The Emperor's Shadow are ghosts usable by Arcturus Mengsk in Co-op Missions. They are elite spellcasters, which can use Pyrokinetic Immolation to deal heavy damage to enemies, and later to groups of enemies. They gain a temporary cloak at Rank 1 which prevents them from being attacked for 10 seconds. Their EMP Blast ability can stun and drain the energy and shields of targets in an area, and at Rank 3 can be upgraded to deal damage to those they effect.
Emperor's Shadows can also calldown tactical missiles, which do high damage in a small area. These can be upgraded to have no cast time.[1]
Upgrades and Abilities[]
Royal Guard of the Dominion
Killing enemy units grants experience to nearby Royal Guards. If there are no nearby Royal Guards when an enemy is killed, the experience is instead split between all Royal Guards in the mission. Experience allows the unit to gain Rank, which improves its damage, armor, health, energy and unlock new abilities or passive bonuses.
Rank 2: Increase Pyrokinetic Immolation periodic damage by 50%. Increase EMP Blast stun duration by 1 second.
Rank 3: Upon target's death, Pyrokinetic Immolation deals 50 damage to nearby enemies. EMP Blast drain all of the target's energy and deals damage equal to that amount.
Principal Proletariat: Increases the gained experience by 100%.
Usage
Passive
Notes
The leveling up mechanics works as follows:
When an enemy unit is killed, 100 (200 with Principal Proletariat) experience per supply cost of the unit killed is "dropped".
If the unit is a non-Heroic unit with 0 supply cost, it will drop no experience.
If the unit is a Heroic unit with 0 supply cost, it will drop 800 (1600 with Principal Proletariat) experience.
Dropped experience is equally split among all eligible units (Royal Guard, not at max rank) within 15 range of the unit killed.
If there are no eligible units within 15 range of the unit killed, all eligible units on the map get an equal split of the dropped experience.
Once a Royal Guard unit has reached maximum rank, it is removed from the pool of eligible units so as to not waste experience.
Mastery: +0.5 (+1 with Principal Proletariat) experience per supply (+4 (+8 with Principal Proletariat) experience on Heroic unit with 0 supply cost) per Royal Guard Experience Gain Rate mastery point. Up to a maximum 115 (230 with Principal Proletariat) experience per supply (920 (1840 with Principal Proletariat) experience on Heroic unit with 0 supply cost).
Royal Guards increase Imperial Support based on their supply cost and Rank. Each point of Imperial Support generates 1 Imperial Mandate every 240 seconds.
Usage
Passive
Notes
Imperial Support=100% for Royal Guard's Supply. Depending on the Rank level, the number of Imperial Support increases by x1.5 (Rank 1), x2 (Rank 2) or x2.5 (Rank 3). Mastery: +1% of Imperial Support per Royal Guard Support mastery point. Up to a maximum +30%.
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock
Reach Mengsk Level 5.
Acquisition
Unranked
Effect
4 (6 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 Mastery: +0.04 (+0.06 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 per Royal Guard Support mastery point. Up to a maximum 5.2 (7.8 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240
Rank 1
Effect
6 (9 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 Mastery: +0.06 (+0.09 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 per Royal Guard Support mastery point. Up to a maximum 7.8 (11.7 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240
Rank 2
Effect
8 (12 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 Mastery: +0.08 (+0.12 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 per Royal Guard Support mastery point. Up to a maximum 10.4 (15.6 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240
Rank 3
Effect
10 (15 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 Mastery: +0.1 (+0.15 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240 per Royal Guard Support mastery point. Up to a maximum 13 (19.5 with Principal Proletariat) Mandate every 240
Deals 100 damage to shields and depletes 100 energy of enemy units in the target area. Stuns mechanical units for 1 second. Cloaked units are revealed for 10 seconds after being hit. Can be set to autocast.
Rank 2: Increases the EMP Blast stun duration on mechanical units from 1 second to 2 seconds.
Rank 3: EMP Blast can now drain all energy, and deal 1 damage per 1 drained energy.
Prevents the Emperor's Shadow from taking any damage for 10 seconds after being attacked. Cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Can be set to autocast.
Usage
Hotkey
Z
Duration
10
Cooldown
30
Notes
Emperor's Shadow does not autocast this ability (bug).
Calls down a Tactical Missile Strike at a target location. Tactical Missiles take 4 seconds to land, but they deal up to 150 (+100 vs. structures) damage to enemies in a small radius.
Purchase charges at the Royal Academy.
Usage
Hotkey
N
Cost
4
Cooldown
90
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock
Initially available.
Acquisition
Required
Royal academy (Gain 1 additional charge per Academy)
The concept art similar to the Emperor's Shadow design
The design of the Emperor's Shadow appears to be based off of the early concept art for Arcturus Mengsk's appearance in StarCraft II, with a similar looking ghost standing in his shadow.
