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Co-op Commander Guide: Nova

Dominion Ghost

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Commander Summary

Nova is a deadly covert operative that uses highly-trained soldiers to control the battlefield.

Level Unlocks

Level/Icon	Name	Description
	Covert Ops	Nova has a 100 supply maximum, but her units and structures have increased life, deal additional damage, and are resistant to stun effects. Trained units are instantly deployed onto the battlefield.
	Griffin Airstrike	Unlocks the ability to call down the Griffin, which deploys several explosives along a targeted path. Call down the Griffin from the top panel.
	Assault Mode	Unlocks the ability to swap between two equipment loadouts in the field. Nova gains access to different abilities and a different weapon with each loadout.
	Barracks Upgrade Cache	Unlocks the following upgrades at the Barracks Tech Lab: Unlock the Elite Marine's Super Stimpack ability, which increases their attack and movement speeds while healing them over time. Equip the Marauder Commando with an additional weapon that attacks their current target.
	Tactical Airlift	Unlocks the ability to call down the Griffin to rapidly transport your units to a targeted location. Call down the Griffin from the top panel.
	Factory Upgrade Cache	Unlocks the following upgrades at the Factory Tech Lab: Enable Hellbat Rangers to leap toward enemy ground units and stun them on impact. Enable Strike Goliaths to stun enemy mechanical air units and disable their detection. Increase the Heavy Siege Tank's attack range over time while in Siege Mode.
	Automated Refineries	Refineries automatically harvest Vespene Gas without the need for SCV's.
	Covert Ops Upgrade Cache	Unlocks an upgrade at the Barracks Tech Lab that enables Spec Ops Ghosts to fire two additional shots when using Snipe. Also unlocks an upgrade at the Ghost Academy that increases Nova's life regeneration rate.
	Tac Nuke Strike and Holo Decoy	Unlocks the Tac Nuke Strike ability, which allows Nova to call down a nuke while in Stealth Mode. Also unlocks the Holo Decoy ability, which allows Nova to create a duplicate of herself that will attack on its own while in Assault Mode.
	Starport Upgrade Cache	Unlocks the following upgrades at the Starport Tech Lab: Unlock the Covert Banshee's Rocket Barrage ability, which deals damage to all enemy ground units in a target area. Allow Raid Liberators to transform faster. Allow Raid Liberators to attack structures while in Defender Mode.
	Research and Development	Reduces cost and time required to research upgrades at Tech Labs and the Ghost Academy by 50%.
	Raven Upgrade Cache	Unlocks the following upgrades at the Starport Tech Lab: Increase the healing of the Raven Type-II's Bio-Mechanical Repair Drone and allow it to cloak units while healing them. Allow the Raven Type-II to store 2 additional charges for each of its abilities.
	Military Hardware	Increases Nova's maximum number of Defensive Drone charges by 2 and reduces their cooldown by 30 seconds.
	Nova Upgrade Cache	Unlocks the following upgrades at the Ghost Academy: Allow Nova to regain 50% of Snipe's energy cost after killing a unit with it. Increase the range of Nova's Penetrating Blast.
	Stance Dance	Reduces the cooldown of Stealth Mode and Assault Mode by 15 seconds. Nova gains maximum energy when switching modes. Switching to Stealth Mode grants temporary invulnerability and switching to Assault Mode grants a temporary bonus to damage dealt (100%).

Highlighted rows denote large power spikes for the commander.

Achievements

The commander-specific achievements for Nova are:

Achievement	Name	Description
	Air Raid	Deal 50,000 damage with Griffin Airstrike in Co-op Missions.
	Cloak and Dagger	Deal 200,000 damage with Nova while she is in Stealth Mode.
	Drone It Out	Absorb 10,000 damage for your ally with Nova's Defensive Drone in Co-op Missions.
	Riding Shotgun	Deal 200,000 damage with Nova while she is in Assault Mode.

