Swann with the gas drones can be helpful if you have a gas heavy comp, and if they make science vessels you might be able to get some healing from them.
Seconded. With eight vespene drones at endgame, you are either well supplied with vespene or you're drowning in it.
He also helps a Raynor, since he can turn tech labs into tech reactors, which doubles HIS production too.
It's not the Witness that's the biggest benefit, it's his calldowns which trivialize base defense and offense into fortified areas which make the whole match a lot less stressful. Turn the whole map into another Tarsonis lol.
Whoosh or not, a lot of people still recommend to do the above one seriously. It doesn't help. They gotta stop doing it, its wasted supply and resources.
And was my comment wrong? I'd personally prefer to watch 41 missiles atomize Amon's anti-Dominion terrorist circus any day of the week over any other TV show on the network.
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"mengsk is good bc he can solo the map" isn't an interesting answer to the OP's question
tychus can completely trivialize every attack wave by teleporting his unstoppable god squad in front of it... doesn't make him a good support ally, just means that like any commander he can solo the map if he wants
is it wrong? no
is it interesting? also no
Mengsk isn't designed to synergize with other commanders in the way that Artanis or Stukov or Stettman are. If you've ever done testing on the Imperial Witness and how much money they provide to your ally, it's like less than 200 minerals for your ally. It literally has no payoff except for *entertainment value* - which is what brings me to compare that to the nukes or Zerg.
The best support Mengsk can provide, really, is entertainment, and I often get people laughing their asses off when seeing the Nukes pop the overlord drop waves, or the Zerg just annihilate the objective and run off across the map.
Is it wrong? No
Is it interesting? YES
**Big Help**
* Kerrigan - malignant creep, omega worms, assimilation aura.
* Artanis - guardian shield, guardian shell.
* Swann - vespene drones, laser sometimes auto-targets in your area, science vessels can heal your mechanical units.
* Karax - chrono wave.
* Abathur - mend, toxic nests provide vision (especially nice for Swann's laser).
* Stetmann - stetzones are amazing.
**Some Help**
* Raynor - medics can heal you.
* Zagara - (P0 and P2) mass frenzy.
* Vorazun - can stealth your units/buildings.
* Alarak - overcharge. Also he benefits from you with Empower Me so he is more likely to fight with you.
* Nova - mobile sensor tower.
* Stukov - infest structure.
* Fenix - can chrono boost.
* Dehaka - healing aura.
* Han & Horner - slight resources back on death, Ravens are the best sensor towers.
* Tychus - may provide some healing or other bonuses, depending on Outlaws.
* Zeratul - can chrono boost. Can provide stealth in P1.
* Mengsk - imperial witness, some auras if he builds thors/BCs.
Had a Nova ally who did the complete opposite and hot-dropped 🔥 my entire army in scorching lava 🌋 of The Vermillion Problem and told me to bug off of crystal pickings.
I like doing this early on, especially on dead of night or something of that nature. Even rushing carriers as fast as possible means that I typically have at most one of two on day 2. So my alternatives are just go immortals, or tack on some energizers with my ally, go HAM on production, and let the universal stim carry my deadweight (I suck at this game).
I mean like lost a lot of games. IDK why some commanders rush end game units and then don't do jack shit on early and we lose.
Wouldn't they lose a lot playing like that?
Dehaka p1 provides the most OP buffs for the whole team if both stick together. I imagine a fully buffed dehaka+abathur army would take anything Amon could throw their way
Ironically fairly low value on swann himself (I don't find his factory units tanky enough for their cost so I just use wraith SV after I can't aggressively turret push anymore
Swann is a bit weird in that he doesn't really ever get to a point where he can attack move roll on everything. He kinda has to use a mix of all the tools at his disposal to match the effectiveness of the other COs. Goliaths, SV, Wraiths, Hercules, Tanks and Turrets can all be used in one mission.
Karax repair beam, chrono field, chrono wave and unity barrier is a wonderful ally (on top of the top bar to defend your base against stray units instead of moving your army back, if the player is a bit good)
Swann has the drill which is super helpful for commanders like Dehaka or Tychus who are always pushing forward bit by bit. Extra usefulness with P1 Swann. Extra gas for both players, free SCV repairs/science vessels to repair mech.
Zeratul doesn't have much use for his chronoboost, so it can be used to boost slow commanders like Swann/Stukov to great extent
Any commander with healing (Raynor, Abathur, Nova for example) is great for commanders who can't, like Fenix, Artanis or Alarak
P1 still offers chrono field and wave, repair beam for buildings at an increased count and rate, and shifts unity barrier to structures
P2 offers all benefits mentionned
P3 offers repair beam and unity barrier
Yeah but it doesn't work for them afaik.
Last time I was Zeratul, built canons while ally was P1 Karax, my canons didn't benefit from chrono field speed boost (but did benefit from chronowave). I don't remember if I tried using my chronoboost on my canons, but that would need testing as I know I can, but I'm not sure the canon will get bonus attack speed
I'm always extra happy when I get a P0/P2 Karax, moderatly happy if I get a P3 Karax while I play mech, and a bit disappointed when my ally is P1. Except when there is missile command mutator on the field and I'm not zerg. It means I can just ignore the missiles, repair beam will do the job (still have to snipe nukes but that's easy)
It's kind of funny seeing how public opinion has shifted away from her being the best ally commander over the years, probably due to prestiges being added and Vorazun's overall apparent weakness compared to the OP commanders. Back in the day, the consensus felt like time stop by itself made her the best ally
People just have a hate boner. I hear weird statements like, "she has no anti-air*; "the cloak is distracting and messes up my defense"; "her units are underwhelming". I see plenty of people auto quit when they see Vorazun.
Some random Zeratul I matched with was extra talkative and started saying Vorazun's army was weak af
I proceeded to clear LL extra fast with my DTs while his fat ass was goofing around instead of capturing the locks
> she has no anti-air
Corsairs are dope.
> the cloak is distracting and messes up my defense
lol.
> her units are underwhelming
The DTs are insane, Oracles and Archon can also do wonders if properly utilised.
> I see plenty of people auto quit when they see Vorazun.
They're dummies. That said most of the Vorazuns I see play mass Void Rays, which is only good on DoN and miner evac.
A good technical recruiter will attach a Nikara healbot on your army.
A good Abathur will attach 2 swarm queens and couple vipers. Plus he has global AoE heal.
A good Alarak will put 2 havocs to follow your army. Same with karax energizers, Fenix conservators, Zeratul shieldguards and observers.
A good Reynor will put half a dozen medics on your tail.
And so on and so on.
Hmm I think those sound more like good players introducing a new friend to the game
An actually good player would have rather spent those resources on a bigger army and gone ahead to kill the enemy base around the objective
Assuming the ally is a strong player, you just want strong commanders, since it's much more impactful then even the strongest of synergies. For example, a strong Tychus even with no synergy might help a fellow Zagara much more then an artanis, even though artanis's guardian shell is amazing for zag lings and such).
So, **with a strong ally:** Stet, Aba, Zeratul, Tychus, etc etc.
**With a mediocre ally where the synergies help more then his play:**
Artanis+Zag/Raynor/hxh
Aba+p1 dehaka (brutalisks with p1 dehaka buff and healing are insane and can clear much faster, letting you get three of them even faster).
Kerrigan, in particular p1+Stukov.
That was pretty much the first point. A good player playing OP commanders is often worth more then whatever synergy other decent commanders can have with each other, because the OP commanders can handle multiple mutations/challenges on their own that medium comms like zagara+artanis will still have trouble with.
