WCS
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.
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.
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp1.png)
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.
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp2.png)
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.
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp3.png)
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.
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp4.png)
Infested Maps - Tychus/Rattlesnake/Sirius/Blaze
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp5.png)
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.
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Chimaron/Guides/Tychus/cmp6.png)
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.
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
Instantly heals and transports Tychus' friendly combat units in the target area to a targeted location, healing and cloaking them on drop-off.
120 second cooldown (75 with mastery). Each Medivac has its own separate cooldown, and you can have up to three Medivacs.
Heals targets for 50% of maximum health, and cloaks them for 5 seconds after drop off.
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.
120 second cooldown (75 with mastery). Each Medivac has its own separate cooldown, and you can have up to three Medivacs.
Heals targets for 50% of maximum health, and cloaks them for 5 seconds after drop off.
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 (300 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
26.00 (38.00 vs light) DPS
1000 (+250 from Endurance Supplements) HP
Blaze is cursed with the armored tag, and on top of that has a weapon range of melee. 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 2.5 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.
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.
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
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 20% 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.
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.
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. 30 second cooldown.
Gear
Increases the immediate and periodic heal of Restorative 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. Usually, disadvantageous situations should be resolved by Medivacs.
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. Usually, disadvantageous situations should be resolved by Medivacs.
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 200 damage over 20 seconds. 15 second cooldown.
Doesn’t actually provide very much additional durability (effectively 13.33 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 13.33 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.
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.
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. Ultralisks and 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 150 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 50%.
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 100%, for a total of 300 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.
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.
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
- 18 Refinery
- 19 Refinery
- 20 Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack)
- 22 Auto-Turret, Auto-Turret (destroy Rocks then Salvage)
- Tychus destroys the Rocks, then the attack wave
- 27 Gun's Hideout or Muscle Armory
- 30 Outlaw
- 41 Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button)
- 45 Refinery, Refinery
- 51 Medivac Platform
- 53 Remaining Outlaw structures
- 55 Medivac Platform, Gear
- 17 Command Center
- 18 Refinery
- 21 Guns’ Hideout or Muscle Armory
- 23 Outlaw
- Outlaws clear out the expansion, then the attack wave
- 33 Refinery
- 37 Engineering Bay (+1 attack, +2 attack, +3 attack)
- 40 Engineering Bay (ITC-E Triggers, +1 armor, Big Red Button)
- 45 Refinery, Refinery
- 50 Medivac Platform
- 53 Remaining Outlaw structures
- 57 Medivac Platform, Gear
Masteries
Power Set 1:
- Tychus Attack Speed: +1% - 30%
- Tychus Shredder Grenade Cooldown: +1% - 30%
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
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 - 60s
While a skilled player could go without any healer at all and simply rely on Medivacs, doing so isn’t too useful as you won’t be able to push into the enemy with as much impunity, and because Rattlesnake is a decent damage dealer regardless.
Odin Cooldown does not have any effect on the initial Odin coolup, and therefore provides a very small benefit. On certain maps, this mastery can let you squeeze out one extra use of Odin, which may be worthwhile for very specific speedruns. It is not worthwhile for generic 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, plus a burst heal in an area with, and comes with researchable detection. 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. Unlike Nikara, Rattlesnake actually deals fairly good damage that only improves as you buy him more Gear, and additionally 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 long as you survive and can stay on the offensive, the rest doesn’t matter. 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.
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. 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.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. Dehaka can use his Greater Primal Wurms through the fog of war to grant Tychus vision for his Medivacs, or even to optionally Deep Tunnel there himself, which lets the pair of them potentially strike anywhere on the map. Tychus is able to heal Dehaka and his beefier units very effectively.Han and Horner
Han and Horner can rely on Tychus to handle the early game so that they can ramp up. Han and Horner provide an army with high damage output, and Tychus’ supreme combat uptime is a blessing to Han’s unstable Reapers, who often need a moment to heal up and resupply. Strike Fighters can be used to gain vision for Tychus’ Medivacs, and Napalm Payload works very well when used to support or preempt Blaze, letting him easily set nearby enemies on fire with Oil Spill. Tychus can heal Han and Horner’s army of mixed elite and basic units fairly well, and Rattlesnake’s attack speed buff is a big deal for their high damage output army, though Rattlesnake’s healing is insufficient to keep Reapers from dying. Both Nikara and Rattlesnake can heal Han’s Galleons. Tychus’ Ripper Rounds armor shred is a big damage boost for Han’s Reapers and Assault Drones. Han and Horner’s Salvage won’t be of much use to Tychus, unless Tychus recruits Vega.Zeratul
Tychus’ aggression provides Zeratul with plenty of time to locate his Artifact Fragments, should he need it. Zeratul’s Watchers can provide map-wide vision, allowing Tychus to travel anywhere at will with Medivacs, or even drop the Odin in the middle of a base to launch its nuke. Zeratul is also well-equipped to deal with bursty enemy compositions like Reavers, which can be deadly to an unprepared Tychus, and Tychus can shut down certain enemies that threaten Zeratul. Tychus provides healing for Zeratul’s army, but only Ambushers and Abrogators really need it to any extent. Zeratul’s static defenses can keep things safe at home, which Tychus benefits from.Map-Specific Tips
Chain of Ascension
- Outlaws: Sam is an excellent choice for this map, since you can count on facing multiple Hybrid fairly often. He can also defeat Slayn Elementals by himself with just a bit of micro. His Moebius Restraint Matrix stun is useful both against Hybrid and Slayn Elementals, so grab it early.
