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'''Weaknesses''' |
'''Weaknesses''' |
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| − | *Low mass anti-air counters |
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*Ascendants hard to remass |
*Ascendants hard to remass |
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*Lack of mobility |
*Lack of mobility |
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|armor=2 {{SC2ShieldIcon}}<br>2 {{SC2GroundArmorIcon}} |
|armor=2 {{SC2ShieldIcon}}<br>2 {{SC2GroundArmorIcon}} |
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|gun1name=Bane Blades |
|gun1name=Bane Blades |
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| − | |gun1strength=30 |
+ | |gun1strength=30<br>'''Mastery:''' +1 attack damage per '''Alarak Attack Damage''' mastery point. Up to a maximum 60 |
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|gun1ground=x |
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|gun1upgrd= |
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|gun2name=Psionic Lightning |
|gun2name=Psionic Lightning |
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| − | |gun2strength=30 |
+ | |gun2strength=30<br>'''Mastery:''' +1 attack damage per '''Alarak Attack Damage''' mastery point. Up to a maximum 60 |
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|gun2attacks= |
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| − | As a hero unit, Alarak is fragile, but a powerful all-around attacker. His Deadly Charge and Destruction Wave abilities let him deal heavy damage, and does not need energy for them, letting him use them constantly without fear. With a healthy supply of supplicants to support him, Alarak is virtually invincible, automatically healing constantly as he fights. He can also use Destruction Wave to knock enemies into range of his army, |
+ | As a hero unit, Alarak is fragile, but a powerful all-around attacker. His Deadly Charge and Destruction Wave abilities let him deal heavy damage, and does not need energy for them, letting him use them constantly without fear. With a healthy supply of supplicants to support him, Alarak is virtually invincible, automatically healing constantly as he fights. He can also use Destruction Wave to knock enemies into range of his army, both preventing an escape and putting the enemies in closer . |
The utility of Alarak's Empower Me ability cannot be overstated. With enough allied units nearby, Alarak's attacking abilities can deal several hundred damage, letting him decimate waves upon waves of enemies with ease. There is no cap to how strong he can become as long as there are units near him, his power will continue to grow. However, due to its lengthy cooldown, Empower Me is best saved for heavy battles where Alarak will need the boost in offense. |
The utility of Alarak's Empower Me ability cannot be overstated. With enough allied units nearby, Alarak's attacking abilities can deal several hundred damage, letting him decimate waves upon waves of enemies with ease. There is no cap to how strong he can become as long as there are units near him, his power will continue to grow. However, due to its lengthy cooldown, Empower Me is best saved for heavy battles where Alarak will need the boost in offense. |
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Alarak's biggest weakness is that, by himself, he is not very effective; he can kill small groups of enemies alone, but requires a healthy supply of supplicants to keep alive. While his damaging abilities are spammable, they don't do much damage by themselves. Alarak is best used in tandem with a large army that can provide support fire and tributes to heal him, while Alarak himself charges into combat to draw fire and soften up enemies for his followers to finish off. Alone, he is easily overwhelmed and killed. |
Alarak's biggest weakness is that, by himself, he is not very effective; he can kill small groups of enemies alone, but requires a healthy supply of supplicants to keep alive. While his damaging abilities are spammable, they don't do much damage by themselves. Alarak is best used in tandem with a large army that can provide support fire and tributes to heal him, while Alarak himself charges into combat to draw fire and soften up enemies for his followers to finish off. Alone, he is easily overwhelmed and killed. |
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| − | Alarak takes 4 min to |
+ | Alarak takes 4 min to initially spawn at his base. Subsequent respawns take 60 seconds instead. |
===Abilities=== |
===Abilities=== |
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{{CoopAlarakSummonDeathFleet}} |
{{CoopAlarakSummonDeathFleet}} |
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| − | === |
+ | ===Calldown Upgrades=== |
| + | ====Structure Overcharge==== |
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| − | {{CoopThermalLance}} |
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| + | {{CoopAlarakOverchargeAmplification}} |
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| − | {{CoopMassTeleport}} |
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| + | {{CoopProtossWeapons|ground |
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| + | |effect1='''Damage:''' 44 |
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| + | |effect2='''Damage:''' 48 |
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| + | |effect3='''Damage:''' 52 |
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| + | }} |
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| + | {{CoopProtossPlasmaShields|alarak |
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| + | |effect1='''Shields:''' 420<br>'''''Mastery:''''' +8 sp per '''Structure Overcharge Shield and Attack Speed''' mastery point. Up to a maximum 660 |
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| + | |effect2='''Shields:''' 440<br>'''''Mastery:''''' +8 sp per '''Structure Overcharge Shield and Attack Speed''' mastery point. Up to a maximum 680 |
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| + | |effect3='''Shields:''' 460<br>'''''Mastery:''''' +8 sp per '''Structure Overcharge Shield and Attack Speed''' mastery point. Up to a maximum 700 |
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| + | }} |
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| − | ===Death Fleet |
+ | ====Death Fleet==== |
{{CoopAlarakBurningSkies}} |
{{CoopAlarakBurningSkies}} |
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Structure Overcharge is also very effective at clearing out the rocks blocking expansions. A single Structure Overcharge can destroy the main rock, and with full mastery, both of the vespene rocks. An really early expansion for Alarak is a good idea to build up a strong economy quickly, but this comes with the obvious drawback of putting off the player's other building options to focus on saving up for a new nexus and probes to mine. In this circumstance, good usage of Alarak in the early game is important as the player will not have much money to train or upgrade their army. |
Structure Overcharge is also very effective at clearing out the rocks blocking expansions. A single Structure Overcharge can destroy the main rock, and with full mastery, both of the vespene rocks. An really early expansion for Alarak is a good idea to build up a strong economy quickly, but this comes with the obvious drawback of putting off the player's other building options to focus on saving up for a new nexus and probes to mine. In this circumstance, good usage of Alarak in the early game is important as the player will not have much money to train or upgrade their army. |
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| + | |||
| + | Try to use Structure Overcharge whenever you are nearing 3 charges, as they are limited by cooldown rather than resource cost and they contribute considerable damage; if the player is maxed out on charges, then the cooldown stops, preventing the player from getting additional charges. Ideally a player doesn't waste the sheer damage output one Structure Overcharge can potentially provide. |
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===My Life for the Highlord=== |
===My Life for the Highlord=== |
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| + | Alarak himself is mostly useful in the early game to defend his economy and complete objectives while he's still getting his economy going and getting the upgrades he requires to win the game. Late game, the strength of his army will greatly overtake Alarak, but he is still useful with his Empower Me ability, which allows Alarak's power to grow proportionally to the strength of his army, as well as acting as a light tank for his army as he heals himself continually while his enemies die. |
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| − | Alarak himself is key to his army's success, but he must be properly supported by supplicants. While supplicants are ineffective on their own, upgraded they can provide surprisingly effective meatshields - a fully upgraded supplicant has 125 shields with 5 armor. Havoc support boosts their range by 2, patching up their range problem. The player should always have a healthy supply of supplicants to draw enemy fire and provide Alarak sacrifices to heal him. The number of supplicants needed depends on how much the player uses Alarak and his ascendants, as they will quickly sacrifice their allies to restore themselves and even several dozen supplicants can quickly fall, leaving Alarak's stronger, more fragile units unguarded. |
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| + | |||
