fezvez Profile Blog Joined January 2011 France 2903 Posts Last Edited: 2017-04-06 12:06:02 #1



Last edit : 6 April 2017 Last edit : 6 April 2017



Hello everyone!



I have been enjoying Co-op missions a lot. The heroes have good design, the missions are rather fast paced, and I have a blast playing them. For reference, I am ranked Master, and play exclusively Brutal after I leveled my characters. I will also assume that you know what Co-op missions are. This guide is not aimed to be an introduction on how to play Co-op, rather what are the possible strategies and strength/weaknesses of commanders. So, let's get down to business!





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Commanders ranking :



For the lazy, here are the rankings for standard missions:



At level 5 : Vorazun > Swann/Abathur/Nova > Kerrigan/Alarak > Zagara/Raynor/Artanis > Karax

At level 15 with no mastery : Vorazun/Zagara/Nova >Swann/Kerrigan/Raynor/Abathur/Artanis/Alarak >Karax*

At 60+ masteries : standard missions are trivial, every commander can solo them. Mutations are very varied, so it's hard to give an accurate ranking. In doubt, pick Nova, or Vorazun if you didn't buy any commander, and avoid Zagara/Kerrigan/Swann/Abathur



I mostly rate the commanders on their ability to carry the game if your partner cannot hold his/her own.



*Karax is tied for #1 on defense maps at level 15







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Commander guide



Each hero has a small section, where I discuss their most important features, as well as the usual army compositions and build orders for low level heroes.



For mutations, the typical weaknesses are the following :

- Vulnerable to AoE

- Weak versus mass air units

- Lack of mobility to snipe a crucial enemy on the other side of the map

- Hard to rebuild army (even if you are good, some mutations will simply kill all your units)



Raynor : Bio commander who mines more than anyone else

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Overall : A heavily mineral oriented hero. You are the only hero that can mine substantially more thanks to MULEs, and this obviously will make you spam marines all game long. Of course, you could try mass vultures, but I found them very lacking in straight up fights in high numbers (20+). You have so much mineral that it seems that you are lacking gas all game long, which means that you will be able to choose one or two units to build beside marines/medics. Marauder/Firebat, Tanks, Vikings/Battlecruisers, basically, pick one tech tree. And keep spamming marines. Honestly it's often more efficient to literally never build anything else than marine/medic for your main army. Note that you should try to play with a small squad of vultures all game long, it's good practice for your micro to drop mines regularly.

One very interesting point is that it's possible to play Mech Raynor on defense maps. It requires a bit of APM, but it mainly consists of making tanks and spamming vulture mines and turrets. You need to be able to spread mines and recharge your vultures efficiently (Jakatak's tricks for efficient spamming come to mind). Try not to fight with vultures, but losing them is not an issue as you have too much minerals anyways. I often end up building a small group of Vikings to help push out because you lack AA otherwise.

I find him very fun to play as you have to constantly split your huge bio ball. It is really easy to predict how a game will go : sometimes, you just roll over the first few waves, build orbitals after orbitals (try to get a dozen) and just spam marines all game long. Or you struggle a bit, have a hard time getting your 4th orbital and never go above 120 supply as your army keeps on getting being reset.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Marine, medic and a squad of 10 vultures



Leveling : Despite the fact that you have tanks, you often have trouble defending AI push at low level because you will always have small losses to AoE. You don't have the explosive DPS to insta-kill the wave (Vorazun Dark Templars), units to tank the wave (Kerrigan) or crowd control the wave (Vorazun Black Hole). Also, you can only spam Missile Turrets with your minerals, which is less efficient than the other heroes (Bunkers are pretty terrible to spam).

Power spike at level 2 and 5



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 2/5 relies on spells in the early game

- Army strength late game : 3/5. But you can easily remax, especially with 10+ orbitals

- Weaknesses : AoE



A heavily mineral oriented hero. You are the only hero that can mine substantially more thanks to MULEs, and this obviously will make you spam marines all game long. Of course, you could try mass vultures, but I found them very lacking in straight up fights in high numbers (20+). You have so much mineral that it seems that you are lacking gas all game long, which means that you will be able to choose one or two units to build beside marines/medics. Marauder/Firebat, Tanks, Vikings/Battlecruisers, basically, pick one tech tree. And keep spamming marines. Honestly it's often more efficient to literally never build anything else than marine/medic for your main army. Note that you should try to play with a small squad of vultures all game long, it's good practice for your micro to drop mines regularly.One very interesting point is that it's possible to play Mech Raynor on defense maps. It requires a bit of APM, but it mainly consists of making tanks and spamming vulture mines and turrets. You need to be able to spread mines and recharge your vultures efficiently (Jakatak's tricks for efficient spamming come to mind). Try not to fight with vultures, but losing them is not an issue as you have too much minerals anyways. I often end up building a small group of Vikings to help push out because you lack AA otherwise.I find him very fun to play as you have to constantly split your huge bio ball. It is really easy to predict how a game will go : sometimes, you just roll over the first few waves, build orbitals after orbitals (try to get a dozen) and just spam marines all game long. Or you struggle a bit, have a hard time getting your 4th orbital and never go above 120 supply as your army keeps on getting being reset.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Marine, medic and a squad of 10 vulturesDespite the fact that you have tanks, you often have trouble defending AI push at low level because you will always have small losses to AoE. You don't have the explosive DPS to insta-kill the wave (Vorazun Dark Templars), units to tank the wave (Kerrigan) or crowd control the wave (Vorazun Black Hole). Also, you can only spam Missile Turrets with your minerals, which is less efficient than the other heroes (Bunkers are pretty terrible to spam).Power spike at level 2 and 5- Able to get online early game : 2/5 relies on spells in the early game- Army strength late game : 3/5. But you can easily remax, especially with 10+ orbitals- Weaknesses : AoE



Kerrigan : Hero unit

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Overall : Your gameplay is really built around Kerrigan as she is the core of your army. She can easily solo the waves 2, 3 and 4. On some maps, she can even spawn just in time for the first wave, you will have to kite with zerglings for a few seconds. During the midgame, she is the cornerstone of your army.

You will love how strong the hero is, but also be completely lost for 60 seconds when she dies. Then, as the game progresses, your endgame unit will take precedence over her (lurker/ultra/brood lord). Still, she is crucial to your army survival. Talking about your army, the only truly good unit you have are ultralisks and lurkers. Brood lords are nice but can't use nydus worms, and hydralisks are just too squishy. You should also have a small squad of queens to spread creep and heal kerrigan if she gets dangerously low.

Mastery levels help her tremendously as it reduces the gas costs of combat units (take it, it's mandatory) which finally allow Kerrigan to get the units she truly needs. The reality is that you are still gas starved and you will still have to build queens anyways -_-

I find her very fun to play. It feels a lot like the HotS campaign missions. It is important that you use her assimilation wave smartly because it can yield a good amount of resources that she really needs overall.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Ultralisks, queens, nydus. Add hydralisks if there is air, lurkers if there is lots of ground.



