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Banshee Opening

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki
[e][h]Terran1/1/1 into Banshee Opening
Strategy Information
Matchups:
TvP, TvT, TvZ
Type:
Tech, Harass

Overview[edit]

Using Banshees from one Starport to force the opposing player to over produce anti-air unit production and in Terran's and Protoss' case, this pins their army to their base. In Zerg's case damaging the Queens before hand with the first few Marines can cause serious damage.

The real strength of this opening is forcing static defenses like Missile Turrets, Spore Crawlers and Photon Cannons from the opposing player, which is a huge mineral sink in the early game just to defend against one Starport.

Cloaking Field Banshee openings are why Gas Steals are so common against Terran, as this research requires a second early gas to be effective.

This opening requires you to either do damage or buy time for you to finish your transition into an appropriate mid game composition. Especially when executing the cloak variant it will delay your upgrades and reduce your overall ground army size depending on the number of Banshees you produce.

Basic Build Order[edit]


Notes[edit]

  • With no other gas spending one Refinery can support full Banshee production from one Starport.
  • Refinery (2) is optional unless going for Cloak research, a 2 Port Banshee timing or both.
  • Start Cloak before any Banshees or research Caduceus Reactor if the opposing army scouts the Tech Lab and cancel once the scout has left.
  • Correctly timed the Banshee should be on the map with cloak finished at 7:20 game time.

Scouting[edit]

  • Purely scout the number of Marines, Stalkers or Queens and wait for the appropriate number of Banshees to attack.

Execution[edit]

  • If the opponent has opened with fast air units, produce a Viking for something to keep them busy, or try Marines
  • Banshees kill Marines in 2-hits and off of one Barracks without a Reactor will likely kill all the initial Marines made to defend a 1 Rax FE, for example.
  • Banshees kill Stalkers in a 1-1 fight so scouting the number of Stalkers first and waiting for enough Banshees is strongest.
  • Queens lose to two Banshees so wait for Banshee (2) before attacking.

Adaption[edit]

  • One strong option is to switch to a Marine and Siege Tank push, in order to shell the natural of the opposing player. This takes advantage of their investment in anti-air defenses that will have ruined they early army budget. The Banshees then have free rein over the Sieged area once again. This is a common tactic of ForGG.
  • Another viable option is to add on two additional Factories and continue Banshee production to transition into mech. This is common for MVP to use.

Reference[edit]