Company of Heroes 2 A Weeb’s Guide to Ostheer (Wermacht)

Overview of the Eastern Front Wehrmacht.

 
Ostheer (lit. East Army) is one of the original factions in the company of heroes 2, and is probably the most popular one, along with their counterpart in form of the soviet union, who just like them, are going to get a brighter spotlight, because I’m going to describe everything as best as I can. 
Wehrmacht is a faction that trades (in most cases) early game power for superior mid to late units, with a couple of specialists sprinkled around here and there. Their mainline infantry, as such is weak, and is supposed to be supported by very good support weapons, like MG42 or Grantwerfer, or by a sniper. 
But, I talked enough. Let’s just dive deeper, because I simply can’t wait to get into it oh god pls no 
 
 

Tier 0 – Kampfgruppe Headquarters

 
HQ provides you with basic things – pioneers, used to build your base, MG42 which is essential in 90% of the Ostheer’s builds, and Panzergrenadiers, who are your semi-elite stock infantry, think something like penals and conscripts. 
 
Pioneers 
Pioneers are, well… pioneers. They’re your builders. 4 men squad, armed with the weakest variant of the MP40, they’re a pretty good starting infantry unit in my opinion. Use their extended sight to spot for your advancing troops. As builders, they can build various types of defenses or cashes. Including big PP guns (LefH field arty in Storm, Joint Operations, Mechanised and Festung Support doctrines), big AT gun (Pak 43 in Community Defensive, Joint Operations and Festung Armor doctrines), bunkers, heavy bunkers (concrete bunkers either for an MG nest or repair post that cost pop, they’re exclusive to the Community Defensive doctrine), both AT and AI mines, sandbags, and razor wire. And axis complains about Royal Engineers having a lot of emplacements. Yeah, they’re doctrinal, but still. 
 
Pioneers can be upgraded with four upgrades : 
 
Flammenwerfer – It’s a flamethrower, good for getting rid of troops in heavy cover. 
 
Hazard Removal Package – AKA. Minesweeper. You can also cut razor wire with this one. Exclusive with the flamer. 
 
Veteran Squad Leader – German infantry exclusive, it adds an additional model. A pretty good upgrade, especially if you’re spamming pios with flamethrowers. Or you want to achieve Ü B E R R E P A I R and repair tanks in seconds with two vet 3 squads. Doesn’t lock out other upgrades. 
 
Pioneer Support Package – Available for Strategic Reserves doctrine, it gives them destroy cover option (look at royal engies or assault engies from UKF and USF respectively), increases their repair speed, and gives them a satchel charge. For some reason. Doesn’t lock out other upgrades. 
Oh yeah, I also should mention that with the ambush camouflage they can also sprint. 
Veterancy gives them a first aid kit, which allows them to heal in the field, more accuracy and repair speed, and vet 3 reduces their RA, weapon cooldown on top of the fact that they no longer take additional damage while repairing. 
 
 
 
MG-42 
You know, if you’d read my OKW guide, you’d probably think that I dislike MG42 at least by a bit, but no! I actually quite like it, honestly. Big arc, pretty big ROF, and API rounds. However, the damage is lacking without API, and even with those, its the third (after 50 cal and Dushka) MG with most penetration, able to barely penetrate Elefant, not to mention Jagdtiger (and if you’re saying right now that I’m out of my mind with such a comparison, don’t worry, I will try to answer this in my next text compiling various janky stuff that I’d found in the game) frontal armor, albeit having no problems with medium or light vehicles. I know it’s a weird comparison, but I SWEAR I WILL EXPLAIN THAT DON’T LEAVE! 
MG42 can be upgraded. With ambush camouflage. If you don’t like fun. 
Veterancy unlocks API rounds, increases suppression, improves rotation (major issue of the weapon), improves accuracy, even more, fire rate, and even more rotation speed. 
 
 
 
Panzergrenadiers 
Pzgrens or Pgrens are elite stock semi-elite infantry available after the “Escalate to Battle Phase 1” is done. 
Four-man squad, they’re known to pack a lot of heat with their second-best STG44 variants, bundle grenades, and surprising resilience. Hell, some build even relay on those hardy troops completely (most of them are known as T1 skip, where you skip the Infanterie Kompanie), and are often complemented with either assgrens or osttruppen in high level plays. 
But, why the Pgrens so good? First off, their weapon of choice – 4 STGs are a force to reckon with, especially if you rush them and deploy them in a rapid time (I think my record was about 3 minutes from the start). Bundle grenade, used by obers and german paratroopers is known to cause terror in the lines of allied infantry and is also able to damage ultra lights that allies may throw at you. Try to keep them in the mid-range, because the CQC allied elites might just turn them into a bratwurst. Or worse. 
As for abilities, most of them are doctrinal, and include smoke grenade (in german infantry via support package and Strategic Reserves at 2 CPs), sprint (bundled with camo ability, but available before camo is bought), mark target (again support package in the infantry), hulldown and building of trenches, barbed wire and sandbags, though I wouldn’t recommend doing that, since they get very angry when they’re told to entrench themselves. 
Pgrens can be upgraded in few ways : 
 
RPzB 54 “Panzerschreck” x2 – Panzerschreck is a handheld AT weapon, with the highest damage and pen in its class. Pretty good against armor, but you can’t replace your AT guns with them. Extra points for being an a*s and getting camo with this upgrade. 
 
