For longest time my team was Tychus, Rattlesnake, Vega or Nux (for air control or storms) this team of 3 clears anything.
Sirius technically is better with turrets for early DPS., but without heal you need to think how to use turrets instead of just moving through the enemy, same with Sam - extra work
Canonball and Nikara can be used for diversity, but I think they can’t clear all maps alone and need all 5 units compared to original team of three.
Nikara actually doesn’t free up much micro at all. You have to make sure she doesn’t wander out into the middle of combat, or follows a random allied unit that’s too fast for her, trying to heal it.
Tychus allies quitting isn’t much of a reason to say she’s good.
If your Rattlesnake allies aren’t using their heals to help their ally’s army too, then they’re just a crappy Tychus.
Medivacs are a huge thing for Tychus. They provide de-aggroing, healing, AND mobility. Not having them is a detriment to you. Against MOST compositions, Rattlesnake’s heal is more than enough to keep your crew up.
Rattlesnake is just the superior option when you aren’t looking at bugs. He provides an anti-armor option, a AoE squad heal that also increases DPS, a fairly thick body (but not as thick as Cannonball) to help sponge attacks, and if you pick up his other perks, can AoE slow and make use of a self-healing Stim pack.
Usually just Nikara. I leave Tychus as base defense and send Nikhara with my allie’s army. You know how you can easily just a-move Nikara into enemy lines and lose her? I just focus on keeping her safely behind my ally’s army and micro her out of danger. By just sending Nikara, I can skimp on damage upgrades and invest the saved monies into more bonuses for Nek.
Speed Run : Tychus / Sirius / Sam
18m+ : Tychus / Sirius / Sam / Nux / Cannon Ball
Oh… I usually go:
1- Rattlesnake/Nikara
2- Sirius
3- Crooked Sam
4- Cannonball
It’s very similar for me, except without Nikara.
She is situational based on mutators. Vega and Blaze are situational as well.
Immediately at 3:00 I get Sirius. A single turret can take out the rocks on gas, with some additional damage. The turrets are damage sponges, and the enemy will stop to attack them.
Next depends on the enemy:
Rattlesnake is fourth, because Medivacs are already in place before then.
I don’t always use a fifth Outlaw, but usually Vega/Nux if I already have the other one.
FWIW I am amazed at players who call down the Odin before they have the Nuke ready. It’s an astounding waste of a hugely powerful calldown. And even many that do have it do not walk the Odin into the heart of the enemy but only clip the edge of the enemy’s base.
My preferred setup for normal Brutal:
Tychus->Reaper->Specter->Warhound->Marauder
All healing are handled by medivac platforms. Very micro intensive setup though.
For fun I’ve set up the percentage each Outlaw was mentioned for each position (So for example Gungnir said it was between 4 for the 3rd slot, so all 4 were added. LilArrin was omitted due to hacking the game for 4x Nikara)
| Outlaw | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam | 17.9% | 13.3% | 23.5% | 13% | 16.3% |
| Sirius | 25% | 26.7% | 17.6% | 4.3% | 19.4% |
| Blaze | 3.6% | 10% | 4.1% | ||
| Cannonball | 10% | 26.1% | 9.2% | ||
| Rattlesnake | 32.1% | 6.7% | 5.9% | 4.3% | 13.3% |
| Vega | 3.6% | 6.7% | 5.9% | 8.7% | 6.1% |
| Nux | 3.6% | 20% | 29.4% | 8.7% | 14.3% |
| Nikara | 10.7% | 3.3% | 11.8% | 6.1% | |
| None | 3.6% | 3.3% | 5.9% | 34.8% | 11.2% |
If we assume all things as equal, that means the most likely arrangement would be a 4 man squad of Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, Nux, in that order.
*Take this with the biggest grain of salt you can find, sample size is pointlessly small.
I don’t have a “usual setup”. I always choose according to map, enemy composition and mutators.
On Oblivion express I use Sam first. Against heavy ground armored waves I used to choose Cannonball first. Blaze is helpful against high-damage mutators like self destruction and extremelly good against infested and high-damage units ofc. I used to get Nux against Zerg, Vega on Part & parcel or Malwarfare to capture high-damage units at the bases, Sirius on Void launch with his anti-air damage.
And not to forget that 5 of 8 outlaws can be detectors. The 3 fixers permanently, Sirius and Blaze temporarily.
I usually go sirius first, then rattlesnake second.
Once, i usually go the other way around (rattlesnake first, sirius second), but i found that if i switched them i can get higher early game dps.
Sirius + rattlesnake give me a balanced offensive, tank, and healing.
Then, i can either go deep or go wide.
If i go wide, i usually take nux as third and vega as fourth. Or switch them, depending on enemy comp. Nux is great for extra burst AoE damage.
I don’t like blaze, cannonball, and nikara because they tend break formation and move out of rattlesnake’s buff zone.
My Core Four:
I normally prioritize Sirius’ upgrades first because his cannons make such good meatshields and damage dealers. Normally I do Vega next because mind control is so helpful.
Rattlesnake, sirius, nux, nikara.
Healing circle often helps the ally too so i find that the superior pick for comfort and efficency (tho im not a speedrunner). I also tried without him and just platforms, but thats far too micro intensive for me.
Whenever I get Tychus via random CO, I pray for a pure ground enemy comp which I can unleash Cannonball upon and strictly prioritize his gear before anything else. Dude is so freaking awesome and fun to watch.
I believe you’re referring Blaze’s Oil Spill? That doesn’t affect air though.
I usually go with Sam, Rattlesnake, Nux and Cannonball but it depends on the map and enemy composition of course. Sirius is better against air compared to Sam and you can optionally forgo Fixers because of his turrets but Nux’s ultimate gear is just really useful.
I find that 25 point into the shredder mastery + Cannonball work wonders, as both cooldowns will be 15 seconds and I can get a 4 second long stun in a large area. This also works well with Nux’s pulses.
I rarely use Vega, Blaze and Nikara, though Vega is handy if my ally is H&H.
Beyond Tychus? I prefer:
-Rattlesnake for healing and anti-armor (Terran mech, Roaches, RoboProtoss)
-Sirius in defensive maps (Oblivion, Dead of night, Miner, etc) and air comps
-Nikara for mid game when real healing is needed
-Vega for mid game, especially against air comps
-Sam for objective maps (Train, Shuttles, etc)
-Blaze for infested maps or Zerg swarm comps
-Cannonball late game tank
-Nux…almost never.
Common comps? Tychus, Rattlesnake, Sirius, either Nikara or Sam, and Cannonball.
Sometimes you pick Nikara and Rattlesnake at the same time?
My all comers team, back when i levelled him up, was:
Never found much value in Nikara, Vega or Cannonball for myself, even less with Blaze.
Sometimes i need that passive healing that Nikara has, and the detection a Fixer has. Burst sustain is also nice. Besides, there is no real downside for having both Rattlesnake and Nikara; two guns and two muscles have more than enough DPS to compensate, especially with AS revitalizer upgrade.