Co-op Commander Guide: Stukov

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Co-op Commander Guide: Stukov

Text byTL.net ESPORTS

Graphics byJester

February 19th, 2018 15:19 GMT

Overview

Alexei Stukov, Infested Admiral, combines the strengths of both Terran and Zerg to lead an unconventional but powerful army of Infested Terrans that washes over his enemies with sheer numbers. Stukov takes a unique approach to combat with his Psi Emitter, letting him direct the bulk of his forces around the battlefield and allowing him to engage in fights in a more laid-back manner than other commanders. This results in a playstyle that is unique throughout Starcraft — though fundamentally different from the base races of the game, the strength of Stukov’s Infested quickly becomes apparent to those who learn to use it. With an army of endless Infested and some of the most powerful calldowns in the game at his command, Stukov is a force to be reckoned with.

Strengths

Numberless Armies: Stukov’s infinitely spawning army of Infested allows him to continuously lay siege to enemies until they are overwhelmed by sheer attrition. His backbone of freely spawned units allow him to spend his resources on building exactly the type of support units he needs to close out the game.

Ease of Control: Stukov’s Psi Emitter allows him to direct his infantry and then forget about them — they’ll get the job done. This frees up APM and allows you to focus your attention towards optimizing the usage of Stukov’s tech units, as well as his powerful calldowns.

Stalwart Defense: Stukov’s Infested Bunkers provide a sturdy wall with high health regen and constantly respawning Infested Troopers. Infested Siege Tanks can be positioned behind these to deal large amounts of area damage. Additionally, his low-cooldown Infest Structure ability spawns a large number of Broodlings, which can distract enemies and buy his other units time to arrive.

Weaknesses

Lag: Stukov’s units are so demanding that they approach the limits of what the StarCraft II engine can support, primarily due to the many unit pathing calculations required. Even if your own PC is powerful enough to escape the lag, odds are that your ally will suffer framerate drops later on in the game, which can severely hinder gameplay performance.

Poor Mobility: The bulk of Stukov’s army will typically consist of a mindless mob of slow-moving Infested infantry spread out haphazardly across a wide area of the map. These units are somewhat sluggish at responding to threats as they emerge, and demand that players plan ahead when placing the Psi Emitter. Though Stukov’s Infested Siege Tanks have access to Deep Tunnel, they do not fare well without access to a source of Infested to act as ammunition. Stukov’s calldowns, while powerful and usable anywhere with vision, also have prohibitive cooldowns and are not able to move across the map in a timely manner once summoned. His Infested and Infested Bunkers are also much slower off creep, limiting his range of movement before creep has adequately spread throughout the map. Additionally, Stukov’s ground units have an unfortunate tendency to take up a lot of space, which reduces their effective damage output and can sometimes be a detriment to Stukov’s ally, should they fight in the same space.

Suggested Unit Compositions

The main force of Stukov’s army is comprised of the Infested Civilians and Volatile Infested that spawn from his Infested Colonist Compound. Infested Bunkers are another mainstay of Stukov’s army, and are capable of spawning Infested Troopers with timed life; they can also uproot and attack directly in order to support the frontlines. Stukov’s various mechanical units can also be added to your build in order to counter specific enemy unit compositions.

Mass Bunker

Used for raw power and versatility
If Infested Civilians are the backbone of Stukov’s army, Infested Bunkers are what give it potency. Bunkers cover the primary weaknesses of Infested Civilians — sustainability, the inability to hit air units, and the inability to attack multiple locations at once. Supporting your Infested Civilians with only Bunkers is a simple yet effective playstyle that succeeds against almost any enemy composition and map combination, while providing enough flexibility to allow for a multitude of support units to be added in for dealing with specific threats. It should be noted that though most players prefer to use their Infested Bunkers to provide a steady stream of Infested Troopers, this is far from their best use. It is significantly more effective to use your Infested Bunkers to uproot and actively push in alongside your Infested Civilians. See the Bunker Micro section for more details on how to push with uprooted Bunkers. While Infested Bunkers can still be used to provide a trickle of Infested Troopers, you should think of this more as something for them to do in-between pushes and as a late game supplement to your army.

Bunker + Siege Tank

Useful against ground compositions
While massing Infested Bunkers is a perfectly viable all-around strategy, including some Infested Siege Tanks adds a lot of punch to Stukov’s defensive anti-ground capabilities. Infested Siege Tanks, with their phenomenal 18 range, are capable of launching Volatile Infested at the enemy from an incredible distance, reliably keeping enemy ground units at arm's length and providing Bunkers with some much-needed area damage. Placing them near your Infested Bunkers also provides your Tanks with a constantly regenerating source of ammunition, as auto-spawned Infested Troopers can be consumed for this purpose. Additionally, the Infested Siege Tank’s ability to Deep Tunnel allows you to use them as reinforcements when defending multiple areas. Be wary of stationing too many Siege Tanks in the same area, as Siege Tanks can easily run out of ammunition if they are too concentrated — their high attack speed can easily outpace the ability of nearby Bunkers to generate ammunition.

Niche Compositions

Bunker + Liberator

Situationally useful against air compositions
Infested Liberators are a durable, high-damage unit that can be used against densely packed enemy air compositions that can threaten your front rank Bunkers due to their concentrated firepower. A number of Infested Liberators (8-10) can be built to tackle attack waves against air compositions, saving your Bunkers from attrition. Due to the Liberators’ awkward attack mechanics, they are drastically less efficient against the isolated, loosely-spread air units often found in base defenses and are not recommended for this purpose — Bunkers are perfectly capable of dealing with those by themselves.

