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The guide is kind of outdated and could benefit from an update; the core gameplay hasn't changed much, but 1qe2c is now drastically gimped and Alarak basically can't defend or attack a late-game area by himself anymore. It is probably worth reflecting this in the guide – Alarak will now have to hang out besides his army. So to those of you who wanted to use this pretty heavily, that's no longer an option.
Mech has received a buff; it now benefits Alarak's Empower Me more drastically. I still think Ascendants are better as they kick serious ass outside of Empower Me, but it might be worth giving this at least a brief mention for strategies such as Dead of Night and to a lesser extend Scythe of Amon and Malwarfare. The significant Empower Me buff can help pretty well in these sort of maps as well.
BTW your tip of Havocs providing buffs while loaded in War Prisms doesn't work. Tried it myself. I guess they patched it.
I think I should also mention that Alarak's War Prisms can be Structure Overcharged now, and while Pylons are still the better choice when used in conjunction with an army, sending War Prisms to attack an area by themselves is now an option. Not game breaking, but the option is there if you need it. One example is sniping the bonus on Temple of the Past – parking War Prisms outside of the range of enemy defenders and the Zenith Stone's attacks allows you to take out the bonus without too much hassle. It can also be used to take out the first expansion area in Cradle of Death without losing Pylons, though you're usually just better off using Pylons anyway and accepting the loss of 100 minerals in the ensuing explosion.
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This guide REALLY needs an overhaul. The changes to Alarak and how he currently plays is quite different than what was done here.
As an Alarak main, I know that a lot of these strategies are actually quite a bit different now than then. 1QE2C is no longer an option, and Mech Alarak is actually a VERY viable strategy. I'd be up for helping re-do the guide.
Main changes (For those who care):
-Death Fleet no longer spawns with 3/3 upgrades. This is a HUGE hit to the Death Fleet early on, and outside of Mech Alarak styles, it's mostly a useless skill outside of pumping up Empower Me. Always put your Mastery points into Empower Me Duration.
-Empower Me's Mech damage formula was changed. Now Mechanical units (Stalkers, Havocs, Vanguards, Wrathwalkers, War Prisms, Destroyers, and Mothership + allied units) give a MUCH larger bonus to Alarak. Bio units remain the same.
-Empower Me, on activation, automatically refreshes Deadly Charge and Destruction Wave.
-War Prism is now arguably better than Pylons for in-the-field Overcharges. It serves as a micro tool, a reinforcer, and an Overcharge blaster all in one, making the War Prism 150% more useful than before. It also got a speed upgrade.
-Structure Overcharge Mastery was changed from Damage to Shield + Attack Speed. Still max this out over Chrono Efficiency.
-Mech Alarak is actually a better alternative to Ascendant Alarak on faster paced maps like Part and Parcel as well as Scythe of Amon. You build your army up faster and reach max capacity quicker than the Ascendant variations.
There is probably more that I'm forgetting, but that's what I have noticed since the revamp of Alarak.
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It looks like this patch is the one that introduced the changes the above two posters are talking about:
 Patch 4.6.0
Aside from the Death Fleet nerf, it sounds good - glad to see mech being more viable! One playstyle vastly eclipsing all others gets a little stale after a while 
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SpritePony, any chance you could offer some unit comp suggestions and map specific tips like in the guide that can just replace or add to it? I haven't used Alarak since the changes so that would be helpful to me and probably others too.
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@CaffeineCaffeine
Mech Unit Comp:
Supplicant / Slayer / Havoc / Vanguard / Wrathwalker / War Prism.
This is my general go-to for Mech. I only pick up the Slayers to try and take heat off of the Wrathwalkers vs Air, and for the double damage on Blink buff. Can easily trade out Slayers for more Walkers or Supplicants.
The reason War Prisms are added to the army composition (you only really need one,) is that they have two primary functions: 1. To supply a power field to feed your army with Supplicants and Slayers, if need be. (Definitely Supplicants.) 2. When deployed, War Prisms now count for a valid target for Structure Overcharge. When undeployed, it keeps the SO buff, giving it a nice shield until it deploys again, the shield is burned out, or the SO duration is completed. Re-deploying while the buff is active continues to shoot the Overcharge beams.
