Note that this build (which I named The Shredder) can easily be used on a Marauder as well with barely any adaptations. More on that below.

Important note: the build on this page is outdated. See this post for an updated version of the Shredder after the patch 1.0.0 nerfs to Cleave!

Contents:

• Why Dual Strike & Cleave
• Pros
• Cons
• Passive skill tree
• Recommended equipment
• Skill gems
• Bandits
• Flasks
• Gameplay videos
• Closing thoughts

Why Dual Strike & Cleave

Dual Strike deals massive single-target damage and doesn’t need a 6-link item to be effective. With fairly decent weapons my Dual Strike deals 12k DPS with only 3 support gems (no +quality). You can easily obtain 4-link items throughout leveling and you will quickly notice how fast and easy it is to speed through levels with this build.

My Cleave currently deals 8k DPS, also with only three support gems again without +quality. It’s a good AoE tool to dispense groups of monsters and you will be using it a lot.

I haven’t found any other abilities which would work even nearly as well as Dual Strike and Cleave.

Pros

• Not dependent on gear: you don’t need any specific expensive unique items to make this work. There are a couple that help greatly but they aren’t necessary to make the build work.
• No 5 or 6 link items required: that’s right, you can deal tons of damage without having to spend a single exalted on an expensive chest.
• High survivability: with Kaom’s Heart chest I currently have 5k health which is enough to survive in a majority of high-level maps. My resistances are maxed but with my build you can easily put just one or two points into specific elemental resistance if you’re lacking. I’m running Grace (evasion) and Determination (armor) auras and have 67% physical damage reduction at level 86, along with 38% block chance (dual wield).
• Defensive skill tree build: most points are put into defensive stats for increased armor, health and resists. If you end up hating the build for some reason you could easily change the build to something else entirely with 10-20 regrets.
• Great mobility: Leap Slam and +30% movement speed help you get wherever you want to faster, or even jump out of tough situations.
• Versatility: you can do any kind of maps; you are virtually unaffected by reflect which is the bane of many other builds. Even Blood Magic maps are easily done, you just need to be a bit more careful due to low armor (since you won’t be able to use Determination).
• Fun to play: obviously everyone enjoys different things, but dying constantly isn’t fun for me which is why I prefer this build. Also shredding everything in your path with 8 attacks per second is unbelievably entertaining to watch.

Cons

• Needs high health and resist gear: fortunately these are the only two stats you need to focus on. If you desperately need a specific resistance you can always put one or two points into the skill tree. Nearly all of your gear should have +health, until (or if) you get Kaom’s Heart at which point you can focus on anything else (chaos resist, damage, IIR/IIQ).
• Needs one mana leech item: you will need gloves, ring or amulet with 2% mana leech. It’s not hard to get but you may have to sacrifice more useful stats because of it.
• Half regen maps: you might have somewhat decreased DPS in half-regen maps due to the inability to leech mana at a normal rate (funnily enough no regen maps can be done without issues).
• Low IIQ/IIR: it’s hard to get Increased Item Rarity and Quantity on equipment for this build, but then again every build except dual spark totem has the same issue.

Of all the builds I’ve seen I have to say that this one may very well be the one with least downsides. You have plenty of damage, you’re incredibly durable, fast to level up, works great even with average equipment, and no particular monsters are a problem.

Passive Skill Tree

My current level 86 passive skill tree build (104 points). It’s for the Duelist class but as you can see it goes all the way to the Marauder starting points and can be used by either class.

Key points: take health, dual wield block chance, armor, and resistances. There’s only about 10 points into pure damage and regardless you will have more than enough of it. If you’re needing an extra few points you can always take away a couple from damage and put into a specific elemental resistance (next to Diamond Skin in Marauder section).

Skill tree progression

• Duelist: 11 points (Dervish), 28 points (Bravado), 35 points (Iron Reflexes), 48 points (Resolute Technique), 64 points, 70 points, 80 points, 90 points
• Marauder: 20 points (Resolute Technique), 30 points (Unwavering Stance), 51 points (Leather and Steel), 60 points, 70 points, 81 points, 90 points

There’s no clear benefits to playing either of these classes each one has its own advantages. Marauders can get to resistances and Resolute Technique earlier, Duelist can pick up Block Chance and more damage. I recommend you play whatever class you prefer, you can get to most important skill points early enough to enable the build to work well with either one.

Note that the skill point progression is more of a suggestion or a guideline rather than set in stone. If you’re needing extra armor while leveling don’t be afraid to go for it, it’s always just a couple of points away. If you need extra Intellect you can also pick up Ancestral Knowledge (Marauder) or Wisdom of the Glade (Duelist) earlier, and you can always remove the points if you don’t need them later on. A huge upside to this build is its flexibility, and you will get about 15 respec points throughout leveling from quests which will be more than enough to fiddle around with a few points as you see fit.

As a sidenote, if you want to maximize your experience gain read my leveling guide. With my build you won’t even need a group, they’ll just slow you down.

Keystones:

• Iron Reflexes: converts all your evasion rating into armour. It maximizes the benefits you get from both armor and evasion on gear, passive skill points that further increase it and Grace and Determination auras. Your physical damage reduction won’t be under 50% even with the worst of gear. I mainly prefer armor over evasion due to its consistency: it’s better to get hit for low damage than for high damage every other time. You can always react with flasks, Molten Shell or just run away if you’re taking too much damage, while with evasion you’re typically dead if you don’t dodge several times in a row.
• Unwavering Stance: with this point you can no longer be stunned, and if you have Alpha’s Howl (pictured below with equipment) you can’t get frozen either. You’re literally unstoppable.
• Resolute Technique: there’s no point in worrying about +accuracy and +critical on your equipment or worse in your passive skill tree. It’s a waste of stat, and potential damage you lose from not being able to critically strike is more than made up for by never missing attacks. Try to get to RT as fast as possible. It also makes sure your mana leech is consistent.