G43 – Variant shared with stormtroopers, this upgrade you can get in Jeager Infantry, Lightning War, and Elite Troops doctrines. Gewehr 43s trade close-range DPS for insane accuracy on the move (the difference is roughly 2 DPS less), and it has a lesser damage dropout than the STG and a little bit more damage on the max range. I use this upgrade, and usually is my way to go for pgrens, since their move accuracy is great for chasing wounded/retreating models. 
Oh yeah, you can also interrogate dying models for a short-spanned wallhack. 
 
Ambush Camouflage – also comes with sprint. It does what it says, pgrens can camo themselves and thus choose their fight. A pretty handy and versatile ability that you can get in storm, encirclement, and jaeger infantry doctrines. 
 
Support Package – gives pgrens repair ability, mark infantry target (shared with OKW’s assault officer), and smoke grenade. 
 
Veterancy gives pgrens a lot, and I mean it. First off, vet 1 unlocks the passive combined arms ability, which increases their speed and RA (20% speed and -10% RA) when near a friendly vehicle of any player on your team. Then, they get accuracy bonuses, cooldown reduction, RA bonus, and finally more accuracy and reduction of cooldown on their bundle grenades. 
 
 
 
 

Tier 1 – Infanterie Kompanie

 
So, the T1 of the ostheer is meh. It offers a mortar, sniper, and your mainline, which is kinda bad. 
(also a side note: from this point on, I will be skipping over the abilities that repeat, with the exception being if the ability/upgrade has unique interaction) 
 
Grenadiers 
Grens are a basic mainline and only mainline that is not built directly from your HQ. They pack a punch in the long-range engagements, and in theory can at least battle tommies, who are probably the closest equivalent from the opposing faction. And that’s about it. Grenadiers’ main problem is that they don’t really scale very well into the late game, and arguably even worse than volks. True, they are good at long range, but they’re just kinda lackluster aside from that. Cons are going to outtrade you with 7men upgrade, penals will kill you, and USF and UKF mainline are going to steamroll through grens like there’s no tomorrow. 
Is there hope for them? Yes. Of course. Even if grens are the worst mainline in the game, they still can be effective, just not as versatile as saying conscripts or rifles. Just use them smartly, put them in the max range (or even in the trench or something), and just wait for the sheep to come. Also what’s worth mentioning is that their K98’s are the second-best variants of the rifle, after the ober variant. Most of the elite infantry like stormtroopers or JLI are using it. 
They can build bunkers. Because why not. With the Defensive doctrine, they can also make defenses. 
Grens has three nondoctrinal abilities, and three doctrinal: Rifle grenade (weak grenade in terms of AOE, has the biggest range as a trade-off), Panzerfaust (it’s a snare, figures), and medkits (which nobody aside from Imperial Dane uses, because he hates medical bunkers for some reason). With doctrines, grens can throw stun grenades (Elite Troops, they… stun enemies surprisingly), sprint (useful for chasing a vehicle for a snare), and hulldown a tank (in fortified armor and Festung armor, it reduces the received damage and increases range of the tank, pgrens and pios also can do that btw) 
Grens can be upgraded in a few ways : 
– MG42 LMG – pretty simple stock upgrade carried from the vCoh grens, It gives them a decent LMG that is DPS-wise very similar to M1919 for some reason. Available after the first battle phase is done. 
– G43s – Nothing to write home about here. Moving accuracy is good, but it just lacks the extra perk like the Pgren or JLI’s G43s have. 
Veteran Squad Leader – Oh. This one. Back in the day, it was absolutely the way to go in terms of upgrades, but nowadays, after its nerf the VSL Brumbar Rush strat is essentially dead. Anyway, the upgrade grants the squad one more model (with Volk STG), free medkits, and a 5% less cooldown on their rifles. If I remember things right. You can get it in the German Infantry. 
Ambush Camouflage – It’s meh on them. Okay, it still gives grens camo and first strike bonus, which is always nice, but it’s not really much use in most of the cases for them. I guess it’s useful if you want to just bonk someone with a surprise volley from an LMG or something? 
Gren veterancy is midcore. They get the aforementioned medkits, then accuracy, and then cooldown on weapons, snare, and RA bonus. 
 
 
 
Sniper 
German sniper is one of the reasons why the brits aren’t picked in the high-level plays that often. Sharpshooter possesses the highest fire rate of all snipers (if you don’t count snipers from WFA recon infantry), because of the higher body count of the allied infantry. 
When you should deploy one? The answer is quite simple, when you know that the enemy can’t counter you, or when you’re facing British early game since their sniper counters are few and far between before their T2 hits the field. 
Veterancy grants the Incendiary Explosive Rounds, which stun or outright kill models near the victim, reduces cooldown and reload, increases sight, more cooldown reduction, and reload. 
 
 
 
GrW 34 8cm Mortar 
German mortar is here, and it’s a middle-tier mortar, with mortars of USF and UKF (the one from lend-lease specifically) being underneath, and 82mm and 3-inch being better in my opinion. Aside from personal bias, jerry mortar possesses around the same AOE as the 82mm, damage like any other indirect aside from pak Howie heat barrage. I don’t really know what to say here, honestly. Erm, it’s more accurate than other mortars? I guess? Has more scatter than soviet mortar? 
Veterancy gives the mortar an ability to counter barrage, which is useless on the mortar because it will only target other mortars/light indirect. Further, you have a recharge bonus and accuracy bonus on vet 3. 
 
