History YMMV / DawnOfWar

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler: Azariah Kyras.]] His preferred method of slaughter (provoking Exterminatus on an entire subsector, and planning on eventually exterminating ALL life in the galaxy) is especially horrendous going way beyond the level of villainy from a typical follower of Khorne. Most prefer to simply chop you up.

* LoveToHate: Eliphas the Inheritor and Gorgutz. Both are some of the most popular characters in the series.

* AudioErotica: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzbAaHHidg Sindri Myr]].

* CompleteMonster: Azariah Kyras. His preferred method of slaughter (provoking Exterminatus on an entire subsector, and planning on eventually exterminating ALL life in the galaxy) is especially horrendous going way beyond the level of villainy from a typical follower of Khorne. Most prefer to simply chop you up.

** Then the ''Chaos Rising'' expansion rolled around with some [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWM_dZdZec&feature=related genuinely]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0GuRJQHImk&feature=related scary]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skO9eczYKWA&feature=related and villainous]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdiexmHOy24&feature=related pieces]] for [[strike:Kay-ohss]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smg7-_qruHM Chaos]]. They finally sound as '''Metal''' as they are.

** Sync kills, have moments of pure badassery like a Dreadnaught grabbing an enemy, shooting it at point blank, and then tossing away the corpse, and the Force Commander climbing onto the head of a Bloodthirster and bashing in it with a hammer. One of the most epic, however, is watching an Avatar [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CktvVbY7xXM&feature=related send a Bloodthirster back to the Warp]]
** The moment when you kill the [[ThatOneBoss Bonus]] [[BonusBoss Boss]]es in ''Dawn of War II''. [[spoiler:The Avatar]] [[DifficultySpike in particular]].

* FridgeHorror: The ending to the Space Marine Campaign in ''Retribution'' [[spoiler: has Diomedes and Angelos finishing the purge of heresy on the chapter, and Angelos ascending as the new chapter master in front of a crowd of Marines. Considering how high the Blood Raven casualties have been over the course of ''Dawn of War 2'', that may very well be all that's left of the chapter.]]

** The Necrons do not need requisition (the main resource of the game, Necrons will get a a boost to their build times instead when capturing strategic locations), the Necron Warriors are free (although they take a long time to build, and the more Warrior squads you have, the longer it takes to build them), as well as the resurrection ability (which means that destroyed units have a chance to come back to life, which can take the Necrons above the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit). The Necron Lord himself may be considered overpowered since when fully upgraded, he can temporarily turn himself into a [[PhysicalGod C'tan]], who are invulnerable. As for the Tau, this is probably because they have very powerful ranged weaponry, making it difficult for the other units to close in. They also have early stealth units, which are effective since the enemy will not have many detector units so early in the game.
** In ''Dark Crusade'', once you destroy an enemy HQ, they lose, regardless of any other units or buildings they have left. The Necron can instantly teleport up to five squads of Flayed Ones any place not covered by Fog of War. Get one unit into the enemy base, teleport in all your Flayed Ones, and wail on the HQ. This works equally well in multiplayer as it does in the campaign.
*** The Necron Lord is a strong melee unit that can teleport. And can be equipped with, say, a regenerative ability that reduces ranged damage, the ability to turn himself and surrounding units invisible, can ''resurrect'' said units to go above the cap, and can turn into a giant invincible god of death. Which unit do you think is going to be sent into the base as a spotter?

** In ''Dawn of War 2'' the Dreadnought [[spoiler: Davian Thule]] in the single player campaign can obliterate pretty much everything with the Assault Cannon Barrage (see the intro of the first Dawn of War): regular enemies en masse, elite enemies, heavy covers, buildings, vehicles, EVERYTHING. Oh, and he also has the Emperor's Fist ability that destroys anybody reckless enough to engage it in melee. And both these abilities recharge extra-quickly. And it's heavily armored. And can become an instant heavy cover for the other Marines. It's awesome.
** Sergeant Cyrus may be unimpressive at first, with all being frail and not too lethal, but once he learns how to plant explosives (and, unlike previous instances, explosives are POTENT here) and shoot sniper shots without breaking stealth, only the limited number of supplies prevents him from cleansing whole maps alone. Moreover, he's perfectly capable of killing ''bosses'' single-handedly and you might even prefer him to do that, since, though timely and tedious, this way rids you from the need to click-dance the team around the boss and from them being killed all the time.

