Starcraft 2 Wings Of Liberty Terran Strategy

StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment for the PC and Mac. Experience the game that redefined the real-time strategy genre. Terran, Zerg, or Protoss – the galaxy is yours to conquer. The award-winning StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty story campaign is free in its entirety. The cost was a bit high (around 50$ including shipping), however you do get the Wings of Liberty (WoL) limited edition strategy guide plus the 'Multiplayer Tactical Recon Stand' which has essentially all the maps for multiplayer games in Wings of Liberty. The Strategy guide.

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Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Starcraft 2 Campaign Guide --> Starcraft 2 Credits, Research, & Armory Upgrades guide (you are here)

Discover the best way to spend your credits and research points in the Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty Campaign

One of the most important things players can do in order to make the campaign easier is to choose the right research, armory upgrades, and mercenary hires.

In this guide, we will discuss not only what the best choices are, but why you need to make these choices and how you can apply these upgrades and technologies to make clearing the game easier on brutal mode.

Protoss Research Guide

Players must choose 5 of the 10 new technologies available from collecting Protoss technology (one from each level). Here are the choices:

5 Protoss Research Points

• Ultra-Capacitors - Weapon Upgrades (i.e. +Weapons at the Engineering Bay or Armory) also increase attack speed by 5% per level.

• Vanadium Plating - Armor Upgrades (i.e. +Armor at the Engineering Bay or Armory) also increases life by 5% in addition to increasing armor.

While it does not make a big difference either way, I think that the Ultra Capacitors are the real winner. The reason for this is that on the All In mission (by far the hardest mission on Brutal), most of your units actually end up in Bunkers while automated defensive buildings tank most of the damage. Units in Bunkers as well as Siege Tanks hidden at a safe distance do not benefit from extra health, but extra attack speed benefits all units.

Vanadium Plating is good however for previous missions, particularly if you are using bio. Marines with over 60 HP backed up by Medics are very hard to kill.

10 Protoss Research Points

• Orbital Depots - Supply Depots are built instantly (they are summoned from the sky).

• Micro-Filtering - Refineries and Automated Refineries produce vespene gas 25% faster.

Both of these upgrades are good, though I think the better of a player you are, the more benefit you get out of Micro-Filtering. Gas is the limiting resource at most maps, and this actually lets you get more gas (leading to more units) that you would otherwise not be able to get. This is particularly noticeable during the All-In mission on Brutal mode, particularly if you are making heavy use of Banshees (ground version) or Ghosts (air version).

With that said, Orbital Depots are still good. You can create walls instantly, but this is not as practical as you might imagine versus the computer (as opposed to Multiplayer). It does save building time, but with better planning the saving of time is not that important.

15 Protoss Research Points

• Automated Refinery - Refineries automatically harvest gas with no SCVs.

• Command Center Reactor - You can produce 2 SCVs at once from a single Command Center.

At first, both of these seem really good, but the truth is that Automated Refinery is 100x better. There are multiple benefits of choosing the Automated Refinery over the Command Center Reactor.

The first and primary benefit is that it lets you start getting Vespene Gas early on in the mission. You can use your SCVs to build Refineries the second the mission starts and it is like having an extra 3 SCVs instantly per refinery.

Additionally, since you do not need SCVs on each gas, you save 3 supply and 150 minerals each time you build a Refinery. This really comes in handy on missions like All In, where you can easily hit the supply cap. The extra 9 supplies that would be dedicated to gathering gas can instead be dedicated to 9 supply worth of units to fight the enemy with.

As a final benefit, you can take a 'gas expansion' without actually building a Supply Depot. If there is a vespene geyser, you can build a refinery on it long before you get a Command Center there (if at all) and it will continue to harvest. This is noticeable on any mission where you need extra gas but not minerals (i.e. Supernova).

The Command Center Reactor has an easy replacement as well if you want extra SCVs - building another Command Center. You can build an Orbital Command that in a very short amount of time with the Advanced Construction armory upgrade. This will then pay for itself in just 2 MULEs and then you have double SCV production.

20 Protoss Research Points

• Raven - Gives players access to the Raven. This is a detector unit with auto-turrets, Point Defense Drones, and Seeker Missiles.

• Science Vessel - Gives players access to the Science Vessel. This is a detector unit with the ability to heal mechanical units and use Irradiate.

The Science Vessel is better (no contest) than the Raven for the Campaign. It is the only unit that can heal mechanical units for no resource cost and it has the added benefit of being able to fly. This means that it can be used for flying armies to have the same effect as Medics do in bio balls.

The Science Vessel, due to its ability to fly, can also reach units for repairs that SCVs might not be able to get to, such as a cluster of Siege Tanks that might be unreachable. The Science Vessel can also repair SCVs.

Irradiate is surprisingly useful as well. It is a very cheap ability that can be used to kill Mutalisks, Hydralisks, and Zealots with ease. It works best when placed on a very large unit like an Ultralisk.

25 Protoss Research Points

• Tech Reactor - Combines the functionality of the Tech Lab and Reactor into one add-on.

• Orbital Strike - Barracks units now arrive by drop pod and can be summoned anywhere on the map.

Without a doubt the Tech Reactor is the best add-on here. It saves so much building space and extra resources by allowing you to produce high-tech units two at a time out of a single production facility.

It becomes incredibly useful on the toughest missions in the game because on maps like All In and Gates of Hell, your building space is limited. Getting more production out of less building space makes missions much easier.

Zerg Research Guide

Zerg Research is a little different than Protoss research in that Zerg research seems to primarily introduce new things entirely to the Terran arsenal whereas the Protoss research primarily upgrades your current units and buildings.

5 Research Points

• Shrike Turret - Outfits bunkers with an automated turret that can attack both air and ground units.

• Fortified Bunker - Increases bunker health by 150 life.

Both of these work, but Fortified Bunker is considered the better upgrade. Shrike Turret I believe is under-rated on the earlier missions, since it is a stand-alone defense on many of the earlier missions where you do not face any siege units.

