How to Play Good with Imperial Guards

When players first encounter Imperial Guards they notice how low their infantry's health and damage is compared to Space Marines or other races, which leads them to believe that Imperial Guards are a fundamentally weaker race, nothing could be further from truth, the Imperial Guards just work on different principles than other races, if used correctly they are a force to be reckon with, one of the best in fact.

This guide will teach you the Imperial Guards basics, so that you'll eventually become good and beat the campaign, beat the Insane AI and hold your ground in multiplayer with some practice. For more advanced stuff go to "An in-depth Guide to Imperial Guards".

There's nothing here that isn't in "An in-depth Guide to Imperial Guards". This guide is only a summary, I only took the essential parts from there and posted them here because it's much more user-friendly than pointing out directions "read this, this and this for esentials only" to someone who only wants to know the basics without taking the time to read all that long guide.

Intro

Imperial Guards.. a ranged army with numbers, outnumbering. Many call Imperial Guards a "turtling" race, but don't be fooled, the Imperial Guard can be vicious on the offense too. The whole premise for the Imperial Guard guard army is different from that of other races.

Your troops aren't walking big damage tanks like the elite fighters of the Space Marines or other races. Instead, they're weak, scared guys with small guns and no armor. Sounds dumb ? No way. The Imperial Guards army is build around numbers and command structure. Without good numbers and proper command, your forces are doomed to die.

Your army doesn't have the strength at it's side, however, numbers more than make up for this. Your army is very cheap and thus you should have no difficulties outnumbering the enemy. And when you start utilizing your officers, your forces become a fighting machine. Not only that, but the variety of Guard commanders available and the abilities they endow upon the rank and file are a blast! By far, my favorite is the Commissar's "Execute" ability.

As for the vehicles, they are extremly useful. The Chimera transports up to three squads and allows them to shoot out the window. The Sentinel (which looks like AT-ST from Star Wars) is a great anti-vehicle and Hellhound is a great anti-infantry, both of them working the best in packs, just as the infantry works best in numbers with officers. The Basilisk, "basi" for friends, is the best altilerly in the game. The Leman Russ is a great all-rounded addition.

And the Baneblade... the best relic unit in the game, when used correctly, he is ranged and should be kept at a distance from the enemy. As for Imperial buildings, most of them allow units to garrison inside, which makes for an interesting new twist to base defense. Builder units are also curiously strong in combat and fast in repair, making them perfect for fixing defenses under fire.

“Tell them we win this day or we die trying. There is no retreat!” - General Sturnn

Key principles

Key principle: NUMBERS.
1) They are weak in small numbers, but powerful in big numbers.
(Because your army is cheap, you can outnumber the enemy in most cases)

Secondary principles:
2) They have commanders that improve the squads they are attached to.
(Commisars have execution that restore morale and improve the fire-rate of all IG around them, Priests improve health and have Fanaticism that makes a squad imune, don't attach Psykers unless they're about to die or it's imperative that you keep them alive eg: enemy has infiltrators)
3) They are weak early game, but are hard to stop late game.
(A maxed IG army with comamnders attached and grande launchers is truly a force to reckon with and the baneblade... the most powerful relic unit in the game, if kept at a safe distance)
4) They are the most powerful race on defence in the game.
(Their anti-infantry turrets are the most powerful in the game [for many factions turrets have such a low damage that they are almost useless, this is not the case for IG], and they can garison troops in buildings in case of an attack [they won't do the same damage so it's not always recommended but the enemy can't directly shoot back at your units], and the Heavy Weapons Team is also badass)
5) They have the most powerful super-unit in the game: The Baneblade.
(Is a excellent long-range tank, and paired with 2 Leman Russes they become a force hard to much, just make sure they're not the ones taking the damage. And you also have a lot smaller, auxiliary but still badass vehciles. Basilik - the most powerful altilery in the game. Hellhound - powerful anti-infantry, attacks with fire and ruins morale; Santinel - powerful anti-vehicle, a pack of 3 of them can disable an enemy vehicle in no time)
6) Their army is cheaper than other races', but their buildings cost is average.
(And they also queue up faster, which means that economically you should have no problems getting more troops than the enemy and faster)
7) They have powerful range fighters but their weakness is melee fights
(Most IG units are powerful range and useless melee. IG only have 2 melee units: The Command Squad if you choose to focus it on Priests, and the Ogryns that are available only at tier 3, so for the most part if you have no melee units to bring in the middle you should always avoid engaging with melee troops, if they attack you run, when they stop chasing, fight back, there will be a time in tier 3 when you'll have so much firepower that a few melee units won't matter anymore, turrents and listenting posts, things that you can retreat to [then fight back], are your best friend for this reason)

