EPT**Note: this is still a work in progress, as I will add in replays once more become available. If anyone can point me to top players using a build, OR can point me to at least 3 platinum level replays of the build being used successfully, I will gladly add it to the guide
**Note: I am also open to additions from the community, as always. BUT, I'm not adding anything to the guide based on a one-liner, or a one- or two-sentence post. If you have a suggestion for the guide, put some thought into your post, and provide at least a few platinum replays showing your counter/build/army in action, and I will be more than happy to put it in.
Introduction
So, the Beta has been out awhile, and there have been a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE amount of games played in the last few months.
Even though there is more or less a new patch each week, I think enough games have been played that some common strategies & builds are starting to emerge.
This guide is for the TvZ matchup in SC2. It is not simply for how to play the game, it is for how to play the game well. There will be no basics covered in this guide, as it assumes you already know the basics, and you want to get good. I won't go over unit counters, UI tricks, hotkeys, or how to micro units.
I wouldn't say I'm really good at this game yet, but I am a decent mid-level plat player. A reset happened just a few days ago, so I'm not 100% sure where I stand, but I am currently top 20 in my plat division with about 1350 points.
So without further ado, a TvZ guide, for getting to the platinum level, and staying there. I realize platinum level doesn't mean you're totally awesome at the game, but it's a good goal for many to shoot for, and it's certainly the first major step any player will take on the road to becoming good
TvZ Gameflow
+ Show Spoiler +
Essentially, zerg is the one who makes the first move, by deciding whether or not to FE. Terran must react based on this decision. If zerg stays on 1 base, you need to be constantly scouting to see what zerg is doing, and react. If zerg FEs, a large number of options open up to you, and you can decide to FE yourself, or try and put pressure on zerg's expansion with a large variety of builds, such as fast reaper, fast hellions, fast banshees, 1 base hellion/marauder, or 1base MM.
The nature of zerg macro, coupled with the Spawn Larva ability, means that zerg can power drones extremely fast if you let them. I've seen many TvZ where Z does a FE opening, and terran doesn't harass soon enough, and during the mid-game zerg has 10 more drones than terran. This is a bad situation for terran to be in, and against an equally skilled zerg the terran will lose every time. You HAVE to harass zerg, to force them to use their larvae on units instead of drones. If you don't, their economy will grow much faster than yours. If you don't understand why, imagine this: for a small period of time, what if your barracks + factories + starports could also produce SCVs? Yeah, that's how fast zerg can get a whole lot of drones.
If zerg FEs and you decide to pressure, it becomes a battle of how much you can disrupt zerg's economy while expanding and building up an army yourself. In this situation, you dictate how to pressure zerg, and zerg must react to your harass. You are in control of the game at this point. You have an advantage in that you can hide your tech fairly easily by using a wallin, 2 marines, and depots on the edges of your base (to spot incoming slow overlords). Then, once you reach your desired tech, you can move out and ambush zerg.
Once you reach mid-game & late-game, play becomes similar to brood war, by coming down to macro, economy, expansions, and upgrades.
Early-game: Terran Openings
+ Show Spoiler +
Fast Reaper
+ Show Spoiler +
The build:
6/8/10rax (there are many variations here, which I'll list below)
6/8/10ref
11 depot
@ 100% rax, tech lab
@ 100% tech lab, reaper(s)
When to use the build
Reapers are decent against zerglings while they are off creep, great at killing workers, and do excellent damage against buildings. Because of this, it can easily punish a zerg who does a hatch-first build, as well as a build that either relies on zerglings only for the early game, or doesn't get roaches fast enough.
How to use the build
You should be using your reapers to kill as many workers as you can. If you are fast enough, you can also destroy a zerg's FE hatch if they made the hatch before their pool. However once the zerg player gets a queen and has more than 4 zerglings, reapers quickly start to lose effectiveness. Most reaper openings don't ever get more than 3 reapers. The Fast Reaper opening is not meant to win you the game, only to disrupt the zerg's economy while you transition into something else.
What works against this build
This build works best against an FE build, especially one where the zerg gets a hatchery first. But any kind of 1 base build usually renders the reapers too ineffective to do any economical damage. 1 base builds usually have enough zerglings and/or a queen to chase off your reapers. However, zerg FE is almost a standard build by now, and many zergs do this, so with good micro it is almost always possible to do at least some disruption with this build.
