Vortex lord suggestions?

[Bladedheart]

I've owned the game for a looooong friggin while but only the other day started my first Vortex campaign. I definitely prefer ME but I figure I really need to try some of the Vortex campaigns. So who are some of the more interesting leaders to play? I doubt I can find the will to try them all. Tyrion is up first cuz I really dig that dude. Lizardmen I think I'd probably prefer Gor-Rok or Kroq'gar (and I wouldn't be surprised if I mixed up their spiffy little accents there and secondarily I dig Nakai but don't think I'd like a horde faction) but I don't think I have much of a strong opinion on any of the rest. I'm not much for wizards (in anything. Ever.) but if one of the wizards "story" is just head and shoulders above the swordybois I could be persuaded to give it the ol' college try. Likely won't do more than one of each race except MAYBE High Elves (or Lizardmen) if there's a strong argument for another campaign after Tyrion.

Damned shame my guy Grimgor doesn't have a WH:TW2 campaign. Grom doesn't look all that exciting comparatively.

[dulany67]

Actually I find grom very fun in vortex.

[stick0steel]

This might become a huge dump of info so I'll try to TDLR my thoughts, considering your description for play style, after Tyrion I would consider Kroq'gar mainly because Gor'rok is more of a turtle lord with his traits to hunker down after amassing land and that may be boring to some. While Kroq is more suited for assaulting and is more capable of assembling advanced units.

As for Dark Elves who are very similar functionally to High Elves, Malekith is a fun as a caster-warrior hybrid and Crone Hellebron can be a bruiser but she has some challenge mechanics. Malus also is more fun but is much more challenging than other Dark Elves in my opinion, also is more focused on his cavalry and beasts so I don't know how you fell about that, but his campaign is separate from the Vortex and may be more your speed if the original Vortex campaign style is not to your liking.

For Skaven I would go with either Queek Headtaker, who is great at getting advanced infantry. Or Ikit Claw, while is another caster-warrior hybrid, can get better access to fun Skaven toys.

The Tomb Kings Settra or Khalida can be fun and Aranessa of the Vampire coast is a neat pseudo-horde as she basically is like Nakai but can still have settlements, and the these lords, again, have a campaign separate from the Vortex so campaign mechanics and goals are different.

[them4pples]

i just started playing a malus darkblade vortex campaign and it's pretty damn fun. it's similar to a regular vortex campaign but without the annoying chaos hordes that spawn whenever doing a ritual. instead you send the ritual materials to malekith and just ravage the coast of the southlands sending slaves back to hag graef making lots of money. you also get a black ark to support your mission from the start which provides fun abilities you can use in battle. malus as a lord has cool mechanics too with the transforming and elixer juggling. the medusa unit he starts with is a beast figuratively and literally. get her flanking behind a line and she destroys infantry. the scourgerunner chariot is pretty cool as well. i mostly use it as a skirmishing unit in conjunction with the cold one riders. snikch comes with the malus dlc so the's that too. I haven't played him yet, but i hear he fun as well/

since i'm playing a malus rn, his campaign is fresh in my mind, but other than him, I also had a lot of fun with the repanse vortex campaign. it's got a crusader in the desert type feel to it. lizardmen are also fun and good to learn the game with since they have a pretty simple playstyle, plus they have some of the coolest units. try a gor-rok playthrough. he gets lord kroak from the start which really compliments him since you can bunch up enemy infantry by just throwing him at them and then using kroak's deliverance of itza aoe spells. you also get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dinos and what's cooler than dinos?

[Ashantai]

I usually only play lords on the Vortex map who don't do the Vortex race because I find it irritating.

However, of the ones doing the race Malekith, Tyrion and Gor'rok are probably the best/easiest.

[Bladedheart]

I appreciate the replies. I'm not unfamiliar with ME by any means so a lot of what you guys are saying isn't really NEW but definitely good to have insight on vortex specifically. Kroq is probably my second most played lord on ME after Tyrion and with Grimgor falling in at third as Orcs just outright weren't great until this newest DLC. But my time with Kroq was probably the biggest reason I was thinking about doing Gor-Rok, but him being defensive more than offensive is good to know and honestly tends to mesh well with my playstyle. I'm a slow-mover in these games. I like to econ before bulldozing. Likely because of my love of city-builder games but I digress. I'm not a cavalry fan (downloaded Stupidly OP Tyrion specifically because I abhor horses and didn't want to feel like I was shooting myself in the foot by not putting him on it) but when the cavalry are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dinosaurs? Yeah. I'm behind that, so it kinda sounds like you guys have me convinced Malus should be my DE. And I'm all for dinosaurs in general, my first campaign was Kroq (he rides a damned T-Rex and that just oozes machismo) before I eventually settled on loving the elves. I want to love Nakai but I just don't think I'd like a horde... But the solution there is the confed mod I have so I can just hire him as Kroq or Gor and call it a win.

