Last Stand - Lord General

The Lord General is the Last Stand Hero of the Imperial Guard.

Overview

Perhaps the hardest-to-use Hero in the entire game, the Lord General, in proud tradition of every game Relic has ever worked on that has the Imperial Guard in it seems to be one-dimensional and inefficient - and, insofar as his being a character one can just pick up and use, this is most-assuredly true. The Lord General, at a glance, sucks. His basic traits traits are abhorrent - no mobility boosting until level 20, poor support abilities until way late-game, limited build options, mediocre damage output in general, and no way to boost his HP, making him the most fragile hero in all of Last Stand.

One has to wonder if Relic pulled out all the stops in making the Lord General suck, in fact.

Sadly for Relic, if they did intend for him to just suck utterly, they failed, because there's many ways to make him viable, and this guide will show you just how powerful he can be. Using the Lord General involves using your brain and learning to delegate battlefield control - either to your minions, or to your teammates - and adapt on the fly. You cannot deal with enemies in the conventional fashion, and you need to fight smart to get anywhere with the guy. When properly leveled, the General's builds open up much more, and he becomes incrementally more fun to play with each and every level obtained.

There's a few things that the Lord General particularly excels at. One is fighting defensively; his ability to call in backup, set up turrets, and establishing killing fields means that when your team needs to hold ground, there's nobody better. Properly backed up, the Lord General can actually become a dominating force on the battlefield. The other is killing priority targets. From the get-go, the Lord General excels at murdering high-level threats like enemy heroes, Zoanthropes, and Wraithguards.

Armor

• Carapace Armor - Default
  • Armor Rating: 18
    • Default Armor. Sucks, yadda yadda yadda.

• Cadia-Pattern Carapace Armor - Level 1
  • Armor Rating: 125
  • +0.2/sec Energy Regeneration
    • This initial armor is remarkably useful, though it doesn't really come into its own until later. It provides excellent protection - indeed, the best of any armor for the General besides the Black Plate - and the energy regen boost is nice, though it's generally negligable in the long run.

• Master-Crafted Carapace Armor - Level 4
  • Armor Rating: 79
  • Trait: Fearless (Immune to Suppression)
  • Ability: Tarantula Heavy Bolter Turret (25 energy; Deploys a turret with heavy bolters that suppresses targets and does modestly good anti-infantry damage)
    • The first of the Turret Armors and arguably one of the most useful. The Heavy Bolter Turret is always helpful for suppressing enemies, this armor has decent protection, and it makes you Fearless as part of the bargain. It works well if your squad does AOE damage (Catachans, Flamer or Grenade Launcher Guardsmen).

• Artificer Carapace Armor - Level 8
  • Armor Rating: 72
  • Trait: Unshakable (Immune to Knockdown)
  • Ability: Tarantula Missile Turret (25 energy; deploys a turret with twin-linked missile launchers that does decent anti-armor damage and has strong knockback)
    • The other of the commonly-used Turret Armors, this is a great alternative to the Heavy Bolter turret of the Master-Crafted Carapace Armor. Decent overall defense and the always-useful Unshakable trait combine with a turret that has better performance at killing vehicles and can disrupt infantry effectively. Whilst it tends to be not as useful as the Master-Crafted Armor, the added armor-punching of the Artificer can be a tremendous asset, depending on your loadout.

• Mordian-Pattern Carapace Armor - Level 12
  • Armor Rating: 37
  • Ability: Executioner Heavy Turret (40 energy; deploys an anti-infantry heavy turret that rapidly fires plasma blasts. These blasts deal area-of-effect damage at a long range)
    • At a glance, a heavy turret with a Plasma Cannon seems like a wonderful idea. Sadly, it's nowhere near as awesome as it sounds; the turret is bugged and does barely any damage due to lacking any armor penetration, to the point where the Heavy Bolter turret out-damages it to single targets, which means that in general it's not very good at killing things. Thankfully, the turret does splash damage, which means its damage ratio can kick up significantly if it can draw a bead on closely-clustered enemies. Whilst it generally is outperformed on this by the Tarantula Missile Turret and Vanquisher Turret, the Mordian turret does have its rare uses, especially when backed with Stormtroopers, where its massive energy costs become much less of a problem. Sadly, it offers poor protection and no trait bonuses, which limits how useful it can be.

