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.

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.

Protoss Gateway/Warp Gate

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

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 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. 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 Forge

Previous Unit: Gateway/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.

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. It also allows you to research two upgrades for them.

Psionic Storm is the first ability you can research here. The same powerful ability from SC1. The second ability grants a bonus to the energy a High Templar starts with by 25 Energy Points.

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 two upgrades are available at the Fleet Beacon. The first one increases the speed of the Void Ray, and the other 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.

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. Since they are a melee unit, you should try to send them in against enemies in packs or with a ranged unit for backup.

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.

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.

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 two special abilities. 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.

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.

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 (maxes out at 8).

The Void Ray can also have its movement speed upgraded at the Fleet Beacon.

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.

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.

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. It deals high damage but only against 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.

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. Feed Back deals damage to the target unit based on how many Energy Points it has. It also brings their Energy to 0.

Two other new things about the High Templar are there is now an upgrade to make them start with an additional 25 Energy Points (So they can start Psi Storming right away) and 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).

The Phase Shift Ability was removed in the 1st patch of the beta.

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.

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.

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.

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..

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 does about the same damage as a Stalker at the moment. But where it really makes up for it are the 4 Abilities is has.

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. 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.

The Temporal Rift and Wormhole Transit abilities were removed in the 1st patch of the beta.

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.

An 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.

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 the original abilities and upgrades of the Command Center, so loading and building SCVs, and Lift Off stay on.

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.

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 Psi 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.

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 psi 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 psi 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.

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.

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 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 all the resources you spent on the Bunker back by causing it to self destruct.

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.

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 units 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 by the way.

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.

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 at the start.

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.

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.

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.

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.
- Nitro Packs: Increases the movement speed of Reapers.

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.

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, but they can build them anywhere without the aid of Creep or Pylons. 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.

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.

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 which slows the target down temporarily while they recover. However, the slow down effect does not work on large units.

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.

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.

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.

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 quadruples the damage. But it does have some downsides. The Seige Tank cannot move in Seige mode, and it does shoot slower. One last thing to note about Seige Mode is that it does splash damage. This is normally great, except it can hurt friendly units too.

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.

Terran Viking

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

Vikings are a great unit but requires a lot of micromanagement in combat. You can build one with a Starport.

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 hard to counter against.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Cloaking Ability no longer needs to be Researched at the Tech Lab in the 2nd patch of the beta.

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.

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 Battle Cruiser 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.

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.

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.

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 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.