FAQ & Walkthrough by: KratosIrving (kratosirving1987@yahoo.com) For: Windows Version 0.5 (August 13th, 2010) Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - Brutal Campaign Walkthrough ================= Table of Contents ================= a. Mission #1 - Liberation Day b. Mission #2 - Outlaw c. Mission #3 - Zero Hour d. Mission #4 - Smash and Grab e. Mission #5 - The Evacuation f. Mission #6 - Breakout g. Mission #7 - The Devil's Playground h. Mission #8 - Welcome to the Jungle i. Mission #9 - The Dig j. Mission #10 - Whispers of Doom k. Mission #11 - A Sinister Turn l. Mission #12 - Echoes of the Future m. Mission #13 - In Utter Darkness n. Mission #14 - Breakout o. Mission #14 - Ghost of a Chance p. Mission #15 - Safe Haven q. Mission #15 - Haven's Fall r. Mission #16 - The Great Train Robbery s. Mission #17 - Cutthroat t. Mission #18 - Engine of Destruction u. Mission #19 - Media Blitz v. Mission #20 - Piercing the Shroud w. Mission #21 - The Moebius Factor x. Mission #22 - Supernova y. Mission #23 - Maw of the Void z. Mission #24 - The Gates of Hell aa. Mission #25 - Belly of the Beast bb. Mission #25 - Shatter the Sky cc. Mission #26 - All In (Nydus Worms) First, I'll give a few tips of advice before you start your Brutal runthrough. Tip #1 - Remember, Missions played via the Mission Archives selection DO NOT allow the retroactive use of upgrades. In other words, if you researched Stimpacks after completing Zero Hour, you can't go back to Liberation Day and have your Marines use Stimpack during that Mission. There are three exclusions from this, and those are the Missions you did NOT choose at their specific points. (Safe Haven/Haven's Fall, Breakout/Ghost of a Chance, Belly of the Beast/Shatter the Sky.) Whichever Mission you did choose, the other will allow you to utilize any and all upgrades and research you have since obtained. Tip #2 - If you do NOT know the vast majority of the hotkeys each unit uses (such as pushing T to use Stimpacks, or Y for Yamato Cannons) I suggest you learn them. Brutal difficulty is all about building your economy and forces as quickly as possible, and constantly reinforcing your main army as it moves across the map completing objectives. Without the hotkeys it makes your life miserable, and is quite possible to lead to defeat and a restart, or a ragequit. Tip #3 - Please remember, the order of the Missions I use is not set in stone for you to follow as well; I just found my order to be within my abilities to do. Tip #4 - IMPORTANT! Enemy AI is quite a bit smarter in some ways, most notably that if they can, they WILL prioritize Medics, Medivacs, SCV's and Science Vessels to kill if they are healing/repairing, so take extra care to protect them. Tip #5 - Most Missions allow you access to a new unit. Most times that unit will be key in completing that Mission, but not always. Do not think that massing them will allow you to win, especially on Brutal. Tip #6 - Almost NEVER not be making units. Whatever strategy you are using in a Mission on Brutal, you will lose units, sometimes small, sometimes many. (especially if you're careless) Constant reinforcement helps eliminate both issues, or at the least keep the concerns about it minimal. Tip #7 - The enemy either starts with upgrades maxed, or if not, they'll actively research them as quickly as they can, so it's vital for you to upgrade your units weapon and armor as well more than ever. a. Mission #1 - Liberation Day Mission Focus - Marine - Being the introductory mission, this mission isn't difficult at all on Normal or even Hard, but if your not paying attention in a couple of areas you may lose too many units on Brutal, so pay attention as you make your way through. Try to focus fire enemies down as fast as you can. The main area that can lead to reloading is when you get to the part where you receive Marine reinforcements via the drop-pods. Time your initial force to charge in and start attacking almost immediatly after the Pods land, and quickly gather your new units and move them towards your main group. This will limit as many casualties as possible, as you will still inevitably lose some of the reinforcements to the sizeable enemy force. Take them out, and proceed through the rest of the map. The area with the truck really isn't a problem, and when you reach the end, only the Vikings provide any real 'threat', and they can be taken out before they land. The Firebat is a joke. b. Mission #2 - Outlaws Mission Focus - Medic - Ok, now that we have a base, immediatly send your starting Marines north and grab the Mineral and Gas pallets for the quick boost in resources, and get a Medic or two while you start pumping SCV's. The reason is that soon you'll receive your first attack, and the Medics will allow you to live through with few if any loses. Make sure to keep your Medics behind your Marines, and enemies will now prioritize your Medics to kill if they can hitthem. After fending them off, build a second Barracks when you can, and keep saturating your mineral field with SCV's while adding Marines and Medics to your force. Move out once you have around eight Marines and four Medics, and take the Mineral/Gas pallets a little ways north of your base that are guarded by a few Marines. Around this time you'll receive or have received the notice that the Dominion is attacking the Rebel base. Move your growing force down there, kill enemies that attack you, and liberate the base. Lift off your original Barracks to move them closer to your new base, and start mass producing Marines from two of the Barracks, and Medics from the other. Feel free to build more Barracks, whatever floats your boat. Once you have an army of around 25-30 Marines and 8-10 Medics, start making your way north. Blow away the Hellions that appear, microing any units you feel need to in order to survive, and keep moving. You'll lose a few Marines to the Bunker, but it'll go down quickly. Keep moving north, slaughtering everyone that comes to challenge you, but take care; Brutal Mode throws a bit of a curve ball at you, as there is a solitary Siege Tank in the Dominion base, and it's in Siege Mode. ...Wait, a single Siege Tank? No problem. Just move your force en masse towards the Tank, accepting the loses it'll force, and than blow it away. After that proceed to mop up the base, and victory is yours. c. Mission #3 - Zero Hour Mission Focus - Bunker - First off, I'll say this: I think the bonus objective for this mission (save the three squads of units that are trapped outside your base) is unimportant, especially since this mission is designed for you to defend and hold out for 20 minutes. Now, with that out of the way, when the mission starts, get your SCV's mining, queue up a few more, Salvage te two Bunkers below the main part of your base, move 8 of your Marines into the remaining two Bunkers, and group up your remaining ones. I do rescue the first squad myself because they are easy free units, and move the eight Marines northeast towards where the first squad appears, killing the initial burrowed Zerg en route. Once they arrive, liberate them and the resource pallets near them and move back to your base. While all that is going on, build your economy up quickly, and immediatly begin making more Bunkers near the ramp, and Missile Turrets along the sides to guard from Mutalisk attack. Basically, by the 5 minute mark you'll want to have built a defence grid of 9 Bunkers stocked with Marines, the Missle Turrets along the sides, and 5 SCV's for repairing. (3 for the Bunkers and 2 for the Turret sides.) Make sure you have a standing force of Marines and Medics, no more than 12/4 of each for quick responses to falling Zerg pods that spawn Zerglings, as well as for Mutalisk attacks, and you can basically sit and watch your Bunkers fend off any and all incursions, even the final infinite spawn for the last two minutes. Just make sure that when Hydras come to have the closest Bunker target it so it goes down quick, as your Bunkers will prioritize the swarming Zerglings and the Roaches over the Hydralisks. From here on out, you can decide which mission to go for yourself; just remember that you may not have some of the units I will have (or you'll have ones I don't) for some missions. Also, I'll suggest what to spend your Credits and Research on, although do feel free to make substitutions. I don't want people to feel my makeup is the only way, I just found the best buys for the upcoming (and sometimes longer) situations. Hyperion - After Zero Hour Armory - Buy Stimpacks d. Mission #4 - Smash and Grab (Monlyth) Mission Focus - Marauder Protoss Research - Secure the 4 Protoss Relics. (4 Research points) - Get your SCV's mining, build a Medic, run down the ramp and get the Protoss Relic, and run back up your ramp. Quickly kick-start your economy, and get a second Barracks going as soon as possible. You'll receive your initial Marauders shortly into the mission, and they'll work wonders here (as they always do against Protoss, which most of you will know by now.) Have one of your Barracks with a Reactor and the other with a Tech Lab. Build another Barracks if you feel your Bio-Ball production isn't sufficient enough, and fend off the occasional Zerg attacks. Build a couple of Bunkers and stock them with Marines, and stick a few Missile Turrets around the western edge of your base, as there will be occassional Mutalisk attacks there. After that is set up, move towards the west to claim the second Protoss Relic, always reinforcing your ball with more and more M/M/M. After claiming the Relic, make your way eastward, taking care when you try to cross the first bridge. There is a High Templar there who WILL Psionic Storm your ball and decimate it if you are not paying attention. Bait it into using Psi Storm than immediatly retreat, and repeat to make it run out of energy. You'll lose a few units, but not most of your army this way. Kill it from behind the force fields, that the Sentries and keep moving. (If you didn't kill the Pylons from the bridge, disabling the Cannons that way, than shame, shame, shame.) Keep moving East, ducking to the southwest when it pops up to claim the third Relic, than proceed to bait the units guarding the small garrison near the ramp. Have your Marines focus their targets on the Void Rays by Shift-Targeting them while your Marauders clean house with the Stalkers and Zealots. Kill everything, than move up the ramp. Prioritize the Archons while destroying the base, taking care to remove Pylons over other structures