Squad Details
	Squad	1-15 Grots
	Cost	90 base squad	0 to reinforce
	Build times	9 sec	25 sec reinforce
	Armour class	100hp inf_low (builder armour)
	Morale	150 Restores at 150	Breaks at 75 breaks for 10 sec
	Repair Rate	+15hp/sec @ 1 Grot +30hp/sec @ 2 Grots +45hp/sec @ 3 Grots (max)	repair cost: 75%
	Weapon details (opens new window)

What great little guys. They might be on the lowest in Orky pecking order, but Gretchins, (or just Grots) are the most indispensable little goblins around. They build, they repair, they can even fight (sorta) and the little tykes can cloak. Grots work in sizeable squads, and you can use them to build, repair or just get in the way whilst hidden in plain view. Apart from their opening cost, Grots use no Ork caps and cost nothing to reinforce but they reinforce very slowly. Cloaked Grots allow an Ork player to spread rapidly across the map with relative impunity, since its easier to sneak them past enemy forces or escape destruction of the Settlement.

Grots are armed, but with what only could be described as sharpened toothpicks and toy cap guns. About the only thing they might overpower is a seriously weakened Heretic; and Eldar's Bonesinger can put them all to the sword. Its a tough old world out there fer yer 'umble Grot - they die en mass to even bolters and pistols, and one nasty area-effect spell can evaporate an entire squad before you have time to blink. If you ever see the FarSeer or the Sorcerer nearby - or heaven help you, a Harlequin - garrison the tykes, or run awaaay! Oop, too late.

They're best attribute is their cloaked base building and repairing skills. They can throw buildings up right in the middle of a messy firefight, and repair them under fire too. They can invisibly fix vehicles and even the mighty Squiggoth. Grots are probably the reason why Orky Buildings are all made of plywood. With a gang of cloaked Grots, an Orky Listening Post or a Waaagh! tower can last for whole minutes against some heavy early-game assaults. But there's absolutely nothing to be gained assigning more than one Grot squad to a job. A squad maxes out its build speed after the second Grot, and maximum repair speed is reached after the third.

Perks

Gretchin Infiltration Research: cloaks yer Grots!

Pros

Can build and repair whilst cloaked!

Can repair the Squiggoth!

Doesn't use Ork population cap.

Free reinforcing, albeit slowly

Excellent scouting units - move 50% faster than regular Boys.

Funny to use as cloaked anti-Heretic units.

A fully filled Grot squad can get in the way of enemies whilst cloaked.

Maintains cloak even when disrupted, burnt or scattered by explosions.

Cons

Hard capped to no more than 4 squads.

Armed, but pretty useless in a fight - except for laffs

Doesn't contribute to the Mob Bonus.

Slow to reinforce.

Annihilated by everything when discovered.

Build speed maxes out after 2 Grots in a squad.

Repair speed maxes out after 3 Grots in a squad.

Apart from Infiltration, Grots are completely unaffected by all upgrades.

	Squad Details
	Squad	4-15 Boyz + Nob Leader + Boss	+3 Burna Boys
	Cost	120 base squad 0 (More Sluggas)	30 to reinforce 30/10 per Burna Boy
	Build times	18 sec (Settlement) 15 sec (da Boyz Hut)	6 sec reinforce
	Armour class	250hp Inf_high (infantry armour) 333hp ('Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp) 443hp (Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp)
	Morale	300 Restores at 150	Breaks at 30 breaks for 10 sec
	Weapon details (opens new window)

Slugga Boys and Shoota Boys form two halves of Ork's basic infantry. They're a large, disposable bullet soak used to distract and trip your enemies so that all your other forces can mop up. Slugga Boys had their ups and downs in different patches and expansions, but in Dark Crusade they've finally settled down into an indispensable close combat unit.

They have a tough time damaging buildings or actually killing off any decent infantry, often get mown down in waves before most anti-infantry counters, especially vehicles, and heavy bolters, but without them life becomes all but impossible for the Ork player. They are always to be used in conjunction with other forces in an attack, be they static turrets or a line of Shoota Boyz.

Sluggas have two cards up their sleeve: they're one of the fastest flag cappers in the game, and they breed like rabbits. They will break low end unit morale at the start of a game, and dominate against all light infantry and even un-upgraded marine forces, but won't be much use unless the Big Mek, a Nob Leader, and/or some ranged backup is at hand. You attach them to the Big Mek to act as a disruptive flak jacket, or use them to tie up early shooter forces.

Perks

More Choppy: +35% melee attack

Even More Choppy: +10% melee attack (total 48.5%)

More Burny: +60% flamer attack

Even More Burny: +60% flamer attack (total 256%)

More Dakka: +15% ranged attack

Even More Dakka: +20% ranged attack (total +38%)

'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp

Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33%hp (total +77.2%)

More Sluggas: FREE Slugga Squads!

Pros

Caps points about 10% faster compared with other units.

Great against light infantry, especially at the start of a game.

Reasonable against heavy infantry - in numbers.

Great at disrupting and stalling tactics.

