Swann

Zagara

Vorazun

Abathur

Alarak

Nova

Stukov

Fenix

Dehaka

• Use Solar Lance to destroy enemy defenses at the western Celestial Lock, as this Lock features multiple cloaked units if you are facing Protoss or Zerg. Taking them out early on with your Spear of Adun allows you to forego having to rush detection (though you may still want Observers later). These cloaked enemies are very spread out, so Orbital Strike is less effective than Solar Lance, provided that you can hit a good number of the enemies with your Solar Lance.
  
• Build a few Photon Cannons at each Celestial Lock after you capture them in order to defend against trickling enemies trying to recapture the Celestial Locks. When attack waves arrive, be ready to support your defenses with Orbital Strike, Solar Lance, or your army.
  
• Use your Purifier Beam to clear out the defenses at the northern and eastern Celestial Locks as these are the most heavily fortified areas.
  
• There are many air units guarding the northern and eastern Celestial Locks. If you are planning to Reclaim Terran or Protoss mechanical units, make sure you have enough Energizers before pushing into these defenses.
  

• Assuming max mastery in Spear of Adun energy, immediately send a Probe to your expansion to clear it out with Solar Lance and Orbital Strike. Proceed to warp in a Nexus as your first structure.
  
• Warp in Pylons or pre-place Observers near each Suppression Tower to allow you to use your Spear of Adun powers on enemy forces as they arrive.
  
• While helpful at any time, it is especially important to warp in static defenses when you reach the final Security Terminal. Set up a solid defense at each of the five potential Suppression Tower spawn points and support your Photon Cannons with Energizers and your Spear of Adun powers. Despite the hefty resource cost necessary to employ this method, the ability to spot and attack units that are in the process of warping in is well worth the cost.
  

• Use a combination of your Spear of Adun and about eight Photon Cannons to defend the first Evacuation Ship. If the first Evacuation Ship spawns at your expansion, you can sneak your probe in from the right ramp, bypassing the Infested units defending the left ramp. Gradually creep your Photon Cannons forward in order to take out enemy defenses and claim your expansion.
  During the first Evacuation Ship launch, a total of three Nydus Worms will spawn. Use four Orbital Strikes on each of these Worms in order to cut off enemy reinforcements.
  
• Though Colossi might be a tempting choice on this map, Carriers are the ideal unit choice due to their invincibility against Volatile Infested, Aberrations and Infested Banshees as well as for their ease in taking down the bonus objectives.
  
• Build Shield Batteries and Photon Cannons to defend each Evacuation Ship before you launch it, especially when going for a mass Carrier army that will be lacking in ground presence. Support each defensive position with at least one Energizer placed in Phasing mode.
  
• A single cast of Solar Lance is usually enough to deal with any wave headed for your expansion. If you can take advantage of this, it will allow you to bypass having to build static defenses to defend your expansion.
  

• After clearing the areas in front of the Terrazine Extraction Devices, warp in one Pylon and one Photon Cannon or a single Sentinel to attack it. The bonus objective countdown timer will pause for as long as you are attacking it—you do not need to use your entire army to destroy it. The rest of your army can move on to the next objective.
  
• Look to build clusters of static defense at strategic choke points, but do not overinvest in static defense, as you will still require a strong army to clear out enemy bases unless you have a competent offensive ally.
  
• The attack waves heading for each Harvesting Bot are frequent but weak in strength. Orbital Strike can be effective here in taking out weak waves that are out of reach of your army or static defense. Solar Lance can be used to take out multiple waves over a longer period, but that means you may be in targeting mode for some time while waiting for the next wave to spawn. You may also reserve Solar Lance for the infrequent but larger enemy waves containing Hybrids.
  
• Use Purifier Beam on heavily fortified bases or the dangerous attack waves headed for your base (as opposed to the small attack waves headed for the Harvesting Bots).
  

• The left expansion is ideal for Karax as when breaking Rocks with Orbital Strike, you can aim each cast in between the main and gas Rocks. This allows you to break all 3 Rocks with just 20 casts of Orbital Strike.
  
• Unlike other maps, mass Carrier build does not work well here as Carriers lack the damage output to deal with both the Trains and their escorts.
  
• Static defenses are a safe and efficient option to deal with all attack waves and Trains. Despite being more expensive, Khaydarin Monoliths are much more potent than Photon Cannons in dealing with Trains due to their long range and high damage per shot. The open space in between the top and bottom tracks (west of the players’ main bases) is the best spot for building Khaydarin Monoliths, as this allows them to hit Trains traveling on both tracks. Likewise, build Khaydarin Monoliths near the area where the bottom and bonus tracks intersect, where they are able to attack Trains on both tracks as well as the attack wave arriving from the southeast. Be sure to protect your Khaydarin Monoliths with Shield Batteries and Photon Cannons to shield them from invading enemy units.
  