Calldowns

The calldowns for Nova, at level 15, with no mastery points added are:

Calldown	Name	Description	Recommended Usage	Numbers
	Defensive Drone	Provides friendly units with shields that absorb up to 200 damage. Lasts for 60 seconds.	Should be used when defending and attacking to protect your army. Can be used as a distraction to draw aggro away from your air units. Can also be used to keep vision in an area temporarily.	Coolup: 60 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds Max Charges: 5 Mineral Cost: 100
	Griffin Airstrike	Calls down the Griffin to deal 500 damage to all targets in its flight path after a short delay.	Great way of dealing with tough attack waves. Useful for weakening enemy bases before pushing in.	Coolup: 120 seconds Cooldown: 30 seconds Mineral Cost: 1000
	Tactical Airlift	Instantly transports friendly units in the target area to a targeted location.	Can be used to move troops to an area with vision. You have a 20-second window to select the drop-off location. Can be used to dodge skill shots.	Coolup: 120 seconds Cooldown: 120 seconds Mineral Cost: 200
	Instant Regeneration	Requirements:Nova recovering in stasis Instantly revives Nova at the target location. Resource cost is determined by the amount of time remaining.	Cost gets reduced by 5 minerals per second. Only use it if having Nova on the battlefield is vital.	Mineral Cost: 450

Sub-Ascension Leveling

Difficulty: Easy

Your army composition should be mostly Biological units, with Liberators to help protect your army against enemy ground units. Rely on Griffin Airstrikes and Defensive Drones as much as possible to reduce army losses.

While leveling through Mastery levels, allocate points into Power Set 3 in a 2:1 split for Nova's Energy Regeneration to Unit HP Regeneration.

Masteries

Below are the three Power Sets for Nova with the recommended point allocations for each. Note that these are meant to serve a general, all-purpose build that is effective across all maps with no Prestiges selected. You are highly encourged to change these masteries to suit your playstyle and particular challenges you face (e.g. Weekly Mutations).

Power Set 1:

Power	Value	Recommended Points to Add	Further Considerations
Nuke and Holo Decoy Cooldown	-3 sec per point -90 sec maximum	0	Due to the high cooldown time of Nuke/Holo Decoy, it is generally not viable to go for the cooldown mastery. However, for players who use this ability liberally, and find they are just short of some time before they can use it again, the mastery might be worth adding a few points into.
Griffin Airstrike Cost	-10 per point -300 maximum	30

The reduction to the Nuke cooldown is irrelevant here (and Holo Decoy is not very useful). Griffin Airstrike has a lot more utility.

Power Set 2:

Power	Value	Recommended Points to Add	Further Considerations
Nova Primary Ability Improvement	1.67% per point 50% maximum	30	The attack speed mastery can benefit units like Siege Tanks and Liberators during long, sustained engagements. If that is required by the player, this mastery might be useful, especially if Nova can 1-shot units like infested anyway.The Primary Ability improvement mastery, however, improves the damage of Snipe, Penetrating Blast, Sabotage Drone and the shield provided by Blink.
Combat Unit Attack Speed	+0.5% per point +15% maximum	0

Increasing Nova's Snipe and Penetrating Blast damage can make a huge difference on the battlefield.

Power Set 3:

Power	Value	Recommended Points to Add	Further Considerations
Nova Energy Regeneration	1% per point 30% maximum	20	A split is generally recommended here to ensure units have some healing. Nova's energy regeneration is critical though, as it will allow you to spam her abilities more often.
Unit Life Regeneration	0.2 per point 6 maximum	10

The split here is to allow your units to regenerate themselves on the battlefield when out of combat, at a reasonable rate while still ensuring Nova has enough energy regeneration to spam skills.

Prestiges

Below are the prestiges for Nova. Note that "Effective Level" is the level at which the prestige achieves it full effect.

Level	Name	Description	Effective Level	Notes
1	Soldier of Fortune	Advantages: Factory and Starport no longer have Tech requirements. Unit charges accrue 100% faster for the first production structure built. Disadvantages: Unit charges accrue 50% slower for the second and third production structures built.	1	Bonus applies to the first completed structure.
This prestige allows Nova to accrue charges faster on the production structure of her choice, making this a very versatile prestige. The choice of structure will be heavily dependant on the enemy composition, so early scouting will be important.

Level	Name	Description	Effective Level	Notes
2	Tactical Dispatcher	Advantages: Tactical Airlift cooldown reduced by 75%. Disadvantages: Griffin Airstrike cooldown increased by 300%.	5	None
While map mobility is important, the increase in cooldown of Griffin Airstrike is very detrimental to Nova, as the airstrike is Nova's primary method of weakening enemy bases and attack waves before engaging with her army to minimize losses. This prestige encourages players to engage waves with their armies directly, which can increase losses taken by Nova.