- Nuke: Should be used for the first large enemy base that blocks Ji’nara’s path, and later for either the last base or Hybrid spawn.
- Claim your expansion quickly with Tychus and your second Outlaw, and have your expansion Command Center ready to move into place.
- You’ll struggle with the first group of Hybrid that spawn in if you engage them head on, as you have no good immediate answer to them at this stage. Instead, throw Shredder Grenades at them and retreat, killing off any enemies that follow after you. Destroying the preplaced static defenses ahead of time helps make this easier.
- Make sure to have vision for your Medivacs ahead of time, so that you can respond quickly to threats. You always have vision of Ji’nara, even if you aren’t keeping an SCV nearby like you should be to push, but it can also be useful to have a few SCV’s near the spots where attack waves pass through, or where Hybrid or Slayn Elementals will spawn.
Lock & Load
- Outlaws: Initial defenses are weak on this map, making Sirius a good first Outlaw. You can claim the first two Celestial Locks without a healer with no issue by relying on Sirius’ turrets. The map also features plenty of aerial preplaced enemies, making Sirius’ Thunderbolt Missiles a good early game investment.
- Nuke: Use it on either the eastern or northern bases to take out a big chunk of enemies, then clean up the nearby structures with the Odin.
- Attack waves will be coming from both the southeast and northwest, and Tychus can readily deal with both before they make themselves a problem. Make sure to have vision near either the spawns or the Celestial Locks so that you can quickly intercept them with Medivacs, and don’t let the waves slip past you while you’re in the neighborhood of their spawn area.
- You can skip a lot of defensive structures and force nearby burrowed units to unburrow by claiming Celestial Locks without killing the surrounding defenses, aggroing the defenders to you.
Malwarfare
- Outlaws: Sam, Rattlesnake, and Sirius are all good choices to deal with the Suppression Towers, with Sam’s Restraint Matrix being able to take it out of commission, making it very useful to prioritize his Gear. Nux can be useful later into the game, where you’ll regularly face large attack waves.
- Nuke: There are a lot of decent options for where to drop each nuke, but none that are truly outstanding, due to how many small encampments are on this map. One good target for the first nuke is the large pack of enemies blocking the road just southeast of the third Security Terminal, but don’t worry too much about finding just the perfect target—just blow up whichever sizeable enemy force dares to stand in your way. For the second nuke, you likely want to drop it on either the final base or the second Data Core. For the third nuke, you’ll probably only have attack waves and Suppression Towers left to drop it on.
- Downloading the AI from the Data Cores is particularly expensive for Tychus, permanently setting you back on Gear. If possible, it should be preferable that your ally pay for it, as they’ll likely only be set back by a temporary deficit of army supply, but don’t be shy about paying for it yourself either.
- Aurana’s movement is slowed if she takes damage, and Suppression Towers will periodically shut down her progress with Security Terminals. Clear out enemies ahead of her and make use of Tychus’ excellent maneuverability to make sure that attacking enemies never get a chance to scratch her. Respond swiftly to Suppression Towers to prevent them from halting her work, and you’ll finish the mission much faster.
- Use SCV’s to get vision of Data Cores and Suppression Tower spawn locations after clearing out the initial defenders, in order to make it much faster to move about the map
Miner Evacuation
- Outlaws: Sirius is a good first choice, as he and Tychus can easily clear out the expansion and defend the first Evacuation Ship, and his powerful sustained damage will be important later. Blaze can deal phenomenal amounts of area damage to the hordes of Infested. Rattlesnake, Sam, and Cannonball are also good choices for their sustained damage. Despite being an area damage specialist, Nux is a poor choice, as his ability cooldown is too long and his auto attack too weak to be of much use here.
