Co-op Commander Guide: Fenix

14 Comments Post a Reply

Co-op Commander Guide: Fenix

Text byTL.net ESPORTS

Graphics byJester

March 19th, 2018 15:26 GMT

Overview

Fenix, Purifier Executor, leads an army of robotic warriors that act as shells for his six Purifier Champions. Unbound by physical bodies, these Champion AI are capable of transferring from one shell to another as they are destroyed, in order to overcome impossible odds on the battlefield. Unbound by a traditional tech tree, Fenix has quick access to any of his technology right from the start of the game, resulting in a wide variety of options to choose from early on. Learning to manage all of Fenix’s various structures, research, and unit combinations is key to mastering Fenix, but can be a very rewarding experience. Depending on your style, overseeing Fenix’s armies can be the straightforward task of powering forward with fleets of untouchable Carriers, or it can be a finely-tuned exercise of combined arms and army synergy.

Strengths

High Mobility: Fenix’s Cybros Arbiter can Mass Recall allies to its own position. Since the Arbiter can be called down anywhere you have vision, this allows his army to be moved between multiple locations in a short amount of time. Additionally, you can use it to quickly reinforce your front line with freshly built units, or quickly move your ally to where they need to go. Fenix can also warp in his other Suits anywhere he has vision, which allows him to accomplish a number of different tasks separately from his army.

Durable Army: Fenix has many ways of keeping his army alive, including; Champions with increased health and armor, Conservators providing large fields of damage reduction, Fenix’s Suits absorbing damage for the rest of his army, Carriers providing interference via Interceptors, and the option to invest into the Champion Health and Shields mastery. Altogether, this makes Fenix’s army fairly good at simply trading blow for blow with Amon.

Powerful Early Game: Ever since his latest set of buffs, Fenix has become quite powerful during the early game. His ability to make an impact on the battlefield with any combination of his Champions and Suits has given rise to a number of new opening builds, bringing unprecedented firepower from the outset of the game.

Weaknesses

Unreliable Fallback Responses: Fenix has no powerful single calldown ability to fall back on when things go wrong. The Solarite Dragoon can cover some mistakes, but it needs to be fairly close to the enemy to make effective use of its abilities—which can be both tricky and dangerous—and it is highly limited by available energy. This can be a big problem when a battle goes awry.

Extensive Macro: Fenix has some of the most difficult macro out of any commander. Many of Fenix’s more advanced strategies require you to be able to macro well, constantly producing units and Pylons as well as managing multiple tech trees at once.

Suggested Unit Compositions

While Fenix has access to a large number of viable unit combinations, the cornerstone of his builds are his six AI champions. Each of them is far superior to its base unit in every attribute, and will put you far ahead of the power curve when used together. Each Champion brings such an overwhelming amount of power within their respective niches that you should almost always aim to bring them onto the field as soon as possible. Fenix’s shell units can be brought in after your Champions are on the field, and will gradually begin to make up more of your total firepower as the game drags on. See the Opening Build section for more details.

Use the Champions to establish a foothold during the early game, then follow up with a combination of shell units that counters the enemy composition and the map. These unit compositions cover most of what you’ll go up against, but Fenix’s army is incredibly customizable. Experiment!

Adept + Immortal/Scout + Conservator

Highly customizable build, reliable in all circumstances.
After getting out all six Champions, add on Immortals and Scouts to form a durable backbone for your army, then transition into Adepts. Depending on the enemy composition, you may want to use different ratios of Immortals and Scouts to best counter enemy units. Colossi can also be added in if you need additional area damage.
A good ratio of production structures is two Robotics Facilities, two Stargates, and two Gateways, with up to four additional Gateways added on for a total of six as the game drags on.

Mass Adept + Conservator

Aggressive build that starts and reinforces fast, but will suffer attrition over longer games.
Once your six Champions are on the field, Adepts can be amassed very quickly compared to most alternative unit compositions. This allows you to make aggressive pushes into mid game objectives earlier than normal, relying on your Champions to make up for the weaknesses of Adepts. Conservator warp fields allow for instant reinforcement of your entire army, providing momentum to your pushes.
A squad of Legionnaires can be useful with this build. Use them to supplement your primary army during engagements, or leave them behind to clean up high-health objectives and enemy structures while your main army moves on.

Mass Carrier

Slow but indomitable.
Though far from being Fenix’s strongest or fastest option, Carriers are a reliable and easy-to-execute build that will always win in the long run. As it takes a while to get a fleet of Carriers onto the field, it is best used on longer maps or for difficult mutations where a more conventional army may not work as well. Once on the field, it cannot be stopped by anything Amon can throw at it.
Open with Kaldalis to claim your expansion, then transition into Carriers. You may also want to use Talis and Mojo once you have established a fleet of Carriers, as they add significant value to your army.

Niche Compositions

Mass Scout

Good on Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation.
Performs well against armored air and light ground enemies, but there are better options for both cases. They can still perform very well on Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation, though, and this makes for a build that is easy to play.
Open with Kaldalis to claim your expansion, then transition into Scouts. Add Clolarion later into the game for anti-ground AoE if needed.

