Heart of the Swarm Missions

In StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, you must help Sarah Kerrigan fight her way through a vast single-player campaign that will take you to some of the most dangerous worlds of the Koprulu sector. Here is a quick preview of a couple of the missions included in the expansion:

• Char - Even though Raynor’s Raiders and prince Valerian’s forces were able to neutralize the Queen of Blades and cripple the Swarm, a vast number of zerg hives still remain on Char. Without the Queen of Blades' unifying presence, some zerg queens have begun to take control of individual zerg broods.
  
  Kerrigan returns to Char determined to reunite the Swarm under her control. Before her defeat, the Queen of Blades hid caches of eggs on the planet; gathering these eggs and returning them to the spawning pools to hatch will allow Kerrigan to quickly grow her numbers. There is, of course, a catch: one of the rogue queens is collecting Kerrigan’s unhatched eggs as well and spawning them as her own. The only way to ensure Kerrigan’s victory is to hatch as many eggs as possible and to use superior numbers to subdue the rogue queen.
  
• Kaldir - The zerg are able to infest almost any world they encounter, a testament to their amazing ability to adapt to the universe's most extreme environments. The planet Kaldir is one such environment. Its extreme cold and frequent flash freezes make this one of the most inhospitable worlds in the Koprulu sector... which is exactly what sparked the Queen of Blades’ interest in Kaldir. Hoping to make the Swarm stronger by evolving a way to deal with extreme cold, she sent a brood to infest Kaldir. However, the brood never reunited with the Swarm.
  
  On Kaldir, Kerrigan’s objective is twofold: learn to adapt to the withering cold, and discover what happened to the lost brood. Before long, you will learn the brood's fate... and when you do, the cold of Kaldir will be the least of your worries.

Heart of the Swarm Story 

According to the official "preview" page for the expansion, the story for the "Heart of the Swarm" expansion is as follows: 

The Queen of Blades is gone. On the hellish planet Char, Jim Raynor harnessed the power of an ancient Xel’Naga artifact in a desperatebid to stop the zerg Swarm from overrunning the Koprulu sector, and the artifact restored Sarah Kerrigan to her human form. Without their queen to guide and unify them, the Swarm has fractured into several broods scattered throughout the Koprulu sector. One of the greatest threats to the galaxy has been neutralized... or so it seems.

Sarah Kerrigan is on the loose. Even without the terrible powers of the Queen of Blades or the might of the Swarm at her command, the former Ghost remains a foe not to be taken lightly. But if the artifact really did set her free, then why is Kerrigan seeking out zerg broods scattered throughout the Koprulu sector? What happened to Jim Raynor? Is she still pursuing her quest for vengeance, or has her transformation given Kerrigan a new purpose?

Zerg Strategies

At first glance, the Zerg seem to be one of the hardest classes to play. They are have a very slow start, are late to get anti-air, Zerglings and Roaches get demolished by Terran Players, and they feel weak all around.

However, once you take the time to get down a good Starcraft 2 Zerg strategy, Zerg becomes one of the best races. If you look at the top of the Diamond leagues, it is occupied by more Zerg players than any other race.

The most important Starcraft 2 Zerg strategy you can implement to see an immediate improvement to the way you play Zerg is by using a good build order.

My favorite build order is often called the "IdrA" after being popularized by the professional Starcraft 2 player of the same name. Here is how it works:

1. Go straight for 10 Drones.
2. At 10/10 Drones, build an Overlord.
3. While the Overlord is building, use the extractor cheat to get 11/10 Drones.
4. After the Overlord is finished, build more Drones until you are at 15/18 Drones.
5. Build a Spawning Pool at 15/18 Drones.
6. Build 2 more Drones, taking you to 16/18 supplies (you will lose 1 Drone when creating the Spawning Pool).
7. At a supply count of 16/18, expand to your natural expansion (build a Hatchery).
8. After issuing the command to build a Hatchery, build an Overlord as soon as you have the money.
9. Shortly after ordering the production of an Overlord, your Spawning Pool will finish.
10. Build a Queen and a pair of Zerglings.

Now that you have an expansion, a Queen, and a Spawning Pool, what Starcraft 2 Zerg strategy you use from here depends on your opponent and what they are doing.

