Co-op Commander Guide: Tychus Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by Kat















Overview

Tychus Findlay, Legendary Outlaw, has reformed the famous Heaven’s Devils gang to take the fight to Amon. Forgoing standard army warfare, Tychus and his Outlaws operate as a small band of elite mercenaries, each with their own unique specializations and strategies. As a commander, Tychus is equipped to pick apart any opposition by carefully choosing which Outlaws to field, and how to equip them with powerful and expensive Gear. Together, the Heaven’s Devils are the most diverse combined-arms force in all of Co-op.



[Last Updated: December 26th, 2019]

Tychus Findlay, Legendary Outlaw, has reformed the famous Heaven’s Devils gang to take the fight to Amon. Forgoing standard army warfare, Tychus and his Outlaws operate as a small band of elite mercenaries, each with their own unique specializations and strategies. As a commander, Tychus is equipped to pick apart any opposition by carefully choosing which Outlaws to field, and how to equip them with powerful and expensive Gear. Together, the Heaven’s Devils are the most diverse combined-arms force in all of Co-op. Strengths

Adaptable: Tychus’ Outlaw and Gear choices provide unparalleled flexibility and player customization. Tychus’ many options enable him to counter specific enemy threats and rewards good decision-making. When used well, Tychus has very few real weaknesses, enabling him to shine regardless of map, enemy composition, or ally.



High Mobility: Tychus’ small team of Outlaws is far more nimble on the battlefield than a conventional army, and his Medivacs provide instant global mobility at a whim.



Powerful Wave Clear: Tychus has access to multiple sources of burst area damage, making him one of the best commanders for taking out attack waves and clusters of enemy units.



Great Sustain: Each Outlaw is a durable hero unit with access to several sources of healing. This allows them to relentlessly push into fortified enemy bases, unhindered by energy or health concerns. Skilled players can set a furious pace for themselves, engaging in combat from the outset to the end of the game without rest.



Weaknesses

Low Peak Damage: His lack of a conventional army limits Tychus’ maximum damage output. The highest single target DPS compositions for Tychus require giving up other utility.



Poor Static Defense: While Auto-Turrets have high damage output, they suffer from low health, a lack of passive healing, and a hefty price tag. Tychus’ reliance on his economy makes every Auto-Turret a pricy investment, and hard to depend on as permanent defenses.



Choices are Permanent: Outlaw and Gear choices are both situational and permanent. This can be punishing for inexperienced players, as there is no way to undo mistakes when building your band of Outlaws.













Outlaw Combat Roles

Conventional army compositions have no meaning to Tychus. Instead, you want to recruit Outlaws to fulfill specific roles in your small team of specialists based on the enemy composition, map, or personal preference. These are some of the potential roles that each Outlaw may fall into:



Target Elimination: Sam, Vega

Single Target Damage: Tychus, Sam, Sirius, Cannonball, Rattlesnake

Area Damage: Tychus, Nux, Blaze

Crowd Control: Cannonball, Tychus, Sirius, Blaze

Anti-Air: Sirius, Vega, Sam

Anti-Light: Blaze

Tanking: Cannonball, Blaze, Sirius

Healing: Nikara, Rattlesnake



While not all Outlaws are equally good at these roles, each of them fulfill specific niches in a composition, and many synergize with each other in significant ways.



Suggested Outlaw Compositions

Certain combinations of Outlaws synergize particularly well together, or are aimed at dealing with a specific enemy threat. The suggested combinations below will not necessarily each feature a list of five Outlaws, as only a few Outlaws may be required to fulfill the purpose of that combination—add on additional Outlaws as befits the type of enemy you are faced with. Note also that getting certain Gear quickly may be required in order for Outlaws to fulfill their intended role.





Dependable Offense and Defense - Tychus/Rattlesnake/Sam/Sirius

An early Rattlesnake will provide you with healing for the entire game, and Sam and Sirius work together as damage dealers to provide both sustained and burst damage, against both air and ground targets. You’ll likely want Sam before Sirius, as Sam is more useful when pushing into enemy fortifications during the early and mid game, but either can be recruited as the third Outlaw. The purpose of this combination is to be universally dependable and easy to play, while still being incredibly powerful. There is little that this composition, or a variant of it, cannot handle. If you haven't identified a specific threat that the enemy poses to you yet, just focus on Tychus’ Gear first, and then add on Gear for the other Outlaws depending on what you see. Be mindful that Sirius’ turrets are your only source of detection.





For Tough Attack Waves - Tychus/Sam/Nikara/Nux

The purpose of this composition is to both endure and destroy enemy attack waves, at the cost of being worse at dealing with enemy fortifications. While not as aggressive as some other compositions, it performs well when the enemy is dangerous enough to be a real threat. Focus on Tychus’ Gear initially, before investing in Nikara’s healing throughput and Nux’s damage and area effect. Use it for tough mutations on attack wave-heavy maps, such as on Temple of the Past and Mist Opportunities.





Aggressive Early Game - Tychus/Sam/Sirius/Rattlesnake

This is a highly aggressive Outlaw composition that will require more micro due to the lack of a healer in the early game, as you’ll instead rely on good play and Medivacs to keep your Outlaws alive. Works best in situations where you will be able to avoid taking sustained damage in the early game. Spread out your Gear choices between Tychus’ Implosion Core, Sam’s Restraint Matrix, Sirius’ Missiles, Detonator, and Terror Rounds, and Rattlesnake’s Signal Modulator. Whenever Tychus’ area damage is not enough on its own, you’ll want to intentionally place Sirius’ turrets in harm's way, both to tank a few hits and to deal further area damage with Sirius’ Detonator—but be careful with those turrets, as they are your only source of detection, and you should prefer to keep them alive for their damage.





Infested Maps - Tychus/Rattlesnake/Sirius/Blaze





Variant - Tychus/Sam/Sirius/Blaze/Rattlesnake

Blaze has incredible damage potential against light enemies, being able to burn entire legions of units with a single ability cast and auto attack. As such, Blaze is an excellent option for Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation, though he should not necessarily be recruited as early as possible. The more advanced Tychus/Sam/Sirius/Blaze/Rattlesnake variant of this composition requires precise knowledge of timing and mastery use to accomplish specific goals on Dead of Night in particular. See the Map-Specific Tips section for more information.





Domination - Tychus/Vega/Nikara/Cannonball

The purpose of this composition is to use Vega’s Dominate in the early game to sequence break the map by grabbing the most powerful pre-placed enemy units around. You’ll need to know precisely where these are and when it is safe to dominate each of them in order to make good use of this composition. The goal is to build up an army of buffed up enemy units and use them to roll through the rest of the map, not to simply kill the high tech enemy units, so make sure to stun or confuse surrounding enemies when dominating your targets, or use Medivacs to rescue them. Without being backed by Vega’s dominated minions, this composition has very poor damage output. More so than any other composition, it relies on your skill and knowledge in order to succeed. Conventional army compositions have no meaning to Tychus. Instead, you want to recruit Outlaws to fulfill specific roles in your small team of specialists based on the enemy composition, map, or personal preference. These are some of the potential roles that each Outlaw may fall into:Sam, VegaTychus, Sam, Sirius, Cannonball, RattlesnakeTychus, Nux, BlazeCannonball, Tychus, Sirius, BlazeSirius, Vega, SamBlazeCannonball, Blaze, SiriusNikara, RattlesnakeWhile not all Outlaws are equally good at these roles, each of them fulfill specific niches in a composition, and many synergize with each other in significant ways.Certain combinations of Outlaws synergize particularly well together, or are aimed at dealing with a specific enemy threat. The suggested combinations below will not necessarily each feature a list of five Outlaws, as only a few Outlaws may be required to fulfill the purpose of that combination—add on additional Outlaws as befits the type of enemy you are faced with. Note also that getting certain Gear quickly may be required in order for Outlaws to fulfill their intended role.An early Rattlesnake will provide you with healing for the entire game, and Sam and Sirius work together as damage dealers to provide both sustained and burst damage, against both air and ground targets. You’ll likely want Sam before Sirius, as Sam is more useful when pushing into enemy fortifications during the early and mid game, but either can be recruited as the third Outlaw. The purpose of this combination is to be universally dependable and easy to play, while still being incredibly powerful. There is little that this composition, or a variant of it, cannot handle. If you haven't identified a specific threat that the enemy poses to you yet, just focus on Tychus’ Gear first, and then add on Gear for the other Outlaws depending on what you see. Be mindful that Sirius’ turrets are your only source of detection.The purpose of this composition is to both endure and destroy enemy attack waves, at the cost of being worse at dealing with enemy fortifications. While not as aggressive as some other compositions, it performs well when the enemy is dangerous enough to be a real threat. Focus on Tychus’ Gear initially, before investing in Nikara’s healing throughput and Nux’s damage and area effect. Use it for tough mutations on attack wave-heavy maps, such as on Temple of the Past and Mist Opportunities.This is a highly aggressive Outlaw composition that will require more micro due to the lack of a healer in the early game, as you’ll instead rely on good play and Medivacs to keep your Outlaws alive. Works best in situations where you will be able to avoid taking sustained damage in the early game. Spread out your Gear choices between Tychus’ Implosion Core, Sam’s Restraint Matrix, Sirius’ Missiles, Detonator, and Terror Rounds, and Rattlesnake’s Signal Modulator. Whenever Tychus’ area damage is not enough on its own, you’ll want to intentionally place Sirius’ turrets in harm's way, both to tank a few hits and to deal further area damage with Sirius’ Detonator—but be careful with those turrets, as they are your only source of detection, and you should prefer to keep them alive for their damage.Blaze has incredible damage potential against light enemies, being able to burn entire legions of units with a single ability cast and auto attack. As such, Blaze is an excellent option for Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation, though he should not necessarily be recruited as early as possible. The more advanced Tychus/Sam/Sirius/Blaze/Rattlesnake variant of this composition requires precise knowledge of timing and mastery use to accomplish specific goals on Dead of Night in particular. See thesection for more information.The purpose of this composition is to use Vega’s Dominate in the early game to sequence break the map by grabbing the most powerful pre-placed enemy units around. You’ll need to know precisely where these are and when it is safe to dominate each of them in order to make good use of this composition. The goal is to build up an army of buffed up enemy units and use them to roll through the rest of the map, not to simply kill the high tech enemy units, so make sure to stun or confuse surrounding enemies when dominating your targets, or use Medivacs to rescue them. Without being backed by Vega’s dominated minions, this composition has very poor damage output. More so than any other composition, it relies on your skill and knowledge in order to succeed.









