I think Alarak is the commander I see the least. I haven’t played with him at all since I got him to lvl15 years ago. I used to build a little bit of every unit he had and a-clicked him around. He felt really under-powered.
Last week I decided to give him another try and learn the ascendant-supplicant combo with warp prism for mobile warp-ins and structure overcharge and a few havocs for detection. I had difficulty with learning the right control groups and hotkeys, and even lost a couple of games because I messed things up.
But once I got the hang of it - OMG! Ascendants’ Psionic Orbs melt all the weak units in moments and you finish stronger units with Mind Blast. The latter even works on trains on Oblivion Express and Part & Parcel. No other commander can kill a train as fast as Alarak. I’m going to use him in the next week’s mutation for sure.
The problem is that he is arguably the most micro-intensive commander. Switching between Alarak’s and ascendents’ abilities is hard enough. Add a warp-prism setup and constant supplicant warp-ins (they get spent almost as fast as Zagara’s scourge or banes) and you are kept busy nonstop. There is almost no a-clicking with him, it’s all spell casting.
That is why I like him but also why so many keep away from him. And that’s why I think he is the most under-appreciated commander on the list.