[G] Unit/Structure Selection Priority
NO DRUGS. Ghost has a higher selection priority than marine/marauder, preventing stimpack usage.
Introduction
Everyone has done it before. If you are a Terran, you’ve seen a ghost or raven boxed together with your bio army annoyingly prevent stim at battle. If you are a Protoss, you’ve seen a HT or mothership override sentry command cards at bottom right, causing you to miss crucial forcefields. If you are a Zerg, you’ve seen a drone from a cancelled hatchery that is hotkeyed together with other hatcheries hinder your favorite SDDDDDDDD, and the drone meaninglessly just stop at “S” command in the middle of nowhere. All these are because every unit/structure has a predetermined priority level. When different units/structures are selected together, certain unit/structure takes over the command cards and therefore spell/ability use. From experience, we already know how this works for typical unit compositions, or some of you have even read http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Unit_Hotkey_Priority before. However, not everything is explained. What about structures? What about interracial priority in team games? Which spell/ability would your marine/siege tank/zergling/baneling/zealot/stalker/sentry army use when you are the last guy standing in a 4v4 game? In order to account for any combination of units/structures within a race or among three races, I have done a comprehensive research on this subject, testing all units and structures that I can think of.
List
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Priority from highest to lowest. High priority = small number.
ALL
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001 Queen
002 Queen (burrowed)
003 Raven
004 Infestor
005 Infestor (burrowed)
006 Mothership
007 Ghost
008 High Templar Hallucination
009 High Templar
010 Corruptor
011 Baneling
012 Battlecruiser
013 Sentry
014 Baneling (burrowed)
015 Marine
016 Phoenix Hallucination
017 Phoenix
018 Roach
019 Roach (burrowed)
020 Marauder
021 Warp Prism Hallucination
022 Warp Prism
023 Brood Lord
024 Broodling
025 Siege Tank
026 Mutalisk
027 Viking
028 Carrier
029 Ultralisk
030 Ultralisk (burrowed)
031 Banshee
032 Stalker Hallucination
033 Stalker
034 Overseer
035 Colossus Hallucination
036 Colossus
037 Thor
038 Overlord
039 Medivac
040 Void Ray Hallucination
041 Void Ray
042 Hydralisk
043 Hydralisk (burrowed)
044 Hellion
045 Zergling
046 Zergling (burrowed)
047 Archon Hallucination
048 Archon
049 Reaper
050 Immortal Hallucination
051 Immortal
052 Infested Terran
053 Point Defense Drone
054 SCV
055 Dark Templar
056 Infested Terran (burrowed)
057 Changeling
058 Zealot Hallucination
059 Zealot
060 MULE
061 Observer
062 Drone
063 Drone (burrowed)
064 Orbital Command
065 Orbital Command (lifted)
066 Command Center
067 Supply Depot (raised)
068 Refinery
069 Barracks
070 Engineering Bay
071 Missile Turret
072 Bunker
073 Sensor Tower
074 Ghost Academy
075 Factory
076 Starport
077 Armory
078 Fusion Core
079 Command Center (lifted)
080 Factory (lifted)
081 Starport (lifted)
082 Barracks (lifted)
083 Supply Depot (lowered)
084 Probe
085 Planetary Fortress
086 Warp Gate
087 Spine Crawler (uprooted)
088 Spore Crawler (uprooted)
089 Larva
090 Tech Lab (independent)
091 Auto-Turret
092 Tech Lab (with Barracks)
093 Tech Lab (with Factory)
094 Tech Lab (with Starport)
095 Nexus
096 Pylon
097 Assimilator
098 Gateway
099 Forge
100 Fleet Beacon
101 Twilight Council
102 Photon Cannon
103 Stargate
104 Templar Archives
105 Dark Shrine
106 Robotics Bay
107 Robotics Facility
108 Cybernetics Core
109 Hatchery
110 Extractor
111 Spawning Pool
112 Evolution Chamber
113 Hydralisk Den
