Total War Warhammer 3 Patch 2.2 has arrived, and it's a big one. We've got new regiments of Renown Free LC, character experience reworks, battle type changes, unit balancing, victory tweaks, adjustments to AI and difficulty, a brand new endgame, and of course bugs getting squashed. So no time like the present, right? Moving off with a big one, we've adjusted the frequency of un-walled settlement battles in Total War Warhammer 3. All major settlements will retain their walled settlement battles, but now minor settlements will trigger land battles by default. If the settlement has a tier 2 or tier 3 garrison, then the battle will take place on a minor settlement map, but otherwise the battles will take place on a land battle map, to help break up any map monotony. While we're on the subjects of battles, experience gained in combat has also been reworked. Victory type is no longer a part of the calculation, instead experiences granted based on a combination of the enemy army's value, and proportion of that enemy army that's been destroyed. Essentially, if you destroy 80% of an enemy army, you'll gain the same amount of experience, even if you gain a heroic victory, or simply bloody the enemy's nose with a valiant defeat. Heroes also gain around 50% more experience from participating in battles, putting their progression more in line with lords. We've also reworked channeling and wins of magic replenishment across wood elves, vampire coast, green skins, and the beastmen. Wood elf major settlements grant wins of magic reserves per turn. Abducting captives also grants additional wins of magic, and I won't ask questions about that if you don't. Most men now gain wins of magic reserves while raiding, and earn even more during full moon and eclipse events. The vampire coast now gain magic while in the flagship expansion stance, Norsegur can gain magic while in the raiding stance, which can be further bolstered by devoting to the eagle, and now green skins earn wins of magic depending on their current, wow level. Also, Nikkei can now channel. Good for them. Lastly with dwarfs, we've fixed the grudge severity from increasing far too quickly. They'll still get angry, but they'll be disappointed for a bit longer, which might still hurt just as much when you think about it. On a happier note, we've got new monstrous regiments of renown, making their way to the battlefields. For Grand Cathay, we've got the green guardian. Kizlev have unearthed the frozen heart of winter, and the ogre kingdoms have got themselves the snowhorn of morn. Over with the chaos armies, Corn's bloody fist has arrived. Off our uncle, Uncle Farunkel has come bringing Nergal's gifts. The golden griffin of the Urgy brings the lore of metal to the Lord of Changes spell arsenal, and from the far reaches of experience, the Marquis of Masochism is here to feast on fears in the name of Slanesh. No tears please, it's a waste of good suffering. AI aggression and difficulty have been reworked for Patch 2.2. Namely, we've made the AI more aggressive in this patch. The AI is now more likely to attack around settlements, and during Siege's values more immediate forms of entry. After all, why use a ladder when the gates open, right? Agents are also less likely to just clump around areas now, and are more likely to be embedded in armies, meaning that patriarch and scavin are less likely to loiter aggressively near each other. There are more details on the changes to the AI on the blog post. These changes will need feedback, so please do let us know what you think about them on our official channels. Victory conditions for certain factions have also changed in Patch 2.2. Starting with the high elves, Teclis now starts off in the fortress of Dorn, and his victory objectives now see him needing to gain control of the majority of Elven colonies, as opposed to just fully controlling Ulthuan. Stringeric's objectives now see him needing to go on tour, encountering all the dragons, as well as destroying nearby chaos, scavin, and green skin factions. Elphari and the Grim short-term goals involve him dealing with Afel Tamra, whilst also dealing with nearby green skins and corn. Meanwhile, Marcus Wolfheart's long victory now targets locations in Lustria, as opposed to the Empire, which should hopefully make Festag less awkward. Sticking with Lustria, we've also changed up some conditions for the lizard men. Croc Gars' long victory now focuses on the elimination of forces of destruction and chaos, whilst protecting the nearby jungles. Nakaiz' long victory sees him dealing with Clan Pestilans and servants of darkness in the east. Oxyotal, meanwhile, has had fixes to visions of the old ones, ensuring extremely strong armies won't spawn in the early game. Also, his short and long victory conditions have changed, with the short-term condition being completing six medium to hard visions missions and his long-term victory being 25. And quickly while we're here, Lord Croc's deliverance of It's Aspel now has cooldowns, which he looks excited about. Finally, Scarbran's short-victory reward has changed, considering he was less than happy with getting wins of magic. So now he'll earn himself a chainsawd, which, wow, Chaos Christmas came early. Now for something he and you should be excited about. For multiplayer, we're adding separate ranked matchmaking cues for domination and land battle, alongside other book fixes for multiplayer campaigns. And finally, we've got our brand new end game scenario, Vermintide, in which nothing happens. Absolutely nothing happens. There's no mass upheaval of giant man-sized rats causing havoc, as per his simply, no such thing. Man-sized rats. Ridiculous. Someone tell the slot over Renewers right here. So that's a quick look at some of the changes coming with Total War Warhammer 3 patch 2.2. As always, your feedback is completely welcomed. So please do let us know what you think of the changes in the comments and on our official channels. For a more detailed breakdown of every incoming with patch 2.2, such as some small Lord Reworks and faction adjustments, do go check out the blog. There's a link in the description. And if you do happen to see a man-sized rat, maybe. Keep it to yourself, yes it.