Churchill AVRE

Just out of curiosity how good is it? Same kinda deal as the sturtiger right? 1 massive OP shot, run away and reload. But I never see anyone using it and I've never used it myself. Also, how much does it cost?

It's a great unit in quite a good commander too, will be less effective after patch when you can't use UC as command vehicle, a change I strongly disagree with but that's another topic.

Unlike ST it can't be decrewed and reloads a lot faster but has a shorter range, a smaller AOE and cant shoot through shot blockers.

It's cheap for what it is too (Use this for reference: https://www.coh2.org/guides/40402/british-forces-unit-guide) at 140 fuel BUT a high 600 MP although with the squad wipes you should get from it, it will pay for itself effectively too.

It has High damage vs tanks, you just have the hard task of... hitting them as the shots can take a while to line up and fire (a change to the AVRE in WBP will make this slightly faster at the cost of more micro with hold fire added).

Basically the commander is most usefull if you have emplacements, one ability allows you to repair them remotely so they can still fire and repair, even repair when braced and can make them very hard to kill. Combine a mortar pit with the next ability, the Command Vehicle and its recon and you have a very powerful tool.

The anti garrison flame mortar is a useless ability, more so when you should have a mortar pit anyway and its so situational that it mostly goes unused, just seriously forget about it, unless of course, building MG spam.

The reason it's not used more is because its overshadowed by better commanders, LM does just a good if not better job at wiping squads and doesn't need to be into danger to be useful, you get infiltration commandos (your recon equivalent) and flamers on your engies (your anit garrison flame mortar equivalent but 1000x better).

Or you have the Vanguard with the Croc that kills constantly, can engage both tanks and infantry at the same time, Air support and an OP Officers charge. If they added a different ability than the flame mortars for something that could actually be used when there are no buildings I imagine it would be used a lot more as that would cover an indirect hole that the commander lacks, but then again, it might make it too strong.

TLDR; Overshadowed by better commanders but in no way a unit/commander to turn your nose at.

It's what you said except there is no "run away" phase and the shot is not as massively OP. It safely reloads on the battlefield tanking damage like all churchils do and keeps supporting the assault all the way through.

ST are better, better range, cannon dont move, more damage compared to avre 440 avre vs 640, more crits damage from ST, maybe ST ammor fly faster imo, but lose to reload speed.

In the beginning after the launch of the Brits I saw Hans use the AVRE to quite the good effect, I later also tried it once or twice myself, problem is that after the nerf to all 3 variants of the Churchill's Armor it pretty much became a waste of resources in team games as it would PERHAPS survive long enough to get a shot and then would need to retreat back due to the amount of firepower the enemy could bring to bare on the AVRE's low range capabilities since it needed to close in so much.

The entire doctrine is a poor man's Advanced Emplacements, you'd always be either better off with active repairs than passive ones (if you can afford them) or a Churchill Croc compared to an AVRE, at least that's my opinion.

And yeah, getting free recon from a command bren was sweet while it lasted, after it's nerf... not so much.

But hey, it's your choice really, I'd however always prefer either Advanced Emplacements or Vanguard/Special Weapons Regiment over Royal Engineers, I mean it's pretty much the best out of the 3 default ones, but if you have a Premium one, that's not the Support Regiment, you're better of using those instead.

The AVRE is awesome, just like any other unit/ability that punishes braindead blobbing.

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The AVRE is awesome, just like any other unit/ability that punishes braindead blobbing.

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I like this one:
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The AVRE is pretty good but the main thing that prevents it from being good in my estimation is that Relic removed the "Hold Fire" button from it - so any time you see an enemy unit the turret turns to face it regardless of whether or not you want to fire at it. This results in additional time for you to turn and fire at other units - giving them more time to retreat. The good news is that they are adding it back in the new patch (thanks Mr. Smith and co.!)

The AVRE is not good enough to be worth taking up a slot in your commander load outs. The AVRE always has to be in sight range to fire, it cannot stop the turret from turning, and it gives out vet like crazy. It is still useful in niche situations, but why would you want this unit over the land mattress?

Anyway the unit should not function by wiping squads, this is a bad mechanic.

Latch is pretty spot on. The AVRE is good (once it gets hold fire back), but suffers from Relic's shit doctrine design and Engie doc being extremely rigid. At only 150 fuel, I find it shines in 2v2s where it can be paired with a Firefly or building heavy 1v1s like Checkpoint.