Brutal Difficulty

[RODTHEGOD]

Has anyone been able to reach the 1.5 billion mark in that mission where you defend the temple?
It's about at the 1 billion mark where they start to overwhelm my forces/defenses pretty much because of the flying hybrids to the north-east.
I'm just wondering if others have been able to get to 1.5 billion

[FanaticTemplar]

I have, and yeah, the north-east entrance is the one that collapses the hardest. I kept some Stalkers around to blink into the Guardians and Hybrids to kill them, then blink back out. It's not great, but it bought me plenty of time.

[The_Blade]

Do the following:

Bonus: Korhal first, but not needed.

Loadout: Nerazim Zealots, Templar Dragoons, [BONUS] Nerazim Immortals, Nerazim Dark Templar
Spear of Adun: Chrono Surge, Orbital Strike, Orbital Assimilators. +2 on Supply [bonus] and +4 on Build time

Your economy is first, warp in zealots and gates only. Use your first 75 energy on a chrono surge on your nexus for 10 instant probes or so (wait till ~250 minerals so you have efficiency in building probes). Build second nexus quickly.

Destroy the Key Stones ASAP. You do not need a very large army (5-8 units), but be careful with the Keystone spells. First target the ones to the west. Build a Pylon as close to the last Key Stone without molesting the Mutalisks. You will blow this one up when you have a chance, but first maintain your base.

On ground defenses, build warp gates to block ramps partially. Build Monolyths leaving a 2 space gap. from the gateways or terrain walls. For each Monolyth, build a shield battery and a cannon. Block entrance with zealots. Do not hold position but bring them into the base far enough so that they charge the rushing lings as soon as they get on level with the gates, and not out into the lower ground.

On the North-West fill the lower terrain and steps with dragoons and 3 shield batteries with a pylon. Warp in any dragoons that die. Build Monolyths at the wall with shield batteries but no cannons.

Build 5-7 more gates around the Temple or behind your Nexus and 3 Robos. Keep warping in Zealots and Dragoons, quickly.

Extra: Add some DTs to your zealot lines as they maw through small units with their charge. Build an army of Nerazim Immortals and use them to cannon down fliers. 10 or so will do nicely.

Personal Record is 1.8 Billion with this strategy.

[ragnarok]

I have, and yeah, the north-east entrance is the one that collapses the hardest. I kept some Stalkers around to blink into the Guardians and Hybrids to kill them, then blink back out. It's not great, but it bought me plenty of time.

Could you reach 1.8 billion this way? Because that seemed to be pushing it.

[The_Blade]

1.5 is the bonus objective mark, 1.8 is the Achievement mark. Pretty much dealing with that gate is all you have to do. I want to try out stalkers despite my strategy, because it sounds effective.

[ragnarok]

1.5 is the bonus objective mark, 1.8 is the Achievement mark. Pretty much dealing with that gate is all you have to do. I want to try out stalkers despite my strategy, because it sounds effective.

Yeah I don't think Dragoons could cut it. They suffer from the same problems like in SC1. To bulky and tend to get in the way too often.

[FanaticTemplar]

Loadout: Nerazim Zealots, Templar Dragoons, [BONUS] Nerazim Immortals, Nerazim Dark Templar

Hah, your loadout is the complete opposite of mine. I had Aiur Zealots, Nerazim Stalkers, Aiur Immortals and Aiur Dark Templar (seriously, those things are expensive and die super easily, the respawn is the only reason I ever used Dark Templar at all)

Then I built mostly nothing but Immortals chrono surged from a single Robotics Facility and filled everything with static defences. I had some Dark Templar on patrol and blink Stalkers to handle the northeast entrance. I also got the Keystones super late and they did nothing but tickle my Immortals :P.


Could you reach 1.8 billion this way? Because that seemed to be pushing it.

I just checked my achievements and apparently I got this one, so yes, you could reach 1.8 billion Zerg.

[ragnarok]

I just checked my achievements and apparently I got this one, so yes, you could reach 1.8 billion Zerg.

Interesting, I'll try it sometime then.

[RODTHEGOD]

Well I was able to do it. Barely though.
Here's what I did.