• Armageddon-Pattern Carapace Armor - Level 16
  • Armor Rating: 30
  • Ability: Vanquisher Heavy Turret (40 energy; calls down a turret with a powerful anti-tank cannon that fires at long range and has a large area-of-effect, and penetrates armor)
    • Like the Mordian Armor, the Armageddon one focuses everything on its massive turret. Unlike the Mordian, however, the Vanquisher turret from the Armageddon-Pattern Armor is reasonably good at punching holes in single targets, whilst still boasting area-of-effect. Though neither very accurate or powerful, the Vanquisher cannon has armor penetration, which places it well above the Mordian Armor's Executioner Turret at both defeating priority targets and enemy heavies. Though not as useful or cost-effective as the lighter turrets, it's quite effective if placed correctly and can be extremely handy if used right. Note, however: The Armageddon-Pattern Armor has even less damage protection, however, and no traits, which further restrain how useful it can be.

• The Black Plate - Achievement Unlock: Clear up to Wave 10 while holding both strategic points.
  • Armor Rating: 125
  • Trait: Black Armor (50% Damage from all melee attacks).
    • Once this is obtained, it's the most protective armor in the entire game for the Lord General, though it provides none of the myriad benefits of other armors. Still, due to its raw defense, it's one of the more reliably useful ones, and gives him excellent survivability where he otherwise wouldn't have it.

Weapons

• Sniper Rifle - Default
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 8.0 DPS
    • A Default Weapon, but this one is actually fairly powerful. It still sucks compared to what's available even at the start however.

• Laspistol - Default
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 0.50 DPS
    • This default weapon is only used by the Lord General if you use the Inspired Power Sword or Protective Power Sword. It does reasonable damage and has half-decent range, but fires only once every 10 seconds and has middling accuracy.

• Deadly Sniper Rifle - Level 1
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 12.0 DPS
  • +1 Energy regen
  • Ability: High-Powered Shot (25 Energy, Shoot a long-range anti-infantry shot)
    • This weapon is terrifying both for its meaty regen rate, massive damage per shot, phenomenal range, and ability that lets it fire off a very powerful round for high damage against a single target. It's very useful early on, can be fired very effectively from inside buildings, and has excellent precision - all factors that conspire to make it one of the best weapons the Lord General gets. Unfortunately, the Sniper Rifle has a horrid fire rate, so it leaves the Lord General incredibly vulnerable to being overrun.

• Bolter - Level 1
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 9.0 DPS
  • Traits: Zealous (Any attacks the Lord General makes recovers health up to 25% of the damage caused), Wargear Package (Any weapon specialist retinue will equip this weapon alongside the Lord General)
    • The Bolter is a mediocre ranged weapon that can give some survivability via the weapon's Zealous trait, since each shot you land heals the Lord General slightly. It also gives Bolters to any attached Guardsman Squad, and though the actual damage this gives the squad is only a slight upgrade, it's still better than their base lasguns. Overall, a good early-game choice that tends to slide into irrelevance as better becomes available.

• Flamer - Level 1
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 6.0 DPS
  • Traits: Ignore Cover (Attacks with flamer cannot take cover from damage), Area of Effect (Flamer attacks in large radius), Wargear Package (Any weapon specialist retinue will equip this weapon alongside the Lord General)
    • You're not taking this weapon for its use on the Lord General, though his position often means it's a fun option. The main reason you're taking this is to back it up with Guardsman squads, who will also get these weapons, and thus will allow you to triple-stack flamers in order to quickly melt through packs of oncoming mooks. Flamers are an excellent early option and one that retains its effectiveness throughout the Lord General's career, and are one of the more reliable special weapons as well, making them definitely worth using.

• Inspiring Power Sword - Level 1
  • Melee Weapon
  • 19.0 DPS
  • Traits: Inspiring (Attacks with power sword increase damage and speed of nearby allies), Armor Piercing (Attacks with the power sword can ignore armor values up to 100), Melee Charge (Any charges towards an enemy knocks the enemy down)
    • Melee Lord General builds are rare, but this weapon and the other Power Sword exist to make good use of them. Backed with the Medallion Crimson and Duelist Honors, the Inspiring Power Sword can actually inflict an ungodly amount of damage - almost as much as a kitted-out Space Marine Captain, in fact. Pair yourself with strong melee allies that will get stuck in alongside you (such as a Hive Tyrant's minions or your own Ogryns), and this weapon will quickly show you how powerful it can be if used right.

• Protective Power Sword - Level 6
  • Melee Weapon
  • 10.0 DPS
  • +50 Armor
  • Ability: Clear Out (25 Energy, strike ground to cause radial damage and knockdown.
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (Attacks with the power sword can ignore armor values up to 100), Melee Charge (Any charges towards an enemy knocks the enemy down)
    • Whereas the Inspiring Sword is the powerful melee weapon, the Protective is a versatile one. It's still quite strong, and has armor-piercing, but has no special attack chance. Instead, the Protective Sword can use a tiny AOE melee ability that throws enemies around, and gives a meaty defense bonus. Paired with the Black Plate, this can give the Lord General remarkable survivability against enemies that would otherwise be threatening, such as Banshees and Hormagaunts.

• Grenade Launcher - Level 13
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 5.5 DPS
  • Ability: Blind Grenade Volley (20 Energy, fires a volley of Blind Grenades, stunning nearby enemies)
  • Traits: Knockdown (Attacks with Grenade Launcher knock down enemies), Area of Effect (Grenade Launcher attacks in large radius), Wargear Package (Any weapon specialist retinue will equip this weapon alongside the Lord General)
    • Easily the best Guardsman Wargear Package weapon, the Grenade Launcher boasts a host of useful advantages: Indirect fire, knockdown power, and blast effects just to name a few. Even better, it gives the use of a special attack in Blind Grenade Volley, which can be a godsend when it comes to helping allies in the field, and gives the General a weapon with Wargear Package that's actually worth taking on its own merits. When you need a weapon that can knock down, cause AOE damage, and fire over obstacles, you've got something of a winner, and its long range atop this is just gravy. Absolutely worth using, especially alongside the Heavy Bolter Turret Armor.

• Plasma Gun - Level 18
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 7.3 DPS
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (Plasma Gun attacks ignore armor ratings up to 100), Wargear Package (Any weapon specialist retinue will equip this weapon alongside the Lord General)
    • At a glance, the prospect of a Plasma Gun for the General seems awesome. Unfortunately, the one for Last Stand isn't all that great. It has no special abilities attached, isn't that good a standalone weapon, and is generally an extremely poor weapon outside of its element (attacking heavy infantry and vehicles). Against almost anything else, every weapon the General has that isn't his basic Laspistol will do more damage - a fact true for the Guardsman variant as well. Whilst this weapon absolutely rocks for later waves in Bloodied Coliseum and late-game Anvil of Khorne in general, the bulk of the levels it's more of a hindrance than an advantage, though it can be extremely effective should you stack damage boosting abilities (Medallion Crimson, Take Aim!, Commissar).

• Ornate Vostroyan Shotgun - DLC
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 10.5 DPS
  • Ability: Solid Slug (25 Energy, fires a solid slug at the target, causing big damage and knockback). Has a small area-of-effect.
  • Traits: Area of Effect (Shotgun attacks in large radius)
    • Fantastic weapon, and one of the best alternatives, at the endgame phase, to the Deadly Sniper Rifle. Though this weapon is weaker per-shot, has a much shorter range, and has a weaker special attack, it fires much faster, has AOE damage, and an ability that's basically a weaker version of High-Powered Shot. All of these conspire to make it one of the nicer weapons for use with non-guardsmen.

