Starcraft 2 Hand of Darkness Brutal & Achievements Guide

Starcraft 2 Campaign Guide --> Heart of the Swarm Campaign Guide --> Hand of Darkness (you are here)

Hand of Darkness is the second Skygeirr mission in the Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm campaign. This mission tasks players with destroying the 8 Hybrids without ever letting the timer run to zero.

There are 2 keys to this mission. First, wait until the timer ticks down to about 1 minute before attacking the first Hybrid. This will give you much more time to macro up for the more defend parts of the map. Secondly, make sure Kerrigan has Mend and Kinetic Blast. This will allow her to solo any Hybrid in a decent amount of time in a one on one fight.

Hand of Darkness - Kerrigan Levels

Completing Hand of Darkness does not result directly in any Kerrigan levels. However, there are two Brutalisks on the map which can be freed in order to earn 2 bonus levels. You will want to unlock these anyway since they are such powerful units. You can find them at the locations below marked with blue circles:

Starcraft 2 Hand of Darkness Achievement List

There are 4 achievements available for players to unlock during the Hand of Darkness mission:

Hand of Darkness: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in the Hand of Darkness mission (any difficulty).

Shattered Command: Unlocked by destroying the 2 Command Centers in the "Hand of Darkness" mission (any difficulty). On casual mode, this can be done with just Kerrigan and the Brutalisks. The map below marks the Command Center locations with blue circles:

Power Underwhelming: Unlocked by destroying 3 Hybrid Holding Cells before the Hybrid are released in "Hand of Darkness" (Normal difficulty or higher). Kerrigan can actually handle this all by herself on normal mode. As soon as the mission starts, head south and break that Hybrid free down there and solo it with Kerrigan. Then, head to the Northwest, and on your way, take out the Hybrid that is already draining Kerrigan. Kerrigan can go up north and take out that Hybrid with the help of the Brutalisk (#2 for the achievement) then head to the southeast and release the third Hybrid you need for the achievement. Guide below.

Dominion Domination: Unlocked by using Parasitic Dominated Terran units in order to defeat 3 of the Hybrids (Hard mode or higher). Guide below.

Shattered Command & Power Underwhelming Guide

Here is a video guide demonstrating how to unlock both of these achievements:

Dominion Domination Achievement Guide

This achievement tasks players with destroying 3 Hybrids by using Terran units in the Hand of Darkness mission on Hard mode. Fortunately, this does not require the Terran units to do all the damage, but only requires the Terran units to get the killing blow. You can get out a few Infestors and grab a Thor from the western Terran base. If you can safely secure it, when you use Kerrigan to kill a Hybrid, run Kerrigan away when the Hybrid is down to 100 HP or less, then walk the Thor in and get the killing blow in 1-2 hits. This will count towards the achievement!

Here is a video guide:

Hand of Darkness Brutal Mode Guide

Hand of Darkness is one of the easier late-game missions to beat on Brutal mode when you let the first few Hybrids live as long as possible before killing them. This gives you much longer to complete the mission, giving you time to clear out the Terran forces as well as build Drones and units needed to take down the final Hybrids and their Terran reinforcements.

Below, you will find a step-by-step guide as well as a video walkthrough for this mission on Brutal.

Step by Step Guide

• As soon as the mission starts, start Droning up and working on ground upgrades. I like to use primarily abominations during this mission, since Kerrigan and the Leviathan can handle the anti-air themselves.

• Ignore the Hybrid. Instead, let the timer tick down and use Kerrigan to clear the way to the south.

• With 3:30 remaining on the Hybrid's timer, build an extra Hatchery for macroing purposes. Get Evolution Chambers and start working on melee ground attack and armor upgrades.

• With about 1:50 left on the first Hybrid's timer, you can kill it. Use just Kerrigan and use Mend and Kinetic Blast to take it down quickly.

• A Dominion attack will occur right after you take down the Hybrid. Use Kerrigan to help destroy it.

• As soon as the Leviathan's timer comes up, use it to take out the western Terran base. This does require a bit of micro, but it can be done without too much difficulty. You can even send in your Abominations and Zerglings at home to make it a bit easier.

• While you are destroying this base, you should have some resources piling up. Add about 6 Queens and as many Abominations as you can afford while Kerrigan and the Leviathan and your starting units take down the western Terran base.

• You are ignoring the second Hybrid this entire time.

• With about 1:30 left on the second Hybrid's timer, send in your Abominations to kill it. You need about 10 to kill it comfortable. Kerrigan and the Leviathan should be finishing off the western Terran base.

• Once the western Terran base is dead, send Kerrigan and the Leviathan (it might be time to summon a new one) up towards the north. Also, be sure to expand at the Terran base you just cleared out.

• Kerrigan and the Leviathan can clear everything up north on the way to the northwestern Hybrid. Be sure to free the Brutalisk up there. While this is happening your army should be sitting at home in order to fend off Terran attacks.

• Finish off all your ground army upgrades during this time.

• Kill the third Hybrid once it has about 1:30 left on the timer.

• Split most of army between your expansion and main base for defense. About 10 Abominations and 3 Queens will work. Use Kerrigan, the Leviathan, the first Brutalisk, and any additional Abominations to clear to the next Hybrid and second Brutalisk. You will need about 5 Abominations to do this comfortably.

• If your Brutalisk gets low on health, send it back to your base to stand next to a few Queens. They will heal it up in no time. Do not let your Brutalisks die.

• Before killing the fourth Hybrid, use this spare time to clear up to the 5th Hybrid. You will want to have about 20 Abominations to back up Kerrigan, the Leviathan, and your Brutalisks in order to clear comfortably up this way.
• Go back and kill the fourth Hybrid.

• Now, if you want to destroy the remaining Command Center for the achievement, max out on Abominations and send all your units to the northern Terran base. You need to be 200/200 to clear this area on brutal mode.

• Once you've done that, you can kill the remaining Hybrids. The final battle tasks you with fighting two Hybrids at once, but Hybrids are weak versus Hero units (their storm is best for small units), so you should have no problem using Kerrigan, the Brutalisks, Leviathan, and whatever leftover Abominations you have.

• Kill the remaining Hybrids and enjoy the victory.

Hand of Darkness Brutal Mode Video Guide