Total War: WARHAMMER III patch 9.0.3 is out, according to the official announcement dated 9 October 2026. It reduces upkeep costs in Nagash's campaign and adjusts his progression, but the lower Sigil unlock threshold and revised Mortarch objectives require a new campaign.
The patch notes specify which changes require a fresh start. For anyone deciding whether to restart, the lower necromancy threshold and revised Mortarch objectives are the changes explicitly reserved for new campaigns.
Lower upkeep depends on commanders and provinces
An early Black Pyramid node now grants a 40% upkeep reduction for Nagash. The early Tomb Kings, Vampire Coast and Vampire Counts sections also grant a 10% upkeep reduction to units led by a lord of the corresponding type, or by Nagash. The commander therefore determines whether those units qualify for the latter benefit.
Necropolis military building chains add another conditional saving: when their province is devastated, they grant a faction-wide 1% upkeep reduction for the associated unit types. The effect reaches beyond that province, but its scope remains tied to those units and the province's devastated condition.
Post-battle income increases by 20% on Easy, 10% on Normal and 5% on Hard. It remains unchanged on Very Hard and Legendary. On those latter difficulties, the documented economic relief therefore comes through the upkeep changes, subject to their conditions, without an increase in post-battle income.
A lower Sigil threshold and different Mortarch objectives
Subjugating a Legendary Lord in the Mortarchs panel now awards 10 Sigils instead of 5. Heroes and Nameless characters still award 5, so the doubled reward applies specifically to Legendary Lords.
Separately, the Sigil unlock threshold in the necromancy panel drops from 200 to 100 necromantic energy points. This reduction applies only to new campaigns. Players starting again can reach that threshold with half the previous energy requirement; an existing campaign does not receive the lower threshold.
The revised territorial objective for Mortarch lords also requires a new campaign. It replaces the requirement that they own no more than 5 regions with a condition based on Nagash's territory: he must control more than 3 times their number of regions. This adjustment also applies to the Vampire Counts confederation panel.
That changes the relationship between expansion and the objective. The previous condition set a fixed limit on the target's territory; the replacement measures it against Nagash's holdings. For example, if a lord owns four regions, Nagash must control more than twelve. A larger target therefore requires Nagash to control proportionally more regions.
For new campaigns, most location-specific Mortarch subjugation objectives are also replaced by thematic objectives that can be completed from anywhere. This gives those objectives more geographical flexibility, though the change covers most of them rather than every location-based requirement.
Bone Giant access and campaign fixes
The Bone Giant becomes available to all Nagash DLC owners, even without the Tomb Kings DLC. Access to that unit no longer requires those players to own the additional DLC.
The developer also reports a fix for the issue preventing Warriors of Chaos from recruiting after their lord's defeat. Legendary Lords and Heroes confederated after their faction's destruction should now retain their items and ancillaries, according to the same notes.
A new campaign is required to receive the lower necromancy threshold and revised Mortarch objectives. The notes do not specify whether the increased Legendary Lord Sigil reward applies to campaigns already underway.
See also our Total War: WARHAMMER III game page.
