Protoss Nexus

Jump to Top – Next Unit: Pylon

This is the Protoss base building, the Nexus. It is the foundation of your economy due to it’s ability to collect the resources workers gather, and is the requirement of the most basic buildings aside from Pylons and Assimilators. It must be built a short distance away from any nearby resources. Any Protoss player on a non UMS map should try to have at least one of these at all times.

Protoss Pylon

Previous Unit: Nexus – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Assimilator

The Protoss Pylon is a building of necessity. The Protoss do not construct buildings on the battlefield, but instead warp them in. Pylons come in by providing power to do this. Basically, you cannot build anything other than a Nexus or Assimilator without a Pylon. Pylons provide energy to buildings in a radius around the Pylon. If the Pylon gets destroyed, the buildings will lose their energy and will become unpowered making them sitting targets that cannot perform actions until a new Pylon is built near them. Also very importantly, Pylons provide psi so you can build more units.

Strategy:

Use Pylons with Warp Gates in strategic places to bring in reinforcements or attacks. Pylons can also be placed around the edges of your base to help spot incoming attacks if you do not have Observers around there. Pylons are also useful in competitive play by placing them at expansions near their base so they have to destroy them in order to build a Nexus/Command Center/Hatchery there.

Protoss Assimilator

Previous Unit: Pylon – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Gateway/Warp Gate

To gather Vespene Gas from worlds, the Protoss require an Assimilator to be warped in. The Assimilator is placed on a Vespene Gas Geyser and Probes can then gather Vespene Gas from the Assimilator and return it to your Nexus. The Assimilator has one use, but is important if you want to build the majority of your units and buildings.

A new thing with the StarCraft II Assimilator is that you can no longer collect Vespene Gas when it runs out. Once the Geyser is depleted, it’s done.

Strategy:

One tactic with Assimilators and Extractors are to perform a Gas Steal which involves placing one in the enemy base within the first couple minutes of the game. Players then have to build units to destroy them before they can get Vespene Gas. Sometimes enemy players will take all their workers to attack your Assimilator while it is building causing them to lose out on a lot of minerals.

Protoss Gateway

Previous Unit: Assimilator – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Warp Gate

The Gateway gets a lot of changes this time around. It still warps in ground units, but with more versatility. Zealots, High and Dark Templars (Templar Archives for High Templars and Dark Shrine for Dark Templars) are still made here, with the Sentries and Stalkers (Cybernetics Core) added in.

A big change is that Gateways can now research and use an ability (From the Cybernetics Core) to transform itself into a Warp Gate. Warp Gates can create units like a Gateway, except they actually will be on the map while being constructed and do it faster at a cost. More information is in their section below.

Don’t worry, if you prefer the Gateway after testing it out, you can always just transform it back. These new changes make the Gateway a building that players will need to pay more attention to rather than just setting a rally point and building some units.

Protoss Warp Gate

Previous Unit: Gateway – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Forge

The Warp Gate is a new Protoss Building and is a new form of the Gateway. It requires a Gateway (Obviously) and the Warp Gate Upgrade from the Cybernetics Core.

Gateways can now research and use an ability to transform itself into a Warp Gate. Warp Gates can create units like a Gateway, except they actually will be on the map while being constructed. This means they can take damage while building. However, the benefits are you can create these units anywhere a Pylon or Warp Prism is providing a Warp Aura and they will be warped in faster than normal. After the unit is warped in, there is a cool down equal to the normal build time of the unit.

The Warp Gate therefore becomes useful in situations where you need to get troops on the field somewhere fast. You can warp them to the Warp Prism when they use the mobile Pylon ability anywhere on the field, or just to an expansion under attack.

Don’t worry, if you prefer the Gateway after testing it out, you can always just transform it back.

Protoss Forge

Previous Unit: Warp Gate – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Photon Cannon

The Forge is the first research building available to the Protoss. It allows you to upgrade your Ground Weapons and Armor for your ground units. It also allows you to upgrade your Plasma Shields so that damage taken to your Shield Points is reduced for all Protoss units and buildings. Like everything else, the Forge can only research one upgrade at a time. In order to get past level 1 upgrades, you need a Twilight Council.

It functions the same as in SCBW and is still the requirement for the Photon Cannon.

Protoss Photon Cannon

Previous Unit: Forge – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Cybernetics Core

Photon Cannons function the same way as they did in SCBW. Same attack and same Detection ability. This makes the Photon Cannon a great defensive building again.

Strategy:

Photon Cannons are great static defense buildings due to their long detection range. They are typically used by Protoss Players for defense around their ramp, mineral line, and sides of their base. Offensively, players will perform Cannon Rushes to quickly end a match is they can get the Cannons built early on before the enemy can deal with it, and then leap frog closer into their base until you win.

Protoss Cybernetics Core

Previous Unit: Photon Cannon – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Twilight Council

The second research building for the Protoss is the Cybernetics Core. The counterpart to the Forge, it is for upgrading your Air Weapons and Armor. Like everything else, it can only research one at a time, so warping in 2 would be a good idea. A Fleet Beacon is required for leveling up your upgrades past level 1. It also allows players to start building advanced buildings.

The new Cybernetics Core can get two more upgrades. The upgrade to allow Gateways to transform into Warp Gates, and the upgrade for the Hallucination ability now belonging to the Sentry. Finally, it unlocks the Stalker and the Sentry to be built at the Gateway.

Protoss Twilight Council

Previous Unit: Cybernetics Core – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Stargate

Similar to the Citadel of Adun, the Twilight Council has an upgrade for Zealots. The Charge upgrade allows Zealots to rush at a target quicker than normal for a very short period of time and also provides the passive speed bonus the Leg Enhancements from the Citadel of Adun gave them.

Stalkers also get a very useful ability here. Blink allows the Stalker to teleport on the battlefield a short distance. This can be very useful for many situations, such as blinking past an enemy’s defensive buildings or into the fray quickly.

The last thing to note about the Twilight Council is that it allows the Forge to upgrade past level 1 for all of its upgrades.

Protoss Stargate

Previous Unit: Twilight Council – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Robotics Facility

The Stargate has changed a bit, but only in the units it warps in. Now the only familiar unit it produces is a Carrier. The Phoenix and Void Ray can be built right away, a Carrier still requires a Fleet Beacon.

Protoss Robotics Facility

Previous Unit: Stargate – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Templar Archives

Robotics Facility comes back with entirely new units aside from the Observer. Off the bat it can produce the Observer, Warp Prism, and Immortal. When you get a Robotics Bay you can start building a Colossus.

Protoss Templar Archives

Previous Unit: Robotics Facility – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Dark Shrine

Templar Archives is the requirement for building High Templars at your Gateway.

Psionic Storm is the only ability you can research here. The same powerful AoE ability from SC1.

Protoss Dark Shrine

Previous Unit: Templar Archives – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Fleet Beacon

The Dark Shrine is a strange building. It is the first building that enables building a unit, but nothing else. At this point, the only thing a Dark Shrine does is fills the requirement for warping in Dark Templar in at a Gateway.

