Returning to CoH2

I haven't played CoH2 in a looooong time (last post on this forum was 2016) and today I've felt the sudden need to return and give it another go. I have missed a lot of updates and re-balances, so my question is as big as it is small;

What is the current meta? I solely play 1vs1.

I'm obviously going to browse the forum for a while before diving back in, try to learn from the posts made here, but some general pointers would be nice.

Which faction is currently considered the noob-friendliest? Which faction should be avoided until I get my bearings back?

What are some of the build orders? Which commanders are considered strong?

I know build orders and commanders are relative and when I played this game a lot back in the day, I knew what to build and when to build it, but remember, I'm just looking for starting pointers again, to get my bearings. I know I'll have to learn most on my own.

What is the general flow of play?

If I remember correctly Soviets should hassle the enemy all over the map, run around like an ADHD rabbit. Ostheer on the other hand should try maintain control of a portion of the map and really strike for glory in the late-game with their superior armor. OKW are fairly powerful throughout the game, from start to finish. I never played with Brits and US forces much.

Any tips or links are welcome, to help me guide my way back into this fine game.

Thanks in advance!

I haven't played CoH2 in a looooong time (last post on this forum was 2016) and today I've felt the sudden need to return and give it another go. I have missed a lot of updates and re-balances, so my question is as big as it is small;

What is the current meta? I solely play 1vs1.

I'm obviously going to browse the forum for a while before diving back in, try to learn from the posts made here, but some general pointers would be nice.

Which faction is currently considered the noob-friendliest? Which faction should be avoided until I get my bearings back?

What are some of the build orders? Which commanders are considered strong?

I know build orders and commanders are relative and when I played this game a lot back in the day, I knew what to build and when to build it, but remember, I'm just looking for starting pointers again, to get my bearings. I know I'll have to learn most on my own.

What is the general flow of play?

If I remember correctly Soviets should hassle the enemy all over the map, run around like an ADHD rabbit. Ostheer on the other hand should try maintain control of a portion of the map and really strike for glory in the late-game with their superior armor. OKW are fairly powerful throughout the game, from start to finish. I never played with Brits and US forces much.

Any tips or links are welcome, to help me guide my way back into this fine game.

Thanks in advance!

In general, current meta favour defensive play and sniping enemy with indirect fire or snipers

The game is still full of blobbing, across all levels of skill, but it´s less bad than it used to

Stronk commanders are:
OPwatch… eh I mean overwatch (not so OP now, but still the best OKW),
for Brits Mobile Assault,
As USF Pershing, Infantry and people also like Mechanized, Airborne and Recon can also be good against Wehr, and for Urban maps, Armor company
Soviets someone with Guards or Shock troops. Non guard builds are very hard to use effectively, even if the synergies in early game are good
As Wehr the one with G43s and Tiger, alternatively Bosstruppen

For all factions, its better to start with lots of infantry (maybe wehr excluded), the days when you could play with only two mainlines are long gone

Also, heavy tanks are now a lot more counterable, but still good (except for KT, thats best avoided in 9 outta 10 scenarios)


The superior armour of Ost and Agressive plays of Soviets are nostalgic memories. Ost power is in its support weapons rather than armour (make no mistake, PZ4 is godly and Stug massacres armour most of the time, but TDs that counter them are meta) and Soviets are all about synergies (though people love to go 3 penals, but I dont think thats a very good strat)

Generally the whole Early Mid Late advatages have been mostly removed and rebalanced to be split evenly across the whole match time (Good decision for sure) Exception is OKW with ridiculously strong start game, but lack of versitality in late game

I recommend avoiding Brits (applies to 1vs1 only) since they do very well against OKW, while Ost hardcounters them with its most basic build orders

Soviets and Ost are slighty more difficult but rewarding

I suggest watch some Twitch streams or YouTube casts. Imperial Dane still posts on Youtube very often for instance

Thanks for the advice. I have been watching some ImperialDane to get back into it. More tips are always welcome!

Would highly recommend watching Tightrope's casts, really helped me get better at the game and learn a few higher level strats

+1 for tightrope

Basic build order rules across all factions, for me personally is 3 mainline inf a supporting team weapon and then a light vehicle. This obviously changes up according to the situation but 9/10 times thats the way to go ive found.

Tightrope all the way, that guy has some serious teaching talent.