• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 12:59
CEST 18:59
KST 01:59
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting1Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview4[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026)7
Community News
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th58Weekly Cups (May 18-25): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League4Weekly Cups (May 11-17): Classic wins double0Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO8 Results2
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th Changing from 12 to 8 is just asking for StarCraft TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview
Tourneys
GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Welcome to the External Content forum Mutation # 527 Hell Train The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 526 Rubber and Glue
Brood War
General
VPN experiences Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? Pros React To: ASL S21 Finals Every Matchup's Top 5 Winrates (all ASLs & KSLs) BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [BSL22] WB Final & LB Semis - Saturday 21:00 CEST Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Tiranga Gaming Color Prediction ZeroSpace Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
McBoner: A hockey love story 2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Customization Drives Loyalty…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 3924 users

[H]TvT, Do I have to Mech against Mech? - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
TBone-
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States2309 Posts
February 23 2012 22:34 GMT
#21
On February 24 2012 07:26 iAmJeffReY wrote:
Marine/tank > bio > mech > marine tank


Thats map specific. Bio works fantastic on maps like tal'darim vs mech, but mech destroys bio on shakuras. It's really not one always beats the other. In a very basic way, if the expansions are tighter and there are not that many paths on the map, mech will be better, and the opposite for bio.
Eve online FC, lover of all competition
Jaegeru
Profile Joined February 2012
United Kingdom676 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-23 23:05:26
February 23 2012 23:03 GMT
#22
No you don't.

I always 1 barracks FE then get an early engineering bay at 5:30 - 6:00 getting +1 weapons while getting combat shields and starting tank production a little later. Once you scout that hes playing a mech based style I take an early third base and add on a second engineering bay and armory for faster upgrades, add on a starport then start to drop as much as I can.

To transition into the late game I normally like to have 3 or 4 ghost academy's and make 10 or so ghosts for defensive and offensive nukes to nuke mineral lines and his army to force him to unseige then stim in with marines and marauders.

Grammar edit.
MVP on winning his Fourth GSL - "Yeah I know the routine, take the flowers and cheque, I will kiss the trophy for the photo"
RaE21
Profile Joined September 2010
United States260 Posts
February 23 2012 23:18 GMT
#23
when carefully played, bio actually is extremely strong vs mech. Typically when I scout that my opponent is going mech, I immediately aim to go bio with fast upgrades and get drops out asap. Most likely he will be turtling with his only harassment in hellions, so what I do is I expand all over the map freely with a small handful of units at each expansion (these expansions will be planetaries with sim city to prevent hellion runbys. All the while as the bio player, you HAVE to have map control and be active on the map with your mobile army, both to avoid the mech player from getting into position as well as having the chance to catch him as he is moving unsieged. At around 140-150 supply I prepare for a transition to sky, pumping vikings and upgrading ship attack. The key is to be active with your army, know where his army is, and get control of the skies.
`dunedain
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
657 Posts
February 23 2012 23:42 GMT
#24
Nukes are the answer, if you don't like going Mech vs Mech.
Multi-Nukes and Mass upgraded Bio wins fights. Try to trade efficiently since you can remake MMM much quicker than Mech and Nukes don't cost supply, plus with your added economy from mass expo-ing, you can afford to drop 3-4 Ghost Academies for mass Nukeage!

Basically, stay by their tower and wait for them to push out. Never, ever, attack into sieged up tank lines. When you see them moving out, stim forward and pick off what you can. Force a siege and run back as it goes through it's animation. Call down two nukes, side by side if possible, wait for unsiege then stim forward and pick off what you can again.
REMEMBER to cancel the nukes if your opponent unsieges and you stim in. Let the nukes land if he chooses not to unsiege, and make him pay for his stupidity.
A very good tactic to do while going for Bio Nuke play vs Mech is to pick off turrets in the outskirts of his base and enter through the open high ground if possible, then call your nukes down. This has two effects:
- You make your opponent force unsiege or he loses his tanks; and
- You tax his multitasking when he sees there's a drop in his base and hears a nuclear launch, he'll realize that it's possible that the nuke is targeted at his mineral line, this forces him to pull scvs from mining and splits his attention.

It's small things like this that really fucks up with the mind of a meching player and helps keep them honest. Basically, if you want to play Bio vs Mech, you army needs to move like swarming bees. Always buzzing in and out of fights they know they can win.
"In order to be created, a work of art must first make use of the dark forces of the soul." ~Albert Camus
dohgg
Profile Joined February 2011
310 Posts
February 24 2012 00:05 GMT
#25
On February 24 2012 07:26 iAmJeffReY wrote:
Marine/tank > bio > mech > marine tank

Realize it. Why? You have to play safe and slow and stagnant, just like mech. Except as you run around, hellions are faster and way more disposable as the real threat is the tank line. You will be playing an incredibly uphill battle going marine tank vs mech.

If you are already upgrading bio, and they go mech, cut the tanks and get a LOT more marauders.

Show nested quote +
Drops are good, but what should you do once the mech player has a few vikings on patrol/mass turrets/sieged tanks inbase ? All these countermeasures are fairly common and effectively deny you from dealing damage.

