by Stow on Sep 07, 2010
Everyone is ready to fight for Raynor for the right price.
Mercenaries are a campaign-specific element in StarCraft II that gives
you the freedom to call powerful versions of basic units into combat
near instantly. These can instantly turn the tide of a
defensive panic, give you the fire support you need for a line of
bunkers, or the air support necessary to provide cover for your ground
forces. They have a rather large cooldown, so caution is
advised when calling them in! They also have an
upfront hiring price in Credits before you can call them into combat,
so this guide is here to tell you who is worth their asking price.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/89028">
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89028"
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style="font-style: italic;">How does recruitment in video
games always end up happening at a bar? Has anyone ever heard
of this actually happening in real life?
War Pigs
Squad Size: 4 Elite Marines
Vitals: +65% Health, +35% Damage
Limit per Mission: 3 Squads
Hiring Cost: You start with them!
Cost in Mission: 250 minerals, 4 supply.
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Hire these?
: The basic marine squad has a unique element of being able
to call down three squads per mission. Almost every mission,
you should be calling them down as they come available, for they make
perfect offensive Marines when combined with Medics. The
vastly increased health gives them much more staying power when coming
under fire and a larger cushion of health to endure damage while being
healed by a Medic. A Marine and Medic cannot handle a Spine
Crawler, where as a War Pig can tank it without a problem with the
higher health pool. Even if youre not using an offensive
Marine force in the mission, you can use these in Bunkers to get more
firepower per Bunker!
Devil Dogs
Squad Size: 2 Elite Firebats
Vitals: +60% Health, +25% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 25,000 Credits
Cost in Mission: 250 Minerals, 75 Gas,
4 Supply
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Hire these? :
The elite Firebat squad simply has tons of
health! Even if the Firebat is not a good unit in itself, you
can call these into play to serve as stellar damage sponges for your
Marine squads. Keep Medics close by and theyll last almost
forever unless focused down by a large enemy force. Even if
they do die, just think of how many Marines would have died while that
Firebat was soaking up the damage. Keep that in mind, and
hire these if you love your infantry squads throughout the campaign
(you should!)
Hammer Securities
Squad Size: 2 Elite Marauders
Vitals: +25% Health, +20% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 30,000 Credits
Cost in Mission: 250 Minerals, 75 Gas,
4 Supply
Cooldown: 6 Minutes
Hire these?:
The master Marauders look cool, but have the deck stacked
against them. Marauders are an outstanding unit and the
Concussive slow ability from multiplayer is splashed to nearby units in
the campaign, but that is the only real benefit of the unit in the
campaign. The loss of Stimpacks greatly kills the Marauders
offensive use, and for a unit with +20% damage they simply just dont
do enough damage. 30,000 credits is not a lot of money in the
campaign though, so if you want to use these as your Concussive
addition to your infantry squads or in the occasional bunker, then
thats a solid use of your money. Buy at your own discretion.
Spartan Company
Squad Size: 2 Elite Goliaths
Vitals: +33% Health, +33% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 40,000 Credits
Cost in Mission: 300 Minerals, 125 Gas,
6 Supply
Cooldown: 6 minutes
Hire these? : Packing
some serious anti-air power, the real factor in
buying these is if you buy the respective upgrades at the Armory for
Goliaths. The mercenary versions also benefit from those
upgrades and theyre essential to making Goliaths worth their salt in
the field. These have a very fair cost to call down in game,
and can make for stellar anti-air in a pinch but we have another
mercenary unit coming up that will handle that just fine. Buy
these if you enjoy looking at that smug pilots face, he just happens
to be one of the Blizzard designers!
Siege Breakers
Squad Size: 2 Elite Siege Tanks
Vitals: +33% Health, +66% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 45,000 Credits
Cost in Mission: 400 Minerals, 200 Gas,
6 Supply
Cooldown: 7 Minutes
Hire These? :
Holy crap! Siege Tanks already do a ton of
damage and are your staple defensive units of the campaign, but +66%
damage on top of that? These will murder everything that
comes near them while in siege mode. The cost isnt even that
badyou are paying 100 more minerals, but 50 less gas compared to two
Siege Tanks alone. A hefty cooldown is in place for a reason,
so make sure you use these defensively and keep them alive at all
costs, as theyll keep you much safer than any other mercenary
will. These are a no brainer, buy them immediately!
Hel's Angels
Squad Size: 3 Pirate Viking Fighters
Vitals: +45% Health, +40% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 45,000
Cost in Mission: 400 Minerals, 300 Gas,
6 Supply
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Hire These? :
Now were getting somewhere. Thats a really
good set of bonuses, and you get three of them per squad you call
in! Theyre still Vikings, so they wont dominate the ground
by any means, but these are the undisputed lords of the sky.
The moment you get these available and expect to see any Mutalisks or
Void Rays in the mission, call them in and the skies are
yours. You dont even need the Viking upgrades to make these
effective, but with splash damage and additional range, these simply
cannot be beat. Buy them immediately because they will come
in handy throughout the campaign.
Dusk Wings
Squad Size: 2 Rogue Banshees
Vitals: +25% Health, +50% Damage
Limit per Mission: 2 Squads
Hiring Cost: 60,000
Cost in Mission: 350 Minerals, 200 Gas,
6 Supply
Cooldown: 7 Minutes
Hire these?:
You get them relatively late in the game, but these
Banshees do some serious damage to anything on the ground.
The main benefit is using them on the Nydus Canal version of the final
mission, as their superior health and damage will give them the staying
power to drop any rogue Worms that spawn in a dangerous area.
If you intend on doing the Air version, you can skip these.
Jackson's Revenge
Squad Size: 1 Pirate Battlecruiser
Vitals: +30% Health, +30% Damage
Limit per Mission: 1 Squads
Hiring Cost: 80,000
Cost in Mission: 400 Minerals, 300 Gas,
6 Supply
Cooldown: 7 Minutes
Hire these?:
Too little, too late. The Battlecruiser
mercenary ship has one major thing going for it, and thats looking
awesome. A sleek design and some different weapons really
make me wish we could use that skin in multiplayer, but for the few
missions you get a hold of it, the Jacksons Revenge is rather
lackluster. Its completely worthless in the final mission
due to the Queen of Blades having the ability to instant kill
it. Its also 80,000 credits to even get the contract to, and
can only be called in once. Its just too much of an
investment for the use youll get out of it, so buy the Banshees
instead if you want a powerhouse air to ground mercenary.