 
 

Tier 2 – Leichte Mechanized Kompanie

 
Tier 2 offers Ostheer with utility light vehicles with fast timing and an AT gun. You’re going to build this building 99% of the time. 
 
Pak 40 7.5cm Anti-Tank Gun 
Pak 40 is probably the best AT gun in the game. While not versatile like Zis nor mobile like 6pounder (which shares stats with Pak mostly) or Raketen, Pak has a solid stat base, and is VERY effective against every tank that allies might throw at you, maybe aside from the heaviest ones like Churchills, IS-2s, ISUs or KV tanks. 
And that’s it tbh. It’s good, gets the job done and has a very nice veterancy. Again, the theme of superior support equipment. 
Veterancy grants the Pak the ability to fire at the tank weakspot, which stuns a vehicle that was hit, increases rotation speed, and reload and penetration. 
 
 
 
SdKfz 222 Armored Car 
22. is the main source of bleed for ostheer that is usually present from the 5-minute mark (or sooner, my record was around 4 minutes). Armed with autocannon that has unknown amounts of damage (serealia doesn’t register it, and coh2 stats while outdated still doesn’t provide a clear answer. The only lead I could find is this community.companyofheroes.com – https://community.companyofheroes.com/discussion/242739/updated-ost-all-sdkfz-222-role-amp-performancefrom 2018, which apparently has a similar performance to luchs’ gun) and MG34 that sounds like 42, this thing is a death sentence for unaware players. Scout Car can also detect camouflaged units and has bigger sight than normal units. It’s a scout car after all. 
22. can be upgraded with a spotting scope in German Mechanised and Jaeger Armor doctrines. Those will increase the 222’s sight. For clarity’s sake, a scope can be installed on any vehicle, but I will just mention it here, since if I’d have to mention every time that X has spotting scope I will probably throw my craptop out of my window. Anyway, the scope works best with tank destroyers such as Stugs or Elefants. 222 gets a literal wallhack when at vet 3 with it. 
22. can deploy smoke screen and said pocket sand is available in Elite Troops, Festung Armor, Fortified Armor, Moblie Defense, and Spearhead doctrines. 
Veterancy for 222 is decent and complements its role as a scout vehicle. Infantry awareness, vet 1 ability detects enemy infantry on the mini-map. The rest of the bonuses are fairly significant. RA bonus, the accuracy of both autocannon and MG42 MG34 is increased, more sight, HP, and speed. 
 
 
 
SdKfz 251/1 Half-track 
Halftrack is the other utility vehicle. While not as lethal or fast as 222, it serves its purpose as a mobile reinforcement or healing point for your troops. Other than that, it can be used to drop off close-range units near an unsuspecting enemy position to destroy them. 
Hanomag is also home to the flamethrower upgrade, which is one of the deadlier AI that ostheer has in the early game, albeit with no AT performance, it can very quickly fall victim to an AT wall. Also, it can’t carry troops nor reinforce them. 
With doctrines, the role of the reinforcement point is strengthened. With Strategic Reserves, 251 can camo itself and later deploy arty flares, and with jaeger armor or storm doctrines, it can plant Rigel mines, which are able to destroy any light vehicle and cripple any tank heavier than that. 
Veterancy gives the 251 ability to plant OKW landmines, increases its reinforce range, speed, weapon cooldown, and sight. 
 
 
 

Tier 3 – Support Arms Korps

 
Tier 3 is offers the Ostheer three tanks : Stug III, Ostwind and Panzer IV. It is the powerspike of the ostheer, and for some players, it’s an endpoint of the factions’ tech, since they disregard Tier 4 for some reason. Maybe because they find it underwhelming, or just find medium spam more viable. Or maybe the match is simply too short to deploy two specialized tanks of T4. Who knows honestly. 
 
Ostwind nbsp;
Ostwind is an SPAA ported from vCoh, just like every ostheer unit anyway. Just like any other unit in this building, it’s decent at the AI role, especially with the only bulletin that directly affects the unit’s performance, the Massacre, since, with this bad boy, Ostwind will actually deal suppression. 
Stat-wise, Ostwind has the same HP pool as any other medium in the game (640), and actually laughable amounts of armor. Really, even the soviet 45mm will have 95% (pen chance cap btw) of penetrating the Ostwind. Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are, dear reader. 
Veterancy gives Ostwind Blitzkrieg tactics (which give the tank RA and Speed bonuses, but ONLY on the move), weapon cooldown and more AA capabilities, and vet 3 makes the tank more speedy and decreases its reload time. 
 
 
 
Panzer IV Ausf. H Medium Tank 
Wait, it’s the H variant? Huh. Didn’t know that. Explains the skirts then. 
The Panzer 4, shortened to P4 by the community, is the generalist medium tank of the Ostheer, and it specializes in survivability, boasting the most armor out of all generalists. Other than that, it’s pretty average. Its penetration is bad in comparison to the Sherman and Cromwell (T-34/76 has worse pen than P4 if you’re asking), speed is below average in stock form. 
Still, Panzer IV has its advantages. As I said, out of all generalist mediums, P4 has the highest armor value (OKW P4 aside), and it is a really good shock vehicle against inexperienced players. Good for Anti-infantry purpose, albeit it’s overshadowed in that role by the Ostwind. You know, ostheer P4 is in a pretty interesting spot, and the “Jack-Of-All-Master-Of-None” saying is fitting for the tank. 
P4 (and every tank that I will be going over after it) can be upgraded with MG42 Pintle, which improves or adds (in the case of Panther) some AI performance. 
Veterancy is pretty good. It unlocks blitzkrieg again, its armor is increased to the OKW’s P4 levels, increases turret rotation speed, and vet 3 increases reload speed and makes it faster. Finally. 
 