However, All In on brutal mode is definitely the toughest mission in the game and Fortified Bunker is definitely the best choice for that mission, so most players will want to forgo the earlier convenience provided by Shrike Turret for the end-mission boost provided by Fortified Bunker.

10 Research Points

• Planetary Fortress - Command Centers can be upgraded to the Planetary Fortress, an automated defensive structure with extra armor and a ground-based splash attack.

• Perdition Turret - A Flame Turret that sits underground when it is not in combat (SCVs can move over top of it). It attacks with a moderate-range flame that deals splash damage.

Both of these are good, but I prefer the Perdition Turret. The Perdition Turret is really strong against Zerg units and does a lot of damage. It also builds very quickly and is inexpensive. The only downside to the Perdition Turret is that it can be outranged by Hydralisks, Stalkers, Immortals, and Colossi.

Neither building can attack air units. However, you can place a line of Missile Turrets behind a line of Perdition Turrets to solve that problem. Include a few tanks behind the line of missile turrets and they will be able to take out the ranged units that would otherwise outrange the Perdition Turrets.

The best thing about the Perdition Turret over the Planetary Fortress however is that it goes underground when it is not attacking. This makes it so easy for SCVs to repair all the turrets and it also makes it very easy to move units into and out of your base. The Planetary Fortress is bulky and immobile, so you cannot get around it once it is built.

15 Research Points

Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy Guide

• Predator - Anti-Infantry ground unit with a melee attack that has an AoE attack. Seems to work well versus Marines and Zerglings, which limits its usefulness.

• Hercules - Giant flying transport that stores many units and unloads them nearly instantly.

Both of these units are not that good. This is easily the worst research type you come across. There is no reason to use the Predator when a ball of Marines backed up by Medics is just as effective against ground units and the Marines can also take out air units and buildings.

The Hercules is interesting but the value of drop play in single player is very low.

20 Research Points

• Cellular Reactor - Specialist Units start with 100 extra energy and have 100 extra maximum energy.

• Regenerative Bio-Steel - Mechanical units heal very slowly (36 HP per minute).

Most newbie players will pick Regenerative Bio-Steel whereas most advanced players realize that Cellular Reactor is better.

Regenerative Bio-Steel is deceptive because the healing rate is so slow that it is hardly worthwhile. At 36 HP per minute, it takes several minutes for a single mech unit to heal to full (or longer if it is a big unit like a Battlecruiser) - too long for any real usefulness.

The extra energy is very beneficial for all your caster units. Science Vessels can easily drain themselves dry from healing and can always benefit from extra healing capacity. Ghosts and Spectres can significantly benefit from the extra energy, as it lets them front load a lot of damage with Snipe or Psionic Lash right after spawning.

Finally, if you are using Banshees for the ground version of All In, the extra starting energy is awesome since they can cloak for a long time right after being built.

25 Research Points

• Hive Mind Emulator - Builds a tower which can permanently mind-control Zerg units in range.

Best Terran Strategy Starcraft 2

• Psi Disrupter - Slows nearby Zerg units by up to 50% (depends on size).

This is the most important research choice you will make in Starcraft 2. The Hive Mind Emulator may not seem good at first but it is without a doubt the best research upgrade you can get and makes any mission versus Zerg incredibly easy.

The gimmick with the Hive Mind Emulator is that they are cheap to build, you can build an unlimited number of them, the mind control only costs 50 energy, and the mind controlled units are yours to keep and have no supply cost.

This means that on any mission where you fight Zerg, you can build 10 Hive Mind Emulators near where the Zerg player attacks your base, which you can then use to steal any offensive attacks the Zerg player makes. If you do this for a few attacks in a row, you will find yourself with a massive Zerg army that you can then combine with your own army to easily wipe out the computer.

You can go way over 200 supplies worth of units this way as well. On All In, it is possible to steal over 100 enemy Mutalisks and 40 Broodlords!

How to Spend Your Credits: Armory Upgrades & Mercenaries

Players can earn 2,280,000 credits over the course of the Wings of Liberty campaign. This is done by completing every mission in the game before going to Char (including the Piercing the Shroud secret mission) and collecting every single piece of research at every map (extra research points beyond 25 are converted into 10,000 credits per research point).

While this is may seem like a lot of credits, if you hire all of the mercenaries, you only have enough to research about half of the upgrades available to you in the Armory. This guide will examine both the Mercenaries and the Research choices so you can save your credits for the most important upgrades.

Mercenaries in Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty

Before we discuss the actual mercenaries available in Starcraft 2, as a general rule of thumb, mercenaries are amazing. They give you a higher HP, higher damage unit that is produced instantly out of its own building at a resource cost not much different than regular units.

The instant production and regular supply cost of the Mercenaries though is what makes them so valuable. If you are going to max out your army at 200/200, if one army has mercenaries and the other does not, the mercenary army will be better every time due to the extra health and damage.

As a result, if you are going to use a specific unit in your army, you will want to hire the mercenary of that type. In other words, if you ever use Siege Tanks in your army, you definitely want to hire Siege Breakers. However, mercenaries for a unit type you never use such as the Goliath are a lot less useful.

Mercenary Options - What to Pick

Here is a list of the mercenaries, their cost, what they are good for, and whether or not you should spend the credits unlocking them.

War Pig - 4x Elite Marines. Unlocked for free. Can be summoned every 5-minutes in game up to 3 times. Summoning cost is 250 minerals and 4 supplies. These are given to you automatically and are arguably the best Mercenaries in the game given how frequently you will use them. They do not deal that much more damage than regular Marines, but the extra health makes them so survivable that with medic back-up they never die. On missions where you do not use bio, War Pigs are great units to put into bunkers.

Devil Dogs - 2x Elite Firebats. Unlocked for 25,000 credits. Can be summoned every 5 minutes up to two times. Cost is 250 minerals, 75 gas and 4 supplies. In my opinion these are not worth the credits because Firebats are a bad unit for the campaign. Perdition Turrets are better on defense and on offense their melee range gets them way ahead of your medics, leading to their premature death.

