Yeah probably, i haven’t trained a lot with him, but got really easy time with Abathur and Stetmann, while it’s much harder with him. I probably need to test him more.
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Yeah, his Tyrannos are nuts (as any unit that costs as much as 2 Ultralisks had better be: I guess that’s their only drawback, they’re freaking expensive). I hadn’t been microing them much, since I’m usually preoccupied microing Dehaka himself, but that’s a great idea if you can keep up.
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I think Alarak deserve more love, yes he can eat your entire army in a split second if you are not paying attention but he’s so strong if you play him right. He’s also not at all weak in the early game like some people seem to think.
Talking about deserving love quick reminder that blizzard haven’t addressed the Alarak bugs that were introduced with the patch that added Stetmann. ![:cry:](https://d212vo0owly06i.cloudfront.net/en/sc2/images/emoji/twitter/cry.png?v=6" ":cry:")
I also agree that Zagara is very often overlooked, I suck at playing her but every time I get a good Zagara it’s actually challenging to keep up.
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I do actually feel bad sometimes when I’m playing Zagara on lower difficulties on maps that can be completed fast. Sometimes I’ll be finishing off the final objective while my ally only has like 80-100 supply worth of troops because she ramps up so fast. I mean, I don’t mind when that happens to me, since that means a fast game and thus fast experience, but still, I worry that sometimes she makes her ally feel unneeded if she plays fast enough.
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Zagara feels rather inferior on defense or infested maps (bile throwers really don’t do a good job even when upgraded and massed).
Raynor feels completely resource starved and weak if the player does not rush 4 Orbital Commands for MULE spam as soon as possible (and clear expo with first banshees).
Alarak can go from ultra-powerful to useless if some reaver/disruptor/whatever manages to flank/ambush kill your slow ascendants and fragile expensive robots.
Artanis is not bad… but he does not feel strong.
His economy is okay, his army is okay and his support skills are good but overall he does not feel as powerful as other commanders.
Kharax with his overpriced units feels a bit outdated compared to newer commanders but he is not weak.
Mira/Matt Horner are not bad or weak but are very inflexible.
Mira units are always ground and Matt units are always air - and you have to make a good mix of both for optimal bonuses.
However that makes you very vulnerable to some AI compositions where you have to fight mass Scourge or mass Disruptor/Reaver/Viking/BCwithYamato spam.
My criteria is how much they get complained about online and in communities 
For me, I’ve noticed Karax, Stukov, and Swann
I’d appreciate if Karax got buffs but TBH, I’m fine with the way he is now.
I miss Stukov’s pre-nerf bunkers, but I like the changes to mech. We’re polarized, as some say he’s ruined. Others say he’s still awesome
Swann just takes a while to ramp up.
In fact, I tend to prefer defense, support-oriented COs, or if they take longer to ramp up anyways
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I think Nova is kinda under-mentioned, and I really like her playstyle. With good early-game through Nova herself, good mid-game through Elite Marines, Heavy Siege Tanks and Covert Ops Ghosts, and great late-game through Siege Liberators, Strike Goliaths and Raven type-2s, I think she’s pretty strong, yet under-used.
This forum in a nutshell haha.
Commanders are not that bad compare to some units that are actually bad.
For me, I’d say that while I enjoy every commander, I have different moods for them. Some days I want to just relax my brain after some high stress, so I pick a commander that demands little of me, so I’m not a burden to my ally. But some days I’m completely wired and want to go crazy, and I’ll pick a commander that is far more demanding. Then I often want to help out my ally, so I do so love the support commanders, even if their abilities aren’t always appreciated.
That’s one thing I say, I can do a perfect support for an ally, and I might not even get a gg. I mean I’ll be helpful anyway, as I’m the gal that picked medic/druid/cleric, ect, I enjoy being the support, always have. I wish the stat screen made it more clear the level of support commanders give, like a tab for chrono field’s effective seconds shaved off, or how much in the way of resources you obtained from Stetmen/swann/kerrigan. So that even if my ally doesn’t appreciate me I have numbers to feel good about.
A more comprehensive score screen is something that a lot of players really want, including myself.
I’ve always been so disappointed by how limited the statistics are that Blizzard has elected to display, and even more disappointed by many of their choices.
Just let the numbers nerds like me dive headfirst into the deep end; I wanna see allllll the stats.
I don’t play it anymore, and haven’t for many years now, but when WoW came out with its extensive statistic tracking, I found that fascinating. It was fun to see all those specific details about your characters, if you wanted to.
Likewise, it would be fun to see extensive, comprehensive details on your commander and your ally, as well as Amon, after each mission, if you wanted to. Admittedly, though, I have no idea how large of an undertaking such a system would be, or what kind of demands it might put on various systems. But I’m pretty sure if Blizz wanted to make the score screen more fun, and more informative, they surely could; even without showing every single statistic you could think of.
