven build order and no value tables.

This guide covers something else, the part that will not move: the logic of each mechanic, what it demands of the player, and the mistakes it is already set up to provoke. The numbers will come after release, and we will expand it then.

Choosing your lord, one line each

Before the detail, here is who suits whom.

Boris Todbringer is the most classical and most accessible: Empire infantry, a legible roster, progression tied to victories. The right pick for a first campaign from the pack.

Thanquol is the most unpredictable, with a mechanic that deliberately builds in failure. For people entertained rather than irritated by the unexpected.

Nagash is the longest and richest, with two parallel collections to run. A campaign for the long haul, not an evening.

The Glottkin are the most forgiving: slow, enormous, hard to kill, but dependent on a corruption ramp that takes patience.

Boris Todbringer, keeping Fervour climbing

His campaign rests entirely on one resource, Fervour, which rises by defeating the enemies of the Empire. It feeds the Great Temple of Ulric and its six Sanctuaries, whose upgrades grant permanent faction bonuses.

The practical consequence is this: Boris does not progress by sitting still. A turn spent consolidating is a turn where Fervour does not climb. It is a mechanic that punishes turtling, which is unusual for the Empire, and it is the first reflex to unlearn if you come from Karl Franz.

The second structural point is the gateway into the roster. Elector State Troopers only become recruitable once the Flame of Ulric burns bright enough, meaning once the Sanctuaries are up. Your best units sit at the end of a military effort, not at the end of a building queue.

Three principles for a good start:

Target Khazrak One-Eye early. He is the nemesis, the campaign is built around that grudge, and beastmen are exactly the kind of opponent that punishes passivity by sacking your provinces while you look elsewhere.

Choose your Sanctuaries by playstyle, not in order. Six Sanctuaries and permanent bonuses make this the campaign's real decision tree, and raising them at random amounts to playing without a build.

Keep Boris in contact. He wields Legbiter, he is a fearsome melee combatant and a veteran general whose command bonuses benefit the Middenland soldiery around him. Leaving him at the back forfeits both halves of the character.

On composition, Teutogen Guard and Warriors of Ulric form the solid core, Knights of the White Wolf bring the charge, and the Celestial Hurricanum is the piece not to forget: it is the magical artillery that breaks enemy infantry blocks, and the Empire badly misses it otherwise.

Thanquol, managing plans that derail

His mechanic is called Masterplans: raising secret armies to strike from the shadows, conducting rituals, staging heists. And the studio states plainly that things do not always go to plan, with unforeseen complications and setbacks to absorb.

That is the most important design point to grasp: failure is part of the system, not a punishment. A player who abandons a plan at the first complication will consistently play below potential. A player who expects to have to repair things will get ahead.

So build in slack. Do not launch a plan on your last resources, because that is precisely when the game will hand you the bill.

In battle, two things separate him from other Grey Seers.

He rides Boneripper, which changes everything for a spellcaster. Most mages die the moment they are touched; he absorbs hits and his rat-ogre deals serious melee damage. You can push him further forward than instinct suggests.

He casts from the lores of Plague and Ruin, and can unlock the Thirteenth Spell. That spell defines the character, and the whole campaign ramp should be aimed at getting it.

The roster follows the same logic of threat: Stormfiends come in melee and missile versions, letting you choose which problem to solve, and Skreech Verminking as a legendary hero adds weight the Skaven lacked.

One piece of advice that applies to any Skaven campaign and doubles here: your basic infantry is consumable. It exists to pin and to die while artillery and spells do the work. Playing Thanquol while trying to preserve your troops means fighting your own rules.

Nagash, two collections at once

His campaign, the Lands of the Dead, has him amass legions, build necropolises, and above all assemble two sets: the nine Mortarchs, his lieutenants, and the Books of Nagash.

That is where the campaign is decided, because the books are not decorative: each recovered book widens his spell arsenal. Nagash starts on the Lore of Undeath and gradually opens up to other lores. A Nagash without books is a large sorcerer; a Nagash with his books is a natural disaster.

So the campaign priority is clear, and it is worth stating because many will miss it: go after the books before expanding territory. Conquest is the means, not the end, and late-game power sits in the collection.

His second asset is unique in the game: he recruits from the complete range of undead rosters, Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts and Vampire Coast. Do not run a mono-faction army out of habit, that would miss the point. Nehekharan skeletons, vampiric cavalry and Coast artillery do not share strengths, and being able to assemble them in one army is exactly what the character offers.

Add the Morghasts, in Harbinger and Archai versions, which finally give the undead a flying elite, and the Khemric Titan as a heavy piece.

Plan for a long campaign. Nine Mortarchs and a book collection is not an objective you wrap up in thirty turns.

The Glottkin, the patience of rot

Two linked mechanics structure their campaign. Gifts of Nurgle, earned by spreading corruption and harvesting souls, arriving as Rituals of Decay and Grandfather's Blessings. And Gardens of Corruption, settlements conquered and then transformed.

The second matters more, because it governs your army: Gardens grant access to a higher proportion of Nurgle daemons than any other Warriors of Chaos faction, and they generate plagues to spread.

The playing principle follows: corruption is your economy. Conquering without corrupting means owning squares on a map without gaining power. Take the time to transform before setting off again.

In battle, scythe-wielding Otto and sorcerous Ethrac ride their brother Ghurk and act as a single monstrously powerful combatant combining physical and magical might. It is a slow, massive unit: do not play it as a flanking general, play it as a battering ram you point and push through.

The pack is the richest in characters, with four legendary heroes: Gutrot Spume, Morbidex Twiceborn, Bloab Rotspawned and Orghotts Daemonspew. This is an army you build around its heroes more than its rank and file.

Putrid Blightkings come in three weapon configurations, axe and shield, great weapons or dual axes: choose by what you are facing, not by looks.

What the free update changes for everyone

Even without buying a single lord, your existing campaigns shift.

Neferata arrives free as a legendary lord, and the Vampire Counts receive a complete rework. If you had shelved that faction, this is the moment to bring it back: it has been waiting years.

Archaon the Everchosen is reworked too, which moves the needle on the Chaos side.

Finally, new end game scenarios arrive and the victory conditions of every legacy legendary lord are revised. Your old campaigns will no longer end quite the way they used to.

This guide will be expanded

Until the DLC is out, nobody can give Sanctuary values, Fervour thresholds, Masterplan success rates or an optimal order for the Books of Nagash.

What precedes covers the logic of each system and the traps they already set. We will revisit this guide after 24 September, once the community has mapped the numbers.

Which one are you playing first? Come and argue about it on the InsertCoins Discord, we already have camps.