Variations
There are many different variations, but they are all simply for getting your reaper out at various times. But for all the variations, you need to make the refinery immediately after starting the barracks, so that you can have 25 gas ready by the time the barracks finishes to make your tech lab
6/7 rax - the fastest way to get reapers. Usually for this, you will proxy your barracks somewhere closer to the enemy base, so that your 1st reaper can reach your opponent at the absolute fastest time possible. Naturally, you are cutting SCVs almost immediately to do this build, and so this variation is almost always done on 2-player maps only, so that no SCV or time is wasted trying to locate your opponent
8 rax - a bit more economical, the 8 rax is also usually done proxy, to get to your opponent as fast as possible while still maintaining some form of economy. Same as 6/7 rax, this is almost always done on 2-player maps only
10 rax - this one is not as fast as the other two, but still allows your reaper to arrive fast enough to do some damage, and will give you enough minerals to make an OC while your 2nd reaper is being made, letting you quickly catch up in economy.
Anything later than 10 rax usually results in the reaper arriving at the enemy base too late to do any significant damage, which will put you behind in economy. 11 rax/11 ref/11 depot might work, but I think it is still too slow.
An exception is on maps with a cliff above the nat, you can delay your reapers a bit and still do damage with them. These maps include Kulas Ravine & Lost Temple.
replays
LucifroN v HayprO - LucifroN opens with 12 rax reaper, and does very good damage, putting him ahead for the duration of the game. Note the effective use of reapers on this map, with the cliff above the nat.
reaper expand
+ Show Spoiler +
The build
10 depot
12 barracks
13 refinery
15 OC
@ 100% barracks, 1 marine
16 depot
16 tech lab
@ 100% tech lab, reaper
20 nitro packs
20 CC
When to use the build
Lately some zergs are starting to favor a completely roachless FE opening. They rely on speedlings + spine crawler + queen micro for defense until they can drone up & get to lair and use their lair tech + 2 base macro to gain a large mid-game advantage.
1 base reapers aims to punish a FE zerg for not getting any roaches. Mass nitro reapers can really put the hurt on zerg by killing zerglings, workers, crawlers, and queens. Against a lesser opponent, you can win the game right there. Also, it is harder to move crawlers around, since the root time for crawlers has been doubled as of patch 11. Crawlers won't really work against reapers, so zerg will be forced to use mass speedlings, or switch to roach in order to defend both bases from your constant reaper harass. Keep making reapers if he makes speedlings, and switch over to marauders if he starts making roach.
Note that you should only continue to produce reapers until one or more of the following happen:
-opponent gets a roach warren
-opponent gets any lair tech structure (infestor pit/hydralisk den/spire)
-you successfully get your expansion up
Once any of these happen, it's time to switch & transition into your mid-game army. With constant harassment and reaper mobility, you should be able to have constant vision of the zerg base, and respond appropriately.
How to use the build
The build basically extends the reaper harass build in order to abuse zerg's lack of roaches. Basically instead of stopping at 2-3 reapers, you keep making reapers until your expansion is up, or if you see zerg get roaches or get lair tech. You should constantly harass zerg at both bases, picking off workers and zerglings and queens as much as possible. Also keep watch for a lair building or a roach warren. The moment you see one of these you should switch over to making the appropriate counter.
Reapers will at the very least force zerg to spend money on zerglings and/or crawlers instead of drones. If you are successful, you can also kill workers. Once you get 6 reapers, you can 2-shot a spine crawler. If you can get 9 reapers, you can 3-shot a spawning pool. Not necessary to know, but a good thing to keep in mind during harassment.
nitro pack upgrade is a must. Without it, speedlings will quickly surround & kill your reapers. Even with nitro packs, speedlings are faster than reapers, but only by a little bit. Still, that fact means you must always position your reapers with a cliff nearby to escape surrounds.
You can safely expand and at the same time defend yourself from zerglings/banelings. This build completely nullifies the baneling bust build. And if zerg decides to go roaches, you already have your barracks with tech lab ready to switch over to marauders.
What works against this build
As mentioned before, roaches & any lair tech shut down reapers completely. As soon as you see roach warren/hydralisk den/spire/infestor pit go down, stop producing reapers immediately and switch over to the appropriate counter. Even if your 1st reaper sees a roach warren, you should stop and switch away from reapers (although you probably still have time to do damage with 2 reapers until roaches come out).
replays
Jinro v ZpuX - Game 1 of ZOTAC #11 semi-finals (patch 11)
Jinro v ZpuX 2 - Game 2 of ZOTAC #11 semi-finals (patch 11)
Fast expand
+ Show Spoiler +
The build
10 depot
12 rax
@ 100% rax, 4 marines
@ 400 minerals, CC (in-base or not)
@ 100 minerals, bunker
When to use the build
a completely safe FE build for TvZ sadly, doesn't exist in SC2, because of a few reasons:
-no high-ground advantage means it is harder to hold your expo/ramp against early attacks
-a majority of the maps have a backdoor entrance to your main, meaning you will have to defend 2 locations early in the game, which is nearly impossible to do when you do an FE opening
-nydus canal at T2 makes it easy for zerg to bypass your choke defenses
As such, you should only use a FE opening as a response to a zerg FE opening. Fortunately, zerg's are doing FE openings in a majority of their games, so you will usually have the option of doing an FE opening yourself.