as they power the base. After cleaning up, remember to grab the final Relic from the east cubby-hole before crossing the bridge. You should still have a vast advantage over the Zerg in terms of progress towards the Artifact, but remember to be aware as to their progress. When you have everyone across the bridge, bunch your army near the western Statue, and send a unit to the circle to activate them. Stim your Marines, and proceed to kill the Statues one by one. Hyperion - After Smash and Grab Armory - Buy Stabilizer Medpack, Neosteel Bunker e. Mission #5 - The Evacuation (Agria) Mission Focus - Firebat Zerg Research - Obtain the 3 Zerg Chrysalii. (3 Research points) - Use your initial Firebats and Medics to make your way west, grabbing the Mineral and Gas pallets in the fields before you arrive at the base. Once you do, save if you need to, than IMMEDIATELY get your SCV's harvesting, build another Firebat, and move your little army north towards where the first Chrysalis is, down the ramp from the first Bunker you encounter. Fend off the burrowed Zerg easily, microing your Medics if they're being targeted, move northeast and grab the resource pallets when you see them, than start making your way back towards your base, as the convoys don't have much of a wait time on Brutal difficulty. The key to this mission is striking a balance at the beginning of the mission between building up your economy and having enough units to make the first escort run, than being able to quickly build enough troops that can garrison two Bunkers for each approach the Zerg try to swarm through from the second escort truck onward. Use your Merc Compound to bring War Pigs (and if you bought them, the Hammer Securities) when you can, as they really help. Inbetween the escorts make sure to grab the third and final Chrysalis near the middle Zerg approach point, as you should have gotten your second at the end of the first escort run. You won't need an exorbitant amount of Firebats in the mission, no more than 5-6 in your main escort force, but you'll want one per Bunker, or two per choke (with the rest of the Bunker slots being Marines, of course.) The only escort wave that might give you trouble is the last one with the Nydus Worms, (If you didn't lose any colonists in the previous waves, of course.) But they shouldn't be much of a problem for Marines, Medics and Firebats. You shouldn't need Marauders at all in the mission; Firebats are better than them against Zerglings and Hydralisks. Hyperion - After The Evacuation Currently, Starcraft II is bugged in that you receive more Zerg research points for the Chrysalis, so that you'll have 5 after completing The Evacuation, and can thus get your first Zerg research almost immediately. Armory - Buy Incinerator Gauntlets, Advanced Medic Facilities Laboratory - Choose Fortified Bunker The Shrike Turret is all but useless; all it gives you is effectively the equivialent of having 1 extra Marine for firepower. The +150 health that Fortified Bunker grants is more useful in any difficulty. f. Mission #6 - Outbreak (Meinhoff) Mission Focus - Hellion Zerg Research - Kill both Infestors. (2 Research points) - When the mission starts, get a Bunker up on the north and east choke points immediately. You only have two minutes in game tim until night falls and the Infested Terran swarm attacks, and you need those Bunkers. Have the rest of your SCVs mining, and make more to keep your economy going. Fill the Bunkers with at least one Firebat a piece, preferably two as two shots of from Firebats will nearly kill an Infested Terran. Make a wall with Supply Depots so that you can limit the amount of Infested that can attack your Bunkers. After you've got a wall up for your chokes, night should have fallen. Just keep an SCV to repair the Bunkers and Supply Depots at the chokes and you'll survive the night. But until Day comes around, build Marines and Firebats with the occasional Medic so that you'll have a decent force when you can move out. Your Factory and Hellions arrive near the end of the Night, so land the Factory, get a Reactor going quickly, than start pumping out Hellions. You'll have good results with two attack groups here; one your Infantry, the other your Hellions. When Day breaks, send each group out of one choke by lowering your Depots and start taking out what you can until the Adjutant warns you that Night is approaching. You don't want to be caught out at Night on Brutal, so be smart if you want to get a few more buildings, than flee back to your chokes and raise your Depots back up. Keep building units to reinforce your groups. When day breaks send your units back out to destroy what you can. During this time, build two Bunkers and a Depot wall along your southwest access point. The Infested will break through it on this night, and you need to be prepared. Also start building Marauders at this point, as you'll start facing the armored Aberrations tonight, and they take a lot of firepower to bring down if you don't have Marauders. From this point on, you know the deal. Take out what you can during the day, defend at night, and take out the Infestors when you can. Take care once you get to the 4th Night though, and prioritize Aberrations, because they'll quickly tear down your Bunkers if you don't. Hyperion - After Outbreak Armory - Buy Combat Shield Cantina - Contract the Devil Dogs (Firebat) and Hammer Securities (Marauder) Mercenaries g. Mission #7 - The Devil's Playground (Redstone III) Mission Focus - Reaper Zerg Research - Kill the Brutalisk. (3 Research points) @ Feat of Strength - The Scenic Route: Destroy all Zerg forces Note: Be aware during this mission. The timer that shows when the lava will rise is not shown on Brutal difficulty. Keep an eye and ear open for the screen shaking and the Adjutant's warning of the imminent lava rise. - This mission can be quite tricky. You have to balance your economy and army size. You'll only need one Barracks in this mission with a Tech Lab attached, and no need for Refineries. Build a couple Medics, and a well rounded infantry force with a focus on Marines. A good setup is 2 Marines for every Firebat or Medic you make. Marauders are usable here, but not necessary for this mission. Shortly into the mission you'll receive your first few Reapers. Group them with your main infantry force and move out towards the neighboring ramp to gain your second Command Center so you can speed up your gathering. All during this mission you'll be attacked by the Zerg. Attacking them is a great way of gaining resources, as there are many resource pickup scattered throughout the zerg bases and buildings. You'll need a good size fighting force to secure them. Call in your mercenaries when you can, and rescue Reapers when you can and you'll be in good shape. Continue gaining resources, attacking Zerg bases while defending your own, and after you've wiped out everything other than the large base in the northeast, get your troops down to the southwest corner and kill the Brutalisk, who will die very quickly with your massive army, and the fact that the Brutalisk lacks the AoE attack it's cousin the Ultralisk has. Hyperion - After The Devil's Playground Armory - Buy Concussive Shells Laboratory - Choose Perdition Turret Both the PF and PT offer good choices for defence, but the Planatary Fortress really shines in only one mission, All In, and you can circumvent that with other good tactics. Take the Perdition Turret. h. Mission #8 - Welcome to the Jungle (Bel'Shir) Mission Focus - Goliath Protoss Research - Secure the 3 Protoss Relics. (3 Research Points) @ Feat of Strength - You'ze So Crazy: Destroy all Protoss Forces (Can be obtained on Normal, Hard or Brutal) Note: This is the first example of a mission in which the Mission Focus unit is not that useful. Goliaths are good against the vast amount of air units the Protoss use in this mission, but Stalkers and Void Rays just chew through them. That doesn't mean you should not use Goliaths, just make sure they aren't taking the brunt of the damage whenever you can. - Send an SCV to secure the first Terrazine tank to your left while kickstarting your economy. You have to work fast to build up your force in this mission, or the Protoss will overwhelm you. Get a second Barracks down quickly, and start mass producing an M/M/M ball to use as the main force of your army. Take down the small Protoss base north of your position when you are not eliminating the Protoss who are going for the Altars. Expand to the former Protoss base, and keep building your infantry ball. Take care later in the mission, as you'll encounter High Templar who will annhilate your ball faster than you can blink if you're not watching, and prioritize Colossi when they begin to show up in the regular Protoss attacks, and when they begin to defend Probes (around after you obtain your 5th or 6th Gas canister.) Don't be suicidal and try and kill Probes that are too far away from your army is, just concentrate on securing an area of the map at a time and take the Gas there, than move on to another area. Just keep up the pressure and guarding your SCV's as they disconnect the Gas and you've won. Hyperion - After Welcome to the Jungle Armory - Buy Titanium Housing, Projectile Accelerator Laboratory - Flip a coin. No, seriously. Vanadium Plating really helps your units to survive, especially on Brutal, so you can't go wrong with taking it, but the faster attack speed from the Ultra Capacitors is equally as useful. I flipped and took the Capacitors. i. Mission #9 - The Dig (Xil) Mission Focus - Siege Tank Protoss Research - Recover the 3 Protoss Relics. (3 Research Points) - For the first part of this mission, just manage your troops efficiently until you get to the part where you Siege your Tanks over the cliff; take a little care here, as a couple more Protoss troops will head your way, including an Archon. It's not too difficult to overcome, just be wary of it. Now, when you get to the base, set 4 SCV's on Minerals, 1 on Gas, and the other two to make a Bunker each on your north and south approaches. Put your Marines and Marauder in the north Bunker when it's complete, and split your Tanks to be one on each side. Altogether you want two Bunkers on each ridge and at least six Tanks for your ground defence, and lots of Missile Turrets around the Laser Drill to deal with the air waves and Transports when they come in; make sure to snipe Transports immediately, and focus your Turrets on them as well. You can use them and the Drill to