Sneaking up on an unsuspecting Whirlwind can save half of your army if you never give it a chance to fire. Though it’s risky to get close, Whirlwinds - like all vehicles in Dawn of War - take significant damage from behind. If you can get close enough to an enemy Whirlwind, it won’t be able to retaliate. Missile Barrage does have a minimum range, which means units close enough to the Whirlwind can avoid its deadly assault. In many cases, the tank may be hidden in the fog of war up until the moment the mortar fire rains from the sky. The Whirlwind’s unmatched range allows covering fire from far behind the main battlegroup.
A single salvo will destroy most buildings if centered on them, and absolutely shatter squads. Instead of small AoE attacks with a delay between firing and the explosion which are relatively easy to see and avoid, the Missile Barrage gives little warning and covers a MASSIVE area in comparison with incredible burst damage. While the Eldar Fire Prism has skimmer mobility and the Ork Big Trak can handle close-range combat with its Kill Em Close mode, the Whirlwind is by far the best at artillery-style damage output. It has no standard attack all of its damage comes from its triggered Missile Barrage ability, which has a decent cooldown rate. The Whirlwind is designed for one thing and one thing only: obliterating a target area and leaving nothing but scorched earth behind.