Protoss Fleet Beacon

Previous Unit: Dark Shrine – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Robotics Bay

Another building brought back from SC1, the Fleet Beacon allows for some strong air units again. Carriers become enabled at the Stargate once you have one of these. The Mothership can also be built at a Nexus (But you can only own 1 of them at a time). The Fleet Beacon also right off the bat enables leveling up your Air Weapons and Armor past level 1.

Only one upgrade is available, which allows your Carriers to launch out its Interceptors faster.

Protoss Robotics Bay

Previous Unit: Fleet Beacon – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Probe

The final Protoss Building is the Robotics Bay (short for Robotics Support Bay). It unlocks the creation of the Colossus at the Robotics Facility, and has some upgrades for units there that you can research.

The first upgrade boosts the speed of the Observer. The second is for increasing the speed of Warp Prisms. And the last is an increase of the range of the Colossus, giving it a 50% boost.

Protoss Probe

Previous Unit: Robotics Bay – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Zealot

Probes are the worker unit for the Protoss, and thus warp in buildings, gather Minerals and Vespene Gas, and have a weak melee range attack. They are built at a Nexus and in normal Melee based maps you start with some along with your Nexus.

The Probe can warp in Protoss Buildings following the Tech Tree and can only build the vast majority when powered by a Pylon or the Warp Prism’s ability.

Strategy:

Probes are generally used for their mining and worker capacity. In competitive play, they are also used for scouting, building Pylons near enemy bases for warping in units, cheeses like Cannon Rushing and Worker Rushing, and the blocking of expansions (A well placed Pylon can keep an enemy from being able to build a Nexus/Command Center/Hatchery right away).

They are sometimes used in conjunction with scouting in the first minute or two of the game to not only gather info about the enemy base, but to build an Assimilator or two on the opponent’s vespene gay geysers. This prevents them from getting gas very early on, gives you a way to check how many workers they have built, and see what they build to attack it or how long they ignore it. All of this gives you more information on your enemy and can sometimes lead to lower level players taking off all their workers to get rid of the assimilators that were not a threat anyhow.

Protoss Zealot

Previous Unit: Probe – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Stalker

The Zealot is the first ground combat unit you get and it is warped in at the Gateway. It uses its powerful Psi Blades to cut into enemies. One thing to note about their attack is that like in StarCraft Brood War, it’s total damage is the sum of two attacks, thus it is effected by the enemy unit’s armor twice. Since they are a melee unit, you should try to send them in against enemies in packs or with ranged units to soak up damage.

Their new Charge ability developed at the Twilight Council allows the Zealot to rush a short distance extremely quickly in order to start slicing up the opposition quicker. This gives your Zealots the ability to chase down enemies that would normally be able to kite them easily.

Strategy:

Zealots have a nice advantage over other tier 1 offensive units with the Warp Gate. Since they can be warped in anywhere there is a power field, you can get your Zealots out to the field and be less noticeable about where they came from. This is especially useful with early aggression strategies like a 4 Gate.

Zealots are most useful however at the beginning. Later on they become as more of a way to dump minerals and to absorb damage and as a distraction to the opponent while ranged units like Stalkers, Immortals, or Colossi do the real damage.

Protoss Stalker

Previous Unit: Zealot – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Sentry

A fast favorite for new Protoss players, the Stalker has a ranged weapon that hits ground and air. Stalkers are built at the Gateway and require a Cybernetics Core.

Their Blink ability gives them a special advantage over the Dragoon. They can teleport a short distance allowing them to quickly join in combat, chase down enemies, skip over defenses, and jump up to higher terrain.

Strategy:

Stalkers are much stronger than Sentries when it comes to anti air for the Protoss ground units. Stalkers are most useful in combination with the other ground units. They are great for hit and run and worker harassment using the Blink ability.

Blink has some important things that need to be noted. Control wise, if you tell the Stalkers to move to a point, hold shift, and then Blink to the point you want to Blink to, all the Stalkers will move there and then use Blink. This is very helpful since a lot of the time Blink used improperly can cause them to be left behind and separated. For harassment, you can use a Observer or air unit to get high ground vision of a cliff, Blink Stalkers up into the enemy’s base, attack the Workers or key targets, and then Blink back down when you are in danger.

Protoss Sentry

Previous Unit: Stalker – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Phoenix

The Sentry is a spell casting unit with an attack that hits quickly against air and ground. It requires a Cybernetics Core to be built at the Gateway.

They have three special abilities. Force Field will stop units targeted in the area from moving until it runs out. Guardian Shield reduces all ranged attacks that hit your units near the aura by 2. Hallucination works differently than in SCBW. You can even Hallucinate units that you have not yet built. Depending on the unit you pick you may even get multiple ones. Fakes take double damage and can be instantly eliminated by Psionic Storm and certain weapons like Sniper Rounds.

Strategy:

Sentries are most useful early on with Force Field and Hallucination. Force Fields can be used effectively in defensive to block enemies from going up the ramp into your base. Offensively you can use this spell to block their ramp which can be useful if they have built an expansion and only have units at either their main base or expansion but not the other, allowing you to deal damage to the main base’s workers/key targets or to take out their expansion. Mid to Late game it is used a lot with Colossi and other ranged units to trap them and separate them so they have more damage dealt to them.

Hallucination can be used early to mid game before Observers by making powerful units to freak out other players, or more commonly to make Phoenixes to scout the enemy. Later in the game you can mix Hallucinations into your army to absorb some damage while you fight.

Guardian Shield is only good during battle of course, and is especially useful against Terran players since they only have ranged attackers. Reducing the incoming damage is always a great thing to have, so commonly in combination with Zealots and Stalkers, Sentries will use Guardian Shield to protect your units or prolong a losing battle.

Protoss Phoenix

Previous Unit: Sentry – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Void Ray

The Phoenix is a unit similar to the Corsair as it is an anti air unit. It is built at a Stargate.

The Phoenix has a special ability, Graviton Beam, which will lift light ground units into the air for 10 seconds so that the Phoenix can target it. While they are lifting the units however, they will not be able to regenerate their Energy Points like normal.

Strategy:

For Anti Air units, Protoss has the Phoenix. It has the advantage of having a damage boost to Light units (Zerg unit primarily), and comes out very slightly on top of Vikings (However the Terran player should have the advantage with the higher numbers due to the Reactor). Since a lot of Protoss games tend to rely on other units, Phoenixes end up in a support or harass role.

Graviton Beam is very useful against strong ground units to temporarily remove them from the fight. It can also be used early on or when the opponent is busy to pick off his workers if you have a few Phoenixes with energy and there are no anti air defenses at the mineral line.

Protoss Void Ray

Previous Unit: Phoenix – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Observer

An interesting new unit, the Void Ray is built at the Stargate. It can target both ground and air with its fast but weak attack. The part that makes it a strong unit is it has an advantage when targeting units with lots of Armor or HP. As long as it is targeting a single unit, it’s damage will increase over time. This is what gives the Void Ray it’s Surgical Role in the Protoss Army.

