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Introduction

Introduction

Terran Units:
Terran Infantry
Terran Vehicles
Terran Air

Zerg Units:
Zerg Land

Terran Air:

All Unit Info is listed in the following order: Unit Damage and Damage Type, Cooldown, Damage Rate, Upgrade Bonus, Unit Size.

Unit Damage/Type:
The damage is self explanatory. There are three damage types in Starcraft, Normal, Explosive and Concussive.
Concussive Damage deals full damage to small, 50% to medium and 25% to big.
Explosive Damage deals full damage to big, 75% to medium, and 50% to small.
Protoss Shields take 100% from every attack.

Cooldown:
This is the time between one attack and another, the larger the value, the slower a unit attacks. Cool down in measured in 'ticks', each tick is approximately 0.1 in-game seconds.

Damage Rate:
To help you see how fast a unit does actual damage, this value has been calculated and is measured in hit points per second. Note that all is measured under in-game time.

Upgrade Bonus:
How much extra damage each upgrade gives the unit.

Unit Size:
The unit size determines how much damage a unit takes from certain attacks. See 'Unit Damage/Type' above.

Zerg Zergling:

Damage: 5 Normal
Cooldown: 8 (6 upgraded)
Damage Rate: 6.3 hp/s (8.3 hp/s when Upgraded
Upgrade Bonus: +1
Size: Small
These l'il critters tends to find themselves on the losing end near the late game when some units kill them in around one or two hits. Still, you do get two for one deal so they're not bad to send in to mess up the enemy fire for awhile. They also make a pretty good nice quick defenders or attackers on random expansions as they're cheap as well are relatively quick to begin with. Once you get the speed upgrade, they're speed is secondary only to upgraded Vultures.

You've probably heard of cracklings especially with those who use defilers. This is a typical strategy where a player rushes to hive. Well... I don't particularly recommend relying on just that but it has its merits and zerglings tends to swarm up very quickly. For their cost, Zerglings do a horrendous amount of damage, especially with Adrenal Glands.

Their only problem is that they're very weak in terms of life, and hence often die before they can launch an attack. Try to back up your zerglings with Mutalisks in the mid game and perhaps Ultralisks in the end game. To maximize their swarm advantage, attempt to conduct all battles on open ground. If you're up against protoss, be sure to upgrade your zergling armor first as most protoss opponents are clever enough to upgrade their weapons first so that zealots will kill zerglings in 2 hits instead of three. However, if you upgrade armor once, your zergling will still be able to take 3 hits before dying.

Zerglings work well against most large units that do explosive damage such as Dragoons. Try not to use zerglings against units that deal splash or normal damage, such as Archons, Reavers or big clumps of Marines. Once again, I repeat, zerglings really aren't too great for defense or for attacking fortified choke points On defense, it's rather frustrating to keep your zerglings from colliding against each other as they go around your base. In tightly packed areas, they tend to go attack in a line, giving enemies the opportunity to slay them one at a time. However, keep them in open grounds and they're pretty decent. Also they work well to harass expansions.

Adrenal Glands is a must upgrade if you wish to rely on Zerglings. In the late game, the shear damage these units and deal will allow you to keep your enemies occupied. Try sending groups of 12 Zerglings at enemy expansions. Provided they are upgraded, these light assault troops can rip apart lightly fortified bases before the enemy has time to send reinforcements. By sending groups of to random expansions, you force the enemy to spread his forces. A key strategy to continuously assault your enemies with crackling, while you secret use all the extra gas to build an army of Guardians.

Zerglings are also excellent scouts, and by the mid game, you should of planted a Zergling at every likely expansion.

Zerg Hydralisk:

Damage: 10 Explosive
Cooldown: 15
Damage Rate: 6.7 hp/s
Upgrade Bonus: +1
Size: Medium
The ideal mass unit for almost any map as well as the core unit in any zerg army. Hydralisks can literally do anything, they attack air, defend expansions and choke points well, do nicely against ground units. Their medium size also makes them take only 75% damage from explosives. They have a very nice firing rate as well. There is very little bad to say about hydralisks, though they do have weaknesses.

