Commanders

Commanders are the powerful hero units that anchor an army in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. Each faction is led on the battlefield by one or more of these characters, who are far stronger than ordinary units and act as the centerpiece of a force. Commanders are tied closely to the game's campaigns and to its named Characters.

Choosing a Commander

According to pre-release coverage, each faction campaign often lets you pick one of two Commanders, with the choice changing the experience of that campaign. The same coverage indicates that Commanders carry their own gear and abilities, so the leader you select shapes how your army plays. These granular details are preview-level and have not been fully confirmed, so they should be treated as subject to change before launch.

Commanders fit alongside the rest of the army systems. A leader fights at the head of forces funded through Base Building and Resources and strengthened over time by Unit Veterancy, so a campaign tends to revolve around a commander backed by a growing veteran army rather than the hero alone.

Confirmed Named Commanders

Several named Commanders have been confirmed across the factions. The table below lists those revealed so far and what is known about each. Their detailed kits remain preview-level.

The two Space Marine Chapters each field their own leaders: Captain Cyrus and Chief Librarian Jonah Orion lead the Blood Ravens, while Company Master Astoran and Chaplain Ezrael lead the Dark Angels. In addition, the Dark Angels Primarch Lion El'Jonson becomes playable at the climax of the Space Marine campaign. For more on these figures and the wider cast, see Characters.

The Space Marines have more Commanders than any other faction, two for each Chapter, which the studio ties to the faction's tactical depth. Each of the four also brings a unique Stratagem of its own, on top of the faction-wide Stratagem described below.

Across all Factions, the game is set to launch with more than ten playable Commanders, only some of whom have been revealed so far. The named Commanders confirmed to date are listed above; expect the remaining roster, including leaders for factions that have had less detail shown, to be revealed closer to release.

Commanders in Multiplayer

Campaign Commanders and competitive Commanders are not the same thing. Outside the campaigns the named story figures step aside and Commanders become generic faction units, chosen before a match alongside your faction and starting position. By default one is produced from your headquarters for a cost, usually part-way through a match once the relevant unlocks are in place.

Match settings can change that: you can begin a match with your Commander already deployed, or turn Commanders off altogether. Each faction also keeps one powerful Stratagem that is available no matter which Commander was selected, so disabling them does not remove a faction's signature move. See Multiplayer for the rest of the competitive rules.

The Commander Panel

Official pre-release screenshots show how a Commander is presented once selected. The panel gives the Commander's name, labels the unit type as Commander, and lists a short set of plain-language strengths rather than raw numbers. Captain Cyrus, for example, is described as excelling at range, being effective against single targets, and gaining durability from stealth. Below that sit an experience bar, a small block of icons covering squad size, armour and health, and a Skills and Upgrades tray.

Two things follow from that layout. Commanders carry their own experience track, which is consistent with the Unit Veterancy system applying to them as it does to ordinary squads. And the strengths are written as guidance rather than statistics, so the studio has still published no per-Commander numbers. Anything presented elsewhere as a Commander stat line is not confirmed.

Pre-Release Note

Dawn of War IV has not yet released. The one-of-two-per-campaign choice and the specifics of each Commander's gear and abilities come from pre-release coverage and have not been fully confirmed. Not every faction's commanders have been revealed, and the details above may change before launch.

Commanders on the Post-Launch Roadmap

Two Commanders appear by name on the Year 1 Expansion roadmap as free updates, each labelled for Last Stand and Crusade Mode. Neither is a new character: both are already playable in their factions, so the drops concern availability in those two modes.

The Year 1 Expansion product description also lists playable Commanders in general among the free additions, so more may follow beyond these two. See Post-Launch Roadmap and DLC for the full plan.

Individual Commander Pages

Several Commanders and named leaders now have pages of their own: Thothmek the Chronomancer and Lord Ahmnok for the Necrons; Warboss Gorgutz and Beastboss Guzcutta for the Orks; and Captain Cyrus plus the playable Primarch Lion El'Jonson for the Space Marines.

The other three Space Marine Commanders, Chief Librarian Jonah Orion, Chaplain Ezrael and Company Master Astoran, have their own pages as well.