Doctrine

After picking a faction and Elites, choosing doctrines creates a deeper layer of tactics, allowing players to enhance and refine their playstyle. Before a match, they’ll be able to select from dozens of different doctrines applying to both Elite units and their army as a whole. Doctrines can add abilities to units or have passive (sometimes conditional) effects on the battlefield. Their effects can be profound, and significantly inform how players tackle each encounter.

Elite doctrines

The first Doctrines to select are Elite doctrines. Each Elite unit can equip one Elite Doctrine, for a total of three per match.

There are two types of Elite doctrines: Command and Presence Doctrines. Command Doctrines take effect when the Elite is equipped in the army, while Presence Doctrines are applied only when the Elite unit is deployed on the battlefield.

Examples:

• Equip Gabriel Angelos with the Slam Barrier doctrine, and the Dreadnought’s Slam ability gains a new feature – a temporary barrier that absorbs shots and reflects projectiles.

• Eldar Farseer Mach’s Last Chance doctrine allows her to help out fellow Elites. When other Elites reach zero health, instead of dying they’ll temporarily enter stasis and heal.

• Gorgutz’s Keep Trukk’n doctrine makes it so that units ejected from Trukks gain a temporary shield and taunt in a circle.

Army doctrines

Army Doctrines empower subsets of players' armies with various effects, buffs, and abilities. Army Doctrines are unique to each faction, enhancing the strengths that the Space Marines, Eldar, and Orks bring to the table. Players will choose and equip three Army Doctrines before each match.

Examples:

• The Ork doctrine Slice ‘Em upgrades the Deffkopta’s Buzzsaw Blitz ability. They’ll now attach to the first building or unit they collide with, slowing and damaging them over time.

• The Space Marine doctrine Scout Strike lets Scout units in stealth cover do bonus damage on their initial attack.

• The Eldar doctrine Webway Holo-field gives Webway Gates the ability to activate a large holo-field, granting Stealth to the Webway Gate and to units within its radius.