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Jim Raynor is a playable commander in the Co-op Missions, and one that is unlocked initially for free. He is meant to represent a "standard" terran commander, and his loadout is infantry-based, with access to infantry support units and abilities (such as orbital drop pods, vikings, vultures, firebats, and medics). He has the ability to summon Hyperion to the field.

Overview[]

Raynor has access to a mix of classical Terran Biological units (Marines and Marauders) and Mechanical Units (Siege Tanks and Vikings). He can drop units directly at their rally points. Combined with his potentially limitless access to MULEs, strong macro capabilities will be rewarded.

He is generally a difficult commander to play, and even harder to master. But at high levels of play, he is able to spawn-camp ground attack waves and sustain pushes indefinitely.

Info[]

  • Recommended for players of all skill levels
  • Calldown and control an elite battlecruiser, the Hyperion
  • Command an infantry army with strategic support units
  • Deploy units anywhere on the battlefield via drop pods

Mastery[]

Power Set 1
Research Resource Cost: -2% per point – max of -60%
Speed Increases for Drop-Pod units: +2% per point – max of +60%
Power Set 2
Hyperion Cooldown: -4 sec – -120 sec (down to a minimum of 240 sec)
Banshee Airstrike Cooldown: -4 sec – -120 sec (down to a minimum of 120 sec)
  • (Neither of those affect the initial cooldown at the start of the mission.)
Power Set 3
Medics Heal Additional Target: +3% per point – max of +90%
Mech Attack Speed: +1% per point – max of +30%

Prestiges[]

Level 1 – Backwater Marshal
Advantage: Biological combat units gain 100% increased life.
Disadvantage: MULEs are unavailable.
  • Affects Marine's Combat Shields and Firebat's Juggernaut Plating upgrades and Vanadium Plating from Infantry Armor upgrades
Level 2 – Rough Rider
Advantage: Afterburners additionally increases attack speed by 100%. Cooldown reduced by 50%.
Disadvantage: Units no longer cost less. Afterburners movement speed bonus reduced by 50%.
  • Ignite Afterburners costs 10 hit points.
  • Siege Tanks in Siege Mode can use Ignite Afterburners.
Level 3 – Rebel Raider
Advantage: The Starport, Armory and Orbital Command no longer has tech requirements. The Starport no longer has gas cost and its units cost 30% less gas. Vikings, Banshees and Battlecruisers increase top bar cooldown rates by 1% per supply used.
Disadvantage: Combat units cost 50% more minerals.

Accessibility[]

  • Ease of Play - Fair
  • Sub-Ascension Power - Excellent
  • Power Level for Beginners - Poor
  • Power Level for Veterans - Excellent
  • Early Game Strength - Good
  • Ease of Macro - Fair
  • Ease of Micro - Excellent
  • Mutation Versatility - Fair
  • Ramp Up Speed - Good

Calldown Abilities[]

Hyperion SC2 Coop Icon
Hyperion

Summons the Hyperion to fight for 60 seconds. Does not require vision.

Rebel Raider: Reduces Hyperion cooldown by 1% per spacecraft supply.

Usage
Cooldown 360 (Initial cooldown=300)seconds
Mastery: -4seconds per Hyperion Cooldown mastery point. Down to a minimum 240 (Initial cooldown=300) seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
ve
DuskWings SC2 Icon1
Banshee Airstrike

Calls down 5 Dusk Wings, dealing 50 damage to the target area. Controllable for 60 seconds.

Rebel Raider: Reduces Banshee Airstrike cooldown by 1% per spacecraft supply.

Usage
Cooldown 240seconds
Mastery: -4seconds per Banshee Airstrike Cooldown: mastery point. Down to a minimum 120 (Initial cooldown=240) seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 2.
ve

Hyperion Abilities[]

Blasts a target with a devastating plasma cannon, causing 600 damage to it and dealing splash damage to nearby enemies within a radius of 1.5.

In case of failure, the cooldown won't be triggered.

Usage
Hotkey Y
Cost 1.5 seconds
Range 14
Cooldown 15 seconds
ve
JumpHyperion SC2 Icon1
Hyperjump

The Hyperion warps to anywhere on the map. Does not require vision.

Usage
Hotkey Q
Cooldown 15 seconds
ve
HyperionPDD SC2 Coop Icon
Point Defense Drone

Send out a drone with timed life. The drone shoots down enemy missiles at an energy cost for its duration. Cannot shoot down special ability attacks. Can have a maximum of four drones active at once.

Usage
Hotkey R
Range 13
Duration 180 seconds
Cooldown 5 seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 5.
ve
HyperionTargeting SC2-LotV Icon
Advanced Targeting Systems

Friendly units near the Hyperion deal +2 damage.

Usage
Passive
Range 18
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 14.
ve


Hyperion Upgrades[]

Hyperion SC2 Coop Icon
Hyperion: Advanced Targeting Systems

Increases the damage dealt by friendly units near the Hyperion by 2.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 14.
ve

Army Composition[]

Units and Structures[]

Raynor has access to the following units and structures:

Icon Unit Details Production (considering +20% reduced gas cost on vehicles) Damage
1. Marine Default Marine General-purpose infantry.

Can attack ground and air units.

50 Minerals 1 Supply

No Stim:
8.02 DPS at 0/0

With Stim:
14.04 DPS

Firebat WoL Firebat Specialized anti-infantry attacker.

Can attack ground units.

