Monday, March 11, 2013

Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 14 extra deployment 1 - The Last Stand (End of Campaign)

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We could just keep doing optional missions to grind for gear or to get a higher Accolade score, but since there is nothing new to see in the game, we decided to just finish the campaign with this mission.

Mission 31 The Last Stand (end of Space Marines campaign)
  • Day 14, extra deployment 1
    • Fury, Resilience, and Speed stars are not displayed as in a usual mission summary, but they are still counted and contribute to your final Accolade.
  • Infestation: Calderis 1, Typhon 0, Meridian 0
  • Brood Nests
    • Eight are mission-critical and cannot be destroyed until ownership is transferred to the Tyranids and they become marked as hostile.
    • The rest count as unoccupied buildings. Ownership eventually transfers, but they do not spawn any Tyranids (or do so very, very, slowly).
  • Phase 1 - Poison Location 1
    • You start with a defense mission before the other squads deploy, so definitely take Avitus and/or Thule. For once, drop Cyrus from roster because he will come in later anyway.
    • Once you have started poisoning the root, or when you move far enough from the root that needs to be poisoned, you will get a warning that the Tyranids are coming. The waves eventually end when poisoning is complete.
    • The Tyranids come from the four nearest Brood Nests, and initially those four Nests cannot be destroyed until they become hostile.
      • If you attack them prior to them becoming marked as hostile, they remain grey. Not clear what the consequence of this is.
      • If you can destroy them during the attack waves, you can limit the number of weak Tyranids coming at you. But since they are heavily guarded, it is unlikely that you can do so more conveniently than simply weathering the waves.
    • When you get two turrets, put them at the bridge, on the side where your drop pod landed.
    • I recommend that NO Teleport Relay Beacons are secured at this time or during the next phase.
  • Phase 2 - Poison Location 2
    • There is an unlimited amount of time before you need to poison the second location. Use this time to clear the map of all but 4 Brood Nests that you cannot destroy.
      • The four closest (from Phase 1) will be guarded.
      • Another four will also be guarded -- these are the ones that you must destroy once you start poisoning the second location. Until they become marked as hostile, you cannot harm them as they are mission objectives.
    • Use Cyrus to spot for Thule's Barrage, which has very long range. Use this to destroy the dangerous Tyranid Warriors with Venom Cannons that guard the nests.
    • When you begin poisoning the root, four nests activate. You can set up your squads to destroy them before you start poisoning the second location:
      • Set a Remote Detonator at the furthest one.
      • Position Cyrus (Infiltrated) to use a Detonation Charge Pack.
      • Position Thule to Barrage or Melee attack one.
      • Position Avitus in Terminator Armor to Melee attack one (even if he has an Assault Cannon -- it is faster when his whole squad attacks it).
    • When you start poisoning location 2, a series of dialogues and scripts start. If you destroy all four nests too quickly, you won't get 3 more Turrets since the destruction of all four nests flags immediate success of the objective.
    • There is one big wave of attacks from the four nests. After that, nothing happens. You have to destroy the nests to complete poisoning the root.
  • Phase 3 - Last Stand
    • This occurs after you have poisoned the two Hive locations. Carnifexes with Venom Cannons, and several Tyranid Warriors with Venom Cannons, converge on your location. They come in three directions. When you have destroyed one Carnifex, the Armageddon arrives and uses Orbital Bombardment on the remaining two. If you are lucky, the Tyranid Warriors will be close enough and get destroyed as well.
    • Instead of fighting in three directions, retreat toward your drop pod to limit their approach to a single direction.
      • You really want to start Thule retreating to the drop pod even before the cutscene and being given the objective to kill as many Tyranids as possible.
      • If you didn't capture any Teleport Relay Beacons, a Retreat command sends your squads all the way back to the Drop Pod.
      • If you positioned the turrets where I recommended, the enemy waves will be delayed and bunched up at the bridge to take out your turrets, which they seem to do so very slowly even with Venom Cannons. Grenade them with everything you've got. Since they don't run from Detonation Charge Packs, you can use those too.
  • Phase 4 - Call Blood Ravens
    • Any remaining nests on the map will activate when Gabriel contacts you. It looks grim, but they do not spawn anything. Hormagaunts that come at you are level 1 and come periodically from off-map or were script-placed.
    • Once you have placed the beacon at the objective location, a couple of swarms come at you. They are NOT level 1.
    • The Blood Ravens that appear set up positions and are invulnerable, but Gabriel Angelos is not. He comes up the ziggurat and gets cut down on Primarch difficulty. Charge down the ziggurat to support him, and/or click on him and set him to Retreat, which will race him to the Teleport Relay Beacon you placed at the top of the ziggurat.
    • You can attack the Tyranids but their reinforcements are endless and the Space Marines are invulnerable.
  • Phase 5 - Hive Tyrant Alpha
    • Very little choice here for how to handle this on Primarch Difficulty because it can fire 5 shots from its Venom Cannon very quickly and accurately and at x4.5 damage on Primarch difficulty, this will kill any squad (probably in about 3 shots) before they can Retreat.
      • The best way is to do as Gabriel says and engage it in melee. Rush in with the Rosarius and keep that up. Use Gabriel's power to make it take more damage. Just hit it with all squads and everything you've got, and it's health goes down remarkably quickly.
      • If you don't have the Rosarius, you can whittle down the boss with Cyrus's Remote Detonator. Combine that with jumping in with Thaddeus. He is pretty much the only one who can get in there quickly enough to avoid the cannon, stay to hit the boss a bit because of his Aegis of Fury, then Retreat out (but probably losing his squadmates in the process).
  • Because we finished the mission so quickly, there was not enough time to accumulate points for the highest level of accolades. However, since the net Infestation level was 1 across all three planets, we achieved Epic Victory.
  • A mid-mission save mod seems safe to use here, with the added bonus that when you load a saved mission, you get squad portraits for your roster members 5-7. Whether you have those portraits or not, however, every squad member is assigned a hotkey when they are added.
  • The movie during the credits appears to be the intro movie, but watch it in entirety for additional footage at the end.

Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 14 - Master of the Hive

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Available Missions:
  • Hold the Sector (2 of 2 of days)
    • Travelling to Typhon completes this mission and adds the plot-critical "The Last Stand" on Typhon, which is also the final mission for the campaign.
  • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Defend the Array (3 days left)
  • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Defend the Array (3 days left), Tyrant Alert, The Last Stand
  • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Devil in the Spires, Defend the Array (3 days left), Master of the Hive
The random Infestation increase resulted in a net +1 Infestation on Calderis, but no Tyranid mission available to reduce it.
We chose to do Master of the Hive on Meridian simply to further reduce infestation there. We earned one extra deployment, and used that to do The Last Stand and finish the campaign.

Mission 30 Master of the Hive
  • Day 13, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1, one extra deployment earned.
  • Infestation: Calderis 1, Typhon 0, Meridian 2.
  • Nothing special here. No nests to destroy, and the Hive Tyrant fights the same way as in the previous mission, To Decapitate the Hive.

    Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 13 extra deployment 2 - Death Whisper

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    After Recycling a few more pieces of gear, all squads were at level 20.

    Remaining Missions:
    • Hold the Sector (1 of 2 of days done)
    • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Defend the Array (3 days left)
    • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Defend the Array (3 days left), Tyrant Alert
    • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Death Whisper (Prime Gene Sample), Devil in the Spires, Defend the Array (3 days left)
    The Tyranid missions on Meridian reduce Infestation by 2. The other two planets have no Infestation at present. None of the missions really offer any gear we need. We chose Death Whisper because it was marked as a "Prime Gene Sample", but there was mention of this after the mission.

    Mission 29 Death Whisper
    • Day 12 extra deployment 1, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 2
    • Infestation: Calderis 0, Typhon 0, Meridian 3.
    • Nothing really special in this mission. Because of the big concentration of nests in the middle of the map, clear it first before clearing the map for Fury stars.

    Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 13 extra deployment 1 - Wailing Death

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    As mentioned before on the first mission of Day 13, Raid Against The Warboss, this is one of the two available missions that award Terminator Armour. We didn't end up using Terminator Armour except on Avitus, but there was no harm in broadening our choices. The other missions were all optional.

    Mission 28 Wailing Death
    • Day 12 extra deployment 1, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (75 minutes)
    • Infestation: Calderis 0, Typhon 0, Meridian 3.
    • Lots of Fire Prisms. If you hit them with a Melta-Bomb with Cyrus Infiltrated, they like to swim around and can go quite far quite quickly. A single Remote Detonator should take care of one. If not, follow up immediately with a Melta-Bomb or Grenade to finish it off before it moves and you have to chase it down.
    • Avatar
      • It's sight range seems to be longer than yours, but not Cyrus's.
      • Sword attack has very good range.
      • The Warp Fire attack is very fast and even if slightly outside, is lethal.
        • If you can avoid it, the fight is basically circling the Avatar with shooters and avoiding his Warp Fire each time.
        • Thule really can't get out fast enough unless you don't have to turn. However, even being just outside the targeting circle on the ground won't be enough to save him from incapacitation (on Primarch difficulty). Overall, it is recommended that Thule just stay out of this fight.
      • Sometimes it won't go after an Infiltrated Cyrus when it detects Cyrus. The Seer Councils will, however, and can one-shot any scout squad members with their lightning. Take them out early with High Powered Shots. There are few options for attacking them otherwise, especially with their knockdown ability, strong melee, and the Avatar of Khaine right there. Even if you cannot be knocked down (e.g., in Terminator Armour), they can do solid damage.
      • The Avatar can follow you quite far up the stairs and his Warp Fire can hit all the way to the Teleport Relay near the middle stairs.
      • Cross-spread Warp Fire attack: It is quite safe in between the circles, so move there and continue attacking or to throw a grenade. The Avatar activates a fire aura afterwards, so melee is dangerous and it's long stride means it can run after your squads quite quickly to burn them just by being close.
      • Thaddeus is useful here for melee because of his Aegis of Fury, but all-ranged is much safer and easier against this boss.
      • Reinforcements come from the far side of the arena (opposite the stairs), so cover that route with a Remote Detonator against several waves of reinforcements including a Falcon and a Fire Prism.

      Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 13 - Raid Against The Warboss

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      There are various missions, but only two that are presumably plot-critical and that give us Terminator Armour: Raid Against The Warboss, and Wailing Death. Raid Against The Warboss is on Calderis, so we did this mission first because if we can get Fury 5 and Resilience 5, the Foundries we hold will give us 2 extra deployments even if we finish this mission with Speed 1.

      Mission 27 Raid Against The Warboss
      • Day 13, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (68 minutes)
      • Infestation: Calderis 0, Typhon 0, Meridian 3.
      • The enemy placements more or less the same as To Decapitate the Hive except Tyranids have larger squads and more aggressive scripted movement. Ravener locations replaced by Ork Kommandoes but there are not as many. Carnifexes are replaced by Looted Tanks.
        • Looted Tanks can be killed with Detonation Charge Packs, but they can move a bit. Typically, however, they react too slowly. Throw them at the tank's front so that the tank wastes time turning.
      • You cannot cheese Bonesmasha with Cyrus's High Powered Shot as it does too little damage. Fortunately, Bonesmasha's special attacks are easily avoided and he more or less fights like the previous ork bosses.
      • Extensive reinforcements are best handled with a Remote Detonator at the cave entrance to prepared for them to appear. Bonesmasha may attack the Remote Detonator, in which case just replace it.

        Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 12 extra deployment 2 - Brood Swarm

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        The missions available are:
        • Calderis (3 Foundries) - No Missions
        • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Brood Swarm
        • Meridian (2 Foundries) - No Missions
        We are still on Day 12, and using the second extra deployment we earned with "To Decapitate the Hive".

        Mission 26 Brood Swarm
        • Day 12 extra deployment 1, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1
        • Infestation: Calderis 0, Typhon 0, Meridian 3.
        • Start by making a fighting withdrawal toward the Shrine and arena. Clear the hive there so you are not fighting on two fronts. Keep backing up all the way into the arena, where there are several supply crates.
        • Advance down to secure the middle bridge and park your team there.
          • You should have either Avitus or Thule to cover the bridge with suppression fire and be able to hold that position. Beyond it is the mission target area, and it is very dense with enemies. No matter where you go, you will get assaulted from multiple sides until you can clear the hives, so instead hold one bridge and let the enemies all converge down that one approach, making things more manageable.
          • We chose the middle bridge because enemy reinforcements are not as constant there, and it seemed to be the clearest route for Cyrus to advance Infiltrated.
        • You will periodically get messages that your drop pod is being attacked. It cannot be destroyed and in any case if you look on your map, it is NOT a rally point.
        • Keep Cyrus's path to the rest of the team open and infiltrate him cautiously, because if you use the Retreat command, you might end up running to the Automated Foundry if you still hold it. That area isn't really clear and if you run out of Energy before you can make room with Remote Detonation, you will likely lose Cyrus.
        • Concentrate on demolition on the hives to take pressure off the map. Clear the map, then go for the Tyranid Warrior in the corner.
          • There are 2 to 4 hidden Raveners at the two approaches to the corner where the mission target Tyranid Warrior is located.
        • Because enemies spawn so frequently, you could use the 1% drop chance for "swarm" class creatures (spawned enemies) to farm for gear to recycle for XP.

        Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 12 extra deployment 1 - To Decapitate The Hive

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        The missions available are:
        • Calderis (3 Foundries) - To Decapitate the Hive
        • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Brood Swarm
        • Meridian (2 Foundries) - No Missions
        We are still on Day 12, and using the extra deployment we earned on the first mission of Day 12 (The Secrets of Angel Forge). Our objective is therefore to secure a second extra deployment and maximize our daily deployments.

        To secure a second deployment, (and because we hold all six Automated Foundries) we need 14/15 points from Fury stars, Resilience stars, Speed stars, and Foundries on a planet. We have 3 Foundries on Calderis, so if we take our time to get Fury 5 and Resilience 5, we are guaranteed a score of 14 even if we complete the mission with Speed 1. On Typhon, we would need Speed 3. The only choice for our objectives is "To Decapitate the Hive" on Calderis.

        Mission 25 To Decapitate the Hive
        • Day 12 extra deployment 1, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (47 minutes), 1 extra deployment awarded.
        • Infestation: Calderis 2, Typhon 0, Meridian 3.
        • We recycled a lot of unique low-level and unassigned gear. Level changes:
        • Before: Force Commander 16, Tarkus 15, Avitus 16, Cyrus 16, Thaddeus 12, Thule 14
        • After: Force Commander 19, Tarkus 19, Avitus 19, Cyrus 19, Thaddeus 15, Thule 17
        • Since Tarkus and Avitus are both level 19 and the level cap is 20, we dropped them from the roster and took Thaddeus and Thule on missions instead. Cyrus continues to be critical, especially with Thule being clumsy and slow, and too vulnerable to Carnifexes. Cyrus was basically needed to kill Carnifexes with Demolition Charge Packs and Remote Detonators.
        • Whirlwind missiles can finally be deployed now that we have Terminator Armour, but it seemed useless. It had a low trajectory (like grenades) and might hit walls or mountain face if fired uphill. The missile volley is too diffuse to really do anything useful except very long range attrition bombardment with a spotter. It can knock everything down except a vehicle or very large creature, but it can't even kill light infantry like Hormagaunts or Termagants unless you get lucky on the missile spread. Enemies are typically alerted and come at you unless you are very far off. Because of this we declined to use it, and in any case the Force Commander would lose the use of his Commander Accessory and Thaddeus would lose his Assault Jump
        • Venom Cannons
          • Duos of Tyranid Warriors with Venom Cannons appeared quite frequently on the map. These are extremely dangerous.
            • Previously, Tyranid Warriors with Barbed Stranglers caused a lot of trouble, but the damage they inflict now is no longer guaranteed to kill any squad members.
            • Venom Cannons are basically one-shot-one-kill weapons and each shot can be expected to kill a squadmember or seriously injure the Force Commander or Davian Thule.
          • Cyrus's High Powered Shot is one way to deal with them, but they appeared in pairs, so it costs a lot of supplies to do it that way. Remote Detonators were better as you could also kill nearby enemies as well.
          • Tarkus's Tactical Advance didn't help a lot in keeping squadmates alive.
        • Hive Tyrant
          • Set a Remote Detonator at the cave entrance against reinforcements. There is at least one early wave, and possibly a second wave later.
          • High-Powered Shots out of the Hive Tyrant's sight range (and possibly regular sniping rifle shots, especially if he has a longer-range sniping rifle) will allow you to safely defeat this boss.
          • Unlike other bosses, this one has a tendency to basically NOT move around unless enemies are out of range of its attacks, or if you throw a Demolition Charge Pack at it. Very easy to avoid its special attacks and throw grenades at it, or even hit it with a Remote Detonator.
        • Some Tyranids are scripted to approach squads even if they are Infiltrated, so you must constantly keep reinforcements for Cyrus nearby because he cannot run fast enough from Hormagaunts, and if they chase him all the way back to a rally point, he's still in big trouble (on Primarch difficulty).

          Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 12 - The Secrets of Angel Forge

