With a massive 8 year gap between Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III and its well-received predecessor, the April 27, 2017 release will feel like the second-coming to those who devoted themselves to the past war effort. While Creative Assembly handle the grand strategy of the Warhammer universe with Total War: Warhammer and its sequel, Relic Entertainment are back in action to offer the more personal, more bloody, real-time battlefield skirmish.
Is Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War III Everything We Hoped For? Michael Seems To Think So!
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III is an important title. Much like Blizzard's own Starcraft revival with Starcraft II, Relic Entertainment decided to breathe new life into a modern classic far into the future. Balance numbers will be forever fluctuating and we'll likely see hotfix revisions for years to come. Rightfully so, it's time to set up another patch page. We'll be here for a while.
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III - June 27 Update
Right off the back of the Annihilation Update, Relic Entertainment have been listening to the growing concerns of the players when it comes to game balance. This update tweaks a number of costs, charges, speeds and a whole load of other numbers.
Changelog:
- Gameplay
- Listening Post cost increased from 200 to 300
- Pathing
- Skimmers will now prefer to do shorter reverse-pivot moves instead of curve turns over short distances (these were particularly noticeable with move commands issued slightly behind and to the side of the skimmer)
- Increasing vertical traverse speed
- Space Marine Changes
- Assault Marines
- Reduced passive melee charge range from 30 to 10
- Reduced passive melee charge speed bonus from 4 to 3
- Predator Destructor
- Damage decreased from 200 to 150
- Power cost increased from 275 to 300
- Population cost increased from 17 to 19
- Predator Annihilator
- Power cost increased from 275 to 300
- Population cost increased from 17 to 19
- Diomedes
- Elite Point cost reduced from 4 to 3
- Health reduced from 3600 to 3100
- Respawn time reduced from 240 to 200
- Reduced melee attack true damage bonus vs. objectives from 50 to 15
- Reduced critical strike true damage bonus vs. objectives from 100 to 30
- Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where his True damage bonus wasn’t working correctly
- Eldar Changes
- General
- Eldar infantry unit speed increased by 1 across the board
- Bonesinger increased from 6 to 7
- Dire Avengers increased from 6 to 7
- Howling Banshees increased from 6 to 7
- Shadow Spectres increased from 5.5 to 6.5
- Rangers increased from 6 to 7
- Requisition cost decreased from 150 to 125
- Power cost decreased from 30 to 25
- Speed bonus for non-elite infantry decreased from 3 to 2
- Speed bonus for Vehicles, Wraith and Elite units remains unaffected
- Dire Avengers
- Dire Avengers range increased from 30 to 35
- Wraithblades
- Increased Shields from 1725 to 1890
- Increased Health from 1150 to 1260
- Added passive melee charge on Wraithblades which has 10 range, a 10 second cooldown, lasts 5 seconds and grants 4 movement speed
- Increased weapon range from 1 to 2
- Shadow Spectres
- Power cost reduced from 30 to 15
- Increased formation size
- Autarch Kyre
- Reduced speed of Eldritch Winds projectile from 15 to 12
- After units are pulled to him, they are now knocked back, scattering them over a 15m area and preventing them from clumping on top of one another when landing
- Gretchin population cost reduced from 4 to 1
- Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
- Doctine - Tonz ‘o Bombz: Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
- Nobz Taunt radius reduced from 20 to 15
- Stormboyz - their upgraded Suicide Bomma from scrap will do less damage versus structures
- Kommando
- Booby Trap damage type changed from Armour Piercing to True
- Booby Trap damage is applied to the squad instead of individual entities
- Bug Fixes
- Booby Trap FX have been adjusted to accurately show the blast radius
- Bug Fixes
- Fixed an exploit where users could change a Quick-Match game into an Annihilation game during the countdown
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III - Annihilation Update
This is a monstrous update that doesn't just focus on balance fixes. A new map, game mode and doctrines enter in a week's time with a free skin pack for good measure. We'll update with the full patch notes once they're available.