Other notes

• Expertise (+30 Dexterity above Marauder starting location): I needed extra +dex to equip a weapon: one of my weapons requires 212 Dexterity and this build doesn’t waste any points into it. If you don’t find the need for it feel free to put a point (or three) elsewhere.
• Just below expertise you can put a point into Ancestral Knowledge if you wish to level up your Hatred aura further, although it’s not necessary. There is already one +30 Int point, Wisdom of the Glade, which is necessary.
• Why no Blood Magic? Because we can’t run three auras with it. Plus it’s not necessary as Mana Leech covers all ability costs.
• Why Celerity (+8% movement speed)? It’s just one extra point and I like to move fast.
• Why 1 point into Lightning resistance? I’m at 68% lightning resistance currently so this point makes up for lack of it on my equipment.

Recommended Equipment

As mentioned very few specific items are required. Once you start farming maps focus on getting as much health as you possibly can and try to max out your resistances. If you need a mana leech item just buy a ring or an amulet for 1 chaos. Using a Mana Leech gem is a possibility, but it will drop your DPS significantly unless you have a 5/6-linked chest.

Two items which are amazing for this build are Alpha’s Howl head and Kaom’s Heart chest.

Alpha’s Howl

Once you get it you will be able to run Hatred Aura, but more important you can’t get Freezed any longer. Getting frozen by bunch of caster skeletons is the number one reason why I died before getting this headpiece so set your goals towards obtaining this: it costs 2 Exalted Orbs at most with a maxed roll, but you can purchase it for just over 1 Ex as well if you’re patient.

Another upside to this headpiece is that it enables you to use a third aura (Hatred) due to its 8% reduced reserved mana for auras, and it also adds 2 additional levels to auras you use in this item so your Grace and Determination are at level 22 and have increased effectiveness.

Kaom’s Heart

Pretty much the bread and butter of every melee build in this game, nothing beats a +1000 health chest. I got lucky and it dropped for me but otherwise you might need to spend even 25 Exalted Orbs or more for this item. It’s not a realistic goal if this is your first character so use a chest with high armor or evasion, high health, and resists. You could purchase one for far less than 1 Exalted, unless you want 5 or 6 linked sockets (which as mentioned isn’t necessary).

With several % health regen skill points and Kaom’s I have over 200 health regen/second in addition to life leech from items (and 2% from passive skill tree). 95% of the time I’m at max health, only in extreme cases you have to resort to using Flasks, Rejuvenation Totem, or escape the engagement.

Weapons

Any kind of weapons will do. Obviously you’ll focus on physical damage rather than elemental, but the upside is they are much cheaper if you want to buy them. Having lifesteal is helpful but not mandatory. I prefer swords (Rapier, Foil etc.) for their higher attack speed.

Priorities/summary

In general your equipment should prioritize resists, health, armor and evasion (in that order). Get one item with mana leech so you don’t need to use a gem, and try to save enough currency to buy Alpha’s Howl: the ability to use Hatred aura will increase your DPS quite a lot.

Skill Gems

* Multistrike is not a frequent skill gem drop and you may have to purchase it (typically around 3 Chaos Orbs). It can not be obtained from quests. As an alternative you can use Added Fire Damage until you can obtain Multistrike.

All the other gems are easily acquired from quests or drops, and if you happen to need one you can easily buy it for as little as 1 Orb of Alchemy.

Gem rewards from quests

Just now when compiling the list above I noticed how Marauders have easier access to most skill gems you need so you may want to try my build with Marauders rather than Duelists. I hope the table helps you plan your quest rewards and figure out which gems to take. However none of these skill gems are expensive and you could buy everything you need for just a few Chaos Orbs.

Alternatives

If you’re running a 5 or 6 linked chest you can use Added Fire Damage as an additional support gem, or even as an alternative to Multistrike if you for some reason prefer. AFD deals less damage than Multistrike but only slightly.

Also you may want to consider using Increased Item Rarity and Increased Item Quantity support gems on Dual Strike once your Cleave is strong enough for fast clears. My Dual Strike linked with Culling Strike + IIQ + IIR support gems still deals 5k damage, more than enough to finish bosses and rare monsters for noticeably increased drops.

At later stages when your Cleave reaches about 10k DPS or above and you get your Kaom’s, you can consider completely removing Dual Strike. Four added gem slots will enable you to switch Grace for Haste (or even Purity) aura in your head piece, and use Grace, Anger and Wrath with a Blood Magic support gem. That way you can run 6 auras for increased damage at the cost of only 600ish health.

As a bonus you can also run Clarity for increased mana regeneration if you have problems in half-regen maps.

Curses

Rejuvenation Totem and Molten Shell are definitely not mandatory in this build. It’s just the way I like to play but you could switch them with some curses if necessary.

• Enfeeble – affected monsters have reduced Accuracy, Critical and Damage. Even a rank 1 Enfeeble reduces monster damage by 25% so if you have trouble surviving in some situations or against particular bosses feel free to consider it.
• Vulnerability – increases your physical damage by 25%-34%. Be careful about leveling it fully as level 20 Vulnerability requires 151 Intelligence.
• Warlord’s Mark – you gain increased life and mana leech on affected monsters: 3%-7% life leech and 1-3% mana leech depending on gem level. You can easily level it to 20 as it only requires Strength. If you need extra life leech or can’t get mana leech any other way consider using Warlord’s Mark.

Bandits

• Normal: help Oak and get +40 health
• Cruel: help Oak for +18% physical damage
• Merciless: kill them all (+1 skill point)

Flasks

I prefer using a setup of 2 health flasks, 1 hybrid (for cases if I run out of mana), 1 Granite and 1 Amethyst. You can see the flasks that I currently use below:

They aren’t perfect rolls (except the Hybrid one) but they serve the purpose. I think it’s very important to have one “instant recovery when on low life” flask for situations when you suddenly drop near death, due to my low Chaos resist I like having an Amethyst one in case it’s needed, and the Hybrid one helps in case you happen to run out of mana and need to Leap Slam or use a Rejuvenation Totem.

I also like all my flasks to have either bonus Armour or Evasion on use which is further scaled with the passive skill tree. Doubling your armor for nearly 5 seconds with a Granite Flask is crucial to surviving things like Vaal’s smash and such.

With the high movement speed and overall mobility of my Shredder build I never felt the need to use Quicksilver Flasks, although I did notice that many players often use 3-4 of them for reasons unknown to me.

Gameplay Videos

I recorded several map runs so you can watch the build in action. My full gear at the time of recording it is here. As you can see besides the two unique items my gear isn’t anything special.

