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Introduction
This is not a blog about which units are the strongest, or overpowered, nor is it meant to be a blog about which units have the most uses. Rather, I'm here to explain which units are great to watch, and can really show us the skill of a player. Of course, being a strong unit overall will get that unit in the spotlight more often, and there is no real way to avoid the correlation, especially in pro play. I feel that even though some units have cool features like cliff walking *cough*, that in itself doesn't make a unit a good one.
One thing that I have always disliked is the fact that certain units were meant to counter others. This makes the game simple, and really closes the gap between pros and amateurs. I'm sure some people like being closer to the pros, but I think there is something about playing 8 hours a day that should be respected. This isn't Nexus Wars we're talking about. SC is a strategy game but there are so many aspects of SC that separate it from pure strategy and decision making that really sets the game apart. This is why I love units that can be used even when there is another unit that 'should' get rid of it.
Terran Units
Let's start with terran units, as I feel terrans have the most well-designed units out of all 3 races.
The Marine
One of the simplest units the game has ever seen. It's ranged, does constant DPS, and costs only minerals. Some people have really grown to hate this unit, as it is great in every matchup at both low and high levels. However, the absolute best thing about this unit is its capacity to change from something simple to something inspiring in the hands of the right user. Sure, anyone can stutter step, but how many people in the world can stutter step, target fire, and split all at the same time? The marine is probably the greatest SC2 can offer in terms of army control and micro right now and makes a huge difference in the outcome of games depending on how they're used.
Siege tanks
Surprising? Just because siege tanks aren't exactly the units you think of when you hear the word 'micro' that doesn't mean it's not a well-designed unit. It has its weaknesses and its strengths. It's slow, can be punished by smart maneuvering, and it splashes its own units. It's strong if you control your army in lumps, but under good control it can be overcome by spreading, flanking, and dropping on top of it.
Enough about the other side, let's hear about the siege tank itself though. There are many different ways you can position your siege tanks. You can spread them out from each other, having some up front and some in the back - ideal against zerg. But you can also form them in a line, containing your opponent and suffocate them from ever stepping a foot outside their base - what you want to do vs. terran. Positioning takes time and patience, and its usage is elevated by great players. There's something great about how MVP moves his siege tanks across the map, and you can just feel its different in pace from other terrans. Also target firing with siege tanks in the midst of controlling marines is something that takes great control and speed.
The Banshee
Okay, admittedly this is only vs. T as any other matchup ends when you get detection and it's not a unit high up on my list. However, the range and speed limitations on marines without stim makes the banshee a great unit to watch in the early game. Finding holes even when they see it coming just attests to the potential that the banshee holds. Now, kiting isn't the hardest thing in the world, but multitasking between a banshee non stop whilst target firing and macro'ing is pretty impressive.
Protoss Units
Now, this is just my opinion but I'm not going to include the sentry. The forcefield mechanic is something that removes micro. It has also hinged the protoss on this one mechanic, and it's basically a necessity and I don't think the sentry is well-designed because of this. The entire protoss race is balanced around forcefields, and without it I think blizzard would have more options on what to give the protoss.
The Phoenix
Yep, the phoenix. I really wish we could see more of it in the mid and late game, but its cost and efficiency definitely drops off after a while. People talk about what protoss needs, and blizzard thought the tempest was the answer, but why the tempest when you have a perfectly reasonable answer already that's just awaiting tweaks? Phoenixes are really one of the most interesting units in the protoss arsenal, and I just can't envision how the tempest could be more entertaining. You can multitask harass with the phoenix, do technical rushes, and give a bigger dynamic to army engagements. It's great in the hands of a good player, but because it auto attacks and the spellcasting is simple it's not completely useless to a new player.
The Stalker
I feel obligated to include this unit because blink stalkers are sort of what defines protoss control next to forcefielding. I just sort of wish that blink micro wasn't a bit useless in engagements where you have other units, but we do sometimes get to see them used in army vs army engagements. It's just that most things are just dead once it becomes time to DPS the stalker and you're probably just gonna blink on top of them or just run away. I just don't feel they synergize well with other protoss units. I'm sorry if you feel disappointed in this entry, but all I can say is blink micro is great, but it could have been better.
Zerg Units
The stigma is that zergs don't really require too much micro. And that's sort of true you have to admit. That's not to say you can't micro them, but it doesn't make as much difference and is not as noticeable because the race tends to swarm and swarm fast. However, that's not to say that certain units are the same under different users.