General Tips With Tychus’ aggressive playstyle, it can be easy to forget your macro. Since your most expensive purchases are instant, you can quickly spend a lot of resources, but don’t neglect doing so for too long, as each addition to your arsenal is precious. Always spend your money!



If killed, Outlaws can be revived at Joeyray’s Bar for the price of 250 minerals and a 25 second production timer. While this makes it relatively quick and cheap compared to other Commanders to bring Tychus’ entire team back onto the field if they are wiped out, Tychus has to pay much more for Gear and research throughout the game than any other Commander, and losing any of your resources will permanently set your research back for the rest of the game. Don’t let your Outlaws die.



Some Gear synergizes especially well with other Gear, such as Blaze’s Wildflame Fuel and Hades Oil, Rattlesnake’s Moebius Aggression and Tychus’ Ripper Rounds, or any of Nux’s Gear. Choose your Gear carefully to maximize your benefit.



Tychus can aim to pursue a “tall strategy”, having only a few highly upgraded Outlaws, or a “wide strategy”, recruiting several different Outlaws as early as possible, but with less Gear. Some Outlaw Gear, such as Tychus’ SureShot Helmet or Nux’s N3 Networking, directly benefit from having more Outlaws, while other Outlaws have synergies that require only one or two pieces of Gear to take full advantage of. On the other hand, some Ultimate Gear are very powerful, but do not benefit particularly from being combined with other Outlaws.



SCVs should be used to gain vision for your Medivacs on certain maps, saving you valuable time when airlifting your Outlaws. See the Map-Specific Tips section for more details.



Tychus has five weapon and armor upgrades. Weapon upgrades grant +10% base weapon damage per level, and armor upgrades grant +10% base Health and +1 armor per level. Since each level of upgrade provides the same benefit at an increasingly higher cost (100/100|175/175|250/250|325/325|400/400), it is wise to research the first few upgrade levels, while prioritizing other things later into the game rather than pay the steep research cost. Since armor upgrades increase health, they are important to increase the healing done by Medivacs and Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer, while Nikara’s healing will always be a flat value that is unaffected by upgrades other than her own Gear. Note also that the Endurance Supplements research for Muscle Outlaws is additive rather than multiplicative with the health increase from armor upgrades.



Since the Ultimate Gear for each Outlaw requires having every other piece of Gear for that Outlaw, some Outlaw’s Ultimate Gear is more desirable than others.

















Calldowns

Transports Tychus' friendly combat units in the target area to a targeted location, healing and cloaking them over 10 seconds beginning on drop-off. If any of Tychus’ units are damaged in this interval, both effects cease.

120 second cooldown (75 with mastery). Each Medivac has its own separate cooldown, and you can have up to three Medivacs.



Cloaks targets for 10 seconds after drop off, healing them for 50% health over the duration.



You can only pick up your own units. While it can pick up any combat unit, including anything Vega dominates, it will not pick up SCVs.



While targets are picked up, they are completely invulnerable. You can delay dropping off for up to 15 seconds. While the Medivac is on the map, it provides vision over nearby high ground, just like an air unit.



Medivacs provide you with both healing and enormous map mobility, allowing you to respond to attack waves at your leisure and get back into the action just as quickly. Medivacs require vision in order to fly to the targeted destination, so make sure to leave a couple SCV’s in strategic spots around the map, or drop a Sirius turret or Rattlesnake Revitalizer if you plan to return swiftly. Transports Tychus' friendly combat units in the target area to a targeted location, healing and cloaking them over 10 seconds beginning on drop-off. If any of Tychus’ units are damaged in this interval, both effects cease.120 second cooldown (75 with mastery). Each Medivac has its own separate cooldown, and you can have up to three Medivacs.Cloaks targets for 10 seconds after drop off, healing them for 50% health over the duration.You can only pick up your own units. While it can pick up any combat unit, including anything Vega dominates, it will not pick up SCVs.While targets are picked up, they are completely invulnerable. You can delay dropping off for up to 15 seconds. While the Medivac is on the map, it provides vision over nearby high ground, just like an air unit.Medivacs provide you with both healing and enormous map mobility, allowing you to respond to attack waves at your leisure and get back into the action just as quickly. Medivacs require vision in order to fly to the targeted destination, so make sure to leave a couple SCV’s in strategic spots around the map, or drop a Sirius turret or Rattlesnake Revitalizer if you plan to return swiftly.



Ground: 138.21 (325.20 vs structures) DPS in a radius of 1

Air: 40.00 DPS in a radius of 1.5

3000 HP



600 second coolup, 360 cooldown (240 with mastery)



Calls down the Odin at the target location, dealing 150 damage in a radius of 2 on impact. The Odin takes Tychus as the pilot and revives him if he is inactive. It is controllable and will fight for 60 seconds. If Tychus has fallen, calling down the Odin will respawn him without additional cost.



Stuns all enemies and deals 1000 damage over 5 seconds in an area with a radius of 3. Usable once per Odin cooldown. Stuns all enemies and deals 1000 damage over 5 seconds in an area with a radius of 3. Usable once per Odin cooldown. Calls down a Nuclear Strike at a target location. Nukes take 3 seconds to land, but they deal up to 1000 damage in an area with a radius of 8, falling off to 500 damage at up to 10 range, then 250 at up to 12. Calls down a Nuclear Strike at a target location. Nukes take 3 seconds to land, but they deal up to 1000 damage in an area with a radius of 8, falling off to 500 damage at up to 10 range, then 250 at up to 12.

If the Big Red Button research is timed correctly, the Odin can fire the Barrage, wait for the research to finish, then deploy the nuke within the duration of the same Odin. This isn’t necessarily worth planning around, however, as Barrage isn’t particularly impressive—just make sure that the Big Red Button research is complete or will soon complete by the time you call in the Odin.



The Odin can use both its ground and air weapons at once if suitable targets are available and are within a certain distance of each other.



If the Odin is destroyed, Tychus jumps out of it unharmed.



The Odin is primarily used to deliver its nuke, and secondarily to tank damage or destroy structures. While the Odin’s area damage weapons can deal a lot of damage to tight groups of enemies such as attack waves, it is not terribly effective at fighting spread out combat units, and losing access to Shredder Grenade for 60 seconds can hurt. Plan your offensive around using the Odin’s nuke to take out a hefty enemy encampment, and once it has delivered its payload, move it elsewhere with Medivacs where it can blow up enemy structures. 600 second coolup, 360 cooldown (240 with mastery)Calls down the Odin at the target location, dealing 150 damage in a radius of 2 on impact. The Odin takes Tychus as the pilot and revives him if he is inactive. It is controllable and will fight for 60 seconds. If Tychus has fallen, calling down the Odin will respawn him without additional cost.If the Big Red Button research is timed correctly, the Odin can fire the Barrage, wait for the research to finish, then deploy the nuke within the duration of the same Odin. This isn’t necessarily worth planning around, however, as Barrage isn’t particularly impressive—just make sure that the Big Red Button research is complete or will soon complete by the time you call in the Odin.The Odin can use both its ground and air weapons at once if suitable targets are available and are within a certain distance of each other.If the Odin is destroyed, Tychus jumps out of it unharmed.The Odin is primarily used to deliver its nuke, and secondarily to tank damage or destroy structures. While the Odin’s area damage weapons can deal a lot of damage to tight groups of enemies such as attack waves, it is not terribly effective at fighting spread out combat units, and losing access to Shredder Grenade for 60 seconds can hurt. Plan your offensive around using the Odin’s nuke to take out a hefty enemy encampment, and once it has delivered its payload, move it elsewhere with Medivacs where it can blow up enemy structures.



Outlaws and Structures



60.00 (75.00 with ITC-E, 155.83 with ITC-E and all Gear) DPS

600 HP



Tychus is your primary Outlaw, being both incredibly versatile and powerful. Tychus brings the hurt to any type of enemy with his minigun and Shredder Grenades, and will act as your main damage dealer for any given mission.



Due to the low cooldown and good range of Shredder Grenade, you should always be looking for suitable targets to blow up. Even if you aren’t planning on engaging a particular encampment, throwing a grenade and running away will make your life easier down the line.



The high attack speed of Tychus’ minigun makes him very efficient at switching targets. Tychus can rapidly mow down any type of enemy, whether they are a spread out group or a single beefy target. However, he needs support from his other Outlaws in order to stay in the thick of combat for long.



Deals 75 damage to enemy units in the target area, with a radius of 4. 20 second cooldown (14 with mastery).









Gear

Allows Shredder Grenade to pull affected units to the center of its area of effect, stunning them for 2 seconds.



Very strong Gear. Increases the effectiveness of other sources of area damage by stacking the enemies close together, and prevents the enemy from harming your Outlaws for 2 seconds, which is all you are likely to need. Not very effective in the early game, though.



Very strong Gear. Increases the effectiveness of other sources of area damage by stacking the enemies close together, and prevents the enemy from harming your Outlaws for 2 seconds, which is all you are likely to need. Not very effective in the early game, though. Increases the damage of Tychus' Shredder Grenade by 50, for a total of 125.



Strong Gear, increases your burst damage against attack waves and encampments by a significant amount and allows you to oneshot a greater selection of unit types.



Strong Gear, increases your burst damage against attack waves and encampments by a significant amount and allows you to oneshot a greater selection of unit types. Tychus’ attacks decrease the armor of targets by 5 for 2 seconds.



Decent Gear when faced with Terran or Zerg, but the targets that benefit the most from having their armor shredded are already an excellent target for Sam’s Demolition Charge. Note that Protoss Plasma Shields are unaffected by the armor shred.



Decent Gear when faced with Terran or Zerg, but the targets that benefit the most from having their armor shredded are already an excellent target for Sam’s Demolition Charge. Note that Protoss Plasma Shields are unaffected by the armor shred. Increases Tychus' weapon damage by 20% for each Outlaw within a range of 15 of him, for a total of 80%.



More weapon damage on Tychus is always good, and makes for a big boost to your effective damage, particularly due to how effective Tychus is at switching targets. An above average Gear. More weapon damage on Tychus is always good, and makes for a big boost to your effective damage, particularly due to how effective Tychus is at switching targets. An above average Gear.

Tychus is your primary Outlaw, being both incredibly versatile and powerful. Tychus brings the hurt to any type of enemy with his minigun and Shredder Grenades, and will act as your main damage dealer for any given mission.Due to the low cooldown and good range of Shredder Grenade, you should always be looking for suitable targets to blow up. Even if you aren’t planning on engaging a particular encampment, throwing a grenade and running away will make your life easier down the line.The high attack speed of Tychus’ minigun makes him very efficient at switching targets. Tychus can rapidly mow down any type of enemy, whether they are a spread out group or a single beefy target. However, he needs support from his other Outlaws in order to stay in the thick of combat for long.