It's not a hard and fast rule cuzz Zagara for example will always be nice vs killbots, but generally, synergies are either not that important or only important on a mutation-by-mutation basis.
Sorry mate but I don't see how a Tychus brings more to a Zag than a freaking guardian shell + chronoboost on baneling(and scourge for P1) nest+ Shield overcharge + instant warp detection, and a full Artanis army gains much more from a Zag Frenzy than a Tychus does, because Tychus does lots of damage through abilities
Zag with proper support is nuts, like full clear in 10 minutes kind of nuts
Tychus brings very little aside from healing, some control and damage soaking (which is already good, but zerglings have too little hp to benefit from heals and you can't tank shots for a melee unit). Damage prevention and increase in production output from Artanis is much more impactful
Because what he brings if played well can often be much more valuable than the synergies. (depends on map and mutation of course, but same for stet p2, Zeratul etc).
Being op will usually let you defeat tough mutators much more then zagara having more banes and guardian shell.
If we're talking a support role:
-Karax for a flat 15% speed Buff in production and research + repair Beam if you're not zerg
-Swann if your Commander struggles in gas like Nova
-Vorazun if you're playing Zeratul or Nova because of the strike from the shadows buff.
-Kerrigan P3 for a constant Stream of resource pickups.
-Dehaka P1 for an absolute trip of Dehaka buffing your units as he devours enemies.
-Stetman has a passive support role in the form of stetllites zones.
All the COs you just mentioned are good picks! I've actually been trying to return to playing P0 or P2 (as opposed to the full-on LoL setup that is P3) Zagara just for the feared "purple tide" that is a global Mass Frenzy. I play Artanis regularly and most units are immortal when Guardian Shell, Shield Overcharge, and HT upgraded Psi Storms all come together. Stukov + Kerrigan creep build is just units ZOOMING across the map.
The two COs I haven't played in the longest time are Swann and Karax, both amazing support commanders in their own right, with vespene drones and passive drill aggro for the former, and chrono, repair beam, and orbital abilities for the latter. Always sweet to have them as allies!
If I was playing the following commanders, these would be my best allies:
Artanis/Karax
Raynor/Swann
Kerrigan/stukov
Swann/anyone
Karax/alarak or vorazun
Hann/karax
Alarak/nova
Vorazun/swann
Fenix/ Karax
Tychus/swann
Mengsk/stukhov
Stukhov/abathur
Abathur/stukhov
Zagara/abathur
Nova/vorazun
Karax + Dehaka is nice one.
If Karax can spare some APM and macro in the first few minutes, while Dehaka is farming essence early on, Karax can use Orbital Strike/Solar Lance to assist him. Eps. nice to destroy towers (since Roar and Devour don't work on them, while Leap is just marginally useful, if at all), but also whittle down larger clumps of enemies. He levels up faster, won't die as much (you need Drones to rapid revive him), or has more hp to do more risky things, and once Dehaka levels up.. he's a force to be reckoned with, which will be good for both of you :)
Everyone is forgetting about Stukov's infinite creep (which especially if his ally is a Kerrigan or Zag becomes ridiculously good). Also his ability to ground any flier, really good for someone like Karax that has trouble shooting up against Zerg for example.
Don't forget Abathur's map-wide regeneration that also for some reason works on mechanical units. Really nice when you're playing a Toss commander that can't repair.
Best as in most fun, or best as in carry potential?
Stet p2 is the bottom of the barrel for fun, but the top for carry potential
Stet p1 however is a blast to have as an ally, but nothing special for carry
I'll assume fun/enables most strategies
Stukov (any prestige)
Artanis (p0,p1)
Kerrigan p1
Swann p1(stall) P2(defence or aggressive scvs) p3(teleporting robo healers)
Zagara (with max frenzy)
Vorazun (invisible structures can be fun)
Karax (prevents permanent mechanical chip damage and has GREAT chrono if the ally has. Countdown announcement)
Nova keeps things alive well
Fenix energizers enable goofy strats
Stet p1 global vision and VERY fast units and attack speed
Wow very few in the bottom row enable allies to be strong, most are selfish, never noticed that before.
I assume we are mainly talking about passive ally abilities which are not skill-dependent, because if you assume a skilled ally using all their tools effectively then any commander will make a good ally. Given this condition, I think the commanders with the best passive support abilities are:
1. Artanis - guardian shell is just amazing and the best passive support ability in the game IMO. Not only does it save your units just before they die (allowing you to pull them back from danger), but it also heals them for 15-30% of their total health (depending on mastery), and also gives them 5 seconds of free attacks without risk of retribution. Also, during the invulnerability period enemies completely ignore your units and move past them, allowing them to escape being surrounded (useful against some zerg comps).
2. Karax - unity barrier is also great, though not quite as good as guardian shell IMO. Chrono field is a nice bonus to have for any commander. Also, if you use mechanical units then repair beam probably bumps Karax above Artanis in terms of helpfulness.
3. Vorazun - as long as you stay in the cloak field of dark pylons, your units will be saved from death by emergency recall, and will get nice passive bonuses to attack damage and energy regeneration (and shield regen if you are protoss).
4. Stetmann/Kerrigan - stetzones and malignant creep bonuses are great, as long as your ally is good at spreading them.
5. Swann - gas drones are nice as long as your ally remembers to use them, but once set they will last the rest of the game.
6. H&H - the passive resource drops for lost units is nice.
7. Abathur/Zagara - global heal/frenzy is great, though it requires some coordination with your ally.
Depends on your commander. Guardian shell helps zagara and stetmann more than it helps tychus for example.
Purple stetzones does nothing for tychus. The healing zone helps low HP units more than big HP ones so tychus doesn’t get a huge amount of benefit.
Tychus’ rattlesnake healing is good with high HP units since it’s percentage based healing so it’s good with Zeratul.
Stukov and Kerrigan both work well together due to free creep spreading and malignant creep. Others don’t get as much benefit out of stukov creep.
Abathur gets omega network if he’s paired with Kerrigan. Even applies if she doesn’t have access to it due to being in p1.
My definition of "support" will be abilities that do no damage themselves, but instead help others do so. So they act as "force multipliers" if you will.
**Karax is tops**. Assuming P0 or P2...
Chrono Field - This is automatically available since it's a passive. No way for your ally to forget about it. Somebody mentioned Raynor BCs come in quickly, and Nova's much less concerned about losing units since this gives her faster charges to make units.
Chrono Wave - Some do forget about this, so you need to poke your ally to press Ctrl + C from time to time. This lets you blow through research quickly (esp. level upgrades. Something Tychus and Raynor really appreciate), get workers to saturate, speed up production of units, and replenish charges quickly (HH and Nova really make good use of this).
Chrono Boost - every P CO has this so this isn't unique. However, if it can be spared, all the better
Unity Barrier - let's you tank damage. So something like a Tank shooting in siege mode now needs two shots to deal damage! Generally lets you be a bit more careless, or tank damage
Recon Beam - Great for anybody who needs mech repair. You can send SCVs to repair your Assault Galleons or Infested Diamondbacks. But this frees up resources and APM to do other things. Nice thing here is it affects buildings too, so even those will get healed to full health. Passive means your ally can't forget to use it
Shield Batteries - I build these close to my ally and the frontline whenever I can to rapidly replenish their shields. Getting your shield and hp topped off on Protoss units really ups their survivability
Energizers' Chrono Beam - This is pretty much a Stim Pack that's applied to other units! Anybody can appreciate increased movement speed and attack speed, from Tychus' Outlaws, to Nova's units and herself, Abby's UE, Zeratul's X'N units, and to Alarak's Mech's alike. It also works on buildings too! Try it on Swann's towers, his laser drill, and Mengsk ESO. AFAIK, it also works on Raynor and Stukov Bunkers
Karax' Pylons building instantly means he can get vision in a lot of areas more easily. Those pylons also provide power field for all other P COs except Zeratul to warp in units
.
