Thor (Heart of the Swarm)

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

Thor

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Type	Ground Unit
Description	Heavy Assault Mech.
Built From	Factory
Cost	300 200 60 6
Attributes	Armored, Massive, Mechanical
Attack	Ground Attack:     30 (+3) (x2) Ground DPS:     46.9 (+4.7) Air Attack:     6 (+1) (x4) (Splash) (Explosive) 24 (+2) (High Impact) Air DPS:     8 (+1.3) (Explosive) 12 (+1) (High Impact) Bonus:     +6 (+1) vs Light Air (Explosive) Bonus DPS:     +8 (+1.3) vs Light Air (Explosive) Range:     7 (Ground) 10 (Air) (Explosive) 10 (Air) (High Impact) Cooldown:     1.28 (Ground) 3 (Air) (Explosive) 2 (Air) (High Impact)
Defense	400 1 (+1)
Hotkey	T
Sight	11
Speed	1.875
Cargo Size	8
Strong Against	Marine Mutalisk Stalker
Weak Against	Marauder Zergling Immortal

Description

The Thor is a massive Terran ground unit and is built from a Factory with a Tech Lab once an Armory has been constructed. The Thor is one of the most powerful single units in the game, dealing 60 damage per ground attack and 24 (+24 vs light) damage with 0.5 splash radius against air. It has a large amount of hit points. The Thor's powerful attacks deal devastating damage to many units, providing strong support in a late game army. When supported by groups of SCVs, the Thor can be very hard to kill, especially in an early game situation. However, the Thor can struggle against large numbers of units as their large size and slow speed inhibits their ability to form a concave.

The Thor is specifically used against Zerg as a counter to Mutalisks, which can only kill an unsupported Thor in large numbers. The Thor is used against Protoss either as a staple unit, or a supplement to Bio. Despite the size of the unit, a single Thor can be loaded into a Medivac. When used in conjunction with the Medivac's transport function--a combination often called a "Thorship"--the Thor can be a useful unit for early harassment, especially when considering the Thor's range and durability. Thors also excel at keeping an area designated for an expansion safe from sudden ambushes. Due to the Thors stable ground attack, they provide key support when paired with other units.

Abilities

High Impact Payload

Cooldown: 4 Hotkey: E Activates the Thor's 250mm Punisher Cannons, which strike a single air target for heavy damage.

Explosive Payload

Cooldown: 4 Hotkey: D Arms the Thor's Javelin missile launchers, which do splash damage to air units and additional damage to Light units.

Competitive Usage

In General

Thors are one of the best support units in StarCraft II, using their massive Ground DPS and anti-air range to support the units up front. The Thor's high HP count also lets them stand in front of the army, acting as a barrier for more fragile units, such as the Siege Tank. The Thor is not very cost effective when faced with many units. Massed units like the Marauder and Zergling can cost-efficiently take Thors down. However, the Thor's effectiveness increases significantly with Weapon and Armor upgrades.

The Thor's anti-air weapons can protect costly units from mobile air units. This can be extremely useful in a pinch, especially at the mineral line.

Vs. Protoss

Thors have begun seeing more and more use against Protoss, particularly by Swedish Pro Gamer ThorZaIN, who used Thors to great effect as a staple unit against Nony. All-ins featuring the Thor with SCV repairs are fairly strong. Late game vs Protoss, however, it becomes difficult to find good engagements with mass Thors. The Thors have a tendency to clump up in chokes, and the Immortal's smaller size allows it to quickly form a better concave, the immediate burst damage of the Immortal will tear through the front Thors before their strike cannon ability can kill opposing Immortals. Therefore, if a Terran player is using Thors as a staple unit, they are advised to supplement with Ghosts to EMP the entire Protoss army and then use the regular Thor auto attack to finish the Protoss army.

With the removal of its energy-based ability and it no longer having energy, the Thor is slightly more viable against Protoss due to it no longer being a target for Feedback.

