Warhammer: Age of Reckoning patch to add playable Skaven

The Verminous Horde update for Warhammer: Age of Reckoning will land on Thursday, adding a ton of free new content, including four new playable Skaven units.

The Verminous Horde update for Warhammer: Age of Reckoning will land on Thursday, adding a ton of free new content, including four new playable Skaven units. There will also be a number of tweaks to Realm vs. Realm combat, and two RvR packs that can be purchased by high level players, adding new weapons, pets and mounts to the game. Read on for the full details.

Let's start with an overview of the new Skaven units. First up, there's the Warlock Engineer, a mechanically gifted rat who can deploy stationary turrets and helpers to the battlefield. They're also masters of the corrupting Warp-Energy, and can unleash their reserves of the stuff in the form of "destructive orbs of burning death", and "modified doom rockets".

Next, the Pack Master. His job is to hang around hulking Rat Ogres and stop them from eating friendly forces. Rat Ogres will fight much more effectively if there's a Pack Master nearby. The Pack Master's charisma doesn't just extend to other giant rodents, but will also buff any nearby allies. For kicks, he can also summon hordes of smaller rats to overrun his foes.

Then there's the Rat Ogre himself. He's nearly as big as a troll, and is a master of crushing things that are smaller than him. His abilities all revolve around a central theme. There's "Frenzy", and "Savage Assault", and "Charge", "Hurl", oh and let's not forget "Bash". The Rat Ogre is a single minded creature, devoted to squashing his enemies into small pancakes. Their only weakness is the fact that they can't be healed unless there's a Pack Master nearby.

Finally, there's the Gutter Runner. He may not sound very glamorous, but that impression fades as soon as you realise he's essentially Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a giant ninja rat who has mastered the arts of secrecy and poison. He's a master saboteur, making him the ideal candidate for attacking the enemies' engines of war.

Along with the new troops, there new patch will add Thanquol's Incursion, a new high level Skaven dungeon, and will add a few changes to Realm vs. Realm battles, adding a new capture mechanic to Open Realm vs. Realm battles in tiers 2 to 4. The two RvR packs provide high level players with levelling bonuses and other items such as additional pets, mounts, weapons and dyes. The two packs will be available to buy from the EA store when the Verminous Horde update goes live on Thursday. They'll cost $10 each, or can be bought together for $15. For the full rundown of the features included in the update, check out the Warhammer: Age of Reckoningsite.

[via VG247]