Rush Defense tasks Terran players with surviving both an
early game Zergling rush as well as a proxy Gateway attack while losing minimal amounts of units.
In order to earn the gold medal, players must fight off very early Zergling and Zealot aggression, including
brief periods of time where your only defense is SCVs, without losing more than 9 units.
While this may sound challenging, the truth is that the 9 unit buffer is very generous, and even with very poor
micro, this mission can be done without losing more than a couple SCVs with the strategies outlined here.
Rush Defense Gold Medal Video Walkthrough
The video guide below shows you how to grab the gold medal. The most important things you will see in the video
is the appropriate placement of buildings as well as how to distract the Zealot with your SCV.
Round by Round Rush Defense Strategy Guide
In order to beat Rush Defense and get the gold medal, you can only lose 9 units combined during both attacks.
With the strategy below, you may lose a couple SCVs during the Zergling attacks, but you should not lose any during
the Zealot attacks.
Zergling Rush Defense
As soon as the match starts, build a Barracks. This should be building within a few seconds of starting.
Place it near the top left vespene geyser.
Keep training SCVs the entire match.
Build a Supply Depot at 14/19 supply. Just place it behind the mineral line out of the way.
As soon as the Barracks is done, throw up a Bunker by the other Vespene gas at the southern entrance to
your mineral field. This will be the first building enemy Zerglings attack.
While the Bunker is being built, simultaneously build a Marine and rally it to the Bunker.
The first wave of 6 Zerglings will arrive before the Bunker and Marine finish. You should have around 15
SCVs at this point. Pull off all your SCVs (except the one building the Bunker) and have them attack the
Zerglings. With good micro, you can pull back SCVs that get low on health, but even letting them auto-attack
you should only lose 2-4 and you will kill all the Zerglings.
After that, the mission is on auto-pilot as you will have a Bunker up with Marines in it. Set your SCVs
back to harvesting minerals and train more Marines to fill up the Bunker. A single bunker full of 4 Marines can
hold off all the rest of the Zergling attacks.
Zealot Rush Defense
The Zealot version of Rush Defense may seem tougher because your SCVs can get killed a lot faster by Zealots,
but there is a trick you can use so that you do not have to lose any Zealots. When the first Zealot is getting
ready to come out, you should have an SCV by the Gateways.
When the Zealot spawns, it will go for the SCV, and then you can run your SCV around in large circles and the
Zealot will not be able to get it because it is too slow. You can do this for the 15 seconds or so until your
Bunker is up with a Marine in it. You can then return to your base with that SCV and your Bunker will be your
defense.
Here is the step-by-step strategy:
As soon as the match starts, throw up a Barracks near the upper left Vespene Geyser and start training
SCVs. This should be almost in your mineral line. Do not build anything near the Gateways, as you want a single
Bunker to draw in all Zealot attacks.
Build a Supply Depot at 14/19 supplies. I like to wedge it directly under the Barracks and against the
Command Center, as this creates a wall.
At this point, you should place your SCV by the Gateways which will be used to kite Zealots.
When the Barracks finishes, start building a Bunker and training Marines. The Bunker should be built
directly below your Command Center, directly against the starting Supply Depot. You can leave a 1 building
block of space between the Bunker and the Command Center, as SCVs can sit back here and safely repair the
Bunker while Zealots attack the front of it.
Once the first Zealot comes out, kite it around until your Bunker finishes and gets a Marine inside. Then,
run for the Bunker.
Keep 2 SCVs on permanent repair duty on the Bunker you built.
Continously train Marines and SCVs.
You should be stablized once you get 4 Marines in the Bunker. Keep the SCVs on repair duty however and
build up a large Marine ball in your base. Building extra Barracks makes this faster.
Once you have about 15 Marines, you can start killing off the enemy Gateways. Micro your Marines so that
Zealots do not accidentally kill any Marines at the end of the mission. If you are having trouble with this,
wait until you get 20+ Marines to attack. There is no time limit here.
When killing the Photon Cannon, kill off all the buildings on the high ground. This will take away the
Photon Cannon's vision, allowing your Marines to kill it safely from the high ground. Photon Carnnons tear up
Marines so you do not want to accidentally lose a bunch of units here with sloppy micro or you might not get
the gold medal.