** In Retribution, Eliphas is either this or a Game Simplifier. As a fully fledged Khorne Lord with some points in Nurgle, he can use Sweeping Doom to one shot armies and emerge with a health bar hardly nudged. He also has the highest raw DPS of all the heroes in Retribution, especially with a Daemon Sword, which basically means he can solo most bosses as well as most missions. Seeing him slaughter his way past the Alpha Legion to get Kyras alone is a thing of fucking beauty...

*** The sequel is alot closer to the tabletop experience weirdly.
* GoodBadBugs: Dawn Of War 2's expansion has an excellent bugged skill in the form of Command Mastery. It drops the energy cost of abilities for anyone who gets the Force Commander's Battlecry buff. The thing is, it doesn't reset when the Battlecry buff fades. And it's self-stacking. I guess the Force Commander's really an excellent bard in disguise--who'd have guessed, what with that whole {{Silent Protagonist}} thing.

* HilariousInHindsight: The dialogue between [[spoiler:Eliphas and Thule]] in the Chaos campaign of ''Dark Crusade'' becomes retroactively hilarious after [[spoiler:Thule becomes a Dreadnought in Dawn of War II]]. Moreso for the fact that [[spoiler:Eliphas will be back for Chaos Rising]].
** Furthermore, the Space Marine ending of ''Dark Crusade'' notes that the chapter was about to enter into 'its darkest period of its history'. While more likely intended to be foreshadowing to ''Dawn of War II'', the poor quality of ''Soulstorm'' made the line equally fitting (and much funnier).
** In a copy of ''White Dwarf'', Gabriel Angelos was listed as the Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens, which disrupted {{canon}} (this was prior to ''Dawn of War II''). [[spoiler:Now the Chapter Master has been revealed to have fallen to Chaos in Chaos Rising]], if the chapter is to survive, they need a new Chapter Master and the best choice is...Gabriel Angelos, who refused to turn to Chaos and, depending on your actions, will [[spoiler:give you command of the fourth company, be marked as a renegade with you, banish you from the chapter for 100 years, execute you or vow to hunt you down and kill you for turning your men to Chaos and becoming a lord of the Black Legion]].

* IdiotBall: Justified, even, in ''Retribution'' with [[spoiler: Azariah Kyras. Spend hundreds of years subverting the Chapter while devoted to Nurgle. Convert to [[AxeCrazy Khorne]], and burn everything down in the course of ten years. And make an escape plan so cunning an Ork can figure it out.]]

** Inverted in one minor instance, as Vance "Motherfucking" Stubbs is also known for having [[WhatAnIdiot lost]] [[DidNotDoTheResearch 100]] [[AncestralWeapon Baneblades]] (he didn't lose them really, but that's how the fans like to think of it).
* MemeticMutation: '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3MttgvHUY METAL BOXES! METAL BAWKSES!]]''''' and '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbRGg3e1b68 SPESS MEHRENS]]''' Both originated from ''Soulstorm''. That {{Narm}} brought to you by Firaeveus Carron and Commander Boreale respectively.

* {{Mondegreen}}: A number of memes for ''DawnOfWar 2''. ALIEN FIENDS! (What does Tarkus have for breakfast? ALIEN BEANS!)

--->Even in death I still surf!
--->Remember the Primarchs! They watch us steal!
--->Testicle marines awaiting orders!
--->From the Eye of Terra, we come to kill!
*** The Force Commander from ''II'' and ''Chaos Rising's'' multiplayer has a line "My faith is my shield! My fury is my sword!". Many people mishear it as "My face is my shield!". For the people who hate his appearance, it's their way of saying they think he gets BeautyIsNeverTarnished for himself ridiculously - his face is indestructible.

* UncannyValley: Slightly unusual in that it's a verbal, rather than visual, example but in ''Chaos Rising'' Gabriel Angelos' voice has very slightly - it's oddly uncomfortable to listen if you're familiar with the previous performances.