How to use the build
Terran FE is a pure economy build. You are forgoing any kind of early harass in favor of powering SCVs and getting a 2 base economy up as fast as possible. As such, you, to a certain degree, pass control of the gameflow back to zerg, as now zerg can decide if he wants to pressure your FE or not, also zerg is now free to tech straight to mutas ASAP after putting down their FE if they want.
Make sure you get 2nd OC immediately after your CC finishes building. You'll need constant SCVs + MULEs pumping from both OCs in order to keep up with zerg powering drones, which good zergs WILL do when they see that you won't be able to harass them.
Since gameflow has been passed back to zerg, you need to keep constant tabs on what zerg is doing, and adapt accordingly.
What works against this build
Any type of 1 base play will absolutely destroy this build, which is why you should only use it as a response to zerg FE. However even with zerg FE you need to be careful. Zerg could scout your FE, and instead of powering drones or teching, zerg could mass up a large group of speedlings, or a fast roach attack. Keep a wallin at your ramp in case of mass speedlings, and make sure to build additional bunkers at your nat if necessary. And as always, keep a depot near your backdoor rocks.
replays
TLO v Naugrim FE -> transition into mech (patch 12)
fast banshees
+ Show Spoiler +
The build
Any opening that gets early gas, such as fast reaper or fast hellions
@ 100% factory, 2 starports
If desired, pre-build the tech labs on the barracks and/or factory
2 banshees immediately when starports have tech-labs
If you want the absolute fastest banshees, pre-build tech-labs on both barracks and factory, and then lift the starports and put them on the tech-labs when they are done
When to use this build
This build should be used primarily against zerg FE builds. A zerg that stays on 1 base can easily get spore crawlers while teching to hydras, and zerg will be able to counter-attack you before you can switch to something else But a zerg that FEs will have to make a lot of spore crawlers to protect two bases. In addition, if you surprise the zerg, you will be able to kill his queen before the other queen can join. Lastly, zerg only has spore crawlers & queens until they get lair.
How to use this build
The best way to use this build is to deny scouting. To do this, make at least 2 marines, possibly 3, to kill any overlords that try to scout your base. Put depots around the perimeter of your base so you can spot overlords as soon as possible. Hid your factory + starports as far away from the edge of your base as possible. Don't put them near your ramp, as zerg will be able to see it by sending a zergling up the ramp. Basically, you should only show your opponent that you have a wallin and 2 or 3 marines, that's it. By surprising your opponent, you deny him the ability to prepare for your banshees by building extra queens and/or spore crawlers.
As soon as your 2 banshees are done, you should go straight to the enemy's base and kill his queens. If you can do this, he will have no AA until he either builds spore crawlers, or until he gets hydras/mutas. If you can kill your opponents queens and he didn't tech to lair fast enough, it's usually GG right there.
Another option if your opponent makes extra queens, but still fails to get a fast lair, is to get cloak. A well-placed cloak will still allow you to destroy his queens until he is able to morph an overseer.
Even if he has hydras + queens/spore crawlers + overseer, you should still try to harass him and force his hydras to stay at home to protect his workers until you can expand yourself
What works against this build
Extra queens and spore crawlers both shut this build down completely. That's why it is so important to deny scouting and surprise your opponent. In addition, if you go straight for banshees without any kind of harassment, zerg can get out mutas if they go straight for spire.
Also, if you take too long to get banshees, or if zerg goes for fast lair -> fast hydra den, he will have hydras when your banshees arrive, so if you see zerg getting fast lair, you may want to get cloak and try to keep him contained.
Because this build is so powerful and has the potential to immediately end the game if zerg is unprepared, just the threat of this build has caused many zerg players to get a fast lair every single game against terran, even if they don't know whether or not you are doing fast banshees. You can use this to your advantage, for example you can deny scouting, but instead of doing fast banshees you can do a 3rax MM build, or mass igniter hellions, or hellion/marauder, and catch your opponent off guard, with only a small handful of hydras and possibly some speedlings.
replays
Fast Hellions
+ Show Spoiler +
The build:
10 depot
12 rax
13 ref (3 SCVs on gas when done)
15 OC
@ 100 gas, factory
@ 50 gas, pre-build reactor on the barracks
@ 100% factory & 100% reactor, lift factory and put it on reactor core
2-6 hellions
transition
When to use the build
This build doesn't do very well against zerg 1 base builds, unless the zerg goes for mass speedlings or fast hydras; it is most effective against zerg FE, because the timing of the hellions forces zerg to get speedlings/roaches/crawlers at a time when they want to be making more drones.
