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.

Zerg Hatchery

Jump to Top – Next Unit: Lair

This is the Zerg base building, the Hatchery. 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 Extractors. It must be built a short distance away from any nearby resources. Any Zerg player on a non UMS map should try to have at least one of these at all times.

Zerg Lair

Previous Unit: Hatchery – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Hive

The Lair is the upgrade to the Hatchery. You need a Spawning Pool to enable the Mutate Into Lair at the Hatchery. It allows you to build Hydralisk Dens, Infestation Pits, Spires, Nydus Networks, Queens, and Overseers.

The Lair keeps the same functions as the Hatchery so you there is information in the Hatchery section that isn’t covered here. It has 3 upgrades: Burrow Upgrade, Pneumatized Carapace, and Ventral Sacs.

Burrow allows ground Zerg units to burrow underground and cannot be seen by enemies unless they have a Detector nearby. Burrow gives bonuses to some units now such as the Roach recovering HP quickly underground, and Infestors can move underground. Pnemuatized Carapace increases the movement speed of Overlords and Overseers. Ventral Sacs allow Overlords to transport ground units.

Upgrading more than one Hatchery into this does not give any benefit. Once you gain the tech tree unlocked from the first Lair, you do not need any others.

Strategy:

The Lair is a key building to time well as Zerg as it is available once you get the Spawning Pool. At that time, players will have to determine which route they want to go: Expand, Queen, or Lair. Economically, go for expansions. Queen will help with early aggression or defense. The Lair will further expand the tech tree. It’s always going to be situational for players and they will have to decide which route to go.

The Lair is typically upgraded from the Hatchery at your starting position as it is more defended.

Zerg Hive

Previous Unit: Lair – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Extractor

The Hive is the upgrade to the Lair. You need an Infestation Pit to enable the Mutate Into Hive at the Lair. It allows you to build Ultralisk Caverns and enables the Spire to Mutate Into Greater Spire.

The Hive keeps the same functions as the Hatchery and Lair so you there is information in the Hatchery and Lair sections that is not covered here. The 3 upgrades from the Lair are still available to be researched.

As with the Lair, you do not receive any benefits from more than one Hive.

Strategy:

The Hive is the final form of the Hatchery and enables technology to mid-late game units such as Brood Lords and Ultralisks. If a Zerg player has a Hive it is likely they will be making these units. Due to the later availability of the Hive, you should have a steady enough income to not have to worry about what priority it should be. If you want to add those units to your army or the upgrades that become available then build one. Otherwise you can probably get away with using the army units unlocked by the Lair throughout the entire match.

Zerg Extractor

Previous Unit: Hive – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Evolution Chamber

Extractors 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 Extractor from StarCraft and StarCraft II is that in this one, Vespene Geysers can no longer be mined from once they are depleted.

Strategy:

Gas steal is a tactic used by players to set back the opponent by building on their vespene geysers early on in the game to prevent them from getting gas. Inexperienced players will tend to take all their units off the mineral line to attack the Extractor while it is building, setting them behind on minerals in the long run if done correctly. Due to the low cost of an Extractor, cancelling and rebuilding it only costs 5 minerals, so if you can keep them distracted for a while dealing with your Extractors you’ll pull ahead economically. Against more experienced players this will at least slow them down from teching up.

Zerg Evolution Chamber

Previous Unit: Extractor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Spawning Pool

The Evolution Chamber is your first research building and allows you to upgrade your Ground Armor and Weapons and mutate Drones into Spore Crawlers. It requires a Hatchery.

The building retains it’s original upgrades from StarCraft with no changes. It can upgrade Ground Melee Attacks, Missile Attacks, and Ground Carapace (armor).

Strategy:

The Evolution Chamber is a structure that is sometimes overlooked. It provides all the Ground Unit upgrades, and importantly unlocks the Spore Crawler. Spore Crawlers are the only detector the Zerg have other than the Overseer, and are the only anti air defensive building. If playing against a Terran player who is teching up to air or if you are concerned about Banshee harassment early on, invest in the Evolution Chamber.

