Black Disciple

Black Disciple
Upgrade
Affiliation	Black Hand
Research
Cost	$1000
Build time	0:30
Produced by	Secret Shrine
Function
Hot key	Ctrl+A
Unlocks	Adds a Black Hand Trooper to all Confessor Cabals and Rocket Militia

The Black Disciple is a special Black Hand trooper deployed exclusively among the Confessor Cabals and Militant Rocket Squads of the Black Hand subfaction of the Brotherhood of Nod. They fill a very similar role to that of Confessors in the mainstream military forces of the Brotherhood.

In-game assessment

The Black Disciple is an upgrade unit which can be purchased at the Secret Shrine of the Black Hand subfaction of Nod for 1000 credits. This is a good investment of resources even in the early game, as it significantly bolsters the durability, anti-infantry, and anti-structure capabilities of even the Black Hand's basic infantry squads, and additionally allows for them to clear out garrisoned buildings by themselves. The Disciple also offers extra firepower against enemy vehicles, particularly if the more expensive Purifying Flame upgrade is in effect.

The Black Disciples effectively make the Black Hand's infantry among the best of the entire war. The already powerful Confessor Cabals become virtually unmatched by the infantry of other factions, and the normally vulnerable Militant Rocket Squads are now capable of easily surviving encounters against enemy infantry. Even specialized anti-infantry squads such as GDI's grenadiers or the Scrin buzzers are at grave risk. To add to this, both squads essentially gain twice as much resilience due to the massive health pool of the Black Disciple, allowing the squads to make a stand against anti-infantry defenses such as Watchtowers or Shredder Turrets.

The Disciples will be affected by the Purifying Flame upgrade—bestowing them with even greater lethal potential during the late game.

Usage

A strong Black Hand tactic is to rush at the beginning with Black Disciple-upgraded rocket squads and Confessor Cabals, gaining extra resources by selling all buildings except the Hands of Nod. The attack is almost impossible to deal with if not scouted since such a large force of formidable infantry will overwhelm everything in their path. One of the only possible ways of countering this, though it is still difficult to accomplish, is to get crush-capable vehicles out early and hope they will be able to run over enough infantry that they can keep them away with the support of your base defenses. However, every squad is a threat to a base defense building as every single one will have good anti-structure ability with their Black Hand squad member.

A Black Disciple trooper is identical in health and attack power to a regular Black Hand soldier—ironically rendering standard Black Hand squads little more than meatshields, since both Confessor Cabal Squads and Rocket Militias can accomplish everything a squad of Black Hand troopers can do whilst being cheaper and able to do more damage for their cost.

Gallery

A Confessor Cabal with a Black Disciple taking point

A Confessor Cabal with the Black Disciple and Charged Particle Beams upgrades