Tychus: What can you tell me?

Tychus is the only commander I haven’t bought or played. May I hear people’s opinions on him?

He’s quite the MOBA CO!

Kind of reminds me of Terminator, but substitute Arnie as a T-800, with Tychus as a… T-800 as well (why not? Close enough!).

They stuck with their design philosophy that all activated abilities be on one command card. So if you select all 5 Outlaws, you’ll be able to activate any one of them, just like that (default ‘Q’ to ‘T’ keys).

He’s powerful, and any typical game you play with him (as him, or via ally), will result in wins. However, some people still need to warm up to him, or otherwise need more practice, so you do have a fair share of folks who just lose outlaws more often than not (if at all). One of my allies got demolished b/c I accidently triggered the bonus for Malw for a tough Mutation (some B+6 IIRC), so he’s hardly invincible.

He’s one of the best commanders when used correctly and also good against mutations (this week’s is a good fit for him). If you plan to buy him, my advice to new players is that the Marauder (Rattlesnake) is the better/easier to use healer compared to the Medic (Nikara). And also prioritize buying gear over upgrades and armor upgrades over weapon upgrades as they also give bonus max HP.

His prestiges are also good and give good variety, I personally prefer P1 and P3, but P2 is also good and can solo entire missions if you have the micro for it.

Regardless of which five I pick?

Correct. They all only have 1 activated ability.

Fun fact according to the wiki… designer/dev. notes originally had Blaze as a Hellbat unit, not a Firebat. But they changed him to be one when being a Hellbat gave him more than one such ability.

So I played Tychus just now (Thanks to all the encouragement). I noticed that despite all abilities are in QWERT, the order of abilities changes depending on the order of outlaws that come out.

This caused a bit of confusion for me because on the maps and base on enemy compositions I get different outlaws/roles out in different order. XD

Yeah, the communities have definitely put this in as a feature request. Wasn’t really expecting results back then. Even less ever since development work stopped!

Can Rattlesnake healing replace Nikara’s?

Do people ever uses two tanks or two healers?

Is it possible to go without either tank or healer?

It is possible to go “without” healer.
After all, all Tychus military forces are self-healing heroes.
Additionally, I put quotes on “without” because you have the medivacs platforms, that are a source of healing, and should even be the main one in P2 (Lone Wolf).

Rattlesnake is usually better than Nikara because you focus on yourself, but your ally may appreciate Nikara if you allocate her to his Dehaka, Kerrigan, Zagara or who know what else.

The general idea in co-op is to kill the enemy quicker rather than take more damage. So the best order for normal brutal is Sirius then Sam, as long as you’re able to do it well without any of them dying. Alternatively, Rattlesnake → Sirius → Sam. Sirius because he’s strong and you get detection. Sam because he stuns and does massive damage to hybrids and objectives.

Blaze is generally useless since he’s not as tanky as he should be (armoured tag means extra damage from abs, tanks, immortals, etc.), though there are niche situations where he shines. Cannonball, Nux, & Vega are often 4th/5th choices depending on the situation.

Some mutators can change the utility of each outlaw significantly, so this is just general advice.

Healing options are
medivac
Rattlesnake
Nikara

the medivacs don’t take a slot, so 0 healer outlaws is an option

Rattlesnake is more effective if you actually use the abilities…Nikara can wander.

2 healers is worthwhile on some mutations (and mutations that destroy Rattlesnake’s healer make Nikara good for your first)

My current order is as follow (Don’t have Vega and Cannonball yet):

Sirius → Rattlesnake/Nikara → Sam → Nux.

Siruis handle the first wave, healer becomes handy after that, then Sam enters to deal with heavier hitters like mutant which began to come in number, then Nux for AoE support (kills smaller casters quick).

I’m a bit of a moba player so I like some wombo-combo in my lineup. It’s not optimal but it’s great and can melt/disable an entire wave if you land it properly:
Outlaws: Tychus → Cannonball/Nux (if against air) → Rattlesnake → Nux/Sirius (if against air) → Sam/Sirius/Vega
Important upgrades: KD9a Implosion Core, X-71 Impact Boots, Ultrasonic Booster

You want to get most of the enemy wave with the shredder grenade and follow up with Heavy Impact and Ultrasonic Pulse, Then pick off important targets with your 5th outlaw’s abilities.

I should consider getting Nux earlier then. I confess he’s one of my favorites so far.

Are you up to P2? P2 is another ball game entirely. So much fun!

Nux is generally weaker than Sirius and Sam, but you could get him earlier if you’re less concerned about dealing damage. With P2 his storm is strong enough to take out enemy waves, though he’s still rarely a good choice for second outlaw. But brutal with an ally is easy enough that Tychus can handle it without any other outlaws.

Not even close. I’m at level 10. Been busy.

As P2 I usually go Sirius → Nux → Vega → Sam. Nux comes in just in time to be on wave clearing duty and doesn’t need any upgrades to function allowing me to save for Vega and her upgrades and/or upgrade Sirius. Vega can be the strongest pusher but takes the most micro so I recruit her usually 4th as that’s about the time of the game that you want to push into the biggest bases and Sam comes last as he functions best when he is fully buffed with Lone Wolf buff to overcome his lack of splash (but once fully buffed he can solo most objectives with adequate micro).

I’ll mix in Blaze as a 3rd Outlaw vs Infested or bio ground especially if Broodling or Infested on death mutators are active. On the right map Blaze can solo quite comfortably. Rattlesnake will get play on defensive maps especially vs armoured ground. I really like Cannonball however his melee range attack prevents him from working with other Lone Wolves so can only recruit him vs ground comps on maps with consistent multiple active areas.

The only downside about figuring out the optimal recruit path I wrote at the top is that I get so confused if I recruit an Outlaw out of order.

Yeah, Nux earlier works really well with P2 since AoE does so much damage with Lone Wolf buffs. Without P2, I find the power of Sam helps the team move/clear quicker.

Is ultimate gear necessary? On shorter maps, I find it more profitable to gear up evenly?