Accessories

• Honorifica Imperialis - Level 1
  • +25 Armor, +2 Health Regen
    • This is a very good item for solo Lord Generals, as it makes them considerably more survivable. Humorously, you can use this item to achieve 200 Armor with the Imperial General if you stack this with the Black Plate/Cadian Armor and the Protective Power Sword.

• Refractor Field - Level 2
  • Ability: Refractor Field (25 Energy, Projects a field around the Lord General, allowing nearby allies to reduce the damage they take from ranged weapons.
    • Incredibly useful when it becomes available due to the General's frailty, giving him roughly twice the survivability against ranged weapons - and it both covers minions/allies and stacks with the likes of the Tau Commander's Shield Drone and cover benefits. Whilst not quite as potent as the Sorcerer's scrolls, Refractor Field will actually travel with the General, making it quite useful.

• Medallion Crimson - Level 3
  • Traits: Combat Expert (Lord General gets +30% Melee and Ranged damage)
    • The only way to boost your offense other than Duelist's Honors. Effects all weapons, as well as abilities like Rocket Run, High-Powered Shot, and Clear Out. One of the best overall wargear options for its level, since everyone needs offense.

• Repair - Level 7
  • Ability: Repair (20 Energy, repairs targeted vehicle or structure)
    • Worthless. Whilst repairing one of the towers or such on Coliseum or Anvil may be a cool idea, the bigger reason to use it - to repair turrets - is moot when you can deploy another Missile or Heavy Bolter turret for a scant 5 energy more than Repair costs. Ultimately a waste of an accessory slot on a class which already needs all of them.

• Sergeant - Level 9
  • All Minion squads get a sergeant or sergeant-analogue equipped. Guardsmen get a standard sergeant, Catachans get a Catachan Sergeant, Ogryns get a Bone'ead, and Storm Troopers get a Storm Trooper Veteran Sergeant.
  • Traits: Minion Battle Hardened (Minion Squads gain +100 Health and +2 Health Regen)
    • Incredible survivability upgrade, that adds not only a bonus to your squad, but gives them a specific leader unit that provides extra firepower and an added squad member, which means the survivability it gives the squad is actually much higher than it originally appears. In the case of the Ogryn squad, the added squad leader gives a flat 33% increase in DPS due to its low number of squad members, and in the case of the Storm Trooper squad, it gives a 25% increase for the same reason.

• Reinforce - Level 11
  • Ability: Reinforce (10 Energy, signal Valkyrie to deploy a reinforcement to troops within the area.
    • Reinforce is just bad, for the same reason Repair is: It's far easier to just call in a new squad and not have to devote an accessory slot to this ability. Unlike Repair, this one is actually energy-efficient, since reinforcing costs less than replacing the squad, but it's still not worth devoting one of a very-contested item slot for.

• Commissar - Level 14
  • All Minion squads get a Commissar equipped.
  • Traits: Minion Combat Expert (Minions get +30% melee and ranged damage)
    • Gives a nice bonus to your minions' offense and adds a Commissar with a Bolt Pistol and Power Sword to the squad. As is the case for the Sergeant, this expotentially boosts the survivability and damage output of the squad as well, since the added Commissar counts as an added squad member. Works especially well with Guardsmen and Ogryns, but has a tendency to cause an AI Bug for the Catachans in which they will throw grenades far less often.

• Take Aim! - Level 17
  • Ability: Take Aim! (20 Energy, Grant ally temporary, but significant damage boost)
    • Excellent ability. Cast it on your allies or minions to crank their damage output, or on yourself to improve your own. It even bolsters special attacks like High-Powered Shot. For maximum lulz, cast it on a Chaos Sorcerer or Mekboy and watch the resulting insanity unfold.

• Rocket Run - Level 19
  • Ability: Rocket Run (50 Energy, Valkyrie swoops in for rocket pod runs, causing a line of explosions that cause catastrophic damage and knockback to everything in the blast range.)
    • This is the ability worth taking Lord General through its paces for: An airstrike that utterly wrecks any target caught in the open, and can one-shot the wave 16 and wave 20 foes of Bloodied Coliseum. Be forewarned, however: It's the most expensive such ability in the game and will leave the Lord General with minimal energy, even under the best of circumstances. However, like the Mekboy's Roks, it's so powerful that there's just almost no reason to not take it along.