100 Minerals 25 Vespene gas 2 Supply

No Stim:
7 DPS
Vs Light: 10 DPS

With Stim:
12 DPS
Vs Light: 17 DPS

Medic WoL Medic Support trooper. Heals nearby friendly biological units. 75 Minerals 50 Vespene gas 2 Supply Vs Air: N/A
Vs Ground: N/A
1. Marauder Default Marauder Heavy assault infantry.

Can attack ground units.

100 Minerals 25 Vespene gas 2 Supply

No Stim:

7.52 DPS
Vs Armored: 15.03 DPS

With Stim:
13.15 DPS
Vs Armored: 26.31 DPS

Vulture WoL Vulture Fast skirmish unit. Can use the Spider Mine ability.

Can attack ground units.

75 Minerals 2 Supply 6.97
Vs Light: 17.42 DPS
1. Siege Tank - Tank Mode Default

1. Siege Tank - Siege Mode Default

Siege Tank Heavy tank. Can switch into Siege Mode to provide long-range artillery support.

Can attack ground units.

150 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 3 Supply

Tank Mode:
16.59 DPS
Vs Armored: 27.64 DPS

Siege Mode:
13.42 DPS
Vs Armored: 19.17 DPS

1. Viking Fighter Default

1. Viking Assault Default

Viking Durable support flyer. Loaded with strong anti-capital air missiles. Can switch into Assault Mode to attack ground units.

Fighter mode: Can attack air units.

Assault mode: Can attack ground units.

150 Minerals 60 Vespene gas 2 Supply

Fighter Mode:
11.50 DPS
Vs Armored: 16.50 DPS

Assault Mode:
13.80 DPS

1. Banshee Default Banshee Tactical-strike aircraft. Can be upgraded to use cloak.

Can attack ground units.

150 Minerals 80 Vespene gas 3 Supply Vs Air: N/A
Vs Ground: 22.08 DPS
1. Battlecruiser Default Battlecruiser Powerful warship. Can use Yamato Cannon and Tactical Jump.

Can attack ground and air units.
(Unlocks at level 6)

400 Minerals 240 Vespene gas 6 Supply Vs Air: 30 DPS
Vs Ground: 40 DPS
1. Orbital Command Default Orbital Command Primary structure. Used to train SCVs and receive gathered resources. Can use the Scanner Sweep and Calldown: MULE abilities. Command Center cost (400 Minerals Provides 15 Supply) +150 Minerals =
550 Minerals Provides 15 Supply
Vs Air: N/A
Vs Ground: N/A
1. Bunker Default

Bunker Shrike Turret Raynor

Bunker Defensive structure. Infantry fight from inside with +1 range bonus.
(Upgrades with fortification and Shrike turret at level 7)
100 Minerals  Vs All: 6.98 DPS (Empty)
Vs All: 63.14 DPS (4 marines with Stimpack)
Vs All: 91.22 DPS (6 marines with Stimpack)
1. Missile Turret Default Missile turret Anti-air defensive structure.

Can attack air units.

100 Minerals  Vs Air: 27.91 DPS
Vs Ground: N/A

Talent Progression[]

Raynor acquires the following talents as he levels up.

InfantrySpecialist SC2 Coop Icon
Rapid Recruitment

Raynor's infantry units are able to use Improved Stim. (Increases movement and attack speeds by 75% for 15 seconds at the cost of 5 health.)

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
ve
AirStrike SC2 Coop Icon
Air Strike

Summons five Dusk Wings to fight for 60 seconds.

Start with full energy and can stay cloaked for the full duration; hits cloaked enemy ground units even if you don't have detection.

Usage
Cooldown 240 seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 2.
ve
NanoProjectors SC2 Coop Icon
Nano Projectors

Increases attack range of firebats and heal range of medics by 2, for a total of 4.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 3.
ve
InfantryUpgrades SC2 Coop Icon
Infantry Upgrade Cache

Unlocks additional infantry upgrades at the tech lab.
• Increases firebats' attack radius by 40%.
• Increases firebats' life by 100, for a total of 200, and base armor by 2, for a total of 3.
• Allow medics to heal faster and target mechanical units. Units being healed by medics take 25% less damage.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 4.
ve
HyperionPDD SC2 Coop Icon
Point Defense Drone

Enable the Hyperion to deploy Point Defense Drone ability that shoots down enemy missiles. Call down the Hyperion from the top panel.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 5.
ve
UnlockBattlecruiser SC2 Coop Icon
New Unit: Battlecruiser

Allows Raynor to build battlecruisers at the starport. Requires an attached tech lab and a fusion core.

Powerful warship. Can use Yamato Cannon and Tactical Jump.

Can attack ground and air units.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 6.
ve
SC2 Lab Shrike Turret Icon
Battle Bunkers

Equips bunkers with automated turrets that attack ground and air units. Increases the life of bunkers from 400 to 600.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 7.
ve
DropPods SC2 Coop Icon
Orbital Drop Pods

Barracks, factory, and starport units are delivered directly to the structure's Rally Point via drop pod.
Passive: Reduces the production time of units, produces from Barracks, Factory, and Starport, by 2.3 seconds.

Speed Increase for Drop-Pod units Mastery: All combat units, after being dropped by Orbital Drop-Pods, gain +2% to movement speed, attack speed, cooldown reduction and energy regeneration per each mastery point for 30 seconds.

