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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV ships with four playable factions at launch: the Space Marines, the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Necrons, and the Orks. Each faction has its own full Campaign, which can be played solo or in co-op, and all of those campaigns feed into one overarching narrative set on the war-torn world of Planet Kronus. A fifth faction is planned to arrive after release through the paid Aftermath expansion; its identity has not yet been revealed. See Post-Launch Roadmap and DLC for more on the Aftermath expansion.
Launch Faction Roster
The four launch factions each bring a distinct identity to the battlefield. The Space Marines are the elite, versatile poster boys of the setting; the Adeptus Mechanicus debut in the series as a ranged, tech-driven force; the Necrons are ancient, deathless beings awakening to defend their world; and the Orks are a brutal, battle-hungry horde that wins through sheer numbers and momentum.
Faction | Role / Identity | Status |
|---|---|---|
Elite, versatile superhuman warriors fielded across two Chapters in the campaign | Launch | |
Ranged, tech-focused army built around a growing battlefield network, in their series debut | Launch | |
Ancient, deathless beings awakening to reclaim their world | Launch | |
Brutal, battle-hungry horde that wins through strength in numbers | Launch | |
Aftermath faction | A fifth faction added after release; identity not yet revealed | Planned |
Shared Systems Across Factions
They diverge sharply on how they expand and how they use terrain. Space Marine structures drop from orbit, Ork structures are cheap and come armed, Necron structures spread an energy field called the Power Matrix that feeds their Dominion resource, and Adeptus Mechanicus structures link back to the headquarters to form the Noosphere Network. Cover splits them too: Orks build their own, the Adeptus Mechanicus raise their own garrisonable structure, and the Necrons do not use cover at all.
Three of the four have now had a full official deep dive. The Space Marines are the last one still awaiting theirs, which the developers have confirmed is the next faction preview planned.
All factions share the same underlying gameplay framework. Units grow stronger over the course of a battle through Unit Veterancy, rewarding players who keep squads alive and engaged. Combat across every faction is handled by the Combat Director system, which governs how engagements play out on the battlefield. In total the game features over 110 units and buildings across all factions.
Own full campaign: Every faction has a complete Campaign that can be played solo or in co-op.
One shared narrative: The separate campaigns all feed into a single overarching story.
Unit Veterancy: Units gain power as they fight and survive.
Combat Director: The system that drives moment-to-moment combat for every faction.
110+ units and buildings: Across all factions in the game.
Leading Your Faction
Each faction is led on the battlefield by powerful hero characters. See Commanders for the playable battlefield leaders, and Characters for the wider cast of named figures tied to each faction's story. The Space Marines and Orks both field multiple named leaders, while the Adeptus Mechanicus debut with their own pair of Commanders.
Official Counterplay Summary
The official faction pages publish a short list of tips for each army, split into playing as them and playing against them. The table below condenses the counterplay half. The full lists are on each faction page.
Faction | How the Official Guidance Says to Fight Them |
|---|---|
Force them into multiple engagements to stretch their elite forces thin, trade efficiently, and deny them Resource Points, especially Power | |
Engage their ranged units with melee, destroy Cogitator Relays to weaken the Noosphere Network, and accept that you cannot outproduce them | |
Fight them outside the Power Matrix, strike vulnerable positions elsewhere while they advance slowly, and focus fire to kill outright rather than wound | |
Beat their individual and ranged units, chip away at their armed but fragile buildings, and punish reckless advances |
The same selector lists a fifth entry, the Dark Angels, as a playable sub-faction of the Space Marines rather than a separate army. They carry the same published guidance as the Blood Ravens. The genuinely new fifth faction is the one planned for the AFTERMATH expansion, which remains unnamed.