| + | Supplicant management is important to consider if playing with an Ascendant build. If the player does not quickly kill the enemies attacking him and keeps letting them get free hits off, they run the risk of suffering heavy Supplicant losses as Alarak consumes them to keep himself alive. This is not ideal if Alarak is going for an Ascendant build, as he needs those Supplicants to give his Ascendants additional strength, and continuously losing Supplicants like this will quickly demolish Alarak's mineral reserves. |
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| + | |||
| + | If Alarak opts for a mechanical-based build, then the Supplicants can be better dedicated to keeping Alarak alive instead of saving them for Ascendants, but it is still important to avoid going into battle with no Supplicants. Supplicants are good at drawing enemy fire away from the more fragile Mechanical units, and they provide Alarak with sacrifices he can use to keep himself alive. |
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| + | |||
| + | It is also important to note that if Alarak runs out of Supplicants nearby to consume, he will instead consume a nearby army unit at random to keep himself alive. This can prove disastrous if he consumes an Ascendant with several Power Overwhelming stacks, as this is a huge time commitment that has been suddenly lost. It can be similarly disastrous if Alarak starts to consume large amounts of Slayers, or if he consumes a Wrathwalker or other expensive units. While in a fight with Alarak, it's important to watch the fight and see if it's going badly and Alarak's army is starting to die quickly. If Alarak is running low on Supplicants and rapidly devouring his supply of them, it is best to retreat and come back later with more Supplicants and firepower later on, to avoid Alarak wiping out his own army in an attempt to keep himself alive. If the player is trying to retreat, Alarak's Destruction Wave is quite useful to push enemies away and allow his army to make distance. |
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Keep an eye on supply when building supplicants, as each pair costs 4 supply, and unlike other protoss commanders, Alarak has no quick answer to getting supply blocked. Always be building pylons to support your growing army as resources allow. |
Keep an eye on supply when building supplicants, as each pair costs 4 supply, and unlike other protoss commanders, Alarak has no quick answer to getting supply blocked. Always be building pylons to support your growing army as resources allow. |
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===The Talons of Slayn=== |
===The Talons of Slayn=== |
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| − | Alarak's ascendants are |
+ | Alarak's ascendants are some of the most powerful units Alarak has access to, as they possess two spells that allow Alarak to deal incredibly high damage against enemy units. Psionic Orb is the Ascendants' best method of eliminating enemy waves, as multiple Psionic Orbs stack and can add up into an attack that eliminates even late-game waves incredibly quickly. Mind Blast meanwhile is a heavy damage single target ability with long range, perfect for focusing down powerful enemies including hybrid. With Power Overwhelming, ascendants will gain shield and ability damage each time they use Sacrifice, eventually having over 1000 shields and spells that deal more than three times normal damage. With a group of 20-24 ascendants and Empower Me, it is possible to wipe out an entire enemy compound and all enemies in it in a blink of an eye, as well as any wave at late game. However, to maximize the power of Ascendants, it is important to regularly Sacrifice Supplicants whenever you have the chance; as a result, although Ascendants' Sacrifice is autocast, it may be wise to manually consume Supplicants while outside of battle so that you Ascendants can continue to grow in power even while they're not in combat, and this helps you avoid getting supply blocked or supply capped as well. To ensure that you have a continuous supply of Supplicants to keep powering up Ascendants, it is important that you have maximum mineral income as well as remember to macro, regularly warping in Supplicants and putting those minerals to use. |
| + | Ascendants are particularly weak against structures, as they cannot Mind Blast those and their Psionic Orb does not do high damage to structures at all; Psionic Orb is really only useful against enemy static defense, and nothing else. As such, if Alarak is going to be facing off against structure-based objectives such as Void Slivers or Void Shards, then it may be best to let your ally kill those while you focus on taking out the guarding units instead, or it may be wise to add a higher number of Slayers to better deal damage against those structures. Warping in a Pylon next to the structure and then Overcharging it is also a good way for Alarak to deal high damage against those structures. |
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| ⚫ | Ascendants are unsuited to prolonged combat due to the long cooldown for Sacrifice, and like all protoss casters they appreciate time between battles to recover energy and shields. |
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| + | |||
| ⚫ | Ascendants are unsuited to prolonged combat due to the long cooldown for Sacrifice, and like all protoss casters they appreciate time between battles to recover energy and shields. It is important that you keep an eye on your Ascendants' energy bar before you commit to an attack, as having insufficient energy mid-battle can lead to catastrophic losses for Alarak's army. Careful management of Ascendants is required, as they are quite fragile (at least at first) and quite expensive to replace. |
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===We Are Reforged=== |
===We Are Reforged=== |
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| − | Alarak's robotic forces are |
+ | Alarak's robotic forces are generally much weaker than Alarak's Ascendants as they lack the Ascendant's sheer damage output. As such, they will generally have greater difficulty in taking out enemy waves or bases. That said, they do better than Ascendants in dealing damage to Structures, and they are Alarak's best option when he has not yet reached level 12. Remember to have supplicants to draw fire from these units to protect them, and if for whatever reason a player opts for Wrathwalkers, they can use the Wrathwalker's ability to fire while moving to get free shots and keep the Wrathwalkers out of harm's way. |
| + | Mass Slayer is generally Alarak's best option when using a Mechanical-based composition, as they have the best combination of mobility, durability, and burst damage. Vanguards don't synergize as well with Alarak, as his Destruction Wave can knock enemies out of the way of the Vanguard attacks, and Vanguards tend to miss their attacks against fast moving targets such as Zerglings. Generally players will opt for Slayers if they need an anti-armored option, as Slayers are capable of attacking air units as well and have a similar DPS per cost and DPS per supply to Vanguards (possibly even higher if you account for their Blink ability). Wrathwalkers are best used if there aren't a lot of small, swarmy units you're going to be facing, and if you're going to be heavily attacking structures, as anti-structure damage is where Wrathwalkers truly shine. If there aren't a lot of structures that need to be killed, or if you're going to be facing a lot of small, swarmy units, then it's best to stick with Ascendants or Slayers. |
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| − | War prisms provide a critical support unit for Alarak by virtue of a power field, letting him warp in more ascendants and supplicants in the field if the player has overextended themselves. They also occupy a good support role as Alarak's sole air unit, though their offensive utility is minimal. If nothing else, war prisms make a decent mineral dump in lieu of ascendants, but the player is usually better off building more wrathwalkers and vanguards. |
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| + | |||
| + | War prisms are somewhat overshadowed in Alarak's army, as they are generally set aside in favor of proxy Pylons, which are cheaper and provide additional supply for Alarak. Additionally, proxy Pylons can be Overcharge to give additional damage during an attack, and proxy Pylons do not require Robotics Facility tech to build. That said, War Prisms are an acceptable alternative if the player is willing to continuously micro the War Prism around, and they can be Overcharged in order to contribute additional damage to an attack, but they compete strongly with proxy Pylons if the player wants to use Overcharges offensively. |
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===The Death Fleet Descends=== |
===The Death Fleet Descends=== |
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Alarak's Death Fleet calldown is not as powerful offensively as other commander calldowns, such as the Apocalisk or Hyperion. His units are easily overwhelmed by large numbers of enemy air defenses, and even his mothership can quickly fall. As of patch 4.9.0, it's damage is up to 59x6 per volley for 345 damage max (since all air units start with level 3 attack upgrades) and with its Thermal Lance, it can deal high amounts of damage. The Death Fleet, like Alarak and his ascendants, is best used to support Alarak's main army and help them overwhelm a fortified enemy position neither could do alone. The Death Fleet provides Alarak with additional anti-air firepower and air support, two things Alarak is usually in need of when attacking a base. |
