Yeah, go into Change Portrait - Rewards - Terran Zerg Protoss Decals and pick the symbol you want to appear on your units and stuff. You can have, for example, Zerg decals on your Protoss units - in this case, go Protoss Decals and pick The Brood. In this section on Terran strategy, we will cover the most common and most effective Terran tactics used versus each race in Starcraft 2. In addition to specifics, this strategy page will also reveal general Terran strategies that can be used successfully against all races.
[source: wikipedia.org]
The Terrans are the name given to the human colonists in the StarCraft universe used to distinguish them from the humans of Earth. They have a genetic history of psionic power, but are generations away from reaching this full potential. Most have no psionic powers. The Terrans have found themselves in the middle of a war between the Protoss and the Zerg, and have struggled to survive amidst the war while also dealing with civil wars. However, some seem to also have made alliances with the Protoss.
Prelude The ancestors of the Terrans travelled to the Koprulu Sector as a result of a botched colonization experiment conducted by Doran Routhe. They consisted of political prisoners scheduled for termination by the United Powers League, but were instead placed onboard four faster-than-light spacecraft and sent to the world of Gantris IV, but ended up across the galaxy. They settled three colony worlds: Tarsonis, Moria and Umoja. Eventually the three colonies developed subwarp and warp travel, went to war, and expanded to incorporate multiple worlds. The colonists of Tarsonis formed the Terran Confederacy, which became the most powerful Terran government in the Koprulu Sector. Ahead of the initial campaign there is a prelude-campaign which outlines the Confederacy stamping out a Korhal-initiated rebellion and the discovery of their research specimens, the Zerg on the planet of Chau Sara. However, the Zerg still manage to break loose and spread to surrounding Confederate colonies. Marshall James Raynor (known as 'Jim Raynor' to friends) takes up fight with them on his home planet of Mar Sara, but needs the support of the Sons of Korhal to fend them off. In Episode III and afterwards, Raynor seems to be accepted among the Protoss as an ally. They became true friends in the last chapter in episode III when he, Zeratul and Tassadar fought the Zerg Overmind together, when Tassadar sacrificed himself to destroy the Overmind. Plotline attributes
Basically the same as humans of the 21st century, but they are slowly evolving into a psionically potent race, and, of course, are much more technologically advanced, but still within the same 'style' (They still use projectile firearms and rely more on metal and fossil fuels than plasma).
Originally were criminals rounded up and cast out on settler ships on a one year trip to a colony world. However, the navigation computer shut off during the trip and they ended up in stasis for 31 years. They ended up scattered across three colony worlds (Moria, Tarsonis, and Umoja).
After reuniting with the other colony worlds, Tarsonis established several colony worlds and formed the powerful, dictatorial Terran Confederacy. One colony, Korhal, went into rebellion that was later put down largely through the use of nuclear weaponry. Arcturus Mengsk rounded up a force of rebels, the Sons of Korhal and began to wage a type of guerilla war against the Confederacy.
It is in December of 2499 when the Protoss and Zerg arrive in Confederate space, attacking the outlying colony worlds of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, respectively. However, the Protoss were obliterating the Zerg infestation of Chau Sara that had gone (supposedly) unnoticed.
Gameplay attributes Some noticeable traits of the Terrans.
Average power, at a reasonable price
High unit efficiency, if the player uses good micromanagement
Very high adaptability: only race without location restrictions (can 'lift off' and redeploy most of their structures without restriction)
Moderately efficient building method
Forces are comparatively fragile (although quite powerful offensively) and can easily be overwhelmed by Zerg unless prepared (e.g. marines and firebats stimpacked or in bunkers, tanks in siege mode, etc.) or upgraded
The Space Construction Vehicle, or SCV (basic worker unit) can repair all buildings and mechanical units (such as the Battlecruiser), and has more health than the other worker units. It can also itself be repaired.
The Medic (Only in the Brood War expansion) can heal all biological ground units, blind enemies with its Optic Flare, and their restoration ability makes terran the only race able to remove harmful effects. Unlike SCVs, who can only fix Terran vehices, Medics can heal biological members of other races (all Zerg ground units, Protoss Zealot, High Templar, Dark Templar).
Every offensive unit is ranged – even the Terran Firebat has a range of 2 matrix squares.
All units except the Valkyrie (Brood War only) and the Goliath have a 'special' or 'secondary' ability.
With the exception of heroes, the Battlecruiser has the highest hitpoints (500) for a non-structure unit in the game.