Strategy:

Void Rays are most powerful in large numbers, but are costly to do so. However, Void Rays can take out units lacking anti air attacks and armored units well. Bases can be wiped out quite quickly with even a small force of them, so if you want to focus on ground units and send some Void Rays to deal a lot economic and base damage while the fight occurs you may not win the fight but may win the war.

Void Rays are at their best in maps like Scrap Station where there is a short distance to the enemy’s base. Just keep in mind that they are weak to massive numbers of anti air units like Marines, Stalkers, or Hydralisks and need to be careful or EMP and Fungal Growth. If you see another player building up Ultras, Thors, or Colossi, a few Void Rays can be used to wipe them out with ease.

Protoss Observer

Previous Unit: Void Ray – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Warp Prism

Observers function in SCII the same way they do in SC. They are built at the Robotics Facility. Observers are ideal detector units because they can fly and have a passive cloaking ability.

In SCII the Robotics Bay has an upgrade to increase the movement speed of the Observer.

Strategy:

Observers are an important unit for the Protoss. Typically, players will build one as the first unit out of their Robotics Facility each game because of the need for mobile detection in this game. Observers are by far the most useful detector in the game as well, due to their permanent cloak and being an air unit.

As soon as you start getting Observers on the map you get a great boost in scouting. You can check what your enemies are up to and where they are. Putting a couple near your base on the outskirts can give you a heads up on an incoming air assault or harassment. Most importantly, Protoss players should always bring an Observer with their army against another player (Zerg players are not as much of an issue with this due to their lack of cloaked units, but you may want to bring one with a ground army anyhow just in case of burrowed Banelings). Stalkers are an important unit to couple with Observers, giving them high ground vision for attacks and Blink.

Protoss Warp Prism

Previous Unit: Observer – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Immortal

A combination of the Shuttle and a Pylon, the Warp Prism is a creative new support unit. It is built by the Robotics Facility.

The Warp Prism can carry 8 slots worth of units (Multiple slots can be taken up by large units like in SC). But the main reason this is a creative unit is because it has an ability to basically turn itself into a Pylon. While in this mode, it allows powering of buildings and warping in of units from a Warp Gate which can be great tactically. However, while in this mode it cannot move.

Strategy:

Warp Prisms are a unit that do not see a ton of use in competitive play, but can still be quite helpful. As with other transports, they can give you an opportunity to drop ground units into the enemy base for attacks or harassment. The advantage they have in this regard compared to other races comes from being able to change modes so that it creates a power field for Warp Gates to make use of. This allows players to take advantage of a situation where an opponent does not have vision of a spot in their base that you notice and then start warping units into their base until you are ready to attack.

Protoss Immortal

Previous Unit: Warp Prism – Jump to Top – Next Unit: High Templar

Another new unit, the Protoss Immortal is a strong anti ground unit, and very adept at taking out armored units. It deals high damage but only against single ground targets. You can build it at the Robotics Facility.

The Immortal’s name stems from its powerful ability. Hardened Shield allows the Immortal to reduce incoming non spell or nuke damage to 10 (As long as it still has Shield Points. The Shield Points upgrade level is not taken into effect to reduce damage below 10). This is a great ability against strong units, just make sure to watch your Shield Points.

Strategy:

Immortals are most useful against the main armored ground units Terran and Protoss armies are comprised of such as Siege Tanks, Thors, Stalkers, and Colossi if the enemy does not make use of their larger range. Due to their attack’s medium range, most players opt for Colossi with the Thermal Lance upgrade. But if you are playing against a Terran who is using Vikings, Immortals and Stalkers can launch an attack without having to worry about 16 Vikings coming in and one shotting their Colossi. Immortals however due to not end up seeing much use against Zerg, as their ground units (aside from Ultralisks) can tear them apart without worry.

Protoss High Templar

Previous Unit: Immortal – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Archon

The returning spell caster, High Templar, is back with two abilities again. You can warp in a High Templar at a Gateway after building a Templar Archives.

The first and signature Protoss spell is the Psionic Storm ability. Psionic Storm deals a good deal of damage to an area on the battlefield while it lasts for a few seconds. Any Hallucinations targeted by it will instantly be destroyed. However multiple Psi Storms on the same spot still does not do additional damage. It must first be researched at the Templar Archives.

The second ability is another familiar one. Feedback deals damage to the target unit based on how many Energy Points it has. It also brings their Energy to 0.

One thing to note about Templars are that Archon Meld has been changed. You can still use 2 High Templar to create an Archon, or you can use a mix of High and Dark Templars (Or 2 Dark Templar).

Strategy:

High Templars are another unit that do not see a ton of use in competitive play. Their Psionic Storm ability is still very good combined with drops against workers. Feedback is most useful against Ghosts so you can avoid their EMP and disable their cloak. It is also very helpful against the pesky Infestor’s Fungal Growth. But Feedback is a good way to knock out any Energy using unit that you want to pick on.

Protoss Archon

Previous Unit: High Templar – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Dark Templar

Another returning unit, the powerhouse Archon makes very minor changes in SCII. The Archon is made from combining the energy of two Templars (High, High and Dark, or Just Dark).

The Archon can again target both Air and Ground units with it’s Psionic Shockwave attack (which still splashes to hit nearby units). But now it also has the a stronger added bonus of dealing extra damage to biological units such as the Zerg and Terran Infantry.

Strategy:

Archons are another Protoss unit that doesn’t see much use competitively. The most popular usage of them is with the “Archon Toilet” tactic using the Mothership’s Vortex ability to pull all the enemy units in and your own Archons. When the Archons and everything else come out their splash damage will deal massive damage.

Archons generally come into play when High Templars run out of energy or when Dark Templar get spotted. They are generally best against Bio armies with Terran opponents and against the Zerg units. The problem is the cost of the Archon generally doesn’t outweigh the damage output.

Protoss Dark Templar

Previous Unit: Archon – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Carrier

The strong stealth warrior, the Dark Templar, returns in StarCraft II. In order to warp them in, you will need a Dark Shrine and a Gateway.

The Dark Templar is just about the same as it was in SCBW. It has it’s passive cloaking ability, and it’s strong Warp Blade melee attack against ground units and buildings.

Strategy:

Dark Templar are great for surprise attacks when the enemy lacks detection. DT Rushes are thus generally done to greatly damage or defeat an unprepared opponent. Mid to late game they are either skipped or limited in use though. The problem generally is that if the opponent has too few holes in their detection it’s not worth the cost and the lengthy build time required to get them. But if you can find a way to attack with them you can usually get a good amount of damage in. One tip against Terran players is that they usually rely on Scanner Sweep to detect you instead of Ravens. So attack them until they use a Scanner Sweep, run out, and come back after the spell expires.

Another useful function for Dark Templar is to give you control of the Watch Towers on the map without being noticed as easily. Another point is that if the enemy has control of a Watch Tower you can generally take them out with DT since they are not as likely to bring a detector unit to an area where they are getting wide vision from anyhow.

Protoss Carrier

Previous Unit: Dark Templar – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Interceptor

Another strong StarCraft unit returns for StarCraft II. The Carrier can be warped in at the Stargate once a Fleet Beacon has been created.

