1V1 Guide for soviet and commander overview

What is the soviet and WHY picking the soviet.

Soviet faction on this game described as
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1679247001339539090/2959F7418D9378D8B2AC8B8C437DD601A4861542/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
by Relic
but ironically they have the most diverse unit upgrade in the game and THEIR VETS IS INCREDIBLY POTENT especially on conscript and that means you have to play normally and conserve your squad just like other faction

and why you pick this soviet while you have the shiny nazi elites and tank,
gameplay wise soviet is very pop cap friendly and pretty strong early game and map presence if you know how to use them(not against ostrupeen:P). while their late game they can afford nearly anything they need unlike the other thus making your late game is the best among all faction. or you just want to hear patriotic man yelling like a chad

what to do

• unlike what the official desc said try to conserve your squad just like any other faction, CoH2 highly encourages good unit preservation on any faction especially soviet since all of soviet vet buff is really strong

• use cover at every engagement if possible, because using cover as soviet is more rewarding than the other just like british

• try to grab as much land as possible in early with your cons and spread them out

• Your zis barrage is your best anti MG friend in early especially VS OST

• MINE TRIP WIRE AND MINE, you should use them as much as possible

• BUILD SANDBAG

• Retreat if not sure that you can win the fights (since you bleed more than them while dealing worse dps, thus making the trade extremely one sided)

What you should not do

• blob mindlessly and diving within an MG42 ARC with oorah (ik this sometimes work but why you do that when you can flank?

• theres a specific unit that you should forget they even exist such as penal and SU76.

• DO NOT TECH MOLOTOV

• Spamming MG.

• Spamming OORAH

• Build Order

Regular build order should go something like this
3-4 cons into medic and T2 into either Zis or Maxim and into T70 or stalling for a tank depends on your situation
or 1-3 cons into a sniper and (not recommended)
Most of the time you want to go for conscript opening instead of penal because they just too expensive and slow to make. and will make you lose a lot of momentum while you have to get T2 for the essential team weapon

• Early game

What you should do here is to spread all of your conscript to capture point and spam sandbag on your side of your point but not on your cutoff. but not too far in case they encounter an MG so they can get a backup near them, while try to group your cons into small blob early VS OKW since it will help you fighting against sturm or kubel better. after you finished capping you should put them somewhere to either get the VP or scout for the enemy side, since you usually have number advantages in squad you have more opportunity to try cut their cutoff and what you should spend your muni at first is on your flamethrower engineer, they are very potent in early game especially if you experienced the merging, do not send an engineer alone and always have 1 or 2 conscript behind them to merge. after getting your flamethrower you should spam Mine and the Trip wire mine as much as possible, the ideal spot is behind cover and on chokepoint

• Early-Mid game

by this point you starts to encounter a few axis elites and LV and this is where your mine and tripwire come in handy, while at this point you are pretty weak, you should try to play a little bit more defensively and get AT Nade ASAP to deter LV from diving your low HP squad, and this is the ideal timeframe to get your first team weapon,

• Mid game

you are falling a little bit behind of the enemy from their upgrades and LV but dont worry its normal as soviet in early mid game, but at this point you should get T70 (ideally somewhere at 9 min or less)
T70 is a gamechanger for soviet because of its armour and infantry killing potential, you can dive and kill any infantry pretty easily with this bad boy, but you should definitely dont dive too far especially if you expecting any mine on your way, after T70 you should get another engineer for sweeper or another team weapon
M5 meatgrinder may also be an option vs OST if you don't have good fuel control since you need to pressure OST to get a pak,some people don't if they feel like they are winning but after M5 meatgrinder then will to scramble some MP for pak

• Mid-late game

if you havent lose your T70 and it racked up quite a lot of kill, you should have a same timing on your T34/76 and their medium tank or faster depends on how well you harass them with your T70
and you just unlocked the best infantry upgrade(7 man upgrade for the conscript) in the game, that will let you easily gain vets. vet 3 conscript is really strong it can even consistently win vs vet 5 volks with STG and grenadier with MG42 in med or close range and while lowering their reinforcement cost. you should definitely get this ASAP after you get your T4
if you somehow losing your T70 and dealing little damage to them consider getting 2nd zis after teching T4 or right after the T34
double zis allows soviets to hold off when behind

• LATE GAMEEEE

After your upgrades and T34 and double Zis you should get Katy as your next unit, Katy is the most devastating artillery for shotgunning in this game (shotgunning is a term for using rocket arty on lowest possible distance) and they should use like this as much as possible, and always pull your katy after shooting, and should you get SU85? yes but only if you see more than 2 tank on the field or a heavy, other than that your mines and double Zis should cover you, and you still have a lot of pop to spare at this stage, you can fill that pop with either getting a heavy tank or more T34.
I advise to hold ground and mine the flanks if you control half the map and have to 2 VPs
by the late game stage since your team weapon (cough MG) is not as potent as other MGs while you need numbers to win infantry battle,

