Starcraft 2 Harvest of Screams Brutal & Achievements Guide

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

Harvest of Screams is the first mission on the planet Kaldir and one of the easiest once you understand how the mission works. The gist of it is that nearly all of the Protoss units on the map are frozen during the Flash Freeze. During the Flash Freeze, your units can freely walk around and attack Protoss structures. At the same time, you are not required to destroy these structures. Instead, the mission ends when you destroy the 3 Protoss spires found deep in the enemy base.

This means that in order to complete the mission, all you have to do is run a pack of Zerglings into the Protoss base during the Flash Freezes and burn down the enemy buildings before the Protoss unfreeze. This allows players to complete this mission with ease with just 24 Zerglings!

With that said, there are some achievements and bonus levels that make this mission a little tougher.

Harvest of Screams - Kerrigan Levels

Completing Harvest of Screams results in 5 Kerrigan levels. There are also 2 bonus levels available to Kerrigan during this mission, which can be earned by defeating the two additional Ursadon Matriarchs, marked by the yellow circles surrounding white crosshairs on the map below:

Starcraft 2 Harvest of Screams Achievements List

There are 4 achievements available for players to unlock during the Harvest of Screams mission:

Harvest of Screams: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in the Harvest of Screams mission (any difficulty).

Ice Breaker: Unlocked by destroying 20 unfrozen enemy structures in the "Harvest of Screams" mission (any difficulty). In order to do this, just build a large army of Roaches and attack the Protoss bases. You can make this easier by taking out dangerous enemy units like Archons during the Flash Freezes, then attacking the newly undefended buildings after the storm passes.

Storm Chaser: Unlocked by completing the "Harvest of Screams" mission in less than 15 minutes (Normal difficulty or higher). This will unlock automatically when you go for the Psi-lence is Golden achievement.

Psi-lence is Golden: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in "Harvest of Screams" in under 11 minutes (Hard mode or higher). Note that in order to get the achievement, you must complete the bonus objectives! Below, there is a step-by-step guide (along with video) that will reveal exactly how to unlock this achievement. 

Psi-lence is Golden Achievement Guide

This achievement is unlocked by completing the Harvest of Screams mission and its bonus objectives in under 11 minutes on Hard mode. This is not too difficult to do but it does require a certain amount of precision. Here is the step-by-step guide:

• As soon as the mission starts, you need to rush with Kerrigan towards the Matriarch. Use Kinetic Blast on enemy units that you see, do not stop to attack them at all.

• Leave your starter Zerglings behind. They will only get killed if you bring them with you. If you leave them behind, they will automatically transport to your base when you get there with Kerrigan.

• Do not lose any Roaches during the attack with the Ursadon Matriarch. Burrow the ones that get low on health.

• You should make it to the beacon by the 2:05 mark. If you are not there until 2:20 or later, you are too slow.

• The second the mission starts, start making Drones. You will want about 10 additional Drones over what you start with during this mission.

• Immediately take Kerrigan and the Roaches (you should have 6) out the northwest exit to your base and head to the northeast corner of the map. Here there is an Ursadon Matriarch that you should be killing just before the first Flash Freeze hits.

• Use the minerals you picked up to build 4 Spine Crawlers near the Spine Crawler you already have.

• When the Flash Freeze hits, send Kerrigan and your Roaches and Zerglings in to attack the Protoss base directly to the north of your main base. Ignore the frozen Zealots, as your Spine Crawlers will kill them while they are frozen.

• Build an Evolution Chamber and start getting melee weapons level 1.

• Train Zerglings while your units are destroying the Protoss base during the Flash Freeze.

• Make sure you use Kerrigan's Kinetic Blast attack to speed up the destruction of the Protoss buildings.

• Before the second Flash Freeze hits, you should have about 20 Zerglings, Kerrigan, and 4-6 Roaches.

• When the second Flash Freeze hits, move Kerrigan and the Roaches towards the second Ursadon Matriarch to complete the bonus objectives.

• Meanwhile, when the second Flash Freeze hits, use your Zergling army to attack the northwest Psi-Link Spire. Ignore the Protoss base as well as the Ursadons and just go right for the Spire. Make sure you right click on it rather than try to attack-move.

• After your Zerglings destroy the Spire, you need to run them out of the Protoss base. You don't want to lose them to the Protoss forces once the ice melts.

• Keep training Zerglings, and add a few Spine Crawlers and Drones at home. Kerrigan and your Roaches may be marooned near the second Matriarch, and if that is the case, you must rely on your Spine Crawlers to play defense. Do not let a Protoss attack take out your valuable Zerglings.

• You will also want to add 2 Spore Crawlers, to handle the air units that start coming with the Protoss attacks.

• During the third Flash Freeze, go in on the final Psi-Link spire with your Zerglings. Ignore everything else. The mission will end once the final Psi-Link spire has been taken down.

Starcraft 2 Psi-lence is Golden Video Guide

This video guide demonstrates how to unlock the Psi-lence is Golden achievement for Harvest of Screams:

Starcraft 2 Harvest of Screams Brutal Mode Guide

Brutal mode is a much more relaxed version than Psi-lence is Golden, but the strategy remains the same. You do not have to take out the Protoss base in just 3 Flash Freezes. I recommend keeping Kerrigan on defense the entire time and just using Zerglings and Roaches during the Flash Freezes to chip away at the Psi-Link spires and Protoss bases. After about 5-6 Flash Freezes, the Protoss should be dead.

Build more Drones in the beginning however so you have a larger army for use during the Flash Freezes and on defense as well. Be sure to pick up a few extra Spine and Spore Crawlers over what was recommended for Psi-lence is Golden as well.

You can even destroy the entire Protoss army and structures if you like. It is a lot slower but it is impossible to mess it up. The video guide below shows exactly that: