Darkness - Previously explored areas remain blacked out on the minimap while outside of player vision.
Going Nuclear - Nukes are launched at random throughout the map.
Orbital Strike - Enemy Orbital Strikes are periodically fired throughout the map.
This week is all about keeping your army alive and how good you are at micro. Commanders with Heros and commanders that have smaller and high DPS for that small army will do well. Keep in mind that Darkness will hurt when it comes to attack waves so knowing the timings and where attack waves come from will help a lot. I like Tychus for just general use (may not be the best cough* Zeratul) for this as his Big Red Button can clear a lot and Medivacs can save you from many Nukes. Try to leave armies that you are building up in your expos mineral line to protect them from Nukes, you can also leave armies at your main but the travel distance might be tough on your forces. When trying to saturate your expos leave all your workers in the main and transfer them in one go while watching them the whole time, that way you (hopefully) don't lose any workers. Good Luck and Have Fun.
Hunter [Swann] (https://youtu.be/dZxbwIkXeaQ) - CtG [Tychus] (https://youtu.be/yL_usdhdN6g) Hercules
Hunter [Vorazun] (https://youtu.be/E3JgEFOa1jc) - CtG [Raynor] (https://www.youtube.com/ugWHRHcLA80) Cheese
Hunter [Kerrigan] (https://youtu.be/U-KSa3Yoh84) - CtG [Stetmann] (https://youtu.be/9e7Hi9AjCOo) Hero into Ultras
Here is the link to the VOD https://www.twitch.tv/videos/462962340
Commander/Tier
3 Karax
- Karax can do well here and can really help defend but his early game is so RNG because of the Nukes as you really only can use Static Defense so I'm calling him tier 3.
- Carriers will work well here as they can move while attacking and can move through the center of the map avoiding a lot of AOE.
- you can just rally to the expo mineral line as you should be able to tank one Nuke with Karax's version of Guardian Shell.
- Try to get at least the Repair Beam upgrade and at least tier 1 of the Spear of Adun, also you can make a few Cannons on the Northern ramp of the main and to the West of the Southern expo they might be destroyed but you should have a lot of extra minerals and they will help a lot for defense.
2 Stukov
- Good commander for this week, great on defense but offense might be tough as any force that you make will fine it hard to deal with splitting or surviving.
- You can go for Diamondbacks for better Nuke dodging, or Liberators for Snipping, or Mass Bunkers and Rax for constant pressure, but they all have their flaws.
- Call downs are what make Stukov okay this week as they are super powerful and can hold their own against most everything.
- Be sure to get upgrades and work on at least a few bunkers at your main ramp.
2 Swann
- Good commander for this week, Hercules and the Laser Drill makes you a great defensive commander, you can still be able to push but it might be harder to keep your entire army alive.
- I like to go for smaller armies inside of Hercules, and I don't bring my entire army until the last Shard.
- Be sure to make a ton of Hercules for vision and army movement.
- Laser Drill is great for defense and getting vision for the Combat Drop.
- Make sure to rally all your new unit inside the main so that you wont lose any new units.
2 Zagara
- Good commander for this week, I like to focus on clearing attack waves and then when you have enough Scourge and a Frenzy sniping the Shards.
- Defense is her best asset this week as she can make and deploy units very fast and that will help when you don't know where an attack comes from till the end.
- Be careful when attacking a Shard with Scourge as one Thor can kill them all, a Roach Drop will help with that.
- Zagara should be able to solo the first couple Shards and the encampments on the way to the 3rd at least.
2 Alarak
- Good commander for this week, just be very careful about Alarak taking too much damage as you can lose your entire army in more than 1 way.
- I like mass Slayers as they have Blink and have some damage mitigation abilities.
- Make sure to have Alarak on his own control group and the Slayers on an other to allow you to micro them as needed.
- Upgrades are helpful but at least get both Slayer upgrades as they are very important.
- Mothership for attack waves and the Shards its very helpful to use the Teleport ability to get back to your expo.
2 Raynor
- Good commander for this week, Orbital Rally and a quick remax time will help here, add in your call downs and you should be fine.
- The larger your army the harder it will be to dodge incoming Nukes.
- I really like BCs here as they have a lot to offer and have high HP.
- When going for BCs you want to have Mech attack speed and Research cost masteries.
- Be sure to Yamato at least: Hybrids, Carriers, Thors, and Death Crystals its about 2 for each besides the Hybrids.
- If you get the After Burners for Mech you give yourself more ability to dodge Nukes, try to move out by flying that way you have a Teleport for dodging Nukes.
2 Fenix
- Good commander for this week, I like to go for mass Scout or mass Carrier as they can do a lot of work and if needs be you an just go through the middle of the map and avoid a lot of the AOE.
- The Arbiter suit is great for Emergency Recall and to Recall unit to a location as well.
- Be sure to stay out of the Arbiter suit as much possible and if using the suit Recall then change out so you can always have an Recall if needed.
- The Praetor suit good for tanking and will get a lot of early game clearing done for you.
