How to play orks

[DandyFrontline]

Hi. I've recently tried to play with orks and i found them really weak against SM, CSM and GK in first place (if the opponent have pretty same skill).

For example: Chaos guy got 2 csm + havok + heretics with champion (or even with nade launcher) + Chaos lord or Plague champ with sh*tthorower and/or nade. How to counter at t1 with orks (with WB hero for example)? Sluggas are impossible to get in and even so, they just got raped. Shootaz die too fast as well (also they cant even shoot under havok), stormboyz? Suppressed immediately by heretics and raped without doing any damage to havok or any other unit (specially with new havok melee resistance). Really, what can i do? Okay, we have survived t1 and now got t2, sluggas are stronger now with nob leader, also i can build additional unit from t2 like wartruck/stickbombaz or weirdboy, but the chaos guy upgraid his CSM for OP damage (+ new very strong ability of CSM witch rape sluggas once more) Havok got upgraded too and also he made dread. What's now? Requisition bleed is catastrophic, when chaos almost not loosing his models and at one moment we came to the situation when i have no req and chaos got some phobos or termis.

Pretty same situation against SM. I say again, we talking about situation if the opponent is not a noob.

And after all this, in last patch orks had only nerfs, and SM and CSM only buffs. I dont get it. Everybody plays CSM and SM, some eldar and IG, and it's really rare too see a ork player.

P.S. Dont want to create new topic for that, but IG chimera rally point upgrade should have lower cost or give some good stuff. In most situation it is better to make medical bunker and use execution to stop retreating when run near your bunker witch heal and reinforce both.

[Ar-Aamon]

Play defensively in T1 against the PC, minimize your bleed and hold the power farm. Push hard in T2 with Stikkbommaz. That should work for you.

[Batpimp]

If you plan to win vs that CL or PC with those size armies you need to invest in a large army as well. 2 shootas and a slugga wont be enough. Even the basic units NEED the upgrades in my opinion to last long enough to make a difference. Your comparisons to SM are very very weak. This is a big time different battle because the tics, CL or PC buffs are way more scary than SM globals or dmg output. you WILL need to invest in power upgrades.

These tips are assuming your playing team games. That's what I see you play most often anyhow.

without talking about tactics you have a few options:

WB combo 1
Get bang bang hammer to punish an aggressive CL by hitting him with the hammer or any unit that approaches the shootas.
Get angry bitz to charge his entire army letting your sluggas potentially move in without dmg. This will also buff the shootas and all the units that you bring nearby. You cant underestimate bang bang plus shoota dmg. it gets unreal! Especially for storm boyz

You could add the cybork implants or spiky armor but don't forget you still have to buy either storms or loota or painboy

WB Combo 2
You can also try the boss pole and stormboyz. and bang bang hammer. I think it was tex or torpid that tested this in 1v1 and found good results. This saves you from buying a painboy sometimes .This will buff your entire army with HP boost and its especially helpful with stormboyz to avoid bleed and it buffs the DMG of stormboyz, which ROCKS CSM.

With this combo I usually save red to use ardboyz because the dmg will be free from the bangbang hammer assuming your units are in range. You could add a painboy to make this especially tanky for the stormboyz to last longer in fights but you have to use good judgement if all that power is worth it.

these are two simple solutions that work for me but a lot of it depends on experience or if your winning fights. Nothing is guaranteed. Let me know what you think.

[DandyFrontline]

@Batpimp Hmm... sounds good. Ill try it and then will reply. Just think ill have a problem with dread. Orks got really weak AV in my opinion, no snare weapons and tankbustus dont really do good job against tuff guys like dread. And their cost is 400 req witch is a lot.

[Daddy]

Don't under estimate tankbustas. their presence alone makes me, a csm player, nervous with my dread.

This tip is from a PC player.

As advised above, WB with the charge ability(donno what it's called) slaps around my PC like a ragdoll.
Especially when further invested into. His spiky armour wrecks Heretics.

Essentially all you have to do is tie up the CSM with your Warboss to restrict their dmg output.

Upgraded shootas wreck CSM and cause a lot of bleed.

In 1v1, multiple sluggas really put the hurt in CSM armies. Especially when I have only made 1 heretic squad.

Also if you perfect your stormboy playstyle, they will absolutely chop down marines with impunity in T2.

If you see no vehicles, get a wierdboy, his vomit and knockback attacks are excellent when dealing with CSM.

What you have to think of is to tie up or keep the CSM from firing, and you will have drastically gained the advantage and reduced bleed for you.

Use your globals...a lot, Use-yer-choppas and ardboys, I see used a lot and they give me lots of grief.

Another option In T2, get your transport, and put the pressure, because you will have effective and efficient on-field reinforcement, which Chaos lacks.

This is all just based on my experiences facing orks.

[Vapor]

Don't hesitate to buy 2x tank bustas if a walker is a serious threat.

