[Top 5] Starcraft 2 Best Terran Builds

Looking for some soild Terran ladder builds? Look no further, Here is the top 5 Terran builds at the moment. 

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SC2, Terran Victory 

What are some hot Terran builds out there on the ladders these days? If you are a Terran looking for some solid strategies to try out on ladders, take out your playbook and get ready to take some notes. We will look at  some builds used by the best Terrans in the world to own the other races. 

In this article, we will explore Terran builds that have consistently brought great victories to some of the best Terrans in the world. They have used it to win big tournaments, so hopefully, we can also use it to rank up on ladders.    

#5. Proxy 2 rax V. Zerg (Maru build)

Maru vs Dark, Final WESG 2017 StarCraft 2 Grand Final (Start at: 2:05:18)

How and when did Maru become the best Terran in the world you ask? It was when he seemingly proxied every single game a few years back. He does not proxy as much anymore, but Maru is still most well known for his crazy proxy rax opener that somehow always gets him ahead. I should warn though, this is Maru we are talking about, so it may very well be one of those “don’t try this at home” kind of situations here. But the build is still quite solid and can definitely get you a quick win against Zerg-especially if they are caught off guard. Since Zerg mainly relies on melee units to defend in the early game like lings, if you have solid marine controls, this build may bring you lots of joy and early victories.  

What is Great about This Build: 

• First and foremost, I would say this build is one of the oldest and the most fun to try-if you are like me and got into Terran for its fun micro, there is nothing more fun than stutter-stepping your marines against slow lings to get a quick “gg” out of Zerg
• Macro can be very hard and boring since the fun part (all the unit micro) usually comes later in the game and you need to patiently build up your economy until then. With this super early game aggro build, you don’t have to restrain yourself. Go nuts with marines produced out of your rax outside your opponent’s base from the very beginning. 
• With its high risk, the potential for a return for this build is also huge. Because Zergs usually don’t usually expect this kind of  cheesy build out of Terran, they may not catch your proxy rax building until it’s too late. In a most ideal situation, a canceled natural is guaranteed. All you need to do next is to start transitioning to factory based macro back at home as a followup to close the game.    
• Early marine pressure will stunt the growth of Zerg and make them incredibly poor, setting the Terran up for a superior economy the later game goes on

How it Works:  

• There can be many variations of this proxy rax build, but the basics go like this: 
• Send out the  first SCV to build the first rax as soon as the game starts (in a good location on the map that’s both close to the natural base of Zerg but also well hidden so that an overlord will not likely see it) 
• After building the first depot, send out another SCV to build the second rax
• Once the  first rax finishes, upgrade the command to an orbital and start pumping out marines
• Using the  first SCV, build a bunker in front of the hatchery in the natural 
• Continue to produce marines and rally them into up to 2 bunkers putting damage to the hatchery and any Zerg units trying to defend it 
• Build a factory back home while pressuring with marines in the natural 
• As the hatchery gets low, stop the production of marines and float the rax, one for the scout of the main base of Zerg and one for returning home for a transition 
• Once hatchery is gone, salvage the bunkers and bring marines home to defend with tanks or cyclones
• If you defend the Zerg attack successfully while building your second command, it’s your win      

#4. 3 rax reaper opening V. Zerg/Terran (Byun build)

[TvT] Byun vs TY- G3 of a BO5 (Blizzcon)

I’m sure no Terran players are strangers to this legendary Byun build from a while back. This build led to one of those extremely rare cases where Blizzard literally had to nerf a unit because of just one player being God with it. With an insane early game mass reaper micro, Byun took out Dark in the grand finals of the biggest SC2 tournament: WCS 2016 global finals, to be crowned world champion. Here is a fun fact about just how good Byun was with reapers back in the day. Maru once tried to copy Byun in one of the GSL tournaments making mass reapers to dominate the game. But even our Terran God Maru simply could not make it work like Byun and had to just go back to his own style. It truly seemed like reapers were special units for Byun only. Even with a severe nerf to the reapers, Byun continues to show crazy micro with them to this day. If you like his style of early game micro aggro build, this build may be just the build for you.

