Medivac Based Aggression

Another possible set of openings, which has been gaining much more popularity in the recent months, provides a nice alternative to the standard banshee/raven builds. Coming in the form of drops, these timings are designed to hit around the time a banshee pops out, forcing your opponent into either keeping the banshee at home, sacrificing harass damage, or go across the map with it, leaving little at home to defend in its wake. Not only does a drop force your opponent into making tough decisions, it also leaves you free to do whatever you want behind it. There are multiple variations of these early drop; some require you to elevate units into their base, others combine a drop with a runby. The core of these builds already incorporates early defense with continuous marine production, and once the factory finishes, hellion or widow mine production as well. Following the early opening, a hellion is typically made for scouting purposes, and after that either continuous hellion production or a widow mine to hit a drop timing. These timings hit at the same time, with different payloads. Furthermore, depending on what you scout, an engineering bay can be incorporated after the first hellion for banshee defense while you wait for your viking to finish. In general, the counter to cloaked banshees is to start your engineering bay at 5:45, followed by three missile turrets (one at each mineral line, and one on your infrastructure). The most common follow up to the drop is a command center immediately after you send your drop out, although one base play is possible as well.

• 10 supply
  
• 12 gas
  
• 13 barracks (6x marine)
  
• 16 OC
  
• 16 factory
  
• 21 hellion
  
• 23 starport
  
• 26 widow mine
  
• 30 medivac
  
• 34 command center
  
• tech lab on factory
  
• reactor on barracks
  
• @150/75, viking

Good against:

• banshees
  
• gasless builds

Neutral against:

• ravens

Bad against:

• defensive openings
  
• reactored hellions
  
• 6 marine, 3 hellion
  
• 8 marine, 3 hellion

A common theme between these drop builds will be the similarity between what units you have, and the timing of the medivac. The build starts out with a gas first, and quickly deviates from the standard two gas banshee builds, when it opts to skip the second gas. Instead, the SCVs normally on the second gas will be mining minerals instead, allowing you to drop an earlier command center. Not only will your expansion be down faster than two gas builds, but your aggression will also be out faster. First, start by producing six marines. These will serve multiple purposes: defending against early aggression and reapers, and being used in the drop later on. The factory follows, in which we first make a hellion before the widow mine for map control and scouting purposes. It’s easy to get it caught out of position by opposing hellions, so just try to poke around with it instead of committing to a hard scout in which it could easily be denied. The widow mine, meanwhile, will be used in the drop with the six marines. Following the factory comes the starport, and out of the starport we immediately produce the medivac, which times up nicely with the amount of resources we have. The medivac finishes at approximately 5:40; boost the medivac upon completion and pick up the mine and marines, and head out to drop your enemy. In general, it’s safe to build add ons after your initial aggressive units are finished as you will be on the attack, pinning your enemy to their base. A safety viking is a good idea to create in anticipation of banshees, and can also be used as a ground unit in defense of a counter drop. As for the drop itself, aim for the mineral line, and as with the bunny build, make sure to load the widow mine in first so that it’s out first. Avoid any enemy widow mines and drop behind their mineral line, and pick off as many SCVs as you can. Keeping the medivac alive is the most important part of this drop, as you can use it later on for continued harassment. This drop is used in conjunction with two hellions, which are used to runby into the natural, and if there is no hellion wall at the front, into their main base.

Maru vs TY G2 SSL 2015 Season 1 Ro16 cloaked banshee follow-up
Polt vs Cure G3 RBBG Grand Finals Group Stage
TY vs Maru G1 SSL 2015 Ro16
Bomber vs Polt G4 RBBG Semi-Finals
YoDa vs TY G2 GSL 2015 Code S Season 1 Ro16 raven follow-up with counter cloak

• 10 supply
  
• 12 gas
  
• 13 barracks (6x marines)
  
• 16 OC
  
• 16 factory
  
• 21 hellion
  
• 23 starport
  
• 26 hellion
  
• 30 medivac
  
• 32 hellion
  
• 37 command center

Good against:

• banshees
  
• gasless builds
  
• 6 marine, 1 widow mine
  
• raven openings

Neutral against:

• mirror build

Bad against:

• reactored hellions
  
• 8 marine, 3 hellion

This is similar to the six marine one widow mine drop, the difference being that the former incorporates a widow mine in the mix, while this variant has continuous hellion production. With more hellions than usual, you can initially be much more aggressive on the map. With this build, you can try to pick off any enemy units out on the map while your marines wait back home, acting as a line of defense while you wait for the medivac. The main concern with the attack is the cargo space available; only eight slots are available, and you will need twelve total slots. This means that you will have to elevate two groups of units in when dropping. The downside, of course, is that the units in their base are vulnerable while you elevator the second group in, while the upside is a much harder hitting drop. Use the medivac to try and find a blind spot in your opponent's vision to drop your army. This is a little less dependent on getting immediate damage done, as you will have more longevity with this attack compared to the widow mine drop, and you will be able to get into their mineral line without much trouble, even if you start out at the edge of their base. The timings are the same; the medivac finishes at 5:40, the command center starts around the same time, and addons can be added immediately after your units finish.





TaeJa vs Polt G1 RBBG Detroit Finals
Polt vs Bomber G4 RBBG Semi-Finals
TaeJa vs Flash G3 IEM Toronto Ro4
Polt vs TaeJa G1 DH:Winter Semi-Finals
Polt vs TaeJa G2 DH:Winter Semi-Finals
Polt vs TaeJa G5 DH:Winter Semi-Finals reactor variation
Polt vs ForGG G3 DH:Winter WR1 reactor variation

• 10 supply
  
• 11 gas
  
• 13 barracks
  
• 16 OC
  
• 16 factory
  
• @50 gas, reactor on barracks (prioritize marine production over hellions)
  
• 20 hellion
  
• 22 starport
  
• 25 hellion
  
• 29 medivac
  
• 31 hellion

Good against:

• banshees
  
• gasless builds
  
• 6 marine, 1 widow mine
  
• 6 marine, 3 hellion
  
• raven openings

Neutral against:

• mirror build

Bad against:

• reactored hellions
  
• cheeses

This is the most unique out of all of the drop builds. Right out of the gates there’s a deviation involving an immediate reactor on the barracks before any marines (following a rule of thumb which will be discussed later). Rather than a twelve gas, we need to get an eleven gas so that our gas timings line up perfectly to make a reactor at the same time as the factory goes down. To send the drop out as fast as possible, we need to sacrifice some mineral income in favor of the earlier gas. Even with the earlier gas, we will be slightly short on minerals to make the starport immediately, which will result in our medivac being finished at around 5:45-5:50. Regardless, this timing still lines us up perfectly for a slightly more powerful drop, which hits at a slightly later time as previously discussed drops. Even if your opponent goes reaper, your first two marines should finish right around the time that the reaper hits your base, giving you enough defense early on. Your factory will make three hellions, and the starport a medivac. Just as before, the hellions should take map control early on. Denying your opponent's vision can also help with the surprise factor of the elevator, and you'll need them at your opponent's base in time for the elevator. One plus side to the early addon is the addon itself; you don’t need to invest time after your aggression into making a reactor as you already have one, and as such you will have extra production in case of a counter drop. You can keep the reactor on your barracks, or you can swap it to your factory and start churning out double hellions.




ForGG vs Polt G1 DH:Winter WR1
Polt vs TaeJa G1 RBBG Detroit Finals reactorless build
Polt vs Bunny G1 IEM Toronto group stage reactorless build






The other most common build, barracks before gas, is more of a defensive build. The gas timings after a barracks are normally on twelve or fifteen, and open a reaper or marine respectively. Almost never will you see a gasless expand because of the tech limitations naturally imposed on no gas; it’s too hard to defend tank pushes and banshees without some form of tech. With the reaper opening you will want to drop a command center after the reaper, and use the reaper to scout where the enemy is if not a two player map, as well as what build they are using. It’s usually safe to drop a reactor after the reaper completes because the reaper will keep any marines pinned to their base, and the only thing that poses a threat is a proxy barracks. With a fifteen gas, you will want to start making marines, followed by your command center and at 100 gas, your factory. As a general rule of thumb, either make two or marines then your reactor, or go straight into a reactor; one marine into a reactor will not be enough to hold off a reaper or an early marine push. Both the twelve and fifteen gas can allow for either one base or two base play, with the former naturally taking an aggressive stance over fifteen gas because of the earlier tech, and the latter being a more defensive opening, which can still allow for starport tech to be out in time against cloaked banshees and other forms of aggression.



