Total War: Warhammer II has an almost overwhelming amount of races and factions to play. While long-time fans of the series may already have favorites, new players might need some help choosing the best race to play. If so, or if you're just looking for a new race to play, check out our guide to the best races in Total War: Warhammer II below.
Eye of the Vortex
The base campaign of Total War: Warhammer II is Eye of the Vortex. It focuses on the fight between the High Elves, Dark Elves, the forces of Chaos and the Lizardmen, who fight for control of the Vortex.
dark elves
The Dark Elves are the main antagonist of the Eye of the Vortex and, therefore, are one of the best races to play in this campaign. With excellent starting positions, easy early minor High Elf conquests, and fantastic confederation chance, the Dark Elves are great for early game growth.
Later, the established Dark Elves can attempt, once and for all, to eliminate the High Elves, their enemies. Their missions should make this task easy. It's always fun to play bad guys, and dark elves are some of the best villains in Warhammer.
Lizardmen
Lizardmen are one of the strongest races in the game and have very comfortable starting positions. If you are Hexoatl, you have plenty of quick expansion options and a few confederate allies.
With both a solid early game and an endgame based on shattered dinosaurs, Lizardmen are fun throughout your campaign. They are also one of the few races that have an overabundance of heroes in your army. So stack your army with dino-riding lizards and have fun!
Related: Best user-friendly mods in Warhammer Total War 2
Mortal Empires
To play Mortal Empires, you will need to own the original Total War: Warhammer. Once installed, you will have a free download of this campaign. It expands the map and gives you a host of new races to play.
Dwarves
Dwarves start out with strong defensive positions, strong base units, and easy ways to earn money. Being miners and craftsmen, dwarven buildings generate large amounts of wealth, which means you can build huge amounts of units. However, your upkeep is expensive and dwarves hate paying taxes, often leading to law and order issues.
However, you can quickly grow with plenty of puny greenskins to conquer nearby and trivial missions to complete. Add to that units like gyrocopters and strong artillery, and you'll see why dwarves are one of the best races in Total War: Warhammer II.
Humans/Reikland
Picking an Empire faction gets you bogged down in the kingdom's interesting internal politics. Keeping voters happy and crushing those who oppose you adds an extra dimension to the game. Plus, humans are the best.
Factions DLC
Dozens of Factions DLCs can be played across the two different campaigns.
Dread Fleet
Beginning on a small island between Ulthuan (the donut) and the New World, the Dreadfleet is one of the most open starting positions in the game. Fortunately, it's also one of the easiest to defend. Right off the bat, you can take on and fight almost anyone.
There's a lot of potential for exciting playstyles with the Dreadfleet. Being able to land, fight with their wide variety of ranged weapons, and then leave means you can play true raider style. Or just take control of colonies and become a vast empire. The choice is yours!
Tomb Kings
Tomb Kings have no upkeep, no real resources needed, and free units, functioning completely differently from the rest of the factions. Just build your bases and you're good to go!
The Tomb Kings endgame is all about finding the Books of Nagash. After each book you will become even more powerful and able to control more units. Eventually, you will sweep the world, able to defeat any foe. Your own undead apocalypse!
For more Total War: Warhammer II guides, check out Best factions for beginners in Warhammer Total War 2.