55.00 (68.00 with ITC-E) DPS

375 HP



Sam provides very high auto-attack damage that is effective regardless of the situation, as well as a solution for priority backline enemies and beefy objectives. Sam is an aggressive choice that favors killing the enemy before they can fight back, rather than trying to outlast them.



With his upgrades, Sam can briefly operate on his own by infiltrating enemy encampments to eliminate key targets. Being a Reaper, Sam can also jump up and down cliffs, which can help with that aim.



Marks a target unit, dealing 500 damage after 5 seconds. Holds up to 3 charges. 30 second cooldown.









Gear

Increases the damage of Demolition Charges by 100%.



Provides very high damage against objectives. Demolition Charge will now one-shot all units save for the strongest Hybrid. Hybrid Behemoths and Dominators have 2000 health, letting one Demolition Charge halve their health, which makes them relatively trivial to finish off.



Provides very high damage against objectives. Demolition Charge will now one-shot all units save for the strongest Hybrid. Hybrid Behemoths and Dominators have 2000 health, letting one Demolition Charge halve their health, which makes them relatively trivial to finish off. Stuns and disables the detection of units hit by Demolition Charge.



Good Gear. Allows you to disable priority targets while you deal with other enemies.

Can stun literally anything in the game (including bosses and objectives such as Void Slivers) except for Ultralisks and Void Thrashers.



Can delay but not cancel spells with a casting time, such as the Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blast, which will fire immediately upon the Demolition Charge exploding. Kill the target before the stun wears off.



Good Gear. Allows you to disable priority targets while you deal with other enemies.Can stun literally anything in the game (including bosses and objectives such as Void Slivers) except for Ultralisks and Void Thrashers.Can delay but not cancel spells with a casting time, such as the Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blast, which will fire immediately upon the Demolition Charge exploding. Kill the target before the stun wears off. Prevents Crooked Sam from taking any damage and increases his movement speed by 80% for 5 seconds after being attacked. Cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds.



Shade Suit makes Sam undetectable to enemies, but he is not invulnerable—he’ll still take damage from projectiles that have already been fired, splash damage, or friendly fire. Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blasts do not lose their targeting when Shade Suit is engaged.



Increases Sam’s survivability, letting him survive better on the front lines despite his low health. Essential later into the game.



Shade Suit can be used to send Sam on “Demolition runs”, diving into an enemy base to take out key targets ahead or separately from the other Outlaws. Use a Medivac to get him back out.



Shade Suit makes Sam undetectable to enemies, but he is not invulnerable—he’ll still take damage from projectiles that have already been fired, splash damage, or friendly fire. Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blasts do not lose their targeting when Shade Suit is engaged.Increases Sam’s survivability, letting him survive better on the front lines despite his low health. Essential later into the game.Shade Suit can be used to send Sam on “Demolition runs”, diving into an enemy base to take out key targets ahead or separately from the other Outlaws. Use a Medivac to get him back out. Reduces the charge-up time of Demolition Kit by 3 seconds each time Crooked Sam attacks.



Very strong on maps where there are a lot of high-health objectives to target, such as Scythe of Amon and Oblivion Express. A great offensive Ultimate Gear, especially since the rest of Sam’s Gear are also good. Very strong on maps where there are a lot of high-health objectives to target, such as Scythe of Amon and Oblivion Express. A great offensive Ultimate Gear, especially since the rest of Sam’s Gear are also good.

Sam provides very high auto-attack damage that is effective regardless of the situation, as well as a solution for priority backline enemies and beefy objectives. Sam is an aggressive choice that favors killing the enemy before they can fight back, rather than trying to outlast them.With his upgrades, Sam can briefly operate on his own by infiltrating enemy encampments to eliminate key targets. Being a Reaper, Sam can also jump up and down cliffs, which can help with that aim.

14.00 (17.00 with ITC-E) DPS

Warhound Turret: 23.00 (42.00 with Turret Frame) DPS

650 HP



Sirius is used both for his sustained damage output, hefty anti-air burst damage, and crowd control. While it can be tempting and sometimes useful to use Sirius’ turrets to tank for your Outlaws, especially if you do not yet have a healer on the field, the vast majority of Sirius’ damage comes from his turrets, and he’ll be worth very little once he is out of turrets. Try to ensure that they survive if you want Sirius to contribute damage to a fight.



Warhound Turrets benefit from weapon and armor upgrades, but not from ITC-E Triggers.



Warhound Turrets are detectors (but not Sirius himself). He’s a good option for providing detection if you aren’t planning on getting any of the Fixers.



Sirius is reasonably tanky, but has a weapon with a range of 7. It can be useful to nudge him forward to tank a little damage every now and then.



Deploy an automated defensive turret. Turrets gain toned down versions of Sirius’ Gear bonuses. Times out after 60 seconds. Holds up to 5 charges. 15 second cooldown.









Gear

Fires 8 missiles at enemy air units that deal 100 damage each, on a cooldown of 15. Warhound Turrets each fire 2 missiles on a cooldown of 30.



This is the reason you choose Sirius. This Gear provides very strong burst damage against aerial targets, which a few of Tychus’ Outlaws can’t target.



This is the reason you choose Sirius. This Gear provides very strong burst damage against aerial targets, which a few of Tychus’ Outlaws can’t target. Auto-attacks have a 30% chance to cast Fear in a small area with each attack. Enemy units within a radius of 5 of the targeted unit will run in fear for 3 seconds. Warhound Turrets have a 3% chance to cast Fear.



Though Sirius’ attack speed is low and his damage unimpressive, a lucky application of fear can prevent a great deal of damage from being dealt to your Outlaws. While the ITC-E Triggers research is not very useful to Sirius’ damage output due to his Warhound Turrets being unaffected by it, it synergizes with Terror Rounds to let you fear enemies more often.



Though Sirius’ attack speed is low and his damage unimpressive, a lucky application of fear can prevent a great deal of damage from being dealt to your Outlaws. While the ITC-E Triggers research is not very useful to Sirius’ damage output due to his Warhound Turrets being unaffected by it, it synergizes with Terror Rounds to let you fear enemies more often. When Sirius is defeated, he triggers an explosion, dealing 300 damage to enemy units in a radius of 4 around him. Warhound Turrets deal 50 damage on death.



It is not a good idea to get this Gear as your primary way of dealing with low health units (there are better Outlaw options for that), but if you need additional area damage, it can be decent, as exploding turrets can deal a deceptively high amount of burst damage to things like attack waves.



You could suicide Sirius directly into an attack wave—300 damage is nothing to sneeze at. Do not do this unless it is your absolutely last option of survival.



It is not a good idea to get this Gear as your primary way of dealing with low health units (there are better Outlaw options for that), but if you need additional area damage, it can be decent, as exploding turrets can deal a deceptively high amount of burst damage to things like attack waves.Yousuicide Sirius directly into an attack wave—300 damage is nothing to sneeze at. Do not do this unless it is your absolutely last option of survival. Increases the base life and weapon damage of Warhound Turrets by 75%.



A good Gear for sustained combat, but since Terror Rounds and Detonator are often fairly low priorities, this Ultimate Gear will often be reserved only for the late game.



Note that both armor and weapon upgrades also increase the base values. These upgrades are additive with one another, not multiplicative, so depending on how far you are with your research, you will be getting less of an immediate increase than the 75% this upgrade indicates.

A good Gear for sustained combat, but since Terror Rounds and Detonator are often fairly low priorities, this Ultimate Gear will often be reserved only for the late game.Note that both armor and weapon upgrades also increase the base values. These upgrades are additive with one another, not multiplicative, so depending on how far you are with your research, you will be getting less of an immediate increase than the 75% this upgrade indicates.

Sirius is used both for his sustained damage output, hefty anti-air burst damage, and crowd control. While it can be tempting and sometimes useful to use Sirius’ turrets to tank for your Outlaws, especially if you do not yet have a healer on the field, the vast majority of Sirius’ damage comes from his turrets, and he’ll be worth very little once he is out of turrets. Try to ensure that they survive if you want Sirius to contribute damage to a fight.Warhound Turrets benefit from weapon and armor upgrades, but not from ITC-E Triggers.Warhound Turrets are detectors (but not Sirius himself). He’s a good option for providing detection if you aren’t planning on getting any of the Fixers.Sirius is reasonably tanky, but has a weapon with a range of 7. It can be useful to nudge him forward to tank a little damage every now and then.

26.00 (38.00 vs light) DPS

1000 (+250 from Endurance Supplements) HP



Blaze is cursed with the armored tag. As such, his life expectancy is rather short when he is faced with anti-armored units such as Immortals, Siege Tanks, and Reavers. Preferably, you should never use him against these types of units if it can be at all helped, particularly since he is only an effective combat unit against light enemies. Do not recruit Blaze for the purposes of having him be purely a tank against a non-light enemy composition.



Any ally that deals “fire damage” can ignite Blaze’s Oil Spill. As Blaze is the only source of fire damage on Tychus’ roster, and Blaze’s melee range flamethrower is rather clumsy, Blaze works particularly well with an ally that provides a source of fire damage.



The following units and effects can ignite Oil Spill: Firebats, Battlecruisers, Flaming Betty, Hellbats, Hellions (except for Han’s), Colossi, Karax Colossi lingering Fire Beam effect, Solar Lance, Solar Flare, Purifier Beam, Primal Igniters, Dehaka’s Scorching Breath, Glevig, Assault Galleon & Space Station Assault Drones and the Strike Fighter Napalm Payload.



Douses enemy ground units within a radius of 3 in oil, reducing attack and movement speed by 75% and preventing them from cloaking for 13 seconds. When a unit under the effect of Oil Spill is hit by a fire attack, it takes 5 damage per second for 10 seconds. 15 second cooldown.









Gear

Increases the radius of Oil Spill by 100%.



Even though this Gear is not that great and isn’t necessary for the combo between Blaze’s two other pieces of Gear, it can still be useful for the crowd control component (which is very strong), or to better reveal cloaked enemy units.



Even though this Gear is not that great and isn’t necessary for the combo between Blaze’s two other pieces of Gear, it can still be useful for the crowd control component (which is very strong), or to better reveal cloaked enemy units. Improves the damage dealt by the Enflame effect from Oil Spill to deal +25 per second vs. light units, for a total of 30.



The damage of Enflamed is fairly unimpressive without this, totaling a measly 50 spread out over 10 seconds. At a total of 300 damage, none of Amon’s light units are capable of surviving the full duration of Enflamed, and, combined with Wildflame Fuel, it will spread like wildfire through his armies, which is a good way of rooting out light units so that your Outlaws can focus their auto attacks on the targets that are a real threat. This Gear is likely to be the reason you want to recruit Blaze in the first place.



