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Monday, March 11, 2013

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Davian Thule

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Squad Build - Davian Thule, Dreadnought

Overview
A big problem with Thule is how he is added to your roster: His skill points are spent already, and distributed evenly over the four skills. He has fewer skill traits and they are deeper in his skill tree, so considerable specialization is required to get even one trait.
Another issue with Thule is in getting an assault cannon. He doesn't start with one (just the default flamer) and all the unique assault cannons are gotten from either Bosses or Missions. Both of which draw from a very wide pool of gear, so in theory you may never get any of the unique assault cannons.
Overall, because of his slow movement and turning, Thule is best used on Defense missions where you don't have to move him much. He is anti-infantry as he really has no anti-armour / anti-vehicle capabilities except melee, which is too dangerous on Primarch Difficulty. If he is chased by a Carnifex, he is as good as dead on Primarch Difficulty unless you have fast anti-armour on supporting squads.

Any build should aim to get Ancient Defender as soon as possible. Follow up with Holy Vigor so that whether you have an Assault Cannon or not, you can use all your skills more frequently.
If you do have an Assault Cannon, I recommend concentrating on Ranged because even the default skill is powerful and in any case he moves so slowly that you really don't want to have to close to melee. Also, on Primarch difficulty, melee is very dangerous for all squads.

Thule moves more slowly than any squad member and while you can use the Retreat order, turning will still cost a lot of time and be a liaibility.
Thule cannot revive incapacitated squad leaders and cannot capture strategic points or Teleport Relay Beacons.
Thule can't seem to do anything to garrisoned units with his Assault Cannon (with or without Hail of Fury) except destroy the building.

Skills

Starting Skill

Mighty Strike - Slam the Dreadnought's mighty fist into the ground, damaging, knocking back, and temporarily stunning enemies.
Assault Cannon Barrage - Cover an area with a devastating hail of shells.

There is a brief setup time during which Thule stops firing.
Range is typically longer than most targets' visual range, so if you have a spotter you can often safely kill enemies without them closing on your position. Each barrage generally pushes back survivors, so you'll have to inch forward slowly.
The actual area of effect is a wide strip at the end of the cone area, and that extends past the dotted radius.

Anything closer is not affected and you cannot initially target the barrage in that zone. The no-effect zone is approximately the distance of a flamer or grenade throw.
Because a hit pushes enemies back and knocks them down, enemies that are farther off might be pushed out of range by the first barrage sweep.

It can shoot through obstacles (and not harm them) if such obstacles are in the cone area. However, if you do not have line of sight to the middle location (where you targeted the barrage), Thule will first move to get line of sight and minimum stand-off distance.

You can therefore sneakily hit enemies behind a wall in this way if you can target a space nearby.

Great against the dangerous Banshees and Seer Councils if you can hit them before they jump, but on Primarch Difficulty you will still want to make sure he has support against being swarmed. He can't be knocked down but he can be chopped up. If you get the drop on the enemy with an Assault Cannon, you can spray the area for heavy damage, knock them down, and suppress them all in one go.

Stamina

Hardened Armor - A Techmarine reinforces the Dreadnought's plating, making it more resilient to anti-vehicle / anti-armor weaponry.
Ancient Defender - Temporarily deactivate, initiating self-repair while providing a heavy cover bonus to nearby allies.

The only other ways to heal Thule in the field are at a secured strategic asset and with the Rites of Repair accessory that someone else must use on him.
You can activate this anywhere, even when enemies are close by. Normally, characters heal only when far enough away from the enemy.
He will continue to heal until you give him another order or he is fully healed. So, if his healing rate is strong, you could let him turtle and soak enemy fire.

Range

Battle Lust - Thule regains Energy for every enemy he kills.
Hail of Fury - The assault cannon's already brutal barrage is further improved by loading hellfire rounds into the chambers, dealing explosive damage to all enemies who are caught in the deadly firing arc.

Extremely powerful against massed enemies as all enemies are guaranteed to be hit if they are in the effect zone, and each hit causes an explosion, which, for densely packed enemies, results in overlapping explosions.

