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Total War Warhammer Ii Warhammer 2 Rakarth Monster Pen Unit Unlocks Guide

Total War: Warhammer II — Rakarth’s Monster Pen units guide

Beast Wars!

Monsters and creatures abound when you play as Naggaroth’s most accomplished Beastlord. Here’s our guide to help you with Rakarth’s Monster Pen unit unlocks in Total War: Warhammer II.

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Note: Please be reminded that this guide is based on a Vortex campaign run on very hard (VH/VH) difficulty. You can also check out our main guide for Rakarth’s campaign mechanics and opening moves.

 

Total War: Warhammer II – Rakarth’s Monster Pen unit unlocks

Rakarth’s faction mechanic in Total War: Warhammer II is called the Monster Pen. Based on different unlock conditions (i.e., raiding in a particular climate or capturing a certain race’s settlement), Rakarth’s armies will be able to field different units from the Monster Pen. These beasts and ferocious creatures can be recruited instantly, but they do have their purchase and upkeep costs. Likewise, higher-level lords have a better chance of capturing creatures.

Anyway, you can refer to the table below for the information:

Monster Pen Unit Unlock Condition: Race Settlement Capture Unlock Condition: Raid in a particular Climate/Terrain Special Unlock Condition
Harpies N/A Mountain Winning battles with a high number of casualties
Giant Wolves Greenskins or Norsca Frozen, Wasteland, Temperate N/A
Feral Mammoth Norsca N/A N/A
Feral Carnosaur Lizardmen N/A N/A
Feral Stegadon Lizardmen Jungle N/A
Feral Cold Ones Lizardmen Desert, Jungle, Savannah N/A
Feral Manticore N/A Regions with a high level of Chaos corruption N/A
Explosive Squig Greenskins N/A Defeating armies in the Underway
War Hydra N/A Mountain N/A
Kharibdyss N/A N/A Winning battles at sea
Black Dragon High Elves or Wood Elves N/A N/A
Bloodwrack Medusa N/A N/A Special events only

Tww2 Rkr Mnsp Gd 1

Regarding unlock conditions related to settlement captures, you should see several options such as “occupy,” “loot & occupy,” “sack,” and “raze” once you conquer new lands. There’s a small icon showing that each choice has a chance of providing you with a particular Monster Pen unit. Granted, this isn’t always guaranteed. If you don’t get the desired results, you might as well reload a save.

To be clear, all of Rakarth’s Monster Pen units in Total War: Warhammer II can be obtained via special events. These actually pertain to a particular rite which we’ll discuss below.

Tww2 Rkr Mnsp Gd 2

Rakarth’s “Convocation of Hunters” Rite

Rakarth has the following rites available to him:

Rite Effect Unlock Condition Cost (slaves), Duration, and Cooldown
Sacrifice to Atharti Generic lords have a chance to gain +2 loyalty at the start of your turn;
+8 public order (all provinces)
Use the “Demand Highborn Hostages” commandment in a province. 100 slaves/5 turns/20 turns
Sacrifice to Khaine +25% casualties captured after battles; +20% replenishment; +15% income from slaves;
+50% post-battle loot; +50% slave decline rate;
“Dark Conduit” (magical AoE explosion) ability for all armies
Enslave three sets of captives after a battle. 375 slaves/15 turns/40 turns
Sacrifice to Mathlann Adds a Black Ark/Fleetmaster that’s available for recruitment in a port settlement Have 500 slaves. 500 slaves/instant/25 turns
Convocation of Hunters Adds Monster Pen units that are available for recruitment Unlock Monster Pen units based on various conditions five times Variable costs/1 turn/variable cooldown

Total War Warhammer Ii Warhammer 2 Rakarth Monster Pen Unit Unlocks Guide 1a

The Convocation of Hunters Rite is unique in that you’re presented with four choices. Whatever you select will provide Rakarth with certain Monster Pen units, though the results and cooldowns can be different.

You can see the results in the table below:

Convocation of Hunters Option Monster Pen units that can become available Costs and Cooldown
Sorceress of Ghrond Black Dragon, War Hydra, Kharibdyss, and Bloodwrack Medusa -500 slaves/-1,500 gold/15-turn cooldown
Beast Markets Feral Manticore, Explosive Squig, and Harpies -1,000 gold/5-turn cooldown
Old World Expedition Giant Wolves and Feral Mammoth Free/10-turn cooldown
Lustrian Expedition Feral Cold Ones, Feral Stegadon, Feral Carnosaur -750 gold/10-turn cooldown

Total War Warhammer Ii Warhammer 2 Rakarth Monster Pen Unit Unlocks Guide 1b

The general idea in your playthrough as Rakarth in Total War: Warhammer II is to consolidate and build up your forces close to your home base. Then, you’ll be roaming around, raiding and ransacking settlements belonging to different races/factions to unlock new Monster Pen units. You can offset whatever you’re lacking by using the Convocation of Hunters Rite.

Lastly, do remember that completing Rakarth’s Whip of Agony quest battle helps you obtain some nifty Monster Pen units. It’s a sea battle so you’ll get the Kharibdyss. Plus, you’ll unlock more Lizardmen dinos as a reward.

Total War Warhammer Ii Warhammer 2 Rakarth Monster Pen Unit Unlocks Guide 2


Total War: Warhammer II is available via Steam. Meanwhile, Rakarth can be downloaded via the Total War Access website.


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Jason Rodriguez
Jason Rodriguez is a guides writer. Most of his work can be found on PC Invasion (around 3,400+ published articles). He's also written for IGN, GameSpot, Polygon, TechRaptor, Gameskinny, and more. He's also one of only five games journalists from the Philippines. Just kidding. There are definitely more around, but he doesn't know anyone. Mabuhay!
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