Vs. Terran

Thors can play an important role in TvT, as they both complement your own tank force while drawing fire from the opponent's Tanks. Because Thors are so large, they effectively reduce the splash damage from the opponent's Tanks, while easily focus firing them down. Thors can provide anti-air support for Tanks in case of a Banshee transition. Thors struggle with Bio units, especially the Marauder. In this case, Marines and Hellions can complement the Thor.

Vs. Zerg

The Thor's extreme range and splash damage against light air units makes them very effective as anti-Mutalisk support, even if only a handful are present on the battlefield. However, proper control of Mutalisks (moving them over the Thor rather than using attack-move or targeted attack, to prevent them from bunching up) can greatly reduce the damage Thors can do to Mutalisks. The Thor's vastly superior range is excellent for scoring free hits against a Mutalisk attack AND retreat (making every harass decision extremely costly), but they should not be your sole air defense against Mutalisks. Due to the sheer number of Mutalisks spawned in HoTS, Thors have seen a drop in use against Mutalisks.

Furthermore, Thors serve a heavy/anti-air support role in a build which consists of Marauders/Hellions/Thors to make a push that provides a strong match-up against a Zerg's midgame unit composition of Zerglings/Roaches/Banelings.

Gallery

Animated 3D model

Standard model

Collector's Edition model

Quotes

Quotes
Built	Selected	Annoyed	Move	Attack	Under Attack
Thor is here!	Hit me. I hear you. I am here! Click me! Fear tha thunda'. I'm heavy metal! Got something for me? Get me back into the fight! I'm wasting away here! Fix me up, will 'ya? (Critical health) I'm on fire. No, really! (Critical health) Hurry up and fix me, you idiot!	Don't waste my time. Sue me, @#!*% ! I am the destroyer. I could aim, but with this thing, I don't have to. What happened to you commander? They got you pushin' too many pencils? I am a thunder god! And I hurl thunder bolts! He-yarrhh! Quiet! I'm trying to sneak up on them! Thunder and lightning, this is crazy! I am rated 'T', for Thor. If someone asks me, am I really a god? I say: YES! If someone asks me if I ever killed any Zerg, I say yes, but they were all bad. What is best? To crush the Zerg, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the Protoss.	Now, now, now! I'll be back. Stick around. OK, baby. Let's go! Watch this. All over it. Can do. No problem. Right.	Hammer of the Gods! Eat hot lead. Oh, it's on. Dropping the hammer. Ride the lightning. It's over you idiots!	Adjutant: Your forces are under attack.

Thor's quotes (video and sound) - YouTube video.

Patch Changes

Patch 7 (version 0.9.0.14621B)
Anti-Air damage has been decreased from 10+6 light to 8+4 light. Anti-Air attack now deals splash damage in a 0.5 radius.

Patch 11 (version 0.13.0.15250)

Ground damage decreased from 45 to 30. Ground rate of fire improved from 1.93 to 1.28. Air damage changed from 8 (+4 Light) to 6 (+6 Light). 250mm Strike Cannons are now an upgrade at the Factory Tech Lab. 250mm Strike Cannons research now costs 150/150 and 110 seconds. 250mm Strike Cannons energy cost increased from 100 to 150. Anti-Air 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 12 (version 0.14.0.15343)
Radius decreased from 1.375 to 0.8125. Model size reduced to match new radius.

Patch 17 (version 0.20.0.16036)
250mm Strike Cannons can no longer deal damage to hidden targets.

Patch 1.1.2
Energy bar removed. 250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (usable immediately after upgrade is researched).

Patch 1.1.3
This unit will now prioritize attacking ground combat units over Medivacs.

Patch 1.3.3
Thor now has 200 max energy, and starts with 50 energy. 250mm Strike Cannons now cost 150 energy to use (cooldown removed).

Balance Update #8
250mm Strike Cannons has been removed. The Thor can now switch between two modes: High-Impact Payload and Explosive Payload. The mode shift takes 4 seconds. When in High-Impact Payload mode, the Thor switches to a different anti-air gun (250mm Punisher Cannons) that has 10 range and deals 24 flat damage. Thor radius, inner radius, and separation radius increased from 0.8215 to 1.

References

• [[1]] A game showing a successful early Thor harass