Melee

The Emperor's Might - Thule's Mighty Strike ability is charged with the hate of all of Mankind's enemies as nearby foes are stunned for a short duration.
Furious Charge - Dreadnought becomes able to make a ferocious charge to a targeted location, smashing and damaging enemies and objects caught in its path.

Will

Holy Vigor - With increased vigor, Thule's abilities can be used more often.
Venerable - Davian Thule becomes a Venerable Dreadnought, a true legend of the Chapter. He inspires victory in the hearts and minds of his brothers when killing opponents. Inspired allies gain increased movement speed and damage.

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Thaddeus

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

Squad Build - Thaddeus
(Not for Chaos Rising)

Overview
The traits we aimed for were in this order: Aegis of Fury, Improved Load Out, Chapter's Fury, Blessing of Zeal.

In Terminator Armour, he is melee-only and actually pretty decent against Fire Prisms, because the D-Cannon seems to do little against him and it seems he cannot be trampled by vehicles. However, Banshees and Seer Councils (on Primarch Difficulty) can still chew through his squadmembers with surprising speed.

Skills

Starting Skill

Assault Jump

This is basically a grenade, except it cannot harm buildings or vehicles and you cannot leap onto an enemy structure. By going so far ahead, you will probably also attract even more enemies, so after trying to kill priority targets (e.g., a Tyranid Warrior), your next priority is probably to get out. If you're feeling brave you can use a Merciless Strike before running out, especially if you have Aegis of Fury.
Probably more useful to get out of trouble, or a combination of getting out of trouble by leaping into a more vulnerable clump of enemies.
If some members of his squad are presently knocked down or out of range, they will Jump when they are able. In this way, sometimes the squad will not all jump at the same time, which may be a good thing since each jump knocks down all targets in a small radius. Not clear how Aegis of Fury works in this case, however.
You CAN be shot at while you are in the sky (you can do the same to ork Stormboyz).
Terminator Armour have teleport packs, which means you lose this power.

Stamina

Strike from the Skies! - Assault Jump causes suppression as well as damage and knockback.
Aegis of Fury - Upon landing a jump or completing a teleport, Thaddeus and his squad are temporarily invulnerable.

With this you can fearlessly jump into anything as long as you clear out quickly. Prior to this skill, getting out (in Primarch difficulty) could mean forcing a Retreat.
There should be enough time to do a Merciless Strike.
This does not take effect until after the jump is complete. If you jump onto a Ravener crater (where a Ravener is hidden), you will take damage when it bursts out.

Blessing of Zeal - Thaddeus regains Health with every strike in hand-to-hand combat.

Range
Skill here is completely useless in Terminator Armour because you cannot equip anything other than a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield while in Terminator Armour (IF you even want him in Terminator Armour, which causes him to lose Assault Jump). Not even a Storm Bolter, no matter what traits you have.

Bolter Aptitude - Thaddeus and his Assault Squad become able to equip bolters.
Ranged Aptitude - Thaddeus becomes adept with plasma guns and flamers.

Like Tarkus, if Thaddeus equips a flamer, he is the only one in the squad with a flamer. The rest of the Assault Squad have bolters.
When using a flamer, unlike Tarkus, Thaddeus does not close to flamer range, which means his squadmates fire bolters while he stands idle.

Ranged Specialist - Thaddeus becomes able to fire plasma guns and flamers while moving. Adds passive chance to stun with any ranged weapon.

Melee

Merciless Strike - Lash out at a specified target with an explosive short-ranged melee attack.

This is targeted at a LOCATION. Once targeted you cannot abort it, so if enemies have died or moved away, it is wasted.
Fire Prisms swim around quickly and constantly seek to avoid melee, so this is pretty much impossible to use against them unless they are distracted by something else.

Power Weapon Aptitude - Learn to wield power swords, power axes, and power fists.

