Some Basic Do's and Don'ts of Co Op CO's

Below is a list I’ve put together playing this past week of bad things I see from some players that aren’t good with certain CO’s as well some general tips of things I think a lot of players aren’t doing enough. Let’s get started!

1. Raynor: DO: Upgrade your freaking Command Centers and make more than 2 of them for extra MULE output. This is by far Raynor’s strongest mechanic and frankly the number of people I see in Brutal+ no less that do not do this is mind boggling. Use MULES, get that strong economy, and whether you’re going for Mech and Bio, use that extra mineral income to always have a large number of mineral dump units to take the brunt of the damage for your more expensive units.

DON’T: Rush Battlecruisers. Just don’t do it, especially on maps with heavy early objectives like Chain of Ascension, Parts and Parcel or Scythe of Amon. Battlecruisers are too slow to rush to, and they’re barely only worth getting at all when they are fully upgraded. I’m tired of seeing Raynor players rush BC’s. It’s slow, and it sucks. Don’t do it.

2. Kerrigan DO USE OMEGA WORMS! What is wrong with you Kerrigan players that are not using Omega Worms?! It gives Kerrigan bar none the best mobility of ANY CO, the worms themselves are detectors and they soak up tons of damage from the enemy, they also provide tons of vision all over the map. Omega Worms are the strongest mobility tool that ANY CO has, if you aren’t using them, you’re playing Kerrigan wrong.

3. Artanis DO use your Zealots and always upgrade them. Zealots are your mineral dump, and unless you’re spamming Photon Cannons (why would you?) you will always have more minerals than Vespene Gas. Even if the core of your army is made up of another unit like Dragoons, Tempests or Archons, always have Zealots too. They are cheap, they are a perfect meat shield and they deal a ton of damage with their whirlwind.

DON’T waste Solar Bombardment. It’s a long CD, and it’s a guaranteed kill on major objectives. This is especially important on objectives like Scythe of Amon.

4. Swann DO USE HERCS! the only army comps that do not benefit from Hercs are mass Cyclone and mass Wraith and both of those are niche builds. Mass Thor, Mass Goliath, Goliath/Tank all of these builds benefit GREATLY from Hercs both for mobility and for micro. DO USE SCIENCE VESSELS! Science Vessels are massive power increases to every build Swann uses. I don’t see this often but I still see Swann players that don’t use them. Use them. Use Defense Matrix. A Goliath/Tank army with Science Vessel and Herc support is one of the strongest armies that any CO can build, it’s one of only a few armies I can think of that can compete with Abathur’s armies.

DO always take a fast expansion as fast as you can. Swann can fast expand VERY fast, and he needs that extra income to get his armies rolling. On maps with rocks, do a turret expand and salvage the turrets. On maps with contested expansions, the main goal of your first Warbot cooldown should be to clear it.

5. Karax DO Make units on maps that aren’t defense maps. Every little bit helps your ally and Karax’s units are very strong now. If you are going to rush Carriers DO NOT go straight for 4 -5 Stargates. You won’t be able to afford that much production right away. Produce off 2 or 3 efficiently and save the gas you’d spend on making two more Stargates on another Carrier or on upgrades. The worst part of Carrier builds is how long they take to get going. You can trim that by going for fewer Stargates and making them never stop building.

6. Vorazun DO NOT USE TIME STOP DEFENSIVELY UNLESS YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON’T. This spell isn’t for clearing an attack wave, this spell is for clearing objectives. It’s the strongest tool for that role that any CO has. If you use it to defend you are wasting it. Use Shadow Guard or Vortex for defense. Save Time Stop for when it’s time to push an objective. Even on maps like Temple of the Past that are defense maps. Time Stop should be used for taking out Void Thrashers.

7. Mengsk DO build extra Command Centers! Think of them as expensive Barracks structures that also produce Supply. You should have at least 4, I usually make 6. If you’re doing an ESO build, you can get away with 3, but you should always ALWAYS have more than your original 2.