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          The missions available are:
          • Calderis (3 Foundries) - To Decapitate the Hive
          • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Brood Swarm
          • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Defend the Foundry (2 days left), Target: Carnifex (5 days left), The Secret of Angel Forge
          Normally we try to secure two extra deployments on the very first mission of each new day. However, for various reasons we wanted to do The Secrets of Angel Forge first, even though we would need Speed 2 to get two extra deployments:
          • We are guaranteed 1 extra deployment if we have Fury 5 and Resilience 5, so we can still get a second extra deployment by having a good score on the second mission of the day.
            • To get just 1 extra deployment we need 11 points (because we hold six Automated Foundries; otherwise we would need 13 points). Since we have 2 Automated Foundries on Meridian, our (Fury + Resilience + Speed) stars must total only 9. We can get Fury 5 and Resilience 5 by taking our time and being careful, so 1 extra deployment is all but guaranteed.
          • Tarkus is out of the party roster. We want him back in, along with his accessories, plus the Terminator armour he will bring at the end of this mission.
          • Once you have finished The Secrets of Angel Forge, Terminator armour is unlocked in the game and can start to appear as mission rewards.
          Mission 24 The Secrets of Angel Forge
          • Day 12, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (49 minutes), 1 extra deployment awarded
          • Infestation: Calderis 2, Typhon 0, Meridian 6.
          • During this mission, Tarkus is available until you have defeated the first boss (Looted Tank). Then he is removed from your roster until the second boss (Indranel) summons three Wraithguards. At that point, a level 14 clone of Tarkus with no accessories but wearing Terminator Armour appears on the map. After the mission, Tarkus is restored to your roster.
          • Angel Gate is closed at the start of the mission, but...
            • You can get around this with jump packs (e.g., Thaddeus). Some Eldar are already on the map, so you could pre-clear some of the industrial side of the map. You will still probably need to search the map again later for any new Eldar placements after the Indranel cutscene, however.
            • If you go to the side gates (which remain closed for the entire mission), you can lob grenades over/through them at Eldar on the other side. They cannot get in and grenade blasts won't go through the gates, so you can safely throw a grenade very close to you as long as it lands on the other side of the gate.
          • There are two dangerous cutscenes:
            • Shortly after destroying the Looted Tank boss, there is a cutscene where Tarkus goes into a tower and is removed from your roster. When the cutscene ends, your squads will have been rearranged in front of the Foundry and shooting at some orks. You may want to Pause the game and reorient yourself.
            • After you exit the ruins side and enter the industrial side of the map, when you are almost halfway across the map, a second cutscene will start. The cutscene can start no matter where you are. It appears to depend on the distance toward the corner at which Indranel is located. This is a very long cutscene during which your move orders are not cancelled but you cannot control your squads. This can be dangerous if you are in combat.
              • You can safely trigger the cutscene by sending an Infiltrated Cyrus up the main road until the cutscene starts, then pull him back.
              • After the cutscene, some squads of Eldar plus one Wraithguard converge on your location.
          • Looted Tank boss
            • The tank will start to move toward the Automated Foundry when you have secured it. If you are still fighting orks, I recommend that you stop securing the Foundry to handle the orks first, so that you can have a clear battlefield (at least initially) to handle the tank.
            • Vehicle Stun from a Power Fist does not work on the Looted Tank.
            • On Primarch, its charge can one-shot kill the Force Commander or Davian Thule. Do not attempt to melee any boss or vehicle on this map on Primarch difficulty unless its health is extremely low.
            • Remember that a shot from the Looted Tank (when it has targeting rings on the ground) only indicates the *direction* of the shot, and not the area of effect. Standing outside the targeting ring but being in the direction of the cannon will still get you shot, and it can one-shot kill the Force Commander on Primarch difficulty.
            • Stay close to the Foundry since it provides healing. In the worst case, pull your squads around the sides or rear of the Foundry if you need respite from the tank.
          • Fire Prism
            • The Fire Prism will swim around a bit when first detected, but then park itself and not move, only fire its cannon. If you spot with Cyrus infiltrated and come up from behind with Avitus, you can generally get off a Missile Launcher shot to the rear before retreating out of its visual range so that it aborts its shot. Just wait for the cannon to be pointed away from Avitus before starting to move in. This works out to a pretty save hit-and-run.
            • Indranel has a very long sight range an Infiltration detection range, so if you approach with Cyrus and wander into her sight range, the Fire Prism will be able to locate him via Indranel. Other than this, you can cheese the Fire Prism.
            • The cutscene of Indranel and the Eldar at Angel Gate showed two Fire Prisms, but one is found destroyed near one of the side gates. Not clear why, and it may depend on whether you activated the mortars during the Angel Gate mission.
          • Indranel
            • Her detection range is very long. Her starting location is in a sunken area in a corner, and carefully calculated so that you cannot throw grenades at her without partially going down the stairs. The problem then is that her lightning bolts are very strong and her attack rate is fairly fast. When you come around the corner she can hit you, forcing you to retreat before getting hit a second time and going unconscious. Thule is especially vulnerable here because he moves slowly and has to turn slowly to back out.
            • Strangely, she can do only very little damage to Infiltrated targets like Cyrus or a Remote Detonator placement. You can therefore cheese with Cyrus's High-Powered Shots (you will need a lot, maybe 10+) even though she can locate Cyrus; and also place remote Detonators to quickly handle her reinforcements.
            • Do not throw a Detonation Charge Pack at her as that tends to make her move even further away.
            • She may not move from an Artillery Strike, but an Artillery Strike does less damage to her than a High-Powered Shot.
            • As in the previous encounter with her, she will disappear three times, each time replaced by Eldar reinforcements that you can blow up with a Remote Detonator.
              • Banshees plus one hero banshee (Tyrea).
              • Large group of Seer Council
              • Three Wraithguard (at around 60% or less health; scripted to summon this even at 0% health).
                • Shortly after they appear, Tarkus will appear nearby.
                • A Remote Detonator at the top of the stairs can hit all three and destroy them if you let them all get close enough to the Detonator. Placing the detonator at the top of the stairs will also leave Tarkus's starting position out of the blast radius.
            • When Tarkus appears, get him out quickly. On Primarch difficulty, her melee can probably kill him unless she is already at very low health and you can kill her first. Also, she is prone to throwing down an Eldritch Storm and there could be a traffic jam at the stairs if you've moved any squads in to help.

            Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 11 extra deployment 2 - Angel Gate

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            The missions available are:
            Calderis (3 Foundries) - To Decapitate the Hive
            Typhon (1 Foundry) - No missions
            Meridian (2 Foundries) - Defend the Foundry (3 days left), Angel Gate

            Angel Gate is a long mission, so we are doing it at the end of Day 11, on an extra deployment where it is impossible to earn any more extra deployments.

