2.8.0 Update Patch Notes

Today’s update is the first community driven patch focused on multiplayer balance in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition. This work was only made possible by your continued support, feedback, and passion for this game. We want to thank the community members that have been driving, testing, and validating this work to get it ready for all of you today.

Balancing any RTS game, especially one with nine factions, is complicated and time-consuming work. As such, today’s update will not solve or address every single friction point in the multiplayer experience. Update 2.8.0 is only the first of several planned multiplayer balance patches coming in 2026. This work will be incremental, and it will adapt based on feedback from players in the coming weeks. As such, we encourage all our multiplayer fans to play as many matchups and game modes as they can to get a feel for these new changes and then provide feedback and suggestions for future updates.

Additionally, with the release of this update, we will be enforcing escalating suspensions and bans for any players using mods or other software to remove the fog-of-war and/or atmospheric fog in automatch modes. This does not include custom games or singleplayer/skirmish. We know that these options exist in some historically popular mods, however, they run counter to the intended player experience - especially in automatch. This first round of suspensions will only last 48-hours and will act as a warning. In the coming weeks, player accounts detected removing fog-of-war or atmospheric fog will receive suspensions of a week (or more) and subsequent detection will culminate in permanent bans. Appeal requests can be opened at https://help.relic.com/.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and good luck in your multiplayer games! Stay tuned for the next part of this balance work in the months ahead.

General

Today’s multiplayer balance update aims to improve the balance between factions in the early and mid game. We want to decrease the effectiveness of area-of-effect units, as they became stronger with the changes to pathfinding and collision in the Definitive Edition.

This update also mitigates the ability to sell early game buildings to prevent refunding them for resources. Though this was already true for Headquarters, Barracks, and Generators, we’ve expanded this restriction to cover the Tier 1 Armory buildings and the Forbidden Archive to avoid current and future strategies that exploited this. We exempted the Armory style buildings which double up as Tier 2 research, such as the Soul Shrine and the Path to Enlightenment.

• Deleting completed Armory buildings (Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Chaos, Imperial Guards, Dark Eldar and Orks) and Forbidden Archive (Necrons) now returns 10% of the resources to the player

Finally, Artillery style units and grenade style abilities are receiving changes to compensate for the new pathing and collision systems.

Chaos

The Cultist Grenade Launcher opener has been overpowered; we have adjusted this to encourage more variety in opening play.

Raptors health has been slightly increased, and they will receive an increased boost from Jetpack Booster Research to help them to be more useful in the mid-game.

Berzerkers movement speed and Health has been increased to improve their usability.

Vehicles have been adjusted to encourage a selection of vehicles other than Defilers.

Cultist Squad

• Grenade Launcher Area of Effect decreased from 4 to 3

• Grenade Launcher damage decreased 20% (including the value for minimum damage dealt)

• Grenade Launcher damage against Commander armour decreased by 15% instead of 20%

Khorne Berzerker Squad

• Speed increased from 20 to 24

• Health increased from 610 to 670

Hell Talon

• Autocannon and Incendiary Bomb damage to commander armor decreased by 20%

Chaos Predator

• Heavy bolters range increased from 30 to 35

• Cost decreased from 150/330 to 150/300

Defiler

• Battlecannon damage to aircraft decreased by 30%

• Battlecannon area of effect decreased from 4 to 3

Chaos Space Marine Squad

• Frag Grenades damage decreased by 15%

Raptor Squad

• Health increased from 405 to 425

Jetpack Booster Research

• New: Now gives passive move speed of +20% to Raptors and Raptors Aspiring Champion

Speed Fiends ability

• Duration increased from 7s to 10s

• Movement speed increase from 40% to 30%

Dark Eldar

Adjustments have been made to the Dark Eldar with the aim of decreasing the dominance of Reaver Jetbikes. We will continue to monitor these changes with a view to future updates. We are also adjusting the survivability of Warriors along with their lethality.

Anti-vehicle options in the Scourge Squad and the Raider have been adjusted so they are better able to fend off early vehicles from other factions. We’re hoping this improves Dark Eldar performance in early Tier 2.