Unique abilities
Repair — unique SCV ability; it costs minerals and possibly vespene appropriate to the unit or building being repaired. Multiple SCVs can repair the same unit or structure at a faster rate. SCVs are the only unit in the game that can repair structures or mechanical units. However, they may only repair Terran structures or mechanical units.
Cloaking — Ghost and Wraith ability; It allows the Ghost or Wraith to become invisible to the naked eye. The ability costs 25 energy when activated and consumes 1 energy/second for the duration of its use. However, it is possible for opponents to see a cloaked unit's 'silhouette', and therefore, guess where it is and make 'splashed' damage around it with certain units or spells (e.g. Psionic Storm or Ensnare). Ensnare spell and Devourer attacks can also make visible all cloaked units in their splash radius. Also, detecting units of opposing teams will render the Ghost or Wraith visible and vulnerable to direct attack.
Spider Mine — Vulture ability; When upgraded, each Vulture comes equipped with 3 Spider Mines that cannot be replenished. When a Spider Mine is set, it 'burrows' into the ground and becomes invisible to enemy units without detector support (in a similar manner to the burrowing ability of Zerg units). When a ground unit walks near it (excluding all three worker units, Archons, and Vultures because they are hovering units) or when planted near burrowed units, the spider mine surfaces and skitters toward the enemy unit, even if they are cloaked, causing 125 splash damage upon impact. Spider mines themselves do not render cloaked or burrowed units visible to the player, even if they may do so indirectly by attacking.
Lockdown — Ghost ability; it costs 100 energy and makes any non-biological unit (both vehicles and robots) immobile and 'useless' for around 60 seconds. The affected vehicle remains vulnerable to enemy attacks in this state but can still be repaired (only for Terran units) or have its shields regenerated by a Shield Battery (only for Protoss units). Only mechanical units can be affected by this, making it extremely effective against Protoss or other Terrans, and making it completely ineffective against Zerg, who use only biological/mutant units.
Heal — Medic ability: using 1 energy for 2 health, the Medic will automatically restore the HP of any biological unit (including friendly Protoss and Zerg units) in its sight range. Medics can only Heal one unit at a time, and only one Medic can Heal a unit at a time, so multiple Medics are typically needed for optimum efficiency, which also enables medics to heal each other, since it can't be cast on oneself.
Stim Pack — Marine and Firebat ability; it lets the affected units fire and walk twice as fast, with the cost of 10 hit points. Often used in Brood War as the Medic can quickly heal the Marine or Firebat who used the Stim Pack. However, the effect is not cumulative, meaning that using the ability several times rapidly has no greater effect than than using it just once.
EMP Shockwave — Science Vessel ability; it drains the energy from everything within the shock radius and, on Protoss units and buildings, drains all shields. This ability is ideal for the preparation for a Nuke against the Protoss, or countering Protoss Archons.
Irradiate — Science Vessel ability; it deals up to 250 damage to any biological unit (I.e. any Zerg unit, as well as some Terran and Protoss units) and does splash damage to the units near the irradiated unit. An irradiated zerg can 'burrow' and avoid spreading the damage, although it will still take damage itself. For biological Protoss units, it will drain the shield first, then move onto the unit.
Defensive Matrix — Science Vessel ability; places a temporary shield with 250 hit points on friendly units that limits incoming attacks to one hit point damage. It can also hinder the damage from Irradiate.
Nuclear Strike — Requires a nuclear missile to be built in a nuclear silo (add-on to the Command Center); then a Terran Ghost can 'paint' a target for the nuke by pinpointing a red dot on screen. Note that all players will be notified that a nuke is being launched. After a short time, the missile lands, doing 500 or more damage to all nearby buildings, and killing any unit except a Battlecruiser within the blast radius. A nuke will deal either 500 damage or ⅔ of the affected unit's original hit points in damage (armor decreases the damage taken by one point for each point of armor; a Battlecruiser survives a single nuclear strike by virtue of its initial 3 armor) to the target, whichever is greater. Anything within a 4 matrix tile radius of impact will receive full damage; units 2 matrix tiles beyond that receive 50% of the damage; units 2 matrix tiles beyond that receive 25% of the damage. Thus, the nuclear missile explosion has an area of effect of 8 matrix tiles in every direction from the point of impact. If the Ghost does not flee after launching, it will be killed unless it has the Ocular Implants upgrade, which increases the sight radius of the Ghost, thus keeping it out of harm's way (assuming the Ghost targeted the Nuke from its maximum sight range). While the Ghost is guiding the nuke, it can't move, attack or cast other abilities; however, it can remain cloaked if it was cloaked before the Nuke was launched. Killing the Ghost during the 'painting' phase of the Nuclear Strike (after the screen has indicated the Nuke launch and before the red dot disappears) cancels the launched Nuke, which is then lost.