[Dark Riku]

Orks got really weak AV in my opinion, no snare weapons and tankbustus dont really do good job against tuff guys like dread. And their cost is 400 req witch is a lot.

Bustas cost 300 req and are amazing. Thanks to their barrage they aren't just AV either, they can be used to counter setups for example, the barrage will also do horrific amounts of damage if you manage to hit heretics with it.

[DandyFrontline]

Bustas cost 300 req and are amazing

Yea, Riku, i have mistaken. 300req is acceptable. Thought they are 400 for some reason.

@Batpimp

I've played some games with ork's using your tips and it's really helped me. Thx

[Batpimp]

right on pimp!

[egewithin]

You don't have to play so technicly, just try to have fun. That is the point of the Orks.

Get double Shootaz and upgrade them as quick as you can to outshoot everything. Even you can take down a Hive Tyrant unless it gets too close to you. Burnaz are not a must if you have upgraded Shootaz to bash power. Remember; there is no such thing as enough Dakka.

Get Stickbommaz and throw them! Just to have fun. If he placed Havocs, stun them or bomb them up. Get Tankbustaz to explode some stuff. Vehicels, generators, turrents, Havocs.

Never forget



Well, if heretics are a problem for you, kill them first. You can melt them if first fights. Keep your Sluggaz away from them untill they are not a treath anymore.

OR

Send them to CSM. Heretics will follow them, while they are following, shoot them from back and force them to retreat. After that, you are free. Becareful to Plague Champions grande (It hurts much more than you can image) or Sorcerers doombolts (They hurt too much if all of them hits). Chaos Lord is tough but can not take 3 squads of Orks in T1. Can he take them in T2? Maybe.

For Havocs, I don't know. I play Kommando Nob. I stun it or Stickbomma it. Get Stormboys and jump to them. Than kill heretics. while they are runnig to your Stormboyz. If they reach your Stormboyz, just retreat them, not worth to take risk as you already know, what am I talking about?

[Batpimp]

^^ this guy lol

[Tex]

I haven't played in a long ass time, but assuming that things haven't changed too much, orks vs chaos is largely (in T1) about choosing the correct "matchup" for a unit/hero in regards to the location on the map they will be used in. If you have successfully held off the early chaos aggression (largely due to doomblast being awesome and sluggas being fodder in T1), then you need to sense this moment, and understand that it is time for a blob push towards your chaos enemy's power farm with likely just your hero as a flanker to distract the inevitable havoc squad.
An example of a proper matchup for a unit/hero would be sending your 2 shoota squads down the same map corridor as an enemy chaos lord. Or sending your sluggas (upgraded with burnas) down the corridor that has a direct path to your enemy's power farm (doing this enables you to counter-bash with 1 unit in case you find yourself out of position against a blob pushing towards your power farm). Another example would be matching up your hero against the heretics (the warboss of course can match up against anything other than a havoc).
I cant stress enough how important early game matchups are.

In your example, once the chaos player is established in his build, you really need to play on the outside edge of the havocs, and really look for an opportunity to flank. Make him pay dearly for every inch towards your power farm by staying in green cover, shooting at his advances, and then backing up to more cover outside of the newly established havoc range. If the enemy hero is a chaos lord, I highly recommend spamming waaaaghh!!! in T1 as it will give you the damage and damage resistance you need to send that stupid hero back to base instead of allowing him to line break. Also, remember that ardboyz gives your shootas 25% ranged damage resistance so don't be afraid to use it in fire fights.
There is no set build against chaos, other than that you will need at least two units that can do good ranged dps (1 shoota + 1 upgraded wardboss or mek or vanilla knob, or +1 shoota, or +1 loota)

If you get out of T1 with an economy intact and haven't lost squads, the weirdboy and the wartrukk should be automatic purchases. Even if you don't have the micro to use a weirdboy properly, just group him with your shootas and watch them counter the entire chaos backline. Next, use the wartrukk to constantly position your fully upgraded sluggas between your enemy's backline and his powerfarm. This way you will always have the choice of flanking his army or his economy. At this point you should also be turning on "auto-reinforce" onto your sluggas.

The most common response by chaos as soon as they get into T2 is to build a dreadnaught or bloodcrusher, and combine it with a powerful wargear. The most common being armor of the inferno. As soon as that dreadnaught comes out, consider yourself to be on the backfoot until tier 3 and have some extra care with your engagements. This is such a critical juncture in the matchup that I'm going to stop at this point.

All I can say here is that you need to make a choice: Do you commit to killing the dreadnaught with heavy investment? Or are you close enough to going T3 that you will have enough time to not only get there, but also pop out a looted tank (nobs are NOT efficient vs chaos in most cases)?