Infested Marines

An alternative way to use Infested infantry
Infested Marines produced from the Barracks allow for quick bursts of offensive power, and provides a much faster buildup compared to massing Infested Bunkers. While it is a viable choice, the timed life of Infested Marines means that each spawned Marine will make for a smaller standing army with which to bring the fight to Amon later on. For this composition, it is very important to move the Barracks forward constantly in order to maximize the time that Marines can spend fighting. Be sure to stutterstep Marines forwards during combat as the large numbers of units that you can field with this tactic will often lead to them blocking each other and losing damage. This should not be used as a primary strategy for lengthier missions, as you will end up running out of minerals and be left unable to field an effective army.

General Tips

Upgrade the Infested Colonist Compound early, as the extra waves of Infested Civilians will allow you to clear out the more trivial enemy clusters sooner and open up more options for you to use your calldowns against stronger enemy defenses.
There are a few choices for clearing expansion Rocks as Stukov. One way is to use the first wave of Infested. This can be your best choice when the expansion is far away from the path of the first attack wave and you plan to use Infest Structure to defend against the attack wave. If the Apocalisk is used to clear the attack wave, then Infest Structure should be used on one of your structures next to the Rocks — uproot this structure in order to allow the Broodlings to more easily get to the Rocks; you can move the structure about if need be. Ensure that the structure it is used on is closer to the large Rock than the gas Rocks. On some maps, it can be useful to instead use the Apocalisk to clear Rocks. See the Map Specific section for details.
Prioritize Infantry attack upgrades over armor and mech upgrades, as they affect the damage of Infested Civilians, Troopers, and Volatile Infested — including those launched from Infested Siege Tanks.
Place the Psi Emitter on top of objectives such as Void Shards and Void Thrashers that you are attacking in order to prevent your Infested from wandering past the objective. Place the Psi Emitter behind large encampments to prevent them from standing around doing nothing.
If you are splitting Infested waves between two locations, hotkey one group so that you can quickly give them new orders after switching the rally point of the Psi Emitter.
Push behind the Infested waves to preserve your units and Infested Bunkers and maximize their damage. Retreat your mech units when the Infested start thinning out to preserve them; however, Bunkers can stay on the frontline if you have good micro. See the Bunker Micro section for more information.
Moving your Barracks, Bunkers, and the Infested Colonist Compound closer to the objectives gives more time for your Infested to fight before they start timing out.
Always begin by building a 3-4 Infested Bunkers, then decide on what tech units to build depending on enemy attack wave compositions.
Some maps are very large, making a third Command Center useful for spreading creep if players are progressing quickly enough to outpace Stukov’s creep spread. Refer to the Map Specific tips for details.

Calldown and Unit Overview

Calldowns

Stukov’s Psi Emitter is his primary method of controlling his Infested army. It issues an attack-move command to his Infested Civilians, Infested Marines, Infested Troopers and Volatile Infested at the location where the Psi Emitter is placed. Using the rally point on Infested Barracks, Infested Bunkers, and the Infested Colonist Compound deploys this Psi Emitter as well. Since Infested have timed life and move about rather slowly, you will want to plan around where your Infested are currently located when re-deploying your Psi Emitter. When clearing Rocks, make sure you use the rally point on the Compound, a Barracks, or a Bunker instead of the top bar ability — this way, the Infested will automatically target the Rocks.

90 second cooldown (down to 60 with mastery), starts with a 180 second coolup and holds up to 3 charges.
Infest Structure spawns a total of 60 Broodlings (up to 90 with upgrade) over 15 seconds and disables enemy structures or heals allied structures for 25 hp/s. Each Broodling lasts 8 seconds and has 30 HP. These Broodlings are very good at acting as an emergency distraction for Stukov’s Infested Bunkers or mech units.

In the case of the Infested Bunker, Infest Structure can only be used on the Bunker while it is rooted, but you can uproot it after using Infest Structure on it in order to create a moving, regenerating Broodling spawner. Other structures that can move such as Stukov’s own production structures or regular Terran structures can be targeted by Infest Structure even while floating or uprooted.

80.00 DPS (45.00 cleave DPS)

300 second cooldown (down to 210 with mastery) and lasts for 60 seconds. The Apocalisk deals 150 damage to units in a radius of 2 on spawn. The Apocalisk is your primary early game calldown and is well suited to clearing out large numbers of ground units. Its Cluster Rockets can deal damage to individual air units, but it should not be relied on to clear large groups of enemy air units.

Cluster Rockets: 40 charges, uses 5 charges per cast of the ability. Each charge launches a missile that deals 20 damage to a nearby air target. Recharges all 40 charges every 10 seconds.

Burrow Charge: Burrows into the ground and moves to the targeted point, unburrowing and dealing 150 damage to all enemy units in a radius of 2, stunning and knocking affected enemies away.

Air: 20.00 DPS
Ground: 13.33 DPS

360 second cooldown (down to 300 with mastery) and lasts for 60 seconds. The Aleksander’s air attack mind controls enemy air units, allowing you to control them and even cast spells such as Yamato Cannon. If taking over a Carrier, you may want to turn off autocast for Build Interceptor in order to avoid wasting minerals on Interceptors you don’t need. Upon death or when it times out, the Aleksander crashes into the ground, dealing 300 damage to any ground units or structures underneath, and continues to spawn Infested Troopers and Civilians for an additional 30 seconds.

The Aleksander also possesses an aura that reduces the damage taken by nearby friendly units by 20%. Use this to assist an ally or enhance a push into heavily fortified territory.

The Aleksander’s anti-ground weapon has a weapon speed of 1.5 and spawns either an Infested Civilian or an Infested Trooper with each attack, each with an 8 second duration. Infested Civilians can be spawned as Volatile Infested instead if you have points invested in the Volatile Infested Mastery. These Infested will spawn Broodlings upon death if you have the Broodling Gestation upgrade.