"All Imperial Guards players I have ever met build turrets, and I can't get closer to them, so I actually lost a lot of requisition and power to build my army when Imperial Guards built generators and tech to tier 2" - JV (DoW Veteran)

"Predators are better than any other tier 3 tank or tier 2, but Baneblade with russes can outscale probably every unit in the game" - JV (DoW Veteran)

"In general the Imperial Guard have flat-out the worst infantry of all the factions and need extensive micro-management and upgrades to make them at least moderately functional, but they also have perhaps the best collection of Vehicles available." - Dark Crusade Wikia

"Quantity has a quality all its own" - Joseph Stalin, pro IG player.

Campaign Advices

- Always max out squad size. Always. Attach a Priest or a Commissar to improve the squads.

- Research everything. Increasing their morale and health is very important.

- Get their wargear depending on what you're going up against. Heavy infantry ? Get Plasma. Light infantry ? Grenade launchers will wreck them. (If you have to fight both, take Grenade Launchers since they are also efficent against Heavy infantry)

- Numbers numbers numbers. The duty of the Guardsman is to die for the Emperor, don't be afraid to let him. They're quick to train and reinforce.

- If the red circle appears around any of your squads, use "Execute" or get them out of battle and wait for their morale to recharge.

- Want a jack of all trades Commander Squad ? Add 1 Commissar, 1 Psyker and 2 Priests. Want a pure melee Commander Squad ? Add 4 Priests.

- When you can get vehicles, get them.

- Chimeras are transport vehicles Sentinels are dedicated anti-vehicles. Hellhounds dedicated anti-infantry. Basilisk is the best altilery in the game. Leman Russ is a good all rounder.

- Use infantry as avangard to protect your vehicles. Yet also use infantry as a powerful force, not mere meat shield.

- Can get the Baneblade ? Support it with infantry and vehicles and the game is won.

Commanders

There are 3 kinds of commanders, use them attached with your infantry troops.

* You should always pick either Commissar or Priest for Guardsmen. The Psyker should only be used as the last option, he can use the abilities regardless of whether he's attached to a squad or not, and doesn't give any pasive bonuses to the attached squad such as Commissar or Priest. The only real benefit of attaching a Psyker to a squad would be giving protection to the Psyker, which at times can be useful, especially when you need lots of Psykers and you need them to survive, but if you have to pick, pick the Commissar or Priest for Guardsmen.

* You should always pick Priest for Kasrkin Squad. They can take high advantage of the Priest bonuses. The Psyker should also only be used as the last option, the only real benefit would be giving protection to the Psyker, sure the "Lightning Arc" ability can be useful for Karskins, but you can always use that while having the Psyker attached to another squad and a Priest to Karskins. Let the Commissars to the Guardsmen for using "Execute" on elite and expensive units isn't really ideal.

* You should always pick Priest for Ogryns. The Psyker should also only be used as last option, for the protection of Psyker, although his melee attack is not that great, sometimes he may be better alone at a distance from where he can safely use his abilities than in the front lines with Ogryns. Don't use Commissars on them, they have no morale problems, and “Execute” on them hurts you more than the opponent.

1) Commissar (200 Morale + "Execute" Ability)
* Gives the squad +200 morale
* Has "Execute"

* "Execute" abilitiy that kills one Guardsmen, instanly restores full morale, grants morale damage immunity and double rate of fire for all your nearby infantry (Not only his squad) for 10 seconds. Double fire rate = Double damage.
* Cooldown 10 seconds (yes, you red that correctly, you can spam it).

The commissar shots Guardsmen without a special weapon and doesn't kill the sergeant. Unless there's no guardsmen without special weapons, in that case he'll shot one with a special weapon because he has no other choice.

2) Psyker (Damage to enemy abilities)
* Gives the squad 0 passive buffs
* Has 3 abilities: "Strip Soul", "Lightning Arc" and "Curse of the Machine Spirit"

* "Strip Soul" - 510 Damage to a single infantry unit.
* Does 150 morale self-damage.
* Cooldown 3 Minutes

* "Lightning Arc" - 400 Damage to a whole infantry squad.
* Does 150 morale self-damage.
* Cooldwon 3 Minutes

* "Curse of the Machine Spirit" - Stuns a vehicle for 15 seconds
* Cooldown 45 Seconds
* Does not disable special abilities of the targeted vehicle.