Map Specific:
-Part and Parcel: I really enjoy using the Mech style on P&P. It's a fast build-up style that can help you clear the map pretty easily. Having an immediate online time vs Ascendant's ramp-up time is a highly useful tool for a map like this.
-Cradle of Death: Same thing applies. If you can turbo out Ascendants, they can also work well too.
-Miner Evacuation: This one I actually forego the Slayers and invest more heavily into Vanguards. When defending, the splash is just too good to pass up. Supplicant / Havoc / Vanguard / Wrathwalker / War Prism is my go-to for this, with heavy emphasis on Supplicants and Wrathwalkers.
-Dead of Night: Because this is mostly structures, the standard Mech style works wonders. Slayers optional. Ascendants are just complete butts here.
-Malwarfare: Once again, structure sieging. However, with the change to the War Prism, you can get away with Ascendant builds. Use Ascendants to wipe enemy waves, use Prism + Overcharge for sieging the towers. Wrathwalkers are recommended.
Masteries:
Set 1:
-Alarak Damage vs Combat Unit Attack Speed
Personally, I dump all my points into Alarak Damage, every time. I have yet to experiment with CUAS for the Mech style.
Set 2:
-Empower Me Duration vs Death Fleet Cooldown
Empower Me. Always. Death Fleet comes online too late, and is terribly flimsy. Death Fleet is only an actual factor if you do the double Forge Mech Alarak style, as their damage doesn't scale and losing 3/3/x at the start of the game hurt it too badly.
Set 3: Chrono Boost Efficiency vs Structure Overcharge Shield + Damage
Still the same. Take Overcharge every single game.
I personally like to go double Forge, double Robo, with 4 to 6 Warp Gates, depending upon the enemy composition. It's research heavy, but the unit effectiveness is REALLY high.
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@SpritePony that's great, thanks, might give Alarak another go with these tips.
I'll see if I can find someone who could give one of us access to the original post or edit it with your updates.
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Hey all, I’ve started to get into Alarak a bit.
What are the best anti air options for him? Is it wrath walkers or do people use ascendants somehow? Especially against Hybrid Dominators.
Any advice is appreciated. (Dunno if many people still read these threads but I guess we’ll find out).
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On September 19 2024 13:41 TheDougler wrote:
Hey all, I’ve started to get into Alarak a bit.
What are the best anti air options for him? Is it wrath walkers or do people use ascendants somehow? Especially against Hybrid Dominators.
Any advice is appreciated. (Dunno if many people still read these threads but I guess we’ll find out).
Wrathwalkers I believe. Mass slayers with teleport upgrade are not bad either.
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On September 19 2024 13:41 TheDougler wrote:
Hey all, I’ve started to get into Alarak a bit.
What are the best anti air options for him? Is it wrath walkers or do people use ascendants somehow? Especially against Hybrid Dominators.
Any advice is appreciated. (Dunno if many people still read these threads but I guess we’ll find out).
I've had success with both wrath walkers and ascendants. Depends on the way the map works and against what you're playing. Wrathwalkers are imo better against a bunch of medium moving targets, f.e. on the shuttle mission where you have small-medium waves of relatively mobile units. They are just more mobile and when you have ~5-10 targets them stacking badly hurts them less
Ascendants are imo generally higher value once they get their upgrade cache and better against spawners (carriers/broodlords) since they have more range, can deal with swarms, don't accidentally waste their shots on trash and are better against everything but air imo. But with how gas heavy they are you can't pump out as many stalkers/destroyers early on and it takes a while for them to reach critical mass, so on heavy early air pressure missions or against air waves consisting of medium units or maps where you need to cover more than 2 positions wrathwalkers are imo better.
Against small amounts of elites Mothership + 4-5 destroyers usually solo, which is usually my opening when I'm against air. Probably not an option if you're just starting with Alarak though.
I'm not the biggest fan of stalkers tbh, but they serve in a pinch.
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EPT
