Poxiwa (珀希瓦) and her Tiger Warriors (虎人) will appear as a new character pack DLC for Total War: Warhammer III, bringing their unique combat abilities to the Cathay (震旦) faction. Prior to the DLC's release, we interviewed the development team, including Senior Game Director Richard Aldridge and Designer Josh King from CREATIVE ASSEMBLY. Based on the interview, we present to all commanders what to expect from this new DLC.

The Poxiwa faction is a "Character Pack DLC," which includes a new Cathay Lord, Poxiwa, and new Tiger Warrior units. This also represents a new DLC sales model for Total War: Warhammer III. Previously, the game sold individual Legendary Lords under a common theme separately. In the interview, the CA development team stated that this is a response to "players' demand for different types and scales of content" and a new experiment. They hope that through this approach, thematic characters with unique charm and depth, which may not be sufficient to support a full-sized DLC, can still appear in the game. They aim to more flexibly introduce characters beloved by Warhammer Fantasy fans through this sales experiment.

In the story of Warhammer Fantasy, the Tiger-men warriors led by Poxiwa are tribesmen from Ind. They once rejected Chaos and, to escape the temptations of Tzeentch, left their homeland and migrated collectively, crossing the Mountains of Heaven and traversing deserts, eventually reaching the west of Cathay. There, they settled down, pledged allegiance to Shangyang, swore loyalty to Zhaoming, and became a tactically unique force within the Grand Army of Cathay. In an interview, Richard and Josh said that the idea of creating Poxiwa and the Tiger-men unit had long been conceived, and they were excited to create a brand new race. Therefore, they worked closely with Games Workshop, the publisher of Warhammer, to produce this DLC, striving to bring a new experience to the Cathay faction from both visual and tactical styles.

For players, what we may be more concerned about is Poxiwa's position on the Immortal Empires map. As a Legendary Lord of Cathay, the Tiger Legion she leads will spawn to the east of the Eight Peaks, becoming Cathay's fierce left hook, striking directly at the Destruction forces near the Eight Peaks. After starting here, players will first extend their fangs toward the scattered Ogre and Greenskin forces at the foot of the mountain, but will soon collide head-on with Grimgor Ironhide.

Since Tiger Men are not adept at close-quarters combat in the twisting terrain of the Eight Peaks through tunneling, players will naturally (here "naturally" may include Shao Ming's orders, seeking Tiger Men relics, or any small faction that is in the way and asks for trouble) choose to exit the Eight Peaks Pass and engage in intense verbal and physical exchanges with the Chaos Dwarfs.

In the interview, the development team shared the design philosophy behind Perceval's starting position. First, this design takes into account the backstory of the White Tiger Tribe to a certain extent. Second, they hope that this forward position, far from the mainland of Cathay, can provide players with richer tactical options: players can either choose to advance aggressively along the Long Tooth Road (which also risks encountering Skaven) or consider moving west to defend Cathay, as in the current version, the pressure on Cathay's homeland defense is not insignificant.

When discussing the initial position design of Persiva (珀希瓦), the two designers also talked about the general principles for Legendary Lord design in the Immortal Empires. The first priority is to ensure narrative and backstory consistency—most Legendary Lords should appear in regions that align with their lore, such as Karl Franz always being stationed in the lands of the Empire. Beyond that, consideration is given to whether a lord's specific starting position can be moved to offer different experiences and strategic possibilities.

Regarding the now-cramped state of the Immortal Empires, the interview also touched on this: Richard and Josh admitted that the current map already houses over a hundred Legendary Lords, which has indeed become frustratingly crowded. The team is currently exploring solutions to improve the experience. Though they couldn't provide a definitive plan, they did share some ideas—for instance, potentially expanding the map borders in the future (since this DLC does not include any new regions). This will be an ongoing optimization process, and the entire team is still evaluating various solutions.

Poxiwa (珀希瓦) herself is a melee infantry lord with assassin-like qualities, and leveling up does not provide her with additional mounts. Although she also has some passive effects that might catch the eye of veteran players, such as providing replenishment for Tiger-type units, the key point here is the special skill that all pure melee infantry lords in the world of Total War: Warhammer more or less possess.

Poxiwa herself uses dual fist blades to engage in fierce close combat, constantly attempting to "blink" during battle. This brand-new attack animation is not only very stylish but also incredibly effective when charging into formations and killing generals. It replaces Poxiwa's charge animation, allowing her to directly "jump" onto the face of the unfortunate target. In one-on-one duels, Poxiwa continuously attempts to blink behind the target, causing many attacks to miss. When facing a target lord surrounded by a shield infantry phalanx, the constant blinking frequently corrects Poxiwa's position, somewhat alleviating the logic of killing generals being disrupted by minor soldiers.

Not to mention the real damage efficiency increase brought by blink slashes when chasing fleeing lords or agents.

During the testing phase, many Total War content creators have recorded Perseva's (珀希瓦) duel videos, sparking heated discussions in the player community: this powerful "unstoppable slash" animation actually introduces a groundbreaking new combat animation mechanic that, to some extent, even counters "Sword-wielding Tyrion (拔剑泰瑞昂)," a foot lord who was previously unbeatable in duels. The whole flashing combat mechanic may still see adjustments in the future, but there is no doubt that the madly teleporting big cat legendary lord will be one of the most captivating highlights of this DLC.

During the interview, they also provided some usage tips: don't forget Perseva's exclusive artifact, "Heaven's Gate (天堂之门)," which allows Perseva to actively reposition, granting greater battlefield mobility and the ability to disrupt formations.

The DLC introduces three new Tigerkin units: the Tier 2 dual-axe infantry Tiger Warrior (60 units per square), the Tier 3 ring-blade infantry Stealth Tiger Warrior (45 units per square), and the Tier 4 guandao infantry Iron Claw Tiger Warrior (60 units per square). They come with a new trait:

It can be seen that the tiger-man unit is a new addition to the traditional combat style of Cathay. Cathay can choose unit combinations beyond high-damage firearms to enhance the potential damage capability of their faction. Regardless of its strength, this itself greatly enriches the specific battlefield gameplay. Players who are tired of solid iron barrel formations, front-tank-rear-shoot, and repeatedly studying the positioning of direct fire/burst fire formations can have new gameplay experiences.

After constructing the corresponding building at tier 3, players can recruit the Claw-Speaker, a spellcaster agent of the Life, Shadow, and Beast lores. This brings great strength and experience enhancement to Cathay.

Additionally, Cathay gains a unique agent, Tao Yan (桃妍). As an agent that is easily obtained in the early game, this "Jade Warrior Instructor" (玉勇教头) brings many buffs to melee frontline units such as Jade Warriors (玉勇), which can be seen as an enhancement to Cathay's existing "frontline defense, backline shooting" tactic, giving Cathay a smoother power growth experience throughout the campaign.

Due to space limitations, many details are not covered in depth (such as Poxiwa's exclusive relic hunting, the Shangyang armies, the Tiger Court, and other exclusive large-scale strategic map mechanics, as well as the overall optimization and adjustments for Cathay). However, overall, as a character pack DLC, Poxiwa and her White Tiger Warriors can indeed bring new experiences to Total War: Warhammer III. Veteran players who value this highly may consider giving it a try.