Dawn of War Codex

Hi all,

Long time watcher of Elite Mod casts that just got the game. I love table top 40k and play a lot with the Grey Knights. Looking to practice a lot and get into PvP. I have been looking for any GK tacticas/ unit break downs I can find and lurking the forum learning all I can but have some questions.

I am watching lots of battle casts and playing basically nightly against the AI in an effort to get good enough to not get owned. I love the GK fluff and feel and have been playing them in all my practice games vs the computer. I have a few questions about the GK army.

Incinerators => seam to not really do much damage and suppression takes so long that coupled with the short range, my squads often get over run when faced with melee units unless it is a Purgation Squad and even then, it does not always work. Are Incinerators actually useful beyond bashing gens? Seams like to little DPS and to little suppression to actually be worth it otherwise.

Psycannons => seam like the better option over the Incinerators because they actually kick out some damage at long range. I usually end up taking these on my SS to give them some ranged punch but have had mixed results. Is a t2 SS with Justicar/ Psycannon / Psybolts a worth while ranged option or am I better off keeping them in Melee stance?

Hard time stopping t1 melee => is this just a GK weakness or am I doing it wrong. I feel like I just have to avoid/ shoot and retreat from Shees and melee nids, hoping to just hang on until I can get a Dreadnought. The Purgation Squads can stop the small nids, but the Shees just run right through the suppression and eat the unit unless I pull them back in time.

Having a hard time seeing a use for Paladins over GK TDA. Is it simply that the Paladins kill AV with Hvy. Melee? Seems like GK TDA would be better in most cases unless you need that AV crunch effect. Also, Incinerator or Psycannon on these? I have been going with Psycannon basically because it has better range and because they are SOOOOOOOO much better in tabletop than Incinerators. (may be a habit I need to break)

IST => plasma guns a viable option? Most people seem to go with the Grenade Launchers instead and I have heard people say the plasma DPS just does not match up, even vs. Hvy/ S. Hvy Infantry.

Why do GK not have a power melee unit in tier 1 when both Eldar and IG have one? The whole army is carrying force weapons which are by definition... power weapons. If some jungle commando with a knife can be power melee, why can't we?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1154
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1199
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1016

These will give you some tips I guess, as for the rest you're already doing it by watching casts. Make sure to sub all three channels:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DoWReplaysNet/videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/HalfGamingChannel
http://www.youtube.com/user/RadicallyDreaming/videos

Incinerators => seam to not really do much damage and suppression takes so long that coupled with the short range, my squads often get over run when faced with melee units unless it is a Purgation Squad and even then, it does not always work. Are Incinerators actually useful beyond bashing gens? Seams like to little DPS and to little suppression to actually be worth it otherwise.

It depends on the unit. SS incinerator is useful if you need some anti-garrison on the field quickly or if you have a genbash opportunity. Purgs are useful as well (make sure you use their ability), what you want to do at the start of the engagement is keep them behind the rest of your guys, with the BC leading the charge, then move them up to try and roast stuff that charges your IST and SS.

Psycannons => seam like the better option over the Incinerators because they actually kick out some damage at long range. I usually end up taking these on my SS to give them some ranged punch but have had mixed results. Is a t2 SS with Justicar/ Psycannon / Psybolts a worth while ranged option or am I better off keeping them in Melee stance?

Psycannons are anti-all and do nice dps, they're awesome. Melee SS is not very good in t2, they'll hold their own but you should be using them for their abilities+versatile ranged damage.

Hard time stopping t1 melee => is this just a GK weakness or am I doing it wrong. I feel like I just have to avoid/ shoot and retreat from Shees and melee nids, hoping to just hang on until I can get a Dreadnought. The Purgation Squads can stop the small nids, but the Shees just run right through the suppression and eat the unit unless I pull them back in time.

We are the hammer helps a lot with kiting. If you're having trouble focusing stuff down buy another IST squad. If you want more kiting, get a rhino. If there are big melee blobs get nade launchers.

Having a hard time seeing a use for Paladins over GK TDA. Is it simply that the Paladins kill AV with Hvy. Melee? Seems like GK TDA would be better in most cases unless you need that AV crunch effect. Also, Incinerator or Psycannon on these? I have been going with Psycannon basically because it has better range and because they are SOOOOOOOO much better in tabletop than Incinerators

. The incinerators do a ton of damage to light infantry, psycannon is more versatile and can help snipe down kiting tanks like predators, etc.

IST => plasma guns a viable option? Most people seem to go with the Grenade Launchers instead and I have heard people say the plasma DPS just does not match up, even vs. Hvy/ S. Hvy Infantry.

It depends on what you're facing, the extra disruption from the GLs can be nice (as can their ability to fire over obstacles) but plasma does more damage to HI and SHI generally and the plasmas are also getting majorly buffed next patch.

Why do GK not have a power melee unit in tier 1 when both Eldar and IG have one? The whole army is carrying force weapons which are by definition... power weapons. If some jungle commando with a knife can be power melee, why can't we?

Basically just design, purifiers in t2 are your dedicated power melee unit, no power armor race has power melee in t1, their versatility and durability more than make up for it.

Hard time stopping t1 melee => is this just a GK weakness or am I doing it wrong. I feel like I just have to avoid/ shoot and retreat from Shees and melee nids, hoping to just hang on until I can get a Dreadnought. The Purgation Squads can stop the small nids, but the Shees just run right through the suppression and eat the unit unless I pull them back in time.

We are the hammer helps a lot with kiting. If you're having trouble focusing stuff down buy another IST squad. If you want more kiting, get a rhino. If there are big melee blobs get nade launchers.

Unless it's banshees, because banshees run basically as fast as your rhino with FoF and do additional damage to HI, plus if you try to hide your units inside to protect them from the shees then these units can't shoot the angry gals while they rip your rhino to shreds. So as weird as it seems rhino isn't a counter to banshees especially considering your rhino is subject to vehicle pathing.

Thank you for the help. I will look over these resources before bothering the thread with other questions that are more than likely already addressed other places in the forum.

Unless it's banshees, because banshees run basically as fast as your rhino with FoF and do additional damage to HI, plus if you try to hide your units inside to protect them from the shees then these units can't shoot the angry gals while they rip your rhino to shreds. So as weird as it seems rhino isn't a counter to banshees especially considering your rhino is subject to vehicle pathing.

The rhino should _always_ be backing up regardless of situation in big engagements, if you play it conservatively it can be used against any race, and it does not need to tank, the BC already tanks as do the SS to a lesser extent. Not to mention that shees don't have enough health to just catapult themselves into a GK army in t1.

Thank you for the help. I will look over these resources before bothering the thread with other questions that are more than likely already addressed other places in the forum.

There's no shame in asking question either here or in the strategy forum (viewforum.php?f=11), ultimately the best advice is to play more and get more experience.