Dawn of War Codex

Hey everyone Element here, and for those who dont know me I have veen playing the Apothecary quite a lot as of late, and Ive noticed how the buffa to ither factions have been mitigating the Apothecart's early game role as a means of productively timing up units in melee.

The Apothecary starts at 600 h.p. Now this here is a great problem. Yes he has a 150 hp heal in the beginning but you should be using this upon other squads not helping the apo reach beyond the small health cap he has which is sometimes not even truly effective given he can be run down so easily. There are glass cannons and then there is just glass. This character is glass. Unless you give him some type of armor to enhance his health in early engagements (Which is questionable of a choice given his combat prowess the need for other upgrades, other commanders and his role type as often being played just behind the front lines supporting the other infantry units) his health just evaporates. And at 600 anything less than 400 is danger territory. If he is special ed 1x you may just lose him. He does have a heal but what people don't seem to always realize is that specials> heals given you can't heal when you've been knockbacked.

Another grave problem is his mobikity (without upgrades). He's not like a lord Commissar who is rather fast on his feet especially when he used his power sword abikity. In addition at least the Commissar lord comes with a shield though not one of the best shield like the Techmarine but still it keeps him around. The Apothecary is not a Mekboy with a teleport either who can jump his way out of problematic situations(the Apothecary is quite often run down) and I would say begins his role with a ranged weapon, continues his role (more effective means of timing up units with insta teleport) and can even finish his role better than the Apothecary can given the Mekboy can heal and even has A.V. that the apo has none of.

Now I agree the Apo's heals can turn the tide of an engagement but he shouldn't be in melee without some type of upgrade and this in itself makes him rather quite ineffective to place it nicely in the beginning of matches in melee as he often is being placed out of position than what he is looking for. His master crafted bolter also seems to be doing noticeably non effective damage at 32 dps. where many of the default weaponry of most other ranged commanders without an upgrade due more.

Basically he is a danger in early tiers to being lost and quite in effective at dealing out any meaningful damage in higher tiers unless extensively outfitted yet even when he is, he is still no where close to a match for those who are whom are dedicated which one would say should be the case but not to where it would have been better to just not upgrade him at all given he needs investment to be played properly. Healing is great until you realize you need to turn your health advantage into a strength, but when you don't have the Abilties to create such an opening problems ensue. I think the greatest problem is that there are some units notably the Farseer and the Mekboy who can do the role of the Apothecary via an upgrade and outperform him in just about everything else.

I would say a health buff would somewhat help, but I really do think a default bolter with him just tieing up units in melee would at least solidify him towards being effectivIn some kind of damage dealing role in the beginning. as right now his pistol does 16 dps is not bad but not going to help win an engagement either and his melee is negligible when it comes to having to face dedicated seasoned commander and even melee units with much larger health pools, greater chances to special, and the wargear to make them as proficient as they need to be at dealing with what needs to be done, not some pseudo sorta-kind of capability at being able to do so like the Apothecary. I just don't believe in placing in harms way without some actual real benefit to have him in melee in the beginning. He has a greater chance of being wiped than anything. His master crafted bolter also needs to do more damage because right now it's pretty weak.

Thoughts?

Element wrote:Thoughts?

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Default bolter would be nice. Could be to his stormbolter what the mastercrafted bolter is to the techmarine's default. Would keep away any buffs that affect him after wargears get purchase since he's fine after the very start.

Giving him a defeault bolter with about as much DPS as the TM, or even just the mekboy, will make him absolutely beastly in opening engagements. Him and his tacs will then be able to outlast AND outshoot pretty much all other races with only dakka as their openers.

I think the apo rewards skilled play, by giving you a unit that can tie up other units if used properly, although the punishment for failing (and the chance to fail), is a bit high, I'll admit.

by giving you a unit that can tie up other units if used properly

I get the feeling that extends to every single unit in the game. It's a matter of whether they have something better to do than that.

If you position your units well you can win many first engagements with that heal. Not bleeding is also a huge deal.

Sanguine Chainsword massively extends his charge range and grants hp on melee AND ranged attacks.

His synergy with ASM is undervalued in your post, not even mentioned.

Permanently healing everything around him is a huge asset. The Apo blob of death is a real thing.

I get the feeling that extends to every single unit in the game. It's a matter of whether they have something better to do than that.

-However some units do it better than others, and with better means of application and escape. That is what is I noting here.

If you position your units well you can win many first engagements with that heal. Not bleeding is also a huge deal.

Sanguine Chainsword massively extends his charge range and grants hp on melee AND ranged attacks.

His synergy with ASM is undervalued in your post, not even mentioned.

Permanently healing everything around him is a huge asset. The Apo blob of death is a real thing.

-I don't under value his healing with A.S.M. but I don't over value it either. Health is only good as you are not being consistently specialed by other units and have greater means of being able to not just attain models losses but attain finishes as well. I take all this into account and given 450/50 A.S.M. may lose out to a 270 req unit of sluggas 350 req unit of banshees (though most likely they are upgraded), cultist champion heretic, with waaagh and the tiniest amount of support It's more so rather a respective value than undervalue. (enabling them to do a little bit more than what they should be doing already for such a cost investment as they are now.)

But ASM were never meant to solo Sluggas or Banshees. But with the right support they will do it easily. Apos heal aura delivers constant hp regen which makes a huge difference. The heal before model loss is super important because you won't bleed power as well, while you are bleeding the enemy and getting that very important exp for your ASM. ASM with shotgun AND Apo support are a nightmare for Eldar unless you are the Warlock e.g.
You could also jump ASM into the enemy and throw Purification Vials after them. With their high hp/model and the heal they should win the fight vs Sluggas/Banshees.

Element wrote:


-I don't under value his healing with A.S.M. but I don't over value it either. Health is only good as you are not being consistently specialed by other units and have greater means of being able to not just attain models losses but attain finishes as well. I take all this into account and given 450/50 A.S.M. may lose out to a 270 req unit of sluggas 350 req unit of banshees (though most likely they are upgraded), cultist champion heretic, with waaagh and the tiniest amount of support It's more so rather a respective value than undervalue. (enabling them to do a little bit more than what they should be doing already for such a cost investment as they are now.)

don't want to be mean or anything but i feel like you should play a litlte bit more of apo to learn how to use him correctly, we had some matches and i don't think you would've made this post if you properly used asms and scouts.