Zerg Spawning Pool

Previous Unit: Evolution Chamber – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Spore Crawler

Spawning Pools are the research building for the Zergling, your first ground combat unit. Zerglings can be mutated from Larva, 2 Zerglings for each Larva. It requires a Hatchery, and enables Queens at the Hatchery/Lair/Hive, as well as Lairs, Roach Warrens, Baneling Nests, and Spine Crawlers.

Overall this is an important building, and it acts the same as in StarCraft. It has two upgrades to research. Metabolic Boost increases the movement speed of Zerglings and adds wings to their unit models. Adrenal Glands increases the attack speed of all Zerglings, but requires a Hive before you can research it.

Strategy:

The Spawning Pool is typically the first building produced by the Zerg and is importantly timed. Some players save up their minerals for the 6 Pool Cheese which involves building the Spawning Pool before any Drones, then building a couple drones as it is building, then sending Zerglings out to take out the opponent at the start of the match. Most players tend to either build the Spawning Pool at either 8, 9, or 10 Drones. The more drones you have before you build it, the more ahead you will be economically. However due the Spawning Pool’s long construction time, waiting too long will hold up getting offensive units and expanding the tech tree.

Most Zerg players will start off with a vague sense of what units they want to work toward, so work out a build order to help decide when to build the Spawning Pool.

Zerg Spore Crawler

Previous Unit: Spawning Pool – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Roach Warren

Spore Crawlers are a new version of the Spore Colony from StarCraft. You need an Evolution Chamber to mutate a Drone into a Spore Crawler. It is a defensive structure for Anti Air.

The Spore Crawler has two abilities: Detection and Uproot/Root. Detection is passive and allows you to see nearby cloaked or burrowed units (However only when it is in Root mode). Uproot allows you to move the Spore Crawler, it will be able to move around the map (And move faster than normal while on Creep) however it will not attack or detect. Root allows it to go back into Attack/Detect mode but it must be on Creep to do it.

Strategy:

Spore Crawlers are one of the only two detector units the Zerg have. Like all other defensive buildings, it is a good idea to put one at the ramp and/or by the mineral line to defend against air and to detect cloaked units (especially Banshees).

Zerg Roach Warren

Previous Unit: Spore Crawler – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Baneling Nest

The Roach Warren is a new research building. It requires a Spawning Pool and enables you to mutate Larva into Roaches.

You can research three upgrades here. Tunneling Claws allows Roaches to move while Burrowed. Gilal Reconstitution increases the movement speed of your Roaches. While Organic Carapace allows Burrowed Roaches to greatly increase their HP regeneration rate.

Zerg Baneling Nest

Previous Unit: Roach Warren – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Spine Crawler

The Baneling Nest is a research building for the Baneling. It requires a Spawning Pool and allows you to Mutate a Zergling into a Baneling. Since this building is only used for one unit, players should keep an eye out for them to get an idea of what they may build.

The Baneling Nest has one upgrade: Centrifugal Hooks. It increases the movement speed of Banelings and changes their movement graphic from running into rolling.

Zerg Spine Crawler

Previous Unit: Baneling Nest – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Hydralisk Den

The upgrade to the Sunken Colony from StarCraft, Spine Crawlers are an Anti Ground building with a new ability. They require a Spawning Pool to be built.

Spine Crawlers have their ground attack, and now can use Uproot/Root. Uproot will allow the Spine Crawler to move around the map (They also get a bonus of faster moving speed on Creep) instead of being stuck in the place it was built but is unable to attack while uprooted. To root it back in the ground again, you must use the Root ability on an area where this is Creep and enough room. This gives the building more flexibility compared to stationary Bunkers and Photon Cannons.

Strategy:

Spine Crawlers are used for defense but can be used offensively in Zerg vs Zerg matches. Early on, players can take a few drones to the opponent’s base and build Spine Crawlers. If they lack Zerglings and do not pull enough Drones off the mineral line to stop it, you can end the game or inflict serious injury.

A small thing to note about Spine Crawlers is that when the creep around them has disappeared they start losing their HP over time, so it may be wise to Unroot them before they die.

Zerg Hydralisk Den

Previous Unit: Spine Crawler – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Infestation Pit

The next research building is the Hydralisk Den. It requires a Lair to be built by a Drone. When it is built, Larvae will be able to mutate into Hydralisks.

