Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

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Fun yet Effective Guardsmen builds for the Lord General
Автор: GBR Warrior
Have you ever wanted to play the Lord General without someone moaning at you for not using rocket run spam?
Have you ever wanted to have a genuinely effective build revolving around Guardsmen as your centrepiece?
Do you enjoy watching your turrets wreak havoc as your Guardsmen pelt the oncoming enemies with a line of Lasfire?
then this guide is for you! This is for those of you who truly love the Guardsmen!
   
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Build 1: Tanky Turret/Guardsmen static defence
So you can make the majority of this build very early on, and it is quite effective if used properly. The Idea is that you try and maintain a relatively static defensive position with your teammates, ideally they will have Tanky/Armour Piercing builds, such as the Necron, Tau Commander and Hive Tyrant as you will be quite squishy. However, if you can keep the fire off of yourself and your Guardsmen allowing them to maintain fire, then this build works a treat and I have gotten to Wave 20 with over 400 kills with it before.

So let's take a look at some of the gear we'll be using for this build:

WEAPON: Deadly Sniper Rifle/Plasma Gun

DEADLY SNIPER RIFLE - Starting equipment - Two-handed ranged weapon, 12.0 dps. +1.0 Energy Regeneration
Grants Ability: High-Powered Shot (20 energy: Fire a high-powered anti-infantry round with very long range)


PLASMA GUN - Unlocked Level 18 - Two-handed ranged weapon, 7.3 dps
Grants traits: Armor Piercing (attacks from the Plasma weapon ignore up to 100 armor), Wargear Package (in addition to the Lord General, weapon specialists are able to equip this weapon)

The classic Sniper, this works incredibly well with this build. whilst the Guardsmen are surprisingly good at damaging armoured targets, it's not their primary strength. However, from the safety of cover behind your turret, teammates and Guardsmen you can assist in taking down high priority targets with your powered shot, whilst your turret and guardsmen mow down the chaff. It makes you incredibly versatile in battle and a "Jack Of All Trades" if you will.

If you don't fancy using the Sniper, or want to mix it up a bit, then the Plasma Gun is a very nice alternative. Not only will you receive an Armour Piercing Plasma Gun, but a few of your Guardsmen will too. It will give you less Chaff killing power and less range than the sniper, but will allow you to do more damage overall to armoured targets.




ARMOUR: Master Crafted Carapace Armour

Unlocked Level 4 - Armor Rating: 79. Grants Ability: Tarantula Heavy Bolter Turret (25 energy: Calls in a Valkyrie that air drops a tarantula turret armed with a heavy bolter, effective at suppressing infantry.) Grants trait: Fearless (Unit is immune to suppression)

IMO Criminally Underrated, this bad boy grants you the ability to deploy the Tarantula Heavy Bolter turret, see it as a Co-star to your Guardsmen. It has the extremely important job of keeping all incoming infantry suppressed for you, your Guardsmen and teammates to pick apart with ease, Not only does it suppress the enemy, but also makes you yourself immune to suppression. If you drop this turret in the right place, the results are incredibly effective and satisying as you watch your Guardsmen mow down Heretics left and right with their Lasguns. Also teammates always seem to appreciate whole chunks of enemies being suppressed. It creates some nice breathing room for your team, and sometimes slows down 1 side of the map so that your team can clear out the other side before being flanked. It also is great as a distraction if you or your teammates need to move, as the AI tend to focus on attacking it.
In my Opinion this is the only armour you should be using for these builds, however if you want an alternative option then the Artificer Carapace armour with the Tarantula Missile turret also works as it applies knockback instead of Suppression and gives you immunity to Knockbacks.