finish off the remaining air units. As for the Drill itself, there are three priority targets for them when units appear. (and they will frequently) In order, prioritize Immortals, Colossi, and Archons. Immortals make your Tanks focus on them too much with thier Hardened Shields, and Colossi can walk up the cliffs, enabling the rest of the Protoss forces to focus on your Tanks. The Tanks shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with Archons, but snipe them with the drill if there are no Immortals or Colossi around. Also, and this is very important, make sure to queue up targets with the Laser Drill; aka Shift-Targeting. If you don't, you won't kill units nearly as fast and have to deal with more, and they might even break through at some points, especially early on when you won't have your defences completely prepared. If you're aiming for getting the Protoss Relics on the map, build a medium sized M/M/M ball and head out to the Relic locations, taking care not too go when there are waves emminent, especially air ones. The Drill's priority is the trifecta of dangerous Protoss units over the Relics. Shortly after the Laser cuts through the 50,000 damage mark on the door, High Templar will start spawning in the attack waves. Put them just under the Colossi in priority, but still kill Immortals first. As for the question of whether to utilize the expansion a little below your south ridge, you can expand if you want, but you'll miss the high ground for defensive purposes. You can definetely get through the mission without expanding, but it does require good resource management. I personally didn't bother with expanding until my main was almost out of minerals, than I built a CC east of the mineral field, near where one of the Relics is located. Doing so makes the Protoss that come for your southern approach ignore it, allowing you to mine those minerals with impunity, although you'll give your SCV's a bit of a longer path to get them. Once you reach the 25,000 damage mark on the door, start making as many Tanks as you can, and sending them to each point. The Protoss will now be sending enough units to where you can't stop them all with just the Drill, so you'll need to focus on the high priority targets even quicker than before. When you hit the 3,000 mark you've almost won, but if the Protoss have recently breached one of your sides all hell is going to break loose. Spam as much units as you can over on that side to hold off the Protoss swarm until the door is destroyed. If your defences are intact, you've won. Hyperion - After The Dig Armory - Buy Maelstrom Rounds, Dual-Fusion Welders. Laboratory - Choose whichever, people seem split between Orbital Depots or Micro-Filtering. I grab Micro-Filtering. Whenever you complete The Dig mission, you can start doing the Zeratul Missions, which really helps you get your Protoss and Zerg Research going, allowing you to be able to use them sooner on your Terran Missions. Also, as the these Missions technically have a hidden Focus just like the Terran units do, I'll list them (or as close as I can through my interpretation) j. Mission #10 - Whispers of Doom (Ulaan) Mission Focus - Zeratul, Stalkers Protoss Research - Reach the 3 Xel'Naga Shrines (Main Objective, cannot miss; 3 Research points) Zerg Research - Destroy all 3 Hatcheries (Bonus Objective; 3 Research points) - Proceed through the first few areas, killing what you choose, utilizing Blink to move around. When you get to the first Spore Crawler, Void Prison it and move on. Next, move a bit forward and observe the two Spore Crawlers and the Ultralisk. Wait for the Ultra to move back, than move into the Spore Crawlers vision, and activate the 3 Zerglings and Hydralisk to unburrow and attack. Kill them, caring for the Ultra, than move back and let your shields regenerate. Move forward after they are recharged, Void Prison the Ultra, and kill it. Use Void Prison and Blink to get past the Spore Crawler and Overseer ahead, and reach the first Xel'Naga Shrine. After the brief scene, continue forward till you reach the point where you'll get your first Stalkers to kill the Mutalisks. Void Prison one of them to limit the damage your Stalkers will receive, and Blink one away if it's shields get dangerously low. Ahead, be careful, and try to bait the Mutalisks into range of your Stalkers with Zeratul, making sure to Void Prison and kill the Ultralisk if it aggros. Move slowly, waiting until Void Prison is up when necessary to take out a key Spore/Spine Crawler or Overseer. Next you'll have 2 Brood Lords, 2 Spine Crawlers and an Overseer and a Spore Crawler to get past. First, bait the Brood Lords with a lone Stalker, than blink him back to safety. The Brood Lord will follow, and when it's away Void Prison and kill it. After blinking everyone to the next platform, ignore the Scourge that fly overhead, and have the Stalkers focus on each Mutalisk to quickly kill it. As the Ultralisk approaches, Void Prison and focus it with everyone, than start taking out the Roaches, hopefully without losing a Stalker. Up the ridge, get your new Stalker, and try and bait the Brood Lord using the same previous tactics so you can kill it. Clean up the rest of the units and structures and get your first Hatchery. Kill it using Zeratul only and without and Detectors around so he can avoid the Broodlings that pop out after it dies. Proceed to the second Shrine. Up ahead, beware. Move Zeratul a little forward to trigger the Ultralisk to unburrow. Have it follow back a bit than Void Prison and kill it. You know the trick to baiting Brood Lords by now, just try not to draw too many Mutalisks at the same time. After the units are down, Blink Zeratul towards the Spore Crawler and Void Prison it, negating any extra hit from the Spine Crawlers. Have the Stalkers kill the Overseer if you haven't already. Up the ramp you'll encounter the Banelings. Kill as many as you can until they get close, than Blink away to the West. They should reach about as soon as Blink comes back up, so blink back to the central area, and keep it up until you kill them all. Head to the southwest and Blink Zeratul across to find the second Hatchery. First off, Void Prison the Spine Crawler and kill it, than retreat and let the cooldown on Void Prison come back and head in with Zeratul and attack the Hatchery. Two Ultralisks will unburrow; retreat to out of sight of the Detectors and Void Prison one and kill it. Head back in to Void Prison the other one after the cooldown is up, kill the Detectors, than have Zeratul kill the Hatchery again, so he can avoid the Broodlings. For the next area, kill units when they unburrow, and kill the Overseers when you can. If your shields get too low, pause and let them regenerate before moving on. When you reach the ramp, focus and move up the ramp, than Blink ahead of the Spine Crawlers so you can kill as many as possible before they burrow. When you get to the rocks, prepare for the upcoming battle. The first thing you'll notice is that unlike Normal or Hard difficulty you won't receive an additional Stalker before the battle begins. Make sure to Void Prison the Ultralisks, and have your Stalkers take out the Mutalisks and Brood Lords before they take out too many of your allies. Kill the Nydus Worms before you get swamped. Remember, DO NOT grab the third Shrine yet! Blink to the ledge to the Southwest of it so you can find the final Hatchery. Take care when you assault this Hatchery; Void Prison the Spine Crawler, and focus down the Roaches, retreating if your about to lose a Stalker. Remember that when you move Zeratul to a Shrine, all of your units have their health and shields restored afterwards. Now for the quick escape to the Void Seeker. There's nothing really unique about it on Brutal, just a few extra units pursuing you, and an extra Spine Crawler in the open area. Blink past the second rock formation that blocks your way, destroy the third, and Blink to the Void Seeker as someone moves up the ramp. Mission finished. Hyperion - After Whispers of Doom You won't have enough Credits or Research points to afford anything (at least if you've followed my Walkthrough) so just move onto the next mission. k. Mission #11 - A Sinister Turn (Zhakul) Mission Focus - Protoss Techtree Fundamentals Protoss Research - Power up the three abandoned buildings. (3 Research points) Zerg Research - Free the Preservers from their prisons. (Main Objective, cannot miss. 3 Research points) Note: This mission on Brutal can get out of hand quickly, as your only real shot at victory is to build a large attack force as quickly as possible, and dive bomb the Prison area. This makes it very difficult to take down the eastern base if you want to get the Research point for powering the Templar Archives, but you can play the Mission on another difficulty in order to get it. - As the mission begins, focus on getting your base and economy going. Get Zealots up quickly, with some Stalker backup, as the Hybrid will be coming for you soon. The significant difference here on Brutal is that the Hybrid moves much faster now, and will arrive at your base almost every minute after you kill him off. He will also suck more and more strength from the Preservers, increasing his total health and shields every time. Continue to build up a large Zealot/Stalker army while you build Pylons to secure the nearby Dark Shrine and Robotics Facility, gaining the Research points they provide, as well as allowing you to construct more of those buildings, along with Dark Templar and Immortals. Add these units to your growing force, and when you can, you need to quickly decide whether you want that final Protoss Research point or not; if so, head for the Eastern base and crush it as quickly as possible. If not, head for the main base. The enemy Protoss have access to more tech than you do, including Void Rays and even Carriers here on Brutal. Hyperion - After A Sinister Turn Still no Credits, you the previous Mission should have gotten you enough Research to get both a new Protoss and Zerg Research, so pick your choice here. Note: I usually go for the Automated Refinery, but early resource ramping and having to constantly replace SCV's is common on Brutal difficulty. Choose carefully here. Laboratory - Choose Command Center Reactor for the Protoss Research, and flip a coin again for the Zerg Research, both the Predator and Hercules are pointless units. Firebats do a better job at AoE than Predators, and Medivacs transport less but can heal any infantry they