The Carrier does not have an attack of it’s own, instead you construct Interceptors (8 max by default) for it which it carries and launches out to attack enemies. The downside is the added cost, the plus is that this distracts your opponents (especially computers) from targeting the Carrier themselves.

The Fleet Beacon has a new upgrade which when researched allows the Carrier to launch out it’s Interceptors faster than before.

Strategy:

Carriers are a very strong air unit but the cost makes them a very rare choice. Not only are they are expensive to begin with, but you have to build and rebuild the Interceptors and that adds up quickly. Ignoring this, the Carrier is a very strong unit with huge range. You can launch the Interceptors and attack, then back away and let them absorb the damage. They are best used against computers rather than competitive play though, since Colossi and Void Rays can make a great damage dealer as well at a much lower cost.

Protoss Interceptor

Previous Unit: Carrier – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Mothership

The final unit for the Protoss returning from the original, the Interceptor is also in StarCraft II. It is built by the Carrier, and acts as its weapon, not as its own individual unit. A Carrier can hold a default maximum of 8 Interceptors and can rebuild any lost Interceptors. One thing to note about their attack is that like Zealots, it hits twice and the damage is affected by the target’s armor twice.

The Interceptor is a weak weapon, but due to the quantity of them (especially in packs of Carriers), a swarm of Interceptors can quickly take down enemy forces. However, once the Carrier is destroyed, all the Interceptors it carried will blow up too. And any special abilities that freeze the Carrier will stop the Interceptors from attacking and will return to inside their Carriers.

Protoss Mothership

Previous Unit: Interceptor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Colossus

The Protoss super unit, the Mothership is the final Protoss Air unit. Its powerful abilities make up for its weak weapon. It is built at the Nexus after you have a Fleet Beacon.

The Purifier Beams weapon for the Mothership has a standard range and hits both Ground and Air units.

It has a passive Cloaking Field like the Arbiter cloaking all nearby units under and around it. The second ability is Vortex. Vortex sucks all nearby enemy units in and causes them to be unable to act until it is done while also disabling any nearby Force Fields from Sentries. They cannot be attacked by weapons, but should be able to be targeted by spells. The final ability is Mass Recall which teleports all of the units you own in the target area to the Motherships’ location like the Arbiter’s Recall.

Strategy:

Motherships are another costly but at least somewhat used unit. They are very fragile though, and need to rely on their abilities. The cloaking field is great for covering up your army. Vortex is great when fighting a losing battle to buy time or to get a positional advantage. Vortex is also used in the Archon Toilet tactic which combines mass Archons and Vortex to deal damage to everything that comes out at once. Finally, Mass Recall is used either to bring your army into their base/an attacking position or with units that are harassing to pull them back quickly.

Protoss Colossus

Previous Unit: Mothership – Jump to Top

The final Protoss ground unit is the Colossus. You can build a Colossus at a Robotics Facility after getting a Robotics Bay.

The Colossus has a powerful weapon called Thermal Lances which are basically a beam that hits in lines to form an X across enemies. This is great against groups of small units such as Zerglings and Marines as many can be taken out quickly. However, it only can target ground units.

A passive ability the Colossus has allows it to pretty much ignore height differences in terrain. Cliff Walk lets the long legs of the unit scale cliffs without needing to find ramps.

The Robotics Bay has a nice upgrade for the Colossus giving it a 50% boost in attack range so it can target from further away than most Protoss units.

Strategy:

Colossi are commonly used mid-late game or rushed to in some circumstances. While they can’t hit air, they are very strong against ground units. Typically in a Protoss vs Protoss match, it turns into who has the most Colossi and Void Rays. The Thermal Lance upgrade is an upgrade that is rarely skipped over in games as it gives them an increase to their already long range.

The cons to Colossi are that they are between Void Rays in Carriers in cost, so you need a couple expansions at least to keep up Colossi production. You also have to worry about air units since they can be targeted by both air only and ground only weapons. The pros are pretty long. They are strong against weak units in large numbers such as Marines, Marauders, Zerglings, Roaches, Zealots, Stalkers, etc. Due to the long range they can kite very well and when you have Observers around you can also use this to wreak havoc on the defenses the enemy has at the ramp of their base. Make sure you protect your Colossi with units that can pick a fight with other air units like Void Rays and Stalkers otherwise air units will tear them up.

Terran Command Center

Jump to Top – Next Unit: Planetary Fortress

This is the Terran base building, the Command Center. It is the foundation of your economy due to it’s ability to collect the resources workers gather, and is the requirement of the most basic buildings aside from Supply Depots and Refineries. Any Terran player on a non UMS map should try to have at least one of these at all times.

Terran Planetary Fortress

Previous Unit: Command Center – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Orbital Command

The Planetary Fortress is one of the two alternate forms of the Command Center. You will need an Engineering Bay to change the Command Center into one. It more like a defensive building than anything else. It retains most of the original abilities and upgrades of the Command Center, so loading and building SCVs stay on. Lift Off however is removed.

The reason why the Planetary Fortress becomes special is a weapon for itself. The building actually has a giant cannon on top of it, which has the same range of a Seige Tank (tank mode). The cannon does a good deal of damage and splashes nearby units (while not hurting friendly ones).

So all in all, the Planetary Fortress can be a good defensive or even offensive building with its load of HP and high damage. But for a more support type building you may want the Orbital Command.

Strategy:

Planetary Fortresses see most use in the Planetary Fortress Rush cheese which involves getting Vespene Gas, an Engineering Bay, load up SCVs and lifting off to the enemies base where you change your Command Center into a Planetary Fortress and repairing any damage done with the SCVs while you take out the enemy.

They are sometimes useful however in defense for expansions if they are vulnerable, but most people will still take an Orbital Command over it.

Terran Orbital Command

Previous Unit: Planetary Fortress – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Supply Depot

The second transformation for the Command Center is the Orbital Command. You only need a Barracks to build it. The Orbital Command is a support building, so can be used for a variety of ways. But don’t worry, it retains some of the abilities and upgrades of the Command Center so building SCVs and Lift Off stay with it. However loading SCVs will no longer be a possibility.

The new things that this version has are 3 new abilities. Calldown: MULE will create a MULE in the target location (as long as it is visible to you). A MULE is basically a new miner unit you can use along with the SCV. Except it can only mine and not build. The plus side is that it can carry 3 times as many minerals per trip. The negative side is it only lasts for 90 seconds. Calldown: Extra Supplies will double the selected Supply Depot’s Supply increase. Scanner Sweep is the same old thing from the Comstat Station in StarCraft. It reveals a section on the map for a short period of time, showing all units including cloaked ones.

Strategy:

In competitive play, most of the time Orbital Commands are the upgrade choice for Terran players. Calling Down Supplies is not a good usage of energy, so players need to focus on MULEs and Scanner Sweep. When attacking or defending against another player Scanner Sweep should be available just in case you need to detect the cloaked units. One last thing to note is that MULEs are best used at Gold Mineral expansions if you have one.

