On a more specific topic: Does anyone have any tips or tricks about how to best utilize some of the abilities of the Orks?
I plan to play as them as much as possible, and will eventually find some of the answers myself, but feel free to contribute any information you'd like. I'm happy to learn!
I'll start like this(Pretty Generic for any Faction you want to be good at)
-1. Get a notepad and begin to write up everything that is strong about your commander and everything that will give your commander trouble so that way, you will have stronger knowledge of how your commander ,in this case you said the Kommando Nob plays on the field. If you can't play your commander well, then your already at a disadvantage. Play him against all the races, and keep tabs like in notepad on your phone since you will always have it with you, about what upgrades work well on certain races, and what manner of style to play him against certain races (passive, aggressive, supportive). Eventually over time this becomes second nature and you may even begin to find yourself going outside of your own set pre-existing preferences because you know match-ups that favor such a setup- or a play style despite it not normally being a good idea to.
-2. Note the strengths and weaknesses of every unit in your faction and as to what match-ups they favor, those which they don't, and those which just may require an upgrade to make them more respectable for the siutation or maybe just a unit to help support them.
Example: Say you don't get burnas on your sluggas when facing chaos because you feel they get wiped too often and don't want to risk the investment, However, by having that flamer you may be able to wipe heretics in retreat because of that flamer as opposed to their default slugga pistols (which are the crappiest guns in the game )The flamer makes you much better at chasing down squads and potentially be able to harrass power....- You should know such risk/ advantages of every unit/ upgrade
Micro which is pretty much what your question is concerning only grows with experience as you become accustom to scenarios that will be presented upon playing. The more scenarios that are projected to you, the better you become at identifying what is happening and being able to adjust to the situation. Eventually when you become advanced enough you won't be thinking how do I counter my opponent, you won't even be thinking what will they bring out, You will only be thinking what do I want to do, and based on what I want to do, do I have the units and synergy based on upgrades to deal with any situation that is presented to me where micro is the only decisive measure to take into question.
How do you best use the Warboss and what gear should you prioritize for him? In many ways, I find that he's very similar to the CL/BroCap, except he is vulnerable to suppression. In my very limited experience with the Orks, I've found that Shoota boyz easily shut down the Warboss if they use their on-demand suppression ability on him as soon as he is in range.
The fact that he can get shut down so easily has been a major concern of mine, and is a reason why I haven't played around with him very much. At this point, I'm really not sure if the Warboss can go toe to toe with other heavy melee heroes, or perhaps should be relegated to being more of support tank role instead of charging in and causing disruption.
Warboss has always been the cream of the crop, He can be controlled very easy and is a very linear and 1 dimensional commander. How he performs truly is dependant on the upgrades you give him. Now noting what I said before about knowing what upgrades to get in certain situations, you have to keep in mind that if you heavily upgrade your warboss that means unless you find extra power that you won't be able to really bring out or upgrade any other power units.
However to my experience he may not usually get an upgrade in t1, if he does and if there is one upgrade that I feel outshines the rest it has to be Angry Bitz. The one thing that this commander lacks more than anything else is the quickness to get into engagements... this upgrade reallys helps make up for this, and provides disrution as well. a close 2nd is spiky bitz...this upgrade makes anything that doesnt have powered armor really think 2x about engaging him because this armor really shreds apart light infantry..Everything Else after that is truly situational and most likely bought because you wanted to get those upgrades based on your pre-existing thought for the build you wanted to go for the tier.
Example
Say I wanted to run 2x sluggas, shootas (A build people dont run too often but is extremely powerful when played correctly, much better IMO than 2x shootas). Well, I'm probably getting a bang bang hammer to send the damage they are doing over the top and make anyone scared as hell to come up against this blob. Then I may decide to get flamers on 1 slugga squad deciding that, I really want this slugga squad to survive and am ok with losing the other 1. this slugga squad now has some 15% extra health and 2 power melee weapons in addition to greater chasing and wiping potential only further increasing the fear factor of this blob. Then I decide I want some StormBoyz so that I can jump any set up teams my opponent may decide to go out of their way and get becfause they don't believe they could deal with it any other way... then I'll get a big shoota on my shootas so that I can have aiming watz dat to be able to suppress a unit say a suppression team, or just any unit to close and get in melee with it or keep it from wiping a squad. All in All keeping in mind power that is 40 +15+40=95 power spent in t1 which is pretty high but, I'm betting that I will certainly get plenty force offs and win most my engagements (Mentatility/ Confidence in your planning and synergy among your units) and be able to burn/shoot/ wack down my opponents power to make that 95 power that I spent rather non existent in comparison to the loss of power they will take because of Gen farm bashes.
Example 2
Say I'm playing against chaos notably the sorcerer and I'm playing warboss. Well from experience this is one of the worst match-ups if not the worst match-up in the game. The sorcerer will hard counter my lootas, jump my shoota blobs, and tics will destroy my sluggas in combat with doombolt, and havocs and noise marines counter any ranged and even closing melee units. Well I may just totally decide to say F it. And throw every bit of power into my commander and bank on the Warboss to keep me in the game. I'll give him the BANG BANG Hammer, the spiky Bitz, and the angry bitz attach him to a unit of shootas with big shootas to help suppress a unit to save or instigate a combat and just let him go to town on my opponent and bank on that getting me to t2, where I gain tools to be able to start dealing with my opponents units.
