S Tier - insanely powerful in every situation

Double Attack - Unit gets 2 attack actions per turn. - godly ability as on best tactical bombers you can basically one

turn kill targets, but works on fighters, tanks, infantry, basically anything. It's almost like having another free copy of

a unit. Limited only by the presence of viable enemy units you can attack in a turn. Also increases the amount of

experience gained by the unit for obvious reasons.

Fast Deployment - Can unmount from organic transport and fire after movement - absolutely changes the way

artillery and infantry can operate, providing huge movement savings. Works for all units with organic transport, but

there is a trait that does the same if this idea sounds appealing to someone.

Ignores Entrenchment - Ignores enemy entrenchment (unit's accuracy is not affected by enemy's entrenchment

level) - with this any unit attacks at full strength regardless of issues with terrain. After playing for a while it became

one of my favorite heroes, since especially for vehicles this is huge and allows them to clear close terrain. Infantry

with Ignores Entrenchment is basically pioneers, so it's not uncommon to have super pioneers in the form of

Grenadiers or Azul Infanterie.

No Retaliation - Enemy units don't shoot back when attacked by a unit with this trait. - infantry with this trait can

capture cities with little or no support. Very powerful as it not only reduces losses, but allows to take otherwise

impossible fights.

Rapid Fire 2x - Makes 2x more shots than normal and consequently deals 2x damage to the target. This trait does

not affect ammo spending, the unit still consumes 1 ammo per attack. - convinced to move up a tier in line with

Double Attack being very similar. Better on tanks, recons, infantry and AT guns, while Double Attack is better on

planes, artillery and AA guns since it allows to spread the firepower between targets, while with Rapid Fire 2x you
usually want to concentrate it on one target.

Steamroller - Any kill triggers an overrun - has to be earned the hard way, but it then becomes a powerhouse,

chaining kills regardless of terrain type.

Zero Slots - Unit slot cost is reduced to zero - arguably the best hero in the game. Applied to a 21 cm artillery or

some other slot intense unit can allow for 2-3 more units, adding half-tracks for all your infantry or bringing all the

bridge engineers, recon planes and other 1 slot support you ever dreamed of.

A Tier - make game changing differences for units

Butcher - +5 attack against infantry units - on units with high soft attack it can be insane, especially on tanks where it

further helps trigger multiple overruns. As it is often more valuable to just take out infantry instead of capturing it,

this trait is better than Tank Killer.

Camouflage - Can only be detected by recons or adjacent ground units - AT and AA support units love this due to AI

limitations, but any unit can use this hero, just not all will benefit from the ability equally.

Crippling Blow - +5 attack against full strength units - very universal attack bonus, great for tactical bombers. The

first hit is often the most important one as it's done by the best unit, so this greatly helps if no support fire is available

to soften up the target.

Envelopment - Prevents enemy units from retreating, so they surrender instead. - more prestige is always welcome,

as is easier unit capturing, especially for those who do it on higher difficulty. Combined with Overwhelming Attack

it's S+ tier no questions asked and best combo there is, causing instant surrenders of unfortified units that are dealt

damage and gaining insane amount of equipment and prestige, easily making a difference between a net gain or loss

at the end of a scenario.

Exterminator - +5 attack against units below 50% strength - I've heard you like overrun, so I've added more overrun

to your overrun. Less useful as time goes by and units become more powerful, but shines on slightly weaker units and

early into the war.

losses so efficiently is a godsend.

Lethal Attack - Half of suppression caused by this unit is converted to kills - AA's best friend. Not so amazing with

AA veteran trait. Also great on tactical bombers.

Lightning Attack - Immune to all types of support fire - saves a lot of tactical preparation before attacking. Best on

tanks, tactical bombers and infantry as these three are most often fighting against support fire.

On The Roll - For each enemy unit killed in the current battle, this unit gets +1 attack till the end of the battle -

those overruns just got out of control even more. It just requires a specific tanks to work, with lots of ammo and good

initial stats.

