I mentioned at the beginning of my last Apollo writeup that I needed the most help with Protoss. Well, a 88% win rate with Protoss a 53% win rate with Terran suggests that I might be wrong about that. Thankfully, Apollo is there to help with his Tutorials REVAMPED, with the last one recorded about a month before the release of HotS.

As usual, Apollo recommends an economic, reactive style. In all 3 matchups, he uses a 1 Barracks Expand opening with scouting, walling, and bunkering to survive the first bit. Compared to his Zerg and Protoss, however, I noticed that his Terran builds are centered more around ordering and relative timing instead of absolute time. Whereas his Zerg builds would dictate a 7:00 Roach Warren and Evolution Chamber (+/- 30 seconds for the early game), the Terran builds fit together so that buildings are started so that they finish just in time for use, and subsequent tech/research starts immediately upon prerequisites completing.

One more note: Terran early game has changed more than the other races from WoL to HotS. Reapers, Widow Mines, and Medivac speed boost all add new options for Terran, and standard play has shifted towards these new pieces. The builds below are still solid, though my Terran strategy guide will definitely incorporate new developments.

Anyways, let’s jump in.

Terran versus Terran

Apollo uses a Marine/Tank/Medivac style in TvT, which you actually don’t see a lot of nowadays. In any case, I synthesized his games and tightened it up in game to the build below

 

Apollo’s Standard TvT (Feb 2013)

• 10 Supply Depot (wall, scout)
• 12 Barracks (wall)
• 15 Orbital Command, Marine
• 16 Command Center
• 16 Marine
• 17 Supply Depot
• 21 Barracks x2
• 23 Refinery x2
• 25 Orbital Command (when CC is done)
• 27 5:20 Tech Lab (on 3rd Barracks immediately)
• 34 6:00 Stimpack (when Tech Lab finishes)
• 48 7:45 Factory, Engineering Bay, Combat Shield
• 8:00 Reactor x2,
• +1 Attack
• 8:30 Refinery x2
• 8:45 Reactor on Factory, Starport
• 9:50 Swap Reactor to Starport, Medivac x2, Tech Lab on Factory
• 10:00 Command Center,
• Siege Tanks, Siege mode
• 10:45 attack with Medivacs
• 11:00 Factory
• 11:30 Barracks x4 (Reactors later)
• 11:40 +1 armor
• 13:00 Engineering Bay, Armory (+2/+2 upgrades)
• 13-15:00 Command Center

A few notes:

1. Wall in at the top of your main ramp to deny scouting
2. The goal is to get to double Factory and tons of Marines
3. Starting after the 2nd Marine, you should be constantly building Marines out of all of your Barracks
4. Scout with you SCVs often and don’t be afraid to scan. Information is everything when you’re playing reactively
5. As I mentioned above, the build is more about order and relative timings, so rely more on feel than exact timings here. Timing varied by more than 2 minutes in Apollo’s games, so focus on playing as cleanly as possible, and let the rest follow

Of the builds he uses, I think this one is the most outdated. Currently, early Medivacs with Widow Mines are very popular. Hellbats make Mech more viable, and just having tons of Marines until 10:00 might not cut it.

Terran versus Protoss

TvP, however, hasn’t changed too much. I still recommend bio, and the new threats are Mothership Core and Oracle, both of which are handled by Marines. Anyways,

Apollo’s Standard TvP (Feb 2013)

• 10 Supply Depot (wall, scout)
• 12 Barracks (wall)
• 15 Orbital Command, Marine
• 16 Command Center
• 16 Marine
• 17 Supply Depot
• 20 Bunker at natural
• 22 Barracks x2
• 25 Refinery x2
• 25 Orbital Command (when CC is done)
• 27 5:20 Tech Lab (on 3rd Barracks immediately)
• 34 6:00 Stimpack (when Tech Lab finishes)
• 6:45 Engineering Bay, Factory
• 7:30 +1 Attack
• Missile Turret
• 48 Combat Shield, Start Marauders
• 8:00 Reactor x2,
• 8:30 Refinery x2
• 8:45 Reactor on Factory, Starport
• 9:45 +1 armor
• 9:50 Swap Reactor to Starport, Medivac x2
• 10:30 attack with Medivacs, Command Center behind it
• 11:00 Barracks x4
• 11:50 Engineering Bay, Armory

Notes:

1. This build is almost identical to the Terran one. The first difference is the early Bunker: 1 Bunker will hold off Stalkers at your front just fine. Second, you don’t get a second Factory or a Tech Lab on your first Factory. That gas goes into Marauders first, then Vikings if necessary, then Ghosts. Third, the later Barracks get Tech Labs instead of Reactors for those Marauders and Ghosts
2. Apollo recommends a Missile Turret at the entrance to your natural expansion regardless of the game. 100 minerals isn’t much to make sure that you don’t randomly lose to Dark Templar
3. The push at 10:30 can be pretty scary for them. If they don’t have significant AOE damage (Colossi or Psionic Storm), you should be able to do a lot of damage