"Their psychic powers can turn the tide of a battle very easily, not to mention lightning arc's damage scales up the more infantry in a squad and against most enemies will instantly break morale. And also curse of the machine spirits is one of the most useful abilities the guard have, allowing you to make a quick escape or give your forces the advantage in combat, it can stun super-units including the monolith (necron structure), this is a huge advantage" - LemonLime (DoW Veteran)

WARNING: The Psyker's "Strip Soul" and "Lightning Arc" abilities do 150 morale self-damage to the Psyker or the squad he is attached to. In case you have him attached to a squad, it is best to detach him, use the ability and then attach him again. This is not the case for "Curse of the Machine Spirit".

Other then to keep them alive, there is really no point to attach a psyker to a squad because two of their abilities, strip soul and lightning arc, deal morale damage to the squad they are attached to.

3) Priest (50 Morale + 33% Speed + 125 Health + 50% Damage + "Fanaticism" Ability)
* Gives the squad +50 Morale & +33% Movement Speed
* Gives each soldier +125 HP & Increases their minimum and maximum damage by 50%
* Has "Fanaticism"
* "Fanaticism" ability that instantly restores full morale, makes them immune to morale damage and invincible (immune to health damage) for 10 seconds. (Priest's squad only)
* Cooldown 2 minutes

Command Squad

Command Squad / Requirements: Infantry Command / Cost: 100 Req, 25 Energy
HP: 435 / Morale: 450 / Armour: Commander / Squad Size: 1/3/5 / Limit: 1
Reinforce Cost: 80 Req & 40 Energy Commissar & Psyker; 90 Req & 40 Energy Priest
Reinforce Time: 20 sec General; 25 sec Commissar & Psyker; 35 sec. Priest

* 1/3/5 means that initially you start with 1 unit General Sturnn, but you can reinforce 2 more commanders to your squad. And after you research "Uncommon Valor" you can add an additional 2 more commanders to your squad until you have 5 units. If you lose General Sturnn he's simply treated as another unit and you can reinforce him again.

Assigning commanders gives you all the bonuses they would give to an individual squad if they were attached to except for Commissar's "Execute".

General -> Strafing Run (Bombardament)
Commissar -> +200 Morale
Psyker -> "Strip Soul", "Lightning Arc", "Curse of the Machine Spirit".
Priest -> +50 Morale & +33% Speed, +125 HP & +50% Damage to each member, "Fanaticism"

Compared to other race's commanders, Imperial Guard's Commander Squad isn't impressive. But you have the most versatile commander of them all. As the “Squad” comes out of Infantry Command it’s just General Sturnn. On it’s own it’s not bad, not very impressive either, but can be reinforced. This is where the Commander Squad's true power lies. They fight as a squad and can be reinforced like one. Every new member brings their own abilities to the table.

The choice of your squad members is pretty important for the effectiveness of your squad. What’s better for you? Pure melee force or jack of all trades. For pure melee add Priests in all four slots. They have the best melee stats and add the passive bonuses. This is pretty effective for hero-busting. For the jack of all trades add a Commissar, Psyker and 2 Priests. The squad has all abilities. You can choose the right ability at the right time, it's very adaptable.

Some people don't go for Commissar since they feel that +200 morale bonus won't do much, however, next to the General, he has more health than any other squad member, has the highest building damage, and is the only one to provide a worthwhile amount of ranged damage, that +200 Morale bonus isn't bad either when you're under heavy enemy fire. Although, not picking Commissar it's still a viable choice.

Tactica Control

From Tactica Control, aka the "armory" you can buy improvements for your units.

The first row of improvements will be available as soon as you have Tactica Control built.

The second row will be available when you reach tier 2. But to unlock the one in the right (called "Weapon Specialization") you need to research the one in the left (called "Satellite Targeting Resolution") first.

The third row will be available when you reach tier 3 and reserach "Kasrkin Quarters" or "Ogryins Quarters" from barracks because those upgrades are for those units and those units alone. The one that is unlocked in the picture (called "Powered Bayonets") is an Ogryin research. The other 2 are for Kasrkins and will be unlocked as soon as you research "Kasrkin Quarters". In this picture I have tier 3 without "Satellite Targeting Resolution" or "Kasrkin Quarters" researched to give you an example.

