Earlier in the Legacy of the Void’s development cycle, this feature was called Allied Commanders. We now call it Co-Op Missions, which gives players a better idea of what to expect. Co-op missions are objective based scenarios where you and a partner will wield overwhelming power to defeat one of several epic events..

Choose your Commander

To overcome these challenges, you’re going to need help. And you’ll have the best of the StarCraft II Universe at your disposal. Before each mission, you’ll select one of six commanders, two from each of the three StarCraft races. Each commander has a distinct playstyle and brings with them specific abilities and traits into the battlefield. The Zerg commanders are all about controlling powerful hero units. The Terrans deploy their machines of war to do their fighting, while the Protoss take advantage of their powerful Spear of Adun and employ various orbital bombardments. For instance, if you select Kerrigan, you’ll directly control her on the battlefield, using her destructive abilities to turn the tide to your favor. Zagara is the second Zerg commander, and while she doesn’t have the same might as the Queen of Blades, she specializes in completely overrunning her enemies with a swarm of disposable units. On the other hand, you can select Raynor’s trusty technician, Rory Swann. Swann is pretty partial to Terran mech, being part mechanical himself. This guy is all about heavy metal destruction and not only does he build mechanical units 20% faster but his factories cost zero gas! On top of this, he can deploy his own personal Laser Drill. This weapon of destruction can attack anything that Swann can see and is a great way to take out large threats from afar. This is just a small sampling of the abilities and units that each commander possess.

Keeping things Fresh

So hopefully by now you’re excited to select one of these commanders and jump into battle with your fellow co-op comrade. The missions you’ll face will be randomly selected each time you play, but don’t get too comfortable — even if you’ve already completed a mission before, the AI will vary their strategies and use different tactics. You’ll also have the chance to encounter all three races in each mission.

You’ll be able to select from a range of difficulties, which will affect how tough each of these missions will be. So if you’d like to relax with a friend and obliterate your enemies, or you want an intense challenge that will push your skills to the limit, co-op missions has a difficulty for you.

And don’t worry if your friends aren’t always around, our handy matchmaking system is always available to pair you up with someone who is at a comparable skill level and commander level.

Power Overwhelming

That’s right, each commander has their own unique level. Depending on the difficulty you’ve chosen, completing Co-op missions will grant your commander a certain amount of experience, harder difficulties granting you more experience than easier ones. As each commander levels, they will unlock additional units to call forth into battle as well as upgrades to existing abilities or traits. For example, the dark Templar Vorazun can unlock the ability to mine gas directly into the Spear of Adun, no probes required. Or Artanis can unlock the ability to warp in ANY unit on to the map. Colossus, Carriers, and Immortals can be deployed within seconds using this ability.

You’re commanders aren’t the only ones who will be getting rewards. We’ve also introduced brand new Co-op mission achievements that you can earn to unlock brand-new portraits.

Get into the Fight

Co-op Missions is an exclusive feature of Legacy of the Void, coming out November 10. Grab your most trusted ally, appoint your favorite commander, and lay waste to your enemies.

If you haven’t already, you can still pre-purchase the final expansion of the StarCraft II trilogy by clicking here.