The damage of Enflamed is fairly unimpressive without this, totaling a measly 50 spread out over 10 seconds. At a total of 300 damage, none of Amon’s light units are capable of surviving the full duration of Enflamed, and, combined with Wildflame Fuel, it will spread like wildfire through his armies, which is a good way of rooting out light units so that your Outlaws can focus their auto attacks on the targets that are a real threat. This Gear is likely to be the reason you want to recruit Blaze in the first place. When Enflamed units die, they explode, spreading Enflamed to enemy units within a radius of 4.



Great on Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation where you’ll face hordes of weak units that are tightly clumped together, letting you quickly burn the infestation out.



Every time Enflamed spreads, it is a new application that will last the full 10 seconds, and can even spread to units that are already affected by Enflame, resetting the duration, which helps kill off non-light units. It is possible to chain a single application of Enflamed indefinitely, as long as there are still enemy units around to explode and Enflame others. This can be used to defend semi-permanently against Infested on Dead of Night by lighting the marching Infested on fire and, instead of gunning them down, leaving them to their own devices so that they burn up slowly and keep spreading the fire. You’ll still need to deal with Aberrations, though.



While the unit is affected by Oil Spill, every tick of fire damage from Enflame will also renew the Enflame effect, making Enflame last significantly longer on its initial Oil Spilled targets. This is primarily useful on Dead of Night to guarantee that Infested Colonist Huts burn to the ground, even at full health.



Great on Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation where you’ll face hordes of weak units that are tightly clumped together, letting you quickly burn the infestation out.Every time Enflamed spreads, it is a new application that will last the full 10 seconds, and can even spread to units that are already affected by Enflame, resetting the duration, which helps kill off non-light units. It is possible to chain a single application of Enflamed indefinitely, as long as there are still enemy units around to explode and Enflame others. This can be used to defend semi-permanently against Infested on Dead of Night by lighting the marching Infested on fire and, instead of gunning them down, leaving them to their own devices so that they burn up slowly and keep spreading the fire. You’ll still need to deal with Aberrations, though.While the unit is affected by Oil Spill, every tick of fire damage from Enflame will also renew the Enflame effect, making Enflame last significantly longer on its initial Oil Spilled targets. This is primarily useful on Dead of Night to guarantee that Infested Colonist Huts burn to the ground, even at full health. Reduces all damage taken by Blaze to 30.



Not a good Gear, considering its cost investment (a total of 3000/850 for all his Gear), but depending on the enemy you are facing, it can be necessary for Blaze’s survivability due to his weakness to anti-armored enemies, as the Gear will at the least make Blaze’s damage intake smooth and predictable.



Works on spell damage as well, which enables Blaze to shrug off Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blasts like they’re nothing. However, there are better ways to counter such damage spikes.

Not a good Gear, considering its cost investment (a total of 3000/850 for all his Gear), but depending on the enemy you are facing, it can be necessary for Blaze’s survivability due to his weakness to anti-armored enemies, as the Gear will at the least make Blaze’s damage intake smooth and predictable.Works on spell damage as well, which enables Blaze to shrug off Hybrid Dominator Plasma Blasts like they’re nothing. However, there are better ways to counter such damage spikes.

Blaze is cursed with the armored tag. As such, his life expectancy is rather short when he is faced with anti-armored units such as Immortals, Siege Tanks, and Reavers. Preferably, you should never use him against these types of units if it can be at all helped, particularly since he is only an effective combat unit against light enemies. Do not recruit Blaze for the purposes of having him be purely a tank against a non-light enemy composition.Any ally that deals “fire damage” can ignite Blaze’s Oil Spill. As Blaze is the only source of fire damage on Tychus’ roster, and Blaze’s melee range flamethrower is rather clumsy, Blaze works particularly well with an ally that provides a source of fire damage.The following units and effects can ignite Oil Spill: Firebats, Battlecruisers, Flaming Betty, Hellbats, Hellions (except for Han’s), Colossi, Karax Colossi lingering Fire Beam effect, Solar Lance, Solar Flare, Purifier Beam, Primal Igniters, Dehaka’s Scorching Breath, Glevig, Assault Galleon & Space Station Assault Drones and the Strike Fighter Napalm Payload.

27.77 (97.77 at full Redline stacks, 185.77 with M.A.L.I.C.E and full Redline stacks) DPS

1000 (+250 from Endurance Supplements) HP



Cannonball is the go-to Outlaw for tanking. Unlike Blaze, he is not burdened by the armored tag, and also unlike Blaze, Cannonball’s weapon is ranged rather than melee (with a range of 1, which can potentially be buffed by effects such as the Havoc’s Squad Sight), which makes him a whole lot more nimble in combat. Cannonball can serve as a nigh-invulnerable tank with just a single Gear, and can additionally be kitted out to possess some very respectable damage output.



Between the stun from his Heavy Impact and his tendency to draw all enemy fire to himself, Cannonball will readily keep the rest of the Outlaws safe from any danger. Don’t underestimate Cannonball just because he isn’t as flashy as the others.



Cannonball pairs better with Rattlesnake than Nikara, both due to Cannonball’s high relative health pool and because Cannonball benefits from Rattlesnake’s Moebius Aggression attack speed to stack his Redline faster. Cannonball typically also tends to want to engage into the enemy backline, where Nikara can’t follow him, but Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer can.



Cannonball pulls himself to the target location, dealing 20 damage and stunning enemy units for 2 seconds in a radius of 1.5 on impact. 15 second cooldown.









Gear

Increases the stun duration and radius of Heavy Impact by 100%, for a total of 4 seconds stun in a radius of 3.



A good crowd control Gear later into the game, where you are faced with large numbers of enemies. Pairs very well with Vega’s Dominate or Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse. Good to have, but by no means necessary.



A good crowd control Gear later into the game, where you are faced with large numbers of enemies. Pairs very well with Vega’s Dominate or Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse. Good to have, but by no means necessary. When Cannonball takes fatal damage, he becomes immune to damage for 5 seconds and restores all his life. Cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.



An excellent Gear that allows Cannonball to tank damage without any worry about his personal safety. As Cannonball’s base stats already mark him as the tankiest Outlaw available which, when paired with his own stun and the invulnerability effect and short cooldown of this Gear, lets him survive any attack wave with no issue—he hardly needs any other form of survivability than this Gear at all. Don’t be afraid to let him trigger the Critical Response System for a free heal, just watch him closely while it is on cooldown.



While the invulnerability effect is active, enemy units are still able to attack Cannonball, and will blissfully continue to do so despite dealing no damage to him, even if other targets are available.



An excellent Gear that allows Cannonball to tank damage without any worry about his personal safety. As Cannonball’s base stats already mark him as the tankiest Outlaw available which, when paired with his own stun and the invulnerability effect and short cooldown of this Gear, lets him survive any attack wave with no issue—he hardly needs any other form of survivability than this Gear at all. Don’t be afraid to let him trigger the Critical Response System for a free heal, just watch him closely while it is on cooldown.While the invulnerability effect is active, enemy units are still able to attack Cannonball, and will blissfully continue to do so despite dealing no damage to him, even if other targets are available. Increases Cannonball's attack speed by 3% with each attack, up to a maximum of 60%. Increases his attack damage by 3 with each attack, up to a maximum of 60.



A Gear that can be extremely powerful in sustained fights, providing a massive potential DPS increase if he is allowed to stack it—but with up to 20 stacks and only a 5 second duration without further attacks before stacks expire, reaching that point is a tall order as few enemies will survive for that long.



Note that the weapon damage increase is a flat value, and is unaffected by weapon upgrades.



A Gear that can be extremely powerful in sustained fights, providing a massive potential DPS increase if he is allowed to stack it—but with up to 20 stacks and only a 5 second duration without further attacks before stacks expire, reaching that point is a tall order as few enemies will survive for that long.Note that the weapon damage increase is a flat value, and is unaffected by weapon upgrades. Cannonball has a 30% chance to deal 4 times more damage with his attacks.



Effectively a 90% increase in DPS, which is amazing, though Cannonball’s high damage, slow attack speed and the huge numbers produced by his crits will overkill most targets. With Redline stacks and this Gear, Cannonball’s DPS is higher than Tychus’. Try to direct Cannonball to target enemies with high health during combat.



Also causes Heavy Impact to have a chance to crit, dealing 80 damage.

Effectively a 90% increase in DPS, which is amazing, though Cannonball’s high damage, slow attack speed and the huge numbers produced by his crits will overkill most targets. With Redline stacks and this Gear, Cannonball’s DPS is higher than Tychus’. Try to direct Cannonball to target enemies with high health during combat.Also causes Heavy Impact to have a chance to crit, dealing 80 damage.

Cannonball is the go-to Outlaw for tanking. Unlike Blaze, he is not burdened by the armored tag, and also unlike Blaze, Cannonball’s weapon is ranged rather than melee (with a range of 1, which can potentially be buffed by effects such as the Havoc’s Squad Sight), which makes him a whole lot more nimble in combat. Cannonball can serve as a nigh-invulnerable tank with just a single Gear, and can additionally be kitted out to possess some very respectable damage output.Between the stun from his Heavy Impact and his tendency to draw all enemy fire to himself, Cannonball will readily keep the rest of the Outlaws safe from any danger. Don’t underestimate Cannonball just because he isn’t as flashy as the others.Cannonball pairs better with Rattlesnake than Nikara, both due to Cannonball’s high relative health pool and because Cannonball benefits from Rattlesnake’s Moebius Aggression attack speed to stack his Redline faster. Cannonball typically also tends to want to engage into the enemy backline, where Nikara can’t follow him, but Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer can.

26.66 (53.33 vs armored, 80.00 vs armored with Stimpack) DPS

625 (+156 from Endurance Supplements) HP



Rattlesnake is Tychus’ go-to healer. While his healing is not as immediately powerful as Nikara’s, he makes up for it by contributing fairly to the team’s damage output and by being a decent tank himself. As Rattlesnake’s healing is always sufficient throughout the game, and will even potentially outscale Nikara’s in the late game, he is preferable over Nikara due to his ability to contribute both with his own damage and by absorbing damage alongside Tychus and other midrange Outlaws.



Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer with Moebius Aggression is particularly useful for several other Outlaws, and even other Commanders. Rattlesnake can drop a Revitalizer and expect it to heal up any Commander’s army swiftly, while providing attack speed and keeping Rattlesnake freed up to walk away again immediately.



Since the healing of his Revitalizer is based on total health, armor upgrades increase the healing received. Fully upgraded armor + Endurance Supplements will heal Cannonball and/or Blaze (1750 hp) faster than Nikara can (70 per second to Nikara's 60).