Yamato Cannon — Battlecruiser ability; it uses 150 energy to charge up and shoot an energy blast that has a range of 10, one of the longest ranges in the game. The blast does 260 explosive damage (100% damage to large units, 75% to medium units, 50% to small units). However, the range of the blast is longer than the sight range of the Battlecruiser, so it is best to scout the target before firing to achieve the longest range. Note that if the targeted unit is destroyed while the cannon is charging up, the cannon will not fire, but will still consume the 150 energy. It is conceptually based on the wave motion gun of Space Battleship Yamato and bears its name to reflect this.
Siege Mode — Siege Tank ability; When used, the tank extends stabilizers from its base and changes the weapon in its turret to the Arclite Shock Cannon. It takes a tank around 2 to 3 seconds to deploy in and out of siege mode. While in siege mode, the tank is immobile and has a minimum attack range of 2 matrix squares (making it extremely vulnerable to melee units like the Zergling, Firebat, and Zealot). However, the tank gains the ability to fire high-powered shells (that do 70 explosive damage, plus splash damage to the surrounding area) with a range of 12, farther than any other unit in the game. Note that this range is longer than the sight range of the tank, so it is best to use a scouting unit ahead of the tank.
( a Soviet unit in Yuri's Revenge acts in a similar manner to the siege tank, but the unit is a helicopter, not a tank.)
Scanner Sweep — When a ComSat Station is attached to a command center, Terran players can perform Scanner Sweeps, which can be used for temporarily revealing areas under the fog of war, as well as cloaked and burrowed units. It can also be used as a scouting ability to increase the range of a weapon for some units such as the Battlecruiser's Yamato Gun and the Siege Tank in Siege Mode, or to allow the placement of a Nydus Canal by a Zerg ally.
Strategy and Techs Terran players usually follow one of two main general tech trees: Infantry or Metal.
Infantry refers to producing mass numbers of Marines supported by Medics. This strategy is generally used against Zerg opponents and is also called 'M&M,' referring to the Medic-Marine combo. Firebats can be used to support the marines as well, as their splash damage is extremely effective against massed zealots while marines are generally weak against them. (Off-strategy note: This only counts for the Brood War expansion.)
Metal refers to focusing on mechanical units (Tanks, Vultures, Goliaths, Wraiths and Battlecruisers). This strategy is generally used against Protoss and Terran players.
Tank Push
Starcraft 2 Terran Tech Tree
One of the general strategies used to fight against a Protoss. Against Protoss, this strategy will usually start out from the front of the Terran base. Then the Terran will slowly push there way across with Tanks, Vultures, and other addtional units to support Tanks. If start a early push right away and containing the Protoss at front as quickly as possible, could give you the control of the map or any advantages. It is important to create some obstacles, such as your buildings, for the Protoss to make it harder for them. This strategy can only work on certain maps. Massive Drop One of the general strategies used against another Terran. It deals with using Tanks and Goliaths inside dropships, and the more dropships you have the better then land them into the enemy base. This strategy requires a large amount of gas to be effective. It also requires you to do some harassments to keep the enemy under pressure. A wraith, for example, can a be a harassment, but it also lets your enemy know you have a starport. This also allows you to expand early to stock up on gas. A Terran VS Terran will usually be a gases battle. Goliath All-out An optional strategy that can be used against any race, and most prefer using this against a random. This strategy will require you to construct an early defense and then an early harassment (usually vultures to buy time). once you've succeeded on your harassment, you will now get an early start on Goliaths. Goliaths costs 100 minerals and 50 gas, not too expensive, and not too cheap which makes Goliaths very easy to maintain. Goliaths will require some addition help from other Terran units depending on the race. In addition, Goliaths also have various flaws that you need make sure is prevented. Terran Tricks Medic block By forming a wall of medics around a cluster of marines, a Terran player can prevent his/her marines from being hurt from melee attacks, at the same time healing them from any other attacks. Very effective against any melee unit (i.e. Zerglings, Zealots). Allied Mines By using the vulture units, you place mines around a particular part of the map. This requires the Terran user to ally the enemy until the enemy lands on your trap. Once the enemy force has been place on top of your mines, you unally the enemy to allow the mines to explode. It is considered an illegal bug especially in most Starcraft tournaments. Floating Buildings Floating buildings can be a form of harassment, scouting, etc. In the case of harassment, Terran will secretly build a production building, such as the Factory, right next to enemy base and float it towards the enemy's ground. Land it on an unseen