ACCESSORY 1: Sergeant

Unlocked Level 9 - Adds a Sergeant to Imperial Guard minion squads
Grants Minion Trait: Battle Hardened (Adds 100 Armor and +2 Health Regeneration)

Simply put, a Must have for this build. The additional armour and Health regeneration are key to keeping your Guardsmen in the fight, and also sometimes tanking the damage to let you and your team relocate when being overwhelmed. Also, an extra unit model for your Squad always helps




ACCESSORY 2: Commissar

Unlocked Level 14 - Grants minion trait: Combat Expert (+30% melee and ranged damage)

Now, we all know it wouldn't be a true Guardsmen build without the trusty Commissar barking orders at his men. Just like the Sergeant, the Commissar is a must have for this build, the Extra ranged and melee damage gives the Guardsmen that extra little Kick they need to beat the Heresy outta some Xenos. And as before, another extra unit model for you squad is always helpful.




ACCESSORY 3: Take Aim!/Ursidae Trophy

TAKE AIM! - Unlocked Level 17 - Grants Ability: Take Aim! (20 energy: Grant an ally a temporary, but significant, damage boost)

URSIDAE TROPHY - Grants Minion Traits: Inspired Will (Increases the health of all the General’s infantry by 15), Superior Provisions (Increases the health of all the General’s turrets by 150)

Fist off, I know some of you will be thinking "The Ursidae trophy?! that's trash are you mad?" Now previously I would've agreed with you, but I have changed my mind. It's available from the get go, The 15 extra health per Guardsman model is nice, but the true reason I use it is for the extra turret health. It allows your turret to withstand a decent amount of damage, keeping it suppressing for a longer period, also it makes it incredibly useful as a decoy to tank some damage when they enemy gets too close. I have actually found it more and more useful as I learned how to place my turrets well. It ultimately saves you energy as you don't need to redeploy your turret as often. I know you may be skeptical, but give it a try!

However once you hit level 17, I would advise swapping it out for Take Aim!. It's a damage buff that lasts quite a long time despite the description, it costs 20 energy which seems like alot, but because the affect lasts so long you will have replenished your energy by the time it has ended. You can use this not only to buff your Guardsmen to crazy levels (Especially with Plasma Guns) but also you can slap it on your teammates to give them a significant damage boost if they're fighting something scary or if you're trying to focus down a high value target. I have seen my Guardsmen almost entirely destroy the Great Unclean One on wave 18 of Anvil Of Khorne by themselves whilst using this ability, It's great fun.




COMMANDER ITEM: Guardsmen

Unlocked Level 5 - Commander Item. Grants Ability: Deploy Guardsmen (35 energy: Calls in a Valkyrie that air drops a squad of Guardsmen, ranged units that can often equip the same weapon as the Lord General) Grants minion trait: Weapon Specialist (Guardsmen are able to use wargear packages their Lord General has equipped) Can only have one active Guardsmen squad at a time.

And of course the Star of the Show, build wouldn't be possible without these boys. They maintain a very good rate of fire, have decent accuracy and very good damage when maintaining consistent fire. You want to make sure to keep them out of melee as much as possible, and behind cover as often as you can. Have your teammates take the attention off of them, or redeploy them to a more open area so they can get some flanking shots off. Just like the Turret, they also provide as a nice distraction if you find yourself overwhelmed and needing to relocate, as they will clog up the enemy and engage in melee, after moving you can swiftly redeploy them again.




Build 2: Alternate Rocket Run with Guardsmen
So if you still really want to incorporate Rocket run into your build, here is a build to do it whilst still making a nice use of Guardsmen. You swap out the turret for more armour and energy regen, but you can get rid of swathes of enemies with your rocket run and then help pick off the rest with your Guardsmen. I find this build effective and fun, without having to use Storm-troopers for Rocket Run. You keep the benefit of using Rocket run often, whilst gaining the Better accuracy and damage of the Guardsmen.