carry or follow. l. Mission #12 - Echoes of the Future (Aiur) Mission Focus - Colossi, Warp Gates. Protoss Research - Restore power to the Obelisks. (2 Research points) Zerg Research - Reach the 4 Overmind Tendrils. (Main Objective, cannot miss. 4 Research points) - Move forward taking out the burrowed Zerglings and Creep Tumors, and reach the base. Get your base going, and build Photon Cannons to help protect your north and east approaches, and later some on the West to guard from Nydus Worms that WILL come from there. When the Zerg attack in their frenzied waves, use Zeratul and the troops you train to hold them off. Use Zeratul to take out Nydus Worms when you can to help stem the flow of Zerg. Defend your base whenever the countdown starts getting low, and eventually make your way to the nearest Overmind Tendril, which has very few burrowed defenders. Kill everything there, move Zeratul to the Tendril, and start an expansion there. Also make sure to power the nearby Warp Gate and Obelisk, and place some cannons near the ramp to protect it while your army is gone. Next move north, and eliminate the Spore Crawlers and other defenders near the Robotics Bay. Power that up as well, and move up the ramp, clear the stuff there, and power up the Robotics Facility and Warp Gate. Build cannons to defend the ramp here as well, and also the north approach as a Zerg base is nearby. From here on out just concentrate between moving towards each Tendril with your force, pulling back towards your main when you have about a minute left until a Frenzied Attack so your can defend yourself from it, and you should be able to cruise through the rest of the mission. Hyperion - After Echoes of the Future Again, no Credits, but you do have enough Zerg Research for the next selection. Laboratory - Choose Regenerative Biosteel. Normally it's a tossup here for me, as I really like both options here, but the Regeneration gets the nod here for Brutal difficulty, mainly because the enemy is smart about killing repairing SCV's and Science Vessels, thus allowing your mech units some measure of healing if their main source of restoration is killed until you can replace it. Onward to the conclusion of the Zeratul Missions so we can get back to the Raiders! m. Mission #13 - In Utter Darkness (Unknown Planet) Mission Focus - Using Protoss Units to their full potential. Protoss Research - Defend the Archive until the Timer finishes. (3 Research points) Zerg Research - Kill 2,500 enemy units. (3 Research points) - Get 10 more Probes onto your Minerals so you have 2 on each patch, get two more Gateways going and turn them into Warp Gates. Build 4 more Colossi so you can get 2 on each side. Many people suggest using a DT wall for the first few waves as the Zerg won't have any Detectors for a bit, and on Brutal it can REALLY cut down on your loses early on. Otherwise, keep warping in Stalkers and Immortals for your main ground force. Warp in Zealots as well, you'll need some fodder, and Zealots are the cheapest. I'd like to be able to use them, but they just end up being fodder no matter which difficulty your on. Lastly, upgrade your units weapons, shields and armor whenever you can, although your likely to be short on gas for most of the mission. With the DT wall in place, use the Pheonixs to engage the Mutalisks, and try to draw them back over to your Stalkers. Use Psionic Storm if you get the chance, but your High Templars are likely to die off without you even realizing it. Try to bring your starting Colossi with you for the first set of waves until you can build more, they help alot in cutting down the Zergling swarms. When the Hybrids begin coming (the 4th wave) use your Pheonix's Graviton Beams to lift the Destroyers into the air while your DT take out the Reavers and everything else. Keep using Graviton Beam when you can to minimize the damage the Destroyers can do. The first real test of your defence is after the 4th wave, when there will continuously be Zerg going for one entrance, than start on another, and finally the last one. As the continuous wave ends, Mohandar will arrive with your Void Ray and Zealot reinforcements, and the ability to begin building Void Rays. Eventually, the Zerg/Hybird forces will begin sending in Overseers for detection. You can still treat these waves like the first ones if your quick with Zeratul and your Pheonixs. Blink Zeratul past you main DT wall as the Overseer approaches, hit it with Void Prison, and have your Pheonixes take it out. Retreat the Pheonixes and Zeratul, and continue to kill the wave like normal. Keep building your forces, eventually preparing for the Nydus Worms. React quickly, letting Zeratul Void Prison one to keep it out of commission, and take out the others as quickly as possible before you get overrun. As the Worms continue to spawn, Seledis will arrive with more Zealots, Immortals, and Carriers. The second continous wave will be coming soon afterwards. Treat it like the previous one, just note that at least one (maybe more) of the sides that get attacked will have an Overseer that will allow the enemy to overrun that sides DT wall if you don't use Zeratul to Void Prison and kill it before it expires. While this wave is going on, it's a good idea to start massing Photon Cannons along the approaches to the main base, as the Archive should have finished and you'll have gotten your Protoss Research. The next test will be a second set of Nydus Worms, with one of your sides being attacked. Ignore the side as there shouldn't be an Overseer there to see your Dark Templar, but many of the Worms will burrow up inside your base, forcing you to move quickly. After you survive this set of Worms you should also be around 1750 kills, leaving you with only 750 more to hold out for to win. Now you should definetely fall back to your inner base, and hold on for as long as you can. Artanis will arrive soon with the last of your reinforcements, but just continue to build Stalkers, Void Rays and Pheonixs to replace any that get destroyed too quickly and you'll be golden. I usually last long enough to get just over the 3,000 kill mark. Hyperion - After In Utter Darkness Yup, no Credits, but you'll have enough Protoss Research now to get either Ravens or Science Vessels, whichever you prefer. I go for the Science Vessels for more mech healing. SCV's are fine too, but the Science Vessels are more durable. Now, there's 4 places to go to, so quite a bit of variety in your choices here. I'll go ahead and finish Tosh's storyline to get Ghosts or Spectres, and I'll cover both choices here. Unfortunately, unless you plan on using Nukes on enemy bases both units aren't all that useful in the Campaign, although Psionic Lash for Spectres makes them into more fragile Battlecruisers with a watered down Yamato Cannon. I personally prefer Ghosts, for the classic feel. n. Mission #14 - Breakout (New Folsom) Mission Focus - Gabriel Tosh (Specter Leader) - Grab Tosh and move out. Until you get Consumption later in the mission, avoid using Mindblast any if at all, as you'll run low on energy rather quickly, and you'll want the energy for Psi Shield so you can move quickly. When Raynor starts sending infantry to back you up, climb the ramp and take out the Tank and left Bunker that you can reach, going for the SCV if you wish to minimize the time it takes to kill em. For the right Bunker, wait until another group from Raynor shows up, than start taking it down. When the SCV comes in or the enemy focuses on you, throw up Psi Shield, kill the SCV, and retreat again. Wait for another group and rinse and repeat until the Bunker dies. Move forward a little and take out the Missile Turret, than skirt the detection radius of the one further in and kill the other Tank. Pick your shots to kill the other Missile Turret with Psi Shield on, and than mop everything up so Raynor can land his forward position. You'll receive Consumption here, and after using it on a couple Marauders utilize Psi Shield to prevent as much damage as you can while you focus on the Missile Turret. SCV's will try to repair it, just slap them with two Mindblasts to eliminate that. Keep using Consumption to get your energy back and take out the Turret. Afterwards head for the first Cell Block and take out the enemy there using Mindblast and Psi Shield, giving Raynor Diamondbacks. The next chokepoint can take a little bit to crack, just focus on getting rid of the Turrets with Psi Shield as quickly as you can. Roll through and Raynor will put down his second forward position, and you can move onto the second Cell Block. Skirt the Raven's Detection radius to take out as many enemies as you can before you have to stray into range, than use Psi Shield to mitigate the damage. Finish liberating the Cell Block, and give Raynor those Siege Tanks. You still get four Nukes on Brutal mode, and use your first two to clear the next two areas of foes. Head up the ramps to take out the Tanks, Reapers and Missile Turrets on the sides before heading up the main ramp into the last area, and use your nukes to clear the middle and one of the sides. Just be aware of the Raven's that try to reveal you and you'll be alright. You and Raynor's backup should easily be able to take out the rest of the enemies with little trouble. o. Mission #14 - Ghost of a Chance (Avernus Station) Mission Focus - Nova (Dominion Assassin Ghost) - Grab Nova and start moving forward and taking out units. Pause before you get into the Missile Turret's range and grab your Marines and Medics and have them head towards the ramp and kill the units overhead so Nova can take out the Gate Control so everyone can join up. Move ahead and group everyone to take out the enemies ahead, using Snipe to one shot Marauders or severly damage the Hammer Security ones. Dominate the Tank and move on to your first two Spectres. Have Nova climb the ramp to kill the first one, than move to where he was and snipe the other from across the gap. Move up towards the Jorium Stockpile area and release your Tank from Domination, letting your Marines kill it. Dominate one of the Battlecruisers to eliminate some enemy fire, kill the other, and destroy the Stockpile. In the next stage of the mission, move forward a bit to trigger the enemy patrol, and Dominate the Raven, fire a Seeker Drone at the Diamondback, and put an Auto-Turret down. Move Nova forward and kill the Vikings and Marines to clear the Landing Zone. Move your Tanks to hug the Gate, and Siege them so they can take out the Missile Turret, than move