This is just a little guide I wrote a bit ago that I think actually has some use nowadays. The strategies to counter certain enemy builds may not be exactly correct all the time, but this is because it is only me predicting that an arbiter will go banshees or do a early suicide grunt rush. It is only me predicting that a forge will go scorpions w/ canny as soon as possible. This is why scouting is vital to all these strategies. You must know exactly what the enemy is trying to do.
I would argue that one Captain Cutter and one Professor Anders are the best combination for 2v2 for only UNSC leaders (arguably going one UNSC and one Covy is a better idea, but I don’t want to do a guide on that). This is because Cutter is the best 2v2 character since his economy bonus (bigger bases) is extremely good on 2v2 maps due to 4 out of 7 bases having a empty base spot nearby, as well as elephants being very useful for rushing and taking reactors. There is no point going double Cutter because only 1 map has TWO empty base spots, plus anders is a good leader as well. Anders economy bonus isn’t as good as Cutter’s for 2v2, but it is still very helpful to trick enemies by showing them that you have a few scorpions and then quickly swapping to an air pad and upgrading hornets at twice the speed and half the cost! Not to forget anders also has access to gremlins which means when it comes down to a war of scorpion attrition, anders beats forge.
Vsing two UNSC
These games will probably last the longest because all four players will just try to tech up and get either scorpions or their super units as fast as possible. The tactic for this one is simple though. Cutter expands as early as possible and goes full scorpions. Anders scouts and then decides whether to go scorpions or hornets or scorpions and gremlins. Once their are enough hornets/scorpions we attack and win. Of course learning how to tech up fast as possible is a skill in itself. Just experiment with different build orders, and make sure you collect as many on map supplies as possible.
Vsing one UNSC & one covenant (Brute Chieftain or Prophet of Regret)
All that you need to do here is one player techs to scorpions and the other rushes the covenant. If anders is the closest to the covenant player then she should warthog rush, if cutter is closest to the covenant then he should elephant rush. Even if they are the prophet of regret it will take a long time and a lot of money to cleansing beam a elephant to death without upgrading cleansing beam and by that time the prophet will be dead by flamethrowers. The player who is teching to scorpions can always disruption bomb the covenant leader to him his teammate out. Even if the rush doesn’t work because the other UNSC player helps his teammate, it doesn’t matter because that means that the enemy UNSC player won’t have scorpions but whoever is teching on our team will do and so they will go attack the UNSC base while he is out and destroy it very quickly.
Vsing one UNSC & an Arbiter
The arbiter is very annoying because he cannot be warthog rushed because his special allows him to kill warthogs extremely easily and get his own health back. A elephant rush is not a good idea against a arbiter either because the arbiter has suicide grunts to destroy a elephant very quickly. The best method of defeating a arbiter on a small map is to do a infantry rush. An infantry rush is where you build a barracks, a few supply pads and then a reactor. While the reactor is building you want to be training some flamethrowers and some marines. Then once the reactor is finished you want to build some more supply pads and send your troops off to the enemy base. While your troops are on the way to the enemy base you want to get new blood and flashbangs, you should get them just before your troops arrive at the enemy base, especially if you play as anders (faster research time). Just take out the supply pads first with the marines and leave the flamethrowers at the front of the base to kill any infantry they build, disruption bomb the arbiter if you have too, but try to destroy the supply pads as quick as possible to stop him from having enough money to rage. Remember that rage is the most expensive leder ability until you get the tech 2 upgrade, but they won’t have that because you will rush them too quick.
On a big map you won’t want to do a infantry rush because it will take far too long to get to the enemy base and they will just destroy your base with banshees before you can do anything to them. If you’re on a big map Anders has to go for scorpions as quick as possible. Build a couple of supply pads, a turret, a barracks and a reactor in that order. Get flamethrowers if you have to repel a rush from the arbiter, if not then just get heavy supply pads and expand your base to get another reactor and vehicle depot. Try to get 3-5 scorpions then attack the UNSC. If the arbiter rushes you then he will fail the rush because of the turret and flamethrowers. If the arbiter doesn’t attack at the start then he will probably be going banshees. This is where cutter comes in. Cutter needs to be building marines to beat the arbiter’s base. the problem is this though; on a big map banshees can get to your teammates and destroy their base before you can bring marines over to help them. Cutter can defeat this one way though. At the start of the game Cutter should build a elephant and send it towards anders base and build marines at her base in order to protect her from banshees. In the meantime cutter should just get supply pads and some missle turrets to protect his base from a early banshee/arbiter rush. Then by the time the banshee’s arrive at anders base their will already be 15 marines waiting for them with RPG’s and that also leaves the arbiters base open for attack by Cutter’s wolverines, while anders sends scorpions as well as Cutter’s marines at the UNSC players base.
Vsing two covenant
If they have two covenant then you should just prepare for a rush. Do the usual, just build some supply pads and then a barracks and some turrets if you have too (always remember to build the turret on the side with your barracks so that they cannot destroy it without losing loads of health). After you repel their attack just retaliate with a combination of scorpions/wolverines/marines/hornets depending on whether they build grunts/ghosts/brutes/jackals/banshees/vampires/hunters/wraiths.
Vsing two arbiters
Two arbiters is a terrible team. This should be easy, just don’t attack them. Let them attack you first. Tech up and get scorpions, use turrets to turtle in your base. Get wolverines if they have two summits, or otherwise just spam scorpions. The arbiters will have to rush you because if they don’t then they won’t be able to do anything. Scorpions can defeat everything an arbiter has except banshees and if they have banshees wolverines will destroy them. Easy.