Rattlesnake has the armored tag and has a short enough range that’ll get himself into trouble regularly. Don’t let him take fire from anti-armored enemies.



Places a structure on the ground that heals all friendly units within a radius of 6.0 around the structure for 2% of their life every second. Each Revitalizer lasts 30 seconds. Holds up to 3 charges, with a 30 second cooldown per charge. Revitalizers have 100 health, but will always be prioritized last by nearby enemies. Be aware that area damage such as from Siege Tanks can destroy them quickly.









Gear Revitalizers have 100 health, but will always be prioritized last by nearby enemies. Be aware that area damage such as from Siege Tanks can destroy them quickly.

Improves the healing rate of Revitalizers by 100%.



Increases the healing from 2% life per second to 4%. A decent Gear, but not a necessary one if you are killing enemies fast enough and aren’t pushing too hard. Depending on your playstyle, you may want to get it early or leave it until later in the game to purchase.



Increases the healing from 2% life per second to 4%. A decent Gear, but not a necessary one if you are killing enemies fast enough and aren’t pushing too hard. Depending on your playstyle, you may want to get it early or leave it until later in the game to purchase. Units in the range of Rattlesnake's Revitalizers gain 15% additional attack speed.



The nature of this area buff makes it more powerful with the more Outlaws, weapon upgrades, and weapon-focused Ultimate Gears you have, being fairly inconsequential in the early game but a very powerful buff to your team in the late game.



Note that Tychus benefits from the attack speed increase, despite his weapon tooltip indicating that he does not.



The nature of this area buff makes it more powerful with the more Outlaws, weapon upgrades, and weapon-focused Ultimate Gears you have, being fairly inconsequential in the early game but a very powerful buff to your team in the late game.Note that Tychus benefits from the attack speed increase, despite his weapon tooltip indicating that he does not. Heals Rattlesnake for 2 life per second and increases his attack and movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds. 15 second cooldown.



A large damage increase for Rattlesnake. More often than not, you’ll be guaranteed to face large numbers of armored units, and this upgrade lets Rattlesnake contribute significantly to the team’s damage.



A large damage increase for Rattlesnake. More often than not, you’ll be guaranteed to face large numbers of armored units, and this upgrade lets Rattlesnake contribute significantly to the team’s damage. Rattlesnake’s attacks explode, dealing 50% of their damage to enemies within a radius of 2 and slowing their movement speed by 50% for 1.5 seconds.



A powerful Ultimate Gear that lets Rattlesnake tear into groups of armored units. In combination with Rattlesnake’s attack speed boosting Gear, this lets him dish out some very serious damage, and it also comes with a decent slow effect.

A powerful Ultimate Gear that lets Rattlesnake tear into groups of armored units. In combination with Rattlesnake’s attack speed boosting Gear, this lets him dish out some very serious damage, and it also comes with a decent slow effect.

Rattlesnake is Tychus’ go-to healer. While his healing is not as immediately powerful as Nikara’s, he makes up for it by contributing fairly to the team’s damage output and by being a decent tank himself. As Rattlesnake’s healing is always sufficient throughout the game, and will even potentially outscale Nikara’s in the late game, he is preferable over Nikara due to his ability to contribute both with his own damage and by absorbing damage alongside Tychus and other midrange Outlaws.Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer with Moebius Aggression is particularly useful for several other Outlaws, and even other Commanders. Rattlesnake can drop a Revitalizer and expect it to heal up any Commander’s army swiftly, while providing attack speed and keeping Rattlesnake freed up to walk away again immediately.Since the healing of his Revitalizer is based on total health, armor upgrades increase the healing received. Fully upgraded armor + Endurance Supplements will heal Cannonball and/or Blaze (1750 hp) faster than Nikara can (70 per second to Nikara's 60).Rattlesnake has the armored tag and has a short enough range that’ll get himself into trouble regularly. Don’t let him take fire from anti-armored enemies.

30.00 (60.00 with Procyum Serum) HPS

450 HP



Nikara is a good choice for certain tough mutations, but is largely superfluous for regular Brutal missions.



Nikara works best in tandem with lower health Outlaws that keep their distance to the enemy (Rattlesnake being preferred for Blaze and Cannonball), so recruiting any of the Muscle Outlaws in combination with Nikara is unwise, both because of Nikara’s own AI behavior and because you won’t actually need a tank with Nikara’s high healing on the team.



Once you have both the Gear for Super Heal, you can safely skip some armor upgrades and focus your resources on Gear, Medivacs, and weapon upgrades.



Nikara is not a good choice for your first Outlaw. You do not need her healing badly enough at this point in the game to justify going without a second Outlaw capable of dealing damage. If you’re struggling with keeping Tychus alive in the early game, focus on learning to split damage intake between your two Outlaws and on using Shredder Grenade to clear out groups of enemies prior to engaging them and trading blows with them.



Nikara’s Reinvigorating Burst affects ALL damage output dealt by affected units, including spell damage. This means that Nikara can use her ability to boost the damage dealt by Tychus’ Shredder Grenade, Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse, the Odin’s Big Red Button, and allied commander’s hero units and calldowns, such as Kerrigan’s Immobilizing Wave. Do not use Reinvigorating Burst for the purposes of healing your units, use it to prevent damage being taken altogether by destroying the enemy outright with burst damage. Reinvigorating Burst has no effect on structures, and will not boost Sirius’ Turrets or Swann’s Laser Drill.



If you recruit Nikara as your fifth Outlaw and keep your crew together, her Reinvigorating Burst will effectively provide a short-term damage boost that is on par with a fifth damage dealer, of a quantity equal to the average damage of your other four Outlaws’ weapons. Nikara can be useful to boost burst damage dealt by other Outlaws, which gives her a good role on maps with lots of attack waves.



Instantly heals friendly units in a radius of 7 around Lt. Nikara for 100 life. Regenerates an additional 5 life per second over 10 seconds. Increases the damage of affected units by 25% during the duration. 30 second cooldown.









Gear

Increases the immediate and periodic heal of Reinvigorating Burst by 100%.



Not very good, as most of Nikara’s healing comes from her Super Heal, but it can be marginally useful in the endgame for unexpected emergencies.



Not very good, as most of Nikara’s healing comes from her Super Heal, but it can be marginally useful in the endgame for unexpected emergencies. Increases the healing rate of Super Heal by 100%.



Provides the highest HPS you are likely to get during the early or mid game. Can be useful if you are going for a “tall strategy”.



Provides the highest HPS you are likely to get during the early or mid game. Can be useful if you are going for a “tall strategy”. Super Heal can be cast on two targets at the same time.



Has obvious synergy with Procyum Serum, and should be purchased only after that, but it honestly provides more healing than you’ll actually need. A more aggressive investment might save you the need to have to heal up in the first place, at least until endgame.



Has obvious synergy with Procyum Serum, and should be purchased only after that, but it honestly provides more healing than you’ll actually need. A more aggressive investment might save you the need to have to heal up in the first place, at least until endgame. Surrounds target friendly unit with a shield that can absorb 400 damage over 20 seconds. 15 second cooldown.



Doesn’t actually provide very much additional durability (effectively 26.66 HPS), and comes at a very steep price. If you’ve purchased all of Nikara’s other Gear and built all three of your Medivac Platforms, you’re not likely to ever actually need this Ultimate Gear. Doesn’t actually provide very much additional durability (effectively 26.66 HPS), and comes at a very steep price. If you’ve purchased all of Nikara’s other Gear and built all three of your Medivac Platforms, you’re not likely to ever actually need this Ultimate Gear.

Nikara is a good choice for certain tough mutations, but is largely superfluous for regular Brutal missions.Nikara works best in tandem with lower health Outlaws that keep their distance to the enemy (Rattlesnake being preferred for Blaze and Cannonball), so recruiting any of the Muscle Outlaws in combination with Nikara is unwise, both because of Nikara’s own AI behavior and because you won’t actually need a tank with Nikara’s high healing on the team.Once you have both the Gear for Super Heal, you can safely skip some armor upgrades and focus your resources on Gear, Medivacs, and weapon upgrades.Nikara is not a good choice for your first Outlaw. You do not need her healing badly enough at this point in the game to justify going without a second Outlaw capable of dealing damage. If you’re struggling with keeping Tychus alive in the early game, focus on learning to split damage intake between your two Outlaws and on using Shredder Grenade to clear out groups of enemies prior to engaging them and trading blows with them.Nikara’s Reinvigorating Burst affects ALL damage output dealt by affected units, including spell damage. This means that Nikara can use her ability to boost the damage dealt by Tychus’ Shredder Grenade, Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse, the Odin’s Big Red Button, and allied commander’s hero units and calldowns, such as Kerrigan’s Immobilizing Wave. Do not use Reinvigorating Burst for the purposes of healing your units, use it to prevent damage being taken altogether by destroying the enemy outright with burst damage. Reinvigorating Burst has no effect on structures, and will not boost Sirius’ Turrets or Swann’s Laser Drill.If you recruit Nikara as your fifth Outlaw and keep your crew together, her Reinvigorating Burst will effectively provide a short-term damage boost that is on par with a fifth damage dealer, of a quantity equal to the average damage of your other four Outlaws’ weapons. Nikara can be useful to boost burst damage dealt by other Outlaws, which gives her a good role on maps with lots of attack waves.

20.00 DPS

500 HP



Nux deals high on-demand area damage, and can readily annihilate entire attack waves by combining his own ability with Tychus’ Implosion Core Shredder Grenade, or Cannonball’s Heavy Impact. However, Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse has a very long cooldown, and his auto-attack damage is pitiful—his ability is practically his only contribution to the team. He is best recruited for maps featuring lots of attack waves, such as Mist Opportunities and Malwarfare. He brings very little to the table in situations where you need to push or deal sustained damage, and is a poor pick in the early game—he’s best recruited as the third or fourth Outlaw.



Fires pulses of ultrasonic energy that lasts 6 seconds, causing 20 damage per second in the target area with a radius of 2, for a total of 120 damage. Damage from multiple Ultrasonic Pulses stack. Holds up to 3 charges, with a cooldown of 30.









Gear

Increases the damage of Ultrasonic Pulse by 50%.



Upgrades the damage per tick from 20 to 30, for a total of 180 damage.



Very good for clearing out waves of low health enemies, or to combo with Tychus’ Shredder Grenade to take out tougher foes.



Upgrades the damage per tick from 20 to 30, for a total of 180 damage.Very good for clearing out waves of low health enemies, or to combo with Tychus’ Shredder Grenade to take out tougher foes. Increases the radius of Ultrasonic Pulse by 50%, for a total radius of 3.



