Understanding the terminology and function of the various numbers in the Codex.
There are many statistics in the Codex that explain how Dawn of War II: Elite works and how units and various other structures interact with each other. The purpose of this page is to help you understand what these numbers mean and how they interact with each other to represent in-game situations.
DPS is Damage Per Second; this value is derived from the "health damage" value on the weapon pages, and explains how much health damage a weapon inflicts on average for every second of combat. In the Codex, this is only the basic damage value, however, and can be altered by many values shown in the Codex. There are many variables that determine the true DPS done to an enemy unit, and those variables will be explained in the following sections.
Pictured below is the Firing Pattern for the Assault Marines' bolt pistol from the bolt pistol's weapon page. These values, along with the "health damage" value, are the ones used to calculate the DPS of a weapon. It is important to remember that not all weapons have all of these values. All of these values are measured in seconds.
The order of these actions is: wind up -> burst -> wind down -> cooldown -> reload. For a more in depth look at the calculation of weapon DPS, read the thread here.
Two more values to consider are the "setup" and "teardown" times. These values can be found at the top of the weapon pages, and they represent the amount of time in seconds it takes for a unit to "setup" its weapon, meaning it will not enter the above firing pattern until it has setup. The teardown time is the amount of time taken by the squad to exit its "setup" state, and it will not be able to move until the weapon is torn down. In the Tactical Marine Bolter weapon page, you can see that there is no setup time, meaning the squad will immediately begin its Firing Pattern.
Accuracy affects the effective DPS done by any weapon, making some percentage of shots miss. Accuracy can be affected by the Unit Size's influence on Weapon Families, Cover's influence on Damage Types, and unit Movement. All of these will be explained below.
There is also often an accuracy penalty for firing while moving. This can be seen on the weapon page of any weapon. Take for example the Apothecary's Customized Storm Bolter. Under the "Basic" section, there is a value titled moving accuracy. This value is multiplied by the DPS when a unit is firing while moving. As you can see, the Apothecary's accuracy is decreased by 50% while he fires on the move.
The Weapon Family of a weapon determines the targeting priority of the given weapon, the damage type of the weapon, as well as the accuracy of that weapon against different Unit Sizes, or different sized targets.
Unit Size can be found on any unit's main "Stats" tab in the Codex. The Unit Size determines the accuracy of different weapon families against individual targets. As you can see in the picture to the right, this is the weapon family page of bolter_pvp. To the right are the accuracy values of bolter_pvp weapons against units of different sizes. To measure the effect, simply multiply the DPS by the value given in the right side of the picture.
Damage types determine how much damage a weapon does to a unit by interacting with the target's armor type. It also affects the accuracy the weapon has against different types of cover, the damage done to units in different types of cover, as well as the amount of Courage damage done to units in different types of cover.
Cover affects the damage taken from ranged weapon fire, as well as the accuracy of weapon fire, and it is directional, meaning that it will protect the unit in cover as long as it is not being fired upon from behind or from the side. There are five levels of cover, all of which, along with their effects on damage and accuracy, are displayed to the right with the values taken from the piercing damage page:
To understand how the multipliers interact with received DPS, multiply the accuracy based on the Unit Size by the accuracy value versus cover. The resulting value can then be multiplied by the DPS. The damage vs cover value can be multiplied by the health damage value.
The Weapon Range of a weapon determines the maximum range of the weapon, and the amount of damage a weapon will do at four separate distance intervals. Different weapons have different intervals, but most weapons' damage outputs are not affected by this. It is mostly reserved for suppression teams and scout shotguns, although there are exceptions to this. It is difficult to determine how large the range really is in game just by knowing the number, and it is best learned through visual experience.
As you can see in the image of the Space Marine Devastator Heavy Bolter to the right, the distance intervals include distant, long, medium, and short. Any unit that is at a range of 15 or less from the heavy bolter will be in short range, and will receive health damage 2.75 times greater than the heavy bolter's default value when the DPS is calculated. Any unit at a distance greater than 15 and less than or equal to 25 will be in medium range. It is the same for long range and distant range, and the distant range will go until the end of the weapon's maximum firing range.
Courage is essentially a health value, but instead of being killed when the courage goes to zero, the unit is suppressed. Set-up teams are the most common form of suppression, although there are some other weapons that can do this, and several abilities that suppress as well. Just as with weapon damage, courage damage can be affected by the weapon range. The image above shows that the Heavy Bolter also causes courage damage, and that the amount varies depending on the distance interval. The values here work in the same way as health damage does in the weapon range section above.