Alarak's Death Fleet calldown is not as powerful offensively as other commander calldowns, such as the Apocalisk or Hyperion. His units are easily overwhelmed by large numbers of enemy air defenses, and even his mothership can quickly fall. As of patch 4.9.0, it's damage is up to 59x6 per volley for 345 damage max (since all air units start with level 3 attack upgrades) and with its Thermal Lance, it can deal high amounts of damage. The Death Fleet, like Alarak and his ascendants, is best used to support Alarak's main army and help them overwhelm a fortified enemy position neither could do alone. The Death Fleet provides Alarak with additional anti-air firepower and air support, two things Alarak is usually in need of when attacking a base. |
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| − | The mothership's Mass Teleport ability is very useful |
+ | The mothership's Mass Teleport ability is very useful and is likely its most useful asset, as it temporarily nullifies . With no cooldown, it possesses the ability to rapidly teleport itself and allied armies around the map. Use scouts to find points of weakness and targets of opportunities, and have the mothership warp itself and your army there for a backdoor attack. Alternatively if the battle is going poorly, quickly warp back to base to minimize losses, gather reinforcements, and re-enter the fray. |
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| − | Perhaps the Death Fleet's greatest strength is that, as a calldown, the units can be deployed anywhere Alarak has vision and they are expendable. |
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==Synergies== |
==Synergies== |
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===Protoss Commanders=== |
===Protoss Commanders=== |
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| − | [[Artanis (Co-op Missions)|'''Artanis''']] |
+ | [[Artanis (Co-op Missions)|'''Artanis''']] synergizes decently with Alarak. This Guardian Shell can protect Alarak's Ascendants while they are still gaining Power Overwhelming stacks, or it can protect Alarak in the early game to allow him to be a bit more aggressive than normal. This same Guardian Shell can also protect Alarak's Supplicants to allow them to live as fodder for Ascendants and Alarak, preventing enemies from killing Supplicants prior to the Sacrifice. Artanis's Power Field allow for faster reinforcements with a Slayer build if Alarak opts for such a build, or it can provide faster Supplicants if it is deemed necessary. |
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| ⚫ | [[Karax (Co-op Missions)|'''Karax''']] is a moderately effective teammate for Alarak. While Alarak is geared towards overwhelming offense, Karax favors impenetrable defense. Thus Alarak can focus his attention on attacking the enemy while Karax defends their bases and uses his calldown abilities to focus down stronger units Alarak may have trouble with. Reconstruction Beam is invaluable to support Alarak's fragile wrathwalkers and vanguards, and carriers with repair drones makes a powerful army combined with Alarak's robotic forces. The player can use Alarak's Structure Overcharge to power up Karax's defenses even further when faced with an overwhelming enemy force. |
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| − | [[Vorazun (Co-op Missions)|'''Vorazun''']] is a good teammate for Alarak, supplementing the latter's low DPS with hers. Emergency Recall will save his valuable havocs, and her corsairs and void rays provide powerful air support to supplement Alarak's ground-focused armies. In large offensive battles, Alarak can use the mothership summoned by the Death Fleet to warp to the players' bases to retrieve units saved by Emergency Recall, then teleport them back to the front lines. Black Hole can set up large numbers of enemy ground units, particularly hybrid, to be decimated by Alarak's vanguards and ascendants, or to be trapped by Force Fields. Alarak's havocs alleviate Vorazun's reliance on oracles for detection, saving her time having to tech to stargates. Alarak's expendable army can act as distraction for Vorazun's dark templar groups to punch through enemy defenses. |
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| ⚫ | [[Karax (Co-op Missions)|'''Karax''']] is a moderately effective teammate for Alarak. While Alarak is geared towards overwhelming offense, Karax favors impenetrable defense. Thus Alarak can focus his attention on attacking the enemy while Karax defends their bases and uses his calldown abilities to focus down stronger units Alarak may have trouble with. Reconstruction Beam is invaluable to support Alarak's fragile wrathwalkers and vanguards, and carriers with repair drones makes a powerful army combined with Alarak's robotic forces. The player can use Alarak's Structure Overcharge to power up Karax's defenses even further when faced with an overwhelming enemy force. Karax's Spear of Adun abilities, which have global range, can help with Alarak's weaker mobility, allowing Karax to eliminate the enemies Alarak may have difficulty reaching in time. |
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| − | [[Fenix (Co-op Missions)|'''Fenix''']] and Alarak are dependent on practice and proper strategy, without those elements, their synergy is terrible. At first glance, their armies and hero capabilities overlap and render each other redundant. But with proper management, they can become a duo with an extremely lethal, albeit fragile, fighting force. Except when one commander tries to rush his or her super units, carriers or wrathwalkers. |
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| + | [[Vorazun (Co-op Missions)|'''Vorazun''']] is a good teammate for Alarak. Her Dark Pylon can function both as an attacking structure with Structure Overcharge, as well as a means to offset Alarak's low mobility. Vorazun's high DPS Dark Templar provide excellent anti-structure damage, which is of great assistance to the low anti-structure damage an Ascendant build has. Black Hole synergizes particularly well with the large amount of splash damage Alarak can inflict with his Ascendants, as well as allowing Alarak's Destruction Wave to hit more enemy units, which can be deadly if Alarak is buffed by Empower Me. Alarak's havocs alleviate Vorazun's reliance on oracles for detection, which can allow Vorazun to skip Stargates if Alarak can consistent have his Havocs follow Vorazun's forces. Alarak's expendable army can act as distraction for Vorazun's dark templar groups to punch through enemy defenses. |
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| − | Fenix's high DPS army and Alarak's anti-armor abilities complement one another perfectly if the players use mixed forces. Fenix should use his adepts, scouts, immortals, colossi, and carriers while Alarak uses supplicants, slayers, havocs, vanguards, and wrathwalkers. This mixture of DPS and siege weaponry will allow the two commanders to overrun enemy forces with sheer firepower. |
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| + | [[Fenix (Co-op Missions)|'''Fenix''']] can be of high value to Alarak with his Cybros Arbiter, which can use Mass Recall for swift relocation of Alarak's forces to offset his low mobility. Alarak's exceptional wave-clearing ability can compensate for Fenix's lack thereof. |
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| − | With effort and management, Alarak and Fenix can work well together as hero units. Alarak can provide crowd control to keep Fenix alive via his abilities or the Death Fleet, and Fenix can provide the DPS to keep Alarak recharging. |
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===Terran Commanders=== |
===Terran Commanders=== |
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| − | [[Jim Raynor (Co-op Missions)|'''Raynor''']] is an excellent teammate for Alarak, providing a large army to increase the effectiveness of Empower Me |
+ | [[Jim Raynor (Co-op Missions)|'''Raynor''']] is an excellent teammate for Alarak, providing a large army to increase the effectiveness of Empower Me. Alarak in turn can provide havocs to boost the attack range of marines. Combining 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, or teleport their armies to the ''Hyperion'' en masse if desired. Alarak's Ascendants can quickly eliminate any enemy units that stand in their way, particularly units that threaten bio units such as High Templar or Colossi, allowing for Raynor's high DPS bio army to finish off the remains unimpeded. Raynor can provide Medics to provide sustainability to Supplicants or Mechanical units, allowing Alarak's army to last much longer. |
| − | [[Rory Swann (Co-op Missions)|'''Swann''']] |
+ | [[Rory Swann (Co-op Missions)|'''Swann''']]'s main synergy with Alarak comes from his Science Vessels and Vespene Drones. Science Vessels can sustain a mechanical-based army, and Vespene Drones allow Alarak to build said mechanical army much faster. Swann's global mobility with Hercules dropships allows him to intercept attack waves much faster than Alarak usually can, which can allow Swann to compensate for Alarak's sluggishness. Alarak's access to Force Fields and knockback with Destruction Wave can be of some value to Siege Tanks, buying them additional time to blast at the enemy, but this situation rarely occurs in practice. Structure Overcharge can assist Swann's defense should the need arise. |
| − | [[Nova Terra (Co-op Missions)|'''Nova''']] |
+ | [[Nova Terra (Co-op Missions)|'''Nova's''']]''' '''has mostly modest synergy with Alarak. Her small army won't give him nearly as much power when he uses Empower Me. Furthermore, neither one is really excel at defense (since Alarak's Structure Overcharge has cooldowns on its charges). Tactical Airlift has a shorter cooldown than the Death Fleet, and Alarak will appreciate intelligent usage of the airlift while the Death Fleet is on cooldown. Alarak's havocs can extend the range of Nova's army and could provide protection with Force Field, but this is mostly useful in the early game when Nova doesn't have the economy to back up heavier Griffin Airstrike usage yet. Alarak can donate 2 or 3 of his gas geysers to Nova if he wants once he finishes his initial investment into upgrades and Ascendants. Nova's ravens can heal Alarak's units as needed. |