Usage
Cost 3 seconds
Notes

Mastery: +2% per Speed Increase for Drop-Pod units mastery point. Up to a maximum +60%

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 8.
ve
SC2 Swann AC - FactoryUpgrades
Factory Upgrade Cache

Unlocks additional vehicle upgrades at the tech lab.
• Increases the blast and trigger radius of the vulture's Spider Mine by 33%.
• Reduces siege tanks' transformation time and increases their base armor in Siege Mode by 2, for a total of 3.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 9.
ve
VanadiumPlating SC2CoopIcon
Vanadium Plating

Armor upgrades at the armory and engineering bay increase the life of affected units in addition to increasing their armor.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 10.
ve
SC2 Swann AC - ArmoryUpgrades
Armory Upgrade Cache

Unlocks additional vehicle upgrades on the armory.
• Increases the attack range of all vehicles and ships by 1.
• Allow all vehicles and ships to increase their movement speed by 100% for 8 seconds.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 11.
ve
OrbitalDepots SC2 Coop Icon
Orbital Depots

Allows SCVs to instantly deploy supply depots from orbit, eliminating their construction time.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 12.
ve
SC2 Swann AC - StarportUpgrades
Starport Upgrade Cache

Unlocks additional upgrades for ships at the tech lab.
• Upgrade banshee's attack to fire missiles in a line, dealing splash damage.
• Upgrades vikings' missile attacks to deal area damage.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 13.
ve
Hyperion SC2 Coop Icon
Hyperion: Advanced Targeting Systems

Increases the damage dealt by friendly units near the Hyperion by 2.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 14.
ve
MercMunitions SC2 Coop Icon
Mercenary Munitions

Increases the attack speed of Raynor's combat units and calldowns by 15%.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 15.
ve

Strategies[]

Raynor at his core is a very infantry oriented commander. The firepower of his bioball lets him deal with all kinds of targets, and his ability to deploy his created units straight to their rally point allows him to quickly reinforce his army. When he requires extra firepower, he can utilize two offensive calldowns as well as various mechanical units to support and, in some cases, even supplant his infantry.

Mastery Strategies[]

Power Set 1: Research Resource Cost

☀Research Resource Cost Reduction: 2% - 60%

While speed increases for drop pod units is helpful for Raynor's bio army, it does not work quite as well for his mechanized forces. The ability for drop pods to land on the front line also limits the use of the speed boost, which can already be granted through stim. Power Set 1 makes all of Raynor's upgrades and techs much more affordable and increases the survivability of Raynor's army.

Power Set 2: Banshee Airstrike Cooldown

☀Banshee Airstrike Cooldown: -4s - 120s (240s down to a minimum of 120s)

  • Dusk Wings: 33.93 DPS x 5 (every 2 minutes; full mastery)
  • Hyperion: 76.67 DPS (every 4.5 minutes; full mastery)
These are both good masteries. The Hyperion as a calldown is a more powerful option for its abilities and flexibility. The Dusk Wings' significant cooldown reduction is, by a large margin, the more time-effective choice. Due to their DPS advantage, the Dusk Wings can also be useful against mutators (such as Void Rifts) or on timed maps (such as Void Thrashing). The Hyperion, however, can attack air and ground targets, has increased mobility, and provides a fairly high threat priority for the AI to face. Therefore, the choice of mastery here should be changed according to player preference and mission parameters.

Power Set 3: Medic Heal Additional Target

☀Medic Heal Additional Target: +3% - 90% (+3% heal per point)

Additional Heal is considered the better one, as it reduces the numbers of medics needed to attend to both your and your ally's units. The second mastery is very powerful for mechanical army compositions such as mass battlecruiser or larga number of siege tanks.

Prestige Strategies[]

Backwater Marshal makes Raynor's infantry much more durable with double health, allowing them to be viable well into the late-game since they remain powerful DPS units that move fast and are quick and cheap to mass. This means Raynor can go for a pure Barracks-focused build and be more much effective with it than ever. However, his economy greatly suffers for the loss of MULEs, so Raynor will not have the resource cache he normally does to replace his infantry if he suffers heavy losses, and his infantry is still very vulnerable to enemy unit compositions that have high splash damage potential such as banelings, disruptors, or static storm.

This prestige further incentivizes Raynor to focus on a Barracks army due to his lower economy, which makes it more difficult for him to comfortably transition to later-game Factory and Starport-based units. A player must leverage Raynor's improved infantry durability with proper management of their numbers and good control in battle to gun down enemies without suffering too many losses. A benefit of this prestige is that, without MULEs, Raynor will always have plenty of energy for Scanner Sweep on his Orbital Commands to scout incoming attacks, get high ground vision for his ground-based troops, and detect stealthed or burrowed enemies.

Rough Rider effectively turns the Afterburner ability into Stimpacks for all of Raynor's mechanical forces. This is a considerable increase in overall army firepower across the board and is viable for any map or enemy unit composition, since Raynor can still use whatever composition of his own the player wishes and they will all benefit from Afterburners. The player will need to field more medics than usual to support Raynor's army, as just like Stimpacks, Afterburners now damages the unit that uses it.

However, Raynor no longer has a discount on his unit production, so it will take longer to mass his army, and he will be more reliant on vespene gas. Afterburners must be researched at the Armory first, so in each game Raynor will not immediately benefit from this prestige and will have to invest a fair bit of time and resources to teching up to an Armory and researching Afterburners.

