Mutation Week 161 Experimental Artillery Ranks/Tiers

Co-op Missions Discussion
1

This week is all about the early game, you need more forces to overwhelm the Mutators. You can always try to go for a hero commander but you again must be careful as they will pull all the agro. Once you have the expo up you should be fine. Keep this in mind about the expos and the pathway to them; if it’s a Zerg comp you will need to have detection in order to clear all the Creep Tumors that will give Amon vision. Any way this week isn’t that bad just keep on top of your Macro and you should be fine. Good Luck and Have Fun.
Here is the link to the VOD Twitch
Last weeks all commanders is here Mutation Monday One For All [All Commanders] - YouTube

Commander/Tiers
3 H & H
[ul]H&H an do okay against a ground comp with Strike Plats and Horner units but it takes a while to get going and the Galleons will take a lot of agro during the mission.
Try your best to avoid too many Reapers as they die very fast.
You don’t want to just make Horner units however as just a few of them will take too much damage.
[/ul]

2 Swann
[ul]Good Commander, Laser drill and the call downs for the expo.
I like Tanks and Hercules for clearing be sure to get your upgrades.
Goliaths after you get your 8 Tanks.
Laser Drill mastery is the best here.
A few Hellbats might be good for tanking.
[/ul]

2 Karax
[ul]Although he can clear the expo all by himself I’m calling him tier 2 as it requires some goo micro.
You want to have few Zealots to pull agro while you use the Spear to clear a path to the ramp at the expo.
On the lower part of the ramp you want to place a Monolith and a Cannon and then start to attack up.
You will want to make units to clear most of the map as Static defense is hard with Long Range as the Probe will be targeted.
Carriers are my favorite but be careful as the Carriers might get targeted by the Laser Drill and need to be pulled back.
At least Spear of Adun to level 2.
[/ul]

2 Abathur
[ul]Early game is going to be the toughest part of this.
Early Biomass is very tough here as any Nests you place will be targeted right away.
Once you have a large enough army you should be fine.
Toxic Nest placement should focus on the attack waves.
I like Roach Ravager here with queen support.
[/ul]

2 Stetman
[ul]Okay commander for this week, Gary needs to constantly overcharge the Satellites to keep Gary alive.
I like Infesters here or at least Ultras for taking.
Once you get to the tech you want be sure to get all the upgrades that you can.
Gary is very important for Overcharging Stetelite so that you can stay alive or get enough energy.
[/ul]

2 Artanis
[ul]Okay commander for this week, Guardian Shell helps a lot, but the early game might be tough as you only really have Zealots.
I like Zealot Dragoon with some Immortal support.
Once you hit the mid game you should be fine but getting there might be tough.
Solar Bombardment for the attack wave is a good idea but you should only be able to hit every other attack wave with it.
Upgrades as always and try to stay on top of production.
Lastly try to take your expo asap as if you don’t you will never get enough units to overpower the Mutators.
[/ul]

2 Alarak
[ul]You can do a lot with just Alarak but you will need a lot of Supplicants to start to clear a path to the expo.
If it’s a Zerg comp you will want to have a Havoc to clear the Creep Tumors.
I went for a Robo with Supplicant support for this.
Ascendants will work but they are slow.
Try to always have a Probe with your army so that you can make Pylons for Overcharge and to be able to warp-in units on the field.
Upgrades as always.
[/ul]

2 Dehaka
[ul]Good commander for this week, I’m calling him tier 2 because you have to wait till you get out your call downs to really get going.
Once you have your call downs you should be fine.
I like Creeper Hosts here as you can do all the damage you need while staying safely out of range.
Mutas will work as well but if the Laser Drill “kills” a Mutalisks the Laser Drill wont change target while the Mutalisks is being revived so it will die.
Murvar can solo entire encampments.
[/ul]

1 Raynor
[ul]Good commander for this week, with enough OC you can just spam Bio.
Early game should be carried by your call downs.
Think about a Bunker and some Marines for the first attack wave if your partner cant handle it.
Kill the detection first with your Banshee so that the Laser Drill cant attack them.
Hyperion for the expo.
10
Upgrades as always.[/ul]

1 Stukov
[ul]Early game isn’t a huge problem with the Alexander and the Apocalisk, if you get a Zerg comp you will need a Turret to clear the Creep Tumors.
Be sure to make a few Bunkers and get the Infested upgrades as they can help a lot.
Mass Bunkers or what I did Diamondback can work here, but I think that Bunkers might be best.
[/ul]

1 Fenix
[ul]Good commander for this week, you have everything that you need right off the bat.
I like Robo into Stargate into Gateway.
If its a Zerg comp you will want to have an Observer quick to make sure that you can clear the Creep Tumors.
I like to get the Observer Speed upgrade too.
Fenix for attack wave and to tank for the Laser Drill, the Praetor Suit is great for tanking.
[/ul]

1 Vorazun
[ul]Great commander for this week, you have to use the Shadow Guard well in order to clear the expo and the pathway to it.
Start off clearing the pathway to the expo with just the Shadow Guard then use TS and the Guard to clear the expo.
DT Corsair is really good this week, you might need an early Oracle if the comp is Zerg as Creep Tumors are Cloaked and they give vision.
Black Hole for attack waves and TS for encampments is a good strategy.
[/ul]

