Dawn of War 2

A broad and vague edict, stands the official line. But in recent days our understanding of the Lord General has grown far beyond this.


What do we know of this magnificent, bombastic hero?

The first thing we know is, despite his fancy sword that he likes to flaunt around oh so much, the Lord General prefers his trusty bolter and ranged combat. How? Consistently he is glimpsed in ranged stance, and all of his wargear weapons are ranged. As well, at level one he has 950 health (which ostensibly includes his Stormtrooper bodyguards), and without wargear he has no abilities.


So... what is all that wargear? As can be seen, there are nine pieces of it. The left side is composed of the three weapons, the middle of three armors, and the right of three... three... units!? Why yes, the Lord General can equip... people! Well, that seems to make up for the lack of a starting ability!

But back to the weapons. These are the easy ones to decipher:

• Grenade Launcher
• Sniper Rifle
• Melta Gun

Those may not be the exact names given to them in the game, but those are the weapon types at least. It is noteworthy that the Grenade Launcher is the only one of those available in Tier 1.


The three armors... are anyone's guess. We only know that the first two are both available in Tier 1. Likewise, the retinue is tough to make out. Well, the Commissar icon in the middle is easy, but the icon above it and the one below it are much tougher. However, it may help to consider Dawn of War: Winter Assault's Command Squad. The squad was led by a General who could recruit Commissars, Psykers, and Priests to his aid. Looking at the icons for the Lord General's entourage, the upper one could definitely be a Priest and the bottom could be a Psyker. Slap those two under the, "Things we can speculate" category. Nonetheless, we know that the top selection, be it a Priest or something different, is the only one available in Tier 1.


Onto globals, shall we?

The first and last global are generic to all Imperial Guard heroes, while the three between are specific to the Lord General.


Imperial Guard Bunker (150/0/5/75/Tier 1):
Deploy an Imperial Guard bunker that can be garrisoned by infantry. Can be upgraded to a medical or repair bunker, and can be booby trapped.


Heavy Turret (300/40/5/100/Tier 2):
Deploy a Heavy Turret that is equipped with a Vanquisher Cannon that is effective against vehicles. The turret can be upgraded to have an Executioner Cannon which is effective against all targets.


Basilisk Creeping Barrage (0/0/0/175/Tier 2):
Off map Basilisks fire a wave of artillery shells that advance in a direction of your choice, knocking down and damaging all units.


Valkyrie Leman Russ Drop (650/0/18/275/Tier 3):
A Valkyrie delivers a Leman Russ battle tank to the targeted location.


Rocket Run (0/0/0/500/Tier 3):
Call in 2 Valkyries to perform targeted rocket pod runs to devastate all units.


But wait, there's more! Indeed, the Lord General warrants a bonus section, for he also has a spot in Last Stand.

And what's more, Relic seems to have unveiled the full inventory above (or have they?). The weapons range from a sniper rifle to a flamer to a plasma gun to a grenade launcher to a bolter to swords, while the armor is rather indecipherable (the currently-chosen armor seems to provide a boost to energy regeneration given its purple background and the boosted energy regeneration stat). The accessories include pendants, a wrench, Sergeant Merrick?, reinforcement call-in, crosshair kaboom (really, no clue what that one does), a rocket run call-in, a bubble (likely invulnerability), and a commissar. The commander items are all squads, including Guardsmen, Catachan Devils, Stormtroopers, and Ogryn. Looking at the abilities, an Executioner Turret icon is visible, suggesting that either the pendant or the armor are responsible for it (always possible the energy regeneration bonus could belong to the pendant).


And why not have a look at the Executioner Turret and Lord General in action, shall we? Big gobs of plasma doom indeed.

Overall, we seem to know so much about the Lord General, and yet quite a bit remains- how does his retinue work? What abilities will his wargears offer? How effective is he in combat compared to other heroes? We'll know soon enough.

Discuss