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Freedom251 › Blog › Canopic Jars

How to Manage the Tomb Kings’ Economy and Recruit Armies Without Upkeep

By Freedom251 Team · · 10 min read

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The Tomb Kings can recruit units without paying recruitment costs, and their units do not create a recurring upkeep bill. That advantage is real, but it does not remove the campaign’s limits: army slots, unit-capacity buildings, settlement growth, dynasty research time and Canopic Jars all constrain how quickly your forces can expand.

Play them as a capacity-and-development faction. Use inexpensive income infrastructure to finance growth, concentrate advanced military development where it unlocks the units you actually need, protect settlements that provide unit capacity, and spend Canopic Jars on the bottleneck that is stopping your next army from being useful.

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What the zero-upkeep advantage actually gives you

Tomb Kings recruitment does not consume gold, and recruited units have no upkeep. You can therefore maintain a large standing force without the escalating payroll that normally makes additional armies expensive. Gold is still required for buildings, settlement development and expansion, so the faction is not economically independent; it simply shifts the central question from “Can I afford the next unit’s upkeep?” to “Do I have the capacity and infrastructure to recruit it?”

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The official Total War Academy describes the constraint directly: “The Tomb Kings have a limitation with the number of armies that they can field at one time, and must awaken more Tomb Kings to command further armies.” Your first army is not a template for unlimited copies. Army slots are capped, and most useful units have separate capacity limits.

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The two units that are always available at the start

Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Spearmen are the two limitless starting unit types identified by the Academy. They let you raise a basic force even before specialized military buildings are complete. “Limitless” here refers to their unit capacity, not to the number of armies you may create: the army-slot limit still applies.

Why free recruitment does not mean unlimited army growth

  • Only a limited number of armies can be fielded until you awaken additional Tomb Kings.
  • Higher-tier units require the appropriate higher-level unit buildings and those buildings add capacity rather than granting an unrestricted pool.
  • Settlement growth and building slots determine how quickly you can reach advanced recruitment tiers.
  • Canopic Jars can unlock another army option, but jars also compete with items, heroes, rites and elite units.

Build an economy that pays for development, not upkeep

Because unit payroll is absent, your first economic job is to fund the buildings and growth that unlock better armies. The Academy recommends inexpensive income buildings throughout the realm. These structures create the treasury needed for construction while you develop the settlements that provide capacity.

A practical construction sequence

  1. Establish basic income. Put cheap income infrastructure in enough settlements to keep construction moving. Do not assume that a zero-upkeep army can finance itself; buildings and expansion still draw on treasury.
  2. Choose the army’s intended role. Decide which unit types the campaign currently lacks before filling every available slot with military buildings. Capacity is more valuable when it serves a defined plan.
  3. Construct the matching capacity buildings. Higher-level unit buildings both unlock units and increase the number of those units you may recruit. Place them where you can defend them.
  4. Reserve growth for the capital when pursuing advanced tiers. Developing the faction capital deeply is often more efficient than upgrading every minor settlement as soon as it can accept a new building.
  5. Expand only after the economy can support the next development wave. New territory adds opportunities for income, growth and capacity, but it also creates settlements that must be defended to preserve those gains.

Why early military construction can slow the campaign

The Academy warns that “More enticing military buildings can be used to bolster forces in the early game, but it can quickly stifle growth and development, thus preventing you from getting to the later, and far stronger, units in the roster.” The trade-off is structural: an early military building may add immediate options, while a growth or income building can bring the capital to the tier where several stronger options become available.

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Use early military construction when a specific threat or mission requires it. Otherwise, avoid turning every settlement into a partial barracks. A smaller number of purposeful military sites, supported by income elsewhere, gives you a clearer route to advanced capacity.

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Manage unit capacity as carefully as army slots

Army slots answer how many commanders you may field. Unit capacity answers how many copies of a particular unit the faction can recruit. The two systems interact but are not interchangeable. Awakening another Tomb King can let you create an additional army, yet that army may still be composed mostly of basic units if the buildings for higher-tier troops are not ready.