WEAPON: Deadly Sniper Rifle

DEADLY SNIPER RIFLE - Starting equipment - Two-handed ranged weapon, 12.0 dps. +1.0 Energy Regeneration
Grants Ability: High-Powered Shot (20 energy: Fire a high-powered anti-infantry round with very long range)

A must have for this one really, the +1 to Energy regen is needed in order to use rocket run effectively. Use this to help pick off the big targets that your rocket run and Guardsmen will not be as effective against.



ARMOUR: Cadia Pattern Carapace Armour

Starting equipment - Armor Rating: 125. +0.2 Energy Regeneration

Great survivability and extra energy regen make this a go to for this build, whilst it is not 100% necessary, I would recommend using this. If you wanted an alternative then I would suggest the Black Plate as it has high armour value and a 50% melee damage resistance, but beware your energy will come back slower.



ACCESSORY 1: Sergeant

Unlocked Level 9 - Adds a Sergeant to Imperial Guard minion squads
Grants Minion Trait: Battle Hardened (Adds 100 Armor and +2 Health Regeneration)

Sergeant keeps your Guardsmen healthy and useful with this build, allowing them to live that bit longer so you can spend more energy on Rocket runs. If you don't fancy taking him with you, then I would recommend taking the Medallion Crimson so that you can dish out more damage to big targets with your sniper rifle.




ACCESSORY 2: Commissar

Unlocked Level 14 - Grants minion trait: Combat Expert (+30% melee and ranged damage)

Another helpful addition for your Guardsmen, allowing them to dish out some more damage to mop up whatever poor souls remain after your Rocket Run. If you don't fancy taking him with you, then I would recommend taking the Medallion Crimson so that you can dish out more damage to big targets with your sniper rifle.




ACCESSORY 3: Rocket Run

Grants ability: Rocket Run (50 energy: Valkyrie swoops in for rocket pod runs, causing a line of explosions that cause catastrophic damage and knockback to everything in the blast range)

Of course the main focus for this build, Between the sniper and Armour you should have plenty of energy to use this frequently. Clump up your enemies and strike or use it on spawn points to get an early advantage on the wave. After this there will be less enemies for you and your teammates to clear up, this will also allow your Guardsmen to mow down some targets with less pressure.



COMMANDER ITEM: Guardsmen

Unlocked Level 5 - Commander Item. Grants Ability: Deploy Guardsmen (35 energy: Calls in a Valkyrie that air drops a squad of Guardsmen, ranged units that can often equip the same weapon as the Lord General) Grants minion trait: Weapon Specialist (Guardsmen are able to use wargear packages their Lord General has equipped) Can only have one active Guardsmen squad at a time

Of course you could use any Minions for this build, but my go to is always the Guardsmen. Not only do I love seeing them lay down lasfire in a line (Especially if you have Multiple Lord Generals) but I also genuinely find them to be the most effective choice. lots of unit models, decent damage with the Commissar, decent accuracy and a surprising amount of survivability if you need to get out of a tough spot in a pinch. The choice however is down to you.









Conclusion
Firstly, Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I hope these builds bring you as much fun as it has for me. As you can see Build 1 is played in 2 ways, a more static and tanky chaff killing build with some armoured Damage capability, or a more focused Armour piercing build allowing you to assist in taking down the bigger targets. I decided to make the build because I love Guardsmen, and also I wanted to get out of the boring run of the mill Rocket Run spam build and yet still be effective.

If you still want to scratch that Rocket Run itch however, build 2 is there for you whilst still making use of Guardsmen. Lay down some rocket runs to clear clumps of enemies for your team, and then keep your personal Guardsman Bodyguard and Sniper Rifle to help wipe out the rest with your teammates.

Either way your role here is to be a versatile support for your team, and if you have good teammates who will watch your back then it works an absolute treat. Make good use of the suppression from your Tarantula Heavy Bolter Turret and think strategically about where to place yourself and your units. If played right, you can get hundreds of kills with these builds and have a tonne of fun in the process.

Please feel free to leave your opinions and feedback about the build, I'm interested to hear from you.

Now get out there and murder some Heretics!