Good against:

• early drops
  
• CC first

Neutral against:

• gasless expand

Bad against:

• siege tank pushes
  
• higher reaper counts

• 10 supply
  
• 12 barracks
  
• 12 gas
  
• 15 reaper
  
• 16 OC
  
• 17 command center
  
• 17 reactor
  
• 19 factory
  
• 26 starport

Probably the most common build out of all the barracks into gas builds, this build gives you early access to a scout, and starts your economy up right off the bat. It also provides an early reactor, which can be used for either marine or hellion production. Of course, some maps are better than others for a reaper opening, but either way it’s still a great scout for those starport timings, and gives you time to react accordingly. Use the initial reaper to see what your opponent is doing, and with that information you can either straight away drop a bunker in your natural in reaction to a hellion build, or delay it in favor of dropping earlier infrastructure. The utility a reaper provides allows you to drop an early command center; you’ll have time to react to any proxy cheeses, early drops or banshees, as well as other timings. Following the command center comes the factory and starport. Once the factory is complete, you have the option of swapping it onto the reactor for double hellion production over marines. You’ll want to keep up marine production if you scout two gases and a potential cloaked banshee build, and if you only scout one gas, stick the factory onto the reactor and pump out hellions in defense of a drop. Marines alone won’t be able to hold off the drop play, and vice versa with hellions vs. a banshee.


The key with an early command center is to maintain your economic advantage going into the mid game. It’s normal to stay on one gas with a reaper expand for quite a long time, even up until siege tank production starts. The extra minerals you are gathering will be cut into heavily by double SCV production and getting early defensive units out as fast as possible. Depending on what structure you placed on your reactor, you can go for various drops as discussed earlier (six marines and one widow mine, six marines and three hellions) while dropping the rest of your addons for further tech. An engineering bay can also be incorporated early on in response to a cloaked banshee build. If you stay on one gas, you’ll have to rely on turrets and a viking to ward off banshees because you won’t be able to afford a raven yet. With that in mind, you’ll have plenty of scan energy as a result of the early second command center, and you can afford to use scans to fend it off. An important note here will be if you decide to SCV scout. If you see your opponent going for a gas first build, it’s safe to stay on one reaper and immediately start a reactor on the barracks. If you see your opponent also going for a reaper, make a second reaper and supply depot before your second command center for safety’s sake.


Bbyong vs BrAvO Proleague 2015 R1
Flash vs BrAvO Proleague 2015 R1 engineering bay added
TY vs Maru G2 SSL 2015 Ro16
Dream vs Maru G1 SSL Ro16 early bunker in response to pressure
Polt vs Cure G2 RBBG Group Stage Double reaper variation into cloaked banshees
Cure vs Polt G2 RBBG Group Stage Triple reaper variation into raven
Bunny vs TaeJa G2 IEM Toronto Group A Cloak banshee follow-up
MMA vs Jjakji G2 DH:Winter LR2
Polt vs MajOr G1 IEM Toronto qualifiers two reaper variation

• 10 supply
  
• 12 barracks
  
• 15 gas
  
• 16 OC
  
• 19 command center
  
• 20 reactor
  
• 21 factory
  
• 27 starport

A more economic focused opening, the 15 gas is a slight variation on traditional gas after barracks builds. With a later gas, you have more minerals initially to spend on your supply depot and command center, resulting in a quicker expansion. Consequently, compared to the reaper opening, your reactor will be a little later. Not to worry, we're still following our rules of thumb and can get two marines before the reactor. The resulting infrastructure is the same as that of a reaper build; the command center is down, the barracks has a reactor, and you can transition from there. As with the reaper build, you can swap the barracks and factory and start churning out double hellions, or you can continue on with the double marine production depending on your defensive needs. A downside to this build compared to the reaper build is the reaper itself; you won’t have access to an early scout, and will have to rely on SCV scouting and scans. Other than that, there are no differences; the distinctions between the two builds lie in the first few minutes.

