This guide is to compile all the special abilities that you might not know in Starcraft 2. I am trying to educate the community on how some of the unit abilities function. Please feel free to contribute if I missed something and I will add it to the first post.
General
-No group of units will overkill in Starcraft 2 (think Siege Tank smart kill).
e.g Out of a group of 4 hellions with pre-igniter upgrade only 2 will fire when targeting a drone
-In team games SCVs can repair Protoss Armored units
Terran
-Ghost's EMP will cancel the Phoniex's channeling spell the Graviton Beam
-Thor's 250mm cannon will STUN the target unit for the duration of the attack
-The Point Defense Drone WILL NOT STOP Marines, Reapers, Ghosts, Tanks, Hellions, Thors, Roaches, Broodlords, Sentries, Void Rays, and Carriers
Protoss
-High Templar can Feedback Point Defense Drones
Zerg
-An Overseer's Contaminate ability WILL NOT STOP a Planetary Fortress from attacking (need confirmation)
-Banelings can explode like mines while burrowed
-To increase the chances of using a Nydus Network inside your opponent's base and for a faster flow of units, build two of them and have them build two Nydus Worms simultaneously
Note: EMP stops graviton beam. EMP does not stop neural parasite.
General
-No group of units will overkill in Starcraft 2 (think Siege Tank smart kill).
e.g Out of a group of 4 hellions with pre-igniter upgrade only 2 will fire when targeting a drone
-In team games SCVs can repair Protoss Armored units
Terran
-Ghost's EMP will cancel the Phoniex's channeling spell the Graviton Beam
-Thor's 250mm cannon will STUN the target unit for the duration of the attack
-The Point Defense Drone WILL NOT STOP Marines, Reapers, Ghosts, Tanks, Hellions, Thors, Roaches, Broodlords, Sentries, Void Rays, and Carriers
Protoss
-High Templar can Feedback Point Defense Drones
Zerg
-An Overseer's Contaminate ability WILL NOT STOP a Planetary Fortress from attacking (need confirmation)
-Banelings can explode like mines while burrowed
-To increase the chances of using a Nydus Network inside your opponent's base and for a faster flow of units, build two of them and have them build two Nydus Worms simultaneously
Note: EMP stops graviton beam. EMP does not stop neural parasite.
Also, contaminate does only stop unit production, and won't stop static defense structures from attacking.
You can toggle "unburrow" to autocast, so units will pop out of the ground when the enemy walks over them to engage (useful with banelings as it can make for a more devastating "mine" since the banelings will attempt to move closer to the enemies for maximum damage).
You can toggle "unburrow" to autocast, so units will pop out of the ground when the enemy walks over them to engage (useful with banelings as it can make for a more devastating "mine" since the banelings will attempt to move closer to the enemies for maximum damage).
Unburrow can be set to auto-cast, the units will then unburrow as soon as something enters attack range. For Banelings, they will unburrow when a unit is close enough that it would be damaged by its splash should it explode where it was standing then run next to the unit and explode (maximizing effectiveness) I believe this is ~Range 1.
Repair can be set to auto cast by right clicking on it, however if an scv is mining it will not stop to repair something.
Overlord creep pooping can be set to auto cast as well.
Repair can be set to auto cast by right clicking on it, however if an scv is mining it will not stop to repair something.
Overlord creep pooping can be set to auto cast as well.
Zerg
[*] In addition to the post above regarding burrow cast, Roaches and infestors can be ordered to move, burrow, unburrow, move, burrow again, move, unburrow, etc., with shift-commands (i.e. queueing) for a ninja sneak-attack if you have eyes on your opponents army or a rough idea of when to burrow to avoid being seen.
e.g., your terran opponent has no raven but does have control of the xel'naga watch towers. You can distract his units with a little feint attack while also ordering your burrowed roach/infestors to sneak around the back. This is great with fungal growth queued up at the end, followed by a reburrow on the infestor, and an unburrow of the roaches to finish off all the workers/snipe the CC.
[*] You cannot load a changeling into a Nydus worm.
Terran
[*] Rather than use a scan for 50 energy, why not drop a MULE on your opponents minerals to scout? You can then move the mule around the base and get a wider scout radius than a scan, if you have the unit control for it. You can also steal some of their minerals and mine them out faster, since MULEs IGNORE other workers mining (including your own) . This effect is surely negligible once or twice, but used over the course of a long game can definitely have an impact on their economy if you are doing a contain/econ starve on your opponent, especially as the maps resources grow dryer.
The missile dropping onto their minerals is sure to freak them out, too ^_^;
[*] Note that MULEs do not have to be cast on a mineral patch. You can cast them anywhere.
(NOTE: Oops, subject to STS17's post below, it seems that I overlooked, in haste, that you need vision to cast a MULE. Doh! See what happens when Beta goes down! Sorry if I got anybody's hopes up for some craziness. Still, I can think of some very good uses for this!)
Rather than cast 3 scans (two looking at a spread-out main, one at his expo) for 150 mana (yea yea, energy, I like mana damnit! ) you can throw a scan and a MULE for 100 mana.
Not as useful as I originally thought, but one of those unique little tricks a (smart? You decide...) player might think of to save 50 energy for extra MULE resources on his own mineral lines.