Units and Structures

6.67 DPS

Groups of Infested Civilians are spawned as cocoons from the Infested Colonist Compound every 60 seconds and take 30 seconds to hatch. Though they are expendable, it is better to use them intelligently and in combination with other measures whenever possible — such as alongside your own calldowns or your ally’s forces — than to just throw them away recklessly as fast as you can. Once upgraded, Infested Civilians become a force to be reckoned with. Each Infested Civilian has 35 HP, plus an additional 30 HP in the form of the Broodling they will spawn on death after researching Broodling Gestation. Infested Civilians last 90 (or up to 120 with mastery) seconds before expiring — this means that you can have up to two groups of Infested Civilians active on the field at once. It can therefore be wise to hold off on sending your Infested into the meat grinder immediately on some occasions, instead waiting until the second wave of Infested arrives — this is useful in the early game while a single Infested wave is still easily repelled by enemy base defenses, as you will be attacking with twice the number of Infested.

All Infested move at a significantly reduced movement speed when off creep, which can be a major hindrance to Stukov’s effectiveness on many maps. The Anaerobic Enhancement upgrade will allow your Infested Civilians and Volatile Infested to leap at enemies within a range of 4, which somewhat alleviates this concern.

40 (80 vs structure)
Changes to 40 (55 vs armored, 95 vs structure) with the Acidic Enzymes Factory research

Volatile Infested are spawned from Infested Siege Tanks and in place of Infested Civilians if you have the Volatile Infested Mastery. They provide a powerful burst of area damage against ground units to supplement the sustained damage of other Infested. They make for an extremely useful addition to Stukov’s arsenal. For the ones spawned from the Compound, it can be a good idea to manually move them to the middle of the pack of Infested. This will let them survive the initial volley of enemy attacks, but leave them close enough to be able to take down dangerous enemies, allowing for more Infested Civilians to survive.

6.98 DPS

Infested Marines are spawned from Stukov’s Barracks for only 25 minerals, though they come with a timed duration of 90 seconds (120 with mastery). Though powerful enough to be used from start to finish as your primary mineral dump throughout a mission, this is not an ideal use of minerals due to their timed life and low HP. The Infested Bunker is an overall more effective and flexible choice — however, switching to Infested Marines towards the end of a mission for an extra boost to your pushing power may be a good idea.

Their Plagued Munitions upgrade causes them to apply a damage over time effect to any enemy unit hit by Infested Marine attacks, dealing 50 damage over 15 seconds. This effect doesn’t stack.
Infested Troopers are spawned from Infested Bunkers and are identical to Infested Marines in all respects save duration — they instead last 30 (60) seconds.

Range (Full): 41.86 DPS
Melee (Uprooted): 12.79 DPS

Infested Bunkers are one of the most powerful units throughout Co-op, being both a beefy unit in its own right and possessing the capacity to spawn a stream of Infested Troopers while idle, as well as being a mineral-only unit.

Spawns an Infested Trooper every 24 seconds, lasting 30 (60) seconds for as long as the Infested Bunker remains rooted. When initially constructed, Infested Bunkers spawn with 6 Infested Troopers, which makes for a significant value in and of itself. Assuming that the Infested Bunker itself is disregarded and that each Infested Trooper is valued at 25 minerals, this means that the Infested Bunker will have paid itself off after only 144 seconds, and will afterwards continue to provide you with value for the rest of the game.

Uprooted Infested Bunkers make for very strong frontliners and are the go-to unit for supporting your army of Infested during a push into an enemy base. For more details on how to use these better, refer to the Bunker Micro section.
Using Bunkers solely for Trooper generation is a viable choice, but should not be relied on too heavily, as uprooted Bunkers used aggressively are able to outshine Bunkers used only as passive unit spawners by a significant margin.
Infested Bunkers have high HP regeneration while they remain rooted, regaining 4 (8 with upgrade) HP every second.

Tentacles: 13.51/21.62(vs armored) DPS
Volatile: 13.33/26.67(vs armored) DPS

Infested Siege Tanks are a great addition to your army when facing groups of ground units. Position them near your Infested and quickly reposition them as need be with Deep Tunnel to achieve the best results.
The Infested Siege Tank’s siege attack essentially just spawns a Volatile Infested with an 8 sec duration beside the target it is aiming at. With its extraordinarily long range, it can deliver its payload very effectively.
Can Deep Tunnel to anywhere on the map where you have both vision and creep. Has a 60 second cooldown and a 2 second cast time.

Tanks gain ammunition by consuming nearby Infested Civilians or Troopers within 5 range, with a cooldown of 2.5 seconds. Infested Marines spawned from the Barracks will not be consumed. Each time a unit is consumed, the Infested Siege Tank recovers 20 hp.
Stores up to 8 rounds of ammunition. Tanks run out of ammunition very quickly if not supported, though they can be upgraded at the Tech Lab to slowly regenerate one round every 30 seconds. Infested Siege Tanks that are killed will drop all of their ammo as Volatile Infested with a duration of 60-90 seconds.

20.00/30.00(vs armored) DPS

Though intended to be Stukov’s second ground to air option against larger, armored enemies, Infested Diamondbacks suffer from a large unit size, mediocre range, and an inability to snare and attack Hybrid Nemeses. This makes them only half-decent in engagements with an equal number of enemy air units to themselves, or against melee/low range enemies such as Zerglings and Zealots. The Diamondback’s high mineral cost makes it fairly weak early on, as attack waves and enemy bases will tend to come with many more air units than they can handle, and their Fungal Snare cooldown is too long for it to be cast multiple times per engagement. Once larger numbers of Infested Diamondbacks are amassed, their combined size will make them more difficult to use effectively against ground enemies. However, large groups do work against high tech air comps, as they convert the high ground damage from Infested Civilians and themselves into pseudo anti-air damage, but be careful as the long buildup severely limits your early game.