General Tips

Use the Conservators’ Phasing Mode to warp in Gateway reinforcements, and their Protective Field to mitigate incoming damage.
Swap between Fenix Suits early and often. Balance their energy levels, and try to use the right Suit for the right job where possible.
Avenging Protocol grants the respective Champion 10% attack and movement speed for each supply the slain unit had, or 50% when the Champion switches shells. This also applies when the Champion is first brought online, and is important at the start of the game for breaking Rocks or pushing into an enemy base guarding your expansion. Avenging Protocol stacks up to a total of 200% attack and movement speed.
Champions don’t lose their stacks of Avenging Protocol if they die and have no shell to transfer to, and will maintain all of their stacks of Avenging Protocol while left without an available shell until they again have a shell to inhabit. This can allow you to forgo warping in slain Champions such as Kaldalis until you need them for a battle—delay warping them in until you are about to attack.
When a Champion transfers to a new shell, the cooldown of any abilities they may have is reset. This can be a reason in its own right to use Talis and Mojo particularly aggressively, as their abilities are very powerful indeed.
Plan out where you are moving your army ahead of time, and send the Cybros Arbiter over to be ready to Mass Recall while the rest of your army finishes their business.
You can leave Pylons scattered around the map to grant vision for Fenix Suits to warp in, and particularly for the Cybros Arbiter’s Recall.
If you hotkey a Champion and they are killed, the newly converted Champion will remain assigned to that hotkey. This can be useful for Talis and/or Taldarin, as it makes it easy to place them in front of your army to allow them to tank for your other units.
Focus on researching Weapon Upgrades in the Forge and Cybernetics Core. You will likely want to get both Ground and Air weapons, as Champions benefit from Weapon Upgrades too, and their damage is significant, though in some cases you can forgo Air weapons.
If you are using Legionnaires, you may want to hotkey them to a separate key and use them separately from your primary army, as more of a clean-up crew to take care of lingering enemy structures and units after the bulk of the enemy resistance has been dealt with. This allows you to move the rest of your army onwards to clear the path ahead.
You should be wary of researching Zealot Charge. It will only work against your Legionnaires—you want Kaldalis at the front, with Legionnaires behind him acting as spare shells for Kaldalis, rather than dying on the front lines.
Managing Chrono Boost can be important during the early game. You can use it to significantly speed up your first Champions, and to subsequently complete their research. Use it to first speed up the production of the shell unit, and then to boost the Champion download. Later on, you can use it boost the speed of your Ground and Air Weapon research, or to kickstart Carrier production.

Hero and Unit Overview

Hero Resource Management

Fenix has access to three different Suits. Each Suit has a health, shield, and energy value. Health and energy values only regenerate whenever the individual Suit is offline. Constantly switching Suits is required in order to play Fenix effectively. Failing to switch Suits will drastically reduce the total number of spells that can be cast and the total damage that Fenix can mitigate with his Suits.

Warping in one of Fenix’s Suits removes the currently active Suit from the battlefield and puts all other Suits on a 15 second cooldown. Careful timing of when and where to warp in a new Suit is required in order to prevent losing Suits. Avoid immediately engaging attack waves after a Suit swap as you will be unable to switch to a new Suit at will if you start taking too much damage.

When a Suit is destroyed, it is instead put on a 180 second cooldown. Destroyed Suits still regenerate health, shield, and energy independently of the imposed 180 second cooldown.

The Praetor Armor and Solarite Dragoon have some overlap in their anti-ground damage roles. The Solarite Dragoon is your only option for immediate AoE anti-air damage. The Cybros Arbiter serves a more supportive role, which may change depending on the map and enemy composition.

Offline Suit Energy Regeneration is 2.082 Energy per second without mastery, and 2.550 Energy per second with 22.5% mastery. This provides each offline Fenix Suit with 125 to 153 energy per minute.

Fenix

33.33 - 53.33 DPS (depending on mastery)

The Praetor Armor is good at absorbing damage. It can be used to push into bases or to mitigate the brunt of damage from an attack wave.

Kite enemies in circles to clump them up, then take them out with Thunderous Charge and/or Whirlwind.

You can disable the autocast on Whirlwind and manage it yourself, if you like. This will give you better control over the Praetor’s energy use and area damage.

The Praetor Armor has 4 armor for both health and shields, which can be a significant advantage during the early game when the enemy does not have weapon upgrades. This is especially powerful when combined with the Conservator’s Protective Field, as its mitigation is applied before armor calculations.

Deals 50 damage and stuns all enemies hit for 5 seconds. Has a 10 second cooldown and costs 25 energy. This extremely long stun can be immensely helpful during the late game.

Deals 210 damage over 3 seconds in an area around himself. Fenix can continue to move while using Whirlwind. Has a 10 second cooldown and costs 50 energy. Whirlwind can hit cloaked and burrowed units, and deals enough damage to kill units such as Lurkers and Swarm Hosts.

