Relic Entertainment built the modern RTS, and we personally grew up on the original Company of Heroes. Because of that history, we can safely say that Company of Heroes 3 has had a incredibly messy life. Relic has spent the last few years trying to patch the cracks and win back the hardcore strategy crowd, often using their post-launch content to steady the ship. They’ve just dropped the Dare & Destroy DLC, adding four brand-new Battlegroups to the multiplayer and skirmish modes. We spent the weekend dropping massive railway artillery on enemy infantry blobs and rolling out the iconic Sturmtiger. But was it actually fun, or did it completely break the multiplayer balance?
Blobs. Bunkers. Big Tanks
Company of Heroes 3: Dare & Destroy gives us four very different ways to play.
The Wehrmacht gets the Siege Breaker Battlegroup, and the absolute star of the show here is the Sturmtiger. It is a giant armored box that fires massive, rocket-propelled depth charges. It absolutely erases infantry. On occasion, we got caught out of position and our entire squad disappeared in a single flash. It is glorious.
The US Forces, on the other hand, get the Free French. Instead of aggressive flanking, this allows us to focus on building concrete Bastions and Tourelle defenses. It’s a great way to stall the enemy until we can call in a Char B1 heavy tank. It is an ancient, pre-war hunk of metal, but it soaks up incredible amounts of damage while our railway artillery pounds the map from afar. This, too, is glorious!
The British get the Special Service group, which focuses on Commandos, snipers, and fast raiding vehicles. They rely heavily on scorched-earth tactics to drain enemy resources, letting us harass the front lines and fade away into the shadows gloriously!
Then there’s the Afrikakorps, who get the Elite Forces. This Battlegroup is all about pure armor dominance. We loved building up veteran infantry, calling in precision Stuka strikes, and finally finishing the match with the terrifying Tiger Ace. It feels, as expected, completely glorious.
Then there’s the multiplayer. Unfortunately, the multiplayer is not quite so glorious.
Adding four massive, heavy-hitting tools to the sandbox instantly breaks the faction balance to the point of pure frustration. Getting to drop a Tiger Ace or a Sturmtiger into a 4v4 match feels incredible when we are the ones doing it. But when the tables turn, it feels completely miserable to be on the receiving end.
It leaves you with a tough choice when it comes to buying or skipping this DLC. If you choose not to pick it up, you are likely going to spend a lot of matches getting flattened by the people who did.
Paying for Firepower?
The Dare & Destroy DLC is genuinely great. The sheer destructive joy of the Sturmtiger and the unique, defensive puzzle of the Free French inject a massive amount of fresh energy into the game. However, the package also comes with a pretty hefty price tag. For those who only play the single-player campaigns, it’s safe to say this can be skipped entirely. But for players grinding the multiplayer ladders, these Battlegroups are absolutely going to dictate the meta for the foreseeable future. Here’s to hoping they get nerfed soon.
ID Card
- Developer: Relic Entertainment
- Publisher: Relic Entertainment
- Platforms: PC (Steam)
- Release Date: May 14, 2026
- Genre: Real-Time Strategy
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