War Council: Nerazim Zealots, Auir Dragoons, Auir Immortals, Auir Dark Templar
Solar core: pylon warp in, orbital strike, probeless vespean, max on construction time and starting supply

The first thing of course was to build economy, so i went for a nexus first then just kept building zealots and probes
after a short amount of time I built a dark shrine, used orbital strike to kill the overseers at the crystals, then sent 4+ dark Templar to each one in as the overseers were destroyed
As for defense: in the north-east corner I built a line of shield batteries with cannons backing them up then monoliths backing them up, resulting in a killzone for everything that came in
I couldn't quite get enough time to build up every side like that though, so i built about 9 gateways and just kept pumping out dragoons, dark Templar and zealots
at each of the three ground entrances I had staggered shield batteries with ground units backing them up and eventually the monoliths(in the u shape) as well
I also threw in some immortals which helped a bit as the staggered shield batteries would die every now and then.
I got to just over the 1.5 billion mark before i detonated. The zerg were in the process of attacking the temple when it went off

[TheEconomist]

I got damn close my first time (something like 1.38 billion) but was too lazy to reload. I'll do it next time

[Gradius]

This was a pain for me b/c I went with all Khalai units on my first playthrough haha. I think the time-freeze abilities are the most helpful with this.

[The_Blade]

Time Freeze alone was what helped me beat Narud fast on the first epilogue mission. Fire Lance was awfully convenient too.

It all comes down to getting Void Rays and Colosi ASAP.

Probably the hardest mission for me was the final mission of the epilogue. Damn, it took me a while to figure it out.

[Gradius]

Probably the hardest mission for me was the final mission of the epilogue. Damn, it took me a while to figure it out.
What'd you guys do? I knew conventional bullshit was never going to work, so I opted for mass muta with Kerrigan healing them.

The hardest for me was Salvation. I tried it first with all Khalai units, which didn't work. Colossi helped but not enough. Eventually I gave up and just used Void Rays and the mission became pathetically easy lol.

[Drake Clawfang]

Anyone have suggestions for 2.2 billion zerg for the Hard achievement? I went for Nerazim everything save for dragoons and walled off my entrances with cannons, then used the dragoons and nerazim immortals to take out fliers. Barely got to 1.6 billion, though.

[FanaticTemplar]

Time Freeze alone was what helped me beat Narud fast on the first epilogue mission. Fire Lance was awfully convenient too.

It all comes down to getting Void Rays and Colosi ASAP.

Probably the hardest mission for me was the final mission of the epilogue. Damn, it took me a while to figure it out.

Hardest for me were the two last base holdout missions, the Legacy of the Void finale Salvation and the second epilogue The Essence of Eternity. The final wave is a massive increase in difficulty, even maxed out on top-tier units I couldn't hold and barely managed to squeak out with the last few hit points on the Keystone/Kerrigan.

It's strange because I have absolutely no difficulty with All-In, In Utter Darkness or The Crucible, but these ones were a nightmare to deal with. I blame my AI allies :P.

Alarak always dies first, incidentally. What a loser.


What'd you guys do? I knew conventional bullshit was never going to work, so I opted for mass muta with Kerrigan healing them.

Nah, I went for Torrasques and Hydralisks, same thing I did for all of Heart of the Swarm. Spam Kerrigan's heal.

Build nothing but Drones until you're fully saturated on three bases, your initial troops and Kerrigan can defend the first waves themselves. And don't attack until you have 200 supply.

So nice to have a three base economy for once.

[Nolanstar]

Pretty sure he dies because his base is directly in the attack path, the other two are at least off to the side.

[FanaticTemplar]

Pretty sure he dies because his base is directly in the attack path, the other two are at least off to the side.

Nah, he dies because one of his abilities makes him charge into the enemy so he gets way out in front of the entire army and dies. Guy needs to learn to Hold Position. Vorazun has something similar, but at least she's cloaked. Karax is ranged. He dies last.

[The_Blade]

"The Essence of Eternity" is awfully easy with Siege Tanks, Planetary Fortresses and Vikings. Get all the resource globes for an early boost. The only difficult part about the last bit is the initial rush. You need to shoot all the Ultralisks before they move into any of the gates. Then the only things worth killing are BCs and Carriers.