Instantly restores 500 shields. Has a 5 second cooldown and costs 100 energy. This ability allows the Praetor Armor to be an incredibly efficient tank, and is an excellent source of damage mitigation for Fenix, as he can use both the health, shield and energy regeneration of the Praetor Armor to reduce damage taken by the rest of his army.

46.67 - 74.67 DPS (depending on mastery)

The Solarite Dragoon deals overwhelming area damage. It can be used to intercept attack waves alone with the help of Arsenal Overcharge, or to supplement the rest of your forces with targeted area damage.

Bait groups of enemies to attack you, then pull back in order to line them up before firing the Dragoon’s abilities for maximum damage.

While using Rapid Fire hotkeys during Arsenal Overcharge can result in obscene amounts of damage, this can easily lead to extremely poor energy efficiency. Casting each ability manually is almost always more effective in the long run, but Rapid Firing these abilities can be useful in dangerous situations where you require immediate damage. Learn more about Rapid Fire here.

Deals 100 damage to all ground enemies in an extended path. Has a 6 second cooldown and costs 50 energy. Use it to deal large amounts of area damage to clumped up enemies and to take out priority targets such as High Templar and Infestors.

Deals 100 damage to all air enemies in a large radius. Has a 6 second cooldown and costs 50 energy. This is your primary method of dealing AoE damage to clumped up air enemies, so keep it handy if you are facing an enemy air composition, and save on the Solarite Dragoon’s energy when it is not needed.

Removes the cooldowns from Solar Cannon and Solarite Flare for 10 seconds, allowing you to use them at will as long as energy remains. Has a 120 second cooldown, which begins only after Arsenal Overcharge has worn off.

33.33 - 53.33 DPS (depending on mastery)

The Cybros Arbiter is good at pre-empting damage. It can be used to lock down high-priority enemy targets, for repositioning your army or to fool entire attack waves by taking out their detection and activating Cloaking Field.

If you know that an enemy attack wave will soon strike from an opposite side of the map, you may want to keep Fenix in a different Suit, so that you can readily switch to the Cybros Arbiter and Recall your army to deal with it. Otherwise, you will be forced to either wait for the 15 second Suit swap cooldown, or have to fly the Arbiter across the map.

Can be upgraded to provide detection. This is handy in many situations, as you may not have to build Observers at all on some maps, though they will still be needed against attack waves featuring cloaked units so that Fenix’s other Suits can engage them. Can also be used to spot Ghosts trying to nuke your base.

Places enemies in stasis, stunning them but also making them immune to damage. Lasts 15 seconds and costs 50 energy per cast.

Enemies in Stasis fully block ground pathing. You can use them like Force Fields to block short ranged and melee enemies.

If you Stasis groups of enemies staggered over a few seconds, your army will be able to fight only small portions of the enemy army at a time, as opposed to using Stasis quickly in succession and then fighting half of an army, followed by another half of an army.

Stasis can be used to interrupt spells with a cast time, such as Yamato Cannon.

Cloaks the Cybros Arbiter and all friendly units near it, consuming 5 energy per second to maintain the Cloaking Field. Use this only when you can ensure that the enemy has no detection.

Teleports any friendly, non-worker units in the selected area to the location of the Cybros Arbiter. Costs 100 energy.
You can Recall freshly built units to the frontline for faster reinforcement.

Pre-plan your army movements, and send the Cybros Arbiter to stand ready to Recall your army in order to avoid wasting time.

If you know that an enemy attack wave will soon strike from an opposite side of the map, you may want to keep Fenix in a different Suit, so that you can readily switch to the Cybros Arbiter and Recall your army to deal with it. Otherwise, you will be forced to either wait for the 15 second Suit swap cooldown, or have to fly the Arbiter across the map.

Units and Structures

45.00 DPS

Excellent for expanding quickly, though Taldarin may be a better choice for many maps.
Empowered Blades: Deals area damage within 1 range of Kaldalis’ target, ignoring armor. Does not deal additional damage to the primary target. Starts at 9 damage without any benefit from Tactical Data Web, with each Legionnaire adding an additional 4.5 damage, up to a max of 30 damage, with the max benefit requiring 7 Legionnaires.
Kaldalis has exceptional stats for his meager resource investment, and is always useful since the enemy always has enemy ground units and structures. He is commonly used to claim your expansion early in the game. See the Opening Build section for more details.
If you can keep Avenging Protocol going on Kaldalis, you’ll have a very powerful frontline juggernaut. If this is your aim, you may want to keep no Legionnaires on the battlefield, only warping in a new one when Kaldalis falls. Since stacks of Avenging Protocol are preserved and indefinitely suspended while Champions do not have a shell to inhabit, this will allow you to much better control when you want an Avenging Protocol-empowered Kaldalis on the field, and when you would rather leave him dead to preserve his stacks. The benefit from maintaining full stacks can be great, and advanced players may even consider killing him off themselves after a battle is winding down to preserve them. Take advantage of the 20 second duration on Avenging Protocol to wreak maximum havoc on the enemy before letting Kaldalis die.

