There are several types of units in Company of Heroes 3 and each one of them further has subtypes that are designed for a specific action on the battlefield.
You cannot just rush a random unit to the front lines. You need to know beforehand all of the Company of Heroes 3 unit roles so that only the best units are commanded to roll out.
The Infantry unit, for example, is the most basic unit you are going to start the game with. However, it has four subtypes with four different unit roles. You will not want to send out an Assault Infantry to deal with heavy armor. You will need its Anti-Tank Infantry subtype.
The following are all of the available units in Company of Heroes 3, their subtypes, and what each unit does.
- Infantry
- Line Infantry
- Engineers
- Assault Infantry
- Anti-Tank Infantry
- Recon
- Team Weapons
- Heavy Machine Guns
- Anti-Tank Guns
- Mortars
- Light Vehicles
- Armored Cars
- Halftracks and Support Trucks
- Heavy Armor and Tanks
- Artillery
Infantry
Line Infantry
The typical infantry unit you start with is Line Infantry. Even though the Line Infantry has pretty standard weapons that don’t deal much damage but you can always upgrade it.
Each member in your Line Infantry carries his own weapon and this includes one of the three conventional weapons: grenades, snares, and rifles. The Line Infantry might not seem much destructive in the beginning but they are the most adaptable and upgradable unit.
Grenadiers
Grenades can be detrimental and deal a lot of damage if used correctly. The best strategy to use grenadiers is to deploy them when your enemies are crammed together and they don’t have enough time to dodge the attack.
Keep in mind that if you don’t use grenades smartly and your enemies dodge them, you will end up draining your munition for nothing. Grenades cost munition and they instantly kill an infantry model with full health.
While deploying grenades, you should avoid players with cover and look for players that don’t have much experience playing the game as they won’t be able to dodge the attack. Players with protection especially the green cover are less prone to damage by a grenade.
Snares
Snares have short-range warheads known as Panzerfaust which are anti-tank weapons. A Fire Panzerfaust costs you 25 munitions to activate and you can select the enemy’s vehicle on which you wish to fire it.
Snares might not seem sufficient to subdue the enemy but they are extremely useful because they make the enemy’s vehicle crawl.
If you wish to completely cripple the enemy’s engine, look for vehicles that have less than 50% HP as they are already weaker and you can also target the light vehicles. Heavy vehicles like tanks and Behemoths such as the ISU-152 or IS-2 are resistant to anti-tank damage so it is not wise to target them.
Capturing Points
Line Infantry also has the ability to act as capping units that hold the territory. If any of your units die, Line Infantry can hold the fort and protect themselves until help arrives.
Screening
Due to their mobility, Line Infantry can act as Screening agents. They can look for threats and allow you to focus fire on the enemy. You can track down your enemy’s infantry by positioning your Line Infantry in such a way that they can be your eyes everywhere.
After positioning your Line Infantry and tracking down the enemy, you can use a heavy machine gun to play offense and a snare to play defense.
Flanking
Using Flanking Infantry, you find your enemies’ weak spots and attack where they are the most vulnerable as it lets you avoid cover, kill an enemy, and snare a tank.
Retreating, Unit Preservation, and Manpower Bleed
Make sure that you don’t cripple your Manpower income while reinforcing infantry squads that are too expensive to afford. Try to keep veteran units because their experience renders them much more effective than unvetted and fresh troops.
Retreat immediately when your squad is in danger and reinforce as needed because reinforcing will cost you much less than replacing a whole new squad.
Cover
Building cover is vital for your defense as it protects you from damage bringing you closer to winning. Covers include:
- Red Cover: The unit is relatively exposed and takes more damage.
- Yellow Cover: The unit takes 50% damage
- Green Cover: The unit takes 25% damage and less accuracy
If you are at a lower elevation, beware of enemies that are at a higher elevation as this will render your cover useless. Similarly, you can also target enemies by blowing their covers if you have the height advantage.
Building covers are effective even at point-blank ranges, although the infantry squad covers go in vain at short ranges.
Weapon Range
A weapon’s damage is generally proportional to how close you are but this is not as simple. A light machine gun is relatively less effective at close range than at long range but Submachine guns are exactly the opposite. Meanwhile, early assault rifles are incredible at medium range as compared to close or long range.
You need to know your units in order to have an outlook on their weapon ranges such as for close-range combats, US riflemen are more inclined but Wehrmacht Grenadiers are the opposite.