Finally, the Talos has been adjusted so that it can perform better at melee range.

Warrior Squad

• Splinter Rifle damage against Infantry Low (All builders except Techpriest Enginseer) and Infantry Heavy Medium (Space Marines, Fire Warriors, Battle Sisters and similarly armoured units) reduced by 10%

• Splinter Rifle damage against Infantry Medium (Starting units like Guardsmen, Cultists and Guardians), Infantry High (Mostly early game units from Orks, Eldar and Dark Eldar like Sluggas, Dark Reapers and Warriors) and Commanders reduced by 15%

• Health increased from 250 to 300

Reaver Jetbike

• Build time increased from 21s to 25s

• Splinter Cannon damage to Commander armor type decreased by 33%

• Splinter Cannon with targeting module damage to Commander armor type decreased by 33%

Scourge Squad

• Dark Lance setup time decreased from 1.5s to 1.0s

Wraithbone Woven Battlesuits

• New: Scourges now gain 55 health from this upgrade

• New: Scourge Sybarites now gain 100 health from this upgrade

Raider

• Health increased from 1400 to 1600

• Dark Lance damage increased by 15%

• Cost increased from 100/125 to 125/150

• Build time increased from 25s to 30s

• Raider Splinter Rifle damage adjusted to match the changes to Warrior Squad Splinter Rifle. These weapons are used when Warriors embark on a Raider

Talos

• Deceleration time decreased from 1s to 0.2s

• Acceleration time decreased from 2s to 1s

• Time cost decreased from 45s to 30s

• Max speed increased from 18s to 21s

Wargear: Power Blades

• Cost decreased from 75/75 to 50/50

Wargear: Agonizers

• Cost decreased from 100/100 to 75/75

Archon

• Power Claw and Agonizer damage reduced by 20%

Wych Succubus

• AdjustedDamage from WargearPower Blades and Wargear: Agonizer decreased by 20% (not cumulative)

Warrior Sybarite

• AdjustedDamage from WargearPower Blades and Wargear: Agonizer upgrade increased by 40% (not cumulative)

Scourge Sybarite

• AdjustedDamage from WargearPower Blades and Wargear: Agonizer upgrade increased by 40% (not cumulative)

Eldar

We have made adjustments to many of the Eldar spells. Bonesingers Wraithtomb should now be less oppressive in shutting down buildings, the Farseer is less of a menace against factions like Imperial Guards, and the Harlequin is less effective at wiping out armies by herself.

Banshee’s are getting some slight buffs to accessibility to make them more viable as secondary units.

We have also made some minor adjustments to Rangers, Dark Reapers and Guardians to improve specific matchups.

Bonesinge r

• Cost increased from 45/0 to 55/0

• Wraithtomb duration decreased from 30s to 20s

• Wraithtomb duration after death of Bonesinger decreased from 8s to 5s

Farseer

• Mind War ability total damage decreased from 315-440 to 340-350

• Mind War ability cooldown decreased from 110s to 100s

• Psychic Storm ability damage to Commander armor type reduced by 30%

Soul Shrine

• Aspect Portal added as a requirement

Harlequin

• Dance of Death damage decreased from 75 to 60 per hit

• Harlequins Kiss area effect damage decreased by 20%

• Harlequins Kiss area effect damage against Infantry Medium (Starting units like Guardsmen, Cultists and Guardians) further reduced by 20%

• Harlequins Kiss area reduced from 15 to 12

Ranger Squad

• Knife damage against Infantry Medium (Starting units like Guardsmen, Cultists and Guardians) decreased from 4.8 to 4dps

Ranger infiltration

• Research time increased from 25s to 40s

Dark Reapers

• Reaper Launcher damage against Vehicle Medium (Most normal vehicles like Dreadnaughts, Predators and Destroyers) and Aircraft decreased by 20%

