Real quick, Onyx and champs only. This is an earnest plea. I legit have a note pad right here. Thank you to Maximus in advance for being a great advice giver and instructor on this. It’s helped a lot, but you can never had too much advice. You rock, dude.
I play frequently, would very much like to get into champion range from Onyx. I regularly win matches against every strategy save mass air balls. I scout, expand, micro, all the things. Still, routine formula. Get rushed, forced to counter, opponent goes mass air. I make plenty of AA, doesn’t seem to matter because he flies away and chooses when and if he engages the counters I made for his army. He destroys any secondaries or minis I have while I struggle to catch him until I’m trapped sitting at my base while I wait for his vastly more upgraded and expansive army to kill my while I’m unable to leave thanks to the ever looming threat of the death fleet. No idea what to do.
Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
> 2533274927740213;2:
> 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
>
> Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
The biggest thing is to try to keep scouting throughout the match, especially if you’re having a tug’o’war type game.
When I lose to air, it’s because my opponent quick switched when I wasn’t watching. So, i get hit by an air ball and don’t have the time to produce the right counter units or turrets. This would work with any quick switch though. And, when it happens, it’s on me for either not being aggressive enough or not scouting to see what they were doing.
> 2533274796391115;4:
> The biggest thing is to try to keep scouting throughout the match, especially if you’re having a tug’o’war type game.
>
> When I lose to air, it’s because my opponent quick switched when I wasn’t watching. So, i get hit by an air ball and don’t have the time to produce the right counter units or turrets. This would work with any quick switch though. And, when it happens, it’s on me for either not being aggressive enough or not scouting to see what they were doing.
Ive never had this happen. They always blunt force air and just avoid my AA altogether.
> 2533274927740213;2:
> 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
>
> Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
> 2533274859484857;6:
> > 2533274927740213;2:
> > 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> > 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> > 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
> >
> > Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
>
> I’m usually the defense, assissitant in teams
You do the Lord’s work then Confuse lol
If only there was one person like that on every solo queuing team
> 2533274927740213;7:
> > 2533274859484857;6:
> > > 2533274927740213;2:
> > > 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> > > 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> > > 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
> > >
> > > Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
> >
> > I’m usually the defense, assissitant in teams
>
> You do the Lord’s work then Confuse lol
>
> If only there was one person like that on every solo queuing team
I’m pretty good at it, that’s how I do use decimus and he isn’t even for that
> 2533274954420315;5:
> > 2533274796391115;4:
> > The biggest thing is to try to keep scouting throughout the match, especially if you’re having a tug’o’war type game.
> >
> > When I lose to air, it’s because my opponent quick switched when I wasn’t watching. So, i get hit by an air ball and don’t have the time to produce the right counter units or turrets. This would work with any quick switch though. And, when it happens, it’s on me for either not being aggressive enough or not scouting to see what they were doing.
>
> Ive never had this happen. They always blunt force air and just avoid my AA altogether.
> 2533274954420315;1:
> Real quick, Onyx and champs only. This is an earnest plea. I legit have a note pad right here. Thank you to Maximus in advance for being a great advice giver and instructor on this. It’s helped a lot, but you can never had too much advice. You rock, dude.
>
> I play frequently, would very much like to get into champion range from Onyx. I regularly win matches against every strategy save mass air balls. I scout, expand, micro, all the things. Still, routine formula. Get rushed, forced to counter, opponent goes mass air. I make plenty of AA, doesn’t seem to matter because he flies away and chooses when and if he engages the counters I made for his army. He destroys any secondaries or minis I have while I struggle to catch him until I’m trapped sitting at my base while I wait for his vastly more upgraded and expansive army to kill my while I’m unable to leave thanks to the ever looming threat of the death fleet. No idea what to do.
map control is so important as well because for air to be a big threat they need to be level 3
so taking nodes and leaving the enemy having to turtle is the best way to beat someone who masses air
oh and scout alot to make sure they arnt going to attack a base
dont be scared to push the guy early on with your aa
if the banshees still are level 1 u can rush in with aa and take a couple down and retreat
> 2533274927740213;7:
> > 2533274859484857;6:
> > > 2533274927740213;2:
> > > 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> > > 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> > > 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
> > >
> > > Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
> >
> > I’m usually the defense, assissitant in teams
>
> You do the Lord’s work then Confuse lol
>
> If only there was one person like that on every solo queuing team
Ah, asking for help rather than telling everyone they’re wrong. This is refreshing.
