Starcraft 2 Ghost Strategies and Abilities

Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Terran Units --> Terran Support Units --> Ghost Strategies and Abilities (you are here)

The Ghost is one of my favorite Terran units in the game, but is perhaps the most underutilized. In this specific article, I will be going over some of the top Starcraft 2 Ghost strategies and reveal to you how you can make the most out of the Ghost's abilities.

Starcraft 2 Ghost Overview

The Ghost is the major Terran casting unit and has several special abilities: Cloaking, Snipe, EMP, and the ability to call down a tactical nuclear strike (you have to first build the nukes at the Ghost Academy first though, and they are not free).

In this particular article, I will be focusing on how players can use EMP and Snipe to their maximal potential, as these particular abilities are extremely powerful, and yet the Ghost rarely makes an appearance in matches.

SC2 Ghost - Using EMP Round

I would have to say that EMP is my favorite Ghost ability, and has a lot of great uses that many players overlook.

First off, EMP is simply the best counter Terran players have to the High Templar (which is becoming very popular lately). Obviously, the most effective way to use EMP is to hit High Templar with it before they can cast Psionic Storm or Feedback in order to drain their energy.

However, you can also use EMP defensively on your own units in order to reduce damage taken by Feedback. For example, if you have Thors, Battlecruisers, or Banshees that are getting hammered by well-microed High Templar, you can easily EMP your own units so that Feedback does no damage. It is not as if these units desperately need energy.

Additionally, Feedback is one of the #1 killers of drops in the late game. A single Feedback can often take out a Medivac, ending a drop outright. However, note that you really do not need much Medivac healing (just a bit to heal up from stim pack) when dropping units.

Most of the time when you drop you are just trying to stim, take out a bunch of Probes or a key building or two, then hopping back in your Medivac and hiding for another minute or two to repeat the process. Very little Medivac energy is needed, and it is far too easy for a Protoss player to warp in a single High Templar and use Feedback on your Medivac to kill it off.

An easy way around this is just to EMP your own Medivac before you send it off on a drop. It will recover a little bit of energy and be able to heal up your Marines after they stim, but will not have so much energy that it dies to Feedback.

Another great use for EMP is that it brings units out of Stealth. It is a great way to help deal with Dark Templar, Banshees, Observers, and any other cloaking unit without wasting your Orbital Command's energy to drop a scan. EMPs are free, so you might as well use them to take out any cloaked units.

Finally, since EMP drains shields, a pack of Ghosts can be very efficient Archon killers. You need to drop 4 EMPs on an Archon, and then it can be killed in 2 hits by a Ghost's auto attack. Given how expensive Archons are, if you can find 3-4 clumped up, you can easily get your money's worth out of a few Ghosts (using Cloaking) by EMPing them and then auto-attacking them.

Starcraft 2 Ghost Abilities: Snipe

Snipe is also a great ability. This particular ability deals 45 damage and ignores armor. The downside is that it can only be used on biological units. The upside, of course, is that all the best units are biological, and Snipe has a very low energy cost (a single Ghost can use Snipe many times in a row).

In particular, Snipe is great at dealing with:

• High Templar (2 snipes)
• Infestors (2 snipes
• Broodlords (5 snipes)
• Hydralisks (2 snipes)

A single cloaked Ghost with full energy can easily take our 3 High Templars, 3 Infestors, a Brood Lord, or 3 Hydralisks by emptying a round of Snipes. Given how much cheaper a Ghost is then the numbers of units listed above, you can gain a nice economical edge by sending Ghosts on suicide missions like this.

I have seen Ghosts work particularly well against Brood Lords, which can be very useful if your opponent is switching regularly between Infestors and Brood Lords. This way you do not have to waste the resources on Vikings.

Starcraft 2 Ghost Conclusion

The Ghost is one of my favorite units in Starcraft 2. While most of us are already using EMP on Protoss players and casting units, consider using it on your own units when playing against an aggressive Feedback user or to pull enemy units out of cloak. Also, when you have a large opening, use Snipe instead of EMP to permanently take out enemy casting units.