So all prestiges have some downsides which is quite normal, necessary even, because without downsides Commanders would be too powerful, right? What if we could, somehow use just the good things / advantages and... somehow 'avoid' the bad things?

Fortunately, we can do this pretty easily!

1. Stukov P3
2. This is the most obvious choice! With P3 bunkers produce Infested Troopers 200% faster but bunkers don't have cargo capacity. Sooo, who needs cargo capacity anyways? The thing is, if you build and permanently keep 3-4 bunkers at your base they can take care of almost every wave Amon throws at you! They trickle troopers that intercept enemy waves long before the wave becomes a concern and deal with it. If the wave comes too close, you can infest your bunker which deals huge damage to land units. If all else fails, you buy yourself enough time to move your units and deal with the wave. IMHO, this is the best example of 'no downside to a prestige'.
3. Zeratul P2
4. ... but only if you play cannons only. That said, if you don't build army (but just Shieldguards) to replenish cannon shields this prestige has NO downsides because cannons are structures so cost increase don't apply to them! I play this and I can say it's very effective. Maybe not the best and optimal way but... I am having a blast!

Honorary mention: Dehaka P3
Now this one has an interesting twist. You have two Dehakas but... if one dies... the other dies as well? Soooo... what's the catch here? In other prestiges where you have only one Dehaka, if he dies... he dies... Bottom line is, in all prestiges, if your hero dies, he dies... but in P3 you have TWO hero units which means double abilities and two hungry mouths to feed. Ultimate fun with no downsides!! ... but there's a caveat... essence is split between Dehaka and Zweihaka which means they don't level up as quickly as if you had only one Dehaka. In most games, especially in longer missions, this is not a huge problem but still...

Have I missed something, are there any other prestiges without 'actual' downsides?

After a 3 year hiatus, Tya is back with a new SC2 unit battle video:

https://youtu.be/mysDc\_Iqph8?is=VWD\_SRL4Eb6iqkRU

I don't know how many of you are aware of Tya's videos, but they've had a profound impact on my SC2 journey. They were my first introduction to coop units (which frequently featured in the unit battles), and I thought they looked awesome so I started to play coop and haven't stopped playing it since!

I hope Tya plans to continue making more videos, but I wanted to spread the word in case there are other fans out there.

Anyone else wanting to do this? Kindly DM me. I missed the last time someone offered on "CoA" with this mutation combo in a haze of life and distractions. I can beat hard for sure & for brutal, I am much more ready this time, with mastery 90. An AI told me this is technically a harder map for this combo; however, I am unsure because late-game chains can be honestly, insanely hard when something goes wrong because of adds. Doing this with randoms I know from experience is mostly terrible idea.

Hello,

So I've finished leveling Fenix P2 (not getting P3 for now). That leaves me with Alarak, H&H, Mengsk, Nova and Tychus mastered. Now that I'm grinding the gold levels (I'm at 50), and now that I want something more difficult than Brutal, I've started playing Brutal+. However, I have like 50% winrate for now in B+, and wonder if I'm dead weight for my allies.

So I wanted to know, am I supposed to win like 90% of times on Random B+ or is it kinda normal to eventually lose a game? I've faced Diffusion+Life leech or Propagators (never had propagators or boom/killbots before) and lost both games.

Btw, do certain maps have more chances getting certain mutators? And are mutators always paired the same way like in weeklies?

Thanks a lot

I realize that specific maps and specific mutations have specific commanders who shine on them the most. This combo is not the best every single time, however their synergy level got to be the highest in game.

They have 3 major strengths when paired together:

1. Swann P1 doesn't have Laser Drill abilities, but it locks on faster and does damage in area. Just this alone is sick combo, because P1 Stetmann's stetlellites can not be removed once they are up and thus provide constant global vision. Drill goes brrr and mission plays itself - literally.

2. Swann and Stetmann both boost economy very early for both players. Stetmann with blue field which increases mining speed before saturation, while Swann provides extra gas entire game with drones. Both of them are very gas heavy (unless you play more with turrets than units). What should be their lategame becomes their midgame which is amazing because...

3.... Swann "starts slowly, but has one of the best lategame armies" (even though the combat drop can carry very well as well), Stetmann starts very strong with Gary, but also has strong units for lategame.

It's just profit profit profit. You don't even have to fight enemy waves if you don't want to, because drill can handle them xD. Sky terran usually leads to some casaulties when fought straight up due to yamato, liberators, ravens/svessels.

Try it. I wouldn't play it often, because mission literally plays itself, but it's still fun to do once in a while.

Question is purely theoretical...

Say you have a friend who has never played SC2 CO OP... He is a gamer but doesn't have much experience in RTS but he wants to try this game and you have just one shot to get him hooked on this game. Which commander are you going to recommend for starters?

I'd probably recommend Tychus because he is quite easy to play and even if you have zero experience with this game you probably won't suck...too much. Also, he is OP from the start so you won't have problem with early waves. Also, you get healing and detection early. His macro isn't difficult and you can easily own every map.... not to mention that his prestiges are good (at least 2 out of 3). He is quite fun to play and you don't have to worry about 'complicated' mechanics like, say, essence, biomass, overpower me, stetzones, calldown timings... You also don't have to worry much about enemy compositions because Tychus, Rattlesnake and Sirius can handle literally every composition (you just fill up last two slots depending on enemy comp but even if you mess this up, Tychus, Rattlesnake and Sirius won't even break a sweat).

Just to be clear, I am not saying that Tychus is the best commander overall, all I am saying is that he definitely, IMHO, takes the cake when it comes to being most beginner friendly while offering 'nuff fun.

I usually play on Hard sometimes Brutal depending on how developed the commander I’m playing is and for the past Hard matches I’ve had players past level 300 just…not do much or not actually doing the objective?

I play P3 Mensgk and 1 match I had a literal Level 1 Fenix with P0 and he was on Brutal and I asked him why is he using a level 1 commander on brutal mutation he said “I wanted to try him out” and he got annihilated on the first wave that I had to save him numerous times but couldn’t hold his side and mine that we ran out of time to grab parts. Another match I got a 371 Raynor playing P0 on Normal difficulty so I expected the usual lots of Orbitals commands but over time he built 4 reactor barracks and 6 tech lab factories so I was thinking “Oh ok so like some marine, marauder, siege tank army. Come to find out he’s trickling marines here and there to the hybrid and orbital dropping vultures 4-6 at a time getting destroyed by siege tanks and thors. He couldn’t even handle the attack waves heading to him without losing 3 of his factories. No spider mines, no medics, hardly scans for the widow mine blowing up his idle army.

Most of Co-Op focuses on building a specialized army and busting down armies. However there are a number of situations and some maps which focused on defense. In those cases commanders with strong defense options really shine and make usually tense defense maps a breeze.

I would consider Swann, Karax, and Mengsk as the Top 3 commanders with the strongest defensive options, having very a lot of ways to hold a position and rebuild that defense quickly. Han and Horner and Tychus are probably the worst with defense as their tech trees are heavily in favor of offense. They have defensive options but they are lackluster and their armies are a better option for taking down attack waves

So how would you rank all the commanders when needing strong defense?

EDIT: I know units are better overall for dealing with objectives. I just want to explore static defense as its own topic. So units like lurkers or siege tanks I consider when thinking of defensive power since they are best when in place and not freely moving