STOP USING THESE UNITS! StarCraft 2 Unit Tier List (Guide) 

Finally a video for me, the average user, who wants to watch a tierlist for a game I don't even play. Thank you Harstem!

Wow this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. All he does is complain about Ghosts on stream all day and then pretends they aren't top tier. What a Terran apologist.

28:48 "why is mothership so low I always lose to it" losing to motherships probably doesn't have anything to do with their strength, it's just that usually when your opponent makes a mothership they are so friggin ahead they can just do whatever they want.

It's a pretty good line up. As somebody who has failed to use liberators correctly for many years it pains me to admit that they aren't A tier. Ranged Liberators are one of the most despair inducing things you can inflict on your opponent but watching 6 of them in the wrong place do literally nothing while your army disappears to archon chargelot and then a few stalkers just blink behind them to destroy them for free is also despair inducing.

Winter is an S-tier caster and smartass! Keep it coming dude, love this list

If you rate the units by "how likely am I shit myself when I see this unit on my side of the map" probe get it's own tier above S.

I'd be interested in a series of videos "what counters what" Example 1st video you take Terran and imagine enemy is Zerg with banes, what do you do? What do you do to counter each unit enemy can make from a point of certain race.

Drones? Eh, situational. Only build them when you are playing as a Zerg and you plan to mine more minerals or Vespen.

Disruptors are SUPPOSED to miss, aren't they? The way I understand them is as mobile GROUND CONTROL unit creating an area of "untouchable" around your army. By introducing it, they made toss less deathbally. So I see the value of the disruptor not in HITTING, but in the fact you COULD hit, which gives you control over space, like the WidowMine, Tank, Lurker etc.

You can't play PvP without disruptors. I know, because I quit playing 10+ years ago and watched Harstem use them all the time.

BC > Carrier, a single BC can have so much more impact than a single carrier, then getting to BCs vs getting to carriers, since carriers only work in mass and requires such a large investment if you don't get to that point of mass carriers it's almost useless

All I gotta say is, "Power Overwhelming". It literally makes you invincible. Therefore Archons IMBA.

Time to watch this tierlist video and write a comment that completely disagrees and explains why my tierlist is right and yours is wrong. Excellent video!

everyone knows the super s tier unit is the minimap, but you gotta pay for that dlc unit

Dude, how cool would it be if they added 2 more races to a new starcraft game. Like space orcs, and perhaps either Eldar/Elves or maybe an out of control AI android robot race. The storyline could be that the orcs or Elves are trying to escape from a super AI that killed its original creator race and is spreading across the galaxy chasing all living beings down for extinction and first encounter of the Orcs with Terran is capturing a small scouting party. Interrogating them and finding out its part of a larger armada that is fleeing from an AI that destroyed their homeplanet, their colonized planets, and space ports. Then the Terran command wants to validate the information and sends scouts to verify where the larger armada is and comes upon part of a smaller fleet of orcs engaged with a small AI fleet of drones that begin engaging the Terran scouting squadron. The then drones end up disengaging as they have witnessed new info to report back to AI this new information as they are too far out to send direct signals. The then Orcs begin to try communicating with the Terran scouting party and try thanking them, the sqaud leader welcomes them, but has to leave them to report back to command. Introducing one of the main Terran characters and one of the main Orc characters. Once this is established back at command briefing it causes uproar over not only possible new threat from unknown Orcs, but an AI as well that is still in its infancy of learning. Meanwhile across the Galaxy the Protos discover either another race fleeing from the AI, which are the Eldar or discover a lost civilian ship of Orcs on a small inhabital moon that comes under seige by a larger fleet of AI ships and drones and do nothing but watch as the AI obliterates the entire population. As this takes place the AI detect the Protos and attack them, but the Protos have a fleet nearby that annihilate them. Thus setting up the story Architecture. Also you could add that the Zeg come across the AI as well somehow. I think it could be an awesome campaign mode and story of how all the races had to team up together to take down this giant threat of the AI killing all sentient lifeforms. That might be cool to do, adding 3 more races to play as and in the end either destroying the AI completely or it changes for the better or something. One small edit, also to make the Orcs smart and not dumb would be interesting.

i havent played in years but i still have fun watching your vids

A note with adepts... In PvP just make double adept at the start of the game if you're below 4k, and you will win for free after the first shade into your opponents base even with mediocre micro as long as you target fire the probes.

A lot of tier lists tend to put workers low down, I personally believe they should be the only S+ tier units. They are the only units that give you minerals. Without them, you can do nothing. They’re so important that the game starts you with them, and the win condition of StarCraft is to destroy your opponents workers and their ability to create them.

