How to play Tzarina Katarin in Total War: Warhammer 3 – All quests, abilities, unique units, and more

Tzarina Katarin is the recommended beginner faction in Total War: Warhammer 3, and for good reason. She begins in a well-fortified provincial territory of Kislev, where players can slowly start pushing outwards and reuniting territories against relatively weak enemies.

Players would do well to unlock the Ice Court via research early on, and keep an eye to the west where Erengrad is located. Confederating Erengrad can happen around turn 40, which helps cement a strong frontline against the soon-advancing Chaos.

Quests

The Battle for Bohka

To unlock this quest, players will need to hold Praag, Kislev, and Erengrad simultaneously for ten consecutive turns. This quest will then unlock, that ultimately will allow players to free Boris Ursun, who then becomes a playable character in the campaign.

This quest can be frustrating — three different wizards are spread across the map, and players will need to eliminate each one. They are bolstered by Tzeentch units that will continue to harass and have high HP. Bring the best army possible, and split the army in two after eliminating the first wizard to kill the two remaining wizards.

Note that once you unlock Boris, you’ll need to offer him a province, and then attempt to confederate, which takes a while. Don’t offer him your best province — you’ll struggle to keep your territories without access to high-end units.

The Crystal Cloak

To unlock this item, players will need to teleport far north to undertake a quest battle. The quest battle is far more ruthless than the low unlock level (level 10) implies. Players will begin at the receiving end of an ambush, and Tzeentch is an infuriating opponent with airborne missile units and a plethora of melee. Bring high-end projectile units, be prepared to brace for a charge of enemy shock cavalry, and mutter epithets under your breath consistently.

Abilities

Tzarina Katarin is a powerful mage thanks to her Ursun bloodline, and thus a good pick for players that enjoy using magic against foes. She has a unique ability called ‘Guardian Call’ which summons a Snow Leopard to defend her in the backline, and subsequent levels increases the Snow Leopards attack and defense to near-absurd levels. While some factions, such as the Vampire Counts, offer summons that become permanent with enough unlocks, the Guardian Call has a limited life span.

Katarin can specialize in the only available spell tree for her, Lore of Ice. Her unique ability tree, Ice Mistress, offers a 25% cooldown on Lore of Ice spells which allows faster casting which can decimate foes. The three following unlocks also focus on increasing Katarin’s personal contributions to both battle, and the campaign: an HP increase and speed buff, with additional Devotion per turn being offered for the Kislev faction. Note, however, that this addition is a far cry from Kostaltyn’s litany of Devotional buffs.

Unique Units

Due to Katarin sharing the Kislev faction with Boris Ursun and Kostaltyn, she offers no unique units.