Dawn of War: Total Noob Guide

A guide on how to avoid many common mistakes noobs tend to make, as well as some brief strategy to help get you on the right track

Race Selection

Note: This guide assumes you have some experience in the RTS genre (if you havent ever played one before dont even bother with multiplayer yet)

When picking a race select one that caters to your playstyle and skill level, heres a quick overview of the races, their strengths and weaknesses:


Space Marines: Hardy and strong, the basic starting race and easiest to wrap your head around. In my opinion the easiest race to pick up and play. Lots of health and a wide array of units that can deal with just about every situation. Their biggest downfall is that while a single squad is indeed a powerhouse on their own, they are very expensive and losing a single squad could spell doom for the rest of the game.

Chaos: Much like their space marine counterparts chaos have very hardy space marine squads. Unlike the space marines they are definitely alot more powerfull but require a different style of play. Heretic squads are essential early game and using their benefits is important in the battle. The focus of Chaos is alot more aggressive, with many of their units having powerful melee attacks or teleporting abilities. Not many downfalls to this race, if anything I would say that 2 of their commanders have poor early game ability. Heretics are very squishy and often are the first things to get wiped out early and late game.

Eldar: My favourite and possibly the hardest race to master. Not recommended for beginners. Eldar are a very tricky race both in use and ability. You must rely on superior tactics to overcome your enemies. Each squad specializes in 1 thing and how you use all your squads together in synchronization as well as strategic advantages decides how the battle will go. Very squishy units that tend to die quickly alone, but very potent attack power. Assume you will always be at the disadvantage and plan for fast powerfull hit and run tactics. Each squad has a specialty, and theres plenty of different units to use for every situation utilize them to their full strength.

Orks: Early game orks can be very squishy like the eldar, but as the game goes on they quickly become a greater and greater threat. The thing that makes orks such a powerhouse race is the variety of combinations you can make with units. Depending on your preference in playstyle you could go all out shooting or all melee. They have a very aggresive play style that combines the rush effectiveness of tyranids and the combat effectiveness of space marines, and if you use their special "waaghh!" ability their effectivenss is increased further. However they have a pretty weak early game and are easily picked apart when you spread your army too thin across the map.

Tyranids: Ah, the hivemind swarm. Require a certain playstyle to use effectively. Essentially you want to over power your enemy with numbers, a couple space marine squads wont stand a chance against a wave of sharp talons and teeth and will either run, or fight and get shredded to bits. As well as a strong rush capability they also possess a strong range ability in T2 and a badass selection of large monsters in T3. Tyranids use a "synapse link" in which the smaller ones are buffed by the larger ones. Keep this in mind as it is very important to keep strong units with the weaker ones to maximize combat effectiveness. If a synapse creature is killed, all nearby smaller units will recieve a shock and take some damage and knockback, so be careful.

Imperial guard: Like the tyranids they are a swarm like army, but they specialize in ranged combat with a couple good melee units as backup should they need them. Nice choice of vehicles to choose from, including the sentinel which is a strong T1 light vehicle if used properly (but really micro intensive). Heavy gunfire is usually enough to ward off 1 or 2 incoming melee squads, jumping melee squads like assault marines spell trouble though. As well as a melee rush threat Area of effect attacks (AoE) are devestating to guardsmen. NEVER enter buildings unless you are 100% sure it is safe. A flamethrower to a building full of guardsmen can cook them in less than a second.

Basics of Combat

Here I will list some common noob mistakes, learn to avoid doing these things in multiplayer.

Capping with your whole Army
I cant tell you how many times ive seen this and its the number one noob error that irritates me the most. Capping points is essential in multiplayer, so you will want to extend your lines as far and as quickly as possible. Capping 1 point with all your units isnt fast or helpful. At the beginning of the game send 1 unit to cap the closest point (preferably your slowest unit) and another quick unit to capture a point farther down. Later in the game use fast units like scouts to constantly cap points while your main army pushes forward. My rule of thumb; Always be doing something, if your units are standing around idle they are being usless while your enemy is likely capping points or healing his units.