Rebel Raider allows Raynor to ignore Barracks and Factory production and focus solely on Starport units and their upgrades. He can get an Orbital Command up early by sacrificing his first Supply Depot to upgrade his Commander Center, an investment that will pay for itself very shortly. With the further discount on gas costs for his Starport units, Raynor can mass them more easily. However, Raynor still needs significant amounts of gas income to be able to build multiple Starports and construct units from them, so he cannot jump into Starport-focused armies immediately. This prestige as a whole focuses Raynor as a late-game commander, as while he can still use Barracks and Factory-based armies, their increased costs makes doing so more difficult and they grant this prestige no benefit.

While it will take time for Raynor to build up his fleet, a team of upgraded vikings and banshees is powerful against most enemies with the addition of their splash damage, and much as in melee play, once Raynor hits a critical mass of battlecruisers, they are nearly unstoppable. This prestige's benefits let Raynor get much more usage out of his calldowns, and with a large enough air force, their cooldowns will be almost entirely eliminated and Raynor can keep the Hyperion and the Dusk Wings in play almost indefinitely. They bring with them all the associated benefits of being able to call such units down more often, and are both all-around powerful forces for attack or defense.

  • An example build order for beginners might be 15 Orbital Command then Command Center (at expo for fast expo maps) then depot. 19 build second Command Center at expo, double refinery. Then go into starport + BC tech + two armories as you can. Depots as needed. Upgrades in armory and upgrade Command Centers to orbital commands as soon as possible. Maybe work your way up to 4-8 orbital commands for MULES and scans for tactical jump. if you have enough orbital commands you can feed mineral SCVs to the enemy. Two or three starports is likely enough as a beginner. Drop mules in minerals a lot in the beginning, drop them near

Call In Air Support[]

Raynor has the ability to call down the Hyperion briefly to the battlefield, with various combat capabilities, including the Yamato cannon which can eliminate groups of enemies with high HP, Point-defense drones that protect Raynor's army, an aura that increases the damage of allied units, and the ability to teleport to any location on the battlefield, wreaking havoc on enemy lines. Summoning and warping Hyperion does not require vision of the location, allowing the player to reach distant objectives before overcoming the enemy forces. Its long range laser batteries enable the player to eliminate dangerous threats to Raynor's infantry before they get within striking distance, such as siege tanks. Point defense drones should be used to cover as much area as possible to defend both the Hyperion and surrounding units (Curiously, PDDs will also remove nearby Mag mines, giving an advantage in the mutator Mag-nificent to push safer). The support passive ability of Hyperion also allows it to buff nearby units, and works well with massed infantry.

The Hyperion's attack is different from other units and cannot be stopped, since it attacks any enemy units even while moving or being affected by a mutator effect, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage. For example, it will continue to attack even under the Fear mutator effect (which will prevent it from being wasted), the Fatal Attraction mutator effect (although in this case it can be detrimental since it will prevent Raynor's forces from withdrawing), and the Polarity mutator effect (it tries to attack any unit even if it cannot be killed; unlike other units, which will only attack units that can be killed).

Raynor's secondary calldown is the Dusk Wings, a group of cloaked banshees that attack nearby ground units. This has a faster cooldown than Hyperion, and can be used for precision strikes at key targets as well as add extra damage to a push. Upon initially being summoned, they will strafe the area under them, useful for dealing damage to concentrated light units. Additionally, their cloaking fields can be manually deactivated before the Dusk Wings despawn to draw the enemy's attention. As the Dusk Wings despawn, they will have a moment of invulnerability as they fly off the map, but they will still be able to attack while the animation plays out. In some maps, it is possible to summon the dusk wings around the first enemy wave (It is possible to use a building with SCVs to hold the enemies for a few seconds) allowing the banshees to defend and clear the player's expansion, using the resources they saved to develop their economy faster.

Remember that these calldowns benefit from attack upgrades (thus avoiding the loss of DPS by the increase of armor of enemy units as the game progresses), armor upgrades (including the health bonus), and range upgrades from the armory.

Toughest Frag Magnets[]

Raynor focuses primarily on infantry units, with support deriving from factory and starport units. Marines, marauders and medics are a classic pairing. Although marines possess good DPS, are produced quickly and can attack both ground and air units, they are vulnerable to anti-light compositions. Meanwhile, marauders are strong against armored units and have more than twice the HP than marines (which makes them less vulnerable to splash damage) but are vulnerable to air attacks and anti-armored units. Using marines and marauders together allows them to cover each other's weaknesses and maintain their strengths. Firebats can be very useful for killing large groups of light enemies in enemy waves (such as zerglings or zealots) as well as serving as a front meat shield for the bioball (their range makes them tend to lead attacks but not away from the bioball), but the core damage of the infantry army should come from the marines. Once upgraded, medics can heal and reduce the damage received by all allied units, biological and mechanical alike. Siege tanks provide siege support in defensive missions, serving as an alternative to the effective but high-maintenance spider mines of the vultures.

Always Have a Card to Play[]

Among Raynor's aerial units are the vikings, the banshees and the battlecruisers. His vikings are relatively inexpensive units that, when properly amassed and upgraded, can be some of the most powerful air units in the game, capable of inflicting a large amount of damage in area, with a large enough range to attack from behind while other units tank the frontlines. Vikings are fast and can travel long distances with ease. Vikings have a ground mode that allows them to attack ground units, but their relatively bulky size reduces their efficiency considerably compared to Raynor's other anti-terrestrial options; being more of a way to avoid wasting DPS when there are no longer many air threats. Raynor's banshees are effective when having to counter enemy waves with a low number of anti-air units, and their cloak allows them to deal heavy damage to priority targets without fear of retribution. Banshees are very fragile for their cost and, as such, suffer the same vulnerability to splash damage that causes Raynor's bioball so much trouble. Finally, Raynor's battlecruisers are expensive and slow to produce, with lower DPS/supply than many of his bio units. An interesting note is that their Tactical Jump is improved compared to their multiplayer counterparts; rather than appear at the target location after a short delay, they appear immediately. This can be useful when a location needs immediate reinforcing but calldowns aren't available to handle it. Battlecruisers work best in combination with the Dusk Wings (especially when distributing mastery points to use them constantly), as battlecruisers can absorb damage and provide anti-air DPS while the deadly but fragile Dusk Wings provide anti-ground DPS.

