Guide for players switching from SC2 - Page 3

Overlords: The reason I'm listing this unit is because it now has vision, enabling
it to see wraiths/spider mines. There are no more overseers.

Lurkers: These are the annoying things that look like spiders, can burrow (at which point you will need to scan/have a Science Vessel) and shoot out spines that do linear splash. They are dangerous even in small numbers and can decimate MnM - it takes only two hits to kill a marine, and since your MnM will usually be in a ball, this means many will die with only two strikes.

Defilers: These look like scorpions. They have very powerful abilities, like Plague (which reduces units' health to 1, leaving them very vulnerable or draining Medic energy hugely) Dark Swarm (a huge orange cloud which shifts ranged attacks inside the cloud and prevents anything but melee/splash damage from happening to units inside the cloud, rendering marines useless - run the fuck away from this shit) and consume (passive, which allows them to eat Zerglings or whatever other friendly units to regain energy FAST). They come only in late game, allowing you to make a timing push after you have Vessels but before they have Defilers.

Queens: Not technically a new unit, but they might as well be. They fly around really fast, and have abilities like Ensnare(Green goo which limits your units' movement) Spawn Broodlings (kinda like Broodlords, OWNS mech units like Goliaths (which you should be familiar with from campaign)) and Infest Command Center (really rare - when your CC is in red health, allows them to take it over and make "Infested Terran" which are really different from SC2 - they are like ground-based scourge that do like 500 damage and run pretty fast but have low health and bad AI)

Devourers: Kinda like a new breed of Infestors. They look like big mouths and spit purple goo called Acid Spores that do damage AND weaken the unit they hit to the next attack. Luckily, they can only attack air units and are rarely used (Hive tech)

** NOTE: When I say MnM, I do not mean Marine-Marauder. I mean Marine-Medic - there are no more marauders in BW, and dropships are only dropships.**

Ultras are worse in BW, but are still total bitches to kill.
Hydras are used more often in BW, and Lurkers are morphed from Hydras.
No more banelings!!!!!
Overlords cannot spawn creep, Nydus Networks can only come up when there is creep.
There are no more creep tumors or spawn larva.

Dragoons You will see this unit in EVERY game in which Protoss is involved. It is basically a slightly stronger, slightly tougher version of a Stalker. They are used to deny scouting, make pushes, and are a "staple" of PvAnything. Luckily, they will crumple to even unsieged tanks without Zealot support, and Spider mines (which we'll get to later) will annhilate them - one spider mine almost kills a dragoon. You can block them off during early pressure (like from 2gate) with a bunker and they'll probz retreat as soon as you get a tank out.

Reavers: These guys look like armored slugs, and seem to behave accordingly, until they shoot. They shoot little blue balls of energy called Scarabs, which can .1 shot marines (that's right, one of these shits can kill 10 marines, scvs, whatever small units you have). They have very low mobility, though, allowing you to kill them quickly or snipe the shuttles in which they are usually carried. Wraiths are a good counter in generally to Reaver play, which almost always involves Shuttles. Also, Reavers can't shoot up, and must make Scarabs before they can attack.

Corsairs: Kinda like Phoenixes, except they look worse and can't lift. You won't see them in TvP unless you go Wraiths (which is kinda gas heavy for TvP but I'm not supposed to be giving you strat tips).

Carriers: Reason I'm listing these is because they are actually a viable option in BW. Very hard to kill when massed, unless you do a counter with Science Vessels (EMP, Ghosts don't anymore) Ghosts (for Lockdown, which prevents them from moving or attacking) and Goliaths (which you should be fairly familiar with). But once again, I digress. They don't have an attack of their own, but must make Interceptors, these small flying units that do 6 damage but are powerful in mass. Not massed, Carriers kinda suck - 4 poorly micro-ed Goliaths at most are required to take down a single Carrier.

Dark Archons Very rarely will you see these units. They have no base attack, but they do have abilities like Feedback (where a targeted enemy spellcaster will have damage done to it equivalent to the energy it has), Mind Control (which allows them to control any enemy unit, even a drone/SCV and build up a Terran/Zerg army as well) and Maelstrom (like an area-effect version of lockdown which affects bio units). They can be annoying to your Science Vessels, and are a part of the Royal Stove Strategy. They look like Archons, but are Dark Red instead of Blue.

Arbiters: The bad boys of TvP, these things are fucking monsters. They look pretty damn weird, I can't really describe them too well. Their attack is only 10 damage, but they have super powerful abilities. The first is Stasis, in which they freeze an area of units, which can then neither give nor receive damage. Super effective vs. your Siege Tanks, as after the battle is done you will either have to risk additional losses to stay near your frozen tanks, or else they will just position Dragoons/Zealots around within your minimum attack range and make piecework of your frozen tanks once they "thaw". The second is Recall, in which an Arbiter takes a bunch of friendly units anywhere on the map in a 5x5 matrix and teleports them to its position. That's right - the unassuming army guarding the natural becomes a ravaging force right in your supply line if you aren't careful. Use EMP (which takes away energy and shields from Arbiters) and/or missile turrets to counter them, otherwise your life will be hell. Oh, and they also make close friendly units invisible, so you need to have SV's or scans anyway. Fuck Arbiters.

There are no Colossi in SCBW. This does not mean that you can win with marines. You will need factory units to face Protoss - Marines will NOT cut it other than early game (to soak up Dragoon fire) or like Deep Six (a 6 rax - that's building 6 barracks's) or some random all-in MnM. This will not cut it unless you are Flash or Boxer. This means that you will need gas earlier, so start a refinery at 11/12 rather than spamming marines.

The main reason for this is that Psi Storms will not kill tanks of goliaths as fast as Bio. Might seem petty, but if you've ever seen two control groups of MnM die in 5 seconds to 4 clicks, you will understand.

DT's are retarded as fuck. They do really high damage, and are invisible. I suggest walling against low level Protoss. This also helps against 2-gate-i-can't-macro-zealot spam.

Protoss have a thousand ways to be damn annoying. Remember that while Terran basically have Bunker Rush and BBS, maybe wraiths, and Zerg only really have early pool and random Hydra Busts as cheese, the Protoss have Storm drops, Fast DT's, Reaver Drops, Recalls, Stases, Zealot Rushes, Cannon Rushes, proxy gateways, and maybe even more ways to be annoying. If you let a good Protoss player catch you off guard, they will slice up your army in a number of ways - be on your guard at all times. Moreover, these ways do not take that much skill - pressing C ever minute or so each time per stargate doesn't seem too hard, but if you let a Carrier fleet build up, you will regret the day you were born. Spamming Z isn't hard either, and neither is building 2 pylons and a cannon behind a mineral line. You catch my drift.