26.67 DPS

Generally not good for pushing into bases or for fighting off attack waves, since melee units seldom live long when charging at an enemy army or base.
Can be a good option if you have an abundance of minerals, but many of Fenix’s other units are mineral-heavy, so prioritize building those first.
They are great for dealing damage to structures and objectives due to their high damage output. Leave them behind to clean up while the rest of your army moves ahead.
Since Fenix’s midgame army is fairly cheap to maintain, it can be effective to warp in a squad of Legionnaires as a mineral dump. Skilled players can allocate them to a separate control group to clean up leftover structures while Fenix’s main army moves on.

Auto-attack: 11.11 (15.56 vs light) DPS
Shade: 10.00 (14.00 vs light) DPS

Ricochet Glaive: Shoots a projectile at the enemy, ricocheting between nearby enemies to hit up to 3 targets (8 with upgrade) for 25 (35 vs light) damage each. Once upgraded, targets struck are also afflicted for 5 seconds, causing them to take an additional +5 damage from all incoming damage sources. Has a cooldown of 10 seconds, reduced by 0.5 seconds by Tactical Data Web for every Adept you have, up to a maximum of 5 seconds with 10 Adepts.
The flat +5 damage provided by Ricochet Glaive’s debuff is significant, and synergizes very well with a host of other units, particularly Kaldalis, Carriers, and units from other commanders, such as Marines and Reapers. If you are using a Mass Carrier build, you may want to include Talis and a group of Adepts in your army, as her Ricochet Glaive drastically increases their damage output.

Auto-attack: 7.11 (9.78 vs light) DPS
Shade: 3.20 (4.40 vs light) DPS

High tempo unit. They are cheap and perform well in a wide variety of situations. Though they gain bonus damage against light targets, they are by no means built only to counter light units—the bonus isn’t that significant, and they perform well even without it.
Makes for a good core unit when supported by multiple different Champions.
Their Psionic Projection Shade also synergizes well with Talis herself, and provides an additional source of damage that is affected by her Ricochet Glaive debuff—don’t forget to research this upgrade.

6.00 DPS

Protective Field provides 35% damage reduction to all non-structures within its area, affecting all damage sources—including spell damage.
The damage reduction applies before armor reduction, making units with high armor especially good. Due to this, armor upgrades are more valuable than usual for Fenix.
Phasing Mode allows for instant Gateway reinforcements and provides a Protective Field while maintained. Make good use of this mobile power field to ensure that Kaldalis is always on the battlefield.
You probably want to include at least 1-3 Conservators in any army that isn’t full air. Losing all of your Conservators will deprive you of your ability to warp in reinforcements on the field, including new Conservators.
When engaging an enemy, cast Protection Field ahead of your army, then switch to Phasing Mode—it lowers the Conservators attack priority, protects your troops over a wider area, and allows you to warp in reinforcements mid-battle.

20.69 (51.72 vs armored) DPS

His innate Graviton Disruptor ability creates a gravity well with each attack, pulling nearby enemy units within 2 range of the target towards it. This synergises well with his own Gravimetric Overload, as well as with Warbringer’s splash attacks and various other sources of area damage.
Gravimetric Overload: Each attack made by Taldarin stores 25% of the damage dealt on the unit. Upon death, the unit explodes, dealing damage equal to the total value stored to enemies around it. For every Immortal you have, 10% more damage is stored with each attack, up to 50% with five Immortals.
You can use Taldarin to claim your expansion as an alternative to Kaldalis. Taldarin will get you your expansion later into the game than Kaldalis in most cases, but his raw strength gives you more immediate pushing power and allows you to follow up with Warbringer. See the Opening Build section for more details.
Due to his excellent statline and his Immortal Barrier shielding for 200, Taldarin barely ever dies. You can take advantage of this by intentionally sending him into harm's way ahead of your other troops in order to tank for them.

13.79 (34.48 vs armored) DPS

An excellent core unit, serving as a durable backbone for the rest of your army. Immortals are excellent anti-armored units, and should be your go-to option for dealing with armored targets.
Immortals are great in situations where Legionnaires and Adepts struggle, as their innate tenacity allow them to survive on the battlefield far more effectively.

30.30 DPS

Warbringer’s auto attacks slow the attack and movement speeds of all enemies struck by 75% (20% for heroic). Compared to a normal Colossus, Warbringer also has a greatly increased area effect width on his auto attacks, making him quite a powerful unit, capable of dealing impressive area damage and preserving your other units with his slow.
Purification Blast: Deals 300 damage to a single unit after a 1 second delay. Always attempts to target an enemy unit or defensive structure with high health whenever possible, but will readily cast it on the first thing to enter sight. Has a 10 second cooldown, reduced by 1.5 seconds for every Colossus you have, down a minimum of 5 seconds with 4 Colossi. Though not inherently a bad ability, you usually do not want to produce additional Colossi just for the sake of this ability.
Warbringer can be very powerful during the early-game due to his splash damage and ability to slow multiple targets. If you are opening with Taldarin first, getting Warbringer out second is highly recommended.

