Jim Raynor (Co-op Missions)

Jim Raynor is a commander in the Co-op Missions mode of Legacy of the Void. He is meant to represent a "standard" terran commander, and his loadout is infantry-based, with access to infantry support units and abilities (such as orbital drop pods, vikings, vultures, firebats, and medics). He has the ability to summon the Hyperion to the field.

Info

 * Recommended for players of all skill levels
 * Calldown and control an elite battlecruiser, the Hyperion
 * Command an infantry army with strategic support units

Abilities
Raynor has the following abilities in Co-op Missions.

Units
Raynor has access to the following units and structures:

Talents
Raynor acquires the following talents as he levels up.

Strategies
While Blizzard has suggested that Raynor is suitable for players of all skill levels, he lacks significant firepower, especially during lower levels. This can make playing Raynor a daunting task on harder difficulties. Being heavily mineral oriented, Raynor is the only commander that can mine substantially more thanks to MULEs, and this obviously promotes marines/medics-spam all game long. However, he is extremely gas starved; you are only able to choose one or two units to build beside marines/medics.

Call In Air Support
Raynor's primary ability is to call down the Hyperion briefly to the battlefield, wreaking havoc on enemy lines. His secondary ability summons a banshee airstrike, which will provide area-of-effect damage during the calldown, as well as putting several Dusk Wing mercenaries on the field temporarily. Battlecruisers are all the air support you'll ever need. Vikings and Banshees can be useful in certain situations; unfortunately, those situations are few and far between, as few maps have significant air threats or are lacking detection.

Toughest Frag Magnets
Raynor focuses primarily on infantry units in his army, with support from minor factory and starport units. Marines, marauders and medics are a classic pairing, while firebats can be added to the mix to make short work of light ground units. Vultures can be useful for their spider mines to guard areas where the player knows enemy attack waves will pass. Siege tanks are particularly useful in Temple of the Past in combination with supply depots, missile turrets, and bunkers. However, outside of this mission you will find little use for them unless you efficiently micro them between siege mode and tank mode.

This Is My Rifle
Since Raynor can build infantry units 50% faster than any other commander, the best strategy is to just create a massive army of foot soldiers. Aside from the occasional air threat, there's rarely a reason to make any other units when playing as Raynor. Just make sure to back up your units with plenty of medics and to have many barracks ready to reinforce your army quickly. Some missions will necessitate getting higher-tier air units, however, especially if the enemy fields splash damage units such as reavers, disruptors, or siege tanks, which can annihilate his infantry easily.

Protoss Commanders
Artanis is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Artansis' Guardian Shell and Shield Overcharge greatly extends the lifespan of Raynor's fragile infantry units, especially against enemy AoE attacks. Artanis' immortals can deal with heavy hybrid behemoths, thus compensating for Raynor's general lack of durable units. Raynor's marines provide superior anti-air capabilities over Artanis's dragoons. Medics can extend the lifespan of zealots, which tend to die rapidly otherwise.

Vorazun is an questionable teammate for Raynor. Vorazun is fully capable of annihilating even the toughest enemy forces on its own. Her stealth upgrade is niglegible as Raynor's banshees are rarely used; Vorazun's airforce is superior to Raynor's in every situation. Raynor's scanner sweeps are invaluable towards her detection issues; Vorazun's oracles have a higher tendency to die than observers. Emergency Recall can be useful to Raynor if Vorazun uses her Dark Pylon smartly, saving his fragile infantry from death. Lastly, Raynor's marines are generally better at anti-air than Vorazun's stalkers, so he can cover against air attacks in her stead while she focuses more on ground forces.

Karax is an questionable teammate for Raynor. With the exception of powerful battlecruisers, Raynor's Rapid Recruitment talent creates redundancy with Chrono Wave. Unity Barrier can make Raynor's infantry slightly more durable. Karax's superior automated defenses allows Raynor to forgo bunkers. Reconstruction Beam may not affect Raynor's infantry, but it can help his mechanized units and bunkers, the latter of which normally have survivability issues at higher difficulties. Vikings and marines compensates for Karax's weak anti-air capabilities.

Terran Commanders
Swann is an questionable teammate for Raynor. Both commander's armies can function perfectly well without the other; Swann's vespene gas production bonus is rarely an issue for Raynor's biorganic infantry. Swann's superior automated turrets allows Raynor to forgo bunkers. True-synergy lies with Swann's tech reactors being constructed for Raynor's buildings, allowing Raynor to double-produce higher-tier marauders, siege tanks, and battlecruisers.

Zerg Commanders
Kerrigan is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Kerrigan benefits from medics' healing; her zerglings and ultralisks can lead charges while "meat shielding" for Raynor's infantry. Unfortunately, Raynor rarely benefits by Kerrigan's Assimilation Aura due to his MULEs and low gas requirements, and Orbital Drop Pods creates redundancy with Kerrigan's Omega Worm.

Zagara is an questionable teammate for Raynor. Zagara benefits from medics' healing; but generally redundant, as her army tends to be suicidal. Her aberrations can lead charges while "meat shielding" for Raynor's infantry.

Development

 * Prior to Patch 3.1, Raynor's initial talent Rapid Recruitment was named Infantry Specialist, and had different effects.
 * The Stabilizer Medpack upgrade also did not reduce the damage taken by units being healed; this passive behavior is called "Safeguard".