 
 
StuG III Ausf. G Assault Gun 
Stug III is the AT specialist of this tier, and essentially is a Pak 40 on tracks. Aside from that, it’s the other’s equivalent of the budget TD – cheap, has 55 range, and is pretty good if you need some AT and you keep getting your Paks decrewed. Similar to the SU-76, it has a lower than average (but not as low as SU) health pool, and just like Ostwind, it’s just on the threshold of having a 95% pen chance from the 45mm! Another victim of the best AT gun in the game. 
Veterancy gives the Stug the HEAT shell, which works similarly to the Pak 40 one (disables gun, turret, and vision for 5 seconds, while increasing penetration). Vet 2 increases armor so it won’t get penetrated by glorious 45mm that much, increases reload speed, and vet 3 increases reload speed even further and makes the Stug get the gear faster (or something). 
Spotting spot synergizes with the Stug pretty well, since it can reach its max firing range fairly easily. 
 
 
 

Tier 4 – Heavy Panzer Korps

 
The Heavy Panzer Korps provides access to heavy, specialized, and overpriced tanks, as well as their rocket arty. This building is required for heavy call-in tanks, such as Tiger, Tiger Ace, tank destroyer Tiger, or Tiger. Oh, I also forgot about the Tiger. 
 
All Out War  
Just a quick mention, this passive bonus is activated when T4 builds, and it reduces the reinforcement cost of pios, grens, ostrruppen, MG42s, and Paks. 
 
“Brummbär” Assault Gun 
Specialist Anti Infantry vehicle, Stupa is armed with a 150mm cannon, able to severely injure or kill infantry units and usually crush the dreams of any blober. Brumabar finally has some decent armor, which means that I will have to retire the 45mm joke, unfortunately. Well, not really, all basic at guns have trouble penetrating Brumbar, leaving tank destroyers/heavy tanks to reliably turn it into a bratwurst. 
Anyhow, Brumbar possesses the highest AOE of any tank in its class, deals deflection damage, and has a Bunker Buster Barrage, a veteran ability that allows the Stupa to barrage an enemy position from a distance. 
How to use it? Simple. Turn off the autofire and fire manually. Once you get good at tracking, you will slaughter infantry left and right. 
Veterancy unlocks the Bunker Buster Barrage, increases armor to 300 (same as the KV-2), and reduces reload. Vet 3 reduces reload time and makes it more maneuverable. 
 
 
 
“Panther” Medium Tank 
AT specialist as well as the poster child of any weeaboo or low ranked player, who rushes it for some reason. True, Ostheer P5 rushes are less common, but it probably because Panther is locked behind one more tech. 
Panther has a decent speed of 6.6, making it slightly faster than generalist mediums of the allies, and like the P4, Panther has fair frontal armor, large health pool (same as the Pershing’s), and good penetration of its main gun, at the cost of being basically useless against infantry. 
Veterancy is alright. It gives Panther Blitzkrieg, armor boost (from 260 to 286 frontally), and vet 3 makes it reload faster and improves its rotation speed. 
 
 
 
Panzerwerfer 42 Multiple Rocket Launcher 
Panzerwerfer shoots rockets, which in comparison to other rocket launchers, deal suppression, and appear to have the highest AOE of its class of conventional rocket arty. 
The barrage of the Werfer as such is deadly as well pretty good in blob suppression or outright stopping them, because, unlike the Katyusha, Werfer shoots all of its rockets at once, not in volleys. 
The veteran ability of Low Angle Rocket Barrage works similarly to the Calliopie’s barrage – all of the rockets aren’t fired at once, instead they, well fly at a low angle. I’d love to say something more about it, but until the Serealia won’t update its data my hands are tied here. 
Veterancy reduces scatter, recharge and increases the range of the barrage. 
 
 
 

Doctrinal Infantry

 
Ostheer doctrinal infantry is few and far between, but most of them (at least before the update) were dominating the meta, and putting the grenadiers, you know, the intended meta mainline into the shadow realm. Heck, I’m even kind of a victim of that (grens aren’t my favorite mainline in the game after all). Well, let’s jump into it. 
 
Halftrack Grendiers 
Grens in mechanized doctrine bundled with a 250 halftrack. They get MG42 Upgrade from the get-go and don’t receive additional damage when building bunkers. I’m only including them because the game treats them as a separate unit. 
 
Assault Grenadiers 
Early CQC infantry available in Mechanised Assault and Strategic Reserves. It’s a close-ranged squad, and you should use it accordingly. Try to get them as close to the enemy rifle infantry as possible and reign hell. Just beware, every single CQC specialist like Thomson Paras/Rangers, Shock Troops, or Commandos will ruin your thoughts about skipping Tier One, just like the fact that assgrens don’t have any AT weapons whatsoever. 
After Tier 3 is researched, they can be upgraded with an additional model, which increases their usefulness late game, as well as allowing them to cap territory faster by 5% and adds RA bonus to the squad. 
They can throw a volley of infiltration grenades (which unlike their counterpart in OKW, can be actually canceled!), and sprint. Both of those abilities are locked behind Tier 2 now though. 
Veterancy generally gives them more survivability in form of RA bonuses, lesser cooldown, greater accuracy and recharges of their sprint, and increased range of infiltration grenades. 
 