• What is Great about This Build: 
• This is another one of those early game cheesy aggro build Terrans can have fun showing off flashy micro-so again, lots and lots of fun 
• With high number of units early in the game, this build allows Terrans to establish great map presence and dominate the early game
• The goal is to kill as many workers as possible and delay your opponent’s economy while developing your own economy back at home with a fast second command
• If you keep the reapers alive and hold your opponent back while macroing/transitioning back at home successfully, this opening will get you to the situation where you are too big to lose   

How it Works:

• Similar to Maru’s proxy rax build, send out  the first SCV as soon as the game starts
• After the first depot, build the first gas 
• Send out second and thirdSCV for the second and third rax out in the map in a good location close to the opponent’s base
• Build the second gas to support continuous 3 rax reaper production
• Control reapers, taking care not to lose any, to cut down workers and delay the economy of your opponent (take advantage of the reaper’s superior range, speed, healing, and grenades to prevent enemy units from even getting close to them) 
• Build a factory and expand at home for transition while keeping up the pressure with the reapers  
• Use the early factory units to defend and transition
• Alternatively, you can also build rax in your base for an easier transition into bio later on    

#3. 2-1-1 stim marine V. Zerg (Byun build) 

[SSL 2016 S2] Group C set2 - Rogue vs ByuN

Popularized by great Terran like Byun, Innovation, and Maru, this is one of the gold standard builds for your TvZ. It hits a bit later in the game, around early-mid game compared to the previous rush builds, but it packs more punch as you are taking more time to build a stronger hit squad army. Key to this build is following a specifically regimented build order while warding off any early game harass your Zerg opponent may throw at you until you have your hit squad army ready to move out. In other words, some macro required before you can have fun with the stutter-steps.

What is Great about This Build: 

• This is a solid timing attack build that can put immense pressure to Zerg in the early-mid game with a great transition potential if the game does not end with the first push 
• It is an economic build that will provide Terran with great timing for putting pressure backed by a solid economy 
• While this is a timing push itself, it also serves to thwart many of early attacks from Zergs-with good amount of marines being produced constantly, it can be a both great offense and defense
• This is not necessarily a one-punch-knockout build, if the first push does not kill the Zerg, rinse and repeat by adding marines and medivacs

How it Works:

• Build the firstrax after a depot in your main and then gas  
• Once the rax finish, produce a reaper and turn the command into orbital 
• Expand while protecting the cc with the reaper 
• Build the secondrax and then a depot 
• Build a reactor on the first rax and the second gas
• Build a factory and a tech lab on the secondrax 
• Continuous marine productions out of the 2 rax 
• Orbital on the second cc and research stim 
• Build starport and a reactor on the factory 
• Build another depot while swapping the starport and factory 
• 2 medivacs out of the reactored starport 
• Once you have 16 marines and 2 medivacs out, push out to the third base location of Zerg
• Build the third back home and research combat shields 
• Continue to grow your army with better upgrades and higher tech units like mines/tanks and put pressure on Zerg to whittle it down 

#2. Mass mine drop opening V. Protoss (Maru build) 

[2018 GSL Season 2] Code S Ro.32 Group F Match3 Maru vs Dear

How do you beat the OP race protoss as a Terran? This is a question asked by pretty much every Terrans. Let us turn to our commander in chief of the Terran race, Maru for the solution. Utilizing his signature drop multitasking early in the game, Maru’s solution to taming the Protoss seems to be mine drops. Mines have always been quite good in TvP. But adding a little bit of drops earlier in the game in the mineral lines of Protoss seems to be the best way to utilize mines to beat Protoss. After all, just a couple of decent mine kills is all it takes to keep the Protoss economy in check while you grow bigger as a Terran.