            Mission 23 Angel Gate
            • Day 11 extra deployment 2/2, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (48 minutes)
            • Infestation: Calderis 1, Typhon 0, Meridian 9.
            • After this mission, Tarkus is removed from your roster (and he goes with all gear and accessories you had equipped him with) and rejoins you after The Secrets of Angel Forge.
              • If you need any particular accessory, such as the Stimpack or Melta-Bomb, don't give it to Tarkus.
              • The Secrets of Angel Forge have quite a few vehicles, so give the Melta-Bomb to someone else.
              • The Stimpack can be somewhat substituted by a Banner on the Force Commander, which lets you use the healing Rally power.
            • This is actually a very easy mission if you're not trying to rush it, but quite long and with a lot of nuances. There are no major bosses. We will deal with this map in two parts: Characteristics of the map, and a Walkthrough of recommended sequence of actions.
            Map Characteristics
            • There is an irritating amount of melee on this map. It is basically melee Tyranids versus Ork shooters and they chew through each other very slowly, so if you're not worried about Fury stars, you can sort of let them fight each other and just secure the Generators.
              • Having one melee team is useful but it's possible to survive this without (and without Davian Thule, if somehow you still don't have him in your roster).
              • Tarkus's Taunt skill, if you have it, really shines here to let your other squads keep shooting.
            • Tyranid activity is extremely busy in the early phase so watch out for Tyranids coming up behind. This is probably because they are moving to Ork positions, and as they die, new ones respawn constantly. Once the orks are cleared from the map, things quiet down a lot.
            • Your own area effect weapons can destroy allied turrets whether they have been activated yet or not. A Flamer or Missile Launcher will not hurt allied infantry, but will harm turrets that are not yet activated. The Plasma Cannon hurts everyone, including your own squad members. If you have no help at the Gatehouse, then Avitus with this inside a building is a viable choice. Otherwise the Missile Launcher is probably a good tradeoff, especially if you can get lots of Accuracy improving gear (there is only one vehicle, an Ork Wartrukk, on the map).
            • Raveners
              • Groups of three. You will be warned about " ovement in the ducts below", so this won't happen in the northeastern ruins since there are no ducts there.
              • They appear no matter where you move to when you get the warning. Just stop and wait. If you are moving, they might burst up under you.
              • If you are in a building, they do massive damage when they emerge and they also destroy the building. On Primarch Difficulty, this will incapacitate any squad garrisoned.
              • There are three encounters, along the three main routes on the industrial side of the map.
            • Teleport Relay Beacons
              • Do not secure all of them. The critical one is the one in the middle of the main road. When you defend the Gatehouse, that is the one you want to be closest to since the Imperial Guard won't go that far away from the Gatehouse (thus staying behind to tie up enemies pursuing you) and Imperial Guard replacements come up that road and can give you cover while you regroup.
              • The ones to the left and right might be too close to the Gatehouse if you are running from Carnifexes or if you lose control of the situation and get swarmed.
              • Do not secure the one in the middle of the ruins side of the map. If you are at the Gatehouse and accidentally closer to that one when you need to retreat, you might run for it, right through a mess of Tyranids that are start from that location, as well as through allied mortar barrages that systematically bombard a region between the Gatehouse and that Teleport Relay Beacon.
            • Imperial Guardsmen (6 units)
              • A squadmember will mention the guardsmen when you are in range of an encounter. Pause the game and look for them immediately. They will typically be fighting a single Tyranid Warrior (melee) or Orc StormBoyz.
              • The fastest way to help them against Tyranid Warriors is probably Cyrus and a High Powered Shot. On Primarch, they don't last long. They will flee when you get close enough to them, but on Primarch difficulty, they could be dead long before.
              • At some locations, they will not begin engaged. Quickly get to them to start them fleeing and confirm the rescue.
              • Locations:
                • Northeast of starting location, near the Teleport Relay Beacon near the centre of the map. This encounter activates at the start of the mission so if you don't start moving there right away, they will all likely be dead.
                • Western edge of map, around the middle, to the west of the generator and south of the Teleport Relay Beacon. If you approach from the south, they are not fighting anyone (?).
                • North-north-west, on the upper platform, near the spotlight and in the middle between two generators. There are orcs entrenched on the ground level below and the Guardsmen will run right through them, something they may or may not survive.
                • Angel Forge Gate, west side, at stairs on ground level.
                • Angel Forge Gate, east side, on upper level, near spotlight close to the gate.
                • Slightly to the right of the middle of the map, near Angel Gate, on the upper level, very near the Teleport Relay Beacon.
              • You do not have to escort the guards until they are off-map, although Tyranids will probably kill them en route to their escape off-map on Primarch Difficulty.
              • If you do want to escort them, you could of course. In this case, if they are ahead and pursued by Tyranids, and in that same direction is a rally point (such as a Teleport Relay Beacon), you can call a Retreat on your squads. They will race for the beacon as normal. Your squads will fire their weapons at enemies if possible, so if Tyranids pursuing retreating Guardsmen are in the line of retreat of your squads, you can shoot at them as well as catch up to them.
              • The more you rescue, the more squads of Imperial Guard can assemble at the Gatehouse to support you later.
              • The Guardsmen are marked as allies, so Stimpacks and the Rally ability from a Battle Standard will also affect them.
            • Generators
              • When you are close to one or start activating one, typically orks will appear nearby.
              • When you have activated three, several things happen:
                • Tyranids stop spawning all over the map and instead spawn from the Teleport Relay Beacon in the ruins side of the map. It is the one closest to the gatehouse, so they basically just spawn and charge straight down.
                • Also, a force of Tyranids will generally have gathered (or they just appear -- not sure) near your drop pod and can interfere with Imperial Guard going up to the Gatehouse.
                • For each squad of Imperial Guard you have rescued, one squad will start moving up to the Gatehouse from your drop pod rally point, straight up via the main road. The more you rescue, the more can assemble at the Gatehouse.
                  • They will stop to fight so if only a few or none make it to the Gatehouse, Tyranids will destroy all the turrets there. On Primarch Difficulty, even six squads of Imperial Guard might not be enough to hold the Gatehouse against the initial Tyranid onslaught and you may lose all Guardsmen and turrets there if you don't support them. It is therefore important that after you secure a third generator, you start clearing everything from the Gatehouse down to your drop pod, then anywhere else they are left on the map.
                  • There are unlimited respawns of Imperial Guard, but a time delay as they need to run up the road. It is important to clear the road and cover their approach so they can assemble in large numbers. On Primarch difficulty, small numbers of Imperial Guard just get chewed up as quickly as they come.
              • At 5 and 6 Generators active, Mortar Batteries (rocket launchers) will come active.
                • They systematically bombard a region behind the gate, unless there are enemies closer than that (e.g., on the terraces).
                • Be careful of friendly fire from the rockets.
            • Tyranid Attack Waves
              • These are the reinforcements that come once you have 3+ generators activated. Each wave has a random number of units, and are typically of two alternating types:
                • Small waves of maybe 1-2 squads of Hormagaunts and 1-2 heavy infantry.
                • Large waves of maybe twice that size, plus Spore Mines.
              • Hormagaunts are quick to leap, so camping the spawn point is not really recommended since you'll just get tangled up in melee almost immediately and cause a chaotic mess.
              • If a wave comes down without heavy infantry, expect a Zoanthrope to follow because they are slower.
              • If you have Cyrus positioned at the spawn point to use Remote Detonators, and are low on supplies (there are over 20 resupply crates on the map), you can let the small waves go and handle them at the gatehouse. They might stop to attack the Remote Detonator, so you will probably need to just not set the detonator until the small wave leaves the area. Often killing the heavy infantry synapse creature (e.g., With High Powered Shot and Advanced Infiltrate) will cause the Hormagaunts to move on down to the Gatehouse).
              • Bigger waves include Spore Mines. On Primarch Difficulty, they should explode and destroy the Remote Detonator device immediately, causing it to explode and kill the entire wave without your intervention, assuming you have placed it close enough.
                • Plant detonators slightly south because the Tyranid attack forces that spawn moves immediately. If you hit Pause too slowly, you might miss out on catching most/all of them inside the blast radius.
              • The big waves lean toward the left when they move down the road, so set your Remote Detonator charge slightly to the left (i.e., southeast of the Teleport Relay Beacon there), and if you are garrisoning the gatehouse area, put your main ranged squad (Avitus, probably) in the building on the left (north side).
              • It is not clear if these waves ever stop, but we used over 20 Remote Detonators and they were still spawning by the time we had destroyed all three spore drops and secured Angel Gatehouse with just the Force Commander.
            • Holding the Gatehouse
              • The priority needs to be clearing a path for Imperial Guardsmen (see above). If you can spare it, put Avitus in one of the buildings flanking the Gatehouse to add supporting fire. These buildings pretty much never come under attack unless there is nothing left for the Tyranids to attack. Periodically check on Avitus to turn on his Focus Fire.
              • You can also put Cyrus in one of the buildings and have him snipe synapse Tyranids (the Heavy Infantry, like Zoanthropes and Tyranid Warriors) to help the Imperial Guard.
              • You can also position Cyrus and use the Remote Detonator at the Teleport Relay Beacon Tyranid spawn point in the ruins side of the map to intercept the Tyranid waves even before they swarm to the Gatehouse.
                • The only risk is if Spore Mines spawn while he is laying the Detonator or if he isn't clear of the Detonator yet. Try to get in there as soon as a wave has left or been destroyed.
                • Some Heavy Infantry (Zoanthropes or assorted Tyranid Warriors) may spawn there and hang around. Leave them alone until you want to detonate.
              • It seems that the Tyranid waves do eventually die down.
            • Spore Drop Reinforcements
              • When you have at least 3 Generators running, an objective message will appear above the Angel Gate Gatehouse. Don't click the Gatehouse until you are ready. If you do, Tyranids will start dropping around it in groups of three spores, starting with Tyranid Warriors but eventually upgrading to Carnifexes, or possibly Carnifexes with Venom Cannons. Crossing the gate into the ruins also seems to trigger the spore drops. Ideally you will already have cleared the ruins first (optional) before activating 3+ Generators.
              • There are only 3 waves of spore drops:
                • Wave 1 - 3x Tyranid Warrior
                • Wave 2 - 2x Tyranid Warrior, 2x Carnifex
                • Wave 3 - 2x Tyranid Warrior, 1x Carnifex, 1x Carnifex with Venom Cannon
              • When the Carnifexes come, lead them away and handle them elsewhere. This is critical.
                • The Guardsmen will stay to secure the gatehouse, which they can do with some help (Avitus, maybe), leaving you free to lead the Carnifexes into turret nests and to grenade them without killing Guardsmen. If you do not, while you are slowly killing the Carnifex while trying not to blow up allied infantry and turrets, more Tyranid reinforcements keep coming, making an overwhelming mess. So instead, divide and conquer.
                • No spores will drop while at least one of the creatures from a spore drop is alive. So until you kill the Carnifexes, the gatehouse will only see Tyranid reinforcements.
                • The best case is for the Carnifexes to chase Tarkus around the map. If you can spare a second squad, send them along for support. Once you are far enough away from the gatehouse, split your squads. One attacks and throws grenades while the other flees.
                  • If you are baiting with only one squad, lead the Carnifexes to turrets. Also, when they run ahead of the Carnifex enough, throw a grenade between it and your squad, then keep running. If you lead your throw well, the Carnifex will walk right into where the grenade lands.
            • If you use a mid-mission save mod, there are some glitches involving a reload, but the mission will work fine:
              • Any guardsmen that were considered rescued, but which haven't retreated off-map, hold their position.
              • When you reload, a no-clipping (you can fire and walk through it) version of Angel Gate will be in position, so it looks like the gate is closed.
              • Any spawned Tyranids are cleared from the map, and they begin respawning from the ruins side of Angel Gate, at the central Teleport Relay Beacon there.
              • Ideally you will have rescued all the guardsmen, seen them leave the map, and reactivated the Generators before you save and reload. Once you secure the gate from the initial rush of Tyranids, reloading a game should give you results similar to having continued without pause.
            Walkthrough
            • First, clear the map.
              • You can start to capture generators or get close to them in order to trigger and clear ork encounters. But don't activate any generators until you have swept the map, including the ruins if you want 5 Fury stars.
              • You may need a LOT of Remote Detonators, so try to be stingy with picking up limited use item supplies (since you are limited to carrying at most 5 of each type) and instead pick them up only if you need them. Remember that you don't have to be near the item to pick it up -- just pause the game, scroll the map to it, and click on the pack.
            • Capture two generators. I recommend the two farthest ones on the western side.
            • Move Cyrus to the ruins side of the map and settle him in to watch the Tyranid spawn point. Set a remote detonator and just wait. This will be his task for the rest of the mission: Intercept at least the big Tyranid attack waves with the remote detonator.
            • Instead of getting three Generators activated, get a total of five quickly so you have mortars right away when the Tyranid attack waves start spawning.
              • Arrange your squads to get the three on the southeast side that are close together in a triangle.
              • The two closest to the southeast map edges are not on spawned Tyranid routes so you can have any two squads capture it since they won't be bothered by any hostiles (once you have gone by and cleared the encounters there).
              • The third one nearer the map centre is on a Tyranid route. A melee strong team can capture it alone but if you need two squads, then you will have to pull Cyrus and get him positioned later.
                • Optionally you can assign one squad to each of the remaining generators and thereby get all turrets activated at the same time.
              • When your squads are in position, have them all capture the generators so they come online at basically the same time.
            • Once you have 5 generators active, get your squads to the Gatehouse and sweep the main road all the way down to your drop pod. While doing this, keep an eye on Cyrus's position: If you see any red dots at the spawn point, pause the game and check to see if it is a small attack wave (which you may want to handle at the Gatehouse) or a big one (in which case you really want to detonate the Remote Detonator and set another one).
            • Once you have cleared the way for the Imperial Guard, go back and activate the 6th and final generator.
            • Assuming that you now have the hang of destroying Tyranid attack waves either with Cyrus or at the Gatehouse, move one squad to activate the Gatehouse. When Derosa announces spores dropping in, stop capturing it. Arrange your squads to handle the incoming spore drops (see above).
              • Since Cyrus is handling the Tyranid attack waves, you can bring Avitus along to help you destroy the Carnifexes with a missile launcher. This helps A LOT.
            • After the third spore drop is cleared, finish capturing the Gatehouse to complete the mission.
              • Since there are no more spore drops, you can put a squad ahead of the Imperial Guardsmen to tie up Tyranids as they come in. This way the Imperial Guard and any turrets remaining are free to fire.

            Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 11 extra deployment 1 - Remains of the Dark Age

            (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

            The available missions are:
            • Calderis (3 Foundries) - To Decapitate The Hive (5 days left)
            • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Remains of the Dark Age
            • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Angel Gate, Defend the Foundry (3 days left)
            Only two plot-critical missions. We chose to do Remains of the Dark Age because it is on Typhon, which only has one Foundry, which makes securing extra deployments harder than on Meridian or Calderis. Also, this mission will award the Orbital Bombardment beacon.