That’s all I can think of for now. I won’t offer tips for CO’s I don’t play like Stettman or Stukov, and the majority of Alarak, Nova and Dehaka players I have few issues with.

Tychus and Zeratul are both so easy to play, that even a bad player playing them can still be successful in Brutal+

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For Raynor, use Mules along with your medics to heal your mechanical units, their heals stack and massively increase their endurance

Put Omega network right next to each Hatchery/Lair/Hive and have units go in their as soon as they are hatched.
Also DO USE Assimilation Aura (preferably in thick enemy waves), I see lots of Kerrigan players not knowing this.

For Stukov, Mix Infested Tanks in your Bunker defence. Some people think Bunker build in invincible, but its actually not. In DEAD OF NIGHT exclusive Infested Bunkers won’t cut it becuase of sheer number of infested and Aberrations. Tanks provide heavy fire and good distractions.
Also use tanks in Train levels, Infested Troopers won’t deal enough Damage.

For Dehaka… Dehaka, Warden and a Zergling should Go for Rocks instead than Hunting. You in level 1 Leaps can deal 35 splash damage to rocks.
Trust me, Dehaka needs lots of Gas so it is important to expand as soon as possible.
Buy time to create your MAIN army with calldowns and reinforce your main army with zerglings and/or Ravasaurs.
If your control is fine you can make due in very early stages until Glevig becomes Active. Your level will go up anyways but you need Gas to complete your Deathball.

However, if you face Rift mutation, Hunt immediately as soon as Dehaka is active. Dehaka must be as strong as possible to smash Rifts in early stages.

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Like to add for Raynor: For the love of all that’s holy, even if you are going BC, always make Marines. Early game, late game, Raynor should not be caring for their lives and it’s not like they should cost anything if you’ve got the many many OCs he should have.

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Considering Vultures share upgrades I always use them as my mineral dump when I make air based armies. But I never make BC armies in the first place. If I’m going air, it’s Banshee/Viking/Vulture

That’s fair, I’ve been running the upgrade discount since it was added so I never thought about the issue with having both types.

So, let’s append that as always make either Marines or Vultures, since they may as well be free. If Vultures, one should always place mines as well.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
I can’t remember the last time I had a Raynor ally who did more than two OC. If just one person improves from reading this I’ll be really happy!

AMEN!!

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Alarak: DO make offensive use of your Structure Overcharge. War Prisms are a viable target that also can make it mobile, instead of needing to build Pylons everywhere around the map and waste multiple Overcharges.
DO make a healthy amount of Supplicants. You never know when Alarak might need to eat some, should a fight go bad. I see some players coughCtGcough playing Alarak without any Supplicants, and he winds up eating a whole bunch of his Ascendants or Mech.
DO make multiple Havocs. Unlike Han & Horner’s Theia Ravens, Havocs can only target one unit at a time, plus they have a small-ish AoE for their range buff. +30% damage against a target is nothing to sneeze at. I usually only make 4 to 6 of them, depending upon build.
DON’T let Alarak and Ascendants wander around on their own. Always keep a good eye on them so that you don’t needlessly waste them.
DON’T be afraid to be aggressive early with 1 stack Ascendants. They deal more damage than you’d think.

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Not to mention Havocs are also detectors so you need a few of them anyway.

That’s another complaint I have about EVERY bad player, they don’t get Detectors. So annoying to have to be a detector for both players because one refuses to make them. This is ESPECIALLY irritating for Zerg players because they don’t need to do anything except make a Lair to get their detectors. Zero reason your ally should be detecting for you if you’re playing Zerg.

For Dehaka. Do not slap rocks with him. Make zerglings or whatever to do it. Level up Dehaka by going around the map and picking off what you can get.

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These guys have families. Every soldier counts. More mech to save our precious soldiers lives!

