Dawn of War II/Campaign

This article contains basic information on the Dawn of War II single-player campaign.

Gameplay and units

The Dawn of War II single-player campaign consists of a semi-linear series of missions, where certain key events always happen in the same order, but with a degree of randomization in the non-essential (optional) missions and some freedom of choice regarding the order in which to complete them. The mission objectives are fairly simple and uniform, usually requiring the player to destroy a specific (boss-level) enemy or a building.

During the campaign, the player receives control of a commander unit, four infantry squads, and a vehicle. Four of these six units must be chosen for each mission; there is no base management or building capacity. However, squads that have lost members can be reinforced at special locations, and completely incapacitated squads can be revived by a functional unit. No units can die or be permanently lost.

As the player progresses their units gain experience levels, up to level 20. Each experience level gives the unit 2 attribute points that can be spent on Stamina (general health and toughness), Ranged (effectiveness with ranged weapons), Strength (effectiveness in melee combat) and Will (effectiveness with Energy capacity and control, as well as supplemental accessories). Each unit reacts differently to points in each attribute, so look through them carefully. You will also not be able to get enough points to max every attribute, far from it in fact, so plan each build accordingly.

As you complete missions you will get Wargears both as end-of-mission rewards and random drops from enemies. The attributes of each piece are fairly random and the variety of pieces is significant. Not every unit can use every equipment type; the Force Commander has the widest variety of equipment types available to them while the other five are much more specialized. You can also sacrifice unwanted wargear to the Librarium for a small boost of bonus XP to every unlocked squadmember.

Difficulty levels

The campaign has four difficulty levels; Sergeant is the default difficulty, while Captain and Primarch grant significant damage bonuses to enemy units (health values for player and enemy units do not change). Recruit is correspondingly easier. The number and type of enemy units on missions is the same regardless of the difficulty level.

• Recruit – Easy (enemy damage × 0.66)
• Sergeant – Medium (enemy damage × 1.0)
• Captain – Hard (enemy damage × 3.0)
• Primarch – Legendary (enemy damage × 4.5)

Time and deployments

This is what you want

When the player deploys on a mission, one day of game time will pass (regardless of whether the mission was successful or not). With each new day, there will be "global" events, such as Tyranid infestation increase on a planet or new mission options. Excellent performance on a mission may be rewarded with 1–2 extra deployments during the same day.

Some missions have time limits (i.e., if a defense mission is not completed before the deadline, it will expire, and you will lose the strategic asset in question). Also, an elevated infestation level makes missions involving Tyranids more difficult. For these reasons, aiming for extra deployments is very beneficial.

The mission performance requirements for extra deployments are:

• One additional deployment: 12 stars (11 if holding all six Foundries)
• Two additional deployments: 15 stars (14 if holding all six Foundries)
• If you get one, you can get another by scoring 14–15 stars on the extra mission
• Automated Foundries that you control on that planet count towards the deployment bonus (one foundry equals one star)

For optimal extra deployment performance, you should capture all Foundries on Calderis – which has the most – and play every third mission (preferably a defense mission) there to get two bonus deployments. On Calderis, a mission rating of 11–12 stars (5 Fury, 5 Resilience, 1–2 Speed) plus the bonus from 3 Foundries is sufficient for two extra deployments. Then you can do two missions elsewhere and come back to Calderis the next day.

Strategic assets

• Automated Foundry
• Communication Array
• Imperial Shrine

Automated Foundry

• They grant you the Locator Beacon, an item that allows you to call down Tarantula Turret. The more secured Foundries on a planet. the more uses per deployment.
• They provide extra points to deployment meter making extra deployments more likely.

Communication Arrays

Communication Arrays grant you many benefits:

• They grant you the Signum, an item that allows you to call in disruptive Artillery Strikes. The more secured Arrays on a planet, the more uses per deployment.
• They provide bonus intelligence, such as enemy weaknesses. This intel appears on mission briefings if you control Arrays on that planet.
• They provide additional ordnance during defense missions. The more Arrays you have secured across the sector, the more special abilities you will have during defense mission.

Imperial Shrines

Imperial Shrines grant you many benefits:

• They grant you the Rosarius, an item that allows you to make all your squads temporarily invincible. The more secured Shrines on a planet, the more uses per deployment.
• They slow the rate at which aliens are able to infest that planet, allowing you to better defend the sector.
• If you secure enough Shrines across all planets, you receive bonus experience upon completing each mission.

Mission types

• Scripted – Scripted missions are essential events that take the main story forward. They tend to be a little longer and more complex than regular missions. Scripted missions are labeled "special" and color-coded as purple.
• Assassinate – These are the usual offensive missions, where the player must find and destroy a boss enemy to complete the mission. They may be mandatory or optional.
• Defend – An enemy force threatens one of the player's strategic assets, which must be defended against a series of enemy waves or lost. The first defense mission is mandatory, but most are optional.