• Duelist Honors - Achievement Unlock: Kill 2500 enemies
  • Trait: Duelist (Increases melee damage by +40%
    • Melee Lord Generals behold: This is your upgrade. It stacks with Medallion Crimson to make the Lord General - ironically - one of the hardest-hitting melee combatants in the game when using the Inspiring Power Sword. The weaker Protective Power Sword isn't quite as good with this upgrade, but it can still make excellent use of it, since the benefits also effect Clear Out - as does the Medallion Crimson. Ranged Generals, however, benefit virtually nil from this.

• Ursidae Trophy - DLC
  • Traits: Minion Inspired Will (All Minions gain +15 health), Superior Provisions (All turrets gain +150 Health).
    • This interesting little upgrade gives a basic health boost to your minions, and gives a sizable health buff to your turrets. Early on, this is incredibly handy for further bolstering both your turret and your minions, but as time goes on, it slowly loses its appeal as the Commissar becomes available and the added survivability and damage the squad gets from the Commissar generally outclasses the durability boost the turret gets. There are exceptions, of course - if you use the Vanquisher Turret, the Ursidae Trophy can pay for itself by simple virtue of keeping the powerful anti-tank turret in the field that much longer.

Commander Items

• Guardsmen - Level 5
  • Ability: Deploy Guardsmen (35 Energy, Deploys a squad of Guardsmen to be Minions)
  • Traits: Minion Weapon Specialist (Can equip weapons that the Lord General has)
    • Guardsmen are basic - they have poor health and survivability without upgrades, and they have poor damage overall. However, they have the highest squad size and can use some of the Lord General's goodies when he uses certain weapons. Bolter gives them much better early-game damage, whereas the Flamer gives them both AOE and an answer to melee foes. Grenade Launcher gives them blast effects, range, and knockdown, whilst Plasma lets them fight armor. They get much better when led by a Sergeant and/or Commissar, so use them well.

• Catachans - Level 10
  • Ability: Deploy Catachans (35 Energy, Deploys a squad of Catachan Jungle Fighters to be Minions)
  • Traits: Minion Knockdown (Can knock enemies down), Minion Explosives Expert (Catachans occasionally throw grenades)
    • Catachans don't get weapon upgrades and have a slightly smaller squad size, but they do much more damage, are good in close-combat, have weapons that possess knockback, and periodically chuck demolition charges. With a Commissar, the damage of their Shotguns and melee attacks can really surprise you, and their grenades will reliably wipe squads of lesser foes, whilst a Sergeant will make them remarkably tough. Unfortunately, they tend to suffer an AI glitch where Catachans that have a Commissar will throw grenades less often. Interestingly, Catachan Minions retain their detector capability from Multiplayer, and are able to "see" infiltrating enemies, such as the Scouts or Lictor from Bloodied Coliseum.

• Ogryns - Level 15
  • Ability: Deploy Ogryns (35 Energy; deploys a squad of Ogryns to be minions)
  • Traits: Minion Healthy (Ogryns have increased health)
    • Ogryns are the toughest minion you get and one of the more interesting. Though they have a painfully limited squad size, they do heavy damage and are massive damage sponges. They are especially unique in that the Sergeant for them is a 33% offensive improvement, as well as a defensive buff; throwing on both the Sergeant and Commissar can result in their damage output and survivability improving dramatically. More so than the other minions, Ogryns tend to wander off to do their own thing; Generals needing a minion more willing to bunker down are encouraged to look elsewhere, but those planning to capitalize on close-combat will love the damned oafs.

