Starcraft 2 Marine Guide

Marines are the infantry units of the Terran just like Zealots are to the Protoss and Zerglings are to the Zerg. Only they do not attack by melee and attack with a range weapon instead. They can also attack air making them great units to mix up with your army.

They do very well against some units like Immortals but also very poorly against others like Colossi. The units you really need to watch out for are Siege Tanks, Colossi, and Banelings. It is like all these units were meant to counter mass Marines. Be very careful and mix them up with Marauders early in the game just in case your opponent has the perfect counter for them.

They have two upgrades at the Tech Lab attached to a Barracks. One is Combat Shields which increases their hit points by 10. If you are going for a large army of Marines then this is pretty much mandatory.

Their other upgrade is Stim Pack shared with Marauders. It takes off 10 HP but makes the Marines and Marauders move faster and shoot faster for 15 seconds making this a deadly upgrade enemies should be aware of. Just use it once at a time and be sure to eventually get Medivacs to heal these units back up.

Best Against

Protoss - Immortals, Void Rays, PhoenixTerran - ThorsZerg - Zerglings

Not Bad Against

Protoss - Stalkers, Sentries, Dark Templars, Carriers, MothershipsTerran - Reapers, Vikings, Battlecruisers, Banshees, Ghosts, MaraudersZerg - Hydralisks, Mutalisks, Roaches

Worst Enemies

Protoss - Colossi, Archons, Zealots, High Templars with Psy StormTerran - Siege Tanks, HellionsZerg - Ultralisks, Banelings, Brood Lords, Infestors (Fungal Growth)

Marines are great to mix up with other units like Siege tanks, Thors, and Marauders. They take care of the air units while the others are ground heavy. The Marines are for the most part good against whatever the heavily ground units are not. Like Thors and Siege Tanks do not fare well against Immortals, Zerglings, and air units like Void Rays but the Marines are there to protect them.

When up against a Protoss player Marines should be massed up if facing early Void Rays. If you spot your opponent getting an early Stargate then you should only be producing Marines and research Stim Pack to quickly take them out.

They are great to have against Immortals as well but not against Colossi or Zealots. Be sure to mix in some other units. Vikings are the counter for Colossi and should be obtained as soon as possible if they go for Colossi.

Against Zerg you really need to be careful because they like to go for Banelings first. If they get Banelings and you mostly have Marines guarding behind the wall then they can easily pull a Baneling Bust. Hellions are a great counter to Banelings. Also having Marauders with Concussive Shells enables them to kite Banelings before doing lots of damage until they get the speed upgrade.

Facing Another Terran player is tricky. A Terran player can go Siege Tanks with Marauders and easily take out your Marines. But if they are going for early Banshees then Marines are great to defend your mineral line since that is where they will likely hit first. It helps to get their attack upgrade against a Terran player that is also getting mostly Marines and Marauders so your army can have the edge over them.

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