Space Marine Basic Guide
By Sunblast, April 2019

This guide is mainly for beginners who want to know how to play the game

https://discord.gg/PPdsEhz
^This is a discord server for DOW 3 players, we will help anyone who has a question or wants to learn more about the game

The Standard Banner:
These benefits Stack as you increase your Tiers, Tier 1 gives units increased movement speed, a shield after a few seconds and an expanding knockback when placed within its boundaries, tier 2 targets units with small orbital strikes causing damage and knockback, Tier 3 gives healing for 30sec

This banner is free and should be placed as often as you can, e.g. when you fight, when you run, and sometimes but not always when you chase as it gives movement speed and knockback. But has a 4 minute cooldown and it can become 3 minutes cooldown if you use the standard banner Doctrine

But beware opponent can cancel the Banners effects by having their units stand on top of the banner for a duration.


Orbital Bombardment:
Costs 2 elite points, usable once you are tier 3, places a beacon that fires a huge laser that can be controlled to go where ever you want, dealing massive damage and levitating units that are under it after a few seconds. 7 Minute and 30 seconds Cooldown, increases by 1 additional elite point the more you use it


Droppods:
you have one droppod in tier 1 and you unlock another by advancing to tier 2 and 3, you can load any SM unit in it, but the worker. You can drop that unit anywhere you have vision. 4 minute cooldown

Barracks: Assault Marine Squad, Scout, Sniper unit
or
Doctrine Chapel: Heavy bolter, Tactical Marine Squad, Lascannon unit

There are more than 4 standard openers for SM, but im only going to list the ones that are most seen

This build starts off with building 2 tactical marine squads from base, once you hit 400 requisition build another one in your drop pod, by the time you hit 50 requisition your base would be finishing your second tactical squad for you to build a second builder.

This opener is very strong, as you’re guaranteed to outnumber your opponent in terms of squads (by +1), this combined with the tactical doctrines, “Fire on the move”, “Frag Grenades”, Optional Doctrines: “Slow Death” and “Tireless” the opponent will definitely struggle in setting up a forward base, with a banner on top, making it harder to kill. Next, scouting their buildings is the first priority your first worker should be doing, not capping a point, your second worker should be doing the capping.

Fire on the move, shoot while moving
Tireless, increased out of combat movement speed
flamers apply a slow debuff and immobilise vehicles
a knockback grenade

Also as a side note, you can also open with 2 workers and one tac from base, one Tac in droppod then wait 400 requisition to build the third Tac from base, this one is mainly used in 1v1, such as Charon’s rest where its not necessary to gain map control since that comes after you fight.

This opening is seen more in 1v1 games than it is in 2v2 and 3v3 modes

Pros
- 3 Tac squads is extremely strong in early Map control
- very little can challenge them without heavy losses for the opponent
- combined with the Doctrine “fire on the move” and “Frag Grenades” grants them chase and knockback
- Optional Doctrines, “tireless” can help get them to their destination faster as well as being able to roam freely without disadvantages since they don’t have a forward base or an early node to protect if you didn’t build it, “slow death” very effective vs Eldar and Orks, not as effective vs SM



Cons
- If your opponent has a turret Doctrine, this opening can not stop them from building it early in the game
- You can’t fall back to reinforce for a few minutes without going to an allied building or your own base if you receive heavy casualties
- It takes a long time to build your first base and is vulnerable during build time if you incurred heavy losses

This opener is very flexible and is your bread and butter in any game modes, be it 1v1,2v2,3v3

This is one of the ways you can open up: build a Tactical squad in droppod, and one Tac from HQ into 2 workers. The First worker or Second worker depending if you need to scout with the first worker should be capping a forward point and building a Barracks or Doctrine Chapel at the same time, into a requisition node.Then if for example you build a Barracks, you can start saving for assault marines, snipers, or scouts. Usually you want at least 2-3 ASMs first.

Now this opener can be changed depending on the mode and matchups, but this build is good for any beginning player and is still learning the game.

knockback grenade
fire on the move, shoot while moving

Pros
- Most used opener can adapt numerous ways in the beginning
- You can use this opener in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3s
- Forward Bases next to nodes easier to defend
- Doesn’t require “fire on the move” doctrine, freeing one Doctrine slot
- Can use this opener against all races
- Can stop an early turret building with first worker scouting it, just droppod a Tac on top of them

Cons
- Adapting can be hard if you don’t scout or unsure what the opponent will do
- Average opening, susceptible to heavy losses if played recklessly, e.g. not knowing when to back and regroup
- Needs time to build up before engaging early skirmishes

This opening is very situational, mainly used in 1v1s more than 2v2s and 3v3s due to small and big map sizes as well as early game control.

