The Art of Waaagh
an Orky Strategy Guide
Orks is made for fightin'……and winnin', even in 1.3. This strategy guide is to fill in a lot of the information gaps I believe exist for Ork players. Most of this information assumes you don't know anything about Ork, but there are also a lot of tips for experienced players. 1.3 is a tough arena for Ork, but the winning strategies are out there.
The best of luck to you grunt.
I've labeled the best Ork stuff with a :thumb: figure, the worst with afigure, and the most difficult to execute (usually because of micro) with a :ninja: figure.
Orks at a Glance
The Orks are not like other races. In fact, they are, in my eyes, the most dissimilar race. It is perhaps for this reason that they are by far the most underplayed race. Still, don't shy away from the green skins, as their scarcity is their advantage. Many players cannot even tell one Ork unit apart from another. The unorthodox tech tree Ork makes feeling them out very difficult even for experienced players who have not themselves played Ork.
Ork are mostly an infantry race. They have very pronounced, easily exploited weaknesses, yet can still manage victory. How so? Blunt force, sheer numbers, and powerful upgrades early in the game crush opponents with a well-timed battle.
Their mech, or Mek as they call it, is much slower than the other races and normally an end-game tactic. Playing Ork is often like playing the role of a Viking: destined to die in battle (especially in 1.3), fighting the good fight.
Waaagh, the Ork Resource
Yes, Ork have their very own resource. While Orks use requisition, power, and population cap as the other armies, Waaagh is another resource to manage. It is really not that complex. Waaagh is simply put, the rate at which you can buy or reinforce Ork units.
The building that provides Ork with population cap increase is the Waaagh Banner. Increasing your population cap will add to your Waaagh resource (red numbers located just below your power and requisition values). Like power and requisition, the amount of Waaagh you have is the left number, while the right number indicated the rate at which you are gaining Waaagh. A banner does not immediately add X amount of Waaagh, but rather increases population, which increases the rate at which you gain Waaagh.
Unlike other races, every Ork unit requires population resource in addition to Waaagh (usually the same amount of each). This means even after you have purchased a squad, when you reinforce a single unit, he will take 1 Waaagh and 1 population. Though other races do not have this same extra burden, the Orks can raise much larger armies for their battles.
If you have a maximized population, your Waaagh will be 0, thought your rate will still be indicated (red # on the right of the Waaagh meter).
Ork Tech- uhhhh what exactly do I do?
Like Waaagh, Ork tech (referring to their technology tree) is not perfectly clear. Each unit and building you can make has a required population. However, you do not actually have to have the population of Ork units on the battlefield, but rather just your current population + your available Waaagh (the first red number). For instance, the Mek shop requires 46 population, but you may build the shop if you have 10/50 population and 36/+12 Waaagh, as 10+36=46.
One final note on population tech is that it does not instantly take effect. If you are at 30/30 population, your Waaagh resource will be at 0 (see above). If you need 31 population for something like a Stormboy, you will need to build another banner. When the banner is produced, your population will be at 30/40. It will take a few seconds, however, to produce an additional Waaagh resource. When you produce 1 Waaagh, you will now have 30 population +1 Waaagh = 31, making Stormboyz available.
Ork Buildings
Without going into each and every Ork building, it is important to understand that Ork buildings are offensive, but very fragile alone. When defending your base, your buildings can be powerful assets. When your buildings are attacked in your absence, your buildings can be a liability, as losing banners means losing tech and Waaagh.
:thumb: The Waaagh Banner can be upgraded to be more offensive. However, it is best to not rely on Waaagh Banners to defend your base, as you will soon find they are an easily exploitable weakness if your opponent targets them. It is instead better to place larger buildings such as your Da Boyz Hut and Pile O' Gunz on the outside of your base. These buildings can take and deal far more damage than a Waaagh Banner. Though losing these buildings also complicates your situation, an enemy would be foolish to target one of these in battle while your army is present. Below are two examples of using a primary building as a defensive tool. In the first, you see the Pile O' Gunz and LP2 defending against the chaos player. In the second, you can see the shoreline of Dead Man's Crossing guarded by Da Boyz Hut.
The last thing to know about Ork buildings is that you can place a number of squads (usually 1) inside of them. This even applies to Listening Posts (LP). This can be a very useful feature when enemy casters are around, such as a Farseer who often tries to find your vulnerable gretchins running around. You can also place fighting units inside of buildings to safely wait for other forces you have to rally for a fight. It can even be used to hide your numbers in deception.
Ork Heroes
I won't bother marking either of the Ork heroes with an :thumb: , as it would not do them justice. Ork heroes are on the highest caliber of power/cost in the game. Always make them. When they die, always repurchase them. Only extremely rare, dire circumstances might make you think otherwise.
Big Mek- Big Mek (BM) is the man. While he has only 1050 HP and will lose in combat against most of the other heroes, he has a big bag of tricks. BM does the most ranged damage of any tier 1 hero with his pistol and has many kill animations, which allow him to massacre tier 1 units. He has a number of researchable abilities too.
Kustom Teleporta is BM's most important ability. Why? The teleporta not only allows BM to teleport, but it also takes his squad with him. Not only will the teleporta allow you to harass your opponent then jump away, but it will also protect BM and his squad from dying. Most importantly, the teleporta is a great way to jump a giant group on top of your enemy's hero or ranged units.