If you do fast hellions and zerg goes for 1 base roaches, you are in trouble. Same goes for a zerg that does 1 base mutalisks. Although hellions are decent against hydras, they really need the igniter upgrade to be able to win against hydras. Most zergs who stay on one base are building up for a large roach/ling attack, or fast teching to mutas. Both of these essentially counter fast hellions, so I would only advise using this against a zerg that does an FE opening.
This build is also very effective on maps that have a hard-to-defend nat. At this point, that's really only Desert Oasis, and Kulas Ravine (sort of). Scrap Station used to be in this category, but after patch 9 Blizzard blocked off one of the pathways to the natural, effectively letting zerg defend both bases from a single choke. Hellions can't really bust down a backdoor rocks entrance because of their pitiful damage.
How to use this build
This build is simple to use. It is basically the same as using fast reapers: your goal is to destroy as many drones as possible. Hellions don't do hardly any damage against units that aren't light, so stick to only attacking drones & zerglings with your hellions.
Also, like fast reapers, fast hellions aren't used to win the game outright. They are used to kill drones, and to force zerg to spend their larvae on units instead of drones, to allow you to expand and gain an economic advantage.
Newer zergs will select all of their workers and send them away when they see hellions. This is exactly what you want, as hellions attack is an AOE attack that goes out in a straight line from the hellion. If zerg moves all of their workers somewhere, they will line up and you can easily kill 2-3 drones per attack.
Avoid roaches, and be careful of speedlings. Speedlings on creep can quickly surround your hellions and kill them before they do too much damage. You can essentially ignore queens since they don't do enough damage to kill your hellions before they can roast drones.
What works against this build
As mentioned earlier, 1 base roaches & 1 base mutas are both very good against fast hellions, so if you don't scout a zerg FE, you might want to consider doing a different build. Also mass speedlings is somewhat effective, since hellions that get surrounded don't do much damage.
1 base baneling bust is also a great counter to this build, as a properly executed baneling bust will kill your wall just as your first 2 hellions are done.
Most zergs will have a zergling outside your base, so they will see when your hellions leave your base, and will counter your hellions with a combination of 2 queens, 1-2 spine crawlers, and either 6-12 zerglings or 2-4 roaches. In this case, it comes down to who has the better micro, as you will constantly try to maneuver around roaches/lings/queens/crawlers and try to kill as many drones as possible.
replays
[Patch 10 replays here]
1 base 3rax MM
+ Show Spoiler +
The build:
10 depot
12 rax
13 ref
15 OC
@ 150 minerals, 2nd barracks
@ 150 minerals, 3rd barracks
tech lab on 2nd barracks
2nd refinery
reactor core on 3rd barracks
Note that everything up through the OC can be replaced by the fast reaper opening. Fast reaper can easily transition into 3rax MM
How to use the build
1 base 3 rax MM is a MM timing attack designed to hit zerg right before their lair tech kicks in for a zerg FE, and still be able to deal damage if zerg opted to stay on one base.
Pump marauders from your 2 tech lab barracks, and pump marines from your reactor barracks. Get shells & combat shields. Attack when both of these upgrades finish. If you feel like slightly delaying your attack, get an ebay and +1 attack. Move out when +1 attack is 75% done.
It's a pretty straightforward attack; marauders deal with roaches/banelings/crawlers, and marines deal with zerglings/hydras/mutas.
You can get stim, but you will probably only use it for marauders, and probably only be able to use it once during your attack; it's too expensive to delay your attack & spend 150/150 on stim without having medivacs, stim isn't recommended if going for this build.
When to use this build
This build is good as a timing attack v a zerg who does an FE opening. However, it can also work against 1 base builds. Scout appropriately to see if zerg is going for zerglings, roaches, banelings, or fast teching to hydras or mutas.
What works against this build
Really it comes down to proper unit mix. A good mix of speedling/baneling, or speedling/roach, or speedling/crawler, will deflect this attack. The primary purpose of the build is to punish a FE zerg for being too greedy.
Make sure you deny scouting, so that the zerg doesn't know if you're going fast hellion, fast banshees, thors, siege tanks, etc. and won't be prepared for your timing attack.
replays
[Patch 10 replays here]
1 Base Hellion/Marauder
+ Show Spoiler +
The Build
10 depot
12 rax
13 ref
15 OC
@ 150 minerals, 2nd barracks
@ 100 gas, factory
@ 50 gas, pre-build reactor on a barracks
@ 25 gas, tech-lab on barracks
@ 100% factory & 100% reactor, lift factory and put it on reactor
@ 25 gas, 2nd tech-lab on 2nd barracks
@ 50 gas, concussive shell upgrade
At this point, pump marauders from both barracks, and pump hellions from your factory.
Attack when you have 4-6 hellions.