As for the vortex race vs "other" mechanics, well, I only did the first ritual last night so I haven't exactly developed an opinion there. I'm sure I'll have one by the end of Tyrion, though. Anyway. I do appreciate the info boyos. Think I'll go with Gor-Rok (if only because I've done Kroq'gar a lot on ME) and Malus (I was leaning towards him, Malekith and the Kraken guy anyway), still not really sold on any of the other races so if anyone has anymore input I'd gladly take a peek at it. Probably give Repanse a go too, though. Crusade on some mummies might be a cool way to spend a life.

[/Uninstall]

Ikit claw and count noctilus are both interesting campaigns. Both of them can adopt a tall play style. With ikit spamming undercities and only taking provinces with warpstone shrines, and noctilus can literally win the campaign with just his home city and a pirate cove spam

[pplr1]

I see mentions of Tyrion but I would go with the Everqueen over him. Better faction bonuses and there are certain kinds of land that she can colonize better than he can. If I get cocky I can even start a 2 front war and grab the Shrine of A before he does if I recruit a few forces and send them past the vortex early on while my main force still works away at the dark elves closest to where I start. Not easy to pull off early but I've done it.

I like the different Lizardman starts about equally but Tic and Kroq have very different fighting styles so take a look at both before you pick 1. I currently have a campaign for each.

Khalida from the Tomb Kings was fun too and I got a kick out of forming an alliance with Teclis early on (eventually he became a Vassal but you don't have to work toward that if you don't want to.)

[Bladedheart]

Man. I was sitting there scratching my head trying to figure out what a "tall play style" was typo for haha. I had to google it. I dig my RTS but this is the absolute first time I've heard the terms "tall" or "wide". Most of what I googled brought up "Stellaris" though and I'm not into space jazz too much. Love Sci-Fi but I'm an infantry kinda dude. I want boots on the ground all day every day (Starship Troopers: Terran Command, anyone?). But anyway, maybe that's where the terms were coined and explains why I didn't know them? Hard to say.

It's way too late for anyone over Tyrion. I'm already halfway through his campaign and he's just a boss. I dig the dude. And lord>faction in my court.
Did you mean Gor-Rok vs Kroq'Gar? I have a hard time caring about the skinks as anything other than secondary. They just aren't "old school cool" you know? They tend to be brain>brawn types too, or at least sneaky>brawn. I want a hero that I can just throw at the enemy and watch things die. But all things considered I'm pretty much settled on my Lizardbro being Gor-Rok. Turtling+not being Kroq for the fiftieth time (ME) kinda sold it lmao.
This is two votes for this Khalida chick (I guess I'm assuming, it sounds feminine and I'll be damned if I can remember anyones name on TK except Settra, which I assume is an old game that I'm remembering? Who knows.) So I reckon she(?) is gonna be my TK(Q?).

I'm not seeing any arguments for snikkt(sp? Am I channeling Wolverine again?). Dude has a dagger on his tail. That seems badass (for a furry) is he just not good?

[/Uninstall]

Clan eshin is good. Ikit focuses more in weapons teams, eshin is more about skirmishers gaining ap damage.

What I meant by tall, is small amount of owned land to defend. You use your armies to sack enemy settlements, and build undercities when they do. Undercities allow you to build some buildings in enemy provinces that give you food and income. You don't have to defend the undercities, as the enemy still owns the city itself. Really easy to keep a small amount of land defended. And still make tons of money to field tons of armies.

Same concept can apply to vampire coast factions, but their pirate coves (similar idea to undercity) are only able to go in coastal cities, where the skaven undercities can go anywhere, and have passive ways of spreading to other cities via a building you can construct.

Note, tall doesn't work for ME campaign, as the objective is to paint the map. It does work quite well for ME multi-player, as you can simply support your ally painting the map, and make money off your allies provinces via undercities. You just have to establish undercity before your ally takes the settlement.

Tall does work for vortex, however. As there is a set objective that doesn't rely on painting the map for victory (although that's an option)