The Blood Ravens trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV centres on the Chapter's desperate position on Kronus and the arrival of the Dark Angels. The important reveal is that both Space Marine Chapters have playable roles in the campaign. Lion El'Jonson also appears, with a small but pivotal playable role announced for the story.
Several videos cover this part of the game: the Blood Ravens cinematic, the broader Story Trailer and a narrated Space Marines faction overview. Use them for different purposes. The cinematic establishes the conflict and alliance; the longer faction material explains more of how the Space Marines fight. None is a complete mission walkthrough.
Find the trailer you intended to watch
A search for the Blood Ravens trailer can lead to more than one relevant video. The shared characters and setting do not mean the videos contain the same scenes or serve the same task.
| Video type | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Blood Ravens trailer | The Chapter's struggle and the arrival of allies |
| Story Trailer | The wider struggle for Kronus and several factions |
| Space Marines faction overview | Narration about units, commanders and battlefield roles |
| Game overview | Campaigns, factions and modes across the whole game |
Start with the video specifically titled Blood Ravens if you want the short cinematic. Then use the Story Trailer and the campaign details to understand why the Chapter is on Kronus. Choose the faction overview if your main interest is the Space Marines' battlefield options.
The official game media section keeps these different types of videos together. A thumbnail from a cinematic should not be mistaken for a gameplay demonstration, and a narrated unit overview should not be treated as a promise that every scene occurs in one campaign mission.
Why the Blood Ravens return to Kronus
Kronus is a recruitment world for the Blood Ravens and a location returning from Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. The opening of the Great Rift has left the Chapter's forces cut off from reinforcement, making their need to rebuild more urgent.
Captain Cyrus and Chief Librarian Jonah Orion lead the returning Blood Ravens. Their journey is intended to find new aspirants and bolster the Chapter, but they arrive at a world already drawn into a wider conflict. The Story Trailer's setup includes an ambush in orbit by Warboss Gorgutz and his Orks, followed by fighting on the planet's surface.
This context explains the cinematic's focus on endurance and the cost of the fight. It is not a detached battle starring an interchangeable Space Marine army. The Blood Ravens have a specific reason to be on Kronus and a specific problem when the world cannot offer the simple rebuilding opportunity they hoped for.
You do not need a complete account of every earlier Dawn of War campaign to follow that premise. The useful starting points are the Chapter, the recruitment world, its isolation and the multiple forces now fighting there. The trailer does not establish a complete chronology of everything that happened between the older games and this return.
Identify the threats around them
The September trailer coverage identifies Chronomancer Thothmek's Necrons as a threat sweeping across the battlefield. The broader story setup also includes Gorgutz's Orks, Beastboss Guzcutta hunting human forces on the surface and the Adeptus Mechanicus exploring the planet's secrets.
These details put the Blood Ravens' position into perspective. They are part of a conflict involving four announced factions, rather than a story limited to a single duel. The Adeptus Mechanicus and Necrons have their own interests, while the Orks bring another source of pressure.
Keep the playable roster separate from every force mentioned in the story. Astra Militarum forces are named in the campaign setup, but that mention does not add a fifth announced launch faction. The confirmed four are Space Marines, Orks, Necrons and Adeptus Mechanicus.
Likewise, ominous references to something beneath Kronus are a mystery, not an identification of an unannounced faction. You can follow the stakes without turning a trailer hint into a claimed campaign spoiler.
The Dark Angels intervention
The Dark Angels answer the call for aid and bring reinforcements when the human forces are under pressure. The trailer coverage highlights a bike-mounted Chaplain and Deathwing Terminators among their recognisable units.
Their arrival has a gameplay implication beyond an alliance in a cinematic. The campaign includes control of both Blood Ravens and Dark Angels. The announced distinction is between the Blood Ravens' flexible approach and the Dark Angels' shock-and-awe emphasis.
The two Chapters share many units, so the campaign information puts particular weight on commanders and elite forces when explaining how their play differs. That is a reason to pay attention to the figures leading the reinforcements rather than assume the change is only a different armour colour.