Zerg campaign: so here is a wide variety of units, all with unique strengths and weaknesses that you can choose to make the perfect army for any situation Me: mass queen 98% of the campaign, gotcha

I would say Ghosts are still S tier solely because they are still really solid combat units. Unlike other casters you can A move them and they will still get work done. Then if you remember to do it you can cloak them and they become a nightmare to deal with, and if you want to get REALLY fancy, shooting a couple EMPs at a Protoss army will usually win the game instantly. Same with just a couple snipes on Zerg units. As far as casters go, Ghosts are probably one of the least micro intensive, just because they can be left to their own devices as part of your army and be fine. In short, they have game-changing abilities, but even if you forget to use them half the time, Ghosts are still just really solid combat units and will still get their money's worth. I also find it odd you rated Vipers S and Ghosts A... Despite Vipers having the same issues you talk about with Ghosts, namely that they are very micro heavy, while having none of the actual combat potential Ghosts have. Vipers are not easier to use than ghosts, and their abilities are roughly similar in utility (IE a few well placed uses of their spells can instantly win a fight). As for the Phoenix rating: Any Protoss that doesn't build a handful of Phoenixes against Terran is actively trying to lose. So much of what makes the Terran army work relies on air superiority. Ravens hiding at the corner to drop turrets in your mineral line, medivac drops, vikings shooting your colossi, all of this is shut down by 3-4 phoenixes that are just there to repel airborne harass from Terran units trying to pick away at you. 3-4 phoenixes won't win the game, but they limit the number of strategies the Terran can execute dramatically. This makes you a much harder target to crack, which is exactly what you want against hyper-efficient Terran units.

Mutas are weird. They can be devastating, but like dark templars, once your enemy knows you are going for them, their effectiveness drops massively. They are complete terrors for map control however IF microed.

You cant win games in grandmaster league with D tier units. Uthermal:"Hold my beer"

Stop using these units: Anything but probes, which are S+ tier, obviously.

I would personally put BCs on the S-tier too, due to them being able to not just Yamato, but also fire on the move AND warp in everywhere on the map. Can make for some nasty surprises, and come directly on top of those otherwise long-range Tempests.

I might argue about the drone. Sure you lose one when you use it for a building but thats why zerg buildings tend to be cheaper. But you cant stop a zerg building by killing the worker, like with terran. Also drones regen health , so if they survive that baneling hit or oracle attack, they will be quickly at full health again, while damaged SUVs and probes (if they got hull damage) will be easy pickings for a follow up attack. Also with research they can burrow, which might occasionally save you a mineral line.

Dawg, how you gonna put a Probe in S tier and an SCV in A tier? The SCV can repair mechanical units when the Probe is just a Probe. Probes are good, but the only thing it has over SCV's is the ability to lay a building a go where the SCV has to stay. SCV's should be with Queens.

Can you rate upgrades next, please ? :)

Nice job Winter, pretty fair list. It is hard to make a list that simple. Like some of the B tier units, when microed by pros can be S. Like Byun's reapers, Hero's stalkers, or just pro's with Disruptors. But as you said for mortals like me B tier.

Even serral and maru couldn't click this vid so fast

Awesome video! Love you, Winter!

When I`d seen the headline, I thinked smth like "The S+++++ tier is SCV, Probe and Drone" cause U can do NOTHING without them)

I disagree with some units like sentry:They S. After the buff, they deal insane damage to shields.And force field, if you not let your enemy get vision of high ground, they ridiciolus.Has pretty good synergy with HT too.I think archon is A.Expensive and takes so much space. Im using defensive build on Protoss if ı play Versus and for most time they outrange my units and stopping them shoot.Adept is A for me.Anti marine and harass workers.The only problem about them is they cant hit air.This makes them pointless late game. Oracle definitely S. You can easily harass workers.Kill bio and even ultras for no reason.And really good at protecting units.Because of stasis ward.On zerg:Everythin is fine for me but not roach and baneling.For banelings, you can trick your opponent if they not using detectors.And this is really powerful. S for me.Roaches are S too.They can trap you even on the late game.İf you micro well, they really good againts immortals.On terran:Everything is perfect, ı liked terrans overall.

Marine/Medivac was guaranteed S tier. Base army unit that is viable all game, good for offense and defense, cheap, heals quickly with medivacs so it has longevity, and Stim makes them an absolute nightmare without any crowd control or splash damage. FUCK M/M. And Widow Mines. And Ghosts. And Carriers for that matter.

Marines honestly seem OP at times, especially vs air.