Hammer Securities - 2x Elite Marauders. Unlocked for 30,000 credits. Can be summoned every 6 minutes up to two times. Cost is 250 minerals, 75 vespene gas, and 4 supplies. The extra health and damage is very low for the Hammer Securities compared to other mercenaries, but they are still good. Even without the bonus health having the ability to instantly summon two pairs of Marauders in each mission would be good, so any boost in damage is appreciated and worth it. You will use these practically every mission so you definitely want to hire them.

Spartan Company - 2x Elite Goliaths. Unlocked for 40,000 credits. Can be summoned every 6 minutes up to two times. Cost is 300 minerals, 125 vespene gas, and 6 supplies. While these units get a nice health and damage boost, they are still Goliaths, and as a result, I cannot recommend them spending the credits here unless you have nothing else to use them on. The problem with Goliaths is that they are really clumsy, take up a lot of space, and die easily. They do not play well with bio balls or air units, which will make up the bulk of your offensive armies. They are really only good for defense and can be used to sit near Siege Tanks to provide them with air defense. However, Missile Turrets can do the same thing for less resources and no supplies.

Siege Breakers - 2x Elite Siege Tanks. Unlocked for 45,000 credits. Can be summoned every 7 minutes up to two times. Cost is 400 minerals, 200 vespene gas, and 6 supplies. Definitely the best Mercenary in the game as their damage is incredible. The best part about the Siege Breaker though is that you typically only need a pair of them to defend a base, and since most of your armies should be bio or flyers, having this mercenary allows you to skip over the factory entirely. You can summon these on practically every mission to play defense for you.

Hel's Angels - 3x Elite Vikings. Unlocked for 45,000 credits. Can be summoned every 5 minutes up to two times. Cost is 400 minerals, 300 vespene gas, and 6 supplies. These get a nice health and damage bonus over regular Vikings and given that you get 3 instant Vikings, it is a pretty big boost to your army's strength on an instant-click button. Definitely a worthy hire because 3 Hel's Angels can take out most air threats you actually run into during the campaign. Comes in handy during All In if you have the air version.

Dusk Wings - 2x Elite Banshees. Unlocked for 60,000 credits. Can be summoned every 7 minutes up to two times in a mission. The cost is 350 minerals, 200 vespene gas, and 6 supplies. These are really good if you opt for the ground version of 'All In' as these Banshees tear up the Nydus Worms. Otherwise, you might not use Banshees that much, given that you do not unlock these until near the end of the campaign. They are also a good emergency summon if you get attacked when your army is away from your base. You should have the spare credits for them but it is not a must-have.

Jackson's Revenge- 1x Elite Battlecruiser. Unlocked for 80,000 credits. Can be summoned 1 time per mission after 7 minutes. The cost is 400 minerals, 300 vespene gas, and 6 supplies. This is a decent unit, but the 80,000 credit cost makes it a little expensive. You should have the extra credits available if you really want it, but if you made some questionable investments early and only have a limited number of resources to choose from, not getting this mercenary is a good way to cut spending.

Mercenary Must-Haves

To recap, I think that hiring Hammer Securities, Siege Breakers, and Hel's Angels are the only must-have mercenaries. This is a total credit cost of 120,000 credits. Optional hires are the Dusk Wings and Jackson's Revenge, which could take on another 140,000 credits for 380,000 total being spent on mercenaries.

Armory Upgrades Guide - Where to Spend Your Credits

There are 5 different categories of upgrades available in the armory: Base, Infantry, Vehicles, Starships, and Dominion.

Base Upgrades

The Base Upgrades is the only section where you will always want to buy every single upgrade. This will run a total of 575,000 credits, but all the upgrades are good and should always be purchased. They are:

• Projectile Accelerator - 40,000 credits. Causes units in Bunkers to gain +1 range. This is a nice upgrade because it makes units in bunkers more effective.

• Neosteel Bunker - 50,000 credits. Increases the number of slots in a Bunker by 2. This is a big upgrade because it makes the offensive capacity of Bunkers 50% higher (or more if you use Marines + Medic).

• Titanium Housing - 50,000 credits. Increases the amount of life your Missile Turrets have by 75. An easy choice for an upgrade given how good Missile Turrets are against Mutalisks.

• Hellstorm Batteries - 80,000 credits. Gives the Missile Turrets a second attack that does splash damage. This significantly boosts the damage of Missile Turrets, shredding light units like Mutalisks instantly.

• Fire-Suppression System - 90,000 credits. Terran buildings no longer burn down and will automatically repair themselves to 50% life. This will save many buildings if you do not have any SCVs nearby to repair them.

• Orbital Command - 125,000 credits. It may seem expensive, but you cannot beat the ability to summon MULEs (each one is worth 270 minerals). Scanner Sweep is nice too, but the MULEs are the real prize here.

• Advanced Construction - 60,000 credits. Multiple SCVs can be used to construct a single building, speeding up its construction time at no extra cost. This is really nice for getting up new production facilities or expanding. You can pull 8 SCVs to a new expansion and then have them all build the Orbital Command expansion there in about 15 seconds for an instant expansion. Also works well when combined with Automated Refinery.

• Dual-Fusion Workers - 80,000 credits. Causes SCVs to repair twice as quickly. This is a must-have, particularly at missions where you need a lot of repairing like All In.

Infantry Upgrades

I only recommend getting half of the upgrades of the 10 available here: Stimpacks, Combat Shield, Stabilizer Medpacks, Concussive Shells, and Kinetic Foam for a total cost of 375,000 credits. Here is the list of all the available Infantry armory upgrades:

• Stimpacks - 50,000 credits. Grants access to the Stimpack ability. This causes Marines to take 10 damage in order to move and attack 50% faster for 15 seconds. With medic support, this damage is negligible. Additionally, Marines in Bunkers can use Stim Packs, and if you place a single Medic inside the Bunker with the Marines, the Medic will heal the stimmed Marines. This is a must-have upgrade.

• Combat Shield - 60,000 credits. Increases Marine health by 10. This is a must-have upgrade as it makes Marines so much more survivable, especially since it replaces the health lost by Stimpacks.

