The Terran army can more than any other race in Starcraft be said to be divided in two: the Biological or Bionic side (Marines, Medics, Firebats and Ghosts) and Mech (Vultures, Siege Tanks and Goliaths). The air units seldom have more than a supporting role, especially when a Terran faces a Zerg. In this tutorial I will present a range of solutions of beating Zerg players by going about it the Bionic Way,
This post contains video tutorials, written build orders, and a strategy podcast – all aimed to show You as a player how the concept behind Bionic Terran works. The theory is based on the excellent content that can be found on Liquipedia, the most comprehensive database on Starcraft knowledge on the Internet, and this post provides additional information and resources on top of that.
There is more to the Bionic Way than just memorising when to build what in which order, it’s based around the ideas of mobility and strategic aggression. At the core of it all lies the basic strategy known as ‘SK Terran’.
In the very beginning of this new millennium, the Korean progamer SoulKey was the first to formalise and put together a potent strategy for how to fight Zerg players with strictly Bionic units, using no Mechanical units whatsoever. Since then the game has evolved considerably and the actual details of the build orders players use have changed a lot, but whenever a Terran player deploys a strategy that is based around Medics&Marines and Science Vessels against a Zerg, it is called ‘SK Terran’ after the now longtime retired Soulkey.
At the essence, it’s all about getting a more or less early advantage by negating the Zerg player the option to harass Your Terran economy with Mutalisks (which, if You do it right, is what Marines & Medics are best at) and Lurkers, and then pinning him or her back in the base due to Your superior mobility. A fast expansion to boost Your economy is necessary in the beginning, and then You’re good to go. Easy enough, right?
The details and specifics of how to deploy this strategy are listed below in the build orders. What You need to think of when playing Terran the Bionic Way is that You got to work hard to make it work. Your units are brittle and easily die to Lurker Spines unless You babysit them properly, and Your Science Vessel are under constant threat from Scourge. So why do this instead of a more kevlar-coated Mech strategy?
Because it’s fun, and because it really hurts the Zerg. The Terran Bionic army is the most mobile ground army in the game of Starcraft, and it melts all opposition like butter as long as you got the right units at the right place. With this strategy, You get to be extremely aggressive, because You absolutely have to.
However, only in a perfect world do we get to use perfect strategies. More often than not, it’s the deviations from the plan that truly win the day, and so is the case with Terran Bionic. You can mix in Mech if You want, in fact – most people do.
Tanks are truly, truly great – they can combat Lurkers even when they are protected by the Dark Swarm of the Defiler and can break down defensive barriers of Sunken Colonies in no time. Goliaths and even Wraiths are spectacular against a Zerg that uses Guardians, massive amounts of Mutalisks or Drop strategies. Vultures take care of Drones with ease and their Spider Mines lay waste to Lurkers, Zerglings and Ultralisks. So how do you blend Bionic with Mech?
The video tutorials below will show this in detail, but the formula is simple: You sacrifice some of Your precious Bionic mobility for the destructive capabilites of Mech. This slows You down a bit and You cannot be as aggressive as early. On the other hand, it’s also less taxing for You as a player when it comes to speed – a purely Bionic army takes the most actions per minute (APM) to control in the game. Korean progamers do their best with 400 APM and even they sometimes make mistakes. Throw in some Mech and it might be easier for You to control, as well as giving You many other advantages.
Other voices than mine are best suited to teach You exactly what ways there to win against Zerg with a Bionic army, and the best resources are listed right here. In my opinion, however, the most crucial thing is to first understand the core concepts behind this strategy – and those are mobility and aggression. If that sounds like a fun way to play Starcraft, read on:
Build orders:
SK Terran and what I call the Bionic Way (usually referred to as ‘Bio Builds’) are conceptual strategies, not detailed build orders. As a Starcraft player, it is absolutely necessary to have a set idea about how you are going to win a watch, and then you use a detailed set of instructions, i.e. build orders, to achieve that.
The two most common, standard and arguably best ways of implementing the Bionic Way right now are what’s called ‘1 Barracks Fast Expand’ and ‘2 Barracks Fast Expand’ – these two, and highly different, build orders provide good openings in terms of both economy and strategic options. Depending on the situation You can then stick to or deviate from the basic concept behind SK Terran. Provided by Liquipedia, here are the build orders:
1 Barracks Fast Expand vs Zerg or ‘1 Rax FE’ - the most popular opening strategy, good for the economy and against early Mutalisk Harassment
2 Barracks Fast Expand, ‘2 Rax FE’ - the older fast expansion build order, strong against early Hydralisks but slower in generating economy - yet still solid
DAY[9]’s podcast
TvZ Midgame on Heartbreak Ridge: Fantasy’s Play examines how to develop a good plan starting with the midgame. Fantasy’s play on Heartbreak Ridge is used as an extended example. Length: 19:38
This podcast does not explain how to best perform a tradition SK Terran strategy, Sean ‘Day[9]‘ Plott instead talks about how to best deviate from a set guidelines and adapt to circumstances. Most helpful indeed
Video Tutorials
Jos ‘ret’ De Kroon teaches Terran:
In this First Person Video, Jos ‘ret’ De Kroon shows us how to use a common Bio-Mechanical strategy (a Marine&Medic-driven army with Science Vessels and supportive Tanks) against Zerg. ret is actually a Zerg player himself and currently (January 2010) he’s living in Korea and training to become a progamer, but here he’s playing Terran against the famous German player Mondragon.