            If you do not yet have an Assault Cannon for Thule and one appears as a mission reward (rare), you might want to take that mission because they are really quite rare. Most of the Assault Cannons are Boss or Mission drops and will not drop from units you encounter on a map.

            Mission 22 Remains of the Dark Age
            • Day 11, extra deployment 1/2. Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 2 (34 minutes, including killing the Lictor boss).
            • Infestation: Caleris 2, Typhon 2, Meridian 9
            • Deff Dread boss
              • In the initial battle, if you can split up your squads and surround it, you can continuously damage it by pulling back only the squad that it is focussed on. A battle standard helps here as you can use the Force Commander to heal everyone.
              • Like Gutrencha, it cannot move once it initiates its fault lines attack and you can take advantage of this by sidestepping the line and continuing to shoot.
              • Once it starts its Rok barrages, hit and run (out of the clearing) is pretty much the only way. When it turns to go back to the clearing, chase it with ranged fire.
            • Ork camp after Deff Dread
              • When you activate the generator, the model furthest to the right of the generator (when facing the gate) will be killed by a Lictor Flesh Hook attack. The model will definitely be killed because the dialogue says the person is killed. Make sure it isn't the Force Commander and that all your other squads have at least 2 members so you don't lose your Resilience 5 rating for the mission.
              • Across the bridge after the gate is an ork entrenchment. Go in with Cyrus and plant a Remote Detonator as deeply as it is safe to do so. Engage the orks to cause the Tyranids to tunnel up, then blow them all up in one go. There will probably be some Tyranids in a corner that will be missed, but you will probably have blown up the heavy infantry synapse ones.
            • Ork Big Shoota at the bridge
              • Amazingly long range, long sight range once it has spotted you, and huge damage per second on Primarch. Go in with Cyrus with a Detonation Charge Pack as it cannot move out of its ring of cover. Even Tarkus under Tactical Advance will probably not survive long enough to throw a grenade, plus it will probably require two grenades. Avitus cannot outdistance it. If you have Cyrus spot for you, Avitus can shoot first but cannot suppress the ork behind cover.
            • Lictor Boss
              • Plant your gunners beneath the stairs and keep luring the Lictor out until you get a message to destroy the Lictor's cover. Until objective arrows appear over the greenery, you cannot destroy the foliage cover it uses. And until you destroy all the foliage, you cannot kill this boss.
              • Once all the cover is gone, just do the same lure-and-shoot until it is dead.
              • It starts with a Flesh Hook attack and once its cover is gone it might also open with another one. This is extremely fast and basically a one-shot-kill against whichever model is caught -- probably even your Force Commander on Primarch Difficulty. It is unlikely that you can avoid it, so never let your Force Commander take point unless you are certain the Lictor is already engaged.

            Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 11 - Rippa-Splitta

            (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

            The available missions at the start of Day 11 are:
            • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Defend the Array (3 days left), To Decapitate The Hive (5 days left)
            • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Brood Swarm, Defend the Shrine (3 days left), Rippa-Splitta
            • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Angel Gate
            At the start of each day, our aim is to get 2 extra deployments. Only the Rippa-Splitta mission offers a strategic asset. For our playthrough, this was the last Communications Array as well as the last strategic asset to secure, according to the Star Map (7 Communications Arrays, 8 Imperial Shrines, 6 Automated Foundries).
            • If we do Defend the Array on Calderis, the mission only awards 3 stars for Fury (64% kills), unlike the previous Defend mission where destroying all enemy waves awarded 5 Fury stars. Defend the Shrine on Typhon had a much more defensible position and awarded 5 Fury stars as normal (complete in 6 minutes).
            • If we do the Rippa-Splitta mission first, Brood Swarm and Defend the Hive are removed afterwards, and are replaced by the plot-critical Remains of the Dark Age. However, Typhon only has 1 Foundry, so we would need to finish it with Speed 3+ (because we hold all six Automated Foundries, it is slightly easier to get extra deployments). We tried this and managed to do it in 14 minutes (Speed 3) while still clearing the map and securing the final strategic asset.
            Mission 21 Rippa-Splitta
            • Day 11, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 3 (18 minutes, best time 14 minutes), 2 extra deployments awarded (+1 bonus from Automated Foundry, for a total of 14/15 points).
            • Infestation: Calderis 1, Typhon 2, Meridian 11.
            • You start in the middle of the enemy camp and with a tank shooting at you, but even so it is strangely not so dangerous.
              • Any explosives you have will help a lot, even the Detonation Charge Pack if you have nothing else left to throw since that tends to make infantry scatter to avoid it; if they press forward, they'll get blown up.
              • Drop a Blind Grenade early to stop your squads from getting caught in melee.
              • Use a second grenade near the garrisoned tower. NEAR the building, not AT the building. If the grenade is near enough, it should clear the building AND units outside. Try to get any melee units walking in front of it.
              • The tank can probably kill any one model with a single shot from its cannon.
                • It can take a long time to kill, so if you need breathing room or to retreat in that direction and the Teleport Relay Beacon nearby, throw a Detonation Charge Pack. It will move to avoid the blast and may possibly move far enough away to give you some respite before it comes back. That way, you can pull your squads to the Teleport Relay Beacon nearby.
              • If you are engaged in melee and have a hard time, drop a Blind Grenade because you have nowhere to Retreat to since you are already at your drop pod and it is the closest rally point.
            • The most dangerous enemy on this map are the Rokkit orks that fire a wide spread over obstacles since on Primarch that generally devastates your squads, though if you start at near-full health it shouldn't incapacitate anyone. They appear mostly in the south east, so scout ahead.
            • After surviving insertion, get ready for reinforcements from the camp. They will keep coming, so set up a defensive formation and have Cyrus infiltrate to blow up Waaagh! Banners.
              • If you've destroyed or driven off the tank, you can pull back to the Teleport Relay Beacon nearby and secure it. This has the advantage of funneling attackers from the main camp down the bridge and tight around your Drop Pod, which in turn helps you grenade them or get them in the blast of a missile launcher.
            • If you run out of limited use items, or once you have cleared the camp to at least the limit if your visual range, pull back to the side of the map away from the ork camp (toward the Communications Array) and clear it. There are supply boxes near the Array and more in the empty corner where you fought the tank boss in Greenskin Armour.
              • You will get reports that a structure is under attack if orcs attack your drop pod, but they will not be able to actually destroy the drop pod.
                • Leave one generator so that you can make sure you kill everything before finishing the mission.
                • The mission is otherwise similar to Greenskin Weaponsmith: Isolate turrets and outdistance them with weapons fire or use Cyrus to bomb them. For large clumps of enemies or if they include Rokkit orks, infiltrate Cyrus and blow them up with Remote Detonators.
                • Rippa-Splitta has good sight range to detect infiltrated units, but otherwise isn't very tough. He also won't leave the camp area, so you can just hit-and-run or cheese with Cyrus using grenades or Melta-Bombs.
                • Watch for Ork Kommandos on the map. Cyrus under Infiltration can detect them before they detect him. If you then have a squad approach and melee them, it appears that they will do nothing -- not even fight back in hand-to-hand. Use this fact in the Remains of the Dark Age mission as well.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 10 extra deployment 2 - Greenskin Weaponsmith

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                There are only two active missions available, both plot-related:
                • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Typhon (1 Foundry) - No missions.
                • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Angel Gate
                For the same reasons as before, we are deferring Angel Gate and will instead do the Greenskin Weaponsmith mission to secure a strategic asset.

                Mission 20 Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Day 10 extra deployment 2, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 3 (29 minutes), no extra deployments awarded.
                • Infestation: Calderis 2, Typhon 2, Meridian 9.
                • It seems that orc structures (not clear, but possibly just Turrets) can detect Infiltrated units at a good range, so you will probably not be able to set Remote Detonators to good effect. Demolition Charge Packs are much safer here, at least to take out turrets first.
                • Generators can see Infiltrated units at a fairly good distance, so just concentrate on taking out Waaagh! Banners that call reinforcements, and turrets. Waaagh! Banners are also not mission-critical on their own, so you can clear them and come back for Generators later after you have cleared the map for Fury stars and to secure the strategic asset you did not capture during the Skykilla mission.
                • Watch for strange situations where some units can fire through natural stone structures while others cannot.
                • Boss:
                  • The boss has the same targeting AI as Fire Prism: That is, he always knows where his attacker is and beelines for them, unless they are Infiltrated.
                  • The powerful beam attack is basically an instant-kill, so if you can isolate him, get him to go around a corner before he can shoot, and at that close range quickly engage him in melee to stop him from shooting his weapon.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 10 extra deployment 1 - Into The Hive

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

                The available missions are:
                • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Into the Hive
                • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Angel Gate
                All non-plot missions were removed. Of the remaining missions, Greenskin Weaponsmith offers a Communications Array while Typhon offers a Shrine, which has higher capture priority. Angel Gate offers no strategic points. Because of this, we chose to do "Into The Hive".

