Yeah Nova’s Helbats with this Jump abbility makes them very short lived
Just played a game with Nova on malwarfare and, as the enemy comp was swarmy zerg, I gave a try to hellbats, at first they are really nice, but late game I found them kinda weak (so I’m keeping my Tank+goliath build)
The reason Nova’s Hellbat is a waste, and people generally don’t use them is because:
- They aren’t that tanky without Drone protection.
- The resource spent getting them (drones included) is better spent on Griffin Strike.
- Spider Mines from tanks cost far less, has far more uses, and does far more damage.
Overall, getting Nova’s Hellbats is just for fun. For any form of efficiency, not having them is just better. They cut into valuable research time (since you’d want the 2 research upgrades), they cut into better mineral dump of a number of things in Nova’s toolkit, and they take far more damage than is ever needed for Nova’s units in general.
Basically, for an elite unit army CO, Hellbats are the literally wrong-design. Now, if they had a self-healing of sort then perhaps it makes them better. Otherwise, they remain niche and pointless.
That said, in regards to how “never used they are”? Given Nova’s units don’t come in abundance as a rule of design, they still end up getting used by a good portion of players anyway. I think if you magically changed Nova’s design to “you can make as many as you want without cooldown restrictions”, then literally nobody would ever make Hellbats except for memes.
Ill give it a go. Tank/Gol/Vessel gets a bit boring and Wraiths is more comp situational than anything
I forgot about mass Wraiths, lul. I do those, too, as their burst DPS is insane.
My issue with them is it’s hard to tell if you’re getting the bonus or not. I can’t always watch the enemy hp like a hawk to make sure it’s going down in larger chunks than otherwise. I really do miss the old upgrade that just gave a flat bonus damage, even if it was less 
My understanding of the consensus on this is to reward stutter step, so the lack of visual is why there isn’t one.
Much like marines stutter step, there isn’t a visual queue. Although I’m not sure if the mechanics are exactly the same per se.
My experience and many other accounts puts the bonus buff at roughly maximum acceleration reached. And that in itself makes it slightly different and difficult compared to marine stutter step.
You can 2/3-shot void trashers with a, let’s say, 120 supply worth of wraiths (and proper micro).
Strike Goliaths
- Though often used for their niche, I want them to mow things down
Vanguards
Primal Igniters
They do already, and are totally not niche. If you just want to mass one unit and F2A then you’re playing Nova wrong.
Unfortunately, Strike Goliaths are far from niche. They have a core role in Nova’s army against Terran or Protoss with any air mixed into the comp. Their stun missiles are ridiculous vs mech.
All of Nova’s units are good, even the hellbat ranger. The only thing I cannot find a good use for is the perforator turret.
Is there ever a good reason to build those? (Other than keeping ghosts from nuking your base)
Vanguards. They’re a cool unit conceptually, but their implementation is so damn mediocre. I wish they leaned super hard on the glass cannon aspect, especially because of the unit’s lore. They’d need a total overhaul IMO, but I can see the potential in them.
It’s a better opener to use turrets to expand than it is with marines.
The timing is actually same (if not better on some maps like OE and VL due to side-by-side gas rocks). You end up investing 400-600 minerals for 2-3 turrets that can all salvage back to you. Meanwhile, going marines is not only slower to kill off the rocks, it hinders your later progression due to the net loss of 600min.
And people who believe they need those 4 marines to push whatever objective are delusional. There’s nothing Nova cannot handle on her own P3 or non-P3 prior to Tanks or Liberators. In fact, solo Nova is quite a viable strategy, as a matter of fact.
That is their niche. I want to gun everything down
You can mass 3 units and F2A Nova. Goliath, Raven, Banshee
You don’t even have to play Nova
I want to mass Goliath and Raven
I find Preforator turrets excel in Day of Night, since zombies just love to line up more often than not lol.
Then I feel really sorry for your poor ally who has to carry you. If you don’t want to learn to play Nova then why not stick to an easier commander rather than suggesting things that would ruin a really good commander. Or, how about you make yourself a custom map where goliaths are OP and ravens have huge hp so you can just walk all over Amon.
Swann is for massing Goliath and Raven(Science Vessel)
Then you clearly don’t understand this thread. This is for niche/under used/never used units. Goliaths are used all the time. They have a powerful role and are a core unit vs air compositions.