How to use this build
This is another 1 base timing attack, similar to 1 base 3 rax MM. It is more or less used in the same, way, but using hellions instead of marines. Marines are a bit better against roaches, and much better against mutas; but hellions are better against speedlings/banelings/hydras. Hellions are also faster than marines and reward micro more, so if you feel confident in your micro, this build will most likely work better for you.
When to use this build
This build is used mainly as a counter to zerg FE, but it can work decently against a 1 base zerg, just be sure to attack before spire gets up, hellion/marauder has no way of attacking mutas.
What works against this build
Watch out for mass speedling. Once you get 6 hellions, speedlings will die quickly, but until then, speedlings can surround your hellions/marauders. Always be careful of speedling flanks, you want hellions to only have to attack units on one side.
Also, 1 base tech to mutas works against this build if you wait too long to attack. If you scout him getting a lair before expanding, attack as soon as you have some hellions & marauders.
replays
[Patch 10 replays here]
A combination of the above
+ Show Spoiler +
Some of the above builds can be strung together to constantly pressure your opponent and keep him on the defensive. These types of "multi-harass' openings can be very effective with good micro.
Some examples include:
-fast reaper -> fast banshee: this works because banshees counter the units that kill reapers, namely speedlings/roaches/spine crawlers. By making fast reaper, you can force your opponent to make these, and thus delay his lair & hydras, making it easier for your banshees to kill.
-fast hellion -> fast banshee: this works for the same reason that fast reaper -> fast banshee works: it forces your opponent to build things that will be countered by your banshees. In addition, you can build a medivac from your starport and keep dropping hellions in your opponents base.
replays
Naama v LaLuSh - Naama goes for fast hellion -> fast banshee + hellion drop, Naama causes so much damage with his constant harassment that he ends the game @ 15 minutes by just a-moving mass marauders into the zerg expansion, didn't even need stim or shells.
Joobie v DJBlue - platinum level replay. Terran goes fast reaper -> fast banshee (patch 10).
Kas v LaLuSh - fast hellions -> fast banshee. Kas actually makes a refinery before barracks, so that he can make his factory as soon as possible (patch 10).
Kas v LaLuSh 2 - same as above, fast hellions -> fast banshee. gas before barracks so the factory can be made as soon as the barracks finishes. Note that this build gets hellions fast enough to deal with a baneling bust (patch 10).
Mid-game & Late-game: Effective Army Compositions
+ Show Spoiler +
This section will explain the various effective mid-game strategies Terran can employ in TvZ. I will explain the strengths & weaknesses of each one, and why it works.
MMM
+ Show Spoiler +
MMM stands for Marines, Marauders, & Medivacs. It is the classic M&M from Brood War, but with the addition of marauders.
It is very effective with a large group of upgraded marines & marauders, as they can stim, have slow from marauders, and can deal out a huge amount of DPS with attack & armor upgrades. In addition, the medivacs are good at reducing enemy DPS, and lastly with enough medivacs you can transport most if not all of your army to any zerg expansion and quickly take it out with stimmed marauders.
Marauders are good against armored units, while marines are good against large amounts of lower-hp units. Once fully upgraded, this combination is fairly strong against most zerg units, and is only countered by an equally large and equally mixed zerg army.
However, once the late-game stage is reached, this army has trouble against broodlords, especially if your mix of marines & marauders is heavy on marauders. This can be somewhat countered by vikings, but since you are concentrating on MMM, you probably won't have any vikings when you see the broodlords, unless you manage to scout the greater spire, or you see corruptors late in the game. Also, upgraded hydras + fungal growth are at least even with this army, and depending on your positioning and how quickly you can snipe the infestors, may beat your army.
Gas goes into infantry upgrades, barracks tech lab upgrades, marauders, & medivacs. Once you have 3-3 infantry upgrades, 8+ medivacs, concussive shells, combat shields, and stim, your MMM are extremely powerful.
Usually 1 starport with reactor core is enough to make enough Medivacs. The factory isn't used at all, feel free to lift this and use it to scout for expansions. Make as many barracks as your resources will allow, usually at least 6 is good for 2 bases. Put reactors on 1 or 2 of the barracks, tech labs on the other 5 or 4. Once you get more than 50 workers, you can support 2-3 more barracks.
What MMM is strong against
MMM is strong against most combination of zerg armies. Also, having some barracks with tech labs and other barracks with reactor cores allows you to change your ratio of marine:marauder very quickly. Also having a reactor core on your starport allows you to change from medivacs to vikings quickly.