- Nuke: Use it to take out an upcoming enemy base ahead of time. Get vision with an SCV, drop the Odin and its nuke, and optionally cart it back to the Evacuation Ship that you are currently protecting with a Medivac.
- Your job on this map is to hold the line. Do this by keeping the Infested at arms-reach with as much damage as you can muster, and by splitting out your damage intake between different Outlaws so that Rattlesnake can heal everyone up at once. Get Gear that lets you both deal and survive more damage, or crowd control the enemy.
- While Blaze is excellent at dealing damage on this map, he’s not very good at surviving it due to his poor range and armored tag. Use him to apply Enflamed to the enemy, then pull him back to safety. Your other Outlaws are there to support him, not the other way around, so don’t let him tank unnecessary damage in vain.
- Sirius’ Terror Rounds are great here. Make sure that you place his turrets defensively and protect them for their duration, and use them to detect Infested Banshees.
- Be very careful when engaging the Eradicators. Tychus can better afford to engage them in ground-to-ground combat than other commanders, but they can still tear through your Outlaws quickly if you aren’t watchful. Use Medivacs to both heal up and dodge incoming attacks, while attacking the Eradicators as aggressively as possible. Sam’s Moebius Restraint can simplify things somewhat.
Mist Opportunites
- Outlaws: Weak early game enemy resistance makes Sirius a good first choice, letting you initially push more aggressively without need for a healer. Sam is good for his high generic damage and for handling Hybrid, and Nux is a good late game choice for his area damage against the many attack waves you’ll be dealing with.
- Nuke: There aren’t any good targets for the first nuke immediately available, so the easiest thing is to just drop it on one of the central enemy bases. If you’re ambitious, you can use Sam’s Shade Suit to slip past the guards at the western-most Terrazine Geyser in order to get vision of the second Terrazine Extraction Device. Medivac the rest of your Outlaws over and drop the nuke, then clean up. For the second nuke, there shouldn’t remain any other targets on the map than the big enemy base, so blow it up and clean up the pieces. You’ll get a third use of Odin towards the very end of the game even without Odin Cooldown mastery. Drop the nuke on an attack wave.
- Once the enemy defenders have been cleared out around the Extraction Devices, you can send over an SCV to construct an Auto-Turret or two while the Outlaws move on to other aims. While the Extraction Device is taking damage, its countdown timer won’t tick down. Salvage the Auto-Turrets once the Extraction Device is destroyed.
- Since Harvesting Bots provide you vision and you have global mobility in the form of Medivacs, you are always able to respond to threats to the Harvesting Bots. Don’t allow their paint job to be so much as scratched.
- Once all enemy structures have been eliminated from the map, it’s a simple task of repelling the enemy attack waves one by one. Send out SCV’s for vision near each attack wave spawnpoint for Medivac vision and blown the enemy up swiftly as they come at you. You’ll have plenty of time to finish up up all your research and Gear while waiting for the game to end.
Oblivion Express
- Outlaws: Sirius can be a good first Outlaw, since you won’t be taking much damage during the early game. Sam and Cannonball both have good damage against Trains, especially with their Ultimate Gear. Rattlesnake provides additional damage to Trains. Make sure to maximize your damage output—you’ll need it to contend with the Trains as Tychus.
- Nuke: Without mastery, you can get up to three uses of Odin if you time things correctly. You’ll probably want to use it on the Trains, and you can choose to either use it three times (on the third, sixth and ninth Trains), or you can choose to use it only twice on the double Trains in order to reduce the difficulty spike of dealing with two Trains at once. Try to land the nuke on top of the enemy defenses guarding the Train stations, for good measure.
- With no contested expansion and a late attack wave, you don’t need an early Outlaw, so following the Auto-Turret expand build works well here. Tychus can handle the first attack wave alone.
- Place a few SCVs around the map to give you vision so you can respond quickly to incoming attack waves and Trains.
Part and Parcel
- Outlaws: Rattlesnake, Sam and Sirius are all good choices due to the ease with which they can demolish scrappable structures, and for their contributions against the Hybrid Experiments—Sirius’ Thunderbolt Missiles put out great damage, and Sam can render the Hybrid Experiments defenseless with his Restraint Matrix.
- Nuke: There is a small base just to the east of the expansion. An attack wave will spawn and head through this area at about the 10 minute mark to try and attack your expansion. Get vision of the base with an SCV ahead of time, then drop the Odin’s nuke on the base while the attack wave is passing through. Collect the Parts with the SCV and send the Odin elsewhere to wreck enemy buildings. The second use of Odin can be spent to clean out the southeastern enemy base, or the northeastern final base.