Going core hydralisks or even just plain hydralisks is not a terrible idea but there are better alternatives in certain situations. The hydralisk's damage is explosive, meaning that they only deal half to small units. Make sure to first things you do if you plan on using these units is to upgrade both their movement speed and range. When using hydralisks, make sure they come out in packs. Though that could be said about most units, hydralisks in huge groups really are the trademark for the zerg. They are cheap, effective and really able to do anything.

Just make sure they don't go up against their trademark weakness, templars, reavers or siege tanks. You'll also be better off with support if your going against small units such as Terran Infantry, or the Zergling and Mutalisk combo.

Against Zealots, especially those without the speed upgrade, one should perform the 'Hydralisk Dance'. Basically move your Hydralisks back before the enemy can surround you and the hit them from range. If correctly micro-managed, a player can suffer minimal losses when taking on Zealots.

Zerg Lurker:

Damage: 20 Normal
Cooldown: 37
Damage Rate: 5.4 hp/s
Upgrade Bonus: +2
Size: Medium
Lurkers are the sole exception to the rule that units can't attack while burrowed. However, they're burrowing time is longer than most units and they're extremely vulnerable during that period. Once these units are borrowed, your opponent's units are practically dead if he doesn't have close by detection. While their damage seems small, these units have splash in the line of which they're attacking, and they also attack in an "X" format so most units close by get hit by the splash. This form of attack shreds melee attackers especially if you have piles of lurkers as they will destroy anything near them due to splash alone. This works especially well against terrans as lurkers in groups of at two shreds medic/marine combos.

Lurkers are excellent for drops as then can shred harvesters with ease. When using them, split them in groups that are large enough to kill your opponent's main unit in one hit. By this I mean groups of 2 when going against Marines, 4 when against Hydralisks etc. As Lurkers can pile on top of each other, a group of such units are almost invincible against everything but splash attacks. Scatter such groups sin unexpected places or in choke points. Due to the fact that Lurkers deal splash, the are the only Zerg missile unit that functions within Dark Swarm. Also they can attack units from higher terrain levels without the normal terrain penalty. Lurkers so loose their effectiveness in late games when Detectors and Long Range artillery become widely available. Due to this Lurkers are the ideal unit for a Zerg tech-rush. If built before the enemy ahs adequate detection, Lurkers can end the game the and there. This unit is a must against Terran as it is the only Zerg mid game counter against Mass Marines. Against Terrans, it is suggested that you upgrade your Missile Weapons as soon as possible, as others your Lurker's effectiveness is drastically reduced when the Terran players completed an armor upgrade.

Zerg Broodling:

Damage: 4 Normal
Cooldown: 15
Damage Rate: 2.7 hp/s
Upgrade Bonus: +1
Size: Small
There's really not much to say about this unit. You get two from spawn broodling on a unit. They're really weak but they're free, use them for consume, scouting or just to soak up units I guess. Really, don't expect to overwhelm an enemy with broodlings as your opponent can probably mop them up with a pair of zealots without breaking a sweat.

Zerg Defiler:

Size: Medium
Defilers are one of the most fearsome underused spell caster in the game. The are the tools that expert players use to win the late game. Not one of the defiler's spells is useless and its default spell given is one of the best in the game alone. Dark Swarm completely neutralizes missile attacks inside the swarm allowing your Zerglings and Ultralisks to tear them apart. The only damage from missiles that get through are those that deal splash. Dark Swarm is also a great way to protect hydralisks from air units because your hydras can fire out of the swarm and all air attacks counts as missile attacks when attacking down. Dark Swarm never protects air units making it a great cover against air units. Fields of cannons can be taken down easily when a pack of hydras is protected by swarm. This spell, combined with cracklings, can be a game winner.

Consume is also very useful as it allows you to devour any of your own units for a 50 energy boost. Some people say to use this only zerglings or broodlings only but I disagree. I have often used it on hydralisks, and even escorting overlords as what is more useful? You losing 12 hydralisks because you couldn't find a suitable unit in time to consume when you're opposed to dragoons or you losing one hydralisk to swarm the area? When you're in need of spell points, use the general rule that as long as you're not consuming your sole overlord or an ultralisk, it's profitable, of course Zerglings and Broodlings are always more preferable.