 
 
Osttruppen Squad 
The other mainline replacement, Osttruppen allowed for a lighting fast light vehicle because of their call in nature, cheapness, and spammability. Anyway, those totally willing ROA troops are available in Osttruppen and Defensive doctrines as a buildable from Infanterie Kompanie units, and in Lightning War, Festung Support in the Relief Infantry ability (which is terrible and you should probably never use it) and are remaining in Mobile Defense as call in units, mostly because of their later timing, and the fact that the ability is unique and gives you two units instead of one! 
Osttruppen on paper appears to be terrible, boasting subpar DPS of 1,86 and more than average target size. 
And they would be terrible, if not for their spammability (it’s the cheapest 6men squad in the game), and section-like accuracy bonus (whopping 300%) in cover. Also, they get a bonus accuracy (again) with their weapon slot filled, which combined with their MG42 upgrade on tier 3 isn’t that uncommon to achieve. 
Osttruppen have two abilities, which are panzerfaust (which got nerfed to its range) and medkits. 
Veterancy gives the Osttrupen even more accuracy, snare time reduction, weapon cooldown bonus, and RA bonus as a cherry on top. 
 
 
 
And here I’d post the Ban1st osttruppen guide, but since he didn’t write it yet, so yeah. Give the guy a bit of time, he’s working on it, I swear! 
 
Stormtroopers 
Good ol’ stormtroopers are an infiltration unit you can get in Elite Troops, German Infantry, and Encirclement doctrines. Brandenburgers are elite troops having very low RA initially and second-lowest in the game when at max veterancy, surpassed only by Rangers (though the difference isn’t that big, only one point. 0.52 for Rangers and 0.53 for storms). By default, they can throw incendiary and smoke grenades and sprint or lob stun grenades if Encirclement or Elite Troops doctrine is chosen. 
Boasting a tremendous amount of firepower with their upgrades, stormtroopers have a couple of them : 
– MP40 – replaced STG upgrade of the past, this variant of the MP40 is more akin to an assault rifle than their assured counterpart. It’s free and is perhaps the most powerful CQC weapon that the Ostheer has. This upgrade also unlocks the Tactical Advance (same as the PPSh Airguards or Thompson Paras), which, guess what? DOES EVEN MORE DAMAGE. Pretty much a way to go in terms of upgrades. 
– Panzershreck – It gives a squad a single Panzerschreck. Also allows them to detect vehicles. It’s pretty good for killing weakened AFVs or cashes since ambushed schrecks have increased penetration. I’d heard claims that it’s 100%, some more modest claimed that it’s 50% boost while some said that it’s 1000% boost. No idea tbh. 
– G43s – Pgren variant available in Elite Troops. It’s pretty good but why would you do that? You waste the best MP40 and munition while buying that, after all. What, you’re going to do ambushes with them? Then get jeager infantry, slap some G43s, and camo on Pgrens and you’d have the more or less same effect. 
Veterancy gives Stormtroopers passive healing, accuracy boost, RA reduction, and weapon cooldown boost. I’m also pretty sure that Vet 2 gives them sniper camo, meaning that they will be invisible for a while after leaving cover. 
 
 
 
Jaeger Command Squad 
By gods, a five men squad in Ostheer? Preposterous! 
Available in jaeger infantry doctrine, this unique unit is essentially a crossover between grenadiers (since they possess their weapon variants, rifle grenades, and snare) and G43 Stormtroopers (since they have a smoke and sprint). Armed with 3 G43s and 2 K98s, this squad is famous for being able to kill a model in a single volley, and being a pillar of my Jeager Pgren build. It’s really good, albeit not much used, since Jeager isn’t really popular right now. Maybe after the Wehrmacht mains realize that this is the most versatile squad that ostheer has… 
Anyway, Jaegers get panzerfaust, rifle grenade, flare, smoke, and ability to sprint. Flare work like the flare that OKW fusiliers or Rifles with Rifle company have. Oh, and they also get a passive camouflage. 
Veterancy wise, jaegers get a flare, accuracy bonus and healing out of combat, weapon cooldown, recharge reduction of the snare, and RA bonus. 
 
 
 
Artillery Field Officer 
Totally not voiced by the same VA as the Pgren, this fellow is available in the Assault Support, Joint Operations, and Osttruppen doctrines. This unit possesses 4 models that have assgren MP40 and the officer himself, who has his mighty luger. Aside from that, would be a lackluster unit if not for its utility. 
Speaking of, the Arty officer has whopping five abilities, and they’re usually pretty good. 
– Concentrated Fire increases the nearby units accuracy or reloads speed (for infantry and AFVs respectively) 
– Diversion – it decreases the squad’s RA while improving its accuracy on the move. Doesn’t have any cons surprisingly. 
– Coordinated Barrage – orders all indirect that the player has to barrage this place in particular. Pretty handy for getting rid of some emplacements. 
– Heavy Mortar Barrage – Vet 1 ability, it’s a mortar off map. 
– Artillery Smoke Barrage – Eight smoke shells for creating a smokescreen. Handy when dealing with MGs and whatnot. 
Veterancy unlocks the heavy mortar barrage ability, improves the range of it, some RA bonuses. Vet 3 gives better accuracy and boosts the concentrated fire ability (it gives now 25% accuracy and reload instead of 15% and 13%). 
 