Changelog:
- General
- Gameplay
- Fixed an issue that makes Elite healing around a player’s HQ and production structures more consistent
- Maps
- Mortis Vale (2v2) has been added into the Custom match and Quick-Match map lists
- Mortis Vale (3v3) has been added into the Custom match and Quick-Match map lists
- Space Marine Changes
- Tactical Marine
- Tireless: Speed bonus decreased from 3 to 1.5
- Tireless: Speed bonus will kick in 15 seconds after being out of combat, up from 11 seconds
- Tireless: Speed bonus now begins 15 seconds after spawning a squad of Tactical Marines, instead of instantly
- Tireless: A decorator icon now displays your progress towards the speed bonus
- Terminators
- Focused Shot: Fixed an issue where slowed targets did not display the slow icon
- Imperial Knight Paladin
- Fixed an issue where Ion Shield sometimes failed to block certain shots
- Imperial Knight Solaria
- Fixed an issue where Solaria's weapons were not disabled during the wind down of Gatling Barrage
- Eldar Changes
- Ranger
- Changed Sensor Beacon to be single-cast when a group is selected, meaning they won’t all use their ability in the same spot when the order is given
- Fire Prism
- Fire Prisms no longer play their death animation when being levitated (but not killed) by Orbital Bombardment
- Bug Fixes
- General
- Fixed an issue where Windows taskbars set to the left or top of the screen would not be hidden
- Fixed issue where skimmer units that were knocked back onto negative space were instantly killed
- Fixed issue where WAAAGH! Towers would sometimes stop producing scrap
- Campaign
- Difficulty tuning on several campaign missions (1, 11,12, 13), mostly on Normal difficulty
- Fixed an issue in Mission 2 where loading a saved game could stop Varlock Guard units from moving
- Fixed an issue in Mission 6 where the mission could stall if the enemy recaptured one of the two arrays from the player
- Fixed an issue in Mission 9 where loading a saved game could cause Deffkoptas to fail to enter combat, blocking mission progression
- Fixed an issue in Mission 13 where Elites sometimes wouldn’t gain experience
- Fixed a terrain issue on Mission 17 which could cause an Elite to become stuck
- Multiplayer
- Fixed most common instances of an issue where spamming hotkeys allowed multiple resource add-ons to be constructed on a single resource point; additional instances of this bug are still being investigated
- Rotated some heavy cover on Stratum P2-8 near the middle of the map to allow for easier access
- Fixed a spot on Charon’s Rest where an Elite could become trapped
- User Interface
- Added support for Exclusive Fullscreen and Windowed display options
- Changed the placement of several front end components to group player name, icon, and Skulls together
- Fixed an issue where quitting after a match loss would cause units to change colours
- Fixed disconnect behavior while on the Elite info screen
- Fixed an issue where the paint scheme list was cut off for players 3, 4, 5, and 6 in an 3v3 lobby
- Fixed a rare issue where Quick-Match players would become stuck in a black screen after the game countdown
- Fixed an issue where the Texture Detail option would not correctly save when applied
- Art
- Fixed an overlap issue on the Meganobz mastery skin
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III - May 31, 2017
Now that the immediate hotfixes are out of the way, it's time for Relic Entertainment to kill your favorite races. Buff and nerfs are imperitive in keeping the balance within any good strategy title - and it's time for Dawn of War III players to get a taste of that. With the patch notes being unquestionably long, we'll list game-wide changes here while directing you to this page for the balance updates. Let us begin.