The Hydralisk Den has one upgrade available: Grooved Spines which increases the attack range of Hydralisks.

Zerg Infestation Pit

Previous Unit: Hydralisk Den – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Spire

The Infestation Pit is a new research building for a new unit. It allows you to mutate Larva into Infestors. It requires a Lair and allows you to turn your Lair into a Hive.

Peristalsis is the first of the two upgrades you can research here. It allows Infestors to move while being burrowed. The next is Pathogen Glands which increase the starting Energy Points of Infestors by 25.

You can also research the Neural Parasite ability for Infestors which allows them to control an enemy unit.

Zerg Spire

Previous Unit: Infestation Pit – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Nydus Network

Another returning research building from StarCraft is the Spire. Larva will be able to mutate into Mutalisks and Corruptors after it is built. It requires you to mutate your Hatchery into a Lair first.

The Spire lets you upgrade Flyer Attack damage and Flyer Carapace (Armor) for your air units. Spires can also mutate into a Greater Spire once you have a Hive.

Zerg Nydus Network

Previous Unit: Spire – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Ultralisk Cavern

The Nydus Network is a replacement for the Nydus Canal from StarCraft. It requires a Lair and can build Nydus Worms.

The Nydus Network utilizes two abilities: Spawn Nydus Worm and Transport. Spawn Nydus Worm make a Nydus Worm anywhere on the map. Nydus Worms create a radius of Creep around themselves and are used in the second ability Transport. The Nydus Network allows you to transport up to 255 Zerg ground units with it from the Nydus Network to any Nydus Worm you have on the map. You can also use the Nydus Worm to move back to a connected Nydus Network.

Units stored in the Nydus Network or Worm will not be killed unless all the Nydus Networks and Worms are killed.

Strategy:

Nydus Networks are of course only used by ground units. They can be utilized defensively or economically with transporting army units or drones to other expansions. They are typically used offensively by placing them near enemy expansions or in a undefended place (behind the mineral line sometimes) in their main base to allow you ground army to get in without having to work their way through a force.

Just be aware that the Nydus Worms make a loud sound effect and that players typically check their main base first. So either defend it or place it in a well positioned spot.

Zerg Ultralisk Cavern

Previous Unit: Nydus Network – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Greater Spire

Another returning StarCraft building is the Ultralisk Cavern. It requires a Hive, and allows Larva to Mutate into an Ultralisk. It also allows you to research two upgrades.

Anabolic Synthesis increases the movement speed of your Ultralisks, while Chitinous Plating gives a +2 level boost to the Ultralisks’ Ground Armor.

Zerg Greater Spire

Previous Unit: Ultralisk Cavern – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Creep Tumor

The last of the returning StarCraft buildings for the Zerg is the Greater Spire. It requires a Spire to mutate from and a Hive. Since this building simply unlocks the Brood Lord, players should be aware of the threat when they scout one at an enemy base.

It carries over the ability to upgrade Flyer Attacks and Armor the Spire has, and enables the Corruptor to be able to mutate into a Brood Lord.

Zerg Creep Tumor

Previous Unit: Greater Spire – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Larva

The final Zerg building is constructed by a Queen using the Spawn Creep Tumor ability. Creep Tumors spread Creep in a large radius and multiply quickly.

A common misconception from new players is that creep gives vision. Creep does not, Hatcheries and Creep Tumors provide the vision.

They get one ability: Spawn Creep Tumor. It allows them to build another Creep Tumor on nearby Creep to spread the Creep around the map even further. However it must wait for a period before the ability can be used, and can only be used once. The Tumor will change it’s appearance so you can tell which have been used. This is a good way of spreading Creep without using up your Overlords and putting them in danger.

Strategy:

Creep Tumors are great to start using as soon as you feel comfortable enough in your Larva supply. While they are generally used in expanding the creep around your base and expos, they can be used in a couple offensive ways. Once you have a Lair, the Overlord can be combined with Queens to make Creep Tumors in ways to mess with the enemy or get scouting vision.

