Siege Tank (Heart of the Swarm)

This article is for the Heart of the Swarm multiplayer version, for the Wings of Liberty version see: Siege Tank (Wings of Liberty).

Siege Tank

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Type	Ground Unit
Description	Heavy Tank. Can switch into Siege Mode to provide long range artillery support.
Built From	Factory
Cost	150 125 45 3
Attributes	Armored, Mechanical
Attack	Ground Attack:     15 (+2) (Mobile) 35 (+3) (Siege) (Splash) Ground DPS:     14.4(+1.9) (Mobile) 11.7(+1) (Siege) Bonus:     +10 (+1) vs Armored (Mobile) +15 (+2) vs Armored (Siege) Bonus DPS:     +9.6(+1.0) vs Armored (Mobile) +5.0(+0.7) vs Armored (Siege) Range:     7 (Mobile) 13 (Siege) Cooldown:     1.04 (Mobile) 3.00 (Siege)
Defense	160 1 (+1)
Hotkey	S
Sight	11
Speed	2.25 (Mobile) 0.00 (Siege)
Cargo Size	4

Description

A Mechanical unit from the Factory with an attached Tech Lab. The Siege Tank itself has a high rate of fire and high damage versus Armored. In addition, it can switch to a Stationary Artillery unit that deals Splash damage over a large range and area.

While the Siege Tank is not as powerful as its Brood War counterpart. This Bulwark of the Terran army is mainly used for its Range and Splash Damage to effectively control the space around one's own base or around one's opponent's.

In siege mode, Siege Tanks do 35 (+15 against armored) splash damage. This damage has three different levels: units (whether hostile or friendly) within .4687 matrices of the target are dealt full damage, units between .4687 and .7812 matrices of the target receive 50% of full damage, and units between .7812 and 1.25 matrices from the target suffer just 25% of the full damage.

Single-Target Damage of a Siege Tank

		vs. Light		vs. Armored
Mode	Cooldown	Damage	DPS	Damage	DPS
Tank	1.04	15 (+2)	14.4 (+1.9)	25 (+3)	24 (+2.9)
Siege	3	35 (+3)	11.7 (+1)	50 (+5)	16.7 (+1.7)

Upgrades in Sieged Tank vs Sieged Tank

	0 (1)	1 (2)	2 (3)	3 (4)
0 (50)	4 (196)	4 (192)	4 (188)	4 (184)
1 (55)	3 (162)	4 (212)	4 (208)	4 (204)
2 (60)	3 (177)	3 (174)	3 (171)	3 (168)
3 (65)	3 (192)	3 (189)	3 (186)	3 (183)

Abilities

Siege Mode

Duration: 4 s Hotkey: E Transforms the Siege Tank into Siege Mode where it gains splash damage, greatly increased range and damage at the cost of losing all mobility and a slower firing rate.

Tank Mode

Duration: 4 s Hotkey: D Transforms the Siege Tank back into Tank Mode, where it gains the ability to move and fire at faster rate.

Competitive Usage

In General

The Siege Tank's greatest asset is its range of 13. This is 2 matrices greater than the Tank's vision, so maximization of tank effectiveness requires a spotter, such as a Viking, Reaper or Xel'Naga Tower. Placing Siege Tanks behind obstructing terrain will make opposing armies have to move around and give Siege Tanks more time to deal damage; cliffs an winding paths being the most obvious examples.

Defensively, Siege Tanks are at their best when used with wall-ins. Their range allows well placed tanks to rain down fire on enemy units trying to destroy the wall from well out of enemy range. Structures tend to have very high HP:resource ratios and are quickly repaired by SCVs, which means a few Siege Tanks behind a good wall can hold out against much larger armies.

Vs. Protoss

Can be incorporated into a defensive opening to defeat against mass-Gateway pushes on two or three bases by Protoss, but are extremely fragile in TvP. Only effective against Stalkers and Colossi. All other high health Protoss units are a one-sided engagement that makes massing up a large Siege Tank count pointless as it does not give Terran's enough survivability while massing Tanks or pushing against Protoss. Most of this is also applicable to the Thor as well.

Vs. Terran

Siege Tanks and Vikings (to spot for the Tanks and control the air) remains the standard late game composition, using either Reactor-Hellion opening or 3 Barracks opening for a Mineral-based defense. Crucial at containment, holding ground in TvT to starve the opposing army to death.

Vs. Zerg

One shotting Zerglings (upgrades being even), Banelings (always) and being highly effective against Roaches giving Marines a strong buffer against these cheap and expendable Zerg units, before Mutalisks or Infestors can be produced in mass. This gives the popular Marine-Tank composition all it's Stopping Power against Zerg.

Previously Mutalisks where the most popular choice for Tank-Sniping, that would leave naked-Marines and Medivacs to fend for themselves, but Infestors are chosen to stop the Marines (the massing unit in this case) that leaves only a few Tanks to mop-up. In the late-game, Broodlords basic ruin this composition and force Terran to retreat back to base and wait for mass-Vikings to start the Air To Air war with Corruptors.

The Tank is rarely used in a Bio-Mech composition now due to the introduction of the Widow Mine.

Gallery

Quotes

Quotes
Built	Selected	Annoyed	Move	Attack	Under Attack
Ready to roll out! Fueled up, ready to go!	What's that? Speak up. Go ahead. Need somethin' blown up? What's our target? Got no patience for sittin' around. Lay it on me. Give us your best shot.	Why don't you walk about 30 yards out and stand still for me? I love the smell of burnin' wreckage in the morning. I don't have to shoot you, I can run you over. Hehe. Man, I just love blowin' things up. Let me hear your guns, boys. -siege cannon fire- Why can't I quit you, siege tank? And here it is, a long drive up the fairway, he takes the shot and... -siege cannon shot- Woah! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! Nothin' like getting... Tanked with your buddies. It's way past time I'd dispense some indiscriminate justice. If the guns are churnin', your ass is burnin'. If the guns are blazin', you ass is... erasin'. I don't know, what do you want from me?	Rock and roll! Can do! I'll give it my best shot. Rollin' out. Heavy metal. On my way! I never tread lightly. Oh, it's on! Ab-so-lutely! Definitely. Affirmative! Ride on! It's on me. Rollin'. Yes Sir! Let's roll! Movin'!	This'll be a blast! It's boom time! Ready to drop the hammer. Pound 'em flat. Good night now. Got 'em in my sights. Collateral is my favorite kind of damage. Music to my ears. Let's get 'em! Ranged in!	I'm in deep!

Siege Tank's quotes (video and sound) - YouTube video.

Patch Changes

Patch 8 (version 0.10.0.14803)
Build time decreased from 50 seconds to 45 seconds.

Patch 11 (version 0.13.0.15250)
Life increased from 150 to 160. Siege Mode splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

Patch 15 (version 0.17.0.15623)
Siege Mode damage decreased from 60 to 50.

Patch 1.1.0
Siege mode damage changed from 50 to 35 (+15 armored). Siege mode upgrade damage changed from +5 to +3 (+2 armored).

Balance Update #11
Siege Tanks no longer require an upgrade in order to enter Siege Mode.