Dawn of War Codex

Let me preface my thoughts by saying that I am new to GK. However, I have never got the chance to use the Purifiers. And that is sad because they can work wonderfully with the new Librarian. The reason being you are awfully underprepared for vehicles...so you need either the dread or the vindicare guy. I think these guys should have the option to switch to heavy melee if required. Or some sort of good av options...which will make them viable tier 2 units... Otherwise its just better to go tier 3 and get terminators...right now without them GK plays like SM..with a interceptor..and a range strike squad....GK is supposed to be a melee centric army.The way I see it there may be three options to alleviate the AV problem as well as make purifiers viable..

1. Give an option to strike squad to get a missile launcher kind of weapon.keep purifiers as it is.

2. Give purifiers optiob to go av ....heavy melee and health buff maybe

3.give librarian an ability that make purifiers go anti vehicle for some duration...


The librarian works for a melee centric built but the strike squad is now neither great at melee or range..and the purifiers are not good against av. So most people cant take a risk and go purifiers and librarian only to see a dread coming towards you...

Purifiers are a great unit on their own, and their justicar already does heavy melee, supported just by the BC they are even better, right now they are in a perfect spot that doesn't need changing.

The vindicare is cheap and there exactly to provide the hard AV you need to deal with a walker, there isn't need for anything else, beside you also have rhinos which can be used to carry the purfiers around making them very very scary in the same way you bring sluggas around with a trukk.

Purifiers already are AV with their Justicar. Their weakness as an AV unit is that they need to get into melee, but changing their damage to heavy melee won't fix this; you just need to combine them with a snare. Even with heavy melee they would get countered by walkers, which is supposed to counter melee anyway.

Strike squad already have an AV option, even if it isn't great.

Purifiers are most efficient when accompanied by a Terminator Librarian true, but it's a bit more complex than that.

First off, their stats: http://www.dawnofwar.info/index.php?pag ... /purifiers
(additional things to note would be that they have increased health regeneration while in combat, increased melee charge range, more courage (meaning they get suppressed slower by sources of constant courage damage such as setup teams) and that the justicar's demon hammer has a 15 percent chance to deal weapon_knockback on hit)

Purifiers achieve constant melee superiority over enemies in two ways:
First off, their ability (Psychic Field). This does NOT deal friendly fire, so right before the melee brawl kicks off (generally right before the enemy squad enters charge range) you want to cast it at the feet of the purifiers so that the enemy squad(s) are under escalating damage as time goes on.

Second of all, the mind blades global ability, which buffs their melee damage (it buffs ranged damage too but no one cares about that on puries) and melee skill. The damage buff is nice, but the melee skill buff (+10) is most significant. With it, purifiers trigger their awesome special attacks quite often even vs things such as leveled shees. The purifier justicar has a tracking special attack with a very large AoE so its great for owning kiting squads and just providing lots of disruption in general.

Purifiers do not line break in t2: you have a Brother Captain for that. They are the follow up unit to the initial charge, they counter-initiate, and they can somewhat dislodge big blobs with Psychic field (although this does leave them exposed to focused fire). For this reason, they are quite awesome alongside a Vindicare Assassin as any unit attempting to close for melee will be promptly owned.

Another thing to note: Purifiers have an ability to restore 30 energy to have an allied unit that has a quite low cooldown. Use this in conjunction with a Terminator Librarian to keep his abilites constantly ready (especially Might of Titan for extra damage resistance and more melee skill). Also use this in conjunction with a teleporting Brother-Captain so you can utilize both Teleport and We are the Hammer to full effect.

All in all, they are an awesome unit, and I've had leveled purifiers take on seer council and nobz with frenzy on cooldown and come out on top. I'd recommend them vs almost every commander in the game, with the exception being the warboss, who takes away your melee skill advantage and against whom you typically need more sources of ranged damage in general.

Replays with some purifier usage, one by me, one by the Caeltos Lord himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zjFwV5 ... Oh8EUyUpIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMfk5iE ... K_e51tKfFA

I am not saying Purifiers are bad..in fact they are pretty good. But due to the lack of AV on GK's side.... you are in a deep hole when say a vehicle comes out...nids do not have tier2 vehicles but a chaos dred would completely own that build as other than purifiers...there is nothing that scares me in GKs roster.....Purgation squads are too easy to counter, IST are fragile, and SS are neither good in melee or bad...


I loved GK but it is really frustrating to counter mass melee..as purgation flames are not reliable and small range... GK is so slow and has poor ranged damage that any snare by shoota boys or termas counter my squads...not to mention the slow speed of BC and other squads....how on earth can i support the jump troops when BC and SS takes aeons to come near them..and they get slaughtered by the banshees... THE slow speed of BC makes him very susceptible to retreat kills and kiting...all in all I find Gk rpetty underwhelming but interesting :

I feel the problem with GK are as follows:

1. Poor mobility; Rhino with SHI and bolter might help
2.Hero moves too slow: Increase speed or give him combi flamer kind of thing
3. SS is possibly the worst squad in the game..
4.Lack of melee control in tier1 vs mass melee like orks or nids...no scout shotguns (grenades are difficult to hit) and inefficient suppression
5. Not so good AV..no snares...

