• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:38
CEST 16:38
KST 23:38
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League31Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.162Rollback Netcode in Brood War1275.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202624Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0
StarCraft 2
General
No more sc2 streamers on team liquid? Server Blocker SCII needs to put more weight on strategy and tact Terran AddOns placement How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR?
Tourneys
RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) $3,500 WardiTV Not-Summer Championship
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts
Brood War
General
Mineral gathering rate (boosted) for each patch Practice Partners (Official) Rollback Netcode in Brood War [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos GG Lan Fest Sofia, Bulgaria [this November]
Tourneys
[ASL22] Grand Finals [$1250] International ShieldBattery League 2v2v2v2 Tournament Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Artificial Intelligence Thread The Chess Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
The Link Between Gaming and …
TrAiDoS
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9291 users

[B] Hellion Ghost Nuke TvZ

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Opeasy
Profile Joined August 2011
107 Posts
February 27 2012 19:29 GMT
#1
Hello Teamliquid viewers! This will be my first guide, so please don't be to harsh (except if you think the build is terrible, then feel free to rant and rage away).

Who am I
+ Show Spoiler +
I am a terranplayer in platinum league, trying my best to get up in diamond. My favorite match up is TvT, but i feel like the terran numbers are dwindling, at least in EU plat, last 25 games, i got 2 TvTs. So i make this guide to get some of you protosses and zergs to see what great potential lies in terran, and maybe you'll consider joining me in TvTs in the future


Discalmer, is this post redundant?
+ Show Spoiler +
There was one kind of similar guide, but it included marines and excluded the actual build orders, so I will make this, and hope it is helpful for you!


The basic idea
[image loading]
You get hellions to deal with lings, while your nukes should be killing spines, (don't go for the drones, even though it is tempting, because hellions kill drones pretty fast when no spines hinder them. Your ghosts will also be used to snipe queens (which are psionic :D).

Build Order
You start of with the standard hellion reactor opening.
- 10 supply
- 11 gas
- 13 Rax
- 16 make 1 marine (to scare of a drone scout or overlord)
- 17 factory
- 18 Orbital
- 18 make your second refinery (when this finish, you should keep to scvs working in each refinery)
- As soon as your marine finish, you start the reactor on your rax
- 18 supply depot (this is my last supply depot timing tip, just don't get supply blocked from now on)
- 18 make hellion from factory (use this hellion to find his base, and scout for all in/fast roach pressure)
- switch factory and rax the moment your reactor/hellion finishes. (constant double hellion from now on)
- 23 Start your techlab on the rax.
- 23 Build ghost academy.
- 30 Start your ghost. (constant ghost from now on.
- 31 Start your nuke. (why ghost before nuke: ghost take 45 sec, nuke takes 60, but you want your ghost to come to his base as soon as possible, and your nuke will finish before he gets there regardless)
- From now on, keep making ghosts, hellions and nukes. Remember, you can start a new nuke already when you fire the first one, not only when it lands.

Execution
What your first hellion scouts is key:
If they spine up, you're good to go. http://i.imgur.com/UP3VQ.jpg = good to go
If they make roaches, sack your plan and use your rax for marauder (it's now time to do a hellion marauder all in, or whatever you feel is best).
I recommend you put your ghost academy in a controlgroup for faster nuke production.
Nuke the spines ( http://i.imgur.com/ds1Cu.jpg )/( http://i.imgur.com/s94ch.jpg ), snipe the queens and roast the lings and drones. If they lift spines, you must consider if the damage the nuke does is worth it, or if you should cancel, and kill the spines with your hellions and ghosts.

When should you do it?
I have had best results on maps with a ramp up to your natural xp. Shakuras, antiga, Tal'darim and entombed valley.
"Why?", you may ask. Because if they smell out what you are up to, they will make mass lings, and in chokes, lings are not very nice vs hellions.

Warning
This will, for some reason, cause bm from your opponent
example of soft bm (some of the bm i got is not suitable for this forum)
http://i.imgur.com/Sx5ob.jpg
+ Show Spoiler +
Noob? i just killed you with nukes son :D


Replays
http://drop.sc/122271
http://drop.sc/122272
+ Show Spoiler +
more replays will be uploaded if requested


Credit were credits due
I must admit, i did not create this build, even though I wish i did. All credit goes to one of the greatest talents out there: Mr. SlayersTaeja. And if both He and I can pull this off, so can you! Good luck and have fun TL'ers
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
February 27 2012 19:40 GMT
#2
I've seen Dragon and a few other players do this build as well. Sometimes it was successful, but I've also seen it fail from Z just massing speedlings and killing your force. You can micro the hellions to an extent but you're bound to lose any marines you have and your ghost.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Sbrubbles
Profile Joined October 2010
Brazil5776 Posts
February 27 2012 19:48 GMT
#3
You're right about one thing. This does make me wanna switch to terran (then again, so does everything else involving nukes)
Bora Pain minha porra!
Crow!
Profile Joined September 2011
United States150 Posts
February 27 2012 19:48 GMT
#4
When I was a gold/platinum terran I did something similar for a while, with marauders alongside one ghost.

