Yapyap/Gameplay

Halo Wars 2

"At last, a Grunt rises to become a mighty leader! Or at least outnumber the enemy with an endless supply of cheap, expendable units!"

— In-game description of Yapyap the Destroyer.

• Unique Units: Cannon Fodder, (Replaces Grunt squads) Pnap-pattern Goblin, (Hero unit) Methane Wagon, Unggoy Heavy, (Replaces Suicide Unggoy) Unggoy Rider (Replaces Jiralhanae Jumper)
• Privileges: Allows Yapyap to produce Cannon Fodder without using resources and can deploy up to three Hero Units.
• Tier 1 Leader Powers
  • Surprise Party I: Activate to drop a mine onto the battlefield. Upon exploding the mine spawns two temporary veteran Cannon Fodder squads.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 40
    • Power Cost: 40
    • Cooldown: 105 seconds
  • Surprise Party II: Drops another mine and increases explosion size.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 60
    • Power Cost: 60
    • Cooldown: 105 seconds
  • Methane Wagon: Unlocks Methane Wagon for purchase at the Banished outpost.
• Tier 2 Leader Powers
  • Please Don't Shoot Me I: Activate to briefly stop all new attacks from units, turrets, and leader powers for 14 seconds.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: N/A
    • Power Cost: 100
    • Cooldown: 220 seconds
  • Please Don't Shoot Me II: Extends the duration of Please Don't Shoot Me to 22 seconds.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: N/A
    • Power Cost: 150
    • Cooldown: 220 seconds
  • Guilt Trip: Severely reduces the veterancy experience gained when enemies kill the player's units.
• Tier 3 Leader Powers
  • Shade Drop I: Activate to manually drop 4 Shade turrets onto the battlefield.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 300
    • Power Cost: 40
    • Cooldown: 180 seconds
  • Shade Drop II: Increases the number of Shades to 6.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 400
    • Power Cost: 60
    • Cooldown: 180 seconds
  • Glassing Beam I: Fires a controllable plasma beam.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 350
    • Power Cost: 150
    • Cooldown: 228 seconds
  • Glassing Beam II: Increases Glassing Beam size and damage.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 450
    • Power Cost: 250
    • Cooldown: 228 seconds
  • Glassing Beam III: Further increases Glassing Beam size and damage.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 550
    • Power Cost: 350
    • Cooldown: 228 seconds
• Tier 4 Leader Powers
  • Gruntdome I: Activate to drop a shield tower onto the battlefield. Absorbs damage for friendlies inside it.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 400
    • Power Cost: 100
    • Cooldown: 210 seconds
  • Gruntdrome II: Improve's the tower's shield and duration.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 500
    • Power Cost: 150
    • Cooldown: 210 seconds
  • Gruntdrome III: Adds an extra manually dropped shield tower.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 600
    • Power Cost: 200
    • Cooldown: 210 seconds
  • Grunts from Above I: Has a Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit drop off Heavy Grunts, Grunt Riders, and a Methane Wagon.
    • Population Cost: 16
    • Supply Cost: 800
    • Power Cost: 250
    • Cooldown: 105 seconds
  • Grunts from Above II: Improves the veterancy and number of units
    • Population Cost: 26
    • Supply Cost: 1,300
    • Power Cost: 320
    • Cooldown: 105 seconds
• Tier 5 Leader Powers
  • Get Back Out There: Allows the player to have their next 6 infantry killed to respawn at their homebase. Does not affect Cannon Fodder.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 300
    • Power Cost: 350
    • Cooldown: 360 seconds
  • Methane Party: Drops a series of bombs that damage and weaken enemy units while buffing the player's Unggoy infantry and vehicles.
    • Population Cost: N/A
    • Supply Cost: 700
    • Power Cost: 700
    • Cooldown: 300 seconds

Strategy

General

• On early game, Yapyap is excellent at harassing enemy units. Since Cannon fodder is a disposable unit and can be produced as many as player wishes for, use it to explore and act as a scout. Though be wary as it only consumes the population.
• Pnap-pattern Goblin is a very difficult hero to beat without proper strategy. With three goblins around, the Grunts can use Hustle and keep themselves alive most of the time. Note that Energy Shield recuperation will not be affected by Hustle.
• Grunt Dome leader power is effective to counter several leader's offensive leader power. A maximum level of Grunt Dome can resist Eradication leader power if used correctly.
• Guilt Trip affects all players units and it can prevent the enemy to gain veterancy faster. Though be careful as several leaders, such as Captain Cutter's Battle Hardened Leader Power can counteract it as it can accelerate the veterancy rate.
• Shade Drop Leader Power is extremely annoying if used correctly. Although it has a set of duration, it's enough to harass the enemy.
• Please Don't Shoot Me was a double-edged sword. Use it wisely as it can give either benefits or disaster to you.
  • During the duration, any non-offensive leader power can be utilized.
  • Note that this means Nightingale and Huragok can heal wounded units during the duration without the worry of attack by the enemy.

Allies

• Explore the map or sacrifice the Cannon Fodder to give your allies a sight or intel of the enemy's composition.
• If used correctly, Grunt Dome can turn the tides of the battle and rescue your allies.
• Utilize Please Don't Shoot me to set up kill zones or recuperate your personnel, as it will be handy when either you or your allies are in a pinch.

Enemies

• Anti-Infantry unit will play a big role to counter Yapyap's unit.
  • Blisterbacks, Hellbringers, Sangheili Rangers, Snipers, Kodiaks, and any units that were effective against infantry were recommended.
  • Better if the Anti-Infantry unit features Area of Effect to maximize the damage.
• Commander Jerome (Mastodon), Ripa 'Moramee (Phantom), and Pavium (Wraith Invader) are recommended to counter Yapyap due to having a mobile garrison that allows them to counter-harass Yapyap's unit.
  • Since these three leaders have the mobile garrison that allows them to conduct a hit and run strategy, keeping them occupied is the least you can do.
  • Furthermore, you may not know what kind of complement inside the mobile garrison should you encounter one.