Crusade Mode is a turn-based meta-campaign in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, played on a world map of Planet Kronus. Rather than a single linear story, it layers a strategic turn-based layer over the real-time battles, letting you wage a wider war across the planet. Crusade is tied to the game's free post-launch content plan, and its exact rollout timing is presented here as it currently stands in pre-release information rather than as a settled fact. Everything below is subject to change before and after release.
What Crusade Mode Is
Crusade Mode is described as a turn-based meta-campaign on a world map of Kronus. The world-map framing means it sits above individual battles: you make strategic decisions across the map on a turn-by-turn basis, and the real-time fighting plays out within that larger structure. It brings a returning Crusade concept to the series, realized for Dawn of War IV on the planet at the center of the game's story. For the setting itself, see Planet Kronus.
A single Crusade is described as taking around eight to ten hours to play through. That figure is the only confirmed playtime guidance for the mode, and it refers to one Crusade rather than the total content available across all of them.
Free Post-Launch Content
Crusade is part of the free Year One content plan for Dawn of War IV rather than a guaranteed launch-day mode. KING Art has outlined a plan of free downloadable content after the September 2026 release, and Crusade Mode is listed among those free additions. Because it is planned content, the precise point at which each part of Crusade becomes available is still being finalized. For the full picture of what is planned for free and what is paid, see Post-Launch Roadmap and DLC.
Timing: Two Statements to Hold Together
The timing of Crusade Mode is genuinely nuanced in the pre-release information, and the two relevant statements are best presented together rather than collapsed into a single answer:
Official wording says that **five Commanders will have their own dedicated Crusade "when the game launches."** Read on its own, this points to Crusade content being present at launch for those five Commanders.
At the same time, Crusade Mode also appears on the post-launch free roadmap, which frames it as part of the free Year One content delivered after release rather than purely a day-one feature.
These two statements are not obviously identical, and reconciling exactly how much Crusade is available at launch versus added afterward is not something pre-release information settles. The honest reading is that Crusade is tied to the free post-launch updates while five Commanders are connected to dedicated Crusades at launch, and the precise split between the two should be treated as unconfirmed until the game and its updates ship. This page deliberately quotes both statements rather than asserting a single resolution.
Commanders and Crusade
The link between Crusade and the game's hero leaders is explicit in the five-Commanders statement above: five Commanders are tied to their own dedicated Crusades. Commanders are the powerful battlefield leaders who head the Factions, so a dedicated Crusade per Commander frames the mode around leading a specific hero through a campaign across Kronus. The exact identities and the specific structure of each Commander's Crusade have not been fully detailed in pre-release information, so they should not be assumed. See Commanders for the playable leaders.
How Crusade Relates to the Campaign
Crusade Mode is distinct from the main Campaign. The Campaign is the story-driven mode in which each of the four launch Factions plays through its own narrative, solo or in two-player co-op. Crusade instead wraps a turn-based strategic layer around battles on the Kronus world map and is delivered through the free post-launch plan. The two offer different ways to fight across the same planet: the Campaign tells the central story, while Crusade provides a turn-based meta-game built on top of the real-time combat.
How a Crusade Plays
A Crusade is structured around a turn-based world map of Planet Kronus divided into many territories. Each turn you spend a limited pool of Action Points to move a Strike Force into neutral or enemy territory; pushing into a defended region costs more than a simple move, so you have to pick your battles.
When two forces meet, the fight is either resolved automatically (when the outcome is heavily in your favor) or played out as a real-time Skirmish. The game weighs the relative strength of the two Strike Forces to set the difficulty, and beating the odds against a stronger enemy pays out larger rewards.
Progress carries over between battles. Units persist across the campaign, keep earning experience and leveling up, and retain their skills and wargear for the whole Crusade. Conquest also generates Requisition, a resource you spend on territorial defenses and economy or on healing and reinforcing your Strike Forces. A single Crusade runs roughly eight to ten hours.
What Is Not Yet Confirmed
Because Crusade Mode is planned post-launch content, several details are not yet confirmed and are not stated as fact here. The number of distinct Crusades beyond the five tied to Commanders, the specific rewards or progression within Crusade, any ranking or scoring systems, and the exact dates within the post-launch window are all unconfirmed. The only firm figures are the around eight to ten hours per Crusade and the framing of Crusade as free post-launch content alongside the five-Commander launch statement. Anything beyond that should be treated as not yet revealed.
Related Pages
Post-Launch Roadmap and DLC: the free Year One plan that includes Crusade Mode.
Commanders: the five leaders tied to dedicated Crusades.
Campaign: the story mode, distinct from Crusade.
Planet Kronus: the world whose map Crusade is played on.
Game Modes: the hub covering every confirmed mode.