• Dunes (66) map solo run
• Crypt (66) map solo run
• Thicket (67) solo run (no-regen mod with physical reflect)
• Cells (73) group run

You can watch many more of my boring map runs in this playlist, also embedded below.

If you have any specific map run requests or something else let me know!

Closing Thoughts

From all the builds I’ve seen the Shredder is the most versatile in my opinion. There’s no monsters or skills you need to be afraid of and unlike many other builds it doesn’t require 50 Exalted Orbs to be viable, in fact it doesn’t require any specific gear. It’s very flexible while leveling and enables you to overcome shortcomings on your equipment with a few skill points into armor, resistances or health which are always conveniently placed. The build’s extremely high attack speed (I’m currently doing 8 attacks per second) is a thing to behold and you’ll probably spend the first few hours laughing your ass off at how ridiculous it looks.

In all my Wraeclast adventures I came across one or maybe two dual-wielding Duelists with (possibly) the same build so this isn’t extremely popular among players. If you’re looking for a fun, effective, fast leveling, low-cost melee build that isn’t used by every other player than this might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Questions? Feel free to ask me anything about the build and I’ll do my best to answer it.

Below I’ll go over a few proven builds that players have found to be effective. Most of them are equally good for leveling and at end-game, but some are more gear dependent than others. Be sure to take a good look at the skill tree builds listed and I’m sure you’ll find one that fits your play style.

Newbie-Friendly Melee Build

This is one of the best builds for beginners in Path of Exile as it allows for very easy and quick leveling and is very efficient in late game, even maps. It’s basically a cookie-cutter build built around Ground Slam gem, which doesn’t depend on great equipment to be effective. The build uses a 2-hand Mace weapon to mow down your enemies and extremely high life leech for sustain, also taking advantage of Blood Magic (abilities use health not mana), Unwavering Stance (can’t be stunned) and Resolute Technique (never miss attacks) skill nodes.

• Link to forum topic (contains a lot of explanations, gear examples, etc.)
• Full build (97 points)

Hardcore Endgame Rain of Arrows Marauder Build

As the build author explains, Rain of Arrows allows you to deal huge AoE damage and doesn’t require accuracy of expensive +Quality gems. It works better with Elemental bows, but can work with Physical ones as well. This build can also be used by Rangers or Duelists. It does require extremely valuable equipment if you want to get 20k DPS, but it’s well worth it!

• Forum topic
• 107 point Marauder build

Alternatively, you can take a look at Gh0un’s Point Blank Rain of Arrows build.

Immortal Call + Cyclone Build

This build attempts to imitate the famed Diablo II Whirlwind Barbarian, by using Cyclone as its main skill paired with Immortal Call when it hits the fan. The weapon it uses is a 2-handed mace which also consistently stuns monsters allowing you to spin through mob packs and live to tell about it.

The biggest upside to this build is that it’s not gear dependent. As you can see from this gameplay video the author has only 3000 HP, 850 armor and 420 evasion rating, with 82% all resist and 3% chaos resist.

• Forum topic
• Gameplay video (shows killing Kole and farming Lunaris Temple in Merciless)
• Full skill tree build

Explosive Arrow Elemental Equilibrium Tank Marauder

The main idea behind this build is to clear packs of monsters effectively by using burn damage from the explosion. Explosive Arrow doesn’t scale off of weapon elemental damage but only from projectile, fire and area damage, meaning it requires very little skill points into damage, and the rest can be put into defensive nodes. The build also requires using Quill Rain, a unique bow dealing three attacks per second.

This build is extremely efficient at AoE damage and is decent at single target as well, all the while having high health pool, resistances and armor. It’s a bit weaker early game and more dependent on life on hit due to Blood Magic which is taken very early.

• Forum topic
• Exilepro build (more detailed explanations of the same build)
• Skill tree builds: 30 points, 50 points, 70 points, 91 points

Lightning Arrow Bow Marauder Build

Most bow builds currently are focused around Lightning Arrow, and of course Marauders are no exception. This build named “The Shocker” deals a ton of damage, shocks monsters consistently and since you’re starting in the Marauder tree you have access to a lot of defensive skills. It does require better than average equipment, but then again almost every build does.

The best part about this build is you can easily adapt it to your wishes and play style, and you can (and should) take a few more defensive nodes if you plan on playing this in Hardcore.

• Forum topic
• HC tree – tanky, Purity, Blood Magic support gem.
• HC tree – Blood Magic keystone, Grace, tanky.
• SC tree – Purity and more damage, less HP, Blood Magic support gem.
• SC tree – Grace and more damage, less HP, Blood Magic keystone.

Dual-Wield Elemental Ground Slam Marauder

This build basically takes the concepts of Elemental Bow Marauder and applies it to Ground Slam, the goal of which is to deal as much elemental damage as fast as possible, and to as many enemies as possible. With Ground Slam your aim is to walk up to or leap in a bunch of monsters and blast them with chain-stuns before they get the chance to fire off a shot at you.

The build also takes advantage of many defensive nodes in the skill tree, thus having high resistances, armor and life.

• Forum topic
• Skill tree build progression – Resolute Technique, Blood Magic, Amplify, Unwavering Stance, End-game (87 points)

Dual Wielding Dual Strike+Cleave Physical Build

This is the build I’m using myself after several unsuccessful attempts to have fun playing rangers, witches, tanks and whatnot. It features high damage with even higher durability and is extremely gear independent. Great for beginners or anyone else who want a dual-wielding powerhouse without spending any currency whatsoever to make it viable.

• Build details
• Passive skill tree build

The builds listed are of course just some of the more popular and by no means the only viable ones. I encourage you to go explore the forums or other sites and see if you can find something else that fits your play style better. And of course if you do find a good build, be sure to contact me and I’ll add it to the list (or just post a comment below).

There are two class specializations for the Sith Warrior (or otherwise known as advanced classes). They are Sith Marauder and Sith Juggernaut.

Juggernaut

Sith Juggernauts are Sith specialized in combat endurance and were known for wearing armor that provided them special protection in battle.

Sith Juggernauts were known to primarily wield one lightsaber in combat, and were frequently adept at using the Force to cause terror and despair in enemy combatants.

Primary Focus:

• Single Saber / Heavy Armor
• Fear and Darkside Auras
• Tank or Single Saber DPS

The second specialization is the Marauder.