This starts with build 2-3 workers depending on the map, but mainly you build 2 workers mainly, and you send your first worker to either a node or next to your shield generator and build a barracks, the second and sometimes third worker should be scouting the obvious and main locations of where your opponent will build their base or build nodes, then once you finished building the chapel, you should have 1000 requisition left to build ASM from the building and one into the droppod, and then you should start capping points, The next unit can be more ASM or 2-3 snipers to support ASM and controlling back the map.

This build is best supported with venerable Assault leap Doctrine and the Hidden doctrine for your snipers. Creating Hit and Run situations and poking with little causalties.


hidden, gives snipers a stealth and increased movement speed
Overwatch, marks a set circle on target area, enemy unit moves over it, snipers fire rapidly at target unit

This build is very aggressive, droppoding an ASM into a resource point, shield generator, their forward base and units is powerful, since Eldar and SM open up with range units most of the time, forcing them to fall back, but for orks you want to avoid fighting their boys and focus on elsewhere like their workers, shield generators or resource points. And they can get out of trouble with their jumps or engage with jumps that knockback infantry

Pros
- Easy node harassment as by the time you finished building ASM in droppods, they will have finished building at least one node for you to harass
- Can hit multiple targets at once with 2 ASMs flying everywhere
- Can escape with ease but be cautious of early grenades, cancels their jumps
- With the “venerable leap” doctrine they have a 45 second third jump that is instant and does damage to units it passes to, as well as stopping in front of the unit. Grenades can cancel this jump
- Has easy access to snipers and scouts to regain lost map control

Cons
- Extremely slow start,
- You definitely lose map control but make up for it with the aggressive plays
- If opponent has turret doctrine, can’t stop them from building it early
- Opponent will build forward base without interruption

This works best with the “slow death” doctrine, as it slows infantry movespeed and roots vehicles like those ork trucks.

Slow death, applies a slow debuff and immobilise vehicles

This build is high risk, high reward. You need to build an arsenal before you can upgrade your tacs with flamers. This is build starts off with one Tac in droppod, one tac from base, into 1-2 workers. The first worker scouts, the second or third worker can start building the arsenal next to base. After you finish building the arsenal you can immediately buy one flamer for one squad. But, you can not afford a requisition node, you can only afford one power node. After you can build a third Tac from base or build a forward base, but you can not buy a requisition node if you want double flamers, you do not have enough power for it. Even if a single flamer squad dies, you are severely behind. Hence the high risk, high reward, getting the perfect angle with flamers is crucial in winning fights.

A few tricks you can do is, hide the flamer squad in a bush and bait the opponents units in coming. Second trick, it take times to upgrade a squad with flamers, so before the squad unlocks the weapon, you can position the Tac during the fight, and when you do get the upgrade, surprise them with holy flame. And of course, Space Marines are the king of Crowd control, a frag grenade knocking them down, banner knockback, they are sitting ducks. With the slow death doctrine, it makes them almost impossible the run away in time before heavy casualties.

Plasma 100 req, 55 power
Flamer 75 req, 40 power, 60 seconds cooldown

Pros
Can surprise opponent during fights with a recently upgraded flamer
Very difficult to avoid it
Extremely effective against Eldar and Ork
Roots vehicles in place
Applies heavy pressure during fights

Cons
Can be disrupted by a hard Crowd Control, like a Grenade, Stun
Losing a single flamer squad puts you behind
Not effective against Space Marine
Very easy to maneuver around the flamer

As SM Race you want to build as many Requisition nodes as possible (the yellow dot), since all your infantry mainly cost Req over Power, the only infantry units ASM 15 power and scout snipers 10 power, which is nothing, reinforcing them 1- 3 power at best. You want start building power nodes when you have resources to spare for it, what I mean by that is when you finished building a sizeable army in the early game
For example, when you finished with the double tac opener, you want to have at least 2-3 ASM built then you can consider buying a power node.

As for upgrading the Nodes, you should be upgrading them once every 10 minutes optimally
You can only upgrade the nodes once every time you advance in tiers, e.g. say your tier 1 and you upgrade a node, to upgrade that node again you need to be tier 2 and same with tier 3

An Elite Node costs 120 Requisition and 45 power, very expensive, i would not recommend buying this early, but later ingame.

Requisition Nodes start off with 21 power for the first and second is 27 power, gets more expensive as you buy more

Power Nodes cost 100 Requisition, increases by 50 the more you buy





Every 10 Minutes the game raises the Escalation Phase, this is what it does

Escalation Phase 1
In the first Escalation Phase, units refund 25% of the resources upon dying.