BM also has a very useful Force Field, which reduces ranged damage to units nearby BM. This is also a nearly "always get" upgrade and is inexpensive in the long run.
Tankbustin' Kit is BM's final upgrade, which does just what it says. It adds two abilities to BM, both of which are anti-vehicle/building. The first is a vehicle stun, which disables a vehicle and lets you pound on it a bit. Secondly, the kit adds a powerful grenade that BM can use to completely destroy small vehicles, damage larger ones, and take-out enemy listening posts and turrets.
In 1.2, BM could often stand in front of your units. In 1.3, only in the very early game can BM stand safely alone. Until you are more experienced, I highly recommend placing BM in a group after the first 2-3 minutes of the game. I also recommend you growing BM's group for several reasons. First, large Ork groups gain the morale bonus. Second, a larger group means a larger teleport. Lastly, once you teleport, often the only units that will immediately benefit from BM's force field are those in his group.
Warboss- The warboss is easily explained. He is crunk. He is a killing machine. At tier 3, the warboss is easily the most offensive single unit in the game. He, like the NL and Dok is a must-purchase unit when available. He can destroy any type of unit and is not weak against anything. He comes with a Power of the Waaagh ability that makes Ork units immune to fear. Use this ability about 1 minute after a large battle is underway. Using it before that point will not give you as much benefit and using it later means many Ork units will not be alive to benefit.
Still, be careful with the Warboss. Don't make him lead the charge at tier 3, as most opposing armies will have a large enough line to do quite a bit of damage to the warboss before he reaches combat. Realize that he is far more damage efficient than your sluggaz and they are far better off taking the hits or first teleporting BM's group in than letting the Warboss die.
Ork Units
Gretchin- The gretchin, aka grot, is the runtiest of Ork units. They are Ork's builder unit and can overwatch (automatic reinforce) for free, though slow. At the start of the game, in addition to your starting Slugga squad, you will start with a gretchin. Immediately place the grot on overwatch. He will grow to a squad of 10. The more grots, the faster the building will construct. These units can also be used to fight in a pinch, though they die more easily than any unit in the game.
Gretchins can also infiltrate. For a small cost of 50 requisitions, the lil grots can infiltrate even while building ore repairing. Because of their fast speed, this can even make them useful scouts. Some players utilize this upgrade as soon as possible. I'd recommend getting it on larger maps, where the grots have to travel substantial distances. On smaller maps, it is easier to simply place them in a building if they are in danger.
:ninja:Mines! Yes, these things rock. It is really difficult to get used to mining successfully, but when done right, it can really throw a wrench in your opponent's plans. The gretchins are particularly good at mining since they can build while infiltrated. On maps where you can expect your opponent to split his forces up, such as outer reaches or meeting of the minds, placing mines near vulnerable LPs or near strategic objectives that you cannot otherwise guard is nice.
Against an Eldar player, placing 1 or 2 mine fields in the back of your army can give you a way to nail his warp spiders as well as retreat without having fleet of foot gun you down the whole way. When the battlefield is narrow, this works perfectly to delay an opponent's pathing.
You won't need any mines early on, as their energy cost is hard to float, but the more you play, you will begin to recognize the right times to use mines: enable retreats, guard strategic objectives and LPs, prevent harassment in places where jumpers are attacking. Basically, anytime your opponent's speed of movement is an issue or where he is dividing his forces, mines are useful.
Slugga- The Slugga is the basic Ork melee unit. He comes equipped with a Slugga pistol and a Choppa Axe. In nearly all situations, it is best if the Slugga melee a unit rather than fight at a ranged stance. The slugga can have 3 different weapon upgrades, but because of his low health and the fact that they are usually leading the charge, it is best to leave them unequipped.
:thumb: Shoota- The shoota is the twin of the Slugga in many ways. Having the same health, cost, and squad size as the slugga, the shoota only differs slightly. His ranged attack weapon, the shoota, is slightly better than the slugga (roughly +2dps to most units), while his melee, an Ork Knife is slightly inferior to the Choppa Axe (roughly -2dps than the Axe). These differences are small in some respects, but it is very critical to realize that the shoota is nearly twice the ranged attacker that the Slugga is. Additionally, the shoota is the most efficient ranged attacker in the entire Ork army.
The rule of thumb when deciding between sluggaz and shootaz is to make shootaz whenever you have more sluggaz than you can efficiently attack with. You will find that attacking with 50 sluggaz will often leave 35 or so of them waiting in line to get some Choppin' Time. In this situation, it would be better to have 35 shootaz firing a more damaging shoota than the weaker slugga pistol.
Another note on the shoota is that vs other ranged units, if the shoota is nearby, it is best if he melee the unit instead of firing it out. The shoota does decent damage, but has far less HP than a marine, scout, dark reaper, warp spider, or other ranged units. The bright side is that the shoota's Ork Knife does much better melee damage than these other units and is a winning situation once you enter close combat (CC).
Finally, shootaz, like sluggaz, can have 3 different weapon upgrades. If you have sluggaz to act as meat shields for the shootaz, these weapons are often worth getting. I'll discuss them more in the weapon section below.