Dark Reaper Exarch

• Reinforce time increased from 15s to 20s

Guardian Squad

• Shuriken Catapult damage against Infantry Heavy Medium (Space Marines, Fire Warriors, Battle Sisters and similarly armored units) decreased by 10%

• Shuriken Catapult penetration against Infantry Heavy High (Heavily armored infantry like Celestians, Terminators and Obliterators) set to the same as against Commander, was previously 0. Damage increased from 1.4 damage-per-second to 2.9 damage-per-second

• Plasma Grenades damage decreased by 15%

Howling Banshee Exarch

• Health increased from 435 to 585

• Health gained from Call of War decreased from 355 to 255

• AdjustedHealth gained from WargearReinforced Armor decreased from 235 to 185

Banshee Aspect Stone

• Cost decreased from 50/0 to 25/0

• Banshee Aspect Stone time cost decreased from 11s to 8s

Vyper

• Missile Launcher knockback decreased by 20%

Imperial Guard

For Imperial Guards, we wanted to decrease the effectiveness of Guardsmen after getting all their damage buffs in Tier 2, both in general but also specifically for the Grenade Launcher.

We’re improving the accessibility of the Psyker (HQ) in Tier 2 to allow more detection units while also lowering the effectiveness of Curse of the Machine Spirit which currently counters early vehicles too hard.

We’ve also improved the usability of the Heavy Weapons Team by lowering the time it takes to entrench/uproot as well as increasing the speed at which they rotate their weapons so that they can start firing sooner.

Telepathica Temple

• Now requires Battle Command instead of Tactica Command

• Research time decreased from 20s to 10s

Priest (Headquarters)

• Cost decreased from 80/50 to 80/40

• Squad damage bonus reduced from 50% to 33%

Psyker (Headquarters)

• Cost decreased from 100/50 to 90/35

• Health increased from 375 to 425

Curse of the Machine Spirit

• Cooldown increased from 45s to 55s

• Duration decreased from 15s to 12s

• Curse of the Machine Spirit range decreased from 40 to 35

Guardsmen Squad

• Grenade Launcher knockback force decreased from 25-40 to 20-30

• Grenade Launchers damage against buildings reduced by 10%

• Plasma Gun damage against buildings and vehicles decreased by 20%

Weapon Specialization

• Bonus damage to Grenade Launchers is reduced from 100% to 75%

• Research time increased from 30s to 45s

Commissar

• Execute ability bonus max damage to lasguns decreased from 100% to 80%

Heavy Weapons Team

• Time to entrench/uproot decreased from 3s to 2s

• Rotation speed for all weapons increased from 45 to 90

Basilisk

• Earthshaker Cannon damage, morale damage, and knockback force decreased by 20%

Necrons

Necrons mostly saw some economic changes in this update. The power upgrades are slightly cheaper and the Thermo Plasma Generator is now easier to build while giving less return. This allows players to build it with less risk while also reducing the impact it has on the game.

Obelisks now give one extra vehicle population cap to avoid situations where Necrons control half the map but still can’t get more than 17 vehicle cap. With this change they can get to 20 like the other factions.

Solar Pulse and Phase Shift received minor nerfs and Immortals are now a bit more tanky.

Solar Pulse

• Cooldown increased from 70s to 80s

Phase Shift

• Cost increased from 75 to 100 power

Immortals

• Health increased from 450 to 500

Strengthen Powergrid

• Cost decreased from 350 to 300 power

Plasma Battery Storage

• Cost decreased from 550 to 500 power

Thermo Plasma Generator

• Power gain decreased from 30 to 20 power

• Cost decreased from 250 to 225 power

• Power gift on completion decreased from 100 to 75 power

• Construction time decreased from 120s to 80s

• Health from 2000 to 1600

Obelisk

• Vehicle population capacity increase from Obelisk increased from +3 to +4

Orks

Orks have been adjusted with the intent of delaying and reducing the impact of their attack timings.

We’re increasing the cost and reducing the effectiveness of certain upgrades and abilities while also nerfing Nob Leaders. Mega Armored Nobz are receiving some buffs to make them more viable.