Fungal Snare brings a single non-heroic enemy air unit to the ground, leaving it immobilized and allowing anti-ground units to hit it. 45 second cooldown, reduced to 30 with the upgrade.
Caustic Mucus deals 20 damage per second to enemies caught within it as well as slowing move and attack speeds by 75% (20% against heroic). The trail lasts for 4 seconds before dissipating.

19.20 DPS

Infested Banshees are a good option when you want to snipe specific ground units such as Siege Tanks or High Templar. However, their lack of anti-air capabilities and their tendency towards grouping up makes them much worse in comparison to just outlasting enemies with waves of Infested. Additionally, they require a large time investment into tech and production time before they can become useful.
Can be a good choice for very specific purposes, but otherwise you may want to stick with more traditional units.
Burrow regenerates 20 health and energy every second.

21.67 DPS

Infested Liberators are Stukov’s air superiority fighter, capable of dealing heavy splash damage to clustered air units. With the Cloud Dispersal upgrade, they become far more durable, gaining 90% damage reduction during attacks. This also makes them very difficult to control, with a massive delay before attacking, an inability to move during the attack, and an extreme tendency towards overkilling. Keep numbers low, or use spread out groups of Liberators to avoid wasting attacks. When damaged, they regenerate at a very slow rate, requiring SCVs or an ally’s healing abilities in order to keep them repaired throughout multiple engagements. Though you can make effective use of them against the heaviest of late game air compositions, odds are that you are better off simply building Infested Bunkers or Brood Queens instead.

8.67 DPS

Brood Queens are aerial spellcasters with access to a variety of situational abilities.
Fungal Growth deals 80 damage over 4 seconds in a radius of 2, rooting and revealing affected enemies.
Spawn Broodling instantly destroys a target unit, spawning a pair of Broodlings in its place. Massive and heroic units are immune.
Ocular Symbiote provides a target friendly unit with detection for 60 seconds.

Spawns with full energy and regenerates 1.11 energy/second, or 200 energy every 3 minutes, after researching their Enhanced Mitochondria upgrade. Upgrade this first, then wait at least 25 seconds before building the first Brood Queen so that they will spawn at full energy.

While their spells are typically lacklustre against enemy bases, Brood Queens can be used to great effect against masses of fragile ground units, such as Zerglings and Banelings, or against heavily stacked air units, such as those found in mid- and late game attack waves against enemy air compositions. Spawn Broodling, while effective in theory against enemy siege units, is held back by the Brood Queen’s low health which prevents it from directly engaging enemies. If you attack with Infested waves, Civilians can distract the enemy forces to allow for quick pickoffs with this spell. Ocular Symbiote should be used only if your Overseers have died and enemies are spread out, or if you are facing a large amount of anti-air.

The standard Zerg detection unit.

Stukov’s Overseers suffer from requiring an Infested Starport to be morphed. Because of this, Stukov may often run into situations where his Infested are faced with enemies such as Lurkers and Dark Templar with no means to detect them. Two ways to alleviate this problem are to either attack a different location or to manually detonate Volatile Infested on top of the cloaked units.

27.91 DPS

Only detects while rooted.

Decent anti air structure, but Infested Troopers and Infested Bunkers can attack both air and ground and are generally better. Still useful on longer maps against air waves, especially on Void Launch, since they can be easily moved and do not take up any supply.

Spawns waves of Infested Civilians every 60 seconds. Each spawn wave consists of a number of cocoons, which take 30 seconds to hatch. Can be upgraded several times to increase the strength and number of Infested spawned. The Infested Colonist Compound’s upgrades generally have the highest priority out of anything else you can do, as they take a long time to complete but provide incredible returns once they do. Each main upgrade level doubles the number of Infested spawned, starting with 8 and increasing to 16, 32 and 64 with subsequent upgrades.

Anaerobic Enhancement and Broodling Gestation both multiply the effectiveness of each individual Infested, and should be prioritized even above Compound Infestation Level upgrades.

The Colonist Compound can be uprooted, and should be periodically relocated to the front lines to extend the effective lifespan of your Infested. While the Compound won’t spawn cocoons while uprooted, the cooldown for spawning will continue to count down, allowing for free movement between spawn waves.
Chrono Boost does not affect spawn rate of Infested, but still helps to accelerate research.
Each Infestation Level upgrade level also increases the health of the Infested Colonist Compound by 500.

In-depth

Build Order

Focuses on Compound upgrades and an early expansion. There are different ways to secure your expansion, but in many cases you will be using Civilians and Infest Structure.

15 Overlord — send it to provide vision for your first Apocalisk spawn
15 Refinery
19 Command Center — Build it next to Rocks, and move it into place after the Rocks are cleared
21 Refinery
21 Infested Colonist Compound Anaerobic Enhancement
22 Engineering Bay
22 Overlord — send it to provide vision for your first Aleksander spawn
24 Infested Colonist Compound Broodling Gestation
25 Barracks
29 Infested Colonist Compound Infestation Level 1

Masteries

Power Set 1:

Volatile Infested Spawn Chance (+0.5% to +15%)
Infested Structure Cooldown: (-1s to -30s)

Volatile Infested Spawn Chance is the much better option here. Having early access to area and burst damage allows Stukov to deal with attack waves and enemy bases much earlier, as enemy defenses will otherwise gun down your small numbers of Infested Civilians. In the late game, this allows for more Infested Civilians to stay alive after rushing an enemy base.
Infest Structure is a good calldown, but the extra cooldown does not offer much benefit in the early game and tends to only be used as a distraction so that your higher damage units can survive for a longer period of time during the later stages of the game.