:ninja:Stormboyz- Stormboyz are the flying slugga. They do nearly identical ranged damage as the slugga and slightly more melee damage. Like the slugga and shoota, stormboyz have very few HP and a poor armor type. Still, their turbo boost and jump packs make them very useful against ranged units. Particularly, They are good against ranged units that have setup times, such as scout snipers, dark reapers, heavy bolters, and the like. They are also good against other mobile units, like warp spiders, assault marines, and raptors.
Stormboyz are more expensive per HP and damage than other Ork units though and should not be made in excess unless the situation is extreme (such as the common Eldar-vs-Ork strategy of making nearly all Warp Spiders).
Some elite Ork players swear by the Stormboy, making only SB against every non-Ork race after their initial sluggaz. Their success with this unit is undeniable, but also difficult to duplicate. You cannot simply send them into battle in masses, but often need to divide your army into segments, harass in multiple places, and play hit-and-run games. Their key to succeeding is often destroying enemy resources and waiting until they succeed at dividing their opponent's army. Then the SBs can quickly unite your army for a powerful strike against the enemy's divided forces.
Additionally TB's can hold up to 6 rokkits, which allows them to be a significant anti-vehicle punch when well equipped. Lastly, the TB's can have tankbusta bombs researched, which allows them to have a close-range anti-vehicle bomb per squad.
An important note about TB's is that when made, they come in attack stance and when told to attack a unit, they will fire their rokkits then run forward to melee the unit. To avoid this, use the ranged stance (F7) on them immediately when they are made. With the ranged stance, the TB's will fire their rokkits at a distance and stand there and reload without charging. This will keep them alive much longer.
Since TB's have no greater accuracy with rokkits than a shoota squad, it is debatable whether or not they are worth making. I myself only get them when I intend to use them for the dual purpose of harassing or if I am against walker-type vehicles, which will undoubtedly get close enough to use TB bombs against.
:thumb::thumb:Mad Dok- The Dok is a must-have unit. As soon as you can purchase the Dok (46 population cap), buy as many as you have squads for them to attach to. The Dok creates a healing aura that is very powerful in large battles. Most importantly, the Dok has Fightin' Juice. The juice, like in pro sports, is an unfair advantage. It acts as temporary invulnerability for 1 squad. The great part is, the Juice, when used, does not have to be used on the unit that Dok is in, but rather any nearby squad.
The Dok himself is not too shabby either. He has more HP than a slugga and does more melee damage with his wicked-looking jagged blade.
Don't forget the Dok! Not getting Doks is the biggest mistake you can make at tier 2. Before you buy anything else, if you have squads, buy Doks.
In combat, try to use the juice on the largest squad possible, but most importantly, use it on the squad taking damage. It doesn’t matter if your hero is in a different squad, put the juice on the squad taking the hits, even if it is only 4-5 units. It is nearly impossibly for an opponent to tell which squad you have used the juice on, so he will not know to stop attacking it. You can even use the juice on squads that cannot even have a Dok, such as Stormboyz.
Nob Squad- The Nob squad is the finest Ork melee squad. Unfortunately, they are also the highest tier squad for Ork and require tier 3 to make. They are also expensive and make very slowly. Nonetheless, they are Heavy-medium armor units, which allows them to contrast all other Ork units, which are infantry-high units. Because of this, often in a game, when your nob squads come out, your opponent is completely unprepared to fight against them, having spent the entire game dealing exclusively with infantry-high units.
Nob Squads can also have power klaws equipped. These Klaws, unlike the power klaw upgrade for the Nob Leader (NL) is very useful. Nob squads with Klaws can dice through vehicles, units, and buildings like a salad shooter (or shoota I suppose).
Nob Squad is the only squad that the Warboss can lead. Go figure. If you are making the Warboss, I highly recommend you making a nob squad for him to lead, as they ensure your warboss will stay around far longer than your opponent will like.
One negative side to the nob squad is their very poor ranged attack. They only do slightly more DPS than a shoota ranged attack and they are 3 times the cost. Running the numbers you will find it to be a very bad idea to make nob squads for the purpose of ranged attacking. In fact, you should only use nob squads as melee attackers and meat shields or you will be misusing them.
Also be aware that having sluggaz+Nob Leaders divides your army into 57% heavy, 43% infantry, but that getting nob squads makes you 100% heavy. This can work for and against you. Against a space marine or chaos player, he can quickly gear up with plasma to annihilate your all-heavy squad. Against an Ork, however, who has no anti-heavy units, the Nob squad is ideal.
:thumb::thumb:Nob Leader- The NL is the bread and butter of your Ork army. You can add one NL to any shoota, slugga, stormboyz or nob squad. The NL is the key to most Ork victories in 1.3. Why? As the Nob squad, the NL is heavy-h armor type, which means that all of the heavy bolters and warp spiders out there, which counter your entire army, do not counter the NL. To boot, the NL has 900 HP! He has more HP than 5 sluggaz and only costs 75/25. This makes him more efficient and useful than any other fighting troop in the entire Ork army, except heroes.
If you are faced with anti-infantry weapons, putting 1 NL per 4 slugga/shoota will do something amazing. It will take your army from 100% infantry to 43% infantry and 57% heavy-m! Don't forget the nobz!