* IdiotBall: Justified, even, in ''Retribution'' with [[spoiler: Azariah Kyras. Spend hundreds of years subverting the Chapter while devoted to Nurgle. Convert to [[AxeCrazy Khorne]], and burn everything down in the course of ten years. And make a plan so cunning an Ork can figure it out.]]

** Possibly fixed according to the Tyranid trailer for ''Retribution'', as the voice heard is suitably creepy. It doesn't explain, it doesn't really even ''talk'' just give a menacing few words that manage to convey enough information to be understood. Very CreepyAwesome.

* MemeticMutation: '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3MttgvHUY METAL BOXES! METAL BAWKSES!]]''''' and '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbRGg3e1b68 SPESS MEHRENS]]''' Both originated from ''Soulstorm''.

*** She regularly breaks the fourth wall with references to allies and teams. Doubtful.

** The Tau have one in Dark Crusade where the Vespid Stingwings take only a few seconds to build. They're not that strong, but when your base is being destroyed it can make a sizeable difference.

* MemeticMutation: '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3MttgvHUY METAL BOXES! METAL BAWKSES!]]''''' and '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbRGg3e1b68 SPESS MEHRENS]]''': Both originated from Soulstorm.
** SINDRIIIIII!!!
** HWEE CAHP-TOORED IT FOAR KAY-OHSS!!!

* TierInducedScrappy: The Tau and the Necrons in Dark Crusade are both considered overpowered and therefore frowned upon in online games. In Soulstorm, the worst Necron exploits were toned down, the absurdly powerful Necron Lord got even more toys, the Tau were left largely unchanged, whereas the Dark Eldar and the Sisters of Battle came with [[GameBreaker the Dais of Destruction' Dark Scythe and an infinite resource exploit respectively]].

** Possibly fixed according to the Tyranid trailer for ''Retribution'', as the voice heard is suitably creepy.
*** Very much so. It doesn't explain, it doesn't really even ''talk'' just give a menacing few words that manage to convey enough information to be understood. Very CreepyAwesome.

** Retribution had an absolutely unprecedentedly huge and generous beta where almost everyone who wants to can play it.
** The use of Steamworks for online play in Retribution instead of the dreadful Games for Windows Live was met with an ecstatic response from the fanbase.

* CompleteMonster: Azariah Kyris. His prefered method of slaughter (provoking Exterminatus wherever he goes in order to exterminate ALL life in the galaxy) is especially horrendous going way beyond the level of villany from a typical follower of Khorne. Most prefer to simply chop you up.
* ContestedSequel: While Dawn of War II and it's expansion received good reviews, [[BrokenBase a lot of players]] would really rather see a [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks proper sequel]] in the style of the older, more tradition RTS Dawn of War. Specifically, a sequel to [[AdaptationDistillation Dark Crusade]] with actual love put into it.

** Particularly the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8aPNDlGYAY eldar theme]], whose [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrzW0PFjsjQ newer theme]] has clearly [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]] for the sequel.

** Then the Chaos Rising expansion rolled around with some [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWM_dZdZec&feature=related genuinely]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0GuRJQHImk&feature=related scary]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skO9eczYKWA&feature=related and villainous]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdiexmHOy24&feature=related pieces]] for [[strike:Kay-ohss]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smg7-_qruHM Chaos]]. They finally sound as '''Metal''' as they are.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Eliphas the Inheritor is universally loved by the fan base for his dark charisma. There's also warboss Gorgutz 'Eadhunter, who is able to present himself as outright hilarious, but at the same time [[strike: an AxCrazy lunatic that loves war, and is proud to be an ork]] is a profoundly normal member of his species. Despite never canonically winning, he has been granted ContractualImmortality and has appeared in every expansion since ''Winter Assault'' (not counting Dawn of War II).
* FridgeHorror: The ending to the Space Marine Campaign in Retribution [[spoiler: has Diomedes and Angelos finishing the purge of heresy on the chapter, and Angelos ascending as the new chapter master in front of a crowd of Marines. Considering how high the Blood Raven casualties have been over the course of Dawn of War 2, that may very well be all that's left of the chapter.]]