As for defenses against later pressure (banshees, drops), defender's advantage will play a role here. Although you get a much later gas than a gas first build, the time it takes for the attacker to put on the pressure is enough time for you to adequately prepare to defend with the correct units. We are only 50-100 gas behind a gas first build, and that’s plenty of time to bring up your own starport tech and respond with a viking and turrets if necessary. The difference comes with the gas; gas first builds normally incorporate another gas for the added tech, while barracks into gas builds rely on only a single gas until much later. While we don't have the same tech capabilities as an opponent with two early gases, we can make due with simply having more basic units and structures than them.


Polt vs Bomber G3 RBBG Atlanta
TaeJa vs Bunny G2 IEM Toronto Group A
TaeJa vs Polt G3 DH:Winter Semi-Finals
Jjakji vs MMA G2 DH:Winter LR2
ForGG vs Polt G3 DH:Winter WR1



Good against:

• no aggression

Neutral against:

• reaper expand

Bad against:

• drops
  
• siege tank pushes
  
• hellion builds

• 10 supply
  
• 12 barracks (5x marine)
  
• 15 orbital command
  
• 15 marine
  
• 16 command center
  
• 19 barracks
  
• 21 barracks
  
• 22 2x refinery
  
• @100 gas, double reactor on barracks
  
• @25 gas, tech lab on barracks
  
• @100 gas, stim
  
• @50 gas, ebay
  
• @100 gas, factory
  
• @100 gas, +1 weapons
  
• @completed factory, starport + reactor on factory
  
• Swap factory and starport, start 2x medivacs

Although the build was popular at the end of WoL and start of HotS, it is now an outdated and figured-out strategy. So, you might ask why it's in this guide. This is one of those “high risk, high reward” strategies that you will almost never see, and because they are so rare, no one expects them to happen and thus can be used to steal a win. Completely forgoing early gas and defense, this build aims to hit a massive mid game timing. Although there is no gas early on, ironically it plays the biggest role in the build; it’s as cookie cutter as you get on gas timings, and each building should finish/start within the second of collecting that last four gas. +1 Weapons start as soon as you have 100 gas, you have 150 gas as soon as your factory finishes for a starport/reactor, and you have 200 gas when your starport swaps onto the reactor. With this build, you get the earliest possible command center without going command center before barracks. Following that, you stay on as few marines as possible, while you build up your initial infrastructure; your three barracks will be the key to your timing. Only five marines are made before all addons are dropped; you’ll need to start pumping out as many marines as you can, as early as you can to hit the timing. With having so little ground army, you are prone to many forms of drop play and siege tank pushes. Bunker down your natural, and pull SCVs if you have to.

After establishing your expansion and three barracks, now’s the time to drop the first two gases. Each gas timing is fine tuned to the second and lines up almost perfectly with the next. After the first five marines, you’ll want to drop the two reactors before the tech lab because of the construction time, and following the tech lab completion, start stim packs. After stim packs, at 50 gas, is when you drop the engineering bay. An engineering bay takes approximately 150 gas worth of time to complete. In other words, you’ll be able to drop your factory when you hit 100 gas, and then start +1 weapons when your engineering bay finishes. Following the factory is the starport + reactor on your factory; meanwhile, you should be continuously producing marines and SCVs. Swap the factory and starport, and begin two medivacs. This is where the timing begins. Take map control with your large marine ball, and boost the medivacs across the map. Your +1 weapons should finish around the time your medivacs reach the enemy base. From here you have a couple of options: the first is to stim into their natural and try to kill everything. Even with siege tanks and marines, with good enough splitting, you can still deal a killing blow to them if they do not react perfectly. The second option is to split off with a drop, and go for a two pronged attack. This requires a bit more micro and situational awareness, and in turn can pay off with killing off two mineral lines at once. Either or, this is a very strong timing, and with the tech heavy routes and relatively little defense people are currently playing with mid game, this has huge potential to outright kill your enemy.