 
 

Doctrinal Support Equipment and emplacements

 
I honestly was expecting a lot more over here, but no! It’s just LeFH and Pak 43. Hmmm, how do I extend this section… hmmm… oh I know! Emplacements! 
 
Bunkers 
A fortification with roughly 300 health (it’s kinda hard to estimate when your only tools are an AT gun, and since the serealia or other sites don’t include emplacements, I’m screwed here), that can be built by most infantry units, which can be upgraded with MG42, to prevent those pesky cut-offs, or reinforcement and medical station (and those upgrades aren’t exclusive anymore!). A pretty good tool for either area denial or protecting some point that you can hardly bother to defend. 
(and yes I realize that bunker is non-doc, shush) 
 
Concrete bunkers 
Concrete bunkers are exclusive for defensive doctrine and are copied assets from the original game. They have around 800 health, and cost pop caps, and come in two flavors: MG and repair bunkers. The first one is self-explanatory, it’s an mg bunker. The second will repair vehicles and ONLY vehicles, it can’t repair OKW trucks if they’re nearby. 
 
Pak 43 
Big iron available for the Festung Armor, Defensive, and Joint Ops doctrines. This is the ultimate anti-armor weapon, beaten only by the 17 pounder, which has infinite penetration (no, I won’t get tired of saying that, it’s just too ridiculous not to say it every time). What Pak has that 17pdr doesn’t hasn’t is native piercing rounds! And the fact that it can be decrewed. 
Veterancy improves grants the Pak Target Weak Point ability, which stuns the enemy tank, 100% more rotation (wtf relic), reload speed, more accuracy, and reload speed decrease. 
 
 
 
leFH 18 10.5cm Howitzer 
Ho boy, it’s everybody’s favorite arty piece, the leFH! Available in Storm, Mechanised, and Festung Support, this gun is a big indirect weapon meant to either break fortifications or kill clusters of enemy presence. But most of the time you’re going to use it to kill infantry in the enemy base or British emplacements. 
Veterancy unlocks the infamous counter barrage, and further levels reduce scatter, rotation speed, reduce recharge and improve range. 
 
 
 
MG34 
You can get it in the Osttruppen doctrine via supply drop. It’s still an MG34, so it’s automatically bad. Read my OKW guide to learn more about why I hate it so much. 
 
(yes it’s a SC from the OKW guide but considering it’s MG34, well, it probably deserves that) 
 
 

Doctrinal Vehicles

 
Ah, the doctrinal vehicles of ostheer. You love em, or you hate them. I seriously don’t really know what to write here. Erm, you need Tier 3 or 4 builds to summon them? No idea really. 
 
Panzer IV Ausf. J Medium Tank 
It’s an OKW Panzer 4, with the same armor, veterancy and worst speed of all generalists. You can get it in Strategic Reserves once the Tier 3 or 4 building is done. 
 
 
 
Panzer IV Command Tank 
One of the command units that still have an aura, this undergunned variant of P4 is available in Mobile Defense, Fortified Armor, Festung Armor, Blitzkrieg, and Mechanised doctrines. It gives nearby allied units (all of them) a 10% damage reduction. And that’s it. Veterancy is the same as the P4, and it just has a worse-performing AT weapon. It’s pretty good if you’re spamming P4s or struggle with infantry, because of its lesser scatter and reload. 
 
 
 
SdKfz 250/1 Half-Track 
It’s a german clown car. You can get it German Infantry (without anything it), Mechanised (with MG42 grens), or in the Mechanised Assualt (with pgrens inside). I don’t really know what to say about it. It’s just a german equivalent of the M3A1 scout car that Sovs have. Oh wait, it can dig in and it’s MG then will deal suppression. 
Veterancy is surprisingly good for it. Vet 1 allows for infantry reinforcement and reduces RA while improving the accuracy of the MG, vet 2 further increases accuracy and burst duration and vet 3 increases speed (also speed limit) and adds more hitpoints. I wish there was a better way to get this thing, seriously, it’s my favorite ostheer unit. 
 
 
 
SdKfz 250/7 Self-Propelled Mortar 
Mortar half-track is available from Spearhead and Festung Support. Is a mortar on tracks, and aside from being somewhat accurate, it has also a special ability inherited from the PE half-track: Warcrime rounds of F I R E. They’re pretty good against emplacements. Hell, the entire platform is a god-tier emplacement removal tool. 
 
 
 
StuG III Ausf. E Assault Gun 
The pocket Brumbar is available in the Mechanised Assault and Defensive doctrines, and it’s a potent anti-infantry tool due to its very long-range (50, in comparison the rest of the niche have either 35 or 40 range), and spammabiltiy, since the thing’s cheap as mud. It has its drawbacks though, since it’s the only slow projectile tank that doesn’t deal deflection damage, and has the lowest AOE in its class. 
Veterancy is the same as the standard Stug’s: HEAT shell (which will disable gun, vision, and turret for 5 seconds, shot always penetrates but does less damage), armor boost, reload speed increase (twice, thing become a literal autoloader at vet 3) and speed. 
 