                Mission 19 Into The Hive
                • Day 10, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 3 (23 minutes). No extra deployments awarded.
                • Infestation Calderis 2, Typhon 5 (2 after this mission), Meridian 9.
                • There are a few Hive Nodes, so Cyrus is again invaluable here because they are extremely dangerous on Primarch difficulty. They fire so quickly that they are pretty much guaranteed to hit if you approach them, unless you go in from two directions and retreat whichever squad is fired on. Even then, they will probably get to launch maybe twice more before you can destroy them.
                • There are two Raveners that can tunnel and pursue your squad to burst from the ground. Kill them quickly with a High Powered Shot from Cyrus when they appear. Otherwise they can go underground again, and each time they burst from the ground they will cause enough damage to basically wipe all squad members except squad leaders (on Primarch difficulty). Thaddeus will announce when there are no more.
                • Hormagaunts can leap from the bushes with no warning, but are otherwise not particularly dangerous since there aren't that many in each ambush.
                • The mission is supposed to be done in three phases: Collect the sample, and optional objective to destroy all Brood Nests, and then extraction. We will instead clear the map of Brood Nests first, then take the Shrine, then collect the sample.
                  • This has the added advantage of letting us crack open all the supply crates at the extraction point so that we can readily get at them or if we need more Detonation Charge Packs to handle Hive Nodes).
                  • Unlike Hand of the Hive Mind, the Brood Nests here spawn tyranids only when you are near, and then not immediately nor in quick succession. There is no urgency to take them out, but we did so because of our map-control doctrine. Because they do spawn tyranids slowly, this is a fairly safe map to grind for white wargear drops to recycle for XP.
                • At the extraction point we will have to fight a Hive Tyrant, so by clearing the extraction zone first, we can also prepare some traps there. A single Remote Detonator won't do significant damage to the Hive Tyrant, but it will let you quickly clear any Tyranid reinforcements it calls later (imminent reinforcements are shown by green rings on the ground that are not targeted on any squad.
                • The extraction point battle is very dangerous because of the cutscenes involved. You do not have any special protection while the game decides to cancel all your actions so it can pan the camera about.
                  • Cutscene one appears when you have at least one member close enough to the extraction point. This is so that your entire team can be blown up when the Hive Tyrant bursts from the ground. Assemble your squads to fire into the middle of the clearing and move the Force Commander to the extraction point by skirting around the perimeter of the clearing until you get the objective complete notification. Then get him out immediately.
                  • The second cutscene involves Davian T hule. Some time after getting the Bio-Toxin sample, you will receive word that Davian Thule is being revived. He will eventually drop-pod down in a dreadnought and becomes your fifth member. This unfortunately happens when you are in combat with the Hive Tyrant, so that your squads can be wiped during the cutscene when you are unable to control them, and Davian Thule can be the big hero to thunder in and rescue all of you. You can sort of circumvent this by keeping your squads ringed around the Hive Tyrant and no one in melee. That way, only one squad is likely to be pounded on during the cutscene.
                • When Thule joined our team, our squads level 12 except for Thaddeus (level 8; was never brought along on any missions).
                  • Thule started at level 10. Skills were Stamina 5, Range 5, Melee 5, Will 4. +4 Skill points to be assigned. Base skills (if no points were assigned) are Stamina 3, Range 1, Melee 1, Will 0.
                  • A focus on ranged combat can be very chancy with Thule because the Assault Cannons that he needs are "boss" and "mission" drops. That is, the only two ways of getting one are to have it randomly drop from a boss, or have it randomly assigned as a mission reward.
                    • You can use the console to create gear, however.
                    • If you do get any Assault Cannon, it can be very powerful and useful as his special attack with it sprays a conical area, knocking units down and generally kills light infantry.
                  • On Primarch difficulty, Thule really needs to be deployed with someone having the Rites of Repair accessory (Thule himself cannot carry it) because Primarch difficulty dishes out damage so quickly. There is a self-repair skill, but with his skill points so distributed at the start, it will can be several levels before you can acquire it.
                  • Thule runs around more slowly than the rest of the squad. He destroys cover and damages himself by running into explosive barrels. He cannot be ordered to Retreat and thereby gain movement and defensive bonuses.
                • Now that we have Thule, we recycled all our unused white gear with the exception of Superior Dreadnought Armour and the level 14 Relic Flamer with no level requirements.
                    • Before Recycling - FC 12, Tarkus 12, Avitus 12, Cyrus 12, Thaddeus 8, Thule 10
                    • After Recycling - FC 14, Tarkus 14, Avitus 14, Cyrus 14, Thaddeus 10, Thule 12
                  • If you want to farm for gear (which, in the long-term, is unnecessary even on Primarch difficulty, unless it is an assault cannon for Thule), you should not do this because gear typically drops in a (level +2) to (level -2) range, and by moving up in levels, you are excluding certain drops. Instead, do a lot of missions and level up your squad that way.
                    • Sometimes it seems the engine is forced to drop something so it will pick outside that level range.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 10 - Hand of the Hive Mind

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

                The available missions are:
                • Calderis (3 Foundries) - Greenskin Weaponsmith, Hand of the Hive Mind
                • Typhon (1 Foundry) - Brood Swarm, Thundering Terror (replaced Defend the Array at that map location)
                • Meridian (2 Foundries) - Angel Gate
                Our first objective on Day 10 is to secure two additional deployments. With the Defend Mission on Typhon gone (replaced, not expired), we look to Calderis and the three Automated Foundries there to make sure we get two additional deployments. Both of the Calderis missions offer Communications Arrays to capture, but Hand of the Hive Mind also reduces the Tyranid infestation, so we chose to do that one for maximum benefits.
                Additionally, both of the available Typhon Missions were on maps where we had already secured both strategic points, whereas the Calderis ones still allow us to capture strategic points (Communications Arrays).

                Brood Swarm and Thundering Terror:
                • These are not marked as Prime Gene samples, but they will both contribute toward the Bio-Toxin plot goal (signalled by in-game dialogue and the appearance of the Into The Hive mission, which is the third and final mission to get the Bio-Toxin as well as to add Davian Thule as a squad member).
                • Both are straightforward search-and-destroy missions with no special major boss.
                • If we do the Brood Swarm mission, Thundering Terror is removed, Hand of the Hive Mind remains, and the mission Into The Hive is added on Typhon.
                • If we do the Thundering Terror mission, both the Brood Swarm mission and the Hand of the Hive Mind missions are removed, and Into the Hive is added on Typhon.
                Mission 18 Hand of the Hive Mind
                • Day 10, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 5 (10 minutes), two extra deployments awarded (at 11/15 and 14/15).
                • Infestation Calderis 5 (2 after this mission), Typhon 5, Meridian 9.
                • Because you already captured one strategic point on this map in the early Gutrencha mission, you will need to be careful about Retreats since your squads might end up running through thick enemy forces to that strategic point if it is closer. We captured the Automated Foundry earlier, so we headed in that direction and spread outward. In this way, we could predict our retreat route.
                • This mission has several hives that quickly spawn large squads of Termagants.
                  • Split your force into two: Cyrus and the rest in an Assault Force. The Termagants that spawn tend to follow a route. Identify that, set up a kill zone, and destroy them with your Assault Force.
                  • Do not let Cyrus get tied up fighting these because they will just bog you down. Go for the source of the Termagants instead: The Brood Nests. Path Cyrus to them and use whatever demolition you have on them.
                  • You could also grind for white wargear for Recycling on this map since the respawns are so quick, although the drop rate is a mere 1% for these units, which are classed as "swarm" by the game in simulation\attrib\tuning\tuning_info.rbf.
                • The Assault Force should avoid Hive Nodes as they fire quickly and on Primarch are very lethal in addition to making your squad vulnerable because of the knockdown. It is best to wait for Cyrus, but you could charge them and lob two grenades if the area is clear and you have a rally point nearby to replace losses.
                • The village has three levels: The top tier where you land, a middle terrace, and the floor level. Clear the middle terrace only on your way down to the bottom. If you spend time clearing it early, you will just be slowing yourself down fighting the endless streams of Termagents that come up the stairs and flank you. Go down one side and fan outward to draw attention while Cyrus destroys the Brood Nests. Once all the spawning buildings are clear, grab the strategic resource you didn't get before. 
                • To destroy the Tyranid buildings quickly and safely, use Cyrus. The Demolition Charge Packs are good enough, but if it is safe to do so, go in and prepare a Remote Detonator charge as that will take care of nearby enemies as well. Also, the big Hive can be brought down by a single Remote Detonator blast.
                • If Cyrus is detected while planting the Remote Detonator, and a Hive Node is nearby, it could launch a Spore Mine that will explode at or near the Remote Detonator device, causing it to explode. In such a case, you could abort the placement of the Detonation device and instead lob a Demolition Charge Pack at the Hive Node.
                • We encountered one Carnifex. If you do this mission early you will face only Tyranid Warriors with Barbed Stranglers. In later missions, you get Raveners and Zoanthropes sprinkled about.
                • The Relic Flamer we got from the Greenskin Armour mission really helps (level 14, but has no level requirements to equip), but even better is the Flame of Terra flamer if you have it, as the need for setting up the fire arc means the user won't wander into melee while the weapon reloads since that unique flamer requires no reloading. Our Force Commander has a ranged combat build and the Deadly Aim trait, so swarms were generally destroyed quite quickly with the flamer.
                • Once all Tyranid structures are clear, grab the strategic resource, clear the map, then charge the Zoanthrope. Put your Force Commander up front only if he has full health in order to make sure he survives a hit from the Zoanthrope boss. Then unload on it before it can charge up another attack.
                • If you are using a mid-mission save mod for Dawn of War II, a reloaded game might not award extra deployments properly.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 9 extra deployment 2 - The Mantis Killer

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

                The current missions are:
                • Calderis (3 foundries) - Hand of the Hive Mind, Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Typhon (1 foundry) - Defend the Array
                • Meridian (2 foundries) - Angel Gate, The Mantis Killer (5 days left)
                Completing Indranel of the Ulthwé added the mission Angel Gate, but that mission gives us no strategic points.
                • There are two Automated Foundries on the Angel Gate map, but the one near your drop pod insertion point cannot be captured, and capturing the other one does not award any Foundries (possibly because we already have 6 across the three planets): No Generators are deployed, and there was no change-of-ownership message after the mission.
                • The reward for this mission would be our first Plasma Cannon, which is superior to the missile launcher as it appears to not destroy intervening cover, but our unique missile launcher Unerring Thunderbolt has good accuracy and is so far a good enough weapon.
                So for now, we are delaying the completion of Angel Gate.