It does not mean that the Dark Angels are a separate fifth launch faction. They sit within the Space Marines offering, and the game still has four announced faction campaigns.
The commanders and elite forces to recognise
The named figures provide a practical way to make sense of the supporting campaign material.
| Figure or force | Announced role relevant to the trailer |
|---|---|
| Captain Cyrus | Blood Ravens commander returning to Kronus |
| Jonah Orion | Chief Librarian accompanying the Blood Ravens |
| Company Master Astoran | Dark Angels commander in Terminator Armour |
| Chaplain Ezrael | Bike-mounted Dark Angels commander associated with Ravenwing |
| Deathwing | A slower, punishing frontline option |
| Ravenwing | A force associated with fast hit-and-run attacks |
| Lion El'Jonson | Playable Primarch with a limited, pivotal campaign role |
Astoran's description emphasises the Deathwing's ability to hold the front and strike heavy targets with power fists. Ezrael and the Ravenwing are presented through fast strikes and bikes. Those broad contrasts help you recognise why the Dark Angels reinforcement contains more than one kind of battlefield threat.
They are not enough for a final build recommendation. Exact costs, ability cooldowns, mission availability and unit unlock requirements are not established by the cinematic or the accompanying description. A named commander appearing in the campaign also does not automatically confirm that commander is selectable in every other mode.
Recognise the featured scenes
The accompanying trailer images give you three concrete visual reference points. A red-armoured Blood Ravens commander aims a pistol across the battlefield. The Deathwing image shows a line of heavily armoured Terminators firing together. The bike-mounted Chaplain is shown under green weapons fire, with his skull-like faceplate and raised weapon making him distinct from the walking infantry.
Use those differences to follow the change of focus between the Chapters and their forces. The frames identify characters and unit types within the preview; they do not establish how much damage a weapon deals or how long an animation takes during play.
The Lion's role has an explicit limit
Lion El'Jonson is an important reveal, but the campaign description places a boundary on his availability. His part in the battle for Kronus is small and pivotal. He is not promised as playable throughout every mission.
The same care applies to the ending. A dramatic arrival can tell you who enters the conflict without telling you how every faction's story concludes. Avoid using the trailer to infer an exact final battle, a guaranteed casualty or the identity of later expansion content.
Cinematic scenes and the playable campaign
The campaign is announced with four faction storylines and more than 70 missions. Its story is delivered through several methods, which explains why not every dramatic image should be read as a normal in-mission view.
Each faction campaign begins with a CGI cinematic that introduces the faction and key units. In-engine cutscenes provide another layer of presentation. Between missions, world-map conversations explain events and decisions, while units and commanders also speak as missions unfold.
For a viewer, those are different kinds of information. A cinematic can establish a crisis or character relationship. A mission conversation can respond to a situation during play. A world-map exchange can explain why a strategic choice matters. If your goal is to judge moment-to-moment control, follow the faction overview or a Battlefield Report after the cinematic. Those formats address battlefield systems more directly. Use the Blood Ravens trailer for the story premise and the identities of the forces entering it.
What the faction material adds
The broader Space Marines description places these elite troops in a system of upgrades, reinforcements and rapid redeployment. Fortifications help them secure ground, while reserves and Thunderhawk movement help them answer threats elsewhere.
That context makes the contrast between Chapters easier to interpret. Blood Ravens flexibility and Dark Angels shock tactics are descriptions of emphasis within an army that still has to preserve valuable units and control the battlefield. The trailer's spectacle should not be turned into a promise that a small force wins every engagement without support.
The faction footage also discusses a range of infantry, bikes, elite units and vehicles. Treat that as a view of the faction's wider offering rather than a shopping list guaranteed to be available in the first Blood Ravens mission. Campaign access and a full skirmish roster can answer different questions.
The standard release is scheduled for 3 December 2026 on Steam for Windows PC, with Commander Edition Early Unlock beginning on 30 November.