Good against:

• no aggression
  
• two gas builds

Neutral against:

• CC first

Bad against:

• drops
  
• reaper
  
• 1 gas builds

The command center first is a rarity, and for good reason. As you forfeit an early barracks in favor of a slight economic lead, a CC first can die to many things. You should only take the risk off CC first as a meta play against an opponent who will not be aggressive early. A reaper first opening can deal a significant amount of damage to your SCVs because your marines won’t quite be out yet; in small numbers, marines can be seriously threatened by even a single reaper. One gas and gas first openings can also wreck this build with good micro and positioning; any of the early drop builds can circumvent any bunkers and deal quite a lot of damage. Against two gas builds, you’ll have a bit of an easier time surviving since your gas timings relative to them aren't that much later, and will be able to grind out your tech in a reasonable amount of time while maintaining an economic lead. Overall though, there’s a lot of ways to die opening with CC first, and some of them you really just can’t do anything about it. With that being said, there are two variations of CC first. One being a barracks into gas, and the other being double barracks before gas. Needless to say, the gas variation goes for starport tech much earlier, while the latter is a more defensive one with heavy marine production. Both have their perks and disadvantages, but we will only discuss the former.

• 14 command center
  
• 15 barracks
  
• 16 gas
  
• 18 OC
  
• 18 marine
  
• 19 OC
  
• 19 bunker
  
• 21 factory
  
• 25 gas

This build is without a doubt the better of the two variations, this build incorporates gas into it for the superior tech route. This build allows for some interchangeability; you can continue producing marines to fill the bunker, or you can stop at two and drop a reactor down to line it up with the factory timing and transition into early hellions. It’s important to get the gases down early on as to start those gas heavy buildings, and their succeeding units. It’s a relatively safe build at the start with the bunker down at the natural preventing any early aggression, and sets the economy up early on while sacrificing tech timings. Vision control of your base will be huge here, and especially early on to see those drops coming as soon as possible. Scatter the supply depots out, and react to each form of harassment accordingly by repositioning your units. Getting a wall at the ramp is important to eliminate some of the ground based attacks that your opponent could do, although a siege tank push will most likely force you to forfeit the ramp. Overall, command center first doesn't really put you that far ahead over a standard timing command center, and is very open to potential damage and has vulnerabilities everywhere. For the sake of variety it’s included in this guide, but should only be used in extremely specific circumstances.




TY vs Dream G2 GSL 2015 Code S Ro32 Group D
Bomber vs Polt G1 RBBG Semi finals






Good against:

• no scout

Neutral against:

• other cheeses

Bad against:

• bunkers
  
• scouts

Unfortunately, Terrans don't have as much fromage potential as the other races. With our production being limited at only one unit per cycle, executing cheese is extremely difficult. Most, if not all, cheeses can be stopped with a single bunker, and of course if it is scouted than it’s pretty much game over. But for the connoisseurs of the lactic derivative, here are a few builds that could take a quick win off an unsuspecting opponent.



Build order:

• 10 supply
  
• 11 barracks
  
• 11 gas
  
• 14 tech lab
  
• 14 orbital command
  
• 14 marauder
  
• 16 concussive shells
  
• 23 gas

A much more common cheese in wings of liberty, made unpopular by the introduction of widow mines, the proxy marauder build can still win games if your opponent doesn’t react correctly to it. The timing lines up nicely with two marauders out when concussive shells finishes, while pulling SCVs is also optional but not recommended unless you aren’t confident you can’t transition into another attack. Initially, use the proxy SCV to scout the top of the ramp of the opponent. Should they be making a bunker, attack with your first marauder. Otherwise, wait until you have two marauders out. Pay attention to your marauders with continuous micro, while trying not to get surrounded by pulled SCVs. And if you have top three control, try to focus fire down the marines before the SCVs as they are the biggest damage dealers. Without the marines, SCVs helplessly chase your marauders, and won’t be able to kill them fast enough before they take too many SCV losses. The common follow up to this proxy is a starport; with the right amount of damage done, you should be ahead on economy, and will only have to worry about defending a counter attack. On the defending side of things, you’ll want to pull SCVs immediately after you see the marauders while dropping a bunker at your ramp, and keep your marines alive for as long as possible. It essentially becomes a game of cat and mouse with each players taking turns, with the defending player not straying too far away from his mineral line and reinforcements with their SCVs, and with the attacker continuously firing off as many shells as possible, without getting surrounded by the SCVs. The early investment in gas means that starport tech will be out much later than your opponent, resulting in you having to be on the defense while you wait for your infrastructure to finish. It’s imperative to keep all of your marauders alive, as your production will be momentarily halted while you wait for your factory/starport to finish up, and your barracks floating back home. A counter attack could instantly kill you if you have no defenses at home.