Reff: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=130959
[*] In addition to the post above regarding burrow cast, Roaches and infestors can be ordered to move, burrow, unburrow, move, burrow again, move, unburrow, etc., with shift-commands (i.e. queueing) for a ninja sneak-attack if you have eyes on your opponents army or a rough idea of when to burrow to avoid being seen.
e.g., your terran opponent has no raven but does have control of the xel'naga watch towers. You can distract his units with a little feint attack while also ordering your burrowed roach/infestors to sneak around the back. This is great with fungal growth queued up at the end, followed by a reburrow on the infestor, and an unburrow of the roaches to finish off all the workers/snipe the CC.
[*] Or say youre on Blistering Sands, and your Terran opponent is camping the Xel'naga towers.
You can queue up the following commands, which I have used to surpringly amazing success. (All queued up for max speed) Burrow, move to his rocks blocking his back entrance, unburrow, attack rocks, re-burrow, then order them to move back to your base. If he has left his back rocks unguarded, but has (for example) a supply depot there, he should see the rocks going down and start to pull back as he freaks out that you're going to take out his main.. You having reburrowed right after the rocks go down and ordered your units to pull back, will likely encounter his army in transit trying to take your roaches out. [Manually] unburrow, cast a fungal growth, pop up the roaches, and bye bye tanks! Pop some more units and move in for the kill.
You can queue up the following commands, which I have used to surpringly amazing success. (All queued up for max speed) Burrow, move to his rocks blocking his back entrance, unburrow, attack rocks, re-burrow, then order them to move back to your base. If he has left his back rocks unguarded, but has (for example) a supply depot there, he should see the rocks going down and start to pull back as he freaks out that you're going to take out his main.. You having reburrowed right after the rocks go down and ordered your units to pull back, will likely encounter his army in transit trying to take your roaches out. [Manually] unburrow, cast a fungal growth, pop up the roaches, and bye bye tanks! Pop some more units and move in for the kill.
[*] You cannot load a changeling into a Nydus worm.
Terran
[*] Rather than use a scan for 50 energy, why not drop a MULE on your opponents minerals to scout? You can then move the mule around the base and get a wider scout radius than a scan, if you have the unit control for it. You can also steal some of their minerals and mine them out faster, since MULEs IGNORE other workers mining (including your own) . This effect is surely negligible once or twice, but used over the course of a long game can definitely have an impact on their economy if you are doing a contain/econ starve on your opponent, especially as the maps resources grow dryer.
The missile dropping onto their minerals is sure to freak them out, too ^_^;
[*] Note that MULEs do not have to be cast on a mineral patch. You can cast them anywhere.
(NOTE: Oops, subject to STS17's post below, it seems that I overlooked, in haste, that you need vision to cast a MULE. Doh! See what happens when Beta goes down! Sorry if I got anybody's hopes up for some craziness. Still, I can think of some very good uses for this!)
Still, you can scan/mule if you have excess energy (tsk tsk, macro macro!) and suspect your opponent has either hidden some buildings on his base edges, or want to throw down a scan on his main, scout the rest of his main, and his expo as well with your MULE.
[*] Or, say you suspect your opponent of building a Proxy Rax/Gate nearby his natural or taking a rather quick double expo.
The maps I'm thinking of are Lost Temple & Kulas Ravine, where you can throw down an expo at the natural, then go for the gold (on either map). Or, say we're on Kulas Ravine. Throw a scan into your opponents NATURAL. If you scan at the choke, you should have vision of: his natural, if he expanded, the tip of his high-ground, and the area past his wall-off at the choke. You can then call down a MULE either just past his wall-off if he doesn't have units there, and scout around his main/rocks.
Or, even better, throw the MULE onto the tip of his high-ground, and bring your MULE to the Xel'Naga watch tower at his high-ground! Then you can see what he's building, and where his forces are, if nearby, and might be able to catch him moving out. [SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION: Do MULEs get the Xel'Naga?] If so, I can think of a lot of good uses for this, i.e. scanning your opponents base, and possibly catching his army if MULEs can control the Xel'Naga watch tower.
[*] Or, say you suspect your opponent of building a Proxy Rax/Gate nearby his natural or taking a rather quick double expo.
The maps I'm thinking of are Lost Temple & Kulas Ravine, where you can throw down an expo at the natural, then go for the gold (on either map). Or, say we're on Kulas Ravine. Throw a scan into your opponents NATURAL. If you scan at the choke, you should have vision of: his natural, if he expanded, the tip of his high-ground, and the area past his wall-off at the choke. You can then call down a MULE either just past his wall-off if he doesn't have units there, and scout around his main/rocks.
Or, even better, throw the MULE onto the tip of his high-ground, and bring your MULE to the Xel'Naga watch tower at his high-ground! Then you can see what he's building, and where his forces are, if nearby, and might be able to catch him moving out. [SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION: Do MULEs get the Xel'Naga?] If so, I can think of a lot of good uses for this, i.e. scanning your opponents base, and possibly catching his army if MULEs can control the Xel'Naga watch tower.
Rather than cast 3 scans (two looking at a spread-out main, one at his expo) for 150 mana (yea yea, energy, I like mana damnit! ) you can throw a scan and a MULE for 100 mana.
Not as useful as I originally thought, but one of those unique little tricks a (smart? You decide...) player might think of to save 50 energy for extra MULE resources on his own mineral lines.
Reff: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=130959