• Advanced Medic Facilities - 60,000 credits. Causes Medics to no longer need a Tech Lab on the Barracks. This lets you make 2x Medics at a time out of a Barracks with a Reactor on it. Definitely a waste of credits though because this technology is rendered obsolete by the Tech Reactor Protoss technology.

• Stabilizer Medpacks - 105,000 credits. Causes Medics to heal 25% faster while spending 33% less energy on healing. This is an amazing upgrade and a must-have. It is so noticeable and your bio balls will live so much longer with this upgrade. You cannot beat extra output.

• Incinerator Gauntlets - 40,000 credits. Gives Firebats a 40% larger attack area. Waste of money since Firebats are terrible.

• Juggernaut Plating - 85,000 credits. Gives Firebats +2 armor. Waste of money since Firebats are worthless.

• Concussive Shells - 70,000 credits. Marauder attacks slow all units in the target area. Definitely worthwhile and you will use it throughout all the early missions and even into the late ones. This snare lets you kite with Marines/Marauders. It also makes your defense more effective if you place a Marauder or two in Bunkers in order to snare incoming enemies.

• Kinetic Foam - 90,000 credits. Increases Marauder health by 25. Definitely want to pick this up as well given that Marauders are used so frequently.

• U-238 Rounds - 60,000 credits. Gives Reapers +1 range and +3 additional damage to light targets. This is a fun upgrade to get if you want to use Reapers, but it is kind of a waste of credits in the long run as Reapers are not used much late in the campaign.

• G-4 Clusterbomb - 75,000 credits. Gives the Reaper an small charge which blows up to deal damage to ground units. Similar to Spider Mines, but honestly worse - waste of credits in my book.

Vehicle Upgrades

Most of the vehicle upgrades are a waste of credits. The only ones I recommend getting are the Siege Tank upgrades Maelstrom Rounds (105,000 credits) and Shaped Blast (140,000 credits) for a total investment of 245,000 credits.

Here is the list of available upgrades:

• Twin-Linked Flamethrower - 40,000 credits. Doubles the width of the Hellion's flame attack. Worthless since Hellions are no good in the campaign - the computer uses too many Spine Crawlers and Roaches for Hellions to be viable.

• Thermite Filaments - 60,000 credits. Hellions deal an additional +10 damage to light armor. Worthless because Hellions are worthless.

• Cerberus Mine - 50,000 credits. Increases spider mine blast and trigger radius by 33%. Sort of a waste of credits but could be a fun/interesting combo when paired with Replenishable Magazine. Definitely not needed however.

• Replenishable Magazine - 60,000 credits. Allows Vultures to train more Spider Mines for 15 minerals each. Again, this upgrade is not mandatory, but it could be useful if you want to make a few Vultures to just lay Spider Mines on defense missions.

• Multi-Lock Weapons System - 50,000 credits. Allows the Goliath to fire at ground and air units at the same time. This is a huge damage boost for the Goliath, but only if you like using Goliaths. I find them too clumsy to micro appropriately so I tend to skip this upgrade. Goliaths can be good however on air defense missions like the air version of 'All In'.

• ARES-Class Targeting System - 80,000 credits. Gives the Goliath +3 missile range and +1 cannon range. Once again, this is an amazing upgrade, but only if you want to use Goliaths. If you do not use Goliaths do not get this upgrade.

• Tri-Lithium Power Cells - 75,000 credits. Gives Diamondbacks +1 range. This is too expensive for a unit with little use. This however would be a really cool upgrade to have in multiplayer, but does not serve much purpose in the campaign.

• Shaped Hull - 90,000 credits. +50 max health for Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks still are not very good though for most missions and are still too fragile for the supply and resource cost in my opinion.

• Maelstrom Rounds - 105,000 credits. Causes the primary target of a Siege Tank's blast in Siege Mode to take 40 extra damage. Does not effect splash damage. This is a must-have upgrade no matter what your playstyle as it sends Siege Tank damage off the charts.

• Shaped Blast - 140,000 credits. Reduces Siege Tank splash damage by 75% to friendly units. This is another must-have upgrade as it prevents your Siege Tanks from killing off your own units and structures (with the reduced damage, medics and SCVs should be able to handle the splash damage).

Starship Upgrades

Starship upgrades are very expensive and can easily drain your credit pools if you are not careful. The only mandatory upgrades depend on what version of All In you choose. If you have the ground version, you will want both Banshee upgrades (Cross-Spectrum Dampeners and Shockwave Missile Battery) whereas if you have the air version you will want both Viking upgrades (Ripwave Missiles and Phobos-Class Weapons System). The Viking upgrades run 165,000 credits whereas the Banshee upgrades run 190,000 credits.

Here is the list:

• Rapid Deployment Tube - 50,000 credits. Causes the Medivac to unload units nearly instantly. Not worth it since Medivacs are largely irrelevant thanks to the higher output Medic.

• Advanced Healing AI - 115,000 credits. Allows the Medivac to heal two targets at once. Once again, this is a waste of credits since the higher HP/second output of the Medic is stronger than the Medivac.

• Tomahawk Power Cells - 80,000 credits. Causes Wraiths to start with +100 energy. Wraiths are not that useful so this is a waste of credits.

• Displacement Field - 125,000 credits. When a Wraith is cloaked, it will automatically dodge 20% of incoming attacks. Wraiths are still bad though so ignore this upgrade.

• Ripwave Missiles - 75,000 credits. Causes the Viking's anti-air attack to deal splash damage. This gives the Viking undisputed air superiority, as light units like the Mutalisk otherwise are able to defeat Vikings.

• Phobos-Class Weapons System - 90,000 credits. Vikings gain +2 range on their air attack and +1 range on their ground attack. This makes Vikings an anti-air siege flyer and is a huge upgrade.

• Cross-Spectrum Dampeners - 80,000 credits. Allows Banshees to stay cloaked for twice as long (halves cost of energy drain from being cloaked). Good for the 'All In' Nydus worm version where you make heavy use of cloaked Banshees.