114 Spire
115 Ultralisk Cavern
116 Infestation Pit
117 Nydus Network
118 Baneling Nest
119 Roach Warren
120 Spine Crawler (rooted)
121 Spore Crawler (rooted)
122 Lair
123 Hive
124 Greater Spire
125 Creep Tumor
126 Nydus Worm
127 Reactor
128 Baneling Cocoon
129 Zerg Cocoon
130 Brood Lord Coccoon
131 Overseer Cocoon
132 Infested Swarm Egg
Terran Units
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003 Raven
007 Ghost
012 Battlecruiser
015 Marine
020 Marauder
025 Siege Tank
027 Viking
031 Banshee
037 Thor
039 Medivac
044 Hellion
049 Reaper
054 SCV
060 MULE
Zerg Units
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001 Queen
002 Queen (burrowed)
004 Infestor
005 Infestor (burrowed)
010 Corruptor
011 Baneling
014 Baneling (burrowed)
018 Roach
019 Roach (burrowed)
023 Brood Lord
024 Broodling
026 Mutalisk
029 Ultralisk
030 Ultralisk (burrowed)
034 Overseer
038 Overlord
042 Hydralisk
043 Hydralisk (burrowed)
045 Zergling
046 Zergling (burrowed)
052 Infested Terran
056 Infested Terran (burrowed)
057 Changeling
062 Drone
063 Drone (burrowed)
089 Larva
128 Baneling Cocoon
129 Zerg Cocoon
130 Brood Lord Coccoon
131 Overseer Cocoon
132 Infested Swarm Egg
Protoss Units
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006 Mothership
008 High Templar Hallucination
009 High Templar
013 Sentry
016 Phoenix Hallucination
017 Phoenix
021 Warp Prism Hallucination
022 Warp Prism
028 Carrier
032 Stalker Hallucination
033 Stalker
035 Colossus Hallucination
036 Colossus
040 Void Ray Hallucination
041 Void Ray
047 Archon Hallucination
048 Archon
050 Immortal Hallucination
051 Immortal
055 Dark Templar
058 Zealot Hallucination
059 Zealot
061 Observer
084 Probe
Terran Structures
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053 Point Defense Drone
064 Orbital Command
065 Orbital Command (lifted)
066 Command Center
067 Supply Depot (raised)
068 Refinery
069 Barracks
070 Engineering Bay
071 Missile Turret
072 Bunker
073 Sensor Tower
074 Ghost Academy
075 Factory
076 Starport
077 Armory
078 Fusion Core
079 Command Center (lifted)
080 Factory (lifted)
081 Starport (lifted)
082 Barracks (lifted)
083 Supply Depot (lowered)
085 Planetary Fortress
090 Tech Lab (independent)
091 Auto-Turret
092 Tech Lab (with Barracks)
093 Tech Lab (with Factory)
094 Tech Lab (with Starport)
127 Reactor
Zerg Structures
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087 Spine Crawler (uprooted)
088 Spore Crawler (uprooted)
109 Hatchery
110 Extractor
111 Spawning Pool
112 Evolution Chamber
113 Hydralisk Den
114 Spire
115 Ultralisk Cavern
116 Infestation Pit
117 Nydus Network
118 Baneling Nest
119 Roach Warren
120 Spine Crawler (rooted)
121 Spore Crawler (rooted)
122 Lair
123 Hive
124 Greater Spire
125 Creep Tumor
126 Nydus Worm
Protoss Structures
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086 Warp Gate
095 Nexus
096 Pylon
097 Assimilator
098 Gateway
099 Forge
100 Fleet Beacon
101 Twilight Council
102 Photon Cannon
103 Stargate
104 Templar Archives
105 Dark Shrine
106 Robotics Bay
107 Robotics Facility
108 Cybernetics Core
This is what the word "comprehensive” requires in my standard. Let me know if I missed something. Bolded = structure. The only ones I didn’t test were vespene geyser, xel’naga tower, scantipede, Artosis bot 2000 etc. because they are somewhat tangent neutral objects. Well, no campaign-only diamondback etc. either.
Notes (general)
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The list alone might not be self-explanatory enough.
No Exception
Priority level is universal. When A<B and B<C, then always A<C. No matter how many different units/structures are selected in whatever order, priority follows the list consistently.