 
 
Opel Blitz Cargo Truck 
I guess I will talk about it here. Opel is exclusive to Assault Support and it allows to generate more resources when in the lockdown, same as the 223 from OKW. Pretty good if you’re doing the T3 build consisting solely of Stugs and Ostwinds. Or if you’re Tiger rushing, whatever floats your boat tbh. 
 
 
 
Sdkfz 234 Puma Armored Car 
Available from the Mobile Defense doctrine, this thing was a nightmare of the allied players when Puma was a call-in unit. Aaaand then it got moved to the HQ and everybody forgot about the doctrine. That’s the general story of the Moblie Defense meta. Or at least what I think it was. Oh, right, Puma! It’s the OKW Puma. Same stats. Same vet. Nihil Novi. Can we move on? T-thank you. 
 
 
 
“Tiger” Heavy Tank 
Tiger is available from the Assault Support, Lightning War, Mechanised Assualt, and Spearhead doctrines. Essentially is a bigger Panzer IV – good, same as the KV-2 armor, penetration on the levels of allied tank destroyers, and has a good speed for a heavy tank, being somewhere between an IS-2 and the Pershing, which is the fastest heavy in the game. It’s a good and versatile tank, but don’t expect wonders from it, and god forbid you to do an unsupported attack with it. 
Veterancy will be described in the Tiger Ace section since they are identical (spearhead ability aside) and I don’t want to reach the sign cap here. 
 
 
 
“Tiger Ace” Heavy Tank 
It’s Tiger that comes with vet 1, vehicle crew repairs, and costing even more. Back in the day, it was also famous for killing your manpower game, but those days are long over. 
So, what does the TA has that regular Tiger doesn’t? First off, Ace has more health (same HP pool as the King Tiger), and it’s A LOT slower than the regular one. 
Veterancy is mostly the same for the tanks. Vet 1 unlocks Blitzkrieg, vet 2 increases range, improves accuracy and rotation of the turret. Also Spearhead for the Ace (which decreases the speed of the tank and locks its turret, but increases sight the hull mg deals suppression) and Vet 3 increases speed and reload speed. 
 
 
 
“Elefant” Tank Destroyer 
Famous for its Anti-Infantry performance, Elefant is, as the Germans say it, Schwere Panzerjäger you can get in Jäger Armor and Fortified Armor. It’s a walking (driving?) hulk, dealing 300 damage bonks to every unfortunate tank that will find itself in Elefant’s 70 range. Penetration of the tank is also excellent, with only Jagtiger having enough armor to maybe bounce a shot. It’s a great AT tool, but nothing more than that. It is very vulnerable to flanking and blobs of infantry with AT weapons, with most common of those being Rangers due to their increased damage on Bazookas. 
Veterancy grants the Elefant Target Weak Point ability (which works the same as the one on the Pak 43), faster reload, makes it faster and finally more accurate and reload E V E N F A S T E R. 
 
 
 

Doctrines overview.

 
Similar to the soviets, I will be going over specific doctrines since they have more doctrines. I know, backward logic but I do what I want here. 
 
Assault Support – Officer, cargo trucks, strafes, frag bomb, and Tiger. Pretty good doctrine, suitable for 2v2 and above. I saw it being used in 1v1s, but since the dynamic of the game is pretty different there (I mean by that everyone and their mother cuts your territory off), its profit is not really noticeable. 
 
Blitzkrieg – Ninja bombs on tanks, recon, tactical movement (infantry sprints all over the map), command tank, and Stuka CAS It okay. Overshadowed by most doctrines, but it’s still okay. Used mostly in high-level 1v1 or 2v2 plays I noticed. 
 
Close Air Support – Recon Pass, Suplies, AI strafe, AT strafe and Stuka Bomb. It’s meh, but not as terrible as the Luftwaffe support. 
 
Defensive – Suited for, well, defensive play. Osttrupen, fortifications Pak43, Stug E and sector arty. Good doctrine for defensive osttuppen playstyles. 
 
Elite Troops – Stun grenades, G43s, Pocket smoke, Stormtroopers, and Tiger Ace. Had OP ability in the past, it got nerfed and it’s now hardly ever used in 1v1s. 
 
Encirclement – it has one ability that is very important – close the pocket, and the rest of the abilities support that one. Also has camo on infantry, and it is a doctrine where Stormtroopers debuted. Off meta in 1v1s. 
 
Festung Armor – It’s kinda bad. Smoke is nice, hulldown is mostly useless, Pak is also nice and command tanks is meh. Also, Gustav is here. 
 
Festung Support – Another fortress commander, this one has mortar half-tracks, smoke bombs, relief infantry, and arty. Lots of it. Even worse than Armor. 
 
Fortified Armor – Once upon a time, I was playing a 2v2 on Minsk Pocket as USF with urban assault. It was all going smooth: I got my Sherman up and running, Rifles are vetted and with bars, even rangers made a joined up. Then, in the closing seconds of the match, I got jumpscared by an Elefant, who was in the hulldown. But holding a VP with just an Elefant wasn’t really good for the guy and the lost. Oh, the doctrine! It’s bad. Go with Jaeger Armor. 
 
German Infantry – It was meta until very recently, but the 5men grens got nerfed and it was sent to the shadow realm of okay doctrines. It’s still good for joking around with stormtroopers in clown cars though. 
 
