Starcraft 2 news » Co-op Commander Preview: Tychus

For players who enjoy controlling powerful hero units on the battlefield, our newest Co-op Commander Tychus Findlay more than fits the bill.

Playstyle

Tychus controls a group of Outlaws that you recruit from Joey Ray’s Bar. In addition to Tychus, you can recruit four additional unique Outlaws from a total selection of eight. Who you choose to recruit should depend on the mission at hand—the map you’re playing on, the enemy unit composition, active mutators, and your ally’s Commander choice.

Since you don’t need to devote much time to building up your army, you can focus instead on controlling your relatively small, but no less deadly squad. Each of your Outlaws has one primary active ability, and to help you manage your army, you’ll be able to use all these abilities from a single command card whenever you select the Outlaws together.

In addition, you can upgrade your Outlaws’ gear from various facilities, like the Guns’ Hideout, the Muscle Armory, or the Fixers’ Safehouse. Gear upgrades are varied and there’s a lot of decision-making related to how you allocate your resources—do you recruit more Outlaws or upgrade the gear on the ones you already have? You always have options with Tychus, and your success will depend on how well you navigate these decision points.

Design Philosophy

Whenever we design a new Commander, we like to imagine how that Commander would play if they had their own campaign. Lucky for us, Tychus was featured prominently in the original Wings of Liberty campaign. We borrowed a lot from these missions, especially the dungeon crawler “Belly of the Beast.” In this mission, you control four hero units that you meet throughout the campaign—Tychus, Raynor, Swann, and Stetmann. All four are very powerful, which provides a unique twist on the traditional RTS formula.

Which brings us to Tychus himself. Before even the events of the original StarCraft, Tychus Findlay led a special tactics platoon called the Heaven’s Devils. With this inspiration in mind, we committed to designing Tychus around the idea of him controlling a small, elite squad. So in this ultimate “what if” scenario, Tychus will be returning to the world of StarCraft, this time reforming the Heaven’s Devils to help his friend Jimmy in the war against Amon.

Outlaws and Abilities

The Guns

Tychus is the leader of the Heaven’s Devils and is an all-around potent fighter. His Shredder Grenade allows him to deal with clumps of enemies while his armor-shredding chain gun makes short work of individual targets. Crooked Sam is a Reaper who excels at dealing heavy damage against individual targets. His Demolition Charge can eradicate the largest of foes while his Shade Suit helps him stay in the thick of the fight and go toe-to-toe with the fiercest enemies. The Warhound James "Sirius" Sykes can deploy turrets to deal and soak up damage. His upgrades increase his potency against air units and can cause enemies to run in fear, disabling their attacks. His turrets also inherit a lesser version of any of his upgrades.

The Muscle

The Firebat Miles "Blaze" Lewis is perfect for dealing with masses of weak ground units. Drenching his foes in oil and igniting them with his twin flamethrowers, Blaze leaves nothing behind but ash and cinder. Rob "Cannonball" Boswell is one tough HERC and can take loads of punishment. Not only can completely restore his health when taking fatal damage, but he can grapple himself straight into a fight, stunning any enemies in the area. Kev "Rattlesnake" West is a Marauder who is adept at supporting friendly units and dealing with armored ground units. He can use Deploy Replenisher to heal his teammates and boost their attack speed.

The Fixers

Vega is a Ghost who uses her potent psionic abilities to dominate the minds of her opponents. She can temporarily mind control the most powerful units on the battlefield and cause confusion amongst enemy ranks. A powerful Spectre, Nux is potent at dealing with waves of units due to his explosive Ultrasonic Pulse. Not only does he have the strongest area of affect abilities, but he can also decrease the cooldowns of his fellow Outlaws. Lt. Layna Nikara is the toughest medic around and an Outlaw that you want watching your back. Her restorative abilities are second to none. Not only can she heal multiple targets, but she can also shield her allies, allowing them to survive the most devastating attacks.

Top Bar Abilities

Calldown Odin

Tychus can call down his favorite war machine, the Odin. Equipped with massive twin cannons and the devastating Barrage attack, the Odin can be further upgraded with the Big Red Button, giving Tychus the ability to clear a path with nuclear power.

Medivac Pickup

The construction of Medivac Platforms grants the Tychus and his team tactical mobility. Not only can you engage or retreat in a pinch, but the Medivac will heal anyone it transports as well as provide a temporary cloaking field.

Progression

Just Like Old Times

Tychus has a 100 supply maximum and can recruit legendary Outlaws from Joey Ray's Bar. When an Outlaw is killed, they escape death and can be recruited again from the Bar.

More the Merrier

Unlocks the ability to recruit a 5th Outlaw to Tychus' crew.

Odin

Unlocks the ability to call down the Odin at a target location, picking up Tychus and taking him as its pilot and dealing 150 damage on impact. The Odin is controllable and will fight from 60 seconds.

New Unit: Kev "Rattlesnake" West, the Marauder

One of the Muscle. Adept at supporting friendly units and dealing with armored ground units. Can use Deploy Revitilizer.

Engineering Bay Upgrade Cache

Unlocks the following upgrades at the Engineering Bay: Increases the attack speed of Tychus, Crooked Sam, and Sirius by 25%. Increases the life of Blaze, Cannonball, and Rattlesnake by 25%.

New Unit: James "Sirius" Sykes, the Warhound

One of the Guns. Adept at deploying Turrets and imbuing himself and his Turrets with special abilities. Can use Deploy Warhound Turret.

First One’s on the House

Reduces the mineral and gas costs of Tychus' first Outlaw by 50%.

New Unit: Rob "Cannonball" Boswell, the HERC

One of the Muscle. Adept at taking damage and dealing it back. Can use Heavy Impact.

Need a Ride?

Increases the maximum number of Medivacs Platforms from 1 to 3.

New Unit: Vega, the Ghost

One of the Fixers. Adept at taking control of enemy units. Can use Dominate. Can be upgraded to be a Detector.

Five Finger Discount

Reduces the cost of all gear by 100 minerals and 100 gas.

Primary Ultimate Gear Cache

Unlocks the following upgrades: Tychus gains weapon damage for each Outlaw on the field. Crooked Sam gains the ability to reduce the cooldown of Demolition Charge with each attack. Blaze gains the ability to reduce all damage to 30. Lt. Nikara gains the ability to cast a defensive shield around friendly units. Nux gains the ability to reduce the cooldown and charge-up time of all primary Outlaw abilities.

Fully Loaded

Unlocks the following upgrades at the Engineering Bay: Level 4 and 5 Outlaw Weapons research upgrades. Level 4 and 5 Outlaw Life and Armor research upgrades.

Advanced Ultimate Gear Cache

Unlocks the following upgrades: Improves the health and attack damage of Sirius' Warhound Turrets. Rattlesnake gains the ability to deal area of effect damage. Cannonball gains a 30% chance to deal 4x damage on each attack. Improves the duration of Vega's Dominate ability.

Odin: Big Red Button

Unlocks the following upgrade at the Engineering Bay. Replaces the Odin's Barrage ability with a better ability that allows the Odin to call down a nuke.

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Tychus will be available with the release of Patch 4.6.0 . You can pick him up as an individual commander or you can pick up the Master Bundle which includes Tychus the Commander, the new Tychus Announcer, and a bundle exclusive, a Co-op Stimpack. The Co-op Stimpack provides a 50% boost to your combined base and bonus XP.