Overrun - Can destroy ("overrun") weakened enemy units without spending move or attack actions. The way it

works is, after an overrun attack, move and attack actions of the unit will be replenished. - huge ability and giving it

to units other than tanks can be amazing.

Overwhelming Attack - Any damage to enemy units is enough to force the to retreat. - seems great, but inn rare

cases can be liability more than a benefit. However, for capturing units it's ideal, especially with combination with

other heroes.

Rapid Fire 1.5x - Makes 1.5x more shots than normal and consequently deals 1.5x damage to the target. This trait

does not affect ammo spending, the unit still consumes 1 ammo per attack. - great bonus, that's a tank's best friend for

overrun purposes.

Reduced Slots - Unit slot cost is reduced by 50%- can save enough prestige to field another unit or two. Ranked A

only since there's an even better variant.

so not something I'd be willing to rank S, as I'm just doing the capturing as a side activity anyway.

Shock Tactics - When attacking, pins enemy unit in place by destroying all its movement points. - great for capturing,

but can be a liability sometimes when you want the unit to retreat. Very similar to Envelopment, but actually better

(I'd rate it A+), since it applies to a wider selection of units. Envelopment has to be used on the specific unit making

the attack that would force the retreat, while Shock Tactics can be applied before, by for example artillery or strategic

bombers and allow other units to deal the finishing blow.

Vigilant - Prevents enemies from using unit's Close Defense rating - after a bit of digging in stats, it does make

combat much, much easier and safer for any tank.

B Tier - efficient heroes that provide measurable bonuses

Aiming Assistance - +10% accuracy to all adjacent friendly units - accuracy is king and turning another unit into a

semi-recon can quickly add up over the course of a scenario and campaign. It also helps the unit gain experience from

the assistance.

Artillery Support - Provides support fire to adjacent friendly units attacked by enemy's unarmored units (with 'Soft'

target type). - very useful since any form of support can really help units from being exposed to major losses, but has

to be put on a unit that is going to be actively supporting infantry anyway (Panzer IIIN for example?). On largest

guns that just have Counter Battery Fire seems like a waste actually, since I tend to put those on hills or further back,

so the ability would not trigger.

AT Support - Provides support fire to adjacent friendly units attacked by enemy's armored units (with 'Hard' target

type).- same as Artillery Support, with the added bonus of working nicely on towed artillery early game and on tanks

perfectly the entire game.

Bridging Unit - Acts as a bridge when positioned on a river - now that's some major mobility bonus for the rest of the

army! The only reason I'm not putting it higher is because not all maps are structured in a way to utilize a unit like

that. But then you might just not deploy it for such scenarios.
Close Combat - Has access to enemy unit's Close Defense rating when fighting in close terrain. - quite an

improvement, but armored units don't want to fight in Close Terrain anyway when possible.

Consolidator - Can consolidate more than normal strength into a single unit, thus increasing maximum overstrength

which the unit can have by +5 - can create huge super-units, but at a massive prestige cost, as it works best on high

power units. If combined with Reduced Slots it can easily be A tier and with Zero Slots clear S tier.

Counter Battery Fire - Will fire at any attacking artillery unit within its firing range. - there are good artillery units

that do not have this and could certainly benefit from the ability, but light artillery will not contribute much.

Double Move - Units gets 2 move actions per turn, without increasing the number of movement points. - tactical

bomber best friend. can allow to move after bombarding, so another unit can finish the job. Double Move and Double

Attack on one unit is just silly.

Double Support - Provides support fire twice for each enemy attack - whatever this unit supports will almost never be

actually efficiently attacked, but I like it on units with at least 6 ammo to be really effective. With 4 it's still nice, but

can run out early in a pinch and actually be counter productive.

Fast Rebase - Aircraft does not spend movement actions on rebase - I initially thought the effect is just going to be a

few extra attacks for aircraft in the course of each scenario. Boy I was wrong! The ability to quickly transfer fighters

on large maps can make a difference between getting bombarded for a few turns or not. I can also see this great on

my own bombers that can now respond to threats appearing out of nowhere - especially experienced hero enemy units

that still remain squishy against a Ju 87.