Blastier

• Research cost increased from 100/25 to 100/50

• Shoota Boy Squad Shoota and Big Shoota damage bonus decreased from 50% to 40%

'Eavy Boy Armor

• Research cost increased from 75/25 to 75/50

• Sluggas health gained from 33% to 25%

• Stormboyz health gained from 33% to 20%

Nob Leaders

• Power Claw damage to Building Low (Mostly Listening Points, Generators, Turrets and Mine Fields) decreased by 20%

• Shoota damage to Building Low (Mostly Listening Points, Generators, Turrets and Mine Fields) decreased by 15%

• Health decreased from 900 to 800

• Health gained from Tougher Bosses increased from 100 to 150

• Health gained from Even Tougher Bosses increased from 100 to 150

Mega Armored Nobz

• Reinforce cost decreased from 100/75 to 100/60

• Build time decreased from 45s to 35s

• Power Surge ability cost decreased from 10 to 7 health per second

Turbo Boost Research

• Stormboyz speed bonus decreased from +30% to +20%

Turbo Boost Ability

• Movement speed bonus decreased from +50% to +30% for Stormboyz, Wartrak and Wartrukk

Stormboyz

• Stikk bombz damage decreased by 15%

Wartrak

• Bomb Chukka damage, morale damage, and knockback force decreased by 20%

Sisters of Battle

Sisters of Battle have historically underperformed. With the change to refunds from Armory deletion, we are giving Sisters of Battle several early game buffs to compensate and bring them closer in line to the other factions in terms of early game performance. The most important of these buffs is an increase to the accessibility of Faith in the early game to allow for earlier and more frequent use of their Faith based abilities. The Immolator is getting multiple changes to make it more accessible and better at its anti-vehicle role, while toning down the strong Twin Heavy Flamers. We are also splitting the health and damage upgrades into two upgrades each to allow for better scaling in the mid and late game. We’re making Purgatus Mine Field more useful as an area denial tool and increasing its charge count. In return, we nerfed the damage and morale damage of its explosion. We also tuned the cost of some upgrades and the effectiveness of the Confessors Faith abilities. Moving 10 power cost from the Armory to Wargear: Power Weapons allows for a few more reinforcements for Seraphims - when opening without a generator, this makes them more viable after losing the resources from armory deletion.

Ecclesiarchal Chapel

• New: Provides +20 Faith max (Note that this allows maximum Faith to go above 100 if more than one HQ is built. It is a known issue that the UI may not display Faith above 100 correctly. )

Holy Icon

• Maximum icons built decreased from 5 to 4

• First icon cost increased from 25/0 to 40/10 (Note: Cost scaling unchanged at +40/25 per icon built)

Canoness

• Faith resource generation increased from +1.75 to +2

• Bolt Pistol damage increased by 15%

Battle Sister Squad

• Phosphor Grenades damage decreased by 15%

• Phosphor Grenades damage over time decreased from 9 to 8

• Bolter damage increased by 10%

Pristine Sanctuary

• Cost decreased from 175/50 to 175/40

Wargear: Power Weapons

• Cost increased from 50/20 to 50/30

Immolator

• Build time decreased from 55s to 40s

• Twin Heavy Flamers morale damage decreased by 50%

• Twin Heavy Flamers damage decreased by 20%

• Twin Heavy Flamers fire on the move accuracy decreased from 70% to 60%

• Multi-melta build time decreased from 20s to 15s

• Multi-melta damage to Vehicle Medium (Most normal vehicles like Dreadnaughts, Predators and Destroyers) and Vehicle High (Relic Vehicles and a few heavily armoured vehicles like the Killa Kan, Baneblade and the Dais of Destruction) armor types increased by +20%

