Dawn of War 2

The Elite mod for Dawn of war 2: Retribution adds a handful of new units to the original game, which I will introduce to you through a serie of articles. Today: the Sternguard Veteran squad, an upgrade for Tactical Space Marines squads.

Unit statistics and abilities

Since it is an upgrade for an already existing squad, you cannot purchase a Sternguard Veteran Squad directly from your Headquarters. You must first buy a Tactical Space Marines squad, upgrade it with a Sergeant (this is a requirement for upgrading them to Sternguard Veterans) then purchase the Sternguard upgrade.



The upgrade is available in Tier 2, just as are the Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher and Sergeant upgrades. Also, the unit is limited to one per player, like the Space Marines Librarian and the Eldar Autarch. While upgrading, the squad is disabled (you must be careful when to upgrade) and the freshly upgraded squad hits the battlefield fully reinforced, no matter how many models were left in the squad before.

Let us talk about numbers:

• Health: 350 for regular members, 400 for sergeant (at level one)
• Ranged Damage: 14.58 DPS piercing damage
• Melee Damage: 19 DPS melee damage
• Speed: 5
• Melee Skill: 60
• Have the melee resistance aura (40% less damage taken from melee weapons while in combat)
• Armor: Heavy infantry.
• Sight range: 40
• Weapon range: 38
• Squad cost: 625/55 (Tactical Spaces Marines 450/0 + Sergeant upgrade 75/25 + Stenguard upgrade 100/30)
• Reinforcement cost: 83/0
• Upkeep: 12.75
• Red and Experience on death: +21 and 250

Stenguard Veterans are elite Space Marines from the First Company of their Chapter. They excel in the use of ranged weaponry and are therefore rewarded with the ability to switch ammunition at will, for free and in a matter of seconds. There are four types of ammunition:

14.58 DPS piercing, except against heavy infantry and super-heavy infantry: 18.96 dps.

14.58 DPS piercing, with additional damage over time against infantry and commanders: 1.5 piercing per second for 4 seconds.

11.67 DPS piercing ignoring cover modifiers.

21.87 DPS against heavy infantry and super-heavy infantry. 5.83 DPS against vehicles. 14.58 DPS piercing against infantry and commanders. Better against buildings than piercing: +50% damage against light buildings, else +100% damage. Range of 30 instead of 38.

Finally, Sternguard Veterans share with Tactical Marines the And they shall know no fear ability:

The Sternguard Veterans receive 40% less ranged damage, move 40% slower and are immune to suppression for 20 seconds. Their melee attacks have a 50% chance to do weapon knockback. The ability is charged by taking 1200 damage (calculated before any modifier applies) and has a 80-second cooldown.

Note: These are Elite mod 2.1 version data.

What are they for

Sternguard Veterans are extremely versatile and can engage any enemy at will thanks to their different ammunitions. Hellfire Bolts will be devastating against light infantry and commanders. Vengeance Rounds should be used to fight any other target, as they generally do much more damage.

Yet, it is often better to stay in cover while shooting, and if the lower range of Vengeance Rounds prevents you from doing so, then switching to Kraken Penetrator Rounds would be a better idea.

Dragonfire Bolts should only be loaded to fight units that have taken shelter inside a building.

Like Tactical Marines, Sternguard Veteran have a high melee damage output, thus they should always attack in melee retreating units that cross their path, not being affraid of closing with the enemy, especially when And they shall know no fear can be activated.



They also capture points 1.5 times faster than most units! This should not be forgotten.

As with any slow ranged unit with heavy infantry armor, their main threats are dedicated melee squads, commanders (especially those with power weapons) and plasma weapons.

Tactical Marines Squad vs Sternguards Veteran Squad

As they are an upgrade to Tactical Marines, it is relevant to consider both units and establish which one is better in which scenario. First, you may notice several differences:

• The Tactical Marines Sergeant has better ranged (15.64 dps) and melee (26.15 dps) damage than his Veteran counterpart. He also has 70 melee skill and a special attack.
• Sternguard Veterans have a better leveling: +15% health per level, instead of +10%.
• To upgrade Tactical Marines into Sternguard Veterans sends them back to level one, consequently losing any experience they might have gained.
• The Sternguard Sergeant costs no more to replace than a regular member, ie 83/0 instead of 75/25.
• The Sternguard Veteran squad icon is much more badass.

A few more differences exist (reinforcement costs, red and experience on death) but they are meaningless compared to those noted here.

Combat efficiency

vs Light infantry and Commanders

The major advantage of Sternguard Veterans over Tactical Marines is their dramatic damage against light infantry and commanders, provided by Hellfire Bolts. This is enough to favor them when your opponent's army is mostly composed of such units. Hurrah for a unit that is new and useful!

vs Heavy, Super-heavy Infantry and Vehicles

Sternguard Veterans will do worse against heavy infantry and super-heavy infantry armored foes compared to Tactical Marines with Plasma Gun. Indeed, they have lower burst damage and lose more DPS than Tactical Marines as models drop. For example, a lone Tactical Marine with Plasma Gun under Kraken Bolts deals more damage than two Sternguard Veterans firing Vengeance Rounds.

They will perform poorly against vehicles too, compared to their counterpart equipped with Missile Launcher. Actually, whereas the Missile Launcher can represent one's main Anti-Vehicle weapon (with a range of 44 and 130 damage per hit, it is powerful enough to threaten the greatest walkers like Dreadnoughts and Carnifexes), Sternguard Veterans with Vengeance Rounds will be ineffective against a mere transport like an Eldar Falcon. In consequence, the Space Marines player will be forced to invest into something more to take down the vehicle.

Moreover, Sternguard Veterans will clean buildings slower than Tactical Marines with Flamer and take minutes to destroy a full generator farm on their own.

Conclusion

By adding to this equation the experience loss upon upgrading, I can safely assure that you should not upgrade your Tactical Marines into Sternguard Veterans when there is no infantry or commander armored threat that you cannot deal with. Despite the high costs of Tactical Marines' weapon upgrades, these make them so good at what they do that no unit icon, as much badass as it could be, is able to justify the Sternguard upgrade. Yes, this is sad.

Still, one low on resources might find convenient the fact that switching ammunition is free for Sternguard Veterans, which thus can appear as an economical solution to deal with multiple enemies wearing different armor types.


As a conclusion, I would underline again the usefulness of Hellfire Bolts that makes Sternguard Veterans a good choice in Tier 2 in some situations, and even if you have not purchased Tactical Marines in Tier 1.

Here ends the article, thank you for reading.

Please leave a comment about what new Elite mod unit you'd like to read about in the next article. Have fun on the battlefield.