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+