18.18 DPS

Niche ground AoE siege unit. Colossi are expensive, and often unnecessary. However, you may want to use Colossi versus some enemy ground compositions, such as Ground Zerg and Terran Bio Mech, or on Infested maps.
Colossi do not collide with units other than themselves. As such, they can be a good option for adding additional DPS-density to an endgame army which might otherwise be too large for all units to engage at once. You probably don’t want more than 4 Colossi total, as they tend to block each other.

6.00 DPS

Niche ground AoE spellcaster unit. Disruptors can be useful against attack waves on occasion, but are often too situational to get good value for their price. When in doubt, stick with other options.
Purification Nova: Deals 150 (+50 to shields) damage in an area after 1.5 second delay. Once Purification Echo is researched, an additional 75 (+25 shields) damage is dealt in a larger radius after a 2 second delay. Has a 30 second cooldown.
The bonus damage to shields is only gained if the target has shields remaining, and cannot exceed the current enemy shield value. Due to this bonus damage, Disruptors are particularly good versus Protoss attack waves.
Particularly effective when combined with crowd control effects from an ally, such as Vorazun’s Black Hole.
You can use the Cybros Arbiter’s Stasis Field very effectively when combined with Disruptors. Cast Purification Nova about one second before the Stasis expires for instant wake-up damage.
Build around 2-6. This will allow you to deal an impressive amount of burst damage without being too severe of a resource investment.
Disruptors perform best when used against frequent attack waves. Colossi are a better option for when you need sustained area damage, or for attacking enemy bases.

Anti-ground: 14.20 (28.40 vs light) DPS
Anti-air: 17.60 (35.20 vs armored) DPS

Mojo’s auto attacks stun enemy airs units for two seconds. You can use this to interrupt Battlecruisers trying to cast Yamato Cannon.
Suppression Protocol: Fires a total of six missiles, each missile dealing 11 (22 vs armored) damage to air units in a 1.5 radius. Damage is dealt in three sets of two attacks, spread out over one second and dealing a total of 66 (132 vs armored) damage. Enemies struck are also stunned for 2 seconds. Since the barrage takes a second to fully fire, it can effectively keep enemies stunned for 3 seconds. Suppression Protocol has a 10 second cooldown, reduced by 0.75 seconds for every Scout you have, to a maximum of 5 seconds reduction with 7 Scouts. This means that, at maximum Tactical Data Web, Mojo can effectively keep a small area of enemy air units stunned for 3 out of 5 seconds.
It’s worth noting that Mojo only has a range of 3 without Combat Sensor Array. It provides a significant +1 ground and +3 air range—get it early on when you start producing Scouts.

Anti-ground: 9.47 (18.93 vs light) DPS
Anti-air: 11.20 (22.40 vs armored) DPS

Scouts specialize in countering armored air and light ground enemies, and deal significantly increased damage versus these types of units. They are very lacking when used against units that fall outside of these categories. This makes them great for countering enemy air attack waves, and on maps such as Dead of Night, Miner Evacuation, and Scythe of Amon.
Scouts build very quickly, taking only 30 seconds to produce. They can be a good option if you need to spend a lot of resources quickly.
Be wary of any enemy AoE abilities that can affect Scouts. They tend to clump up heavily, and are fairly fragile. Of special note is the Void Thrasher’s area attack, which deals bonus damage to armored units.

Interceptors: 26.67 DPS
Interdictors: 32.00 DPS
Solar Beam: 20.00 DPS (32.00 vs armored)
Solar Beam (sustained): 32.00 DPS (42.00 vs armored)

Powerful, but very slow and expensive.
Interdictors: Clolarion can build up to two Interdictors that bomb enemy targets for 15 damage per bomb, their damage increasing by 3 for each Carrier you have up to a maximum of 10 at 4 Carriers. Interdictors drop 4 bombs with each attack, each dealing damage in a 0.5 radius area. Interdictors attack and move faster during Avenging Protocol, though Interceptors are unaffected.
Solar Beam functions just like a Void Ray’s attack and can attack while moving towards the target, though it can only target air enemies. You may want to position Clolarion aggressively to ensure that he continues attacking targets with this beam, and to allow him to tank for the rest of your army.