Ork Mek
WarTrukk- The Wartrukk, like most transports, is not worth using as a transport. The wartrukk is, however, a good 905 HP big shoota with vehicle-low armor. The truck is the first mek available to you and is worth making if your opponent is still in an anti-infantry mode. Be wary though that making a trukk tips your opponent off that you are starting to produce mek, so it is best to not make trukks unless they will have a significant impact.
:thumb:Wartrak- The wartrak is the only other Mek available to you until you reach tier 3. The trak is the staple Ork mek and can play many different roles. When first produced, the Trak is similar to the trukk and is anti-infantry. With his first upgrade, the trak gains an anti-vehicle rokkit launcher. With a second upgrade, he gains a bomb-chucka, which turns him back into an anti-infantry unit capable of short-range bombardment (great for scattering ranged units with setup time).
:ninja:Killa Kan- The Kan is slow. The Kan is dangerous. The Kan is expensive. That being said, the Killa Kan is a very powerful walker unit whose one weakness is his speed. The Kan is excellent at dealing with enemy walkers and even does well at killing enemy units to boot. You have to be patient with the kan and sort of move your army around him or you will find him lagging uselessly behind or dangerously in front.
The Kan can be upgraded to have a rokkit launcher that does more DPS than standard Ork rokkits. The upgrade is a must if you have picked him to destroy vehicles! While the Kan is slowly creeping forward, the rokkit gives the kan a significant way to damage enemy vehicles.
The Kan is not good when you do not have a sizeable army to accompany them. Alone or with small groups, players can easily dance around the slow moving kan. In a large battle, the kan simply out-lasts and out-kills everything else for the dollar. Like most Ork mek, the right situation makes the right mek, not vice versa.
One of the best times to consider Kans in on maps with a slag deposit (the thing you can build a bigga generator on). Dead man's crossing is perhaps the best instance, since it is relatively easy to guard the generator. For the price of approximately 3 generators, you gain 5 generators worth of power. This is the kind of juice you will need to pump kans out.
Looted Tank- Aka, the LLR or Looted Leman Russ. This tank has seen many improvements in 1.3. Now, while firing its massive battlecannon, the LLR also shoots 3 heavy-bolters. The disadvantage of the LLR is that it is a short-range tank for most purposes and is slow.
The best way to use the tank is to have an accompanying army move forward while the tank bombards enemies back. Once your army has taken new ground, move the LLR up just behind your front lines. Repeat this process over and over to creep on even the most dug-in enemies.
I would not advise making too many LLRs as once combat starts, their battle cannon will begin scattering your own melee units unless you dedicate a lot of micro to them. Still, 1 or 2 LLRs can be very well used to target specific set-up ranged units in the back of a battle while it continuously fires its heavy bolters. Don't try to move the tank much though as it has a set-up time of its own and very poor pathing.
Ork Weapons
Big Shoota- The BS is Ork's anti-infantry weapon. The BS is not as powerful as the heavy bolter and is more expensive. That being said, it can often be more useful. How so? While space marines and chaos do not always have meat shields to protect their heavy bolters, Orks usually always do. Because of this, the BS is a good way to take advantage of Orks melee/ranged hybrid army. Additionally, the Orks can research more blasty, which adds 15-20% to BS attacks (first upgrade adds 15%, second one adds 20%).
While other races can only pick 2 special weapons per squad, Ork units can pick 3 to start. In the right situation, a quick more-blasty upgrade and purchase of 3-6 BS can mean the game is over for your opponent.
Though the BS is primarily useful against infantry, you will find it best against another Ork player and Eldar armies. I often use the BS against Space Marine as well. Though the SM are almost exclusively Heavy-type armor, the BS does much more damage than a regular shoota and is the only ranged attack upgrade worth buying against SM.
Whenever you buy more than 1 BS, buy the more-blasty upgrade. It is cheaper than 1 BS and will add not only to your BS but to your wartrukks and traks later on in the game. There is a second more-blasty upgrade available at tier 3, but it is more expensive as well. I often skip the second upgrade unless I have many BS still around since tier 3 has many more important purchases for me to make.
Burna- The burna is Orks flame thrower. I use the burna against Orks and Chaos. In particular, the Burna is an excellent way to fight off possessed space marines, which otherwise decimate your melee units. Chaos have no good way to recover morale and by default regenerate morale very slow.
Rokkit- The Ork rokkit is the worst of the missile-type weapons. It is luckily cheaper though and can be fired on the run. I would recommend not purchasing these until you know you will have an opportunity to attack an opponent's base or at about 8 minutes into the game, when mech usually first starts to appear. The rokkit damage upgrades are absolutely necessary against any opponent who is switching his offense from units to mech. You can usually tell by the lack of appearance of new units that he is intending to mass produce mech. Stay alert as the rokkits take a while to research and so does their damage upgrade (again, 15% for the first upgrade, 20% for the second).
Other Ork Upgrades
It may not have been said by too many or anyone at all, but being a mathematician at heart, I assure you that Orks are an upgrade race. The other races can slide by on the raw stats of their units, but the Orks need to keep the upgrades flowing from the start. Your pile o' gunz will stay busy (or at least it should) or you will find your effectiveness waning.