First Strike - Unit always attacks first - I would prefer them to not shoot back at all, but this is still great. Best on

fighters, tanks and AT guns, due to the way shooting first often results in devastating losses and prevents the enemy

from hitting back efficiently.

Flag Killer - +5 attack when attacking enemy flags - infantry best friend, a point can be made about strategic bombers

and artillery as well.

Ignores ZOC - Ignores zone of control (ZOC) projected by enemy units when moving - sweet mobility add-on to any

vehicle that can help encircle targets and reach artillery hidden behind fortifiations.

Legendary - Generates 50 prestige per turn - that's a lot of prestige. Fixed in the latest version after some issues
earlier.

Phased Movement - Can move in steps within its movement point limit. This ability also allows the unit to sneak

through enemy's zone of control. - best tank movement bonus, also nice on cavalry units.

Precision Weapon - +20% base accuracy - great, but gets less impactful as experience grows.

Provocator - Adjacent enemies attacking other friendly unit will attack this unit instead - best way to escort artillery

and bombers. Also a way to set up semi-ambushes. Put it on the tank with heaviest armor possible or on infantry that

will always stick to close terrain.

Recon - Enemy units adjacent to recon are attacked by other friendly units with +10% accuracy (+3% for each of

recon's stars) - adds up nicely, more recons are always welcome. Another good way to earn extra experience on

units.

Tank Killer - +5 attack against tanks - always good, on any type of unit, but for obvious reasons tanks, AT and

tactical bombers use it best. In AO 1939 don't be surprised in the Bzura scenario however with a particular opponent

who can surprise panzers like crazy... As the name suggests it works against tanks, not all hard targets.

Unyielding - Unit cannot be suppressed by enemy fire - quite good for taking out fortified cities and other close

terrain positions behind an artillery wall.

C Tier - situational usefulness, does not hurt to have them on a unit

Ambusher - Always triggers an ambush when attacked - amazing defensive bonus, but the question is will the unit get

attacked in the first place, so not reliable enough.

Bunker Killer - +5 attack against structures - very nice in base game, but in DLC most structures are to limit access

to allied deployment zones and not actually meant to be attacked... so far by AO 1939...

Cheap Replacements - Replacements in battle cost as on deployment phase - can save quite some prestige, but I

prefer just not to incur many losses.

City Fighter - Combat bonus in city terrain - map dependent and mostly for infantry anyway.

Combat Luck - Combat results can never be worse than predicted - depends on settings. I found it to be useful on
fighters to minimize the need of spending time on replacements.

Distraction - Enemy units next to this unit do not provide support fire - for fighters to allow safe bombardment and

maybe recons or infantry to disable AT guns.

Double Mass Attack - When participation in Mass Attack, contributes double effect. - while nice, it's still mostly just

the case of initiative, so not that critical.

Entrenchment Killer 2/3/4 - Destroys 2/3/4 points of entrenchment with every attack - artillery already does the same

thing and other units aside from planes would get shot back. For fighters that after getting air dominance or at least

superiority ten to get bored and start looking for easy targets and also for tactical bombers as there not always will be

a viable exposed unit to take down.

Expert Recon - Provides 3x accuracy bonus on adjacent enemy units - not tested, however the bonus seems a bit

overkill.

Expert Support - +20% accuracy when providing support fire - quite a large bonus, can see the crippling potential on

high power support units.

Famous - Generates 20 prestige per turn - that's a lot of free prestige. Gets better the higher the difficulty and the

longer the campaign.

Fast Learner - 2x faster experience growth - there are units such as fighters or AA/AT guns that are notorious for

slow experience growth, helps new units catch up to the rest of the core.

Fearsome Reputation - All adjacent enemy units get +3 suppression at the beginning of their turn - good

siege/surrender ability, but since you need to stay next to the unit, it's not always going to affect multiple ones when it

is most effective best for either infantry or heavily armored tanks.