This Is My Rifle[]

Raynor can build combat units 50% faster than average, and his orbital drop allows him to reinforce anywhere on the map instantly. A good strategy is to just create a massive army of infantry units with support units aiding the push. Aside from the occasional splash damage threat, there is not much the biological army cannot handle. However, Raynor's army can be grounded down, as such it should be constantly reinforced and rally points should be set on top of the army. Oftentimes, a constant influx of marines will do as they are the quickest to produce and those extra seconds can make all the difference in critical fights, but always make sure to have a sufficient amount of medics to back them up.

Some missions will necessitate getting higher-tier units, however. Especially if the enemy fields splash damage units (lurkers, reavers, disruptors, banelings, ultralisks, siege tanks, etc.) which can annihilate infantry armies. Enemy high templars and infestors can also cause Raynor's infantry a lot of grief, and should be focused down by support units or by Raynor's calldowns. Because Raynor's core bio army is ranged and can gain additional mobility through the use of stimpacks, it is thus easy for Raynor to kite enemy forces from out of defensive positions, allowing Raynor to engage them without his army being attacked by static defenses. This allows for smaller engagements with fewer casualties. Stim is also a key tool that should be used before every engagement as, with medic support, what small damage it causes can be negated for a massive DPS boost.

Classic Piece of Engineering[]

One of the most powerful unit in Raynor's arsenal (particularly on maps with easy access to enemy wave spawns like Void Launch, or against compositions with low range units) is his vultures. Upgraded spider mines are powerful, recharge quickly, and can instantly wipe out most ground based attack waves. Stack them in small choke points, and the enemy will be unable to clear them before the mines are able to quickly destroy their hybrid behemoths. In defensive missions, this tactic can be expensive, so it is advisable to have enough extra orbital commands to maintain a high income through MULEs. Vikings or other anti-air units should also be deployed to cover the vultures from air units the enemy may bring.

Show Me The Money[]

Having multiple orbital command centers will not only give Raynor a strong influx of minerals, but also the ability to use multiple scan sweeps whenever cloaked units attack, give sight to enemy bases or high-ground zones before a push, or allow the allied player to use calldowns or unit skills preemptively on previously hidden areas. This gives him an advantage with mutators affecting vision such as Shortsighted, Darkness and Afraid of the Dark. However, due to the fact that this is Raynor's only means of detection, he can have problems with mutators like We Move Unseen and Minesweeper that force him to expend energy in more scans than usual, reducing his MULE count in the early game.

Because of his MULEs, Raynor has the ability to churn out marines and lower gas cost units with ease, so a large number of orbital commands should be met with an equally large number of barracks. MULEs can also be used in situations where a unit is needed to hold a point (like "Lock & Load" or "Chain of Ascension") or to repair allied mechanical units if the medics are not close by.

Command centers and orbital commands have the ability to lift off and move, allowing them to be built before clearing an expansion of rocks or enemy fortifications, and land on the expansion after the area is clear. Since much of Raynor's biological units require more minerals than gas, building refineries can be delayed in favor of constructing orbital commands and an initial army of marines and vultures, though some gas should be harvested to gain medic support. Alternately, Raynor can take only the essential geysers needed for units like medics and upgrades for his core units, and give the geysers at his expansions to more gas heavy allies like Nova and Vorazun.

Upgrading What We Have is all Well and Good[]

Raynor is a strong commander once used effectively. However, the "Explosive Threats" and "Shadow Disruption," or any other enemy army that contains splash damage, can obliterate his army in seconds. Raynor can effectively have the majority of his forces obliterated in a single volley if he is not careful. Due to a lack of a heavy Thor unit, like Swann and Mengsk have, Raynor is left relying on his marauders and firebats to soak up the majority of enemy fire, and they have a lower threat priority compared to a Thor. In order to alleviate this weakness, Raynor always puts his firebats and marauders at the front of his army. Raynor's bioball tends to mix itself up during engagements, and so Raynor will need to micro his army before and after every major fight. This tactic and Raynor's passive bonuses to firepower and health become essential for keeping his army alive as the game continues on. To wit, Raynor should always be researching upgrades for his units, getting an armory operational as quickly as possible so that he can continue upgrading his forces.

A Little Terran Ingenuity[]

Raynor is widely considered to be one of the most difficult commanders to play, with his effectiveness being heavily reliant on the player's skill. Raynor's forces are fairly strong on casual, normal, and hard, but brutal difficulty enemies can easily destroy an unwary Raynor's entire army. In order to survive on brutal, and not be reliant on an ally carrying Raynor through the game, the Raynor player must take advantage of all of Raynor's skills: stimpacks, medics, heavy MULE use, calldowns, using spider mines, tactical jump, etc. whichever unit and skill combination works best on the enemy forces. That generally requires micro, macro, and the use of hotkeys. Otherwise, the Raynor player will be left frantically scrambling to keep up with their ally.