Power Set 2

Aleksander Cooldown (-2s to -60s)
Apocalisk Cooldown (-3s to -90s)

The Aleksander cooldown mastery provides a 20% increase in uptime, which is alright for a cooldown as powerful as the Aleksander, but the Apocalisk cooldown mastery provides a 43% increase in uptime. While the Aleksander is amazing for pushing into large bases, these tend to be much more sparse than attack waves. Meanwhile, the Apocalisk excels at destroying ground attack waves and smaller enemy bases. Having a much lower cooldown on the Apocalisk helps counteract Stukov’s poor mobility and provides him with more power more frequently.

Power Set 3:

Infested Infantry Duration (+1s to 30s)
Mech Attack Speed (+1% to 30%)

Infested Infantry Duration is almost always better. The extreme durability of massive amounts of Infested means that they often survive until their full duration has run its course. This mastery also doubles the duration of the free Infested Troopers that spawn from Infested Bunkers. The extra duration allows Infested to survive one engagement and make it to the next without timing out.

Mech attack speed is a viable choice, but Stukov’s Infantry far outperforms his mech units. Stukov’s best mech unit, the Infested Siege Tank, tends to be limited by its ammo capacity rather than its attack speed, and increased attack speed on the Infested Siege Tanks only leads to requiring more infantry to feed them, which you have less of since you won’t have longer-lasting Infested. Stukov’s other mechanical units certainly still benefit from this mastery, but their role is often more to clean up than as something that is used in important enemy engagements.

Infested Bunker Micro

Though most players are satisfied with merely constructing entire fields of Infested Bunkers and letting the trickle of Infested Troopers crush enemies, it is far more effective to take a more direct approach by uprooting Infested Bunkers and using them as walking juggernauts to support your Infested army during a push. Though Bunkers won’t spawn Infested while uprooted, they bring a lot more power to the field when used in this way rather than purely as unit spawners, and can help you take fortified enemy encampments far more quickly.
Only bring around 10-16 Infested Bunkers to concentrated engagements and base pushes, as they are rather bulky and tend to trip over each other. These Infested Bunkers will be the primary target for your Infest Structure. Before the engagement, root one Infested Bunker, cast Infest Structure on it, and immediately uproot it. Keep this Infested Bunker at the front of the group, as the healing from Infest Structure will help it survive damage from the air units that inevitably focus fire the Bunkers. Any Infested Bunkers that are taking major damage should be pulled back and rooted on nearby creep to rapidly restore their HP.
When pushing bases and against certain attack waves, keep in mind that Infested Bunkers are prime targets for single target burst spells such as the Battlecruiser’s Yamato Cannon, the Hybrid Dominator’s Plasma Blast and the Hybrid Destroyer’s Graviton Prison. Against the damage-only spells, it is important to determine which Bunker is being targeted in order to pull it back to be rooted immediately, as these sorts of spells deal massive damage and will likely lead to the Infested Bunker’s death if it is caught on the front lines.
Infested Bunkers that are reduced to low health can be saved by unloading their Infested Troopers. This will draw fire from the enemy and allow the Bunker a chance to escape. Losing their ranged attack in this way drastically lowers the target priority of Bunkers while other attacking units remain nearby.
Infested Bunkers can be reloaded with either Infested Troopers or Infested Marines. This allows you to quickly bring the Bunker back to the front lines after unloading Troopers to save the Bunker. Units loaded into a Bunker have their timers frozen, but not refreshed. Be mindful that Marines loaded into the Bunker still take up supply, while Troopers don’t.
Since Infested Troopers only have a 30 (or up to 60 with mastery) second duration, it is crucial place your idle Infested Bunkers as close to the action as possible - if you station your Bunkers in your base and never move them, each Infested Trooper may very well only have a few seconds left to live by the time they reach the fighting. Always ensure that your Troopers don’t have to walk too far to reach the enemy.
Infested Bunkers will automatically walk towards any ground enemies, though they will prefer to stand still against air enemies. Make sure to constantly move them forward so that they can all reach the enemy in order to maximize their damage output.
Infested Bunkers are classified as units while uprooted and as structures while rooted. This is important to keep in mind when facing units that deal bonus damage to structures, such as Reapers and Reavers. They should be rooted when faced with units and abilities that can only target units, such as Liberators, Raven Seeker Missiles, and Widow Mines.
While it is possible to unload multiple Bunkers at once to support a push with a mass of Infested Troopers, this is inadvisable as the resulting Troopers are extremely susceptible to AoE, have incredibly short lifespans, and leave the Bunkers useless until replacement Troopers are spawned. Uprooting your Bunkers and pushing with them is always a superior, though riskier option.
When keeping large numbers of Bunkers rooted, make sure that they are set up in such a way that the Infested always have space to move through — for instance by setting up rows of Bunkers in 2x2 squares with 2 units of space in between each square of Bunkers.

Synergies

Raynor

Raynor and Stukov’s calldowns can tag team down enemy waves and encampments. Stukov’s durable Infested make for excellent tanks for Raynor’s fragile, high-dps army.

Map-Specific Tips

Chain of Ascension

Use your first Apocalisk to clear out the first enemy attack wave and the enemies pushing Amon’s Champion before you clear your expansion area.
Build an early Command Center outside of the base to start creep spreading, ensuring that your main base and expansion are connected via creep earlier.
Use the first Aleksander for the the first Hybrid spawn. You can call it down as you are clearing the small base guarding the Hybrid spawn if your ally is also pushing Ji’nara aggressively. You may also be able to clear the second wave that attempts to aid Amon’s Champion, but a single Infested Bunker and a cast of Infest Structure can also be used to achieve this.
Quickly push Ji’nara after clearing the first Hybrid spawn so that the second Apocalisk can be used to clear the second Hybrid spawn. If this is done in time, the third attack wave will be delayed — spawning at 11:00, it can therefore be cleared using the third Apocalisk.
Uprooted Bunkers are good for killing off Slayn Elementals. However, be sure to pay attention to them, as the Bunkers are rather large and may easily be cocooned if left to their own devices.
For enemy ground compositions, having a few Infested Siege Tanks (5-6) helps in annihilating the enemies that spawn with the third and fourth Hybrid spawns.