• If playing on Brutal, make sure to defend against Ghosts and any potential nukes by building Photon Cannons on every ramp.
  
• Mass Immortals supported by Energizers is also a viable build on this map, having the advantage of having the highest DPS against Trains out of any of Karax’s possible builds. However, they do not deal well with air compositions. Also, you will be unlikely to have sufficient Immortals for the early Trains, hence you may have to depend on Photon Cannons or your ally until you amass a sizeable army of Immortals.
  
• Using Solar Lance along the length of the Train will damage the Train multiple times. This can be a good way of dealing with the first Train in order to avoid investing heavily in defenses or units early on. For subsequent Trains, it is generally more efficient to use Solar Lance and Orbital Strike on the escorting units so that your Immortals or static defenses can focus on the Train.
  

• The first wave arrives early on this map, hitting at approximately 2:45. As Karax, the responsibility of defending will often fall on you as it can easily be handled by a few Orbital Strikes. It can be useful to warp in a Pylon near the ramp so that the enemy units will clump up around it while targeting it.
  
• The first Void Shard can be handled by either Sentinels or 2-3 Photon Cannons. Use either Orbital Strike or Solar Lance to clear the defending units.
  
• Due to the large number of enemy air units and the presence of heavily fortified bases on this map, mass Carriers can be a good option to lay siege to enemy bases without taking losses. However, they lack the damage output to efficiently destroy the high-HP Void Shards thereafter, so you can delegate the clean-up job to Photon Cannons or Sentinels while your Carrier fleet moves onwards.
  
• If you are opting for the Sentinel/Immortal/Energizer composition, you will probably need at least eight Energizers before assaulting each heavily-fortified base against Protoss or Terran. This allows you to Reclaim the numerous air units that may otherwise threaten your army.
  
• Either Carriers or the Immortal’s Shadow Cannon ability can be used to deal with Pirate Ships. Use Stop command repeatedly to keep Interceptors out of the Pirate Ship’s linear AOE attack, while also ensuring that your Carriers do not get hit. Do not overly rely on static defenses as the Pirate Ships will destroy them easily.
  
• If you do not intend to destroy the second Pirate Ship, you can fly your fleet of Carriers straight to the 4th set of Void Shards from the 3rd, bypassing the defending bases along the way.
  

• After you have fully saturated your main base, sneak a Probe into the expansion while it is still guarded by the Void Sliver and expand using 2-3 Photon Cannons and your Spear of Adun. This early expansion is made possible by using Solar Lance and 1-3 charges of Orbital Strike. Check the replay pack for more details.
  
• The first attack wave is rather weak in strength. You can simply rely on Orbital Strike to clear it instead of having to build Photon Cannons. Alternatively, if you have sight of the Void Sliver at the expansion and/or the surrounding bases, you can use the first shot of Solar Lance on the first wave, and the subsequent 2 shots to clear the base defenders.
  
• Unless you have significant experience with Karax, the first bonus objective is best left for your ally (support him with Orbital Strike or Solar Lance). as it is extremely difficult for Karax to ramp up his army within such a short time and clear that base on his own. It may be possible to sneak a Probe or two past the right-most shard and begin Cannon rushing the first bonus location. However, this will not be possible if the enemy composition is Protoss.
  
• Use Purifier Beam at 7:30 in order to defeat the second enemy wave. If possible, try to have vision of the enemy bases along the path of the attack wave so that you can simultaneously take out an enemy outpost and the attack wave.
  Building a few Photon Cannons at both your main (above the right ramp) and natural (left of the 1st Void Sliver) allows you to defend incoming enemy waves without having to call on your army. Alternate between Solar Lance and Purifier Beam in order to take these attack waves down.
  
• Both Mass Carrier and Zealot/Immortal/Energizer are viable options on this map. Carriers eventually allow you to snowball into a victory while Zealot/Immortal/Energizer relies on Reclamation to take control of the high number of capital ships guarding each Void Sliver.
  
• Use Orbital Strike in order to take out dangerous units guarding the Void Slivers, including Death Grip Crystals and Void Rifts.
  

• Static defenses work particularly well on this map, especially if you invest in the Structure Life and Shields mastery, as this map does not require Karax to push too far into heavily fortified bases.
  