A chaos player who pushes properly with the dreadnaught should be able to gain access to your powerfarm within 2-3 minutes of it being produced (the khorne and tzeentch variants are THAT powerful). Are you going to play it safe but consequently stay in a tier that chaos dominates? Or are you going to take the risk, open a window for the chaos player, but then slam it closed with the ultimate anti T2 chaos weapon (looted tank spam).

[Tranca]

I haven't played in a long ass time, but assuming that things haven't changed too much, orks vs chaos is largely (in T1) about choosing the correct "matchup" for a unit/hero in regards to the location on the map they will be used in. If you have successfully held off the early chaos aggression (largely due to doomblast being awesome and sluggas being fodder in T1), then you need to sense this moment, and understand that it is time for a blob push towards your chaos enemy's power farm with likely just your hero as a flanker to distract the inevitable havoc squad.
An example of a proper matchup for a unit/hero would be sending your 2 shoota squads down the same map corridor as an enemy chaos lord. Or sending your sluggas (upgraded with burnas) down the corridor that has a direct path to your enemy's power farm (doing this enables you to counter-bash with 1 unit in case you find yourself out of position against a blob pushing towards your power farm). Another example would be matching up your hero against the heretics (the warboss of course can match up against anything other than a havoc).
I cant stress enough how important early game matchups are.

In your example, once the chaos player is established in his build, you really need to play on the outside edge of the havocs, and really look for an opportunity to flank. Make him pay dearly for every inch towards your power farm by staying in green cover, shooting at his advances, and then backing up to more cover outside of the newly established havoc range. If the enemy hero is a chaos lord, I highly recommend spamming waaaaghh!!! in T1 as it will give you the damage and damage resistance you need to send that stupid hero back to base instead of allowing him to line break. Also, remember that ardboyz gives your shootas 25% ranged damage resistance so don't be afraid to use it in fire fights.
There is no set build against chaos, other than that you will need at least two units that can do good ranged dps (1 shoota + 1 upgraded wardboss or mek or vanilla knob, or +1 shoota, or +1 loota)

If you get out of T1 with an economy intact and haven't lost squads, the weirdboy and the wartrukk should be automatic purchases. Even if you don't have the micro to use a weirdboy properly, just group him with your shootas and watch them counter the entire chaos backline. Next, use the wartrukk to constantly position your fully upgraded sluggas between your enemy's backline and his powerfarm. This way you will always have the choice of flanking his army or his economy. At this point you should also be turning on "auto-reinforce" onto your sluggas.

The most common response by chaos as soon as they get into T2 is to build a dreadnaught or bloodcrusher, and combine it with a powerful wargear. The most common being armor of the inferno. As soon as that dreadnaught comes out, consider yourself to be on the backfoot until tier 3 and have some extra care with your engagements. This is such a critical juncture in the matchup that I'm going to stop at this point.

All I can say here is that you need to make a choice: Do you commit to killing the dreadnaught with heavy investment? Or are you close enough to going T3 that you will have enough time to not only get there, but also pop out a looted tank (nobs are NOT efficient vs chaos in most cases)?

A chaos player who pushes properly with the dreadnaught should be able to gain access to your powerfarm within 2-3 minutes of it being produced (the khorne and tzeentch variants are THAT powerful). Are you going to play it safe but consequently stay in a tier that chaos dominates? Or are you going to take the risk, open a window for the chaos player, but then slam it closed with the ultimate anti T2 chaos weapon (looted tank spam).

Holy shit. I just tried keeping my sluggaz in the same lane as the power farm of the opponent. Why didn't I think of this before!!!
Also auto-reinforce? Omfg so many things to learn !

I have a couple of questions, if it's cool!

1) You mention that once CSM has a Dread or Bloodcrusher, Ork is on the backfoot. Is this still relevant for the current patch, with Tank Bustaz being 300req and available in T2?

2) Edit: Answered my own question... =.=

3) Can Stormz be made more effective with Boss Pole, if I wanted to go that route to mess with supression, until I reached T2?

4) Is Boss Pole a legitimate counter to doom blast in earlier fights?

Sorry to ask so many questions, I just have trash winrate with every hero, except WB. The difference is huge too... 0% with KN, and 50% with WB. I kinda feel like that wargear does alot to mess with what chaos does early game. It may also be that WB is newbie friendly, that's why I ask you (and the rest of everyone! lol)

Thank you for the info, mang !

[Tex]

Tankbustas are incredibly easy for chaos to counter (raptors, burst fire from TCSM, bloodletters, hero focus, etc etc. And they stop shooting when suppressed). Lootas do a much better job of bursting down vehicles. I say orks are on the backfoot once the dread comes out because it is so immensely powerful. The khorne dread will literally shut down anything you can throw at it until T3.