26.67 DPS

Expensive but implacable capital ship. Due to the unique nature of Carriers, they can fool the enemy AI with their free Interceptors, making them capable of winning practically any battle given enough time. Carriers are one of Fenix’s least impactful units, but they are certainly powerful at a critical mass, spawning a tide of Interceptors that rolls over any amount of enemy resistance. In smaller numbers, Carriers can serve a more supportive role, their Interceptors drawing fire away from the rest of Fenix’s army.
Carriers produce extremely slowly, taking 120 seconds just to build one. This makes them a very low-tempo build. While they can be effective on longer maps, shorter maps often demand a build with a faster ramp-up time.
When playing Mass Carrier, it is advised to also use Talis and a squad of Adepts, as Talis’ Ricochet Glaive significantly improves the damage potential of Carriers. Certain buffs provided by other commanders, such as Han and Horner’s Ravens and Hellions and Karax’s Energizers can also significantly increase Carrier effectiveness.
Mass Carriers do not fare well against Vipers. Be ready to Recall abducted Carriers when facing them.

You can use a single Observer move-commanded onto Taldarin or Clolarion for detection. Remember to move-command it again after using the Cybros Arbiter’s Recall.
Observers are highly recommended if you are using Disruptors, as they enable you to better anticipate incoming enemy attack waves.
When considering only the occasional cloaked unit in enemy bases, you can just depend on the Cybros Arbiter as your primary form of detection. However, when cloaked enemy units accompany regular attack waves, it is best to get one or two Observers in order to free up other Fenix Suits for use in combat.

16.00 DPS

The standard Protoss Photon Cannon. Rarely an efficient choice for Fenix, as his army is normally very mineral-heavy. Photon Cannons can still be used as a mineral dump when going for a gas-heavy composition, and are fairly effective at this role on defensive maps. Still, Photon Cannons are by no means important for general defense, as between the Solarite Dragoon and the Cybros Arbiter’s Recall, Fenix has plenty of options for handling attack waves.

In-depth

Build Order

Build Order 1 (Kaldalis Expand)
Assuming 5 points in Supply mastery

13 Pylon
15 Gateway
16 Assimilator
17 Assimilator
21 Legionnaire, Kaldalis AI (Chrono first the Legionnaire, then Kaldalis AI)
26 Cybernetics Core
29 Nexus
30 Talis AI
31 Pylon
33 Twilight Council, Warp Gate, Conservator
37 Assimilator, Assimilator
39 Debilitation System
40 Transform Gateway, Adept

Build Order 2 (Taldarin Expand)
Assuming 7 points in Supply mastery

15 Pylon
16 Assimilator, Robotics Facility
17 Assimilator
22 Immortal, Taldarin AI (Chrono first the Immortal, then Taldarin AI)
27 Robotics Bay
31 Nexus, Warbringer AI
32 Pylon
36 Assimilator, Assimilator
38 Colossus, Purification Blast

Masteries

Power Set 1:

Fenix Suit Attack Speed (2% to 60%)
Fenix Suit Offline Energy Regeneration (0.75% to 22.5%)

These two choices are competitive with one another, with Attack Speed proving better during the early game and Energy Regeneration taking over later on. Attack Speed is better for pushing into enemy bases, while Energy Regeneration is better for dealing with attack waves. It is also a playstyle choice; the more attentive you are with actively managing Fenix, the better Energy Regeneration will be, while Attack Speed provides a comfortable alternative that allows you to better focus on other things.

Power Set 2

Champion A.I. Attack Speed (1% to 30%)
Champion A.I. Life and Shields (2% to 60%)

Champion Attack Speed provides you with additional damage and allows your Champions to trigger their auto attack abilities better—only Talis and Mojo do not gain much notable benefit. Attack Speed will also allow you to claim your expansion slightly faster. However, it is worth noting that the rest of your army will be the ones doing the real damage past the early game, not your Champions.

Champion Life and Shields significantly boosts the durability of your Champions, making it possible to play much more aggressively with them and intentionally send them into very dangerous positions to tank for the rest of your army. Although a very useful mastery, it is also worth noting that it actively works against Avenging Protocol, and is a reduction of your potential damage—but unit retention can outweigh that.

Champion Life and Shields is particularly useful when opening with Kaldalis, as he and Mojo receive the greatest benefits from this mastery. However, Champion Attack Speed is more useful in a Taldarin opener, as Taldarin does not need Health and Shields as much, and will likely take turns with Fenix in tanking enemy attacks. Ultimately, this mastery is up to individual preference and your choice of army build.

Power Set 3:

Chrono Boost Efficiency (1% to 30%)
Extra Starting Supply (2 to 60)

A mix of both is the optimal choice here. Chrono Boost is very useful for Fenix to kickstart his economy and accelerate his various research. Mixing in Starting Supply allows you to forgo a number of early Pylons—this saves you minerals, and can allow you to get your Champions out faster, which means claiming your expansion earlier. Each point in Starting Supply essentially saves 25 minerals, which is significant during the early game, but the benefit provided by Chrono Boost will often prove more important in the long run.

Good breakpoints to aim for are 5 points in Supply for Kaldalis openers, and 7 points for Taldarin openers. Due to the flexibility of this mastery, it can be a good idea to experiment and find an option that feels comfortable for you.