This build is strong against most zerg units. With proper micro, it can handle almost any combination of speedling/roach/baneling/hydra/muta. Just make sure to run your marines behind your marauders if a group of banelings comes rolling at you. Mutas will die to shield marines being healed by medivacs. Speedlings are terrible against a clump of marines & marauders with armor upgrades and being healed by medivacs. They simply don't have the DPS to do anything. Roaches die to marauders, and hydras are even with marauders only with fungal growth support and only if upgrades are equal.
Obviously one-dimensional armies like pure hydra or pure roach get destroyed by MMM, although pure hydra can do ok, but only until you get upgrades. Once you get shells + shields + a good number of medivacs, zerg will lose without banelings or muta or infestors.
MMM is also good against hydra/roach, which is a popular zerg combination due to the fact that both hydras & roaches share the same attack & armor upgrades. Make sure you keep up with your upgrades against hydra/roach or you will die.
What MMM is weak against
Mass/pure muta will actually be enough to overwhelm your marines, and if your marines die your medivacs + marauders are helpless against mutas. Thus, if you see mutas, switch ALL of your barracks over to pure marine production for a short while; but only for a short while. Don't go pure marine...banelings will destroy you if you do that.
Pure hydra with 2-5 infestors is also very good against this build. Hydras are more or less even with marauders as long as they keep up with upgrades, and fungal growth is devastating against clumped marines, and still decent against marauders. If you see this, you have a couple of options. One option is to stop making marines and focus only on marauders. This may mean you need to lift any barracks off of reactors, and put tech labs on them. Another option is to make a ghost academy as soon as you see infestors, and get ghosts, in order to EMP the infestors.
A good mix of speedling/baneling/hydra/infestor is also good against this build. Banelings + fungal growth destroy your marines, and hydra + speedling will do well against marauders. If you start seeing banelings, switch over to pure marauder for awhile, or go for a MMM variation (explained in more detail later)
replays
Shiver v Medzo - Top-ranked platinum game. Shows MMM v muta/corruptor.
MMM variations
+ Show Spoiler +
MMM variations involve adding something else to your MMM army in order to compensate for the weaknesses of MMM. However this will mean less gas for your infantry attack/armor upgrades, and possibly less medivacs, so make sure you are spending your gas on making the correct units. I'll go over each MMM variation.
MMMT - adding Thors
Thors are great because they counter mutas just as well as marines do, and they counter hydras better than marines or marauders. Plus, they aren't countered by banelings, which makes them better than marines against a zerg army that has banelings. However, you have to be careful, because as of patch 9 zerg has an excellent way of dealing with Thors - Neural Parasite. After patch 9, NP range was increased back to its original range of 9, making it very easy for infestors to cast NP from behind the hydra/roach arc, making it very difficult to use the rest of your army to kill the infestor. Make sure to immediately stim your marauders and kill the infestors if you see any, because you won't last long if your thors are taken from you and immediately begin destroying your own army.
MMMG - adding ghosts
Ghosts are mainly added to the MMM army in order to counter Infestors by EMP'ing them. Thus, using them is relatively simple: if you see zerg using infestors, you can put down a ghost academy and make some ghosts. If you have a 3rd, also consider getting the cloaking & energy upgrades, as the energy upgrade will allow you to cast an EMP as soon as the ghost is ready. Also, even if you kill off all infestors, you can still use ghosts for nuking & sniping, so they remain useful.
MMM + viking
This is for when you encounter broodlords. Once the game reaches late-game, you should be wary of broodlords. Typically zergs go for hive in order to get broodlords, so scout for hive, greater spire, or corruptors. If you see any of these late game, you should start making vikings to counter the broodlords. If you have been keeping up on your upgrades, 3-3 marines with medivacs are actually very good against 0-0 broodlords, so don't be afraid to use your MMM army to fight broodlords until your vikings arrive.
MMM + raven
This is for handling mass muta, or mass hydra. If you see zerg going for either of these, you can opt for raven. Hydra can more or less be dealt with using MMM w/upgrades, but mass mutas are another story. If you see zerg massing more than 20 mutas, you will have to get either Thors or Ravens to beat them. The reason Ravens are used are for their Seeker Missiles.
both Thors & Ravens are effective against mass hydra, or mass muta. The difference is that Thors are countered by Infestors, whereas Ravens are not. Also, roaches are good against thors, whereas they are not good against ravens. So if you see a roach/hydra/infestor army, consider adding Ravens. Seeker Missile is devastating against zerg, and works wonders against baneling clumps, hydra clumps, and especially muta clumps. Ravens can also detect burrowed roaches, burrowed infestors, and can pick off infestors with Seeker Missiles. Lastly, they are also effective against broodlords, which are unable to outrun seeker missile. But you'll need at least 3 seeker missiles to kill a broodlord, since they have 275 health.
MMM + tanks
Tanks are mainly used to kill of hydras or banelings But really, adding Thors gives the same effect, and Thors are more mobile, can be more easily repaired, and can counter mutas as well. I really don't see the benefit of adding tanks to your MMM army when you could add Thors to your MMM army. I don't recommend doing this.