• What is Great about This Build: 
• Mine drops are infamously feared by the Protoss players in general due to the massive damage potential. As a result, when they see your first medivac dropping mines in the mineral line, the most likely response from the Protoss will be panic which often leads to mistakes in properly evacuating the workers (AKA 10+ worker kills from the mine hit).
• Mines are fairly inexpensive units to produce quickly for Terrans. Even if only one of many mines you drop results in a good hit, that often is more than worth it.
• Worker kills from mine hits are often devastating as it is, but if you also consider the time the workers are pulled away to dodge the mine hits, the overall damage done to the economy of your opponent is truly significant 
• Mine drops will keep the Protoss army confined in their base for defense which means more time for Terrans to grow back home both economically and in army. Plus, mines and medivacs will continue to be great units to have to fight the Protoss army later in the game post-drops.               

How it Works:

• Take the first gas after the first depot and then rax 
• A reaper and an orbital command upon rax completion 
• Expand with the reaper defense/scout 
• Build a factory and a reactor on the rax 
• Take the second gas and a starport when enough gas
• Swap the factory and the rax and produce 2 helions and a tech lab on the rax 
• Continuously produce reactored mines and a medivac at a time
• Drop the first 4 mines around the mineral line (best to drop 2 in the main and 2 in the natural for a maximal damage) while also harassing with helions and reapers from earlier 
• Continue to drop mines while researching stim and building bio army back home as a transition 
• Push with bio mine to close the game 

#1. Hellion/BC opening V. Zerg (used by many great Terrans like Innovation, TY, and Maru) 

StarCraft 2 - 6 minute BC instant win! | Diamond in the Ruff #16

If you are a Zerg player, it may well be your worst nightmare to see a BC suddenly right on top of your main base killing all your drones. Well known as a Terran final boss unit in the supreme late game, BC, can actually be produced surprisingly early in the game to terrorize the Zerg. On top of that, hellions run by in the natural while BCs are wrecking the main base mineral line will bring the drone count of Zerg very close to zero. Hellion/BC opening is one of the coolest and powerful builds Terran has to exterminate Zerg early in the game. This build has a huge potential to end the game within the first 10 minutes or at least severely cripple the Zerg for Terran to close the game shortly after. Being able to use the ultimate weapon of the race this early in the game is just a bonus on top of winning the game with style.

• What is Great about This Build: 
• Why wait until the late game when you can just use the best unit in the game from the very beginning? Early game BC will be close to being invincible against what Zerg will have to defend early in the game. With the ability to jump anywhere in the game, BC can dodge the Zerg defense and poke where it hurts most to wear the Zerg out.
• BC has extremely high health, comparable to the buildings. Zerg’s early anti-air damage output is not strong enough to quickly destroy it- at least, not before it kills all the drones. It is up to the Terran players to decide whether to use BC to kill the workers, the Zerg anti-airs, or the infrastructures
• Investing just a bit more in fusion core upgrade will equip your BC with Yamato cannon that will one shot the main Zerg anti-air, queens, making BCs even more OP 
• Hellions and BCs wrecking workers in different locations will most likely be too much for Zerg to handle until spire is available. But by the time the spire is out, Terran will likely have already transitioned into anti-spire tech like bio ready to close the game.

How it Works:

• The first gas after a depot and then a rax
• Build a factory and then a depot (all the buildings can be in the lower ground to secure your natural expansion from any early game Zerg harass)
• Reactor on the rax after a marine production to catch any overlord or defend against early lings 
• Expand on location in the natural 
• Swap factory and rax and produce reactored helions 
• Take the second gas and start a starport 
• Tech lab on rax for later swap with a starport 
• 2 gas in the natural expansion 
• Fusion core and the second starport 
• BC productions and Yamato research 
• Use BCs and hellions to attack different locations 
• Transition into bio or mech back at home while keeping up the pressure with BCs and hellions           

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SC2, Marine kills

From cheesy proxy and early timing attack to a late game unit rush, Terran has a plethora of builds that can give you a convincing win. Now it is your turn to get out there and pull a Maru or Byun on the ladders. Good Luck and Have Fun.

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