* When Tactica Control is built, you can recruit Sergeants and add 3 heavy weapons to every squad.
* You have 5 researches for Guardsmen, 1 for Command Squad, 3 for Kasrkins and 1 for Ogryns. (Because "Weapon Specialization" is both for Guardsmen's and for Karskin's heavy weapons)
* In Dark Crusade and Soulstorm you'll also have a reserach for Vindicare Assassin's infiltration.

I) Tier 1

"Death Before Dishonor" / Cost: 75 Req. 15 Energy / Research Time: 20 seconds
Effects: +15 HP to all Guardsmen / +100 Morale to all Guardsmen Squads
Doubles all Guardsmen squads' morale regeneration rate from 3 to 6.

Boosts the morale of Guardsmen, which is really needed. It’s rather inexpensive (75 Requisition and 15 Energy), so it gets high priority. However some people prefer playing without researching morale add-ons.

"Battle Armor" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 45 seconds
Effects: +25% HP to all Guardsmen (initially 40 HP, scales up to 50HP as other researches are completed) / +150 HP to all Guardsmen Sergeants (Attached priests increase it 44/157)

"Uncommon Valor" / Cost: 100 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +100 HP to all Command Squad members
You can now add up to 5 members in the command squad instead of 3.

Is quite expensive and unnecessary early game. You can leave it until the next tech tier, when you’ll need those extra members in your Command Squad.

II) Tier 2

"Satellite Targeting Resolution" / Cost: 100 Req. 25 Energy / Research Time: 30 seconds
Effects: Increases the range of Guardsmen Lasguns and Guardsmen Sergeants' Laspistols from 27 to 32.4 (+20%) / And the range of Guardsmen Plasma Guns from 25 to 30 (+20%)

"Will of the Emperor" / Cost: 75 Req. 15 Energy / Research Time: 20 seconds
Effects: +25 HP to all Guardsmen / +150 Morale to all Guardsmen Squads


"Weapon Specialization" / Cost: 100 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 30 seconds
Effects: Doubles the damage of all Grenade Launchers in the Imperial Guards army / And increases the damage of Plasma Guns by 50% (doesn't double as said in it's description) / You can now add 5 heavy weapons instead of 3 per Guardsmen squad.

III) Tier 3

"Genetic Enhancement" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +33% movement speed to all Kasrkin squads.


"Kasrkin Armor" / Cost: 100 Req. 50 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +25% HP to all Kasrkins and Kasrkins Sergeants (from 385 to 482 ; and from 400 to 500) (The bonus stacks to Priests' and Sergeants' bonuses to 125->156 and 100->125)

"Powered Bayonets" / Cost: 100 Req. 75 Energy / Research Time: 60 seconds
Effects: +25% damage for Ogryins and Ogryins Bone'eads.
(Ogryns Bone'eads are the Ogryin Sergeants)

Tier 3: Dark Crusade and Soulstorm only:
"Infiltration Research" / Cost: 150 Req. 100 Energy / Research Time: 40 seconds
Effects: Allows the Vindicare Assassin (cause you can't have more than 1) to use infiltration. (You already have infiltration in Winter Assault, no need to research it)

Build Order

I recommend learning this general build using SHIFT+TAB in-game to follow this guide as you play a skirmish game. Pause > Look at the Guide > Follow/Do. Learning by doing.
I also recommend to learn the hotkeys/shortcuts, it will save you a lot of time.

This is NOT the best build order ever. The best build order should be based on map and matchup and change durring the game according to how the situation goes. This is simply a general build order that is good enough to provide you with a solid game for skirmish and multiplayer (enough to beat CPU insane and have a fair game online) until you get to know the game more in depth and learn specific build orders or make good build orders yourself.

Tier 1 - Game Start

- Have the builder build 1 Barrack.

- Have the HQ queue up: Guardsmen, Guardsmen, Builder, Guardsmen.

- Have your Guardsmen capture SPs as soon as they came out in the field.

- When barracks are complete, queue up Hero (Command Squad) and then have your builder build 1 Gen.

- When the 2nd builder is created, have him help the 1st builder building the Gen.

- When Hero is created, have him reinforced with 1 Priest.

- While you do this, keep capturing SPs with your infantry until you meet with the enemy at probably the middle of the map (unless you're faster and capture more strategic points than him).

- When generator is complete, have your both builders build LPs on SPs.