Marauder

Sith Marauders are Sith Warriors who fought for the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War and the Cold War that followed it circa 3,653 BBY. They specialized in dual lightsabers and dealing high amounts of damage to enemies in melee combat.

Marauders specialize in destroying their enemy; within and without. They are also able to use Stealth.

Primary Focus:

• Dual Wield Sabers / Armor
• Saber Fighting Specialist
• Melee DPS
• Temporary stealth usable in combat

Further reading:

• Sith Juggernaut guide
• Sith Marauder guide

Everyone hates mirror matches, you feel like no matter what you do, your opponent can do the same, what’s the point? This is the wrong way of thinking. Yes, you’re playing against the same race, but you still have the choice of units. And just like with the other races, there is a best terran unit counter for every terran unit.

Once again, please remember that this guide is written with pure unit statistics in mind, you must still adapt this information to your game depending on the situation, you can’t always produce the best unit counter in time, so sometimes you’ll have to go for 2nd or 3rd best, which is why I’m always listing at least 3 options. On with the guide!

Table of Contents

1. How to Counter Marines
2. How to Counter Marauders
3. How to Counter Ghosts
4. How to Counter Hellions
5. How to Counter Siege Tanks
6. How to Counter Reapers
7. How to Counter Vikings
8. How to Counter Medivacs
9. How to Counter Ravens
10. How to Counter Banshees
11. How to Counter Thors
12. How to Counter Battlecruisers

Best Terran Counters vs Marines

1. Siege Tank – In siege mode, a siege tank kills several marines in one shot. Plus, they severely outrange them.

2. Hellion – With their +6 damage vs light units and their AoE damage, Hellions are great vs marines, who generally are bunched up in packs.

3. Reaper – They deal 18 damage per round of attack against marines, killing them with 3 shots.

4. Ghost – Sniper Round does just enough damage (45) to kill a single marine. For only 25 energy, why not have fun with it?

Best Terran Counters vs Marauders

1. Marines – None of the bonuses of the Marauder apply against marines. They’re not armored, and since they have about the same firing range, they don’t care much about being slowed by concussive shells.

2. Banshee – If you see your opponent making a lot of Marauders, the best counter is easily Banshees. Just make sure to take out anti-air units first, such as marines, and then start getting free kills on those helpless Marauders.

3. Marauders – That’s another option. Make Marauders too, make more of them than your opponent and upgrade them.

Best Terran Counters vs Ghosts

1. Ghost – Just make sure you are the first to fire EMP Round on the enemy ghost, then just cloak and kill.

2. Raven – Mobile Detection is extremely valuable against ghosts, obviously. Also, Seeker Missiles do just enough damage to kill them in one shot.

3. Siege Tank – 2 Tanks in siege mode paired with a detector = instant death for a ghost trying to sneak to your base to nuke.

4. Viking – In Assault mode, they do pretty well vs ghosts. They only take 10 damage while dealing 14 at a much faster pace. In a 1vs1 fight, if both start shooting at the same time, the Viking will kill the ghost and still have more than 50% of its total HP remaining. Since ghosts generally stand safely behind the main front line, you can fly over and land right behind the ghosts in some sort of pincer attack.

Best Terran Counters vs Hellions

1. Thor – Thors do exactly 90 damage against ground units, which is just perfect to take care of hellions. Not to mention, it will take a lot of hellions to take down a single thor.

2. Siege Tank – Don’t bother with siege mode, normal mode is perfect against Hellions. A solo tank can take out 3 hellions at the same time and leave the battle with 1/3 of its HP remaining.

3. Viking – In Assault mode, they dominate hellions easily. They can kill 2 Hellions at the same time and leave the battle with 40% of their HP remaining.

4. Banshee – Obviously a perfect counter since hellions can’t hit air targets.

5. Marauder – Marauders are armored, thus only taking 8 damage per attack from Hellions, while dealing 10 themselves. Plus, they are rather large so that means the Hellion’s splash range will rarely hit multiple marauders at the same time.

Best Terran Counters vs Siege Tanks

1. Banshee – The safest way to deal with tanks.

2. Battlecruiser – Obviously safe as well, but very tech heavy.

3. Thor – With their huge HP, they can withstand the initial barrage of tanks in siege mode and kill them in 2 rounds of attacks.

4. Marauders – 2 Marauders cost less than 1 Tank to produce, yet if you have them fight, the tank will die exactly at the same moment as when the first marauder dies, leaving you with one full HP marauder. A pretty good deal. That’s with the tank in normal mode though. In siege mode, the odds turn more into the tanks favor, but as long as you spread your marauders to avoid splash damage, you’ll still have the better end of the bargain.

5. Viking – A nice trick to deal with a tank in siege mode is to fly your viking right over it and switch to assault mode. The tank won’t be able to shoot your viking because it will be too close, so your opponent will have to switch out of siege mode and waste precious seconds while your Viking will be doing loads of free damage.

Best Terran Counters vs Reapers

1. Siege Tank – In siege mode, a tank will one-shot a Reaper before he is even in sight.

2. Marauder – 1 Marauder vs 2 Reapers has the Marauder come out alive with just a little HP left. Pretty good deal.

3. Viking – 1 Viking in Assault Mode vs 2 Reapers has the Viking come out alive with 40% HP left. Once again, pretty decent deal.

4. Thor – Thors one shot Reapers, it’s actually a little overkill, which is why I put it at position #4.

5. Banshee – Of course, obviously the best counter if you have the tech and the ressources. Don’t forget to always start by killing units that can hit air, and then finish with Ground to Ground units.

Best Terran Counters vs Vikings

1. Viking – It’s quite simple, either you make more vikings than your opponent and take control of the air, or you simply give up on the air superiority, stop producing anything that flies and force your opponent to switch his Vikings to assault mode. Attacking his main base for example is a great way to get Vikings to the ground.

2. Thor – If you take the ground superiority approach, thors are the best counter. Not only do they hurt Vikings while they’re in the air, but they totally obliterate them if they dare to come to the ground.

3. Siege Tank – If your opponent sends his Vikings flying towards your tanks, immediately switch out of Siege Mode and you’ll be fine. Tanks in normal mode easily dominate Vikings in Assault Mode.

