2.8.0 Update Patch Notes

Today’s update is the first community driven patch focused on multiplayer balance in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition. This work was only made possible by your continued support, feedback, and passion for this game. We want to thank the community members that have been driving, testing, and validating this work to get it ready for all of you today. 

Balancing any RTS game, especially one with nine factions, is complicated and time-consuming work. As such, today’s update will not solve or address every single friction point in the multiplayer experience. Update 2.8.0 is only the first of several planned multiplayer balance patches coming in 2026. This work will be incremental, and it will adapt based on feedback from players in the coming weeks. As such, we encourage all our multiplayer fans to play as many matchups and game modes as they can to get a feel for these new changes and then provide feedback and suggestions for future updates. 

Additionally, with the release of this update, we will be enforcing escalating suspensions and bans for any players using mods or other software to remove the fog-of-war and/or atmospheric fog in automatch modes. This does not include custom games or singleplayer/skirmish. We know that these options exist in some historically popular mods, however, they run counter to the intended player experience - especially in automatch. This first round of suspensions will only last 48-hours and will act as a warning. In the coming weeks, player accounts detected removing fog-of-war or atmospheric fog will receive suspensions of a week (or more) and subsequent detection will culminate in permanent bans. Appeal requests can be opened at https://help.relic.com/.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and good luck in your multiplayer games! Stay tuned for the next part of this balance work in the months ahead. 

General  

Today’s multiplayer balance update aims to improve the balance between factions in the early and mid game. We want to decrease the effectiveness of area-of-effect units, as they became stronger with the changes to pathfinding and collision in the Definitive Edition. 

This update also mitigates the ability to sell early game buildings to prevent refunding them for resources. Though this was already true for Headquarters, Barracks, and Generators, we’ve expanded this restriction to cover the Tier 1 Armory buildings and the Forbidden Archive to avoid current and future strategies that exploited this. We exempted the Armory style buildings which double up as Tier 2 research, such as the Soul Shrine and the Path to Enlightenment. 

• Deleting completed Armory buildings (Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Chaos, Imperial Guards, Dark Eldar and Orks) and Forbidden Archive (Necrons) now returns 10% of the resources to the player  

Finally, Artillery style units and grenade style abilities are receiving changes to compensate for the new pathing and collision systems. 

Chaos 

The Cultist Grenade Launcher opener has been overpowered; we have adjusted this to encourage more variety in opening play. 

Raptors health has been slightly increased, and they will receive an increased boost from Jetpack Booster Research to help them to be more useful in the mid-game. 

Berzerkers movement speed and Health has been increased to improve their usability. 

Vehicles have been adjusted to encourage a selection of vehicles other than Defilers. 

Cultist Squad 

• Grenade Launcher Area of Effect decreased from 4 to 3 

• Grenade Launcher damage decreased 20% (including the value for minimum damage dealt) 

• Grenade Launcher damage against Commander armour decreased by 15% instead of 20% 

Khorne Berzerker Squad 

• Speed increased from 20 to 24 

• Health increased from 610 to 670 

Hell Talon 

• Autocannon and Incendiary Bomb damage to commander armor decreased by 20% 

Chaos Predator  

• Heavy bolters range increased from 30 to 35 

• Cost decreased from 150/330 to 150/300 

Defiler  

• Battlecannon damage to aircraft decreased by 30% 

• Battlecannon area of effect decreased from 4 to 3 

Chaos Space Marine Squad  

• Frag Grenades damage decreased by 15% 

Raptor Squad 

• Health increased from 405 to 425 

Jetpack Booster Research   

• New: Now gives passive move speed of +20% to Raptors and Raptors Aspiring Champion 

Speed Fiends ability 

• Duration increased from 7s to 10s 

• Movement speed increase from 40% to 30%  

Dark Eldar 

Adjustments have been made to the Dark Eldar with the aim of decreasing the dominance of Reaver Jetbikes. We will continue to monitor these changes with a view to future updates. We are also adjusting the survivability of Warriors along with their lethality.  

Anti-vehicle options in the Scourge Squad and the Raider have been adjusted so they are better able to fend off early vehicles from other factions. We’re hoping this improves Dark Eldar performance in early Tier 2.  

Finally, the Talos has been adjusted so that it can perform better at melee range. 

Warrior Squad 

• Splinter Rifle damage against Infantry Low (All builders except Techpriest Enginseer) and Infantry Heavy Medium (Space Marines, Fire Warriors, Battle Sisters and similarly armoured units) reduced by 10% 

• Splinter Rifle damage against Infantry Medium (Starting units like Guardsmen, Cultists and Guardians), Infantry High (Mostly early game units from Orks, Eldar and Dark Eldar like Sluggas, Dark Reapers and Warriors) and Commanders reduced by 15% 

• Health increased from 250 to 300 

Reaver Jetbike 

• Build time increased from 21s to 25s 

• Splinter Cannon damage to Commander armor type decreased by 33% 

• Splinter Cannon with targeting module damage to Commander armor type decreased by 33% 

Scourge Squad 

• Dark Lance setup time decreased from 1.5s to 1.0s 

Wraithbone Woven Battlesuits  

• New: Scourges now gain 55 health from this upgrade 

• New: Scourge Sybarites now gain 100 health from this upgrade 

Raider 

• Health increased from 1400 to 1600 

• Dark Lance damage increased by 15% 

• Cost increased from 100/125 to 125/150 

• Build time increased from 25s to 30s 

• Raider Splinter Rifle damage adjusted to match the changes to Warrior Squad Splinter Rifle. These weapons are used when Warriors embark on a Raider

Talos 

• Deceleration time decreased from 1s to 0.2s 

• Acceleration time decreased from 2s to 1s 

• Time cost decreased from 45s to 30s 

• Max speed increased from 18s to 21s 

Wargear: Power Blades  

• Cost decreased from 75/75 to 50/50 

Wargear: Agonizers  

• Cost decreased from 100/100 to 75/75 

Archon 

• Power Claw and Agonizer damage reduced by 20%  

Wych Succubus 

• Damage from Wargear: Power Blades and Wargear: Agonizer decreased by 20% (not cumulative) 

Warrior Sybarite 

• Damage from Wargear: Power Blades and Wargear: Agonizer upgrade increased by 40% (not cumulative) 

Scourge Sybarite  

• Damage from Wargear: Power Blades and Wargear: Agonizer upgrade increased by 40% (not cumulative) 

Eldar 

We have made adjustments to many of the Eldar spells. Bonesingers Wraithtomb should now be less oppressive in shutting down buildings, the Farseer is less of a menace against factions like Imperial Guards, and the Harlequin is less effective at wiping out armies by herself.  

Banshee’s are getting some slight buffs to acce…