Level	Name	Description	Effective Level	Notes
3	Infiltration Specialist	Advantages: Nova gains permanent Super Cloak. Her abilities have a 50% increased radius and a 50% reduced cooldown. Disadvantages: Nova cannot switch to her Combat Suit and loses Super Cloak for 4 seconds upon attacking or using Snipe.	9	None
The loss of the Combat Suit reduces Nova's versatility. The impact of this depends on several factors, like the enemy composition faced, since Nova will usually use the Combat Suit to clear weaker attack waves that are not worth airstriking. However, it does allow Nova to easily clear large swathes of enemy bases with her Nukes and Sabotage Drones. Combined with the Nuke cooldown reduction mastery, this prestige is very powerful.

For general play, Soldier of Fortune offers Nova the versatility she needs to be able to handle any mission and attack wave composition. Infiltration Specialist may excel on some maps, but it's efficacy is highly affected by attack wave compositions, and is therefore, not a reliable prestige to be used.

Hero Unit

Spawn time: 4:00

Respawn time: 1:30

The abilities for Stealth Mode Nova are:

Ability	Name	Description	Cooldown	Energy Cost
	Snipe	Deals 200 damage to target enemy ground or air unit from long range (10). Can target biological and mechanical units.	0 seconds	50
	Sabotage Drone	Deploys an undetectable explosive drone that deals 200 damage (400 vs Structure) to enemy ground units in the target area.	45 seconds	100
	Tac Nuke Strike	Calls down a Nuclear Strike at the target location, dealing 600 damage in a large radius after 5 seconds.	Coolup: 600 seconds Cooldown: 420 seconds	0

The abilities for Assault Mode Nova are:

Ability	Name	Description	Cooldown	Energy Cost
	Penetrating Blast	Deals 50 (100 vs Light) damage to enemy ground units in a wide arc. Does not damage friendly units.	0 seconds	50
	Blink	Teleports Nova to a nearby location. Nova gains a temporary shield that absorbs up to 200 damage for 8 seconds. Ability regains a charge every 8 seconds. Can store a maximum of 3 charges.	8 seconds	0
	Holo Decoy	Deploys a holographic duplicate of Nova that automatically attacks enemy units. The holo decoy lasts for 60 seconds.	Coolup: 600 seconds Cooldown: 420 seconds	0

The upgrades for Nova are:

Upgrade	Name	Effect	/	Research Time
	Ghost Visor	Grants Nova detection, allowing her to see and track cloaked and burrowed enemy units.	75/75	45 seconds
	Caduceus Reactor	Increases Nova's life regeneration rate to 10.	75/75	45 seconds
	Operational Efficiency	Refunds 50% of Snipe's energy cost when Nova uses it to kill an enemy unit.	100/100	60 seconds
	Infernal Projectiles	Increases the range of Nova's Penetrating Blast by 2.	100/100	60 seconds

Recommended Army Composition

The recommended army composition for Nova is below. Note that this assumes no Prestige talent selected and recommended Mastery Allocations. This is a basic recommendation for your army framework. It is recommended to gain an understanding for each of the units in the Units section and further add tech units so that you are able to better handle the situations you face.

Goliath/Liberator builds for Nova are extremely versatile and allow her to handle a variety of different situations. By making use of Griffin Airstrikes, her army can clear off any left-over forces. Ensure you have Ravens to heal damage on your army.

Add Siege Tanks to your army so that you may drop Spider Mines on enemy spawn positions when facing ground-based enemy compositions.

Combat Units

For more information on Nova's unit stats, comparison between units and upgrade calculations, visit the Data Tables page.

Nova's combat units are listed below:

Build Order

Below is the standard economic build order for Nova. For more information on how to read and construct your own build orders, please check the Build Order Theory page.

14 Refinery
15 Refinery
18 Command Center
19 Barracks
22 Marines -> Rocks

Gameplay Guide

Playstyle Traps

Many players prefer to use Assault mode to deal with units when pushing into enemy bases. However, Nova's strength is with her Snipe ability that can be used to target Mechanical units. Use Nova's Snipe to take out high value targets and minimize your army losses. Combined with the "Operational Efficiency" upgrade, you'll be able to clear out a lot of high-damage units very quickly.

Playstyle Tips

• Use Defensive Drones to protect your units as you defend/attack.
• Switch modes for Nova often to take advantage of that particular mode's strengths.
• In general combat, you will want to have Nova in Stealth Mode to snipe key targets.
• Soften enemy bases with Tac Nuke Strikes and Griffin Air Strikes before pushing in to reduce losses.
• If using Spider Mines for defense, place them on the top of your ramp so they can take advantage of high-ground vision range.

Note: All data generated on this site is based on Brutal difficulty. Timings, compositions and other elements may differ on easier difficulty levels.

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