The Zergling
A very easy and practical unit, and personally I think it is one of the most underrated units. It's great in battle, to fend off harass, and harass/scout as well. It's something that's essential to everyone, and scales in its uses the better the player becomes. They're fast, so your reaction time has to be fast in case you run into something you don't want to, and you have to be careful with them when they get clumped up. Surrounding is essential and if you get lazy you can be punished.
The Baneling
I thought about adding the mutalisk, but I put in the baneling instead. I'll admit that it's not very high on my list as far as well-designed units go, but it's exciting to watch, and it's definitely a crowd pleaser whenever a baneling land mine goes off, but at the same time I can't help but feel it's not used to its full potential yet. What happened to baneling drops in mineral lines? Watching people plant some land mines midst battle while the marines are chasing them around is awesome, albeit they usually get spotted pretty easy nowadays, but maybe burrow move banelings will bring in more exciting things in the future.
Sorry if it felt like I was trying less hard as the blog went on (I was, and I didn't think it'd take this long to write up). I originally intended to write my thoughts on the new HotS units, but without too much knowledge on them and how they'll be used (also the fact I'm tired and the blog seems long enough) I decided not to include that. So, tell me what you guys think, and also add in your own opinions on which units you love from a design perspective.
  
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I hate banelings. They're dumb from both the Z and T perspective. They're ok in ZvP, though.
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Yep. This blog made me think though. Maybe the Marine is the balanced one and other units are just imbalanced (Not imbalanced-strong, but imbalanced-weak)?
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I'll say the Queen. It is an essential unit which captures its race's identity like no other unit in the game. Spawn larvae and creep spread is what zerg is all about. The queen's role as a strictly defensive unit is further cemented by its slow speed off creep. To me, the Queen is by far the best stylistic addition to the game compared to Broodwar.
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Sorry if it felt like I was trying less hard as the blog went on (I was, and I didn't think it'd take this long to write up).
Always the sign of a quality blog
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You need to mention creep, while it's technically not a unit, it's a feature that became measure of how a good a zerg player is.
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Stylistically I think the Immortal embodies the Protoss in every way. Sure the extent of its micro is "Shields Down: Run Away," but the sound of its cannons and the unit quotes resonate with power and this wonderful "Protoss" feel. The fact that it's capable of taking down siege tanks and annoying Marauders is also a wonderful trait. Hardened Shield, while passive, is an ability that I think works well for the unit's intended application, giving it a weakness to multiple lighter, faster units but a strength against heavy, powerful units.
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I think banelings actually just make engagements end too quickly.
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On October 27 2011 18:45 Scorch wrote:
I'll say the Queen. It is an essential unit which captures its race's identity like no other unit in the game. Spawn larvae and creep spread is what zerg is all about. The queen's role as a strictly defensive unit is further cemented by its slow speed off creep. To me, the Queen is by far the best stylistic addition to the game compared to Broodwar.
If I talked about the queen I feel like I would be cutting it too close to general macro mechanics. It's basically a unit you need to macro, and basically defines zerg mechanics. It's just how the game sort of 'works' and is needed as much as workers.
On October 27 2011 19:09 infinity2k9 wrote:
I think banelings actually just make engagements end too quickly.
SC2 engagements are just pretty quick in general, banelings or not.
On October 27 2011 18:49 TheAntZ wrote:Show nested quote +Sorry if it felt like I was trying less hard as the blog went on (I was, and I didn't think it'd take this long to write up). Always the sign of a quality blog
I typed up most of what I wanted to say, but I had trouble finding certain units I really liked from zergs and protoss outside of the phoenix, and I'd basically be bullshitting.
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On October 27 2011 18:45 Scorch wrote:
I'll say the Queen. It is an essential unit which captures its race's identity like no other unit in the game. Spawn larvae and creep spread is what zerg is all about. The queen's role as a strictly defensive unit is further cemented by its slow speed off creep. To me, the Queen is by far the best stylistic addition to the game compared to Broodwar.
I think the Queen is one of the worst units that Blizzard came up with.
Something about the Queen annoys me to no end. The unit's existence is an excuse for zerg to not have a decent AA at tier 1. It seems to pigeon hole Zerg into a certain style of play that it can't get away from.
You can't play a match without a Queen and that just isn't right.
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I don't understand the point about the zergling being well designed...