- New
- Leaderboards have been added
- Improved
- Opponent AI
- The Codex now includes all Elite units
- Map changes
- Balance update (multiplayer only, balance changes do not apply to the campaign)
- General Bug Fixes
- Achievements
- Fixed assorted issues with achievements not being awarded when completing the campaign
- Audio
- Fixed several issues with odd audio bursts when restarting missions or progressing to certain post-mission screens
- Fixed incorrect sound effects on Sky Portal death
- Fixed missing sound effects on Ork Shoota Boyz
- Fixed an issue with the level up sound effects playing on repeatBBB
- Fixed an issue where setting Voice volume to zero was not silencing unit barks
- Campaign
- Fixed an issue where mission progress wasn't properly carried over between PCs
- Fixed an issue where Assault Marines could bypass a gate in Mission 1
- Fixed an issue when respawning Gorgutz in an unplayable space in Mission 2
- Fixed an issue with Eldar attackers not assaulting the player's base in Mission 4
- Fixed missing animation on a bridge in Mission 4
- Fixed missing dialogue at the end of Mission 4
- Fixed a rare bug that would block progression when defending your base in Mission 5
- Fixed issues with deck gun effects and sound effects when loading a save in Mission 7
Tuned Diomedes' health in Mission 8
- Fixed an issue where units joining the player could become hostile in Mission 11
- Fixed an issue with Wazmakka's behaviour when attacked from range in Mission 12
- Fixed an issue with debrief imagery in Mission 12
- Fixed an issue with stacking Webway Gates in Mission 13
- Fixed a rare crash when destroying the first Webway Gate in Mission 14
- Fixed an issue with missing health bars on some units in Mission 16
- Fixed an issue with missing objective indicators in Mission 16
- Fixed an issue where Elites would not gain experience at the end of Mission 16
- Fixed issues with damage from Mission 17's boss's swipe attacks
- Fixed issues with boss behaviour in Mission 17
- Save & Load
- Fixed an issue where incorrect Elites could appear in some save games
- Fixed an issue where Jonah Orion's Stonewall ability would become invisible when loading into a game saved while the ability was active
- Multiplayer
- Fixed an exploit where follow camera (') could be used to track enemy stealth units and units hidden in the fog of war
- Fixed an issue where paused AI games were not actually paused
- Units & Abilities
- Fixed a broken interaction between Wazmakka's Traktor Beam and Stormboyz' Suicide Bomma
- Fixed an animation glitch on the Striking Scorpions
- Fixed an issue where players could force units out of a Falcon transport ship over a chasm, instantly killing them
- Fixed an issue where Kyre's Eldritch Winds could move Deathstorm Drop Pods
- Fixed an overly large hit box on the Doctrine Chapel
- User Interface
- Fixed stacking debuff icons caused by Gorgutz' melee attacks
- Fixed inconsistencies with audio and video options and forced restarts
Adjusted several incorrect ability and upgrade icons
- Fixed an issue where some tooltips would be missing text for non-deployed Elites
- Fixed incorrect behaviour on several gameplay UI options
- Updated the reticule for the Imperial Knight Paladin's Reaper Chainsword Sweep
- Art
- Fixed additional instances of effects seen through the fog of war
- Fixed an issue where Shadow Spectre's beam animation would not pause when the game paused
- Fixed missing effects on Kill Team Ironmaw squad member with the missile launcher
- Fixed missing effects on the Temporal Mine ability
- Fixed missing effects when the Venereable Dreadnought is destroyed
- Fixed timing issues on destruction effects for resource add-ons
- Fixed an issue where the effects and sound effects for Pin did not end
- Fixed an issue with persistent teleport effects when the target building is destroyed
- Offline Play
- Fixed assorted crashes and soft locks caused by losing internet connection during various screen transitions
- Performance
- Improved performance on 4K monitors in various option and info screens
- Improved performance when using the Roks ability
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III - Hotfix 4: May 10, 2017
SEGA and Relic Entertainment have released a pretty minor hotfix, which brings the forth update for the game since launch. Dawn of War 3 Hotfix 4 fixes two issues, the first being a bug with Improved Webways and the second fix enables Skull and Elite experience rewards for Steam Workshop community maps. We should point out that you can find more community maps on our Dawn of War 3 Mods page. Changelog is below:
Changelog:
General
- Fixed a bug where Improved Webways could be equipped as an Elite Doctrine and as an Army Doctrine, causing an unintended effect on cooldown reduction.
- Enabled Skull and Elite experience rewards for Steam Workshop community maps.