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Co-op Commander Guide: Karax - Page 2

Forum Index > SC2 General
36 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
Shellshock
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States97276 Posts
November 14 2017 12:58 GMT
#21
energizers are too underutilized by karax players. they're so good
Moderatorhttp://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png
TL+ Member
29 fps
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States5724 Posts
November 14 2017 14:42 GMT
#22
In the early game, which forge upgrades or solar efficiency do you prioritize?
4v4 is a battle of who has the better computer.
billynasty
Profile Joined October 2014
United States260 Posts
November 14 2017 17:08 GMT
#23
Energizers are imo one of the best units in the game that players rarely ever make enough of. Sending a couple to follow ur allies units can help a great deal. Like how some kerrigan players dont spam enough omega worms around, or raynor players dont send a couple medics to follow an allies units. Karax players should be using Energizers more! I love them
i dont miss God but i sure miss Santa Claus
washikie
Profile Joined February 2011
United States752 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-11-15 15:53:26
November 15 2017 15:52 GMT
#24
These guides are so in depth, tbh I'm jealous we don't have some one creating written content for 1v1s of the same quality right now.
"when life gives Hero lemons he makes carriers" -Artosis
Ulyssez
Profile Joined November 2017
1 Post
Last Edited: 2017-11-17 06:40:08
November 17 2017 04:26 GMT
#25
Sentinel/Immortal/Energizer: composition should be renamed as Obs-burglar comp.

Updating one commander guide to include the Part and Parcel map soonish would be nice. Other than avoiding big red disable circle vs the moebius hybrid, I have no idea what the heck is happening on screen in the fight with Balius.

Edit- also no synergies for written posts to include Han and Horner yet. thank you for guides
MilkDud
Profile Joined June 2013
Canada73 Posts
November 17 2017 21:15 GMT
#26
Fantastic guide, thanks for putting in the time for this. Gonna go master Karax now!
DSh1
Profile Joined April 2017
292 Posts
January 16 2018 17:49 GMT
#27
Just played Karax. One point worth mentioning is that there is synergy with other protoss commanders if Karax just builds a few shield batteries at/near the engament locations.
weikor
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Austria580 Posts
January 17 2018 01:37 GMT
#28
its also possible to go offensive with kaydaryn monolyths.

Certain maps, where pushing an objective / while also defending from that same path is required - "tower rush" is a viable strategy
DSh1
Profile Joined April 2017
292 Posts
February 21 2018 16:09 GMT
#29
Just noticed. Transforming energizer gives you 11 gas and you have to pay 11 gas to get out of warping mode?
Chimaron
Profile Joined November 2017
Denmark25 Posts
March 04 2018 21:42 GMT
#30
On February 22 2018 01:09 DSh1 wrote:
Just noticed. Transforming energizer gives you 11 gas and you have to pay 11 gas to get out of warping mode?

This is a bug that was introduced with the revised Karax tax in the recent update. Blizzard is aware of it.
Writer
RaiZ
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
2813 Posts
November 28 2018 09:41 GMT
#31
I'm sorry for bringing this topic up, but holy f@#$, this hero is probably the most tedious I ever had to play.

I just came back after a long hiatus from sc2 and didn't want to play competitively anymore so... I opted to play some co-op for fun.
It's no wonder why it's the last hero I'm trying to level up.
Tbh, I was wondering if there wasn't anything else I'm missing ? Because I wasn't lvl 11 when I was playing this hero, so I didn't have instants canons and the like.
The best solution I've come up so far was going for fast revived zealots followed by mind control sentries in the upgrades. Everything else is just wayyyyyyy to slow to get an army up especially when 90% of the maps need a mobile one. Canons ? What do I need it for ? They're just there to defend sh.t. I'd only use it for the Trains.
It's after I got lvl 11 that I'd go for instant expand. But still it's a pain in the @#$ when I wanted to have an army up.
What's more annoying is the fact that this hero have so many upgrades that don't compliment each other.
When you compare it with the new Zeratul hero, it's day in night...
I'm surprised you want this hero to use Carriers. They're slow to build. They're slow to move. And they cost a ton. I just don't see how is it more succesful than the others army comps when you need an army up fast and use them for the early game. Not to mention you need the upgrades to make it stronger or else they'll just vanish like no tomorrow. And you want to use carriers after all those upgrades ?... Clearly I'm missing something.
And yes, I'm using the top bar abilities.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde
ScaraB
Profile Joined November 2014
Hungary6 Posts
November 29 2018 19:10 GMT
#32
Karax by design has always been about teching up for the majority of the game.

He has so many tech choices and expensive units, that he cannot pump out armies as fast as other commanders. He becomes more of an army commander by level 15, when you get combat unit reduction mastery. His calldown abilities and easily available Forge upgrades make him a defensive commander. I think that the early game is perhaps the easiest to survive with him, given that you have a cheap and damaging AoE top bar, and you can build shield batteries to prolong Static D life. You can also use Chrono wave to boost upgrades and units, so that everything comes together faster.

In low levels, you will tech a lot on one base. Even then, you can still fast expand with 2 cannons+an energizer (use this to boost fire rate) and eco up! Your power spike with Karax is the late-game, where you have tech buildings unlocked and your Solar Forge is in great shape. Since everything is expensive, you will have a low number of units. You should resort to colossi, immortals, observers and carriers, with zealots as mineral dump as an all-round combo, and use one big deathball to melt the opposition. Robo+stargate is great, since the passive Reconstruction Beam also heals mechanical stuff. A few energizers will also boost everything as well, so that dps skyrockets!