Terran Supply Depot

Previous Unit: Orbital Command – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Refinery

The Supply Depot is a returning building from StarCraft. It serves as a supply provider and a good building to use for walling chokepoints. It can be built by and SCV with no other requirements.

The Supply Depot gets a new ability for it’s natural walling abilities. No longer do you have to liftoff your factories, destroy your Supply Depot, or buy transports to get your ground units out of your base past your Supply Depot wall. Lower/Raise allows units to pass over the Supply Depot by lowering itself into the ground. It can the raise itself backup later. The Supply Depot still keeps its supply bonus and can still be targeted and visible when lowered.

Terran Refinery

Previous Unit: Supply Depot – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Barracks

Refineries allow your miners to gather Vespene Gas. They can be built on Vespene Gas Geysers only. This is basically a required building if you want to get anywhere with the tech tree.

The only difference between the Refinery from StarCraft and StarCraft II is that in this one, Vespene Geysers can no longer be mined from once they are depleted.

Strategy:

Refineries are not typically used like Extractors and Assimilators when it comes to Gas Steals due to the SCV needing to build it and being vulnerable to attack.

Terran Barracks

Previous Unit: Refinery – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Engineering Bay

Barracks are the home to your Terran Infantry, and require a Command Center to be built. It retains its Lift Off ability from StarCraft, and now produces two different units and can use the new Add-Ons.

The Barracks can be used to create Marines, Marauders and Reapers (with Tech Lab), and Ghosts (with Ghost Academy and Tech Lab). So you’ll be able to get a good mix of ground units early on. The Barracks can also build one of two Add-Ons to attach to itself. The Reactor lets the Barracks build two Marines at a time, and the Tech Lab which allows you to build the latter 3 units. Unfortunately since you can only use one Add-On at a time, this means you cannot produce the Marauders, Reapers, and Ghosts 2 at a time.

Strategy:

Because of their low cost and high HP, Barracks have a few different uses early on. First off, they are typically used in conjunction with Supply Depots in order to wall off your ramp. Secondly, they can be lifted off and brought with your army early on to provide high ground vision of your opponent’s base. Lastly, they can be used to build a Tech Lab or Reactor and then Lift Off so you can have an extra add on available for a building that is not finished yet (Such as a Factory or Starport) so you can start taking advantage of the new technology right away.

Terran Engineering Bay

Previous Unit: Barracks – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Bunker

The Command Center is required to build an Engineering Bay, your first research building. It gets a few more upgrades this time around but loses its Lift Off ability from StarCraft. The Engineering Bay is the requirement for the Planetary Fortress and is typically an indicator of a PF Rush if you spot one being built within the first few minutes.

The first two upgrades are Infantry Weapons and Armor, which increase the damage and armor of your units built from a Barracks. The next 3 are Hi-Sec Auto Tracking, Neosteel Frame, and Building Armor. Hi-Sec Auto Tracking increases the range by 1 of all of your buildings that have a weapon as well as the Point Defense Drone built by the Raven. Neosteel Frame increases the loading capacity of the Command Center from 5-10 SCVs and the Barracks from 4 to 6 infantry units. The final upgrade, Building armor, increases the armor of all of your buildings by 2.

Terran Bunker

Previous Unit: Engineering Bay – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Sensor Tower

Bunkers are the main defensive building for the Terran. You load up to 4 or 6 (Upgrade required for 6) Infantry units into it, which will fire at enemies. When the Bunker is destroyed, the units will then be on their own. In StarCraft II it gets a few new changes and upgrades.

The Bunker still loads units, and those loaded units get a +1 boost to their range. However, now they can use their abilities like Stimpack, and you can select the enemies you want to target. The Neosteel Frame upgrade from the Engineering Bay will let you load an additional 2 units inside. Lastly, you can use the new Salvage ability to gain back 75% of the resources you spent on the Bunker back by causing it to self destruct.

Strategy:

Bunkers are most commonly used with a Missile Turret at your ramp to defend your base with Marines loaded into them. They are however used sometimes in a Bunker Rush which involves building a Bunker at the opponent’s base and loading it up and repairing as needed to get an attack in early on which can be hard to thwart. Since Bunkers can be Salvaged, you can set them to do so and escape with your Marines and SCV before the enemy takes it out.

Terran Sensor Tower

Previous Unit: Bunker – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Missile Turret

The Sensor Tower is a new Terran building which can be built after getting an Engineering Bay. It is a special defensive building with a big pro and con.

Sensor Towers’ Radar will allow you to see if enemy units are nearby on the minimap. You cannot see what the units are, just if they are there. This is good, but enemies will be able to see a circle on the minimap and on the map letting them know there is a Sensor Tower in this area. So this can be great if you are in a situation where letting them know where it is is not a problem, just don’t do something stupid like letting a Zerg player know where your base is at the very beginning of the game if they have yet to scout you.

Terran Missile Turret

Previous Unit: Sensor Tower – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Factory

The Missile Turret is the the same as it was in StarCraft. This anti-air defense building can be built after an Engineering Bay has been constructed.

The Missile Turret can only target Air units. They also have the passive Detection ability, allowing you to see cloaked and burrowed enemy units nearby. They are a must if you are playing defensively, or need a cloaked unit detector in your base.

Terran Factory

Previous Unit: Missile Turret – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Ghost Academy

The Terran Factory is responsible for building your non infantry ground units. It requires a Barracks to be built.

The Factory is pretty much the same as before, it gets to build 3 ground units all similar to the units from StarCraft. It can build Hellions, Seige Tanks (with Tech Lab), and Thors (With Tech Lab and Armory). You will also be able to take advantage of the Add-Ons the Reactor (allowing you to build 2 Hellions at once) and the Tech Lab (allowing you to build Seige Tanks and Thors). However, unless you are in the need for a lot of Hellions, you’re best off using a Tech Lab since you can only use one Add-On at a time.

The Factory is another building in StarCraft II that gets to keep it’s Lift Off ability from the original game.

Terran Ghost Academy

Previous Unit: Factory – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Starport

The Ghost Academy is a new building in StarCraft II. It requires a Barracks to be built. It is a research building and is basically a combination of the Covert Ops and a Nuke Silo. Since the building is only a requirement for Ghosts, spotting one of these buildings in an enemy base typically means you’ll be needing to keep an eye out for EMP, Cloaked Ghosts, and most of all Nukes.

You can buy two upgrades for Ghosts here. The first and most important is Personal Cloaking, which will enable the Ghost to cloak at the cost of Energy Points for each game second they are cloaked. The next is Moebius Reactor which causes any Ghosts you build to start with an additional 25 Energy Points when built.

But probably most importantly to Ghost fans, you can buy your Nuclear Missiles here. Although, you can only build one Nuke per Ghost Academy.

Terran Starport

Previous Unit: Ghost Academy – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Armory

Starports are home to your Air Units for the Terran in StarCraft II. You need a Factory to build one first.