• Storm Troopers - Level 20
  • Ability: Deploy Stormtroopers (35 Energy, Deploys a squad of storm troopers to be Minions), Tactical Withdrawal (6 Energy, lets the Lord General flee from the area)
  • Traits: Special Ops (-25% Energy Costs)
    • Ironically, despite being pretty good individually, Storm Troopers are one of the weakest minions, even with a built-in Hot-Shot Lasgun upgrade. This is because of their tiny squad size. However, the reason one uses Storm Troopers isn't their contributions to a fight - it's their passives. Storm Troopers give the only mobility upgrade the Lord General gets, as well as an ability that decreases all energy costs for absolutely everything the Lord General uses. This allows them to reign in how much dropping turrets or High-Powered Shots cost, and can make Rocket Run much more viable. As is the case for the Hive Tyrant's Synapse, this advantage cannot be overlooked, and completely changes the scope of how one can use the Lord General. Do note, however, that the Retreat ability the General gets tends to bug out a bit; you can still be hit by melee attacks during it.

Progression

Only one thing can be said to surmise the Lord General's progression: "Stick with it; it gets better."

Starting out, the Lord General is almost embarassingly bad, and your ability to do much of anything in a fight is severely limited. Generally, your choices at the start of your career are limited to the Vostroyan Shotgun (if you have it), the Deadly Sniper Rifle, or the Inspiring Power Sword. Use any of these three at the start, and build yourself up as you go; this class doesn't even begin to get good until level 5, and with a staggered progression, you're likely to die frequently under the best of circumstances. Soldier on through the time of suck, however, and your patience will be quickly rewarded: Honorifica Imperialis and Refractor Field will help you survive substantially longer, the Medallion Crimson will boost your damage, and the first Turret Armor in the Master-Crafted Carapace Armor means you'll finally have something for the enemies to target that isn't you. Finally, when you hit level 5, you unlock Guardsmen, and for the first time, your build options open up.

At Level 5, you can finally start using your minions and wargear package items to their fullest. The DLC Ursidae Trophy really comes into its own here, since Sergeants won't be available for a while yet. Flamers are particularly nice at this phase of the game, though Bolters are good too, increasing your survivability and are a bit more reliable at whittling down medium-tier threats like Tyranid Warriors and Warp Spiders. For early-game setups, the Bolter Turret, plus Flamers or Bolters and Guardsmen, means a lot of dead mooks and can seriously help tip the tide in your team's favor, especially if they have decent gear themselves. You will, however, lack a suitable means to handle heavier threats for a bit yet, so be smart.

Level 6 through 8 brings in the Protective Sword - which isn't all that good yet - and the Artificer Carapace Armor, which means access to a Missile Turret. This turret doesn't suppress, but does much better damage, can damage vehicles and heavy armor, and has knockback, which makes it very handy when paired with your Guardsmen, especially if they're using Bolters. Soonafter you'll get the Sergeant at level 9, which massively buffs your guardsman squad and should be used IMMEDIATELY, regardless of what your Guardsmen are packing. At level 7, you get Repair, but, as has been discussed earlier in this guide, it is not worth using and should be avoided.

Importantly, at level 10, you unlock Catachan Jungle Fighters. These are much stronger than Guardsmen at a glance, boasting better damage output, heightened damage in close-combat, and the ability to periodically chuck demo charges. Though Guardsmen are still highly useful at this phase, this represents another broadening of the Lord General's abilities, as Catachans offer you a way to take a weapon that doesn't have Wargear Package and for your minions to not suffer for the loss. This means you can finally once more take the Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, or one of the two Power Swords without hesitation, since the Catachans won't be hindered by the change in pace. The Heavy Bolter Turret works better at this stage in the game, due to the Catachans' tendency to throw explosives and the fact that literally all the non-wargear package weapons you can use are good against armor on some level or another (either having the Armor Piercing trait, high single-shot damage and the High-Powered Shot ability, or the Solid Slug ability).