Let’s get to it. I’m going to centre this around 1’s, but it applies to 2’s and 3’s just the same.
Scout. Then scout some more. And just for good measure, scout some more. I try to scout around 1:30 to see if I need to prepare for rush units, around 4-5 (when they reach T2), and periodically after that. This intel will give you ample time to prepare and respond accordingly.
Diversify your army. Don’t just make AA. Throw in some core infantry, core vehicles, and your hero (dependent on who you’re playing as). As an aside; I looked up your past games, and you seem to not make any units before seven minutes, other than your hero. This is bad. If you’re set on making your hero in the early game, try coupling it with Grunts, Choppers, Suicide Grunts, or Engineers + Skitterers.
Be aggressive. Air is AWFUL until it is massed. Take advantage of this. The moment you see an opponent massing air, quickly build some core infantry, AA, core vehicles, and push with what you have left over from the early game. Your opponent will not have enough air units to fight your army or drop you base. Remember, it takes a long time to build up mass air, strike before then.
Build defence and counter attack. This is heavily dependent on who you’re playing as but it’s a pretty universal strategy. Always build AA turrets if UNSC and always build shields if you suspect an opponent to be massing air; the Fortify upgrade is always a wise idea. All of these things will buy you the necessary time to respond to the threat. Your opponent will be forced to lose their army or retreat. If they retreat, then push on them. Leave some AA back home and take some with you. Doing this will put your opponent in an awkward spot. Air is not strong enough to split up and fight in multiple areas, so they’ll be forced to push a base or defend yours.
For example, I mainly play Shipmaster in 1’s. If I play against mass air, I hide my Reavers under a shield/cloak; using the Reavers to take out Engineers (their detection) and repel attacks. The moment an enemy attacks a base, I TP Locust to an expo/mini base. Again, putting my opponent in an awkward spot. Do your best to avoid “all units” and strike when you can.
Don’t clump your units. As you’ve made a point of stating, LP’s can wreck AA units. Split your AA units a fight to help combat this. Additionally, not clunking your AA will lesson the effects of AA naturally focus firing.
Team games are an entirely different animal. You will often see an opponent mass air in team games because the larger map sizes compliment air’s speed. If this happens, it’s often not a bad idea to have a teammate go straight vehicles (core vehicles/AA). They’ll be able to counter the air and push with you. I find Shipmaster fills this role very well because TP, Displacement, and Extraction allow him to be everywhere.
As my friends and I have stated numerous times now, feel free to add us. We will gladly help your improve your game and deal with air spam. It’s is much easier to learn by practicing than reading some paragraphs.
> 2533274869891714;11:
> Ah, asking for help rather than telling everyone they’re wrong. This is refreshing.
>
> Let’s get to it. I’m going to centre this around 1’s, but it applies to 2’s and 3’s just the same.
>
> 1. Scout. Then scout some more. And just for good measure, scout some more. I try to scout around 1:30 to see if I need to prepare for rush units, around 4-5 (when they reach T2), and periodically after that. This intel will give you ample time to prepare and respond accordingly.
>
> 2. Diversify your army. Don’t just make AA. Throw in some core infantry, core vehicles, and your hero (dependent on who you’re playing as). As an aside; I looked up your past games, and you seem to not make any units before seven minutes, other than your hero. This is bad. If you’re set on making your hero in the early game, try coupling it with Grunts, Choppers, Suicide Grunts, or Engineers + Skitterers.
>
> 3. Be aggressive. Air is AWFUL until it is massed. Take advantage of this. The moment you see an opponent massing air, quickly build some core infantry, AA, core vehicles, and push with what you have left over from the early game. Your opponent will not have enough air units to fight your army or drop you base. Remember, it takes a long time to build up mass air, strike before then.
>
> 4. Build defence and counter attack. This is heavily dependent on who you’re playing as but it’s a pretty universal strategy. Always build AA turrets if UNSC and always build shields if you suspect an opponent to be massing air; the Fortify upgrade is always a wise idea. All of these things will buy you the necessary time to respond to the threat. Your opponent will be forced to lose their army or retreat. If they retreat, then push on them. Leave some AA back home and take some with you. Doing this will put your opponent in an awkward spot. Air is not strong enough to split up and fight in multiple areas, so they’ll be forced to push a base or defend yours.