Leveling :

At low level, you simply have to go hydra/lurker, but at high level, you unlock a ton of unit compositions : queen/BL, queen/ultra, hydra/ultra, hydra/ling, ling/lurker, ling/muta(niche), etc... This is mainly due to the fact that Kerrigan is so strong that she can make up for a lot of your unit comp deficiencies. And because you take advantage of the fact that she soloes wave to heavily tech at the beginning.

Power spike at level 2 and 3. Also, spread creep, at level 7, you and your ally gain 30% attack speed while on creep. It's an awesome, borderline OP upgrade!



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 5/5. Kerrigan can solo the first half of most mutations. Too bad the second half is much harder

- Army strength late game : 2/5

- Weaknesses : Mass air, hard to rebuild army, gas starved

Your gameplay is really built around Kerrigan as she is the core of your army. She can easily solo the waves 2, 3 and 4. On some maps, she can even spawn just in time for the first wave, you will have to kite with zerglings for a few seconds. During the midgame, she is the cornerstone of your army.You will love how strong the hero is, but also be completely lost for 60 seconds when she dies. Then, as the game progresses, your endgame unit will take precedence over her (lurker/ultra/brood lord). Still, she is crucial to your army survival. Talking about your army, the only truly good unit you have are ultralisks and lurkers. Brood lords are nice but can't use nydus worms, and hydralisks are just too squishy. You should also have a small squad of queens to spread creep and heal kerrigan if she gets dangerously low.Mastery levels help her tremendously as it reduces the gas costs of combat units (take it, it's mandatory) which finally allow Kerrigan to get the units she truly needs. The reality is that you are still gas starved and you will still have to build queens anyways -_-I find her very fun to play. It feels a lot like the HotS campaign missions. It is important that you use her assimilation wave smartly because it can yield a good amount of resources that she really needs overall.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Ultralisks, queens, nydus. Add hydralisks if there is air, lurkers if there is lots of ground.At low level, you simply have to go hydra/lurker, but at high level, you unlock a ton of unit compositions : queen/BL, queen/ultra, hydra/ultra, hydra/ling, ling/lurker, ling/muta(niche), etc... This is mainly due to the fact that Kerrigan is so strong that she can make up for a lot of your unit comp deficiencies. And because you take advantage of the fact that she soloes wave to heavily tech at the beginning.Power spike at level 2 and 3. Also, spread creep, at level 7, you and your ally gain 30% attack speed while on creep. It's an awesome, borderline OP upgrade!- Able to get online early game : 5/5. Kerrigan can solo the first half of most mutations. Too bad the second half is much harder- Army strength late game : 2/5- Weaknesses : Mass air, hard to rebuild army, gas starved



Artanis : Gives a cheat death to everyone

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Overall : Artanis is weak on his own and feels like a support hero. But he is awesome to have as an ally, because his level 2 upgrade is incredible : ally units that would receive lethal damage instead become invulnerable for 5 seconds. I believe that to compensate, his units are not as OP as other heroes. He is among my favourite heroes to have as a partner, and actually opens up unit compositions that would not be possible otherwise. I feel that he pairs extremely favorably with Zagara and Raynor, as both have extremely fragile units (zerglings / marines) that can use the 5 second invulnerability to deal an insane amount of damage. Kerrigan can actually go pure raptor ling for a fun troll build.

All his units are a bit lackluster, so the usual unit compositions are zealot/archon and dragoon/immortal. His powers are very strong though, with very potent crowd control, that allows his otherwise mediocre units to actually kill the AI's stuff. Fun stuff, Whirlwind zealots have no collision and can stack! You can manually activate the ability to go through units (think of mineral walking). I like spamming 30 zealots, because it feels like the LotV cinematic!

Recommended cookie-cutter army : tempests and zealots (who are mainly here as a mineral dump). And a couple of obs



Leveling : You can actually play Brutal at level 2 because you will help your ally so much. His first true power spike is at level 5 with the reaver. Use them ASAP.

Power spike at level 2, 3 and 5 as explained



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 1/5. Even your spells don't help much

- Army strength late game : 3/5

- Weaknesses : Lack of mobility, his army is just weak overall

Artanis is weak on his own and feels like a support hero. But he is awesome to have as an ally, because his level 2 upgrade is incredible : ally units that would receive lethal damage instead become invulnerable for 5 seconds. I believe that to compensate, his units are not as OP as other heroes. He is among my favourite heroes to have as a partner, and actually opens up unit compositions that would not be possible otherwise. I feel that he pairs extremely favorably with Zagara and Raynor, as both have extremely fragile units (zerglings / marines) that can use the 5 second invulnerability to deal an insane amount of damage. Kerrigan can actually go pure raptor ling for a fun troll build.All his units are a bit lackluster, so the usual unit compositions are zealot/archon and dragoon/immortal. His powers are very strong though, with very potent crowd control, that allows his otherwise mediocre units to actually kill the AI's stuff. Fun stuff, Whirlwind zealots have no collision and can stack! You can manually activate the ability to go through units (think of mineral walking). I like spamming 30 zealots, because it feels like the LotV cinematic!Recommended cookie-cutter army : tempests and zealots (who are mainly here as a mineral dump). And a couple of obsYou can actually play Brutal at level 2 because you will help your ally so much. His first true power spike is at level 5 with the reaver. Use them ASAP.Power spike at level 2, 3 and 5 as explained- Able to get online early game : 1/5. Even your spells don't help much- Army strength late game : 3/5- Weaknesses : Lack of mobility, his army is just weak overall



Swann : Amass the mech army of death

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Overall : Swann is the mech commander, and boy will you feel the awesomeness of mass tank drops! He is really weak until he gets the level 5 upgrade "gather more vespene for both players" as he will be crippled by the lack of gas. But as soon as you unlock this, you are in for a wild ride. This ability to harvest gas for both players makes him and Artanis the only two heroes which can significantly open up compositions for their allies. His early game relies on turrets as they are quite potent and 100% refundable. I build 3 rocket turrets to clear the rocks and refund them instantly to build my CC. Note that his laser drill is not as potent as controlling Zagara or Kerrigan, it clearly lacks the firepower to clear a wave, so be careful. You should get tanks as soon as the 2nd wave. Midgame, you should build a core mech army, and the cookie cutter build is tank-goliath with some Hercules transport. Don't forget the transport, they are not only awesome to use, they give Swann's army incredible mobility, as each Hercules can transport 8 tanks sieged! And can teleport! And are extremely cheap! Don't forget the upgrades in your factory tech lab. I typically add some science vessels for repairs and hellbats versus Protoss as Immortals can destroy armored units quickly (with Swann, you should aim to lose 0 units that cost gas all game long). Wraiths are worthwhile only on the air map, but they don't perform really better than goliaths. Late game, you should just roll over anything. Swann has one of the strongest late game army.