Field Repairs - Restores one point of strength every turn the unit did not attack. Applies to vehicles. - prestige savings

when moving from one target cluster to another. Not that much to remove replacement entirely, but will help heal

those 1-2 power hits. Also, by the end of a scenario with forces spread out, it is not impossible to heal even more if

there is not much to attack. Can also help use captured units with very limited parts, as it does not use the up. Does

not work on planes.

First Aid - Restores one point of strength every turn the unit did not attack. Applies to infantry. - same as Field
Repairs. On one side arguably better, since infantry is more prone to damage, but it also does not have the same

benefit of reparing units with limited parts.

Fierce Fighter - +1 attack for each adjacent enemy unit - requires some foresight in unit placement, but can nicely

add up. Mostly for gorund units, but a fighter can get a nice bonus in an enemy swarm as well.

Leadership - +1 initiative to all adjacent friendly units - will come into action often, but with a tiny benefit. Good on

support units as it can be provided from the second line.

Liberator - 2x prestige for all flags captured by this unit - another prestige generator, but a bit less reliable than most.

The high roll on a capture streak for recons is great however.

Low Altitude Attack - Anti-Air units with this trait can access Close Defense of attacking aircraft with the same trait.

- can provide significant upgrade to 88mm AA guns, but it all depends on the scenario and situation.

River Assault - Ignore combat penalties from rivers - bridge engineers are weak anyway and other units should for

the most part try avoiding rivers, but it's often not possible, so this has the potential to come up often.

Superior Maneuver - Gets +1 initiative for each point of movement speed advantage over the enemy - for recons and

fast tanks, but targets it works against will rarely shoot first anyway.

D Tier - very marginal usefulness

Aggressive Counterattack - +3 attack when defending - can help on tactical bombers with better air attack (Bf 110),

or just as a general buff to any unit, but that's just a basic passive.

Avenger - Gets attack bonus for each point of lost strength - you really do not want to take losses and even if you do,

you probably do not want to be attacking with a severely wounded unit. Works nicely on overstrengthened units

and... armored trains that attack as a single unit regardless of damage.

Evasive - Enemy units get -10% accuracy when shooting at this unit - slightly smaller losses, but that's not really too

amazing.

Fighter Support - Provides support fire against enemy fighters attacking friendly bombers. Will also intercept enemy

bombers attacking ground units in adjacent hexes. - air attack of tactical bombers on German side is not that
amazing, but this has potential in an allied campaign.

Ignore Mass Attack - Immunity to Mass Attack - will come in handy once in a blue moon.

No Retreat - Unit never retreats - can sometimes help hold the front line, but rare to mater at all.

Prudent - Gets defense bonus for each point of lost strength - meh. There are some tricks to that with

overstrengthened units, but unless they also have Zero Slots, they will be expensive to use.

Readiness - Strikes first when defending - seems like only a thing on low defense high attack AT units (Marders for

example)

Resilient - Cannot lose more than half strength in one go - very situational, but I can imagine how it may save a unit

at least once per game.

Skilled Recon - Provides 2x accuracy bonus on adjacent enemy units - has to go D - I ranked Expert Recon at C.

Skilled Support - +10% accuracy when providing support fire - one rank below expert variant, can be received as

part of the awards system for units.

Smart Entrenchment - Gets 2x bonus from entrenchment - in some defensive conditions, maybe. However scenarios

for Germany are mostly being on the attacking side, even later in the war.

Survivor - As long as this unit has more than 1 strength, it will always survive enemy attack - nice, but mostly earned

by messing up and having your unit attacked multiple times.

Tenacious Defender - +1 defense for each adjacent enemy unit - too situational for my tastes, unless maybe for

artillery just for the sake of it and recons that might get surrounded.

Thorough Preparation - Initiative bonus +5..+1 on the first five turns of every mission - good for those fast

breakthroughs in inital turns, but I prefer permanent bonuses.

