So, I was reading one of the recent tournament recap things, and was entertained to learn that Queens were used with some success against a Terran mech composition. A little while after that (possibly in a different article; I don't remember too well), there was an offhand mention of wraiths. Both of these units are stuff I never see in replays, so that got me to thinking.
Please, indulge my curiosity: Are there any units that have simply never been used in pro Brood War play? Or does everything have a good use, even if it's a use that doesn't necessarily come up all that often?
Dark archons. They're good in pvz for stopping muta harass or whatever, but with good sair control corsairs just do so much more. Even more, dark archons are expensive and for them to be useful you have to hide it extremely well.
dark archon, scout, devourer and ghost are probably the least used units in pro starcraft, but even then if you've been watching pro SC for at least a couple years you'll have seen them a couple times. out of these 4 the scout probably has the least use. i can't recall it ever being used other than to humiliate the opponent or for fun in an allstars game
devourers at least have some place in ZvZ or should protoss opt for carriers in PvZ (which is pretty uncommon nowadays)
ghosts are used for nukes which are seen in TvT (or even TvP) very very rarely)
not sure when dark archons are used but i have seen them in PvZ a few times
edit: i wouldn't say queens are used rarely, at least not nowadays. they're used every once in a while in tvz and even zvz to ensnare mutas
wraiths are seen often in TvT, they were at one point a mainstay in unti comp a few years back in TvT.
Scouts do have their uses, They work at the same level as cosairs as a harass unit. they can work well in the early game killing workers (slowly though) but they work well in large enough amounts.
devourers, scouts and ghosts are by far the super rarest units youll ever see. the other rare units, especially casters are still possible of scoring a beautiful rack of kills or be very cost effective if abused appropriately
On May 01 2011 01:57 GG.NoRe wrote: Infested Terrans
lol completely forgot about infested terrans. command centres are infested all the time but infested terrans are so rarely used. i think i've only ever seen them in PvZ on holy world lol
Scouts by far, then ghosts, then Devourer and DA. I feel DA has tremendous potential PvZ with both feedback and maelstrom. Ghosts seem like great carrier and recall counters. I have never thought of scouts as remotely useful.
Well it depends on the matchup, and even in the matchup it depends on the situation. Some units are just universally useless (ex. the scout). Some units are useless but have niche roles (ex. valkyries can be used in rare situations in TvZ to combat mass muta, especially when you go mech) Most units though are just highly matchup specific. For example: - you only see MnM in TvZ - Hydras are worthless vs bio TvZ - Corsairs in anything but PvZ suck, but in PvZ theyre a staple unit - Science vessels don't get used in TvT 90% of the time - Battlecruisers are bad in everything but TvT (and VERY rarely TvZ) - Arbiters are only used in PvT Etc
Units like the DA and the devourer and the valkyrie appear less often because they were designed (and primarily function) as hard counters to certain compositions
The DA hard counters extremely expensive units like carriers and BC's, just as the devourer and valkyrie hard counter excessively large air fleets. Even the firebat functions like this to a limited extent as it prevents mass ling strategies to be anything other than a cheese in tvz (if mass lings are scouted... the terran makes lots of firebats and lol's...if the terran is caught off guard by the mass lings he instead probably dies)
For this reason these units rarely see use.. as most opponents prefer not to put themselves in a situation where they are vulnerable to a hard counters.
This is why units like reapers became unpopular in sc2.. they could only do one thing well (which they did extremely well) so opponents were unwilling to put themselves in situations were reapers could be useful.
TL;DR Every unit was designed to have a purpose (obv). For each of the units that is used less often.. it is because it fulfills its purpose to well.. making an opponent unwilling to do a strategy vulnerable to that unit. The units that u never see are the ones that are only good at fulfilling one purpose.
On May 01 2011 02:07 loveeholicce wrote: Well it depends on the matchup, and even in the matchup it depends on the situation. Some units are just universally useless (ex. the scout). Some units are useless but have niche roles (ex. valkyries can be used in rare situations in TvZ to combat mass muta, especially when you go mech) Most units though are just highly matchup specific. For example: - you only see MnM in TvZ - Hydras are worthless vs bio TvZ - Corsairs in anything but PvZ suck, but in PvZ theyre a staple unit - Science vessels don't get used in TvT 90% of the time - Battlecruisers are bad in everything but TvT (and VERY rarely TvZ) - Arbiters are only used in PvT Etc
On May 01 2011 02:07 loveeholicce wrote: Well it depends on the matchup, and even in the matchup it depends on the situation. Some units are just universally useless (ex. the scout). Some units are useless but have niche roles (ex. valkyries can be used in rare situations in TvZ to combat mass muta, especially when you go mech) Most units though are just highly matchup specific. For example: - you only see MnM in TvZ - Hydras are worthless vs bio TvZ - Corsairs in anything but PvZ suck, but in PvZ theyre a staple unit - Science vessels don't get used in TvT 90% of the time - Battlecruisers are bad in everything but TvT (and VERY rarely TvZ) - Arbiters are only used in PvT Etc
People go hydra/lurk/defiler sometimes.
Fine, situational . I've never seen it work though aside from Jaedong vs Flash on uh....some map. It seems most agree that lurker ling is a better way to play though, unless Terran opens wraiths
EPT