Why is this? While other races are climbing the tech tree and replacing units with new, more effective ones, your sluggaz/shootaz become quickly out-dated. To keep up with them, you will need to upgrade these units and your nob leaders repeatedly.
:ninja:Stick Bombs- These bombs, which knock units down, can be researched early in the game at the Boyz Hut. They add bombs to every Ork squad that I know of and refresh rather quickly. Though they often compete for use of the hut (as you will be busy making units and buying BM's upgrades), they are particularly useful in the pre-tier 2 period when space marines and chaos are hitting you hard with heavy-bolters.
Since their HB's require a modest 2-second setup time, the bombs give you a window to charge in.
It is best to attack move, then while your units are moving inward, start throwing the bomb with the hotkey. Be sure to aim at the bolters themselves, as it is easy to miss your target and knockdown the non-HB marines in the squad. It can be difficult to get these bombs off before you get into melee combat. Once in melee combat, if you use the bombs, use them on units far away, as the stick bombs splash your own units!
The stick bombs also give a smaller added advantage of preventing units from retreating without more losses. Eldar will be able to retreat regardless, but against chaos and SM, these bombs can prevent them from dancing too easily around your sluggaz and stormboyz.
:thumb:More-Choppy- This upgrade is very useful. Against chaos and Ork this is the first upgrade I buy. It adds 15-20% to choppa attacks.
:thumb::thumb: More-Dakka- This adds 15-20% damage to slugga pistols and shootaz. This upgrade is better than people suppose. If you follow my concepts about shootaz, that you should often have more of them than sluggaz in the late game, then you can see how it is important to have the extra damage. This upgrade is a great purchase once you have around 20-30 fighting units. Before that time, I'd avoid buying it.
:thumb::thumb:Tougher-Bosses- This upgrade is great. I would not recommend getting it until you have first purchased around 4 NL. This upgrade essentially adds to your non-infantry dimension of your army, which is crucial. Unless I plan on going mek, I always get this upgrade as it also adds to BM and the Warboss.
There is a second tier upgrade once you have a fortress, but like the other second tier of upgrades of other types, I often skip them as tier 3 has many other must-purchase things ahead of it on my list (like the warboss and nob squads).
:thumb:'Eavy Armor- This upgrade is another no-miss upgrade that you cannot go wrong with. Still, you have to prioritize and I often leave this off my list in preference for tougher-bosses and the weapon damage upgrades. Still, if you find yourself without many special weapons and already having purchases tougher bosses, than this upgrade is a safe way to improve your units. Unlike the other upgrades, this upgrade is particularly valuable the more sheer number of units you have. If you have a large tier 2 infantry army of about 50 units and are about to attack, this upgrade is very useful.
When BM has the kustom shoota, I prefer to place him in a shoota group, so long as I have stormboyz or another suitable unit to lead the charge. If you don't have any units to lead the charge, I'd advise sticking to tougher-boss upgrades and the like and not getting this at all.
Basic Build Orders
I have 2 build orders I use and live by. Some players have more, but these two are flexible and are a good place to start. I refer to them simply as "tech" and "BM," named respectively for their use.
On maps where the points are spread out (Outer Reaches, Fallen City, etc), use the BM build order, as BM can act as a mobile defense and offense for you.
On maps where the points are mostly nearby or are separated from your opponent by a choke (Valley of Khorne, Dead Man's Crossing, etc..) use the tech build order as it has a much greater economic ability if you do not need BM's early mobility to guard you.
BM
----
settlement (HQ)- grot, slugga
first grot makes banner (then helps finish Hut)
second grot start Boyz Hut
Hut-shoota, BM
When hut is done, 1 grot makes first LP while second grot makes a generator. From there, use two slugga groups and your shoota group to capture points while BM scouts. Don’t let BM engage another hero. Instead, pick a side and take 1 of your slugga groups and your shoota group and press on your opponent while your other slugga group continues to capture pts.
Don't make any more banners until you've captures and build LPs on all of your nearby points. Then, make a second generator, 2 banners, and a pile o' gunz.
The BM order is easily the most stable build to use. Consider starting with this before even trying the others.
Tech
------
Settlement-grot, slugga, slugga
First grot makes banner
Second grot helps finish banner
Both grots make 1 generator each (2 total)
Both grots make LPs
1 grot makes Hut at choke (for defense)
other grot makes your 3rd LP
In this strategy, you skip BM and build early generators. The idea is to cap many points with your sluggaz, LP them, then immediately upgrade to LP2 at everyone of them. Be sure to capture the furthest forward point first, otherwise your opponent will be able to harass you.
On maps like outer reaches, capture the point north of your base, in the center row of the map before the point nearby you. On dead man's crossing, capture and LP2 the points near the water first.
Your hut is an important part of this strategy and should be build near your first LP2. Together they will ward off most early game harassment until BM comes out.
Once BM is out, the game returns to normal but you have a massive economic advantage for the next few minutes. Use your time wisely and you can usually mount a large 40/40 or 50/50 infantry attack with many nobs and upgrades. This attack will usually beat marine and chaos players who are a minute or two away from mech.
:ninja:Bonus Build Order: Stormboyz rush
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Though I rarely use this build order, against the right opponent, such as Eldar, it can be very useful. The premise is simple: early SB mobility allows you to harass strategic points and destroy early generators. However, you will sacrifice your economy in the process, so on maps where you will not be able to effectively harass with SB's (smaller maps), this is a bad option.
