Total War: Warhammer III — Kislev Ice Court and Atamans guide

The nation of Kislev in Total War: Warhammer III has several options when it comes to lords and heroes. Ideally, though, you’ll use powerful magic spells to make your enemies feel the frigid cold of winter. Here’s our Total War: Warhammer III Kislev guide to help you with the Ice Court mechanics, Frost Maiden and Ice Witch training, and Ataman system.

Note: For more information, check out our Total War: Warhammer III guides and features hub. You can also take a look at our main guide for Tzarina Katarin’s and Kislev’s mechanics.

Total War: Warhammer III Tzarina Katarin and Kislev guide –  The Ice Court and the Ataman system

Wait, how many Ice Courts are there?

It can be a little confusing for newcomers because Tzarina Katarin’s faction in Total War: Warhammer III is called the Ice Court. At the same time, the mechanic for Kislev that lets you recruit spellcasters is also called, you guessed it, the Ice Court.

Does that mean Kislev only has spellcaster heroes/lords? What about the Boyars and Patriarchs?

The Boyar melee lord is available by default. There’s nothing special about it, so it’s mostly just there if you need someone — anyone — to lead an army. As for the Patriarch hero, the Religion branch buildings (in minor settlements), Orthodoxy building chain (in the three great cities of Kislev, Praag, and Erengrad), and Magnus Gardens (Praag landmark) allow you to recruit these fellas.

But, there’s also an event called Final Resting Place where you get to recruit one automatically. It can happen from turn 11 to turn 13, though I’m not sure about the trigger yet. You can just keep reloading your save until it fires.

Okay, let’s get some spellcasters!

For Kislev’s Ice Court in Total War: Warhammer III, you can unlock two slots for Frost Maiden heroes and Ice Witch lords via techs. Pay the gold fee and they’ll undergo training for six turns:

• One turn after recruitment has started, you get to select whether they’d use Ice spells or Tempest spells.
• Then, for the succeeding turns, you select a particular trait or bonus that they’d have. For instance, a Frost Maiden might be able to reduce the attrition suffered by an army that she’s embedded in. Meanwhile, an Ice Witch might gain upkeep reduction for infantry or cavalry.
• There are no choices during the last turn prior to completion, so they should have three traits once they’re done.
• There’s a small icon notifying you if you need to make a choice, but it won’t appear as an end turn notification.
• After training is completed, you’ll see them in any settlement’s recruitment pool.

Note 1: To increase Frost Maiden hero capacity, you’ll need to construct the Convent of Ice (only in level 5 settlements) or the Frosthome buildings (only in Erengrad).

Note 2: If you’re playing as Tzarina Katarin, then the successful hostile actions of your Frost Maidens give +10 Devotion.

Should I pick Ice magic or Tempest magic?

• Lore of Ice – This has Ice Maiden’s Kiss (wind blast), Ice Sheet (speed and charge debuff), Frost Blades (weapon and armor-piercing), Death Frost (single-target), Crystal Sanctuary (damage resistance), and Heart of Winter (freezing AoE that has its damage increased in phases/as time elapses).
• Lore of Tempest – This has Hailstorm (bombardment), Gust of True Flight (range and accuracy buff), Swiftwing (speed and charge buff), Biting Wind (wind blast), Blizzard (vortex), and Hawks of Miska (vortex that doesn’t damage friendly units).

Although the Lore of Ice has some decent magic (with Crystal Sanctuary and Heart of Winter being standouts), the Lore of Tempest is an absolutely nuke-tastic unit killer. Likewise, since Katarin already uses Ice spells, having a Tempest hero would complement her skill set. Alternatively, if both the hero and the generic lord are using Tempest, then you’ll have a lot of fun.

Think of it this way, the Realms of Chaos (except for Khorne’s domain) give you unlimited Winds of Magic reserves. Combine your Tempest nukes with devastating Cataclysm magic, and your opponent will just chill… to death. Lastly, Survival Battles let you use supplies to replenish Winds of Magic, too.

The Ataman governors

If you’re playing as any Kislevite faction in Total War: Warhammer III, you’ll be able to assign Atamans for every two provinces that you control. Atamans can provide increases to growth, income, control, and corruption reduction, though you’ll mostly just get one or two bonuses.

You may also receive dilemmas from time to time where you need to decide on the types of perks that an Ataman would get. For example, you could increase the recruitment rank of Frost Maiden heroes in that province. Apparently, you can get the same event multiple times, too, so this could mean an additional bonus.

Likewise, Atamans can be recruited as generic lords to lead armies. They’ll also join the fight in case a settlement in that province is attacked. Although, apart from perks given by dilemmas, they’re no different from Boyars. Unfortunately, one downside is that you can’t remove an Ataman from the pool once he’s assigned. You need to deploy him and get him killed to ensure that he’s gone from the panel completely.

All right, let’s talk about additional mechanics for Tzarina Katarin and Kislev in Total War: Warhammer III. We’ll discuss the Motherland/Devotion system, the Crystal Cloak quest battle, and how we can unlock Boris Ursus.

Total War: Warhammer III is available via Steam, Epic Games, and the Xbox Game Pass for PC. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.