Dead of Night

Clear the map starting from the west, moving clockwise around the map. If the enemy is Protoss or Zerg, rush out Overseers or have an ally help with detection - you’ll run into Dark Templar or Lurkers, which can be devastating to your Infested.
Use the first Apocalisk to either defend against special Infested or to clear the two small camps to the west of the base. The first Aleksander can clear the enemy encampments on the northwestern high ground; it should also be able to provide vision near the end of its duration to spawn the second Apocalisk to clear out enemy units in the northern enemy base. The second Aleksander should be used to clear enemies in the fortified northeast corner before crashing on the eastern high ground area. The third Apocalisk should be saved for the Day in order to maximize the damage it deals to enemies without having to deal with the Infested during the Night.
Placing three Bunkers and a few (2-3) Siege Tanks at each entrance will be enough to protect them. Infested Siege Tanks have a very long range, and for the top and left entrances, four Siege Tanks may be placed between the entrances in order to cover both. If focusing on defense, place the Psi Emitter near groups of Siege Tanks as they will be constantly firing and running low on Infested ammo.
Keep a few Infested Bunkers behind your waves of Infested in order to clear out any air units that your Infested Civilians cannot reach. You can root these Bunkers close to edge of the map during the Night in order to preserve them and keep them close to your next target once the next Day rolls around.
Move the Psi Emitter to the next enemy encampment once units and defensive structures have been cleared out. Bunkers are better for cleaning up the leftover buildings while Civilians destroy the largely ground-based defenses on this map.
Against a Terran enemy, use Overseers as defensive detection instead of Missile Turrets in order to detect enemy Ghosts, as Missile Turrets take up valuable space needed for Bunkers.

Malwarfare

Building an early Command Center on the low ground in front of the ramp (be careful to place it far enough away from the enemy guards) will help with early creep spread for the first Security Terminal.
Use the first Apocalisk to clear out your expansion and the first attack wave. Use the second Apocalisk to clear the second attack wave and the first Suppression Tower; then move it to attack the second Security Terminal. The first Aleksander should be called down to clear out some of the defenses guarding the first Data Core bonus objective, then moved to attack the defenses at the second Security Terminal.
Building a third Command Center right behind the first Security Terminal helps spread creep faster toward the second Security Terminal and the right side of the map. This Command Center should be uprooted and placed just behind the second Terminal early on so that you will have creep for rooting your Bunkers and for speeding up your Infested in order to better allow them to defend against incoming attacks.
1-2 Bunkers and good use of Infest Structure will be enough to defend the first Security Terminal. The Bunkers should subsequently be brought to the first Data Core in order to defend it — you can use Infest Structure to reinforce them if need be. If using only Bunkers and Infest Structure to hold the bonus, have at least three Bunkers and two charges of Infest Structure ready. After the attacking enemy waves have been dealt with, keep one unit or SCV near the Data Core if you didn’t download the AIs yet so that you may do so at your leisure, and bring the Bunkers to the second Security Terminal. The third Apocalisk can also be used to defend the Data Core or to attack the second Security Terminal.
For the third and fourth Security Terminals, place 3-4 Bunkers near the possible Suppression Tower spawn locations. If the enemy is a ground composition, have small groups of Siege Tanks (2-3) ready to Deep Tunnel to the Suppression Towers when they spawn. Pay attention to the minimap, as there is some time between the Suppression Tower spawn and the enemy wave spawn that will allow you the time to use an Infest Structure to keep your Bunkers healthy thanks to the Broodling distraction. To avoid spreading your army out too thinly on the third Security Terminal, you can opt to place your Psi Emitter between the eastern Suppression Tower spawn and the enemy base guarding the second Data Core - this way, you will be able to use them to react to either an attack wave coming from the bonus area or to attack a newly-spawned Suppression Tower. For the fourth Security Terminal, keep the Psi Emitter between the upper Suppression Tower and the enemy wave spawn point on the right.
Rooted Bunkers will outheal Suppression Tower attacks, but be careful with any of your other units that are nearby.

Oblivion Express

Use the first Apocalisk to clear the expansion Rocks and the first attack wave. Reserve a double wave of Infested to destroy the Train defenders and the Train. Use the first Aleksander to clear the second attack wave and move it toward the bottom train track. The second Apocalisk should be slightly delayed and spawned at around 7:15 to clear out the third attack wave before being moved to the bottom Train to fight the Train escorts before timing out.
Mass Siege Tanks against ground based compositions (Robo, Gateway, RoachHydra, and Terran mech comps) work wonders. Rallying Infested near the Siege Tanks instead of on the objective keeps them well fed. Set up rows of Bunkers and Siege Tanks on the low ground area between Train tracks to the west of your base. This keeps the Siege Tanks fed, and allows them to hit both Trains, one after the other, while also easily intercepting attack waves from the left. Putting 3 or 4 Bunkers in the small gap between the bottom and the bonus Train tracks gives vision for Deep Tunneling to intercept the Train and any attack waves coming from the east.
Mass Bunkers with a few Liberators works well against air compositions. Wait for air units to clump up over the Infested or send an Overlord to its death in order to trick the enemy into clumping up, before engaging with the Liberators.
An alternative solution against air compositions is mass Diamondbacks. Begin with Bunkers to hold the early game as the number of Diamondbacks you can amass early in the game is too small to matter. Transition into Diamondbacks after the second Train, as the third Train can be handled by your existing forces while you build up Diamondback numbers. The early Bunkers can handle cleaning up any air units that stay alive after your Diamondbacks run out of Fungal Snares. Constantly move Diamondbacks forward so that they can bring down enemies that are at the back of the Train escorts in order to maximize damage dealt with Caustic Mucus and Diamondback attacks.