• While placing defensive structures at the top of each ramp allows you to handle attack waves with ease, the spawned Void Thrashers will be out of your reach. You can instead choose to warp in your static defenses near the Void Thrasher spawn points, indicated by a specific rock on the ground - learn to identify it to know where the Void Thrasher will spawn.
  
• Unit-based builds can also be useful on this map, but using them may require you to know the wave spawn patterns well, as Karax’s army does not possess good mobility to move across the different lanes quickly.
  
• It is useful to upgrade Solar Efficiency to level 2 or 3 on this map if you have the resources to spare. When facing the likes of Banelings or Immortals, always keep an eye on the attack waves approaching your static defenses or your ally’s army, and use your Spear of Adun abilities to destroy any threatening units whenever necessary.
  

• As the game starts, sneak one of your starting Probes up the eastern ramp of the expansion. Use Orbital Strike to dispatch any enemy units present and then warp in a Pylon and Forge immediately. As soon as the Forge finishes, build two Photon Cannons behind the mineral line of the southern expansion, using Orbital Strike to assist as necessary.
  
• During the early game, you need not invest in any static defenses to protect your main base. The first attack wave can be cleared with Orbital Strikes, while the second attack wave (consisting of enemy air transports) can be destroyed with a cast of Solar Lance. Spend your resources building up an army instead.
  
• Later on in the game, warp in some Photon Cannons to defend the ramps into your bases so that they can defend repel any attack waves heading for your bases. However, do not overinvest in static defenses as you still need a standing army to push into enemy bases and for securing Xenon Crystals.
  
• Warp in your unit production facilities on the expansion island rather than in your main base in order to allow your units to get to the action earlier.
  
• The units defending the Xenon Crystal spawn areas are often weak in strength and clumped up together. You can use an Observer in Surveillance Mode to provide vision of the enemy, allowing you to unleash your Spear of Adun powers on them in order to claim the Xenon Crystal with a lone probe. This can be useful for a Carrier fleet if you need to claim multiple Xenon Crystals spread out across the map, as Carriers are otherwise too slow to be likely to handle multiple points of interest.
  

• Warp in a few Photon Cannons at the central Warp Conduit to defend against the first and second attack waves, with the aid of a few Orbital Strikes. Place the Photon Cannons here so that they can later be useful for destroying the first wave of Shuttles.
  
• A powerful attack wave will spawn during the first wave of Shuttles. This wave comes with a Hybrid Reaver - use your Purifier Beam to deal with it.
  
• While setting up copious amounts of static defense at each Warp Conduit is viable, this passive way of playing hinders you from killing the defending units at the bonus areas and the enemy bases defending the Shuttle Launch Bays. Instead, try building up a standing army and focus on securing a third base in enemy territory for extra resources.
  
• After the first wave of Shuttles, send a Probe to each of the two other Warp Conduits. If the Shuttles are at risk of escaping, warp in a few Photon Cannons to intercept them. The Shuttle escorts are often weak in strength and can be handled by your static defenses instead of your main army.
  
• However, the attack waves that spawn every 3 minutes or so are much stronger and are best handled by either your Purifier Beam or Solar Lance.
  
• If you are able to clear out the areas around the Shuttle Launch Bays, you can spawn-camp them with Photon Cannons and/or Khaydarin Monoliths. Shield Batteries won’t be needed here as the Shuttle escorts are warped in a few units at a time and do not pose much of a threat individually.
  

• The first wave can easily be handled by a few Orbital Strikes. It can be useful to warp in a Pylon near the ramp so that the enemy units will clump up around it while targeting it.
  
• The first Void Shard can be handled by either Sentinels or 2-3 Photon Cannons. Use either Orbital Strike or Solar Lance to clear out the defending units.
  
• As this map has a short mission time, it is not worthwhile to overinvest in static defenses and Solar Efficiency upgrades (other than level 1). Instead, build up your army to give yourself a stronger assault force.
  
• Due to the large number of enemy air units found on this map, mass Carriers can be a good option to lay siege to enemy bases without taking losses. However, they lack the DPS to efficiently destroy the high-HP Void Thrashers thereafter, so you can delegate the clean-up job to Photon Cannons while your Carrier fleet moves onwards.
  
• If you are opting for the Sentinel/Immortal/Energizer composition, you will probably need at least 8 Energizers before assaulting the eastern and northern Void Thrasher bases when facing Protoss or Terran. This allows you to Reclaim several of the numerous air units that may otherwise threaten your army.