Can use their Burnas in melee!

Cons

Dies easily to most kinds of heavy anti-infantry fire: e.g. Heavy Bolters, Big Shootas, Tau Fire Teams, etc.

Overpowered by most heavy infantry, like Bezerkers, Assault Space Marines, or upgraded Banshees - unless reinforcing like rabbits.

Wiped out going up against Necron hand to hand

Annihilated by Vehicles, turrets and all Tier 3 units.

Very poor damage against regular buildings and vehicles.

Slow moving, except when charging at the last second.

Only 10% attack bonus for second Choppy upgrade :(

	Squad Details
	Squad	4-8 Boyz + Nob Leader + Boss	+3 Big Shoota Boyz
	Cost	130 base squad	35 to reinforce 40/10 per Big Shoota
	Build times	25 sec	7.5 sec reinforce
	Armour class	235hp Inf_high (infantry armour) 313hp ('Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp) 416hp (Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp)
	Morale	300 Restores at 150.	Breaks at 30 breaks for 10 sec
	Weapon details (opens new window)

Shoota Boyz are Ork's basic shooter unit in the early and mid game. They get their name from their light machine gun, called a Shoota. Early on, Shoota rushes are deadly. Later on, their role changes to that of a support unit, covering other units but incapable of holding their own. But the amount of time you get to pull them off successfully before being out teched is brief, although its certainly improved under the 1.5x patches. While they're no where near as devastating as the Marine versions, they can still add a very nasty edge to an Ork Shoota force. Ork's population based cap can potentially let you spam the buggers, cost and micro notwithstanding. The main drawback of a Shootas is their health; the lowest this side of a Cultists or Guardians. Shootas won't last long to any serious close combat force, and they'll drop like flies to any massed infantry or modest heavy bolter force.

A few squads of these guys sweep away light infantry and help Slugga Boyz take on Marine races and even Necrons. But the dilemma for Ork is that is rarely wise to invest so much in a unit that is so quickly outmatched on its own. After Tier 2, it seems everything can wipe out a Shoota squad with little or no effort, and keeping the poor buggers alive is often more trouble than its worth for a lot of players. Provided you can keep them out of trouble, you'll still get great mileage out of them, even in Tier 2 and beyond. They're overshadowed by Wartrukks, and completely replaced by Flash Gitz after the Orky Fort Add-On.

Perks

More Dakka: +15% ranged Shoota attack

Even More Dakka: +20% ranged Shoota attack (total +38%)

Blastier: +50% ranged attack; +50% Big Shoota attack

'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp

Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33%hp (total +77.2%)

Pros

Excellent all round ranged unit in the first half of the game.
Easy to mass and overpower other armies early on.

Great damage against Infantry, Heavy Infantry and Heroes!

Good damage against light and medium buildings.

Scales up into an effective back line support unit in Tier2 thanks to Blastier Research.

Big Shootas can shoot on the move!

Cons

Less health points than Slugga Boys!

Drop like flies to any dedicated anti-infantry weapons.
Has difficulty holding off Tier 2 units directly.

Utterly annihilated by most vehicles and anti-infantry weaponry.

Effectively neutered when in close combat.

	Squad Details
	Squad	4-15 Boyz + Storm Boy Nob Leader
	Cost	160 base squad	40 to reinforce
	Build times	40 sec	7 sec reinforce
	Armour class	275hp inf_heavy_med (marine armour) 367hp ('Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp) 488hp (Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp)
	Morale	400 (breaks at 40)	broken for at least 10 sec
	Weapon details (opens new window)

Storm Boyz are Ork's Jump Troops. They unlock after you have built your second Waaagh! Banner. They restore high mobility to Ork's otherwise sluggish infantry, allowing them to torment those wretched Fleet-of-Foot elves and startle those 'orrible Marines with their Heavy Bolters. Storm Boys require a lot more micromanagement than most other Orks, and not just because they need their spells and jump buttons pressed by hand. Given they're propensity to come apart under fire, that makes them more than a little bit frustrating for many beginners (and not all that appealing to veterans, either.) Orks rely on big messy mobs and lots of unit types supporting each other. When a Storm Boy squad jumps to harass a base - they're usually all alone and often cut to ribbons by even moderate fire.

A Storm Boy is like one and a half Slugga Boys with a Rokkit strapped to their back. They score slightly better benefits from the many Ork upgrades, and they finish up with fairly decent Choppas by the end of the game. Nevertheless, they are probably the weakest jump troops in the game. While Storm Boys themselves might be a little insubstantial, not so their Nob Leader. Many Ork players prefer to use a lot of small Storm Boy squads than one big one just to get as many flying Nob Leaders into the fray. With his Power Klaw, he becomes the main damage dealer on the squad, quickly bringing down Turrets and Listening Posts. Without him, early harassment with Storm Boys is very hard at best, all but impossible at worst.

