Hail Commanders!
Tzeentch desires one thing above all others: change. With that desire, he has blessed his followers to change one's self, grasp the eldritch magics and learn more walking the dark path of corruption in the name of Tzeentch, which they pour upon their enemies like rain. Monsters, mortals and daemons make up the ranks of the Disciples of Tzeentch, all united by the same desire to burn the Mortal Realms with transmutative fire.
While the Stormcast Eternals find strength in balance, the Orruk Kruleboyz in cunning, and the Nighthaunt in numbers, the Disciples of Tzeentch find their strength in unadulterated power. They wield raw arcane magic, torching their enemies at range before they can meet each other in hand-to-hand combat.
If you wish to honour Tzeentch in the Realm of Ghur, you must learn to use his gifts well or watch them sputter under your enemies’ blades.
Keep Your Distance
The Disciples of Tzeentch’s strength and weakness are inextricably linked: they are a ranged faction. Your units can blast away your enemies at a distance, severely weakening them or wiping them out entirely before they meet. However, if the other factions catch your ranged troops in melee combat, your troops can be outclassed.
To make the most of your strengths, you must advance with caution. Use your Kairic Acolytes as scouts and frontline defenders in the early game. When you spot an enemy, keep your Horrors of Tzeentch behind the Acolytes so the daemons can continue to use their ranged attacks. If the Horrors become locked in combat, they must resort to their weaker melee skills. If you keep your Magister hero near the fight, they can enhance your Acolyte’s protection with their ability, Shield of Fate, allowing the fighters to weather the encounter longer. Your Magister can also heal your troops with their Gift of Tzeentch ability.
When you upgrade your Inflexion Point and unlock the next tier of units, you should change your tactics. Instead of Acolytes, you can recruit the melee focused Tzaangors for your frontline. When near a hero, Tzaangors receive a buff to their attack power, making them perfect bodyguards for your Magister.
As you upgrade your Inflexion Point you will also gain access to Tzaangor Skyfires and Flamers of Tzeentch, two units that significantly increase your ranged firepower. You will also unlock the Screamers of Tzeentch, a first-strike assault unit you can use to disrupt the enemy, disabling foes’ active abilities and forcing them to run in fear. Your ranged troops can destroy the enemy with arcane magic in the chaos your Screamers create. You can even recruit Ogroid Thaumatages, giant daemons who fight with staves, horns, and hooves. The more damage these monsters receive, the more deadly they become.
Keep your enemy at a distance, and you will transform them to ash before they lay a hand on your forces.
To learn more about the basics of combat and how to use abilities, read our Beginner’s Guide to Realms of Ruin.
Heroes of Duality
The heroes of the Disciples of Tzeentch show two sides to Chaos Magic: its gifts and its curses.
Like many of your units, the Magister is most effective at range. They can fire bolts from their Tzeentchian Runestaff and cast a protective shield over nearby allies from the sidelines of battle. Their active ability, Gift of Tzeentch, exhibits the dual nature of arcane magic. Enemy units caught in the spell’s waves will be damaged, while allies will be healed.
You can upgrade the Magister with a flying mount, turning them into a highly mobile support unit. So long as you keep the Magister out of direct melee combat, they can travel between battlegroups, delivering damage, healing, and shields across the frontlines.
Unlike the Magister, the Lord of Change only brings destruction. This avian daemon towers above the battlefield, sparking with arcane energy, Staff Of Tzeentch in one taloned hand, Baleful Sword in the other.
With the Rod of Sorcery ability, the Lord of Change fires a bolt of raw magic at your enemies. The spell’s energy burns those caught in the blast and, in tandem with the Lord of Change’s passive ability, disables their active and passive abilities. You can use this spell to neutralise the most threatening enemy units before they can target your forces with their powers.
The Lord of Change’s most devastating ability is the Infernal Gateway. The daemon tears a hole in the fabric of reality, opening a portal to the Realm of Chaos above the battlefield. The portal soaks the armies below in destructive energies. Any enemy caught in the maelstrom receives enormous damage.
A Plea to the Sky
The Silver Tower of Tzeentch, a structure powered by the spirit of a trapped daemon, floats above the Realm of Ghur. Inside this creation of Chaos, Thrall Wizards wait for the order to pour destructive magic down on the battlefield below. If you prove to Tzeentch you are worthy of their grace by fully upgrading your Inflexion Point, you can call on the wizards to bathe your enemies in arcane magic.
When you activate Disciples of Tzeentch’s Plea To The Silver Tower faction ability, you mark out a path on the battlefield for the wizards to target with their magic. You select its starting point and direction of travel, and then a beam of raw magic scores a line in the land, burning any enemies in its path and healing any allies it touches.
For maximum effect, wait until units are locked in combat and unable to escape, then use Plea To The Silver Tower to carve a line across the melee, burning foes and healing friends.
You must embrace the strengths and weaknesses of the army of Chaos if you hope to find success in the Realm of Ghur.
If you keep your enemies at a distance, your units can pummel them with arcane magic, and you will watch your foes become ash under the barrage. However, if you get caught in melee combat, your army won’t be able to use its most powerful attacks and abilities.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is available to play NOW on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X.