You can either get the transportation upgrade for Overlords or simply walk your Queen near their base and create Creep Tumors. If they neglected to get detection, the creep can spread into their base disrupting their building placement and forcing them to get detection before they can no longer build in their base.

Another way is to bring an Overlord to their natural expansion or any expansion nearby (if they have not yet taken it), have it Generate Creep, then place a Creep Tumor as well where their Nexus/Command Center/Hatchery would go to block them from being able to build. The enemy then has to waste time killing your Overlord, and then figuring out you have a Creep Tumor keeping the Creep from disappearing and having to detect and kill that as well. This also gives you the advantage of knowing after that wasted time where they will be expanding and being able to attack it as soon as you can.

Zerg Larva

Previous Unit: Creep Tumor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Egg

The basic form of all Zerg units and buildings is the Larva. It is created naturally from a Hatchery/Lair/Hive or through the Queen’s Spawn Larva ability. Larvae mutate into Zerg units both ground and air. They do not cost control and have no weapon.

Below is a list of what they can mutate into:

- Drone
- Overlord
- 2 Zerglings
- Roach
- Hydralisk
- Infestor
- Mutalisk
- Corruptor
- Ultralisk

Zerg Egg

Previous Unit: Larva – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Cocoon

The Egg is a form in the Zerg evolutionary process. It has no weapon or abilities.

Eggs are formed when a ground unit is mutating. For example, when a Larva mutates into a Drone or when a Zergling mutates into a Baneling an Egg is formed. During this period the unit is left helpless against enemy attacks until it finished its mutation, although it gains greatly increased armor while in its Egg form. You can however cancel the mutation and the original unit will be available again (except in when the original form is a Larva, in that case it will simply die).

Zerg Cocoon

Previous Unit: Egg – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Broodling

The Cocoon is a form in the Zerg evolutionary process. It has no weapon or abilities.

Cocoons are created when an air unit is mutating into another form. In StarCraft II, Cocoons are only formed from when Corruptors change to Brood Lords. During this period the unit is left helpless against enemy attacks until it finished its mutation, although it has greatly increased armor while in Cocoon form. You can however cancel the mutation and the original unit will be available again.

Zerg Broodling

Previous Unit: Cocoon – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Drone

The Broodling is a special unit in StarCraft II. They are created when most Zerg buildings are destroyed and vary in number based on the building (Extractors, Spore Crawlers, Spine Crawlers, and Creep Tumors do not have Broodlings pop out). The other way they are created is when a Brood Lord attacks, because the attack launches Broodlings at the target.

Broodlings benefit from the Evolution Chamber’s Melee Weapon upgrade. This is a small thing to note when using Brood Lords. The Brood Lord’s launching of the Broodling at the target gets boosted by the Air Weapons upgrade from the Spire so making the most out of the Brood Lord and Broodling in that situation comes with increasing both of the Upgrades. Like all other ground units, they benefit from the Ground Carapace upgrade.

Broodlings have a short life span of a few seconds and low HP. They have a weak melee attack that hits only ground targets. Their main purpose is simply to weaken the enemy or distract them. They are most effective against defensive structures, Siege Tanks, Thors, Immortals, and other large and slow attacking units.

Strategy:

Broodlings are unfortunately something that cannot be controlled well. They die easily when they come from a building that has been destroyed and due to their time limit they cannot do much on their own. They are most effectively used by Brood Lords when it comes to taking out defenses and getting in damage on the enemy army’s front line.

It is not necessary to upgrade your Broodlings, so unless you have extra resources or have a ground army with your Brood Lords you shouldn’t bother.

Zerg Drone

Previous Unit: Broodling – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Overlord

The Drone is the worker unit for the Zerg. They gather resources, can Burrow, and mutate into buildings (You lose the Drone unless you cancel the building during construction). You start with 6 along with a Hatchery at the beginning of each game.

Drones must follow the Zerg Tech Tree requirements when mutating into buildings and can only do so on Creep. After the Burrow upgrade is researched at the Lair/Hive, Drones can use that ability. Drones have a weak melee attack that targets ground units.

It is important to keep an eye on how many Drones you have mining as they should be replaced when sacrificed for building.

