Waiter, there's some Path of Exile in my Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC

The Lords of the End Times DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3 features Nagash’s Black Pyramid, a sprawling web of upgrades resembling Path of Exile’s skill tree. This multipath maze includes branches for troop improvements, economy boosts, and direct buffs to Nagash himself, with interconnected nodes that inevitably lead to maximizing his combat effectiveness.

Nagash’s Black Pyramid allows players to add spells to the Books of Nagash, enabling passive abilities like life-draining and projectile reflection. To access these, players must retrieve the Books of Nagash, each held by a rogue army, and recruit his nine mortarchs by fulfilling demands such as securing Nagashizzar and activating 50 empowered sigils.

Playing as Nagash incurs diplomatic penalties for spreading the Land of the Dead, limiting expansion and forcing reliance on necropolises for defensive garrisons. These penalties create a cycle of economic and diplomatic strain, as Nagash’s empire remains perpetually on the brink of collapse despite his overwhelming battlefield presence.

The DLC’s apocalyptic theme culminates in Archaon’s Chaos invasion, which temporarily unites factions against a common threat. Nagash’s precarious balance of power and vulnerability is highlighted, as players experience both dominance and dread, knowing they may soon face his overwhelming force in future campaigns.