How to deal with units hidden under Heavy Cover? | FAQ Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III Guide

Units hidden under heavy cover are protected from most attacks, but they aren't invulnerable.

Heavy cover, even though it doesn't provide the player with so many combat possibilities as the system in previous installments of the franchise (as well as in the Company of Heroes series), allows a player to protect his infantry from enemy fire, especially if the enemy player doesn't know how to breach it. However, heavy cover can also become a deadly trap.

Generally speaking, units hidden under heavy cover are protected from enemy ranged attacks, as well as some of the melee ones. However, there are still some ways to harm the units hidden under the cover, such as:

• Using melee units with the Counters Cover trait. Most of the melee units (and some of the elites) have this. It allows the units to freely enter the enemy heavy cover and attack the units hiding underneath it.
• Taunting abilities - abilities that force units to attack a target. The best example is Gorgutz's Grapplin' Klaw. Once he leaps to the target, all the enemy hit by the ability will be taunted, forcing them to attack Gorgutz. In the case of the heavy cover, this ability allows the elite unit to simply drag the forces hiding underneath it out of the cover.
• Units equipped with flamethrowers. Tactical Marines are the best example. You just need to order them to get close to the heavy cover and use their flamethrower ability (after you've purchased the necessary upgrade). As there's not much space under the cover, the units located there will suffer extremely high damage - this ability is capable of taking out most ranged units in seconds.
• Breaking through the cover. The protective bubble created by the heavy cover has a limited durability. This is represented by a health bar located above the shield. The bar goes down when taking damage and once it's empty the shield will simply break. What is more, once the shield breaks, it can't be used again.

As you can see, proper usage of the heavy cover can change the situation on the battlefield, but it can also end badly - losing multiple units to a single flamethrower ability can even cost you a game.