F Tier - probably better traded for prestige...

Fast Entrenchment - Gets 2x entrenchment speed - I mean, in defensive scenarios where you need to relocate

quickly... maybe...

Fast Retreat - +2 movement points when unit's strength is 33% from maximum - just no.
Ferocious Defense - Entrenchment of this unit cannot be ignored - how often do you realistically expect to defend

against AI pioneers?

Learns From Mistakes - 3x experience for suffered casualties - ugh... Fast Learner is nice, this is just painfully slow

and hard to reliably get any usage of.

No Surrender - Unit never surrenders - it's much better to just avoid positioning units badly.

Safe Transit - Takes only 50% damage when caught in organic transport - or it's easier to just escort transports

properly.

Sixth Sense - Immune to ambushes - if I were the AI, it would be S tier for me.

Untested - I had not encountered them, they do not work, or I have too little data to justify a rank

AA Support - Provides support fire against air to ground attacks. Will shoot at any fighters and bombers attacking

friendly ground units within its firing range. - does not sound too useful, air attack of non-AA units is not too

amazing

Aimed Shot - not working

All Weather Combat - not working, but in theory amazing

Block Supply - not working

Deep Knowledge - not working

Defender Of People - not working

Evacuation - not working

Evasion - not working

Extended Support - not working

Ignore Ground State - not working

Last Stand - Ignores all penalties from encirclements - if it allows to resupply as well then it's amazing. If not it's F

tier. Did not roll it, so not sure.

Mine Sweeper - Instantly clears a minefield when given an attack order on minefield's hex - default for pioneers, but
never saw this given on a hero. Very marginal if it appears at all.

No Supply - Unit does not require supply, and does not suffer negative effects of encirclement - if it means it also

uses up no ammo, on certain units it could be insane. But I am not sure ho this is exactly treated by the game.

Overwatch - not working

Path Finder - not working

River Crossing - not working

Splitter - Unit can be split without spending an extra unit slot. Also, unit can split and merge any number of times in

a single turn. - not rolled it ever - I wonder if the general trait blocks this from happening.

Suppressing Fire - Bigger part of damage done by this unit comes in the form of suppression, not kills. Each star

slightly improves the chance to outright kill the target, so experienced units with this trait become more deadly. -

default ability of artillery and strategic bombers, not sure if it is actually possible to roll on a hero.

Terrain Expert - not working

Traits List
Traits List:

AA Support - Provides support fire against air to ground attacks. Will shoot at any fighters and bombers attacking
friendly ground units within its firing range

Aggressive Counterattack - +3 attack when defending

Aiming Assistance - +10% accuracy to all adjacent friendly units

All-Terrain Entrenchment - Entrenches in any terrain with Maximum speed

Alpine Troops - Gets +5 attack and +5 defense in hills and mountains and also ignores enemy High ground bonuses
and entrenchment in such terrain (Unit Trait)

Ambusher - Always Triggers an Ambush when attacked

Artillery Support - Provides support fire to adjacent friendly units attacked by enemy unarmoured units (with "Soft"
target type).
Anti-tank support: the unit provides support fire against hard targets (basically the same ability as tank destroyers)

Avenger - Gets attack bonus for each point of lost strength

Bridging Unit - Acts as a bridge when positioned on a river (Unit Trait)

Bunker Killer - +5 attack against structures (Unit Trait)

Butcher - +5 attack against infantry units

Camouflage - Can only be detected by recons or adjacent ground units

Cheap Replacements - Replacements in battle cost as on deployment phase

City Fighter - Combat Bonus in city terrain

Close Combat - Has access to enemy unit's close defense rating when fighting in close terrain (Unit Trait only)

Combat Luck - Combat Results can never be worse than predicted

Counter Battery Fire - Will fire at any attacking artillery units within its firing range

Crippling Blow - +5 Attack against full strength units

Distraction - Enemy units next to this unit do not provide support fire

Double Attack - Unit gets 2 attack actions per turn

Double Mass Attack - When participating in Mass Attack, contributes double effect.