territory on their base, and begin producing units to destroy the enemy peons. The floating building can also be used to increase sight range for your units such as the Siege Tank (that has range further than its sight range) and to scout. Terran Wall The Terran Wall is very commonly used to ensure safety among most lower-leveled players, or used to protect Gosus so that they can tech, etc. This deals with constructing supply depots and usually one barrack at the entrance to completely shut off any enemy units to reach into your base while your ranged units are free to fire. The Barrack is used for allowing you to leave your base anytime like a castle gate; you can lift up the barrack to leave, and land it to close your gate to maintain protection from ground units. Irradiating Self's Science Vessel Metal units cannot be harmed by Irradiate but will harm the living units around it. Most players will used two or more Science Vessels to Irradiate themselves since Science Vessels are mechanical units. Once your Science Vessels are Irradiated, you can now use them to attack the enemy's living ground units by moving the Science Vessels up close. Loading and Unloading Siege Tanks The user must have good micromanagement to make this more efficient. Only Siege Tanks and Goliaths attack right away when unloading them from the Dropship. The purpose of the dropship is to prevent enemy fire from hitting the Siege Tank. Such as Protoss Dragoon, it takes time for the enemy fire to reach the Siege Tank. You load up the Siege Tank into the Dropship in order to dodge the Dragoon's fire and place it right back down.
In this section on Terran strategy, we will cover the most common and most effective Terran tactics used versus each race in Starcraft 2.
In addition to specifics, this strategy page will also reveal general Terran strategies that can be used successfully against all races.
Terran players tend to have a bit more control over the course of the game than other races, as Terrans use their defensive nature to secure their expansions, building up until the precise moment they are ready to push out and attack.
Table of Contents
Terran vs Protoss Strategy Terran vs Terran Strategy Terran vs Zerg Strategy General Terran Strategies Additional Terran Strategies
Below, you will find an overview of the strategies that Terrans use for each race match-up. Additionally, each match-up has its own page where more detail is provided, which is linked to in its corresponding section. In the Additional Terran Strategies section, you will find links to articles on general Terran strategies that have their own guide but do not belong specifically to a certain race match-up.
Terran vs Protoss Strategy
Full Guide: Terran vs Protoss Strategy
Terran vs Protoss is not an impossible match-up for Terran players when you understand the basic strategies and dynamic behind the match-up.
The early game can be quite hectic on smaller maps. If the Terran tries to play economically, Protoss players often go for early aggression with Stalkers and the Mothership Core or for a fast Oracle (or even both). These attacks can be very difficult to defend. One option is for Terran players to take matters into their own hands and use a proxy Factory with Widow Mines to take advantage of the length of time it takes for Protoss players to get out detection. Another option is to get out early defensive Widow Mines, Marines, and a Bunker or two to help secure the natural expansion from early attack.
Once you succesfully make it out of the hectic early game, things look a lot brighter for the Terran player. The key thing you have to understand is that the upgraded Marine, Marauder, and Medivac combination (heavy on the Marines) is strong versus nearly all Protoss unit combinations. Marine/Marauder/Medivac does well against any combination of Zealots, Sentries, Stalkers, Immortals, Void Rays, Oracles, Dark Templar (assuming detection is present) and Phoenix.
There are only 4 units which represent a threat to Terran bio: the Archon, the High Templar, the Colossus, and the Carrier. All you have to do as a Terran player is to kill these dangerous units first without letting them deal too much damage to your bio army. Once these powerful units are destroyed, your bio army can easily clean up any remaining units the enemy has left.
Archons and High Templar can be crushed by Ghosts thanks to EMP and Snipe. The Colossus can be handled with Vikings. Carriers are weak against well-microed Vikings. Since Carriers are so expensive and take so long to build, it is extremely rare to see more than a few of them at a time, so you may not even need to switch out of bio but instead just add on a few Vikings.
Most Terran players that lose to the dreaded 'Protoss Deathball' do so because they fail to get Ghosts to counter enemy Archons and High Templar. If the enemy is using Archons and High Templar and you are using bio, you must get Ghosts or you are going to be fighting an uphill battle.
Terran vs Terran Strategy
Full Guide: Terran vs Terran Strategy
Terran vs Terran is similar to TvP in that the early game has a lot of viable strategies in the early game, but the match typically settles by the mid to late game. Terran players can open with fast expansions or early aggression. Early aggression may include proxy Reapers, drops, or even a Banshee rush.