[[Han and Horner (Co-op Missions)|'''Han and Horner''']] provide a large army of cheap units, making Empower Me very powerful when used alongside them. If Han and Horner go a heavier reaper/hellion/hellbat composition, it makes Alarak's Empower Me into a devastating ability. Both Alarak's [[havoc]]s and Horner's Theia ravens have variations on the Target Lock/Sense Weakness ability, increasing the damage both armies do to surrounding units. Han and Horner also have heavier air units, which can mop up after Alarak's ascendants have laid down their Psionic Orbs and Mind Blasts. |
[[Han and Horner (Co-op Missions)|'''Han and Horner''']] provide a large army of cheap units, making Empower Me very powerful when used alongside them. If Han and Horner go a heavier reaper/hellion/hellbat composition, it makes Alarak's Empower Me into a devastating ability. Both Alarak's [[havoc]]s and Horner's Theia ravens have variations on the Target Lock/Sense Weakness ability, increasing the damage both armies do to surrounding units. Han and Horner also have heavier air units, which can mop up after Alarak's ascendants have laid down their Psionic Orbs and Mind Blasts. |
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===Zerg Commanders=== |
===Zerg Commanders=== |
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| − | [[Sarah Kerrigan (Co-op Missions)|'''Kerrigan''']] is an |
+ | [[Sarah Kerrigan (Co-op Missions)|'''Kerrigan''']] is an ally that synergizes very well with Alarak. Kerrigan's raptors and upgraded torrasques can bypass Alarak's supplicants to get into melee range easily, allowing them to reach the enemy much more easily, while hydralisks fire from behind them and ascendants from behind them, which can help minimize how much the two armies conflict with each other. Kerrigan's Omega Worms are also of great value to Alarak, as the worms can both greatly assist Alarak's meager mobility as well as function as very tanky, high-DPS turrets if Alarak chooses to Overcharge them. Alaraks' Havocs can bolster the range of Hydralisks to give them a very long attack range, but given that Hydralisks will usually be travelling inside of Omega Worms and thus leave any following Havocs behind, it can be rather cumbersome for Alarak to repeatedly micro his Havocs and trying to have them travel alongside the Hydralisks; as such, if Kerrigan is travelling very heavily with Omega Worms, it may be wise to place those Havocs in Alarak's army instead of having them continuously be left behind by the Hydralisks. |
| − | [[Zagara (Co-op Missions)|'''Zagara''']] is |
+ | [[Zagara (Co-op Missions)|'''Zagara''']] is a moderately effective teammate for Alarak. She provides a very large army for Alarak's Empower Me ability, and her swarmlings provide expendable melee troops to enter battle with Alarak. Supplicants shielded by aberrations are surprisingly effective tanks due to their defensive buffs. Alarak can use Destruction Wave to knock enemies into the range of Zagara's mostly short-ranged army. Ascendants can easily eliminate late-game attack waves, which Zagara can have considerable some difficulty with, especially on harder mutations. Mass Frenzy is of very limited value to an Ascendant build, as such a build has very low auto-attack damage, but it does benefit a Slayer or a Robotics build much more heavily, and can bolster their otherwise lower damage output. |
| − | [[Abathur (Co-op Missions)|'''Abathur''']] |
+ | [[Abathur (Co-op Missions)|'''Abathur''']] posesses modest synergy with Alarak. Alarak can knock enemies into Toxic Nests with his Destruction Wave, but if he's not careful he can instead knock enemies away from the Toxic Nests, which can reduce Abathur's biomass supply early on in the game. Thus, Alarak should pay attention to where he throws his enemies if he wants to be more beneficial to an Abathur ally. When paired, it is best for Alarak to focus on a ground army (which is his only viable option anyways as he lacks a Stargate) while Abathur gets an aerial army, to minimize the two armies constantly colliding with each other. In addition to mend, Swarm Queens can empower Alarak while also using rapid transfusion to sustain his forces. Because of Alarak's damage output, it should be easy to kill large numbers of enemies while leaving Abathur to collect more biomass so brutalisks and leviathans draw fire away from Alarak, keeping him and his supplicants alive longer. In a pinch, Alarak and expensive army units can be abducted to safety. Further empowerment is possible with large groups of locusts, which could either come from a large group of enemies that have been killed, or they could come from Swarm Hosts if Abathur chooses not to go with an aerial army for that game. |
| − | [[Alexei Stukov (Co-op Missions)|'''Stukov''']] |
+ | [[Alexei Stukov (Co-op Missions)|'''Stukov''']] provides mostly basic synergy with Alarak, as their most useful synergy is mostly Infested bolstering Alarak's Empower Me and doesn't go very far beyond this. That said, Stukov's infested infantry does provide plenty of fuel for Empower Me in addition to screening very well for Ascendants while they are in their weaker stages, as well as functioning as cleanup duty to take out leftover structures and weaker enemies while Alarak moves on to clear another area of enemies. In addition, Structure Overcharge can be used on Stukov's forward structures, but it is important to note that unfortunately, Infested Bunkers will not attack enemies with the Structure Overcharge weapon if they are uprooted; they must be rooted to attack with the Structure Overcharge weapon. They will still benefit from Structure Overcharge's shield in both rooted and uprooted form, however. Structure Overcharge can be combined with Infest Structure to allow for a very stalwart, if temporary, defense; while this shouldn't be relied on as a long-term solution, it can work very well as a short-term stopgap for an enemy attack. Stukov's Infested Diamondbacks can bring down air units for Vanguards to attack, which may seem like a good idea if you're up against an air composition, but in practice, it can be quite risky as this leaves Alarak completely dependant on Stukov's Diamondbacks in this case; if you're against an air composition, you're really better off building Ascendants or Slayers instead and allowing Stukov to focus his efforts elsewhere instead of babysitting you. |
| − | [[Dehaka (Co-op Missions)|'''Dehaka''']] and Alarak have some power together, but mostly aren’t the most powerful of combinations. Both rely on powerful hero units that are designed to take the brunt of a lot of damage, which |
+ | [[Dehaka (Co-op Missions)|'''Dehaka''']] and Alarak have some power together, but mostly aren’t the most powerful of combinations. Both rely on powerful hero units that are designed to take the brunt of a lot of damage, which can work early game as Dehaka is still working on levelling up his hero unit. Dehaka's primal pack leaders can provide global presence that Alarak otherwise lacks, which can be helpful if his Death Fleet is unavailable. Alarak can use Structure Overcharge on Primal Wurms to give them additional power and durability, and the Primal Wurms can Deep Tunnel towards enemies to avoid wasting the Structure Overcharge; unfortunately, Structure Overcharge does not work on Greater Primal Wurms. |
==Achievements== |
==Achievements== |
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Revision as of 16:24, 11 May 2020
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- Commander blurb(src)
Alarak is a commander in Co-op Missions introduced in Patch 3.6. Alarak personally takes the field as a hero unit similar to Kerrigan and Zagara. In addition, he has the ability to field powerful Tal'darim units, and call down the Death Fleet to annihilate his foes.[1]
Overview
- Alarak(src)
Alarak functions as a hero unit, taking the field personally. He retains his soul absorption, destruction wave and deadly charge abilities from Legacy of the Void, and an ability named Empower Me, which allows him to gain power from nearby friendly units. In addition, Alarak is able to use photon overcharge on structures, as well as summon a Tal'darim mothership surrounded by destroyers.[1][2]
Info
- Recommended for experienced players
- Control Alarak directly on the battlefield, using his devastating abilities to change the tide of battle
- Alarak can use the lifeforce of both friend and foe to sustain his essence and increase his power
- Command an army of loyal and fanatical Tal'darim units
Mastery
- Power Set 1
- Alarak Attack Damage: +1 – +30
- Combat Units Attack Speed: +0.5% – +15%
- Power Set 2
- Empower Me duration: +1 sec – +30 sec (up to a maximum of 50 sec)
- Death Fleet cooldown: -4 sec – -120 sec (down to a minimum of 240 sec)
- (Does not affect the initial cooldown at the start of the mission)
- Power Set 3
- Structure Overcharge Shield and Attack Speed: +2% – +60%
- Chrono Boost Efficiency: +1% – +30%
Game Unit
As a hero unit, Alarak is fragile, but a powerful all-around attacker. His Deadly Charge and Destruction Wave abilities let him deal heavy damage, and does not need energy for them, letting him use them constantly without fear. With a healthy supply of supplicants to support him, Alarak is virtually invincible, automatically healing constantly as he fights. He can also use Destruction Wave to knock enemies into range of his army, both preventing an escape and putting the enemies in closer .
