Total War: Warhammer II guide – Imrik’s Dragon Encounters and Dragon Taming

Dragon Encounter: Gordinar, Champion of the Flame (Sun Dragon)

Rewards:

• Sun Shard unique item – +40% fire resistance; Embers of the Phoenix bound spell; Rage passive.
• Shining Light trait – +14% speed; Perfect Vigor attribute.
• Gordinar’s Fury (faction-wide buff for 20 turns) – Enables flaming attacks; +15% speed for all units.

Gordinar’s army is comprised of 4x Tomb Guard, 2x Arcane Phoenix, 2x Flamespyre Phoenix, 2x Ushabti, 1x Tomb Scorpion, 1x Sepulchral Stalkers, 1x Hierotitan, 1x Khemrian Warsphinx. There are no reinforcements.

The Gordinar Dragon Encounter, much like the Ymwrath fight, tends to be a little frustrating if you’re committing to it very early in Total War: Warhammer II‘s campaign. While your spearmen can go up against Tomb Guard and Ushabti, you’re going to get chewed up once the Hierotitan, Khemrian Warsphinx, and Tomb Scorpion arrive. Worse, those four phoenixes will make your life a living hell since they’ll just rip through your infantry. Likewise, they’re resistant to fire, so good luck spamming Mikaela’s spells.

Note: The desert heat will affect the damage of fire magic. Unfortunately, Gordinar and all four phoenixes will be resistant to this damage type, so avoid using any buff/spell/banner that uses fire-based attacks (ie. Flaming Sword of Rhuin or the Greater Invocation of Vaul) as these will just gimp your DPS against them. However, you could still use fire when fighting off the Tomb Kings units.

The terrain also won’t offer you an advantage. In fact, if you attempt to take the hill thinking it’s going to be a great defensive position, you’d be wrong. Those phoenixes will be on top of you before you know it, even as you attempt to consolidate your forces:

Instead, stick to the corner and play defensively:

Just remember that Gordinar’s flame breath combined with the fire damage mechanic can quickly rout a unit that gets scorched:

Now, once those phoenixes get close, be ready with your ranged units. If they cast their special attacks, pray that they target one of your melee units instead (and two of these will take your unit out of the fight for good).

If Gordinar is your second or even third Dragon Encounter, then the fight will be significantly easier. Imrik astride Minaithnir can easily keep Gordinar away from your main army while your other dragons eat those fancy chickens one by one.

With Gordinar distracted and the phoenixes completely outmatched, you’re free to focus on the Tomb Kings units. Make that Hierotitan taste the rainbow:

There’s another unique dragon that can pose quite a challenge. It’s the Star Dragon, Ymwrath the Eternal.