German Mechanized – It’s kinda meh. Service, but nothing special, maybe aside from the spotting scope and unique grenadiers. 
 
Jaeger Armor – Meta doctrine, this one offers Rigel mines that nobody uses, recon plane, spotting scope, AT strafe and Elefant. Don’t use it in 1v1s though. It’s kinda bad there. 
 
Jaeger Infantry – It presents a lot of options to screw your enemy hard. Camoed mgs, sprinting pgrens bombing some random mg. Not meta, but definitely very strong. Also, it has Light Arty barrage and AT skill planes. 
 
Joint Operations – Hey you! Yes, you! Do you like the defensive doctrine in OKW? Yes? Well fear not, because with Joint Ops you can essentially have the same strategy, but with Ostheer! Amazing, isn’t it? There’s also an officer and LAB. 
If you see one in team-game, he hate your arty with every single cell of his body *wink wink* 
 
Lightning War – Another doctrine named after bewegungskrieg Blitzkrieg, this one I think still is the most popular ostheer doctrine. Or at least it was for a while. It offers G43s, sprint, osttruppen reinforcements (yaaaaay!), CAS, and a Tiger as a cherry on top. It’s actually decent in 1v1s. 
 
Luftwaffe Supply – this one is bad. Yes, you can spam supply drops, but most of the abilities are bad or indifferent, often better commanders. The only unique abilities, medical supplies, and incendiary bombs are bad, with the ladder being especially bad. 
 
Mechanized Assault – pretty good doctrine for skipping tier 1, even after the nerfed that assault grens got. It also has 250 halftrack, so automatically is better than half of the doctrines here. Also Tiger I guess. 
 
Mobile Defense – Counterpart of the soviet Lend-Lease, it’s pretty good, and will probably see more action since osttruppen in defensive and osttruppen doctrines were nerfed. Also Puma. 
 
Osttruppen – Speaking of, this doctrine supports more aggressive osttruppen builds with officer and railway arty. Also free AT gun and MG34! 
 
Spearhead – I don’t really know why, but I’m always confusing this one with Lighting War for some reason. It’s pretty good against turtling brit players with mortar half-tracks and frag bombs. Also Tiger. 
 
Storm – Jaeger Infantry, but with even more cruel options to screw the enemy! Like arty, or rigles, Or 50kg bomb. 
 
Strategic Reserves – I have no idea why, but every new player just gravitates to this doctrine like a moth to a flame, and I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because of assgrens? Or maybe a Tiger Ace? I have no idea why. 
 
 

Do and dont’s

 
– DON’T STALL FOR PANTHER. Just don’t. You won’t be needing a panther to kill a T-70 or a Stuart. 
 
– Two AT guns are a standard. 
 
– Support your infantry with MGs. 
 
– You often want to get 222 as fast as possible. 
 
– Use Osttruppen in heavy cover. Also, they can dig trenches. Use them, they’re good. 
 
– Assgrens are a good idea in smaller maps, like lost glider or rec… what do you mean, those maps got removed?! They’re good in the farmonvile approach? I guess? Also, the same strat as with sturmpios, wait for the enemy to come for an ambush opportunity. 
 
– Panzer IV, despite what I wrote about it, it’s a serviceable tank. You can even blob it if you want to. 
 
 

Build Orders

 
The most generic of the generic builds : 
MG42-T1-Gren-Gren-Gren-T2-222-Pgren-AT-AT-T3-P4 go from there. 
 
T1 skip without doc units : 
MG42-Pio-MG42-T2-Pgren-Pgren-222-AT-AT-T3-P4 
 
Assgren (strat reserves) Build : 
MG42-AG-AG-AG-T2-HT/222-AT-AT-T3-P4 
 
Sniper Start (effecive againts brits or non-mech/pathfinder USF) : 
T1-Sniper-Gren-Gren-Gren-Gren-T2-222-AT-AT-PG (if you want to)-T3-P4 
 
Ban1st’s defensive osttuppen build : 
Ost-Ost-Ost-Ost-T2-PG-PG-StugE-T4-PzV. 
 
Ban1st’s osttruppen build (spammy, but works) : 
Ost-Ost-Ost-Ost-Ost-Ost-T2-Air drop (man the weapons)-T3-Ostwind-Stug-Ostwind-Stug 
 
 

Further Sources

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-CgkYejLrAHelping Hans’ bootcamp concerning ostheer. It a bit outdated, but most of the info should still apply. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGD1lnlspk4Assgren build by Autobahn Bisquick. 
 
As for the sources that I had used for the guide, it’s the usual trio of www.coh2.org – https://www.coh2.org/guides/29892/the-company-of-heroes-2-veterancy-guide#1236, coh2.serealia.ca – https://coh2.win/. 
 
 

Outro

 
And so, that marks the end of the exhaustive guides for the factions! Man, it’s has been a long ride, and honestly I learned a lot while doing research for it. 
As per usual, thank you for reading through it, and stay tuned, because if I’m not burnt out yet I might prepare an articule about random jank that I’d found in the game, and then something really special! 
Blah blah check out my other guides. 
 

This is all for Company of Heroes 2 A Weeb’s Guide to Ostheer (Wermacht) hope you enjoy the post. If you believe we forget or we should update the post please let us know via comment, we will try our best to fix how fast is possible! Have a great day!