Mechabellum Hacker Guide
All units Hacker
Hacker
Used against
Steel Ball
Sledgehammer
Rhino
Scorpion
Melting Point
Fire Badger
Arclight
Countered by
Overlord
Fortress
Stormcaller
Crawler
Fang
Phoenix
Wraith
War Factory
How to play Hacker
The hacker is a risky unit that works against very different kinds of boards. It can either steal something relevant from the opponent or it can steal small units all the time that distracts their whole army.
It's strong early on against Sledgehammers, Steel Balls, Rhinos, etc. but you need a same level hacker for it to hack reliably. Don't pair the hacker with strong single target damage since the single target damage will kill the targets the hacker is hacking and you won't be able to control them.
The hacker is good against Scorpions and Melting Points since both of these units will become very distracted by the hacked units and just spin around without doing anything.
In these kinds of situations the hacker is the better, the less enemy has fast chaff clear (like Mustangs or Vulcans). So if the clear chaff with for example Arclights or Slegehammers, the hacked unit will distract the enemy army a lot longer.
If you go hackers early game you should pair them with something that kills barriers fast (like storms) so you won't get countered by them on the next round.
Mechabellum Hacker counter
If the enemy hackers appear very early, going heavy on chaff is the way to go. This way the hacker is just distracted and eventually dies.
In the midgame the biggest enemy of the hacker is a Barrier. The shield prevents the hacker from hacking anything, so going Fortresses with the barrier tech or just buying a 100 cost personal shield is the best option.
In late game when the enemy has shield break and chaff clear covered, you need to make sure you yourself kill your hacked units as fast as possible. This might mean going Mustangs or Vulcans or even Overlords with ground cannon.
Hacker Builds
Listed below are all some highlighted Hacker builds.
Surrey's Hacker build
Usually my first technology for the hackers is the Range. It allows the hackers to stay safe and keep distracting the enemy. If my hackers are very high level and the enemy has teched fangs and a lot of them, I usually go multiple control. Barrier is good if you have paired your hackers with for example mustangs and want to protect them. Enhanced control is not useful often. I sometimes tech it if the enemy keeps donating me big units in my flanks or on the line.
Hacker Technologies
Listed below are all available technologies for Hacker, their viability and how to use them.
Electromagnetic Interference
Causes electromagnetic interference on hit, temporarily disabling the target unit's Tech and reducing its movement speed by 40%
100
The EMP is kind of a strange technology on the hacker. The big thing about it is that it's very cheap and it slows down the enemy. So if you have hackers and you don't want to invest much on them and there's Rhinos and what not running towards you, the slow from the EMP is great. It's also good against Assault Marksmen since it deletes the HP buff they get from the technology and hack them instantly (but I prefer other counters, like Fortress, for the Assault Marksmen.)
Enhanced Control
Units under Hacker's control will immediately recover their maximum HP
300
Very expensive technology. Sometimes good against big flankers because you get easy hacks off them and develop a new army. It's good in casual modes like FFA or survival mode since you can hack the bosses with full health.
Barrier
Generates a large-scale shield that protects all allies within it. Shield HP increases by 20,000 per unit level
300
The barrier is a good technology to protect units around the hackers against the fire or sentry missiles if you are close to the line pushing.
Multiple Control
The range of the hacker is reduced by 25 meters, but it can launch 5 control beams at the same time, and the control efficiency of each beam is 17% of the original
250
If you have a high level hacker, this technology is sometimes crazy. For it to work the enemy needs to have a lot of chaff or high amounts of low level medium units. Don't ever tech this if something high level is in front of you.
Range Enhancement
Increases attack range by 40m
300
Range is very good and it enables the power of hackers. It allows the hacker to live longer since it stays in a safer position.
