Loyalty

Loyalty is a game mechanic introduced in Total War: Warhammer II for the Skaven, Dark Elves, and Vampire Coast. Loyalty is a measure of the willingness of a Lord to follow the leader of his or her faction. If a lord's loyalty reaches 0 they can rebel, taking their army with them, and if it reaches 10 they can gain a unique item.
The faction leader and their army are not affected by loyalty. For instance if you are playing as Naggarond, then Malekith and his army are not affected. Additionally, Vampire Coast lords earned from the technology tree are not affected by Loyalty, neither are Black Ark Admirals for Dark Elves.
==How it works==
Loyalty is measured on a scale of 0 to 10, low to high.
A lord's loyalty is displayed in the bottom left, near their portrait, when they are selected.
Should a Lord’s loyalty reach 0 they will rebel, taking their army with them to form a new separatist faction. This is similar to a rebellion which can happen with low public order. Disbanding a lord when they are already at a low loyalty (3 or less) will automatically rebel, as to avoid using that tactic as an easy work-around.
A selected Lord’s loyalty is shown on the Character Info panel, and on the Details tab of the Character Details panel. The starting loyalty for each Lord available for recruitment can take a range of values, indicated on the Recruit Lord panel. Your starting lord has no loyalty statistic and will never abandon your faction.
Additionally, at very high loyalty levels your lord may offer you certain crafted items through a dilemma.
===Increasing loyalty===
* Winning a battle with a lord can increase that lord's loyalty.
* Raiding with an army.
* Recruiting units into a lord's army.
* Equipping items, banners and followers to a lord can increase their loyalty.
* Har Ganeth has a faction mechanic which can cause lord to gain loyalty at the start of your turn, when Hellebron is still fairly young.
* The Thirteenth Scheme rite for Skaven gives Lords a chance to gain +2 loyalty each turn while it is active.
*Vampire Coast Lords have traits that say specifically what will increase their loyalty. For example, a firestarter gains loyalty through sacking or razing settlements.
**Vampire Coast factions also have a few other ways to help manage loyalty, such as a post-battle option, a rite and a province commandment, though the latter only prevents further decay.
*Dark Elves can add a Khainite Assassin hero with the Stalker skill to any lord to help keep them in line, which merely requires Rank 4. The Elfservant follower also serves that purpose, but will only be gained later on after researching a specific technology.
*Skaven Chieftains have a skill in tree line that has a chance to increase the loyalty by 1 called "Suspiciously Loyal".
===Reducing loyalty===
* Queek Headtaker (Clan Mors) has a character trait which makes any Grey Seers he recruits begin with lower loyalty.
* It appears that when an army suffers attrition, this can reduce loyalty.
* Disbanding large numbers of units in a lord's army can decrease their loyalty, to avoid crippling a lord just before he goes rogue.
* Losing battles (while surviving) can also lower loyalty.
* Being idle generally lowers loyalty over time, especially for Vampire Coast lords.
* Dilemma choices can cost loyalty in exchange for other benefits, not just those that can trigger for high loyalty lords, where that cost isn't much of a danger anyway.
* Rehired lords gained through confederation will often be at 0 loyalty, running the risk of them immediately rebelling on the next turn.
== Separatist factions ==
=== Dark Elves ===
* Naggarond Separatists
* Cult of Pleasure Separatists
* The Blessed Dread Separatists
* Har Ganeth Separatists
* Hag Graef Separatists
* The Thousand Maws Separatists
=== Skaven ===
* Clan Mors Separatists
* Clan Pestilens Separatists
* Clan Rictus Separatists
* Clan Skryre Separatists
* Clan Moulder Separatists
* Clan Eshin Lords are permanently loyal and will never rebel.
=== Vampire Coast ===
* Vampire Coast Separatists
* The Dreadfleet Separatists
* Pirates of Sartosa Separatists
* The Drowned Separatists
==High Loyalty dilemmas==
===Dark Elves===
* The Alchemist
** Satchel of Potions and loyalty -3 
** 750xp for lord, +2500 money, loyalty +2 lord.
* Assassin!
** Shroud of Death, Treasury -1000, Loyalty -2
** Finish Him: Assassin's End: +2000 xp to lord, Melee attack +4 on that lord, Enemy Hero action success chance -10%
* The Hermit
** Enslave Her: Loyalty -6, Unique Rod of Briars
** Spare Her, Slay Another: 1500 xp for lord, loyalty +1, 
* The Beastmaster
**Boots of Bracchus, loyalty -5
** Bonus experience +1500, +2 loyalty
* Insurgents
** Righteous Wrath
** Other option
* The Relic
** Skull Helmet
* The Dagger
** 1 option
** 2 options offer Aventurine Dagger
===Skaven===
* When Rats Fly!
** Offers choice between +2000 experience for lord, or
** Rocket Boots
* Loyal Musk
** 4 options, see article
* Dust It Off!
** 2 options
** Enriched Warpstone
* Unknown event
** Chromatic Armour
==Strategy==
Category:Total War: Warhammer II
Category:Skaven
Category:Dark Elves
Category:Vampire Coast
Disbanding the units in a Lords army will lower their Loyalty and make them revolt with all of their units. This means that you cannot just disband a lord and let them be easily crushed. If you have a problematic low loyalty lord it is generally best to send them to die in combat where they have little chance or against a faction with many armies nearby. Worst case scenario, they die and you are freed from the issue. Best case scenario they succeed and start taking settlements, boosting their loyalty and now you can invest in them again.
Winning battles has a chance to increase loyalty and depending on the type of victory will increase or decrease the chance. Raiding, recruiting units into the lords army and giving them items also can increase a lords loyalty. Lord Skrolk doesnt like warlords and Queek doesnt like grey seers.
Once a lord turns rebel, much like with other rogue armies, it may be best to take care of them quickly, before they can build up their forces into a full army. Sending them as far away from your territory as possible can help delay the problem a bit or even cause them to be taken out by another faction but also makes them a somewhat unpredictable risk factor.
Category:Loyalty