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On the Nature of Build Orders in Halo Wars 2
A Guide by Nakamura
“My opponent was going for a Hornet rush” or “let’s rush scarabs” or “I’ve been facing locust rushes all day” are lines that you may very commonly encounter if you read the forums, reddit, or simply just talk to your fellow players. There is one thing all of the above have in common. Yep, you guessed it! They all include rush. Another thing they have in common is that they’re an incorrect use of the lingo - the best-known piece of RTS terminology being thrown around where it has no place. “I got up today at 1 PM in the morning” (yeah, I really needed some sleep) - can you see where I am going with this?
Let’s stop bashing this example though, and be way more constructive than that. Here I’m going to outline some of the most common, rough categories of build orders.
Rushes are designed to attack your opponent directly at a time when they will be more focused on building up infrastructure than defenses or units. The goal is to either eliminate the enemy player, or to set them behind economically so that the rusher gains a lead. These builds are high risk, high reward, and have a big impact on one’s economy. The counter to them is a solid defense. Early identification greatly -Yoink!- in establishing that.
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Example rush build: Marine, Barracks, Hellbringer, 4x Supply pads (Marines and Hellbringers inbetween), node capture, attack with 7 Marines, 7 Hellbringers.This build is completely all-in. If this army dies while the other player loses little, you are almost certainly dead. You can however remove an entire enemy starting base before the 5 minute mark if your opponent isn’t prepared.
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Grey area build: Jackrabbit, Reactor (upgrade), Supply pad (upgrade), supply pad(upgrade), supply pad, supply pad, [Jackrabbit sees enemy going double generator], minibase closest to enemy base, barracks on minibase, marines, hellbringers, grenade upgrade - > attack enemy baseThis is a reactionary pressure build technically speaking from our own perspective. However if you take into account the initial definition of a rush from the opponent’s perspective, this will be an attack during the time that infrastructure is the focus, with potential to end the game. This build has a very potent transition into the mid-game, even if the attack itself fails - you have some power income, quite a lot of supply income, you have Grenade Marines, and stole a minibase of your opponent’s.
Pressure/Map Control Builds are not too dissimilar to rushes - you’re trying to use your units early to achieve minor goals, such as forcing a turret, or killing a minibase, or grabbing the map nodes. Every little counts, and pressure is the best way to get ahead in the game, one minor action at a time.
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Example build: Jackrabbit, Generator (upgrade), supply pad(upgrade), supply pad(upgrade), supply pad, minibase, supply pad, minibase, Mini-frag launcher, Pads on minibases, Jackrabbits from minibases, Support Drone, Jackrabbits, further pad upgradesCommonly known as Jackrabbit rush, but should be called Jackrabbit pressure. These guys are only a threat to your base if you have no defenses up, and will in a normal game not eliminate you by themselves (even Kinsano needs her powers to do that!). This build is extremely economy heavy - you’ve built 2 minibases afterall, and
upgraded lots of structures! Each of these elements is setting you up for the long term - the Jackrabbits initially provide safety (hence no turrets), and potential to harass the enemy (harass, not finish off!), and the economic powerhouse you now are in charge of is ready for you to tech up. You can aid that process by capturing nodes, and
switching a pad for a generator if you have no need to keep pumping the rabbits. -
Example build 2: Jackrabbit, Generator (upgrade), supply pad(upgrade), supply pad(upgrade), supply pad, minibase, supply pad, minibase, Grenades, Pad on minibase, Barracks on Minibase, Marines, Infantry upgrade 1, further pad upgradesCommonly known as the Marine rush. Also, not a rush. Very similar to the Jackrabbit build, but with Marines and potentially barracks units. Significantly better at grabbing
map nodes, but slower-moving, and hits later.
Fast Tech Builds are looking to skip the early phases of the game, and get some of the more powerful units into battle as early as possible. To do so, little to no early units are made, and little to no map nodes are captured. The minibase count in some cases goes up to 2, but these can be risky to get. Safety turrets are common to get preemptively or reactively. Once tier 2 is reached, a powerful army is amassed/upgraded.
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Example build: Chopper, Harvester(upgrade), Generator(upgrade), 2x Harvester, Generator(upgrade), Minibase, Apex, 3x-5x Engineer, opt. Minibase (with Harvester), Citadel, Harvester upgrades, 2x Factory, LocustsCommonly known as the locust rush. Totally not a rush - we have spent nearly 4000 total resources just to set up an infrastructure to start building the units involved. The build is quite strong when it does hit, but there is quite a time window to identify, prevent, prepare against, or blind-counter. The build has a very power-rich economy, which means that it’s easy to get access to upgrades. If the army isn’t being decisively defeated, it is profitable to expand as the army is capping out. Extremely strong against greedy play with insufficient counter units involved. Weak against rushes, and armies involving anti-vehicle or artillery.
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Example build 2: Jackrabbit, Generator(upgrade), 3x Supply pad, Generator, Minibase, Supply pad, Command Center, Generator upgrade, Supply pad upgrades, 2x Air pad, Hornets, Nightingales**Commonly known as the Hornet rush, but still not a rush! This build can be quite strong when not identified early enough, especially once the air upgrades are kicking in. The lack of power spending on units gives a very easy transition to tier 3, allowing for the inclusion of Vultures, or the tier 3 air upgrades. The Hornets can overcome their counters if they meet them before the numbers of defenders grow too high or they catch up in upgrades.
Turtle Builds have but two goals: be as safe as possible, and tech up. This is very commonly mistaken as the turtle player not wanting to make units other than turrets, and then tanks or similar big units. Quite often,the road to a higher tech level takes far more than turrets. The correct definition is that the turtle player plays defensively and isn’t looking to leave the immediate area of their base(s). It’s because of that objective that turtle players make turrets - the most efficient early game “unit” for the cost (the disadvantage of immobility is not something we care about here).
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Example build: Chopper, Harvester(upgrade), Generator(upgrade), 2x Harvester,Generator(upgrade), Minibase, Apex, Turret (multiple if required), 3x-5x Engineer, Grunts, Shrapnel Mine, Harvester Upgrades, Citadel, Pack Brother, War Council, Plasma Rounds, Atriox’s Chosen, Scorch Rounds, Expand(more resource structures + Apex), Attack, Fortress, Air upgrades, Blisterbacks
Extremely defensive early on, only interested in grabbing map points if scouts confirmed it’s safe. Strongly repels most attacks, and transitions into a very powerful late game. Weak against map control and Jackrabbit pressure due to Grunts getting picked off early on easily.