In Primarch difficulty, it is basically suicidal to melee enemy vehicles or vehicle-class creatures (such as Carnifexes). Their ability to run you over (if a tank) or cut you down (Carnifex) is extreme and will probably cost you one or two squadmembers immediately, if it doesn't wipe your entire squad including Thaddeus. Therefore, although you can use these weapons, you really want to equip whatever gives you the best bonuses, even if it is a chainsword, and leave anti-armour for ranged weapons.

Terminator Honors - Gain the ability to equip Terminator armor. Thaddeus wields a mighty thunder hammer as his default weapon in Terminator armor and is equipped with a teleporter.

A teleporter disables the Assault Jump.

Chapter's Fury - After taking a large amount of damage Thaddeus can enter a reckless state, stretching his abilities to their limits. During this time, abilities cost no energy and have no recharge duration.

It would be interesting to try this with Aegis of Fury since you could theoretically maintain invulnerability. Too bad Assault Jump takes so long to set up and execute.
It is confusing how this activates or for how long. But it does work.

Will

Improved Load Out - Adds an Accessory slot.

Get this so you can either load up Thaddeus with armour or damage resistance items, or give him an accessory so he isn't useless against vehicles.

Larraman's Blessing - After being revived in combat, Thaddeus cannot be harmed for 10 seconds.

I would prefer tactics that involved Thaddeus not having to be revived.

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Cyrus

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

Squad Build - Cyrus
(Not for Chaos Rising)

Overview
Cyrus is basically about what accessories can be used while Infiltrated.
The overall best weapon for him is a Sniper Rifle, as even normal attacks instantly cause suppression on infantry in the area. Snipe them as you are advancing Tarkus to grenade them. Also great on defense missions as it buys you time to handle an attack wave.
On very long recon missions (such as going solo to secure an asset during a Defense mission), a Sniping Rifle can actually be a liability because when you are out of Infiltration to recover your Energy, the long range can let him engage and draw enemies to him.

Cyrus has the Demolition Charge Pack. Carnifexes won't run from a charge pack unlike just about every other type of enemy unit. It will take two or more to kill one Carnifex.

The traits we aimed for were in this order: Stillness, Specialist Ammunition, Advanced Infiltrate, Improved Load Out, Master Infiltrate, Improved Infiltration.

Skills

Starting Skills

Infiltration

The range at which various enemies or enemy structures (such as turrets) detect can vary, which makes it confusing to use at times.

Suppressive Fire

A limited use item gained when he has a Bolter equipped. Stands still and concentrates fire on a location, not an enemy squad.
Can be aborted by moving him, but he will not automatically end it even if there are no enemies to shoot.

Stamina

Improved Infiltration - Cyrus and his squad are able to move at full speed while infiltrated.
Instant Revival - Cyrus becomes able to revive incapacitated squad leaders instantly.

Saves on Stimpacks, but I prefer to play carefully enough that squad leaders don't end up incapacitated.

Teleport Homer - Teleport in Scout reinforcements without the use of a secured relay.

Reinforcements start without Infiltration, so this isn't that great. When you don't need to be infiltrated, you might as well just quickly Retreat to a rally point and reinforce there.

Range

Specialist Ammunition - Cyrus can use specialized ammunition with sniper rifles and shotguns.

Get this for High Powered Shot, but not before you get Stillness to make Infiltrate useful.

He gains High Explosive Shot with shotguns, and High Powered Shot with sniper rifles.
Flamer Aptitude - Cyrus gains the ability to equip flamers. Unlocks Immolate, allowing him to use a flamer to ignite an area.

He stands still and for a period of time paints an area with the flamer. Similar to Suppressive Fire in that he stands still and the area targeted cannot move even if the enemy has left.

Mark Target - Any target Cyrus engages in ranged combat becomes marked. Any squad attacking a marked target does so with greatly increased accuracy.

Melee

Improved Load Out - Adds an Accessory slot.

Once you can stay Infiltrated safely for a long time, get this to bring more types of gear so that he is useful Infiltrated and using slow accessories (like Detonation Charge Packs) as well as when not Infiltrated and needing faster accessories between Sniping Rifle shots.