                Of the remaining missions, Mantis Killer gives a strategic asset and reduces the Tyranid Infestation on Meridian, so we chose to finish Day 9 with that mission.

                Mission 17 The Mantis Killer
                • Day 9 Extra Deployment 2/2. Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (42 minutes).
                • Infestation Calderis 4, Typhon 4, Meridian 11 (9 after mission).
                • Although this mission is not marked as a Prime Gene Sample, it counted toward the three missions you need to do for the Bio-Toxin goal. It is not clear whether this is a glitch or not.
                • The only tricky units here are Hive Nodes, which are annoying to take out without Detonation Charge Packs since they can survive multiple grenades.
                • There is a single Carnifex, which might be the first one you have encountered in the campaign.
                  • Although it is the vehicle equivalent for the Tyranids, it is not counted as a vehicle for Melta-Bombs or Missile Launchers.
                • Lictor boss:
                  • The boss can be killed solo by Cyrus and High-Powered Shots if you have enough supplies, and it is not really any much faster than if you involve your whole team in hit and run attacks. Since time is not a factor because we cannot earn extra deployments anyway, we just took our time and protected our 5/5 Resilience stars.
                  • If you can drop a few turrets, that really helps as it runs around erratically but finally settles on targeting squadmembers. Retreat them when in doubt and kill it by attrition with turrets.
                  • Its special attacks are easy to avoid except the leap, which does not have a fixed distance unlike the first Tyranid Warrior boss. It runs fast and can kill pretty much any squad member with a single attack except the Force Commander. Melee is suicidal here on Primarch difficulty.
                  • The Flesh Hooks attack is basically an instant kill, even on the Force Commander. This is the attack where you are warned to move in close and disrupt its aim. It is probably better to simply run out of range.
                  • Like the Lord of Wraiths mission on the same map, reinforcements will spawn twice in the same area.
                    • If there are no visible squads (e.g., Only Cyrus infiltrated), reinforcements will be called in.
                    • The reinforcements include Spore Mines which will automatically detonate if you have a Remote Detonater planted, and in turn this detonates the Remote Detonator, wiping out all the reinforcements as soon as they appear.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 9 extra deployment 1 - Indranel of the Ulthwé

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

                The available missions are: (some are probably randomly generated so your results may be different)
                • Calderis (3 foundries) - Hand of the Hive Mind, Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Typhon (1 foundry) - Defend the Array (3 days left)
                • Meridian (2 foundries) - Indranel of the Ulthwé, The Mantis Killer (5 days left)
                We have already secured two extra deployments for Day 9 and no more extra deployments can be obtained. Speed on a mission is therefore not important. Since the last Eldar mission took a long time (because the Eldar output a lot of damage on Primarch difficulty), we chose another Eldar mission -- Indranel of the Ulthwé.
                Also, this is the only mission that offers something other than a Communications Array. We prioritized Arrays last, after Automated Foundries and Imperial Shrines, because they are the least beneficial strategic point to hold. Shrines are especially important on Meridian because its Tyranid Infestation rating started at 12 on Day 8, and the Indranel of the Ulthwé mission offers an Imperial Shrine (on the same map for the earlier Fire Prism Attack mission, it was the choice of an Automated Foundry or a Shrine).

                Mission 16 Indranel of the Ulthwé
                • Day 9 Extra Deployment 1/2. Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (46 minutes).
                • Infestation: Calderis 4, Typhon 4, Meridian 11.
                • On the map are two vehicles: A Wraithguard and a Falcon.
                • The same accessible-by-jump corner with lots of supply crates that was in the Fire Prism Attack mission is also here.
                • As with the previous mission there are a lot of Grav Platforms.
                  • Not as many D-Cannons here, but that might be random luck.
                  • Cyrus was no longer be able to use a grenade + attack one-two punch to take them out. But he had Advanced Infiltrate now, so the danger is mitigated.
                • Against large clumps of enemies, the Remote Detonator plus Advanced Infiltrate is gold.
                • Some Seer Councils sprinkled around the map, usually accompanied by a Guardian squad. Watch for the sword and headgear.
                  • Seer Councils can see a planted Remote Detonator. If they attack it, will probably cause it to explode before Cyrus can get away after planting it.
                  • Seer Council force push is targeted on squads and ignores barriers and line of sight. The force push isn't dangerous on its own since it apparently does not damage. However, it may push squads into the visual range of other enemies you are not ready for.
                • The Farseer
                  • Cyrus under the cloak of Infiltration will not make the Farseer appear, so he can move in to plant a Remote Detonator at the centre of the big floor fan in the area (if you have Advanced Infiltrate).
                    • Once he begins planting it, she will appear. She cannot see an infiltrated Cyrus.
                    • The Farseer can see the Remote Detonator, but for unclear reasons her magic attack only does very little damage to it and will not cause it to detonate (but its health will be reduced).
                    • Both the Farseer and her Seer Councils may or may not attack the Detonator. Even if they do attack it, they may not do so continuously.
                  • Cyrus can keep sniping the Farseer with High Powered Shots.
                    • The attack has enough range that he can safely stay outside of her visual range and does not have to be Infiltrated.
                    • In this way, no one else needs to be in danger or subject to any of her powerful attacks.
                  • At around 50% health she summons 3 Seer Councils and around 10% health she summons 5. She is scripted to be invulnerable until she sees an enemy (the Remote Detonator plant does not count, apparently) and then she will summon the Council and vanish until they are defeated.
                    • The fastest way to deal with the Seer Councils is to use a pre-planted Remote Detonator, but there is no guarantee they will spawn conveniently close to it.
                    • If the Seer Councils spawn too far from the Remote Detonator, they apparently can't see Cyrus under Infiltration so he can keep throwing Grenades at them.
                    • If they spawn near a building, you could go to the other side of the building and throw a grenade, then run away immediately -- enemy units typically do not respond to indirect attacks like this from behind a tall barrier that blocks their sight.
                  • After a Council is destroyed and the Farseer returns, plant another if you have Advanced Infiltrate.
                  • Around 15% health, she becomes invulnerable and calls her Eldritch Storm, which has a very wide area but is pretty slow to fire.
                    • Tarkus will say something when she is no longer invulnerable. The game may glitch and cause the Farseer to be stuck with invulnerability.
                    • Fortunately a mid-mission save seems to be be safe to use on this mission. Save after taking a strategic point on this map, and again just before engaging the Farseer.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 9 - Defend the Foundry

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)
                The available missions are: (some are probably randomly generated so your results may be different)
                • Calderis (3 foundries) - Hand of the Hive Mind, Greenskin Weaponsmith
                • Typhon (1 foundry) - Defend the Array (3 days left)
                • Meridian (1 foundry) - Indranel of the Ulthwé, The Mantis Killer (5 days left), Defend the Foundry (2 days left)
                As usual, the priority on the first mission of a campaign day is to secure 2 extra deployments. Because a regular mission usually forces you to trade Fury (kills) for Speed (time), a defence mission is helpful for this because you typically get 5 stars for both Fury and Speed just by completing the mission.
                We chose the Meridian "Defend the Foundry" defence mission because it gives us an Automated Foundry, which we prioritize because it helps us get extra deployments. Also, this is a new map for Meridian so in addition to the automatically secured Foundry, we can get a second strategic point.
                This is the final Automated Foundry we can capture (6/6). Since we start this mission with the Foundry awarded to us, we enter this mission with 6 out of 6 possible Automated Foundries, which in turn reduces the requirement for extra deployments on all planets:
                • Normally it is 13/15 for +1 deployment and 15/15 for +2 deployments.
                • Now it is 11/15 for +1 deployment and 14/15 for +2 deployments.
                  • This means that all missions on Calderis, if we can get Fury 5 and Resilience 5, will award 2 extra deployments because even at Speed 1, we will get +3 from the 3 Automated Foundries there, for a total score of 14/15.
                Mission 15 Defend the Foundry
                • Day 9, Fury 4 (91%), Resilience 5, Speed 5 (5 minutes), two extra deployments awarded (at 11 and 14 stars).
                • Infestation: Calderis 4, Typhon 4, Meridian 11
                • There is also a Communications Array on this map. You can capture it with Cyrus, but the defence mission will be hectic and Cyrus will be under a lot of time pressure. Having Advanced Infiltrate (which lets you use accessories while remaining undetected) is pretty much essential.
                  • If you just click on the Array as Cyrus's end point, the path the game navigates for him is a pretty good one. He can basically avoid all the Tyranids except the ones around the Array; and there are a couple of places where he can come out of stealth safely to recover Power while not engaged by anyone.
                    • If you have increased sight range (e.g., from special armour), be careful that when he is not Infiltrated, his sniping rifle will let him engage targets and thereby draw them to him.
                    • If you want to avoid this and still have improved sight range, switch to a shotgun. This won't let him use High Powered Shot, but if you have Advanced Infiltrate, you are using Remote Detonators to clear your path anyway (and Detonation Charge Packs to clear Hive Nodes).
                  • If you need a bit more time, you could possibly retreat from the final "boss" of the defend mission (just a mission critical target, probably a Tyranid Warrior With Barbed Strangler, but possibly a Carnifex; not particularly tough but has a boss health bar) until Cyrus captures the Communications Array.
                • Detonation Charge Packs are actually useful during the defence portion of the mission as the Tyranid assault swarms generally don't care about retreating from them. They might initially, but will continue to press forward shortly after.
                • Kills from mines do not seem to be credited to you, but they are a fairly good way to get at a Tyranid Warrior in the back of the swarm, as the mines given to you by the mission can be dropped anywhere you can see without having to have squad member nearby. Also, a mine will generally kill one right away whereas you might need three or more grenades to do so.
                • If you only have one turret, put it between the two Generators near the bunker.
                  • This way, if Hormagaunts leap (and they leap very far) into your rear line, the turret should quickly take care of them so you do not have to double back to get them.
                  • You actually do not want the turret to be primarily offensive and continuously engaged. Instead, have it always available to quickly target and attack enemies that make it to the back row and disrupt Avitus.
                  • This is also near your rally point for a retreat (not the Automated Foundry).
                • No vehicles, but the missile launcher is still good here because even a miss can still send it into the large swarms and blow some up.