I find him quite fun to play when I micro his tanks with the Hercules. He is a bit bland when you play mass goliaths/thors as you just 1A your way through, but you should try it once for fun. His hero powers are a bit weaker than other commanders, but the laser drill ends up doing a lot of damage over the course of a game. Power spike at level 5 as stated.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Tanks, hercules and sprinkle with science vessels and goliaths



Leveling : You may want to wait until lvl 5 for Brutal as you will be lacking gas. He is incredibly slow at building an army so be careful with it. Spam turrets, they are refundable.

Power spike at level 2, 4 and 5



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 1/5 perhaps the slowest commander to get any meaningful army

- Army strength late game : 5/5

- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army

Swann is the mech commander, and boy will you feel the awesomeness of mass tank drops! He is really weak until he gets the level 5 upgrade "gather more vespene for both players" as he will be crippled by the lack of gas. But as soon as you unlock this, you are in for a wild ride. This ability to harvest gas for both players makes him and Artanis the only two heroes which can significantly open up compositions for their allies. His early game relies on turrets as they are quite potent and 100% refundable. I build 3 rocket turrets to clear the rocks and refund them instantly to build my CC. Note that his laser drill is not as potent as controlling Zagara or Kerrigan, it clearly lacks the firepower to clear a wave, so be careful. You should get tanks as soon as the 2nd wave. Midgame, you should build a core mech army, and the cookie cutter build is tank-goliath with some Hercules transport. Don't forget the transport, they are not only awesome to use, they give Swann's army incredible mobility, as each Hercules can transport 8 tanks sieged! And can teleport! And are extremely cheap! Don't forget the upgrades in your factory tech lab. I typically add some science vessels for repairs and hellbats versus Protoss as Immortals can destroy armored units quickly (with Swann, you should aim to lose 0 units that cost gas all game long). Wraiths are worthwhile only on the air map, but they don't perform really better than goliaths. Late game, you should just roll over anything. Swann has one of the strongest late game army.I find him quite fun to play when I micro his tanks with the Hercules. He is a bit bland when you play mass goliaths/thors as you just 1A your way through, but you should try it once for fun. His hero powers are a bit weaker than other commanders, but the laser drill ends up doing a lot of damage over the course of a game. Power spike at level 5 as stated.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Tanks, hercules and sprinkle with science vessels and goliathsYou may want to wait until lvl 5 for Brutal as you will be lacking gas. He is incredibly slow at building an army so be careful with it. Spam turrets, they are refundable.Power spike at level 2, 4 and 5- Able to get online early game : 1/5 perhaps the slowest commander to get any meaningful army- Army strength late game : 5/5- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army



Zagara : Swarm of cheap units, capped at 100 supply

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Overall : Zagara embodies the Swarm, spawning millions of small units that all die in an instant. I like her a lot, despite the fact that you will always make the same units every single game. Her drawback is that her supply is limited to 100, which is a huge problem at low level, so you will need to spam static defense more than any other hero.

She has overall terrible anti-air early game, and relies on scourge which are really good when you tech enough (only build scourge if you have the Hive tier upgrade that make them cost 50 less gas, never build those underperforming corruptors) and the hydralisk spell. You can actually cheese the usually very hard last wave of the air map (Void Launch) by flying past the 37+ enemy battlecruisers and targeting the transports with scourge. Other than that, her army has very good mobility, especially due to the fact that, like Kerrigan, Zagara can solo a lot of early waves and allow you to spend all your resources in upgrades.

I feel like the hardest part about playing Zagara is keeping on top of spreading your creep as well as not forgetting the many many upgrades you have to reasearch, and finally babysitting Zagara because sheis so squishy in comparison to other heroic units.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Zerglings, Banelings, Scourge



Leveling : Unexpected power spike at level 7 with the free banelings. From there on, make a baneling nest with your very first 50 gas, it is that good. They can make you solo the first wave, and are awesome to have all game long. At level 15, Zagara's army becomes really strong. Her baneling/scourge become enough to clear the AI waves efficiently, and she becomes one of the the strongest heroes.

The main point when learning Zagara is to always remember to remake scourges and banelings. These are the real damage dealers, and your zerglings (and abominations if you make some) are mainly here to do the cleanup.

Power spike at level 2, 3 and 7



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 5/5

- Army strength late game : 2/5. If you can reset the entire AI army with bane/scourge, you are 5/5 but it's often not possible endgame

- Weaknesses : AoE, the Zagara hero unit is nowhere as good as Kerrigan or Alarak

Zagara embodies the Swarm, spawning millions of small units that all die in an instant. I like her a lot, despite the fact that you will always make the same units every single game. Her drawback is that her supply is limited to 100, which is a huge problem at low level, so you will need to spam static defense more than any other hero.She has overall terrible anti-air early game, and relies on scourge which are really good when you tech enough (only build scourge if you have the Hive tier upgrade that make them cost 50 less gas, never build those underperforming corruptors) and the hydralisk spell. You can actually cheese the usually very hard last wave of the air map (Void Launch) by flying past the 37+ enemy battlecruisers and targeting the transports with scourge. Other than that, her army has very good mobility, especially due to the fact that, like Kerrigan, Zagara can solo a lot of early waves and allow you to spend all your resources in upgrades.I feel like the hardest part about playing Zagara is keeping on top of spreading your creep as well as not forgetting the many many upgrades you have to reasearch, and finally babysitting Zagara because sheis so squishy in comparison to other heroic units.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Zerglings, Banelings, ScourgeUnexpected power spike at level 7 with the free banelings. From there on, make a baneling nest with your very first 50 gas, it is that good. They can make you solo the first wave, and are awesome to have all game long. At level 15, Zagara's army becomes really strong. Her baneling/scourge become enough to clear the AI waves efficiently, and she becomes one of the the strongest heroes.The main point when learning Zagara is to always remember to remake scourges and banelings. These are the real damage dealers, and your zerglings (and abominations if you make some) are mainly here to do the cleanup.Power spike at level 2, 3 and 7- Able to get online early game : 5/5- Army strength late game : 2/5. If you can reset the entire AI army with bane/scourge, you are 5/5 but it's often not possible endgame- Weaknesses : AoE, the Zagara hero unit is nowhere as good as Kerrigan or Alarak



Vorazun : Invisible army and powerful spells

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Overall : Vorazun only issue is her early game. Otherwise Vorazun has OP units. Her DT can insta-kill entire waves, even the toughest ones. Dark Archon has great CC, and mind control is really great on 6-supply units like carrier. Mass Void Ray with some corsairs allow Vorazun to solo the offense maps... at level 3. I don't joke, I did it. Corsairs are actually great, and can make for some very fun "entirely invisible and invincible" army at level 13 (cloaked units respawn instead of dying. 5 minute cooldown). DT + Corsair is probably the best cookie-cutter army composition at level 15.