your Reapers over the cliff and down to the Siege Tank and Gate Control. Have your Tanks take down the Bunker and Turret, and move Nova forward. Inch forward with your units, using the Raven for scouting, Reapers for climbing the cliff to the right, and your Tanks to take out clusters of units, Bunkers and Turrets. Get Nova to the Nuke Silo so she can hack it, and have your Raven move to the west a bit and fire a Seeker Missile at the Spectre there. Move Nova up the ramp and pause just outside the detection radius of the Turrets, and Paint the Nuke right over the Thor, and wipe out everything there, including the Terrazine Tanks. Now for the final area, move northeast and kill the Marines with Nova, than Dominate the Siege Tank and use it to kill the Bunker and Turret to the east. Next move your Banshees southeast and take out the Siege Tank that's sticking out like a sore thumb near the Spectre. Head south, and use your Vikings to draw the enemy one out and smash it, than Siege your Tank and have your find targets for it to hit. Let the Tank take out the Turrets in the middle as Nova snipes the Spectre there. Move Nova and your air units north to hack the Nuke Silo, than move Nova back south and attack the Barricade. Destroying it frees an Ultralisk, who proceeds to move to the east and destroy some of Tosh's forces there. Free your tank and kill it with your Banshees, than move Nova east, finish off the Ultralisk, and Dominate the Thor that's sitting all by it's lonesome. Move Nova a little north and Snipe the Spectre nearby. Circle all the way around to where the Nuke silo is, move a unit down to trigger Tosh's fail Nuke, than move forward after it's gone off and Snipe the Spectre as the Thor draws enemy fire. After the Raven and Missile Turret nearest you are gone, have Nova safely nuke the Psi-Indoctrinator and you've won. Hyperion - After Breakout or Ghost of a Chance Armory - Buy Psionic Lash/Ocular Implants. Afterwards, let's go ahead and finish up Dr. Hanson's arc as well. Once again, I'll cover both Safe Haven and Haven's Fall. I prefer to do Haven's Fall just because it awards you Protoss Research, and I like to have my Tech Reactor as fast as possible. p. Mission #15 - Safe Haven (Haven) Mission Focus - Viking, Purifier (Mothership) Zerg Research - Dr. Hanson's Breakthroughs (Complete the Mission, 3 Research Points) - A quick overview for this mission, your going to have to build your economy fast, and your squadron of Vikings even faster, as the Purifier Mothership will reach the final Colony (aka, your base) at the 21:30 mark. In other words, you don't have much time at all, get started and put a Reactor on your Starport. Don't worry about saving any colonies at all; focus on defence until you can get about 10-12 Vikings to move onto the first Nexus. The first thing to do is to raid the outer ring of this base (and the other two as well) to snipe the Warp Prisms powering the Photon Cannons and the other buildings in the area. You'll take some potshots from Stalkers and Sentries, but it's managable. After taking out all of the Warp Prisms, land away from the base and walk through it. Also, after the Purifier destroys the first three colonies, go save the next ones, as the resources the colonists leave behind really help, and are pretty much necessary for winning the mission. Keep producing Vikings from now on constantly, and consider making a second Starport for faster production.fter you destroy the first Nexus, produce a couple of extra Siege Tanks to use for the third Nexus later. Make your way down to the second Nexus, and take out the air units and Warp Prisms around the northwestern ridge. After you do that, you can land your Vikings and attack the Nexus without anyone attacking you back. After destroying the second Nexus, move your Tanks and Vikings down towards where the third Nexus is. By the way, if the Purifier has already taken down the third colony, you're going to have to hurry. Siege the Tanks out of range of the outer most Photon Cannon, move your Vikings to reveal it and the Tanks will open fire, and attack the units that come out to attack the Tanks. The Tanks should be able to handle most anything that comes, but land a few Vikings if you need to, while the rest handle the Carriers and other air units. After no more units come out, move your Tanks up, and try to reveal and kill off the High Templar before it can Psionic Storm your Vikings. Destroy the third Nexus, and hoof it back towards your base. Note that the first time a group of units comes within range of the Purifier it will drop a Vortex on them, and an attack afterward will cause the Purifier to Warp in several Protoss units to defend itself. Take them down, followed by the Purifier before it can destroy the final colony and you win. q. Mission #15 - Haven's Fall (Haven) Mission Focus - Viking, Virophage Protoss Research - Selendis shares Protoss knowledge for Cleaning the Colonists (Complete the Mission, 3 Research points) - The key to this mission is you have to stop any more colonies from being infested. If you allow one or even two more to fall, you're probably going to be overrun. With that said, get to work on your economy and Viking production while getting Bunkers and Tanks for your northeast and southeast chokes. Maybe some Perdition Turrets as well, they're really effective against the Zerg. The first Infested base across the water is still a pushover, and you can take it out with the three Vikings you have. Just have them take out the Brood Lords before landing and destroying everything in the area. Keep building Vikings, as the Zerg will start trying to infest the colony to your south shortly. For a while now all you'll have to do is fly your Vikings to the colony that is starting to be infested, kill the air units over it, than land and take out everything, the attacking units first, than the morphing Virophage before it can finish. The second Infested base is northeast of your position, and you can walk through that once you have about 20-25 Vikings. Head there immediately after you save a colony and you'll probably have enough time to destroy all of it. If not, turn them back into jets, fly them to the colony that needs to be saved, save it, than return and finish the base. Cleansing this area will allow you to expand here if you wish as well. Keep building Vikings and head for the base in the south. There's quite a few Mutalisks in this southern base, so you may want to split your Vikings into Assault and Jet mode to deal with both ground and aerial threats, than proceed to walk through this base as well, leaving only the eastern base alive. By the time you get to the last base you should have 30+ Vikings. Walk through this base as well, and celebrate your victory. Hyperion - After Safe Haven/Haven's Fall Armory - Buy Orbital Command Cantina - Contract the Siege Breakers (Siege Tanks) Laboratory (If you chose Safe Haven) - Your final Zerg Research awaits you here. The choice is yours as both are nice, but both are kind of set up for the final mission, especially on Brutal. Usually you'll see people choose the Hive Mind Emulator if you take out the Nydus Worms, as the Mind Control is really useful on the Brood Lords so the Broodlings they spawn help bog Kerrigan down. Likewise, the Psi Disruptor is chosen if people take out the Flyers, as the Psi Disruptors allow you to slow the Zerg down enough so that you take them out with your ground defences. r. Mission #16 - The Great Train Robbery (Tarsonis) Mission Focus - Diamondbacks Zerg Research - Discover the three Defiler Bone Samples (3 Research points) - Quick note: On Brutal, the interval between trains is very short in this mission, and you'll pretty much have to continiously make Diamondbacks or you'll fall behind. Also, you can only let two trains pass on this dificulty, so if you find one train to be too tough at the moment, let it pass and grab the next one when your forces are bigger. Remember: Don't forget the 3 Defiler Bone Samples scattered across the map; grab them before the first train comes. The third train has Marauders escorting the trains, so be very careful starting from that one on. Also, after the third one is destroyed is when the Dominion begins making Bunkers along the tracks. You'll want to get a few Siege Tanks up as well, they'll help you out a lot on killing the escorts. The fourth train will have Siege Breaker mercenaries escorting, along with a Raven that can cause tons of damage if it's Seeker Missile hits your Diamondbacks. After the fifth train dies two large Marauder kill teams will begin patrolling. Don't try to go for these groups unless you have 6 or more Siege Tanks waiting for them, as these teams have Medics backing them up. The sixth train will also start having the train speed boosting, and they start zooming, and your Diamondback will keep up, but just barely. Since they're so fast, the Dominion only have Hellions escorting the sixth and seventh trains. The eight and final train, however, is a piece of work. Siege Breaker, Siege Tanks, Goliaths, Banshees and a Raven escort this last one. If you're running low on units let the train pass and get the next one, or make a suicide rush into trying to bring down the train with everything you have, including any Bunkered infantry or defensive Siege Tanks. It's entirely possible to complete this mission on Brutal without letting a train pass, and the mission flows so fast you'll probably not have a chance to take the expansion northwest of your starting base. Hyperion - After The Great Train Robbery Armory - Shaped Blast Laboratory - If you haven't grabbed your last Zerg Research yet, you'll be able to grab it now. s. Mission #17 - Cutthroat (Deadman's Port) Mission Focus - Vulture, Spider Mine, Mercenaries Protoss Research - Recover the 3 Protoss Relics (3 Research point) - The roughest part of this map is of course the early going, what with having to reach 6,000 Minerals before Orlan does. Obviously, you're going to have to take out all three of his expansions quickly, or you'll be screwed. Stick Reactors on your Barracks and Factory, you don't need the higher tech on Brutal to survive. Make a good force of Marines and Medics with some Hellion support for grabbing scrap early (most piles outside of your base have at least some enemy troops near almsot every deposit) until you get your Vultures. Immediately mine the southwest bridge, and watch the enemies blow up. From here, focus on building Vultures constantly; you'll want the Spider