Engineers
Engineers are valuable as they can help you repair vehicles, build a defense, look for green cover, make use of barbed wires, and deploy mines.
The engineer unit helps you build a green cover and place it in such a way that the enemy cannot use it due to the placement of Barbed wires.
If you have spare munition, build mines and use them to inflict damage to vehicles as well as models and whole squads.
Assault Infantry
Assault Infantry units include weapons like Thompson SMGs, STG-44s, and Grenadiers with MP40 upgrades that are deadly in close-range combat.
The best strategy to take advantage of these Company of Heroes 3 unit roles is to use Assault Infantry is to get in close range of the enemy using an ambush, smoke barrage, or a sneaky flank and then deliver your deadly damage (as in focus fire) without making yourself vulnerable.
Anti-Tank Infantry
Anti-Tank Infantry is a close-range performer that can tackle light vehicles and also cause some damage to heavy vehicles. This includes Infantry Sections with Boys AT Rifles, Panzerschreck, and Jaeger Squad that you can send after a snared vehicle to finish the job. AT Infantry does not have the advantage of speed and agility so it’s wise to couple it with other AT weapons.
Recon
The recon units are enablers that can play on the defensive as well as the offensive. Most of them have only one function to perform such as identifying an attack’s origin or saving your tanks from Anti-tank guns.
Recon units include Kettenkrads that are exclusively used for capping vehicles. Coupling a good reckon with suitable artillery and mortars will help you overcome the damage and initiate a well-planned counterattack.
Team Weapons
Team Weapons are an integral part of your support team but at the same time, they can hinder your progress by being slow or by being stolen.
Team Weapons are vulnerable against the Artillery as Artillery units can cripple it by blocking off a broad area. Be careful regarding your Team Weapons as your foes can steal them and turn them against you and then your only options will be to either destroy them or steal them back.
Heavy Machine Guns
If you wish to deal immense damage to a whole squad or even more than one squad, HMGs are your go-to. Here’s what these Company of Heroes 3 unit roles do.
There will be two types of HMGS: Wide-arc HMGs that have lesser mobility and agility but cover more ground, and Narrow-arc HMGs that have greater mobility and agility but cover lesser ground.
You can effectively use HMGs for suppression, garrisoning buildings, stopping enemy infantry and even replacing manpower by holding a flank.
Anti-Tank Guns
Anti-Tank guns are used to take out enemy tanks and they work effectively at long ranges. They have lesser mobility and might hinder your progress as they can’t retreat, they can only be reversed.
Mortars
Mortars can deal immense damage to the enemy but they have limited mobility. You can use mortars at long ranges and couple them with your recon units.
Smoke
Mortars can be best used to deploy smoke as smoke can block the line of sight of the enemy unit. You can use the smoke to hide and attack the enemy’s infantry.
Light Vehicles
Armored Cars
Light vehicles can act as an offense by killing stuff and also as support by acting as recon. They can also be used to deploy smoke which blinds the enemy. They can be destroyed to bits by AT weapons so you should be careful when to use them.
During the beginning of the battle, light vehicles should be put to use because the enemy has little to no AT weapons. Then, as the fight progresses and the enemy has acquired AT weapons, light vehicles should be used rarely.
Halftracks and Support Trucks
Halftrack and Support Truck units are used to provide mobility, reinforcement, and healing. They can heal your troops on the battlefield instead of making them retreat at the risk of losing the battle.
These are probably the most important Company of Heroes 3 unit roles you need to know to survive each skirmish.
Heavy Armor and Tanks
Heavy vehicles are much deadlier than light vehicles. These include vehicles like the Panzer IV, Crusader, Bruumbar, StuG, and Grant. All these vehicles are heavily armored but they have different characteristics as well. Some are anti-infantry, some have immense penetration value, and some have larger AoE.
Armor and Penetration
While using any weapon it is vital to consider the enemy’s armor and your penetration value. Long-range weapons like Anti-Tank guns have a greater penetration rate when used from far behind and short-range weapons like Bazookas penetrate massively when used close up. While attacking a vehicle, aim for the rear armor because it is weakest as compared to the front and side armor.
Artillery
Artillery units have less mobility but they are highly effective against Team Weapons and Infantry. This unit should be kept in the backlines and coupled with Recon.
Recon units can put spotters for Artillery to attack. At the front, Artillery can be wounded easily and die so it’s wise to keep them protected at the back.