The utility of Alarak's Empower Me ability cannot be overstated. With enough allied units nearby, Alarak's attacking abilities can deal several hundred damage, letting him decimate waves upon waves of enemies with ease. There is no cap to how strong he can become as long as there are units near him, his power will continue to grow. However, due to its lengthy cooldown, Empower Me is best saved for heavy battles where Alarak will need the boost in offense.
Alarak's biggest weakness is that, by himself, he is not very effective; he can kill small groups of enemies alone, but requires a healthy supply of supplicants to keep alive. While his damaging abilities are spammable, they don't do much damage by themselves. Alarak is best used in tandem with a large army that can provide support fire and tributes to heal him, while Alarak himself charges into combat to draw fire and soften up enemies for his followers to finish off. Alone, he is easily overwhelmed and killed.
Alarak takes 4 min to initially spawn at his base. Subsequent respawns take 60 seconds instead.
Abilities
Alarak has the following abilities as a hero unit:
Alarak intercepts target enemy unit and strikes it for 200 damage. Can be used to move through units and up and down cliffs.
Aggressive Tactics: Increases the Deadly Charge' cast range by 3 and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
Artificer of Souls: Reduces the Deadly Charge' damage from 200 to 100.
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Unleashes a massive wave of force in a straight line, dealing 50 damage to enemies in its path and knocking them back by 3 range. Heroic units are not knocked back.
Artificer of Souls: Reduces the Destruction Wave' damage from 50 to 25.
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Unlocks Alarak's Empower Me ability, which grants him increased attack and ability damage for each nearby friendly unit. This effect lasts for 20 seconds.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Upgrades
Researched
Alarak's melee attacks stun enemies for 2 seconds. Heroic units are slowed instead.
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Destruction Wave knocks enemies back twice as far.
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Talents
Alarak heals 20 life and restores 20 shields when a nearby enemy unit is slain.
Alarak steals life from nearby units you control to heal himself when he is near death. This ability has no cooldown.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Increases the range of Alarak's Deadly Charge by 3 and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Sacrificing a supplicant causes Alarak's next Deadly Charge to deal an additional 50 damage to 4 enemy units near the primary target.
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Alarak attacks deal splash damage while Empower Me is active.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Reduces the cooldown of Alarak Deadly Charge by 10 seconds and Destruction Wave by 5 seconds whenever a supplicant is sacrificed.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Calldown Abilities
Alarak has the following abilities activated from the top menu.
Energizes target friendly structure or War Prism in Phasing Mode, allowing it to attack nearby enemy ground and air units. Can store up to 3 charges.
Overcharge Amplification: Structure Overcharge additionally grants a Barrier that absorbs up to 400 damage.
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Unlocks the ability to warp in a Tal'darim Mothership and an escort of destroyers with timed life. Summon the Death Fleet from the top panel.
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Calldown Upgrades
Structure Overcharge
Structure Overcharge now also grants a Barrier that absorbs up to 400 damage.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Increases the attack damage of all protoss units.
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Passive
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Increases the shield armor of all protoss units and structures.
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Passive
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Death Fleet
Unlocks the mothership's Thermal Lance ability and warps in 4 additional destroyers when summoning the Death Fleet.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Army Composition
Units and Structures
Alarak has access to the following units and structures:[1][2][3]
| Icon | Unit | Details | Production | Base Statistics: |
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Supplicant | Short range warrior. Sacrifices itself to heal Alarak when he is near death. Supplicants are warped in two at a time.
Can attack ground units. |
150  4  28 (21 Warp Gate cooldown) |
Life: 75 / Shields: 125 / Armor: 0
Blood orb MS: 3 |
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Slayer | Ranged attack strider. Can use Blink and Phasing Armor abilities.
Can attack ground and air units. |
125 50  2 42 (32 Warp Gate cooldown) |
Life: 80 / Shields: 80 / Armor: 1
Particle disruptors MS: 2.95 |
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Havoc | Robotic support unit. Can use Target Lock, Squad Sight and Force Field abilities. | 50 100 1 37 (32 Warp Gate cooldown) |
Life: 40 / Shields: 40 / Armor: 1
MS: 2.25 |
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Ascendant | Potent psionic master. Can use Psionic Orb, Mind Blast and Sacrifice abilities. Can attack ground units. (Unlocks at level 8) |
50 150 2 55 (45 Warp Gate cooldown) |
Life: 40 / Shields: 40 / Armor: 0
Agonizing blast MS: 2.25 |
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Vanguard | Assault strider. His attacks deal damage in an area around target enemy unit.
Can attack ground units |
250 100 4 55 |
Life: 200 / Shields: 100 / Armor: 1
Scatter cannons MS: 2.25 |
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Wrathwalker | Battle strider with a powerful single target attack. Can walk up and down cliffs.
Before upgrade: Can attack ground units. After upgrade: Can attack ground and air units. |
300 200 6 75 |
Life: 200 / Shields: 150 / Armor: 1
Charged blast MS: 2 |
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War prism | Flying transport. Can load and unload units. Can also deploy to create a power field.
Can attack ground and air units. |
150 2 50 |
Life: 100 / Shields: 100 / Armor: 0
Phase blaster MS: 3.38 |
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Photon Cannon | Primary defensive structure.
Can attack ground and air units. |
150 40 |
Life: 150 / Shields: 150 / Armor: 1
Phase disruptor |
Talent Progression
Alarak acquires the following talents as he levels up.
Alarak heals 20 life and restores 20 shields when a nearby enemy unit is slain.
Alarak steals life from nearby units you control to heal himself when he is near death. This ability has no cooldown.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Structure Overcharge now also grants a Barrier that absorbs up to 400 damage.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Increases the range of Alarak's Deadly Charge by 3 and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the following upgrades at the death council:
• Supplicants gain +25 shields.
• Allow slayers to become temporarily invulnerable after taking damage.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks Alarak's Empower Me ability, which grants him increased attack and ability damage for each nearby friendly unit. This effect lasts for 20 seconds.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the following upgrades at the robotics bay:
• Increase the vanguard's splash damage area by 30%.
• Increase the wrathwalker's attack speed.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Sacrificing a supplicant causes Alarak's next Deadly Charge to deal an additional 50 damage to 4 enemy units near the primary target.
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Allows Alarak to warp in ascendants from the gateway. Requires a ascendant archives.
Potent psionic master. Can use Psionic Orb, Mind Blast and Sacrifice.
Can attack ground units.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the following upgrades at the cybernetics core:
• Increase Target Lock's bonus damage by an additional 15%.
• Increase the radius of Squad Sight and the range of Target Lock and Force Field.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the ability to warp in a Tal'darim Mothership and an escort of destroyers with timed life. Summon the Death Fleet from the top panel.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Alarak attacks deal splash damage while Empower Me is active.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the following upgrades at the ascendant archives:
• Increase the travel distance of the ascendant's Psionic Orb.
• Sacrifice grants ascendants a stacking permanent increase to ability damage and shields.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Unlocks the mothership's Thermal Lance ability and warps in 4 additional destroyers when summoning the Death Fleet.
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Unlocks the following upgrades at the forge:
• Allow Alarak's basic attacks to stun enemies and slow heroic enemies for 2 seconds.
