The Commissar Lord of Imperial Guard for dummies.

This guide describes the use of Commissar Lord in the game of Dawn of War II: Retribution. His abilities, stats, ect.

Fluff.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Warhammer 40k wiki:

"Commissar is the term used to designate a political officer in the Regiments of Imperial Guard. They are tasked with the duty to maintain the morele of troops during various campaigns, sometimes in the cost of their own men. The Commissar is empowered to use any means necessary to ensure the loyalty and moral purity of his or her charges, and is regarded with a mixture of fear and admiration by regular Guardsmen."

Sounds cool right? Now, I think you're psyched to play as him! To crush the enemies of man and execute traitors! But... There's one thing though. Imperial Guard army is pretty tricky to handle generally and their commanders are no exception.
Commissar Lord is pretty weak on his own, but he has some pretty great stuff up his sleve never the less. While being good at melee, he does not really have that much health to go around and generally he gets killed off quickly if not handled right.

Game Stats and Abilities.

Now this is gonna be a huge block of text which may mean absolutely nothing to you and probably you've already known about his stats and abilities but still they are somewhat described better than in game. Taken from http://dow.wikia.com . GO CHECK IT.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Hero description:

"The Commissar Lord is an inspiring hero who leads from the front. He excels at melee and empowering infantry."

General Stats:

Name	Amount
Health	600
Courage	100
Sight radius	40
Melee skill	70
Detect radius	5
Speed	5.5

Starting abilities:
Melee Resistance Aura
This unit always takes 40% less damage from melee weapons. Does not affect damage from ranged weapons. (This is a default ability for ALL commanders in game.)

Refractor Field
Activates a refractor field that causes damage to reduce energy (mana) rather than health and grants immunity to weapon knockback. Field strength is 2.5 damage taken per 1 energy drained.

Inspire Courage
Execute one man to inspire the rest. The targeted allied Imperial Guard non-hero model is killed, increasing the damage of its squad by 100% for 15 seconds. Stops an in-progress retreat, and the unit cannot retreat for the duration of the buff. 50 second cooldown. Cost: 50

Global abilities:

Imperial Guard Bunker
Deploys a garrisonable bunker to the battlefield. Can be upgraded to a medical bunker which heals and reinforces infantry, a repair bunker which automatically repairs vehicles, or booby trapped to deny its use to the enemy. Cost: 150 75 5 10 Tier 1

Off-map Basilisk Flare
Fires an off-map Basilisk flare at the target location. The flare lasts 10 seconds, has a vision radius of 35, and a detection radius of 30. All units within radius 30 of the flare have their weapon range reduced by 50%. 120 second cooldown. Cost: 75 Tier 1

Air Dropped Mines
Calls in a Valkyrie that air drops 12 self burrowing mines that infiltrate after 2 seconds. Each mine does 20 explosive damage and 500 courage damage in radius 7. Vehicles hit by the mines have are slowed by 50% for 5 seconds. 120 second cooldown. Cost: 150 Tier 1

Loyal To The End
Inspires your targeted infantry squads to fight harder as they lose men. For 30 seconds, every time the targets of this ability lose a squad member, their damage and health are increased by 25% for 12 seconds. 30 second cooldown. Cost: 125 Tier 1

Rocket Run
Calls in two Valkyries to perform precision strafing runs with their multiple rocket pods. Each Valkyrie fires 7 rockets along a line of length 40, each doing 50 explosive damage and ability knockback in radius 10. Cooldown 120 seconds. Cost: 500 Tier 3

Wargear abilities:

Lead by Example
Increases speed by 2 and grants special attacks on every strike for 15 seconds. Allied infantry in radius 35 have their damage increased by 10% for 15 seconds, and each of the Commissar Lord's attacks adds the bonus again. 60 second cooldown. Cost: 50 Requires: Power Sword

None Shall Fall!
Inspires nearby units to fight on in the face of death. For the next 30 seconds, allied infantry in radius 20 of the Commissar Lord cannot be killed, although they take damage normally. The Commissar himself can still fall. 85 second cooldown. Cost: 50 Requires: Fist of Brockus

Inspire Terror
Execute one of your men, or one of the enemies. If used on your units, they receive the effects of Inspire Courage. When used on an enemy non-hero infantry unit, the target receives 300 piercing damage and its squad has its damage reduced by 50% for 15 seconds. 50 second cooldown. Cost: 50 Requires: Flak Jacket

Inspire Determination
Execute one man to inspire the rest. The targeted allied Imperial Guard non-hero model is killed, rendering its squad immune to suppression and knockback and increasing its damage by 100% for 15 seconds. This ability will break a retreat, and the unit cannot retreat for the duration of the buff. 50 second cooldown. Cost: 50 Requires: Bionic Eye

Off Map Artillery
Call down 3 Basilisk artillery rounds after a 3.5 second delay. Each round does up to 180 Manticore rocket damage and weapon knockback in radius 10. 120 second cooldown. Cost: 50 Requires: The Emperor's Wrath

Well. I don't expect you to read and memorise it all completely, it's just a refrence sheet that you should look up.

