There are definitely meta builds but composition does play a crucial role. And often allows for niche builds as a result of it, making the game interestingly fun.
For my point of view:
Raynor: Bio is good, but not with BC. Viking do much better against air and tank, banshee and spider mine do much better against ground. BC alone is hard to lose, but not effective.
Kerrigan: mutalisk is only good against a few Protoss composition that lacks aoe anti-air. Otherwise, they are too fragile. Omega worm with hydra pop up do much quick. In fact, Kerrigan the hero herself can solo most non-mutation.
Zagara: mass ling with only free baneling, or mass bane, are two different composition.
Karax: only static defense or pure carriers can defeat every enemy composition. Immortal alone is bad against air and swarmy.
Abathur: Swarm host is the worst of his units, and it is only good in defense map against infested. 3 roach, 3 muta, a few vipers and queens are enough for all situation, even solo mutation. A few devourers can be added against air, and other units except swarm host can add firwpoer against ground.
Nova: Though marine + maruader + goliath are the easist to use and F2A friendly, they are one the weakest composition for Nova. Liberator, air strike, and Nova the hero herself are much much better.
Stukov: Mass bio is no longer effective after nerf.
Fenix: getting the 6 heroes first is more effective than other build.
Zeratul: you never need more than 3-4 immortals, even in a solo mutation, though you still need this number if enemy has air.
Stetmann: Mass infestor’s power is several times greater than hydra with other units.
The comps you’ve specified for each commander are all fine and dandy if you’re playing a regular brutal mission, but some of them are not really the most efficient or most powerful comps for each commander. Mass Goliath with Swann is fine, but you need to hit a rather large critical mass before they become sustainable in big fights, and if you’re fighting a zerg composition with lots of zerglings or terran mech, you’ll take very heavy losses. Mass Carrier with Fenix takes longer to ramp up than his other builds, and most pure air compositions will easily beat them, especially Skytoss with Scouts and Corsairs.
It also depends on the map. If you’re on DoN or Miner Evacuation with Kerrigan, you’d want to go with Lurkers, if you’re using Raynor, it’s better to go Siege Tank + Marine. Oblivion Express is another map where you have to carefully choose your composition because you need to have enough damage to deal with both the train escorts and the train itself. Also, do not go pure Bio with Raynor when you’re fighting the Classic BW comp or the Protoss comp with a lot of Oracles in it, I guarantee you you will not have fun playing against them.
I’m guessing you got these off of the Team Liquid guides, you’re on the right track. But trust me, once you’ve learned to fine-tune your unit compositions to deal with both the map and enemy unit composition, it’s going to be much more satisfying and easy to complete coop missions.
Sure it is just gotta use barracks instead of only bunkers. It’s pretty much the same as old mass bunkers except you have to micro manage it a bit more (not that much more though).
Ultra/Hydra/Ling is still more preferable to some because of how much more mobility they have when paired up with Omega Worms. Also Mutalisks are very fragile against Raven Missiles, Infestor Fungals, and Psi Storms.
And her hydras? Or much better (against ground), her ultras? At least neither of those have to worry about 2 parabombs or seekers killing literally all your units.
For me, Best Dehaka Build is … (Also make loads of zerglings because Dehaka will leave tons of Minerals)
Ground = All Tyrannozors or Tyrannozor + Guardians
Tyrannozors provide air and tanking while Guardians Pulverise any ground composition!
Air = Tyrannozors + 13 Creeper Hosts
Creeper Hosts absolutely destoys any Air compositions and Tyrannozors provide the best Tanking and dealing. OR = All Muta
Obvious choice
Jack of all Trades = Mutalisk + Guardian OR = Tyrannozor + Mutalisk + Guardian
Tyrannozors provide great tanking as always… OR = All Tyrannozors
Use them to plant 4 of them on spawning spaces… you will make the mission very very easy!!
Everybody knows that Abathur’s best comp is mass queens without ultimates!
More serioulsy, Stukov can take every comp and many mutations with mass diamondbacks.
Fenix mass carriers is the stupidest of comp you could choose: too slow, too expensive, and by the time you have a couple of carriers the map is over.
And a historical note for you: the closest to a WWII “Russian style” you could get would be to go mass tanks + bunkers #LearnHistory