Strategy:

Drones have a slight disadvantage over other workers when it comes to building since they are limited more in where they can build and have to be sacrificed for it. However, they work better later on in the game if you researched Burrow since they can keep their death rate lower if the enemy lacks detection when they attack your mineral line.

The most important thing with Drones is to make sure you have enough to keep your economy strong. This needs to be balanced earlier on when you need to construct tech buildings and keep up with your army without being supply blocked.

Zerg Overlord

Previous Unit: Drone – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Zergling

Overlords are mutated into by Larva. They increase the maximum amount of Control and cost none themselves. They have a couple of upgrades and new abilities.

The two upgrades that boost them are Pneumatized Carapace and Ventral Sacs. The first gives a movement speed boost and the Ventral Sacs gives the Overlord the ability to transport ground units around.

Overlords get two other abilities now: Generate Creep and Overseer Morph. Both require the Lair/Hive. Creep now comes from a few sources since Creep Colonies are no longer in the game, so Overlords can be used to supply Creep in an area on the ground below them as long as they remain stationary. Overseer Morph turns the Overlord into the new Overseer unit. Information on them can be found in their section.

Zerg Zergling

Previous Unit: Overlord – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Queen

Zerglings are the basic ground combat unit for the Zerg. Larva mutate into 2 Zerglings which allows you to spawn them quickly. You will need a Spawning Pool first though.

Zerglings are basically the same unit as they were in terms of combat in StarCraft. They get the same Burrow, Movement Speed Upgrade (also changes their appearance to add their wings), and Attack Speed Upgrade (Hive required) from the Spawning Pool. The new thing with them though is that with a Baneling Nest you can mutate them into a Baneling. More information on Banelings can be found in their section.

Strategy:

Zerglings are most effective against slow attacking targets. Early on, they are typically paired with Roach to deal with the low tier Terran and Protoss units.

They can be useful still in the mid to late game if you have upgraded them (especially their speed upgrades) for clean up and overwhelming weak targets.

6, 7, 9, or 10 Pools are Build Orders which refer to when you reach the specified amount of Drones at the start, you then build a Spawning Pool and try to overwhelm your opponents early on. This Cheese tactic is most reliable in smaller maps. The important thing is to aim for targets such as Zerglings, Marines, Zealots, Workers and Pylons as needed to hinder your opponent as much as possible. If you do not take out your opponent or deal enough economic damage, it is generally very very hard to make a come back. So keep building Drones at your base in case things go poorly that way you still stand a chance.

Zerg Queen

Previous Unit: Zergling – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Roach

The Queen is a very different unit from what it was in StarCraft. You need a Lair to create one, and it is separate from the Larva Build Selection. Keep that in mind and look in the abilities for the Lair/Hive for the Birth Queen. This is because of the Queen’s Larvae related ability and their lack of using up your Larvae to make them.

The Queen now has two attacks and a few special abilities and the biggest change is she is now a ground unit as opposed to air. She also now gets a short range ground attack and medium range air attack.

Spawn Creep Tumor creates a building that spawns Creep all around it. After a cool down it can create another Creep Tumor itself. Spawn Larva will create 4 Larva at the selected Hatchery/Lair/Hive after a short period. Transfusion is another ability and gives 125 HP to a nearby unit/building for the cost of Energy Points. And lastly the Queen can also use Burrow like other ground units.

Strategy:

Queens are the main support unit for the Zerg and generally stick around the base to produce Larva and Creep Tumors as needed. Their attacks are weak, but they can drive back lesser HP enemies and can fight a little against air units such as Banshees. There are even some builds that utilize the Transfusion ability and many Roaches or Spine Crawlers to create a force that can heal itself and drive away enemies.

It is important to hotkey the Queens you are using as support so that you do not lose track of them. Another important thing to note is that a good rule of thumb is any time your Spawn Larva finishes, you should take at least one of the larva and use it to build an Overlord to prevent from being Supply Blocked and being unable to build units.

Zerg Roach

Previous Unit: Queen – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Baneling

The Roach is a new unit that can be mutated into using Larvae. You need a Roach Warren first though.

