Zerg Tutorials
The Differences Between The Races
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Let’s talk about the differences between Terran, Protoss and Zerg in Starcraft 2. It contains how they build their buildings, how they get their supply to build units and how they actually build them, and last but not least the special abilities.
Terrans use SCVs to build buildings. As long as the building is built, the SCV has to stay there and can’t be used for other tasks like farming minerals.
The Protoss use Probes to build their buildings, but unlike the Terrans that can build everywhere on the map, they can only build close to a Pylon. If you click on a Pylon, you can see the area in which you can build. Well, actually you don’t really build the buildings - you warp them in. This means that your Probe don’t has to stay next to the building during the building process.
To build buildings with Zerg works very different compared to the other races. You can only build on the dark area called ‘Creep’, and after you ordered your Drone to build the building it transforms into the building. This means your Drone is gone, but because of this your buildings in general are cheaper comared to Terran and Protoss.
As Terran, if one of your buildings gets heavy damage and starts burning, then it loses a lot of hitpoints constantly, so you will have to repair it very quick using one of your SCVs.
The Protoss’ buildings and units can’t be repaired, but they got shields in addition to their hitpoints which will heal over time. They won’t lose hitpoints if the shields are still alive.
Zerg can’t repair their buildings and don’t have shields, but their buildings will heal themselfes in case they are damaged. This takes longer than the shield regeneration of the Protoss.
Terrans get their supply by building Supply Depots, which are great for blocking because you can hide them in the ground.
As a Protoss you have to build Pylons in order to get supply, which can be build everywhere on the map.
The Zerg don’t have supply buildings, they have an unit called ‘Overlord’ which is an flying unit and thus great for scouting, especially when you have researched the speed upgrade.
Building units as Terran is like we know it from many other real time strategy games: You have your unit buildings, click on the unit and it will be build and then go to the building’s waypoint. Simple.
Protoss are similar to the Terran concerning unit building, but once you have upgraded your Gateway to the Cybernetics Core, units can be warped in within the range of a Pylon. This means you can build a so called ‘Proxy Pylon’ near the opponent’s base and warp in units there so you they don’t have to take the long way over the map.
The Zerg’s unit building process is very special and different to the other races. You don’t have actual unit buildings, you have Larvae that can be transformed into various units. The morph into a cocoon, and after the cooldown expires, the unit spawns. Larvas are spawned every 15 seconds from your main building. One big advantage of Larvae is that you can build multiple units at once if you have enough ressources and supply.
Last but not least let’s talk about special abilities:
The Terran can upgrade their Command Center to either a Planetary Fortress or Orbital Command. The Planetary Fortress is basically a Command Center with more hitpoints and a strong ranged attack. Notice: The Planetary Fortress can’t be lifted up anymore.
The Orbital Command can use it’s energy for three different abilities: You can calldown MULEs, which farm Minerals a lot of faster than SCVs, calldown extra supplies if you are supply stuck, and you can use a Scanner Sweep which temporarily scans a location on the map, revealing hidden units also.
Protoss can use the Chrono Boost ability with their Nexus which boosts a unit’s building time by 50% for 20 seconds.
As Zerg you can use your special abilities with your queen. The queen can spawn a creep tumor, which then generates creep. This Creep is needed to build buildings and makes your units faster. Another even more important ability is to spawn Larvae, which makes you produce even more units.
The last ability of the queen is Transfusion, which heals a friendly biological unit or structure for 125 hitpoints.
Terrans use SCVs to build buildings. As long as the building is built, the SCV has to stay there and can’t be used for other tasks like farming minerals.
The Protoss use Probes to build their buildings, but unlike the Terrans that can build everywhere on the map, they can only build close to a Pylon. If you click on a Pylon, you can see the area in which you can build. Well, actually you don’t really build the buildings - you warp them in. This means that your Probe don’t has to stay next to the building during the building process.
To build buildings with Zerg works very different compared to the other races. You can only build on the dark area called ‘Creep’, and after you ordered your Drone to build the building it transforms into the building. This means your Drone is gone, but because of this your buildings in general are cheaper comared to Terran and Protoss.
As Terran, if one of your buildings gets heavy damage and starts burning, then it loses a lot of hitpoints constantly, so you will have to repair it very quick using one of your SCVs.
The Protoss’ buildings and units can’t be repaired, but they got shields in addition to their hitpoints which will heal over time. They won’t lose hitpoints if the shields are still alive.
Zerg can’t repair their buildings and don’t have shields, but their buildings will heal themselfes in case they are damaged. This takes longer than the shield regeneration of the Protoss.
Terrans get their supply by building Supply Depots, which are great for blocking because you can hide them in the ground.
As a Protoss you have to build Pylons in order to get supply, which can be build everywhere on the map.
The Zerg don’t have supply buildings, they have an unit called ‘Overlord’ which is an flying unit and thus great for scouting, especially when you have researched the speed upgrade.
Building units as Terran is like we know it from many other real time strategy games: You have your unit buildings, click on the unit and it will be build and then go to the building’s waypoint. Simple.
Protoss are similar to the Terran concerning unit building, but once you have upgraded your Gateway to the Cybernetics Core, units can be warped in within the range of a Pylon. This means you can build a so called ‘Proxy Pylon’ near the opponent’s base and warp in units there so you they don’t have to take the long way over the map.
The Zerg’s unit building process is very special and different to the other races. You don’t have actual unit buildings, you have Larvae that can be transformed into various units. The morph into a cocoon, and after the cooldown expires, the unit spawns. Larvas are spawned every 15 seconds from your main building. One big advantage of Larvae is that you can build multiple units at once if you have enough ressources and supply.
Last but not least let’s talk about special abilities:
The Terran can upgrade their Command Center to either a Planetary Fortress or Orbital Command. The Planetary Fortress is basically a Command Center with more hitpoints and a strong ranged attack. Notice: The Planetary Fortress can’t be lifted up anymore.
The Orbital Command can use it’s energy for three different abilities: You can calldown MULEs, which farm Minerals a lot of faster than SCVs, calldown extra supplies if you are supply stuck, and you can use a Scanner Sweep which temporarily scans a location on the map, revealing hidden units also.
Protoss can use the Chrono Boost ability with their Nexus which boosts a unit’s building time by 50% for 20 seconds.
As Zerg you can use your special abilities with your queen. The queen can spawn a creep tumor, which then generates creep. This Creep is needed to build buildings and makes your units faster. Another even more important ability is to spawn Larvae, which makes you produce even more units.
The last ability of the queen is Transfusion, which heals a friendly biological unit or structure for 125 hitpoints.