Double Move - Unit gets 2 move actions per turn, without increasing the number of movement points

Double Support - Provides support fire twice for each enemy attack

Entrenchment Killer X - Destroys X points of entrenchment with every attack

Entrenchment Support - All adjacent friendly units entrench at 2x speed (Unit Trait Only)

Envelopment - Prevents enemy units from retreating, so they surrender instead

Evasive - -10% accuracy to enemies shooting at this unit

Expert Recon - Provides 3x accuracy bonus on adjacent enemy units

Expert Support - +20% accuracy when providing support fire

Exterminator - +5 attack against units below 50% strength

Famous - Generates 20 prestige per turn

Fast Deployment - can unmount from organic transport and fire after movement
Fast Entrenchment - Gets 2x entrenchement speed

Fast Learner - 2x Faster experience growth

Fast Rebase - Aircraft does not spend Move Action on rebase

Fast Retreat - +2 movement points when unit's strength is 33% from maximum

Fearsome Reputation - All Adjacent enemy units get +3 suppression at the beginning of their turn

Ferocious Defense - Entrenchment of this unit cannot be ignored

Field Repairs - Restores one point of strength every turn the unit did not attack. Applies to Vehicles

Fierce Fighter - +1 attack for each adjacent enemy unit

Fighter Suppport - Provides support fire against enemy fighters attacking friendly bombers. Will also intercept enemy
bombers attacking friendly ground units in adjacent hexes (Unit Trait only)

First Aid - Restores one point of strength every turn the unit did not attack. Applies to Infantry.

First Strike - Unit always attacks first

Flag Killer - +5 Attack when attacking enemy flags

Glider - Can Land and disembark the unit it carries on any land hex, not just airfields. Exceptions are hexes which are
impassable for embarked unit.

Hit and Run - When attacking, enemy units with the lower initiative do not shoot back

Ignores Entrenchment - Ignores enemy entrenchment level

Ignores ZOC - Ignores zone of control projected by enemy units when moving

Learns from Mistakes - 3x experience for suffered casualties

Lethal Attack - Half of suppression caused by this unit is converted to kills

Liberator - 2x prestige for all flags captured by this unit

Lightning Attack - Immune to all types of support fire

Low Profile - Enemy units get -20% accuracy when shooting at this unit

No Surrender - Unit never surrenders

No Retaliation: enemy units will not return fire if attacked by that unit

Overrun - Can destroy (Overrun) weakened enemy units without spending move or attack actions. The way it works
is, after and overrun attack, move and attack actions of the unit will be replenished

Overwhelming Attack - Any Damage to enemy units is enough to force them to retreating
Phased Movement - Can move in steps within its movement point limit (like recon)

Provocator - Adjacent enemies attacking other friendly units will attack this unit instead

Prudent - Gets defense bonus for each point of lost strength

Rapid Fire X - Makes X more shots than normal and consequently deals X damage to the target.
This trait does not affect ammo spending, the unit still consumes 1 ammo per attack

Readiness - Strikes first when defending

Reduced Slots - Unit slot cost is reduced by 50%.

River Fighters: Ignores Battle Penalties through River Fields

Scavenger - Captures 2x equipment from surrendering enemies.

Shock Tactics - When attacking, pins enemy unit in place by destroying all its movement points

Sixth Sense - Immune to Ambushes

Superior Manuever - Gets +1 initiative for each point of movement speed advantage over the enemy

Tank Killer - +5 attack against tanks

Tenacious Defender - +1 defense for each adjacent enemy unit

Thorough Preparation - Initiative bonus +5… +1 on the first five turns of every mission

Unyielding - Unit cannot be suppressed by enemy fire

Vigiliant - Prevents enemies from using unit's Close Defense rating

Zero Slots - Unit slot cost is reduced to zero

Bundled strength: +5 strength points for the unit (tanks can have a maximum of 20, infantry 25 points/overstrength)