Heart vs Bomber G1 WCS 2014 Season 2 Semi-Finals
Maru vs Flash Proleague 2014
Supernova vs GuMiho G3 Olimoleague #15

• Build order:
  
• 10 supply
  
• 12 barracks
  
• 12 gas
  
• 14 barracks
  
• 16 OC
  
• make 5 or 6 reapers total
  
• 23 CC

This cheese is somewhat more common than the proxy marauder build, especially on three player maps, but nonetheless is very rare. The second barracks is a makarax so that the opponent has trouble scouting it, or can be proxied all together. There are three tells of this build even without scouting the second barracks. The first method of identifying this build is a delayed orbital command being made compared to a normal 12 rax. It will be significantly delayed by about 20 seconds. The second method is even more difficult: counting the SCVs. With a single SCV missing, you can never be sure if it’s just a scouting SCV, or an SCV making another barracks, and this comes down to luck (seeing the scouting SCV out on the map). Regardless, at this timing there will always be three SCVs in the gas and either ten or eleven SCVs on the mineral line. The third and last method comes a bit later, with seeing a delayed supply depot. Similar to the delayed orbital command, this supply depot will be around 20 seconds later than normal. Once your second barracks is done, you’re going to want to prioritize reaper production over SCV production, which results in a little time in between an SCV or two. Send in the first reaper to do basic scouting and minor harass, and from this, gauge if you should continue with non-stop reaper production. Once you have three reapers out, it’s time to bring the pain train to your opponent. The big reaper attack hits at around 4:45-5:00, and depending on the positioning of your opponents units, will either begin marvelously or horribly for you. If you can get in without taking any initial damage and get into a good position, your reapers will be able to get a large amount of damage done. Try to keep picking off units with your initial reapers while you wait for the last of them to finish producing, and keep the initial ones alive with their regenerative abilities. If you jump in where there are already units, you’ll take hefty damage and probably lose at least one right off the bat. It’s a bit of a gamble, and instead of jumping right in you should get as close to the ledge as possible as to see if there are any enemies idling that will attack your reaper, giving away their position. This build isn’t as all in as the other cheeses, and it leaves you with multiple transition options. An expansion is possible, or you can drop another gas early on and follow up with cloaked banshees or a tank drop.







Bomber vs Polt G2 RBBG Atlanta
GuMiho vs TOP G1 HLK Early transition out of reapers

• 10 supply (stop at 12 SCVs)
  
• 11 barracks
  
• 12 barracks
  
• 12 barracks
  
• 15 orbital command (call down supply)

Perhaps the cheesiest of all Terran builds, this one stays true to the term of “all-in”, courtesy of Geiko. This build relies on luck, in that if your opponent scouts you it’s game over. A single bunker with a few SCVs repairing it will hold off this push with ease. As for the build itself, it’s very simple. Cut SCVs at twelve, make three barracks and start pumping out continuous marines. It’s important to stack SCVs on the closest mineral patches to receive the most income; this could mean the difference between having nine or ten marines for the assault, which could make or break the push. At 4:30 game time, pull ALL the boys with your marines, and charge for the win. With the rest of your OC energy, call down mules, and either continue marine production, or try to get bunkers down in their main base, preferably next to production structures.





To summarize early game TvT, you want to establish starport tech as soon as possible, and remain active with your scouting. TvT has a wide variety of different builds, most of which have little deviations compared to others, but can make a world of difference in their timing attacks. Your builds will allow you plenty of time to react accordingly to what's thrown at you, requiring only minor adjustments to different situations. Knowing what’s coming is paramount, so don't be afraid to drop scans in order to be absolutely sure about what your opponent is doing. HotS TvT is pretty much figured out by now, and this will be your guide to the general style and strategies of early game TvT. Thanks for reading!