Mines for both offense and defence. Head for an expansion (I usually go for the northern one first) and bait the standing infantry nearby into running into Spider Mines, kill them, and wipe out the Command Center. Head back to your main, mining that bridge if you haven't done so already, and head for the southeast expansion. Take out the troops on the way, collecting scrap all the while. Remember to constantly bait enemy forces into your mine fields to limit casualties. Hopefully Orlan isn't much further along than the 4,000-4,500 Minerals mark at this point; speed up if he has passed it. Take down the remaining two expansions and his Mineral collection rate is all but on life-support. He'll continue to get some Minerals, but not nearly as many as he was before, and you should be able to catch up via all the scrap and the Minerals from the expansions you've destroyed. Once you've hit the 6,000 mark and gotten the mercenaries in the southwest corner, utilize them with your Vultures and infantry to slowly make your way towards Orlan's main base. He employs a few mercenaries as well, most notably Siege Breakers and the Jackson's Revenge Battlecruiser. Just slowly crawl through the base (watch out for that nuke!) until you can crack his Planatary Fortress and you've won. Hyperion - After Cutthroat Armory - Buy Multi-Lock Weapons Systems Cantina - Contract the Spartan Company (Goliaths) Laboratory - If you've followed this walkthrough you'll finally have enough Protoss Research to get your Tech Reactor! (Anyone who gets Orbital Drop, especially on Brutal...if your serious, you probably ate too many paint chips. If it's a fun/even bigger challenge run for you, than good luck.) If you don't have enough points you'll have to wait. Also, this hasn't been confirmed if it's a bug or not, but I'll mention it anyhow. After you get 25 in one or both Research categories, any extra ones you get throughout the rest of the Campaign will be converted into 10,000 Credits each. However, currently any Missions you replay via the Mission Archive system that offers both Research options, (ex. Whispers of Doom) you will receive the combined amount of extra Research you have received up to where you are in the Campaign. For example, if you tried this trick at this point, you would receive an additional 20,000 Credits each from the Protoss and Zerg Research for a total of 40,000 Credits. That isn't much, but it adds up if you can bear repeating the same Missions over and over again. At least any difficulty will work, even Casual. I'd do it once so you can buy the Ares-Class Targeting System for your Goliaths. Open Call: Even I know that my little guide here for Engine of Destruction isn't near what I'd call perfect, but it'll do for now. If anyone else has suggestions or a different strategy entirely (or a good viable way to take out the Loki without losing too much of your army) feel free to email me or post a topic on the GameFAQs WoL board. t. Mission #18 - Engine of Destruction (valhalla) Mission Focus - Wraith Zerg Research - Recover the 3 Devourer Tissue Samples - The initial part of the mission is a bit hairy; just keep your Medics out of the line of fire, especially at the Perdition Turrets. Tychus can get a little low, but keep a Medic on him and he should stay alive. Watch for the new Perdition Turret right in front of the Odin though. Now that the Odin has busted out of the clink, get your base going, sticking a Tech Lab (Or more hopefully the Tech Reactor by now :D) on your buildings and setup a Bunker and two Tanks for your northeast approach, build another Starport, and get a balanced force going. This is one of the few missions where the Mission Focus unit isn't that useful; Wraiths can only do so well in this mission, your going to want a good force to keep the heat off the Odin. Get a force of Marines and Medics going, adding Tanks for later, some Science Vessels to heal the Tanks and the Odin. As Tychus takes his beer break, fly your Wraiths into the second base to bait the Battlecruiser and draw it out and smash it with your Science Vessels healing. Don't cloak and fly in, because there's a Raven that'll uncover your Wraiths and they'll get smashed instead. The second base is where you'll notice just how much damage the Odin can be taking if your not careful, you'll just have to keep your Science Vessels close, and keep making SCV's to repair them, as the Vultures and other units that swarm it pick off the SCV's. Keep backing up the Odin when you can, because things will start to get tight. The third base isn't too bad, but still watch for everything that comes for your repairers. Don't even think of going after the Loki here; you'll lose way too many Wraiths, and after the 4th base falls, the Dominion attacks your main base with lots of Vikings, infantry and Ravens from the east and west. After you crush this attack, take everything you have from your base that you had in defence, call any and all mercenaries you have, and send them to help the Odin crack through the last base. It's an all or nothing shot, but it's the last base so to hell with defence now. Cover the Odin until it can get in range and use it's nuke, and you've won. Hyperion - After Engine of Destruction Armory - Phobos-Class Weapons Systems Cantina - Contract the Hel's Angels (Vikings) u. Mission #19 - Media Blitz (Korhal) Mission Focus - Thor - You'll have control of the Odin for 4 minutes, but first take a look around before you start the sneak attack. The northwest (Air) base is difficult to take out with just the Odin alone, with the numerous Vikings, Banshees, Auto-Cannons, Raven and Battlecruiser there, so that one is probably out. The northeast (Mech) base has three Tanks Sieged, 3 in Tank mode, and a Siege Breaker. Not a good idea either, as they'll rip the Odin to shreds since they have Maelstrom Rounds. Not to mention the Diamondbacks, Goliaths and Spartan Company units that are there as well. The southeast (Light) base is by far the easiest area to attack, as there are only Hellions, Vultures, Ghosts, Reapers and War Pig Marines there to defend, none of which should do significant damage to the Odin. Eliminate the expansion on your way to the base so you can expand if necessary, and take out as much of the southeast base as you can. When the timer expires and you gain control of your base, get your base going and start setting up appropriate defense for Air and Mech units, because you'll be facing alot of them. Get Vikings to defend from the Banshees, and you'll probably be able to defend from the rest with a standard Bunker/Siege Tank defence. For your attack force, get an M/M/M ball, a group of Goliaths and Siege Tanks, and a force of Vikings. Get the Mercenaries to go with these groups as well. When you go on the attack, watch for raids from the other bases while your gone. What you want to do is take out the remaining bases before you even think about commencing an upload at the other towers so you don't have to worry about them at all. Also you'll be able to take the other expansion and Mech base for their resources. When you go for the Air base, be careful when sending in your ground units, as the Banshees will wipe them off the map since they have the Shockwave Missile Batteries. After you've cleared out all three areas, set up your forces and upload at each tower one at a time, taking out everything that floods your way. Final note, DON'T forget about the Secret Documents at the Science Facility to the southeast, or you won't get the Secret Mission. Hyperion - After Media Blitz Armory - Buy Kinetic Foam v. Mission #20 - Piercing the Shroud (Castanar) Mission Focus - Special Weapons for Raynor Protoss Research - Collect the 4 Protoss Relics (4 Research points) Zerg Research - Kill the Brutalisk (3 Research points) ! Monster Mash! - Kill the Brutalisk with the A.R.E.S. Warbot. By this time you've more than likely gotten all of the Research points you want, with a small exception of possibly the Protoss Research. The bonus objectives are still there for fun though, especially on Brutal. - Blow the door, and be careful not to lose any of your troops to the welcoming committee, including the surprise Perdition Turret. Activating the gun turrets on the left suck on any difficulty, so activate the right ones and run your units in to get kills as the Dominion troops focus on the guns. Finish the rest off after they've kill the guns. Move into the first lab and either blow or destroy the holding pen, blow the far door and move on. Grab the Grenades and use one to take out the large cluster of infantry ahead. For the next group before the second Security Camera, draw them out with Raynor than nail em with a Grenade, than finish them off. For the Camera, release the Zerglings and run in, taking out any Zerglings that come for you and take out the cannons, than mop up the survivors, whomever wins. Move on, blow the northeast door, and grab the Plasma Gun. Ignore the health/energy restoration cube unless you really need it, and move on, using the Plasma Gun to take out the Siege Breaker, and grab more ammo for the Plasma Gun. Up ahead you'll be able to activate the Warbot, although you can get through the upcoming area without by using baiting tactics combined with Grenades or Plasma Gun shots if needed. Grab the Grenades in the northeastern corner of the first section of this gauntlet, and pause before moving too far into the next room, as the Thor there can decimate your group and even kill Raynor quickly if you aren't focusing. Retreat a short distance away, send Raynor in to hit it with a Plasma Gun shot, retreat back to where the Warbot is, heal up, than head back in again and finish it with another Plasma Gun shot. If you want to activate the Warbot and have it advance, arm it with either the Autocannons or the Anti-Armor Missiles and push forward letting it tank. If you force your way in without the Warbot, you can go for the achievement of killing the Brutalisk with it, but first let's clear the Brutalisks room; choose to call in whatever troops you desire, but make sure to grab the Marauders if you're going to kill the Brutalisk without the Warbot's help, if you're going to kill it at all. I suggest the eight Marines. Blow the door, kill the troops in the room, and grab the Protoss Relic, Grenade, and Plasma Gun pickups. Grab the Restoration Cube if you need it, but I suggest saving it if you're going to attempt the Brutalisk without the bot. Decide whether your going to kill it or not, and move on. Kill the