I generally go for 2 IST, 1SS,1 JUMP TROOP, then t2, AV either VA or Purgation suqad, get teleport... by that time i have a walker hulking down...if it VA i can probably push the walker bcos his shots are not conspicuous but the purgation squad gets shut down immediately and I am at the mercy of the walker...there is nothing i can do.. i dont have a ML nor a power fist..only a multi melta grenade which requires my dedicated V to stay in place...


I am not an expert player but the nerfs to IST (which are correct for such a cheap squad) has not been backed by appropriate buffs to the strike squad..right now...GK plays very much like SMs...with SS being a vagabond's Tac squad ..couple that with a slow hero and lack of AV or artillery and no good melee other than Purifiers..you have a recipe for disaster....

Gk's have a snare.

Ultimately it all depends on your composition and your opponent's composition, for example, purifiers beat the crap out of ogryns but are pretty bad against IG in general, especially the inquisitor, and you have other ways of dealing with ogryns (and even more next patch) and whatnot, what you can try to do (and something I've had some success with especially in this patch) is sort of "stall" in t1, using your BC to tank all the damage, capping up the map, and getting to t2 by spending only 30-50 power in t1.

Then you can start getting stuff like the dread OR purifiers+VA combo, purifiers are so strong alongside the vindicare because they'll mulch most jump troops with the except of UYC stormboyz and the the Vindicare is excellent at peeling models of setup teams and forcing them to run, giving your puries free reign over the rest of the field.

Purifiers may not fit your playstyle, especially in team games, experiment with the GK libby+VA combo some in team games or even just skip t2 altogether (get a las rhino).

krimson wrote:I loved GK but it is really frustrating to counter mass melee..as purgation flames are not reliable and small range... GK is so slow and has poor ranged damage that any snare by shoota boys or termas counter my squads...not to mention the slow speed of BC and other squads....how on earth can i support the jump troops when BC and SS takes aeons to come near them..and they get slaughtered by the banshees... THE slow speed of BC makes him very susceptible to retreat kills and kiting...all in all I find Gk rpetty underwhelming but interesting :

I feel the problem with GK are as follows:

1. Poor mobility; Rhino with SHI and bolter might help
2.Hero moves too slow: Increase speed or give him combi flamer kind of thing
3. SS is possibly the worst squad in the game..
4.Lack of melee control in tier1 vs mass melee like orks or nids...no scout shotguns (grenades are difficult to hit) and inefficient suppression
5. Not so good AV..no snares...

I generally go for 2 IST, 1SS,1 JUMP TROOP, then t2, AV either VA or Purgation suqad, get teleport... by that time i have a walker hulking down...if it VA i can probably push the walker bcos his shots are not conspicuous but the purgation squad gets shut down immediately and I am at the mercy of the walker...there is nothing i can do.. i dont have a ML nor a power fist..only a multi melta grenade which requires my dedicated V to stay in place...

I'm not an expert, but I've been doing a lot of mass melee build lately and I can tell you some things that good GK players have done to annoy the heck out of me.

For one, I wouldn't get a Strike Squad at all. Go for a 3 IST opening into an Interceptor; get Purgation if you're trying to deal with stuff charging at your IST squads. I know Purgation's range is limited, but the thing is, they also bash power well and require no setup time.

After that, a Rhino is going to help your ISTs get out of trouble quickly. Getting charged down by Heretics under Khorne worship? Pop in and reverse the hell away. Your Rhino is also going to be a source for AV with the Lascannon on top. Interceptors can get Krak grenades for 7 second snare that also disables the vehicle's weapons.

The Vindicare, properly micro'd not only bleeds models but also does a good job versus vehicles. Combined with the Interceptors and Rhino, you're probably going to be okay AV wise mid game. Later on is when you might run into issues vs things like Baneblades, but that's why you have Paladins.

Purifiers are also excellent, but they're like KCSM. You can't lead the charge with them or else they'll get focused down, and honestly, they're better in conjunction with Purgations to counter initiate. Using the Purifiers correctly might allow you to get away with getting Purgation Psycannons instead of the Incinerator, so voila, there's another source of reliable AV.

The thing is, if you have a bunch of guys with psycannons shooting at you, you're either going to run away or go after the psycannons. And then the Purifiers can drop psychic field under the purgations and engage.

Again, I'm not very good, but I watch a lot of commentary and I'm okay at putting 2 and 2 together based on my experiences. Hope this helps.

Purifiers may not fit your playstyle, especially in team games, experiment with the GK libby+VA combo some in team games or even just skip t2 altogether (get a las rhino).

QFT

@OP
Really it has always been this. Purifiers don't fit my synergetic playstyle as I've always been more on the lines of liking the quick teleportation>krak nade snare> to help support my allied units in slowing it down to be taken out.

However, Purifiers will do much better in situations where there is a heavy melee presence on the field and interceptors wont be able to cut it so you need something a bit more sturdy to go in toe to toe with them.

