t v z use of hellions and banshees
DESCRIPTION
Starcraft 2 Heart of the storm. Guide for TvZTRANSCRIPT
There are four main ways to use Hellion/Banshee, Map/Creep Control, Attacking the 3rd base, Destroying Drones and Queen Sniping. As the Diagram show’s it is very easy to switch between the roles depending on what opportunities/criteria presents itself. Being perfectly honest the usage of each Hellion/Banshee methods to start off with will be difficult due to the amount of multitasking required. But remember that the more you practice the more natural it will become, so don’t be disheartened for your Hellions get surrounded, your Banshees sniped by Queens when you forget to cloak or don’t pay attention when an Overseer arrives or they move into range of a Sporecrawler. As your multitasking and knowledge improves, so will the success rate of your Hellion/Banshee composition :)
#1 Map/Creep Control
This is considered to be the most popular and safe usage of the Hellion/Banshee composition. The idea of this style is to pick off “free” units without losing your own, whilst denying creep spread. Whilst you are out on the map and active with your Hellion/Banshee, you basically have map control. When you have map control you can scare the Zerg player and actively control his creep spread, which will make the late game a lot easier as it will deny a lot of vision and speed to the Zerg army. When using this method it is essential not to lose your units unnecessarily whilst constantly picking off the “free” units of the Zerg when able. This will also give you a scout on any Allin that leaves the Zerg’s base. Also you don’t push onto creep and stay around the outskirts of it, as the potential for a speedling surround will increase dramatically on creep. So to summarise in order to make this work:
● Constant eye on the Hellion/Banshee ● Camping the units at the border of the Creep to always deny tumors and possibly
knocking out Queens ● Always fight Speedlings OFF Creep ● Scan the creep tumors whenever there is a lack of defense (Speedlings/Queens) in
order to push it back. If you force the Zerg player to produce Roaches, that is not a bad or unfortunate situation as you forced him to invest more into his defense as well as delaying his tech as he was forced to spend more of his Gas. Banshees can still deal a good amount of DPS vs Roaches, just ensure you do not lose your units for no reason. If you spot a Roach Allin heading to your base pull your Hellions back, make Bunkers and use the Banshees to soften up the push all the way to your base.
#2 Drone Destroyer This is where you focus on destroying the Zerg’s Economy. Cloaked Banshees and target fire (Shift+Click) each drone, and you are taking a risk by attempting Hellion RunBy’s
Assuming the Hellion/Banshee cannot do any more damage, it will transition back into the Map/Creep Control. There are downsides to doing Hellion Runby’s. Firstly you are more than likely going to lose the Hellions, which will mean you will have to remake them. By remaking them you will have your extra production facilities and third base delayed. You will need to replace them if you wish to maintain map control, as without them on the field you will basically be playing blind.
#3 Attacking the Third Base
This is the simplest approach to using your Hellion/Banshee composition. Basically all the Hellions and Banshees just attack the 3rd base of the Zerg (if there is one). This will either force a reaction out of the Zerg or the 3rd base will get destroyed. Remember if you force the Zerg player yo make units, you are not allowing him to make Drones. Also a general rule, when you are hitting the 3rd base at this time there should not be much if any Creep spread to that base, which will allow you to fight the Speedlings off Creep. You can also potentially snipe any Queens that come to defend the 3rd as well #4 Sniping Queens Its always good to snipe Queens. Taking out Queens will ultimately mess up their injects and Creep spreading. It will force Hatcheries to pump more Queens which delay their Lair potentially and their macro. For this you will need either Cloak or more than one Banshee (Preferably both)