The most popular form of early aggression is opening with 1 Barracks, 1 Factory, and 1 Starport (known as the 1/1/1 opener), getting out a fast Medivac, and filling that Medivac with some combination of Marines, Hellions, and Hellbats.
Many times a single Medivac is responsible for liting multiple trips worth of units into the enemy base. For example, 8 Marines, 4 Hellions, and 1 Medivac may run across the map (the Marines carried inside the Medivac, the Hellions on the ground following along) to right outside the enemy's base. The Marines are dropped inside the enemy's base in a hidden location on the outskirts. The Hellions are then picked up and dropped off next to the Marines. The units do not actually reveal themselves until they are all unloaded inside the enemy's base.
While some players stick to bio all-game long, Mech and Air-based play is superior in the mid to late game. All other factors aside, you can often predict who will win a game of Starcraft 2 solely based on the number of Siege Tanks and Vikings owned by each player. The player with more Siege Tanks and Vikings wins much more often than not, even if the other player has a larger army that uses other units like Marines.
Siege Tanks are so strong because Terran has no ground-based counter for them. Hellbats are sort of melee units but are too slow to get in range of a large number of Siege Tanks. Some players load up Medivacs with Hellbats and try to drop them on tank lines. If you have a superior number of Vikings, this strategy is easily stopped, as Vikings will target enemy Medivacs.
In the late game, full Terran air armies of Battlecruisers, Vikings, and Ravens can trump a Tank/Viking build, but it takes a long time and a lot of resources to get out such an army.
Terran vs Zerg Strategy
Full Guide: Terran vs Zerg Strategy
Terran vs Zerg is the most iconic match-up in the Starcraft series and perhaps the most varied. While Zerg players often stick to the Zergling, Baneling, and Mutalisk combination for the bulk of the early to mid game, Terran players can successfully opt for a variety of builds and strategies.
Terran players that want to be very aggressive can pump out early Marines or Reapers out of 2 Barracks and attempt to build a Bunker at the opponent's natural expansion before the inevitable Hatchery spreads its creep. Even if this attack fails, the Terran is hardly in a bad position, and can fall back to their own expansion that they could have secured during the attack.
Terran players can opt for a variety of builds in TvZ and do well with all of them. Full bio builds, Bio-Mech Builds, full mech builds, and even transitions into air in the late game have all been successfully used by pros and top amateurs alike to win games against Zerg.
One of the best strategies used by top level Terran players to secure wins reliably against Zerg is to play the 'deny game'. Once the Zerg begins to try to take their 4th and 5th expansion, the Terran player can constantly attack the new Hatchery within its first few minutes of life. Just 2 Medivacs full of Marines and Marauders can use Stimpack, quickly run in and burst down the Hatchery, then run out before the Zerg can do anything about it.
It is very hard for the Zerg player to secure their fifth base. Usually the fourth and fifth base are located very far apart from one another. If the Zerg's forces are at the fourth base and the fifth base is being constructed, the Terran may attack the base under construction and stop it from going up. If the Zerg's forces move to the fifth base, then the fourth base is vulnerable to attack. If the Zerg splits their army between the two bases, the Terran can attack with their full forces, easily defeating half of the Zerg army and taking out one of the expansions in the process.
General Terran Strategies
Terran players have a variety of strategies that can be used against all race match-ups in Starcraft 2. Below, you will find five great tactics that you can use in any match-up.
The Macro CC
One of the top Terran strategies that separates the top-ranked amateurs and pros from the bulk of the Terran playing population is the use of the 'macro CC' (or macro Orbital Command - but if you read the term 'macro CC' on a forum you can safely assume they mean Orbital Command. This involves building a very quick third Orbital Command (with one already at the main and natural expansion) and using it for SCV and MULE production.
The trick is that the macro CC is built inside the main base, not at the third expansion. It will take several minutes of production to fully saturate the main and the natural with SCVs and the macro CC can contribute SCVs and MULEs to both bases during this time.
The reason this works so well is that it is like getting a fast third base from an income perspective without actually having to risk the Orbital Command and SCVs getting attacked by the opponent. Is there zombies in modern warfare 2. The third base is much more vulnerable to attack than the natural expansion or main base. By keeping the Orbital Command inside your main, it is protected from enemy assault.
As soon as both the main and natural expansions are saturated and you have enough resources to defend it, you can lift of the macro CC and land it at the third base. You can then transfer some workers over from the main and the natural and focus on dropping MULEs at the new base, giving you an instant third expansion.