Vorazun has OP spells. Well, she has one OP spell, Black Hole is an 8 second CC that only costs 25(!) energy. And it CCs everything, even the toughest hybrids! She also has Shadow Guard, which you should use exactly once at the beginning of the game to clear your rocks and solo the first wave. The easy way to use it is to cast it next to your rocks at your natural as soon as the red dot appears on the minimap. Clear the rocks and then go clear the wave.

Vorazun has OP upgrades. Automated refineries, or whatever their name is, allows Vorazun to be mineral starved during the early and midgame. Mass DT is mineral starved. Mass Void Ray is mineral starved. What game is this? It was even more impressive when she could go 4 gas before Cybernetics Core, but Blizzard added rocks on extractor just for her. The only annoyance is that she relies on Oracle for detection which forces you to get a stargate. And the Oracle has a bad tendency to die.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : DT, Corsair and 1 or 2 oracle for detection



Leveling : She has no real power spikes after level 3, she is the easiest hero to level. By the way, Void Rays can actually keep on damaging the train while moving.

Power spike at level 2, 3



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 2/5

- Army strength late game : 5/5

- Weaknesses : Mass air, hard to rebuild army if you manage to lose it twice in less than 5 minutes

Vorazun only issue is her early game. Otherwise Vorazun has OP units. Her DT can insta-kill entire waves, even the toughest ones. Dark Archon has great CC, and mind control is really great on 6-supply units like carrier. Mass Void Ray with some corsairs allow Vorazun to solo the offense maps... at level 3. I don't joke, I did it. Corsairs are actually great, and can make for some very fun "entirely invisible and invincible" army at level 13 (cloaked units respawn instead of dying. 5 minute cooldown). DT + Corsair is probably the best cookie-cutter army composition at level 15.Vorazun has OP spells. Well, she has one OP spell, Black Hole is an 8 second CC that only costs 25(!) energy. And it CCs everything, even the toughest hybrids! She also has Shadow Guard, which you should use exactly once at the beginning of the game to clear your rocks and solo the first wave. The easy way to use it is to cast it next to your rocks at your natural as soon as the red dot appears on the minimap. Clear the rocks and then go clear the wave.Vorazun has OP upgrades. Automated refineries, or whatever their name is, allows Vorazun to be mineral starved during the early and midgame. Mass DT is mineral starved. Mass Void Ray is mineral starved. What game is this? It was even more impressive when she could go 4 gas before Cybernetics Core, but Blizzard added rocks on extractor just for her. The only annoyance is that she relies on Oracle for detection which forces you to get a stargate. And the Oracle has a bad tendency to die.Recommended cookie-cutter army : DT, Corsair and 1 or 2 oracle for detectionShe has no real power spikes after level 3, she is the easiest hero to level. By the way, Void Rays can actually keep on damaging the train while moving.Power spike at level 2, 3- Able to get online early game : 2/5- Army strength late game : 5/5- Weaknesses : Mass air, hard to rebuild army if you manage to lose it twice in less than 5 minutes



Karax : Mastered cannon rush and spells, forgot to have an army

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Overall : Karax is the weakest hero to level by far, but ends up being one of the strongest at high mutation levels. Karax has the strongest hero powers by far. He also has the strongest static defense by a significant margin. The drawback is that his standing army is really weak, or rather, his army is damn small. Because his units cost 50% more, you shouldn't play Karax like you play any other hero. Typically, the first half of the game, Karax has nearly no units. The start of the game is about researching the tech you will need and dropping some static defense. You help your partner thanks to your spells. Only in the second half will you start ramping up production.

I personally find Karax challenging. He is quite well designed with strengths and flaws, and plays very differently from all the other commanders of the current roster. It's just that his army is really weak. To give you an idea, when I only invest in his spells and carriers, I end up with 6~8 carrier at the end of the game on offense maps. And the strong feeling that I was carried by my ally.

One last thing, Karax's partners really appreciate when Karax writes in chat "Chrono wave soon" (all production/research are much faster for 20 seconds) 10 seconds before actually using it. It's a really awesome team power, especially for the attack/armor upgrades.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Carriers and zealots (mineral dump). You probably have more resource invested in static defense than in your army anyways



Leveling : At low level, I suggest that you use the Energizer (sentry) as much as possible vs terran and protoss as you can mind control mechanical units. At higher level, normally, you pick one unit (immortal, carrier,colossus, etc...), and spam zealot/cannon with the remaining minerals. Your first decent standing army is mass immortal when you get the upgrade that deals 200 damage to a ground or air target. I suggest you stick to non-offense maps when you grind levels, because your photon cannon + battery shield are a very potent combo.

A note on Energizer : this unit is extremely interesting. On one hand, it is very potent. It can boosts your structures, your units or your allies units, can mind control battlecruisers, etc... On the other hand, it costs a ton of gas, and Karax already has a lot of trouble regarding gas. I suggest you skip them entirely versus Zerg and add just a couple versus Terran/Protoss in the midgame because they feel really rewarding to use.

It's really hard to build any kind of decent army before having the immortal ability (level 9), it's the first time when you can reliably carry the game on all maps.

Power spike at level 7, 10 and 11, that's why he is so terrible to level



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 4/5 as long as you don't have to attack too much

- Army strength late game : 2/5. If you are under constant attack, then your cannons are going to do so much work and you are worth 5/5

- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility, gas starved

Karax is the weakest hero to level by far, but ends up being one of the strongest at high mutation levels. Karax has the strongest hero powers by far. He also has the strongest static defense by a significant margin. The drawback is that his standing army is really weak, or rather, his army is damn small. Because his units cost 50% more, you shouldn't play Karax like you play any other hero. Typically, the first half of the game, Karax has nearly no units. The start of the game is about researching the tech you will need and dropping some static defense. You help your partner thanks to your spells. Only in the second half will you start ramping up production.I personally find Karax challenging. He is quite well designed with strengths and flaws, and plays very differently from all the other commanders of the current roster. It's just that his army is really weak. To give you an idea, when I only invest in his spells and carriers, I end up with 6~8 carrier at the end of the game on offense maps. And the strong feeling that I was carried by my ally.One last thing, Karax's partners really appreciate when Karax writes in chat "Chrono wave soon" (all production/research are much faster for 20 seconds) 10 seconds before actually using it. It's a really awesome team power, especially for the attack/armor upgrades.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Carriers and zealots (mineral dump). You probably have more resource invested in static defense than in your army anywaysAt low level, I suggest that you use the Energizer (sentry) as much as possible vs terran and protoss as you can mind control mechanical units. At higher level, normally, you pick one unit (immortal, carrier,colossus, etc...), and spam zealot/cannon with the remaining minerals. Your first decent standing army is mass immortal when you get the upgrade that deals 200 damage to a ground or air target. I suggest you stick to non-offense maps when you grind levels, because your photon cannon + battery shield are a very potent combo.A note on Energizer : this unit is extremely interesting. On one hand, it is very potent. It can boosts your structures, your units or your allies units, can mind control battlecruisers, etc... On the other hand, it costs a ton of gas, and Karax already has a lot of trouble regarding gas. I suggest you skip them entirely versus Zerg and add just a couple versus Terran/Protoss in the midgame because they feel really rewarding to use.It's really hard to build any kind of decent army before having the immortal ability (level 9), it's the first time when you can reliably carry the game on all maps.Power spike at level 7, 10 and 11, that's why he is so terrible to level- Able to get online early game : 4/5 as long as you don't have to attack too much- Army strength late game : 2/5. If you are under constant attack, then your cannons are going to do so much work and you are worth 5/5- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility, gas starved