When a unit becomes suppressed, the weapon cooldown is multiplied by 20, greatly decreasing the DPS of the squad. Suppression also decreases the speed of the squad by 65%. All units will slowly regenerate courage when they receive courage damage, and when a unit becomes suppressed, they actually regenerate courage 30% faster than normal. Some abilities will break suppression, and some can prevent suppression.
Armor types determine how much damage a unit takes from certain kinds of damage types. Different units have different armor types, which are displayed on their "Stats" tabs. To find out how different damage types affect armor types, check the various damage type pages. The different armor types, with a basic idea of how they work, are:
The leveling tab in the Codex shows how a unit progresses as it gains experience. Most units gain experience points through through killing enemy units and reviving allied commanders. Some specific abilities such as Tyranid synapse auras and the Apothecary's healing abilities improve with veterancy levels. Regular units have 4 levels, while heroes have 10.
Each model in the game has a designated XP value. When the model is killed, this XP value is spread out to all units that did damage to it. In addition, units that gain experience share it to all friendly units within a 55 radius (the sight radius for most units is 40). These units gain 40% of the XP that the original unit gained.
Every unit requires 500 XP per level. Heroes gain 50% more XP than other units and continue progressing up to level 10. Reviving allied heroes grants the reviver 250 XP.
Now take a look at the image of the Tactical Marines' leveling table. This table, available for every unit in the Codex, shows the leveling statistics of each individual model in the squad.
The "Melee Skill" statistic is a statistic that is only used in melee combat. When making a melee attack, the attacker's melee skill is compared to the target's, and the difference is used in calculating the chance that a special attack will be performed. The base chance is 5% (which will be the case for equally skilled combatants).
When an attack is made, if the attacker's melee skill is higher than the defender, the chance of a special attack is (5% + x%), where x is the difference in melee skill. Thus, if an Assault Marine (Melee Skill 70) were to attack an Eldar Guardian (Melee Skill 50), he would have a (5% + 20%) = 25% chance of performing a special attack.
If the attacker has a lower melee skill, the difference is used as a negative modifier that is further multiplied by 5 (5% - 5x%). Effectively, having a Melee Skill of even 1 point lower than the defender means there is no chance of making special attacks at all (5% - 5% = 0%). Having a negative final percentage (below 0%) has no effect.
The skill comparison is especially important in the case of opposing units that start off with equal skill (for example Assault Marines vs Howling Banshees, both with 70); an advantage of being just one Experience level ahead (and therefore 1 point more melee skill) can tip the balance of a fight even further than the level bonus to health/damage might suggest.
A moving model has its Melee Skill reduced by 2 points. While this only slightly increases susceptibility to special attacks for already overmatched models, it can allow a slightly underskilled model to tie, and grant a small chance of pulling off a special attack on a moving enemy trying to slip past. This -2 penalty does not apply to models that are in "Charging" mode (a movement state when a model is moving toward an enemy to engage in melee).
Certain upgrades and triggered temporary abilities also increase a unit's melee skill.
The actual special attacks vary depending on the specific attacking unit. While they generally inflict varying amounts of extra damage, the additional effect differs. One type of unit might have a broad weapon sweep, while there are other units that perform a front-facing knockback hit. Some units even have more than one special attack, that will be selected at random. Ranged specialist units often do not have a special attack at all.
Knockback from melee special attacks all fall under the "Weapon knockback" category (as opposed to "Ability knockback") and therefore do not affect Retreating units, Terminators, and the like.
Area of Effect damage is damage done in an area, and in the descriptions of many weapons and abilities, the area of effect is described with a radius. This means that the damage done is in the shape of a circle, and units within the circle of this radius will be affected. It is also possible for area of effect damage to deal damage in a semi-circle of a given arc, shown in the table to the right as "angle left" and "angle right". If the table shows "angle left: -90" and "angle right: 90", the area of effect damage is done in a 180 degree semi-circle in the direction of the attack. Very simply visualized in the graph to the right.
Usually with abilities, the damage done in the area of effect is uniform, although there are exceptions. With weapons, though, the damage taken by affected units will vary depending on their distance from the center of the circle. Above is the area of effect damage done by the Space Marine Plasma Cannon Devastator, shown on its weapon page. It works in much the same way as weapon damage does with Weapon Range as explained above. Units at a distance of 1 or less from the center take full damage, units at a distance less than or equal to 2 and greater than 1 will take 60% of the base damage, and so on. Any unit outside of a radius of 7 will not be affected.
