Artillery Officer
360
1
1
35
3.6
1
1
4
240
4
22
25
5Support infantry that can overwatch an area with off-map artillery that is effective against light targets. Can Focused Supervise structures and emplacements to improve performance.
The Artillery Officer is a Wehrmacht infantry unit. In skirmishes, it is available exclusively as a call-in with the Italian Coastal Battlegroup (which itself requires either purchase of the Hammer & Shield DLC pack, or unlock via Merit).
Once unlocked from the Battlegroup, a maximum of one Artillery Officer can be deployed at a time per Wehrmacht player. If the squad is ever completely killed, only then can a replacement unit be deployed once again.
The Artillery Officer is basically the Axis equivalent of the USF
By default, this unit is a mediocre combatant. It has middling durability with 90 hp per model and only a squad size of 4. Offensively, it generally is out-damaged by most units, although it can deal greater damage per second (DPS) at close range compared to the
Instead, it is best used for its various abilities. The Officer has the passive Support Veterancy, allowing the unit to gain veterancy XP when nearby friendly units also gain XP. Another passive ability is Supervise Sector, which grants bonuses to all of the player's infantry and emplacements in the same neutral or friendly territory as the Officer (bonuses do not apply to the Officer unit itself).
Perhaps the most iconic ability for this unit is the Artillery Observer Overwatch. This ability costs no resources and once an area is targeted, the squad will continue to 'channel' the overwatch ability, until new orders are given which will cancel the overwatch. While on overwatch, any enemy units that are spotted entering the area of effect will be bombarded repeatedly with light artillery strikes, which is particularly damaging to stationary infantry. With an incredibly low cooldown, it can be a massive thorn for opponents as it can be used repeatedly quite quickly, making life difficult for enemy units especially weapons teams.
Other active abilities include Focused Supervision, allowing the squad to 'channel' the player's targeted structure, increasing production/upgrade speed and rate of fire.
At veterancy level 1 the unit gains the Inspire Combatants ability, which when activated will temporarily increase accuracy and rate of fire of nearby friendly units. It should be noted that the Officer scales quite well with veterancy levels, with the Supervise Sector and Artillery Observer Overwatch abilities in particular gaining additional significant bonuses at higher levels.
More info on its abilities can be seen in the below sections.
Overall the Artillery Officer is a powerful elite support unit that is very rewarding for players who can keep it alive and leveling up. Just by default, it grants useful passive bonuses to an entire territory while having access to one of the most powerful active artillery abilities in the game, mostly due to its incredibly low cooldown. Artillery Observer Overwatch is essentially the 'selling point' of the Officer, offering incredible area denial for the player. As mentioned, it is very rewarding if one can keep the Officer alive over the course of the match, as its abilities are further enhanced with higher veterancy levels.
While the Artillery Officer is useful to any infantry unit the player may field, it should come as no surprise that the unit has great synergy with its Battlegroup. The officer squad can greatly enhance
Veterancy
800 XP
2400 XP
4800 XP
Note: The Officer's Supervise Sector and Artillery Observer Overwatch abilities are available by default, but they do scale with veterancy levels by granting more bonuses at higher levels. See the abilities section for more info.
Veterancy Abilities
Inspire Combatants: Active ability gained upon reaching veterancy level 1. When activated, units near the Officer will gain +20% accuracy and +25% rate of fire for a 20 second duration (aura effect). Long 150 second cooldown. A great free ability to use in order to buff up nearby units in a fight, just beware of the long cooldown.
Abilities
30
30
150
Support Veterancy: Passive ability. This unit will receive veterancy XP from nearby allies when they earn veterancy XP. Shared experience is split among all other units nearby that also Support Veterancy. Allows for leveling up the unit even if it does not contribute to fights.
Supervise Sector: Passive ability. This unit provides bonuses to the player's infantry and emplacements in the same neutral or friendly territory as the Artillery Officer. Note that these bonuses are applied regardless of distance - so long as they are within the same non-enemy territory as the Officer, it will apply to them. Additional bonuses are gained at higher veterancy levels. The Officer squad itself does not benefit from this ability.
Base ability: +30% construction speed, +30% ability recharge speed.
Veterancy level 2: +10% accuracy.
Veterancy level 3: -10% incoming damage, -25% incoming suppression.
Focused Supervision: Active 'channeling' ability. Orders the Officer squad move into range of a target structure (player's own structures only) and then 'channel' this ability. Supervision will cancel if the squad is given any new orders such as moving. The targeted structure will gain +50% production/upgrade speed as well as +40% rate of fire (if either are applicable) during supervision. This means the Officer can apply this at base to speed up unit/upgrade production, or on the field with various Bunkers to improve their offensive power. This has no cooldown and thus can easily be used on-demand multiple times at a moment's notice.
Artillery Observer Overwatch: Active 'channeling' ability. Once the target area is selected, the squad will move into range to 'channel' this ability. While overwatch is active, a circular area will be visibly designated for all players to see. If the Officer squad is ordered to do anything else such as moving, the overwatch will cancel and immediately go on cooldown. Any enemy units that enter this area and are also visible to the player will have light artillery salvos called upon them. These artillery strikes are fairly quick and is especially damaging to infantry units that do not move out of the way. A very powerful and iconic ability for the Officer, this is extremely powerful mostly due to its incredibly low cooldown. If one can deal with the micromanagement demands, repeat use of this ability can be a massive thorn for opponents to contend with. It is especially effective against slower units like weapons teams, and overall is fantastic for on-demand area denial. 30 second cooldown by default, drops by -20% (to 24 seconds) at veterancy level 1. At veterancy level 3, its area of effect practically doubles in size, covering a massive amount of area for such a low cooldown ability.
Veterancy level 1: Gains reduced cooldown by -20% (reduces cooldown to 24 seconds).
Veterancy level 2: Gains increased cast range.
Veterancy level 3: Gains increased area of effect range.
This unit can benefit from the following Battlegroup perks:
Italian Coastal Battlegroup
Designate Defensive Line: Active ability. Permanently mark a friendly territory point or Bunker as a Defensive Line. Infantry in the radius take less damage. Heals vehicles and infantry out of combat. Lasts until destroyed, decaptured, or a new point is designated.
Call the Reserves!: Active ability. All infantry units near bunkers will gain combat bonuses and periodically reinforce for free when active.
Weapons
Beretta-m38-officer-ak | Near | Mid | Far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 0.55 | 0.35 | 0.15 |
| Range | 10 | 15 | 35 |
Carcano-carbine-bersaglieri-ak | Near | Mid | Far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 0.63 | 0.59 | 0.51 |
| Range | 7 | 25 | 35 |
This squad is armed with 1 special Beretta Model 38 SMG, and 3 regular rifles. The specific Officer model carries the special SMG weapon, and it deals significantly greater damage at close ranges of less than 15 meters, but otherwise is out-performed by the default rifles at higher ranges. This SMG is essentially why the squad is capable of out-damaging some units at close range.
Note that while utilizing channeling abilities like Artillery Observer Overwatch and Focused Supervision, the officer model will not be able to fire and thus this special SMG is unavailable during these abilities.