I played as Shipmaster and it was TERRIBLE! Halo Wars 2
Andy picks Shipmaster (not his favorite) for a Halo Wars 2 team game with Gus. The match is messy—cloaked harassment, late scarabs, and constant detect/siege scramble—but Team Respawn still closes it out, with Shipmaster carrying more damage than both opponents combined.
Related guides
What we built
- Shipmaster early pressure leans on invisibility and hero mobility rather than a clean, textbook eco ramp.
- Marauders bridge the mid-game until tech three; siege and detect gear become the priority once cloaks and air show up.
- Sentinels sit on standby as anti-air insurance while the team waits for the opponent’s air pads to commit.
Attack & defense
- Cloaked infiltrations force reactive detect and unit sacrifices to peel pressure off the base.
- Pelican drops and Grizzly fights pop up mid-match; displacement is used to yank threats off key buildings.
- Heavy anti-air and base lockdown answer locked bases and three-airpad threats.
- Reavers and detect gear are called in when cloaked units sit on the main—siege is expected to finish the cleanup.
Turning points
- Early invisibility PTSD moments almost snowball, but baiting the opponent onto a sacrificial unit stabilizes the lane.
- A cloaked push into the base is shut down with a “pro gamer” cloak counter-play and Pelican response.
- Opponents tech into scarabs and air; Team Respawn answers with sentinels on standby and base lockdown instead of panic-teching everything.
- Late game: plasma bolt beaming, another cloaked base sit, and scarab spam—then the other side SDs / quits after failing to crack the hold.
Opponent notes
- Opponents lean hard on cloak harassment and later scarab production—effective for stress, less so for converting the win.
- One opponent’s teammate looks AFK or disengaged late (“what the hell is his teammate doing?”), which softens the 2v2 pressure.
- M&K / Shipmaster-adjacent pressure and teleport plays keep Gus busy early; Andy’s Shipmaster still ends up with the damage lead.
Takeaways
- Shipmaster is uncomfortable on this channel’s usual roster, but detect + siege + displacement still solve cloak-heavy Banished/UNSC mixes.
- Leaving sentinels on standby before the air wave lands is cleaner than scrambling after three air pads are already out.
- Scarabs look scary on stream; they fall apart when the base is locked and detect is online.
- Even a “terrible” Shipmaster game can be a free win if the other team’s coordination collapses late.