Opening Build

Fenix’s tech tree is unique amongst commanders, as his Operational Efficiency trait removes all tech requirements from structures, halves their mineral costs, and removes their gas costs entirely. This is significant, and makes it possible to branch out into a lot of different tech options early on in order to gain access to his Purifier Champions.

Though your goal should almost always be to bring all six Champions online, two builds generally stand out as the most efficient ways to start each game—rushing either Kaldalis or Taldarin followed by Talis or Warbringer, with both options providing different benefits under different circumstances.

Expanding with Kaldalis gives you better economic benefits, but Kaldalis is not effective on many maps, and does not perform well in situations where he cannot simply overpower the enemy. Taldarin followed by Warbringer grants you massive early game power, and can allow you to push into even some of the most fortified enemy bases early on. On some maps, such as on Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation, Warbringer followed by Taldarin can also be a good first choice.

If you are uncertain about which build to open with, stick with Taldarin into Warbringer—they make for the most powerful and consistent opener in most cases, and still perform well economically.

After the Robotics or Gateway opening, your next step should be to branch out into the option you didn’t initially choose out of those two, leaving Stargate for last. This is not so much because Mojo and Clolarion aren’t good (they are), but rather because Mojo and Clolarion are not as valuable during the early game, and take the longest to effectively put to use. Even if you are facing an enemy air composition, Fenix’s Suits will be able to comfortably make up for your lack of anti-air in the early stages of the game, until you can finish bringing out all Six Champions and switch to a build that counters enemy air.

While the tremendous power of the AI Champions partly comes from their stat efficiency, their abilities also make up a large chunk of their power. Prioritize Talis’ Debilitation System, Warbringer’s Purification Blast, and Clolarion’s Interdictors. Add on a Forge early on and research Fenix’s hero upgrades.

While Champion order is mostly dependant on different maps, your army composition is also dependent on the enemy composition, and should be tailored towards the most threatening enemies you’ll need to face, whether they are a part of the enemy composition, or preplaced map defenses. Since you will have access to all of Fenix’s tech if you are using the recommended 6 Champion opener, you will be able to freely choose from among any of Fenix’s units to mix and match a custom unit composition as you see fit. See the Unit Overview for a more thorough breakdown of when each unit can be effective.

Synergies

Raynor

Fenix is able to Recall Raynor’s Bio force, greatly increasing Raynor’s mobility. Conservators are an excellent aid to Raynor’s forces, and Medics can likewise help Fenix. Talis’ Ricochet Glaive can provide a significant increase in damage for Raynor’s Marines.

Map-Specific Tips

Chain of Ascension

Suggested order of Champions: Taldarin > Warbringer > Talis > Kaldalis > Mojo > Clolarion
Rush out Taldarin and Warbringer to clear out the enemy encampment at the expansion, defend Ji’nara, and push into the base guarding the first Hybrid spawn.
Lure enemies out of their bases before pushing in. Use the Conservator’s Protection Field when pushing into the enemy base or fighting an attack wave. Use a few Carriers to draw enemy fire away from the rest of your army.
Use the Cybros Arbiter's Recall to push and defend with no downtime. Try to have the Arbiter in place to Recall your army over to fight the Hybrid spawns as they are triggered. You can Stasis the Hybrids and destroy the rest of the escort before focusing on the Hybrids themselves.
Carriers are ideal for killing the Slayn Elementals. Interceptors naturally avoid their area attacks quite well, reducing the need to actively micro them.

Replay Pack

These solo speedrun replays showcase the effective use of various Fenix builds on different maps.

Chain of Ascension 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Immortal
Dead of Night: 6 Champion > Adept/Colossus
Lock and Load 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Legionnaire
Malwarfare 100%: 6 Champion > Mass Adept
Mist Opportunities: 6 Champion > Adept/Carrier
Miner Evacuation 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Scout/Colossus
Oblivion Express 100%: 6 Champion > Immortal > Scout
Part and Parcel 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Legionnaire
Rifts to Korhal 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Immortal/Scout
Scythe of Amon 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Carrier
Temple of the Past: 6 Champion > Adept/Scout/Carrier
Vermillion Problem 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Legionnaire
Void Launch 100%: 6 Champion > Immortal/Scout/Carrier
Void Thrashing 100%: 6 Champion > Adept/Immortal

Fenix Replay Pack

Other Commander Guides

Writers: Aron, Dr_Orgo, NGAInnonana/大筒木娜娜
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, Dr_Orgo, MemeMastodon, Terin

pereza0

17 Posts

March 19 2018 17:13 GMT

Reading this guide left me dizzy.

Playing this commanders sounds like playing a whole team of Dota2 lol

LFCyujun

2 Posts

March 19 2018 20:35 GMT

fenix imba and innonana is the best fenix player !
All reps are hers !