"Salvation" was a joke with Void Rays, Monoliths, and Shield Batteries; but nothing else seems to work. I have tried everything, but I'm always overrun. The AI's will build tiny death balls if you build the Shield Batteries alone, but the golden armada is a pain to deal with.

I loved the Terran AI on "Templar's Charge". It was really good at focusing fire on carriers if you were not careful. I wish they had a Protoss AI against Void Rays as well.

I am pretty neutral on the design around enemy attacks on your base. I liked that they point them out to the player and that they were generally well balanced. However, I wished there was no minimap ping or dialogue spoilers about the enemy's plans on Brutal.

I have yet to do an achievement run on hard mode.

It always brings joy into my acidic heart when we get OP heroes on one mission and then the next mission they are brutally weak.

[Gradius]

Nah, I went for Torrasques and Hydralisks, same thing I did for all of Heart of the Swarm. Spam Kerrigan's heal.
Interesting. Haven't heard of that particular combination but it sounds effective.

[FanaticTemplar]

"The Essence of Eternity" is awfully easy with Siege Tanks, Planetary Fortresses and Vikings. Get all the resource globes for an early boost. The only difficult part about the last bit is the initial rush. You need to shoot all the Ultralisks before they move into any of the gates. Then the only things worth killing are BCs and Carriers.

I had Siege Tanks everywhere, but I can't build on Creep so I couldn't fortify Zagara's position as much as I would have liked.

I should have used Planetary Fortresses actually. It completely slipped my mind because I always get Orbital Commands.

[The_Blade]

Oh another thing, during the calm moment before the final wave, move most of your mineral line to the front lines. There is no way you can spend the 6k minerals you have stacked at this moment. You should also have 3-3 uprgades and all the mercenary siege tanks and vikings.

[FanaticTemplar]

Oh, yeah, mercs. I never used them in Wings of Liberty so I tend to forget about them :p.

[ragnarok]

Oh, yeah, mercs. I never used them in Wings of Liberty so I tend to forget about them :p.

Not even on Brutal? Some of the missions get VERY hectic if you don't

[FanaticTemplar]

Not even on Brutal? Some of the missions get VERY hectic if you don't

Nah. Only mission in Wings of Liberty that gets really rough is Engine of Destruction. I used to have difficulty with Supernova, but now I've got it pretty reliably down.

[ragnarok]

Nah. Only mission in Wings of Liberty that gets really rough is Engine of Destruction. I used to have difficulty with Supernova, but now I've got it pretty reliably down.

I hated Engine of Destruction, you lose WAY too many SCVs because the Dominion keeps putting tanks everywhere to pick them off so quickly.

[RODTHEGOD]

Does anyone have any recommendations for the last epilogue mission on brutal?
Apparently ultra/hydra/broodlord is supposed to be able to win easily but I don't see how.

[The_Blade]

There's a hidden timer in that mission. There's no way to fight the Voidlings (calling them this because it's despicable). They will overrun you at 30-45 game minutes, depending on the competence of Raynor and Artanis.

You can start killing the Void shards as soon as Artanis and Raynor start saying they are on the move to attack them. First one can be done with 8 roaches and Kerrigan. Use extinction so Artanis can get through the minions and into the fight with you. And use the beam to start the fight, only healing after that. Then, the one Raynor points out has the same deal, but without extinction. You should have 20 roaches by this moment. Just ignore everything else and heal. Third one you can kill easy is called by Artanis to the East of your base. If you move quickly you can move into position without dealing with the Voidlings before Amon destroys the bridge.

Orange towers heal the shards.

3/7

During these periods defend with an army of roaches and some spine crawlers. Use Creep Warp after you destroy the shards. Losing a base is fine, but keep the Gas pumping and rebuild. On your main build Spires asap between the roaches and start upgrading attack. Build about 15 mutas and send them to the middle of the map. Convert them to Broodlords and take out anything close to the inner edges or on the islands. Avoid Blue Towers at all costs.

Defend with roaches and hydras. Use extinction every time a heavy force attacks your teammates.