Rifts to Korhal

Rush a Bunker and keep an SCV on hand to repair it in order to defend against the first attack wave, or wait for Infest Structure while the enemy wave attacks your Compound. The Bunker can then be uprooted and used to clear the expansion Rocks before returning to the ramp to defend against the second attack wave.
Use the first Apocalisk to clear the defenders at the first Void Shard, then move on to start clearing the defenses at the second set of Void Shards. Use the first Aleksander to finish off most of the defenders at the second set of Void Shard, then move it towards the third set of Void Shards to crash into the base in-between the Void Shards. The second Apocalisk should then be used to clear out enemies in the third Void Shard area. The third enemy attack wave at 8:00 can be defended with Bunkers and Infest Structure.
Placing Bunkers in the spot where the rightmost Void Shard in the second set stood is a good idea, as it makes for a perfect location for intercepting enemy attack waves and enabling spawned Troopers to reach most of the map.
You can use Infested Liberators to clear the bonus, but try not to attack until after the Pirate Ship has used its Charge area attack. Try to research weapon upgrades and the Marine/Trooper upgrades before attacking the Pirate Ships, as they have high armor. If adding Infested Marines for extra dps, hotkey them with your Bunkers so that you can rally the rest of the Infested elsewhere.
Spawn the third Apocalisk at 10:40 to clear the small base in the central eastern part of the map where enemy attack waves pass through, along with the 11:00 attack wave. Afterwards, bring it around to push into the base guarding the final set of Void Shards. The second Aleksander should also be used to attack the defenses at the final Void Shard spawn while you rally your Infested to clear out the second Pirate Ship.
To efficiently move Stukov’s army between the third and fourth Void Shards, redeploy the Psi Emitter after clearing the enemies, and allow some Bunkers and leftover Infested to clean up the Void Shards.

Replay Pack

These replays showcase the effective use of a number of Stukov builds on different maps. They were recorded before the bugfix to Anaerobic Enhancement.

Mass Bunker: Void Thrashing, Lock and load, Vermillion Problem, Rifts to Korhal 100%, CoA, VL, SoA
Bunker/Siege Tank: Miner Evacuation, Malwarfare, Part and Parcel, Mist Opportunities, Oblivion Express, Temple of the Past
Bunker/Banshee: Dead of Night, Rifts to Korhal any%

Stukov Replay Pack

Other Commander Guides

Writers: Aron, Flaira
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, Flaira, MemeMastodon, T.Chosen1, Terin

Shellshock

United States97274 Posts

February 19 2018 17:52 GMT

the lag part is so true. also is it possible to get 2 stukovs in 1 game now with the random select? I played a game the other day where both me and the guy I partnered with were random and we both got Swann. First time I've ever seen that. I feel like double stukov would be death

Frudgey

Canada3367 Posts

February 19 2018 18:20 GMT

Thanks for the article! I've been waiting for this one for some time. Was a little surprised to see that mass bunker was a viable strategy, though I'm not really surprised to read that they work better uprooted for additional pushing power.

Thanks again for the article!

Executrix

Netherlands36 Posts

February 19 2018 18:52 GMT

Thanks for the guide! Was looking forward to this one.

On February 20 2018 02:52 Shellshock wrote:
the lag part is so true. also is it possible to get 2 stukovs in 1 game now with the random select? I played a game the other day where both me and the guy I partnered with were random and we both got Swann. First time I've ever seen that. I feel like double stukov would be death

Uh I have never seen double of same commander. Are you sure this wasn't a custom co-op map? I've never played with double random commander, but this seems really unlikely to me. As far as I know it's impossible to get the same commander.

ingensviator

7 Posts

February 19 2018 19:12 GMT

Primary weakness : Lag

LMAO. Yes to think how absurd how a game engine is the disadvantage for stukov but then I remember how laggy the game become in dead of the night with Ally stukov *shudders*

Omegasaur

1 Post

February 19 2018 19:43 GMT

I’m surprised that mass Diamondback isn’t listed here, even as a niche composition. DBs are my go-to army on Malwarfare and Mist Opportunities, where you need to be fast, mobile, and versatile. They’re great against MutaLing and Swarmy compositions since they can kite Zerglings, Banelings, and Aberrations, and they can disable air units with ease when you get a DB deathball with upgrades. DB slime trails also act as pseudo-detection, since they’re able to kill Ghosts, Dark Templar, Swarm Hosts, and Lurkers.

In some situations, you can rush towards enemy Siege Tanks and destroy them as they’re sieging up. With good timing, positioning, and micro, you can stop them from ever getting a shot off.

Here are some niche compositions for other commanders. I feel like mass DB is roughly equal or better than some of these weak compositions, so DBs should be included in this guide.
Raynor - Vulture/Banshee/Viking
Artanis - Phoenix/Zealot
Swann - Wraith/Science Vessel

It’s also worth noting that, regardless of whether they’re optimal in a given situation, DBs are really, really fun.

xXFlairaXx

2 Posts

February 19 2018 19:55 GMT

Mass Diamondback wasn't listed due to long buildup and dead time that comes because of this. On the MW and MO, just setting up bunkers and tanks works better than running around diamondbacks. Mass Diamondbacks is however listed as a suggested strategy on OE vs mutaling, swarmy and air comps as there is not much benefit to pushing bases early, so there is much more free time just to build up.