Protect the settlements that hold capacity

If you lose a settlement containing a unit-capacity building, your capacity for that unit falls. Existing armies are not deleted, but the faction can become over its current cap. That over-cap state is a warning that replacing losses or expanding the roster may be impossible until the capacity source is recovered or rebuilt.

  • Keep capacity buildings in settlements you can reinforce quickly.
  • Do not treat a lightly defended military settlement as disposable just because its army is already recruited.
  • When planning an offensive, leave enough force or geographic depth to protect the building that supplies the army’s key units.
  • After a settlement loss, check which capacities dropped before queuing replacements or changing army compositions.

Concentrate advanced development deliberately

The capital is the natural place to hold growth in reserve when your goal is an advanced recruitment tier. Minor settlements can carry income infrastructure or selected capacity buildings, but spreading every military chain across the map can delay the threshold that unlocks the units you are actually waiting for.

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Use dynasty research for more than a free army slot

There are six major Nehekharan dynasties. Researching a dynasty can grant another army slot and other campaign or unit benefits, but the next dynasty takes longer to research. The decision is therefore immediate field strength versus future research pace.

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“The Tomb Kings have a limitation with the number of armies that they can field at one time, and must awaken more Tomb Kings to command further armies.”

When an additional army is the right priority

  • Multiple fronts: A second or later army can defend a vulnerable border while the main force attacks.
  • Settlement security: An extra commander can prevent a capacity-producing settlement from being left exposed.
  • Map pressure: If several objectives or enemy factions demand attention at once, the slot may be worth more than a faster later dynasty.

When to delay the next dynasty

  • Your existing armies still lack the capacity buildings needed for their intended units.
  • The slower research time would postpone a dynasty benefit that is more important to your campaign plan.
  • Your treasury and growth are not ready to develop another army’s recruitment base.

Capturing settlements, especially major settlements, improves research progress according to the Academy. Expansion can therefore accelerate access to later dynasties, but only if you can hold the territory and continue funding its development.

Spend Canopic Jars on the current bottleneck

Canopic Jars are a strategic currency, not merely spare money. The official materials list battles, settlement gains, dilemmas, missions and buildings among their sources. Their uses include Mortuary Cult items, Legions of Legend, rites, dynasty-related unlocks and an additional army option.

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Compare the competing uses

Use What it solves Best question to ask
Additional army option Too few commanders for simultaneous fronts or defense Will the new army have a job and a safe recruitment base?
Hero capacity Insufficient support for armies or settlements Is a hero the limiting factor in this campaign phase?
Mortuary Cult items A need for a targeted character or army enhancement Will the item improve the army that matters most now?
Legions of Legend Access to an elite unit option Do you have the capacity and role for that elite unit?
Rites A campaign-wide or strategic effect available through the faction’s rite system Does the timing solve a present strategic problem?
Dynasty-related unlocks Progress toward additional faction systems or army access Will this unlock arrive before the next major conflict?

Do not spend jars automatically after every battle. First identify whether the campaign is constrained by army slots, heroes, elite capacity, a missing item or a rite timing window. A reserve is useful when no option clearly removes the current bottleneck.

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A campaign workflow for recruiting armies without upkeep

Opening phase: stabilize the first recruitment base

  1. Keep the starting force active while inexpensive income and growth buildings begin paying for development.
  2. Use Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Spearmen to fill unavoidable gaps rather than delaying action while waiting for specialized capacity.
  3. Choose the first military chain around a role the campaign genuinely needs, such as a durable frontline or a particular damage type, instead of constructing every available chain.
  4. Begin dynasty research with the next army slot and the research-time penalty in view.

Expansion phase: make territory serve capacity

  1. Capture settlements that improve research progress and add room for income, growth or capacity.
  2. Decide which settlements are development hubs. Push growth in the capital when advanced units are the objective.
  3. Place or retain capacity buildings in defensible locations, and assign an army to protect them when the frontier is unstable.
  4. Use Canopic Jars only after comparing an additional army, hero, item, elite unit and rite against the campaign’s immediate need.