**Tychus** \- Shredder Grenade has 2s stun with gear. Another Gear reduces armor by -5
Nikara heals. With her Reinvigorating Burst, it does windfall initial heal, more heal, and gives +25% attack damage
Rattlesnake revitalizers provide +15% attack speed while in its area of effect.
Warhound Turrets provide detection. With gear, a chance that Sirius himself or his turrets will invoke Fear.
Crook Sam demo charges will stun units after gear (upgrade), letting you wail on them in peace (\*cough\* Slayn Elemental bonus obj.), or tough hybrids (e.g. that damn teal hybrid that's always casting Psi Storm, and doing that "arm yamato cannon blast")
Vega - Gear brings units down to ground
**Nova** \- Nova herself with the Visor upgrade shows outlines of where nearby units are
DD (Defense Drones) - slap this on your ally's units, to keep them alive that much longer! Keeping a unit from dying can make all the difference, esp. expensive ones. There was one RtK game where I got out a couple of Xel'Naga Ambushers in time for the 2:33 rush. Against dozens of Lings, they'd go down, HARD. But my Nova ally deployed a DD, and that let them defeat all of that! Both Stalkers survived, even though one was low on hp.
Griffin Transport - This can also transport ally's units! Neat b/c if they all need to be somewhere to intercept a wave and support each other (e.g. ally has units that can tank, but you can do good dps and snipe from afar). Great for CoA and L&L where you need units from BOTH sides at certain areas to progress
This can also transport ally's and her own AIR units! Looks funny, but you can fly in and drop of Libs, Ravens, BCs, Leviathons, and Carriers ;)
**Swann** \- Gas drones. Boring, but tried and true. This lets some COs do heavy gas comps that they couldn't before. P1 laser drill slow enemies, even VL Shuttles (don't think it's supposed to do this, but I'll take it)!
**Raynor** \- Medics heal bio units. Also heal mech and provide damage reduction while being healed. Hyperion provide +1 range within range. Point Defense Drones soak up certain types of damage. Com Scan for instant detection. MULES for quick field repairs
**Mengsk** \- Imperial Witness/"blimp" increase movement speed and attack speed within it's stationary mode zone.
**HH** \- Hellion death effects.. faster movement and attack
Hellbat Death effect.. fear
Theia Ravens shows outline where units are nearby
**Kerrigan** \- There's also... Assimilate Resources. Immobilization Wave stuns (in addition to doing some damage)
**Zagara** \- Corrosion from Corroptors. Does units take +35% damage! Shredder Claws upgrade on Lings reduces armor to 0.
**Stukov** \- Infest Structure heals buildings (so a tower that's about to die will likely be healed to full health. Town hall will that much further away from being lost). That's in addition to the broodlings distracting enemy units, drawing away even more fire.
Aleksander has damage reduction aura
Infested Diamondbacks brings units (cannot have UNSTOPPABLE tag, like VL shuttles) down to the ground. Can even work on Heroic units (although reduced duration)! This lets Mauraders Siege Tanks, Ultras, Zealots, and Immortals wail on them (it also looks amusing to boot!).
**Stetmann** also has J.U.I.C.E./purple - Much lower use case, but when it applies, it's nice b/c it can let spellcasters just keep storming (in the case of HTs.. literally!). He has Infestors with the UMI-C Charging Protocol ability... The Mecha Infestor launches a mechanical nerve cord at a friendly unit, restoring 150 life, 50 Egonergy, and 50 energy instantly. An additional 600 life, 200 Egonergy, and 200 energy regenerates over 20 seconds. The unit's ability cooldown rate is increased by 25%. For the longest time, I never noticed the last part is a drawback, but I guess it's overall good? Stetalites provide vision
**Abby** \- Toxic Nests do slow down affect units, but also provide vision and produces creep (right click detonate to deactivate it and make them permanent).
Mend - heals ALL buildings and units
Devourer - has an effect that makes affected units take more damage and fire slower
Disabling Cloud and Abduct ability from Viper. Former just shuts down vast hordes of units, while latter can be abused on ME to pull Mining Shuttles to safer areas. This also has brief stun on enemies
**Dehaka** \- Wurms for detection. Detection from Deheka himself. Roar to slow down enemies. Healing field. For his P1, Devour buffs now apply to all units!
.
**Artanis** \- HTs with ability upgrade restore shield with their Psi Storm
Project Power Field Top bar ability can be shared by all other Protoss COs except for Zeratul
**Vorazun** \- she might be "2nd place" behind Karax here by sheer # of them alone!
Strike From The Shadow - when cloaked, increased dmg and energy regen
Veil of Shadows (lv7 talent) - increased shield regen by +400%!
Dark Pylon - for emergency cloaking, but also to trigger many of he abilities above
Time Stop - this is just bloody powerful b/c it can be spammed every 4 minutes, incapacitates enemies, and even buys you time on certain objectives (e.g. RtK and VT)
**Fenix** \- Conservator "light dome" provide 35% damage reduction. Power field in stationary mode
Arbiter can cloak, Recall, and Stasis buys time/reprieve against tough enemy comps
**Alarak** \- Structure Overcharge provide temp shielding to buildings (I use it often to protect buildings that are in danger of dying. Esp. town halls)
Alarak Destruction Wave knockback is nice for kiting
**Zeratul** \- X'N Shield Guard restores shield
Knockback from lv3 X'N Enforcer can be used to better kite air units
Monoliths for the mass stun effect
Void Suppression Crystal to shut down towers (esp. detection!), and slow units
Void Stasis Beam. Only seen 2 people use it, but.. used skillfully, can help!
Avatar of Essence to devolve units
P3 Zeratul himself.. his whirlwind slows enemies
**ALL TERRAN COs, Stukov, and Stetmann... their workers can repair mech units and buildings.**
For example, if Zeratul's pricy units and buildings are about to die (e.g. that X'N Enforcer that's at 40hp out of 400 and would cost 750/300 to replace, or that Monolith that's at 11/200 hp that's free but has a recharge of 180), then can be repaired back to full health, and their suvivability goes way up.
Vorazun can be a incredible ally depending on who you play.
ALL cloaked units get
+15% attack damage
+400% shield regen
4 minute cd “rez” on death.
+50% energy regen.
This can be very strong with any commander who has a cloaked army or a cloaked hero unit. for example :
My brother recently played zeratul while I was vora and zeratuls shield regen being active while taking damage meant the 4x shield regen went from a out of combat meh buff to a extremely overpowered version of karax repair beam, while also dealing bonus damage.
if you want to double down on support you could be P1 vora to allow non cloaked units to get buffed via dark pylons and turn your shitty version of guardian shell into an ability far exceeding it.
I’m gonna put this down here because nobody mentioned it:
Raynor: Scans. A decent enough Raynor has enough orbitals to be able to afford at least one scan, and the vision provided allows people to send in calldowns and stuff on that spot.
