Here we go with the second part of my Starcraft 2 Terran guide!
In the first part I discussed the positive and negative sides of the Terran race. Now I would like to talk about the different units in the Terran arsenal and in what situation you should use them, what their general strengths and weaknesses are. So, let us start!
Worker unit
- SCV (Space constructing vehicle)
The SCV is the terran worker unit. It can collect minerals and vespene gas.
However, there has to be a Command Center nearby in order to receive the minerals.
Barracks units (Infantry)
- Marine
The Marine is the most basic Terran unit, but can be effectively used throughout the game. It is healable and dropable by Medivacs and has a high attack speed, so it is ideal for killing workers in a drop. Also, the marine is capable of attacking air units, making it a great allround infantry unit. Stimpack is available, making the Marine attack 50% faster and move 50% faster as well.
- Marauder
An anti-armored unit with great mobility and smashing attack? May I introduce to you, the Marauder. It can be healed by Medivacs, just like the marine and can use Stimpacks, which give the Marauder a 50% attack speed and movement speed increase, making it mobile and strong at the same time!
- Reaper
A fast fighter with the ability to jump up and down small cliffs is found in the reaper. It is pretty costly and fragile, but can decimate workers and undefended buildings in the blink of an eye, thus making it a good harass unit.
- Ghost
The first Terran caster which is available after you built a Ghost academy. It has a moderate movement speed and can attack ground and air units. There are four abilities the ghost can cast.
The first is the Sniper round. Instantly dealing 45 damage, ignoring armor, it proves itself to be good at fighting big units, such as Ultralisks and Broodlords. However it can only be casted on Biological units!
Then we have the EMP. A shock wave that instantly removes 100 energy and 100 shields from any unit it hits. Can be used with great success against Protoss and casters in general. It also detects cloaked units if casted on their current position.
The third ability is the Ghost’s personal cloaking field. If activated, the Ghost becomes invisible as long as he still has energy. Cloak consumes 0.9 energy per second, so it can’t be casted infinitely!
A nuclear warhead may be called down by a ghost. It is rather rarely seen, as it takes 20 seconds to deploy, leaving your opponent enough time to react accordingly. Of course you can drop several nukes at the same time, confusing your opponent, as it is quite hard to find the little red dot indicating the nuke’s final destination.
- Factory units
- Helion
The fastest Terran unit with splash damage and bonus damage against light. The Helion can decimate larger groups of Marines/Zealots and Zerglings in no time, but is very fragile if up against armored units, such as the Marauder, the roach or the Stalker. Also, Helions do really well against Workers, as all worker units are light, rather than armored. All these attributes make the Helion another great harass unit, but unlike the reaper it can be used along with other units throughout the game to great effect!
- Siege Tank
The siege tank does additional damage to armored units and, when deployed in siege mode, it does splash damage (e.g. hitting more then one unit at the same time, if clumped up). It is good against almost every ground-unit, but has no anti-air defense, so it has to be accompanied by marines or vikings to be effective. As Terrans don’t have any stationary defense, the siege tank might serve as one in some situation, because you can repair it with SCVs and it does great damage to any small unit packs.
- Thor
A lonesome Thor-driver shouts “Thor is here!!!” when his little toy is finally coming out of the factory and is “ready to roll” :D!
The Thor is a mechanical Terran unit that has an outstanding ground attack and does splash damage against air units. With its 400 HP it has a great sustainability, so you can let Thors tank the damage while Marines for example to the damage to your opponent. There is a close synergy between the Thor and the units it is accompanied with.
- Starport units
- Viking
The Viking is an air-to-air fighter with additional damage to armored units and a superior range to all other air-to-air units, making microing a must! It is good against almost every air unit, except for the Mutalisk and, to an extend, the Phoenix.
- Banshee
The Banshee is the complement to the Viking, because it has only an air-to-ground attack. It is good in early and lategame to kill workers at undefended bases, because of its ability to cloak (same cloak that the Ghost has, it needs to be researched as well). In a straight-up fight Banshees die rather quickly. However one Banshee can take out one Queen and one Stalker with ease, which are the most commonly seen counter-units in early game.
- Raven
The second Terran caster is the Raven. It has four abilities it can use.
The first is a passive ability. The Raven detects every cloaked unit around it, so it is often-times needed if your opponent went for some sort of DT or Banshee build. Of course the Scan serves the same purpose, but it is limited in use!
The Auto-Turret is an attacking tower that lasts for 180 seconds (270 with its uprade). Each Auto-Turret consumes 50 of the 200 maximum energy a raven can ever get. It is able to attack both, air and ground targets with a high attack speed, so there are some ways to harass with it.
The Point Defense Drone (short: PDD) blocks incoming projectiles of quite a lot of units (Marauder, Banshee, Viking, Battlecruiser, Queen, Hydralisk, Mutalisk, Corrupter, Broodlord, Stalker, Phoenix, Carriers), but it is limited in energy. Every PDD costs the Raven 100 Energy.
The last ability is the Hunter Seeker Missile. It deals 125 splash damage, but it needs some time until it detonates (it is hard to explain, you better go watch it in a real game). It is rarely used as it consumes 125 energy.
- Medivac
The Terran transporter, the “Medivac”, can load up to 8 units and deploy them at a location you like. Also it can heal biological units, while using its energy. Used often in bio-heavy armies.
- Battlecruiser
With 550 HP and a base armor of 3 the Battlecruiser is the beefiest Terran unit and can withstand massive amounts of damage taken. However, it takes quite a long time to build and is rather slow in movement, making it a lategame unit. Once they are out, you have to protect them with other units, because Battlecruiser don’t fair very well on their own. If a specific synergy is reached, Battlecruiser can be a great addition to your army.
I hope that I gave you a good insight on what unit serves which purpose. I have not added any counters or units they counter, because if used correctly every unit can counter another. Of course, Ghosts counter other casters with proper use of the EMP, but a lot of Marauders can actually kill a bunch of Zerglings, although they are supposed to be the proper counter.
Next Guide: Synergy between units – Unit compositions
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