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The ship’s crew would like to have a talk with you.

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Congratulations, you’ve been selected for Marine training.

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Dehaka should be out eating units to gain levels, not slap rocks.

Slapping rocks is how you find yourself on https://starcraft2coop.com/rockslappingchampions

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Not a single god damn Raynor player I played with went with his godly bioball. They all wait, do nothing, waste cooldowns on the first wave, and then go for BCs which are useless and don’t do much.

Regarding Tychus, I pluck my hair out when I see them use Blaze over Nux, Blaze is trash, his abilities as well, just use Nux people for the love of god and decimate infested/whatever with his storms.

Honestly, Cannonball is useless too. I’ve pretty much got my 5 man squad figured out. Tychus, Rattlesnake, Warhound and Reaper also with a fixer depending what I’m facing. If I can I like to roll with Vega, but I’ll take Nikara or Nux too depending what mutation, map and comp I’m against.

If you do Karax’s Carrier build, do 1 Stargate.

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For Karax players, it’s tempting to make 3 to 5 Starports, queue up all of them at once, hit Chrono Wave, and then BAM!.. “instant” Carriers. However, it’s hard to do with just 2 Starports, let alone anything more than that.

========== Karax
For anything of a heavier defense, make Shield Batteries!

Do use SoA to snipe targets. Cloaked and Burrowed units. Towers, detection, spell casters, AoE dealers, etc.

Do make proxy pylons! Your Protoss ally who makes power fields will appreciate them as well!

========== Swann
DO get Laser Drill upgrades! It increases the main damage, while giving it nuking and full map wave clearing capabilities

Do use his towers for defense as needed. And upgrade them!

Use Improved SCVs to get out key buildings quickly (e.g. CC when expanding, towers when about to be rushed, Factory to enable towers, Supply Depots for when supply blocked)

========== Stukov
Do make mech for sustained battles. Especially longer missions!

Do micro his Apocalisk! You can get more mileage that way!

========== Mengsk
Do get upgrades to increase his Mandate generation! (From Fusion Core, and Imperial Witness/“Blimps”

Do put LaTr’s (Laborer Troopers) into ESOs!

========== Abathur
Do get your first Brutalisk ASAP! Micro your units to go in-depth instead of in-breadth

Do make Queens for healing, mech healing for allies (after ability upgrade), some AA, and frontline healing (his Queens suffer no movement penalty off creep)

========== Zagara
Spam Zagara’s Frenzy, BB, and HK’s as often as you can. They’re not as powerful as many other abilities the COs have, but they do have low cd’s to enable you to get more by using them more

Do max out everything she has! She has fast expand capabilities and a trim tech tree, so you should be able to get 90% there in short order!

========== Vorazun
If your ally has AoE, do coordinate with him about your Black Holes! (e.g. tanks, Karax’ Orbital Strikes, Tychus’ Nux) It really makes both more than the sum of their parts

Do make DTs for cases where you need high DPS!

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My strategy allows me to build Primal Hive in the right place in 2:30 and Glevig’s Den at 2:40. And my economy is still stable (12 mineral and 6 Gas harvesting).

I do this to accumulate more armies smoothly. Last time I checked, by the time I clear the main rock and deep burrow to enemies, their forces are still at its weakesr.

Just because a strategy is written in a website doesn’t mean it’s always right.

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Don’t forget to mention to use 3 SCV to make Blaster Billy to clear rocks then salvage them when done.

Rock slapping is on that website because it’s WIDELY made fun of. Yes, you will get your economy up quicker, but your dehaka will be level 1 by the first wave, rather than level 3 or 4, possibly higher depending on map. Dehaka’s economy is entirely supposed to support him. If you sacrifice dehaka’s leveling for better economy, you will have a weaker dehaka/army in the early game.

You will not accumulate armies more smoothly if they die because you had a weaker dehaka who couldn’t kill/tank enemies as well.

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