Note that you might have to change this build order and get a Spawning Pool sooner if your opponent is doing a fast rush (proxy Gateways or something along those lines). If your opponent is proxying, build a few automated defensive structures and sneak a pair of Zerglings into his main base for an easy win.

Regardless of what you are doing, there are a few strategies you can implement to see immediate improvements in your Zerg game.

Expand Aggressively

The Zerg race has an intensive resource requirement (especially for vespene gas) to be competitive. Since Zerg units tend to be weaker and more expendable, you will need to more resources to compensate.

Also note that the Zerg need significant quantities of vespene gas and often have very high quantities of unspent minerals. Because of this, rapidly expanding and using automated defensive structures is to your benefit.

For a Zerg player, losing a fourth Hatchery and a dozen Drones is not a devastating loss. This can be rebuilt quickly and easily using the Spawn Larva ability and the mineral loss is not a big deal as Zerg players already have too many minerals to begin with.

Expanding aggressively is the most important Starcraft 2 Zerg strategy. You won't win long games without a good economy as a Zerg player.

Control the Map

As a Zerg player, you will only a good economy for yourself, but you will also need a better economy than the opponent. Do whatever you can to stop him from expanding as Zerg depend on this.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to send packs of 12-18 Zerglings with the movement speed upgrade (also known as Speedlings among players) to expansion points around the map.

A dozen Speedlings can quickly take out a group of enemy harvesters and even the Nexus or Hatchery if the player is not quick enough to respond. Speedlings are cheap so it doesn't matter if they die in the attack as long as you inflict some damage on the enemy's economy.

My favorite Starcraft 2 Zerg Strategy is to have two packs of Speedlings ready to go. I send one pack in to kill the enemy's fledgling expansion. Inevitably, bad players will send all of their units to defend this expansion, as if they were anticipating all of my units attacking this expansion.

As soon as the enemy leaves his base or more productive expansion, I will send in my second pack of Speedlings to his main base and quickly take out the main Nexus. I have done this a million times and laugh every single time. Imagine the surprise on the enemy's face when he leaves the front door open as I slide past his army and take out the main base!

Conclusion

By following this simple Starcraft 2 Zerg Strategy, you will be able to dominate your opponents. The key to playing Zerg is building and maintaining a better economy than your opponent. You will not win many games if your opponent is harvesting the same amount of minerals as you.

Other races do not have this problem. Terran players will easily defeat a Zerg player with a similar economy. Do not settle for having the same number of expansions as the other player.

For more great Starcraft 2 Zerg Strategy, I strongly recommend checking out the Star2Pros guide. It has a massive amount of effective Zerg strategies that you can use to beat any opponent: 

Protoss Strategies

In Starcraft 2, the Protoss are a playable race of futuristic aliens. They rely on advanced technology and large, powerful units to defeat their enemies.

I've put together this Starcraft 2 Protoss Strategy Guide so you can do well as a Protoss player. Below you will find all the information you need in order to master the Protoss race.

To prevent clutter on the navigation bar, I will be adding new Starcraft 2 Protoss strategies below, with more to come over time:  (great Protoss vs Zerg strategy)

I consider Protoss to be an intermediate race. It is fairly easy to play Protoss well just by using Tier 1 and 2 ground units. It is not quite as easy as the Terran's MMM, but Protoss are certainly much easier to play at a decent level than Zerg.

Each race has its advantages and disadvantages. When considering Starcraft 2 Protoss strategy, here are the pros and cons of the Protoss race:

Pros:

- Fastest building race.

The Protoss are unique in that they do not build things but rather teleport them in from their home world. When building, a probe only has to start summoning a building and can then move on.

The only limitation is that buildings have to be placed within the realm of a pylon. With that said, a single probe can build dozens of buildings at a time provided there are enough minerals and pylon space is available.

- Strong mid-to-late game

Protoss have a lot of great late game units and are able to put together a formidable army if given a few minutes to prepare. They can also summon a new army very rapidly with Warp Gates.

- Best defensive structure.