>
> For example, I mainly play Shipmaster in 1’s. If I play against mass air, I hide my Reavers under a shield/cloak; using the Reavers to take out Engineers (their detection) and repel attacks. The moment an enemy attacks a base, I TP Locust to an expo/mini base. Again, putting my opponent in an awkward spot. Do your best to avoid “all units” and strike when you can.
>
> 5. Don’t clump your units. As you’ve made a point of stating, LP’s can wreck AA units. Split your AA units a fight to help combat this. Additionally, not clunking your AA will lesson the effects of AA naturally focus firing.
>
> Team games are an entirely different animal. You will often see an opponent mass air in team games because the larger map sizes compliment air’s speed. If this happens, it’s often not a bad idea to have a teammate go straight vehicles (core vehicles). They’ll be able to counter the air and push with you. I find Shipmaster fills this role very well because TP, Displacement, and Extraction allow him to be everywhere.
>
> As my friends and I have stated numerous times now, feel free to add us. We will gladly help your improve your game and deal with air spam. It’s is much easier to learn by practicing than reading some paragraphs.
> 2533274869891714;11:
> Ah, asking for help rather than telling everyone they’re wrong. This is refreshing.
>
> Let’s get to it. I’m going to centre this around 1’s, but it applies to 2’s and 3’s just the same.
>
> 1. Scout. Then scout some more. And just for good measure, scout some more. I try to scout around 1:30 to see if I need to prepare for rush units, around 4-5 (when they reach T2), and periodically after that. This intel will give you ample time to prepare and respond accordingly.
>
> 2. Diversify your army. Don’t just make AA. Throw in some core infantry, core vehicles, and your hero (dependent on who you’re playing as). As an aside; I looked up your past games, and you seem to not make any units before seven minutes, other than your hero. This is bad. If you’re set on making your hero in the early game, try coupling it with Grunts, Choppers, Suicide Grunts, or Engineers + Skitterers.
>
> 3. Be aggressive. Air is AWFUL until it is massed. Take advantage of this. The moment you see an opponent massing air, quickly build some core infantry, AA, core vehicles, and push with what you have left over from the early game. Your opponent will not have enough air units to fight your army or drop you base. Remember, it takes a long time to build up mass air, strike before then.
>
> 4. Build defence and counter attack. This is heavily dependent on who you’re playing as but it’s a pretty universal strategy. Always build AA turrets if UNSC and always build shields if you suspect an opponent to be massing air; the Fortify upgrade is always a wise idea. All of these things will buy you the necessary time to respond to the threat. Your opponent will be forced to lose their army or retreat. If they retreat, then push on them. Leave some AA back home and take some with you. Doing this will put your opponent in an awkward spot. Air is not strong enough to split up and fight in multiple areas, so they’ll be forced to push a base or defend yours.
>
> For example, I mainly play Shipmaster in 1’s. If I play against mass air, I hide my Reavers under a shield/cloak; using the Reavers to take out Engineers (their detection) and repel attacks. The moment an enemy attacks a base, I TP Locust to an expo/mini base. Again, putting my opponent in an awkward spot. Do your best to avoid “all units” and strike when you can.
>
> 5. Don’t clump your units. As you’ve made a point of stating, LP’s can wreck AA units. Split your AA units a fight to help combat this. Additionally, not clunking your AA will lesson the effects of AA naturally focus firing.
>
> Team games are an entirely different animal. You will often see an opponent mass air in team games because the larger map sizes compliment air’s speed. If this happens, it’s often not a bad idea to have a teammate go straight vehicles (core vehicles). They’ll be able to counter the air and push with you. I find Shipmaster fills this role very well because TP, Displacement, and Extraction allow him to be everywhere.
>
> As my friends and I have stated numerous times now, feel free to add us. We will gladly help your improve your game and deal with air spam. It’s is much easier to learn by practicing than reading some paragraphs.