Hard to do, but expo expo expo. Make more barracks, be able to macro hard. Just make his push to your base like a ZvT game. Fight on his half of the map and keep falling back every time he sieges. Do what damage you can. Flanks, arcs, concaves are all your friend vs mech using bio.


+1

Thats why you will see most of the pros going for the marine tank.. thats the most easy transitionable composition
iAmJeffReY
Profile Joined August 2010
United States4262 Posts
February 24 2012 00:24 GMT
#26
On February 24 2012 07:34 TBone- wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 24 2012 07:26 iAmJeffReY wrote:
Marine/tank > bio > mech > marine tank


Thats map specific. Bio works fantastic on maps like tal'darim vs mech, but mech destroys bio on shakuras. It's really not one always beats the other. In a very basic way, if the expansions are tighter and there are not that many paths on the map, mech will be better, and the opposite for bio.

Bio has the best chance to beat mech. Mech has the best chance to beat marine tank. Marine tank has the best chance to beat bio.

If you won't play mech vs mech, then bio is your best option. Yes, mech > bio on MANY maps. Shakuras, XNC(thank god gone), CKingdom so far for me, shattered, etc.

Doesn't mean bio can't beat mech on those maps. It's just bio has the best chance of beating mech, etc etc.
Unbiased biased terran abuser Jeffrey. Sorry for the rage, friend!
unix04
Profile Joined November 2011
United States89 Posts
February 24 2012 00:50 GMT
#27
On February 24 2012 07:34 TBone- wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 24 2012 07:26 iAmJeffReY wrote:
Marine/tank > bio > mech > marine tank


Thats map specific. Bio works fantastic on maps like tal'darim vs mech, but mech destroys bio on shakuras. It's really not one always beats the other. In a very basic way, if the expansions are tighter and there are not that many paths on the map, mech will be better, and the opposite for bio.


i think one aspect of sc2 in general that people below masters league do not generally think about is exactly this. the map somewhat determines the flow of the battle and which areas can provide favorable engagements for your playstyle. and while certain maps favor certain styles, if you understood how to take advantage of certain maps, you could generally take any unit composition on any map to favorably engage against another one (even the same composition). albeit, it requires more effort if the map doesn't provide too many favorable engagement points, but i thought it was still worth noting
i am the captain of my fate, the master of my soul
DaemonX
Profile Joined September 2010
545 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-24 01:22:35
February 24 2012 01:22 GMT
#28
A replay would help...

Short answer is if your skills are up to it, bionic / biomech > mech.

mech beats tank marine which itself beats biomech, but the mobility, potent drops and ability to out-expand lends biomech a huge edge against pure mech. I guarantee you if you upload your recent replays, you will not be expanding or dropping aggressively enough.
NMC
Profile Joined January 2011
Canada28 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-24 01:44:58
February 24 2012 01:41 GMT
#29
I play marine/tank and mech pretty regularly so I have a lot of experience on both sides. I'm currently ~350 diamond for what it's worth but I've played vs a lot of master level terrans with both builds. This is my advice for bio:

1. Ban Shakuras. If you don't want to mech, I'd avoid this map. Splitting the middle is incredly easy and once sensor towers are up drops are simple to deny.

2. Open 3 rax vs cloak. Crank out a fast ebay and turret up. 2 turrets at the main geysers and 1 turret in the middle of the natural mineral line is my preference. Bunker at the front to deter hellion runbys. Combat vs stim is really a preference, but definitely research one quickly.

3. Don't get vikings unless you're in a solid eco lead. Get used to playing with medivacs. A skilled mech player will crank out more vikings than you and getting air control should be too costly.

4. Flank and carpet bomb marines. Learning how to engage mech is the hardest part. Split your units fast and attack multiple directions. Dropping some units on the tanks is an unbelievable difference, but you have to be careful that the vikings aren't in position to snipe them. The mech player should be leap frogging tanks, this is usually the best time to engage when you can hopefully get him at least partially unsieged.

5. Depot walls. Hellions can devastate mineral lines really quickly. Planteary's are not enough, the mech player floats enough minerals that the hellions are expendable.

6. Expand often. Try to stay 1 base ahead in an equal game. Grabbing a 3rd at around 9 minutes (after cloak/drop pressure is off).

7. Upgrade fast. If you're not 3/3 quickly, you will fall behind too far in the mid game.

8. Hold the xen'naga towers. This is espcially important if you're behind. Essentially this ensures that he can't use his vikings to leap frog tanks at you. You'll also want to build some proxy turrets so you don't get into a '1 banshee to rule them all' situation, or waste lots of scans on cloak. Raven is an alright option, PDD can save medivacs and he you engage, but it's pretty expensive. 1-2 Thors on hold position near the tank line isn't a terrible idea either.

