Barrier - Enemy units gain a temporary shield upon the first time they take damage.
Going Nuclear - Nukes are launched at random throughout the map.
Photon Overload - All enemy structures attack nearby hostile units.
Here is the map: Cradle of Death
So this week is all about them Nukes, the Nukes feel a bit more spread out and you don't have to worry about them until you leave your base so that is nice. Hero commands might have a bit more to deal with as Photon Overload can be triggered without trying and Heros will take a lot of damage. So think about where you place your abilities (i.e. Alarak's wave ability) or wait a bit to get Kerrigan's Lighting arc ability. Try to have a more mobile army or at least one that can split more easily as you don't want to lose everything at one time. Once you have your economy up think about where you want to rally your new units as the more units you have out on the field the harder it will be to split, with this in mind try to have an army that can deal with the current objective and no more and leave the rest at home. Good Luck and Have Fun.
Hunter [Kerrigan] (https://youtu.be/xmXYe7fTF9I) - CtG [Nova] (https://youtu.be/u0ChTkb7J8U) Hero Solo
Hunter [Abathur] (https://youtu.be/AO0_2pBpF2Y) - CtG [Tychus] (https://youtu.be/KA0aUGE72ys) Evos and Mutas
Hunter [Stetmann] (https://youtu.be/OUEfgWxOSaw) - CtG [H&H] (https://youtu.be/x6Oo1yEhbTE) Infestors
Hunter [Swann] (https://youtu.be/GnlvAFlC4_0) - CtG [Alarak] (https://youtu.be/CZhelD-2J3Y) Tanks and Goliaths
Here is the link to the VOD https://www.twitch.tv/videos/472665874
Commander/Tier
3 Karax
- Not the best this week, Carriers are slow and Immortals and Colossus have trouble against the Photon Overload, or lost of small units.
- Spear of Adun upgrades can help here but try not to spend too much resources on them as static defense isn't as helpful.
- Purifier Beam can help to clear encampments but I like it better for attack waves.
- You might build up minerals so think about Cannons on the ramps.
- Its going to be a bit tough to clear the expos but you can use static defense if its close enough to the location for where your townhall will go, but keep in mind that a single Solar Lance might be better as static defense will hit buildings and be destroyed.
2 Raynor
- Good commander for this week, Bio will work here but you should be careful as Photon Overload can do a lot of damage, BCs might be better.
- It is nice if you can rally into your main to avoid the Nukes but you will need reinforcements to make most pushes work.
- If you are rallying to your army attack waves might get as bit tough o deal with so save call downs for them or make some Bunkers.
- The first Banshee should clear the attack wave then the expos,
- Try to avoid attacking buildings as it will only trigger Photon Overload and you will then have to clear the building before moving on.
- Upgrades as always, and defensive upgrades matter a lot as they also increase your HP.
2 Artanis
- Really good commander for this week, between Shield Overcharge Guardian Shell and instant warp-ins you should be able to clear this with relative ease.
- Be sure to use the Spear of Adun's Orbital Strike for attack waves if you are out of position.
- Solar is good for Constructs but attack waves might be better.
- if attacking into a larger and spread out area be sure to activate the Shield Overcharge to avoid losing too many troops.
- Upgrades as always.
- I just went for Dragoons and Zealots but you can choose the forces that you want, I like Dragoons and Zealots as they are expendable.
2 Vorazun
- Good commander for this week, DT Corsair is still great this week.
- Be careful when just a-moving your army as the DTs Shadow Fury will inevitably hit a building and trigger Barrier and Photon Overload and so a lot of damage, think about turning of auto cast.
- Black Hole is great for attack waves, and a few encampments.
- TS should be saved for the encampments if you can.
1 H & H
- Great commander for this week, you really want to leave your Galleons at home and mass Reapers.
- You can go for Horner unit at some point in the mission, but you can do the entire thing as Reapers.
- Try to use the call downs for encampments and a few attack waves (attack waves should try to be handled with Mag-Mines).
- You want to have a Supply Depot on each ramp to help all the attack waves clump up.
- Strike Platforms can great for vision and to take out smaller structure to avoid Photon Overload.
- Ravens are great but they seem to pull a lot of agro so watch out for them.
1 Swann
- Great commander for this week, between Hercules Laser Drill and Goliaths you should be fine for everything.
- I still like Laser Drill mastery for this week, the Laser Drill should be able to solo the Constructs for the early game then you should be able to get to get out some Tanks for the second set of Constructs.
- You have 2 options: you can put everything into Hercules and move around like that or rally everything into your main and then walk them across the map, both work but I like more Hercules.
- Laser Drill is great for just general damage against anything but keep in mind that it might target structures and trigger Photo Overload.
- Try to just have smaller armies out on the field to avoid losing everything.
- Worst comes to worst use the Laser Drill and a Hercules to snipe key enemy units.
1 Alarak
- Great commander for this week, with Structure Overcharge and any army comp you should be able to deal with attacks and defense.
- Try rally everything into the main and then pull more forces as necessary or when you go through your main to the next objective.
- Alarak is good for the early game and can take a lot but be careful about his Destruction Wave as it will hit buildings and trigger Photon Overload and kill Alarak very fast.
- I like to build Wrath Walkers and Havocs with Supplicant support as they will do a lot.
- Keep in mind that Wrath Walkers can over kill and most units wont die in 1 hit so you will trigger Barrier.
- Save Overcharges for attack waves, with the rallies you shouldn't have to worry about attacks for the bases.
1 Fenix
- Great commander for this week, many different unit comps will work but I like Robo Gateway.