Escalation Phase 2
During the second Escalation Phase, units refund 15% of the resources, you receive +50% add-on resources, all the structures gain +50% additional HP, and the Listening Posts gain +25% additional HP.

Escalation Phase 3
During the third Escalation Phase, units refund 5% of the resources, you receive +100% add-on resources, all the structures gain +100% additional HP, and the Listening Posts gain +50% additional HP.

Escalation Phase 4
During the third Escalation Phase, units refund 0% of the resources, you receive +150% add-on resources, all the structures gain +150% additional HP, and the Listening Posts gain +75% additional HP.

I will give the most optimal Elite and Doctrine loadout for all modes, 1v1,2v2,3v3
Note this loadout requires ( solaria, Assault Terminators, Venerable Dreadnought to be lvl 8 optimally)

But there is an easy exp grind mod, that will level up your elites to max in 5min, just create a custom game and change the mod and the map, and you’re good to go https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1678147435 mod download and search elite grind in the workshop and see which map you like for easiest lvl 10 elites
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=920219731&searchtext=elite+grind Grind Map Link ^ this is the one i used

Here is an example of what your loadout should look like










Assault Leap Doc

Fire on the Move Doc

Emperor's Influence Doc

I cannot express how amazing this elite squad is, This is literally a free Tactical Squad with an early choice of equipping a flamer or a missile launcher for free, he has a activate ability called vortex grenade, which does a huge AOE slow and applies DoT damage when hit by the killteam and resets it every second they hit it. This particular flamer isn’t an activate ability, they just fire it automatically unlike the Tactical squads upgraded flamer, making them even better at dealing with any infantry especially ones behind cover.

They also have a second ability called teleport homer, That allows them to return back to their own droppod to be deployed again and able to re-equip a new weapon

The doctrine to use is always Death From Above, being able to deploy them anywhere without being near a node point or shield generator is the best, since they come down in a droppod, they also gain the benefits of it, free shield and knockback. And also any elite dropping next to them means they come down in a pod as well, except the titans. Being able to drop in a Diomedes in the middle of a fight, or assault terminators or any elite is a huge surprise factor and is always beneficial.

When playing as any race, early game map control is important, Ironmaw needs to be weary of Eldar and Ork 2 points elites, as they are 2 points but Melee, ironmaw being tied up in melee is its weakness, even a worker can do it, try to avoid it.
Even without Fire on the move Doctrines, they have that built in

Doctrine Rosarius (grants invulnerability for a few seconds after hp drops to 1, applies to elites, don’t need to say anything it’s always came in clutch)

I recommend this one as it is easier to play and is at its strongest in the early game, its passive, every 6 hits, he does a critical and applies a small shield, when you use ur Q ability liturgies of fury, he will crit every 3 hits, gain increased movement speed. When he’s in battle he gains fury, if the fury bar is at 2 stacks and uses Q he will apply a shield every hit, at 3 fury he will heal everyone every hit.

You want Diomedes to remain in fights as long as possible for maximum benefit, but that takes around one minute to get to 3 fury stacks, so sometimes its best to just use Q before or during the fight and not get greedy for the heal, as having a shield buff is good enough to last.
Pairing Diomedes with ASMs is the best, locking everything up in melee, they become very hard to kill, if they focus the ASM, dio might be able to get to 3 fury and start healing them, if they focus dio they will get heavy losses from ASM, it’s a very tough situation to deal with.
Also its ranged weapon, the stormbolter, fires on the move as well (fire on the move unnecessary), does a ton of damage if it keeps going, sniped off many squads from chasing or just standing there firing.

Although i would like to recommend Jonah Orion, but he’s very easy to misplay and hard to use, if you feel bored of Dio or its not your style, you can try jonah or gabriel angelos.

Both can do one huge burst of AOE to finish off the game, both doctrines are viable, it just depends if you unlocked them for a doctrine slot use, frag nade from terminators or assault leap from dreadnought. Both are victory conditions if the game extends to that long
Assault Terminators can teleport every 45 second and has a huge AOE ability that stuns within its radius and dealing half a squads worth of damage. Thanos snapping but in a circle around him




Venerable Dreadnought, plasma cannon shreds everything, good against everything, his Q plasma overload, fires a slow moving plasma blob that deletes everything as well as leaving a over time dmg area. But will be slowed and cant fire for a short duration. W flings anything meleeing him away to target location and stunning them. Very hard to deal with, since Anti Vehicles weapons are mainly infantry exclusive.