Usually those players who use purifiers love to utilize the GK libby and vindicare. The players that like to utilize the interceptors usually love to utilize the dreadnought and then go T3.

Also there is a difference in that of playstyle in terms of tech timing. Usually purifier players will tech quickly to get them out as soon as possible because they make the most impact in the beginning of T2 and allow them to gain the experience to be a worthy unit towards end of t3 as opposed to where if you were to pick them up around the same time everyone else is getting their t2 units, they won't make that much an impact. They like to level off the squishy t1 units and become capable of then being able to overpower the t2 units coming out due to the level gains.

Finally to note, Purifier vs Interceptor play usually comes down to player choice of focusing on the mid game or the late game. In the late game purifiers are a sturdy unit but will certainly and noticeabley begin to have trouble going up the heavy hitter t3 melee units. Interceptors in t3 are straight up support and harass. You snare vehicles, tie up weapon teams, quick tele- finish off units, and tele gen bash.

Purifiers are used more along the lines of a counter unit to stop any melee units from getting in ranged lines. with the help of strikes enery steal snare ability this allows the purifiers the needed time to take care of charging melee units and relieve you of pressure. Once all your opponents melee units are disposed of and their major threats are now off the field, it is then safe to send them in to the fray to tie up your opponents ranged units while your ranged units now get "free" shots at them.

So at the end of the day, Neither playstyle trumps the other. They both have a strong synergetic purpose of their own. Personally I'd say to learn to use them both. This will cause your opponents to always be guessing at what you are going to do. Also you will become a more well rounded GK player.

Hope this helps

Very new player (under 200 hours) that has been playing GK exclusively in PvP. I am using the triple IST opening right now because I am finding the SS very underwhelming and have a hard time capping up points without my IST squads around. My question is basically when to go for Purifiers? I usually go with 3 IST and Interceptor Squad, T2, then a Purgation Squad if I think I need them. At this point I usually lose focus and become unsure about my next unit purchase. I know it has a lot to do with what you are fighting, but when would a good GK player think to themselves, "Purifiers are what I need right now instead of another Interceptor Squad, saving up for a Dread, or looking to go T3 quickly.

Also, does anyone make SS's work reliably? I have seen Forestradio's replays with 2 SS but beyond that rarely see SS. They seem to struggle in T2+ because they don't keep up, Is there a plan to fix the Psycannon in the next patch. If that gave ML, or near ML anti tank they might be more useful, with the flexibility of Incinerators to bash and Psycannons to counter AV.

cowboy_the17 wrote:Very new player (under 200 hours) that has been playing GK exclusively in PvP. I am using the triple IST opening right now because I am finding the SS very underwhelming and have a hard time capping up points without my IST squads around. My question is basically when to go for Purifiers? I usually go with 3 IST and Interceptor Squad, T2, then a Purgation Squad if I think I need them. At this point I usually lose focus and become unsure about my next unit purchase. I know it has a lot to do with what you are fighting, but when would a good GK player think to themselves, "Purifiers are what I need right now instead of another Interceptor Squad, saving up for a Dread, or looking to go T3 quickly.

Also, does anyone make SS's work reliably? I have seen Forestradio's replays with 2 SS but beyond that rarely see SS. They seem to struggle in T2+ because they don't keep up, Is there a plan to fix the Psycannon in the next patch. If that gave ML, or near ML anti tank they might be more useful, with the flexibility of Incinerators to bash and Psycannons to counter AV.

isn't this highlighted question answered by the other members right after the OP? It also explains why.
Is there something that was said that didn't answer your question?

cowboy_the17 wrote:My question is basically when to go for Purifiers? I know it has a lot to do with what you are fighting, but when would a good GK player think to themselves, "Purifiers are what I need right now instead of another Interceptor Squad, saving up for a Dread, or looking to go T3 quickly.

In my experience the best time to go for purifiers has always been as a first t2 purchase when you are fairly certain you have at least a small tech lead. Don't get them vs IG unless there are ogryns, and I'd be wary of using them against a warboss as well. Vs pretty much every other commander they do great. Combine them with a Vindicare Assassin and/or a teleporting BC (yes this is expensive, but it's also good).

cowboy_the17 wrote:Also, does anyone make SS's work reliably? I have seen Forestradio's replays with 2 SS but beyond that rarely see SS. They seem to struggle in T2+ because they don't keep up, Is there a plan to fix the Psycannon in the next patch. If that gave ML, or near ML anti tank they might be more useful, with the flexibility of Incinerators to bash and Psycannons to counter AV.

Indeed Strikes work fine imo, they are rarely used due to their weapon glitch and other factors. But there's no rule that says you can't have both 3 IST and a SS, same as 3x tics+CSM or 3x scouts+tacs, experiment around with different BOs and see what you can do. The glitch is being fixed in the next patch and indeed has been fixed in the beta build.

In my fairly small amount of experience with GK, 3 Ists + SS is probably the way to go in my opinion. Getting the SS out first really helps out with the first two engagements as a good line breaker and then you can have them do capping and support duty throughout the game if you want. They'll be better next patch with the glitch fixes as well.