Perdition Turrets before you move all the way into the Reactor room, than mop up everything there. SAVE BEFORE YOU DESTROY THE REACTOR!!! Your still safe (relatively) until you reach the part where the Hybrid begins breaking through the debris, so get moving. Grab the Plasma Gun as you leave and kill the Zerglings in the next room. When you see the Zealots squaring off with the Firebats, chuck a Grenade at them and grab the Chrono Rift Device near them. Kill the Zerg ahead, than save again and take a breath. It's your choice from here on whether you want to pick up any extra weapon pickups, but I'll cover where they are as I go through. I'll still also point out the remaining two Protoss Relics as well. Run forward to activate the Hybrid, head to the southeast if you want the Grenade pickup there, but it's guarded by a number of Zerg. Continue southwest and activate the Warbot to by you some time, than head southeast. Chuck a grenade at the barricade to get at the Chrono Rift Device behind it, than continue south, use a Plasma Gun shot on this barricade, and chuck two more at the massive Zealot/Zergling groups just ahead, and grab the third Protoss Relic behind them to the left. Run southeast, laying down a Chrono Rift field behind you, as the Hybrid is probably starting to breathe down your neck. Head as far northeast as you can to get to a cubbyhole with another Chrono Rift Device, use a Plasma Gun round on the barricade, and run southeast, laying down Chrono Rift fields to slow the Hybrid down. When you see the next set of Zealots, run westward to pick up the final Protoss Relic, and continue to the southwest. Save your remaining Chrono Rift Devices (if any) since you'll reach the point where the Hybrid disappears when you get past the Restoration Cube. Make sure to grab the Grenades and make your way up the ramp into the Pygalisk area. Wipe out the eggs and when the Ultralisk unburrows, run back east, and kill it with 3 Plasma Gun shots (you should have plenty left) before moving on. As you move down the ramp, pause near the top of it, making sure to kill the Marauder and Marine before you move down. Drop a Chrono Rift on the western corner so that the Hybrid spawns in the middle of it, being slowed immediately. Pick up the Chrono Rift Device there and motor it to the east, making your way to the exit. Use any more Chrono Rifts to get away, and chuck your remaining Grenades to rid your way of any trouble. Run to the transport and you win! Hyperion - After Piercing the Shroud Armory - Buy Ripwave Missiles, Hellstorm Batteries w. Mission #21 - The Moebius Factor (Tyrador VIII) Mission Focus - Medivac Zerg Research - Kill the Brutalisk (3 Research points) - This mission is a little daunting at first, but if you've contracted all of the mercenaries so far like I have, it can be very very easy. Get your base set up, take your starting Medivacs and Marines/War Pigs, rescue the units to the south and destroy the first Data Core. Get a Bunker with a couple of Perdition Turrets (if you chose them) along with 2-3 Tanks, ring the edges of your base with Missile Turrets, and you've got your base defended for this whole mission. Now for your 2nd and 3rd Data Core assault force. Call in your every merc you can except the Hammer Security Marauders, build about 4 more Medivacs, than load everyone up and head to the northeast corner of the map. Create more Vikings as well to use in pushing towards the 3rd Data Core. Move your Medivacs along the north edge of the map, moving east, until your a little northeast of the Data Core. Drop your army off in the little grassy area, kill everything in the vicinity, than Siege your Siege Breakers so that they can hit the Data Core since it's revealed. Fend off the crappy attacks the Zerg throw at your Tanks, destory the Core, than load everyone back into the Medivacs and head back to your base the same way you came. After your back and have some Viking support, move everyone westward towards where the Brutalisk is. Have your Vikings move in first to take care of the Corruptors, Mutalisks and Overseer/Overlords that are in view, land your army, and potshot the Brutalisk before it even gets a hit off. Load everyone back in, than move west some more until you hit land again, and if you scout a little bit with your Vikings, you'll see you can land them almost immediatly and take little to no damage from the Spore Crawlers. Land the Vikings and have them clear some more room for your Medivacs to drop the rest of your army, than make your way to the Data Core. Transform your Vikings for whatever you need to kill with them quickly, than focus on the Core. Kill the first Nydus Worm that pops up but ignore the second, you can kill the Core before the units from there cause any real trouble. Easy mission. Hyperion - After The Moebius Factor Armory - Buy Advanced Healing AI Open Call: If anyone can provide a good setup that will enable you to fight your way through the last Protoss base and grab the Artifact without having the fire wall do most of the work for you, feel free to submit it, as I'm sure there's a way to do it. x. Mission #22 - Supernova (Typhon XI) Mission Focus - Banshee Protoss Research - Recover the 4 Protoss Relics (4 Research points) I'll start off by saying this is my least favorite mission of the Campaign on Hard or Brutal. The forces the Protoss send at you can feel ridiculous at times, and if you want to finish the Mission without any trouble (aka, the fire wall riding your viewscreen half the map) you've got to do it without losing many of your units. - Ok, this is going to be ugly. Get your mining and especially your Gas going as soon as possible. Build Banshees, use your initial ground forces to grab the nearby Protoss Relics that are near your base. They are guarded, but quick strikes by the Banshees should allow you to grab both. Remember, if you can go for Pylons or Warp Prisms, kill them first. They'll unpower the buildings (making them useless) and they are quicker kills. As the fire wall starts breathing down your neck, move your forces southeast, destroy the Protoss there, and take the 3rd Relic, than move north and start demolishing the base, utilizing micro and whatever else you can do to minimize your losses. Of course, move your structures that can along with your SCV's to your new location, and continue to produce Banshees, but also start throwing in Vikings as well, as you'll start running into Scouts and eventually Carriers in the end. Fend off the Protoss attacks until the fire wall starts getting close again, and set off for the base to the southeast. Again try to minimize your losses as best you can and settle here. Keep building Vikings and Banshees, and begin to watch for the Protoss attacks, as you'll see everything from Immortals to Archons to Carriers being thrown at you. Most deadly of all are the High Templar; Psionic Storm will decimate your air force in no time. Also note that the final Protoss Relic is in the little aclove to the east. Unfortunately this one is difficult to grab, with there being not one but TWO High Templar guarding it. Secure it when/if you can, and as the fire wall starts growing closer and closer, move your air force to the far east side of the map and hug it. Ignore any more Protoss attacks on your base and just sit tight until the fire wall has destroyed over half of the base, than start advancing your units to the north through the base towards the Artifact. Have your Vikings take out the Pheonixes, your Banshees the Cannons, than cloak and take out the Artifact temple before the fire wall consumes you! Note that the fire wall CAN damage the Artifact temple. If it lands the finishing blow on the temple you will lose. ...GOD I HATE THIS MISSION!!!!! Hyperion - After Supernova Armory - Buy Cross-Spectrum Dampeners, Shockwave Missile Battery Cantina - Contract the Dusk Wings (Banshees) y. Mission #23 - Maw of the Void (Sigma Quadrant) Mission Focus - Battlecruiser Protoss Research - Free the Dark Templar prisoners (4 Research points) FINALLY! Battlecruisers! Yay! - Start out out the same way you'd always do, taking out the 3 Stalkers than the Rip Field Generator to get your base into play. Get resource gathering going, including the nodes around your initial platform, using your Battlecruisers to clear the Stalkers and Archon. Station your Battlecruisers near the western edge of the platform to intercept the Warp Prisms that will fly in and drop ground forces in to attack your base. You can build a Bunker and stack it with Marines and a Marauder to hold them off as well, but focus on getting Battlecruisers. When you have two more for a total of 5 head for the second generator and take it out, your resources will be running low soon. Clear the second generator and the base nearby, and Lift-Off all the buildings you can and bring them over. Make a couple Medivacs to move your SCV's and any defence forces you made, and set up the Bunker again, with about 6 Missile Turrets behind it, near the southeast edge of the platform. This is where the Warp Prisms will fly over, and they'll stupidly try to fly over them to the base you've all but abandoned. Continue to make Battlecruisers and collect the resource nodes, and send your Battlecruisers to liberate the Dark Templar from the first two prisons. Use them to scout the enemy positions ahead and grab more resources. Slowly advance from Generator to Generator until you have three left. Destroy the southern most one and move north from there, using your remaining Yamato Cannons to take out the Artifact hold and you've won. Hyperion - After Maw of the Void Armory - Buy Defensive Matrix Cantina - Contract Jackson's Revenge (Battlecruiser) Remember: Now that you are at Char, it's the point of no return...Than again, if you've followed this walkthrough there's nowhere else to go either, so...on to Char! z. Mission #24 - The Gates of Hell (Char; Surface) Mission Focus - Rescue Allies - Despite it being Brutal difficulty, the Zerg that run to attack the units that come via the drop-pods really haven't increased in difficulty to destroy compared to Hard, so build up your forces until you reach the 100 supply mark and you receive the new objective of destroying the three Nydus Worms to save General Warfield and his men. As for the drop pods themselves, the hardest ones to save are the seventh and eights ones, as I had a pack of Brood Lords intercept me on my way to the northern set. I rescued that one, but the Zerg killed the other group before I had a chance to