I recommend using this on fallen city, outer reaches, and perhaps battle marsh.
Settlement- Gretchin, Slugga, Slugga
2 gretchins build 3 banners and a boyz hut *(see below)
sluggaz capture nearby points first
gretchins build 1 LP
make BM
gretchins build 2 more LP
gretchins build generator and finish with LPs
*the early timing is critical as it can mean having a chance to prevent his economy from growing or missing your opportunity altogether.
The very first gretchin makes a banner all alone. The second gretchin, when he comes out of the hut, summons down 2 more banners and a hut, but works on 1 of his banners.
As the first gretchin is finishing his banner, he helps the second gretchin finish his banner. Now, only 1 banner and the hut remain. Have 1 gretchin finish each at the same time. This should have your 3 banners (give you a total of 40 pop) and hit finish at the same time so you can make your Stormboyz.
When the boyz come out, immediately use their turbo boost, as it will begin refreshing. As soon as the boost is up, jump, so it will begin refreshing as well.
If your opponent tries to counter harass you, do not send your stormboyz home. Instead, stay away from his hero and continue harassing him with your stormboyz, especially killing generators. When BM is out, you can then engage his hero.
If he is extremely aggressive (as desperate players often are) and sends all his units and hero at your base, do not panic. Wait for BM. Don't let your sluggaz die in the meantime either. If your enemy's hero is pushing your sluggaz back, have them capture points where the stormboyz are harassing.
If it comes down to it, let him come into your base, where your hut+3 banners will give the home field advantage. Still, try to never bring your stormboyz home, or your opponent will have succeeded at bringing the battle to you, instead of it being mutual destruction.
This is a fun tactic, but very hard for players with weak micro. If you are a micro guru, this is an easy way to climb the ladder to 1200. It gets a little rough from there as chaos and SM players can own this with early tac spamming.
Basic Strategy against the races
Orks-
Commonly used strategies against you:
Big Shoota Rush
Big Shoota Tech (Nobz + more blasty + Doks)
Trukks (sluggaz+trukks)
In the mirror match, it is best to use the tech build order in my opinion, but your build will honestly not make a massive difference unless the map is very small, when the BM order is mandatory.
Regardless, after BM comes out, pump out many shootaz, upgrade more-blasty, get many nobs and many BS. You might want to add 2 or 3 burnas to boot if your opponent is sticking to sluggaz (doubtful). Before you engage, get at least 2 Doks and you will be well-equipped to win. Follow-up with trukks and traks, which will already have your more-blasty upgrade.
Avoid making stormboyz and TBs in this matchup as they are typically inefficient. Instead concentrate on upgrades and BS. Don't let him get to trukks though and not have trukks of your own or you will find your army quickly melting. His first trukks are weak enough that you can purchase rokkits on the fly, but if you do not soon have trukks of your own, his army will beat yours based on efficiency alone.
In tier 3, you want the warboss, the second tier of upgrades (choppa, armor, blasty, and even bigga-boom) and killa kans. Wartraks with bomb chukaz are good too, but take a lot of practice to keep from hurting your own army. Don't worry about getting nobs and instead focus on NL's.
Anytime it becomes a shooting war, you will want stick-bombs at some point.
Here is a fun replay of the tech build vs the non-tech. I honestly don't think the build has as much to do with it as early harassment, but it is an excellent example of the typical Ork-Ork game:
http://dowr.com/modern.php?downloadreplay=408
:ninja:Eldar-
Commonly used strategies against you:
Warp Spider Massing
Guardian Tech (Warlocks (entangle) + platforms + Vypers)
Banshee Massing (beats stormboyz)
As things currently stand, Eldar have a big advantage here and will often spam you with warp spiders. Your best build order here is map dependent. The first strategy I'll explain is the use of stormboyz. Stormboyz work best on maps with a lot of terrain obstacles, such as Fallen City, Outer Reaches, and Battle Marshes.
You will want to slide by while beefing your economy with your original 3 squads until you can buy stormboyz. You need to purchase around 4-6 groups with NLs and NLs in your original squads. Do not reinforce any of your squads, but instead shoot for a higher number of squads.
Your goal will be to jump on your enemy's spiders and keep them in melee combat. As he jumps away, you jump or turbo boost to him and keep him in melee combat. No group whatsoever should be in ranged stance against Eldar, without exception. The WS are crappy in melee but uncontrollable in ranged stance. They can literally lay waste to your army in seconds.
Unless you completely decimate his army, do not attack his base, as he can easily dance around his LP2's. If you do decimate his army, follow his retreating WSs to his base, while buying rokkits and a tank bustin' kit on the way. These will help you punch past the first LP or two and begin turning the tide in your favor, if not winning altogether.
here is an excellent example of Stormboyz beating Eldar WS's: http://dowr.com/modern.php?downloadreplay=412
:thumb:There is one alternative to this strategy, which is the Shoota tech. As I mentioned about Nob Leaders, turning your army to 57% heavy-m, you can formulate a strategy around this. Getting all small shoota groups (no weapons) with dakka upgrade and Mad Doks will allow you to fight it out with the warp spiders. This strategy works very well on maps where the battlefield is either unobstructed or small, such as Blood River, Meeting of the Minds, or Valley of Khorne.