The photon cannon is the best automated defensive building in game. It is the only building that is a detector and can attack ground units. It is also the only automated building that can attack air and ground units. At 150 minerals, this structure can single handedly stop many forms of mineral harassment such as dark templar and reapers.

Be careful not to build too many of these though; many players fail at Starcraft 2 Protoss strategy as they rely too much on Cannons and not enough on units!

Cons:

- Slowest starter

This is by far the biggest weakness of the Protoss race. Protoss are very easily rushed. Gateways are slow to build and zealots are slower than other races' ground units such as Zerglings and Reapers.

Even if you have Zealots, a skilled opponent will run circles around them with ranged or fast units. Most players find the best Starcraft 2 Protoss strategy is to grab 1 Gateway and then a Cybernetics Core so they can squeeze out a fast Stalker.

- Easily harassed

This goes hand in hand with the slow start. It is easy for players of other races to wreck havoc on Protoss mineral operations. Zerg players can pump out Zerglings early in the game and attack probes while running circles around Zealots. Note that you may have to use your Probes to fight off a Zergling rush!

Additionally, the Terran unit, the reaper, can cause major damage to probes in a short amount of time.

There are two things the Protoss player can do. He can get a few cannons in his mineral base; the only downside is that this will slow down unit production and tech advancement.

Alternatively, the Protoss player can quickly tech to Stalkers (to "tech" means to quickly build buildings that allow the player to produce late game units). The downside to this strategy is the player will be open to a Zergling rush during the tech period.

The only way to be safe is to scout your opponent. If you see he is rushing to Zerglings or Reapers, you should build cannons or Stalkers as appropriate.

Throughout this Starcraft 2 Protoss Strategy guide, you will find a variety of useful tips that will help you make up for the Protoss disadvantages along with a variety of Starcraft 2 Protoss Strategy tips to help you crush your enemies. 

Terran Strategies

When it comes to the easiest race in Starcraft 2, it is well accepted that Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy is much easier than the other races. Here are the basics.

There are three main builds that are typically used by Terran players. While no one Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy is mutually exclusive (strategies can be combined), there are certain builds which are very synergistic.

The three most common builds are Infantry, Mech, and Air.

Infantry Build

There are four main infantry builds you should be familiar with. The most common early game builds are mass Marines or Marines and Marauders. A mix of Marines and Marauders is generally the most effective. There are some exceptions.

If you know the enemy is rushing air (rare in Terran vs Terran, common in Terran vs Zerg or Protoss), a very easy counter is to build 2 Barracks with 2 Reactors attached and pump out a Marine ball and send it in for an easy win (2 dozen Marines only takes moments to build).

If you know the enemy is massing Stalkers or Roaches, you can mass Marauders, as Marauders counter those units in an early game.

MMM is probably the most popular Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy. MMM consists of Marines, Marauders, and Medivacs. It is a very synergistic combo which is easy to use, which makes it common in the Silver, Gold, Platinum and even Diamond leagues.

The final build is mixing Infantry in with other units. The way you mix in Infantry depends on the race you are playing and I will discuss this in more detail in the Terran vs (fill in race here) sections.

Mech Build

Mech is a very popular Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy which generally consists of Siege Tanks and Thors produced in mass numbers. Siege Tanks punish ground units and Thors punish air units (and protect tanks).

Players can then add either Vikings (if the enemy is mostly Air) or Hellions (if the enemy has mostly light units like Zerglings and Zealots).

A few Ghosts is also standard Starcraft 2 Terran Strategy. Ghosts should be added to support your army by taking out high value targets like Infestors or to knock off the shields of Immortals with the EMP ability.

Air

Getting mostly air is also a common Terran strategy. It is very unusual for good players to mass air units though. Rushing to Banshees is effective versus Zerg and Protoss players, while using Vikings to keep Terran players contained is also very effective.

Air is most effective when performed as a "switch". For example, if you are playing Protoss and as a Terran player and are going an MMM build, it is not unusual for the Protoss player to build Colossi, Zealots, Immortals, and Sentries.

Once the Protoss player amasses this army, if a Terran player can pull off a good switch and produce 6 or so Banshees, oftentimes they will be able to inflict serious damage on a Protoss player that has no anti-air units. Banshees make quick work out of Sentries.

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