You might be wondering why i didnt include commanders on my guide, well... they will dramatically changes your build order and playstyle and i dont want to write too much about it. so i make their own section of what commander should you use and their main goal

Advanced Warfare Tactics : This is my personal favorite doctrine in the game
No need to change build order except for the mid or late game. and the goal here is just to augment your regular build order. PPSH cons is a meh and the strafing run is very RNG heavy, but other than that its basically and upgrade from the regular build order

Airborne Troops Tactics : Your like ramming and blobbing??? well this doctrine is a perfect match for you. SVT cons can be the strongest infantry blob in early-mid and have a really high wiping potential, while it arrived way faster than your T4 infantry upgrade, while DHSK drop is really strong considering how cheap it is and mobile to help support your infantry blob better. and the rocket come ridiculously fast and accurate. you can ram anything with your T-34 and kill them or damage them very significantly in no time and really low cost. while guard airborne is really meh.. you shouldnt use them at all because of their cost and their capability

Armored Assault Doctrine : another straight upgrade from regular build, but with heavy tank.. you should stick with T-34/85s than using The IS-2, and IL-2 Sturmovik loiter is extremely cheap and effective vs infantry, Vehicle Crew Repair Training is extremely useful but you should use it carefully since if you get hit while using this ability. your tank will be locked in place and unable to do anything

Guards Motor Coordination Tactics : another upgrade from regular play style. guard is extremely powerful and versatile infantry for soviet, 1 guard squad can singlehandedly deter any tank from diving while having a massive DPS with firing position. while the mortar is just... ehhh.. you shouldnt get mortar as soviet in 1v1 in the first place anyway

Guard Rifle Combined Arms Tactics : what you should do here, is to make KV-1 as your first tank, and the rest is pretty much the same as usual except you have an elite and loiter... just please dont make an arty and upgrade your cons with PPSH

Shock Rifle Frontline Tactics : you have shock in early-mid game which is pretty good. but on the late game your build path will divert for a little bit since you usually want KV-8 ASAP... after you pump that KV-8 out you should get either a T-34 or SU-85 depends on the situation. while 2ATG and 1 TD sounds overkill, well.. you gonna need that SU-85 to baby sit KV-8 while you pushing. and 2nd tank T34/76 is also good but i think you better of getting SU-85 as 2nd tank for this doctrine. Incendiary Artillery Barrage is really good, but the short CD of it and how cheap it is making it very tempting to spam it.. but DONT, spend your muni on mines instead. and the Camo is decent just like old OKW raken but you cant retreat

Lend Lease Tactics : if you are feeling really greedy and want those sweet guard drive by ;) while the capitalist supplying you with fuel and tanks. well this is the doctrine for you
guard drive by is a meme but they somewhat really good on their own while fuel drop sacrifice your mining capability and making your tanks come faster. while M4C sherman is just a reskin of Sherman 76. really bad AI capability and mediocre anti tank capability. but really fast firing rate with vets

NKVD Disruption Tactics : Commissar act like a pseudo-penal battalion that have a few ability and grenades. while you usually wont use these ability a lot of time even when they are free(because they have a downside) but you surely will use the suppression and nades. while it have a KV-8 like the doctrine before. 2nd tank you going to get will be T-34 since you will need something to either snare or stop tank on its track to lay down the glorious soviet anti tank artillery. that is stupidly strong and have a really high killing power vs bigger tank as long as you keep it in your vision and keep them within range of the arty

Urban Defense Tactics : KV-2, shocks, cheap techless ATG and cheeky forward HQ.
what you aiming to do here is to push hard in early and get a forward HQ in some sturdy structure https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1679247057344511774/2F1C007DE94CACADDC1902A4F811027E8E42074C/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
Like this stupidly tough building while spending less manpower on your first ATG and eventually pumping the best heavy tank in the game that will annihilate any infantry they shoot at

Community Defense Tactics : this doctrine ironically is somewhat flexible and can be very offensive oriented despite what it say. this doctrine can make you feel comfortable at teching T1 and getting penal (before real tank show up :p) and making your conscript mining capability increased
DHSK mobility and suppression is no joke. thats why this doctrine is very flexible

thank you XD and please give me your thoughts on this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ review. my first language is not english so.. :p sorry for the bad english
and thank you to Mr.cookie and Lowlandnutria92 for helping me on this one