** The Necrons do not need requisition (the main resource of the game, necrons will get a a boost to their build times instead when capturing locations), the Necron warriors are free (although they take a long time to build, and the more warrior squads you have, the longer it takes to build them), as well as the resurrection ability (which means that destroyed units have a chance to come back to life, which can take the Necrons above the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit). The Necron Lord himself may be considered overpowered since when fully upgraded, he can temporarily turn himself into a [[PhysicalGod c'tan]], who are invulnerable. As for the Tau, this is probably because they have powerful ranged weaponry, making it difficult for the other units to close in. They also have early stealth units, which are effective since the enemy will not have many detector units.
** In Dark Crusade, once you destroy an enemy HQ, they lose, regardless of any other units or buildings they have left. The Necron can instantly teleport up to five squads of Flayed Ones any place not covered by Fog of War. Get one unit into the enemy base, teleport in all your Flayed Ones, and wail on the HQ. This works equally well in multiplayer as it does in the campaign.
*** The Necron Lord is a strong melee unit that can teleport. And can be equipped with, say, a regenerative ability that reduces ranged damage, the ability to turn himself and surrounding units invisible, can ''ressurect'' said units to go above the cap, and can turn into a giant invincible god of death. Which unit do you think is going to be sent into the base as a spotter?

** In DoW2 the Dreadnaught can obliterate pretty much everything with a swipe of Autocannon fire (see the intro of the first DoW): regular enemies en masses, elite enemies, heavy covers, buildings, vehicles, EVERYTHING. Oh, and he also has the ground-smacking ability that destroys everybody reckless enough to engage it in melee. And both these abilities recharge extra-quickly. And it's armored. And can become an instant heavy cover for the other Marines. It's awesome.
*** First of all, it's an Assault Cannon, An Autocannon is a tank gun with a full auto option. The Predator and Chaos Predator tanks start with one and the CHAOS Dreadnought has two, the Space Marine Dreadnought can't get an autocannon. Secondly, by Tier 3, everyone else has something that can tear apart Dreadnoughts. The Tyranids have the Carnifex, which has over twice as much health and deals substantially more damage in any biomorph loadout vs any Dreadnought loadout and they also have the Tyrant Guard, who is again significantly tougher than the dreadnought, but lacks ranged capability. Chaos has the Great Unclean one, and although each Chaos player can only have one; it is tremendously difficult to kill them and they deal absurd amounts of damage, and let's not forget that Chaos also has their own dreadnought (though it's not quite as good) as well as the bloodcrusher; which is cheaper. The Eldar have the wraithlord and the Avatar of Khaine who is only slightly less ridiculous than the Great Unclean One as well as a generally ridiculously powerful end game. The Orks have Nob Squads, Kommandos, Tankbustas, Beamy Deffgun equipped lootas, and deff dreads. However, your point about the two dreadnought special abilities being ridiculously powerful for their recharge time and energy cost still stands.
**** The Dreadnaught example was specifically talking about Davian Thule in the campaign, especially his [[{{TheMario}} balanced build]] (make him Venerable, max out health, get explosive shells, barrage, and his ground smack). That build makes Avitus seem like a joke in comparison.

** In the second game the Eldar are an absolute nightmare to face in high resource games as fire prisms, avatars, support platform teams, Wraithlords and the god damned freaking wraith guard run amock almost completely unhindered. The Wraithguard are easily the most aggravating of the Eldar units thanks to the absolutely obscene damage they deal to everything while lacking the extremely short range that balances them out on the tabletop. The only thing they conceivably have problems killing are fast cannon fodder melee units like sluggas, hormagaunts, and heretics; and those will be chopped to pieces by shuriken cannons.

* {{Mondegreen}}: A number of memes for ''DawnOfWar 2''. ALIEN [[strike:FIENDS]] BEANS! (What Tarkus has for breakfast? ALIEN BEANS!)

*** The Force Commander from ''II'' and ''Chaos Rising'' has a line "My faith is my shield! My fury is my sword!". Many people mishear it as "My face is my shield!". For the people who hate his appearance, it's their way of saying they think he gets BeautyIsNeverTarnished for himself ridiculously - his face is indestructible.