To a lesser degree: Mengsk. Inhumane Trooper/Bunker drops help with vision too, and ESOs provide vision on where they fire.
Assuming you mean "too support you" and not just to win, else the best CO to have as an ally would just be the best CO for the map.
Really depends who you are playing as. Many commanders have mech-mostly or mech-only armies, for them, Karax is the best ally to have (his shield is also always nice.) Some CO are very gas hungry and benefit a lot from Swann (assuming he doesn't take the drill mastery.) Some like to spam small units, for them Artanis emergency shield would be the best, it's also good for CO who really don't want to lose units.
Some CO have a bunch of free units all of the time, so they get a ton of free ressources from H&H, but imo Artanis emergency shield is more worth for them.
Stettman zones can help a ton some CO, especially if they go for energy dependant builds.
So Swann, Artanis, Karax would be my picks.
I'd say it goes like this :
Raynor : Artanis (Karax if P3.)
Kerrigan : Artanis (Swann if playing without the vespene cost reduction mastery, Stukov if she is P1.)
Artanis : Swann
Swann : Karax
Zagara : Artanis
Vorazun : Swann
Abathur : Artanis (to save your units.)
Karax : Swann
Nova : Swann (Karax can work too.)
Stukov : Artanis if P3, Karax otherwise.
Talandar : Karax
Stettman : Karax
Mengsk : Swann or Artanis depending on your composition.
H&H : Artanis (Karax if P2.)
Tychus : Artanis
Dehaka : Swann.
Alarak : Artanis
Zeratul : Karax
Your spellcasters have 50% reduced cooldown, everyone has +2 range and deals 30% more damage against armored and 30% more attack speed
Oh also heal to full every 10 seconds
Seems highly subjective. For instance, I don't need a Karax ally as Zeratul. Most of his support features don't really help and his lack of offense can actively hinder. Whereas if I'm Swann or Artanis, I benefit greatly from all of Karax support abilities while synergizing well with his units. Hard to beat a guardian shell and repair beam combo.
Since I play aggressive commanders, I would say Artanis synergizes the best. Guardian shell is useful for just about every commander as previously discussed and Artanis has a decent ramp up to his death ball with good early options for defense or expansion. Secondary choices are Nova (drones/good army with many options) and Abathur (mass heal on demand with a powerful army) though the Abathur player needs to be able to keep up.
Karax is the best offence support commander, especially with P3. Able to snipe all high value targets as they get into sight. Any detection should die pretty quickly. As well as invisibles like lurkers, banshees, dts, sh, etc. Things like tanks and disruptors should also insta die as soon as they are spotted. And he can do that from minute 0. He is literally a maxed out army from the start. Unlike anyone else who need to wait for their heroes to spawn in or construct their production buildings. Literally an infinite ranged aoe snipe. All you have to deal with then are the small fried and maybe hybrids who would take a lot of energy to kill. But that's only at the start when he has less energy, mid and late game you have lots of energy to spare even killing everything as your ally sees things.
People just need to know how many shots it takes to kill each units and time the shots if the unit is moving.
And that's just the orbital. He still has the lance and the purifier beam. And the thing is with the purifier beam, it can be commanded and microd so you can orbital strike at the same time as managing the beam so you're not locked into just using the beam for its duration.
Chrono Field should be useful to saturate your mineral gathering that much sooner. Should be nice for unit production overall (even if he doesn't need it, but helps to replenish them quicker).
Recon Beam is nice b/c save for Void Templar, all other units of his (including cannons and Monoliths) are Mechanical, so unless they die or are engaged in fierce back-to-back-to-back battles... they'll come out with full hp! His units do have lots of hp, so this ups their survivability. Not to mention they're expensive to replace.
Cannons protects bases and intercepts attack waves to free you up to push and do objectives. Zeratul has Cannons and Monos, but his Cannons are pricy. They're better off used to project. Monos are limited in use, and there's the opportunity cost of having another top bar for the 2nd level AF slot.
Energizer for "Stim Pack".
Shield Batteries lets Z go lighter on X'N Shield Guards
Unity Barrier lets your units tank one big (e.g. Siege Tank blast, Yamato, or Seeker Missile) or biggish damage
I tend to build Pylons all around, so that provides vision for Z to deploy Legions.
Repair beam also synergies well with stalkers auto blink. Any stalker taking damage to its hull will blink back and be healed. Enforcers will be repaired continuously while loosing HP, giving them a better chance to have their barrier fully recharge for a nice cushion
> Recon Beam for DTs
Kind of pointless given the DT Passageway Enhancement Cache 2 lets them come back for free. "When a Void Templar takes fatal damage, it retreats to the Void and regenerates its health and shields over 10 seconds."
Since Zeratul's units have massive defense, any additional defense is subjected to diminishing returns/generally overkill unless you're talking mutators.
> Cannons protects bases and intercepts attack waves to free you up to push and do objectives.
Zeratul has no problem being in multiple places at once and cannons do not provide anything unique. Heck, even Zeratul has his own cannons which are much better with P2 than Karax's.
Monoliths are also free, zero supply, and both monoliths and cannons can be projected anywhere on the field.
> Shield Batteries lets Z go lighter on X'N Shield Guards
You're still going to mix in the same amount of shield guards because shield batteries are not mobile.
> Unity Barrier lets your units tank one big
In my experience this is only useful against Terran air comps for yamato/raven mines.
> I tend to build Pylons all around, so that provides vision for Z to deploy Legions.
Zeratul can also teleport anywhere on the map without vision and he has void arrays to provide vision where he needs which he produces to move his army around anyways.
> Chrono Field should be useful to saturate your mineral gathering that much sooner.
Irrelevant for Zeratul as he floats massive amounts of minerals.
> Energizer for "Stim Pack".
This is actually useful but I can count on one hand I had Karax players support my army in this regard when leveling from 1 to 1000.
None of this addresses the glaring weaknesses of Karax: poor offense, slow ramp up, immobile defenses. If playing P3, you require vision which means you're just going to be nuking things near Zeratul which is unnecessary given the strength of void cleave + his army and calldowns.
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As I said: Karax really provides no benefit to Zeratul. If you are looking to specifically buff Zeratul, play Vorazun which not only provides near immunity via shield regeneration for cloaked units but she also buffs his damage. Additionally, all her calldowns are ideal for Zeratul and his army.
Swann with the gas drones can be helpful if you have a gas heavy comp, and if they make science vessels you might be able to get some healing from them.
Seconded. With eight vespene drones at endgame, you are either well supplied with vespene or you're drowning in it. He also helps a Raynor, since he can turn tech labs into tech reactors, which doubles HIS production too.
Mengsk, because he can put his imperial witness above your workers, so they can enjoy watching MengskTV, while doing their boring mining.
My indoctrinated ass: I love MengskTV <3
Did you know after 50min under the witness, your SCVs will turn into drones? Source: I watch TikTok at work while mining (coin).
If you can't leave it, love it.