• Increase Destruction Wave's knockback distance by 100%.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Reduces the cooldown of Alarak Deadly Charge by 10 seconds and Destruction Wave by 5 seconds whenever a supplicant is sacrificed.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
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Strategies
Alarak and his forces are all about overwhelming offense. His units are fragile and easily killed if not protected, as is Alarak himself, but they can quickly decimate enemy forces. Alarak tends to have large numbers of supplicants to soak up enemy fire while his ascendants, vanguards, and wrathwalkers provide the damage output. Proper microing of these units to maximize their utility and keep them out of danger is important to success.
- Recommended masteries
Power Set 1: Alarak Attack Damage (with Ascendants)
- ☀Alarak attack damage: +1 – +30
- If going Ascendants, unit attack speed isn't that useful, and it gives Alarak more power early-game, if going mech on the other hand the attack speed mastery will be the stronger choice mid-late game.
Power Set 2: Death Fleet cooldown
- ☀Death Fleet cooldown: -4 sec – -120 sec
- With full masteries, the Death Fleet cooldown get down to only 4 min, with good planning, you can use it pretty reliably to bust your forces while assaulting hard defend areas and take down objectives.
Power Set 3: Structure Overcharge Shield and Attack Speed
- ☀Structure Overcharge shield and attack speed: +2% – +60%
- At full mastery Alarak can use Structure Overcharge to quickly break the rocks blocking his expansions. He will also be able to hold off enemy attacks without an army.
Later on it can also be used offensively with War Prism in phase mode.
Empower Me, Minions
Empower Me increases the damage of Alarak's attacks and spells by a flat amount/percentage based off the supply of allied units near Alarak during the effect. This includes certain heroic and spawned units. The increases for Alarak's attacks and spells are as follows:
- Attack Damage increases by 1 per supply, and
- Ability Damage increases by 5% per supply up to 100 supply, and half that amount for each supply past 100.
- Formulas:
- Attack Damage = (default dmg) + Z
- Ability Damage = (default dmg) + [(default dmg)*(X * 0.05)+(default dmg)*(Y * 0.025)]
- X = supply near Alarak up to 100
- Y = supply near Alarak above 100
- Z = supply near Alarak
Many heroic units and calldowns contribute supply to Empower Me's buff. Notable cases include Raynor's Hyperion, Stukov's Aleksander, Vorazun's shadow guards, and Abathur's Leviathans (3 supply per unit). Abathur's Brutalisks count for 8 supply per unit, and heroic commander units such as Kerrigan, Zagara, Nova, Fenix and Dehaka count as 3 supply per unit. Dehaka's Glevig, Murvar, and Dakrun don't affect Empower Me. Alarak's Death Fleet calldown counts as 42 supply (Mothership (10 supplies) and Destroyers (4 supply multiplied by 8 destroyers), working exceptionally well in tandem with Empower Me usage. While structures do not normally contribute to Empower Me, any of Stukov's infested bunkers contribute 4 supply if they are uprooted in Empower Me's AOE. MULEs, interceptors, creepers, broodlings, assault drones, and locusts don't affect Empower Me. An Assault Galleon only contributes supply when equipped with a Drone Hangar.
Hostile Forces Approaching. Break Them
Alarak's Structure Overcharge power is very effective at halting unexpected enemy attacks, especially when mastery levels are put into it to increase its defensive shield and attack rate. Unless playing a defense-heavy mission, Alarak can completely forego photon cannons and build a couple of extra gateways to overcharge as needed. It is best to overcharge high-HP buildings clumped with each other, to make it more difficult for enemy troops to get into attack range.
Structure Overcharge is also very effective at clearing out the rocks blocking expansions. A single Structure Overcharge can destroy the main rock, and with full mastery, both of the vespene rocks. An really early expansion for Alarak is a good idea to build up a strong economy quickly, but this comes with the obvious drawback of putting off the player's other building options to focus on saving up for a new nexus and probes to mine. In this circumstance, good usage of Alarak in the early game is important as the player will not have much money to train or upgrade their army.
Try to use Structure Overcharge whenever you are nearing 3 charges, as they are limited by cooldown rather than resource cost and they contribute considerable damage; if the player is maxed out on charges, then the cooldown stops, preventing the player from getting additional charges. Ideally a player doesn't waste the sheer damage output one Structure Overcharge can potentially provide.
My Life for the Highlord
Alarak himself is mostly useful in the early game to defend his economy and complete objectives while he's still getting his economy going and getting the upgrades he requires to win the game. Late game, the strength of his army will greatly overtake Alarak, but he is still useful with his Empower Me ability, which allows Alarak's power to grow proportionally to the strength of his army, as well as acting as a light tank for his army as he heals himself continually while his enemies die.
Supplicant management is important to consider if playing with an Ascendant build. If the player does not quickly kill the enemies attacking him and keeps letting them get free hits off, they run the risk of suffering heavy Supplicant losses as Alarak consumes them to keep himself alive. This is not ideal if Alarak is going for an Ascendant build, as he needs those Supplicants to give his Ascendants additional strength, and continuously losing Supplicants like this will quickly demolish Alarak's mineral reserves.
If Alarak opts for a mechanical-based build, then the Supplicants can be better dedicated to keeping Alarak alive instead of saving them for Ascendants, but it is still important to avoid going into battle with no Supplicants. Supplicants are good at drawing enemy fire away from the more fragile Mechanical units, and they provide Alarak with sacrifices he can use to keep himself alive.
It is also important to note that if Alarak runs out of Supplicants nearby to consume, he will instead consume a nearby army unit at random to keep himself alive. This can prove disastrous if he consumes an Ascendant with several Power Overwhelming stacks, as this is a huge time commitment that has been suddenly lost. It can be similarly disastrous if Alarak starts to consume large amounts of Slayers, or if he consumes a Wrathwalker or other expensive units. While in a fight with Alarak, it's important to watch the fight and see if it's going badly and Alarak's army is starting to die quickly. If Alarak is running low on Supplicants and rapidly devouring his supply of them, it is best to retreat and come back later with more Supplicants and firepower later on, to avoid Alarak wiping out his own army in an attempt to keep himself alive. If the player is trying to retreat, Alarak's Destruction Wave is quite useful to push enemies away and allow his army to make distance.
Keep an eye on supply when building supplicants, as each pair costs 4 supply, and unlike other protoss commanders, Alarak has no quick answer to getting supply blocked. Always be building pylons to support your growing army as resources allow.
The Talons of Slayn
Alarak's ascendants are some of the most powerful units Alarak has access to, as they possess two spells that allow Alarak to deal incredibly high damage against enemy units. Psionic Orb is the Ascendants' best method of eliminating enemy waves, as multiple Psionic Orbs stack and can add up into an attack that eliminates even late-game waves incredibly quickly. Mind Blast meanwhile is a heavy damage single target ability with long range, perfect for focusing down powerful enemies including hybrid. With Power Overwhelming, ascendants will gain shield and ability damage each time they use Sacrifice, eventually having over 1000 shields and spells that deal more than three times normal damage. With a group of 20-24 ascendants and Empower Me, it is possible to wipe out an entire enemy compound and all enemies in it in a blink of an eye, as well as any wave at late game. However, to maximize the power of Ascendants, it is important to regularly Sacrifice Supplicants whenever you have the chance; as a result, although Ascendants' Sacrifice is autocast, it may be wise to manually consume Supplicants while outside of battle so that you Ascendants can continue to grow in power even while they're not in combat, and this helps you avoid getting supply blocked or supply capped as well. To ensure that you have a continuous supply of Supplicants to keep powering up Ascendants, it is important that you have maximum mineral income as well as remember to macro, regularly warping in Supplicants and putting those minerals to use.
Ascendants are particularly weak against structures, as they cannot Mind Blast those and their Psionic Orb does not do high damage to structures at all; Psionic Orb is really only useful against enemy static defense, and nothing else. As such, if Alarak is going to be facing off against structure-based objectives such as Void Slivers or Void Shards, then it may be best to let your ally kill those while you focus on taking out the guarding units instead, or it may be wise to add a higher number of Slayers to better deal damage against those structures. Warping in a Pylon next to the structure and then Overcharging it is also a good way for Alarak to deal high damage against those structures.