This same tactic also works when it comes to taking any expansion. You can build the CC in your base and lift it off and move it to the expansion of your choice whenever you are ready.
Even though your Orbital Command is relatively safe in the early game being inside your main base, investing those extra minerals in a third Orbital Command takes about 2 minutes to pay off. During that 2 minute window, you may be a bit vulnerable to attack. A few well-placed Siege Tanks and Widow Mines (discussed below) can help protect you from a larger enemy force.
Siege Tank & Widow Mine Placement
The positioning of your Siege Tanks and Widow Mines is very important in Starcraft 2. There are several things to consider when positioning these units.
Siege Tanks should be spread out by at least a couple of 'units' of range when possible. Three Siege Tanks that are all clustered together are more vulnerable than those that are more spread out. If the tanks are all on top of one another, they will be easier for units with shorter ranges to kill. This is especially the case for melee units like Zealots - by reducing the run distance between each target and allowing the Zealot to get in minimum range, the Siege Tanks are more vulnerable. Additionally, spreading out your Siege Tanks prevents a single Blinding Cloud from hitting multiple tanks.
Widow Mines on the other hand do not need to be spread out. They can be spread out, but it is okay if they are not spread out as well. Spreading out the mines means that they will cover more area, but the strength of their attack will be lessened. Sometimes you might want to keep ~4 Widow Mines clustered if you are trying to bait an enemy army into the mines. The splash damage from 4 mines is 160 damage, which is enough to kill off most 1-3 supply units in Starcraft 2.
Note that Widow Mines do not deal friendly splash damage to one another, so you do not have to worry about that if you are clustering your mines. However, you do have to worry about clustering your mines if you are using them inside your base for the defense of your mineral lines. Do not put one Widow Mine within range of another, as the splash damage from two Widow Mines is enough to kill an SCV. Spread out your defensive mines if you are protecting against drops or air harass so you do not destroy your own SCVs unintentionally.
On defense, due to its long range, the Siege Tank can be placed far in the back or even on the high ground. A good strategy when trying to protect yourself from an early attack when you go for a macro CC is to place a Siege Tank or two on the high ground of your main base near your natural expansion. This Siege Tank will be able to hit units attacking the front door of your natural expansion, but due to the fact it is on the high ground, the tank will be protected from enemy attacks at the natural. A single tank on the high ground can ward off 10+ Roaches.
When used defensively, Widow Mines should be placed out in front or directly behind your Supply Depot wall. They only have a range of 5, so if they are much further back, they will not proc while the enemy is breaking down your Supply Depots. Using Widow Mines much further back on defense is a risky proposition, as Widow Mines can deal significant splash damage to your own units. It is best to let them proc first by sticking them in front of your base.
On offense, the positioning situations reverse between these two units. Your Siege Tanks need to be kept close to your main army. Siege Tanks in the open field are very vulnerable to being flanked by melee units like Zerglings and Zealots as well as air units like Mutalisks or Banshees.
Widow Mines on the other hand do great when positioned far behind your army, particularly if you are using bio forces. The splash damage from Widow Mines can deal massive damage to your bio army, so it is best to keep some distance between the two when possible. When you are ready, you can use Stimpack to run away from your enemy's forces, running over top of your Widow Mines, and completely passing them before stopping. If your opponent bites, their army will walk right over top of your mine field!
Terran Logo Starcraft 2 Patch Notes
The Early Reaper
A very popular Terran strategy in Heart of the Swarm is to open with a fast Reaper. Unlike the Reapers of Wings of Liberty, players do not get out a Reaper in HotS merely to kill enemy workers. You may kill a few enemy workers with a fast Reaper if you have good micro, particularly at the low level, but among top players, getting more than 1-2 Drone kills with a Reaper opener is rare. 64 bit android emulator for pc.
Instead, the early Reaper serves to provide scouting information and map control for the Terran. Reapers are very fast, and when microed, can defeat a Marine, a Zealot, any worker, or several Zerglings in combat. This allows the Reaper to pick off all early scouting units that your enemy could possibly produce.
The Reaper is also very fast and can jump up and down cliffs. Once you take down your enemy's scout, you can get a full scout of your opponent by jumping up into their base and then using your Reaper to scout every nook and cranny of the opponent's base, ignoring their units that are inevitably trying to chase down your Reaper as you scout. You can then pull the Reaper back to the Xel'Naga Tower and continue to pick off any scouting units that pop into your vision on the mini-map.