Not Retreating
The second most common mistake, not retreating. This game is all about unit growth. Units level up as the game goes on, making them do more damage and increasing health. A level 4 squad of shooters will outgun a fresh level 1 squad any day of the week. Keep your guys alive, retreat a squad when you see their health drop below half. If a fight is going bad or you know you wont win because you're up against a tank or something, back off or retreat and save your self the trouble of having to pay for reinforcements. The retreat button is your friend, use it. If you play space marines this is critical, losing a squad any time in the game could mean the difference between victory and defeat.


Not using cover
Cover is scattered across the map, use it. If you have a shooter squad in the open exchangning fire with a squad in heavy cover you will lose every time. If you and an enemy are at a stand still, stay in cover and let him come to you, that way he will take extra damage running at you in open ground. Beware of buildings. While they provide protection from melee and decrease damage on your units, an enemy unit with flamethrowers or a couple guardian squads with grendades will most likely wipe them in seconds. So be wary. Dont stay in for extended periods of time.

Spamming useless units or turrets in T1
Absolutley terrible. A supression squad spam might seem like a good idea, sure you will out shoot them all day and surpress their whole army. But as soon as they hit T2 or get jumping melee squads you're toast. You will be way behind in power and soon have dreadnoughts and bloodcrushers breathing down your neck. 1 supression squad is usually enough, focus more on getting T2 as quickly as possible. The same thing can be said for turrets, don't. Just don't. 1 well placed turret is enough. Only very skilled players with good backup can afford to build more than one, you are not. Thats why you're reading this remember?


Know when you are outnumbered/outmatched
So you are doing pretty good, got a couple space marine squads defending a point and you see 2 ork melee squads and the warboss coming at you. You decide you can pick them off, you're in cover and you're shooting them down one by one. "yea I got this!". Nope he activates Waggh! and engages in melee. Your squads health chips away in chunks under a couple seconds. You try and retreat. Nope. He keeps pace and wipes your squads.
Dont take chances, unless you know for sure you can outgun an enemy or have plenty of backup to counter a melee rush, otherwise dont bother. A shooting squad is not meant to fight hand to hand with a dedicated melee squad. Likewise dont try rushing a supression squad head on with 1 or 2 squads. its suicidal.

Remembering these key points is critical to getting better, by not making these mistakes you've already put yourself above tons of other players. Surprisingly from time to time I see players with alot of logged hours making these rookie mistakes and its pretty pathetic.

Choosing a Commander

There's alot of choices so I will go over their strengths and weaknesses very quickly

Space marines

Force Commander
-Great basic starting commander
-good anti infantry, and can get a power fist for anti vehicle
-can equip with a teleporter to close the gap on shooting heavy armies

Apothecary
-has heal ability
-Decent melee, but very low health compared to force commander so only melee when you need to
-requires decent amount of skill and micro to play at full potential

Tech Marine
-very strong shooting commander
-can build turrets and fix things
-you are vulnerable to early melee rush
-a little easier than apothecary to use
-not recommended in 1v1 or if you have the lone side in a 3v3 map

Chaos

Chaos Lord
-very strong and hardy melee commander
-can smash through walls and enemy cover
-has a healing knockback attack should he get swarmed by melee
-very slow and prone to being kited by shooting squads
-one of the strongest commanders in the game with many usefull abilities
-definitly recommended for beginners
-heretic worship increases speed of units

Sorcerer
-A good melee commander with lots of different spells to use including teleporting
-not as much HP as CL
-requires alot of micro to take advantage of all his spells (especially late game)
-a little advanced for new players to try and pick up
-heretic worship turns your units invisible

Plague Champion
-chaos equivalent of techmarine
-adaptable; can be upgraded with strong melee attacks
-very slow
-wide range of tools to use like the bile spewer and plague grenade to deal with blobing army's
-heretic worship heals infantry
-not recommended for 1v1 and lone spots in 3v3 maps

Eldar

Warlock
-great melee commander with lots of strong upgrades at his disposal
-no major weaknesses I can think of other than he cant get a gun, but he doesnt need one cus he has badass magic powers

Warp Spider
-Can teleport to cap points very quickly early game and harass enemy units from range
-decent in melee combat, and can focus on shooting or melee later on
-useful abilities later in the game
-not alot of health, can die quickly if you arent paying attention

Farseer
-specializes in supporting buffs for infantry
-good melee, but again not enough of health to take on a strong melee squad
-requires alot of micro and experience to use effectively
-not recommended for beginners