Purgatus Mine Field

• Max Explosions increased from 1 to 4

• Explosion cooldown set to 5s

• Damage from explosion decreased by 30%

• Morale damage from explosion decreased by 50%

Wargear: Chaplet Ecclesiasticus

• Cost decreased from 125/50 to 75/50

Laud Hailers Research

• Cost decreased from 75/50 to75/25

• Research time decreased from 30s to 20s

Confessor

• Holy Edict stun duration decreased from 15s to 10s

• Emperor's Wrath damage decreased by 20%

Wargear: Blessed Armor/Wargear: Psyocculum

• New: Is now split into two upgrades; the second one is placed in the same slot in the armory and is displayed after the first one has been researched

Wargear: Blessed Armor

• Research time decreased from 45s to 30s

• Otherwise exactly the same as current Blessed Armor

Wargear: Sacrosanct Armor

• Requirements: Blessed Armor, Ecclesiarchal Citadel

• Cost set to 75/25

• Research time set to 45s

• Provides further 15% hitpoint bonus to Battle Sisters, Seraphim, Celestians, and Sisters Repentia

• Provides further 15% hitpoint bonus to Veteran Superiors, Seraphim Veteran Superiors, Imagifers, and Mistress

Psyocculum

• Requirements: Ecclesiarchal Cathedral

• Cost set to 75/25

• Research time set to 30s

• Increases the damage of Battle Sister's Bolters, Flamers and Heavy Bolters by 20%

• Doubles the damage of the Missionary's Bolt Pistol

Wargear: Enhanced Psyocculum

• Same stats as current Psyocculum except for the following:

  • Cost changed from 150/50 -> 100/75

• Increases to the damage of Battle Sister's Bolters, Flamers and Heavy Bolters decreased from 35% -> 12.5% (total bonus from both Psyocculum upgrades is the same as from the current Psyocculum)

• Removed damage upgrade for Missionary bolt pistol

Space Marines

Space Marines received relatively minor changes despite being one of the weaker factions in multiplayer. However, several changes to other factions have improved the performance of Space Marines. Space Marines and Assault Marines are getting damage buffs against Infantry High – notably affecting Eldar, Orks, and Dark Eldar, three factions that the Space Marines used to struggle against. Assault Marines received additional buffs to make them more viable in the early game. Land Speeder Tempest received several changes to make its different Heavy Weapon upgrades more specialized and Krak Missile Launcher less of an anti-everything alternative. Listening Posts, Heavy Bolter Turrets, and Missile Turrets had very low damage against some armor types compared to their counterparts in other factions. In some cases this was due to legacy bugs. We’ve fixed those values and these buildings will now be a lot stronger in some situations.

Listening Post

• Storm Bolter damage to Vehicle Low (Light vehicles like Reaver Jetbike, Landspeeders and Devilfish increased from 9 to 19.4 damage-per-second (same damage as the Chaos Listening Post)

Space Marine Squad

• Bolter damage against Infantry High (Mostly early game units from Orks, Eldar and Dark Eldar like Sluggas, Dark Reapers and Warriors) increased by 10%

• Frag Grenades damage decreased 15%

Assault Marine Squad

• Squad cost decreased from 220/0 to 210/0

• Chainsword damage to Infantry High (Mostly early game units from Orks, Eldar and Dark Eldar like Sluggas, Dark Reapers and Warriors) increased by 15%

• Chainsword damage to Building Low (Mostly Listening Points, Generators, Turrets and Mine Fields) increased by 10%

• Bolt pistol damage against Infantry Low (All builders except Techpriest Enginseer) decreased by 35%

• AdjustedHealth received from WargearBionics Level 2 increased from 19% to 30% (from 581 to 634 after this upgrade)

Machine Cult

• Vehicle Cap given from this building increased from 2 to 3

Rhino

• No longer requires Armory to build

Land Speeder Tempest

• Health increased from 1200 to 1500

• Cost increased from 100/125 to 100/150

• Krak Missile Launcher armory requirement removed

• Frag Missile Launcher armory requirement removed

• Krak Missile Launcher area of effect reduced from 4 to 2.5

• Krak Missile Launcher cost reduced from 60/30 to 40/20

• Frag Missile Launcher cost reduced from 50/20 to 40/20

• Krak Missile Launcher damage against Commanders decreased by 30%

Dreadnaught

• Cost reduced from 170/305 to 155/305

Apothecary

• Health increased from 500 to 600

Sacred Artifact

• Cost decreased from 125/50 to 100/50

Hellfire Dreadnaught

• Hellfire Missile Launcher knockback force decreased by 20%

Missile Turret

• This turret had a faulty table of penetration values which lacked entries for all building armor types; these have been fixed by copying the penetration table from the Imperial Guard Missile Turret which is identical to the Space Marine Missile Turret