** Originally, Vanilla [=DoW=] and Winter Assault used a system where units firing on the move had their accuracy reduced to 50%, a clever mechanic which made moving units less effective, but still capable of dishing out the hurt. When the game mechanics were overhauled for Dark Crusade it was reduced to a mere 15% (less than a unit rendered combat ineffective by broken morale). Although this stopped units with powerful, fire-on-the-move weapons (like plasma-equipped marines) from simply dancing around melee units indefinitely, it also made ranged weapons on melee troops (such as dreadnought assault cannons) utterly useless.
** The overhauled stealth mechanic from Dark Crusade onwards; infiltrator units can remain stealthed indefinitely ''and still fire''. While making Eldar rangers useful again, it turns Tau stealthsuit teams into GoddamnedBats. Since stealthsuits are available right from the start, you will have to put up with your soldiers standing around [[ContemplateOurNavels idly checking]] [[TooDumbToLive their weapons]] while a stealth battlesuit team slooooooooooowly whittles down their health, until you can finally get a detecting unit out (which can take some time).
** For the sequel, the retreat mechanic has caused some problems, which some see now as an inherent flaw in the gameplay - to help replicate the 'Sweeping Advance' rule from the tabletop, retreating units take extra melee damage. Thusly, it is very difficult to not take heavy losses once a melee unit gets tangled with your own infantry (or between you and your home base), and with such a small unit cap these losses hurt. In contrast, ranged units can be easily nullified by hitting the retreat button and making losses quite minimal.

** Possibly fixed according to the tyranid trailer for Retribution, as the voice heard is suitably creepy.

* {{Narm}}: Several, but most notably in ''Soulstorm'', ranging from Lord Carron's reaction to the "'''Metal Boxes!'''" of the Space Marines to Commander Boreale's awkward accent to Vance Stubbs' decidedly spendthrift attitude towards giant tanks.
** SPESS MEHREENS! WE ARE THE EMPRAH'S FUREH!
** The first example is particularly {{egregious}} since the Rhino APC is standard Chaos Marine equipment, meaning that the line can be delivered while Carron himself is inside a '''METAL BOX.'''
** '''I HAVE COME TO DESTROY YOU.'''
*** [[YourMileageMayVary That was actually badass.]]
** {{SpaceMarine}}s occasionally proudly declare that they'll return fire multiplayer. Its as {{Narm}}ful as one would expect. "Rain fire upon us and ''we'' shall return it!"
** Try telling your squads to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome take cover in the bushes]] in the sequel. Come on, just try it.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Orks were a common comic relief throughout the series (yep, the insane Omnicidal Maniacs ), but the usually uptight and pompous Space Marines had one of their own in the sequel, when the team starts conjecturing that the Tyranids intend to assimilate the DNA of humans and, in particular, of the team's BigGuy and DeadpanSnarker Sgt. Avitus. They express hopes against it as "The Imperium will not endure a Tyranid Avitus" but then reassure themselves a little as hopefully "his DNA will be too stubborn for the Nids to digest."
** Few Ork quotes, both from Winter Assault:
-->Nob: What yew giz doin? FIGHT! Dey ain't dead 'till I ''sez'' they dead... (Sqiggoth escapes) 'Oo dat rumblin'?
-->Squiggoth:(eats Nob) OM NOM NOM!

-->(After Gorgutz crash lands)
-->Gorgutz: I don't care if the flyer boyz dead. Find me another flyer boy so can KILL HIM INSTEAD!!!
** The small exchange in ''Dawn of War II'' between your Space Marines after the defense of an Imperial shrine from the Orks:
--> Thaddeus: We have taught them to kneel in the Emperor's presence.
--> [[DeadpanSnarker Avitus]]: Better, we have taught them to lie face down in the mud and bleed in the Emperor's presence.
** The sequel also has the scene where Administrator Derosa reveals that she finally got sick of her ObstructiveBureaucrat boss, shot her way into his manor, stole the control codes the Blood Ravens needed then told them everything the Director had been up to, commenting she doesn't mind treason charges since she knows she was doing the right thing. Avitus is [[NotSoStoic audibly amused]] when he notes she would have made a good Sister of Battle.

** Possibly fixed according to the tyranid trailer for Retribution, as the voice heard is suitably creepy.

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