Plague is another often overlooked spell in the game. Plague murders capital ships like battlecruisers and carriers like you wouldn't believe. In conjunction with Dark Swarm, the defiler is perfect counter against such attacks, It also reveals cloaked units if you couldn't see them before. Plague will deal 250 damage to affected units, but will never kill them. The damage done is quite rapid and makes a follow up attack much easier. Plague works best with either Mutalisk or Lurker support, as they can kill multiple units in one go. This spell is also very deadly against terran buildings as their buildings will burn down once it's in the red zone. Hence Supply Depots, Bunkers and Turrets can be destroyed with one casting.

However, it could be used against any race very effectively, think of it as a zerg version of psi storm that while slower to act, will always dish out its full effect and can never miss. The additional cost is easily offset as with consume, it could just be the cost of three units to plague an area weakening it probably more than three regular units could unless you consumed ultralisks, in which case you're an idiot and deserve to lose. Defilers are also able to burrow so in that aspect you can almost think of them as cloaked spell casters! Add this all together and you have a VERY effective spell caster. Pity, defilers are expensive on gas and are available only in the late game.

Zerg Ultralisk:

Damage: 20 Normal
Cooldown: 15
Damage Rate: 13.3 hp/s
Upgrade Bonus: +3
Size: Large
Ultralisks are the walking tanks of the zerg army. They can take a very strong beating having 400 life, making them if nothing more, walking walls for missile troops. They also attack very quickly for units their size. Three or more ultralisks can tear apart most low damage troops such as Marines. These guys are however very expensive for a zerg unit and hence very cost ineffective against ranged units that deal explosive damage.

Ultralisks are much better in brood wars due to the upgrades they can receive. The speed upgrade makes them as fast as an upgraded zergling which is pretty damn fast to close in on their targets making them better against siege tanks. The armor upgrade shreds any infantry combo because full upgrades against anything that deals 7 damage or less will be only pecking away at the ultralisk's full 400 hit points one damage at a time.

This includes attacks from zerglings, marines, air units like wraith or scouts and even carriers! However, Ultralisks can be taken down because as any single large melee unit, artillery can prove its downfall, Ultralisks aren't great against zergs mainly because it is vulnerable against spawn broodling and mass hydralisk. They are also not unreliable against Protoss due to the fact the long ranged Dragoons shred them. Ultralisks however do work well as a counter against Psionic Storm and should used against Protoss players who rely on Templars. Despite its cost, Ultralisks should be utilized as an effective counter for certain situations. The classic is Terran Mass Marines. The Ultralisk's high armor and hit points allows it to take all the damage, while accompanying cracklings rip the marines apart. The Ultralisk is a unit that's not meant to deal the damage, but provide a living barricade so that the veracious Zerglings can reach their targets.

The only time when a player should consider getting mass Ultralisks is when he harvests faster than he can spend. As Zerg utilizes parallel production, Ultralisks can be trains at incredible speeds. If you have over 3 active harvesting bases, then the amount of Ultralisks you can get in a short instant may allow you to simply overrun your opponent. This makes mass Ultralisks a viable strategy in BGH maps.

Infested Terran:

Damage: 500 Explosive
Upgrade Bonus: None
Size: Small
These little suicidal dudes move fast. That's the plus considering they have to move up to their target and Self-Destruct to deal the damage. If they get killed on the way, they die without exploding. The damage is insane as well as the splash (which can hit your own things too mind you). You won't see much of them in action because they aren't morphed from larvae like regular Zerg units. In order to build one, you need to infest a command center first with a queen, (this isn't as hard as you think as you can probably just drag a queen along when killing off a Terran expansion).

They can burrow so you could sort of place them as landmines but they are a pain in the ass to use still. Recently, I've actually found a use for these guys. Use them in overlords and think of them as dropping bombs. It works! Plus it's very amusing to watch these guys run around and ram into SCVs and stuff. Swarm is also a decent cover for them.

The only time that you should consider these units seriously is when you have a Terran ally. In the late game, it may be worthwhile to get your ally to sacrifice a command center just for these units. Why? Defense Matrix and Infested Terrans is a deadly combination. With it, your Infested Marine is almost guaranteed to be able to deal out the 500 damage. It's equivalent to a small nuke and 2 or 3 of these can level a whole fortification.

Back to Strategy Archive



Introduction
Terran Infantry
Terran Vehicles
Terran Air
Zerg Ground

Blue Goons

Brood War