Lackluster early on, but very good once the waves grow too large for the unupgraded Ultrasonic Pulse to handle. Get Cloudburst Shells before this.



Lackluster early on, but very good once the waves grow too large for the unupgraded Ultrasonic Pulse to handle. Get Cloudburst Shells before this. Increases the duration of Ultrasonic Pulse by 100%.



Not all that good. Nux works best when he uses his ability in combination with Tychus or Cannonball to pin the enemy in place and overwhelm them with damage over a short period. Extra duration will rarely matter, save for maps such as Miner Evacuation, where the sustained damage of other Outlaws will be preferable regardless. Get it last, and only for the sake of following up with the Ultimate Gear.



Not all that good. Nux works best when he uses his ability in combination with Tychus or Cannonball to pin the enemy in place and overwhelm them with damage over a short period. Extra duration will rarely matter, save for maps such as Miner Evacuation, where the sustained damage of other Outlaws will be preferable regardless. Get it last, and only for the sake of following up with the Ultimate Gear. All Outlaws within a range of 10 have their primary ability charge-up times and cooldowns decreased by 20%.



Synergizes with Outlaws with powerful abilities, such as Tychus, Sirius, Vega, and Blaze.



Benefits from having recruited all Outlaws, so that you can take advantage of the effect for up to 5 abilities. Particularly great when used with Outlaws whose abilities rely on only a single piece of Gear to be great.



Note that it only affects the Outlaw primary ability. It has no effect on Sam’s Shade Suit, Cannonball’s Critical Response System, or Nikara’s Matrix Generator.

Synergizes with Outlaws with powerful abilities, such as Tychus, Sirius, Vega, and Blaze.Benefits from having recruited all Outlaws, so that you can take advantage of the effect for up to 5 abilities. Particularly great when used with Outlaws whose abilities rely on only a single piece of Gear to be great.Note that it only affects the Outlaw primary ability. It has no effect on Sam’s Shade Suit, Cannonball’s Critical Response System, or Nikara’s Matrix Generator.

Nux deals high on-demand area damage, and can readily annihilate entire attack waves by combining his own ability with Tychus’ Implosion Core Shredder Grenade, or Cannonball’s Heavy Impact. However, Nux’s Ultrasonic Pulse has a very long cooldown, and his auto-attack damage is pitiful—his ability is practically his only contribution to the team. He is best recruited for maps featuring lots of attack waves, such as Mist Opportunities and Malwarfare. He brings very little to the table in situations where you need to push or deal sustained damage, and is a poor pick in the early game—he’s best recruited as the third or fourth Outlaw.

13.00 (27.00 vs light) DPS

500 HP



Vega uses the enemy’s own strength against them, and is therefore at her best when the player has a good understanding of the enemy. As her dominated units gain significant damage increases but no bonuses to survivability, Vega works best with other Outlaws that can keep her dominated targets safe while they dish out damage, such as Cannonball and Nikara.



Prioritize enemy units that can deal a lot of weapon damage while staying safe from harm themselves. Given the long charge cooldown of the ability, melee units, spellcasters and defensive units are not worthwhile.



Nikara should be your preferred healer if you are planning on playing heavily around Vega’s Dominate. Nikara can nigh-instantly restore most non-hero targets to full health, which is very useful for saving Vega’s glass cannon dominated targets, where Rattlesnake would do little for them.



Certain abilities, such as worker build and transport load, are disabled when the unit is dominated. Hybrid cannot be dominated.



Temporarily take control of target enemy unit, clears it of all debuffs, and increases its damage by 50%. Dominated units self-destruct after 240 seconds. Holds up to 3 charges. 30 second cooldown.









Gear

Dominate fully restores the target’s life, shields, and energy and increases its attack speed by 75%.



Both a significant quality of life upgrade and a significant DPS increase for dominated targets, this is an excellent Gear. Allows you to Dominate targets without worrying about their prior state, which lets you do things such as Shredder Grenade or Heavy Impact an attack wave and immediately Dominate your chosen unit, which both cleans out the small fry and stuns everything else (if you have Implosion Core), allowing you to move your dominated target to safety without worrying about it being immediately slain by its former allies. Since dominated targets receive a 50% damage increase by default, the addition of 50% attack speed makes for a very potent combination.



Both a significant quality of life upgrade and a significant DPS increase for dominated targets, this is an excellent Gear. Allows you to Dominate targets without worrying about their prior state, which lets you do things such as Shredder Grenade or Heavy Impact an attack wave and immediately Dominate your chosen unit, which both cleans out the small fry and stuns everything else (if you have Implosion Core), allowing you to move your dominated target to safety without worrying about it being immediately slain by its former allies. Since dominated targets receive a 50% damage increase by default, the addition of 50% attack speed makes for a very potent combination. Enemy units in radius of 2 around a dominated unit will attack each other for 10 seconds.



While a decent addition, confused enemies still have an obvious preference for shooting your units rather than each other, and will not hesitate to gun down your dominated target. Even so, it can cause the enemy to deal a significant amount of damage to each other rather than you. Just don’t rely on it to guarantee the safety of your dominated target.



Particularly effective against Banelings and Scourge.



While a decent addition, confused enemies still have an obvious preference for shooting your units rather than each other, and will not hesitate to gun down your dominated target. Even so, it can cause the enemy to deal a significant amount of damage to each other rather than you. Just don’t rely on it to guarantee the safety of your dominated target.Particularly effective against Banelings and Scourge. Brings up to 5 enemy air units within a range of 8 to the ground for 10 seconds, allowing units to attack them as if they were ground units. 10 second cooldown.



Grounded units are unable to move. While being lowered to the ground, target units are briefly interrupted, but are NOT stunned for the rest of the ability duration.



The 10 second cooldown starts as soon as the first charge of the ability is cast. With luck or deliberate preparation, this lets you ground up to 9 units in rapid succession.



While this isn’t a particularly impressive effect for dealing with air units on its own, it is good when combined with Outlaws such as Rattlesnake and Cannonball, both because it allows these ground-focused Outlaws to contribute to the fight, and because it can combine with Neural Disruption Device to do things like force enemy Banshees to attack each other despite normally being unable to do so. Luckily, some of the best targets for Dominate are air units, making Vega a good late game pick against Terran and Protoss air compositions.



Grounded units are unable to move. While being lowered to the ground, target units are briefly interrupted, but are NOT stunned for the rest of the ability duration.The 10 second cooldown starts as soon as the first charge of the ability is cast. With luck or deliberate preparation, this lets you ground up to 9 units in rapid succession.While this isn’t a particularly impressive effect for dealing with air units on its own, it is good when combined with Outlaws such as Rattlesnake and Cannonball, both because it allows these ground-focused Outlaws to contribute to the fight, and because it can combine with Neural Disruption Device to do things like force enemy Banshees to attack each other despite normally being unable to do so. Luckily, some of the best targets for Dominate are air units, making Vega a good late game pick against Terran and Protoss air compositions. Increases the duration of Dominate by 200%, for a total of 720 seconds.



This Ultimate Gear is more powerful the sooner you get it in the game, allowing you to build an army of dominated units from enemy encampments scattered throughout the map. However, in order to pull this off, you’ll need extensive knowledge of the unit placements on that map in order to claim the most powerful units available, such as Thors, Battlecruisers, Carriers, and Colossi so that you can use them against the preplaced defenses. Without this knowledge, or with the Gear bought late into the game, it isn’t particularly useful, as you’ll be facing more powerful enemies comparative to what Vega’s dominated units can accomplish.



Used simply as a late game Gear, it can help backline dominated units to last longer, but it won’t necessarily make much of a difference for other units, which are prone to swiftly being killed off by Amon’s late game armies.



This Ultimate Gear is more powerful the sooner you get it in the game, allowing you to build an army of dominated units from enemy encampments scattered throughout the map. However, in order to pull this off, you’ll need extensive knowledge of the unit placements on that map in order to claim the most powerful units available, such as Thors, Battlecruisers, Carriers, and Colossi so that you can use them against the preplaced defenses. Without this knowledge, or with the Gear bought late into the game, it isn’t particularly useful, as you’ll be facing more powerful enemies comparative to what Vega’s dominated units can accomplish.Used simply as a late game Gear, it can help backline dominated units to last longer, but it won’t necessarily make much of a difference for other units, which are prone to swiftly being killed off by Amon’s late game armies.

Vega uses the enemy’s own strength against them, and is therefore at her best when the player has a good understanding of the enemy. As her dominated units gain significant damage increases but no bonuses to survivability, Vega works best with other Outlaws that can keep her dominated targets safe while they dish out damage, such as Cannonball and Nikara.Prioritize enemy units that can deal a lot of weapon damage while staying safe from harm themselves. Given the long charge cooldown of the ability, melee units, spellcasters and defensive units are not worthwhile.Nikara should be your preferred healer if you are planning on playing heavily around Vega’s Dominate. Nikara can nigh-instantly restore most non-hero targets to full health, which is very useful for saving Vega’s glass cannon dominated targets, where Rattlesnake would do little for them.Certain abilities, such as worker build and transport load, are disabled when the unit is dominated. Hybrid cannot be dominated.

32.00 DPS



Primarily used to fast expand on maps with Rocks, and secondarily to defend against Ghosts trying to nuke your base on certain maps when faced with Terran enemies.



Auto-Turrets have high damage output but low health, standing at only 150 health compared to the 300 of Spine Crawlers and Photon Cannons. A few of them can be handy on Dead of Night, but do not place them directly in the line of fire.



You are better off investing your minerals into Outlaws and Gear than trying to use these as any kind of primary defense. They are an occasional convenience, not a defensive strategy.



Can also be used to clean up certain map objectives or enemy structures after defenses have already been eliminated, while Outlaws move onto other targets. This is particularly useful on Dead of Night. Salvage them after use.

Primarily used to fast expand on maps with Rocks, and secondarily to defend against Ghosts trying to nuke your base on certain maps when faced with Terran enemies.Auto-Turrets have high damage output but low health, standing at only 150 health compared to the 300 of Spine Crawlers and Photon Cannons. A few of them can be handy on Dead of Night, but do not place them directly in the line of fire.You are better off investing your minerals into Outlaws and Gear than trying to use these as any kind of primary defense. They are an occasional convenience, not a defensive strategy.Can also be used to clean up certain map objectives or enemy structures after defenses have already been eliminated, while Outlaws move onto other targets. This is particularly useful on Dead of Night. Salvage them after use.













In-depth



Unlike more conventional hero commanders, Tychus’ power is more directly limited by his economy. Maximizing your income will be crucial to success.



The ability to relocate Command Centers and the slow production rate of SCVs makes Command Center first builds optimal even on contested expansion maps.