The Roach is a new combat unit with a short range ground attack similar to the Hydralisk. Their Burrow gets two advantages now. With an Upgrade from the Roach Warren (Tunneling Claws) you can move underground while burrowed, and you can use Burrow in conjunction with a new passive ability: Faster HP Regeneration. It will recover life faster than normal when it’s burrowed normally (Not faster unburrowed unfortunately), and with the Organic Carapace Upgrade you can increase the recovery rate much higher. This allows you to send a swarm of units at an enemy, pull the Roaches out when they get weak, and send them back in when they recover. Another Upgrade specifically for them, Gilal Reconstitution, increases their movement speed.

Strategy:

Roaches are very commonly used units that are good anti ground units and work best when combined with Zerglings or Hydralisks. They have a good amount of HP and while they do not receive a damage bonus against armored units like Marauders or Stalkers, they deal a good amount of damage to ground units that is equally powerful against any unit type. They tend to be used to take the damage while Zerglings tear up enemies with quick attacks or Hydralisks keep them protected with their longer range and anti air.

They are quite capable of surviving a long time if the enemy lacks detection and the quick HP recovery underground is used effectively. Just don’t forget to research Burrow. The upgrades are worthwhile too, and helps them become even more cost effective and powerful.

Zerg Baneling

Previous Unit: Roach – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Overseer

The Baneling is a new unit you can Evolve the Zergling into. Banelings require the Baneling Nest in order for this ability to be available.

The Baneling is a specialized Infested Terran from StarCraft like unit. It has no attack other than exploding to deal damage in an area when it gets very close, although this will also hurt allied units and occurs when the Baneling is killed as well. It’s three abilities help support this. Attack Structure makes it so that when you use the A button to order them to attack to a location, they will attack enemy structures as well instead of just enemy units. They do a lot more damage to buildings as opposed to enemy units. Explode allows you to control when the Baneling explodes instead of waiting for it to get to Melee range of the attacker. The third ability is Burrow, and takes advantage of Explode because it allows you to Explode Burrowed Banelings beneath enemy units as they cross over them. This makes the Baneling a new very deadly unit in swarms and base raids.

Strategy:

Banelings are a unit that take a good amount of practice to master. The main thing that is hard to master with them is how to use them without wasting them. Players tend to make the mistake of clumping all their Banelings together, or walking them in a line. When they start exploding, they then end up taking out more of your own Banelings. So keeping them a little distance away from each other, or covering them so they don’t get killed or wasted is ideal. A safer alternative is to make use of Burrow and ambush targets, or to drop them on targets using Overlords’ transportation.

Banelings are used mostly by mid to high level players because of the extra micro involved in them, but are effective at taking out weak light units quickly. It may just be hard to balance the cost of them with the end result.

Zerg Overseer

Previous Unit: Baneling – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Changeling

A new form of the Overlord, the Overseer comes with a couple abilities. It requires the Lair in order to Evolve your Overlord into one. The Overseer has no attacks and provides the Control bonus Overlords give (And do not cost any Control themselves).

Spawn Changeling is the first of the abilities it has. Changelings created from this are special units (More info right below in the Next Unit section) that take the basic combat unit (Zealot, Marine, Zergling), Player Color, and Upgrades of an enemy race they encounter. They have no attacks, but act as spies. However like the Parasite ability from StarCraft, that player can find out the unit is a spy because they will not be able to select it groups since it’s not their unit and because selecting it causes them to see that it is a Changeling.

The second is the passive Detection that the Overlord no longer has. Detection allows you to see opponents’ nearby cloaked and burrowed units.

Aside from the Flyer Carapace, Pneumatized Carapace researched at the Lair gives the Overseer a movement speed upgrade.

Strategy:

Overseers are the only detector the Zerg has available, and therefore is a necessary unit in most matches. Aside from scouting, there should be at least one Overseer in any force you are sending out of your base so you have no worries about cloaked or burrowed enemies.

Unfortunately, Overseers are not as good at getting information as an Observer or Scanner Sweep. They do on the other hand make use of Changelings which can be used as an essentially free scout, since they only cost energy. The Overseer can also take advantage of their Contaminate Ability, which will disable the target building from building and researching anything for 30 seconds.