1 Zagara
[ul]Great commander for this week, Zagara can carry the early game and then you have suicide units so the Laser Drill doesn’t matter as much.
Be sure to have Scourge even if the enemy isn’t an air comp as their are air units defending and there will always be transports for the attack waves and then you get to spawn camp.
Try to start off attacks with Zagara’s Hydras then move Zagara back to stop the Laser Drill from attacking her.
Baneling Barrage is great for clearing clumps of units and buildings.
Once you have cleared an area of basic unit then start the Ling production.
[/ul]

1 Nova
[ul]Great commander this week, be a bit careful in the early game so that you don’t lose Nova.
You can hero solo this if you want but units don’t really hurt.
Pick your favorite units and get al their upgrades so that you can do as much damage.
Liberators do very well this week so I would pick them.
Sabotage Drone and Griffin Air Strike still do very good work here.
[/ul]

1 Tychus
[ul]Great commander for this week, think about an early Healer.
The Laser Drill will attack the first unit that it sees to be sure to have Tychus tank then drop the healing aura or move Nikara in after.
Sirius might be a good second hero as if you deal with Zerg there will be Creep Tumors at the expo that need to be cleared in order to take the expo safely.
Odin for encampments is good.
Work on your upgrades.
[/ul]

1 Kerri
[ul]Really good commander for this week, you need to be sure to get a lot of damage done with Kerrigan to keep her shields up.
Omega Worms are good for mobility but they also work to get Kerrigan more healing rate as well.
Ultras are the best this week as they have huge HP and can tank very well, but more than likely you will see air units so you might want to have some Hydras as well.
Immobilization Wave is good as always to try to use it on the attack waves at least.
[/ul]

1 Zeratul
[ul]Really good commander for this week, make sure to take out the detection so Zeratul can stay alive.
Mass Cannons as always, and be sure to let Zeratul carry the early game.
Once you get around 8 Cannons you should be able to start to Project them and do good work.
A few Watchers can help a lot to intercept the attack waves and get you vision for the Projections while clearing the encampments.
Either Avatar will work well here, I like the Essence for clearing and the Form for attack waves.
[/ul]

Tiers
Tier 1 Can deal wit the Long range and has a good early game to carry the rest of the mutation.
Tier 2 A little sloe early game, Long Range and Photon Overload an be tough until you get enough units.
Tier 3 Not recommended.

2 Likes
2

Even before they let you chrono buildings under construction, you could get cyber core before 2 minutes. You should not have to make anything that isn’t a dragoon early on.

And now you can chrono boost a twighlight as it’s building AND as it’s upgrading so you can even get dragoon range before the 4 minute mark.

Keep in mind, the laser drill’s dps increases the longer it focuses on one target, so it’s a good idea to break the lock on tychus to reset the dps (medivac is the easiest way to do this)

2 Likes
3

Yeah sometimes the choices made I find may be out of habit here.

I can always robo before 4min even prior to the Chrono mystery buff. Upgraded Dragoon, Immortal, and Reaver are all optional and effective.

I happened to random Kerrigan for this mutation. And you can basically tank the drill. And just hop in Nydus for a brief cover. I feel like all these commanders should be rank 2 or higher.

HH is definitely on the harder side but partner of this commander’s mastery (gameplay wise) is doing a lot with one Galleon/a few Reapers. Mag Mine placements, how many, and when to use Spacestation and Fleet is crucial. Pick the right task, go for parts area with no units like top left, if you don’t think you can handle the area in between expansion and main. HH can help a lot, just have to be creative. Try Strike Platforms to break areas early. These are all viable strategies.

1 Like
4

New forum syntax broke the old forum syntax.

I suggest going with something like this with simple bullet points:

:one: Tychus

  • Great commander for this week, think about an early Healer.
  • The Laser Drill will attack the first unit that it sees to be sure to have Tychus tank then drop the healing aura or move Nikara in after.
  • Sirius might be a good second hero as if you deal with Zerg there will be Creep Tumors at the expo that need to be cleared in order to take the expo safely.
  • Odin for encampments is good.
  • Work on your upgrades.
4 Likes
5

One good trick for early game artanis, if you have maxed out commander, is to give some points into starting spear of adun energy and full points into shield overcharge mastery. At the start of the game amass as many dragoons as possible without leaving the base until you are at the blink of defeat (1minute remain), then go out and use shield overcharge when appropriate (absorb 380 damage and last 38 seconds) that will grant you almost invulnerability to blast through multiple defensive positions. Pull the dragoon being attacked by laser drill to outside amon sight range to break target lock and waste their time on retargeting. You will not lose much units and max out your army as usual, if you have a maxed out artanis and know how to micro and abuse the overcharge on the offensive.

1 Like
6

Another snoozefest Brutation…

7

Thanks man I didn’t even repost this. I tried to post this last night then I was going to fix the issues, but randomly got a 1000 year ban… thats right a 1000 year ban… Blizzard fixed the issue and reposted it for me.