Heavy Bolter Turret

• This turret lacked penetration values against all building armor types, these have been added and penetration values copied from the Chaos Heavy Bolter Turret which is identical to the Space Marine Heavy Bolter Turret in every other way

Tau

For the Tau we wanted to reduce the effectiveness of mass Fire Warriors in early Tier 2 and slightly nerf the early game harassment from Vespids. Vespids received a slight nerf to their jump, while they still have the ability to store up to three jumps, each jump now costs more.

Fire Warriors lose the ability to choose two of the same Squad Leader. In return we fixed the Shield Drone and buffed its survivability.

We reduced the cost of the Kroot Shaping Center and the Kroot Shaper and increased the latter's squad bonus for health to improve the scalability of Kroot Carnivores into Tier 2.

Earth Caste Builder

• Cost decreased from 65/0 to 60/0

Fire Warrior Team

• No longer prioritize targeting Squad Leaders/attached units in a squad

• Shas'Ui and Shield Drone are now limited to one each in a squad of Fire Warriors

• Pulse rifle damage to Infantry Low (All builders except Techpriest Enginseer) increased from 9.5 to 14.5 damage-per-second

Shield Drone The Shield Drone had an Armor value of 0 which means it took full damage from all sources of damage no matter what penetration value they had against this unit. This has been changed to 100, in line with all units.

• Health increased from 275 to 425

• Armor type changed from Infantry Heavy Medium to Infantry Heavy High

Vespid Stingwing Strain

• Cost of recharging a jump increased from 30s to 40s

• Maximum jump charge increased from 90s to 120s

• Starting jump charge is still 50% (from 45s to 60s)

Kroot Shaping Center

• Cost decreased from 135/0 to 100/0

Kroot Shaper

• Cost decreased from 100/50 to 80/40

• Health bonus to attached squad from +10% to +20%

Pathfinder Team

• Mark Target ability bonus damage decreased from 75% to 50%

Advanced Pulse Rifles

• Research time increased from 25s to 35s

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

• Cost decreased from 240/120 to 210/120

• Missile Launcher knockback decreased by 20%

Tau Commander

• Missile Pod knockback force decreased from 30-50 to 20-40 force

• Flamer Morale damage decreased by 20%

Barracuda

• Missile Pod knockback decreased by 20%

Bug Fixes & Additional Changes

In addition to the above balance changes, the following improvements have been added to the game. Please continue to send reports and feedback to help.relic.com so that we can prioritize issues in our next updates.

Gameplay

• Fixed a Fatal Scar Error in Winter Assault Disorder Mission 1 that occurred when Gorgutz was incorrectly despawned before the ending cutscene

• Squiggoth entrance updated in Winter Assault Discord Mission 1 to remove attack misalignment when it attacks

• Winter Assault Order Mission 2 cutscene updated to remove stuttering

• Winter Assault Order Mission 4 updated to remove the light FX after the Mars Pattern building has been destroyed

• Updated the Sisters of Battle Honor Guard Immolator to not use vehicle cap. Save files from before this patch that already have an Immolator in the Honor Guard will still be impacted by this issue

• Necrons – Tomb Spyder particle projector no longer fires when under the effect of the Necron Lord’s Phase Shifter

• Necrons – Obelisk Gauss Flayer firing FX now correctly matches its fire rate

UI

• Translations across several languages updated to fix Wargear descriptions that were cut off

Modding

• Updated the “-init” launch argument to no longer crash immediately on match start Note: use of this launch argument may lead to instability at the end of matches