• Shockwave Missile Battery - 110,000 credits. Causes Banshee attacks to deal damage in a straight line. This is a nice damage pick-up, especially if your micro is good. Good for the Banshee on All In, but otherwise, Banshees are not frequently used.

• Missile Pods - 140,000 credits. Gives the Battlecruiser access to the missile pod ability, which deals splash damage to air units. A waste of credits since it costs energy - better off using Defensive Matrix (if you have it) or Yamato Cannon.

• Defensive Matrix - 150,000 credits. Gives the Battlecruiser access to the Defensive Matrix ability, a skill which costs energy and creates a shield that absorbs 200 damage that lasts for 10 seconds. Not bad, but kind of expensive for a unit you do not get until the end of the game. Definitely optional.

Dominion Upgrades

Dominion Tech upgrades are all decent, and I recommend getting the Ghost/Spectre upgrades no matter what (210,000-225,000 credit cost, depending on whether you have the Ghost or Spectre). The Thor upgrades are optional.

• Ocular Implants - 85,000 credits. Gives the Ghost +2 range and +3 sight. This is better than it looks because it makes the Ghost amazing when placed in a Bunker. It is effectively an anti-ground and anti-air siege unit.

• Crius Suit - 125,000 credits. Ghost's cloak no longer costs energy. This is an amazing, under-rated ability. This lets you put a few Ghosts around your base on any mission that are permanently cloaked that can defend you against anything. You can use Snipe to pick off Overseers and Scanner Sweep to find and kill Observers, at which point your Ghosts are unstoppable on defense. It also frees up energy for Snipe.

• Psionic Lash - 100,000 credits. Gives the Spectre an ability which deals 200 damage to a single target. This is a really nice skill as it lets the Spectre blow up just about any unit. You should have plenty of energy for it as well if you get the Nyx-Class Cloaking Module.

• Nyx-Class Cloaking Module - 125,000 credits. Cloaking with the Spectre no longer costs energy. As mentioned in the Crius Suit bullet point, this is an amazing ability, as it allows your Spectres to stay permanently cloaked. You can leave a few of these cloaked in your base on defense and you can defend against virtually any attack if you are quick about using Psionic Lash to take out detectors.

• 330mm Barrage Cannon - 130,000 credits. Causes the Thor's cannon attack to stun the primary target and deals area of effect damage. This is not bad if you can get it off against Kerrigan, because even though she moves while stunned, she cannot cast spells while stunned. The only downside though is that Kerrigan can 1-shot Thors with her special lifting attack and their slow movement speed makes it hard to use.

• Immortality Protocol - 140,000 credits. A destroyed Thor becomes wreckage which will rebuild itself very quickly for 200 vespene gas. This is an interesting upgrade if you use Thors and has a lot of cheesy applications considering if the wreckage is not attacked, the Thor will restore itself with full HP.

Total Cost of Mandatory Upgrades & Mercenaries

Adding up the cost of the upgrades and mercenaries that I would consider mandatory, you will need to spend 1,690,000-1,730,000 (depending on mission choices) credits out of the 2,280,000 credits you have to spend. This gives you 500,000-550,000 credits left over to spend on whatever you want - it is personal preference. This way if you accidentally pick something that is not very useful, you will have plenty of credits left over to get the things you really need.

Starcraft 2 Guide --> Starcraft 2 Terran Guide --> Terran Strategy (you are here)

In this section on Terran strategy, we will cover the most common and most effective Terran tactics used versus each race in Starcraft 2.

In addition to specifics, this strategy page will also reveal general Terran strategies that can be used successfully against all races.

Terran players tend to have a bit more control over the course of the game than other races, as Terrans use their defensive nature to secure their expansions, building up until the precise moment they are ready to push out and attack.

Table of Contents

Terran vs Protoss Strategy
Terran vs Terran Strategy
Terran vs Zerg Strategy
General Terran Strategies
Additional Terran Strategies

Below, you will find an overview of the strategies that Terrans use for each race match-up. Additionally, each match-up has its own page where more detail is provided, which is linked to in its corresponding section. In the Additional Terran Strategies section, you will find links to articles on general Terran strategies that have their own guide but do not belong specifically to a certain race match-up.

Terran vs Protoss Strategy

Full Guide: Terran vs Protoss Strategy

Terran vs Protoss is not an impossible match-up for Terran players when you understand the basic strategies and dynamic behind the match-up.

The early game can be quite hectic on smaller maps. If the Terran tries to play economically, Protoss players often go for early aggression with Stalkers and the Mothership Core or for a fast Oracle (or even both). These attacks can be very difficult to defend. One option is for Terran players to take matters into their own hands and use a proxy Factory with Widow Mines to take advantage of the length of time it takes for Protoss players to get out detection. Another option is to get out early defensive Widow Mines, Marines, and a Bunker or two to help secure the natural expansion from early attack.

Once you succesfully make it out of the hectic early game, things look a lot brighter for the Terran player. The key thing you have to understand is that the upgraded Marine, Marauder, and Medivac combination (heavy on the Marines) is strong versus nearly all Protoss unit combinations. Marine/Marauder/Medivac does well against any combination of Zealots, Sentries, Stalkers, Immortals, Void Rays, Oracles, Dark Templar (assuming detection is present) and Phoenix.

There are only 4 units which represent a threat to Terran bio: the Archon, the High Templar, the Colossus, and the Carrier. All you have to do as a Terran player is to kill these dangerous units first without letting them deal too much damage to your bio army. Once these powerful units are destroyed, your bio army can easily clean up any remaining units the enemy has left.

Archons and High Templar can be crushed by Ghosts thanks to EMP and Snipe. The Colossus can be handled with Vikings. Carriers are weak against well-microed Vikings. Since Carriers are so expensive and take so long to build, it is extremely rare to see more than a few of them at a time, so you may not even need to switch out of bio but instead just add on a few Vikings.

Most Terran players that lose to the dreaded 'Protoss Deathball' do so because they fail to get Ghosts to counter enemy Archons and High Templar. If the enemy is using Archons and High Templar and you are using bio, you must get Ghosts or you are going to be fighting an uphill battle.