Established phase: maintain several armies efficiently

  1. Give each army a clear task: attack, garrison support, border defense or reinforcement.
  2. Use the free upkeep to keep armies in the field, but continue checking whether each army has enough unit capacity behind it to replace losses.
  3. Use dynasty research and settlement development together. More commanders without stronger recruitment infrastructure can produce several underpowered armies.
  4. When a new front opens, protect the settlements that supply advanced units before committing every army to the offensive.
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Replace casualties with time, not gold

The Academy explicitly advises considering the dismissal of wounded, inexperienced units and recruiting fresh ones when replenishment would take longer. For Tomb Kings, this can be a practical way to restore a fighting force because the replacement does not add a recurring upkeep burden.

Use the replacement rule safely

  • Dismiss only units that are genuinely slowing the army’s return to action; experienced or strategically scarce units may be worth preserving.
  • Confirm that the relevant capacity building is still active before disbanding anything you expect to recreate.
  • Do not remove a unit if doing so would leave the army unable to survive the next battle or hold a settlement.
  • After recruiting the replacement, review the army’s role rather than automatically recreating an identical stack.

Choose between army breadth and army quality

The most common strategic mistake is treating every free army slot as mandatory. An additional army is valuable only when it can be supplied with the units and infrastructure needed for its assignment. Conversely, delaying every army slot can leave a capacity-producing settlement or a second front undefended.

Situation Prioritize Reason
One army is carrying every battle and a border is exposed Army slot or defensive Canopic Jar use Coverage may matter more than a faster later unlock.
Several armies exist but advanced units are unavailable Growth and the relevant capacity buildings More commanders do not solve a unit-capacity shortage.
Military buildings are slowing settlement development Income and growth infrastructure The delay can prevent access to stronger later-tier units.
A capacity settlement has just been lost Recovery and settlement defense Existing units remain, but replacement capacity has fallen.
Jars are accumulating while no urgent bottleneck exists Hold them Items, rites, heroes and elite units remain competing future uses.

Common mistakes and how to correct them

Mistake: assuming zero upkeep makes the faction rich

Correction: Treat the saving as a reduction in recurring army expense. Continue building income, planning growth and protecting settlements; those are the costs that determine whether the roster improves.

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Mistake: building military chains everywhere

Correction: Select a few recruitment hubs and use the rest of the realm for income and growth. Early military access can delay the capital’s stronger tiers.

Mistake: creating armies before securing capacity

Correction: Match each new army slot to the buildings that will supply its intended units. A free commander is not the same as a complete army.

Mistake: ignoring the settlement that provides capacity

Correction: Defend that settlement as part of the recruitment network. Losing it lowers the faction’s cap even though existing armies remain on the map.

Mistake: spending every Canopic Jar immediately

Correction: Compare army, hero, item, elite-unit and rite options against the specific limitation you face now.

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Mistake: copying an old turn-by-turn build

Correction: Use principles rather than historical cost figures. Balance changes, campaign choices, difficulty and edition can alter the value of a fixed sequence, and no universal dynasty order has been established.

Edition and downloadable-content scope

The official campaign guide discussed here is for Total War: WARHAMMER II. The official Steam listing describes Rise of the Tomb Kings as downloadable content requiring Total War: WARHAMMER II or Total War: WARHAMMER III, and lists Immortal Empires among the supported WARHAMMER III content. Check which game and campaign you are playing before applying edition-sensitive assumptions.

The DLC listing identifies four playable Legendary Lords and four unique Tomb Kings rites. Its Eye of the Vortex objective description also refers to nine cursed Books of Nagash. Those campaign objectives and available lords can change how urgently you need another army, but they do not remove the core capacity, growth and research trade-offs.

A concise checklist before every major spending decision

  • Is the immediate limit gold, growth, army slots, unit capacity or Canopic Jars?
  • Will this building delay the capital’s route to a stronger recruitment tier?
  • Does the settlement supplying this capacity have adequate protection?
  • Will a new army have a defined task and the units to perform it?
  • Would a dynasty slot slow a later benefit that matters more?
  • Could a rite, hero, item or Legion of Legend remove the problem more efficiently than another army?
  • If an army is wounded, is fresh recruitment faster than waiting for replenishment, and is the required capacity still available?

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Canopic JarsNehekharan dynastiesstrategy guideTomb KingsTotal War strategyTotal War: WARHAMMER II

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