Last but not least, upgrade that Solar Forge ASAP! With level 2 regen, you will always have enough energy for quickly bursting down stuff (level 3 is good, but not required). Orbital Strike is the cheapest spammable power ever, whilst your chrono wave and purifier beam costs no energy at all. You can melt entire armies with the spammery, and you don't even have to leave units at home or go back with the main army!

In my opinion, Carrier-only is bad on low levels (speaking of Brutal difficulty), since they have no AoE and they don't have burst. Sure they can cheese ground-only comps and they get anywhere really quickly, but losing them is fatal and until you have no repair drones, they are also a pain to micro out of combat. Getting robo in the mix makes your life much easier: Immortals will just take care of any hybrid, as well colossi thermal lance is just too great to pass up against marines, gateway units and lings. Also, it takes too much time to build them, as you said! ^.^
Jermstuddog
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2231 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-11-29 23:06:59
November 29 2018 22:48 GMT
#33
@RaiZ

Having just discovered co-op and going through leveling up all 16 heroes, I agree that there are 2 major problems with leveling Karax.

1) Nobody writes guides for low-level comps for commanders. This is a wider problem that affects the entire community and all commanders. The most egregious issues, though are with Karax and Vorazun due to how radically their play styles change while they level (and to a lesser extent, Zagara - her play style doesn't change, but she becomes MUCH more efficient and powerful as she levels). Would there be community interest in a "low-level builds" series of guides? I know I would have appreciated it 2 weeks ago and I can see about putting something together if other people are interested.

2) Karax seems to have an inherent flaw in how his leveling talents are put together. It feels like he SHOULD get instant cannons sooner, but somewhere along the line, they swapped it from like level 2 to level 11. His non-carrier armies specifically struggle with anti-air and the whole thing just plain doesn't work well at all. I never found a viable low level build on him, I just eventually hit 11 and it IMMEDIATELY enabled me to play a viable mid-game strategy with his top bar + static defense and go for a much later transition into carriers around the 12-15 minute mark. I felt so much more useful and so much less frustrated once I got the cannon upgrade, it is the most impactful level upgrade in the game in my experience, I don't know why they don't move it to level 2 and move Chrono Field to 11, that upgrade is nice, but not character-defining like many level 2 talents are.

3) For the Mass Carriers strategy, most people are, again, talking from a position of level 15 with 90 Mastery points, while one of his mastery options reduces the cost of units by 22.5%. This lets you spam carriers much more easily, and teamed up with the static defense options, you can use your excess minerals to build little pockets of pylon/cannon/battery walls all over the map throughout the game. It works quite well... once you're high enough level to do it.

Karax is the most late-game commander in the game, it makes sense that he also favors high level options, but it can be frustrating when you're learning him, especially considering he's free to many people (assuming you bought LotV) and advertised as having access to "expensive, but powerful units" really they're just expensive, and you find yourself frustratingly useless until you cross the magical line of level 11.
As it turns out, marines don't actually cost any money -Jinro
imJealous
Profile Joined July 2010
United States1382 Posts
November 30 2018 13:38 GMT
#34
Zealot + phoenix with a few energizers for support was how I leveled Karax and it worked just fine. You might not be dominating your level 15 partner with 90+ mastery while you are level 7 like you can with some of the latest commanders but that is hardly a problem worth complaining about.
... In life very little goes right. "Right" meaning the way one expected and the way one wanted it. One has no right to want or expect anything.
Ganseng
Profile Joined July 2011
Russian Federation473 Posts
June 12 2020 20:17 GMT
#35
Does anyone ever manage to get Karax to max supply without taking a third base?
Why don't they decrease the cost of units from 130% to 120% at least, and/or further decrease the solar forge upgrades cost?
I know you win anyways, but it feels so painfully slow...
Vindicare605
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States16071 Posts
June 12 2020 20:29 GMT
#36
That's a moot point, I rarely max out supply with any of the CO's especially on mutations.

A ton of what Karax provides is also supply free. His Spear of Adun is global and doesn't contribute to supply. His strong static defense doesn't cost supply either which is a big difference between him and the other strong Defensive Commander: Swann. Swann's defensive schemes always call for Siege Tanks and Siege Tanks cost supply.

I've been playing a lot more with Karax lately, and honestly he feels so much better now with the health increase on his units. They actually feel worth the 30% tax, where before they didn't.

As for leveling Karax up, I just tweaked it so that I played a lot on Dead of Night and Temple of the Past. It's faster playing a map even a low level Karax can carry on even without the extra XP bonus for playing Random missions. Karax gets a lot stronger with his masteries especially on maps with uncontested naturals where you can take a 16 Nexus and power your economy up faster.
aka: KTVindicare the Geeky Bartender
[N3O]r3d33m3r
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Germany673 Posts
June 13 2020 10:11 GMT
#37
On June 13 2020 05:29 Vindicare605 wrote:It's faster playing a map even a low level Karax can carry on even without the extra XP bonus for playing Random missions.
The random mission XP bonus is uselsess in any way shape or form. It's just 5k XP or so which is nothing compared to the end result. It's always better to pick your missions to your needs.
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