The timing is not terribly difficult. Save your slugga groups from early in the game and get them NLs. You need to make around 4-5 shoota groups with NLs and have a mad dok for each one. Whenever his spiders begin focusing on one of your shoota groups, use your fighting juice on them.
When you go into battle, have your shoota groups engage the WS first. This is because your doks and fighting juice can do a lot to off-set their damage while your slugga groups charge in. When his first groups of WS begin to teleport around, your BM can use his teleport to throw them into further disarray.
This may sound suicidal, but the doks and NL's can keep the battle pretty even. If you come out on top after the battle, immediately move on his base. Add some rokkits while you are on your way (and a tank bustin' kit of course) and keep new groups of shootaz making at home as you begin to put the battle at his door.
The biggest thing about this strategy is not delaying it any more than you have to. Do not buy every possible upgrade, but instead get the basics and then attack: NL's, dakka, doks, and tougher bosses. If you delay this strategy too much, he will have higher tech in his army, such as Grav Tanks, which are an entirely different problem.
Here is a good replay showing the power of shoota tech against WS in open-field combat, where the WS cannot easily run: http://dow.sanctuary-network.com/in...545&#entry56393
Again, anytime it becomes a shooting war, you will want stick bombs.
Chaos-
Commonly used strategies against you:
10/10 Rush (extremely efficient early game attack with tacs)
PSM rush (beats slugga+nob groups)
Defiler Tech (can be done with economy or following either of the first two strategies)
Chaos and SM are very similar against an Ork in 1.3. Both armies can hold you at bay with marine masses and heavy bolters while they wait to tech to mech. Chaos does however, have a superior rush, an inferior economy, the defiler, and the ever so dangerous, Chaos Sorcerer.
In the case of chaos, they will often try an early 10/10 population assault on your base then hang-tight until they have the sorcerer and defilers. If you are not prepared, back up and rally your army. Don’t let your army die trying to defend a single LP2. Realize that at this point in the game, he is likely to have a much weaker economy than you, but a much stronger army. You need to survive for now while your economy kicks in.
Your best chance of victory has to come after the initial rush but before the chaos gets defilers. You will time it similar to playing against another Ork player, but instead of buying BS and waiting for Doks, attack when you have around 4-5 NL and 3-4 burnas (I know these are not commonly used, but they work, I swear!). Give BM a large overwatching group (let it grow to at least around 8). Use BM's group to kill the Chaos Lord and you will have a good shot at gaining enough advantage to beat the chaos. Though your battle victory might not secure the game, immediately purchase the tankbustin kit and a group of TB's with many rokkits and you will be able to handle the first defiler (perhaps the second as well) for the win.
This match is still a difficult one as the defiler is imbalanced for the time being. Unlike WS though, you have a good chance to beat the chaos before he gets his key unit (defiler). After the first battle or two, start making stormboyz to help harass him and to get to his weapon squads of tacs and cultists. Remember though, as the game goes on longer, your chances of winning against chaos will get smaller and smaller if you haven't dwarfed his economy, so keep the action up with harassment.
Here are some example matches of Ork vs Chaos:
http://dow.sanctuary-network.com/in...282&#entry53892
http://dowr.com/modern.php?downloadreplay=390
http://dowr.com/modern.php?viewreplays=419
Here an a later game match against Chaos, which shows good skill with Killa kans and dealing with defilers: http://dow.sanctuary-network.com/in...356&#entry54485
Space Marine-
Commonly used strategies against you:
Armory Tech (snipers+ Heavy Bolters)
HellFire/Landspeeder Tech (saves energy to tech. You can spot by the masses of plain tac squads and scouts)
Ground War (apothecaries + Librarian with Word of the Emperor)
The match vs SM is my favorite. It is a very balanced match. Except for the initial 2 minutes of potential scout harassment, the game is even until you get NL's. The game is then slightly in your favor until the SM gets plasma plus mech. Like the match with chaos, you need to make a significant dent in his forces before this happens. Seize your opportunity before the window closes.
Unlike the match with chaos, burnas wont do you much good. However, BS and stormboyz help a lot. Use the stormboyz and teleporting BM to quickly land on and engage the marine groups with heavy bolters/plasma. Use the BS groups to then quickly knock off scout squads while your sluggaz move in. In all likelihood, your stormboyz will die, but they have served their purpose as the rest of your army can safely charge in.
If your opponent has many snipers, which is sometimes the case, use Stormboyz to deal with these. Snipers are expensive and easy to kill.
Unlike Chaos, whose defiler is nearly without answer, you stand a chance in the tier 3 battle against SM. The key is to keep a sizeable unit army with many rokkits and stormboyz and have a few killa kans. The stormboyz jump with BM's teleporting group to immediately engage his missile marines while your rokkits focus-fire on his mech. This will allow the kans to get closer. Once the kans come in, the tides turn quickly in your favor.
Of course, having the 'Boss and fighting juice is mandatory in any late game battle.