The Hellbat Drop
With the release of Heart of the Swarm, Hellbat drops have become very common, and for good reason. Hellbats deal splash damage and can two-shot workers thanks to their bonus damage to light units. A mineral line can be cleared out by two Hellbats in less than 10 seconds, resulting in a devastating blow for the opponent.
Most players ranked in the Gold league or higher have seen Hellbat drops so many times now that Hellbat drops are easily defended if you just perform a single drop during downtime. Instead, you need some sort of distraction to attract the enemy's attention so that your Hellbats get more uptime before the enemy pulls his workers away.
The easiest way to engineer a distraction is to just use multiple drops at the same time. This is called a 'dual-prong' or 'multi-prong' drop. If the opponent has a main base and a natural expansion, send 1 Medivac to the main to unload 2 Hellbats and send 1 Medivac to the natural expansion and unload 2 Hellbats.
You ideally want there to be a couple seconds of lag between the two drops. This gives your opponent a few seconds to shift his attention to the main, making it easier for him to miss the second drop. If you perform the drops at the same time, both events will appear on the mini-map at the same time, and your opponent will be more likely to realize what is really happening. Regardless of the timing, it does take time for your opponent to send units to both bases to clean up the attack as well as micro both sets of workers away, so a dual-pronged drop is always more effective than just a single drop!
Another way to distract your opponent is to move out with your main army. If you move your primary forces to the center of the map and start edging your Siege Tanks forward like you are ready to attack, your opponent's attention will be focused on responding to your advances. They will arrange their troops to counter your movements, pulling out all their forces from their deep bases and moving their units to the front lines. This makes the main and natural very vulnerable to drops.
If you actually attack in the center, the opponent's attention will certainly not be focused on your drop. If you trade armies or even get away with small losses in the center of the map, oftentimes you can come out way ahead if you executed a dual-pronged drop during the chaos of battle. Killing off 30+ workers in this manner can lead to a victory for the Terran player.
The reason Hellbat drops are so effective though is that they are so cheap to pull off. Hellbats only cost 100 minerals a piece. Two Hellbats and a Medivac only runs 300 minerals and 100 gas total. For two drops, this is 600 minerals and 200 gas.
Given that you can typically save the Medivacs even if the Hellbats die, you are only risking 200 minerals per drop. You only need to kill a few workers to make this worthwhile, particularly due to the fact that Terrans have extra minerals to spend thanks to the MULE. You can literally drop a dozen times in a game with 10 of those drops failing and still come out ahead by performing those drops.
It only takes 1 really effective Hellbat drop to turn the tide of a game. Even if your first 5 drops fail, if the 6th drop is a big success, the opponent can lose the game. Even if none of your drops work out, you lose so little resources with each drop that you do not fall far behind that far behind in a game.
Learn to Love the Raven
The Raven is an excellent spellcaster that Terran players can use against all opponents. Great players make frequent use of the Raven, whereas lower-ranked players are not able to get much use out of this powerful unit. Since this unit was buffed in Heart of the Swarm, it has become stronger than ever. If you have not been using it, it is about time to learn the basic strategies behind using this unit effectively in battle.
The Raven has three abilities: Point Defense Drone, Seeker Missile, and Build Auto Turret.
Point Defense Drone (PDD) is a ridiculously powerful and underused ability. This ability builds a tiny flying 'structure' that is capable of absorbing 20+ missile attacks. Missile attacks are attacks which have a flying projectile that has a travel time. For example, it does not absorb Marine attacks (you cannot see Marine bullets being fired and Marine attacks hit instantly), but it does absorb the shells fired by the Marauder (which have a very short travel time before the attacks actually hit their target). Lasers with no travel time like possessed by the Void Ray and Colossus are not affected by PDD.
A single PDD spawns with 50 HP and 200 energy. For the cost of 10 energy, it can absorb one attack (the '2 attacks' of the Phoenix will drain 20 energy total). This means that 1 PDD can absorb 20 Marauder shots, 10 Viking attacks, 20 Mutalisk attacks, 20 Hydralisk attacks, 20 Corruptor attacks, or 20 Stalker attacks. This is a huge amount of damage, making the PDD a great choice any time the enemy makes use of units that use missile attacks.
The PDD will also regenerate energy over time like any spellcaster. If it burns off all its energy but is not destroyed, it will slowly recovery its energy. The structure lasts for 3 minutes, so the PDD can theoretically block 30+ attacks in its lifespan.
