Starcraft 2 Conviction Brutal Mode & Achievements Guide

Starcraft 2 Campaign Guide --> Heart of the Swarm Campaign Guide --> Conviction (you are here)

Conviction is the second and final Space mission in the Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm campaign. This particular mission is a dungeon crawl mission where players have a limited number of units to battle through a series of Terran units and defensive structures on the way to break out Jim Raynor from prison.

On the top floor, there is no real time limit until you approach the final platform. On the bottom floor, players have 5 minutes to get to the end. Therefore, you want to take your time on the top floor and save as many units as possible, then on the bottom floor use your large army of units to race to the end.

Conviction - Kerrigan Levels

Completing the Conviction mission results in 9 levels for Kerrigan. There are also 2 bonus Kerrigan levels here which can be unlocked by collecting the Secret Documents. There is one data disc on each level, marked below with a red circle:

Floor 1

Floor 2

Starcraft 2 Conviction Achievement List

There are 4 achievements available for players to unlock during the Conviction mission:

Conviction: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in the Conviction mission (any difficulty).

Staying Alive: Unlocked by preventing Kerrigan's life from dropping below 50% during the Conviction mission (any difficulty). Since this can be done on any difficulty, if you are having trouble with this mission, replay it on casual mode with Kerrigan using the Mend and Heroic Fortitude traits. It will be practically impossible for her to drop under 50% health in these conditions.

Saturday Night Fever: Unlocked by reaching the Prison Deck in less than 8 minutes with Kerrigan (Normal difficulty or higher). This will be unlocked automatically as you go for the Fast Break achievement.

Fast Break: Unlocked by completing the Conviction mission in under 10 minutes (Hard mode or higher). Guide below.

Fast Break Achievement Guide

Beating Fast Break is actually much easier than you would think. First off, you never want to stop and rest or carefully destroy the Terran base and units. Instead, you want to power through the mission as quickly as you can.

Next up, the most important unit you have is the Infestor. The Infestor can use Consumption on your units to restore its energy, and then Kerrigan can use Mend to restore that lost HP. This will allow your Infestors to stay very active throughout the mission.

Infestors have two tasks: to Fungal Growth packs of enemy infantry, and to use Parasitic Domination on the enemy units, particularly the Thors and a few Siege Tanks. When you are trapped in the room on the first floor without the help of Kerrigan, you need to use your Infestors to Fungal Growth the first few waves, then to use Parasitic Domination on the Siege Tanks and Thor in the final two waves. Additionally, when you get to the Prison Deck on the first floor, be sure to use Parasitic Domination on the Thor that is destroying the platform.

When you get to the second floor, you should have 2 Thors and 1-2 Siege Tanks thanks to your Infestors. You will quickly run into a few more enemy Thors. You need to grab one of these. Once you have 3 Thors from using Parasitic Domination, you can just race to the end, attacking everything you see along the way. The 3 Thors will tip the balance of the battle into your favor, allowing you to clear the bottom floor in a few minutes.

Fast Break Achievement Video Guide

Conviction Brutal Mode Guide

Beating Conviction on Brutal mode is not too difficult with the strategy outlined below. If you are having trouble with this achievement, try using the "Spawn Banelings" ability with Kerrigan along with either Fury or Ability Efficiency. This will allow you to clear the entire top floor with free units. You can save all your Zerg units (along with any Parasitic Dominated Terran units) so that when it comes down to rush time on the final floor, you will have a huge army that you can use to walk over the enemy with ease.

Below, you will find a step-by-step strategy for beating this mission with ease (video walkthrough at the bottom):

Step by Step Guide

• Use Spawn Banelings twice to take out most of the initial infantry pack. This will ensure that the Zerg reinforcements survive.

• Keep using your spawned banelings to weaken each Infantry pack. Use Kerrigan to clean up the weakened packs. Keep your units at a safe distance as you clear.

• When you finally get some Infestors, the next room has a Thor in it. Use Kerrigan to pull the Thor to a safe spot, then grab it with Parasitic Domination. Grabbing this Thor makes this mission significantly easier.

• Restore the Infestors energy with Consumption and use Spawn Banelings to clear out the Bunkers while the Infestors recover energy.

• When Kerrigan reaches the checkpoint, spawn a handful of Banelings and move Kerrigan to the beacon. At this point, Kerrigan will not be able to do anything.

• The Banelings can be used to take out the first wave of enemy units.

• Use Fungal Growth to take down the second wave of enemy units. Restore your energy with Consumption.

• On the third wave of units, use Parasitic Domination to grab both Siege Tanks (if possible). Use Consumption to restore your energy.

• On the fourth wave, be sure to grab the Thor with Parasitic Domination. This will bring your total Thor count to two.

• Use the Thors to grab the Secret Documents. They can handle Ghosts with ease.

• Keep your units at a safe distance and use Kerrigan and your Spawn Banelings ability to clear the next room. Grab all the Virophages. This Thor is risky to get, so you do not have to grab it if you cannot keep it alive.

• After you clear out this area, slowly push forward with Kerrigan and your Spawn Banelings until you get reinforcements.

• You will get a Infestor with these reinforcements. Use it to use Parasitic Domination on the Thor in the next room.

• Approach the Prison Deck with all your units on "attack move". Make sure to grab the Thor with Parasitic Domination.

• At this point, you will have 3 Thors to use on the second floor. You can just use "attack move" to clear the rest of this mission even on Brutal mode thanks to the 3 Thors. Spawn Banelings as the cooldown comes up in order to clear out balls of Infantry.

• On the second floor, as soon as you hop off the platform, you can grab one of the Thors if you have an Infestor remaining alive. Even not, just kill them and move on as there is a timer.

• Use Kinetic Blast with Kerrigan to focus down the hero Siege Tanks. Use Spawn Banelings as an opener for any Infantry packs you might run into.

• Clear through the mission. With 3-4 Thors and Spawn Banelings, it will never be an issue.

• If you want, pick up the second set of Secret Documents. Do not send Kerrigan up here alone to do this. A pack of Thors works best, as the Ghosts will Snipe Kerrigan if she appears.

• In the final room, spawn more Banelings and drop a key Fungal Growth or two and just run in with all your units. The Thors make this easy.

Starcraft 2 Conviction Brutal Mode Video Guide