Orks

Warboss
-Strong and tough melee boss
-kind of slow
-can smash through walls and enemy cover
-has stomp ability to deal with swarming units on him
-can be upgraded with very strong anti infantry or anti tank melee
-can get rush ability to close the gap with shooting squads

Commando Nob
-Stealth unit that can turn invisible
-specializes in sneak attacking the enemy or flanking enemy squads and catching them offguard
-very strong shooting weapon and melee upgrades
-grenade ability is ideal for sneak attacking an enemy whos not paying attention
-not alot of health and loses alot of his usefullness late game

Mek Boy
-Shooting commander that can build turrets (worst turret in the game tho)
-lots of usefull late game upgrades
-can build waaagh banners to buff units
-can teleport
-not as difficult as commando to use but he is geared more towards a defensive army build since you dont have a big boss to help you out in melee

Tyranids

Hive Tyrant
-strong melee commander
-lots of abilites for dealing with swarms of enemy infantry
-can smash through walls and enemy cover
-slow
-can take alot of heat off your army as they rush forward (especially with the overshield upgrade)

Ravener Alpha
-can make tunnels to move units (including teammates) to the front lines and back quickly
-strong shooting or melee (recommend you dont go for melee upgrade), but not alot of health
-has various usefull buff upgrades
-has abilites suited to sneak attacks on enemy units (burrow)

Lictor Alpha
-very potent melee commander
-can turn invisible
-meat hook ability is very usefull for finishing off a retreating squad
-very usefull for tying up shooting squads and surprising enemy with sneak attacks
-not as usefull late game and has very little buffing abilities to help the rest of the swarm
-use him to take on single squads, commanders and to tie up high priority targets

Imperial Guard

Inquisitor
-Strong melee commander that can be upgraded with powerfull shooting weapons
-Very usefull array of tools and upgrades to choose from
-definitely recommended for beginners
-not really any good buffs for guardsmen squads

Lord General
-shooting commander
-lots of physical support abilities and upgrades for your army (heavy turrets, sniper, grenade launcher etc.)
-not good at melee

Commisar Lord
-probably one of the best (and overpowered) commanders in the game when used properly
-lots of great buffs for guardsmen infantry (including invulnerability)
-starts with overshield
-late game abilities are great
-very strong melee
-I wouldnt recommend him to a beginner because all the available buffs and upgrades can be a bit overwhelming, but you're welcome to try.

[alex_apanich]

guys, does anyone know how to change the control settings in the game on Mac OS?

[Gooodnota]

Спасибо за гайд

[Luigi]

A lot of the comments are trying to argue or give "oh but in this scenario..." or "well against certain units", please keep in mind this is an entry level guide and a hard generalization for players who dont know anything about the game and will definitely not be able to keep up with certain nuances of advanced play, this guide is a general guideline in which following will not steer a new player wrong in any if not 99% of scenarios they will face in competitive play

[Maverick]

Regarding Lord General, you wrote "not good at melee" which is false. Hes got a power sword and in addition to that he can get a sergeant and an inquisitor into his squad (chainsword and power sword respectively). Hes a decent melee unit if needs be and he can often outfight ranged squads rather than outshoot them. Sure he cant go toe-to-toe with Ogryns for example but he can easily take T1 melee units and ranged units any day of the week.

[The Senate]

I actually have an exception to the spamming tier 1 thing. while for the most part your statement remains true, there is a... combo of sorts that can counter most unsuspection ork nob spammer players.

1 chaos lord with claws, armor of choice, and daemonic visage
4-5 chaos space marines, all with mark of khorne

daemonic visage ruins the nobs damage, and since most ork players who spam nobs just auto attack, the chaos marines, when combined with the chaos lord, can and will crump a horde of ork nobs

[Tikontrys]

Я немогу купить дополнения к игре

[Yoshi-Yago]

Good evening, someone could help me, I'm trying to open the game dawn of war 2 retribution, it turns up and opens, what can I do?

[Mashtooth]

"X" is the hotkey for retreat.

[PICKnMIX96]

x

[[ITA] valvak]

which is the key for retreating? ^^' (yes, i'm so noob on DoW2)