MMM + hellions
Hellions are added to deal with zerglings + hydras. But as mentioned before, Thors are a better addition against hydras, since they kill them in one shot, and aren't as fragile, and can attack air. And zerglings aren't a problem once you get medivacs and at least +1 armor. I don't recommend adding hellions to your MMM army either.
replays
Shiver v Maniac Top-ranked platinum game. Terran gets MMMT v Muta/ling/bane
Mech
+ Show Spoiler +
Mech involves using factory units as your main army composition. This includes hellions, siege tanks, & Thors.
Each of the factory units serves to counter different units:
-hellions counter speedlings/hydra
-tanks counter roach/banelings/hydra/infestors
-Thors counter rbanelings/hydra/muta, later on they counter ultras
Mech play requires you to open with siege tanks, they help defend your expansion. Thors are too slow & lack the mobility to properly defend, especially if you're on a map with a backdoor entrance.
You'll also want to build turrets when you push out with your siege tanks, since they help detect burrowed roaches, burrowed infestors, and help thors in fending off mutas.
Mech play almost always involves only factories, only 1 rax is made as a prerequisite for making factories. Some people make marauders in order to deal with roaches, but proper use of siege tanks together with repaired thors can deal with heavy roach play.
Gas goes into making factories, making siege tanks, and making thors. Usually only the +vehicle attack upgrades are used, due to gas scarcity and the fact that sieged tanks and thors greatly benefit from +attack upgrades, and the armor upgrades generally aren't used.
What Mech is strong against
Mech, when properly used and supported by turrets + SCVs repairing, can counter just about anything, making it viable against most zerg mid-game armies.
You need to adjust your unit composition based on what you see zerg getting.
If you see more mutas, get more thors & turrets
If you see more zerglings, get more hellions
If you see more hydras, well all mech units work well against hydras, so you shouldn't need any adjustment
If you see more roaches, get more siege tanks
If you see more banelings, get less hellions
If you see more infestors, get more siege tanks, and less thors
On maps with narrow chokes, mech is king, due to siege tanks superior range and splash damage. Good candidates for mech include Kulas Ravine, and Incineration Zone. Blistering Sands is somewhat difficult for zerg to flank on.
What Mech is weak against
Mech's primary weakness is roaches, infestors, and well-timed flank attacks. Roaches work well against Thors & hellions. They are severely outranged by siege tanks, but if zerg gets drop or burrow, they can get their roaches close to tanks unharmed, and then pop up and destroy them. Infestors can counter Thors so be careful of infestors that are near. Siege Tanks + detection can deal with roaches to a certain degree. Also if you have +3 attack, siege tanks kill roaches in 2 shots, but only until roaches get +2 armor. +2 armor or +3 armor roaches will take 3 hits from a sieged tank.
Use SCVs! SCVs are used to repair your thors during battle, and for making turrets to detect burrowed units & help kill mutas. You only need 4-5 SCVs to do this.
Mech variation - adding in Marauders
Roach/Infestor is very good against mech, to the point where some feel it is necessary to add in marauder to deal with them. This is especially true since patch 9 restored neural parasite's range back to 9, making it much easier for Infestors to cast NP on your thors.
If you decide to add in marauders, make 2-3 rax with tech-labs. Get concussive shells upgrade. Make only enough marauders to deal with roach/infestor. Don't get marauders at the cost of getting thors, if you are lacking thors zerg will switch to muta and wreck you. Make marauders at the cost of a few less tanks, since marauders are more mobile and more efficient at handling roaches than tanks are.
replays
MorroW v Naugrim (patch 10)
MorroW v Naugrim 2(patch 10)
avilo v hybillisk (patch 10)
avilo v AddamsFamily (rank #1 plat) (Patch 11)
Morrow v HayprO (patch 12)
Bio + Mech - a hybrid of barracks + factory units
+ Show Spoiler +
This is essentially just a mix of the above two armies. You adjust your army composition based on what your opponent has. There are a few good viable combinations you can use. You won't have enough gas to get upgrades though - concentrate on getting the infantry attack & vehicle attack upgrades.
MedaMarauder + Thor (+ viking)
This one is a favorite of mine. Medivacs + Marauders can deal with just about anything on the ground, and are especially powerful against hydra/roach/infestor. Banelings don't work against marauders or thors, speedlings are an issue early game, but once you get +1 armor and medivacs, MedaMarauder handles zerglings just fine. MedaMarauder + Thor also destroys hydra/roach, especially once your marauders get infantry upgrades. Marines aren't used, they are more or less a liability against banelings/fungal growth.
