Faction Deep Dive - Orks

Hi everyone,

Right now we’re busy adding the finishing touches to the dedicated campaigns for each of our four factions in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. The Space Marines, Necrons, the Adeptus Mechanicus and Orks will each enjoy their own mission-based narrative as part of the game’s overall story, but today we want to talk a bit more about what you can expect from the Orks.

It’s fair to say that leaving the Orks out of Dawn of War IV was never going to be an option for us! They’re one of the iconic Dawn of War factions along with the Blood Ravens, and we couldn’t resist the chance to bring back Warboss Gorgutz either, an important character from the earlier Dawn of War games. 

Beyond the characters though, what makes the Orks so interesting is they might just be the only Warhammer 40,000 faction that’s always having fun. For the uninitiated, these guys are all about fighting and brutality, and there’s no shortage of either in the grim darkness of the far future. Put simply, the Orks live for war, killing every single thing they come across.

This sense of relentless bloodlust actually plays a really important role in how they approach combat. Take the Ork’s Waaagh! mechanic, for example, which in Dawn of War acts a little bit like an energy meter that fills up based on the number of Orks you have on the battlefield, as well as the number of enemies you’ve killed.

What’s interesting about Waaagh! is that you can trigger it to give your units a decisive advantage, right when you need it. Once activated, every fighting unit enters something like a berserker state, becoming more excited and much stronger. As you’d expect, timing the use of your Waaagh! is a really important part of getting your Ork army over the finishing line.

Orks overtake any place they’re found, rapidly expanding territory through war and looting,  having some of the cheapest units and buildings in Dawn of War IV too. So, if you’re ever in doubt about what to do next with your Ork army, start building more stuff and planning your next expansion!

There’s a lot more to the Orks than just building bigger though, and so we’re giving you plenty of dakka too. For example, the Flash Gitz are incredibly powerful, ranged infantry units that pack massed bullet-spewing snazzguns - great for punching through an enemy’s defenses.

Then we have the Squighog Riders. These mounted Beast Snagga Boyz move relatively quickly on the battlefield, before striking with their Stikka spears. With a bunch of these Boyz in your backpocket, you know you can always show up somewhere quickly and make a big dent in the opponent’s forward lines.

We also wanted to give you flexibility when it comes to building your troops. For example, units like the Meganobz can be upgraded to have either Kombi-Rokkits for long-range firepower, or Kombi-Skorchas for short-range AOE damage. This way you can build units that suit your own approach to strategy, or adapt to single targets or groups of enemies. 

It’s worth noting that the Orks level up and gain Veterancy relatively quickly compared to the other factions. This means they unlock new weapons and other upgrades quickly, and also gain the option to add more models (which means more firepower) to a unit early on.

In Warhammer 40,000’s setting of endless war, there’s not always an external threat for the Orks to fight, and so these anarchic xenos will often be found fighting within their own ranks instead! When there’s no enemy to conquer, the Orks always want to know who’s the biggest, who’s the best, and - above all else - who’s the boss.

This brings us back to Warboss Gorgutz, the character we meet at the very start of Dawn of War IV. Choosing Gorgutz wasn’t just about bringing back one of our favourite Dawn of War Commanders, it also opened up a really cool opportunity to introduce an upstart Warboss worthy of going up against him!

We looked at many different options here, but after a lot of discussion we designed a Beast Snagga Boss by the name of Guzcutta. In the end we couldn’t resist the chance to set up a fight between the classic Orks and the new kids on the block!

Guzcutta’s an interesting Commander because he’s essentially two units in one. While on foot he’s a Beast Snagga boss, which makes him a great, super-tough fighter. Later in the campaign though you’ll unlock a rideable Squigosaur. All of a sudden Guzcutta can not only move faster, he also gains a ferocious bone-chewing beast to fight with him!

Gorgutz, on the other hand, is a Warboss who goes to war in Mega Armour. That makes him relatively slow, but incredibly powerful as compensation. Overall he can be challenging to play but is an amazing fighter with a lot of options for both melee and ranged combat. One of our favourite abilities is ‘I’m Out of Here’, which uses Gorgutz’ kunnin’ to teleport Gorgutz out of danger whilst his Gretchin leaves a pile of bombs behind in his place!

We’ve a lot more to talk about between now and the launch of Dawn of War IV, but we hope you’ve enjoyed this look at how we’re rousing da Waaagh! Make sure you follow us for more updates in the months ahead, and don’t forget to add Dawn of War IV to your wishlists too.