Stormboyz are very effective against chaos, but I would say that they are best used in combination with the mekboy and/or the painboy. Chaos has very efficient counter initiation in the AC heretics and, with havocs now being melee resist, you wont get as much bang for your buck. With that said, well used stormboyz can absolutely wreck this matchup as when they are combined with warboss globals, they can 1v1 any unit that chaos can field other than the Kdread, Phobos, and the GUO.

Boss pole, now that it has been made cheaper, would be a decent way to counteract doomblast. It will certainly make you more durable, but I don't think it prevents the suppression.

[Tranca]

Thanks for the reply, mang! It's good to know that stormz are legit... fkn love 'em !

Imma go ahead and be a little more annoying, 'cus all this advice I'm picking up is winning me games! LOL

How do I deal with Nids? Generally, what's a good opening against them?

Crippling Poison completely destroys my army, especially backed up by Warriors and Mines. I don't mind doing the Sc2 marine split to deal with the mines, but it's retardedly difficult to do it if I'm slowed down by some ungodly high %. While I'm trying to micro against the mines, the other 90% of his army is wailing on me. From there I can say goodbye to any map control.

Honestly... playing against Nids just feels like I'm wasting the next xx minutes of my life fighting a losing battle.

I really hate to bring the ladder into this because it's not very populated, but Nids currently hold a 100% winrate.

I have specced a shitton of games, and I still have not seen a single player beat a Nid.

Do I just dodge nids 'til they get balanced, or is there some magical way to play agaisnt them?

Also... OMFG TEX! I made some Eldar player ragequit! After I specced your game, I tried out your fully pimped out shootaz build and harassed... 8min win ftw! Fucker didn't even concede, just quit... =.=

[Crewfinity]

Nids are op and the match up sucks balls.

Spore mines make it almost impossible to win first engagement, and then barbed stranger hits the field super fast and dominates the match up the whole rest of the game.

To counter:
Play very defensively in first engagements. Keep sluggas back, try to focus hero and mines with shootas and send hero to cap or harass termas.

Double crippling poison and barbed stranger shuts down any and all melee.

Get lootas and keep him at arms length with shoot a upgrades.

[Tranca]

Nids are op and the match up sucks balls.

Spore mines make it almost impossible to win first engagement, and then barbed stranger hits the field super fast and dominates the match up the whole rest of the game.

To counter:
Play very defensively in first engagements. Keep sluggas back, try to focus hero and mines with shootas and send hero to cap or harass termas.

Double crippling poison and barbed stranger shuts down any and all melee.

Get lootas and keep him at arms length with shoot a upgrades.

icic So, blobbing with my hero is not a good thing, then. At what point do you think orks can start bringing the fight to the nids, T2?

[Asmon]

You said melee is out of the question, yet the KN + 7 sluggaboyz strategy comes to mind. Especially with new burna upgrade.

[Tex]

Nids is super tricky for sure.

For me, when I play WB, the key unit is stormboyz. And here is what you need to know:

1) Use the stormboyz to put your opponent into a "defensive micro set". You need to jump on top of his warriors and start pounding them. Make him panic. This distraction should allow you enough time to get your sluggas into the termagants asap. Use the shootas to focus down spore mines, heros, or hormagants.

2) Make sure to defend your power at all costs, getting to T2 asap is very important because this is the tier where you can actually fight nids.

3) When you get to T2, your most important purchase (assuming your composition is sluggas, 2x shootas, stormboyz) is a wartrukk. What you want to do is open engagements with bommaboy on the termagants. It does outrageous amounts of damage, and gives your shootas a big edge in the ranged fight. Have your storms and sluggas on auto-reinforce. Once the stormboy model has been reinforced, jump right onto the zoanthrope, venombrood, or warrior brood.

4) This matchup coughs up a ton of red, spam UYC and ardboyz like you never have before. Also, remember to use Ardboyz on your shootas when they are locked in a ranged firefight.

5) If your opponent gets a tyrant guard, defeat your opponents army first, and then work on the tyrant guard after. As WB, your sluggas and stormz can eat that thing up in seconds.

6) If your opponent goes for melee synapse and genestealers, just kit out your warboss with claw, cybork, and the trophy rack. He will accomplish nothing lol.

Hope this helps!

Oh almost forgot! Against the LA, don't be afraid to over-invest in T1. This is when the LA is strongest and he brings literally nothing to T2.

[Tranca]

Gonna take this time to personally thank all of you who have helped me become a better player!

Honestly. I started out with ~18% winrate and now it has spiked up to 36% and climbing! I know win rate isn't everything, but I consider it a good metric of skill, provided one does not abuse the system!

Again, thank you all! And, watch out for me in future tournaments, 'cus I plan on not stopping 'til I'm top 5!

[Wise Windu]

Not sure if you caught the stream, but Atlas casted some games earlier of Tex vs Forestradio, Orks vs Nids.

Here: http://www.twitch.tv/atlastheinquiring/v/33179612

Starts around 58 minutes in.