It should be noted that Raynor should always have several orbital commands to use MULEs, regardless of what army strategy Raynor is employing. The exception for this is when using the "Backwater Marshal" specialization, which prevents use of MULEs.

Something else to keep in mind is that, in addition to knowledge of how to use Raynor's overall forces well, a Raynor player should have a working knowledge of what forces his army can use to effectively fight the various enemy compositions, and especially what counters Raynor's own forces. Furthermore, Raynor's reliance on calldowns is greatly aided by an awareness of the timing of enemy waves on the maps, otherwise Raynor can be caught flatfooted and rapidly lose ground.

Synergies[]

Protoss Commanders[]

Artanis is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Artanis's Guardian Shell and Shield Overcharge greatly extends the lifespan of Raynor's fragile infantry units, especially against enemy AoE attacks. Artanis' immortals can deal with heavy hybrid behemoths, thus compensating for Raynor's general lack of durable units. Raynor's marines provide superior anti-air capabilities over Artanis's dragoons. Medics can extend the lifespan of zealots (which tend to die rapidly otherwise), and bring units that have triggered their guardian shells back to full health. Both can reinforce on the front lines quickly after taking losses.

Karax is a useful teammate for Raynor. With the exception of powerful battlecruisers, Raynor's Rapid Recruitment talent creates redundancy with Chrono Field, but if combined with Chrono Wave, Raynor can replenish full armies almost instantly. Unity Barrier can make Raynor's infantry slightly more durable. Karax's superior automated defenses allows Raynor to forgo bunkers. Reconstruction Beam may not affect Raynor's infantry, but it can help his mechanized units and bunkers, the latter of which normally have survivability issues at higher difficulties. However, Karax's defenses can be redundant with the spider mines in most of the maps (one tends to overshadow the other depending on the situation), since Raynor once has its developed economy can arm a great army and defend itself with spider mines, Karax can opt for reducing the amount of defenses on offensive maps and arm an army that can also be supported by the medics with extra healing and reduction of damage. Vikings and marines compensates for Karax's weak anti-air capabilities. Additionally scan can combine well with solar flare and orbital assaults, allowing the elimination of enemy waves from a distance.

Vorazun is a questionable teammate for Raynor. Vorazun is fully capable of annihilating even the toughest enemy forces on its own, overlapping with Raynor's high damage bioballs. Corsairs can be very useful to Raynor by disabling the attacks of dangerous waves or fortified bases, so that he can attack without fear of reprisals. Raynor's scanner sweeps are invaluable towards her detection issues; Vorazun's oracles have a higher tendency to die than observers. Emergency Recall can be useful to Raynor if Vorazun uses her Dark Pylon smartly, saving his fragile infantry from death. Lastly, Raynor's marines are generally better at anti-air than Vorazun's stalkers, so he can cover against air attacks in her stead while she focuses more on ground forces, also can take advantage of the dark pylons to transport the troops quickly.

Alarak is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Raynor's large anti-air support infantry increase the effectiveness of Empower Me; Alarak's havocs to boost the attack range of marines. Coordinating their cooldowns allows Raynor to warp Hyperion to any point on the map, at which point Alarak can immediately send in the Death Fleet to support it, and thereby teleport their armies to Hyperion en masse. Alarak's wrathwalkers and ascendants can quickly focus down powerful enemy units that pose a threat to Raynor's fragile marines.

Fenix is a powerful teammate for Raynor, with Raynor covering for many of Fenix's weaknesses. Both armies are high damage but low health, but the addition of medics means Fenix' forces, which normally can't heal, become more hardy. This means frontline forces like legionaries, Kaldalis and Fenix' praetor armor can soak more damage. In addition, Raynor's calldowns can help defend against enemy attacks and help in pushes, while Fenix's recall can also give Raynor's marines much needed mobility to push, take objectives or fall back.

Zeratul and Raynor have some strong synergy together. When Zeratul gains the ability to create phase projections on his cannons, his big limiting factor is vision. Raynor's scans and calldowns ignore fog of war and allow Zeratul to deploy these projections deep behind enemy lines. Raynor's medics also provide Zeratul's beefy units with some needed healing should attacks go through their shields, while shieldguards can aid greatly in Raynor's condensed bioballs against ranged attacks. The attack speed bonus from Avatar of Essence also is a massive boon to Raynor's marines.

Terran Commanders[]

Rory Swann is a situationally useful teammate for Raynor. Both commanders' armies can function perfectly well without the other; Swann's vespene gas production bonus is rarely an issue for Raynor's bioorganic infantry, but it is very helpful if Raynor is fielding higher-tech units. Swann is much more useful for Raynor's Rough Rider and Rebel Raider prestige, to help fund his expensive mech units. All Raynor builds can hold off on getting gas a bit longer and focus on mineral collection while Swann's gas drones provide enough gas to prevent running out while teching up, ultimately allowing Raynor to mass units much more quickly. Swann's superior automated turrets allows Raynor to forgo bunkers. While Swann can give his tech reactors to Raynor, they have very little value compared to the cost (resources and time) to make them. Raynor's mechanized units can also benefit from having Swann's science vessels to repair them, or have Swann's SCVs perform repairs without costing anything and vice versa with medics.

Nova Terra can be a powerful teammate with Raynor. Raynor possesses the larger force, while Nova's more small tactical force can clear key targets. Air strike entrenched positions as Raynor pushes forward. In addition, medics, especially with the ability to heal mechanical units, augment their already powerful force Nova has and makes them even harder to kill during combat. Raynor going the vulture/spider mine build can focus their efforts on specific attack paths, as Nova's forces can take out most attack waves on their own. Defensive drones can provide excellent suitability to Raynor's heavier units, but their charges are often wasted on smaller marines. Nova herself functioning as a detector allows Raynor to not need scanner sweeps for frontline combat.