Ascendants are unsuited to prolonged combat due to the long cooldown for Sacrifice, and like all protoss casters they appreciate time between battles to recover energy and shields. It is important that you keep an eye on your Ascendants' energy bar before you commit to an attack, as having insufficient energy mid-battle can lead to catastrophic losses for Alarak's army. Careful management of Ascendants is required, as they are quite fragile (at least at first) and quite expensive to replace.
We Are Reforged
Alarak's robotic forces are generally much weaker than Alarak's Ascendants as they lack the Ascendant's sheer damage output. As such, they will generally have greater difficulty in taking out enemy waves or bases. That said, they do better than Ascendants in dealing damage to Structures, and they are Alarak's best option when he has not yet reached level 12. Remember to have supplicants to draw fire from these units to protect them, and if for whatever reason a player opts for Wrathwalkers, they can use the Wrathwalker's ability to fire while moving to get free shots and keep the Wrathwalkers out of harm's way.
Mass Slayer is generally Alarak's best option when using a Mechanical-based composition, as they have the best combination of mobility, durability, and burst damage. Vanguards don't synergize as well with Alarak, as his Destruction Wave can knock enemies out of the way of the Vanguard attacks, and Vanguards tend to miss their attacks against fast moving targets such as Zerglings. Generally players will opt for Slayers if they need an anti-armored option, as Slayers are capable of attacking air units as well and have a similar DPS per cost and DPS per supply to Vanguards (possibly even higher if you account for their Blink ability). Wrathwalkers are best used if there aren't a lot of small, swarmy units you're going to be facing, and if you're going to be heavily attacking structures, as anti-structure damage is where Wrathwalkers truly shine. If there aren't a lot of structures that need to be killed, or if you're going to be facing a lot of small, swarmy units, then it's best to stick with Ascendants or Slayers.
War prisms are somewhat overshadowed in Alarak's army, as they are generally set aside in favor of proxy Pylons, which are cheaper and provide additional supply for Alarak. Additionally, proxy Pylons can be Overcharge to give additional damage during an attack, and proxy Pylons do not require Robotics Facility tech to build. That said, War Prisms are an acceptable alternative if the player is willing to continuously micro the War Prism around, and they can be Overcharged in order to contribute additional damage to an attack, but they compete strongly with proxy Pylons if the player wants to use Overcharges offensively.
The Death Fleet Descends
Alarak's Death Fleet calldown is not as powerful offensively as other commander calldowns, such as the Apocalisk or Hyperion. His units are easily overwhelmed by large numbers of enemy air defenses, and even his mothership can quickly fall. As of patch 4.9.0, it's damage is up to 59x6 per volley for 345 damage max (since all air units start with level 3 attack upgrades) and with its Thermal Lance, it can deal high amounts of damage. The Death Fleet, like Alarak and his ascendants, is best used to support Alarak's main army and help them overwhelm a fortified enemy position neither could do alone. The Death Fleet provides Alarak with additional anti-air firepower and air support, two things Alarak is usually in need of when attacking a base.
The mothership's Mass Teleport ability is very useful and is likely its most useful asset, as it temporarily nullifies . With no cooldown, it possesses the ability to rapidly teleport itself and allied armies around the map. Use scouts to find points of weakness and targets of opportunities, and have the mothership warp itself and your army there for a backdoor attack. Alternatively if the battle is going poorly, quickly warp back to base to minimize losses, gather reinforcements, and re-enter the fray.
Synergies
Protoss Commanders
Artanis synergizes decently with Alarak. This Guardian Shell can protect Alarak's Ascendants while they are still gaining Power Overwhelming stacks, or it can protect Alarak in the early game to allow him to be a bit more aggressive than normal. This same Guardian Shell can also protect Alarak's Supplicants to allow them to live as fodder for Ascendants and Alarak, preventing enemies from killing Supplicants prior to the Sacrifice. Artanis's Power Field allow for faster reinforcements with a Slayer build if Alarak opts for such a build, or it can provide faster Supplicants if it is deemed necessary.
Karax is a moderately effective teammate for Alarak. While Alarak is geared towards overwhelming offense, Karax favors impenetrable defense. Thus Alarak can focus his attention on attacking the enemy while Karax defends their bases and uses his calldown abilities to focus down stronger units Alarak may have trouble with. Reconstruction Beam is invaluable to support Alarak's fragile wrathwalkers and vanguards, and carriers with repair drones makes a powerful army combined with Alarak's robotic forces. The player can use Alarak's Structure Overcharge to power up Karax's defenses even further when faced with an overwhelming enemy force. Karax's Spear of Adun abilities, which have global range, can help with Alarak's weaker mobility, allowing Karax to eliminate the enemies Alarak may have difficulty reaching in time.
Vorazun is a good teammate for Alarak. Her Dark Pylon can function both as an attacking structure with Structure Overcharge, as well as a means to offset Alarak's low mobility. Vorazun's high DPS Dark Templar provide excellent anti-structure damage, which is of great assistance to the low anti-structure damage an Ascendant build has. Black Hole synergizes particularly well with the large amount of splash damage Alarak can inflict with his Ascendants, as well as allowing Alarak's Destruction Wave to hit more enemy units, which can be deadly if Alarak is buffed by Empower Me. Alarak's havocs alleviate Vorazun's reliance on oracles for detection, which can allow Vorazun to skip Stargates if Alarak can consistent have his Havocs follow Vorazun's forces. Alarak's expendable army can act as distraction for Vorazun's dark templar groups to punch through enemy defenses.
Fenix can be of high value to Alarak with his Cybros Arbiter, which can use Mass Recall for swift relocation of Alarak's forces to offset his low mobility. Alarak's exceptional wave-clearing ability can compensate for Fenix's lack thereof.
Terran Commanders
Raynor is an excellent teammate for Alarak, providing a large army to increase the effectiveness of Empower Me. Alarak in turn can provide havocs to boost the attack range of marines. Combining 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, or teleport their armies to the Hyperion en masse if desired. Alarak's Ascendants can quickly eliminate any enemy units that stand in their way, particularly units that threaten bio units such as High Templar or Colossi, allowing for Raynor's high DPS bio army to finish off the remains unimpeded. Raynor can provide Medics to provide sustainability to Supplicants or Mechanical units, allowing Alarak's army to last much longer.
Swann's main synergy with Alarak comes from his Science Vessels and Vespene Drones. Science Vessels can sustain a mechanical-based army, and Vespene Drones allow Alarak to build said mechanical army much faster. Swann's global mobility with Hercules dropships allows him to intercept attack waves much faster than Alarak usually can, which can allow Swann to compensate for Alarak's sluggishness. Alarak's access to Force Fields and knockback with Destruction Wave can be of some value to Siege Tanks, buying them additional time to blast at the enemy, but this situation rarely occurs in practice. Structure Overcharge can assist Swann's defense should the need arise.
Nova's has mostly modest synergy with Alarak. Her small army won't give him nearly as much power when he uses Empower Me. Furthermore, neither one is really excel at defense (since Alarak's Structure Overcharge has cooldowns on its charges). Tactical Airlift has a shorter cooldown than the Death Fleet, and Alarak will appreciate intelligent usage of the airlift while the Death Fleet is on cooldown. Alarak's havocs can extend the range of Nova's army and could provide protection with Force Field, but this is mostly useful in the early game when Nova doesn't have the economy to back up heavier Griffin Airstrike usage yet. Alarak can donate 2 or 3 of his gas geysers to Nova if he wants once he finishes his initial investment into upgrades and Ascendants. Nova's ravens can heal Alarak's units as needed.
