Starcraft II – Terran Strategy: The Nuke Rush [Guide]

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• Overview
• Build Order
• Strategy
• Demo Video

Few things in StarCraft II can ever match the fury of a tactical nuclear strike, sent down from the heavens by a carefully positioned Ghost. It’s like cleaning up a mess with magic, with enemy units disappearing all at once and buildings sustaining massive damage that would have taken over a minute to deal. It’s usually reserved for the mid to late game as a defensive tactic or as an equalizer, but there is also a way to bring it in the early game to surprise the opponent.

Overview

Terran players don’t need any logical reason for doing a nuke rush. Seeing everything blow up all at once right in front of you is a no-brainer way to win. Of course, you have to wait for 20 in-game seconds for it to land, but it’s absolute devastation when it does land. How you get there though is the bulk of the problem, and this build is about getting there as quickly as you can while not compromising much defense.

Build Order

This is not the exact build order that you may be looking for, but it shows the basic pattern of the build. There are many variations to this build order, but this should work for most players.

12 Barracks (1)
13 Refinery (1)
15 Marine (1)
15 Orbital Command

Get 2 or 3 Marines

16 Refinery (2)

@150 minerals – Build both Factory and Reactor on Barracks
100% Factory: Switch Factory and Barracks

Tech Lab on Barracks
Ghost Academy
Tech Lab Barracks

@100% Tech Lab – Marauder, Stimpack, Cloak
@100% Marauder – Ghost, then 2 more Marauders or more Marines

35~37 Starport

@100% Starport – Switch Starport and Factory

Viking and Medivac

@100% Cloak – Nuke
@100% Viking – Make way for drops to natural or main base
@100% Medivac – Load Ghost and ground force and send to position

Drop the nuke
Send in army to finish

Strategy

The idea is to send a nuke down to take out threats all at once before going in with your ground army to finish things off. It could also be for dealing economic damage by killing workers en masse, or taking out crucial tech structures to prevent the opponent from making particular units that may become major threats later in the game. Whatever you wish to do, the important thing is to keep the opponent from knowing that you’re about to drop nukes on him and to keep the Ghost from harm’s way.

You may use Medivacs to transport the Ghost and some escorts like Marauders to the position, since it would be much faster due to Afterburners. But if you’re really rushing, then you may forego building a Factory and Starport and just go in with one Ghost and a ground force for an early all-in.

It’s a good idea to use Reapers while you get to the nukes. The Reapers are there for harassment and scouting in order to cover for your efforts in teching up to Ghosts and making a nuke. They also let you scout anything that indicates an early push from your opponent, wherein you can then choose to cancel your plans for the Ghost Academy and start putting down Bunkers and make more units to defend against what’s coming.

Put down defenses and some Marines to defend against anything that may come like harassment and early pressure. Try to not let him single out your 1base strategy, or at least keep him away from where you’re building your Ghost Academy. If the Ghost Academy gets scouted without having finished making a nuke, then you may be put at a disadvantage since he’ll know what you’re up to since no Terran would put one down unless going for this strategy.

This build is best against a Terran or Protoss opponent who goes for a fast expand and walls off his natural, but can also work against Zerg to kill ground armies or workers in expansions. The big decision once you get Ghosts is to whether get the Cloak upgrade or not. Your Ghosts will be safer with it and it boosts your chance of landing a nuke, but it does take more time. Picking either speed or safety should be according to the situation. If you get your nuke really early, then you may forego Cloak and just hit the opponent with surprise. If it’s in the midgame, then you may want to get Cloak. Typically, you’ll have to get Cloak anyway if you want to drop more nukes and EMPs later on.

Demo Video

This is merely a variation of this strategy, which you can execute once you’ve practiced it enough.