Total War: Warhammer 2 is getting pirate-y DLC featuring giant enemy crabs next month

Update: the title of this article incorrectly originally said the DLC was launching next week, next month, which we've since corrected. Sorry about that.

Curse of the Vampire Coast features four undead pirate Legendary Lords, units like gun-wielding deckhands and a themed campaign to enjoy. Oh, and big enemy crabs. You'll see those towards the end of the trailer above, and they must rank as some of the oddest Total War enemy types ever. The sea has very much gone wrong in Curse of the Vampire coast. Luthor Harkon is the first of the Legendary Lords to be revealed, with the rest presumably being discussed later.

The DLC releases on November 8. It's already up for pre-order on Steam, at a regular price of $19/£14, but with a 10 per cent pre-launch discount. Here's Creative Assembly's blurb on the background to the DLC, which is all deeply Warhammer:

"The erratic power of the Great Vortex has awoken Amanar, a vast and ancient Merwyrm. It terrorises the Vampire Coast, attacking ports on a whim and summoning colossal sea-storms in its wake. Each of the Legendary Lords seeks not to harness the power of the Vortex, but to locate and empower the fabled Star-Metal Harpoon—the only weapon capable of bending the beast to their will, and securing their reputation as the most infamous pirate lord on the high seas!"

A free update will bring major revisions to the Vampire Counts, too, according to a Creative Assembly FAQ. A new Legendary Lord will also be completely free to all players, if you're not big on buying DLC.

We gave Total War: Warhammer 2 our Best Strategy Game award in 2017. "Warhammer 2 sorts out one of the biggest problems in the original, in that its campaign was a real slog near the tail end," said young Steven Messner. "By comparison, the struggle to control the Vortex is thrilling in its final moments, as each faction races to complete the final rituals and enter a climatic final battle."

Total War: Warhammer 3 is currently in pre-production as Creative Assembly work on finishing Total War: Three Kingdoms for March 6 2019. Here are a few features we'd like to see in the sequel.

Former PC Gamer EIC Samuel has been writing about games since he was 18. He's a generalist, because life is surely about playing as many games as possible before you're put in the cold ground.