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On October 27 2011 18:45 Scorch wrote:
I'll say the Queen. It is an essential unit which captures its race's identity like no other unit in the game. Spawn larvae and creep spread is what zerg is all about. The queen's role as a strictly defensive unit is further cemented by its slow speed off creep. To me, the Queen is by far the best stylistic addition to the game compared to Broodwar.
I'd agree with that, I think the Queen for the reasons you listed and the Zergling because of it's speed, cheap cost and massability.
Edit: Also, they both look so damb good! AAAANNNNDDDDDDD If there is one unit in this game which can make you stop playing and stare in disbelief it's the zergling. Have you terran players ever left your depo down and have 70 or 80 hungry zerglings slip in past your army? Ever had your marine marauder ball flanked by lings while the banes come rolling in? Or even just a single ling slipping though into your base and seeing everything your doing?
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I agree with all of these! I love hyper-versatile ranged units like the Marine and Stalker (I used to play toss, went blink every game, now I'm terran and I go bio every matchup  ) that you can just micro and have a ton of fun with.
I also like the banshee, in fact I find it a more-than adequate replacement for the wraith. Also so with the phoenix, though I did like the corsair more ^^;
In fact, I find that with your terran and protoss picks it's only BW units or replacements for them. I'm not gonna go on some anti-Dustin Browder rant, but I think ultimately the unit design of BW was better in general. You're not gonna see the marauder or colossus on a "best unit design" list anytime soon, is what i'm saying.
I preferred banelings when they were aerial, I found the air-chases and air-wars that took place in, for example, ZvZ to be very cool (a common misconception is that scourge do splash to air; they don't, that's just something assumed by most SC2 players. Just throwing that out there ^^; )
Scourge aside though, I definitely do love the micro and the whole element of TvZ that banelings spawned. I wouldn't ever have the fun of practicing my marine splits or micro if it weren't for banelings. It's a unit that punishes noobs and awards good players.
And of course, it gives us very exciting and impressive moments in professional games.
Zerglings? Ehh i'm not so sure, it's very simple of course, and has an immense amount of uses and purposes, but for SC2 i'd say the ultralisk- Wait, no... Hydralisks- Nope... Uh, roaches? I guess not...
Err... Corruptors??.. Screw it, I guess you're right, Zerglings are pretty cool.
edit: I also hate queens  I preferred BW macro style better, just me though
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Netherlands45349 Posts
I like the phoenix out of that list, its fast, versatile, harassement unit(sadly limited by energy, i wish they just made an upgrade for it to reduce energy cost @ fleet beacon or just reduce energy cost in general instead of adding the stupid oracle). And it can be microed somewhat.
Also I hate the queen, it is one of the core problems of SC2 zerg.
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I like the Queen very much, as I think the whole creep spread mechanic, along with transfuse, its ability to act as base defense, and its slowness off creep add a lot to the game. But I think Banelings are actually one of the worst designed units in the game. Sure, they are entertaining, but they are so hit and miss. They actually seem to result in chaos, i.e., an imperceptibly small difference in micro can result in a totally different outcome.
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On October 27 2011 21:49 whatthefat wrote:
I like the Queen very much, as I think the whole creep spread mechanic, along with transfuse, its ability to act as base defense, and its slowness off creep add a lot to the game. But I think Banelings are actually one of the worst designed units in the game. Sure, they are entertaining, but they are so hit and miss. They actually seem to result in chaos, i.e., an imperceptibly small difference in micro can result in a totally different outcome.
I like the Queen too, but I don't like its synergy with the roaches. They needed air attack, because you have roaches at tier 1.5.
But the whole Zerg until Hive is like... strange? I feel uncomfortable with this roach/hydra feel in ZvZ, for example. Also in TvZ - as you NEVER see hydras. Ever.
IF hydras switched tier with roaches and removed queen's air attack, the outcome would be much better (IMO, I can be wrong - it's impossible to predict). But that's supertheorycrafting.
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Broodlords are an awesome unit design as well. A flying creature that shoots other creatures to the ground - and they start eating everything. It's awesome! :D
The concept of the void ray is very good too. Not a very well done execution, but the idea behind it is awesome as well.
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If there was a poll for this blog, I'd have voted for the Marine. As you said, for dirt cheap this unit does wonders. No gimmicky spells or hard counter extra damage crap, a marine is a marine and it fires bullets, period. Well, it can fire faster with stim but I wouldn't consider stim a gimmick =P
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EPT