I was gonna say before you put any units in any tier - Archons, Carrier and Marines (with medivacs). Glad to see I was spot on xD

For a game as complex as this, I don't think it's possible for 1 tierlist to do any unit justice. You have different elos, matchups, map designs, timing attacks, mindgames, etc. DT can hit like a truck, it can blink, it's perma cloaked, can morph into an Archon, in general it harasses really well. For 35 seconds. Then detection exists, and you can't use it properly anymore. BUT, it forces a reaction out of your enemy, it forces them to do something predictable or change their build a lil bit since they don't know what you're doing. That last part can be extremely powerful, more powerful even than killing a whole mineral line sometimes. This is against Terran. Now you have Zerg, completely different. Then Protoss, completely different again. Units don't retain their consistency nor their strengths in different matchups. In TvT, ghosts are useless compared to TvZ or TvP. TvZ, it locks your opponent out of building Ultras completely, it counters all spellcasters, it can 1 shot infestors, it can punish retreats, very powerful. It's cheap enough that killing a ghost with banelings only is considered inefficient. TvP, the ghost is so powerful that it's considered a mistake not to have ghosts. EMP counters every unit in their roster except Interceptors. That's massive. Stupid almost. In any matchup, the ghost can cloak, piss off to one side of the map, and call down a nuke in a deadzone. It will miss completely, 0 damage, and your opponent will still be clicking on all their bases; no macro, no micro, while that useless nuke lands somewhere in the void. That's how powerful it is if you use it incorrectly. These tierlists are largely based on opinions, rather than the objective strengths/weaknesses of the units, but I still like them, especially when they're rated based on the rank they're used in. Carriers in Bronze, yeah S+++ tier, it's so high in the tierlist that it goes off the screen. In GM 8k MMR, it's a unit that gets one shot just by right clicking with vikings. To make a tierlist that takes all of this into account would be insanely time consuming, but also really interesting. Idk who'd stick around for a 2h video tho. 2h with no tangents or examples*.

Thank you, this will help me beat up on easy comp when I'm brave enough to play sc2

Funny how barely any Zerg attacking units are considered really good

"Continue not to play starcraft 2" Oh yeah. That's me. I failed for 2 weeks to get placed into the AI skill bracket.

Finally a youtuber that makes me feel like average people can be successful ;)

thanks winter for no ads!!!

As soon as he put Hydras in A Tier, I was the happiest person there could be. Nothing this man says can tear me down now!

Disruptor based army's control the ground. Point blank, period. Use it to zone. Keep their army away from you ever 2 seconds. Then when they do hit, it's gg. Disruptors are king of the ground. Don't get it twisted.

Now we need a tier list of all sc2 content creators please and thank you

>Queen best unit in the game >Most of S-tier is Toss units >Mothership is noob trap >Probe>SCV>Drone yup its a good list, also anyone who claims to use Disruptors on ladder is either a liar or a bronze league hero

So what you are saying is Zerg has no good units and that is the sole reason I am losing all my games. Glad to hear it!

Never lost to a B or E tier unit because I never played.

Your voice sounds like the old guy from Family Guy Keep up the good videos man, I loved this one!

@WinterStarcraft Hope this comment finds you well :) What if, to reduce the Queen's roles, they make Hydralisk Den not-Lair tech? Allows Zerg to build them before going for Lair and have some semblance of squishy AA DPS. Would give room for combat-nerfs to the Queen's early game perhaps? I'm not an expert, I'm only curious as to what other unforeseen by me catastrophic failures would come with it.

The design is very human, very easy to use!

I’m surprised you put hydra at A. I thought B, because it’s just a lurker egg!

Siege tank should be S. Great for slow push and for defense if you spread them out and hide them behind buildings. Mothership should be B, late game protoss army should have one and you can do tricky stuff with mass recall Banshee B, good early game harass and def vs ground rush Ultra A in lower leagues that don't micro and target. But ya, they're not good against good players.

when your siege tanks get to choose to fight probes, immortals, or banshees. pick banshees . been screwing up this whole time trying to fight those probes

Love these Lowko tier lists, excellent sleeping music

Banelings are S-tier if you're playing against Terran bio, because people don't know how to look for buried banes or split until you get surprisingly far up into the rankings lmao. They just lose their entire army every time.

"I can't make a race tier list" Hitler: "Hold my beer" Sorry

"A queen has similar dps to a hydra" Actually, about half.

Not gonna lie. I started skipping forward and stopped just as he said "Just to re-iterate for those who skip forward". Felt scarily like he was talking to me live xD

Mothership is a manners build when the opponent won't concede.

I'm a terran master, aka retired diamond leaguer. Liberators are too hard to use to incorporate. Banshee however I can split into pairs, cloak and attack move and pray without ever looking back at them....

Tier A went through so many patches during that video...

Winter, you should use your massive intelligence to save the world, it's a waste on video games!

Make a tier list of SCII youtubers. Go on, you won't.

In 3vs3 or 4vs4 a lurker will likely kill like 100 supply, especially when placed on the rally route. uThermal ghosts kill 40 workers on average (and all 15 observers).