Terran vs Terran Strategy

Full Guide: Terran vs Terran Strategy Cast android screen to tv via usb.

Terran vs Terran is similar to TvP in that the early game has a lot of viable strategies in the early game, but the match typically settles by the mid to late game. Terran players can open with fast expansions or early aggression. Early aggression may include proxy Reapers, drops, or even a Banshee rush.

The most popular form of early aggression is opening with 1 Barracks, 1 Factory, and 1 Starport (known as the 1/1/1 opener), getting out a fast Medivac, and filling that Medivac with some combination of Marines, Hellions, and Hellbats.

Many times a single Medivac is responsible for liting multiple trips worth of units into the enemy base. For example, 8 Marines, 4 Hellions, and 1 Medivac may run across the map (the Marines carried inside the Medivac, the Hellions on the ground following along) to right outside the enemy's base. The Marines are dropped inside the enemy's base in a hidden location on the outskirts. The Hellions are then picked up and dropped off next to the Marines. The units do not actually reveal themselves until they are all unloaded inside the enemy's base.

While some players stick to bio all-game long, Mech and Air-based play is superior in the mid to late game. All other factors aside, you can often predict who will win a game of Starcraft 2 solely based on the number of Siege Tanks and Vikings owned by each player. The player with more Siege Tanks and Vikings wins much more often than not, even if the other player has a larger army that uses other units like Marines.

Siege Tanks are so strong because Terran has no ground-based counter for them. Hellbats are sort of melee units but are too slow to get in range of a large number of Siege Tanks. Some players load up Medivacs with Hellbats and try to drop them on tank lines. If you have a superior number of Vikings, this strategy is easily stopped, as Vikings will target enemy Medivacs.

In the late game, full Terran air armies of Battlecruisers, Vikings, and Ravens can trump a Tank/Viking build, but it takes a long time and a lot of resources to get out such an army.

Terran vs Zerg Strategy

Full Guide: Terran vs Zerg Strategy

Terran vs Zerg is the most iconic match-up in the Starcraft series and perhaps the most varied. While Zerg players often stick to the Zergling, Baneling, and Mutalisk combination for the bulk of the early to mid game, Terran players can successfully opt for a variety of builds and strategies.

Terran players that want to be very aggressive can pump out early Marines or Reapers out of 2 Barracks and attempt to build a Bunker at the opponent's natural expansion before the inevitable Hatchery spreads its creep. Even if this attack fails, the Terran is hardly in a bad position, and can fall back to their own expansion that they could have secured during the attack.

Terran players can opt for a variety of builds in TvZ and do well with all of them. Full bio builds, Bio-Mech Builds, full mech builds, and even transitions into air in the late game have all been successfully used by pros and top amateurs alike to win games against Zerg.

One of the best strategies used by top level Terran players to secure wins reliably against Zerg is to play the 'deny game'. Once the Zerg begins to try to take their 4th and 5th expansion, the Terran player can constantly attack the new Hatchery within its first few minutes of life. Just 2 Medivacs full of Marines and Marauders can use Stimpack, quickly run in and burst down the Hatchery, then run out before the Zerg can do anything about it.

It is very hard for the Zerg player to secure their fifth base. Usually the fourth and fifth base are located very far apart from one another. If the Zerg's forces are at the fourth base and the fifth base is being constructed, the Terran may attack the base under construction and stop it from going up. If the Zerg's forces move to the fifth base, then the fourth base is vulnerable to attack. If the Zerg splits their army between the two bases, the Terran can attack with their full forces, easily defeating half of the Zerg army and taking out one of the expansions in the process.

General Terran Strategies

Terran players have a variety of strategies that can be used against all race match-ups in Starcraft 2. Below, you will find five great tactics that you can use in any match-up.

The Macro CC

One of the top Terran strategies that separates the top-ranked amateurs and pros from the bulk of the Terran playing population is the use of the 'macro CC' (or macro Orbital Command - but if you read the term 'macro CC' on a forum you can safely assume they mean Orbital Command. This involves building a very quick third Orbital Command (with one already at the main and natural expansion) and using it for SCV and MULE production.

The trick is that the macro CC is built inside the main base, not at the third expansion. It will take several minutes of production to fully saturate the main and the natural with SCVs and the macro CC can contribute SCVs and MULEs to both bases during this time. 4d video maker.

The reason this works so well is that it is like getting a fast third base from an income perspective without actually having to risk the Orbital Command and SCVs getting attacked by the opponent. The third base is much more vulnerable to attack than the natural expansion or main base. By keeping the Orbital Command inside your main, it is protected from enemy assault.

As soon as both the main and natural expansions are saturated and you have enough resources to defend it, you can lift of the macro CC and land it at the third base. You can then transfer some workers over from the main and the natural and focus on dropping MULEs at the new base, giving you an instant third expansion.

This same tactic also works when it comes to taking any expansion. You can build the CC in your base and lift it off and move it to the expansion of your choice whenever you are ready.

Even though your Orbital Command is relatively safe in the early game being inside your main base, investing those extra minerals in a third Orbital Command takes about 2 minutes to pay off. During that 2 minute window, you may be a bit vulnerable to attack. A few well-placed Siege Tanks and Widow Mines (discussed below) can help protect you from a larger enemy force.

Siege Tank & Widow Mine Placement

The positioning of your Siege Tanks and Widow Mines is very important in Starcraft 2. There are several things to consider when positioning these units.

Siege Tanks should be spread out by at least a couple of 'units' of range when possible. Three Siege Tanks that are all clustered together are more vulnerable than those that are more spread out. If the tanks are all on top of one another, they will be easier for units with shorter ranges to kill. This is especially the case for melee units like Zealots - by reducing the run distance between each target and allowing the Zealot to get in minimum range, the Siege Tanks are more vulnerable. Additionally, spreading out your Siege Tanks prevents a single Blinding Cloud from hitting multiple tanks.