4. Marauder – Marauders cost half the production cost of Vikings, and yet in a one on one battle, they both die exactly at the same time, a draw. So that’s still a pretty sweet deal if you consider the production costs and lower tech requirements of the Marauder.

Best Terran Counters vs Medivacs

1. Viking – Nothing better to chase those down than Vikings.

2. Battlecruisers – A little overkill, but still the 2nd best option.

3. Marines – They can shoot air units, that’s about all you need against Medivacs.

Best Terran Counters vs Ravens

1. Viking – Nothing better to chase those down than Vikings.

2. Ghost – A quick EMP Round before they get the chance to use their energy will be a huge factor in any big battle.

3. Battlecruisers – Actually quite a decent choice. If your opponent uses the Defense Drone, it won’t be very effective agains the battlecruiser’s 6 attacks per round, which will quickly deplete the energy of the Defense Drone.

4. Marines – They can shoot air units, that’s about it. Watch out for Seeker Missiles.

Best Terran Counters vs Banshees

1. Viking – The king of Terran anti-air. Use it, abuse it.

2. Marine – Marines do surprisingly well against Banshees. In terms of production cost, 5 Marines = 1 Banshee (and requires much less tech). Yet, 5 Marines will easily defeat 1 Banshee, and you’ll have 3 Marines left at the end of the battle. With Combat Shield, it gets even better, since Banshees will then need 3 attacks to kill 1 Marine (compared to 2 attacks without the Combat Shield upgrade).

3. Thor – One Thor can take out 2 Banshees and survive, but not 3. That’s still decent, especially because of the huge range of their anti air missiles.

3. Battlecruiser – Sadly too slow to chase them effectively, but they do kill them fast if they get in range.

Best Terran Counters vs Thors

1. Battlecruiser – Being a flying armored unit, the Battlecruiser doesn’t take that much damage against a Thor. Even better if you research Yamato Cannon to ensure a quick kill. A single Battlecruiser can kill 2 Thors and survive, without even using Yamato Cannon.

2. Marine – Marines are just way too small for Thors, shooting them is a waste of time for the slow attacking giant robot. This makes them the cheapest and safest counter to Thors. Stimpack is great in this situation, because Marines will get one-shot by Thors no matter what, so might as well sacrifice some HP for some extra damage.

3. Thor – Make sure your Thor uses 250mm Strike Cannon before the enemy Thor does, and that will be a flawless victory for your Robot. It’s a double-edged weapon, if your opponent is quicker on the 250mm Strike Cannon, you lose your Thor and his stays full HP.

4. Marauder – They get the benefit of their +10 damage vs Armored units, and they have enough HP (125) to survive a single Thor attack round (90 damage). You will need 4 Marauders to win vs a single Thor, which isn’t great when you compare the production costs,  but it’s still decent. It gets much better with Stimpack though, as it doesn’t change anything for Marauders in terms of survivability against Thors (Their health drops down to 105 after using stimpack, so Thors still need two rounds of attacks to kill them).

Best Terran Counters vs Battlecruisers

1. Viking – 3 Vikings can barely take out a Battlecruiser (just barely). Go with at least 4 Vikings vs 1 Battlecruiser and you’ll get much better results.

2. Marine – 15 Marines cost about the same as one Battlecruiser (and require much less teching). Yet, they clearly win the fight and the battlecruiser goes down with 6 marines left standing. Do the same with the Combat Shield upgrade, and you’ll have 8 marines left standing. With Combat Shield + Stimpack: 10 Marines left standing. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Note: Everything else is poor vs battlecruisers. For example, 2 Thors, despite costing a lot more resources, can’t even take down a single Battlecruiser, without even using Yamato Cannon.

Source: starcraft-replay

Please keep in mind that this is a general terran unit strategy guide, it is based on pure unit statistics. So you must adapt depending on the situation in-game. For example, if I say that Vikings are the best unit counter against Mutalisks, don’t go for Vikings if you haven’t even started building a Starport as your opponent shows up with 6 mutalisks, you won’t have time for that, produce marines and/or missile turrets instead and then build a starport if you manage to hold off the first mutalisk batch.

My point is, adapt this information to your game depending on the situation, you can’t always produce the best unit counter in time, so sometimes you’ll have to go for 2nd or 3rd best. With that said, let’s get started with this guide!

Table of Contents

1. How to Counter Zerglings
2. How to Counter Queens
3. How to Counter Hydralisks
4. How to Counter Banelings
5. How to Counter Roaches
6. How to Counter Infestors
7. How to Counter Mutalisks
8. How to Counter Corruptors
9. How to Counter Ultralisks
10. How to Counter Brood Lords

Best Terran Counters vs Zerglings

1. Hellion – Thanks to its flamethrowers, the Hellion does massive AoE damage against packs of Zerglings and also benefits from their +5 damage vs light units, killing them in 3 shots (2 shots with the Infernal Pre-Lighter Upgrade), which means that 2 or 3 hellions can together take out several Zerglings simultaneously everytime they shoot.

Even better, with their incredible movement speed, they can fire and run away unscathed with proper micro, making the hellion the best Terran counter vs Zerglings.

2. Reaper – Dealing 2 x (4 dmg + 5 dmg vs light) = 18 dmg to Zerlings everytime they shoot, and they shoot rather quickly. This means that with no upgrades, they will need only 2 attacks to kill a Zergling. Not as good as the Hellion vs Zerglings, due to a lack of AoE and  no super speed, but in certain situations they can do really well, especially with a ledge nearby for some hit and cliff jump harassment.

3. Marines + Bunker or Walling – Not as good as the above two options, but still the best option if your opponent tries an early Zergling rush before you get the chance to tech for Hellions or Reapers. Generally, Terran players will simply wall off their entry point quickly with their first barrack and a supply depot. Then place a few marines behind and shoot away while the poor Zerglings will try to chew at your buildings to enter.

Best Terran Counters vs Queen

1. Ghosts – Sniper Round deals 45dmg to biological units, plus they have a natural +10 dmg bonus with Biological units. Which means that they can take out a Queen quickly, without taking a single damage (as long as they remain cloaked). Not to mention, Queens do very poor damage versus ground units.

