How to play Tychus to devastating effect using this month’s best talent build.
Our complete Tychus guide has everything you need to know about playing this Hero, with the latest builds, tips, map advice and counters.
Tychus is slightly trickier to manage than the easiest of Assassins in the game, thanks to a handful of extra buttons to manage, general mobility issues, and the extra Abilities that are introduced by the mighty Commander Odin.
He’s great fun to take into battle though, and he’s a character that provides a sort of AOE-fuelled alternative to StarCraft universe buddy Raynor. If you can manage his range correctly, he’s capable of both kiting and obliterating the enemy forces to a degree that will make you the real hero of any team.
In our next Hero guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of playing this mighty character, highlight the most powerful Talent build you can take advantage of this month, and also give you some tips that will get you ahead of the game nice and fast.
Editor’s note – February update: Nothing’s changed in terms of Tychus core talent build this month, so carry on as you were if you enjoy playing this Hero! To give you an extra competitive edge, we’ve included some helpful battleground-specific tips towards the end of the guide. We’ll be expanding this section in due course, so don’t forget to check back.
Tychus strategy overview – February 2016
In the thick of a team fight, it can be better to wait with your Overkill Ability until a small amount of time has passed and everyone has finished frantically flinging their crowd-control abilities around – this will ensure you get to rattle off the full volley of damage. In terms of positioning, stay back as much as possible, and be prepared to kite your enemies if they try to advance upon you. Hopefully one of your buddies will spot the danger and help with the threat.
When you’re not fighting with your friends, use your devastating abilities to make sure all lanes are being soaked for XP – as mentioned later in this guide, Frag Grenade with Melting Point is fantastic for this purpose. If that’s all taken care of, buddy up with someone and start rattling through Mercenary Camps – be warned that you’ll struggle to clear many of these on your own without leaving yourself extremely vulnerable to an enemy gank.
The best Tychus Talent build – February 2016
Tychus is one of the most consistent characters to play with in Heroes in Storm, with a very stable talent build that’s changed very little over time. We recommend using the following standard build, which you should find plays well into all of this Hero’s innate strengths.
Tychus standard build
Level 1 – Armor Piercing Rounds – Overkill’s damage to the primary target increased by 20%.
Level 4 – Melting Point – Frag Grenade deals an additional 370 damage over 10 seconds to Minions and Structures.
Level 7 – First Aid – Activate to heal 11.07% of your max Health over 6 seconds.
Level 10 – Commander Odin – Call down an Odin to pilot. The Odin deals increased Damage, has 60% increased Basic Attack range, and uses different Abilities. Lasts 23 seconds.
Level 13 – Lead Rain – Overkill applies a stacking slow, up to 20%.
Level 16 – Stoneskin – Activate to gain 30% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 5 seconds.
Level 20 – Big Red Button – Odin lasts 50% longer and Ragnarok Missiles also launches a Nuclear Missile.
Tychus Abilities, Heroic Abilities and Traits – February 2016
Note that we have two separate sets of Abilities for you to get to grips with here. First up is the core Abilities of Tychus, followed by those that become available when you assume the mighty Commandeer Odin machine. Make sure that you’re thoroughly familiar with both before heading into battle.
Tychus Abilities
Minigun– Your Attack Speed increases the longer that you attack, becoming fully wound up after 4 Basic Attacks. Lasts 3 seconds.
Overkill (Q)– Deal 1885 (895 + 4% per level) damage to the target and 921 (437 + 4% per level) damage to nearby targets over 5 seconds. Reactivate to select a new target. Can move and use Abilities while channeling. Mana: 75. Cooldown: 15 seconds.
Frag Grenade (W)– Lob a grenade that deals 561 (267 + 4% per level) damage, knocking enemies away. Mana: 50. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Run and Gun (E)– Charge forward and instantly wind up the Minigun. Mana: 50. Cooldown: 8 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Drakken Laser Drill (R)– Call down a Laser Drill to attack nearby enemies, dealing 312 (148 + 4% per level) damage every second. Reactivate to assign a new target. Lasts 22 seconds. Mana: 100. Cooldown: 100 seconds.
Commandeer Odin (R)– Call down an Odin to pilot. The Odin deals increased Damage, has 60% increased Basic Attack range, and uses different Abilities. Lasts 23 seconds. Mana: 100. Cooldown: 100 seconds.
Trait
Minigun– Your Attack Speed increases the longer that you attack, becoming fully wound up after 4 Basic Attacks. Lasts 3 seconds.
Commandeer Odin Abilities
Annihilate (Q)– Fire the Odin’s cannons in a straight line, dealing 430 (204 + 4% per level) damage to everything in the path. Cooldown: 7 seconds.
Ragnarok Missiles (W)– Launches a volley of missiles at target area, dealing 290 (138 + 4% per level) damage and slowing enemy Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 7 seconds.
Thrusters (E)– Dash in target direction. Cooldown: 8 seconds.
Tychus counters and match-ups – February 2016
If you want to live long enough to make a real difference on the battlefield, it pays to know which Heroes you’re weak to, which ones you can – hopefully – dominate, and who’s a good partner to buddy up with. There are many differing lists which outline this information, but we like to use the wisdom of the crowd advice afforded by HeroesCounters for this purpose.
Here’s a quick snapshot of which characters are currently considered to be particularly important for Tychus players to take into account:
- Strong against- Murky, Illidan, Nazeebo, Li Li, Sylvanas
- Weak against- Rexxar, Muradin, Uther, Johanna, Brightwing
- Teams well with- ETC, Lt. Morales, Li Li, Muradin, Diablo
Tychus tips and battleground guides – February 2016
Once you’ve mastered the heavier feel of Tychus’ movement and combat abilities, you should find yourself capability of utterly dominating the battlefield. To help you get there just a little bit faster, here are some tried and tested tips that will help give you the edge in combat. Let us know your own tips in the comments section, and we’ll include them when we next revise this article.
- Try to maintain distance at all times when playing Tychus, and do your worst from range. You can still move around the battlefield when dishing out the pain with Overkill, and you must maintaing that delicate dance around the enemy while doing so.
- On the subject of Overkill, if you’ve followed our Talent build and applied Lead Rain, then you’ll be able to kite your enemies all day long. Keep them at range and frustrated as much as you can.
- Frag Grenade serves two great purposes in every match. First, it’s great for picking off anyone running for their lives, and secondly it’s great for shutting down opponents who would hope to crowd-control your team. Knock ’em out of the picture and then take them down.
- Be aware that Commandeer Odin – powerful though it is – takes a second or two to set-up. Factor this “build” time into your play when you’re about to get stuck into a significant fight against the enemy team.
- Overkill is just about the most powerful core Ability you have, so make sure it’s actually landing on something. If an enemy Hero has moved out of its range, make sure you switch targets so that it keeps rattling off its devastating volleys of damage to maximum effect.
- There’s a reason you’ll find Melting Point in just about every Tychus Talent build. Once you’ve applied this upgrade, it’ll turn Frag Grenade into an incredible tool for clearing down minion waves. Keep this in mind as you unlock it, and make sure you’re soaking up the delicious XP on offer as you pass through lanes.
Battlefield of Eternity
- There are many places for the enemy team to get tangled up on this map, which can make Commandeer Odin’s deadly area-of-effect damage disastrous for your enemies. Very rarely would you want to deviate from this choice of Level 10 talent when playing on this map.
Fightin’ Cowboy’s videos helped us out a huge amount while we were learning the game. The builds have changed with balance patches and shifting metagames, but the broad principles remain the same.
