Dawn of War Codex

Hey guys,
so I am really new at this game (just got it about 3 days ago and have played through some of the campaign) and I want to get into the multiplayer. I really have no clue what I am doing and was curious if y'all could give me some standard build orders for the space marines and which heroes you guys prefer and when you should get nodes and gens and just some general tactics

As a new player myself, I recommend watching VOD's of people playing Space Marines, preferably 1v1's so you can pay close attention to the things you are asking about.

well, im going to start by saying that, EVERYTHING comes with time and experience with the game, nothing can beat that.

now with that in mind, im going to go over a few build orders for SM. im not going to say "you must get this squad" because it largely depends on the matchup, map and what commander you are.

buy a tactical marine squad instantly, there is never a situation where you wont need them. your tactical marines are your bread and butter unit and will be doing the most dps in T1. they also have a 150% capping speed.

now if you're playing 1v1s, you'll need to buy a 2nd scout squad after your tac purchase, so that you can run around the map and cap things with them. as we're on the topic of scouts i'll go more in depth.
the shotgun upgrade for scouts is really nice, it brings their dps up to respectable levels and gives them a knockback ability, this ability will be how you control melee squads in T1.
the sargent gives you a really nice frag grenade, really nice for flushing units out of cover and buildings, and if they dont dodge it, it'll do a lot of damage. the sargent is also a detector (can see nearby infiltrated squads) and adds durability to the squad. if you can learn to be good with grenades, its a really good upgrade. it is however expensive at 25 power, so it needs to pay off.
snipers are your garrison counter from scouts and are just good at picking off models from long range. you do give up that shotgun blast though.
elite training is a no brainer, does what it says on the tin. infiltration and health regen. can be used to sneakily decap points or sneak up to your enemies army if they dont have a detector.

Assault marines are your setup team counter, you can jump them on to entrenched positions and to tie up units.

devastators are your setup team, can be used to suppress and thus counter ranged blobs, just be careful of setup team counters. each race has one. in T2 they can get a lascannon which is a vehicle snare and the mainstay of SM AV.

there is something called the 1-1-1 build which is one tac+one dev+one asm squad. its versatile and can be used to tackly most T1 compostions. but if you spend power on your scouts/commander/tacs then you might be a bit behind in tech. this however is all up to you to decide if you really need an upgrade and if you can deal with the inevitable quick vehicle from your opponent.

once T1 is over, its largely reaction based with what you get, dread for big blobs of melee, librarian to support devs, pdevs if you're floating req or want some ranged disruption etc etc. like i said it will all come with time and experience.

ghorms suggestion of watching casts and streams is a sound one, if you're someone who learns from watching other people play that is.

here are a few casters and streamers:

https://www.youtube.com/user/DoWReplaysNet - indrid, one of the biggest casters. i learnt a lot from him when i was starting out.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RadicallyDreaming - Maestro

streamers:

www.twitch.tv/venkitsune - myself, i stream every day almost.

http://www.twitch.tv/megametzelfleischer - max power, map designer and streamer.

you can join the elite steam group for announcements when someone starts streaming: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/DoW2EliteMod

About general tactics:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=718

You may have already read this but I'll just leave it here if you missed This is a very handy "essay" so it is wort the time reading it.

Thanks ven! Your insight has been really helpful and I'll make sure to check out your stream. I'm still playing against AI right now to get a better handle of the game but am looking forward to start playing with other people

Devastators counter ranged units in T1 but then they are even better at countering melee units that do not have a jump (Or even jump squads if they are positioned behind something the jump infantrya squad jumps. For example sniper scouts). In T2 devastators are even more of an anti melee (or anti vehicle) squad due to increased dps of the ranged squads etc.

The Scout infiltration is a very good upgrade but it is 15 power so you probably don't want to get more than one of them in T1 (most certainly it is not usually a priority unless you go snipers). Getting it T2 is a good idea though. It will increase the survivability of all scout variants so much. If you do get this in T1 I suggest getting it first to the scouts in actual combat duty like the one scout squad you have upgraded with sarge and/or shotguns.

Ofc this is all dependent on playstyle, match up, your own economical situation compared to your opponent's and what your opponent actually does and has in the field.

Opening with three scouts into tactical marines/asm/devs/whatever is also totally viable but requires a bit more micro so it is not exactly a newbie friendly build.