Widow Mines on the other hand do not need to be spread out. They can be spread out, but it is okay if they are not spread out as well. Spreading out the mines means that they will cover more area, but the strength of their attack will be lessened. Sometimes you might want to keep ~4 Widow Mines clustered if you are trying to bait an enemy army into the mines. The splash damage from 4 mines is 160 damage, which is enough to kill off most 1-3 supply units in Starcraft 2.

Note that Widow Mines do not deal friendly splash damage to one another, so you do not have to worry about that if you are clustering your mines. However, you do have to worry about clustering your mines if you are using them inside your base for the defense of your mineral lines. Do not put one Widow Mine within range of another, as the splash damage from two Widow Mines is enough to kill an SCV. Spread out your defensive mines if you are protecting against drops or air harass so you do not destroy your own SCVs unintentionally.

On defense, due to its long range, the Siege Tank can be placed far in the back or even on the high ground. A good strategy when trying to protect yourself from an early attack when you go for a macro CC is to place a Siege Tank or two on the high ground of your main base near your natural expansion. This Siege Tank will be able to hit units attacking the front door of your natural expansion, but due to the fact it is on the high ground, the tank will be protected from enemy attacks at the natural. A single tank on the high ground can ward off 10+ Roaches.

When used defensively, Widow Mines should be placed out in front or directly behind your Supply Depot wall. They only have a range of 5, so if they are much further back, they will not proc while the enemy is breaking down your Supply Depots. Using Widow Mines much further back on defense is a risky proposition, as Widow Mines can deal significant splash damage to your own units. It is best to let them proc first by sticking them in front of your base.

On offense, the positioning situations reverse between these two units. Your Siege Tanks need to be kept close to your main army. Siege Tanks in the open field are very vulnerable to being flanked by melee units like Zerglings and Zealots as well as air units like Mutalisks or Banshees.

Widow Mines on the other hand do great when positioned far behind your army, particularly if you are using bio forces. The splash damage from Widow Mines can deal massive damage to your bio army, so it is best to keep some distance between the two when possible. When you are ready, you can use Stimpack to run away from your enemy's forces, running over top of your Widow Mines, and completely passing them before stopping. If your opponent bites, their army will walk right over top of your mine field!

The Early Reaper

A very popular Terran strategy in Heart of the Swarm is to open with a fast Reaper. Unlike the Reapers of Wings of Liberty, players do not get out a Reaper in HotS merely to kill enemy workers. You may kill a few enemy workers with a fast Reaper if you have good micro, particularly at the low level, but among top players, getting more than 1-2 Drone kills with a Reaper opener is rare.

Instead, the early Reaper serves to provide scouting information and map control for the Terran. Reapers are very fast, and when microed, can defeat a Marine, a Zealot, any worker, or several Zerglings in combat. This allows the Reaper to pick off all early scouting units that your enemy could possibly produce.

The Reaper is also very fast and can jump up and down cliffs. Once you take down your enemy's scout, you can get a full scout of your opponent by jumping up into their base and then using your Reaper to scout every nook and cranny of the opponent's base, ignoring their units that are inevitably trying to chase down your Reaper as you scout. You can then pull the Reaper back to the Xel'Naga Tower and continue to pick off any scouting units that pop into your vision on the mini-map.

The Hellbat Drop

With the release of Heart of the Swarm, Hellbat drops have become very common, and for good reason. Hellbats deal splash damage and can two-shot workers thanks to their bonus damage to light units. A mineral line can be cleared out by two Hellbats in less than 10 seconds, resulting in a devastating blow for the opponent.

Most players ranked in the Gold league or higher have seen Hellbat drops so many times now that Hellbat drops are easily defended if you just perform a single drop during downtime. Instead, you need some sort of distraction to attract the enemy's attention so that your Hellbats get more uptime before the enemy pulls his workers away.

The easiest way to engineer a distraction is to just use multiple drops at the same time. This is called a 'dual-prong' or 'multi-prong' drop. If the opponent has a main base and a natural expansion, send 1 Medivac to the main to unload 2 Hellbats and send 1 Medivac to the natural expansion and unload 2 Hellbats.

You ideally want there to be a couple seconds of lag between the two drops. This gives your opponent a few seconds to shift his attention to the main, making it easier for him to miss the second drop. If you perform the drops at the same time, both events will appear on the mini-map at the same time, and your opponent will be more likely to realize what is really happening. Regardless of the timing, it does take time for your opponent to send units to both bases to clean up the attack as well as micro both sets of workers away, so a dual-pronged drop is always more effective than just a single drop!

Another way to distract your opponent is to move out with your main army. If you move your primary forces to the center of the map and start edging your Siege Tanks forward like you are ready to attack, your opponent's attention will be focused on responding to your advances. They will arrange their troops to counter your movements, pulling out all their forces from their deep bases and moving their units to the front lines. This makes the main and natural very vulnerable to drops.

If you actually attack in the center, the opponent's attention will certainly not be focused on your drop. If you trade armies or even get away with small losses in the center of the map, oftentimes you can come out way ahead if you executed a dual-pronged drop during the chaos of battle. Killing off 30+ workers in this manner can lead to a victory for the Terran player.

The reason Hellbat drops are so effective though is that they are so cheap to pull off. Hellbats only cost 100 minerals a piece. Two Hellbats and a Medivac only runs 300 minerals and 100 gas total. For two drops, this is 600 minerals and 200 gas.

Given that you can typically save the Medivacs even if the Hellbats die, you are only risking 200 minerals per drop. You only need to kill a few workers to make this worthwhile, particularly due to the fact that Terrans have extra minerals to spend thanks to the MULE. You can literally drop a dozen times in a game with 10 of those drops failing and still come out ahead by performing those drops.

It only takes 1 really effective Hellbat drop to turn the tide of a game. Even if your first 5 drops fail, if the 6th drop is a big success, the opponent can lose the game. Even if none of your drops work out, you lose so little resources with each drop that you do not fall far behind that far behind in a game.

Learn to Love the Raven

The Raven is an excellent spellcaster that Terran players can use against all opponents. Great players make frequent use of the Raven, whereas lower-ranked players are not able to get much use out of this powerful unit. Since this unit was buffed in Heart of the Swarm, it has become stronger than ever. If you have not been using it, it is about time to learn the basic strategies behind using this unit effectively in battle.