Drop Smoke - When Cyrus infiltrates or reveals himself, he drops a smoke grenade that stuns nearby enemies and drastically reduces the accuracy of their attacks.

Will

Stillness - Infiltrate does not drain energy while Cyrus and his squad are standing still.

You really need this to make Infiltrate at all useful: Sometimes you need to just let the enemy walk by in order to get close enough for a throw. Sometimes a short retreat is all you need to get out of trouble. You can then stay put until your accessory cooldown ends.
Get this before Specialist Ammunition even if you do not yet have a Sniper Rifle as this can put you in position for you to use the special ammo for a sniper rifle or shotgun, both of which are good assassination tools.

Silent Revival - Cyrus can revive allied squad leaders while infiltrated without being detected.

This is sort of a silly power because if you need to infiltrate to get to a squad member, that person is in a dangerous zone and could get killed once they wake up. Cyrus might not even be able to get close enough to do it.

Advanced Infiltrate - Cyrus can use accessories while infiltrated without being detected.

This can let you severely wound or even kill bosses with High Powered Shot, which has extreme range. Just sit still and wait for your power cooldowns to end.
I recommend High Powered Shot over this because High Powered shot lets you take out key targets without having to get close enough to throw something. This can make a huge difference.

With regular Infiltrate, at worst you just need to force Retreat to get him out of trouble after using an accessory. You just need to be choosier about your targets.
Also, it is a long way to this power and in the meantime you could really get a lot of use out of High Powered Shot.
High Powered Shot has enough range to work when you are suddenly charged by the enemy and need to take out the most troublesome one so that you can handle the horde coming at you. (Like a Tyranid synapse creature or D-Cannon Grav Platform).

You will probably not have this by the time you get the Remote Detonator unless you recycle a lot of gear.

Master Infiltrate - Energy cost of Infiltrate is greatly reduced.

Allows for long recons through enemy territory or just sitting still waiting for your High Powered Shot to cooldown. Probably extends your recon time longer than Improved Infiltration.

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Avitus

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

Squad Build - Avitus
(Not for Chaos Rising)

Overview

Because his weapons have long range, you can start combat by setting him up with the enemy at the limit of his range. As they come closer in response to being shot at, hopefully they will be suppressed, making them easier targets for your other squads and to being hit by a Grenade.
If you spot melee enemies, you should set up Avitus a ways behind your other squads and use him to quickly clear any melee enemies that manage to close with your front line.

The traits we aimed for were in this order: Advanced Optics, Improved Load Out, Heavy Weapons Specialist, Terminator Honors, Battle Lust.

Of the squads in your roster, Avitus is probably the one who benefits most from Terminator Armour if you have a decent Assault Cannon to go with it. His damage-per-second jumps a lot, plus he is less vulnerable in melee as his Armor improves and his entire squads has Terminator Power Fists. He can't garrison anymore, but on Primarch Difficulty, being holed up in a building is a liability anyway. Only Avitus carries the Assault Cannon in Terminator Armour; his squad carries Storm Bolters.

Skills

Starting Skill

Focus Fire - Greatly enhance the damage output of any ranged weapon, bringing ruination to the enemy.

Stamina

Sprint - Gain additional movement speed and become immune to knockdown for a short period.
Terminator Honors - Gain the ability to equip Terminator armor. Avitus wields a mighty assault cannon as his default weapon in Terminator armor.
Steady in Cover - Become immune to knockback from conventional attack when in cover. Special abilities may still cause knockback.

Range

Advanced Optics - Extend the range of all ranged weapons used by Avitus.
Improved Focus - While active, Focus Fire also extends weapon range.
Accurate from Cover - Devastator Squad has increased accuracy when firing from cover, significantly raising damage output.

Missile Launchers tend to destroy cover in front of you when used against Infantry since they have a forced inaccuracy against infantry and the shots can go anywhere.

Heavy Weapons Specialist - Avitus no longer needs to set up or tear down heavy weapons such as Plasma Cannons or Heavy Bolters.