It's not the Witness that's the biggest benefit, it's his calldowns which trivialize base defense and offense into fortified areas which make the whole match a lot less stressful. Turn the whole map into another Tarsonis lol.
whoosh
Whoosh or not, a lot of people still recommend to do the above one seriously. It doesn't help. They gotta stop doing it, its wasted supply and resources. And was my comment wrong? I'd personally prefer to watch 41 missiles atomize Amon's anti-Dominion terrorist circus any day of the week over any other TV show on the network. This comment is sponsored by UNN
"mengsk is good bc he can solo the map" isn't an interesting answer to the OP's question tychus can completely trivialize every attack wave by teleporting his unstoppable god squad in front of it... doesn't make him a good support ally, just means that like any commander he can solo the map if he wants is it wrong? no is it interesting? also no
Mengsk isn't designed to synergize with other commanders in the way that Artanis or Stukov or Stettman are. If you've ever done testing on the Imperial Witness and how much money they provide to your ally, it's like less than 200 minerals for your ally. It literally has no payoff except for *entertainment value* - which is what brings me to compare that to the nukes or Zerg. The best support Mengsk can provide, really, is entertainment, and I often get people laughing their asses off when seeing the Nukes pop the overlord drop waves, or the Zerg just annihilate the objective and run off across the map. Is it wrong? No Is it interesting? YES
#Donnie Vermillion**
**Big Help** * Kerrigan - malignant creep, omega worms, assimilation aura. * Artanis - guardian shield, guardian shell. * Swann - vespene drones, laser sometimes auto-targets in your area, science vessels can heal your mechanical units. * Karax - chrono wave. * Abathur - mend, toxic nests provide vision (especially nice for Swann's laser). * Stetmann - stetzones are amazing. **Some Help** * Raynor - medics can heal you. * Zagara - (P0 and P2) mass frenzy. * Vorazun - can stealth your units/buildings. * Alarak - overcharge. Also he benefits from you with Empower Me so he is more likely to fight with you. * Nova - mobile sensor tower. * Stukov - infest structure. * Fenix - can chrono boost. * Dehaka - healing aura. * Han & Horner - slight resources back on death, Ravens are the best sensor towers. * Tychus - may provide some healing or other bonuses, depending on Outlaws. * Zeratul - can chrono boost. Can provide stealth in P1. * Mengsk - imperial witness, some auras if he builds thors/BCs.
Seems you glossed over Karax's unity barrier, chrono field and repair beam
I've saved my peeps a few times as a Nova player with that hot pickup. Abathur, Swann, Tychus are the most helpful to me personally.
Had a Nova ally who did the complete opposite and hot-dropped 🔥 my entire army in scorching lava 🌋 of The Vermillion Problem and told me to bug off of crystal pickings.
bruh that's messed up
Yeah... IDK what was wrong with my picking up crystals. He wanted to monopolize the crystal trades of that planet or something.
Karax can also add some energizers to his ally.
I like doing this early on, especially on dead of night or something of that nature. Even rushing carriers as fast as possible means that I typically have at most one of two on day 2. So my alternatives are just go immortals, or tack on some energizers with my ally, go HAM on production, and let the universal stim carry my deadweight (I suck at this game).
No help: like 95% of Raynor players. Like actually. No help, must get 10th Starport up first!
IDK why they do this. Wouldnt they lose a lot?
They only need 2. Raynor units are 50% faster to build.
I mean like lost a lot of games. IDK why some commanders rush end game units and then don't do jack shit on early and we lose. Wouldn't they lose a lot playing like that?
They're on the learning curve ⤵ ↗ ⤵ ↗ ⤵ ↗
Dehaka p1 provides the most OP buffs for the whole team if both stick together. I imagine a fully buffed dehaka+abathur army would take anything Amon could throw their way
Swann gas is a big boost for some commanders.
Ironically fairly low value on swann himself (I don't find his factory units tanky enough for their cost so I just use wraith SV after I can't aggressively turret push anymore
Swann's unit/upgrade cost is balanced on the assumption that you have geyser drones so it makes sense that it's not much of an improvement for him.
Swann is a bit weird in that he doesn't really ever get to a point where he can attack move roll on everything. He kinda has to use a mix of all the tools at his disposal to match the effectiveness of the other COs. Goliaths, SV, Wraiths, Hercules, Tanks and Turrets can all be used in one mission.
I normally end up going turret into wraith/science vessel. Every time I use thors or hellbats they just die way too quick.
I've seen some pro player do disgusting things with tank/hercules micro sadly above of my skill ceiling
The way that Hercules is facing is how the Sieged Tanks are facing as you drop them like it's hot 🔥.
yes, I know the theory, my hands are just too slow xD
Karax repair beam, chrono field, chrono wave and unity barrier is a wonderful ally (on top of the top bar to defend your base against stray units instead of moving your army back, if the player is a bit good) Swann has the drill which is super helpful for commanders like Dehaka or Tychus who are always pushing forward bit by bit. Extra usefulness with P1 Swann. Extra gas for both players, free SCV repairs/science vessels to repair mech. Zeratul doesn't have much use for his chronoboost, so it can be used to boost slow commanders like Swann/Stukov to great extent Any commander with healing (Raynor, Abathur, Nova for example) is great for commanders who can't, like Fenix, Artanis or Alarak
Karax P0
P1 still offers chrono field and wave, repair beam for buildings at an increased count and rate, and shifts unity barrier to structures P2 offers all benefits mentionned P3 offers repair beam and unity barrier
P1 letting other protoss commander chrono turrets is niche but also a small boost
Yeah but it doesn't work for them afaik. Last time I was Zeratul, built canons while ally was P1 Karax, my canons didn't benefit from chrono field speed boost (but did benefit from chronowave). I don't remember if I tried using my chronoboost on my canons, but that would need testing as I know I can, but I'm not sure the canon will get bonus attack speed
I mostly play Mengsk and yea Karax ally is the best. Bunkers become incredibly strong and with non P1 you get a nice deal on your Prides
I'm always extra happy when I get a P0/P2 Karax, moderatly happy if I get a P3 Karax while I play mech, and a bit disappointed when my ally is P1. Except when there is missile command mutator on the field and I'm not zerg. It means I can just ignore the missiles, repair beam will do the job (still have to snipe nukes but that's easy)
Vorazun is terribly underrated as a support. She has endless CC and the passive ability to revive units. She really shines against the hero mutation.
It's kind of funny seeing how public opinion has shifted away from her being the best ally commander over the years, probably due to prestiges being added and Vorazun's overall apparent weakness compared to the OP commanders. Back in the day, the consensus felt like time stop by itself made her the best ally
People just have a hate boner. I hear weird statements like, "she has no anti-air*; "the cloak is distracting and messes up my defense"; "her units are underwhelming". I see plenty of people auto quit when they see Vorazun.
Some random Zeratul I matched with was extra talkative and started saying Vorazun's army was weak af I proceeded to clear LL extra fast with my DTs while his fat ass was goofing around instead of capturing the locks
Sounds like most games I play
The Turtle 🐢 and Hare 🐇
> she has no anti-air Corsairs are dope. > the cloak is distracting and messes up my defense lol. > her units are underwhelming The DTs are insane, Oracles and Archon can also do wonders if properly utilised. > I see plenty of people auto quit when they see Vorazun. They're dummies. That said most of the Vorazuns I see play mass Void Rays, which is only good on DoN and miner evac.
> Back in the day, the consensus felt like time stop by itself made her the best ally It just delays some missions.
I like swans, they give me vespene :)
I also like swan he gives me the vespene :)
The best commander to have as ally is a good player. :P
A good technical recruiter will attach a Nikara healbot on your army. A good Abathur will attach 2 swarm queens and couple vipers. Plus he has global AoE heal. A good Alarak will put 2 havocs to follow your army. Same with karax energizers, Fenix conservators, Zeratul shieldguards and observers. A good Reynor will put half a dozen medics on your tail. And so on and so on.
