Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade

We rather liked the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion, Dark Crusade (read our full review here). But if you are like us, you may have come to the party fashionably late - or just never dared to dial up a multiplayer game after clearing the Planet Kronus of all your enemies in single player. Like us, you might have said "better late than never" - but then savagely gotten your ass kicked through your mouth by salty veterans online.

Well, that's what happened to us, anyways. We knew needed serious help - so we called up some serious experts: developer Relic's balance testers. These guys are the A-Team of real-time strategy gamers. Strategy is their jam, and they play all the livelong day to make sure that the games Relic puts out are balanced and fair.

So, we put a bevy of questions to our patient mentors - but not before they schooled us on the battlefield and made us cry like little girls with every faction possible. Dark Crusade adds so many new units and new layers of complexity to every faction in the game, that it's a bit dizzying at times. Where we once thought there was a unit or vehicle that was too powerful, they showed us that there was always a way to counter it.

Relic's balance team surprised us so much with their excellent strategies and tactics that we knew we had the makings of a great strategy guide, chock-full of their secret tips and tricks. So, Dark Crusade fans, here's the hook up.

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