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The Ork roster is huge compared to some of the other factions, and until recently I've been slightly overwhelmed by it. When do I want Tankbustas for anti-tank, and when do I want to convert my Loota into a Beamy Deff gun? If I get Tankbustas, they do have that barrage ability that can function as artillery - do I still want to get Stikkbombas?
This really is experience and planning on your part based on what you want to do. Tankbustas and Lootas offer great AV IMO. However they have their own uses. If you expect or see the engagements are constantly moving maybe tankbustas are the best option because they are a more mobile AV unit such as facing against tyrant guard or a blood crusher/ Chimera. Say you come acorss a truly heavy Vehicle tank such as a dreadnought, maybe it's time to pull out some harder AV with the beamy deff gun and set up the engagement where you will get a few shots off on it when it walks in the firing arc. And then by swarming it and blocking its path out continue to put more shots on it, utilizing the snare. Maybe you want both the ability to snare it and chase it down with tank bustas, the choice is up to you.
Stickbombaz truly are a special case unit in my books. They are a fantastic unit but really you only get them when you absolutely see something and cant resist getting them. Say you run against 3x guardsman in a 3v3 and my opponent has set down a bunker. You can bet your sweet @$s I'm getting some stick bombaz. Maybe my opponent has just been blobbing hard, here's a situation to stun them put in a ton of dakka and then nade them.
However, my best advice when getting t2 is always to be thinking about getting 2 units. This way your not always wondering. Have a plan in mind and execute it, if you feel in such a position that you don't require the second unit choice then that's fine. Never feel like you don't know what your next move is. You should always know your next move. The best of players can plan out tier choice unit they will get every tier and every upgrade they will get in that tier almost to a T (Perfect) They know what they're doing, have brought into account synergy and countering units they may come across, And if something needs to be changed because they see something then, they know actively what they are changing as opposed to just going a whim
I've noticed that Stormboyz are just really fragile and easy to lose, especially before you get a Nob for the squad. I'm guessing they're extremely situational... but when would I use them? I watched Indrid's Orks vs Tyranids Faction war casts, and Codex/Marceline got Stormboyz often even though according to Indrid, it was a bad idea. When is it a good idea to get them
Stormboyz are possibly IMO one of the best units in the orks faction. They are rediculous when paired up with the warboss who can give them ard boyz and use ur choppas. They become extremely tough with a nob. The jump pack upgrade (which you should always get) increases their jump radius, the cd on their jump and provides bomber boy which is amazing in terms of the strategy to be able to jump a weapon team, bomber boy the 2nd and rush in with the boyz from the back suppressing the 2nd that just got knocked up by the aiming watz dat ability.
Stormboyz aren't usually a unit your getting as a change up unit, most of the time they are planned. When you want to get bomberboyz is when you know you may be coming across set-up teams ( Eldar predominately, SM, sometimes chaos, Nids especially if they went ranged blob) The one army you should never... and I mean NEVER get them against is IG. They will shoot them to fing Pieces I promise you that. Sentinels will knockback and stun them once they jump all they will do is bleed you tons and tons or resources and if they come across catas, their chances of getting wiped only skyrocket further because of "Ol reliable, their shotguns knockback, and power weapons. If you do get them against Ig, it's because you've taken care of the sentinel in t1, their are no catas, and most likely your opponent has done something seriously wrong to put themselves in a position where they are a better choice than getting stickbombaz or a wierdboy. . Usually though you will get lootas, some stickz, wierdboy, go t3 get some kommandos or something, and get out as much AV as possible to beable to deal with the Leman Russ tanks.
Which Weirdboy upgrade do I want to prioritize first?
Depends. Most likely this a planned upgrade. Even then Vomit is such a great upgrade, you may not even find yourself needing anything else. Usuallly however, You want the Over dere, or Warpath upgrades on him...at least for me... Boosting the speed of units nearby or throwing them across the field so evade suppression/ comboing the kommandos explosive ability which is very notorious alongside flinging the mekyboy using mega rumblah.(At least I believe you can still do that, I haven't seen it done in a while)
Ive watched numerous Ork replay casts by Indrid and Maestro Cretella, and it seems that the players who get to T3 often choose between Nobs and Flash Gitz somewhat haphazardly. I understand that Flash Gitz seem to have more anti-infantry capability, while Nobs are just generally good at everything, so, when do I want Flash Gitz
They are always planned units, based on what you have to synergize them, most likely replacing something you have that is weaker like sluggas>nobs or shootas>flashgitz or it might just be because they work best for the situation. If you find yourself coming across ranged terminators/ blobs of ranged marines then 2x flash gitz may be a great idea. They will shred through Spave Marine because of the damage they do and psychic pvp damage. Other Times, you may want something to help give you some "umph" in close combat and moreover give you something to leads the pushes. Nobs fill that role better than almost any unit they have especially with Frenzy.
All in all I hope this helps, but really only time and experience with many games as well as taking your time and taking in information based on your results will you really begin to see the improvement.
Also You should be utilizing Waagh and aiming watz dat more than ability in your army. Waagh provides a damage and speed buff. So knowing when to use it is a big deal as well. Say your in a winning fight with SM using sluggas. Instead of popping Waagh during the engagement, use it when they retreat get the speed buff and extra damage buff then and add that on to the extra damage they will take from melee when retreating and pull off another few model losses/ squad wipes. Other occasions such as when you come across a range defense maybe popping the Waagh early before even getting into the engagement to just speed up the sluggas getting into combat is better than popping it in combat.