This applies to the whole squad.
Without set up and tear down, models tend to wander when reloading just like any other squad not using a weapon with setup. Watch them to make sure they are still where you need them to be.
You lose the area-of-effect diagram you normally get when you click-and-drag to establish facing.
Missile launchers do not have set up or tear down but only Avitus carries it. The rest of the squad will still need to set up their heavy bolters, only now you don't have the firing arc diagram to guide you.
Terminator Armour Assault Cannons do not have setup time.

Melee

Sure Footed - While using Focus Fire, Avitus enters an extremely focussed state and he is unable to be knocked down.

Just get Terminator Armour. You get your first suit after the mission "The Secrets of Angel Forge".

Clear Out - Swing equipped weapon in a wide arc, knocking nearby enemies backwards.

You do not need a ranged weapon.
Seems mostly useless as it doesn't inflict a lot of damage, throw the enemies back very far, or last very long. If you are swamed by Tyranids, it is probably better to try to reposition or retreat than use this to give yourself maybe just one or two seconds of breathing room.

Will

Improved Load Out - Adds an Accessory slot.

You really want this because there are a lot of useful accessories and not enough squadmembers to carry them. Also, having some kind of attack accessory means he's not entirely useless if you don't have time to set up his heavy weapon.

Battle Lust - Avitus regains Energy for every enemy he kills.
Focus Mastery - The basic benefits of Focus Fire are extended to nearby allies, increasing their damage output.

This sounds like a great skill to have, but unlike Tarkus's Tactical Mastery, not everyone will be using a ranged weapon in a way that will greatly benefit, so it is not a big priority to get.

In our builds, the Force Commander was counting on Deadly Aim for kills with Flamers instead of raw weapon damage; Tarkus was using Grenades; and Cyrus was using demolition with Infiltration.

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Tarkus

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

Squad Build - Tarkus
(NOT for Chaos Rising)

Overview
Tarkus can use any light ranged weapon and Terminator Armour without having to take a Trait. However, his squad doesn't always mirror his weapon changes (e.g., flamer or plasma gun).

Although Tarkus starts as a shooter, his strongest weapon is probably grenades from the Grenadier trait. Grenades can take out whole squads very quickly, has indirect fire (you can throw them over/through obstacles) and do good damage against all target types.

Two Accessory slots to start plus a third from Improved Load Out means you could possibly have three Armour-improving seals for a very high Armour Rating, then stack on Tactical Advance. In practice, however, you probably want at least one slot for Grenades to take advantage of his Grenadier trait.

The traits we aimed for were in this order: Grenadier, Close Combat Aptitude, Veteran Squadmates, Tactical Mastery, I Shall Not Fall. We deliberately chose not to take "I Shall Not Fall" early even though it is powerful, because we are aiming for non-suicidal tactics.

Skills

Starting Skill
Tactical Advance - Break Suppression and reduce incoming ranged damage at the cost of movement speed.

It appears that if you simply flash this power (briefly turn it on and off) you will still break suppression for a while. You could do this if you are short on Energy and need to throw a grenade soon.

Stamina

Taunt - Force nearby enemies to switch targets and engage Tarkus's squad, drawing their fire from other friendly units.

Apparently does nothing if the enemies are not already fighting or they cannot see him.

Larraman's Blessing - After being revived in combat, Tarkus cannot be harmed for several seconds.

I would prefer tactics that involved Tarkus not having to be revived.

Veteran Squadmates - Tarkus leads a squad of Chapter Veterans, with increased toughness and improved equipment.

The squad default weapons are one bolter, one plasma gun, and one plasma cannon. If they are carrying a melee weapon, two of them have plasma pistols, which are not available to you (the plasma pistol wargear are usable only by the Force Commander or Thaddeus). The plasma weapons means his squad has much better anti-vehicle capabilities but the slower rate of fire means they aren't as effective against massed infantry.

I Shall Not Fall - So long as Tactical Advance is active, Tarkus fights through the worst of injuries and cannot be incapacitated.