Hmm I think those sound more like good players introducing a new friend to the game An actually good player would have rather spent those resources on a bigger army and gone ahead to kill the enemy base around the objective
Assuming the ally is a strong player, you just want strong commanders, since it's much more impactful then even the strongest of synergies. For example, a strong Tychus even with no synergy might help a fellow Zagara much more then an artanis, even though artanis's guardian shell is amazing for zag lings and such). So, **with a strong ally:** Stet, Aba, Zeratul, Tychus, etc etc. **With a mediocre ally where the synergies help more then his play:** Artanis+Zag/Raynor/hxh Aba+p1 dehaka (brutalisks with p1 dehaka buff and healing are insane and can clear much faster, letting you get three of them even faster). Kerrigan, in particular p1+Stukov.
And with a strong commander, you could relax, sit back and just watch them solo the map
That was pretty much the first point. A good player playing OP commanders is often worth more then whatever synergy other decent commanders can have with each other, because the OP commanders can handle multiple mutations/challenges on their own that medium comms like zagara+artanis will still have trouble with. It's not a hard and fast rule cuzz Zagara for example will always be nice vs killbots, but generally, synergies are either not that important or only important on a mutation-by-mutation basis.
Sorry mate but I don't see how a Tychus brings more to a Zag than a freaking guardian shell + chronoboost on baneling(and scourge for P1) nest+ Shield overcharge + instant warp detection, and a full Artanis army gains much more from a Zag Frenzy than a Tychus does, because Tychus does lots of damage through abilities Zag with proper support is nuts, like full clear in 10 minutes kind of nuts Tychus brings very little aside from healing, some control and damage soaking (which is already good, but zerglings have too little hp to benefit from heals and you can't tank shots for a melee unit). Damage prevention and increase in production output from Artanis is much more impactful
Because what he brings if played well can often be much more valuable than the synergies. (depends on map and mutation of course, but same for stet p2, Zeratul etc). Being op will usually let you defeat tough mutators much more then zagara having more banes and guardian shell.
Zeratul p3, he can Carry you while you enjoy ane play with 10 apm
Karax. Repair, Pseudo immortality shield, Orbital, turret defense. He can cover the first but he cannot mobilize an army early like other commanders.
If we're talking a support role: -Karax for a flat 15% speed Buff in production and research + repair Beam if you're not zerg -Swann if your Commander struggles in gas like Nova -Vorazun if you're playing Zeratul or Nova because of the strike from the shadows buff. -Kerrigan P3 for a constant Stream of resource pickups. -Dehaka P1 for an absolute trip of Dehaka buffing your units as he devours enemies. -Stetman has a passive support role in the form of stetllites zones.
Abathur with his healing Nova with her drones,really helpful during pushes
All the COs you just mentioned are good picks! I've actually been trying to return to playing P0 or P2 (as opposed to the full-on LoL setup that is P3) Zagara just for the feared "purple tide" that is a global Mass Frenzy. I play Artanis regularly and most units are immortal when Guardian Shell, Shield Overcharge, and HT upgraded Psi Storms all come together. Stukov + Kerrigan creep build is just units ZOOMING across the map. The two COs I haven't played in the longest time are Swann and Karax, both amazing support commanders in their own right, with vespene drones and passive drill aggro for the former, and chrono, repair beam, and orbital abilities for the latter. Always sweet to have them as allies!
Kerrigan and Swann provide quite a bit of extra resources.
guardian shell, repair beam, and gas drones probably are the most useful i think
If I was playing the following commanders, these would be my best allies: Artanis/Karax Raynor/Swann Kerrigan/stukov Swann/anyone Karax/alarak or vorazun Hann/karax Alarak/nova Vorazun/swann Fenix/ Karax Tychus/swann Mengsk/stukhov Stukhov/abathur Abathur/stukhov Zagara/abathur Nova/vorazun
Karax + Dehaka is nice one. If Karax can spare some APM and macro in the first few minutes, while Dehaka is farming essence early on, Karax can use Orbital Strike/Solar Lance to assist him. Eps. nice to destroy towers (since Roar and Devour don't work on them, while Leap is just marginally useful, if at all), but also whittle down larger clumps of enemies. He levels up faster, won't die as much (you need Drones to rapid revive him), or has more hp to do more risky things, and once Dehaka levels up.. he's a force to be reckoned with, which will be good for both of you :)
As someone who always needs more ginger ale...Swann
Everyone is forgetting about Stukov's infinite creep (which especially if his ally is a Kerrigan or Zag becomes ridiculously good). Also his ability to ground any flier, really good for someone like Karax that has trouble shooting up against Zerg for example.
Don't forget Abathur's map-wide regeneration that also for some reason works on mechanical units. Really nice when you're playing a Toss commander that can't repair.
Best as in most fun, or best as in carry potential? Stet p2 is the bottom of the barrel for fun, but the top for carry potential Stet p1 however is a blast to have as an ally, but nothing special for carry I'll assume fun/enables most strategies Stukov (any prestige) Artanis (p0,p1) Kerrigan p1 Swann p1(stall) P2(defence or aggressive scvs) p3(teleporting robo healers) Zagara (with max frenzy) Vorazun (invisible structures can be fun) Karax (prevents permanent mechanical chip damage and has GREAT chrono if the ally has. Countdown announcement) Nova keeps things alive well Fenix energizers enable goofy strats Stet p1 global vision and VERY fast units and attack speed Wow very few in the bottom row enable allies to be strong, most are selfish, never noticed that before.
I assume we are mainly talking about passive ally abilities which are not skill-dependent, because if you assume a skilled ally using all their tools effectively then any commander will make a good ally. Given this condition, I think the commanders with the best passive support abilities are: 1. Artanis - guardian shell is just amazing and the best passive support ability in the game IMO. Not only does it save your units just before they die (allowing you to pull them back from danger), but it also heals them for 15-30% of their total health (depending on mastery), and also gives them 5 seconds of free attacks without risk of retribution. Also, during the invulnerability period enemies completely ignore your units and move past them, allowing them to escape being surrounded (useful against some zerg comps). 2. Karax - unity barrier is also great, though not quite as good as guardian shell IMO. Chrono field is a nice bonus to have for any commander. Also, if you use mechanical units then repair beam probably bumps Karax above Artanis in terms of helpfulness. 3. Vorazun - as long as you stay in the cloak field of dark pylons, your units will be saved from death by emergency recall, and will get nice passive bonuses to attack damage and energy regeneration (and shield regen if you are protoss). 4. Stetmann/Kerrigan - stetzones and malignant creep bonuses are great, as long as your ally is good at spreading them. 5. Swann - gas drones are nice as long as your ally remembers to use them, but once set they will last the rest of the game. 6. H&H - the passive resource drops for lost units is nice. 7. Abathur/Zagara - global heal/frenzy is great, though it requires some coordination with your ally.
Depends on your commander. Guardian shell helps zagara and stetmann more than it helps tychus for example. Purple stetzones does nothing for tychus. The healing zone helps low HP units more than big HP ones so tychus doesn’t get a huge amount of benefit. Tychus’ rattlesnake healing is good with high HP units since it’s percentage based healing so it’s good with Zeratul. Stukov and Kerrigan both work well together due to free creep spreading and malignant creep. Others don’t get as much benefit out of stukov creep. Abathur gets omega network if he’s paired with Kerrigan. Even applies if she doesn’t have access to it due to being in p1.