The usual reaction they have if they're quick thinking is to uproot the spines and put them near the mineral line. The moment you cancel the nuke they can start reburrowing, even if they aren't at their intended eventual destination, and without marauders or many marines, actually removing the spines is hard. Also, speedlings are annoyingly not terrible against non-blue-flame hellions, so by the time the second nuke would land your timing could already be closed if they started reacting early enough.

I'd also like to note that this is even more all-in now than it used to be - previously, dealing non-lethal damage here put you in the awkward but survivable spot of needing to defend mutas with ghosts. Nowadays Ghosts can't fight mutas very well at all.

But yes, occasionally it all comes together and is very satisfying.
Papulatus
Profile Joined July 2010
United States669 Posts
February 27 2012 20:45 GMT
#5
This is a bad build for any high level play. Mass lings or mass roaches or ling/bane or anything that zerg has early game would crush this absolutely. Even if Z has spines all he has to do is move them from the nuke and defend the hellions with queens and lings are are popping while the spines burrow. This build has no follow up so all zerg has to do is defend then its an auto win.
4 Corners in a day.
WeddingEpisode
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States356 Posts
February 27 2012 21:03 GMT
#6
On February 28 2012 04:29 Opeasy wrote: Warning
This will, for some reason, cause bm from your opponent



For others who want to just concentrate on the game, hit 'F11" and "Block" chat with opponent.
Still diamond
yoona2012
Profile Joined February 2012
Denmark196 Posts
February 27 2012 21:33 GMT
#7
It´s a very cute strategy but it suffers from bad transitional play. From your screenshot you´re 1 base at 8.24 and I don´t see you having a 2nd cc in your main. While it is possible to expand while doing this opening, its very vulnerable to the counter attack. Mass roach would be extremely scary or fast mutas but even mass ling bane would probably bust and kill you.

Especially now with snipe nerf it´s risky to open with ghosts. If you must open with fast ghosts, I would rather get a medivac and try to drop ghosts to snipe queens before there are any mutas on the map and try to keep his production low while macroing for a push to take advantage of his low larva count (assuming we sniped several queens)
Opeasy
Profile Joined August 2011
107 Posts
February 27 2012 21:39 GMT
#8
On February 28 2012 05:45 Papulatus wrote:
This is a bad build for any high level play. Mass lings or mass roaches or ling/bane or anything that zerg has early game would crush this absolutely. Even if Z has spines all he has to do is move them from the nuke and defend the hellions with queens and lings are are popping while the spines burrow. This build has no follow up so all zerg has to do is defend then its an auto win.


I believe Taeja plays at the highest level, so unless you are MMA or MKPs smurfaccount, it would work on your level too. But yes it is quite all in, and i find all in builds to be very exiting and risky. thanks for the reply though.

If any mods could change to [B] in the topic line to a [G] it would be much appreciated my bad there
Murlox
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
France1699 Posts
February 27 2012 22:43 GMT
#9
Fun build, I think your post would gain to have the actual images displaying instead of links
Resistance ain't futile
Pulimuli
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Sweden2766 Posts
February 27 2012 22:54 GMT
#10
roach builds are way too common these days to do this sadly :<
654321
Profile Joined December 2011
Belize100 Posts
February 28 2012 02:47 GMT
#11
this could work. My build usually gives me many hellions so zerg just sit back behind crawlers. I could use nuke spam . CC before rax give me huge advantage over zerg economy anyway.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
22:00
King of the Hill #265
EmpressLilyy69
Liquipedia
AI Arena Tournament
01:00
Swiss - Round 6
Laughngamez YouTube
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ByuN 440
SHIN 41
MindelVK 35
ProTech0
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 47698
Calm 4436
Horang2 934
EffOrt 737
Soma 686
Stork 591
Mini 525
firebathero 388
Soulkey 342
BeSt 318
[ Show more ]
actioN 250
ggaemo 140
Hyuk 136
Snow 127
Leta 125
Zeus 118
Last 98
Sharp 89
Creator 66
Killer 58
Free 57
910 54
Hyun 51
Shinee 47
hero 45
Barracks 44
PianO 44
Hm[arnc] 36
Pusan 35
Sexy 25
Trap 25
JYJ 24
ToSsGirL 22
Sacsri 17
Rock 14
Bishop 14
HiyA 12
sorry 12
yabsab 11
Terrorterran 3
Dota 2
Gorgc6541
Dendi1214
syndereN280
420jenkins246
Counter-Strike
fl0m1990
Other Games
singsing2255
B2W.Neo1711
Beastyqt625
Khaldor488
Mlord456
XaKoH 290
Liquid`Hasu173
Hui .168
KnowMe163
crisheroes140
Fuzer 64
fpsfer 0
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 21
• Response 7
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 7
• FirePhoenix3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV659
League of Legends
• Nemesis3519
• Jankos1052
Other Games
• tFFMrPink 10
Upcoming Events
IPSL
1h 22m
BSL Open Qualifier
4h 22m
WardiTV Weekly
20h 22m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 20h
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3 days
FEL
5 days
FEL
6 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 22
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Copium Cup

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
IPSL Winter 2026-27
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
HCC Season 3
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
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.