Again, though, I tend to think in terms of ”what if Blizz only works on one thing at a time? What do I really want?” And the answer to that is always the same: completely new content, whether it’s a new commander or new maps. So if I had to choose between commander reworks and various other system / quality of life changes, or just straight up brand new content, I’m voting for the new content every time.
Hopefully Blizzard isn’t quite as pigeonholed on their development capability as I cynically suspect, but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it were actually the case. Sucks to feel like I have to choose between all new content and improvements to existing content, especially when the gaming company is as successful and profitable as Blizzard is. I mean, yeah, they’re doing both with co-op, but the progress is slow; painfully slow, at times. I guess I just have higher hopes and expectations for Blizzard, knowing what they can do when their hands aren’t tied by Activision and profit-ravenous CEOs, slashing staff and grossly interfering with the overall quality and direction of their games and content.
Sorry guys, this post got dark lol. Consider it a product of my love-hate relationship with Blizz. As in, I used to love em… but now… ehhh…
Agreed with Artanis. His Guardian Shell is SO powerful and most allies people take it for granted. It completely trivializes many mutations and works without having to think or activate it at all.
For my second pick, I’ll say Vorazun. Time Stop is super powerful and the supreme DPS of her army can take full advantage of it.
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I don’t see Alarak very often. Actually, there’s quite a few commanders I don’t see very often. I myself am a Fenix player, so I wouldn’t expect to see others playing him much because most of the time I spend playing, he’s my commander.
I do sometimes like to play the less-picked commanders, like Swann, Alarak, and Karax to an extent. Actually, I’ve been maining Alarak ever since the last War Chest, since I don’t yet have the Judicator Caste decal that would have matched Fenix’s forces until a distinct Purifier decal comes out – honestly, the Purifier flag is basically a modified Judicator insiginia anyways.
I don’t even use Ascendants very often. Don’t have the micro needed to use them effectively. Instead, my composition is usually Supplicant/Havoc/Slayer/Vanguard, maybe with Wrathwalkers if I remember to put down the robo bay. I also always have a War Prism floating around to warp in replacement gateway units.
It’s not optimal, but I don’t play co-op to optimize my play anyways. I have ladder if I want to do that. Granted, some of my ladder skills bleed into my co-op play now and then when applicable, but strictly speaking, optimal play doesn’t matter outside of mutations (usually brutations), and even then, certain mutations can be trivialized by certain commanders abusing their unique stuff anyway.
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I would say “taking advantage of” rather than “abusing,” as that term implies doing something wrong.
It’s not wrong to lean on your strengths and take advantage of your unique capabilities, especially during times of war. #roleplay #CommanderSurgical #kickassandchewbubblegum #allouttagum
Alarak is indeed not friendly to beginners. Having tried both of his major playstyles now, I’d say going Mech is easier, but Ascendants is more effective and more fun (albeit more complicated and difficult). But I can see why he’s not popular, he’s certainly not the sort of commander I’d pick most of the time. But he definitely deserves more credit, he’s genuinely fun to play once you get the hang of him.
He does admittedly have more trouble with supply than any other Protoss commander so far, so that does make him a bit less fun, but he’s still very good.
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I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused, what do you mean by this?
Well, compare him to the other Protoss commanders:
Artanis - starts with 200 supply
Vorazun - Dark Pylons
Karax - Instant Pylons
Fenix - Starting Supply Mastery
Zeratul - starts with 100 supply
All the other Protoss commanders have something that makes supply slightly less of a concern (or not a concern at all in Artanis’ and Zeratul’s cases). It makes their macro a bit easier. Not to say Alarak’s macro is particularly difficult, but the others have something to ease some of the burden. He only has supply trouble when compared to his peers, examined in a vacuum he’s perfectly fine. I just mean he has to manage supply the old fashioned way.
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I never see HH, Zagara, or Fenix period. I can’t remember a single game that had them when I wasn’t playing them
That’s interesting b/c Terran have that same sort of diversity:
Raynor - instant Supply Depot
Swann - can pile on SCVs to reduce build time. In fact, see link below. I updated that post to show the full table of how all of Swann’s buildings are reduced
Nova - starts with 100 supply
HH - regular bt, but SCVs have double hp (800) and provide double supply (16)
Tychus - starts with 100 supply
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Indeed. Interestingly, the Zerg are the only ones for whom most of them have traditional supply. In fact, all of them do, with the sole exception of Dehaka, who starts with 200 supply. That said, I find the Zerg method of managing supply far simpler in terms of macro: making more overlords is fairly simple compared to making Pylons or supply depots, which are structures that must be placed on the map.