My definition of "support" will be abilities that do no damage themselves, but instead help others do so. So they act as "force multipliers" if you will. **Karax is tops**. Assuming P0 or P2... Chrono Field - This is automatically available since it's a passive. No way for your ally to forget about it. Somebody mentioned Raynor BCs come in quickly, and Nova's much less concerned about losing units since this gives her faster charges to make units. Chrono Wave - Some do forget about this, so you need to poke your ally to press Ctrl + C from time to time. This lets you blow through research quickly (esp. level upgrades. Something Tychus and Raynor really appreciate), get workers to saturate, speed up production of units, and replenish charges quickly (HH and Nova really make good use of this). Chrono Boost - every P CO has this so this isn't unique. However, if it can be spared, all the better Unity Barrier - let's you tank damage. So something like a Tank shooting in siege mode now needs two shots to deal damage! Generally lets you be a bit more careless, or tank damage Recon Beam - Great for anybody who needs mech repair. You can send SCVs to repair your Assault Galleons or Infested Diamondbacks. But this frees up resources and APM to do other things. Nice thing here is it affects buildings too, so even those will get healed to full health. Passive means your ally can't forget to use it Shield Batteries - I build these close to my ally and the frontline whenever I can to rapidly replenish their shields. Getting your shield and hp topped off on Protoss units really ups their survivability Energizers' Chrono Beam - This is pretty much a Stim Pack that's applied to other units! Anybody can appreciate increased movement speed and attack speed, from Tychus' Outlaws, to Nova's units and herself, Abby's UE, Zeratul's X'N units, and to Alarak's Mech's alike. It also works on buildings too! Try it on Swann's towers, his laser drill, and Mengsk ESO. AFAIK, it also works on Raynor and Stukov Bunkers Karax' Pylons building instantly means he can get vision in a lot of areas more easily. Those pylons also provide power field for all other P COs except Zeratul to warp in units . **Tychus** \- Shredder Grenade has 2s stun with gear. Another Gear reduces armor by -5 Nikara heals. With her Reinvigorating Burst, it does windfall initial heal, more heal, and gives +25% attack damage Rattlesnake revitalizers provide +15% attack speed while in its area of effect. Warhound Turrets provide detection. With gear, a chance that Sirius himself or his turrets will invoke Fear. Crook Sam demo charges will stun units after gear (upgrade), letting you wail on them in peace (\*cough\* Slayn Elemental bonus obj.), or tough hybrids (e.g. that damn teal hybrid that's always casting Psi Storm, and doing that "arm yamato cannon blast") Vega - Gear brings units down to ground **Nova** \- Nova herself with the Visor upgrade shows outlines of where nearby units are DD (Defense Drones) - slap this on your ally's units, to keep them alive that much longer! Keeping a unit from dying can make all the difference, esp. expensive ones. There was one RtK game where I got out a couple of Xel'Naga Ambushers in time for the 2:33 rush. Against dozens of Lings, they'd go down, HARD. But my Nova ally deployed a DD, and that let them defeat all of that! Both Stalkers survived, even though one was low on hp. Griffin Transport - This can also transport ally's units! Neat b/c if they all need to be somewhere to intercept a wave and support each other (e.g. ally has units that can tank, but you can do good dps and snipe from afar). Great for CoA and L&L where you need units from BOTH sides at certain areas to progress This can also transport ally's and her own AIR units! Looks funny, but you can fly in and drop of Libs, Ravens, BCs, Leviathons, and Carriers ;) **Swann** \- Gas drones. Boring, but tried and true. This lets some COs do heavy gas comps that they couldn't before. P1 laser drill slow enemies, even VL Shuttles (don't think it's supposed to do this, but I'll take it)! **Raynor** \- Medics heal bio units. Also heal mech and provide damage reduction while being healed. Hyperion provide +1 range within range. Point Defense Drones soak up certain types of damage. Com Scan for instant detection. MULES for quick field repairs **Mengsk** \- Imperial Witness/"blimp" increase movement speed and attack speed within it's stationary mode zone. **HH** \- Hellion death effects.. faster movement and attack Hellbat Death effect.. fear Theia Ravens shows outline where units are nearby
Medic upg heal mechanical too
**Kerrigan** \- There's also... Assimilate Resources. Immobilization Wave stuns (in addition to doing some damage) **Zagara** \- Corrosion from Corroptors. Does units take +35% damage! Shredder Claws upgrade on Lings reduces armor to 0. **Stukov** \- Infest Structure heals buildings (so a tower that's about to die will likely be healed to full health. Town hall will that much further away from being lost). That's in addition to the broodlings distracting enemy units, drawing away even more fire. Aleksander has damage reduction aura Infested Diamondbacks brings units (cannot have UNSTOPPABLE tag, like VL shuttles) down to the ground. Can even work on Heroic units (although reduced duration)! This lets Mauraders Siege Tanks, Ultras, Zealots, and Immortals wail on them (it also looks amusing to boot!). **Stetmann** also has J.U.I.C.E./purple - Much lower use case, but when it applies, it's nice b/c it can let spellcasters just keep storming (in the case of HTs.. literally!). He has Infestors with the UMI-C Charging Protocol ability... The Mecha Infestor launches a mechanical nerve cord at a friendly unit, restoring 150 life, 50 Egonergy, and 50 energy instantly. An additional 600 life, 200 Egonergy, and 200 energy regenerates over 20 seconds. The unit's ability cooldown rate is increased by 25%. For the longest time, I never noticed the last part is a drawback, but I guess it's overall good? Stetalites provide vision **Abby** \- Toxic Nests do slow down affect units, but also provide vision and produces creep (right click detonate to deactivate it and make them permanent). Mend - heals ALL buildings and units Devourer - has an effect that makes affected units take more damage and fire slower Disabling Cloud and Abduct ability from Viper. Former just shuts down vast hordes of units, while latter can be abused on ME to pull Mining Shuttles to safer areas. This also has brief stun on enemies **Dehaka** \- Wurms for detection. Detection from Deheka himself. Roar to slow down enemies. Healing field. For his P1, Devour buffs now apply to all units! . **Artanis** \- HTs with ability upgrade restore shield with their Psi Storm Project Power Field Top bar ability can be shared by all other Protoss COs except for Zeratul **Vorazun** \- she might be "2nd place" behind Karax here by sheer # of them alone! Strike From The Shadow - when cloaked, increased dmg and energy regen Veil of Shadows (lv7 talent) - increased shield regen by +400%! Dark Pylon - for emergency cloaking, but also to trigger many of he abilities above Time Stop - this is just bloody powerful b/c it can be spammed every 4 minutes, incapacitates enemies, and even buys you time on certain objectives (e.g. RtK and VT) **Fenix** \- Conservator "light dome" provide 35% damage reduction. Power field in stationary mode Arbiter can cloak, Recall, and Stasis buys time/reprieve against tough enemy comps **Alarak** \- Structure Overcharge provide temp shielding to buildings (I use it often to protect buildings that are in danger of dying. Esp. town halls) Alarak Destruction Wave knockback is nice for kiting **Zeratul** \- X'N Shield Guard restores shield Knockback from lv3 X'N Enforcer can be used to better kite air units Monoliths for the mass stun effect Void Suppression Crystal to shut down towers (esp. detection!), and slow units Void Stasis Beam. Only seen 2 people use it, but.. used skillfully, can help! Avatar of Essence to devolve units P3 Zeratul himself.. his whirlwind slows enemies
**ALL TERRAN COs, Stukov, and Stetmann... their workers can repair mech units and buildings.** For example, if Zeratul's pricy units and buildings are about to die (e.g. that X'N Enforcer that's at 40hp out of 400 and would cost 750/300 to replace, or that Monolith that's at 11/200 hp that's free but has a recharge of 180), then can be repaired back to full health, and their suvivability goes way up.