                Dawn of War II - Walkthrough - Day 8 extra deployment 2 - Lord of Wraiths

                (Click here for a list of all our posts on Dawn of War II.)

                There are three remaining missions as a day has not yet passed:
                • Meridian (1 foundry) - Lord of Wraiths
                • Calderis (3 foundries) - Hand of the Hive Mind, Greenskin Weaponsmith (added by completing Greenskin Armour)
                All offer a Communications Array; the Meridian mission also offers a Shrine. We chose to now do the Meridian mission and capture the Shrine even though Meridian is not yet under Tyranid infestation. Having the Shrine will not change initial infestation values but will offset increases when it happens. Communications Arrays are still deprioritized at this point.

                Mission 14 Lord of Wraiths
                • Day 8 extra deployment 2/2, Fury 5, Resilience 5, Speed 1 (50 minutes).
                • Infestation: Calderis 3, Typhon 5, Meridian 0
                • Sometimes the game glitches (?) and even before you get to the Wraithlord, you will receive a notification and the Wraithlord health bar will show. IMMEDIATELY pause the game and start looking around because shortly after, Seer Councils may come after you. The Wraithlord is scripted to stay in his arena at the other end of the map, but the Seer Councils will beeline for you, and even a single one is devastating at range and in melee.
                • Because there weren't a lot of melee units, I found a Flamer on the Force Commander to be useful against the Eldar which were frequently in cover.
                  • We specialized the Force Commander in Ranged combat and probably for that reason his melee attacks could not kill a Grav Platform quickly enough.
                  • In any case, the melee units on this map are very strong and swarm quickly so any melee squad is in trouble if they try going toe-to-toe (on Primarch difficulty). A flamer let us hit them all in one go, supporting any units that got caught in melee.
                • Lots of cover here and the Eldar use it, but you have to get out of cover and advance; otherwise they will stay put while their Grav Platforms with their superior range kill you. This is one of the reasons why this mission is so dangerous to your Resilience rating, and the reason we used an extra deployment to do it: We weren't going to get any Speed stars anyway.
                • From the upper gardens, you can grenade the lower walkways. If you look at the map top-down, maximum throw radius still determines how far you can throw without your unit moving to close the distance. However, your actual throw will be slightly farther than that.
                • The Melta-Bomb is important here as Eldar vehicles move quite quickly.
                  • If you have it, you can probably skip bringing the missile launcher, but make sure you have enough Melta-Bombs to go around.
                  • Melta-Bombs are superior to grenades because they are targeted at a vehicle and will curve to follow the target. It is a guaranteed hit instead of a grenade toss where you have to predict where the target will be if it is moving.
                • The grav platforms are extremely dangerous in this mission:
                  • They can turn and set up quickly to fire. Their arc of fire seems fairly small, however, maybe 30 degrees or so.
                    • Because they need to deploy, if they are charging you they cannot attack. Charge back and hit their position with two grenades. If you don't feel like leading your grenade throw against moving targets, wait for them to start deploying then pause the game and chuck your grenades.
                    • Another technique is to deploy your squads around a barrier or corner that does not allow shooting through it. This way, the Grav Platforms must come around the corner where they and their supporting troops will be bunched up for a grenade throw and traffic jammed if you have Cyrus shoot even one of them with a sniping rifle as that suppresses them and slows them down immediately. Once they are around the corner they still need to rotate and deploy, and this buys you time.
                      • On this map, with the number of stairs and levels, this is not always viable since they could deploy atop the stairs and shoot down at you. This is best used on level ground with walls or other high barriers.
                  • When we played this map with level 8 squads, we could not reliably kill them with a single grenade even when the grenade landed squarely on them.
                  • The Shuriken Cannons fire extremely fast and can take down health very quickly, but are still the least dangerous.
                  • The Bright Lances fire instantly and with high accuracy. It is pretty much guaranteed to kill one squad member per shot unless you have hard cover (green shield).
                  • The D-Cannons have a range longer than your sight range and can suddenly fire from the fog of war if you are spotted by any Eldar.
                    • The damage is enormous and on Primarch will typically kill any squad caught in the blast unless they are at the edge. Even then you will probably lose some squad members.
                    • Once they start charging up, they cannot adjust their blast location and you can try to move a squad sideways or possibly right at them.
                      • At a moderate distance, a squad continuously moving sideways can avoid being hit, allowing another squad to shoot at it or try to flank it and throw a grenade.
                      • If you move behind cover and out of line of sight, it will abort its shot.
                      • Unlike ranged infantry, platforms are NOT tied up by melee and can still fire. This is probably because a platform does not have a melee attack, whereas infantry can still fight hand-to-hand with their guns in hand.
                    • They do not need a clear line of fire if they have spotters, and seem to ignore cover.
                  • They can be suppressed like infantry, so if you need to buy time you can have Cyrus snipe them to give you an opening to throw grenades. Suppressed units usually wander around sort of randomly, but it's hard to predict how long they will remain suppressed.
                  • Avitus can outdistance their sight range with his weapons, but they have much longer range and on the map they often have other units in front of them as spotters to extend their firing range.
                  • Cyrus is probably the safest one to use to take them out.
                    • You should take Cyrus on this mission because he can scout ahead to see where platforms are and what attack group are headed your way.
                    • If a grenade cannot kill the platform outright, once you have tossed the grenade, immediately direct Cyrus to fire on the platform. The combined damage will hopefully be enough to kill it.
                      • To give yourself some extra time, position Cyrus in a flanking position compared to the Grav Platform's current weapon firing arc.
                      • Prioritize hitting D-Cannons and Bright Lances. Shuriken Cannons are dangerous, but the least so.
                    • A High-Powered Shot should be able to kill a platform outright, and from a safe distance. Since a High-Powered Shot executes quite quickly, you could kill two Grav Platforms in short order before retreating by throwing a grenade on one Grav Platform, firing on the target to make sure it is destroyed, and then using High-Powered Shot on another Grav Platform. (All this assuming you do not yet have Advanced Infiltrate which lets you use accessories without revealing yourself.)
                    • Supply crates are rare initially until you get to Teleport Relays or one of the strategic points on the map.
                    • You will probably want to save your Melta-Bombs for the tough vehicles on this map, so give Cyrus grenades and the remote detonator, and maybe the Melta-Bombs to the Force Commander. On the map there is a Wraithguard with a sword and weak shuriken cannon, a Falcon with a strong long-ranged scatter laser, and the Wraithlord mission-target boss.
                  • Detonation Charge Packs can sometimes also work if you snipe and throw one immediately. Before the unit comes out of suppression, the Pack should blow.
                  • Blind Grenades will work on Grav Platforms, probably because the gunner is exposed.
                  • Another technique is to deploy your squads around a barrier or corner that does not allow shooting through it. This way, the Grav Platforms must come around the corner where they and their supporting troops will be bunched up for a grenade throw and traffic jammed if you have Cyrus shoot even one of them with a sniping rifle as that suppresses them and slows them down immediately.
                • On the southeast side there are two shuriken cannon grav platforms guarding the bridge. The one on the left/west can be quite safely bombarded with grenades from the terrace above if you get close enough. The one on the right/east can shoot through the floor. If you stand back far enough it will not be able to but you can still bombard it with grenades.
                • There are two vehicles on this map: A Falcon (typically near the Shrine to the northwest) and a Wrathguard (near the centre, walks right through an otherwise normally impassable barbed wire barrier).
                  • The Wraithguard is the regular-sized version of the giant Wraithlord you will fight. Its sword attack has good range and sometimes just hits, even though you don't see the sword moving. Keep your distance unless you are willing to sacrifice a squad member.
                • The Wraithlord has three special attacks:
                  • Shuriken Cannon suppression fire - When the targeting rune is under one of your squads.
                    • This is the most dangerous as it executes quickly. The radius of the attack is much wider than the rune on the ground.
                    • Avitus's squad of devastators typically cannot exit the target area in time. You will probably have to signal a Retreat or lose the entire squad.
                  • Force wave - When the targeting rune is centered on the Wraithlord.
                    • Radius is quite wide.
                    • The explosion is fast, so you are either out already or you are blasted.
                    • If you react quickly enough, when it announces this attack you can lob a grenade at it before fleeing.
                    • As soon as it explodes, you can probably start moving back in to shooting range.
                  • Fault line
                    • Similar to Gutrencha's attack, but a different colour.
                    • The Wraithlord launches a jagged lightning-like column on the ground. Explosions follow the line shortly after.
                • Reinforcement squads for the Wraithlord boss come from the Communications Array side of the garden, near the stairs leading down.
                  • They just magically appear, so if you are nearby you could be surrounded and tied up in melee with Banshees.
                  • There are two calls for reinforcement: At around 75% health and around 25% health.
                  • If you stay on the other side, they might not detect you or will at least be delayed.
                  • You could plant a Remote Detonator there and as soon as they appear, trigger it to clear them all immediately. The Wraithlord does not normally wander that far unless in pursuit, and even if it is near the centre of a Remote Detonator blast, the health it loses is comparable to a grenade hit.