Here are two great replays of Pureball, an elite Ork, against top SM players. The first is perhaps the best to watch, as it shows how to deal with SM tech to plasma and SM mech:
http://dowr.com/modern.php?downloadreplay=405
http://dow.sanctuary-network.com/in...621&#entry57102
Here is another worth viewing:
http://dowr.com/modern.php?viewreplays=409
General Note on Utilizing Ork Squad size
There is a simple rule of thumb here: get as many nobz as possible. If a squad gets knocked down all the way to just the BL (common occurrence), let him be and buy another squad. Remember, the NL is the most efficient Ork unit, either ranged or melee.
However, there is one exception. Because Ork get a moral bonus for larger numbers, it is important that BM be in a large squad when he teleports in. Otherwise, he will break very quickly when he leads the battle and if you are jumping Stormboyz in as well, they will follow his fate.
2v2 Strategy
First off, don't team up with another Ork! I have played 5 2v2 AT's with my good Ork friend and have yet to win a single match, as 1 opposing Eldar can hold you both off while their armies can tech to any level. 2 marine armies can load enough heavy bolters on and snipers to ruin your day as well. Ork need to team with non-Ork to succeed in 2v2.
That being said, Ork are one of the very best 2v2 races, since they contrast the other races so well. In particular, I believe the Orks thrive when teamed with either SM or Chaos. This is because their armies will be filled with exceptionally powerful ranged units and tons of heavy armor. By teaming with one of these armies, you are preventing any one unit or weapon from being the best counter for both of your races. You are infantry and powerful cc, while he is heavy armor ranged. You have many infantry tricks and upgrades, while he has valuable mech and anti-infantry.
In 2v2, it is very important to build Big Mek quickly and immediately research his Kustom teleporta. I suggest you avoid the tech build order in 2v2, as often you or your teammate will die if your opponents double rush 1 of you. Instead, use the BM order, but make the BM first out of the Hut instead of the shootaz and have your settlement make a 3rd slugga to make up for the delay of the shoota.
Having the Big Mek early on allows you to reinforce your teammate with an entire squad almost instantly, harass vulnerable SPs as they are being capped and most useful of all, it will allow you to add your BM's squad to your teammate's army to make an early attack.
The early attack is guaranteed to be too much for any 1 player. If they foolishly hesitate even for a moment to retreat, a force commander or chaos lord will either stun or slow poison their hero and combine with the BM for a free kill. If that player's teammate decides to counter attack, your teleporta will easily smother his attempt. In other words, the Kustom teleporta and early BM will give you a free, significant early threat every game. Just like 1v1, the first battle in 2v2 often decides who will hold a substantial advantage for the first 10 minutes. Ork are far far better being on the proactive team than the reactive one.
Into the mid-game, Ork are best at continuing to play a non-mek role. Your teammate should be allowed to make mech instead, while you focus on getting nob leaders, doks, and upgrades.
As far as upgrades go, If you are facing 2 marine-type armies (either SM or Chaos), you should let your teammate focus on countering their armor type while you go anti-vehicle rokkits+big boom upgrade. You will still stick to infantry, but not on anti-infantry weapons, as here, against all heavy-type armor, you are ineffective.
When facing an Eldar or Ork opponent, utilizing the shoota tech can be very powerful, regardless of what your teammate is doing. In fact, if you have several nob leaders, big shootaz, doks, and more-blasty upgrades, your teammate could tech fairly fast to vehicles and still remain safe.
In the late game, I suggest you make your mek shop and go directly to fortress before making any mek. I believe that traks and trukks simply don't cut it in 2v2, as any anti-vehicle weapons at all can wash these away. Getting the settlement quickly, however, will immediately give you the warboss and access to killa kans and the LLR. All 3 of these are grade A+ weapons in 2v2. Why? It is because each of these is an absolute damage machine, whose only weakness is not being accompanied by a large army. In 2v2, your teammate's army will help fill this role. Make sure before any major battles that he knows to stay near them and not too far ahead or behind. A lot, of course, will depend on you.
Also consider as the game goes on against 2 all-ranged opponents that you will no longer want sluggaz at all. Instead, replace sluggaz with stormboyz. The boyz can spring upon your enemies while your ranged teammate moves into range and begins railing them. When you jump your boyz in, be sure to CC the units in back first, as your teammate will be shooting the guys in front. If you are in CC with the guys in front, this will greatly reduce the damage your teammate is doing to them.
Remember, in the mid to late game, your best role is to either do shoota tech or use stormboyz to engage the opposing team's ranged units in back.
Of course, if your opponents are using CC units themselves, such as Possessed Space Marines or banshees, you will need to have a few squads to stand in front of your teammate's ranged units. If your opponents are using jumpers as well, keep a few stormboyz in back who do not jump until they know it is safe to abandon the ranged units.
One final point I'd like to make about 2v2 is how critical it is to be rallied with your teammate. By nature, Ork is not a 100% ranged army. Because of this, if you are caught alone against both of your opponents, who will often be nearly 90% ranged if they do not have an Ork player, you will be cut down without even damaging them. With your teammate beside you, however, your army will work its synergy.
The End!
I hope this guide was of some use in figuring our how to succeed with Ork. I am certainly not one of the very few Ork L33T gamers, but I've played and seen enough to know how it is done. I wish you good luck, and most of all, fun on the battlefield.
Green is Best,
-BiggestMek, aka BluntForce