1-1-1-1 build is viable but i would suggest a second scout even with that so 2 scouts, tac, dev and asm. It is a strong T1 with a lot of transitional AV potential in T2. The reasoning behind the second scout is map control. If you choose to go for this build you will most likely need to put out some serious pressure though especially if you see your opponent is not spending much in T1.

Watching SM players like for example Tex, Noisy, ParanoidKami, Dark Riku, Torpid, Codex and Toilailee (Toilet does really trolly builds at times though) will give you an idea about build orders and how to really use the squads. Paying attention to their positioning etc.

http://www.twitch.tv/codex_hel/c/2708551 Watching Codex's casts and analysis is very helpful. He really has some good insight.
https://www.youtube.com/user/okihelena/videos Link to his Jewtube channel.

Also Cretella's, Red Rupees and ofc Indrid's casts are worth checking. Cretella tends to analyse the game a bit more so for learning experiences he is also a good caster. Indrid is an awesome caster while he does not tend to analyse the game as much he most certainly is a great caster with a large archive of great games from different level players casted.

Nurland wrote:Devastators counter ranged units in T1 but then they are even better at countering melee units that do not have a jump (Or even jump squads if they are positioned behind something the jump infantrya squad jumps. For example sniper scouts). In T2 devastators are even more of an anti melee (or anti vehicle) squad due to increased dps of the ranged squads etc.

The Scout infiltration is a very good upgrade but it is 15 power so you probably don't want to get more than one of them in T1 (most certainly it is not usually a priority unless you go snipers). Getting it T2 is a good idea though. It will increase the survivability of all scout variants so much. If you do get this in T1 I suggest getting it first to the scouts in actual combat duty like the one scout squad you have upgraded with sarge and/or shotguns.

Ofc this is all dependent on playstyle, match up, your own economical situation compared to your opponent's and what your opponent actually does and has in the field.

Opening with three scouts into tactical marines/asm/devs/whatever is also totally viable but requires a bit more micro so it is not exactly a newbie friendly build.

1-1-1-1 build is viable but i would suggest a second scout even with that so 2 scouts, tac, dev and asm. It is a strong T1 with a lot of transitional AV potential in T2. The reasoning behind the second scout is map control. If you choose to go for this build you will most likely need to put out some serious pressure though especially if you see your opponent is not spending much in T1.

Watching SM players like for example Tex, Noisy, ParanoidKami, Dark Riku, Torpid, Codex and Toilailee (Toilet does really trolly builds at times though) will give you an idea about build orders and how to really use the squads. Paying attention to their positioning etc.

http://www.twitch.tv/codex_hel/c/2708551 Watching Codex's casts and analysis is very helpful. He really has some good insight.
https://www.youtube.com/user/okihelena/videos Link to his Jewtube channel.

Also Cretella's, Red Rupees and ofc Indrid's casts are worth checking. Cretella tends to analyse the game a bit more so for learning experiences he is also a good caster. Indrid is an awesome caster while he does not tend to analyse the game as much he most certainly is a great caster with a large archive of great games from different level players casted.

i'd like to point out here that nurland is speaking entirely about 1v1s. in 3v3s map control doesnt matter so much so you and your teammates will be fighting in "lanes"

so here is a picture of Argus desert gate, one of the most popular 3v3 maps



the part of the left is the "bot" or "bottom" lane. its also refered to as the resource lane on this map. if you start with your base closest to there then its your job to go on the bot lane and fight against one other player. you fight over the power and req points, however your priority is defending your power, pushing and destorying the other teams power is a bonus. whoever is on the bot lane controls the majority of the resources you and your teammates get, so play wiseley

the lane in the middle is the middle lane, it has the "natural" VPs of each team alongside some resources. its up to the middle player to decided when and how to support etc. communication is key in teamgames. for example if you're mid and your teammate is being "double", attacked by two players then your teammate should let you know by saying "2" in chat, then you should go support depending on whos being doubled. most mid players will however stick to the top lane a lot of the time and go mid occasinally to cap stuff.

and the top lane, the one on the left of the image is the VP lane. this is where the contested VP and your other natural resource farm is. your job is to take and hold the VP on top and defend your power. thats about it, but again, communication is key. some rare cases will mean you'll need to go to middle if you cant push top even with the help of teammates.

hope this helped.