Starcraft II – Terran Strategy: MMM Timing Push [Guide]

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• Overview
• Build Order
• Strategy

As a beginner, Terran can be daunting for some people as it requires both solid fundamentals and good micro to make the most of the race. Terran build orders and strategies aren’t as clean cut as those of Protoss or Zerg due to the variations and transitions possible with this race. For those who want to learn Terran, perhaps one of the best builds to start with is the MMM timing push.

Overview

This is the standard build for Terran for most match ups due to its versatility and ease of transition to other builds. The aim is to get a bio army and medivacs as quickly as possible to be able to push or drop at around the 8-minute mark. This is more effective in smaller maps, where distances between bases is a minimal as possible. Better yet, close air positions are best for drops.

MMM stands for Marine Marauder Medivac, which are the main components of this strategy. It’s basically a bio strategy, as opposed to mech that are mostly composed of units made from Factories. For most of the time, you’ll be using only these three units, as well as perhaps Ghosts and Vikings if you need extra support. Overall, it does make for an effective army, so long as your macro is solid.

Build Order

10 Supply Depot
11 Barracks
13 Refinery
15 Orbital Command
15 Marine (up to 3)
16 Supply Depot
19 Factory
22 Second Barracks
23 Second Refinery
23 Tech Lab on Barracks
24 Starport
Reactor on Factory
Constantly produce Marines and Marauders
Research Stimpack
When Starport finishes, switch it with Factory
Medivacs (2 at once)

Strategy

With well-timed drops, you can cripple your opponent’s tech infrastructure and economy, which can delay his offense a great deal and increase your chances of winning. The optimal benchmarks are 8 marines, 4 marauders, and 2 medivacs dropping at around 8 minutes.

Take note that this strategy is called an MMM timing push and not just a general strategy for a reason. You are supposed to attack at the opportune time with this and not just sit on your hands since there are a lot of things that can kill a bio army, like banelings or colossi. You want to attack before the opponent wises up and counters what you have.

This is a very effective build to practice with as Terran in the lower leagues, from Bronze to Gold. The only real weakness is that you can lose easily if you take too long since you can get countered afterwards. After the drop, you’ll have to transition to a mid-late game strategy, and it depends on a few things in order to be successful.

Perhaps the most basic of requirements to make a successful transition is to have constant production of SCVs and supply depots so you don’t get supply blocked or lack resources to do the necessary transition. A tip to take note of is if you’re short on resources while trying to assemble your MMM, then it’s better to make more Marauders since they take more time to make. Only do that if you have at least 8 marines.

Another important thing is that this build works best when your opponent doesn’t see the drop coming. If he does pick up your intention to drop, then he’ll make anti-air defenses like cannons, turrets, or spore crawlers. If that happens, then drops are not viable and you’ll have to go with a stim timing with a bio ball. Good way to know if it’s safe to drop is to do scans before you attack.

In TvZ, beware of banelings as they are your weakness. If you see them in droves, maybe consider switching to mech or at least wall off with high HP buildings at your front. Also watch out for changelings, or observers for Protoss, so that he doesn’t find out about your plan to do drops. In TvT, it’s already a given that you won’t have that good of a chance to do drops due to scans, so most TvT’s end with mech and air armies facing off in a positional face-off.