Pure mutas are a problem against this, and so are broodlords, so if you see either of these, then switch your barracks over to marines for a short while, get shields upgrade, continue making thors, and switch your reactor starport over to making vikings instead of medivacs for a short while.
Basically, your production will be X barracks (2-8+ depending on how many bases you have) all with tech-labs, 1 factory w/tech lab producing thors, 1 starport with reactor producing medivacs until you have enough, then making vikings. You should have enough gas to get both infantry upgrades.
Hellion/Marauder/Thor
Another strong combination, hellions are used to deal with speedling/hydra, while marauders & thors deal with everything else. You'll be making lots of thors here, because neither hellion nor marauder can attack air. You can also add in vikings to deal with broodlords, but generally this build doesn't rely on starport units like other combinations.
Production for this combination requires at least 3 factories, 1 with reactor, 2 with tech labs, making hellions & thors, while at least 2 rax w/tech lab make marauders. Make sure to get the igniter upgrade for your hellions.
Replays
LucifroN v Kolll - reaper opening -> MedaMarauder + Thor
rybaDUNE v DarkSanta - plat 1700s game - T goes for igniter hellion opening -> expand -> Hellion/Marauder/Thor (patch 11)
Responding to Zerg builds
+ Show Spoiler +
SC2 is all about hard-counters, so you need to know what to do & how to react to zerg opening builds. This section wille explain what the popular zerg builds are, how you can spot them, and how you should react to them.
Baneling bust
+ Show Spoiler +
The baneling bust build aims to quickly get 5 banelings and a bunch of speedlings, use the banelings to break your depot wall-in, then flood your base with speedlings and end the game there.
How to spot it
Pretty easy to spot, if you see 1 gas, no expansion, and either an early baneling nest, or if you see an abnormally large amount of zerglings, you can be almost certain zerg is doing a baneling bust.
How to react
How you react depends on what opening you chose. If you chose fast hellion or fast banshee, lift off your barracks/factory, and make a wall at the bottom of your ramp/choke. If you went 1 base, you can simply add an additional bunker/depot/barracks behind your wallin. Note that any kind of tech or FE will usually die to this build, as that is what it is designed to counter. FE especially dies horribly to this, do not FE against this build
zerg FE
+ Show Spoiler +
The most common build by far, you have lots of options when you spot an FE
How to spot it
Easy to spot, an expansion at zerg's natural, or very soon after putting down spawning pool.
How to react
a zerg who did FE won't be pressuring you, as they will want to power drones and get 2 base economy going as soon as possible. Only you can prevent fores- I mean, only you can prevent them from droning. Pick any build (or a combination) that pressures the zerg:
fast reapers
fast hellions
fast banshee
hellion drop
thor drop
1 base 3 rax MM
1 base hellion/marauder
Use any of these to gain an advantage, and once you have it, expand yourself.
Or, if you want, you can choose to make it a macro game and FE yourself. Be sure to get 2 OC ASAP, as you'll need the MULEs to keep up with zerg's drones.
If you went fast reapers, you can also opt to bunker zerg's expansion hatchery. This is especially effective if zerg went for hatch first.
If zerg tries to FE anywhere else other than they're natural, for example at a high-yield gold mineral expansion, then you should try and bunker it. Most zerg's won't do this because it is extremely riskly, but sometimes it will happen. It will take longer for their zerglings to reach the expansion, and their queen won't be able to make it in time. If they went for pool -> FE at high-yield, bunkering won't work and you should opt for a pressure build, and not FE, because you will be behind. Fast reapers or fast banshee work very well here, since it will be hard for him to defend both bases from these units.
1 base roach or roach/ling
+ Show Spoiler +
Not a hard build to counter if you spot it and react appropriately.
How to spot it
no FE, and a roach warren before expasion, almost always means roaches or roach/ling.
How to react
3 rax marauder should do the trick. Bunker up at your choke/ramp, and then salvage it when you're ready to move out. If you see zerglings, add some marines. Keep your army balled up to make zergling surround less effective
1 base tech
+ Show Spoiler +
1 base tech builds are designed to tech up to hydra or muta and catch you off guard, giving the zerg an advantage or winning the game right there.
How to spot it
If you see no FE, and zerg makes a lair before expanding.
How to react
1 base tech usually attempts to do one of two things:
1. super fast muta
2. hydras together with something else, either speedling/baneling
If zerg tries super fast muta, you should go for a 1 base 3 rax MM attack. Once you see the spire start to go up, switch all your barracks over to making marines for a short while. You will force him to make banelings or roach in order to counter your marines, which he won't have enough gas to do effectively on 1 base
If zerg tries hydra, you should probably go for hellions/marauders. hellions are decent against hydra, and marauders are even with hydra. Also, hellion/marauder can deal with roach/ling/bane if zerg decides to add that to this hydras.
