Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution

This article contains generic information about the title. For in-game statistics, walkthroughs and such, please visit our Dawn of War II: Retribution portal.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution is the second and completely stand-alone expansion to Dawn of War II. It was developed by Relic Entertainment and released by THQ on March 1, 2011 in North America and March 4, 2011 in Europe, a year after Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising.

There was a Dawn of War II: Retribution multiplayer beta shortly before release (Jan 31 to Feb 24). The beta was invite only for a day, then open to official community members from Feb 1 and to Steam owners of previous Dawn of War games from Feb 7.

New features[]

Dawn of War II: Retribution is a completely stand-alone title, requiring neither Dawn of War II nor Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising to access all content (unlike the first Dawn of War series, where you needed the original game and all expansions to access everything). The player can import some stats from the original game and/or the first expansion via Steam Cloud; specifically, their multiplayer army Rank levels and The Last Stand hero levels.

Campaign mode[]

Retri campaign selection — Campaign selection screen

Dawn of War II: Retribution is a Dawn of War title that comes with multiple campaigns, offering one for each of the now six factions, the new one being the Imperial Guard.

Retri csm squad selection — Squad selection screen (Chaos campaign)

The campaigns are a little bit different from the previous titles, allowing the player to use powerful hero units on missions like before, but also allowing Honor Guard units (more powerful versions of stock squads and vehicles) in their place, and allowing the player to purchase/produce new units during missions. For this purpose, Requisition, Power and Population resources familiar from multiplayer can be collected during missions.

The campaign length is 16 missions per faction; the corresponding missions are sometimes practically identical across different campaigns, however.

The heroes level up as before, but the maximum level cap is now 10. The player can pick a new trait each level, however, instead of distributing skill points that only increase a stat.

Multiplayer[]

GFWL was replaced by Steam for multiplayer matchmaking
The TrueSkill ranking system was replaced by a modified Elo rating system → [1]
Custom games (against human opponents) grant Rank points (renamed to Army XP)
New loading screen with map preview and estimated favored team
Chat lobbies
New public games list and after-match stats screen
Custom badge support (DDS or PNG images)
Built-in grid keys
Dawn of War style auto-reinforce by right-clicking
New Army Painter with more viewable units
New indicators for health, energy and cover
Chaos Noise Marines T1 unit
Eldar Autarch T2 call-in unit
Tyranid Swarmlord T3 super-unit
Ork Battlewagon T3 super-unit
Space Marine Land Raider Redeemer T3 super-unit
Cosmetics: Warlock hero always has antlers, Force Commander has Apollo Diomedes's appearance
One new multiplayer map for each game size, and a Team Battle (3 vs. 3) version of the "White Walls of Calderis" Team FFA map

The Last Stand[]

New The Last Stand hero: Lord General
New, more challenging, The Last Stand map

Imperial Guard[]

The multiplayer unit lineup is as follows:

Heroes: Inquisitor (offense), Commissar Lord (support) and Lord General (defense)
Tier 1: Guardsman Infantry Squad, Sentinel, Heavy Weapon Squad and Catachan Devils
Tier 2: Storm Trooper Squad, Chimera, Manticore, Ogryn Squad and Bane Wolf
Tier 3: Leman Russ and Baneblade

The Imperial Guard faction is generally designed towards defensive play, although they have good offensive potential as well (possessing the only T1 vehicle and the strongest T3 tanks in the game). Some of their special features are:

Guardsmen can build multilaser turrets (no suppression) and deployable cover
All heroes can call-in bunker structures, which may receive upgrades such as medical station or repair station
Two different turret types (one constructed by Guardsmen and one called in by the Lord General)
Both mobile and off-map artillery strikes
A unique Leman Russ tank call-in (by Valkyrie drop)

The four heroes in the Imperial Guard campaign are:

Lord General Castor
Inquisitor Adrastia
Commissar Lord Bernn
Sergeant Merrick

Plot[]

Retribution kicks off 10 years after the events of Chaos Rising. Gabriel Angelos and the Blood Ravens have been branded renegades by their Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras, and have been forced into hiding. The Imperium has deemed the corruption of Sub-Sector Aurelia to be too extreme, and has sent the Ordo Malleus to deliver the ultimate sanction: Exterminatus.

Editions and pre-order bonuses[]

Retri CE content — Collectors Edition content.

Retribution is available in three different editions. Only the standard version is available digitally.

Standard Edition: Just the game.
Collectors Edition: The game, a poster, five art cards and a code to unlock all pre-order bonus content.
The Complete Collection: Dawn of War II, Chaos Rising and the Collectors Edition version of Retribution.

Additionally, there are six pre-order Race Packs available. Players placing a pre-order may choose one, and it has been stated by Relic that the others will be available as paid DLC later. Each Race Pack includes a piece of alternative cover art for the game and four exclusive campaign items.