Abathur : Amass the big Zerg army of death

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Overall : I feel that Abathur is a really strong and balanced hero. Balanced in the sense that there is a flow : in the early game, do everything so that a single roach collects all the biomass. You should have a Brutalisk really early. And this flows smoothly in the late game, where Abathur tends to have a truly unkillable army which can out sustain anything sent at it.

There are a lot of different army compositions, but his truly OP unit is the Viper, in particular the Blinding Cloud. The basic army compositions are roach/ravagers (at low level), pure muta (at level 15), roach/guardian/devourer, roach/swarm host/guardian, etc... His army requires micro mostly for the Vipers, otherwise, you can 1A your way through.

One of the strongest lategame armies (with Vorazun/Swann), mainly because nothing dies. That is even more true with the level 15 upgrade. It's very deathbally, but somewhat lacks extreme mobility. The only way to instantly deal with a problem on the other side of the map is Deep Tunnel which is only for Brutalisk/Swarm Hosts.

Similarly to the two other Zerg commanders, you can tech a lot in the early game thanks to the mines and your Brutalisk. It is actually possible to rush Hive in order to unlock the highest possible tech, and not die in the process.

One tip is that it's possible to turn off the Brutalisk/Leviathan upgrade. This is mainly useful is you plan to go pure muta (at level 15) as a muta with 100 biomass is arguably stronger than a Leviathan.

I personally have big trouble being efficient with Swarn Hosts, even with the Deep Tunnel upgrade. On standard maps, everything works, but I find them lacking on most Mutators. In theory, you can take fights and have no loss, but thanks to Mend and the level 15 upgrade, Abathur already never loses units generally. And Swarm Hosts are so big that you invariably tend to lose some, if they had a smaller collision radius, they would be significantly better. They are terrific defensive units though (note : it seems they were changed and have much better AI)

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Roach (mineral dump), queen, and either muta flock or guardian+devourer flock



Leveling : Just stick to roach/ravager/queen until you get enough upgrades for your air units. You may want to stick to pure mutas until you reach the upgrades for devourer/guardian

Power spike at level 2, 5 and 7



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 2/5 it's tough to get a Brutalisk soon enough

- Army strength late game : 5/5

- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility

I feel that Abathur is a really strong and balanced hero. Balanced in the sense that there is a flow : in the early game, do everything so that a single roach collects all the biomass. You should have a Brutalisk really early. And this flows smoothly in the late game, where Abathur tends to have a truly unkillable army which can out sustain anything sent at it.There are a lot of different army compositions, but his truly OP unit is the Viper, in particular the Blinding Cloud. The basic army compositions are roach/ravagers (at low level), pure muta (at level 15), roach/guardian/devourer, roach/swarm host/guardian, etc... His army requires micro mostly for the Vipers, otherwise, you can 1A your way through.One of the strongest lategame armies (with Vorazun/Swann), mainly because nothing dies. That is even more true with the level 15 upgrade. It's very deathbally, but somewhat lacks extreme mobility. The only way to instantly deal with a problem on the other side of the map is Deep Tunnel which is only for Brutalisk/Swarm Hosts.Similarly to the two other Zerg commanders, you can tech a lot in the early game thanks to the mines and your Brutalisk. It is actually possible to rush Hive in order to unlock the highest possible tech, and not die in the process.One tip is that it's possible to turn off the Brutalisk/Leviathan upgrade. This is mainly useful is you plan to go pure muta (at level 15) as a muta with 100 biomass is arguably stronger than a Leviathan.I personally have big trouble being efficient with Swarn Hosts, even with the Deep Tunnel upgrade. On standard maps, everything works, but I find them lacking on most Mutators. In theory, you can take fights and have no loss, but thanks to Mend and the level 15 upgrade, Abathur already never loses units generally. And Swarm Hosts are so big that you invariably tend to lose some, if they had a smaller collision radius, they would be significantly better. They are terrific defensive units though (note : it seems they were changed and have much better AI)Recommended cookie-cutter army : Roach (mineral dump), queen, and either muta flock or guardian+devourer flockJust stick to roach/ravager/queen until you get enough upgrades for your air units. You may want to stick to pure mutas until you reach the upgrades for devourer/guardianPower spike at level 2, 5 and 7- Able to get online early game : 2/5 it's tough to get a Brutalisk soon enough- Army strength late game : 5/5- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility



Alarak : Hero unit reloaded

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Overall : Alarak is another commander centered around a hero unit, like Kerrigan. Like her, you spend most of your time microing just him. Unlike her, you don't have to fear getting one-shot and having your entire army crumble. That is because the gimmick of Alarak is that he can sacrifice supplicants (zealot-like units) to regain life, and thus you will always have your blob of supplicants following him like a group of cheerleaders. This leaves you a lot of gas to invest in other high tech units. The robotic units are pretty straightforward to use, the ascendants (Tal'Darim templars) are much more interesting. They can get absurdly strong if you sacrifice enough supplicants to them, but the sacrifice cooldown is 1 minute, so you have to babysit them a lot. Losing them lategame is crippling as it takes 10 minute to put them fully online. Finally, don't forget that your sentries are both incredibly useful support units, they are also you only detector.

My cookie cutter build is Alarak-supplicants-wrathwalkers-ascendants (colossus-templar). This is because alarak and the ascendants provide incredibly good AoE, so the wrathwalkers are here to provide long range high single target damage. Note that on maps with lots of anti-air, like scourges, you may want to skip the wrathwalkers. Rush ascendants as they really take a long time to be powerful.