go for it. I rescued the final two though. Mass everyone together (hire any and all Mercenaries as well, they'll help you push even harder) and start punching a high-powered hole through the Zerg forces until you get to the Worms. Take them out and you win. Warfield should have no problem surviving; would have made things interesting if he didn't have any SCV's to repair the Bunkers on Brutal. Raynor's Base Camp - After The Gates of Hell No Credits or Research from now on, but there's a possible choice to make here, if you've been on the fence for which final Zerg Research you should get. Once again I'll recommend that you grab the Hive Mind Emulator if you choose to take out the Nydus Worms; Grab the Psi Disruptor if you take out the Zerg Flyers. I'll cover Belly of the Beast first, than Shatter the Sky. aa. Mission #25 - Belly of the Beast (Char; Nydus Network) Mission Focus - Hero Units - Grab your heroes and move forward, taking out the Spine Crawlers and such with a Penetrator round. The key to this mission is that unless you're forced to advance (such as in the second part with the constant Nydus Worms spitting out Infested Terrans) take the mission slowly, waiting for ability cooldowns to come off before hitting the next group of enemies. Careful when you get near the first charge point though, as 4 Nydus Worms will pop out. Hit em with the Shredder Grenades and the Penetrator Round before the Swarmlings...swarm you. As for defending the charge itself, just keep putting Flaming Betty down when she expires, and use the Grenades and Penetrator on Nydus Worms or Aberrations. Flaming Betty and your force can handle everything else with little problem. Now we're into the second part of the mission, and this one's mainly about not advancing too far; if you do so, someone's going to get picked off and hammered into the ground. After you get past the first two areas and kill the lone Aberration, take care as theres an Aberration with Banelings coming from behind it. Plant Flaming Betty down to tank their explosions and kill the Abberation. Soon after you'll receive the notice about the second group under attackfrom the Zerg. Hoof it over there as fast as possible, and save either a Penetrator or Grenade for the Worm to stop the infinite spawn, and save the troops. Kill the Aberration coming from behind, and get ready for a gauntlet! Make your way through it until you start getting the warning to watch your six. At first there's only more Infested Terrans, but as you move forward there will be an Aberration there, and and Ultralisk will unburrow in front of you! Stand your ground and plant Flaming Betty behind you to tank the Aberration, and use both the Penetrator and Grenades on the Ultralisk, than focus it down before it can take out any of your group. Move on to the second charge location. Plant Flaming Betty when use can, preferably in the middle choke as the majority of the Banelings come from that direction. Kill Worms, Aberrations and Ultralisks with your Penetrator and Grenades as usual, and just last through the timer. The third phase, make sure to keep your troops behind Flaming Betty lest you lose them to a Baneling acid bath. Make your way cautiously through the first two egg areas, than take care. The third set of troops is ahead, but theres that damned Omegalisk pounding on their barricade, and a large cadre of Zerg between you and it. Despite their spike in dps, don't use your abilities on the Omegalisk, as they'll hurt the barricade too. Use them to get rid of the Zerg in between you and it, than pepper it down, hopefully before it breaks through and mauls the third group. Continue onward to the Queen's Chamber and the third charge. For the first three appearances by the Queen, take out as many eggs as you can while dipping her health, hopefully she'll burrow down before you starts to focus too heavily on your guys. Once she unburrows the fourth time and starts using the mass stun move it's pretty hard to keep your units alive. Just accept the loses and kill her as quickly as possible, allowing you to plant the third charge. Now, let's escape before we get stuck in the lava! The escape really isn't too bad, just use your abilities to their utmost potential. The trickiest part is near the end when an Ultralisk charges at you, but take it head on, than plant Flaming Betty down as you run to the exit, so that no Banelings explode on you. Congratulations! You only have All In with the Zerg Flyers ahead of you! May God have mercy on your soul... bb. Mission #25 - Shatter the Sky (Orbital Platform over Char) Mission Focus - The Leviathan (Zerg Flying Monstrosity) - Get your base going, and a Bunker or two with Perdition Turrets if you chose them. Ring the outskirts of your base with Missile Turrets, making extra ones inbetween your Bunker defences, as the Zerg like to attack there with many Mutalisks and Brood Lords. Grab some Vikings as well to help with the defence eventually. As for the platforms itself, the first one can be taken out with a simple M/M ball, but throw in a few Firebats or Marauders (or the Merc versions of them) and you'll be fine. Advance onto the platform from the east (also, take out the small expansion to the south either before or after you destroy the first Coolant Tower so you can build your own) and carve a path to the Coolant Tower and destroy it. Retreat before the platform blows so you don't lose any units. After the first platform is destroyed, move out and destroy the second small expansion due west of your base and take it. Make sure to build defences for both expansions, as the Zerg will harass them regularly. Now, you can choose any of the three remaining bases to attack; the one in the northwest is setup to mainly counter ground forces, the one in the southeast to counter air units. The one in the southwest has a balanced mix of both defences and will be a bit more difficult to crack. Let's go for the northwest base to remove those pesky Roach and Ultralisks, shall we? If you've got a fair amount of Banshees and a few Vikings, you can go straight in with those and you'll take out the Coolant Tower without any problems. Be sure you're ready when you do though; the Leviathan shows up after the second platform explodes! The Leviathan is a real monster on this level with 4,000 hit points, devastating attacks with an insane range of 12 for both Air and Ground targets, and it produced Mutalisks and Scourge at and insane rate. Throw everything you have at this behemoth to take it out as quickly and painlessly as possible. Rebuild your forces after it dies. Advance your forces southwest to take out the third Zerg expansion to make your own, than advance your forces towards the southeast to take out that base. Remember, this one is set up to defend against air units primarily, so your ground forces will shine here. Crush the tower, retreat, wait for it to blow, and than focus all your attention on the southwest base. With it being the only place for attacks to come from, you shouldn't be caught by surprise, and the last Coolant Tower should fall quickly. Congratulations! Now all you have to deal with on All In is Nydus Worms and Kerrigan! Prepare to spam Siege Tanks and Banshees! All that is left now is to face Kerrigan's wrath and go All In. As there are two different versions of this map (well, technically anyway) I'll cover both. cc. Mission #26a - All In (Nydus Worms) (Char; Primary Zerg Hive Cluster) Mission Focus - Xel'Naga Artifact, Nydus Worms, Infested Kerrigan - You've got to move fast here. Your initial static defences aren't ideal where they start at, so salvage the Bunkers, rebuild them a little bit closer to your base, and get more Siege Tanks to defend. Build a network of Psi Disruptors so whenever something gets near, it'll be slowed, and for a decent amount of time before it reaches your Bunkers. Altogether you'll want about 3 Bunkers on each side with at least 7 Siege Tanks backing them up. Get some Perdition Turrets up around the Bunkers if you have time as well. If you picked Planatary Fortresses, this is the mission to use them on. They are expensive but they have the most health and armor out of all Terran buildings, and can be used to hold off the Zerg ground forces quite effectively. For the Nydus Worms that you'll be facing in this mission, get a strike force of Banshees, around 7-9 of them, to go around and take them out. The longer a Worm survives, the more numerous and more advanced types of Zerg it will spit out, so you want to kill them as fast as you can. When Kerrigan comes, use Yamato Cannons or Psionic Lashes and everything else you have to try and cut her down to size before she puts a gigantic dent in your defences. It'll take longer to kill her off this time as she has 1,500 hp. When the Artifact reaches the 42% charge rate, huge swarms of Overlords will begin to flock to your base to drop off Zerglings and generate Creep all over your base. If the Artifact is up, use it to wipe them all out, otherwise you'll have to use whatever spare units you can to clear them out, or you'll never be able to build more Missile Turrets, Supply Depots, or whatever else you need to build. Continue to defend, killing off Nydus Worms and fending off Kerrigan, using the Nova if Kerrigan and Worms are up at the same time. The Banshees can really help shave health off of Kerrigan here if there are no Worms up to kill. Just watch for her Psionic Duststorm. Near the 75-80% mark the Nydus Worms start spawning really fast, so don't be afraid to use the Nova. The last time that Kerrigan comes for you at around 92%, try to kill her off without losing many Battlecruisers or Banshees; you'll want them to defend the Artifact plateau, which will get swamped with Nydus Worms, and thus all the units it can spawn, at around 96-97%. Just survive until the end, and congratulations! You have just completed the Campaign on Brutal! (Or the last level, you cheapskate. :p) Enjoy your new Sarah Kerrigan portrait for use on Battle.net! I personally think that since it was on Brutal difficulty the final portrait should have been a 'Brutal'isk, heheh. ...Ok, bad pun, but it still makes sense. Hope you all enjoyed the walkthrough! I'll make ones for Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void when they come out as well. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. If anyone wants to send me other ideas or suggestions they have found while doing Brutal, you can pop me an email or post a topic on GameFAQs. Copyright 2010 KratosIrving