But they make a good harassment unit for lone Listening Posts or surprised artillery pieces. Enveloping targets with 15-30 Storm Boys in two squads will cause a fair bit of havoc against infantry, but you'll still be suffering high losses. Unless you're into suicide runs, you'll be constantly pulling them in and out of trouble and spending big on replacements, even when you're being successful. With the Mob Bonus, Storm Boys in large squads can really be potent, but are really best on maps where long travel times are a problem or map obstacles are an issue.

Speed and jumping is their main advantage. They start off fast, and then get even faster with the Storm Boy Speed Boost Research. But what can we say? Apart from being a useful disruption unit, you'll be hard pressed scaring too many people with Storm Boys unless you descend in big numbers and with a few upgrades tucked away. They're not as intimidating as early Raptors, and one on one, a Assault Space Marine squad will wipe the floor with them - unless you can spam their numbers.

Perks

Stikk Bombs: disruptive grenade that recharges slowly

Storm Boy Boost Speed: 30% travel speed increase, enables Turbo Boost Ability

More Dakka: +15% ranged attack

Even More Dakka: +20% ranged attack (total +38%)

'Eavy Boy Armour: +33%hp

Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33%hp (total +77.2%)

More Choppy: +35% melee attack

Even More Choppy: +35% melee attack (total +82%)

Pros

Comes with two jumps.

Moves 50% faster than most Orks, before any special abilities.

Cheapest of the game's Jump Troops.

Most numerous of the game's Jump Troops.

Good at disruption; large squad size allows Storm Boys to smother a target and enjoy Mob Bonus.

Cons

Can't attach Bosses to the squad

Even with all upgrades, overpowered by Raptors or Assault Space Marines in similar numbers.

Get eaten alive by turrets or LP2's unless a Nob Leader is present.

Pretty useless early on unless you add a Nob Leader (and a few upgrades!)

Requires a huge amount of micromanagement to keep alive, and to deploy properly.

	Squad Details
	Squad	3-5 Tankbustas + attachable Boss
	Cost	150/30 base squad	50/10 to reinforce
	Build times	20 sec	8 sec reinforce
	Armour class	360hp inf_heavy_med (marine armour) 480hp ('Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp) 640hp (Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp)
	Morale	300 (breaks at 150)	broken for at least 10 sec
	Weapon details (opens new window)

Tankbustas are, arguably, the best anti-vehicle unit in the game. Relatively cheap, fairly mobile, and easily massed; its not that hard for your Mob to unleash clouds of Rokkits pulverising vehicles, turrets and bases by the mid to late game. They're at their best demolishing lighter vehicles, which means bad news for all early game vehicles, especially for Eldar, Imperial Guard and any Landspeeder spamming space goon who thinks they might have it in the bag early on. They're not so bad at taking on bases or bigger targets either, and are essential for the Boyz to survive heavy vehicles such as Predators, Dreadnaughts and Wraithlords. They utterly stick it to the Imperial Guard's tanks and turrets.

There's really only one major downside to Tankbustas, and that is how slow Ork techs up compared to the other races. You need four Waaagh! Banners, a Boyz Hut, a Pile'O'Gunz and a Power Generator before you can even think to build one, which is a good five minutes after Eldar grav tanks or Chaos Defilers have leveled your base, killed all your Boyz and left your Orky pop cap back in Tier -1. Anti-infantry units, Harlequins and other nasty infantry counters will disrupt and wipe them out quickly too, but this is universal to all anti-vehicle infantry in the game.

If anything, Tankbustas are more robust compared to most other AV infantry in the game. That they cloak as well puts them in the top tier. They can also do okay (sorta) in hand to hand, although in practice they will lose simply because there will never be enough of them in a squad. Even the toughest mech and tank spammers must respect Rokkits popping out of mid air to smash their seemingly invulnerable wall of armour.

Tankbustas also have another useful perk, thanks to their Rokkits - they disrupt infantry quite nicely! Missile Marines do too, but when you can easily field 15-20 Tankbustas quickly and cheaply, then you can effectively disrupt lone spell casters like the Chaos Sorcerer, Farseer and even those impossible-to-target Harlequins with an endless stream of Rokkits. Even large numbers of heavy weapon infantry can be knocked off their feet. Mixing Tankbustas with Big Shoota Boys andFlash Gitz is definitely a sound move. Between the two types of units, you can field a lot of enemies and cause utter havoc in big fights. Mixed Tankbusta and Shoota Boy/Gitz forces are the closest Ork ever gets to a all-shooty force. You'll be lucky to get that chance though!

Perks

'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp

Super 'Eavy Boy Armour: +33% hp (total +77.2%)
TankBusta Infiltration Research: permanently cloaks your TankBustas.

Perks

Excellent anti-light vehicle support unit.

Great all round turret, Listening Post basher.

Good heavy vehicle, walker and base demolisher

Can disrupt infantry and spell casting Bosses

Compared to other AV infantry, fairly robust.

It cloaks!

Perks

Readily wiped out if Spotted.

Especially vulnerable to Heavy Bolters and Plasma.

Has solid melee values, but really, Tankbustas suck at close combat.

Ignored by all Choppy and Dakka upgrades :(