This video is on top of the list not because the match is perfect or standard, but because ret goes through his decision making in a most explanatory and enlightening way. He makes it easy to for a viewer to understand why he made both successful actions and dire mistakes. Taking place on the immensely popular map Destination, this is truly a must-watch for all Terran players.
The Emperor’s disciple, iloveOov, shows us how it’s done:
On the other side of the spectrum, we have this game from 2004 between the two Korean progaming legends JulyZerg and iloveOov, who was one among if not the most deadly Terran player of all time before his semi-retirement in late 2007. In this game, which is recommended by Liquipedia, Oov goes hardcore SK Terran – not a single Mechanical units ever touches the ground in this match.
This is Starcraft at a level that’s beyond most of us: incredibly fast and completely unforgiving. Still, this is how it’s done, quite simply. Watch it and get inspired, as well as blown away.
Artosis’ Terran Bionic Tutorial:
In this instructional video, strategy master and Starcraft celebrity Dan ‘Artosis’ Stemkoski talks us through how to play Bionic Terran, based upon a first person video of him playing a Zerg opponent on the map Blue Storm. It is a most useful resource for understanding the pros and cons behind the strategy, and the deviations from it. Also, it’s a fun game that really shows why Marines&Medics are some of the best entertainers in the game of Starcraft.
Case studies from January 2010 in modern Terran Bio-Mech vs Zerg
Flash vs Calm:
From the OSL Round of 4 in the 09-10 season, we get to see how it’s done by the book today by the very Ultimate Weapon himself - Flash. This match is truly a recipe for how to play standard and modern Terran vs a Mutalisk-heavy Zerg - basing the army on Bionic units first and supplementing with Tanks and Goliaths as needed. The English commentary by well known Starcraft caster Husky is both hilarious and informative.
Flash vs Jaedong
In this match from the MSL final in early 2010, the two greatest Starcraft players of their generation face once again to decide who is the superior. This is not the final game, but it is the best one - according to Dan ‘Artosis’ Stemkoski it’s potentially even the best Terran vs Zerg game ever played on TV. In short, Flash shows us how it’s done. Get amazed:
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
^_^ oov inspires me even today.
I miss the days when good (SKT1 good) micro could make you a legend.
TvZ is the most exciting match up for me. It’s a crime not to play it the bionic way ;P
True, micro is the stuff that makes Starcraft golden. I think that players could really win a lot more titles by practicing the unexpected, doing those small things that makes a great difference.
Bionic TvZ are the fiercest type of game - and I think that nukes could improve it even further. Let’s hope so
I think nuke usage really depends on maps and players. We saw a lot of them @ Match Point where they can easily destroy the expansions next to your main. Some players will never try to use nukes some will always seize the opportunity (BoxeR, yes?).
I wanna see some wraith + optical flare in TvZ but I guess it’s too hard to pull off =-)
Match Point did indeed lend itself to nukes, because of flawed/ingenious map design that we rarely see. I think however that it could be deployed successfully on more standard maps as well, if players found a calculated way of taking the risk. But that’s a topic for a whole different article…
I agree, I can’t remember when I last saw optical flares being used. Probably when I was a newbie back in 2002 and thought it dealt terrible, terrible damage.
Open question: does anyone have a good idea for when optical flare, lockdown, restoration, hallucination could be used as part of a profound strategy? Leave your suggestions and I’ll write a post about it.
I use hallucination in late PvZ games to hallucinate ultras. They are the best way to counter mass ultra: storm is not that effective against ultras, enemy units auto switch to attacking your hallucinations and not your real army, zerg players get really confused plus it’s really cool ^^
That is an interesting idea - the kind of move that really throws your opponent off. Not only is it confusing to both the enemy AI and the Zerg player, the hallucinated Ultras also act as ‘free meat’ in front of your own forces. Do you use a Reaver strategy in combination of that, or what else
Reavers are very useful in combination with hallucinated ultras but basically every protoss unit besides zealots will work. By the time you hallucinate ultras you’ll probably have +3 ground weapons so goons/archons/DTs/reavers they’ll all deal a lot of damage and fast. Hallucinated ultras are weaker against lings cause you need to storm the lings but psi storms kill hallucinations instantly
That makes sense - do you use that unit combo together with Arbiters, or do you rely upon Templar tech and Hallucination to get the extra advantage? Reminds me of the good ol’ Nal_rA times…
It’s very unlikely that you’ll have enough vespene gas to produce arbiters. Mass archon/reaver is safer and much, much faster ;P
And it comes with more gore for the money, as well. Neat way to make someone say ‘gg’