Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Chaos Campaign - Chapter 1, Mission 6

Here are general tips for playing the Chaos Champaign in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, on HARD Difficulty. A list of all our Warhammer: Mark of Chaos articles can be found here..
We won't be hand-holding you through absolutely everything, but instead just give tips on situations that we found tricky or that you might not have considered.

Chapter 1: The Will of the Gods

Mission 6: Trial of the Gods

Overview

• This is basically a linear mission with few options. However, before the mission starts, go to the Main Menu and use Create Army to look through Khorne and Nurgle Chaos units. You will have to choose between Khorne and Nurgle.
• Changes to Thorgar:.
• If you choose Khorne, you keep the Axe of Doom power. If you choose Nurgle, your Axe of Doom changes to the Scythe that Champions of Nurgle use. See our discussion on skills.
• Unit Changes:
• Warriors Undivided and Knights Undivided can no longer be recruited, although if you already have them, you get to keep them. Any Undivided units you want will have to be purchased in Chapter 1. There is a limit of 1 additional Knights unit, so you can come out of Chapter 1 with at most 2 units of Knights Undivided.
• Presumably we will have access to all units over the course of the Chaos Campaign, so look through the army list (using Create Army in the main menu) before entering mission 6.
• Khorne has the Bloodthirster hero, and exploding Bloodletters. From this Trial mission, it looks like Bloodletters probably have friendly fire when they explode, but are themselves immune to the explosion.
• Nurgle has Mage heroes and Plague Bearers. Plague Bearers have a status description that says they inflict Plague on an entire regiment when they hit even one model in that regiment, but it is unclear that Plague actually does, if anything.
• You will receive the Ring of Change in this mission.
• To use it, find it in the tool bar alongside potions and other expendables. It is not itself expendable, but has a 5 minute cooldown.
• The enemy needs to be "in melee", which includes charging at you. They do not necessarily need to be in melee range.
• Works on all non-heroes, including demons, but not flyers.

Walkthrough

• Part 1: Spiders
• Clear one to two nests, then set Thorgar on Stand Ground OFF and go have a coffee while he kills spiders. With any luck, you will level him up before his health gets too low. Then, clear the last nest and remaining spiders. You need to be only about level 12 to reach the level cap of level 15 after this mission.
• If you leave all three nests alone for too long, you will eventually be overwhelmed. Also watch for spiders spawning but not moving to your location. They might grow into a too-big mob. Thorgar's armor can be high, but flank and rear attacks have a much better chance to succeeding.
• Part 2: Plague Bearers
• Linear and boring. Nothing you can really do here except walk over and kill them.
• They do something when they hit you and when they die, but it's not clear what since Thorgar and/or his gear should fully protect him from the special effects.
• If you are only barely injured here, don't use any of the healing warps on the ground. Save it for later.
• Part 3: Bloodletters. Dangerous because they explode.
• Phase 1: Remove your curse, which drains Thorgar's health steadily.
• On Normal you can get away with bad tactics and still finish this phase, but not on Hard. Attach Thorgar to the Marauder Warriors and use Blood Sacrifice, as directed by the objective. Then detach him.
• Phase 2: Bloodletters.
• Park your units in the room you started with. Make sure the Axe Throwers have good reach down the corridor to the room where the Bloodletters will spawn. Then have Thorgar go and trigger them.
• Thorgar should stay in the corridor alone and far enough away from the regiments so they won't be in the blast radius of the Bloodletters. His gear should give him enough defenses to almost always ignore the fiery explosions. He doesn't have to win, just to buy time for the Axe Throwers to help him kill the Bloodletters.
• If Thorgar is badly injured, go back to the Plague Bearer trial and heal with one of the warps on the ground.
• Phase 3: Bloodletter swarm
• Keep your troops where they are. Send in Thorgar. He needs to step on the glowing ring on the ground to open the door to the pool and treasures. A mess of Bloodletters will appear. Lead them back to the corridor and handle them there, as before.
• Phase 4: Wyrdspawns
• There are three on Hard. The first two are "Spawn of Chaos" and melee units, although they look like the last one, which is a "Wyrdspawn" that shoots energy beams that always hit for 1 HP magical damage.
• No special tactics here: Just attack everything with everything you've got.
• Phase 5: Thorgar clone
• Low armor and normal damage rating (he's not using a clone of Foebane or other gear), but will use skills against you. It's possible to win without skills, but safer to use some dueling skills, even at rank 0.