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
 * Deploy units anywhere on the battlefield via drop pods

Mastery

 * Power Set 1
 * Stimpack Duration: +2% – 60% (up to a maximum of 24s)
 * Speed Increase for Drop-Pod units: +2% – 60%


 * Power Set 2
 * Reduced cooldown for Hyperion *: -3s – 90s (down to a minimum of 270s)
 * Reduced cooldown for Banshee Airstrike *: -4s – 120s (down to a minimum of 120s)
 * (Does not affect initial cooldown at the start of the mission.)


 * Power Set 3
 * Medic heal another target: +3% – 90%
 * Reduced damage when healed by medic: +0.5% – 15%

Units
Raynor has access to the following units and structures:

Talents
Raynor acquires the following talents as he levels up.

Strategies
Raynor is a commander very oriented to the use of the infantry, the firepower of his bioball is very oriented to the units that he chooses to integrate it, marines to counter flying units and to spend the excess of minerals quickly, marauders to counter armored units and firebats to counter light units. Of requiring extra firepower has access to its calldowns and mechanical units. These can even occupy a more main role or displace bioball in special situations.

Power Set 1: Speed Increase for Drop-Pod units
 * Recommended masteries:
 * Full points applies to all units and calldowns; stimpack duration only works on marines.

Power Set 2: Reduced cooldown for Hyperion
 * Full points equates to more opportunities for the Hyperion to reinforce units with anti-air support and exploit the +2 damage area-effect buff. Banshees are situational; best suited for rushing objectives deep behind enemy lines.

Power Set 3: Medic heal additional target
 * Full points allows medics to heal through storm and fungal very easily; helps offset weakness to splash damage. Damage Reduction can work very well; up to 40% reduction with the Stabilizer Medpacks upgrade. Ultimately it's personal preference: Target-damage vs. Splash-damage, and Raynor doesn't have problems with single target damage.

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. Among its aerial units are the Vikings, the banshees and the battlecruisers; Their vikings are relatively inexpensive units that when being made in sufficient amounts and when acquiring their upgrades become one of the strongest antiaircraft units there are, capable of inflicting a large amount of damage in area, with a range so large as to attack from behind while other units handle the damage like bioball or battlecruisers and can travel long distances considerably fast for brief moments, their banshees are effective when you have to counter enemy waves aimed at the almost exclusive use of land units, and can be helped by the dusk wings and their battlecruisers that thanks to their Yamato gun are able to inflict a great deal of damage to their targets and also thanks to their armor and high HP they are able to withstand a great deal of damage.

Toughest Frag Magnets
Raynor focuses primarily on infantry units in his army, with support deriving from 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, or to great effect against the trains and their escorts in oblivion express. 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
Raynor can build combat units 50% faster and orbital drop them anywhere on the field faster than any other commander. The best strategy is to just create a massive army of infantry soldiers supported by either Siege Tanks or Battlecruisers. 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 (i.e. lurkers, reavers, disruptors, banelings, ultralisks, siege tanks, etc.) which can annihilate infantry units. Enemy high templars and infestors can also cause Raynor's infantry a lot of grief.

Show Me The Money
Having multiple orbital command centers will not only give Raynor a strong influx of minerals, but also give him the ability to use multiple scans whenever cloaked units attack. Because of his MULEs, Raynor has the ability to churn out a marines and lower gas cost units with ease, so if the Raynor player goes for a large number of orbital commands a good number of barracks should be put down to compensate for the increased income.

Protoss Commanders
Alarak is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Raynor's large anti-air support infantry increase the effectiveness of Empower Me; Alarak's havocs to boost the attack range of marines. Coordinating their cooldowns allows Raynor to warp the Hyperion to any point on the map, at which point Alarak can immediately send in the Death Fleet to support it, and thereby teleport their armies to the Hyperion en masse. Alarak's wrathwalkers and ascendants can quickly focus down powerful enemy units that pose a threat to Raynor's fragile marines.

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.

Karax is a 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.

Vorazun is a questionable teammate for Raynor. Vorazun is fully capable of annihilating even the toughest enemy forces on its own. Her stealth upgrade is negligible as Raynor's banshees are rarely used; Vorazun's airforce is superior to Raynor's in virtually 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.

Terran Commanders
Swann is a good 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, but it is very helpful if Raynor wants to field higher-tech units. 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 units like marauders, siege tanks, and battlecruisers. Raynor's mechanized units can also benefit from having Swann's science vessels to repair them, or have Swann's SCVs perform repairs without costing anything.

Zerg Commanders
Abathur is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Abathur's mend ability can aid in large engagements when used alongside Raynor's medics. Raynor's marines can also cover Abathur's lack of early game anti-air. In mid-late game, Abathur's heavy units and high area of effect damage goes well with heavy infantry support from Raynor. Mend can also heal Raynor's infantry in huge numbers, saving his medics precious energy.

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 for infantry, and Orbital Drop Pods creates redundancy with Kerrigan's Omega Worm.

Zagara is a questionable teammate for Raynor. Zagara benefits from medics' healing, but it is generally redundant as her army tends to be suicidal. Her aberrations can lead charges while "meat shielding" for Raynor's infantry. Zagara's Mass Frenzy can push Raynor's infantry to absurd speeds and attack rates when they also use stimpacks.

Development

 * Prior to Patch 3.1, Raynor's initial talent Rapid Recruitment was named Infantry Specialist, and had different effects. Additionally, the Improved Stim ability was the standard Stimpack ability in terms of usage; it had to be researched, provides 50% boosts to movement and attack speed, and needed 10 HP to use.
 * The Stabilizer Medpack upgrade also did not reduce the damage taken by units being healed; this passive behavior is called "Safeguard".
 * Developer Comments: Bunkers are not getting a lot of use. They have some upgrades available but they don't help in the early game and have questionable value in terms of cost and time investment later on. Instead of unlocking research at level 7, Raynor will now be able to build upgraded Bunkers at level 7. The life bonus has also been increased slightly.