The Last Stand asks three players to hold out through 20 waves, and Deep Silver said on November 5 that the mode returns in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. Developer KING Art Games showed it in a 30-minute Battlefield Report. The game launches December 3, 2026, on PC at $59.99, and the $89.99 Commander Edition unlocks it on November 30. Both are 10% off as pre-orders.
Each player takes a Commander, which is a powerful hero unit, and the loop is survive, upgrade, repeat. A Commander can gain up to 30 levels in one playthrough, unlocking skills and equipment along the way. Between waves the team collects health supplies, and players have to balance speed, survival and control of key positions.
New this time is the Strikeforce, which is a group of up to four Companion units led by each Commander. Those units have their own specializations to unlock. A full team is three Commanders and 12 Companions.
The same 20 waves Relic set in 2009
Relic Entertainment added The Last Stand to Dawn of War II on October 14, 2009. That version also took three players and 20 waves, in an arena called The Bloodied Colosseum. Each player ran a single hero: a Space Marine Captain, an Eldar Farseer or an Ork Mekboy. Seventeen years later the wave count has not moved. Deep Silver calls this a long-awaited return, and the record I can find for Dawn of War III in 2017 lists no such mode.
KING Art, based in Bremen, takes over from Relic here. It made the 2020 strategy game Iron Harvest for Deep Silver, and this is its first Dawn of War. Wikipedia's entry records that the team wanted the mode less hero-centric and less like a MOBA, which is a team game built around one hero per player. On paper the Strikeforce does that, since the player now runs a small squad around the Commander. This is a mode for people who would rather tune a build than follow a campaign.
Launch brings five Commanders across all four factions. The count is five because the Space Marines field two Chapters, the Blood Ravens and the Dark Angels; the other factions are the Adeptus Mechanicus, Necrons and Orks. More Commanders follow as free DLC. Deep Silver's Year One plan lists free updates with Crusade Mode, new maps, new modes and a Mission Editor, plus two story expansions and a new playable faction. Those remain promises until they ship.
Dawn of War IV launches December 3, 2026, and the 10% pre-order discount on Steam ends the same day.