I would prefer tactics that involved Tarkus not being put in suicidal situations and having to rely on this skill.

Range

Bolter Specialist - When using a bolter or storm bolter, Tarkus learns to fire more frequently.

Since you will probably swap out for a plasma gun later, this isn't a particularly important trait.

Ranged Specialist - Tarkus learns to fire plasma guns and flamers while moving.
Tactical Expertise - While using Tactical Advance, Tarkus and his squad inflict additional damage in addition to gaining the standard defensive benefits. Benefit does not apply to other squads affected by Tactical Mastery.

Melee
Terminator Armour has its own set of melee weapons, none of which require Traits to use.

Close Combat Aptitude - Tarkus and his squad become able to equip chainswords and bolt pistols.

If you are primarily using Grenades for Tarkus's ranged offence, then this lets you choose two items to equip instead of one. You could take a Bolt Pistol that gives you additional energy regeneration and thereby help you both keep up Tactical Advance as well as throw Grenades.

Melee Tactician - Tactical Advance reduces incoming damage from close-combat as well as ranged attacks.

This trait makes Tarkus probably the safest squad to defend in melee since he now has significant protection against basically all attack types. Without Power Sword Aptitude, however, his anti-vehicle capability must be made up with Accessories.

Power Sword Aptitude - Tarkus becomes able to equip power swords.

He cannot use Power Fists, although one of his Veteran Squadmates has a Power Fist if he is using a melee weapon.

Will

Improved Load Out - Number of Accessory slots increased by one.
Grenadier - When equipped, Frag Grenades are an Energy-using ability for Tarkus, rather than a limited use ability replenished by supply drops.

There tend to be a good amount of supply drops, but there are some maps where you simply don't have that many, such as the "The Defense of Argus Gate" mission.
Also, it is very easy to mess up a grenade throw. Unless you are looking at the map top-down, the game has to decide what you are throwing at, and sometimes what you think you aimed at isn't what the game has calculated. It is possible to throw through a building, but if you are looking at the target location from the side, more often than not the grenade hits the building.
With this Trait, you can afford to use Tarkus to clear every garrisoned building with a grenade. You are, however, competing with Tactical Advance for Energy, so you may need to just flash Tactical Advance on and off instead of keeping it continuously on.
You cannot use Grenades in Terminator Armour.

Tactical Mastery - The benefits of Tactical Advance spread to nearby allied squads, allowing a sizable force to advance under its protection. Tactical Expertise does not spread to other squads.

Dawn of War II - Squad Build - Force Commander

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

Squad Build - Force Commander
(NOT for Chaos Rising)

Overview

The Force Commander can use all but the heaviest ranged weapons without having to take a Trait. This theoretically means you can choose the proper weapon for the proper situation, but in practice not being able to change weapons in the field means you will outfit your squad quite generically for most missions.
The Force Commander starts as a melee build, and has strong melee traits you can get such as the invincibility from Relentless and healing from Blessing of War. However, because we prefer ranged combat overall, we instead went with Deadly Aim and a flamer, and made sure he had support when engaged in melee.
No skills are required to use Terminator Armour (like Tarkus), but using Terminator Armour disables the Commander Accessory slot.
He starts with only one Accessory slot, while Tarkus has two. So we swapped his Stimpack with Tarkus's Grenades, and later gave Tarkus the Master-Crafted Grenades.
The traits we aimed for were in this order: Deadly Aim, Battle Cry, Commander's Load Out.

Skills

Starting Skill

To Victory! - Charge to a specified location with the Chapter's vigor, smashing through objects and knocking enemies back.

If you are suppressed, this is a fast way to instantly shake it off, reposition, and disrupt your attacker, all in one move.
Affects all enemies from the time you start charging. Great if you can come at them from the flank or if there are a lot of them (e.g., Tyranids or during a Defend mission). Suddenly you're behind them and they are between you and your shooter squads.
If there is a structure you cannot destroy in the way, such as a building or vehicle, your charge is aborted (?).
Some maps deliberately put cover type barriers to block passages (such as the defensive enclosure where Davian Thule starts in "The Defense of Argus Gate"). You can use this to burst through, but only if you start with the end point within range at the time you invole the power. Otherwise, the Force Commander will path-find around the barrier.

