Unofficial fan reference · game data patch 9.0.4 (Oct 15, 2026)
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Skaven · Immortal Empires

Clan Pestilens

wh2_main_skv_clan_pestilens

Clan Pestilens is a playable Skaven faction in Total War: Warhammer III, led by Lord Skrolk. In Immortal Empires it starts in Oyxl with 2 regions. It comes with the base game. Faction key wh2_main_skv_clan_pestilens. Patch 9.0.4, from the game's data tables.

Start here

Immortal Empires, patch 9.0.4: facts from the game's data, each linking to the full section.

Start and neighbours

Starts at Oyxl (The Lost Valley)

  1. 1.Itza — Itza · medium (4.3%)
  2. 2.Clan Spittel — Altar of the Horned Rat · medium (4.6%) · minor faction
  3. 3.Spine of Sotek Dwarfs — Mine of the Bearded Skulls · medium (5.0%) · minor faction
  4. 4.Southern Sentinels — The Southern Sentinels · medium (5.2%) · minor faction
  5. 5.Pallid Nurslings — Xhotl · medium (5.4%) · minor faction

Nearest starting capitals, measured on the game's minimap as a share of its width: near ≤ 4%, medium ≤ 10%, far beyond. See it on the full map

Climate at a glance

6 suitable · 2 unpleasant · 4 uninhabitable

Every climate below · what each level does

Victory at a glance

Short victory: 4 objectives · long victory: 5

  • Destroy the following faction(s): Itza, Xlanhuapec, Tlaxtlan, …
  • Construct landmark: The Emerald Pools (Plagued)
  • Construct the following building in your Under-Empire: Grand Plague Cauldron

All objectives and rewards below

Leader's quests

The quest battles

Key units and where they are recruited

COMPUTED — per role, the Skaven unit that tops the role's cost list on best units by the numbers (base stats, multiplayer cost; the race's standard roster — units it has only with Unit caps off, the extended roster, are left out). Recruitment: the first building level that unlocks it (building_units_allowed).

Faction leader

Lord Skrolk

Lord Skrolk

Clan Pestilens

From the infested ruins of Oyxl, Lord Skrolk spreads the plagues of Pestilens throughout Lustria’s heartlands.

Radiant Corruption
  • Rite cooldown: -15 turns for "The Pestilent Scheme"
  • Plagues bolster your armies and nurture your settlements
  • Construction cost: -50% for Pox Cauldron, Pestilent Nave and Plague Abbey buildings
  • Chance of a plague spreading: +15% (for all future plagues)
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"Brother-under-the-fur. Ha! Now you are brother-true. Reject false-words of seers and embrace true face of the Horned One! Bring Skrolk to the Wormstone, and you will be Plague Priest. Betray, and you become pus-bag." Underneath the world lurks the Skaven - a race of noisome ratmen that despise all other things and desire world domination with every fibre of their twisted beings - from their quivering whiskers to the tips of their segmented tails. Clan Pestilens is one of the four Greater Clans. Its members are the Plague Monks – the disciples of disease and decay. Clan Pestilens dedicate themselves with insane fervour to spreading corruption in the name of the Great Horned Rat. Pestilens was the first clan to reach Lustria; there, in the hot, foetid conditions, did the disease-ridden ratmen start to overcome the climate to found Clan Pestilens. It wasn’t long before the emergent clan encountered the Lizardmen and an age-old enmity was born. Of all the warm-blooded invaders to trespass on Lustria, it is the Skaven – and Clan Pestilens in particular – that the Lizardmen hate the most. Eventually, after decades of self-imposed exile, the Plague Monks re-joined the Under-Empire and immediately claimed their place on the Council of Thirteen. Their leader is Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch, and while he controls the clan from Skavenblight it is Lord Skrolk that remains in Lustria to return Pestilens to greatness. Lord Skrolk is an affront to nature. Plants wither and die where Skrolk treads and even the air around him seems to congeal and darken. Skrolk is ancient and blind, but only a fool would mistake his lack of sight for weakness… In battle, Skrolk leads from the front so he can unleash his rabid fury, wielding the Rod of Corruption and reading from the Liber Bubonicus - a tome describing every disease conjured by Pestilens that even the Chaos God, Nurgle, is said to covet. But Skrolk’s greatest asset is and always will be his cunning. This Plague Priest has lived for countless centuries and is far more than a mere frenzied zealot!

Faction effects

  • Siege towers: +2 per siege item constructed (all armies)
  • Food generated: -1 (all armies)
  • Food consumption: -1 (factionwide)

Victory conditions

Immortal Empires, from the campaign script (victory_objectives_config.lua) in the game's own words. All factions

Short Campaign Victory

  1. Destroy the following faction(s): Itza, Xlanhuapec, Tlaxtlan, Cult of Sotek
  2. Construct landmark: The Emerald Pools (Plagued)
  3. Construct the following building in your Under-Empire: Grand Plague Cauldron
  4. Control 5 Under-Cities in foreign regions.

REWARDS

Experienced rat-handlers
  • Chance of a plague spreading: +15% (for all future plagues)
  • Plague duration: +1 turns (for all future plagues) (factionwide)
Busy Rats
  • +5% chance per turn to expand the Under-Empire in any region

Long Campaign Victory

  1. Achieve the Short Victory conditions.
  2. Destroy the following faction(s): Hexoatl
  3. Construct landmark: Stellar Pyramids of the Southern Skies (Ransacked)
  4. Construct 3 of the following buildings in your Under-Empire: Grand Plague Cauldron
  5. Control 13 Under-Cities in foreign regions.

REWARDS

Conscription
  • Global recruitment duration: -1 turn for all units (all armies)
  • Global recruitment capacity: +2
Improvised Bounty
  • Food generated: 5 per turn

Plan a co-op campaign with Clan Pestilens — partners by start distance, climate and victory conditions. Its start next to the race's other factions: best Skaven factions.

Climate

Suitable

  • Desert
  • Jungle
  • Mountain
  • Savannah
  • Temperate
  • Wasteland

Unpleasant

  • Chaotic Wasteland
  • Frozen

Uninhabitable

  • Temperate Island
  • Magical Forest
  • Ocean
  • Undead Wasteland

How settling Clan Pestilens fares in each climate (campaign_group_racial_suitability_effects and its member criteria). What each level does, for every race.

Source: factions, start_pos_factions and start_pos_regions (campaigns wh3_main_combi and wh3_main_chaos), frontend_faction_leaders and faction_groups, patch 9.0.4.