Commander/Tier
2 Zagara
- Early detection isn't a problem nor is the first ship as Zagara can solo that.
- Zagara's problem is that her army is not meant for prolonged engagements and that makes it hard to hold ships.
- You can try and place Hatches to funnel the enemy but that will just attract the beams.
- If you can survive the first half of the ship you can always just use the Roach drop to survive the rest as they will last long enough. Try to use Hydras and the Baneling Barrage alternately as you can run out of energy and it will help you to spread out the dps.
2 Vorazun
- Although you can deal with the early detection with a few Cannons until you can get out your first Oracle, she doesn't have much dps for the first ship.
- Black Hole can get you more time but again you still need detection.
- I like Voidrays Oracle Corsair.
- Time Stop should be used asap, combine that with a delayed Shadow Guard you can clear the Expo area almost instantly. If you bring a Probe with the first Shadow Guard you can make Cannons but the will kill them fast.
2 Stukov
- Early consistent detection is a bit of trouble as Overseers are locked behind the highest tech.
- You can go Rax and Bunker and Engineering bay with a Turret but you need creep to place it and the creep will be behind enemy lines.
- You can use a rally for your Infested to keep the beams away from your main army splitting those forces will help to keep the beams away for a longer time.
- Make sure to have Overseers as Turrets are stationary and don't detect when not rooted.
1 Swann
- Rush a Science Vessel for detection and you should be able to hold with you Combat Drop until you can get to 4 Tanks and a Hercules then Teleport to the first ship to finish off the hold.
- Once you have 8 Tanks and a Hercules you should mass Goliaths and Science Vessels.
- I found that you can hold all three beams with 3 Hercules with auto heal by Patrol moving in a circle around the beam and you wont have to micro again, the radius is about the size of one screen.
- Turrets can help but only if you have the beams under control other wise they might just pull too much agro.
1 H & H
- You should be able to get Raven for the first ship.
- You should have 2 to 3 Galleons for the first ship.
- The only tough comp for the first ship is Terran air.
- You can patrol 3 Reapers in a circle to hold the beams with not micro.
- Add Horner units when gas is available.
1 Raynor
- Go for an Orbital heavy build and just use you call downs for the first ship.
- If your partner has consistent detection and you want to stick with them you can use a lot more Mules but if you want to go out on your own make sure to get extra OCs.
- I like Bio here with Firebats but you can always go Mech or even supplement your Bio force with Tanks.
- Scans are you only option for detection so think99 about having a OC on its own control group if you want to be sure to have a Scan when you need it.
1 Alarak
- Early Havoc for detection.
- Normally you would get a Pylon at the expo very fast but in this case you want to wait so that the beam wont go directly to the first ship wait till Alarak is out then bring your Probe.
- Ascendant are better than Robo here but its really just a normal mission with a Purifier beam.
- If you end up having extra minerals think about making a line pf Pylons to keep the beams busy.
1 Abathur
- Go for early Roach and Overseers.
- If will take some time to get to you first Brutalisk but once you get there it should be smooth sailing.
- You can use the extra minerals you will get to put Overlords all across the map to pull the beams but its not going to be without a decent amount of micro for the splits.
- Mutas are fast and are great here, but make sure to still get your Ultimate Evos.
1 Dehaka
- Dehaka is great but early detection requires a good build order or help from you ally. Once you get Glevig's building make a Wurm for detection and you should be fine.
- Make sure the Wurm goes as close to the middle of the area you want to hold so that you can get as much detection as possible.
- Mutas are great here but so are Guardians.
- Dehaka is your main source of detection so its going to be harder to split so think about more Wurms or changing mastery to Wurm cooldown.
1 Fenix
- I like Robo here, use a pylon gas Robo gas build to get a Immortal, Colossus, Observer for the first ship.
- It can be nice to have detection for Fenix but not necessary.
- Add either Scouts or Carriers to the mix.
- I like using 3 Probes to hold the beams but you can just move you army all the time.
1 Karax
- Karax can hold all the beams with no micro, all you need is 1 Cannon and 5 to 6 Batteries.
- The first ship is all about a few Cannons and then holding the beam after if you don't control it with an initial Probe.
- Spear of Adun upgrades are great as usual.
- You can add Carriers or your favorite Robo unit if you want.
1 Kerri
- You can go for early Overlord speed and move on Overlord to the North East and pull the first beam.
- For detection you can go for Omega Worms and/or Overseers.
- You can use Nydus all over the map to pull the beams for the mid and late game.
- Lurkers and Mutas are great here as one can move fast and the other can use the Nydus Worms for movement.
- Kerrigan can solo the first Ship.
1 Artanis
- Early detection isn't a problem just go straight to Robo.
- You can also get Whirlwind at the same time with a Gateway double gas build so that you Zealots hit harder.
- I like Robo Gateway here but Starports will work just requires micro is you use Phoenix and some ground if you go Tempest.
- I use a few Observers to keep the agro from the beams.
1 Nova
- She is all the detection that you need.
- I went for 3 SCVs to hold the beams you can just use the East side of the map and go in a triangle to keep the agro.
- Tanks are so good here.
- I like Goliaths against the air units. Raven Turrets can be used in a pinch to deal with a rouge beam.
Tiers
Tier 1 Early Detection and can hold by themselves.
Tier 2 Relies on partner for early detection or can't hold a ship by oneself
Tier 3 Don't recommend.