- The Dragoon suit is good mostly for attack waves as Shards have too much health to be taken out fast with an ability spam.
2 Artanis
- Good commander for this week, I like either mass Dragoon or mass Phoenix, they both have their ups and downs.
- Mass Phoenix is good at dodging the Nukes and Sniping the Rifts, just wait for Solar and a Shield Overcharge and you should be able to clear and Rift, the problem is that they stack and there will be Thors after the second Shard.
- Dragoons are more a-move friendly but its far tougher to dodge the Nukes.
- If you go for Phoenix you will need to be more on top of using Zealots for the ground units and using Orbital Strike.
- You should be building up gas either way so you can get all the upgrades that you want.
- You can always just save up minerals and just warp-in Dragoons at the Shards.
2 Stetmann
- Good commander for this week, Infestors are great at defense but might be harder to attack as you have to move out from your expo or main every time.
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2 Vorazun
- Really good commander for this week, DT Corsair is great for offense and you will always have a Dark Pylon or 2 to Recall to, but that make an attack take longer as you then have to move back to the Shard you were working on.
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2 H & H
- Good commander for this week, it is going to require some good micro though.
- You are better off leaving the Galleons at your expo and moving out with just the Reapers, having an Artanis ally will help a lot.
- Wraiths are good here so be sure to get them and their upgrades to make them better for everything.
- BCs will also do well.
- You might want to get Strike Platforms but they wont kill a Shard fast and if you go up against an air comp they will be less useful.
- Call downs are where its at for H&H you can get a lot done with them, think about using Call in the Fleet for the Shards and Space Station Reallocation for the attack waves.
1 Nova
- Great commander for this week, you an get a lot done with just Nova she can clear the Shards well but the DPS against the Shards will be tough.
- Griffin Air Strike and Sabotage Drone still work wonders.
- I like to go for Marines and Libs with Raven support this week.
- Always try to save a Air Lift for avoiding Nukes.
- Defensive Drone is still super powerful but it is stationary and will get hit at some point so try not to spam them.
1 Abathur
- Great commander for this week, getting out a Brutalisk before the attack wave is very y good but its all going to be based on RNG not your skill.
- You can still do well waiting for the attack wave and then using a more robust Roach to get the Biomass you need.
- Be sure to get a couple Queens as the will help a lot to Heal the damage the will happen to your Evos.
- Upgrades as always, I like to go for Mutas with my Evos but you might do well with Swarm Hosts but they are slow, so you might want to think about an Nydus worm.
- At some point you will have a lot of Biomass and not need as much Toxic Nests so start to place them at the Top of the Northern main ramp and the West of the Southern expo as that will get you the most, also add some static defense as well.
1 Tychus
- Really great commander for this week, high mobility and Medivacs can give you hot pickups if you need them.
- Be sure to get the Big Red Button as it can clear an entire Shard's defenses and then the Odin can clear the Shard with its super high anti-building DPS.
- With how many times you will need to use the Medivacs to get out of Nuke range you want Medivac cooldown and you shouldn't need to get a healer.
- Upgrades as always and think about getting more upgrades faster, as opposed to getting more Outlaws faster, that way you have less units to have to get out of Nuke range.
1 Kerri
- Really great commander for this week, you can basically Hero solo this but any units that you make will help a lot for the late game.
- Kerrigan can solo the first 2 Shards with good micro so I would focus on her upgrades and then making a few Omega Worms so that she is always on top of Creep and has an exit if she needs it.
- I like Ultras for this but Hydras have really good DPS.
- When using Omegas you have 2 options when unloading: unloading from one will allow you to escape from a Nuke more easily but are more susceptible to a single Nuke, or you can unload form many Omegas which will make it harder to get all your units back inside but will make it harder for a single Nuke to kill all your forces.
1 Dehaka
- Really great commander for this week, Dehaka and call downs can carry the entire game, but you might as well make some Mutas to help with the last Shard.
- If you make air units you can move them to the expo then to the middle of the map then to the Shard that you want to kill.
- Dehaka should do super well just be careful about Nukes as they can come out of anywhere, but the only tough time will be the beginning as you are macroing and microing.
1 Zeratul
- Really great commander for this week, mass Cannons ftw, really its super good.
- You will want to rely on the Legions for the first attack wave and the first Shard as you wont have Cannon warp-ins and you just wont have the mineral income to get a lot of Cannons.
- Zeratul can at least clear the defending unit around the first 2 Shards (focus on the Detectors first).
- Once you get the Avatar of Essene then you can solo a Shard easily, be sure to start from a side (either by walking there, or getting a Watcher, or Teleporting Zeratul), the start off with the Monoliths, then the Avatar of Essence in the middle then the Cannons all around the Shard, try to Focus fire the Shard and you should be fine.
- Be sure to have the Shield Guards around your Cannons to make sur that they have full Shield between Projections.
Tiers
Tier 1 Good mobility and high dps that way smaller forces can be used to clear objectives, abilities to save an army will help a lot.
Tier 2 Able to clear objectives and rebuild an army if you lose it within a small amount of time.
Tier 3 Not recommended.