Using Command Units

A guide to the ins and outs of the unique commander units.

What is a Command Unit?
A command unit is defined as a unit with two commander skills. For example, Apsalus I is a command unit, but Chars Zaku II commander is not. Command units are tied into the rock paper scissors archetypes more than any other types of units. Each skill is colour coded to the archetype is helps the most, on average.

Command Skills
Assault commander mostly helps rocks. It has a booster extension.

Defense commander mostly helps scissors. It has a reload up.

Communications commander is mostly beneficial to papers, but is more well rounded than the other two skills. It shows enemy positions on radar, in red. AWACS is more beneficial to papers and more like the other commander skills, however there are no commander units that have AWACS. Communications, unlike the other two skills, will activate before you hit 50% HP. It is still lost when you use a special attack, like any command skill. it's less useful on beginners channel because of battle support.

Don't forget that using a special will turn the skills off, so you should learn to spec cancel and possibly put some custom points on HP. The skills will continue to run in the special animation, so if you think the video is longer than the time you have left to live, use it.

Rock-Paper-Scissors
If you take the time to examine command units, you will notice that the archetype your unit defeats, is the archetype that will cover you on your team. For example, scissors defeat paper, therefore papers will defend scissors. This is because papers kill rocks, and scissors are killed by rocks. Remember that the unit you defeat is the unit that will protect you, and therefore the unit that defeats you is the unit you protect.

You will notice that almost commanders have the skill that helps the unit that covers them. All scissors will have communications commander, all rocks will have defence commander, and all papers will have assault commander, with the exception of Koumei Re-GZ. This means that if you have one of each archetype on your team, you should always have someone to defend you. Remember that in combat.

At the beginning of the match, you should follow out the unit you protect and be active in combat. Remember, the unit you protect is the unit that defeats you. If you're a scissor, you should be protecting rocks from papers. Over time of course, you'll drop below half health, and that's where the strategy changes.

If you were actively defending the right unit, your command skills should activate immediately. (Some units have assault and defence commander, and activating both of them requires twice the typical aggression levels, unlike those with radar command. Those will be talked about later.) Once at 50% health, back off from the enemy so you can survive for a longer period of time. go to the unit that protects you. Remember, the unit that protects you is the unit you defeat. If you're a scissor, the unit that protects you would be paper. You should also remember that command suits always have the command skill that helps the unit that protects them. A scissor will always give papers communications command. This means your teammate should be able to defend you unless they were already beaten.

Now, if you're defending someone in your first 50%, your health will drop slightly faster, allowing for early activation of the skills. Then if you let someone cover you in your last half of life, your health will drop slower, allowing you to keep them active for as long as possible. You should always try to achieve maximum efficiency this way if possible.

Talgeese II and Apsalus I
Talgeese II and Apsalus I are different from typical command units, due to the fact that they do not have communications commander. They do still abide by the rule that states all units have the skill that supports the unit that covers them. This means neither of your skills will activate until you are in your last 50% of life, and that you will need double aggression levels to activate all your skills. Bear in mind however, that you can still activate one command skill with half aggression.

This setup entitles greater risk and reward. The risk is that you are weaker before they activate, and that you need to play better to activate them both, but the reward is that you can be the only player in 50% health to get all 3 skills going with an entire team. For example, normally you can make all three skills active with two skills on a command unit, and another unit with the third skill. If the command has communications, that means the other unit will have assault or defence commander. The flaw is that both your commander and other unit will both have to be half down to get all three skills up and running. However, the command unit has assault and defence skills, and the other unit is the one with communications, only the command unit will have to be 50% down. This allows you to keep all three skills going as long as your command unit can stay alive, for easy domination and coordination.

So if you're in Apsalus I, you might want to use it with an M1 astray repair, then a good scissor, and a good rock. this gives you all 3 command skills and the ability to heal with a half dead B rank and a full health C rank, plus Apsalus I is great paper for protecting scissors. Now that's half your players, but not half of your total team rank points if you're playing clan mode. You get space to use two A ranks or a B rank and a S rank. S and A ranks with all 3 command skills running from other units are lethal, so if you can manage to heal it a few times and provide some cover, you're in business.

Remember though that these units require double aggression levels. This means that you'll probably want some skill parts to help you out. Out of the parts in the shop, V-vaccine is probably the best for Apsalus, since it's incredibly weak to bullet zero and stun, and gundam hand-to-hand fight is probably best for Tallgeese, since its third weapon allows the skill to give you critical damage at a higher frequency.

Rules to Remember
1) Assault commander typically benefits rock-types the most

2) Defense commander typically benefits scissor-types the most

3) Communications commander benefits paper-types the most, but is more well rounded and activates more easily

4) Use special attacks as sparingly as possible to keep your SP bar full and you skills running as long as you can, they will stay active in the animation

5) The unit with the rock-paper-scissors archetype that defeats your archetype is the unit that you cover

6) The unit with the archetype your archetype defeats is the unit that covers you

7) before you have command skills, be offensive and stay with the unit that you cover (see rule 5)

8) After you have command skills, be defensive and stay with the unit that covers you (see rule 6)

9) All commanders will have the skill that suppourts the unit that covers them, other than Koumei Re-GZ (see rules 1 - 3 and 6)