It produces 5 units: The Viking, Medivac, Raven and Banshee (with Tech Lab), and Battle Cruiser (with Tech Lab and Fusion Center). And like the Factory and Barracks, it can build the two Add-Ons Reactor and Tech Lab. The Reactor allows you to build two units at once, while the tech lab allows you to build Ravens, Banshees, and Battle Cruisers. So again, this is a toss up of if you want a lot of the first two units more than you want any of the latter 3 since you can only have one Add-On at a time.

It is also good to note the Starport retains its Lift Off ability from StarCraft.

Terran Armory

Previous Unit: Starport – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Fusion Core

The Armory is much the same building it was in StarCraft. You require a Factory in order to build one. It is the requirement for building Thors at the Factory. It is also a requirement for increasing your Infantry Weapon and Armor upgrade levels past level 1 at the Engineering Bay.

4 Upgrades are available here. Vehicle Weapons & Plating, and Ship Weapons & Plating. They increase the damage and armor of your units from the Factory (Vehicle) and Starport (Ship).

Terran Fusion Core

Previous Unit: Armory – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Reactor

The Fusion Core is your home for the Battle Cruiser. It allows you to reserch two upgrades for it and build them at the Starport. You need a Starport in order to build one. Since they only unlock the Battle Cruiser, spotting one of these is a good indicator that you need Anti Air units (preferably with a bonus to armored units).

Weapon Refit is an upgrade that enables the Yamato Cannon ability for Battle Cruisers, a long range shot that deals a good deal of damage. The second upgrade, Behemoth Reactor increases the Energy Points Battle Cruisers built at the Starport start with by 25 when created.

Terran Reactor

Previous Unit: Fusion Core – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Tech Lab

There are two Add-Ons available for the 3 factory buildings for Terran: the Reactor and the Tech Lab. They can be built at the Barracks, Factory, or Starport and can be used interchangeably. They are most typically seen on Barracks and Starports for the Marines, Medivacs, and Vikings.

The Reactor is useful since it allows you to build another unit while one is already being built at the attached building. The downside is you cannot build the units that require a Tech Lab, lowering your choices to just Marines, Hellions, Vikings, and Medivacs.

If you want those units quickly this building can be a good in a pinch though.

Terran Tech Lab

Previous Unit: Reactor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: SCV

There are two Add-Ons available for the 3 factory buildings for Terran: the Reactor and the Tech Lab. They can be built at the Barracks, Factory, or Starport and can be used interchangeably.

The Tech Lab allows you to build Marauders, Reapers, and Ghosts at a Barracks. Seige Tanks and Thors at a Factory. And Ravens, Banshees, and Battle Cruisers at a Starport. Aside from this, the Tech Lab also gets upgrades it can research based on which building it is attached to.

When attached to the Barracks you can get:
- Combat Shield: Gives Marines a Shield and increases their maximum Hit Points by 10.
- Stim Packs Upgrade: Allows the Marines and Marauders to sacrifice 10 hp for an increase in attack speed.
- Concussive Shells: Passive ability added to Marauders that slow non Massive targets with their attacks.
- Nitro Packs: Increases the movement speed of Reapers. Requires the Factory.

When attached to the Factory you can get:
- Infernal Pre-Igniter: Gives a boost to the damage Hellions do to units with Light armor.
- Seige Tech: Allows Seige Tanks to use Seige Mode, increasing their range, damage, and giving them a splash attack. But causes them to not be able to hit very close enemies.
- 250mm Strike Cannons: Enables the 250mm Strike Cannons ability for the Thor. It deals 500 damage over 6 seconds to ground units/structure, stunning the target and making the Thor unable to move until it is done shooting

And when attached to the Starport you can get:
- Caduceus Reactor: Increases the starting Energy Points of Medivacs by 25.
- Cloaking Field: Allows Banshees to use the Cloak ability, letting them be invisible to players when they have no units with Detection nearby.
- Corvid Reactor: Increases the starting Energy Points of Ravens by 25.
- Durable Materials: Increases the duration of the units created by the Raven before they self destruct.
- Seeker Missile Upgrade: Allows the Raven to use Seeker Missiles, which follow a target slowly to deal great damage on impact.

Terran SCV

Previous Unit: Tech Lab – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Marine

The SCV is the worker unit for the Terrans, so you will start with some along with your Command Center. They gather resources, build buildings, and have a nice special ability too.

SCVs must follow the Terran Tech Tree when building structures. They can build them anywhere without the aid of Creep or Pylons but require the SCV to physically construct the building. Aside from building and harvesting resources, SCVs have the Repair ability. Repair targets mechanical units and all buildings and will recover Hit Points at the expense of some minerals. Better than buying an entirely new unit. Interestingly, SCVs themselves are both biological and mechanical units, so they can be targeted by Repair as well as the Medivac’s Heal ability.

Strategy:

SCVs are the worker for the Terran and are a bit more versatile than the other workers but also more vulnerable. SCVs are common targets for scouting units early on if they are constructing a building, requiring the player to take off additional workers to fight off any scouting unit while they complete their buildings. However, SCVs are able to repair mechanical units and can build anywhere there isn’t creep, making proxy buildings and maintaining an army easier.

Terran Marine

Previous Unit: SCV – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Marauder

Marines are your first combat unit for the Terran and are built at the Barracks. They can attack both ground and air units with their short range rifles making them a great unit to start off with.

The Marines have one ability and a passive upgrade. Stim Packs makes a return from StarCraft, allowing you to sacrifice 10 Hit Points for a 50% bonus to your attack and movement speed for the next 15 seconds. Stim Packs along with other Terran Infantry abilties can now be used in Bunkers which is a good thing to note. Combat Shield is a new upgrade for Marines that increases the max Hit Points they start with by 10 and adds a shield to their unit model. These two upgrades are researched at the Tech Lab connected to an Engineering Bay.

Strategy:

Marines are the weaker of the 3 beginning army units HP wise, but with proper micro management they can take out any early harassment. Marines are useful throughout the game due to their ranged rapid fire attack and cheap cost. They are typically used in massive amounts early on to attack or in combination throughout the match with other units to provide anti air that units such as Siege Tanks and Marauders do not have. They are most commonly seen in attack groups with Marauders and Medivacs so they can use the Stim Pack ability and be healed while the Marauders take care of the stronger ground units.

Terran Marauder

Previous Unit: Marine – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Reaper

The new Marauder is created at a Barracks with a Tech Lab attached. It is another ranged attacker. It attacks by throwing grenades at ground enemies.

The Marauder can also use Stim Packs researched at the Tech Lab connected to the Barracks. It provides a 50% bonus to attack and movement speed for 15 seconds at the cost of 20 Hit Points. The Concussive Shells upgrade at the Barracks Tech Lab will allow the grenades it tosses to slow down non massive sized units.

Strategy:

Marauders are strong and cheap anti ground infantry. They are typically used in conjunction with Marines and Medivacs due to the anti air support, fast attack speed, and healing. Early on they are useful for their range, anti armor damage bonus, and Concussive Shells against melee units like Zealots and Zerglings. If you are building Marauders throughout the game or to make a big push, make sure you research Stim Pack and use it due to the increased damage output.

