Starcraft 2: Walking the Brutal Path - Part 2

Welcome to the second part of Starcraft 2: Walking the Brutal Path! This hub will follow from the other article of this series, so go read that one first if you haven't already.

Here I'm going to map out how you should play the remaining missions in the Wings of Liberty campaign. Read on!

So, last time I stopped writing around the time I did the Meinhoff mission (Outbreak). There we got Hellions. After this, I recommend you go to Xii, as this unlocks the almighty Siege Tanks. Once you add their power to your defensive emplacements, you'll wonder how you ever did any missions without them. :D

Thus, your mission path should look like this:

Previous completed missions --- Meinhoff --- Xii

After completing this mission, you will unlock a cutscene, and the Zeratul mini-campaign, which will have you in the role of this Protoss hero as he seeks to unravel a prophecy that could determine the fate of the whole universe. You can do other missions now, but I recommend you get the mini-campaign over with.

You may be wondering why. Well, think about it this way: Your Protoss allies get no benefit from the tech you've acquired during your Terran campaign, but you get the research benefits from whatever bonus objectives you clear during the Protoss missions. By the time you're done with those missions, you should have 21 Protoss Research points and 24 Zerg Research points (if you've cleared all of the research bonus objectives in every single mission you've done). That's enough to unlock the fourth tier of both trees, and is beautifully close to the top tier as well.

Your mission path should look like so:

Previous completed missions --- Meinhoff --- Xii --- Zeratul missions

After the Zeratul missions, you will have unlocked an almost ridiculous amount of missions to run. There should be a total of four in the Star Map right now. From left to right, they are:

• New Folsom - This is actually a branching mission where you can help Gabriel Tosh or stop him. If you help him, you unlock Spectres. If you stop him, you unlock Ghosts (and the mission would be in Avernum, not New Folsom). I'll leave it up to personal preference here. I prefer Spectres, but I've heard many favorable arguments in favor of Ghosts. Both Covert Ops units get an upgrade at the Armory for infinite Cloaking time, so it's all good either way. The credit reward is identical for both branches of the mission as well.
• Haven - Another branching mission. Here, you can protect the refugees from the Protoss Purifier (a giant Mothership tasked with cleansing worlds of Zerg infestation), or purge the world yourself, thus helping the Protoss. Both branches unlock the Viking air unit (which is your first air unit if you've been following this walkthrough). You get 3 Protoss Research points if you help the Protoss and 3 Zerg Research points if you help Dr. Hanson and the refugees. I purged the planet since, at this time, you have less points in the Protoss research tree than you do in the Zerg research tree.
• Tarsonis - This mission is still staring at us, daring us to take it. We'll play it soon, I promise. As I mentioned in the previous hub, this mission unlocks Diamondbacks, a tank that can attack while moving.
• Tyrador IV - This mission continues the Artifact storyline and gives us Medivacs, which are a flying transport that can heal units, just like a Medic. We're not doing this mission for a LONG time, so just write it off for now. Medivac utility is usually nil, especially since the campaign provides you with Medics.

Anyways, after that long-winded interlude, let me tell you how I played this:

After the Zeratul missions, I decided to go to New Folsom and help out Gabriel Tosh. This got me Spectres and finished up the Covert storyline. Spectres are awesome if you like to be sneaky, as they can Cloak. In addition, they have the ability to drop nukes on targets, as well as stun a group of enemies. Via the Armory, you can make their Cloak last indefinitely and grant them a skill (that costs energy) that does 200 damage to a target unit.

Thus, the mission path will look like this:

Previous completed missions --- Meinhoff --- Xii --- Zeratul missions --- Covert Finale

Afterwards, I decided to purge Haven, as I mentioned above.

Zeratul missions --- Covert Finale --- Haven

Afterward, it was either Tarsonis or Tyrador IV. A choice between a tank you may or may not use again, or a transport you'll probably use again, but just not yet. If you got the Hercules via the Zerg research tree, the choice becomes even more ridiculous and hard. I opted for Tarsonis though, as this path keeps going for a few missions and finalizes with granting you Thors, and seriously, who doesn't like Thors? :D

Zeratul missions --- Covert Finale --- Haven --- Tarsonis

After Tarsonis, which is a mission in the Rebellion storyline, for those of you keeping track of the plotlines, you unlock Deadman's Port. Deadman's Port gives you the Vulture (a returning favorite from the original Starcraft), which is about twice as sweet as it used to be back in the original game. So, the mission path looks like so now:

Zeratul missions --- Covert Finale --- Haven --- Tarsonis --- Deadman's Port

Completing Deadman's Port provides some plot insight and some ammunition to cripple Mengsk's propaganda machine against Jim Raynor. To utilize the ammo though, you need to complete two more missions. And, truth be told, Tyrador IV is still looking bland in comparison. :P

The next mission in the Rebellion storyline is on the planet Valhalla, where you will unlock Wraiths (another returning favorite from the original game). They have good air-to-air but subpar air-to-ground. They compensate for this failing by being able to Cloak. After trouncing the bases with the help of the Odin (a giant mech you "acquire" from the Dominion), you go to Korhal to transmit the truth about Mengsk's ascension to power. Completing the Rebellion storyline unlocks the Thor, which is a mini-Odin, but pretty lethal in its own right, especially in combination with other units.

So, the mission path should look like this now:

Haven --- Tarsonis --- Deadman's Port --- Valhalla --- Korhal

Now you may be asking: "Can we finally go to Tyrador IV?"

I say nay!! If you looked closely in the Korhal mission, you may have noticed a Science Facility. Top-tier building of the Terran tech tree in the original Starcraft, in here it serves as an Easter Egg to unlock a special mission. Attack it with some units (you have to manually select attack and then the building, as it is considered neutral) to destroy it. Once destroyed, it will spit out some documents. Pick up these documents and you can go to Castanar for a secret mission that's pretty feisty.

While Castanar gives no tech (being a secret mission, miss-able and all), it does give a heck of a lot of research. To be precise, it gives 4 Protoss research points and 3 Zerg research points. While you should be more than maxed out at this time, do keep in mind that excess points are sold to the Moebius Foundation for 10,000 credits each, so don't stop collecting them!

Thus, your mission path looks like this now:

Haven --- Tarsonis --- Deadman's Port --- Valhalla --- Korhal --- Castanar

And you ask again: "Can we go to Tyrador IV now?!"

I look at the Star Map and realize that there's no other places to go, sigh, and give you the okay sign to do so. You cheer, I put on a sad face. :P

Actually, for the rest of your run, you won't have more than one destination. We've cleared the Rebellion storyline, the Covert storyline and the Colonist storyline already. This leaves the final Artifact missions and the Char missions, which are all played out in a linear order. So, your mission path through Starcraft 2 should look like this:

Mar Sara Missions --- Monlyth --- Agria --- Redstone --- Bel Shir --- Meinhoff --- Xii --- Zeratul missions --- Covert Finale --- Haven --- Tarsonis --- Deadman's Port --- Valhalla --- Korhal --- Tyrador IV --- Final artifact missions and Char missions

So, my suggested mission path through Brutal is now complete. Rest assured that I've been playing this out as I've written it up, so I can guarantee that it does work. ;)

Feel free to comment if you disagree with my taken mission path.

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate