Total War: Warhammer 3 Siege Rework: Pocket Ladders Out, Patch 9.1 Undated

Total War: Warhammer 3’s siege rework still lives only in a beta. Creative Assembly pulled pocket ladders, rebalanced towers and rams, and fixed more than 50 battle AI issues. But neither a release date nor a patch number has been announced officially: the community wiki and Steam forums slot it into patch 9.1, after the Lords of the End Times DLC.

Where the rework stands today

The “Siege Proving Grounds” beta ran from July 24 to August 7, 2025 on Steam, open to every owner of the game through the Betas tab in its Steam properties. Creative Assembly promised then not to roll anything out to the base game until it was happy with player feedback. Since then, Lords of the End Times and its free update shipped on September 24, 2026, and the rework still hasn’t landed. Community sources place it in patch 9.1 without a date, and no official date or new beta announcement has turned up so far.

What the 2025 beta changed

Pocket ladders are gone. Infantry units that used to pull a ladder out of thin air can’t any more; a setting restores them before the battle. The ladder becomes buildable siege equipment, on a par with the tower and the ram.

More towers and rams. To compensate, attackers can field more of them, and they cost less manpower.

Recalibrated defenses. Wall towers hit harder but reach much less far. Gates hold up better against regular infantry and some monstrous infantry, but worse against battering rams.

Progressive attrition. It turns linear and grows stronger with each consecutive turn under siege.

50+ AI fixes, three reworked maps. Three maps were reworked: Nuln (Empire), the Hell Pit (Skaven) and the Black Fortress (Orcs). Creative Assembly says more reworks will follow.

What it means for your assaults

On paper, an army without siege equipment can no longer count on free ladders: you build your machines, force the gate with rams or let attrition do the work. The catch is that the beta says nothing about how easily each faction can get those machines, so ranking winners and losers before the final version would be reckless.

The real issue is the AI

Banning pocket ladders is easy to announce, but the AI has to adapt. Fixing over 50 issues is a serious job, though Creative Assembly doesn’t present it as a full repair of battle AI. What matters is whether it can use towers, rams and defenses without breaking the rhythm of battles.

What to watch

An official schedule or a new beta would be the first signal to watch. Next, siege AI behavior once the rework ships. Finally, balance between factions with very different siege kit, which only shows up with real play.