Do you remember the very first episode of Command School? The very first user submitted strategy was dubbed "the ultimate shadow team rush" and the strategy worked almost autonomously. With the release of patch 1.01 for Kane's Wrath, however, the Shadows were left in the shadows. No longer is the strategy implemented because of their much weaker C4 explosions and the more-costly support power, but there is still a way you can use them. This week I will be showing you a daring all-in strategy which can make or break a game within the first three minutes.
The all-in Shadow Team rush has been very unstable tactic because most players tend to harass with four or five shadows; this, however is a bad move as most of the time your enemy can happily replenish his economy and then overwhelm you with scouts and light vehicles. However, this tactic is all or nothing rush so you shouldn't be bothered about your own economy as your primary goal is victory. You can use Nod or Marked of Kane for this tactic, but I recommend the Marked of Kane because their Awakened are better at counter-scouting.
Here is the build order:
- Power Plant
- Hand of Nod (1 Militant/Awakened for anti-scout and 1 Saboteur to capture a Spike)
- Secret Shrine (Use Shadow Strike Team in you base, then sell your MCV)
- Now build an additional nine Shadows and send them to your enemy's base
- Sell Secret Shrine and train Rocket Militants non-stop
From here target his MCV with all eleven of your Shadows to take it down. Now you have the upper hand as he cannot build base defenses to protect his remaining buildings and he should be low on power. Your next targets should be War Factories and Barracks. If you're playing against Scrin, then taking down his MCV can win you the game right there and then, just be sure to mop any remaining production facilities. If he has anything left staggering that's too much for you Shadows to handle, then bring in those Rocket Militants to help clear the mess.
This tactic is pretty straightforward but as always things can go bad, so here are some scenarios that could happen and how to still get the win:
My enemy scouted my base and is now making scouts!Rush immediately, stop making Shadows and start spamming Rocket Militants (and some basic infantry if versus Scrin). You will have to crush whatever you can with your current number of Shadows; if you have around seven shadows then go for his War Factory and Refineries, if you have less than five then target Power Plants and Barracks.
He unpacked his MCV before I could kill it, now what?Go for his War Factory and Barracks, use your Shadows to take down any basic infantry units in his base, then bring in your Rocket Militants to finish off the MCV. If he deploys again then C4 it.
My enemy is GDI and hes going to Orca rush me; what should I do?Orcas can easily destroy your remaining Hand of Nod and Power Plant, thus you're defeated, so I suggest you use three Shadows' C4s on his Airfield, two on his Power Plant, and the rest on his Command Post. This will utterly crush his chances of winning so you have a straight line to victory.
My enemy is Nod or GDI and has Sonic Repulsion Field/Laser Fences on his structures, what do I do?Take out every Power Plant he has because it can't be defended; this will cause a black out so you can C4 any other remaining structures he has while you bring in some Rocket Militants to take down those fences.
Check out the following replay to see how this tactic is implemented:
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