Requisition is the basic "currency" resource in Dawn of War II, roughly equivalent to minerals in StarCraft or mass in Supreme Commander. Requisition is needed to purchase any kind of unit, upgrade or structure in the game. Some basic purchases have only a Requisition cost, while advanced units/upgrades generally require Power as well.
Requisition is gained by controlling specific points on the map. The HQ building produces a constant income of 264 requisition per minute for each player, but to gain more resources the player/team must capture Requisition Points. These special locations start neutral, but can be claimed by any infantry unit (the process takes a moment and can be interrupted).
Captured Requisition Points grant more Requisition income per minute, starting from 10 in 1v1 matches, 7 in 2v2 games and 5 in 3v3 games. The point will "mature" over time and produce more Requisition, up to 30 requisition (1v1), 20 requisition (2v2) and 15 requisition (3v3). If the point is decaptured by an opponent, it must be reclaimed and the maturation process starts again, hurting the player's economy.
As the game progresses, the Upkeep mechanic will start lowering your Requisition income.
Minimum | Maximum | |
1v1 | +10 | +30 |
2v2 | +7 | +20 |
3v3 | +5 | +15 |
Power is an advanced resource roughly equivalent to vespene gas in StarCraft or energy in Supreme Commander. Higher technology tiers, most advanced units and most upgrades require Power in addition to Requisition.
The Power resource is produced by generators, which must be purchased with 100 requisition. The HQ building will grant a minimal Power income of 10 per minute, which is not very substantial. To gain more Power, generators must be constructed, but in Dawn of War II they can only be built around specific Power Node locations.
The Power Node is captured like a Requisition Point, after which it generates a small amount (5 power in 1v1 matches) of Power. The Power Node can be "activated" for 125 requisition, which builds a structure on top of it, increasing the Power income and forcing an opponent to destroy the structure before claiming the Node for themselves. When the Node is activated, up to three Power Generators may be built around it for 100 requisition each, further increasing the Power income up to 39.
Node | Activated | Generators | Maximum | |
1v1 | +5 | +9 | +10 each | +39 |
2v2 | +3 | +6 | +7 each | +27 |
3v3 | +2 | +4 | +5 each | +19 |
The Global Resource (named Zeal, Waaagh!, Psychic Might, Biomass, Favor or Command depending on race, usually just called "red" by players) is the third resource mechanic in Dawn of War II. The Global Resource is a bit like experience, accumulated by fighting. Each model has a Global Resource value, which is granted to an opponent who kills the model. The owner also receives 75% of the value. For example, a Land Raider tank is worth 120 global resource, which is granted to the destroyer, while the owner receives 90 for losing it.
This Global Resource is used for "global abilities", powerful feats not activated from/by any single unit, but from the global ability bar. The abilities can generally be used anywhere on the map, ranging from buffs or debuffs to calling down special units to the field. The cost for global abilities varies from 25 for a simple buff to 500 for a "nuke" ability such as Orbital Bombardment. Some globals have a Requisition/Power cost as well; for example, calling in a Terminator Squad would cost a total of 650 requisition and 100 power in addition to the "red" cost of 350.
The Orks have a special version of the Global Resource mechanic, generating their Waaagh! at a rate of 15 per minute but also requiring it for many regular unit abilities in exchange.
The Population capacity limits the size of a Dawn of War II army. Each model takes up a certain amount of Population, with more powerful models "costing" more; for example, a single Guardsman model uses only 1 population, while a Tactical Marine model uses 5 and a Great Unclean One uses 21.
This Population count has two functions. First, the size of an army cannot exceed 100 Population, forcing a player to plan their purchases. Second, all models produced beyond 30 population activate the Upkeep mechanic and start taxing the player's Requisition income.
Upkeep is a Requisition tax that a player pays to maintain their army. Each race starts with 0 upkeep, and it will remain 0 as long as the Population threshold of 30 population is not exceeded. Every unit after this limit, however, will start to decrease the overall Requisition income by a certain amount. This amount is called "Upkeep". For example:
Regardless of the order the units are purchased in, the most expensive ones are always taxed first, while the units with cheapest upkeep go to the bottom of the list.
This tax may seem odd but it has its functions. It allows players to start their army and build Power Generators quickly, as early-game armies will cause only low upkeep. When the army grows, possibly even reaching 100 population so that new units cannot be bought, the player will not gain ridiculous amounts of Requisition just by sitting on their hands, but must continue to avoid casualties and hold Requisition Points. The mechanic also allows one more chance for a player to get back into the match after losing many units, as their Requisition income will improve somewhat (of course they may still lose control of their Requisition Points and Power Nodes).