With level 11 comes reinforce, and with it, another ability to ignore. Mordian armor comes next, at 12, and though its Plasma Turret seems like a simply grand idea, in practice it's not very good and should generally be avoided unless using it for very specific build loadouts. Level 13 brings you an awesome weapon, however, in the Grenade Launcher, and brings the Guardsmen once more up to the fore. Boasting long range, knockdown, and area-of-effect damage - plus a handy special ability - this upgrade makes Guardsmen much better than anything you've seen thus far - but Catachans remain incredibly handy, so you have legit choices at this stage in the game. The Commissar then comes in at 14, giving you the option of increasing the punch of the Catachans or Guardsmen even further, and giving new life to the flamer and bolter Guardsmen if you were a fan of those in the early game. The Tarantula Missile Turret comes into the fore once more, since now if you use those you can use the added anti-vehicle punch.

Level 15 brings Ogryns, and with them, another tactical choice. Now you can set yourself up with dedicated close-combat builds, and the fun of the Power Swords comes front-and-center. Stick with your Ogryns and use the Inspiring Sword to make for a powerhouse offense, or use the Protective Sword and help keep swarms off them. Alternately, you can take the Shotgun or Sniper Rifle and provide a different kind of help to your Ogryns entirely, since like the Catachans, they won't suffer for the change of pace, and if you don't like the Ogryns, nothing's stopping you from continuing to use Catachans or Guardsmen still, since they've been thoroughly buffed by every piece of gear you've gotten up until now.

Level 16 brings Armageddon-Pattern Armor and its Vanquisher Turret; if you weren't a fan with how chintzy the Missile Turret can be, you now have an option literally guaranteed to butt-fuck enemy heavy armor, though it weakens your own defenses as part of the bargain, so it comes with drawbacks. Level 17 brings Take Aim!, which lets you buff any of your squads - the benefits of buffing a Grenade Launcher, Ogryn, or Catachan squad is obvious, but the benefits of buffing an allied player or yourself can be even more dramatic. By now, you have choices galore, and this class is starting to become immensely fun to use, as you can see.

Level 18 brings you the final Guardsman weapon in the Plasma Gun. It's not all that great in a vaccuum; its damage is mediocre and it's out-performed by other weapons against lighter armor - but it is easily buffed to hilarious levels by the Commissar, Medallion Crimson, and Take Aim! ability, making it a great choice for this stage in the game and one of the only dedicated anti-armor builds you can field. Here, the Bolter Turret once more shines, since it's the best anti-infantry turret and it holds lower-priority threats in place for you to cut down piecemeal.

Level 19 brings you Rocket Run - your own personal nuke strike. It costs all your energy and takes a very contended-for accessory slot, but the prospect of one-shotting the Wave 16 Bloodied Coliseum heroes makes it worth the price of admission. It's also great for making giant packs of enemies not exist, which is also nice, but - again - its monstrous energy costs hinder how useful this could be.

With level 20, you have Stormtroopers, and with this, your choices have fully expanded, since their presence means lowered costs for what you use. You can now run a build focusing on High-cost nukes like Rocket Run, any of the Guardsman builds, Catachan builds, or Ogryn builds, and have your choice of turret or defensive options. At this point, finally, you have the ability to dick around with this class to its truest potential, and see what this class can really do.

Tactics and Strategy

• On the Power Swords and Melee Builds (and Ogryns, too):
  • Planning to run a close-combat General? Congratulations - you're about to try something that takes some serious balls. But then, you're Imperial Guard - this isn't new to you. Start by using Ogryns as minions; they're tough as balls and will keep the heat off of you and on them, where it rightly belongs. From here, the choice is between your Inspired Sword and your Protective Sword - and both are amazing in their own right. The Inspired Sword will bolster the damage of both you and your Ogryns, whereas the Protective Sword, due to a meaty defense boost, will keep you in the fight. In general, the Inspiring Sword is a better choice for strictly melee builds; the damage is close to double and though Clear Out is quite useful, the Inspiring Sword's special attacks functionally make up for the loss. On the other hand, the survivability boost is nothing to sneeze at, and can result in you surviving that much longer. What wargear you take is up to you, but consider Duelist Honors; the massive +40% attack boost is significantly higher than the +30% of the Medallion Crimson, though if you're feeling bold you can use both at the same time for a relentlessly dickish amount of damage that can eclipse a melee-focused Space Marine Captain. Sadly, though, your Ogryns will suffer for it.

