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Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Preview - New Units for Nod

Get up to speed with some of the Brotherhood's new toys in Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath.

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Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars marked the return of the long-running strategy series, and the fast-paced real-time strategy game will expand with Kane's Wrath, a new add-on that will add subfactions to the GDI, Brotherhood of Nod, and Scrin alien forces from the original game. This time around, we have details on some of the new units that will join the dastardly Brotherhood of Nod.

The Awakened

The Awakened are an army of synthetic soldiers fashioned from corpses and devoid of emotion or free will to ensure full obedience to Kane. These fearsome soldiers were developed in a hidden laboratory in Central Asia. On the battlefield, they each wield an arm-mounted direct-fire weapon, as well as a powerful EMP emitter, which makes them well-suited to ground skirmishes against both enemy foot soldiers and enemy vehicles. These unfeeling warriors possess the toughest armor of any first-tier infantry unit.

The Enlightened

The Enlightened are even more twisted than the Awakened. The last vestiges of humanity have been stripped away from these cybernetic creatures to make them even more powerful in battle. The Enlightened carry upgradeable particle-beam weapons that can melt vehicle armor, as well as EMP blasters that can stop enemy vehicles cold. These fearsome antivehicle troopers can also be upgraded to march even more quickly so that they can better catch up with nimbler scout vehicles.

The versatile Nod Specter tank serves double duty as a stealth unit and as long-range artillery.
The versatile Nod Specter tank serves double duty as a stealth unit and as long-range artillery.

Specter

The Specter is an artillery tank that was developed in the second Tiberium War as both a stealth vehicle and a long-range firing unit. The Specter is extremely useful for hit-and-run tactics, given that it possesses the longest firing range of any unit in the game when combined with the targeting-beacon ability of the Shadow Team unit. The Specter's ordnance has a somewhat lengthy flight time, but they can be used to lay down predictive fire on key areas to close in on enemy units you've herded into position.

Confessor Cabal

The Nod Confessor Cabal are the armored priests of the Black Hand subfaction. These powerful foot soldiers replace the Militant Rifleman unit as the backbone of the Black Hand's infantry. Their very presence on the battlefield radiates a morale bonus that causes nearby friendly infantry to fire faster and take less damage from enemy attacks. These soldiers also carry heavy-duty machine guns, which can be upgraded to charged particle beams, as well as psychotropic grenades whose mind-altering effects can cause enemy troops to turn on each other.

The Nod Reckoner is a personnel carrier that acts as a forward bunker.
The Nod Reckoner is a personnel carrier that acts as a forward bunker.

Reckoner

The Reckoner acts as an armored personnel carrier to bring the fanatical foot soldiers of Nod from point A to point B. However, this vehicle can, at any time, be deployed as a stationary bunker to provide extra protection, and will do so automatically if it sustains too much damage. In the meantime, loading up the vehicle with varying types of Nod infantry can make the Reckoner a very versatile attack unit, and lining up Reckoners back at your headquarters will net you a set of readily deployable defensive bunkers.

Tiberium Trooper

The Tiberium trooper is the result of research from Dr. Giraud, the GDI scientist who had "defected" to Nod. This unit belongs to the Marked of Kane subfaction and provides powerful ground support by spraying toxic liquid Tiberium, which can not only be used to spray ran ks of enemy infantry like a flamethrower, but can also flush enemy foot soldiers out of garrisoned structures or slow down enemy vehicles. The Tiberium troopers can also be enhanced with a speed upgrade that lets them close distance with their enemies more quickly.

Things are going to get hot when Kane's Wrath is released later this month.
Things are going to get hot when Kane's Wrath is released later this month.

Purifier

The Purifier is basically the Black Hand subfaction's primitive predecessor of the Nod Avatar warmech. As such, it can't equip itself with additional weapons or technology from friendly vehicles, though it does have a shoulder-mounted flamethrower along with its Obelisk laser. When upgraded, the flamethrower can actually melt enemy armor. This powerful, top-level vehicle also grants a morale bonus to any friendly units in the area.

Mantis

The Mantis is essentially the Black Hand subfaction's answer to air attacks--to which it became increasingly vulnerable after abandoning the use of the Nod stealth tank for being against the subfaction's religious beliefs. (Though to be safe, this unit is also equipped with stealth-detection abilities.) The Mantis bears a silo of surface-to-air (SAM) missiles that will prove very effective against low-level flying units, and these can be upgraded to more-powerful Tiberium Core Missiles.

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