Total War: Warhammer 2 – Malus Darkblade and Hag Graef campaign guide

Malus Darkblade campaign overview

Faction perks

As the Tyrant of Hag Graef, Malus Darkblade has the following perks:

• +30% income from iron mines, gold mines, and marble quarries.
• Starts with a Black Ark fleet admiral.
• Starts with a military alliance with Naggarond (note that Malekith will also start allied with Hag Graef if you play as him).
• Controlling or letting yourself be possessed by Tz’arkan as a core mechanic.
• Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for Cold Ones unit types for his army.
• Starts with Bloodwrack Medusa, Scourgerunner Chariot, and Cold One Knights units.

Vortex campaign victory requirements

• Have 1,500 Scrolls of Hekarti at the start of your turn.
• Complete the Rise of Darkness final battle.

Starting position

Malus Darkblade, unique to all Total War: Warhammer 2 lords, starts with two settlements that are extremely distant from one another. You’ve got your capital of Hag Graef on the bleak, frozen continent of Naggaroth. At the same time, you can gain a foothold in the Sea of Dread province. That’s to the southeasternmost edge of the map. What did I say about the edgelord loving his edginess?

That’s for the Vortex campaign. If you’re playing Mortal Empires, Malus will still be at the edge of the map, sure, but he’ll be at the Dragon Isles. That’s at the eastern edge of the Southlands. Think of it as similar to where Ethiopia and Somalia meet the Persian Gulf.

While the Vortex campaign keeps the titular Shadow and Blade away from each others’ throats, the same can’t be said for Mortal Empires. Deathmaster Snikch is just to the north of your starting position, and you’ll want to eliminate him after you’re done with the lizardfolk.

The Hag Graef and expedition force dilemma

Given that Malus can’t be at two places at the same time, you’ll be given a choice early on in your Total War: Warhammer 2 campaign. This happens once you capture your first settlement.

Will you give up Hag Graef?

• +50 growth for all provinces (5 turns)
• +20,000 gold

Or will you keep your capital?

• Lords have a chance to gain +4 loyalty (10 turns)
• +5 public order (10 turns)

If you give up Hag Graef, Malekith will immediately annex it and make it part of Naggarond. Funnily enough, because you still have visibility over this region, you can still ally or trade with nearby Dark Elf factions.

I’ll suggest keeping Hag Graef for now since the pros outweigh the cons, and, if you play your cards right, you won’t even need to go to war against the other Dark Elf leaders. Also, if you keep Hag Graef, you’ll gain control of a High Beastmaster lord (remember this guy) and a small army. The ruins of the Temple of Khaine and Storag Kor are also nearby and you can colonize them quickly.

Take note of the High Beastmaster’s skill tree and how there’s quite an emphasis on buffing monster units:

Malus Darkblade’s Rites

The Darkblade has the following Rites as you can see below:

Druchii fans will already be familiar with the Sacrifice to Mathlann and Sacrifice to Khaine since both are available for other lords as well. The former isn’t necessary early in Total War: Warhammer 2‘s campaign since Malus already starts with a Black Ark admiral.

The Gift to the Witch King can be a little wonky, but that’s mostly because it’s dependent on the number of regions that Malekith controls. If he’s on the ropes, then your hero will be at a lower level. But, if you kept Hag Graef and you’re able to help him expand, then you’ll get heroes at a higher level.

As for the Rite of the Warmaster, this one can be very costly (in terms of usage and maintenance), but it’ll be immensely helpful if Hag Graef is under attack or if you plan on finally conquering all of Naggaroth. Do note that it requires Malus Darkblade to have “full control” with no hint of Tz’arkan’s daemonic possession.

Anyway, remember that High Beastmaster lord that’s just capturing ruins? His stat lines prioritize melee attack boosts for monster units. If you’ve got these perks, you can give him control over the monster units spawned by the Rite of the Warmaster. You’re instantly getting a beefed-up army without wasting turns or gold on buildings and recruitment.

The Warpsword of Khaine

Malus Darkblade’s questline lets you obtain his unique weapon, the Warpsword of Khaine. It has the following stats:

• +10 melee attack
• +15% weapon strength
• +40% ambush defense chance (lord’s army)
• “Warpsword of Khaine” passive ability – +5% damage resistance and HP regen (self)

There seems to be a bug with this questline, at least based on my experience. Here are the steps:

• Kill 1000 enemies in battle.
• Recruit a Scourgerunner Chariot (from Harpy Roost tier 3 building).

That’s as far as I got. Even though I was able to recruit the unit, I didn’t get an additional quest step. Anyway, let’s take a look at Black Arks since Malus does start with one.