2. Reapers – With their excellent mobility and bonus vs light units, reapers are great to harass drones and queens. Climb the nearest cliff, take a few shots at the Queen, if she runs away, take out some drones and run away if your opponent sends a heavy force against you. Rinse and repeat and keep pressure on your opponents economy and on his queen. If you manage to take out a queen early with your reapers, this will be a huge step back for your opponent. Even better, if your opponent has his drones and queen run away, simply attack his hatchery. Reapers do crazy damage against buildings, don’t forget that.

3. Marauders – With their long range and their concussive shots, Marauders can easily take out a Queen without leaving her a chance to run for cover. A couple of marauders combined with a bunch of reapers is the ideal early queen gank squad.

Note: In any case, no Zerg opponent will ever mass produce Queens, so you shouldn’t build the above units specifically to counter 1 or 2 Queens. However, it’s still good to know what units work best against them.

Best Terran Counters vs Hydralisks

1. Siege Tanks – Easily the best counter to Hydralisks. While in Siege Mode, tanks can kill several Hydralisks with only two shots. Don’t use them solo though, protect them with a squad of marines or reapers and they’ll rip Hydralisks to shreds from the safety of their huge range (13 in siege mode).

2. Ravens – Two things make the Raven great against hydralisks. Hunter-seeker Missile is great against stationary units, Hydralisks like to stand there and shoot and don’t move very fast, plus HSM does 100 damage, just enough to kill a bunch of hydras in one shot. The other thing which makes them awesome against hydralisks is the Point Defense Drone, which will absorb many shots from hydras and save your troops a whole lot of damage.

3. Reapers – With their +4 dmg vs light units and their nice mobility, Reapers inflict 18 dmg per attack against Hydralisks, a lot better than what Hydralisks do (Only 12 dmg per attack), and they cost a lot less to produce.

4. Marines – One single Marine will lose versus a single Hydralisk. However, 3 Marines will easily defeat a single Hydralisk, while costing about the same amount of ressources and less building requirements. With the combat shield upgrade or a single infantry armor upgrade, mass marines become an excellent counter to Hydralisks.

Best Terran Counters vs Banelings

1. Siege Tanks – In siege mode, they kill banelings in one hit, before they even get anywhere near. With the help of a medivac and good micro (Unload – Shoot – Load), they become an even better counter.

2. Reapers – They do 18 damage per attack to Banelings, thus killing them with two shots. With proper hit and run (aka “Kiting”), they can kill them in two shots before the banelings get a chance to explode near them. However, reapers are light units, so they take full damage from banelings and can quickly be obliterated without proper micro skills. Pair them with a few marauders to help with the kiting, using concussive shot on the closest banelings to slow them down.

3. Marauders – With their range of 6 and their concussive missiles which slow movement speed, Marauders can “kite” banelings with proper micro and kill them before they even get in range to explode. Moreover, Marauders are Armored units so they only take 15 damage from Baneling explosions. However, they only deal 10 damage per attack to light units, so it’s best to pair them with other units which do a lot more range damage versus banelings, such as reapers and siege tanks.

Tip: While kiting, let one of your units lag behind to force the banelings to explode and take out only that unit.

The Battle Report #1 between David Kim and Matthew Cooper shows that technique, with David Kim feeding units one by one to the banelings while kiting them (see video below).

Any unit will do, but some fill that role even better. The Hellion is a great unit to feed to banelings, with their 90HP, it will take 3 baneling explosion to kill a single Hellion, while doing nice damage to banelings (bonus vs light units). Their incredible mobility also makes it easier to position them quickly between the banelings and your infantry. Position them sideways in front of the banelings to block them as much as possible.

VIDEO: Watch David Kim feed Marines to Banelings one by one to minimize their effect

Best Terran Counters vs Roaches

1. Siege Tanks – Roaches have high speed health regeneration, so you must use brute force against them, killing them with heavy fire before they get the chance to back off or burrow to regenerate. Siege Tanks in siege mode fit that role best. They are also good vs roaches even when they aren’t in siege mode, dealing 15 dmg + 10 vs armored.

2. Raven – The Raven brings 3 extremely viable cards to the table against roaches. They fly, so roaches can’t hurt them. They are dectectors, preventing roaches to burrow and regenerate. Hunter-seeker Missile deals a massive 100 damage in an area, which is enough to finish off roaches mid fight before they even think about burrowing. Combine it with infantry to guarantee an efficient mass roach killing.

3. Thor – With do a massive 90 damage vs ground units, so of course they do great against Roaches. Their Armored status and 400 HP also allows them to take a lot of punishment from Roaches. However, don’t send them alone, pair them with other appropriate units such as Marauders, Siege Tanks and Ravens.

4. Marauders – Marauders outrange Roaches significantly and also outgun them thanks to their +10 dmg vs armored units. Their concussive missiles also help them finish off low HP roaches before they manage to escape, this only works until your opponent researches burrow though, so make sure to get an Orbital Command ASAP or a raven for detection. This makes them the best early counter to roaches.

Best Terran Counters vs Infestors

1. Ghosts -EMP Shot not only drains all energy from Infestors, but also reveals them for 5 seconds. Use your intuition to guess where they’re burrowed, EMP Shot that area and if you are successful, you’ll have 5 seconds to turn these ugly bugs into a pool of blood, which should be plenty at this stage of the game.

2. Ravens – Detection is great against Infestors. They also move very slowly, thus making it hard to dodge a carefully placed Hunter-Seeker Missile. Be careful though, Infestors can use Neural Parasite on your Ravens and nullify that tactic, be the first one to act.

3. Orbital Command – Build one if you haven’t already. Build a second one if your opponent is going for Infestors. Always save some energy to scan and destroy these bugs quickly before they turn your army against you.

Best Terran Counters vs Mutalisks

1. Vikings – They do 20 damage per attack against Mutalisk, which is more than twice as much, while costing about the same ressources. With their great mobility, they can chase mutalisks really well and make your opponent wish he hadn’t produced any.

2. Thors – +4 damage vs light. This grants the Thor a solid 4x 14 damage versus Mutalisks. With their insane range of 10, they can kill Mutalisks before your opponent even sees your Thor. With their 400 HP and armor of 1, thors can even withstand a heavy mutalisk pack.

3. Battlecruisers – They do farily well vs heavy Mutalisk forces. However, teching to Battlecruisers is very ressource heavy, so only go for this option if your opponent is going for mass mutalisks.