- If you make good time, Tychus can clear out the expansion, southern base, and western Parts area all in time for both the bonus objective Train and the Balius’ approach to the first Hybrid Experiment. Show up on time and gun both down.
- You can use SCVs to construct Auto-Turrets near unguarded scrappable structures to save time for your Outlaws while they move on and clear out enemy defenses. Also use SCVs to get vision of attack waves and Trains, as necessary.
Rifts to Korhal
- Outlaws: Sam and Sirius are effective at blowing up Void Shards and Pirate Ships. Both Void Shards and Pirate Ships can be stunned by Sam’s Restraint Matrix, but neither are really a threat to Tychus in the first place, as long as you dodge.
- Nuke: Can be used to clean out the defenders at the third and final groups of Void Shards. The Odin is also effective at destroying the Void Shards themselves, as they are structures. Make sure to move the Odin close enough to the Void Shards that it uses its anti-ground weapons.
- The first attack wave arrives early. Tychus is capable of handling both the attack wave and the first Void Shard on his own with no issues, making it preferable to open with the Auto-Turret expand build.
- Outlaws can be stunned by the Void Shards’ Void Zone attack. While it is easy to dodge, it can be dangerous to fail to do so. Don’t disrespect Void Zones.
- There are six different spots where you can use Medivacs to get across unpathable terrain, letting you skip some enemy defences to get to the objective faster. The three most useful are shown below.
- The first skip avoids the encampment blocking the road to the third set of Void Shards. There’s also a spot near the western expansion that is more immediately accessible, but doesn’t skip as much. You can send an SCV to get vision of the chasm, and Medivac your Outlaws from anywhere on the map.
- The second skip avoids the entire base guarding the second Pirate Ship. You need to have air vision across a chasm, where there is high ground on the other side, so the Outlaws need to be nearby. The jump is far enough that your Medivac may not have vision of the other side if you summon it too far away, so make sure to center the pick-up closer to the chasm.
- The third skip avoids the front portion of the final enemy base. You need to have air vision across a wall, so the Outlaws must be in place when you summon the Medivac. You can also skip into the final base from the opposite side of it, but this spot is more useful as it avoids an additional enemy base. Bring a nuke to clear out the defenders inside.
Scythe of Amon
- Outlaws: Sam’s Demolition Charges are great for damaging and disabling Void Slivers, and Sirius’ powerful anti air damage is essential on this map, as many of the units guarding each Void Sliver are air units. Note that Vega is unable to dominate voidshade units, and is not a good choice for this map despite an abundance of enemy capital ships.
- Nuke: Best used to clean out the defenders around the third and fifth Void Slivers. Walk the Odin up near the Void Sliver to lure enemy units closer before dropping the nuke, so that everything comes running to get blown up. The Odin is also useful for dealing damage to the Void Slivers, as they are structures. Make sure that the Odin is close enough to the Void Sliver that it uses its ground weapons.
- You can sneak an SCV past the enemies around the expansion Void Sliver, where there is space for you just northwest of the Void Sliver to build a Command Center. The first attack wave won’t mess with it there, and it is closer to its destination.
- If you want to complete the bonus objective, clear out first the expansion and then the eastern area. Tychus and either Rattlesnake or Sirius can handle most of it right from the get go, but you’ll still need to work fast to save the Evacuation Ship. With that done, clear out the second bonus objective area, but ignore the southwestern Void Sliver and instead push up through the base blocking the path to the northern Void Sliver.
- Outlaws are immune to Death Grip Crystals. Help your ally destroy them, since their units will get targeted while yours won’t.
Temple of the Past
- Outlaws: As this map features primarily attack waves, Nux is a good choice. Sam and Sirius are also effective against both Void Thrashers and Zenith Stones, but attack waves are a larger concern. Fortunately, Sam and Sirius are also effective against attack waves. Since the only direct threat you face is from attack waves, you may not need a healer at all, as it is easy for Tychus to stun and otherwise distract attack waves.
- Nuke: At 10:00, an attack wave spawns in from both the northwest and southeast. Catch one of the waves at its source and blow up both the wave and the enemy base. Later on, there won’t be any significant targets left, but you can still use the nuke to blow up an inconvenient attack wave, such as at 22:30 where a pair of attack waves accompany the double Void Thrasher spawn.
- Once the Zenith Stones have been cleared out, send out SCVs to hang out in those areas so that you retain vision of each lane for your Medivacs. This allows you to immediately react to any and all attack waves, including double waves.
- Destroying the three enemy bases at the end of each lane will let you have an easier time for the rest of the game, letting you react to attack waves without anything interfering.