Tab
Pressing tab while having selected multiple types of units/structures cycles through them and allows you to use spell/ability/production from units/structures that don’t have the highest priority. Many Terran players use this to cycle through barracks-factory-starport while having them all in a same hotkey rather than 3 different ones. Also, some Protoss players press tab once to blink stalkers because stalker has the second highest priority after sentry in the deathball without HT/mothership.
Tab-selected units=stalkers are highlighted.
Same Priority
As obvious as it sounds, units/structures of the same type have exactly the same priority. However, I do not know how they are ordered among them at the bottom of the screen. Order of birth seems irrelevant. This randomness(?) is responsible for Zerg units made from a undesirable larva at a distant hatchery when all hatcheries are hotkeyed together. All larvae have the same priority, but the first larva could be from your main or 3rd depending on… purely luck(?)
These 24 marines have the same priority, but what determines who fits where among them?
Unit vs Structure
Generally speaking, units have higher priorities than structures when selected together, but there are a few exceptions.
Why?
It seems that priority is determined primarily by "SubgroupPriority value" each unit/structure has. Open map editor -> Data -> Units in XML view for
Ordering some with this value,
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21 Queen
19 Raven
18 Ghost
17 High Templar
16 Sentry
15 Marine
15 Phoenix
15 Roach
14 Brood Lord
...
07 Immortal
06 SCV
05 Zealot
04 Drone
04 Orbital Command
03 Barracks
03 Planetary Fortress
02 Tech Lab
02 Nexus
02 Nydus Worm
01 Reactor
Not a single unit/structure contradicts actual test results in-game. Other factors must exist for tie situations, but this SubgroupPriority value is the main contributor for sure.
Notes (unit/structure specific)
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Mode
Siege tank has tank mode and siege mode.
Viking has fighter mode and assault mode.
Warp prism has transport mode and phasing mode.
Ghost has weapons free state and hold fire state.
However, all these are irrelevant when it comes to priority.
Again, I’m not sure how order within the same unit type is determined.
Barracks/Factory/Starport
Add-on attached is irrelevant. Reactor – regular – tech lab order is consistent at the bottom of the screen, but it plays no role in changing priorities.
Pressing tab once, all factories are highlighted together regardless of different add-ons.
Tech Lab and Reactor
Tech labs’ priorities depend on the main structures they are attached to. On the other hand, all reactors have the same priority despite different main structures.
Lifted Structures
Once lifted, these structures no longer have the same priorities as the landed ones until they land again.
Supply Depot
Lowered supply depot literally has a lower priority than raised supply depot by a large margin within Terran structures.
Spine/Spore Crawler
Just like raised/lowered supply depot, uprooted and rooted crawlers have different priorities.
Creep Tumor
Active creep tumor or not is irrelevant.
Changeling
Normal/marine/zergling/zealot form changelings all have the same priority.
Broodling
Whether it is spawned from a broodlord or a dead structure is irrelevant. It is kind of obvious, but I tested just in case.
Cocoons
Yes. Even cocoons have priorities. Not surprisingly, cocoons are at the bottom of the list with infested swarm egg being the lowest of all. Blizzard can't nerf it any further
Neural Parasited Units
NPed enemy units are nothing special. They follow the list, too as if they were your own or your teammate’s units from beginning.
Burrowed Units
Burrowed units have slightly lower priorities than their fellows on ground.
Hallucination
Unlike burrowed units, hallucinated units have, interestingly, higher priorities than real units of the same type. Not that it matters for gameplay ever, but who knew?
Dark Templar
Dark Templar has 2 different graphics: with dagger or with double scythes. However, this doesn’t affect the priority at all.
Final Thoughts
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Without bothering to use tab key, your marine/siege tank/zergling/baneling/zealot/stalker/sentry army would use “explode” (or burrow) because, unfortunately, baneling has the highest priority among them. I think many team game players have this experience where you couldn’t stim marines or place forcefields because of a few banelings your teammate left behind or secretly shared control of. (Never share control without telling your teammates about it for this very reason.) I had a similar experience in a team game, and the liquipedia page was incomplete, so I decided to take it into my own hands. Even for 1v1, structure priority part must be new information. I don’t think knowing this priority suddenly makes anyone play any better, but I hope it’s been an interesting and somewhat helpful read. Feedback/correction is much appreciated.
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