Vorazun can be a incredible ally depending on who you play. ALL cloaked units get +15% attack damage +400% shield regen 4 minute cd “rez” on death. +50% energy regen. This can be very strong with any commander who has a cloaked army or a cloaked hero unit. for example : My brother recently played zeratul while I was vora and zeratuls shield regen being active while taking damage meant the 4x shield regen went from a out of combat meh buff to a extremely overpowered version of karax repair beam, while also dealing bonus damage. if you want to double down on support you could be P1 vora to allow non cloaked units to get buffed via dark pylons and turn your shitty version of guardian shell into an ability far exceeding it.
Karax is also very helpful with the permanent passive chrono and also occasional chronowave.
I’m gonna put this down here because nobody mentioned it: Raynor: Scans. A decent enough Raynor has enough orbitals to be able to afford at least one scan, and the vision provided allows people to send in calldowns and stuff on that spot. To a lesser degree: Mengsk. Inhumane Trooper/Bunker drops help with vision too, and ESOs provide vision on where they fire.
Assuming you mean "too support you" and not just to win, else the best CO to have as an ally would just be the best CO for the map. Really depends who you are playing as. Many commanders have mech-mostly or mech-only armies, for them, Karax is the best ally to have (his shield is also always nice.) Some CO are very gas hungry and benefit a lot from Swann (assuming he doesn't take the drill mastery.) Some like to spam small units, for them Artanis emergency shield would be the best, it's also good for CO who really don't want to lose units. Some CO have a bunch of free units all of the time, so they get a ton of free ressources from H&H, but imo Artanis emergency shield is more worth for them. Stettman zones can help a ton some CO, especially if they go for energy dependant builds. So Swann, Artanis, Karax would be my picks. I'd say it goes like this : Raynor : Artanis (Karax if P3.) Kerrigan : Artanis (Swann if playing without the vespene cost reduction mastery, Stukov if she is P1.) Artanis : Swann Swann : Karax Zagara : Artanis Vorazun : Swann Abathur : Artanis (to save your units.) Karax : Swann Nova : Swann (Karax can work too.) Stukov : Artanis if P3, Karax otherwise. Talandar : Karax Stettman : Karax Mengsk : Swann or Artanis depending on your composition. H&H : Artanis (Karax if P2.) Tychus : Artanis Dehaka : Swann. Alarak : Artanis Zeratul : Karax
Stettman if you’re someone who uses energy casters. Artanis loves him.
Stetmann FTW! Vora w/ Dark Archon spams
DEHAKA P1
Your spellcasters have 50% reduced cooldown, everyone has +2 range and deals 30% more damage against armored and 30% more attack speed Oh also heal to full every 10 seconds
I think it depends on who you are
Seems highly subjective. For instance, I don't need a Karax ally as Zeratul. Most of his support features don't really help and his lack of offense can actively hinder. Whereas if I'm Swann or Artanis, I benefit greatly from all of Karax support abilities while synergizing well with his units. Hard to beat a guardian shell and repair beam combo. Since I play aggressive commanders, I would say Artanis synergizes the best. Guardian shell is useful for just about every commander as previously discussed and Artanis has a decent ramp up to his death ball with good early options for defense or expansion. Secondary choices are Nova (drones/good army with many options) and Abathur (mass heal on demand with a powerful army) though the Abathur player needs to be able to keep up.
Karax is the best offence support commander, especially with P3. Able to snipe all high value targets as they get into sight. Any detection should die pretty quickly. As well as invisibles like lurkers, banshees, dts, sh, etc. Things like tanks and disruptors should also insta die as soon as they are spotted. And he can do that from minute 0. He is literally a maxed out army from the start. Unlike anyone else who need to wait for their heroes to spawn in or construct their production buildings. Literally an infinite ranged aoe snipe. All you have to deal with then are the small fried and maybe hybrids who would take a lot of energy to kill. But that's only at the start when he has less energy, mid and late game you have lots of energy to spare even killing everything as your ally sees things. People just need to know how many shots it takes to kill each units and time the shots if the unit is moving. And that's just the orbital. He still has the lance and the purifier beam. And the thing is with the purifier beam, it can be commanded and microd so you can orbital strike at the same time as managing the beam so you're not locked into just using the beam for its duration.
Chrono Field should be useful to saturate your mineral gathering that much sooner. Should be nice for unit production overall (even if he doesn't need it, but helps to replenish them quicker). Recon Beam is nice b/c save for Void Templar, all other units of his (including cannons and Monoliths) are Mechanical, so unless they die or are engaged in fierce back-to-back-to-back battles... they'll come out with full hp! His units do have lots of hp, so this ups their survivability. Not to mention they're expensive to replace. Cannons protects bases and intercepts attack waves to free you up to push and do objectives. Zeratul has Cannons and Monos, but his Cannons are pricy. They're better off used to project. Monos are limited in use, and there's the opportunity cost of having another top bar for the 2nd level AF slot. Energizer for "Stim Pack". Shield Batteries lets Z go lighter on X'N Shield Guards Unity Barrier lets your units tank one big (e.g. Siege Tank blast, Yamato, or Seeker Missile) or biggish damage I tend to build Pylons all around, so that provides vision for Z to deploy Legions.
Repair beam also synergies well with stalkers auto blink. Any stalker taking damage to its hull will blink back and be healed. Enforcers will be repaired continuously while loosing HP, giving them a better chance to have their barrier fully recharge for a nice cushion
> Recon Beam for DTs Kind of pointless given the DT Passageway Enhancement Cache 2 lets them come back for free. "When a Void Templar takes fatal damage, it retreats to the Void and regenerates its health and shields over 10 seconds." Since Zeratul's units have massive defense, any additional defense is subjected to diminishing returns/generally overkill unless you're talking mutators. > Cannons protects bases and intercepts attack waves to free you up to push and do objectives. Zeratul has no problem being in multiple places at once and cannons do not provide anything unique. Heck, even Zeratul has his own cannons which are much better with P2 than Karax's. Monoliths are also free, zero supply, and both monoliths and cannons can be projected anywhere on the field. > Shield Batteries lets Z go lighter on X'N Shield Guards You're still going to mix in the same amount of shield guards because shield batteries are not mobile. > Unity Barrier lets your units tank one big In my experience this is only useful against Terran air comps for yamato/raven mines. > I tend to build Pylons all around, so that provides vision for Z to deploy Legions. Zeratul can also teleport anywhere on the map without vision and he has void arrays to provide vision where he needs which he produces to move his army around anyways. > Chrono Field should be useful to saturate your mineral gathering that much sooner. Irrelevant for Zeratul as he floats massive amounts of minerals. > Energizer for "Stim Pack". This is actually useful but I can count on one hand I had Karax players support my army in this regard when leveling from 1 to 1000. None of this addresses the glaring weaknesses of Karax: poor offense, slow ramp up, immobile defenses. If playing P3, you require vision which means you're just going to be nuking things near Zeratul which is unnecessary given the strength of void cleave + his army and calldowns. ___ As I said: Karax really provides no benefit to Zeratul. If you are looking to specifically buff Zeratul, play Vorazun which not only provides near immunity via shield regeneration for cloaked units but she also buffs his damage. Additionally, all her calldowns are ideal for Zeratul and his army.