Han and Horner work fantastic with Raynor, fitting to Horner and Raynor's friendship. Medics can heal Han and Horner's units as well as Raynor's, providing a beefier frontline to allow Raynor's longer ranged infantry to push harder without the threat of being targeted. Both have tactical jump capabilities, and Raynor's scanner sweep enables Horner's calldowns to hit anywhere on the map, or for strike fighters to lock onto key enemy targets without having to worry about the fog of war. Both have powerful calldowns, with Raynor's slightly more consistent calldowns making up for Han and Horner's longer but more immediately impactful calldowns. Raynor benefits in several ways from Han and Horner's scrap mechanic: MULEs drop some extra minerals when they die, making them slightly more effective, and Raynor's calldowns also drop resources when killed.

Tychus Findlay and Raynor work well together, just like old times. Tychus and his outlaws alone can take on attack waves, and has a substantial amount of healing. With proper planning, Raynor's ability to invalidate the fog of war with scans and calldowns can allow Tychus to use medivac pickup to push ahead behind enemy positions. Raynor's calldowns also allow him to push against enemy waves if Tychus and his crew are focused elsewhere. Hyperion point defense drones can help deflect some of the heavier attacks on his outlaws, while Rattlesnake's revitalizer can be laid beneath Raynor's large army to increase their already substantial damage.

Arcturus Mengsk and Raynor, in spite of their differences, are a powerful team. One of Mengsk's large weaknesses is the lack of healing and sustain on his troopers, something medics can help alleviate, allowing Mengsk to pump out large amount of damage for longer. Both make use of regular calldowns that can help push back enemy attacks anywhere on the map. Mengsk's early expansion can also be a boon to Raynor on maps with destructible rocks, letting Raynor get his economy up faster. The passive range on the Pride of Augustgrad battlecruisers is also a might boon to Raynor's high damage biological units, as is his imperial witnesses 20% attack speed increase.

Zerg Commanders[]

Sarah Kerrigan is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Kerrigan herself can dominate the early game while Raynor gets his initial forces constructed. Kerrigan benefits from medics' healing; her zerglings and ultralisks can lead charges while "meat shielding" for Raynor's infantry. Unfortunately, Orbital Drop Pods creates redundancy with Kerrigan's Omega Worms as a way of replenishing troops, but although it can still allow his troops to travel long distances quickly. Finally, Kerrigan's immobilizing wave will allow him to attack the enemy without fear of reprisals. Creep spread allows marines to heal some stimpack damage without medics.

Zagara is a questionable teammate for Raynor. Zagara benefits from medics' healing, but it is generally redundant as her army tends to be suicidal. Zagara can destroy entrenched positions easily, and her aberrations and roaches can lead charges while "meat shielding" for Raynor's infantry. Both use units with high attack velocity (especially with Zagara's Mass Frenzy), so both armies benefit greatly from the Hyperion's +2 attack buff and the enemy armor reduction debuff from zerglings, allowing them to inflict a lot of damage on little time. Zagara's Mass Frenzy can push Raynor's infantry to absurd speeds and attack rates when they also use stimpacks. Raynor's mines can give them powerful defenses while Zagara is free to push in to enemy bases with bio support.

Abathur is an excellent teammate for Raynor. Abathur's mend ability can aid in large engagements when used alongside Raynor's medics. Raynor's marines can also cover Abathur's lack of early game anti-air. In mid to late game, Abathur's heavy units and high area of effect damage goes well with heavy infantry support from Raynor. Mend can also heal Raynor's infantry in huge numbers, saving his medics precious energy.

Alexei Stukov and Raynor have fairly minimal synergy. Both rely on large, more disposable armies, but Stukov can still screen for Raynor's infantry. Medics will often waste their energy on disposable infested, putting their further ahead and at risk during attacks. Both have high damage global abilities, but both have high cooldowns.

Dehaka and Raynor are a strong combination. Dehaka's units and Dehaka himself gain extreme benefits from having medics around, especially in the early game where Dehaka is lower leveled. Both have powerful defensive global abilities at relatively the same cooldown and scans can give vision, let Dehaka use his calldowns and deep tunnel to any part of the map, and Dehaka's primal worms can function as impromptu detectors in the early game, while Dehaka himself later removes the need for frontline detection, saving Raynor scans. In the late game, Dehaka becomes a strong tank for Raynor's army, and is powerful alongside bio, allowing Raynor to do the damage while Dehaka and his higher health units like tyrannozors and primal igniters hold up enemy lines.

Egon Stetmann and Raynor have some powerful economic synergy together. As MULEs will mine from mineral patches even if another worker is on it, Stetmann's blue field does provide an economic boom to Raynor at any point in the game, especially with how deeply he relies on MULEs. However, it is wise to not purely remain on this field the entire game as his green and purple fields are still key to his offensive abilities. Due to his medics green field does not necessarily benefit Raynor, but can provide some healing while in combat. Overcharge, as it impacts select units, does not work particularly well with Raynor's marines, but does so if going for other, higher tech units for Raynor. Raynor also compensates for the calldowns Stetmann lacks, while Stetmann can help Raynor redeploy his core army more quickly.