The Raven has three abilities: Point Defense Drone, Seeker Missile, and Build Auto Turret.

Point Defense Drone (PDD) is a ridiculously powerful and underused ability. This ability builds a tiny flying 'structure' that is capable of absorbing 20+ missile attacks. Missile attacks are attacks which have a flying projectile that has a travel time. For example, it does not absorb Marine attacks (you cannot see Marine bullets being fired and Marine attacks hit instantly), but it does absorb the shells fired by the Marauder (which have a very short travel time before the attacks actually hit their target). Lasers with no travel time like possessed by the Void Ray and Colossus are not affected by PDD.

A single PDD spawns with 50 HP and 200 energy. For the cost of 10 energy, it can absorb one attack (the '2 attacks' of the Phoenix will drain 20 energy total). This means that 1 PDD can absorb 20 Marauder shots, 10 Viking attacks, 20 Mutalisk attacks, 20 Hydralisk attacks, 20 Corruptor attacks, or 20 Stalker attacks. This is a huge amount of damage, making the PDD a great choice any time the enemy makes use of units that use missile attacks.

The PDD will also regenerate energy over time like any spellcaster. If it burns off all its energy but is not destroyed, it will slowly recovery its energy. The structure lasts for 3 minutes, so the PDD can theoretically block 30+ attacks in its lifespan.

The PDD only has 50 HP, but killing it is not easy. It is classified as flying, so it cannot actually be hit by melee attacks. Most attacks that can hit air units are considered missile attacks, meaning the PDD absorbs them for just 10 energy a piece rather than taking damage. The PDD does have a few weaknesses though, namely laser attacks that hit air (Void Ray, Archon) as well as Feedback or Psionic Storm.

Seeker Missile spawns a very powerful missile that hones in on the enemy target. It is hard to avoid, especially when used on a slow unit. Many units are unable to easily escape from this attack. At the cost of just 75 energy, even if the enemy successfully pulls away most of their units from the targeted enemy, even just getting 1 kill off on the target is often worth it.

Seeker Missiles are great versus clustered flying units as well as ranged ground-based armies like Roaches, Hydralisks, Stalkers, Sentries, and the like. Be careful about using Seeker Missile on melee units - Seeker Missile deals heavy splash damage, and you would not want it to explode on your own forces.

Build Auto Turret spawns an automated turret on the ground which has a decent amount of HP and DPS. For the cost, it is quite a strong unit. There are a lot of great uses for this ability if you can actually use it. Unlike the Seeker Missile which can be fired from range, the Auto Turret itself can only be built 3 range units away from the Raven. You have to expose the Raven to attack if you want to drop one on the enemy's forces. Since it is stationary, if the enemy simple avoids it, the turret is not doing any good either.

This ability is frequently used in TvT when one Terran wants to break a tank line. Auto Turrets can be built in the dead space between your Siege Tanks and your enemy's Siege Tanks when you want to make an attack. The Auto Turrets will soak up the initial volleys from the enemy's Siege Tanks, allowing you to move into contested space without letting your opponent get 1-2 Siege Tank volleys off before you even attack.

Auto Turrets also do well if you can place them on top of the enemy's tanks. Not only will the turret attack the Siege Tanks, but other enemy tanks will attack the Auto Turret, dealing friendly fire splash damage to their own Siege Tanks in the process. Of course, this only works when you have air superiority - if the enemy has Vikings, they will shoot down your Raven before it gets close enough to the tanks to drop an auto turret.

Additional Terran Strategies

Below, you will find links to guides on specific strategies that you can use against each race. These guides may cover everything from certain rushes or openers to late game strategies. I plan to add to this section over time, so bookmark this page and regularly for additional strategies.

MMM - 'MMM' is the common abbreviation for Marines, Medivacs, and Marauders. A common Terran army composition, this guide discusses how to balance this army composition, which units to add on as support, and how to effectively control this army in battle.

Banshee Rush - While not as popular as it was in Wings of Liberty, the Banshee rush is still an effective strategy in Starcraft 2. It is most commonly used against Zerg and Terran players, as Widow Mines are now the preferred early cloaked unit to use against Protoss.

Reaper Rush (TvT) - Whether you decide to proxy the Barracks or build it in your base, getting very fast Reapers in TvT is one of the more reliable fast rushes in Starcraft 2. Rushing to a Reaper allows you to get out a Reaper at around the time the first enemy Marine is finished, and 1 Reaper beats 1 Marine. From there, it is a micro war as the rusher tries to get out enough Reapers to overrun the enemy before the enemy can get up to Hellions.

Mass Reapers (TvZ) - Updated for HotS! Wireless webcam for facetime. Mass Reapers can once again work in TvZ, at least against average players. While good Zerg players still stop this build, it is really fun to use in unranked matches if you are looking for something new and exciting.

Formerly Effective Terran Strategies

I have moved Terran strategies and guides that were once effective to the section below. For example, years ago I wrote a guide for the Viking rush, which was a great strategy to use in the early Wings of Liberty. However, some time after I wrote the guide, Viking ground damage was noticeably reduced, rending this tactic much less effective. While it is no longer a strong tactic, I will leave these former guides up for players looking for something fun tactics to test out in unranked matches. These outdated Terran strategies are listed below. The previous sections all contain up to date strategies, so you do not have to worry about which guides are up to date and which ones are not.

Viking Rush - The Viking Rush was another early Wings of Libery strategy that was eventually nerfed. When in Assault Mode, the Viking's attack against ground units used to be quite powerful. Flying Vikings into the enemy's expansion, landing them, and destroying a bunch of workers was a common strategy. Due to the damage nerf, this build lost effectiveness and as a result fell out of favor amongst Terran players.

Terran Strategy - Summary

No matter whether you consider yourself a bio or a mech Terran player, there are a lot of great strategies and unit combinations that you can successfully use as as Terran player in Starcraft 2. I will be adding more strategies to this section over time, so be sure to check back regularly for updates!