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Supplicants, Wrathwalkers, Ascendants and a couple of sentries



Leveling : Stalkers seem to be a good unit you have at low levels, but they are quickly outclassed by nearly everything else. Basically, go for robotics units and wait for ascendants until you get the upgrade at level 12

Power spike at level 2, 3 and 5



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 4/5

- Army strength late game : 4/5

- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility



Alarak is another commander centered around a hero unit, like Kerrigan. Like her, you spend most of your time microing just him. Unlike her, you don't have to fear getting one-shot and having your entire army crumble. That is because the gimmick of Alarak is that he can sacrifice supplicants (zealot-like units) to regain life, and thus you will always have your blob of supplicants following him like a group of cheerleaders. This leaves you a lot of gas to invest in other high tech units. The robotic units are pretty straightforward to use, the ascendants (Tal'Darim templars) are much more interesting. They can get absurdly strong if you sacrifice enough supplicants to them, but the sacrifice cooldown is 1 minute, so you have to babysit them a lot. Losing them lategame is crippling as it takes 10 minute to put them fully online. Finally, don't forget that your sentries are both incredibly useful support units, they are also you only detector.My cookie cutter build is Alarak-supplicants-wrathwalkers-ascendants (colossus-templar). This is because alarak and the ascendants provide incredibly good AoE, so the wrathwalkers are here to provide long range high single target damage. Note that on maps with lots of anti-air, like scourges, you may want to skip the wrathwalkers. Rush ascendants as they really take a long time to be powerful.Recommended cookie-cutter army : Supplicants, Wrathwalkers, Ascendants and a couple of sentriesStalkers seem to be a good unit you have at low levels, but they are quickly outclassed by nearly everything else. Basically, go for robotics units and wait for ascendants until you get the upgrade at level 12Power spike at level 2, 3 and 5- Able to get online early game : 4/5- Army strength late game : 4/5- Weaknesses : Hard to rebuild army, lack of mobility



Nova : Small elite squad capped at 100 supply

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Overall : Nova is all about controlling an elite squad of unkillable units. You can only have 100 supply, only one Barracks, one Factory and one Starport. And you have one Nova, who is halfway between Kerrigan and Zagara in terms of being completely OP strong. She is strong but she requires a lot of micro especially because she has 2 modes of play : stealth mode and combat mode. Typically, you assault an enemy position by starting in stealth mode and getting 1 or 2 invisible mine explosions. The cooldown is pretty long unfortunately. Then switch in assault mode, blink in the middle of the enemy pack (this grants you a shield), use a defensive drone and blast everything with your shotgun. You may want to add the Griffin Airstrike / Holodecoy / Nuke for really fortified positions.

The default units to spend minerals on are marines and goliaths, but you should try to slowly build a gas intensive army throughout the game and spend all your excess minerals in spells. The default gas dumps are ghosts and ravens. By the way, Nova's first spell called defensive drone is a defensive ward which is the single most important spell in your arsenal. It will save your units more time than you can count. Note that tanks can spam mines for 50 minerals, and thus can get rid of your excess minerals

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Ghosts, Ravens, Marine/Goliaths (mineral dump). Tanks if you can afford them



Leveling : Quite an easy process, you have much more time in standard missions than in mutations, so you can fully use that time to micro Nova and her vast array of tools. You may want to use marauders at the start, but they are quickly outclassed by every other unit.

Power spike at level 3 and 7



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 4/5

- Army strength late game : 4/5

- Weaknesses : Impossible to rebuild army, good thing it's mostly unkillable

Nova is all about controlling an elite squad of unkillable units. You can only have 100 supply, only one Barracks, one Factory and one Starport. And you have one Nova, who is halfway between Kerrigan and Zagara in terms of being completely OP strong. She is strong but she requires a lot of micro especially because she has 2 modes of play : stealth mode and combat mode. Typically, you assault an enemy position by starting in stealth mode and getting 1 or 2 invisible mine explosions. The cooldown is pretty long unfortunately. Then switch in assault mode, blink in the middle of the enemy pack (this grants you a shield), use a defensive drone and blast everything with your shotgun. You may want to add the Griffin Airstrike / Holodecoy / Nuke for really fortified positions.The default units to spend minerals on are marines and goliaths, but you should try to slowly build a gas intensive army throughout the game and spend all your excess minerals in spells. The default gas dumps are ghosts and ravens. By the way, Nova's first spell called defensive drone is a defensive ward which is the single most important spell in your arsenal. It will save your units more time than you can count. Note that tanks can spam mines for 50 minerals, and thus can get rid of your excess mineralsRecommended cookie-cutter army : Ghosts, Ravens, Marine/Goliaths (mineral dump). Tanks if you can afford themQuite an easy process, you have much more time in standard missions than in mutations, so you can fully use that time to micro Nova and her vast array of tools. You may want to use marauders at the start, but they are quickly outclassed by every other unit.Power spike at level 3 and 7- Able to get online early game : 4/5- Army strength late game : 4/5- Weaknesses : Impossible to rebuild army, good thing it's mostly unkillable



Stukov : Swarm of free units

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Overall : Stukov is another variation on being the Swarm. Instead of overwhelming your opponent with legions of cheap units, you overwhelm them with... free units! His gimmick is a building which spawns a group of infested civilians regularly. This can go up to 64 units, which is quite a lot. But half his units also spawn things in some way, bunkers autospawn infested marines, tanks throw infested civilians in enemy lines, queens use "Spawn broodlings" from Brood War, etc...

What I like most about Stukov is that he is the only commander that plays like an A.I : you typically don't win with one big push that lasts less than 30 seconds, it's often a much longer process that relies on attrition. Some like it, some don't, personally, I find this refreshing

Recommended cookie-cutter army : Bunker and tanks. Add diamondbacks(net) or queens(fungal) if there is too much air



Leveling : The bunkers are not really good at low level, so you will rely a lot on tanks and diamondbacks (just here for anti air). It is quite funny to spam queens as it's a caster that can really hold its own thanks to being fast, flying and possessing an array of useful spells that can be used from afar.

Power spike at level 2, 3 and 4 (you can count 5 if you intend to spam bunkers all game long)



Mutations :

- Able to get online early game : 2/5

- Army strength late game : 4/5

- Weaknesses : Low mobility

Stukov is another variation on being the Swarm. Instead of overwhelming your opponent with legions of cheap units, you overwhelm them with... free units! His gimmick is a building which spawns a group of infested civilians regularly. This can go up to 64 units, which is quite a lot. But half his units also spawn things in some way, bunkers autospawn infested marines, tanks throw infested civilians in enemy lines, queens use "Spawn broodlings" from Brood War, etc...What I like most about Stukov is that he is the only commander that plays like an A.I : you typically don't win with one big push that lasts less than 30 seconds, it's often a much longer process that relies on attrition. Some like it, some don't, personally, I find this refreshingRecommended cookie-cutter army : Bunker and tanks. Add diamondbacks(net) or queens(fungal) if there is too much airThe bunkers are not really good at low level, so you will rely a lot on tanks and diamondbacks (just here for anti air). It is quite funny to spam queens as it's a caster that can really hold its own thanks to being fast, flying and possessing an array of useful spells that can be used from afar.Power spike at level 2, 3 and 4 (you can count 5 if you intend to spam bunkers all game long)- Able to get online early game : 2/5- Army strength late game : 4/5- Weaknesses : Low mobility



Some commander combos



Really good synergy combo

- Artanis + Zagara/Raynor/Stukov : Artanis 5 seconds of invulnerability pairs extremely well with Zagara's zerglings banelings and scourges / Raynor's marines and medics / Stukov free units.