Build SCVs from the expansion Command Center while waiting for the Rocks or enemy defenders to be cleared.



Keep a focus on your mineral income as both minerals and gas are important to Tychus. Don’t build and saturate Refineries too early on, as the cost to your mineral income is too great if your SCV count is low.



The final attack and armor upgrades are very expensive despite providing the same +10% damage, +10% health, and 1 armor as a +1 upgrade. Delaying or ignoring the +4 and +5 upgrades is reasonable.



Delaying the first Outlaw recruitment until the first attack wave can be useful for the 2x Auto-Turret expand build, enabling you to better counter the enemy composition based on what you see in the attack wave.



Tychus doesn’t have to assist in clearing all Rocks for the 2x Auto-Turret expand build; the ability to relocate the Command Center means that the economic cost of not using Tychus to break the Rocks is small.



1-2 Medivacs early on is recommended; 3 Medivacs early is usually not worth the benefit due to delaying other things unnecessarily.



The core build of Command Center first, 2 Auto-Turrets or one Outlaw to clear the expansion will be the same regardless of circumstance. Depending on your preference, build orders can vary after this point. You might want to experiment with different quantities and the order in which you build your Engineering Bays (1-2), Medivac Platforms, Outlaw tech structures, and Gear in order to find the combination that best works for your playstyle.



Build Order

Build Order 1: 2x Auto-Turret fast expand (for non-contested expansions)

17 Command Center



Command Center 18 Refinery



Refinery 19 Refinery



Refinery 20 Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack)



Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack) 22 Auto-Turret, Auto-Turret (destroy Rocks then Salvage)



Auto-Turret, Auto-Turret (destroy Rocks then Salvage) Tychus destroys the Rocks, then the attack wave



27 Gun's Hideout or Muscle Armory



Gun's Hideout or Muscle Armory 30 Outlaw



Outlaw 41 Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button)



Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button) 45 Refinery, Refinery



Refinery, Refinery 51 Medivac Platform



Medivac Platform 53 Remaining Outlaw structures



Remaining Outlaw structures 55 Medivac Platform, Gear Build Order 2: Outlaw rush fast expand (for contested expansions)

17 Command Center



Command Center 18 Refinery



Refinery 21 Guns’ Hideout or Muscle Armory



Guns’ Hideout or Muscle Armory 23 Outlaw



Outlaw Outlaws clear out the expansion, then the attack wave



33 Refinery



Refinery 37 Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack)



Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack) 40 Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button)



Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button) 45 Refinery, Refinery



Refinery, Refinery 50 Medivac Platform



Medivac Platform 53 Remaining Outlaw structures



Remaining Outlaw structures 57 Medivac Platform, Gear While the 2x Auto-Turret build is slightly better economically, the difference isn't huge. You could comfortably use the Outlaw rush build for every map if you so wished.



Masteries

Power Set 1: Tychus Attack Speed: +1% - 30%



Tychus Shredder Grenade Cooldown: +1% - 30% Both options are at a competitive power level. Note that Tri-Outlaw and Tychus Attack Speed do not synergize, and with both at max mastery the effective difference will be that Tychus Attack Speed really provides a +21% increase, instead of +30%, though the increase in DPS is the same compared to the base value.



Shredder Grenade is a powerful option, especially with early Tychus Gear upgrades. Grenade Cooldown lets you be more likely to get away with using two Grenades against a group of enemies in the early game more readily by throwing a Grenade, running away, and finishing the enemy off with another Grenade. Certain enemy compositions and maps are better or worse for Grenade mastery, while Tychus Attack Speed is universally great.



A 5:25 split results in a 15 second cooldown on Shredder Grenade, which perfectly matches Cannonball’s Heavy Impact cooldown. Useful for a Tychus and Cannonball composition on maps with many attack waves, such as Malwarfare and Mist Opportunities.



Power Set 2 Tri-Outlaw Research Improvement: -0.5% - 15%



Outlaw Availability: -2s - 60s Tri-Outlaw mastery provides Outlaws with a flat buff to health, attack speed, or vision radius once their Engineering Bay upgrade has been researched, increasing the benefit of ITC-E Triggers and Endurance Supplements to 40% (from 25%), and adding a 15% vision range bonus to Flashforce GDM Visor. Sirius’ turrets do not receive any benefit from ITC-E Triggers, but Sirius’ increased attack speed can help him to inflict his area effect Fear more often.



The Outlaw Availability mastery doesn’t apply to Tychus’ initial spawn time or the first Outlaw, and is a flat reduction in recruitment cooldown between each subsequent Outlaw. Maxed out, it will enable you to recruit the final Outlaw 180 seconds sooner. However, as it does not actually make Outlaws cheaper, the price of recruiting earlier Outlaws will require sacrificing earlier Gear choices, which may or may not be worth the trade-off.



A wide strategy that rushes all five Outlaws favors the Powerset 1 Attack Speed as it causes Tychus’ Ultimate Gear to become stronger earlier in the game. This has some synergy between Tychus Attack Speed and Outlaw Availability masteries.



A tall strategy that favors focusing on Outlaw Gear while having only a few Outlaws favors the Powerset 1 Shredder Grenade Cooldown and Powerset 2 Tri-Outlaw masteries. A focus on Outlaw Gear means that you will be slower to recruit all five Outlaws, which means less benefit from Tychus’ Ultimate Gear, which is a Gear that synergizes with Tychus Attack Speed mastery, while many of the Gear you will be pursuing if going for such a strategy will provide increased single target damage, making it more important to have the additional area damage from Power Set 1.



Overall, Tri-Outlaw is a much safer choice, but certain builds may benefit from Outlaw Availability.



Power Set 3: Medivac Pickup Cooldown: -1.5s - 45s



Odin Cooldown: -2s - 120s Medivac Pickup provides more healing and more mobility, and is the better option—the flexibility it allows you is significant. Be careful not to have your wounded units targeted within the 10-second interval after drop, though.



Odin Cooldown does not have any effect on the initial Odin coolup, and therefore provides a smaller benefit. On certain maps, this mastery can let you squeeze out one extra use of Odin, which may be worthwhile for specific speedruns. It is generally not worthwhile for regular use.





Healer Choice: Nikara or Rattlesnake

It comes down to your Outlaw composition, which again should be influenced by the enemy composition. Nikara provides a flat, very high consistent output, a burst heal in an area, and comes with researchable detection. Most significantly, she can boost her fellow Outlaws’ damage output for a period of time, thus allowing a rapid takedown of dangerous enemies by boosting the ability damage of things like Shredder Grenade or Nux’ Ultrasonic Pulse. Rattlesnake forces you to stay within an area in order to heal up, and benefits from splitting up your damage intake between each available unit. Rattlesnake deals fairly good damage that only improves as you buy him more Gear, helps with absorbing enemy attacks alongside your other combat units, and can be upgraded to increase the attack speed of all friendly units within range of his Revitalizers. For a fairly squishy Outlaw composition such as Sam/Vega/Nux, recruiting Nikara would be preferable to Rattlesnake, as he is unable to provide the same kind of healing for a team of low health Outlaws as Nikara can, and Vega’s Dominated units benefit more from being saved from death by Nikara than they do from Rattlesnake’s attack speed buff. Using Rattlesnake means that you will be limiting yourself to stick to the area of his Revitalizer to get the benefits of it. However, in most cases Rattlesnake and the occasional Medivac will provide more than enough healing, and the goal is only to have just enough—not to have so much healing that you don’t know what to do with all of it, which Nikara is prone to. As the most dangerous enemies in the game are armored, and Rattlesnake has significant damage output against armored targets, he is a reliable pick that will both keep your Outlaws alive and enable you to end each match all that much faster. A good recommendation is to stick to Rattlesnake as a standard pick, but be aware that there are good reasons for using Nikara under the right circumstances, especially for mutations.