- There is a weird bug for the Arbiter Suit that allows you to have infinite Cloak but its not that helpful on Brutal.
- I like to go for Zealots Adepts Colossus and Immortals,
- be sure to get all their respective upgrades.
- Fenix Dragoon Suit should be able to solo attack waves, and the Praetor Suit is great for tanking.
- Having a few Conservators with your army is very helpful to reinforce and to reduce the damage done.
- You can always leave the Arbiter Suit in your main on it's own control group to allow you to Recall out of any Nuke (but you cant F2 at that point).
1 Stukov
- Great commander this week, defense and offense are fine, but you might need to wait for call downs to really get the dps and tanking that your Infested need.
- You can go for Diamondbacks but I just went mass Bunker.
- Make sure that you get all your unit upgrades as they don't do as much without them.
- Barrier makes it much harder to kill unit so you want to have Bunker armor and Healing to be able to hold out, also try your best to Load and Unload micro your Bunker too.
- Be sure to change the rally for Infested often.
- Call downs are the only real way that the Infested will get to do the damage that they should so be sure to use the call downs asap to get as much as possible.
1 Zagara
- Great commander for this week, I like Baneling Zergling Scourge as always.
- Zagara can carry the early game.
- Be sure to saturate the expo asap so that you can get all the reinforcements that you will need.
- Upgrades as always.
- I really like Banes more than Lings as they wont target buildings and trigger the Photon Overload and that will avoid a lot of damage.
- Scourge also are amazing as they do great damage and wont target buildings.
- Be sure to use Frenzy as much as possible and Roach Drop as well.
1 Stetmann
- Really great commander this week and guess what works again? Mass Infestors!!!
- Seriously they are great this week as everything can just be left at your main and rallied to where the next objective is.
- Be sure to work on the expo asap as you really want that gas.
- Be sure to use the extra energy field as soon as you get out your Infestors and use UMIC-Charging between Roach spawns.
- Upgrades are important so be sure to stay on top of them.
- You should always place some Spines and Spores around your Infestors to protect them between Roach spawns.
- Super Gary is all about the early game so use him well.
1 Zeratul
- Really great commander for this week, mass Shield guards or mass Cannons, have fun either way.
- Zeratul can do a lot for the early game, add in some Legions and you can clear a lot.
- Legions cant really be micro'd so they might die to Nukes.
- I like Monoliths but they have the problem of always triggering the Barrier as they have such low attack damage.
- Avatar of Essence is still great here so I would use that.
1 Nova
- Really great commander this week, Nova Tanks Marines Ravens Goliaths are amazing.
- You might as well try and do a brief Hero solo in the beginning to save your troops for Nukes.
- Sabotage Drone and Griffin Air Strike are still amazing.
- Remember its always better to Air Lift out of a Nuke then get hit, if your army is in the center of a Nuke just Air Lift out.
- Snipe can do super well against a lot of unit and the higher the mastery for Primary ability the better.
- Ravens are great for tanking damage with their Turrets and the Seeker Missles can snipe a lot of units.
- Try to have at least 3 control groups: Nova, Army, Transport.
1 Tychus
- Really great commander this week, you can deal with everything with Medivacs and simply walking around the map.
- Odin is great for clearing large areas so keep that in mind.
- Its a bit tough to clear all the buildings with Barrier so think about a healer.
- Sirius should still be your first Outlaw.
- Upgrades as always and saturate your expo asap.
1 Dehaka
- Really great commander this week, Dehaka can solo the entire first set of Constructs then add in the call downs and you should be able to clear the entire mission without problem.
- Think about Mutas or Creeper Hosts, one is faster one kills a lot easier.
- I like Mutas as they are more mobile and have more consistent DPS.
- When Dehaka Devours a unit if Barrier is active its will count towards the enemies health so low health units should just be eaten (Marines, Zerglings, SCVs, Broodlings) that way you cool down wont be as long and you can get more damage done.
- Upgrades as always try to saturate your expo asap.
- Keep all you units rallied to your main then move them out once they are evolved and you have a clear path to Dehaka.
1 Kerri
- Really great commander for this week, Hero solo into Ultras works really well this week.
- Feel free to add some Hydras if you feel that Kerrigan herself isn't enough anti-air.
- Omega Worms are great here as they can pull some agro get you vision and allow you get retreat at any point.
- I try to add all units to a separate control group other than Kerrigan so that you can retreat and keep Kerrigan out on the field.
- Upgrades for any unit that you make trying to get both attack and defense helps if you go for Ultras.
- I like a 50/50 for energy regen and attack damage, then all unit gas cost and all expedient evolution for the last 2 mastery sets (for units mastery).
- For Hero solo its 50/50 for the first then all Immobilization and Ability damage and attack speed.
1 Abathur
- Really great commander this week, you can get a Brutalisk out very fast if you can clear both sets of defending units from the first set of Objectives, if not the first attack wave should be enough.
- Once you have your Brutalisks work on your Leviathans and start to make some Queens for heals.
- You can use the Transport to help with the Biomass gathering or use a Spore Crawler.
- The real thing to watch out for in this mutation is the Nukes as your army can get very badly hurt by a single Nuke.
- Add some Toxic Nests to every ramp and then some static defense to help with attack waves, you can always bring back one or more of the Brutalisks to help defend then Deep Tunnel back.
- Upgrades as always and try not to let your minerals build up without making some static defense.
Tiers
Tier 1 Able to avoid Nukes, deal with attack waves and clear all bonus objectives.
Tier 2 Might be out of place during certain times but are still able to complete with little trouble.
Tier 3 Not recommended.