Fire on the Move, a command from solaria that can be unlocked
- The amount of times they run away from you, is the amount of times you deal free damage chasing them, especially when you have 2-3 squads of Tacs

Assault leap
or
Frag Nades depending on which elite you choose,

Lastly, either the

Emperors influnence (Banner Cooldown decreased by 60 seconds)

Improved Listening Post, increased atk, health increase, You should get the LP doc in 1v1s but it can be good in others too

Rapid Droppod Deployment, cooldown decreased to 3 minutes from 4 minutes

Usually after you do your openings and fight it out, when should you tier up, how should i play the middle game? Well you need to know why you go to tier 2 and what do you unlock.

For example say everything is at a stalemate. You can’t push your side and they cant push yours. The asm, diomedes combo isn’t working or the tacs with heavy bolter support. Well you need to know why you can’t budge them. And having tier 2 gives you access to vehicles like a dreadnought in a droppod or a deathstorm, which is a droppod with assault cannons attached to each side, but it takes 3 minutes to build one, 500 requisition and 50 power, expensive but effective in resolving stalements, and needs planning early tier 2 advancement. just drop it in the middle of their base or units and let it rip.

When you play SM, they are the king of Crowd Control, you can resolve fights through chaining Crowd Control, Ironmaw drop, ASM jumps, Droppoding units, Tactical grenades, banner knockback, Whirlwinds, Dreadnought Q slam. Endless amounts of Crowd Control to win fights.

Do not be afraid and run away from losing 1-2 models from your squads, Space Marines are extremely durable and can take a beating before falling back, i recommend falling back one squad at a time when left with 2 models left from a squad of 5, such as (Tacs and ASM mainly).

Tip when ASM jump on a vehicle they stun it instead of knockback, so you can chain stun a titan, if you have 2 ASM they can jump FOUR TIMES.

When it comes to sieging shield generators, there are multiple ways, the one dreadnought drop on shield gen, ASM with power swords hitting the gen as your army is occupying the opponent's main army, any sizeable frontline army with lascannons, but dropping a deathstorm on top of it does not always get the job done but it has a higher chance if they do not have anti armor weapons. This also applies to the turrets after the gen and power cores, but when you assault any objective be it nodes, forward base, shield gen, you should always try to focus the opponents units, killing them then focus the objective. The reason you get a dreadnought, ASM powerswords, lascannons is so you can take the objective down, use those to focus the objectives and the rest like your 3 tacs, ironmaw, dio deal with the rest of their army, having a banner, deathstorm or a few squads waiting to drop will definitely make everything easier. Trying to focus the units inside the shield generator helps immensely in killing the shield gen, but thats if you can, if not you should back off and rethink how to hit it.

SM can backdoor very easily with ASM jumps, scouts infiltrating in and droppoding everywhere. Even their elites with Killteam Ironmaw being able to drop anywhere, as well as other elites. But when should you backdoor?. I DO NOT RECOMMEND BACKDOORING AT ALL unless the game is extending too long and neither side can budge each other.

However, backdooring is an excellent strategy, as most maps have at least 2 shield generators. You can always have 2-3 ASM with powerswords hacking at their shield generator, while your main army engages or they engage you, since it gives the opponent 2 choices, keep pushing or defend. If they choose to defend, your main army can start taking back map control, as your ASM fly away with sometimes zero casualties. If they keep pushing, well you get a free shield generator and maybe move to their second shield generator or harass their resource points. This only works, if your main army can defend successfully.

When should you upgrade your infantry and vehicles? This is very situational and requires a deep dive into the state of the game and prethinking. But to put it simply, it mainly involves if you can afford to invest and if you have an advantage over your opponent. For example, you know you just killed off 1-2 squads with your army, they’ll have to replace them, while you can invest elsewhere.

You usually want to consider building an arsenal when you reach tier 2, as building it in tier 1 and getting the infantry upgrades isn’t as valuable as unlocking tier 2 units. Its very situational when you build an early arsenal like for the flamer opening and getting infantry and health upgrades in tier 1 are okay, but put you behind on technology advancement

During the loading screen, you’ll see if they have the turret Doctrine, and if they do, you have to scout it out early and drop a tac squad on top of it. But you need to keep scouting, because they can just as easily build one in the fog of war.

If they do build an early turret, you have a few choices. Call for ally help to destroy it (that’s if you are certain you can destroy it). Avoid the turret and send your army elsewhere and come back there later when you know you can win, because the turrent is normal armour, you dont need lascannon or kill team missle launchers to take it down,

But when they do build a turret, know that it's very expensive and puts them behind in map control. A turret cost 300 req and 50 power. You start the game with 65 power and 1000 requisition. That means they can not afford to buy a requisition node, and only have one squad available to protect it. Leaving the rest of the map wide open to attacks.