Stamina
Other than getting more Health (on top of whatever you automatically get for free when your level increases), the main skill here is Relentless, and then only if you focus on melee.

Zealous - The charge range of To Victory! increases while its Energy cost decreases.
Unshakable - The Force Commander becomes highly resistant to knockdown.
Relentless - After using To Victory!, the Force Commander becomes invulnerable for a short time.

This makes To Victory! a weaker version of Thaddeus's Aegis of Fury.
Invulnerability moves can be important and powerful, but in Primarch you will probably be using it to get out of trouble, especially as it's hard to tell how long the invulnerability lasts.

Indomitable - Gain a significant chance to instantly regain consciousness when incapacitated. When doing so, the Force Commander regains health and gains a brief speed and damage increase.

Theoretically a great skill, except that our tactics should revolve around not being incapacitated in the first place.

Range
There is really only one useful Trait here: Deadly Aim.

Ranged Specialist - The Force Commander can fire plasma guns and flamers while moving.
Heavy Weapons Aptitude - The Force Commander can equip heavy bolters, missile launchers, and plasma cannons.

Weapons with backpacks, such as Heavy Bolters, cannot be used with Commander Accessories.
Unless you also have accessories you can freely use, equipping something like a missile launcher or plasma cannon means your Force Commander will mostly be idle due to their low fire rate.

Deadly Aim - Every shot fired has a chance to deal a killing blow to most infantry targets. (When active, Battle Cry increases this chance).

This would seem to be good with Heavy Bolters, but Heavy Bolters cannot be used with Commander Accessories and in any case only has a base 18% chance to hit. Instead, use a Flamer, which is 100% guaranteed to hit. Damage is not important in Deadly Aim: We are looking to trigger the chance to auto-kill a target, and a Flamer not only always hits, but affects an area, allowing us to trigger this feat quickly against an entire enemy squad. The range of a flamer is shorter, but about the same as grenade-throwing range.
Be careful about the Force Commander wandering about when using a Flamer. There is a tendency to move forward toward cover while reloading, and sometimes you really want them to stay put so they don't get too close and end up in melee.
You'll know it worked when your enemy suddenly explodes. Doesn't seem to work against Heavy Infantry such as Tyranid Warriors With Barbed Strangers and Warp Spiders (or the chance is extremely low).
Seems to rarely activate unless you have Battle Cry.

Melee
The attack-related effects require that you have an actual melee weapon, not just using your ranged weapon to fight in melee. The other effects do apply, however. So Battle Cry with a Flamer will mean you won't get knocked down for the duration of the Battle Cry.

Battle Cry - For a limited time, the Force Commander performs special attacks with every blow, dealing damage and knocking enemies to the ground. Additionally, the Force Commander cannot be knocked down for the duration.

Immunity to knockdown works even when you do not have a melee weapon.
Great against StormBoyz when you hear them launch at you, or Eldar Banshees that leap at you.

Righteous Fury - When performing a special attack in hand-to-hand combat, strike with a fury that deals additional explosive damage.

This lets you wipe weak enemies quickly, which can quickly restore you to full health in conjunction with Blessing of War.

Blessing of War - Regain Health when killing an opponent in hand-to-hand combat.

Unlike Thaddeus's Zeal, you must KILL the opponent, so this really only works well against swarms of weak enemies like Rippers, but not so well if you are in attrition against Heavy Infantry such as Tyranid Warriors.

No Mercy. No Respite - While Battle Cry is active, the Force Commander's hand-to-hand strikes deal killing blows to most infantry (other enemies are knocked back).

