Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide: Terran Units

The Terran in Starcraft 2 are the most defensive race in the game. Their ability to lift their buildings and move them to new places means that it is very common for Terran players to play a turtle strategy in which the Terran player harasses his opponent's economy while expanding his own by building Command Centers in his base and then lifting them to expansions.

Terran's units also tend to vibe with this strategy. One the one hand, the Terran can be difficult in direct combat due to having many moderately strong units. On the other hand, the Terran player has many units which are quick and difficult for other races to pin down.

This guide provides information about all of the Terran units in the game. If you're a new player trying to figure out what your Terran units are good for, this Terran unit guide is the perfect place to start.

• Cost: 150 Minerals / 100 Vespene 
• Supply: 3
• Build Time: 60
• Hitpoints: 140
• Attack: 12x2 Ground
• Type: Light Mechanical

The Banshee is a fast gunship which is dedicated to harassing enemies which do not have a good anti-air defense set up. "Banshee rush" is a popular Terran harassment strategy in which a Terran player builds one or two Banshees and immediately sneaks them into an enemy's resource line to kill workers. Obviously, this works best against players who haven't built much anti-air. A rushing two-gate Protoss focusing on Zealots, for example, will be a good candidate for Banshee counter-attack.

Banshees can also cloak when the appropriate tech is researched. This ability is very powerful against anyone who has not remembered to make good use of detectors. It also is powerful as support to your ground armies, since enemy anti-air won't be able to attack your Banshees unless they bring a mobile detector (and most players don't).

Obviously, the Banshee's lack of air-to-air weapons makes it very vulnerable to other air units. The Protoss Phoneix is the worst. It receives a bonus to attack against light units and is capable of attacking while on the move. Despite this disadvantage, the Banshee is one of the most effective Terran units for harassment.

• Cost: 400 Minerals / 300 Vespene 
• Supply: 6
• Build Time: 60
• HP: 550
• Attack: Ground 8 / Air 6 (Very fast fire rate)
• Type: Armored Mechanical Massive

The Terran Battlecruiser is an expensive but extremely powerful late game unit. Heavily armed and armored, and capable of defending itself against both air and ground attack, the Battlecrusier can be used as a flagship of your force or as a super-heavy expansion attack unit. The biggest advantage of the Battlecruiser simply comes from the fact that players rarely have the anti-air capability to defend against them well. The obligatory defense of one missile turret of cannon used to discourage Banshee harassment just doesn't work against Battlecrusiers. Battlecrusiers can also really throw off the unit mix of your fellow Terran or Zerg players. If he has dedicated himself to a ground push he'll probably have to respond with a mass of anti-air ground units, but you can ruin his day if you already have some Siege Tanks ready to go.

Battlecruisers can be upgraded with the devastating Yamato Cannon. The Yamato does 300 damage and is an excellent way of using the Battlecrusier to take out similarly strong enemy units - Protoss Carriers and Motherships come to mind. The main weakness of the Battlecrusier is other air units. The laser on the Battlecruiser is less effective against air. Void Rays and Vikings in particular can ruin your Battlecrusier's day.