I'm too lazy to do the math but after many hours one doesn't need to do math to see the obvious increased melee survivability that orcs get to enjoy. They on average take 1-2 extra melee hits compared to all races. The 1-2 extra melee hits is crazy survivability boost considering that it only takes 2-3 hits to kill most people. That's like a 50% survivability boost in melee. This leaves them with a much bigger room for error and I generally see orcs get away with a lot more mistakes that would leave any other race dead. So what are they giving up exactly for this extra survivability in melee? It is just there for the hell of it cause the devs decided orcs need to be strong in melee? Are they just intended to be an easier race to use out of the 3 similar races (orcs, SM, chaos)? They definitely don't seem to be lacking in any other department. So many design choices in this game leave me scratching my head.
Well aren't orcs supposed to be pretty bloody tough in general? I would imagine they could take a hit or two more than most other races - well not your power armour wearing types, but still.
Because they have giant, clunky hitboxes, and according to the developers they statistically get hit more often than other races. Other than that, my guess is because they were getting owned up until the last patch on the world map and were the single race with the lowest winrate. I also think it's designed as a concession because either ork players are inferior or their weapons/classes are not exactly in line with other races. For example, orks have no melta. They have to walk up and punch tanks, which often ends up in them dying in an explosion. On another note, orks often stick on each other while walking down hallways and end up hitting each other in team melee due to their gigantic hitboxes. That said, yeah, +50 is probably excessive.
Is it actually Orky lore wise? I'm not the biggest 40k lore buff and what I know about it is mostly from the various 4ok video games I've played. I always thought Orks were pound for pound the weakest of the 4 currently represented faction and made up for it with large numbers (similar to IG).
The main issue is their headshot hitbox is way closer to the center of their body, so just by virtue of that they get shot way more by stray body shots and recoil. Whereas you'd miss quite a shots on space marines or eldar if you focused on the head.
Ork boys are the same toughness as Space Marines in tabletop. Toughness rating 4. A basic Eldar is Toughness 3. Bog standard Imperial Guardsman is Toughness 3. Ork nobs (elite, mature Orks) are also Toughness 4 but they have 2 wounds, which means they can take 2 unsaved wounds before dying, whereas a space marine and ork boy can only take 1 wound before dying. Ork boyz do have a 6+ armor save, compared to a space marine which has a 3+ armor save. That means a Space Marine (due solely to his armor save) is generally 3 times more survivable than an Ork boy in tabletop. However, you can purchase 'Eavy Armor for an Ork boy, which gives him a 4+ armor save and therefore makes him more or less the equivalent in survivability of a space marine.
I can see that being an issue for ranged combat but unfortunately the current fix puts them to far over the edge when it comes to melee because headshots are a non factor.