8

Oh yeah, before the second wave of dragoon buffs I would always just go double robo on this map and would make almost exclusively immortals until like 6 minutes.

Except,

  1. dragoons can kite around and kill stuff casualty free, so you can take actually meaningful bases with the shield
  2. Zealots, especially charge before whirlwind zealots, can clear a lot more in the 38 seconds that you have a shield overcharge. Not that dragoons are bad, just when the time comes to overcharge, a last minute wave of zealots is almost always better than a last minute wave of dragoons.
1 Like
9

I played only two games with artanis for this mutation (in both america and european servers) and won both on the first attempt with random ally, with max supply dragoons AND 20 cannons camping on the laserdrill thanks to the saved up minerals so I know what I was doing.

Getting a lot zealot is a waste of resource because you cannot save them with micro. With pure dragoon you can pull back the one under fire or outside enemy sight to break laser drill lock so that none will suffer fatal damage, and they recharge shield very quickly (with max energy regen mastery). Zealots are only good as emergency tank they are expendable units, unlike pure dragoon you can kite that the enemy cannot effectively deal damage on your army as they die.

On both attempts I’ve summoned exactly zero zealots the entire game, and the result was great, even outperforming a tychus and on par with zeratul in kills and it was my dragoons that destroyed the bonus objective thankyou.

10

I don’t deny that dragoons are good, and for the record I don’t think you are a bad Artanis player. I know I have been coming it with my critique of everything you say about Artanis lately.

Artanis has been my strongest go-to commander almost from when co-op came out until today (there was a brief window where Fenix was just too strong and Artanis hadn’t been reworked yet). He has a much higher skill ceiling than anyone ever seems to give him credit for, and I believe that he is capable of outkilling most commanders when played well. Since his rework, I would probably put him rank 4 or 5 for most kills (assuming both players are equally really good).

Anyways, as for zealots they are best used when you aren’t f2ing, so that you can only use them in battles where zealots are actually useful (mostly smaller but open area bases and against attack waves when at the right angle, as well as anytime you use the shield). Because yeah, in tightly packed or sprawling bases and against certain hybrid or map objectives, zealots will just get massacred pointlessly, unless of course they have the shield up.

11

There is actually a build that can effectively use zealots, it is the fast expand to triple forge, but that build is probably only best used in the power overwhelming mutations, as your anti-air option is weak early game, if you don’t have great dragoon micro so it can be difficult (but not impossible) against air enemy. It don’t work well in void launch for obvious reason so the build is highly situational, compared to the dragoon build which works on any map and against any enemy compo, and has a much higher potential to solo a brutal mission due to its high efficiency although it heavily rely on orbital strikes and dragoon micro, that takes actual skill to master. Triple forge mass zealot on the other hand is just an F2A strategy, it takes way less skill to execute effectively and it is strong as hell when you time your shield overcharge on the offense, and using storm at the defense.

The tech is always about gas cost, by massing dragoons you cannot have 3/3/3 quickly, but if you mass the zealot you can do the triple forge (at one forge 1/0/2 upgrade you can have gas for 23 dragoons, compared to 3/3/3 at 2 dragoon with a zealot build). Clear out defended natural with unupgraded zealots and 2 dragoon, you will suffer minor loss unless you use shield overcharge. Get the council upgrades and observer before your natural is up, and start 3 forges as soon as you begin mining gas on the natural. Only after the last +3 upgrades have started, you can use the gas on templars/achrons. Once the upgrades are ready your zealots will be pretty much unstoppable, f2a and storm your way to victory.

You can deal with air compo with 2 dragoons and orbital strike, just bait them and pull back and kite with your dragoons so that they chase it, and then fire at the enemy flying ball with orbital strikes as they clump up. This can kill entire wave of air units at no losses. It takes practice to execute but it let you defend objectives with just an army of mostly of zealots and 2 dragoon support in the early game before templar/achron comes in. However this doesn’t work good against phoenix and you will have to summon more early dragoons against air protoss (which will delay your upgrades or archives) unless your ally have you covered. Similar technique can be used with storm or bomb, you can kill an entire late game attack wave with solar bombardment or mass storm and just 1~3 dragoons if you engage them before they hit your base, on many maps you will scramble this task force in your base and have them intercept and destroy the coming wave while your army can stay at the objective.

12

No need to wait for Dragoons to start clearing the map unless the enemy is Zerg. One Zealot can run past all defenders and gather parts at the left side of the map, and triggering Guardian Shell will stop anything from following it.

It’s even easier with Terran as all defenders in that area are in one Bunker, which can be cleared with one Orbital Strike.

1 Like
13

If the parts fight back (randomly they can be units that shoot) they will provide sight for the laser drill to kill your zealot. The weekly mutation video actually demonstrated how it can fail like that exactly, losing a lot of resources in the process, but now I understand what he was trying to achieve.

14

Swann can use Factory Float + 2 SCV’s to lock the enemy drill from the start. If you’re careful not to kill the enemy vision (which should not be in YOUR vision), it looks like it can last the game…or at least till you kill the drill.

It looks like North of base is a nice spot.

2 Likes