Total War: Warhammer II — Heart of the Dark final battle guide

Taurox the Brass Bull’s final battle

Taurox the Brass Bull’s Heart of the Dark final battle starts out rather comically. The Brazen One expects that he’ll be able to enact a ritual to gain the favor of the Chaos Gods. Instead, Morghur arrived first to the defiled grounds. You’ll have to eliminate his troops.

I was at max level here already. Moreover, I had two Gorebulls, a Bray-Shaman (Wild), several Minotaurs, Jabberslythes, Ghorgons, and Cygors.

Needless to say, Morghur barely offered a challenge. He does have several chariot units and Gor infantry, but you shouldn’t have issues trouncing them.

The most dangerous units here are the two Cygors at the back near the altar. Try to send your faster/monster units to distract them while you dispatch the poor Shadowgave. If Taurox has the Rune-Tortured Axes, the weapon will make him cleave foes like they’re made of paper.

Note: Don’t worry about killing Morghur here. If you already recruited him to your faction, he’ll continue sitting cozy as one of Taurox’s subordinates after you finish the Heart of the Dark final battle.

With the defeat of Morghur, his lieutenants join you as reinforcements. They’ve got more Gors, Bestigors, Razorgors, and various monsters. A couple of things will also happen here:

• Prisoners will be released on your flanks. These are hapless, sword-wielding humans and you need to kill 1,500 of them. They will distract your allies, so it’s better to send your monsters and cavalry/chariots to take them out.
• A Lizardmen army will appear at the opposite end of the battlefield. It will beeline to one of the far corners.

Around this time, I decided to summon some extra Cygors. Since my allies were quickly moving to intercept the Lizardmen forces, I had to give them backup. I’m assuming that they’re hard-coded to avoid engaging your own army during this stage. As such, the Cygors were able to pummel a lot of troops with ease.

Here’s what the battlefield looked like at that point in time:

Once you’ve killed 1,500 prisoners, Taurox will say that the ritual has been completed. A couple of events will trigger:

• You’ll receive additional units, including several Chaos Spawn, a couple of Cygors, and a unique monster known as the Ghorgon of Khorne. All of these will be under your control.
• Oxyotl’s main army will also arrive, spawning at the far corner where the Lizardmen army headed towards.

Your AI-controlled lieutenants will smash the Lizardmen lines that are still forming. With your Cygor artillery, you can crush units from afar. Then, you can rush in with your Minotaurs, Ghorgons, and Jabberslythes, massacring any poor reptile that stands in your way. The AI has a hard time trying to focus its fire on any single entity, which means you can rampage through their lines while taking minimal damage.

As for Oxyotl, remember that he’s a skirmisher-type lord. He wants to stay away from the thick of the fighting. I bulldozed him (pun intended) with Taurox when he was out in the open, avoiding mobs that can cluster around the Beastmen leader. With a beefed-up Taurox (also another pun that’s very much intended), I could take out a quarter of Oxyotl’s health with a single strike.

With Oxyotl’s defeat, the Lizardmen forces will rout. Taurox’s victory in the Heart of the Dark final battle nets you +1,500 Dread and “The Favored One” perk. It has the following effects:

• +3 unit capacity for Minotaurs, Minotaurs (Shields), and Minotaurs (Great Weapons).
• +5 unit capacity for Ghorgons and Jabberslythes.

Anyway, let’s talk about Oxyotl’s experience in the next part of our Total War: Warhammer II – The Silence & The Fury final battle guide.