SC 2 Terran vs Protoss Strategies & Tips Guide

There are a couple unit compositions that are very powerful against Protoss. You can use these strategies as a base to build your army, but be prepared to change it to better fight the units that Protoss sends at you.

Listed below are some real effective unit compositions to use against Protoss

Marines, Ghosts & Medivacs

A slight variation to the popular MMM (Marine, Marauder, Medivac) army, this one incorporates Ghosts instead of Marauders to take out the Protoss. It would be nice to have Marauders since they are so powerful, but the high gas cost of Ghosts really prevents you from getting any.

Start off by getting 2 Barracks, 1 with a Tech Lab and 1 with a Reactor. Constantly be building Marines out of these and add on Ghosts when you have the gas. Then tech up to Medivacs and start building them one at a time out of your Starport. Once you get your Starport up you should be able to afford another Barracks, throw a Tech Lab on it and keep producing Marines & Ghosts.

It's important to research Combat Shield & Stim Packs as soon as you can. When they are finished, push out with your army to the Protoss base. The biggest problem you'll have is if they tech quick to Colossi or High Templar. If they have High Templar, do your best to micro your army out of the Psi Storms and EMP them if you can.

This Terran vs Protoss strategy can get beat by a quick tech to Colossi. It's very important to scout early and often for that Robotics Bay. If you see it go up, put a Reactor on your Starport and make some Vikings along with your Medivacs. When you get attacked, you'll have to micro and try to take out the Colossi with your Vikings while your Marines kill the Stalkers and Zealots. Be sure to EMP any Sentries and the rest of the Protoss shields.

Early Marauders into MMM

Getting Ghosts can be very powerful in Terran vs Protoss games, but they are a pretty big investment and take time to get out. If you are a more aggressive player then you may want to pressure your opponent early to keep them back on their heels. You can do this by skipping Ghosts and getting Marauders out fast.

As soon as you get your Barracks up add a Tech Lab onto it and make your first Marauder. Rally your Barracks to your opponents base to get there as fast as possible. Research the Concussive Shells upgrade at the Tech Lab to help your Marauders kite any Zealots that you end up facing.

Many Protoss players wait and build a Stalker as their first combat unit, which Marauders are great against. One Marauder will easily take out one Stalker, then you're free to start damaging his base. Keep rallying Marauders over to his base to help out your first one and do as much damage as possible.

When the Protoss player gets some defenses out then back off and contain him in his base. Expand, add on more Barracks with Tech Labs, and tech up to Medivacs. Getting a very Marauder heavy army is great against Colossi and High Templar builds. The only big weakness it has against Protoss is air units and Immortals. You'll have to constantly scout to be sure he doesn't start massing Immortals to deal with your Marauders.

If you notice he does start to get a lot of Immortals, put some Reactors on your Barracks and make a lot of Marines. Immortals are not great against Marines (especially with Medivac support) so you'll be able to take them down pretty easily.

This strategy is very mobile as well. If he has some strong defenses up at the front of his base, load up your infantry into your Medivacs and drop into the back of his base or go to an expansion. Since you're not using any Mech you have the freedom to move around quickly and keep the pressure on no matter what he's doing.

Remember too that you need to keep your macro up as best you can. Expand often to keep those resources coming in consistently and make lots of unit-producing structures to spend all that money.

For a simple guide that will teach you how to macro more effectively and help you win more games, check out my Starcraft 2 Macro Guide.