Disruptors are good vs opponents in lower leagues cos they can't play. But the key thing is they allow you to dance. As protoss you wanna be hitting and backing off. Shields regen enegery comes back. Which high templaf let you do as well but the need energy and are less deadly

Everything, and i mean absolutely EVERYTHING belongs in bottom tier, except Marines.

I agree with much of this, but I will never agree that ghosts are not S tier. a silver player could still get one of these out, devote 5 of his apm to emp the silver toss and it will help more than any other unit at that time lol.

24:34. That would usually be me lol. But I'm a complete noob at starcraft. So just takin all this in. . As a complete noob, I could just be way off base here, but protoss win rates are pretty terrible. Yet they have so many good units. Could this be because all their great units are just so expensive? I know it's hard to factor that into these tier lists, but based on my little experience starting with protoss, terrans and zerg always have way more units than me. But when my units are good vs their units, it turns out great lol. I definitely need to work on scouting I know I know. Scouting is just kinda annoying when I see all their buildings and have no clue what any of it actually means lol.

I quit as a Protoss during HoTS. The Swarm Host back then was the most BS unfun broken unit ever that made me quit the game. And I haven’t played since then except for the LotV campaign because I had to since Protoss.

I would swap zealot and zergling, as much as my protoss self loves zealots. Zerglings have a constant solid impact on every game start to finish, and you always mix them into any comp without fail.

Not me Grinding ladder games and finding my whole unit comp on the shit list.

If you’re in bronze, you can win the game only with banshee beacause the opponent don’t know how respond to invisible units

I have a feeling the streamer either mains Toss or loses to Toss a lot XD

Thanks for the list, great explanations. btw what program are you using in the background to show the list?

I heavily disagree about the mothership, when I get the mothership I use it for a frontal attack using it's T ability to minimize damage and also I use it as a temporary shield to cause more damage and less losses.

An entire year ago and I'm still laughing about the Brenda tier.

Reapers are an incredible unit. A squad of 6-10 can do so many things, but only if you're willing to put in the effort, which i am, almost every single time

As a Random player, my favorite units are Stalkers, Roaches, and "oh crap I got Terran again".

Arnt like all early builds, block the entry into the base because of zerglings, like if you failed to block it either with a unit mistep or something else you lost the game to zerglings? I mean i know that you want to make sure most units dont make it to your mineral line, but the zergling is the poster child of that idea.

When I was young I used to make void ray armies and just March to enemy bases and buzz buzz everyone down lmao

I feel like this is a tier list based on ranked as in the e tier is best at bronze and the s tier is best at higher tier lol great vid winter 👌

"you can't just go straight to carriers" I BEG TO DIFFER. I think a 2 base carrier opener in PvZ is very strong.

In metal leagues you definitely can hit disruptors if you micro the ball

yeah this is much more aligned to my experience

The good old Life zerglings are over S tier

SCV is A? It can be killed while building, and repair??? All Zerg units heal automatically and same with the photos shield…

I like how you acknowledged that not all of us are grandmaster lol

To be fair, this video popped up in my feed, i did not look for in on purpose.

Alphabetical order: hutas go before mydralisks, mah boi!

Banshee Viking Helion 130 supply army, unbeatable :D

BeastyQt did this comparison a few years ago :)

I've seen you complain about the hydra a lot now. I've thought of some changes which may make them more viable in the pro scene - feedback welcome. I dislike how everyone just masses queens to defend against everything and want to make the hydra more viable in early game. Make it hatchery tech. Same as Brood War, can build after the spawning pool. Drop HP back to 80, reduce damage to 10, increase attack cooldown to about 0.70 Lair tech - Muscular augments increases movement speed AND HP by 25% to 100. Grooved spines - increases attack range AND damage by 2 (restoring original damage) Hive tech - Hydras can morph to Hunter Killers. Costs 50/50 to make a hunter killer cost a total 150/100. Increases attack speed back to original 0.59. Increases base damage by 3. Increases HP by 30. Size slightly bigger to reduce stacked dps. Not sure whether they should stay light or be like a ghost (not light nor armored). This may give Zerg another option for both early game anti-air and reduce reliance on the corruptors in late game. Thoughts?

Keep it up, buddy!

As a casual plat/low-diamond protos player, I would say that lurkers are S tier. I took me a very long time to learn how to deal with them, but when I did, it got into diamond.

You underestimate the power of broodlords

A tier list was made but a questions remains: At what cost?

I feel like Mutas can make it onto the good-with-micro list. They are some of the best harass and scout units.

How about personal hygiene: I bet tons of people would watch it! For example: "Brushing your teeth is good in moderation but you shouldn't go 'overboard'. Furthermore, there are many studies that show too much toothpaste is bad for your teeth". "Next, 'Cutting Toenail"...

I was personally attacked within the first min of this video lmfao 🤣

Very funny how now you can get to GM with 69 APM by massing cyclones, definitely S tier. .