Elite units in Dawn of War III aren’t simply a few extra numbers on top of existing frameworks, or an added ability to some line troopers. They’re like dropping a fully-powered League of Legends champion into an RTS game and letting them run rampant. That extends to support classes too, with Jonah Orion being the first one revealed – he’s a Librarian for the Space Marine Blood Ravens chapter, and he’s really good at disrupting enemies and buffing allies.
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He’s got, as you may have guessed, four abilities:
- Zeal (Passive):
- Gains charges with every ability used, which increase attack speed with every stack. They drop off after 10 seconds.
- Fury of the Ancients:
- A line-based AoE that buffs allies and damages enemies in the area it hits.
- Emperor’s Light
- An expanding area around Jonah that increases allied damage and blinds enemies within.
- Stonewall
- Raises an impassable barrier in a large radius around Jonah. Projectiles can’t pass through it, including his own Fury of the Ancients. If he uses it within the circle it fills that area rather than casting in a line – bit of a devastating combo. Emperor’s Light also lasts longer within the Stonewall.
As you can tell from that, he’s not as focused on killing enemies as, for example, a giant titan. However, nobody’s going to win a battle with no supports. His particular combos of abilities also reveal the underlying MOBAish-ness of the system too.
While some might be worried by that, it’s been a while since there was an RTS where super units really meant super – laying waste to whole armies with a couple of clicks – and that’s good fun in single-player modes. Multiplayer balance, well, we’ll see in the inevitable beta, eh?
Here’s Jonah’s 3D model if you want a closer look at him / his demonic cherub buddy. That’s some Maximum Warhammer, oh yes.