Tychus Build Guide “So, you gonna bark all day?”

Tychus is a sustained damage Assassin who excels at damaging Heroes with large Health pools. Much of his damage from Overkill and Minigun can be interrupted by crowd control, requiring Tychus to rely on careful positioning. Although his Heroic Abilities require some planning, they can be devastating game changers when used correctly.

Strengths

• Extremely high sustain damage, especially against Tanks
• Can kite very effectively during Overkill
• Commandeer Odin is a great tool for controlling Objectives, pushing, or defending Structures from the enemy team
• Fairly good waveclear with Overkill and Frag Grenade

Weaknesses

• Overkill and Minigun (Tychus' main sources of damage) can be interrupted
• Vulnerable to crowd control
• Relatively low range for a Ranged Assassin
• Dealing meaningful damage with Minigun can be unsafe, as using Basic Attacks means being somewhat immobile.

Standard Build

Recommended

Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16 ?

Level 20

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This build is a flexible build that will be good in every scenario.

At Level 4, The Bigger They Are... can be chosen if the opposing frontline has high HP, like Cho, Diablo, or Stitches. Otherwise, it is better to get Master Assassin, as even if the quest is not completed, it is the only Talent that will boost Commandeer Odin's damage.

Neosteel Coating is an excellent Talent to get if the opposing team has high burst magical damage. It should be paired with Titan Grenade.

If Tychus does not need the magical armor from Neosteel Coating, he should get Spray 'n' Pray at Level 13. It is good with Armor Piercing Rounds against squishy enemies. But it can be picked with Titan Grenade to have more poke damage.

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Tychus synergizes with

Tychus can deal an incredible amount of damage to a stationary target, and benefits greatly from having strong crowd-control on his team. Heroes who can chain crowd-control or displace enemies on their own do very well with Tychus, because they can lock down an enemy while Minigun does its work. Tychus thrives when his frontline is made up of disruptive Heroes that prevent the enemy team from focusing him safely.

Tychus is countered by

Tychus does exceptionally high sustain damage with high-Cooldown Abilities. This can be countered by Heroes who can move themselves and their allies out of range of Tychus until his Abilities are on cooldown. Interrupting or Blinding Tychus is also a great way to control his damage output. Tychus is very susceptible to crowd-controls; they can interrupt Overkill and eat up Minigun's active duration.

Tychus's stronger maps

Tychus's average maps

Tychus's weaker maps

Tychus's usefulness is more decided by team compositions than the map he is playing. This is because many of his Ability and Talent mechanics are designed to interact with enemy Heroes, rather than with the environment. However, there are some mechanics worth looking at when deciding to play him on certain maps or not. Tychus has fairly good waveclear, which makes him passable on most maps. If you need to play a Hero for your composition who can solo Mercenary Camps, his lack of self-sustain will make him a bad choice. For this reason, he is also a weak choice if you are playing a map that requires prolonged solo PvE encounters. Commandeer Odin greatly increases Tychus's effectiveness for a limited amount of time. This turns him into an excellent pick in Infernal Shrines and Volskaya Foundry, since it can be used during objective and enemies will have to choose between fighting with a disadvantage or giving up the objective.

• Tychus cannot stutter-step, so use Overkill when you want to deal sustain area of effect damage while moving.
• Use Frag Grenade to knockback enemies that you are fleeing from or chasing, or to interrupt stationary-channeled Abilities. Can be used during Overkill.
• Use Run and Gun to escape death, dodge harmful Abilities, or secure kills.
• Activate Minigun when attacking a Hero with a large Health pool, or who has been Stunned or Rooted.
• Start casting Overkill if you are blinded during Minigun, since its damage is not affected by blinds.
• Place the Drakken Laser Drill off to the side of a fight so that it will not be destroyed immediately.
• Use Commandeer Odin just as a fight begins, when the enemy team cannot just run away from it.
• Commandeer Odin gives you Unstoppable on cast for some seconds, while also giving 25 extra Armor for the entire duration. Use it if you think you will be controlled for a long duration, or while Cocoon is going towards you.

Tychus is one of the best anti-Tank in the game, because Minigun deals damage to Heroes based on their maximum Health. He is an especially good pick against team compositions featuring multiple Heros with high maximum Health, where there are more high Health targets (such as Azmodan) for him to punish. Tychus can hold his own against other types of Heroes, but his relatively low range can make trading with other Ranged Assassins dangerous. Together with his high percent-based damage, this helps to define his niche as an anti-Tank Hero.

When using either Commandeer Odin or Drakken Laser Drill, Tychus is able to further increase his damage, and play from a longer range. This makes him a difficult target for enemy Heroes to dive. Blinds and some other crowd control effects can prevent Minigun from dealing damage during its 3 second duration. Tychus is best played as a mid range brawler in team fights; he should stay in close proximity with his team.