The PDD only has 50 HP, but killing it is not easy. It is classified as flying, so it cannot actually be hit by melee attacks. Most attacks that can hit air units are considered missile attacks, meaning the PDD absorbs them for just 10 energy a piece rather than taking damage. The PDD does have a few weaknesses though, namely laser attacks that hit air (Void Ray, Archon) as well as Feedback or Psionic Storm.
Seeker Missile spawns a very powerful missile that hones in on the enemy target. It is hard to avoid, especially when used on a slow unit. Many units are unable to easily escape from this attack. At the cost of just 75 energy, even if the enemy successfully pulls away most of their units from the targeted enemy, even just getting 1 kill off on the target is often worth it.
Seeker Missiles are great versus clustered flying units as well as ranged ground-based armies like Roaches, Hydralisks, Stalkers, Sentries, and the like. Be careful about using Seeker Missile on melee units - Seeker Missile deals heavy splash damage, and you would not want it to explode on your own forces.
Build Auto Turret spawns an automated turret on the ground which has a decent amount of HP and DPS. For the cost, it is quite a strong unit. There are a lot of great uses for this ability if you can actually use it. Unlike the Seeker Missile which can be fired from range, the Auto Turret itself can only be built 3 range units away from the Raven. You have to expose the Raven to attack if you want to drop one on the enemy's forces. Since it is stationary, if the enemy simple avoids it, the turret is not doing any good either.
This ability is frequently used in TvT when one Terran wants to break a tank line. Auto Turrets can be built in the dead space between your Siege Tanks and your enemy's Siege Tanks when you want to make an attack. The Auto Turrets will soak up the initial volleys from the enemy's Siege Tanks, allowing you to move into contested space without letting your opponent get 1-2 Siege Tank volleys off before you even attack.
Auto Turrets also do well if you can place them on top of the enemy's tanks. Not only will the turret attack the Siege Tanks, but other enemy tanks will attack the Auto Turret, dealing friendly fire splash damage to their own Siege Tanks in the process. Of course, this only works when you have air superiority - if the enemy has Vikings, they will shoot down your Raven before it gets close enough to the tanks to drop an auto turret.
Additional Terran Strategies
Below, you will find links to guides on specific strategies that you can use against each race. These guides may cover everything from certain rushes or openers to late game strategies. I plan to add to this section over time, so bookmark this page and regularly for additional strategies.
MMM - 'MMM' is the common abbreviation for Marines, Medivacs, and Marauders. A common Terran army composition, this guide discusses how to balance this army composition, which units to add on as support, and how to effectively control this army in battle.
Banshee Rush - While not as popular as it was in Wings of Liberty, the Banshee rush is still an effective strategy in Starcraft 2. It is most commonly used against Zerg and Terran players, as Widow Mines are now the preferred early cloaked unit to use against Protoss.
Reaper Rush (TvT) - Whether you decide to proxy the Barracks or build it in your base, getting very fast Reapers in TvT is one of the more reliable fast rushes in Starcraft 2. Rushing to a Reaper allows you to get out a Reaper at around the time the first enemy Marine is finished, and 1 Reaper beats 1 Marine. From there, it is a micro war as the rusher tries to get out enough Reapers to overrun the enemy before the enemy can get up to Hellions.
Mass Reapers (TvZ) - Updated for HotS! Mass Reapers can once again work in TvZ, at least against average players. While good Zerg players still stop this build, it is really fun to use in unranked matches if you are looking for something new and exciting.
Formerly Effective Terran Strategies
I have moved Terran strategies and guides that were once effective to the section below. For example, years ago I wrote a guide for the Viking rush, which was a great strategy to use in the early Wings of Liberty. However, some time after I wrote the guide, Viking ground damage was noticeably reduced, rending this tactic much less effective. While it is no longer a strong tactic, I will leave these former guides up for players looking for something fun tactics to test out in unranked matches. These outdated Terran strategies are listed below. The previous sections all contain up to date strategies, so you do not have to worry about which guides are up to date and which ones are not.
Viking Rush - The Viking Rush was another early Wings of Libery strategy that was eventually nerfed. When in Assault Mode, the Viking's attack against ground units used to be quite powerful. Flying Vikings into the enemy's expansion, landing them, and destroying a bunch of workers was a common strategy. Due to the damage nerf, this build lost effectiveness and as a result fell out of favor amongst Terran players.
Terran Strategy - Summary
No matter whether you consider yourself a bio or a mech Terran player, there are a lot of great strategies and unit combinations that you can successfully use as as Terran player in Starcraft 2. I will be adding more strategies to this section over time, so be sure to check back regularly for updates!