Not clear if this works against stronger infantry like Tyranid Warriors, Raveners, and Zoanthropes. If it only works on weak infantry, then it is rather useless because Battle Cry already knocks down enemies, and strong melee weapons should already let you kill the weak enemies, probably even without Righteous Fury. Still, if you are focussing on Melee, you might as well go all the way.

Will
The Force Commander is the only one who can use Commander Accessories such as Iron Halos that can project a force field. For this reason, you might want to maximize Will despite the boring Traits.

Commander's Load Out - Accessory Slot added. Additionally, the Force Commander regains Energy when killing an enemy.

Iron Halo force fields use Energy and stop your Energy Regeneration while activated. This helps you extend its usefulness.

Orbital Command - Equipped Drop Pod Beacons and Orbital Bombardment Beacons can each be used twice in a single deployment.
Inspiring Shout - Battle Cry now restores Energy to nearby allies. If Battle Cry is not unlocked the Commander gains the Inspiring Shout ability which does the same.

Dawn of War II - Getting Wargear using the Console

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

This post steps you through activating the console and using it to get specific wargear during a mission.

Edit the shortcut to launch the game to add the -dev switch after DOW2.EXE.

Here, you can also use the -nomovies switch if you want to skip all the trademark and intro movies.
During a mission, open the console by pressing the tilde key ( ~ )

Type in this command.

World_DropWargearAtPosition(Game_GetLocalPlayer(), "(wargear name here)", Misc_GetCameraPos())

This causes one unit of wargear to drop where your game camera is located. You should see it near the bottom of your screen. You will need to replace "(wargear name here)" with the path and filename of the wargear. For example, "wargear\\wargear\\campaign\\playable\\race_marine\\sm_acc_frag_grenade_packveterans_grenades" gives you the Master-Crafted Grenades.

To get a list of wargear, you can look at the inventory.lua file in this mod which gives you all unique pieces of wargear.

You can also paste a line from the Windows clipboard by typing it elsewhere first (e.g., in Notepad), then highlighting it and pressing Ctrl-C to copy to clipboard. Then just Ctrl-V to paste.

Dawn of War II - Cheats, Tips, and Walkthroughs

This post indexes all our cheats, tips, and walkthroughs for Dawn of War II.

Cheats

Restart a mission without advancing Days. Saving during a mission.
Using the console to get wargear.
Convenience Mod: A mod with various conveniences such as more starting gear for the Space Marines campaign, more stacking on limited use items, and optional god-mode / trainer mode.

Tips

After playing the campaign on Primarch Difficulty, I strongly advise playing it on Sergeant Difficulty. More builds are viable, gear becomes much less critical, and it's a more interesting, dynamic, and exciting game when you can be more daring and less cheesy with your tactics.

Character Builds

Force Commander
Tarkus and Tactical Squad
Avitus and Devastator Squad
Cyrus and Scout Squad
Thaddeus and Assault Squad
Davian Thule, Dreadnought

Walkthroughs (Primarch Difficulty)

Dawn of War II Space Marines Campaign

This walkthrough is based on the passage of days in our playthrough. If you go through the missions in using more deployments, or if you take optional missions instead of focussing on missions that progress the story, your results will greatly differ.

Some tips are based on having specific skills/traits, although we have tried to avoid this.
The increase in Tyranid Infestation for each planet is random each day and then reduced by any Shrines held, so your results may vary.

Whenever possible, we aimed to have two extra deployments per day. To get one extra deployment, you need to finish your first mission of the day with at least 13 points (Fury stars + Resilience stars + Speed stars + Automated Foundries on the planet), or 11 point if you control 6 Foundries in total.

To get a second extra deployment, you need to finish either your first or second mission of the day with at least 15 points, or 14 points if you control 6 Foundries in total.
We aimed to get two extra deployments in the first mission so that we could take our time with the second and third deployments on the same day.

We skipped a lot of optional missions because we weren't particularly interested in farming for gear, and in any case the missions started to feel the same once you've seen everything in the game.
We deliberately chose not to use the Rosarius, especially for boss fights. You can otherwise just go in with the Rosarius on and attack with everything you've got, especially once you hold many Shrines.