Terran Reaper

Previous Unit: Marauder – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Hellion

Another new Terran Infantry is the Reaper. You can train them at a Barracks that has a Tech Lab attached. The Reaper is the fastest unit in the game and is a great scout because of it’s Jet Pack. It attacks with a short range Pistol against ground units and the powerful D-8 Charges against buildings, making it great for doing raids on enemy buildings.

The Reaper’s main benefit is the Jet Pack they have strapped on. They can move over terrain quickly and jump up and down cliffs with the Jet Pack. The Tech Lab connected to the Barracks can research and upgrade to increase the movement speed of the Reapers making them the fastest unit around. You need the Factory to research the speed upgrade though.

Strategy:

Reapers are not too commonly used competitively except for harassment. While not used too often, they are extremely effective at taking out buildings and workers and their cliff jumping ability allows them to get into enemy bases and do some serious damage before escaping. Scanner Sweep, Lifted off buildings, or air units are used to get Reapers into an enemy base without having to fight the defenses typically put at the top of their ramp. Regardless of their damage output against workers and buildings, they are not used often simply because of the cost and the low HP of the Reaper making them too easy to pick off.

Terran Hellion

Previous Unit: Reaper – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Seige Tank

The Hellion is the basic Factory vehicle. It is a combination of the Firebat and Vulture from StarCraft, bringing together a splashing fire short range attack and the a quick movement speed.

The Hellion excels against light armored ground units such as Infantry, Zerglings, etc. And with a Tech Lab attached to your Factory, you can research and upgrade to increase the damage to those types of units.

Strategy:

Hellions are typically seen in match ups against Zerg players much more frequently than any other due to the Hellion’s range and Zerg units taking extra damage. They are commonly used for running into an enemy’s base (especially Zerg since they have a very hard time walling off), roasting their workers, and trying to inflict as much damage before fleeing or dying. Do not forget about the Hellion’s “Blue Flame” upgrade at the Tech Lab that increases damage against Light armored units.

Hellions are the only Factory unit compatible with the Reactor, and due to their low cost you can make a lot of them quickly. Due to their lack of an air attack and not being as effective as a MMM combination, they are not used as commonly as other Terran army units.

Terran Seige Tank

Previous Unit: Hellion – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Ghost

Making its return from StarCraft, the Seige Tank can be built again at a Factory and needs the Tech Lab Add On. Seige Tanks make great long range attackers for defensive purposes and for taking out enemy defensive buildings.

The high point of the Seige Tank is the Seige Mode researched at the Factory Tech Lab. It nearly doubles the range of the Seige Tank and greatly increases the damage. But it does have some downsides. The Seige Tank cannot move in Seige mode and it does shoot slower. Another draw back to Siege Mode is they cannot hit targets that are right next to them such as melee units, and most unsiege to attack close targets. One last important thing to note about Seige Mode is that it does splash damage. This is normally great, except it can hurt friendly units too.

Strategy:

Siege Tanks are the most produced unit from the Factory due to their high damage in Siege Mode against ground units making them perfect for defense and for containing the opponent in his own base. Terran players fighting each other typically go for a combination of Tanks and Vikings due to the range and power against ground and air enemies. Tanks are mostly seen behind a wall of buildings at the ramp of a Terran player’s base, and sometimes air dropped on to cliffs requiring the enemy to gain high ground vision in order to attack them.

Siege Tanks are however very vulnerable to air units and units such as Colossi (Especially with Thermal Lance giving them the range increase) and Immortals. They are also quite weak against Zealots with Charge and Zerglings with the speed upgrade in large numbers. Another couple things to watch out for that are less common are unit drops (typically of melee units or Banelings on top of your Tanks causing them to not be able to hit the target due to the range and friendly fire of other tanks blowing hurting them) and Nuclear Missiles (since they are typically aimed at your defenses or workers).

Terran Ghost

Previous Unit: Seige Tank – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Viking

The Ghost is your final Terran Infantry unit. You train them at a Barracks and need a Tech Lab attached as well as a Ghost Academy. Ghosts are long range snipers, and while their damage is low due to their slow attack speed their abilities are powerful.

The most important ability, Tactical Nuke, launches a Nuclear Missile (Must be built at a Ghost Academy first). The Nuke takes a few seconds to launch, then deals 300 damage to all units in a large area and adds on 200 damage to structures. Friendly Players will see a large red target at the area it will land a few seconds beforehand, and enemies will just see a red dot. However, if the Ghost is killed before the target/dot goes away, the Nuke will not be launched.

The Ghost also gets EMP Round. This deals 100 damage to all Protoss Plasma Shields and takes away all nearby units’ Energy Points. Sniper Round deals a high damage shot against a biological unit, and ignores any Armor bonus. Finally, Cloaking allows the Ghost to be invisible to enemies unless detected. Keep in mind when Cloaking, your Energy Points will drain until you Uncloak or run out of Energy Points. While Ghosts start with all other abilities, Cloaking must be researched at the Ghost Academy.

Strategy:

Ghosts are a less common seen unit but still quite powerful. Their Nuclear Missile is their most powerful attack, making short work of armies and bases a like. Players tend to make the mistake of not backing up their Ghost in hopes of just cloaking it will be enough. While this works sometimes, it’s generally good to attack near the target and back away as it falls to avoid losing the Ghost and the Missile and keep up pressure.

EMP is typically used against any Protoss unit due to the SP damage, but is very effective against units with Energy as well. Their Sniper Round works only against Biological units, limiting their targets but making them effective against workers and units such as Hydralisks and Mutalisks in particular.

Terran Viking

Previous Unit: Ghost – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Medivac

Vikings are a great unit but requires some micromanagement in combat. You can build them with a Starport, and 2 at a time if you have a Reactor on it.

The unique part about the Viking is while they start off in the air, you can turn them into Assault Mode where they will land and move on the ground. While in flight they attack with a nicely ranged Torpedo that targets air units. On the ground they shoot with a fast Cannon against ground units. So if you can handle switching them at the most opportune times, you can make a force that is quite versatile.

Strategy:

Vikings are very effective anti air units due to their high range, strong attack, and moderate speed. They can be quickly produced with a Reactor and are cheaper than Corruptors making them arguably the best choice for air vs air (Phoenixes are able to win a tiny bit in damage in an even number matchup, but with the Reactor you should have more Vikings than he has Phoenixes). In Terran vs Terran match ups, whoever owns the most Vikings is typically able to rule the air due to the lack of an air attack on Banshees and the high cost of Battlecruisers. Vikings are well paired with Banshees (so long as you keep them behind them) and Siege Tanks.

Being able to change to their Ground Mode is nice to worker harass or to pick off vulnerable targets, but due to the transition time and lack of an attack during it, it’s usually best to keep them in flight.

Terran Medivac

Previous Unit: Viking – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Raven

The Medivac is a new air unit that combines the Medic and Drop Ship from Brood War. It is built at the Starport and can have 2 built at one time with a Reactor.

Load and Unload are the first ability the unit has. Medivacs can transport ground units up to 8 slots. Ground Units will take up a number of slots on an individual basis. The second ability is Heal, which will recover Hit Points for the targeted biological unit at the cost of the Medivac’s Energy Points.