Wargear.

Weapons.

Default weapons:
IG Commissar Lord Sword

Raw DPS (Damage per second): 30

IG Commissar Lord Pistol

Raw DPS: 17.85

Range: 0-22

Wargear weapons:
IG Power Sword Cost: 110 20 20 Teir 1

Raw DPS: 50

Power Melee. (Power weapons deal more damage against Heavy Infantry and Super Heavy Infantry.)


Power Fist Cost: 150 50 20 Teir 2

Raw DPS: 84.62

Heavy Melee. (Heavy weapons can deal good damage against all targets.)

Fist of Brockus Cost: 200 50 20 Teir 3

Raw DPS: 84.62

*Commissar's laspistol does not change throughout upgrades.

Armor.

Carapace Armor Cost: 150 35 20 Teir 1



Reduces the energy cost of Inspire Courage by 20 and lowers its cooldown by 45 seconds. Also increases the Commissar Lord's health by 125.

Flak Jacket Cost: 150 35 20 Teir 2



Replaces the Inspire Courage ability with Inspire Terror, allowing the Commissar Lord to execute enemy units to break their resolve. Also increases health by 150.

Bionic eye Cost: 150 35 20 Teir 2



Replaces the Inspire Courage ability with Inspire Determination, adding further defensive and mobility bonuses to the offensive bonuses of Inspire Courage. Also increases energy by 100.

Accessories

Aura of Discipline Cost: 125 35 20 Teir 1



The Lord Commissar's presence inspires his men. Every time the Commissar Lord is hit by an attack, allied infantry in radius 25 are healed for 8 health. Cannot be triggered more than once every 0.75 seconds.

Stubbornness Cost: 175 30 20 Teir 2



The Lord Commissar refuses to fall while his men fight. At 1, 10, 20, and 30 allied infantry models in radius 25, the Commissar Lord's damage is increased by 25/50/75/100% and he is healed for 10% his maximum health every 12/6/4/3 seconds.

The Emperor's Wrath Cost: 200 50 20 Teir 3



Grants the Off Map Artillery ability that calls down three Basilisk rounds from off map.


Pfewf!

Strategy

Overall strategy.

If you're skilled player you won't probably find anything new around here.
Commissar is very fragile. I do not recommend you to play as him if you have just started to play the game. He can be a very great commander if used right. He is good with melee but his health does not really allow him to go toe to toe with other melee commanders and squads.

Note: He can actually kill off a Warlock or any other support melee commander.

Tier 1:

Early at the game Commissar is great at melee, but his lack of health really does show. I suggest you to keep hm around your infantry, either as protecting them from melee squads that may attack your infantry or leading the charge into the enemy lines, swiftly tying up range squads of the enemy.
His shield also makes up for the lack of health, allowing him to have a survivability in battle. The units at this point of the game can not really harm sheild that much, so it's easy to charge in with your Commissar and tie up some squads, if you like. The great thing about the sheild is that it does not really drain energy overtime allowing you to put it up right from the start. It is also recomended to put it up if you're using Commissar as a capping unit.
His Power Sword is a must have. It counts as power melee weapon so it causes much greater damage against heavy infantry like Chaos Space Marines and Tactical Space Marines. His Lead by Example increases his speed and surrounding infantry by 2, he does knock back Special Attacks for 15 seconds AND increases surronding infrantry damage by 10% (Think of it as Battle Cry only for Commissar). Great synergy with any imperial guard units, speed bonus allows them to kite around the grenades, with Catachans it allows them to engage the enemy much faster in melee or short ranged shotguns.
His Carapace Armor not only adds health bonus it also allows you to execute the Inspire Courage ability much faster, and as you may have looked up before Inspire Courage adds 100% damange bonus. But don't let it get into your mind, your guardsmen are fragile on their own, this early in the game you won't be able to counter Tactical Marines even with this buff. It is also not recomended to use it on high value squads and one other thing you must really strategize the use of it because after that the unit can not retreat.
Aura of Discipline is a great accessory. Great synergy with Carapace Armor allowing The Commisar to tank out the damage and heal the surrounding infantry, it is much better than you might think it is. Though it's not that popular among the players.
Tier 1 only allows basic survivability of the Commissar. His Power Sword surely will be a nasty suprise for near by Heavy Infantry or even Basic Infantry with it's knock backs. Though most of the upgrades in this tier are not that great.