The Vermillion Problem
- Outlaws: Sam is very useful due to the large number of powerful Hybrid scattered throughout the map. Cannonball can also be useful for pushing into bases and countering ground enemies.
- Nuke: Use it on the large enemy base just east of the expansion. A large, dangerous army always hangs out here, supported by multiple powerful Hybrid. You can safely gain vision of the area by sending an SCV up the southwestern ramp leading up to the island, which lets you use the Odin as soon as it becomes available while keeping your Outlaws free to roam.
- You can construct your expansion Command Center on the expansion island by sneaking an SCV up the eastern ramp and building it there. Follow up with the early Outlaw build to clean up the enemy base. Once nearby enemy defenses have been destroyed, send Tychus back to defend against the first attack wave, keeping the other Outlaw working on destroying the enemy structures.
- Use SCVs for vision on the islands, so that you can swiftly move your Outlaws around to clean out nearby encampments or groups of enemies attempting to protect Xenon Crystals, as well as to repel attack waves. Also, you’ll be able to snatch up Xenon Crystals faster.
Void Launch
- Outlaws: Sirius and Sam are both good at dealing with the Shuttles and their escorts. Due to their general effectiveness and the guarantee of frequent enemy air units to destroy, there is little reason not to recruit them for this map. Nux can also be a useful choice later into the game.
- Nuke: Clearing out the large bases guarding the Shuttle Launch Bays will give you an easier time dealing with the Shuttles later into the game, so you may want to nuke one of the bases and move the Odin and the Outlaws in to clean the rest of the base up. You can use Auto-Turrets to speed this process along while the Outlaws move on to other targets.
- Hide a few SCVs near spots where enemy attack waves and Shuttles will pass through, so that you can intercept them with Medivacs. Once you have access to the Shuttle Launch Bays, you may also want to construct a few Auto-Turrets around the Launch Bays nearby, as much for the sake of retaining vision as for dealing damage. Don’t go overboard with Auto-Turrets—your Outlaws are the real damage dealers.
Void Thrashing
- Outlaws: In addition to being perfect for shorter maps such as this one, Sam, Sirius, and Rattlesnake are all good against both the Void Thrashers and the Archangel.
- Nuke: Save it for the final base in order to clean out a large group of enemies at the center of the base. Make sure to hit the nearby Hybrid with the center of the blast. The Odin itself is not very useful here as there are no structures around, so don’t be shy about letting it die while luring all of the surrounding enemies closer while the nuke drops—just don’t let Tychus share the same fate.
- Void Thrashing is a short map that can be ended all the sooner the more ruthlessly you push into it. A common strategy is to attack the third set of Void Thrashers before the second, which lets you more efficiently move about the map and handle attack waves.
- Spread SCVs out around the map to give yourself vision for using Medivacs.
- Here is a useful spot where you can skip a number of enemy defenses by airlifting your Outlaws across unpathable terrain, at the tip of a cliff just past the western expansion. Use an SCV to get vision and Medivac in from anywhere on the map. This puts you right in the middle of a lot of dangerous enemies, so be ready to heal up with additional uses of Medivac Pickup if necessary.
Replay Pack
These solo speedrun replays showcase the effective use of various Tychus builds on different maps.- Chain of Ascension 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sam, Sirius
- Cradle of Death: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Nux, Sam
- Dead of Night: Record Uncontested
- Lock and Load 100%: Tychus, Sirius, Rattlesnake, Sam
- Lock and Load any%: Tychus, Sirius, Sam
- Malwarfare 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sam, Nux, Sirius
- Malwarfare any%: Tychus, Sam, Sirius, Rattlesnake, Nux
- Miner Evacuation 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam, Nux
- Miner Evacuation any%: Tychus, Sirius, Blaze, Rattlesnake
- Mist Opportunity: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sam, Sirius, Nux
- Oblivion Express: Tychus, Sirius, Sam, Rattlesnake, Cannonball
- Part and Parcel 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sam, Sirius
- Rifts to Korhal 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam
- Rifts to Korhal any%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam
- Scythe of Amon 100%: Tychus, Sirius, Sam, Rattlesnake, Cannonball
- Scythe of Amon any%: Tychus, Sirius, Rattlesnake, Sam
- Temple of the Past: Tychus, Sirius, Nux, Sam, Vega
- Vermillion Problem: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sam, Sirius
- Void Launch: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam, Nux
- Void Thrashing 100%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam
- Void Thrashing any%: Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Sam
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/7/73/Replay_Icon14.png)
Other Commander Guides
Writers: Aron, Dr_Orgo, T.Chosen1, Panzerfaust3
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, macisasandwich, Swankypants
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, macisasandwich, Swankypants