- Swann + Karax/Kerrigan : Early game, Swann is pretty slow, so Kara's Spear of Adun and cannons are extremely handy to clear the first waves / Kerrigan soloes the eraly game. Karax's passive heal of mechanical units are really useful to save Swann's first units. Late game, Karax and Kerrigan are incredibly gas starved, and Swann goes a long way to alleviate this. This is the only way for Karax/Kerrigan to obtain a true army of powerful units.

- Raynor/Stukov + Vorazun/Nova : With your partner's approval, Vorazun/Nova can take 6 gases thanks to automated refineries, while Raynor/Stukov sticks to marine+medics/bunker spam on 2 gases. This allows your ally to ramp even faster toward their endgame army, and doesn't really cripple Raynor/Stukov.



Cute synergy combo

- Kerrigan + Abathur/Stukov : Kerrigan's level 7 upgrade is 30% attack speed for any unit on creep. If your partner spreads creep themselves, it's even more likely that they will take advantage of it

- Vorazun + Zagara/Karax/Kerrigan/Nova: Vorazun's black hole acts exactly like an Archon toilet, so easy access to AoE attacks can be really valuable. The three commanders that can use it to the fullest are Karax (Spear of Adun), Zagara (banelings), Kerrigan (Kerrigan's Dash) and Nova (Nova's shotgun). This is mostly valuable early game for ramping up your economy while having 0 units. It's more cute than really powerful



Specific army compositions

- Vorazun + Nova : Vorazun passive "saves" cloaked/invisible units with a 5 minute cooldown. Nova, her ghosts (and her banshees) are permacloak. This helps tremendously

- Vorazun + Kerrigan : Same thing as above, but with lurkers. Be just sure to have your lurkers buried when they are about to "die"!

- Artanis + Kerrigan : Kerrigan raptor lings are incredibly strong with their 5 second invulnerability. Kerrigan can go ling/ultra while Artanis takes care of anti-air. Don't hesitate to back off during a large assault and come back a minute later. It's a bit a troll build, and not that effective engame (which is a bit of a waste of gas if you got the upgrades for your lings)



Anti-synergy / Nonbo

- Swann + Raynor/Stukov : Swann provides gas to heroes that typically don't need any

- Kerrigan + Vorazun : Weak versus mass air

- Artanis + Alarak : The supplicants are sacrificed (to Alarak and Ascendants) and thus don't benefit from the invulnerability shield



Do you like hero units?

Kerrigan / Alarak > Nova > Zagara ( > Abathur's Brutalisks and Leviathans)

As you can guess, the stronger the hero unit, the weaker the army



You don't know what hero you want to buy?

Read the short guides, watch a couple of videos. Honestly, all commanders are powerful, so I would pick a commander you like. But if you want to diversify your gameplay experience, I feel that Stukov is the most original commander and my #1 pick. Nova is a close second. Alarak can be seen as a variation on Kerrigan, and Abathur as a variation on Swann, but you may still want to get them because they are among the best characters in terms of banter.



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General ideas/tips :

+ Show Spoiler + - Take everything I say with a pinch of salt. Your experience may differ from mine, and you may have found better strategies than me

- No heroes are bad. All heroes can start playing Brutal at roughly level 2~3 and hold their own if you are decent enough at the game (except Karax on offense maps). Some heroes are better at carrying the game though

- At low hero level, there are builds / unit compositions that are clearly better than others. At high level, on non-mutations, you can pretty much do anything you want. There are nearly no bad units, and you can feel free to experiment new things

- Most of the current map pool is really straightforward regarding macro : if your expansion is not defended by AI units, you have to take it roughly around the time the first push hits. Some commanders can expand before, some commanders have to wait just after. It is a mistake to delay after that in any case.

- Most heroes have massive power spike at level 2 (ultimate ability unlocked) , level 3 and level 5 (very strong upgrades). That is why I don't recommend playing Brutal before level 3. I will give the subsequent early level power spikes if you prefer to stay on lower difficulty settings for a bit. The main exception is Karax who is quite bad on offense maps for a long time.

- The race of the AI is randomized, but Protoss tends to be the easiest to defeat. For Terran, you have to be very careful about detection as the AI uses extensively banshees, ghosts and nukes (it seems I don't get nuked anymore, perhaps Blizzard patched it). For Zerg, the Scourge/Baneling/Viper combo can be really hard to handle, be sure to split, and sometimes, you simply can't go air because of the scourges.

- Be extremely wary of AI air compositions. Mass Mutalisks/Banshees/Void Rays can make your life hell in the early game. Observe carefully the first couple of waves, they tell a lot about what you will face





Map Specific info/tips

+ Show Spoiler + Void Trashing and Rifts of Korhal are the first two offense maps, and used to be trivial. Basically go kill something on the map before the timer runs out. You could do troll builds such as mass vulture + Battlecruiser and win easily. Blizzard stepped up, and the missions are not so trivial anymore.

Void Launch is the air map and one of the two defense map. The easiest way to lose is to not realize that when the first shuttle comes, the enemy waves goes to an expansion, and if you lose your expansion, you are in deep deep trouble. Also, the last wave in extremely strong, so strong that it's usual to not be able the beat it. But you only have to snipe the shuttles!

Temple of the Past is the other defense map and the most annoying one in my opinion. It can be quite challenging to multitask, and one key step is to start spamming static defense around the temple when you enter midgame, starting with the northeast entrance. Also, AI drops start midway through and can really cause havoc if you don't anticipate them well

Oblivion Express is the train map and my personal favorite of all the maps. The easiest way to lose is similar to Void Launch, while you are attacking the first train, an enemy wave will attack your base from the south and can really set you back. Be wary of nukes versus Terran AI. It is recommended that you keep your ultimate (300 second cooldown spells) when 2 trains come simultaneously. If the worst happens, you can let one train go to lick your wounds. But you can only do it once!

Lock & Load is the first additional map. It is a zone control map where you have to get 5 zones under your control. It can be a bit challenging to split your forces but spending 1~2k minerals on static defenses as well as keeping your spells for defensive purposes simplifies a lot of things. The only map which requires cooperation as both players are needed to get a control point. If your partner AFK, you can as well leave. (However, if he disconnects, you can control his units and win!)