• On Guardsmen - ADJUST YOUR LOADOUTS:
  • If you're going to use Guardsmen (and there's plenty of valid reasons to do so), it goes without saying that you should always use a weapon with Wargear Package (the Bolter, Flamer, Grenade Launcher, or Plasma Gun). If you do not, you are dramatically undercutting these units' primary purpose on the battlefield. Each has a very narrow, but very unique role: The Bolter improves damage against most targets and makes your Lord General more survivable. The Flamer gives you area-of-effect damage and ignores cover, making it the bane of light infantry, especially when all three flamer cones overlap. The Grenade Launcher has blast damage, indirect fire, long range, and knockdown, making it one of the best choices overall, but poor in close-combat, whilst the Plasma Gun gives you the only really dedicated anti-armor minion. Guardsmen benefit immensely from the Sergeant, the Ursidae Trophy, and the Commissar - It is generally good form to use two of these together in order to maximize their potential (with the Commissar and Sergeant getting top billing, though the Trophy has its supporters), though many forces are serviced just fine by using only one - after all, one can make up for the loss of the Sergeant/Ursidae Trophy with the likes of Refractor Field. Take Aim! should be used if you are using Plasma, due to the manifold effects of damage stacking, and a Turret of your choice should be used to round out the lot.

• On Catachans - No Need for Wargear Package:
  • Catachans eliminate the need to use Wargear Package weapons, and strip away much of their appeal - they have a host of built-in advantages (detector capability, grenades, knockdown), do plenty of damage, and you're only hindering yourself if you take a bolter or flamer when using them. Instead, go with your other weapons: The Deadly Sniper Rifle, Vostroyan Shotgun, and the Power Swords. The lone important exception to this is the Grenade Launcher - it continues to provide knockdown, blast damage, and Blind Grenade Barrage - so it's still a valid choice, if somewhat underpowered compared to the others. All of them offer very unique advantages to the Catachan squad itself - because the Catachans provide both knockdown and periodic area-of-effect damage, the Sniper Rifle shines nicely for dealing with targets they aren't quite so equipped to handle, such as Zoanthropes and Wraithguards. The Shotgun offers similar damage-spiking through Solid Slug, but does area-of-effect damage rather than massive single-target damage slowly - meaning that it helps them wear down smaller targets quicker and provides excellent damage against bigger ones when the situation merits, though solid slug can be pricey to spam repeatedly. Because Catachans are solid in close-combat, the Inspiring Sword and Protective Sword both have very important uses - the Inspiring Sword lets you buff your Catachans to hilarious levels, and give truly unpleasant surprises to heavy melee units like Wraithguards and Dreadnoughts, who were convinced your guard unit was easy prey - and because of the fact that Catachans can knock foes down, makes the General much more likely to chase down enemies. The Inspiring Sword works the other way, protecting your men from threats that try to overwhelm, like Hormagaunts and Banshees. Clear Out quickly gets rid of these threats, whilst your survivability raises as part of the bargain.

• On Storm Troopers - Ability Use Is Key:
  • When you use Storm Troopers, throw out any thoughts of using them as a primary damage force. They come pre-armed with Hot-Shot Lasguns, and actually do pretty good damage individually - sadly, you only get 4 of them per squad, not counting the Sergeant/Commissar - meaning that getting the most damage and performance out of them in combat actually requires attaching both. Whilst this can be effective, and indeed, there are builds based around making this happen, it is a woeful use of the Storm Troopers' true power: Rather, their true potential comes from the mobility boost via retreat, and the massive ability cost reduction they provide. In one stroke, this makes every important ability that costs energy - Refractor Field, Take Aim!, High-Powered Shot, Blind Grenade Barrage, Solid Slug, and most importantly, Rocket Run and the Heavy Turret Armors - infinitely more viable by simple virtue of making them cheaper to cast. Paired with the Sniper Rifle (for energy regeneration), Vostroyan Shotgun (for versatility), and a decent turret, this can provide a solid formation for an ability-heavy Lord General, and is the favored config for many high-tier players.