Total War: Three Kingdoms — How to play as Han Emperor Liu Xie

Restoring the Han Empire

Let’s talk about a major decision you’ll come across during your Total War: Three Kingdoms playthrough — the ability to restore the Han Empire.

The following requirements need to be met:

• Have control of the Han Emperor.
• Reach 500 prestige so you can declare yourself King.
• The player has to be the first one to reach King rank.
• Do not let a non-Han faction capture the settlement that the Han Emperor resides in.

The moment you rank-up your faction to earn the title of King, you’ll be presented with a decision to either take the throne for yourself or restore Emperor Xian (Liu Xie) to the throne. If you pick the former, it’d follow the usual endgame run that you’ve gotten used to. If you pick the latter, then Emperor Xian becomes the new faction leader (more on this later).

Do remember that if Emperor Xian isn’t under your control, then you’ll automatically create your own imperial dynasty the moment you declare yourself as King. The choice itself won’t appear.

Anyway, the requirements sound easy enough, at least on paper. Heck, when playing as Cao Cao, the whole thing’s a breeze. But, you do have to contend with various issues.