Never use both Nikara and Rattlesnake. Both options are at a competitive power level. Note that Tri-Outlaw and Tychus Attack Speed do not synergize, and with both at max mastery the effective difference will be that Tychus Attack Speed really provides a +21% increase, instead of +30%, though the increase in DPS is the same compared to the base value.Shredder Grenade is a powerful option, especially with early Tychus Gear upgrades. Grenade Cooldown lets you be more likely to get away with using two Grenades against a group of enemies in the early game more readily by throwing a Grenade, running away, and finishing the enemy off with another Grenade. Certain enemy compositions and maps are better or worse for Grenade mastery, while Tychus Attack Speed is universally great.A 5:25 split results in a 15 second cooldown on Shredder Grenade, which perfectly matches Cannonball’s Heavy Impact cooldown. Useful for a Tychus and Cannonball composition on maps with many attack waves, such as Malwarfare and Mist Opportunities.Tri-Outlaw mastery provides Outlaws with a flat buff to health, attack speed, or vision radius once their Engineering Bay upgrade has been researched, increasing the benefit of ITC-E Triggers and Endurance Supplements to 40% (from 25%), and adding a 15% vision range bonus to Flashforce GDM Visor. Sirius’ turrets do not receive any benefit from ITC-E Triggers, but Sirius’ increased attack speed can help him to inflict his area effect Fear more often.The Outlaw Availability mastery doesn’t apply to Tychus’ initial spawn time or the first Outlaw, and is a flat reduction in recruitment cooldown between each subsequent Outlaw. Maxed out, it will enable you to recruit the final Outlaw 180 seconds sooner. However, as it does not actually make Outlaws cheaper, the price of recruiting earlier Outlaws will require sacrificing earlier Gear choices, which may or may not be worth the trade-off.A wide strategy that rushes all five Outlaws favors the Powerset 1 Attack Speed as it causes Tychus’ Ultimate Gear to become stronger earlier in the game. This has some synergy between Tychus Attack Speed and Outlaw Availability masteries.A tall strategy that favors focusing on Outlaw Gear while having only a few Outlaws favors the Powerset 1 Shredder Grenade Cooldown and Powerset 2 Tri-Outlaw masteries. A focus on Outlaw Gear means that you will be slower to recruit all five Outlaws, which means less benefit from Tychus’ Ultimate Gear, which is a Gear that synergizes with Tychus Attack Speed mastery, while many of the Gear you will be pursuing if going for such a strategy will provide increased single target damage, making it more important to have the additional area damage from Power Set 1.Overall, Tri-Outlaw is a much safer choice, but certain builds may benefit from Outlaw Availability.Medivac Pickup provides more healing and more mobility, and is the better option—the flexibility it allows you is significant. Be careful not to have your wounded units targeted within the 10-second interval after drop, though.Odin Cooldown does not have any effect on the initial Odin coolup, and therefore provides a smaller benefit. On certain maps, this mastery can let you squeeze out one extra use of Odin, which may be worthwhile for specific speedruns. It is generally not worthwhile for regular use.It comes down to your Outlaw composition, which again should be influenced by the enemy composition. Nikara provides a flat, very high consistent output, a burst heal in an area, and comes with researchable detection. Most significantly, she can boost her fellow Outlaws’ damage output for a period of time, thus allowing a rapid takedown of dangerous enemies by boosting the ability damage of things like Shredder Grenade or Nux’ Ultrasonic Pulse. Rattlesnake forces you to stay within an area in order to heal up, and benefits from splitting up your damage intake between each available unit. Rattlesnake deals fairly good damage that only improves as you buy him more Gear, helps with absorbing enemy attacks alongside your other combat units, and can be upgraded to increase the attack speed of all friendly units within range of his Revitalizers. For a fairly squishy Outlaw composition such as Sam/Vega/Nux, recruiting Nikara would be preferable to Rattlesnake, as he is unable to provide the same kind of healing for a team of low health Outlaws as Nikara can, and Vega’s Dominated units benefit more from being saved from death by Nikara than they do from Rattlesnake’s attack speed buff. Using Rattlesnake means that you will be limiting yourself to stick to the area of his Revitalizer to get the benefits of it. However, in most cases Rattlesnake and the occasional Medivac will provide more than enough healing, and the goal is only to have just enough—not to have so much healing that you don’t know what to do with all of it, which Nikara is prone to. As the most dangerous enemies in the game are armored, and Rattlesnake has significant damage output against armored targets, he is a reliable pick that will both keep your Outlaws alive and enable you to end each match all that much faster. A good recommendation is to stick to Rattlesnake as a standard pick, but be aware that there are good reasons for using Nikara under the right circumstances, especially for mutations.Never use both Nikara and Rattlesnake. Unlike more conventional hero commanders, Tychus’ power is more directly limited by his economy. Maximizing your income will be crucial to success.The ability to relocate Command Centers and the slow production rate of SCVs makes Command Center first builds optimal even on contested expansion maps.Build SCVs from the expansion Command Center while waiting for the Rocks or enemy defenders to be cleared.Keep a focus on your mineral income as both minerals and gas are important to Tychus. Don’t build and saturate Refineries too early on, as the cost to your mineral income is too great if your SCV count is low.The final attack and armor upgrades are very expensive despite providing the same +10% damage, +10% health, and 1 armor as a +1 upgrade. Delaying or ignoring the +4 and +5 upgrades is reasonable.Delaying the first Outlaw recruitment until the first attack wave can be useful for the 2x Auto-Turret expand build, enabling you to better counter the enemy composition based on what you see in the attack wave.Tychus doesn’t have to assist in clearing all Rocks for the 2x Auto-Turret expand build; the ability to relocate the Command Center means that the economic cost of not using Tychus to break the Rocks is small.1-2 Medivacs early on is recommended; 3 Medivacs early is usually not worth the benefit due to delaying other things unnecessarily.The core build of Command Center first, 2 Auto-Turrets or one Outlaw to clear the expansion will be the same regardless of circumstance. Depending on your preference, build orders can vary after this point. You might want to experiment with different quantities and the order in which you build your Engineering Bays (1-2), Medivac Platforms, Outlaw tech structures, and Gear in order to find the combination that best works for your playstyle.While the 2x Auto-Turret build is slightly better economically, the difference isn't huge. You could comfortably use the Outlaw rush build for every map if you so wished.











Synergies



























Raynor Raynor provides global vision with his Scanner Sweep and expendable drop pod Marines, which can grant Tychus global mobility via his Medivacs. Raynor’s high sustained damage output is very beneficial to Tychus, who can struggle with tanky objectives, while Tychus’ team of elites can serve as a vanguard for Raynor’s forces when breaking into a fortified position. Nikara’s Reinvigorating Burst also has a dramatic impact on Raynor’s clustered infantry. Tychus also provides armor shred, which is amazing for Raynor’s Marines and Battlecruisers, and bursty area damage, which Raynor otherwise lacks. Raynor also has a few options for defense, which can save Tychus a lot of trouble on certain maps.

Kerrigan Kerrigan’s Nydus Worms aren’t particularly useful to Tychus, as he brings his own global mobility, but Tychus benefits greatly from Kerrigan’s Assimilation Aura to speed up Gear acquisition, and Malignant Creep is a very powerful buff to Tychus’ Outlaws. The high damage output of Kerrigan’s Hydralisks and Mutalisks is helpful to Tychus, and Tychus has good wave clear options, even against enemy air where Kerrigan struggles. Kerrigan’s Mutalisks can quickly seek healing from Nikara. Kerrigan’s Lurkers can potentially cover for Tychus’ lacking static defense. Artanis Tychus provides a strong early game to let Artanis prepare, and has both healing and wave clear, which benefit Artanis greatly. Tychus does not receive much benefit from Artanis’ Guardian Shell, but if Tychus is struggling in an engagement, Artanis’ instant warp ins can quickly turn the tide back in Tychus’ favor, letting him heal up and reset without issue. Tychus’ high mobility can cover for Artanis’ slow army. Swann Swann provides global vision via the Hercules’ Tactical Jump, letting Tychus move his band of Outlaws anywhere via his Medivacs. Swann’s powerful Siege Tanks and static defenses frees Tychus to apply himself where he is more immediately useful. Tychus provides a strong early game, letting Swann take all the time he needs to get ready, but Tychus does not benefit particularly from Swann’s Vespene Harvesters. Between Big Red Button and Pulse Cannon, Tychus and Swann can take out every major enemy stronghold with no issue. Zagara While Zagara’s army has a high damage output, Tychus’ issue is that his max attainable sustained damage is low, and Zagara can’t help him there due to the mortality rate of her units. However, the high-octane nature of both commanders lets them work together in a mad rush to destroy the enemy with maximum aggression. Tychus’ ability to consistently stay active on the battlefield is useful to Zagara, ensuring that they stay in control of the battlefield even after Zagara’s brood have been decimated, and even gives Zagara’s hero unit a means to stay in the battle by sticking close to Tychus’ Outlaws after her army has fallen. Tychus can heal up Zagara’s Aberrations and Corruptors, which can save Zagara a few resources with which to keep up the aggression with Zerglings and Banelings. Vorazun Tychus provides a strong early game while Vorazun gets ready, and can heal Vorazun’s army later into the game. Vorazun’s crowd control abilities can be useful to Vega to Dominate priority targets indiscriminately. While Tychus can cloak his Outlaws with his Medivacs, they’re not likely to die during the short cloaking period, but if he fights within the area of a Dark Pylon, Vorazun’s Emergency Recall can save them, and in either case they’ll receive the damage benefit from Vorazun’s Strike from the Shadows. Between Time Stop and Big Red Button, Tychus and Vorazun can overcome any significant challenge put before them. Karax Tychus provides a powerful early game and strong pushing power, while Karax can cover for Tychus’ lack of static. Karax can assist Tychus’ team of Outlaws in their offense with his top bar, and his Reconstruction Beam can repair Sirius and his turrets anywhere on the map, but offer no benefit to the rest of Tychus’ Outlaws. Energizers are an excellent support unit for Tychus. Observers can gain and retain vision of areas Tychus may want to Medivac to. Karax tends to wait until the enemy comes to him, while Tychus tends to aggressively engage them as soon as possible—and has the mobility to do so consistently—which can render Karax’s preplaced defenses moot if Karax takes a passive stance on the matter. More aggressive placement of static defenses may be advised on certain maps. If Tychus is using Blaze against a light enemy composition, Karax can achieve great results by producing a few Colossi. Karax’s Unity Barrier is largely meaningless to Tychus. Abathur Tychus’ aggressive early game can allow Abathur to swiftly evolve several Ultimate Evolutions, especially if Tychus is careful to work together with Abathur and his Toxic Nests rather than killing everything on his own. Abathur’s Swarm Hosts and Spore/Spine Crawlers can cover for Tychus’ lack of effective static defense on certain maps. Abathur’s Brutalisks can Deep Tunnel to any part of the map, and Tychus can swiftly follow behind with his Medivacs, providing a deadly strike force that can reach anywhere on the map within seconds, and Abathur’s Toxic Nests provide reliable vision over large areas for Tychus to split off to at will. Both Nikara and Rattlesnake are very effective healers for Abathur’s Ultimate Evolutions, and can keep them in fighting shape with no issue. Alarak Tychus’ Outlaws can work together with Alarak during the early game while Alarak readies his army. Alarak’s Havocs are useful to Tychus, being a good damage boost against objectives. Structure Overcharge can cover for Tychus’ weak static defense. Tychus provides healing for Alarak, which is largely irrelevant to Alarak’s Gateway compositions, but is a lifesaver for his Robotics compositions. Tychus’ high mobility can cover for Alarak’s slow army. Nova Nova’s army has access to the high sustained damage output that Tychus lacks, and Heavy Siege Tanks and Raid Liberators can provide the defense that Tychus needs for specific maps. Rattlesnake’s Revitalizer is just what Nova needs to round off her army with both area healing and attack speed. Between Big Red Button, Griffin Airstrike, and Tac Nuke Strike, Nova and Tychus can blow up all of the major enemy fortifications that they’ll need to without having to fight them head on. Stukov Tychus’s strong early game provides Stukov plenty of time to get his army of Infested started, and Tychus can later push alongside Stukov’s waves of Infested, which is just the extra punch that Stukov needs, and unlike other commanders, Tychus can do it without having to worry about how much space the Infested take up due to how nimble the Outlaws are on the battlefield. Stukov’s powerful static defenses cover for Tychus’ lack thereof. Tychus’s high mobility lets him respond to threats while Stukov’s Infested push on, and while Stukov isn’t weak to air enemies, he can be slow to take them out, whereas Tychus has no issues when facing enemy air attack waves, and Vega can even drag them to the ground where Stukov’s hordes will tear them apart. Fenix Outlaws and Champions rule the early game, and can let Fenix and Tychus push into some tough contested areas early on. Tychus’ Ripper Rounds inflict -5 armor on the target, and Talis Ricochet Glaive provides an effect that adds 5 damage to all attacks made against the afflicted target. Together, these effects boost the damage of both Tychus and Carriers to an absurd degree. Tychus provides healing for Fenix, and can even heal his Champions effectively. Between Fenix’s Conservators and Rattlesnake’s Revitalizers, both Fenix and Tychus will be indomitable on the battlefield if they take the time to share their toys. Dehaka Tychus and Dehaka both have a great early game, so Tychus can start helping Dehaka hunt for essence earlier than most other commanders. Deh