Strategy:

Medivacs are the transport unit for Terran, and come packed with the Healing ability making it great when paired with biological units such as Marines and Marauders. While having few uses, they are a good unit to have in your army. Transporting workers to expansions that are on islands or blocked by rocks is best done by making use of them. Unit drops are another good use, taking advantage of holes around the enemy’s perimeter defense.

In the end, they are mostly commonly used to heal Marines and Marauders. Just make sure to have them Scan Move on your army instead of grouping them together, otherwise they will get too far ahead of your infantry and get wiped out.

Terran Raven

Previous Unit: Medivac – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Banshee

The Raven is a new Terran Air unit. It is built at the Starport with a Tech Lab. It has no weapon to use and relies completely on its abilities. It also is a Detector unit, so you can use it to see cloaked and burrowed units.

The Raven gets two special abilities. Build Auto-Turret constructs an Auto-Turret which targets air and ground and Build Point Defense Drone creates a Point Defense Drone which destroys certain enemy projectile weapons in the air. These two units have more information below in their separate section. They can also benefit from the Durable Materials upgrade from the Tech Lab so they will be around longer before self destructing.

The third and final ability the Raven gets helps replace its lack of a weapon. After researching Seeker Missiles from the Tech Lab, you can use this ability to deal high damage in an area with a homing missile. However it is slow moving, and if the missile does not hit its target after awhile it will deal no damage and destruct.

Strategy:

Ravens are the StarCraft II equivalent of the Science Vessel from the original being the Air Unit-Detector-Spell Caster. Their spells are a bit harder to get used to though due to the range issues with each of them.

The Auto-Turrets can put up a quick defense or offense but their lack of power and weak units vulnerable to them (such as workers) being able to move out of their range quickly makes them a very situational spell. The Defense Point Drone is an interesting spell, blocking certain missile attacks costing it energy, and therefore its life. Putting some of these in an area where you are about to have a conflict can quickly turn the tide of the battle, but again, players can simply move their units out of the range of it. The final ability, Seeker Missile locks on to a target, chases it, and does small AoE damage when it hits. But be careful of which unit you target because they may be able to just out run it.

Terran Banshee

Previous Unit: Raven – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Thor

Another new air unit is the Banshee. You will require a Starport and Tech Lab attached to build them.

The Banshee can only target ground units with its rockets. This makes it an open target to any air units that can attack it. However, to make up for this, Banshees can use the Cloaking ability to drain Energy Points in order to become invisible when no detectors are around.

Strategy:

Banshees are powerful anti ground units and their cloaking can make them hard to kill if used correctly. They are typically used for harassing workers, picking off bases, and tech buildings. Vikings are usually paired with them to fight against a force or pick off defenses due to the combination of strong anti air and strong anti ground attacks. Banshees can be effective against most ground units, but use caution and cloaking when dealing with Stalkers, Marines, and Hydralisks.

Terran Thor

Previous Unit: Banshee – Jump to Top – Next Unit: BattleCruiser

The final vehicle from the Factory is the Thor. You need a Factory with a Tech Lab and an Armory to build it.

The Thor is a powerful unit. It can attack ground units with a high damaging attack. It also can launch long range Missiles at air units. And the 250mm Strike Cannons ability can wipe out enemies fast. It deals 500 damage over 6 seconds to ground units/structure, stunning the target and making the Thor unable to move until it is done shooting. It is researched at a Tech Lab at the Factory.

Strategy:

Thors are costly units that have strong attacks against ground and anti air attacks that have large range. They can take on ground armored units well like Immortals, but small units like Zealots or Zerglings in large numbers can overwhelm them. Their anti air attack has a large range and splash effect, but it’s not as effective as it should be except against Mutalisks if they are not micro’d properly. When it comes down to it, the cost of the Thor outweighs their usefulness due to their slow movement and large size, Siege Tanks being able to deal a similar powerful anti ground attack, and Vikings being a more effective anti air unit.

Terran Battlecruiser

Previous Unit: Thor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: MULE

The Battlecruiser is a powerful and expensive air unit. You need a Starport with a Tech Lab and a Fusion Core to build it.

The Battlecruiser uses a fast Laser weapon instead of its normal laser weapon from StarCraft. It deals a bit less damage, but makes up for it with the speed. It retains the Yamato Cannon attack, which must be researched at a Fusion Core. It deals a large amount of damage to the target unit.

Strategy:

Battlecruisers are another costly but powerful unit. They tend to hold their own well in most situations, but since they can easily be outnumbered by the less costly Void Rays, Vikings, and Corrupters they are typically avoided. If you have enough expansions you can produce enough of them to make a sizable force, but in a 1v1 game it would be very unusual to have the income and time to make a large number of them. A few of them with Yamato can be used to pick off important buildings quickly in hit and run attacks if needed though.

Terran MULE

Previous Unit: Battlecruiser – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Point Defense Drone

The MULE is a new mechanical unit. The Orbital Command can call down a MULE in a launch pod to a targeted area.

The MULE is only good for only one thing: Mining. It can mine more minerals per trip than an SCV. 3x as many to be exact. This is a nice reason to have an Orbital Command, but keep in mind you do not get to keep it forever. The MULE has a constant drain on its Energy Points and when it runs out it self destructs.

Strategy:

The MULE is the ultimate mineral miner. It is important to note two things: Use them efficiently with mining. This means if you have a gold mineral expansion that you are dropping them there to get the most minerals you can. You should also place them at the mineral fields that are closer to the Command Center so that the time spent traveling is lessened. The other thing to note is that while MULEs are the most commonly used spell from the Orbital Command, you should conserve energy for Scanner Sweep whenever needed in competitive matches (such as when attacking or when you know they have cloaked units).

Terran Point Defense Drone

Previous Unit: MULE – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Auto-Turret

Point Defense Drones are created by Ravens. They run on their Energy Points, and when they run out they will Self Destruct. Researching Durable Materials at a Tech Lab at your Starport will help make them last longer. They cannot move but are air units.

These Point Defense Drones can be confusing. They will attack most projectile weapons (Such as attacks from Stalkers, but not Marines) with a laser that destroys them before hitting your unit. However, doing so will cost additional Energy Points bringing them closer to their self destruction. They are solely useful during an encounter with an enemy to absorb some of the damage from their attacks.

One last thing to note, they are affected by the Hi-Sec Auto Tracking so that upgrade can be useful even if you do not have other defensive buildings.

Terran Auto-Turret

Previous Unit: Point Defense Drone – Jump to Top

Auto-Turrets are created by Ravens. They are a defensive ground unit/building that use a fast attacking light cannon. They have a constant Energy Point drain, and when they run out they self destruct. They can be placed on Creep, being the only non Zerg Building able to do so. They are generally used in hit and runs against workers or to get extra hits during an encounter with enemies.

They are affected by the Hi-Sec Auto Tracking so that upgrade can be useful even if you do not have other defensive buildings. The Durable Materials upgrade from the Tech Lab at the Starport can also increase the Energy Points they have.