Chain of Ascension is the second additional map. I like it a lot, as you can't fast expand blindly like on the other maps. It requires some focus as the easiest way to lose is to not realize that Jinara is close to your pit, and lose because the hybrid pushes her to her death. Even though your standing army can clear the map. Be extra careful when you attempt the secondary objective, as it is the only secondary objective where you can lose your entire army if you simply 1A. And I like it, it requires a tiny bit of micro, but any challenge is welcome

The Vermillion Problem is the third additional map. It is an offense map where the places you have to attack are semi-randomized, and you have to protect a worker while it collects a special crystal. It is the second map that features a defended expansion. The fact that lava rises regularly makes the air compositions and the teleportation skills really good.

Mist Opportunities is the fourth additional map. It's a kind of offense/defense hybrid as you have to go far in enemy territory to start defending a place (actually a science vessel in this case). I always feel the need to kill the top base and it's a challenge I invite you to do!

Miner Evacuation is the fifth additional map. It's similar to Mist Opportunities in the sense that it's also a kind of offense/defense hybrid where you have to go far in enemy territory to start defending a place. Personally I find the aesthetics of this map pretty poor (it's ugly). Be careful to always watch for your expansions when you are fighting at an objective because you are regularly attacked there and losing your expo can majorly set you back

Dead of Night is the sixth additional map based on the campaign and the arcade map. You are assaulted by swarms of infested units at night, but during the day, you are free to clear the infested buildings. It's a defense map, except if you want some challenge and burn the infested structures at night, which I invite you to try. The biggest gimmick is that you have only 9 mineral patch and 3 gas, which forces you to try different types of army comps.









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Conclusion :

I liked Co-op missions a lot when they were introduced, but I quickly found them very repetitive, and not that hard. That's why I was delighted when they introduced the Mutation missions. The missions themselves are quite varied now, and I really like the fact that they added maps where you can't expand straight away.





List of edits :

+ Show Spoiler +

- Typos

- Clarified my stance on vultures

- Swann and Lock & Load added

- Karax

- Level 15 ranking

- February 2016 co-op changes

- Abathur patch refreshing of the whole guide

- The Vermillion Problem

- Some pictures (a bit too large unfortunately)

- Community Guides

- Downgraded Raynor due to the patch

- Alarak patch

- Stukov patch

- Updated a lot of the outdated information

- Dead of Night patch

- Popularity tweet

Hello everyone!I have been enjoying Co-op missions a lot. The heroes have good design, the missions are rather fast paced, and I have a blast playing them. For reference, I am ranked Master, and play exclusively Brutal after I leveled my characters. I will also assume that you know what Co-op missions are. This guide is not aimed to be an introduction on how to play Co-op, rather what are the possible strategies and strength/weaknesses of commanders. So, let's get down to business!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For the lazy, here are the rankings for standard missions:standard missions are trivial, every commander can solo them. Mutations are very varied, so it's hard to give an accurate ranking., or Vorazun if you didn't buy any commander, and avoid Zagara/Kerrigan/Swann/AbathurI mostly rate the commanders on their ability to carry the game if your partner cannot hold his/her own.*Karax is tied for #1 on defense maps at level 15------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Each hero has a small section, where I discuss their most important features, as well as the usual army compositions and build orders for low level heroes.For mutations, the typical weaknesses are the following :- Vulnerable to AoE- Weak versus mass air units- Lack of mobility to snipe a crucial enemy on the other side of the map- Hard to rebuild army (even if you are good, some mutations will simply kill all your units)- Artanis + Zagara/Raynor/Stukov : Artanis 5 seconds of invulnerability pairs extremely well with Zagara's zerglings banelings and scourges / Raynor's marines and medics / Stukov free units.- Swann + Karax/Kerrigan : Early game, Swann is pretty slow, so Kara's Spear of Adun and cannons are extremely handy to clear the first waves / Kerrigan soloes the eraly game. Karax's passive heal of mechanical units are really useful to save Swann's first units. Late game, Karax and Kerrigan are incredibly gas starved, and Swann goes a long way to alleviate this. This is the only way for Karax/Kerrigan to obtain a true army of powerful units.- Raynor/Stukov + Vorazun/Nova : With your partner's approval, Vorazun/Nova can take 6 gases thanks to automated refineries, while Raynor/Stukov sticks to marine+medics/bunker spam on 2 gases. This allows your ally to ramp even faster toward their endgame army, and doesn't really cripple Raynor/Stukov.- Kerrigan + Abathur/Stukov : Kerrigan's level 7 upgrade is 30% attack speed for any unit on creep. If your partner spreads creep themselves, it's even more likely that they will take advantage of it- Vorazun + Zagara/Karax/Kerrigan/Nova: Vorazun's black hole acts exactly like an Archon toilet, so easy access to AoE attacks can be really valuable. The three commanders that can use it to the fullest are Karax (Spear of Adun), Zagara (banelings), Kerrigan (Kerrigan's Dash) and Nova (Nova's shotgun). This is mostly valuable early game for ramping up your economy while having 0 units. It's more cute than really powerful- Vorazun + Nova : Vorazun passive "saves" cloaked/invisible units with a 5 minute cooldown. Nova, her ghosts (and her banshees) are permacloak. This helps tremendously- Vorazun + Kerrigan : Same thing as above, but with lurkers. Be just sure to have your lurkers buried when they are about to "die"!- Artanis + Kerrigan : Kerrigan raptor lings are incredibly strong with their 5 second invulnerability. Kerrigan can go ling/ultra while Artanis takes care of anti-air. Don't hesitate to back off during a large assault and come back a minute later. It's a bit a troll build, and not that effective engame (which is a bit of a waste of gas if you got the upgrades for your lings)- Swann + Raynor/Stukov : Swann provides gas to heroes that typically don't need any- Kerrigan + Vorazun : Weak versus mass air- Artanis + Alarak : The supplicants are sacrificed (to Alarak and Ascendants) and thus don't benefit from the invulnerability shieldKerrigan / Alarak > Nova > Zagara ( > Abathur's Brutalisks and Leviathans)As you can guess, the stronger the hero unit, the weaker the armyRead the short guides, watch a couple of videos. Honestly, all commanders are powerful, so I would pick a commander you like. But if you want to diversify your gameplay experience, I feel that Stukov is the most original commander and my #1 pick. Nova is a close second. Alarak can be seen as a variation on Kerrigan, and Abathur as a variation on Swann, but you may still want to get them because they are among the best characters in terms of banter.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I liked Co-op missions a lot when they were introduced, but I quickly found them very repetitive, and not that hard. That's why I was delighted when they introduced the Mutation missions. The missions themselves are quite varied now, and I really like the fact that they added maps where you can't expand straight away.List of edits :