Shellshock

United States97274 Posts

February 19 2018 20:59 GMT

On February 20 2018 03:52 Executrix wrote:
Thanks for the guide! Was looking forward to this one.

Show nested quote +

no it was just normal queue and I selected random commander. We got double swann with no mutations. it was weird

TheDougler

Canada8299 Posts

February 20 2018 04:25 GMT

I just played Stukov for the first time, leveled him up to level 10.

I gotta say, while he's powerful he feels really boring to play. Maybe I should've switched up my strategy a bit but everything seemed to pale in comparison to mass bunker.

DSh1

292 Posts

February 20 2018 17:39 GMT

#10

Great job! I love these guides.

When reading about shredding claws, I first thought it would upgrade Stukov units. A bit misleading there.

TheRealHeino

2 Posts

April 15 2018 08:34 GMT

#11

Just played Stukov to lvl 10 yesterday and had a blast.
I tried to mess around building bunkers and to use them on the front line at first. But it felt plain wrong. Resources were stacking up, all this micro with building, uprooting and bunkers tumbling over each other was getting on my nerves and it didn't feel like "masses of infested". I lost the Rak'Shir map two times in a row on normal. So i was looking for advice on the internet.

I found a Stukov guide by Lowko on youtube and mirrored what he did. This was when the infected meat grinder was born.
IMO the right way to play Stukov for non-professionals is:

- building:
- start by getting your economy going and especially gas.
- build 2 evolution chambers before any barracks.
- Aim at keeping your upgrades going. Especially on civilian compound.
- on hard 4-5 barracks are enough for any map. Probably 3 is enough most times.
- this commander actually needs an expo resource wise. Expand early if possible.

- attacking:
- your army is carried by infested civilians supported by mass infested marines. Keep the "build infested marine" hotkey pressed until money or supply runs out.
- think in producing waves in mid game. That is, a few seconds before your civilians hatch, start producing mass marines for support.
- do what you like in late game. It doesn't matter. You are OP.
- reposition your barracks and the compound (yes, can be moved) near the center of the map when your creep has reached it. Usually this is the expo hold by Amon or the first shuttle conduit or some other focal point.
- attack no matter what, e.g in the Day/Night map attack all the time.
- infest structure spell is your friend. Use it to disable enemy static defenses. Use it on yours or your ally's static defense, it heals (does not disable).

After upgrading and getting your expansion going, Stukov is really an "enjoy the game" commander. You can actually watch your hordes fighting and help out here and there with Apocalisk or Alexander.
Great fun, low apm. Forget bunkers. You can later build some to defend your expo/barracks but it is not really necessary due to the constant stream of infested.

29 fps

United States5718 Posts

April 15 2018 10:15 GMT

#12

Bunkers make free units, so they're better in the long run. You don't actually have to move your bunkers every time you advance. I only move my bunkers once on most maps, usually during some down time between waves. If you don't like moving bunkers, you can just build them in the middle after clearing that part (maps like rifts to korhal, void thrashing, chain of ascension, mist opportunities).

Daegoth

1 Post

November 09 2018 22:14 GMT

#13

The Brood Queen has bonus damage vs armored and her picture does not show that.

Defenestration

1 Post

August 09 2019 05:26 GMT

#14

Nice Guide, Thanks! Note: Should be updated as the Overseer can be spawned after the Armoury is built, rather than the starport. Probably thanks to an update?

shin ken

Germany612 Posts

January 27 2020 14:01 GMT

#15

I started to play this commander recently and the default strategy (mass bunkers) recommended in this guide felt rather weak.

Maybe they have been nerved in a patch? Anyway, they cost massive amounts of suppy for the relatively low "trickle" impact.
I had much more success using like 5 barracks to spam marines and a commando squad of mech units to deal with threats that need a faster response.

Dingodile

4131 Posts

January 27 2020 17:20 GMT

#16

I played stukov very recently. did they find the fix?! stukov lagged very hard with by spawning mass infested civilians at mid and lategame?! very smooth right now.
It was the the only reason why i avoided stukov.

shin ken

Germany612 Posts

January 28 2020 08:00 GMT

#17

On January 28 2020 02:20 Dingodile wrote:
I played stukov very recently. did they find the fix?! stukov lagged very hard with by spawning mass infested civilians at mid and lategame?! very smooth right now.
It was the the only reason why i avoided stukov.

All my Stukov games have been buttery smooth - on an 8 years old CPU no less with a completely outdated internet connection. So I guess they've fixed whatever caused the lag.

Dingodile

4131 Posts

January 28 2020 09:51 GMT

#18

the game lagged hard when infested colonist compound was lvl3 and higher. I played without it on purpose to have smooth games back then. There were a lot complains/posts on battle.net about this.

Seems fixed now.

Dingodile

4131 Posts

January 28 2020 09:58 GMT

#19

quoted instead of edit -.-

shin ken

Germany612 Posts

February 17 2020 17:46 GMT

#20

Played a lot more and if you really push Stukov in certain builds, there's still lag.

Like when you hatch 150 supply worth of infested marines - that's just more than the engine can handle.

Most of the time, it's fine though.

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Co-op Commander Guide: Stukov

Overview

Strengths

Weaknesses

Suggested Unit Compositions

Niche Compositions

General Tips

Calldown and Unit Overview

Calldowns

Units and Structures

In-depth

Build Order

Masteries

Power Set 1:

Power Set 2

Power Set 3:

Infested Bunker Micro

Synergies

Raynor

Kerrigan

Artanis

Swann

Zagara

Vorazun

Karax

Abathur

Alarak

Nova

Fenix

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