4. Marines – Without upgrades, they die pretty quickly to Mutalisks and their multi-shots. However, with the Combat-Shield and Stim-Pack upgrades, they become a very good counter against Mutalisks.

Best Terran Counters vs Corruptors

1. Thors – Being a ground unit, the Thor is immune to Corruptors. Plus, with it’s huge range of 10 (double as much as the corruptors), the Thors counter Corruptors best.

2. Vikings – Vikings cost slightly less ressources than Corruptors, however they are better than them in every aspect. They deal 28 damage per attack (thanks to their bonus vs armored) and have a range of 9. To top it off, you can quickly switch a low HP viking to ground mode before it is finished off by corruptors, thus preventing the loss of a unit. They also have superior mobility.

3. Marines – They can’t be hit by corruptors and can kill them pretty quickly with the Stimpack upgrade.

4. Raven – Point defense drone is great against Corruptors and their relatively slow attack speed.

Best Terran Counters vs Ultralisks

1. Banshee – Well duh, free hits. They do significant, long range damage to ground units and can’t be harmed by Ultralisks. If you see your opponent teching for Ultralisk, make sure to bring a few extra Banshees into the fray.

2. Battlecruisers – With the Yamato Cannon upgrade, battlecruisers can make quick work of the zerg powerhouse. Each Yamato Cannon does 300 dmg, which means that you can instantly kill an Ultralisk if you’ve got two of those.

3. Thor – The Ultralisk is only devastating against small ground units, because of his splash cleave attack. A Thor will only take 20 damage per attack from an Ultralisk, while dealing 90 damage every attack, which is almost 5 times as much. If your opponent crazy enough to stick his Ultralisk on your Thor while your smaller infantry units chew at its husk, you’ve got yourself a pretty good deal. Plus, the Thor’s 250mm canon does 500 damage while also stunning the target for 6 seconds! This is huge, it’s like this ability was made specifically to counter Ultralisks! Thors are in my opinoin the best ground unit to counter ultralisks, by far.

4. Marauders – With their +10 damage bonus vs Armored, a squad of Marauders does pretty well against an Ultralisk, especially if you spread them out nicely, preventing the Ultralisk from taking full advantage of its splash cleave attack.

Tip: Always spread out your ground infantry units as much as possible when going up against an Ultralisk to minimize the effect of its Splash Cleave.

Best Terran Counters vs Brood Lords

1. Vikings – 2 x 14 dmg per attack which can’t be retaliated, superior mobility and cheaper to produce.

2. Battlecruisers – Yamato Cannon for some one-shot fun.

3. Raven – Point Defense Drone is great against the broodlords attacks, which hit quite hard, but at rather slow pace. Plus, their movement speed isn’t the best, so a well timed Hunter Seeker Missile will quickly make a dent at their HP.

4. Thor – Superior Range (10) and Superior Firepower (4x 10dmg). If you can’t access the above units, then this is your Plan B.

Source: starcraft-replay

Please keep in mind that this is a general terran unit strategy guide, it is based on pure unit statistics and my own experience. So you must adapt depending on the situation in-game. For example, if I say that Vikings are the best unit counter against the Colossus, don’t go teching for Vikings if you haven’t even started building a Starport as your opponent shows up with a couple of Colossi, you won’t have time for that, produce marauders and siege tanks instead.

My point is, adapt this information to your game depending on the situation, you can’t always produce the best unit counter in time, so sometimes you’ll have to go for 2nd or 3rd best.

With that said, let’s get started with this guide!

Table of Contents

1. How to Counter Zealots
2. How to Counter Stalkers
3. How to Counter Sentries
4. How to Counter Immortals
5. How to Counter Phoenixes
6. How to Counter Void Rays
7. How to Counter Observers
8. How to Counter Warp Prisms
9. How to Counter High Templars
10. How to Counter Dark Templars
11. How to Counter Archons
12. How to Counter Carriers
13. How to Counter Motherships
14. How to Counter the Colossus

Best Terran Counters vs Zealots

1. Hellion – Easily the best early counter against Zealots. They do 14 damage (in an area) to light units. With the Infernal Pre-Lighter upgrade, this goes up to 24 damage per attack, and then they really dominate Zealots. Not to mention, with their incredible mobility and good micro, they can kite zealots (hit and run). This only works as long as Zealots don’t research the charge ability though.

2. Reaper – With their bonus vs light units, Reapers deal 18 damage per attack vs Zealots from range. With proper micro, they can shoot and run, or hide on a cliff nearby if possible. Definitely a great counter vs Zealots.

3. Walling – Early zealot rushes are easily stopped by terran players. All you have to do is to wall off your base’s choke point with buildings quickly (Barrack + Supply depot is enough), produce a few marines and put them behind your structures. This should hold off any early Zealot rush attempt and give you time to tech for Hellions or Reapers.

Best Terran Counters vs Stalkers

1. Marauder – Marauders do 20 damage per attack against armored units, which is 6 damage better than what Stalkers do to  them in response. Equal range, but Marauders concussive missiles snare Stalkers, which makes it harder to micro them. They are also cheaper and quicker to produce.

2. Marine – 3 Marines = 150 Minerals   1 Stalker = 125 Minerals 50 Gas.    3 Marines = 135 HP(3×45) and 18 Damage (3×6) Attack Speed: Fast  1 Stalker = 160 HP and 8 Damage, Attack Speed: Normal. Marines attack about twice as fast as Stalkers, so effectively they’ll do 36 damage everytime the stalker does 8 damage… The math speaks for itself. Mass marines will always beat mass stalkers.

3. Siege Tank – Superior range, firepower and HP.

Best Terran Counters vs Sentries

1. Ghost – One EMP Round and the sentry is going to be as weak as a single marine, despite costing so much gas. EMP Round will destroy the Sentries’ shield, and also drain its energy down to zero. A perfect counter.

2. Hellion – Sentries are generally hiding behind a wall of zealots and other units, providing support with Guardian Shield. Hellion can quickly go around the front line and make a quick work of sentries, especially with their bonus vs light units.

3. Reaper – Not as good as Hellions for this, but still pretty decent with their 18 damage vs light units.

4. Banshee – In big fights, Banshee will easily fly over the front line and deal with sentries swiftly before they get a chance to turn the tide of battle with Guardian Shield and Force Field.