Tier 2:

This is where most of his wargear unlocks come in play. Firstly is the Power Fist. It has no abilities, though it's good against early vehicle rushes. Not so popular among the players, because it's much slower than the Power Sword and again comes with no abilities.
The Flak Jacket is probably my favorite armor. Not only it has a better health bonus than Carapace Armor, it also has an ability that allows you to execute enemy unit. It is a good counter against the low model high health squads, like Chaos Space Marines, Tactical Space Marines ect. It also lowers their damage by 50%. Does not go so well with Power Sword simply because Commissar Lord does not have enough energy to use both abilities at the same time.
Boinic Eye is a great armor is you want to have your Commissar excell at ability use and Shield tanking, it's does not give any benefits to the health though.
Great accessory for Commissar is Stubbornness. Since usually at the teir 2 your guardsman squads contain 12 models, it's easy to buff up the Commissar to the maximum damage and health regeneration, it's a great accessory if you want him to fight in the fray, just remember that you must have atleast some allied models within 25 radius to buff to start to kick in.
In this Tier the Commissar is quite great versus infantry. Stubborness allows him to go toe to toe almost against any melee commanders (Almost. If you have a squard of guardsmen nearby.) and a Power Fist will make a short work of any Heavy infantry or a light vehicle. Also good against any Space Marine, Warrior Brood or any kind of low model count squads with Commissar's Flak Jacket.

Tier 3:

Here you get to unlock two last upgrades for Commissar. One of which is the First of Brockus, it does not really difference from normal Power Fist only thing that it costs more and it has a very useful ability called None Shall Fall! render your units invulnerable at critical health, it's a great ability for IG because it lets your units survive even when somebody drops a nuke right into your face. Also great synergy with Stubborness, your infantry just do not die and the health regeneration will surely keep the Commissar alive for the rest of the battle.
The second ability is devestating, Emperor's Wrath can wipe out a squad of Tactical Marines in one direct hit. Great synergy with Bionic Eye, I recomend you to buy Stubborness first then the Emeperor's Wrath, then switching between them when the altilery is on the cool down, great economic loss to lose Commissar in battle though. Bionic Eye is much greater in this tier than in the 2nd, you may combine different abilities and buffs from your commander, as well as having some extra left for proper shield cover.
Overall Commissar is a nasty guy in this tier. He is capable of wiping squads out by just one ability, as well as being very durable. Good at harrassing the Stationary squads like Heavy weapons teams and slow targets. As well as buffing up the army! His None Shall Fall! is quite OP for obvious reasons.

Well... That's it pals and gals. I've told you everything that I know about the Commissar Lord. Have fun playing. And remember, everything depends on your skill.

[Jmcopel]

Super helpful, Thanks!

[ChopperMcChop]

There is a very cool trick involving the power sword and any power fist few people know or use. Usually everyone replaces the power sword in T2 and forget about it. Well don't, here's why: after you bought a power first, just equip back the power sword, now swap back to the power fist and carefully watch the "build time", right before the power fist will be equiped again, use Lead By Example from the power sword. The ability will work even after swapping to the power fist giving all the benefits of Lead by Example. This is a very good way of dealing with commanders and doing chain knockbacks on them which will most likely force a retreat. What's even cooler is that the commisar is such a badass his power fist special attacks knock even the Chaos Lord down (think even terminators). The Hive Tyrant is resilient and defies the might of the Commisar though, prolly cause the Commisar hates the Chaos Lord and his flock of heretics more.

[SoulbreakerDHCC]

Just gotta say the Emperor's Wrath ability makes me cum in my pants a little bit. Can just nuke fools. Definetly my favorite ability

[[EL] The Emperor of Mankind]

nice job dude

[Mersi]

Thisis very helpful to new players. I usually use the Commissar's Fist of Brockus/Stubborness combo with Inspire Terror for when I just feel like giving enemies the coup de grace, and it all works great

[kumulala savesta]

He mentioned how fragile the Commisar is, and how he is bad at ranged and now you are saying about him being killed by dakka. Well no shit. And stop being so fucking boastful
"oh hah hahahaha your guide sucks my 1337 c0ck i w1ll r4p3 your troops"
And what is snergy

[AbsoluteManiac]

Combining Stubborness with None Shal Fall along with at least three squads of infantry creates the IG Blob O' Doom as none of the surrounding infantry can die and the effects of Stubborness and his shield will make the LC effectivly unkillable as well as a monster in melee.

[MISTAKE "BUSTEDCONDOM" JOHNSON]

the emperor will be pleased

[гусь]

Thanks Techpriest. Not great at grammar but I try.

[Techpriest Drake]

A few spelling errors like 'Imeprial' and 'Teir'