Han and Horner provide a large army of cheap units, making Empower Me very powerful when used alongside them. If Han and Horner go a heavier reaper/hellion/hellbat composition, it makes Alarak's Empower Me into a devastating ability. Both Alarak's havocs and Horner's Theia ravens have variations on the Target Lock/Sense Weakness ability, increasing the damage both armies do to surrounding units. Han and Horner also have heavier air units, which can mop up after Alarak's ascendants have laid down their Psionic Orbs and Mind Blasts.
Zerg Commanders
Kerrigan is an ally that synergizes very well with Alarak. Kerrigan's raptors and upgraded torrasques can bypass Alarak's supplicants to get into melee range easily, allowing them to reach the enemy much more easily, while hydralisks fire from behind them and ascendants from behind them, which can help minimize how much the two armies conflict with each other. Kerrigan's Omega Worms are also of great value to Alarak, as the worms can both greatly assist Alarak's meager mobility as well as function as very tanky, high-DPS turrets if Alarak chooses to Overcharge them. Alaraks' Havocs can bolster the range of Hydralisks to give them a very long attack range, but given that Hydralisks will usually be travelling inside of Omega Worms and thus leave any following Havocs behind, it can be rather cumbersome for Alarak to repeatedly micro his Havocs and trying to have them travel alongside the Hydralisks; as such, if Kerrigan is travelling very heavily with Omega Worms, it may be wise to place those Havocs in Alarak's army instead of having them continuously be left behind by the Hydralisks.
Zagara is a moderately effective teammate for Alarak. She provides a very large army for Alarak's Empower Me ability, and her swarmlings provide expendable melee troops to enter battle with Alarak. Supplicants shielded by aberrations are surprisingly effective tanks due to their defensive buffs. Alarak can use Destruction Wave to knock enemies into the range of Zagara's mostly short-ranged army. Ascendants can easily eliminate late-game attack waves, which Zagara can have considerable some difficulty with, especially on harder mutations. Mass Frenzy is of very limited value to an Ascendant build, as such a build has very low auto-attack damage, but it does benefit a Slayer or a Robotics build much more heavily, and can bolster their otherwise lower damage output.
Abathur posesses modest synergy with Alarak. Alarak can knock enemies into Toxic Nests with his Destruction Wave, but if he's not careful he can instead knock enemies away from the Toxic Nests, which can reduce Abathur's biomass supply early on in the game. Thus, Alarak should pay attention to where he throws his enemies if he wants to be more beneficial to an Abathur ally. When paired, it is best for Alarak to focus on a ground army (which is his only viable option anyways as he lacks a Stargate) while Abathur gets an aerial army, to minimize the two armies constantly colliding with each other. In addition to mend, Swarm Queens can empower Alarak while also using rapid transfusion to sustain his forces. Because of Alarak's damage output, it should be easy to kill large numbers of enemies while leaving Abathur to collect more biomass so brutalisks and leviathans draw fire away from Alarak, keeping him and his supplicants alive longer. In a pinch, Alarak and expensive army units can be abducted to safety. Further empowerment is possible with large groups of locusts, which could either come from a large group of enemies that have been killed, or they could come from Swarm Hosts if Abathur chooses not to go with an aerial army for that game.
Stukov provides mostly basic synergy with Alarak, as their most useful synergy is mostly Infested bolstering Alarak's Empower Me and doesn't go very far beyond this. That said, Stukov's infested infantry does provide plenty of fuel for Empower Me in addition to screening very well for Ascendants while they are in their weaker stages, as well as functioning as cleanup duty to take out leftover structures and weaker enemies while Alarak moves on to clear another area of enemies. In addition, Structure Overcharge can be used on Stukov's forward structures, but it is important to note that unfortunately, Infested Bunkers will not attack enemies with the Structure Overcharge weapon if they are uprooted; they must be rooted to attack with the Structure Overcharge weapon. They will still benefit from Structure Overcharge's shield in both rooted and uprooted form, however. Structure Overcharge can be combined with Infest Structure to allow for a very stalwart, if temporary, defense; while this shouldn't be relied on as a long-term solution, it can work very well as a short-term stopgap for an enemy attack. Stukov's Infested Diamondbacks can bring down air units for Vanguards to attack, which may seem like a good idea if you're up against an air composition, but in practice, it can be quite risky as this leaves Alarak completely dependant on Stukov's Diamondbacks in this case; if you're against an air composition, you're really better off building Ascendants or Slayers instead and allowing Stukov to focus his efforts elsewhere instead of babysitting you.
Dehaka and Alarak have some power together, but mostly aren’t the most powerful of combinations. Both rely on powerful hero units that are designed to take the brunt of a lot of damage, which can work early game as Dehaka is still working on levelling up his hero unit. Dehaka's primal pack leaders can provide global presence that Alarak otherwise lacks, which can be helpful if his Death Fleet is unavailable. Alarak can use Structure Overcharge on Primal Wurms to give them additional power and durability, and the Primal Wurms can Deep Tunnel towards enemies to avoid wasting the Structure Overcharge; unfortunately, Structure Overcharge does not work on Greater Primal Wurms.
Achievements
Gameplay
 A Good Day to Die
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Sacrifice 500 Supplicants to Alarak or Ascendants. |
| Edit | |
 Fleeting Death
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Deal 50,000 damage with the Death Fleet. |
| Edit | |
 You're Welcome
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Use Structure Overcharge on allied structures to deal 30,000 damage. |
| Edit | |
 Power Play
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Deal 100,000 damage with Alarak while he is empowered. |
| Edit | |
 Highlord of the Tal'darim
| |||
| Points |
20 | ||
| Criteria |
Complete all the Commander Alarak achievements. | ||
| Rewards |
| ||
| Edit | |||
Levels
 Alarak: Level 5
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Reach level 5 with Tal'darim Highlord Alarak in Co-op Missions. |
| Edit | |
 Alarak: Level 10
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Reach level 10 with Tal'darim Highlord Alarak in Co-op Missions. |
| Edit | |
 Alarak: Level 15
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Reach level 15 with Tal'darim Highlord Alarak in Co-op Missions. |
| Edit | |
Development
Alarak was chosen as the Co-op commander after Abathur, as, in the words of Blizzard, "the community wanted Alarak, and they wanted him now." The choice was also driven by player feedback that they wanted a non-zerg hero unit. It was decided that Alarak would be a good choice to reflect this, per his over-the-top personality and devastating power. John de Lancie was brought back into the studio to do new voice lines.
As Alarak was designed, it was intended that his sinister nature and the brutality of the Tal'darim shine through. The supplicant and Alarak's sacrifice ability reflect this.[4]
In early screenshots of Alarak in Co-op Missions, he was shown alongside Tal'darim skinned zealots. These zealots are absent in the release version.[5] Data in the map editor exists for Alarak's zealots, including a "Frenzied Overload" ability that increased their attack speed for a short time and caused them to regenerate shields when attacking.[6]
Videos
Trivia
- In the mission "Chain of Ascension," Ji'nara will use different dialogue throughout the mission to directly address Alarak.
- Sometimes while casting Structure Overcharge, Alarak will say, "I find your lack of defenses disturbing." This is a reference to a similar line said by Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
- Clicking the central gem on Alarak's top bar will cause it to light up, followed by a voice clip of Alarak chastising the player for wasting time.
References
Blizzard Entertainment. Co-op Missions. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Alarak (in English). 2018.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2016-08-16. New Co-op Commander Preview: Alarak . StarCraft II. Accessed 2016-08-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2016-08-17. StarCraft II : Gameplay d'Alarak dans les missions en coop. StarCraft II. Accessed 2016-08-17.
- ↑ 2016-08-18. Alarak Commander Upgrades from Gamescom - Cologne. StarCraft II. Accessed 2016-08-17.
- ↑ 2016-09-10. Patch 3.6 Preview: New Co-op Commander Alarak. StarCraft II. Accessed 2016-09-10.
- ↑ 2016-08-17, Gamespot Alarak Preview. Gamespot, accessed on 2016-10-25
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). November 10, 2015