Best Terran Counters vs Immortals

1. Ghost – Once again, EMP Round turns Immortals into a very vulnerable and expensive unit. It effectively removes all their shields and thus deactivates their Hardened Shield, making them vulnerable to heavy attacks from Siege Tanks or Marauders.

2. Marines – Marines deal less than 10 damage per attack, thus ignoring the Hardened Shield ability. And they attack fast, about twice as fast as Immortals. Plus they are light units, so Immortals don’t benefit from their huge bonus against them. It will take 3 shots for an immortal to kill a single marine, which is a really bad deal for your opponent.

3. Reapers – About the same deal as marines, just not as good.

4. Banshees – If your opponent is going Immortal + Zealots and neglecting anti-air, this will teach him a lesson. I learned the hard way when I played protoss.

Best Terran Counters vs Phoenixes

1. Thor – They outrange Phoenixes severely and are also immune to their graviton beam. Easily the best counter.

2. Vikings – Don’t believe the in-game unit information, it’s outdated. Vikings are great against Phoenixes. They do twice as much damage and have a much bigger range. Plus they cannot be affected by Graviton Beam, since they fly.

3. Missile Turret – Your opponent is harassing your SCVs with a bunch of Phoenixes? A couple of turrets will quickly solve this.

4. Battlecruisers – Not the cheapest option, but definitely effective. Phoenixes are especially good against light units, whilst the Battlecruiser is arguably the most heavily armored unit in the game…

Best Terran Counters vs Void Rays

1. Vikings – With their +4 damage bonus vs armored units, Vikings do 24 damage per attack against Void Rays. They also outrange them and are much cheaper to produce. Oh, and they’re faster.

2. Marines – Void Rays are great against big armored units which have a lot of HP, because it allows their Prismatic Beam to use its full potential. Marines are the total opposite of “big unit with a lot of HP”, making them a great counter vs Void Rays.

3. Missile Turrets – With their +7 damage bonus vs armored and their really fast attack speed, Missile Turrets do 28 damage per round of attack against Void Rays, and they do that at a very quick pace. However, Void Rays also kill buildings very quickly, so you will need more than one turret to make this strategy efficient. 2 or 3 Turrets placed side by side for maximum efficiency. But honestly, Vikings and Marines are a better deal, so only make turrets if you have spare minerals and want to have defenses at your base while your forces are on the move.

Best Terran Counters vs Observers

1. Missile Turrets – If a game reaches the mid-way point, you can be sure that a competent protoss opponent will be scouting you heavily with these.  Start placing Missile Turrets strategically in your bases to prevent this.

2. Raven – A mobile detector. Pair it with a few vikings and sweep the area around your bases for a few easy observer kills.

3. Orbital Command – If you got some spare energy, scan your base from time to time, you can bet you’ll find an observer there every now and then.

Best Terran Counters vs Warp Prisms

1. Viking – Vikings kill these transporters quickly and they also chase them with ease.

2. Missile Turret – Your opponent likes to do some Immortal drops on your economy? Place 2 turrets carefully around your minerals, problem solved.

Best Terran Counters vs High Templars

1. Ghost – By far the best counter. EMP Round first to drain all their energy and shields, preventing them from using Feedback on your ghost. Followed by two normal attacks by your ghost (20 damage per attack vs bio units) and you’ll have a dead High Templar.

2. Hellion – With their high mobility, they can dodge most of the Psionic Storms your opponent will cast. And they’ll also make quick work of them with their nice bonus vs light units. Plus, they have just enough HP to survive a full Psionic Storm.

Best Terran Counters vs Dark Templars

1. Raven – Mobile detection. Enough said.

2. Ghost – EMP Round reveals them for a short period of time, and also removes their entire shields. With only 40 HP left, they should be quickly dealt with before they become cloaked again. A great counter if you don’t have a Raven.

3. Orbital Command– Dark Templars aren’t very resilient, one quick scan and they should die fast before the scan effect wears off.

4. Missile Turret – Detection.

Best Terran Counters vs Archons

1. Ghost – EMP Round once again. You should produce about 4 ghosts and EMP round until you’ve burned through the whole shields. If you do this quickly at the beginning of a fight, Archons will not even get time to do any damage to your troops.

2. Thor – Not biological, and they deal 90 damage per round of attack against ground units. Better, use their 250mm Strike Cannon ability to stun and kill the Archon before he gets to do anything.

3. Siege Tank – Not biological, so no bonus for the Archon. Plus, they’ve got a lot of HP, and Siege Tanks deal heavy damage. Makes sense if you don’t have ghosts or Thors available yet.

Best Terran Counters vs Carriers

1. Viking – Easily the best counter against this very annoying unit. With their 28 damage per round of attack vs armored units and their superior speed, their are the best choice, by far.

2. Thor – Thanks to their huge range and their decent damage vs air units, Thor is the second best. But still leagues below the Viking.

3. Marines – They’re not great vs carriers, but in the worst case scenario, it’s better than nothing, and it’s still the 3rd best choice.

Best Terran Counters vs Motherships

1. Viking – Easily the best counter against the Mothership as well. With their 28 damage per round of attack vs armored units and their superior speed, their are the best choice, by far.

2. Ghost – EMP Round this quickly before they get to cast Vortex. Keep casting EMP Round until their huge shields are down, half the job done.

3. Thor – Thanks to their huge range and their decent damage vs air units, Thor is the second best. But still leagues below the Viking.

4. Marines – Once again, not great against this huge flying vessel, but if your factory and starports are on full production and you’ve got spare minerals, it’s still better than nothing.

Best Terran Counters vs the Colossus

1. Viking – Tired of seeing this unit at the top? Can’t be helped. Vikings not only deal a spanking 28 damage vs Colossus, but they also can’t be hit back by them. Not to mention, they don’t have to go through the swarm of zealots, stalkers and co. that you generally find in front of a Colossus.

2. Banshee – Not as good as Vikigns, but they also do pretty decent damage (24) vs Colossus, and they can’t be hit back by them as well.

3. Siege Tanks – Superior range and big damage is exactly what you need vs Colossus. In Siege Mode, tanks severely outgun a Colossus.

4. Marauders – +10 damage vs armored, bringing the damage per attack to 20. Make sure to spread your Marauders well so that they don’t all get caught by the Colossus’ beams at the same time.

Source: starcraft-replay