So what everyone else has said is pretty much exactly what I’d tell you. One thing I’d like to stress is the importance of map control and your early game. Obviously you gotta scout out the air coming. Most of the time if someone is quick teching into air they just spam grunts or Marines and try to get nodes. So what I would suggest is
If playing UNSC build some flamers and marines and go for his gens. This is something from hw1 that I don’t see a lot of in hw2. Build some building killers and attack his eco. While you are doing this have marines go and capture nodes.
As soon as you have an expo up and have some AA push his side of the map. As forge or cutter I usually have 6-7 Marine and 3-4 wolves with some hogs, and I keep pressure. Often in 1s you’ll notice that a player wins by suffocating his opponent. You keep the nodes kill his expos and keep killing his units. More often than not your opponent will just quit after that.
Feel free to add me, breezy, fungus or joker. We’d love to help you out with this
> 2533274954420315;5:
> > 2533274796391115;4:
> > The biggest thing is to try to keep scouting throughout the match, especially if you’re having a tug’o’war type game.
> >
> > When I lose to air, it’s because my opponent quick switched when I wasn’t watching. So, i get hit by an air ball and don’t have the time to produce the right counter units or turrets. This would work with any quick switch though. And, when it happens, it’s on me for either not being aggressive enough or not scouting to see what they were doing.
>
> Ive never had this happen. They always blunt force air and just avoid my AA altogether.
It’s probably not as common in team games, when each player is generally assigned a role. In 1s though it can be helpful to tech switch after an opponent has built up maximum defences for your given strategy.
In teams we tend to “switch sides” when that happens, having the vehicle/infantry player take on the enemy with the most AA, and the air player take on those with anti-vehicle or anti-infantry.
In a 1v1 my best advice would be to scout and see if they are going for air. Try to get your tech 2 as soon as you see that your not getting rushed and build double war factory when you see them get their double airfield out. Build a healthy mix of core vehicle (or locusts) and anti air then push on your opponent early. Theirs a very big window of time where you can drive up to your opponents base and spawn kill the 4-7 air units that they have built. If you can’t finish them off at this point in the game then that’s perfectly fine. The important thing when dealing with air is do reduce their numbers (and DPS) so that they can’t harass you.
Since the others already gave great advice, here’s one of my videos directly from my stream from the time I took Anders to #5 in Solo war. This was before hogs got buffed - these days you normally will be going for 3 garages and you level up vehicles quick, giving you all the infrastructure for wolverines. The opponent here is a Decimus who fast teched straight into banshees. My point is that you barely even need AA vehicles to beat mass air, that’s how cost-ineffective it is.
> 2533274958100139;17:
> Since the others already gave great advice, here’s one of my videos directly from my stream from the time I took Anders to #5 in Solo war. This was before hogs got buffed - these days you normally will be going for 3 garages and you level up vehicles quick, giving you all the infrastructure for wolverines. The opponent here is a Decimus who fast teched straight into banshees. My point is that you barely even need AA vehicles to beat mass air, that’s how cost-ineffective it is.
> Taking Anders to #5 in Solo War - YouTube
I fought 2 guys that did massive air (The other went Loucust and Hunters) and was piratically unbeatable for our Leader built late game. We re-matched them and I went Atriox Jump Pack Brutes and we rushed them all out. Reavers imo do an amazing job at killing air but Wolverines lack the job, I use Vultures as Anti-Air insted because Phoenix Missile can kill 2-5 pure missile.
> 2533274927740213;2:
> 1. Rush or make a 7 minute timing attack. If you attack by 7 minutes there shouldn’t be enough air to even worry about.
> 2. When you’re building up your expos, have shield gens and cloaking generators as Banished, and 3-4 AA turrets as UNSC. The shields will hold until 4-6 Reavers arrive to scare off/kill the air. As UNSC the turrets should cause a lot of damage before your fast Wovlerines arrive to either kill the air or to scare it away. While this is happening, send an army to kill a base/counter push. Having some core infantry and maybe 2-3 AA in their would help in case the air runs back to defend whatever base you’re killing.
> 3. If you have a team you play with, have one person go building killers, and the other go mobile army (if in 2s). That way the mobile army can play defense/provide assistance while the base killer army trades with the air spammer.
>
> Of all of these, option 1 works the most in 1v1s. In team matches you’ll have to probably do option 3, but I prefer option 2 if I am solo queuing