Zerg Changeling

Previous Unit: Overseer – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Hydralisk

Changelings are a new unit created from the Spawn Changeling ability the Overseer has. They have no Control cost so you can have an infinite amount of them until the time limit on them runs out or they are killed by an enemy. Although they are ground units, they do not get the Burrow ability. They have very low HP but have a special passive ability called Disguise.

Changelings created from this are special units that take the basic combat unit (Zealot, Marine, Zergling), Player Color, and Upgrades of an enemy race they encounter. They have no attacks or abilities, but act as spies. However like the Parasite ability from StarCraft, that player can find out the unit is a spy because they will not be able to select it groups since it’s not their unit and because selecting it causes them to see that it is a Changeling.

Changelings may also take on upgrades that change their appearances, but do not have any effect. For example, the upgrade that increases the max HP of Marines and adds a shield, and while the Changeling will take this shield appearance too, it will not get any HP bonus.

Strategy:

Changelings are used simply for scouting. The main downside is that they can be spotted easily and they have a limited life span. But they can be used well for activating Xel’Naga Watch Towers.

Zerg Hydralisk

Previous Unit: Changeling – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Infestor

Hydralisks are a returning unit from StarCraft. You need a Hydralisk Den to mutate your Larva into one.

Hydralisks have a medium ranged attack that targets both ground and air units. They can use the Burrow ability from the Lair/Hive. The Grooved Spines upgrade at the Hydralisk Den increases their range slightly. They are pretty much the same from StarCraft except they no longer get the movement speed upgrade.

Strategy:

Hydralisks are the only ground units for the Zerg with a anti air weapon, and are effective at that. They also deal a good amount of damage, and with upgraded range can keep attacking without having to put their low HP in danger. They are typically combined with Roaches and Zerglings to soak up and deal damage in ground unit battles, and to defend against air units (especially Void Rays).

Zerg Infestor

Previous Unit: Hydralisk – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Infested Terran

Another new unit is the Infestor. Infestors require a Larva to mutate into them, and an Infestation Pit. They are mainly attack ability units and have no weapon.

Their first ability is Spawn Infested Terran. Infested Terrans are covered in the next part. The ability creates an egg at the target location and an Infested Terran is created shortly after but only last a short time before they expire. This is good for quick strikes due to the sneakiness of the Infestor and the low cost of the Infested Terran.

Neural Parasite is a new ability that causes the target unit to be under your control for a short period of time as long as they are not Massive. The Infestor is unable to do anything while controlling another unit. It must be researched at a Infestation Pit first.

Fungal Growth is a new attack ability that hits an area causing the afflicted units to be damaged, immobilized, and unable to burrow. Since it’s an area attack it can effect Cloaked units and Burrowed units and will reveal them. It deals 30 damage to units and an extra 10 to armored units, while keeping them held in place for 4 seconds.

The last ability is a twist on a classic. Burrow for the Infestor allows it to move underground. It can only travel the same terrain it normally could, gets a vision decrease, and moves at half speed. However there is an upgrade to help with that.

The Peristalsis upgrade increases the movement speed when burrowed, and Pathogen Glands increase their starting energy by 25 points. These can be researched at the Infestation Pit.

Strategy:

Infestors are the main spell caster for the Zerg, and are effective at dealing damage to unguarded bases with Infested Terrans and Fungal Growth. Fungal Growth is great against workers, Terran Infantry, Void Rays, and any cluster of units. Neural Parasite is not as effective now that it can no longer target Massive units like Colosi, but it can still be useful if used on good enemy units.

Zerg Infested Terran

Previous Unit: Infestor – Jump to Top – Next Unit: Mutalisk

Infested Terran are a returning unit from StarCraft, except now they are very different. They are created by the Infestor’s Spawn Infested Terran ability.

Infested Terran no longer have the exploding attack from StarCraft. Instead they have an attack which is comparable to the Marine: Mid Range fast rifle. It targets ground and air. They can also use the Burrow ability researched from the Lair/Hive.

After 20 seconds the Infested Terrans spawned by the ability will die.

Strategy:

Infested Terrans are very weak units that are not considered strong against anything. They are effective however against workers, slow attacking enemies, and static defense. The only advantage they have is overwhelming numbers.