Quotations[]

See: Jim Raynor Commander Quotations

Achievements[]

Gameplay[]

CoopRaynor SC2-LotV AchieveIcon1 Feels Good, Man
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Heal 10,000 life on allied units.

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CoopRaynor SC2-LotV AchieveIcon2 Hyperion Alert
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Kill 500 units with Raynor's Hyperion.

Edit
CoopRaynor SC2-LotV AchieveIcon3 The Thunder
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Kill 25 units with a single Air Strike on Hard difficulty.

Edit
CoopRaynor SC2-LotV AchieveIcon2 Hyperactive
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Kill 25 units with a single Hyperion calldown on Hard difficulty.

Edit
CoopRaynor SC2-LotV AchieveIconMaster Master and Commander
Points

20 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete all the Commander Raynor achievements.

Rewards
RaynorCoop SC2 Portrait1 Raynor portrait
Edit

Levels[]

Co-opExplore SC2AchiveImage Terran into It
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Reach level 5 with Jim Raynor or Rory Swann in Co-op Missions.

Rewards
Coop5Terran DecalSC2 Coop Award: Level 5 decal
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CoopLevel SC2-LotV AchieveIconRaynor1 Raynor: Level 5
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Reach level 5 with Jim Raynor.

Edit
CoopLevel SC2-LotV AchieveIconRaynor2 Raynor: Level 10
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Reach level 10 with Jim Raynor.

Edit
CoopLevel SC2-LotV AchieveIconRaynor3 Raynor: Level 15
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Reach level 15 with Jim Raynor.

Edit

Development[]

Patches[]

  • Prior to Patch 3.1.3, Raynor's initial talent Rapid Recruitment was named Infantry Specialist, and had different effects. Additionally, the Improved Stim ability was the standard Stimpack ability in terms of usage; it had to be researched, provides 50% boosts to movement and attack speed, and needed 10 HP to use. The Stabilizer Medpack upgrade also did reduce the 25% damage taken by units being healed; this passive behavior is called "Safeguard."
  • Prior to patch 3.3.0, Raynor's level 8 upgrade, Orbital Drop Pods, did not apply to Starport units.
  • Prior to patch 3.3.2 Mastery: Medics heal a nearby additional target for X% of heal, with 2% increase per Mastery Point (Now it's 3% per point)
  • Prior to patch 3.4.0, the bunkers only had 400 HP, to gain + 150HP and shrike turret, a research needed to be completed.

Developer Comments: Bunkers are not getting a lot of use. They have some upgrades available but they don't help in the early game and have questionable value in terms of cost and time investment later on. Instead of unlocking research at level 7, Raynor will now be able to build upgraded Bunkers at level 7. The life bonus has also been increased slightly.

  • Instead of Level 10 Armor upgrades in the Armory and Engineering Bay increased life in addition to increasing armor there was Level 10 Double Mule.

Developer Comments: The double M.U.L.E. upgrade is currently encouraging a mass Orbital Command strategy which allows Raynor to make an endless stream of only Marines. Players not employing this strategy gain a fairly minor power increase. We decided to replace this upgrade with a powerful combat upgrade instead which should help Raynor against area damage and increase his overall survivability. This upgrade also effects all unit types including mechanical, so it should also help to make Factory and Starport units viable, rather than just allowing Raynor to simply make more Marines.

  • In addition, the bonus of speed of attack of Level 15 only affected to the infantry units and there was not a clarification on the masteries that affected the calldowns.

Developer Comments: We also want to change this upgrade to affect all units including mechanical, again to open up Raynor's strategic options. While Raynor's core strength is his biological army, it was important to us not to discourage the use of the other units. We want to supplement his army with the right tools depending on the situation, and we were sending the wrong message by having this upgrade affect only his Barracks units.

  • Prior to patch 3.6.0, the battlecruisers had an energy bar, their skills had no cooldown and only had 450 HP. Developer Comments: Battlecruisers have increased life and no longer have energy. Yamato Cannon is now a cooldown based ability and can be used more often.
  • Prior to patch 3.7.0, the Medic's Stabilizer Medpacks upgrade only allowed medics to heal faster. Developer Comments: We're changing this upgrade to enable Medics to target Mechanical units. We're continuing to look at how Raynor can both be a better partner as well as open up additional army compositions. This also makes his Medic mastery bonuses viable for players who choose to go heavy mech.
  • Prior to patch 3.17.0, Spider mines were invulnerable after being triggered and Drop Pod mastery affected the Dusk wings.
  • Prior to patch 4.0, Tactical Jump did not require vision to be cast.

Developer Comments: We are standardizing Tactical Jump across all commanders to require vision. Raynor can still use Orbital Scan to jump anywhere, but other commanders will have to gain vision in other ways before jumping. The Hyperion is special and can still jump without vision. Siege Tank starts to use turret tracking.

Removed Traits[]

InfantrySpecialist SC2 Coop Icon
Infantry Specialist

Infantry units train 20% faster. Barracks build 50% faster.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
ve
SC2 Swann AC - EngineeringBayUpgrades
Engineering Bay Upgrade Cache

Unlocks bunker upgrades at the engineering bay.
• Equip bunkers with automated turrets that attack ground and air units.
• Increases bunkers' life from 400 to 550.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 7.
ve
ImprovedCalldown SC2 Coop Icon
Improved Calldown: MULE

Increases the number of MULEs called down by the Orbital Command by 1, for a total of 2.

Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Raynor Level 10.
ve

References[]

Blizzard Entertainment. Co-op Missions. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Jim Raynor (in English). 2018.

External Links[]

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