You all know how much I love Apollo’s tutorials, where he plays 4 hours with each race starting from bronze. He usually shows 1 or 2 builds for each race and focuses on safe, reactive, macro play. Well, he’s back with HotS tutorials, and he’s started with Terran.

The games are unfortunately wacky, so there’s not too much to learn from them. I’ll probably post again when he finishes the series, but I’m excited to share.

Terran versus Terran

In TvT, he starts with a Reaper-Expand opening. The early Reaper is mostly for scouting, but you can kill SCVs if the Terran player reacts slowly. Notably, there is no longer a SCV scout, so you should focus on scouting with that Reaper. In the early game, the big dangers are 1) Proxy 2 Rax (where they build 2 Barracks near your base and attack in the first few minutes) and 2) drops (Hellion, Hellbats, Widow Mines). If you can get through that, then you can focus on a normal Marine/Tank army.

He didn’t get through his build without disruption, but here’s the start:

• 10 Supply Depot
• 12 Barracks (at ramp)
• 12 Refinery (delay next SCV slightly)
• 15 Orbital Command, Supply Depot (at ramp), Reaper (scout)
• 18 Reactor (Marine x2 when ready)
• 19 Command Center (in-base)
• 20 Factory
• 21 Marine x2
• 24 Marine x2
• 27 Starport, Hellion x2, Swap, Orbital Command

Actually, he kind of got through the build the first time, but I disliked it so much, I assumed that he did something wrong.

Terran versus Zerg

In TvZ, he again uses a Reaper-Expand opening. Scouting is more critical since Zerg all-ins can come at any time. By walling at your ramp, you should be able to block any early Zergling aggression, especially since Reapers can outrun Zerglings. With a quick Factory and Reactor, you can get out 4 Hellions for harassing and scouting, then switch into Widow Mines for defense.

We have another abbreviated build for this matchup, though it should look identical to TvT

• 10 Supply Depot
• 12 Barracks (at ramp)
• 12 Refinery (delay next SCV slightly)
• 15 Orbital Command, Supply Depot (at ramp), Reaper (scout)
• 18 Reactor (Marine x2 when ready)
• 19 Command Center (in-base)
• 20 Factory

Terran versus Protoss

TvP is also a Reaper-Expand, except he follows up with more Barracks instead of the Factory. I would explain more, but he actually through his build, and it should be pretty self-explanatory.

Apollo’s standard HotS TvP

• 10 Supply Depot (at ramp)
• 12 Barracks (at ramp)
• 12 Refinery (delay next SCV slightly)
• 15 Orbital Command, Supply Depot (at ramp), Reaper (scout)
• 18 Reactor (Marine x2 when ready)
• 19 Command Center (in-base)
• (sees wall at ramp, cannon)
• 24 Barracks x2
• 27 Bunker (at natural)
• 30 Orbital Command
• 30 Supply Depot
• 33 Tech Lab x2
• 35 Stimpack, Marauder x2 (continuous)
• 53 7:30 Refinery x2, Factory (reactor), Engineering Bay
• 8:00 Combat Shields
• 8:30 +1 attack
• sees Twilight Council
• 9:00 Turret at front, Starport
• 9:45 Concussive Shells
• 10:00 Swap Factory Reactor, Medivac x2 (continuous)
• 10:15 Refinery
• 10:30 Command Center (in-base)
• 11:30 Barracks x3
• 12:30 Engineering Bay, Armory, Attack

Conclusion

Since I actually play (and get crushed as) Terran nowadays, I have stronger opinions and totally plan on writing that guide later this week. To be honest, though, most of my StarCraft attention is currently focused on spawningtool, which continues to go well. Currently, it’s really focused on build orders, and a cursory glance at this blog should explain that obsession. Keep an eye out for development there!