Ultimately what will make or break your play is essentially multi-task and dropping. You have to learn to put on some pressure while macroing, which might mean a lot of losses with botched drops while you improve but it's key not only to this style but for terran in general. Try to get easy advantages and escape with them, don't want want to trade. Easy targets are addons, scvs, turrets, sensor towers, orbitals (w/ 2-3+ medivacs) I hope some of this helps.

edit: watching basically any korean terran player ensures you get to see how to mechanically play marine/tank or bio. They are all really good at it. Just try to somewhat replicate the timings and pace they use, even if it's sloppy it will be enough to overwhelm players at your level.
"In World of Warcraft you level up your character, in Starcraft 2 you level up yourself" - Artosis
Marcus Arcadia
Profile Joined May 2010
Philippines92 Posts
February 24 2012 20:39 GMT
#30
Thanks for your help guys!

Played a couple of games and still no vT yet. I'll get back to this topic when I've played 1 or 2.

Thanks again!
The decisions we made yesterday determine what we are today
Seinken
Profile Joined March 2011
United States40 Posts
February 24 2012 22:35 GMT
#31
I feel like sky terran with a slight mix of tanks and mostly marines is the answer. Yes, Thors can kill a large number of air units in a short time, but the only time this will happen is when you aren't watching your army and letting it stack. Thor AI is retarded, and if you can get and MAINTAIN air control through the game you will make the game so much easier. Protip, 2 banshees with +1 attack will trade perfectly even with Thors. Couple this with the fact that Thor AI is absolutely retarded when mixed with ground units, you can make pure sky terran work against a terran who refuses to build marines.

Here's a replay where I identify what strategy the terran is doing, keep map control and make the proper production facilities to kill the terran. My opponent in this replay could have built thors, but probably would have never contested the air unless I made an extremely large mistake. This is huge for a terran who is trying to mech because he cannot elevator or lowground seige your main.

http://drop.sc/119111
dUTtrOACh
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada2339 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-24 23:11:52
February 24 2012 23:07 GMT
#32
Do you have to? No.

Should you? Probably not if you're behind, since you'll just have less of what they have, but if you're thinking it's about even or you're ahead, sure, go mech. You can get more scans off when meching, and therefore spot more openings for tech switches.

eg: You're churning out tank viking for the most part, you drop a scan and realize you have significant viking count lead, and the opp. has no thors... Make a banshee, and see if you can snap some tank necks. Going mech doesn't just mean go mech all game and never switch techs.

Mech is widely regarded as the best unit comp. and TvT is so positional and at times slow, that having a mobile, squishy army can suddenly fuck you over completely. Sure, bio can be good, but it's considered good against people who make positional errors in judgement or are unprepared and considered to eventually need the addition of tanks to prevent the massive "siege up in your face and camp your production" move.

I'd also rather have a bunch of vikings in the event of a bacerace than a bunch of medivacs, although I don't recommend baceracing vs bio with mech unless you have some sort of advantage like air control after killing their starport.

EDIT: I consider sky-terran to be a branch of mech, since there is no mech without a semblance of air control. Also, they are mechanical units & the endgame, stalemate solution to shit tons of mech is sky-terran tech switch.
twitch.tv/duttroach
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Big Brain Bouts
16:00
#118
Shino vs ScarlettLIVE!
Bly vs DnS
Serral vs ByuN
RotterdaM1143
IndyStarCraft 139
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 1143
IndyStarCraft 139
UpATreeSC 116
BRAT_OK 79
MindelVK 23
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 1758
Jaedong 1177
EffOrt 1150
Mini 470
ggaemo 293
Rush 252
actioN 176
Zeus 116
Sexy 54
Rock 20
[ Show more ]
Sacsri 19
GoRush 18
soO 16
Terrorterran 12
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
Dota 2
Gorgc5352
qojqva1532
Counter-Strike
fl0m1890
byalli344
Other Games
Grubby3099
singsing2544
Beastyqt552
B2W.Neo409
DeMusliM220
QueenE169
KnowMe106
Liquid`VortiX102
XaKoH 85
Mew2King59
Trikslyr52
fpsfer 1
Organizations
StarCraft 2
WardiTV434
Counter-Strike
PGL244
Other Games
BasetradeTV194
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Gemini_19 42
• StrangeGG 20
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis3775
• Jankos2254
• TFBlade960
Other Games
• WagamamaTV285
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
7h 1m
RSL Revival
14h 1m
Lambo vs SHIN
Solar vs Rogue
herO vs Clem
Maestros of the Game
18h 1m
IPSL
23h 1m
ZZZero vs WorsT
Julia vs eOnzErG
BSL
1d 2h
TerrOr vs Dewalt
Bonyth vs eOnzErG
Replay Cast
1d 7h
RSL Revival
1d 14h
Maestros of the Game
1d 20h
OSC
1d 20h
IPSL
1d 23h
Dragon vs Artosis
dxtr13 vs Hawk
[ Show More ]
BSL
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
WardiTV Spring Champion…
3 days
Maestros of the Game
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Maestros of the Game
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
WardiTV Spring Champion…
5 days
Maestros of the Game
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
Maestros of the Game
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 21
2026 GSL S1
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

2026 KK StarCraft Pro League
BSL Season 22
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
Escore Tournament S2: King of Kings
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
Heroes Pulsing #2
Bounty Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.