– early bunker prevents the Stalker shenanigans
– scan a lot
– looks like TvT, except no 2nd Factory and get Tech Labs for Marauders
– early Engineering Bay, get a turret at front
– if they don’t have storm, you can probably crush them

Terran versus Zerg

TvZ ended up being interesting study in StarCraft because over the 2 months from the 1st Terran tutorial to the last one, Apollo changed his style. Originally, he advocated a very specific, tight Banshee opening into Mech build. By the last video, however, he fell back to a Hellion opening into Marine/Tank/Medivac. My guess is that he hit a wall playing with Mech and then fell back to a more classic style. Regardless of his preferences, though, they’re both solid build and demonstrate 2 very different outcomes.

Apollo’s TvZ Banshee into Mech (Dec 2012)

• 10 Supply Depot (scout)
• 12 Barracks
• 15 Marine, Orbital Command
• 16 Command Center
• 16 Marine
• 17 Supply Depot
• 19 Refinery x2
• 25 Orbital Command
• 25 5:10 Factory, Reactor (Barracks)
• 26 Bunker
• 32 6:20 swap Reactor onto Factory, Hellion x2 (continuous), Tech Lab on Barracks, Starport
• 7:30 CC (in base),
• 7:35 Banshee (continuous), Cloak
• 8:30 Refinery x2
• 9:00 Armory x2
• 76 9:30 Factory x2, Engineering Bay
• Poke with Banshees and Hellions together
• 10:30 Double upgrades
• 11:20 Tech Lab x2
• 11:55 Blue Flame, Siege
• 12:10 Factory x2, move 3rd CC to 3rd base
• 16:30 push

Notes on this build:

1. The first big deviation from the other 1 Barracks Expand build is the Refineries straight into a Reactored Factory
2. You should get 4-5 Marines before starting the Reactor. Once you have those, you can poke out for some minor scouting. Take shots if you want, stutter step if Zerglings come, run if you see a Queen, and try to get them back into your Bunker
3. This build has a very early 3rd Command Center. Zerg will want to stay a base ahead of you and will likely go up to 3 bases. If they don’t, you can delay this. In either case, you should build it inside your main until the rest of your army is tough enough to defend it at your 3rd.
4. The Banshees are great. Unfortunately, the Hydralisk buffs in HotS make it more likely that Zerg will be prepared for it. Still, you might be able to get some Queen kills if they aren’t ready or just go Zergling/Roach
5. Be aggressive with both the Hellions and the Banshees. Sneak early Hellions in for Drone kills and scouting, but once the Zerg is onto you, keep them around the perimeter to watch for movement and slow creep spread. When your Banshees are ready, you can attack with them together
6. You will have lots of extra minerals playing Mech, and your army won’t be very mobile. Build Planetary Fortresses at critical chokes and entrances around your bases for defense with that money.

Apollo TvZ Hellions into Marine/Tank/Medivac (Feb 2013)

• 12 Barracks
• 15 Marine, Orbital Command
• 16 Command Center
• 17 Depot, Marine (continuous)
• 19 Refinery x2
• 25 Orbital Command
• 25 Factory, Reactor on Barracks (poke with Marines)
• 28 Bunker
• 32 Hellion x2, Swap, Tech Lab on Barracks
• 6:50 Hellion x2 (4-6 total)
• 7:00 CC (in base)
• 7:30 Stimpack
• 7:45 Engineering Bay x2
• 8:30 +1/+1 upgrades
• 9:00 Barracks x4
• 9:45 Factory (for Siege Tanks), Tech Lab on existing Factory, Starport on Reactor
• 9:50 Refinery x2
• 10:00 Combat Shields, Armory
• 10:30 Armory
• 11:00 attack, move 3rd CC to 3rd base
• 11:05 +2/+2 upgrades, +1 vehicle weapons

Notes on this build:

1. This should also feel similar to TvT, so that should help with consistency, since the TvP build was also similar to TvT
2. The differences are the hybrid of TvT and the TvZ build above: early gases, early 3rd Command Center, and Hellion harass
3. You can get up to 4 Hellions, but after that, you can switch bank into the build
4. If you’re comparing timings, you’re a little slower around 5-9 minutes, but after that, the 3 bases should kick in

Like in TvT, I think the Carbine (Marine Marauder Mine Medivac: M4) is popular right now in HotS. This build, however, is probably closer to that style than the TvT build above.

Conclusion

Well, this is the last of the Apollo writeups. Again, they’re old, but Apollo plays a very standard style, and he does a great job talking through it. If 4 hours of your race seems like much, do what I did: watch the first 10 minutes of his games, and once he has it in the bag (or is at least significantly ahead), skip to the next game. The important talking he does is early in games, and thinking like Apollo should certainly help you develop a stable, macro-oriented style.