And now that you understand the game's resources, take a look at the image to the right. It is the cost tab of the Tactical Marine Squad, and it shows how much the squad costs to purchase, and how much it costs to reinforce. All prices on the left side of the table are the prices of the entire squad, while the prices on the right represent the cost of a single model within the squad.
As you can see, the Tactical Squad costs 450 requisition to buy and no Power or Global Resource. The squad does take up 15 population, half of what it takes to reach the upkeep threshold. The other value is the time it takes to produce, which is 24 seconds for Tactical Marines.
On the right, you can see that the cost to reinforce one model is 75 requisition, so reinforcing 2 models would cost 1/3 the original price of the squad, and means you are missing out on other squad purchases, upgrades, or 1.5 generators. There is no power cost, each model costs 5 population, and each model takes 6 seconds to produce. Finally, the upkeep for each model is 12.75, which means that the whole squad, when you are over 30 population, could cost you 38.25 requisition every minute depending on the upkeep costs of your other units.
Unit effects are anything that affect the performance of a unit in the game, whether it a positive effect or a negative one. Aside from buffs and debuffs, which are effects that positively and negatively affect the stats of a unit, respectively, there a few other changes a unit can be forced to undergo in game.
Retreating, or "Fall Back", is a function that is essential to succes in Dawn of War II. Retreating can be done by heroes and most infantry units, and has several effects on the retreating units. When a unit retreats, it immediately becomes immune to weapon knockback, light weapon knockback, and medium weapon knockback; most abilities and attacks that do ability knockback are also unable to knockback retreating units, although Plasma Cannon Devastators are able to knock back units in retreat, and all units in retreat can be affected by domino knockback. All forms of knockback are detailed in the Knockback section below.
Units in retreat also have all status effects removed from them, which breaks slows, stuns, suppression, and other similar effects. Squads that require weapon setup will also tear down their weapons 50% faster, so if your setup weapon team is in danger, moving them before retreating can be a deadly mistake.
The speed of units is also increased when they retreat. As soon as they retreat, the unit's speed increases by 1; after 4 seconds of retreating, their speed increases by an additional 1.25, so 2.25 higher than their non-retreating maximum; after 8 seconds, their speed increases by another 1.25 (+3.5 total); and after 12 seconds, their speed increases by another 0.75 (+4.25 total).
Damage modifiers are also changed against retreating units. Ranged weapons fired at retreating units deal 80% decreased damage from what they would do when fired at a non-retreating unit. Grenades, however, deal extra damage to retreating units to account for this, increasing their base damage to retreating units by 4.5 times, which is then multiplied by the 0.2 retreat modifier. This means grenades deal 10% less damage than their maximum to retreating units.
Melee weapons, however, deal 30% more damage to retreating units, which makes choosing when and where to retreat a very valuable skill to learn.
A stun is a fairly common effect that can be induced by several abilities. It causes the affected unit's speed to be reduced by 95%, and prevents any abilities or weapons to be used for the duration of the stun. It is presented by a red swirl animation that appears over the affected unit.
Knockback is an effect that causes the target to be thrown into the air and prevents that unit from fighting as long as it is being knocked back. There are five kinds of knockback: weapon knockback, ability knockback, light weapon knockback, medium weapon knockback, and domino knockback. Vehicles cannot be affected by knockback.
Infiltration is a common ability, and can cost varying amounts of energy or, in the case of the Kommando Nob's Hide da Boyz, global resource. Attacking or using abilities while infiltrated will partially reveal the squad. Partially revealed units receive -20% damage, and the squad can be fully revealed by detector units (marked with an eye above the unit), capturing points or getting too close (radius 5) to non-detector enemy units.
The Unit Stats tab on all unit pages contains all of the basic information pertaining to a squad, from its health to its movement capabilities. The Unit Stats box shows values that pertain to the squad as a whole. The Model Stats box refers to individual models within the squad. Here is an explanation of how each of these values works.
Active abilities are abilities that must be initiated by the player by either activating the ability or by selecting an ability and designating a target for it. Passive abilities are abilities that do not rely on the player to activate. Some passive abilities are always active, like the Apothecary's healing aura, and others, like Space Marine Terminators' Inspire, activate passively on a kill or some other trigger. Passive abilities in the Codex will be labeled as such, and any abilities not labeled should be assumed to be active abilities. Any ability with a casting range, which is the maximum distance an ability can be cast to, will have the casting range in the description, where it will just be described as "Range".