- When you have captured all SPs that you could capture without a fight, regroup your whole army (3 Guardsmen squads and Hero) and start harrassing the enemy taking out their scouts or LPs.

( * You may want to set your Hero on ranged while harrassing this way * )

- This is pretty much the situation when you're going to get caught in fights, reinforce your squads if needed. Grenade launchers are very powerful all-purposes weapon upgrades. Don't have 2 squad fight while the 3rd one is capping unless you can take out the enemy in no time, if you are attacked while capping stop capping (unless the capping is complete in 2 seconds) and fight back even if you have 1 squad for capping and 2 others for defense, 3 squads = more firepower = less casualties = more casualties to the enemy. If even with the "capping squad" fighting you can't win get back-up from the other squads or rerteat, it's better to retreat if the alternative is losing your troops there. However, your the early game focus with your army should be on inflicting casualties to the enemy not securing SPs. If you ever need to defend, make use of turrets, Imperial Guards have the most powerful turrets in Winter Assault, and the second most powerful turrets turrets in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm after the Necrons. And you can garrison broken squads inside buildings.

- As soon as you have build LPs over all SPs you control, you should have your decent economy, have then your builders build 2 more Gens.

( * The order is generally, meaning in most cases: all LPs first > then some critical forward LP2s if necessary & you know you won't lose them > then all Gens > then the rest of LP2s. But it depends on map and matchup. As I mentined in the first section, I can never know your specific situation on the battlefield, if you need power go for generators, if you need requistion go for LP, if besides requistion you need defense too & have enough power to afford it upgrade LPs to LP2s. * )

- When the Gens are complete (and now you have a total of 3 generators), have your builders build armory (Tactica Control).

- When Tactica Control is complete, research "Death before Dishonor" from it (the top left research).

- The next part of tier 1 is again improving your economy (if you haven't already with 3 Gens in total and LP2s) and fighting for SPs. Depedning on situation you may or may not need to have Command Squad & at least 4 or 5 reinforced and upgraded Guards squards.

Tier 2 - First HQ add-on researched

- Research requistion upgrade and energy upgrade from LP and any Gens.

- Have the HQ queue up 1 - 2 Commissar, attach them to a Guardsmen squad, and spam their "Execute" ability while in combat.

( * You kill 1 guardsmen, but the others that are nearby, not only in the squad where you killed the guardmen, get instant maximum morale & double fire rate for a few seconds * )

- Build the vehicle building, and as soon as the building is up queue up a vehicle. "Santinel" is anti-vehicle, "Hellhound" is anti-infantry, "Chimera" is transport, "Basilisk" is altilerly. "Leman Russ" is a good all-runded tank.

* To increase Imperial Guards infantry population build more barraks, and to increase their vehicle's population build more vehicle building. (+6 infantry/vehicle cap per Infantry/Mechanized Command)

Ending

A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt.

Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

Educate men without faith and you but make them clever devils.

The man who has nothing can still have faith.

Fear denies faith.

Faith without deeds is worthless.

A small mind is easily filled with faith.

For the Emperor!

[oghie1kenobi]

I GOT THE REACH 'N' THE TEETH OF A KILLIN' MACHINE
WITH A NEED TO BLEED YA WHEN THE LIGHT GOES GREEN
BEST BELIEVE I'M A ZONE TO BE
FROM A YING TO MY YANG TO MY YANGTZE
PUT A GRIN ON MY CHIN WHEN YOU COME TO ME
CAUSE I'LL WIN I'M ONE OF A KIND AND I'LL BRING DEATH
TO THE PLACE YER ABOUT TO BE
JUST NOTHER' RIVER OF BLOOD RUNNIN' UNDER MY FEET

[III-DanSolo-III]

I just started Winter Assault and this guide looks really useful to learn how to play Imperial Guards so nice one!

[Enzo Dinhinh]

thanks to your guide, I was able to beat chaos AI on hard as imperial guards before they even got vehicles

[fentanyl testicles]

step 1
spam leman russ tank
end

[chesesthepanini]

as a new player to dawn of war as a whole i will use this well thanks for this guide

-Cadia Stands!

[green dwarf]

the fist of the emperor is only weak in the beginning after all no one is strong when they strike with one finger.

[Artorias]

Basically: Russian tactics in WWI, II.

[The Ultramarine]

Tier 3 Imperial Guard is OP!!!!!

[BOLSHEVIK]

Excellent Guide!

[Shokinjager]

Excellently organized and comprehensive guide to the Hammer of the Emperor
Well done brother!