Zerg Mutalisk

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The Mutalisk is a returning unit from StarCraft. Mutalisks require a Spire, and must be mutated from Larva.

Mutalisks are a fast air unit that target both ground and air with their attack. This attack bounces from that target to the closest target from that target, and then bounces one last time to the next closest target to that unit dealing reduced damage with each bounce.

Strategy:

Mutalisks main role is harassment and taking advantage of a lack of anti air. While they deal low damage, the bouncing effect is good against workers and other low HP units. Players typically use them to hit the workers at an expo and then the workers at the main base of an enemy until driven off by attackers.

Zerg Corruptor

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The Corruptor is a new Zerg air unit. You will need a Spire and a Larva to build it.

The attack it has will only target air units at a medium range. It also has a new ability, Corruption, which increases the damage the target unit (non building) takes by 20% for 30 seconds.

With a Greater Spire you can mutate a Corruptor into a Brood Lord.

Strategy:

Corruptors are a strong anti air unit, but are most effective against the more powerful armored units such as Battlecruisers, Phoenixes, Mutalisks, Carriers, Motherships, Colosi, and Brood Lords. Their attack is slow, but strong. They are weak against Vikings and Void Rays and should be backed up with Hydralisks. In combat they are best paired with Hydralisks, Mutalisks, and Brood Lords.

Zerg Nydus Worm

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Nydus Worms are a new unit that is almost like a building, it is created by the Nydus Network. When created, it will radiate Creep around it.

Nydus Worms act as the exit of the Nydus Network System and can use the Transport ability to load units and transport them between them and the Nydus Network. If all of the Nydus Networks and Nydus Worms are destroyed the units stored in the Nydus Network System will be destroyed as well.

Strategy:

When players use Nydus Worms, the most effective places to put them are in parts of an enemy base they are unlikely to have vision of (but must be used quickly before it spreads too much creep) to give easy and quick access to a ground force, near an enemy expo, in a safe place behind your force so that you can replace lost units quickly in battle, or linking your own bases to be able to defend an attacked point quickly.

A good idea is if you have Nydus Worms linking your bases and one is about to be destroyed, instead of running workers or other units away or burrowing them, put them in the Nydus Worm and bring them someone else to guarantee their safety.

Zerg Ultralisk

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The Ultralisk is the final returning unit from StarCraft and requires an Ultralisk Cavern and a Larva to be created.

Ultralisks act as tanks with their large HP count. They have two melee attacks: One does moderate damage to an enemy (and splash damage). The other deals massive damage against enemy structures.

These units now get the Burrow ability from the Lair/Hive. They also have two upgrades from the Ultralisk Cavern. Anabolic Synthesis increases their movement speed, and Chitinous Plating gives a +2 boost to their Carapace (Armor) level.

Strategy:

Ultralisks are the ultimate tank unit, and are typically used in late game scenarios where other ground units were unable to finish the enemy off. They are able to withstand a lot of damage, but must be protected from air units with Hydralisks, Mutalisks, or Corruptors and benefit from having other units that have faster attack speeds with them such as Roaches or more commonly Zerglings. They are ideal for busting through packs of weaker units, but need to be wary of Immortals and large numbers of Siege Tanks that they cannot close in on quickly.

Zerg Brood Lord

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Brood Lords are the final Zerg unit. You will need a Greater Spire and a Corruptor to Mutate from in order to get one.

Brood Lords attack enemy ground units and structures with a Broodling Strike, shooting a Broodling at the enemy. The initial strike does a good deal of damage and then the Broodlings can try to get away with some hits before they are destroyed or expire. This is great against workers and Seige Tanks as they have little defense against even the pesky Broodlings.

Strategy:

Brood Lords are very expensive but extremely powerful units. The main issue players can have with them is not having enough and not having them protected. If you attack with only a couple, you will likely get hung up on weaker units and the enemy will be able to prepare better against them. You should couple them with higher HP ground units like Roaches or Ultralisks and protect them from air with Hydralisks, Mutalisks, or Corruptors.

If your goal is to get an army of Brood Lords, then make sure you have at least one expansion going or you will not be able to afford much of anything.