[RODTHEGOD]

Jeeze, that extinction event ability was actually quite useful. I didn't use it before. No wonder I was having such difficulties. Well I just have to finish the prologue missions on brutal then I will have successfully beaten starcraft 2. Just have to go through on hard now and get all the achievements. I would think after brutal, it would be much easier.

[The_Blade]

Well, not exactly. Many hard achievements are trivial, but some really need you to play in a sub-optimal way or at your best. This increases the difficulty of some missions even beyond Brutal. Do not trust me though, I've barely read through them.

If a Hard Mode achievement was: "do not use Void Rays on Salvation", well, I am fucked.

[Gradius]

Well I finished all the LoTV campaign achievements. I have to say I'm not an achievement person but the mastery achievements really provide many more hours of interesting gameplay beyond just the main campaign. A great way to get more mileage and replayability out of the singleplayer missions.

[Jconant]

A lot of the mastery achievements are really bizarre...to the point i dont know how to achieve them, "dont let alarak get pushed back", "kill the crystals without the help of kerrigan and her zerg" (although they continuously send units), "kill 50 terran buildings during one psy-stun phase", "the rite stuff- dont kill any taldarim". At a loss...

[Gradius]

A lot of the mastery achievements are really bizarre...to the point i dont know how to achieve them, "dont let alarak get pushed back"
Just keep units by him at all times and he can't get pushed back.


, "kill the crystals without the help of kerrigan and her zerg" (although they continuously send units),
There's a back route you can use to rush the mission. I believe Kerrigan can kill 1 or 2. You have to get 3.


"kill 50 terran buildings during one psy-stun phase",
Yeah when the map turns blue kill 50 buildings before the timer runs out.


"the rite stuff- dont kill any taldarim". At a loss...
The map doesn't actually send tal'darim at you until like 13 minutes or something. Everything else is void shades. In that time you can use void rays to snipe the guardians. And make sure you get time stop.

But yeah there's no counter or timer for these, so I see your point.

[Drake Clawfang]

Essence of Eternity achievement is bullshit. Barely 10 minutes in and the attacks never stop. This one wave on artanis has four Abberrations, two Thors, two Colossi, three Banshees, three Archons, three Ultralisks, and a Carrier. How the hell do you stop that without Kerrigan? I miss perdition turrets. I turtle up with bunkers and tanks as best I can, two full bunkers on each side with two or three tanks, falls like paper. I even figured out the trick to using Kerrigan in that mission, meh, doesn't help.

IMHO the income on that mission is simply too low. They hit you too early, before you can properly establish your economy, with waves that will screw over your allies if you don't help them, so you have to get your tanks and bunkers ready for that, and then it never lets up and you're struggling to build half the defenders you need.

[Gradius]

Essence of Eternity achievement is bullshit. Barely 10 minutes in and the attacks never stop. This one wave on artanis has four Abberrations, two Thors, two Colossi, three Banshees, three Archons, three Ultralisks, and a Carrier. How the hell do you stop that without Kerrigan? I miss perdition turrets.
I went with Banshees because they're mobile and can reinforce any base quickly. Also, if you have to, you can still damage those enemies. Just take the laser off before they die.

[Drake Clawfang]

At this point, fuck the achievement. There must be some trick or cheese I'm overlooking. I'll figure it out later.

EDIT- Lnddodbdbqdbqa;hbdq

I tried a Banshee and Viking combo based on your advice... got to 99.6% just as they killed her.

So yeah, it's workable. It is certainly a lot better than static defenses, where you have to constantly split and reinforce four points. This is all-around much easier.

[Drake Clawfang]

Any tips now for Mastery on the last mission?

EDIT - Nevermind, the opportunity presented itself.

[Nolanstar]

Woo! I just got to 2.4 billion zerg. Before the top right collapsed with 25+ nemesis and 30+ guardians... Which slowly killed the temple, the baneling balls were also getting pretty scary as well.

[RODTHEGOD]

Woo! I just got to 2.4 billion zerg. Before the top right collapsed with 25+ nemesis and 30+ guardians... Which slowly killed the temple, the baneling balls were also getting pretty scary as well.
That's impressive. I was only just able to pass 2.2 billion