Shellshock

United States97274 Posts

March 19 2018 23:47 GMT

Fenix seems ridiculously strong right now. you can pretty much do whatever you want

Danglars

United States12133 Posts

March 20 2018 03:15 GMT

Fenix doesn't feel as strong at basic-intermediate APM and multitasking. You *must* switch between suits regularly in brutal with a weak partner, and brutal mutations, all while macroing units at home. Other commands have better hero abilities to cover for poor macro (damage & utility) or global CDs or amped-up super units (though Fenix when he's careful to keep 6 hero units alive is a rival). So it's a good description here:

Unreliable Fallback Responses: Fenix has no powerful single calldown ability to fall back on when things go wrong. The Solarite Dragoon can cover some mistakes, but it needs to be fairly close to the enemy to make effective use of its abilities—which can be both tricky and dangerous—and it is highly limited by available energy. This can be a big problem when a battle goes awry.

Extensive Macro: Fenix has some of the most difficult macro out of any commander. Many of Fenix’s more advanced strategies require you to be able to macro well, constantly producing units and Pylons as well as managing multiple tech trees at once.

I first realized this while trying to carry a coop partner that would be better off learning the ropes in a lower difficulty. Other commanders are much more potent prior to the midgame, at which point your 6 heroes help you stably hit lategame. This good guide mentions that. Excellent read. Hits everything I knew about him.

I must say that keeping Fenix's very potent chrono boost on important things was harder than I imagined. Your ally may need help catching up on upgrades he forgot, or Stukov infested command center (generally a map hotkey for me), or simply key commander upgrades before remembering to switch it to weapon and armor upgrades.

Cool replay pack. I miss seeing Monk on the authors list, but he's on to bigger and better things (intimately related to this subforum yay)

krlwlzn

118 Posts

March 20 2018 11:12 GMT

Fenix is a lot of work for something that's still significantly weaker than what many other commanders have to offer. Would always choose Dehaka or Nova over Fenix.

MymSlorm

Chile187 Posts

March 22 2018 00:02 GMT

Should be renamed as Talandar, and work on a real Fenix when he was zealot or dragoon

Porphyra

3 Posts

March 25 2018 16:29 GMT

I've seen a fair amount of players cannon expand, how fast is it compared to Khaldalis?

I came across a typo, or at least suboptimal word choice
"Taldarin barely ever dies"
should say rarely which is a better fit in context, barely is informal and sounds a bit wonky IMO.

Chimaron

Denmark25 Posts

March 28 2018 15:18 GMT

On March 26 2018 01:29 Porphyra wrote:
I've seen a fair amount of players cannon expand, how fast is it compared to Khaldalis?

Cannon expand used to be good. Since the buffs, other options are always better

CCa1ss1e

Canada3231 Posts

March 29 2018 20:13 GMT

#10

Thanks for this.

I'm used to playing the original commanders only. Might play Fenix thanks to Blizz gifting him. He seems so complicated though, haha.

expron

1 Post

April 16 2018 02:12 GMT

#11

Thanks for the guide!

Unfortunately the replays are not longer playable, can you re-upload new ones please? Thanks!

Chimaron

Denmark25 Posts

April 19 2018 23:38 GMT

#12

On April 16 2018 11:12 expron wrote:
Thanks for the guide!

Unfortunately the replays are not longer playable, can you re-upload new ones please? Thanks!

I was able to download and watch the replays. Was there a specific one that didn't work?

VandenPlause

United States37 Posts

September 13 2018 22:49 GMT

#13

Found this guide from HunterSC2 in July, Hunter

Seems pretty good, but I'm pretty casual to co-op and usually play on Hard (with a few random brutals under my belt).

I'm having a heck of a time with Fenix currently, but I only just got him to lvl 6 upgrades.

Lvl 10 and 13 seem pretty important for example.

Just slogging through normal for now, until I hit 10 then maybe I'll give hard a shot.

water421

2 Posts

January 15 2020 07:01 GMT

#14

Was there any update since the guide made ?

Dingodile

4131 Posts

January 15 2020 11:30 GMT

#15

On January 15 2020 16:01 water421 wrote:
Was there any update since the guide made ?

There is one, I can't remember which one.
But Mengsk is still missing.

I will never complain TL Writers about not updating the coop commanders ( or hardly). I knew from start you will be too busy to maintain if you really want to update everything.

Please or register to reply.

Co-op Commander Guide: Fenix

Overview

Strengths

Weaknesses

Suggested Unit Compositions

Niche Compositions

General Tips

Hero and Unit Overview

Hero Resource Management

Fenix

Units and Structures

In-depth

Build Order

Masteries

Power Set 1:

Power Set 2

Power Set 3:

Opening Build

Synergies

Raynor

Kerrigan

Artanis

Swann

Zagara

Vorazun

Karax

Abathur

Alarak

Nova

Stukov

Dehaka

Han & Horner

Map-Specific Tips

Chain of Ascension

Dead of Night

Lock & Load

Malwarfare

Miner Evacuation

Mist Opportunites

Oblivion Express

Part and Parcel

Rifts to Korhal

Scythe of Amon

Temple of the Past

The Vermillion Problem

Void Launch

Void Thrashing

Replay Pack

Other Commander Guides

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming