alt="StarCraft II Mission Guides"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87363/preview">
initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;">
Kaldir Missions
This guide assumes that you went to Kaldir first, if you did not, some of the comments are invalid. I suggest going to Kaldir first to unlock the basic Zerg units (Roach & Hydralisk) for future missions, since theyre the foundation of most Zerg combat. However, you can choose to do Char first without any problem.
At this point in time you can now use the evolution chamber. The evolution chamber allows you to choose between one of three upgrades for each of your units. Go ahead and choose the upgrade for the Zergling that fits your playstyle.
Harvest of Screams
Main Objective Reward: +5 Kerrigan levels
Bonus Objective Reward: +2 Kerrigan levels
New Unit: Roach
Roaches are ground only assault units, they should construct the front line for Hydralisks and any ranged attackers. They can burrow to regenerate.
WARNING: Flash Freeze - At random intervals your troops can be frozen, you can complete bonus missions to increase sight during the freeze and you will get immunity earlier on from the freezing effect. A timer at the top will display the timing.
WALKTHROUGH
First up is a short walk until the first flash freeze. Use Kinetic Charge to take out any beasts in your way. After the freeze you should gain some immunity to it, but youll probably be down your Zerglings. At this point just keep walking forward until you unlock your base.
Your build order should be to just max out your economy first and foremost. A Flash Freeze will come rather quickly and this will be your first chance to deal damage, you should be immune to the freezing effect and can pillage all of the Protoss you can in the time. My biggest suggestion is that since you have 1:30, you should focus on the first 60 seconds on attacking and retreat in the last 30 seconds. Although I retreated with about 10 seconds left the first sortie in order to take out the pylon.
I, personally, put a second hatchery up early on without realizing that you get an early expansion. You can put your second hatchery either in your main base or wait until you take the base to the north. Up to you, really, again you are the commander of your Protoss slaying forces. I threw up two extra hatcheries in the expansion, just so I can pump troops out, and queued up about 15 drones from the previous base since you get a free hatchery at the expansion.
Anyway, setup your expansion and just start pumping out units once your economy is up. Youre racing against the clock here, so youve got to put your all into it. Dont neglect your defenses at your original base, the Protoss will attack there. You just need a few Spine Crawlers up to hold off any attackers until you can make your way back, at least until you push far forward.
After you take down the second spire, you can harvest from a third expansion. Obviously in higher difficulties, you should take advantage of it, but on Normal you shouldnt even honestly bother. You can charge the second base before a flash freeze occurs, but the third base has several Colossus in it.
First Base
This is the easiest and can be assaulted directly during the first flash freeze and should be finished off by the second, you dont need anything other than a few Roaches and a few Zerglings.
Second Base
This base is a bit harder, youll want to start the assault about 15 seconds before a flash freeze (they only last 60 seconds by this point). Then just keep pushing.
Third Base
Again, assault 15 seconds before the start of a Flash Freeze, youll lose some troops to a Colossus but thats just life. When the freeze hits, break your troops up into teams to take out the Colossuses so that when it ends they dont ruin your entire forces. After that just focus everything on the objectives
Bonus Mission
If youre going for the 15 minutes or less, skip the bonus mission unless you absolutly need it. If not, split your forces off to take out the Matriarchs.
Achievements
- Ice Breaker: Youll need to destroy 20 unfrozen structures, this is rather easy if youre not aiming to complete the mission in 15 minutes or less, since you can create a sizable force and just ransack them during the daytime. Do it on the first two bases, the last has the colossuses which can be a huge pain.
- Storm Chaser: Youve got 15 minutes, which is doable, just push at EVERY single flash freeze. Keep two armies if youre having trouble, one to fight during flash freezes and another that you can sacrifice to fight during the daytime.
- Harvest of Screams: Complete the mission.
At this point you now have access to the Archives and the ability to alter Kerrigans abilities. These features are on the main screen.
Next
Mission: SHOOT THE MESSENGER
alt="StarCraft II Mission Guides"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87363/preview">
initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;">
Shoot the Messenger
Unlocks: Zergling Evolution Mission
Bonus: +3 Kerrigan Levels
Unit Unlocked: Hydralisk
Hydralisks are ranged attackers, plant them behind Roaches so they may assault units without worry about dying.
WALKTHROUGH
This mission is interesting, in the sense that there is a lot of downtime between really hectic sequences. This is when the game starts getting a bit harder and starts making you actually rush to accomplish something. When you start youre given a small base, the biggest thing to do is just get your economy up. The first wave can be finished by taking your starting units and Kerrigan and pushing up some, between the base and the warp gate.
After your economy is strong, create a mix of Roachs/Zerglings and Hydralisks. You dont need a lot of Hydralisks to take out the different waves. If you want to be extra careful, pepper the map with Spore Launchers to help, but its not really necessary. I have notes on each of the waves below, youre going to want to do the following:
- When there isnt shuttles: Assault the Protoss bases, the one on the middle left is a good expansion thats easy to take early on, both the north and north east bases are very difficult and you should only approach at about 150 food. You can win the map by destroying the Docking Rings, but you shouldnt have to.
- When there is a shuttle: Take your army and position it to intercept in the middle of the map, which should give you enough time to take the shuttles down without them even getting near a warp gate.
For most of the mission, I spent it clearing out the various Protoss bases just to make the mission a bit easier for me.
Wave One
This one spawns by its lonesome and goes towards the gate nearest you. Move Kerrigan and your hydras up a little bit and you should be able to stop it without much of a hitch.
Wave Two
This one spawns with a fighter escort, but at this point it shouldnt be much of an issue for you.
Wave Three
Here it gets a little more fun, a new gate shows up and it heads for the middle gate (which is still close to your base). Youll want to take out the little encampment in the middle of the map and just take it down. It comes with a single void ray.
Wave Four
This one spawns from the base and moves to the new gate, has a fighter and a Void Ray with it.
Wave Five
This one spawns at the old base and a brand new base, one moves to the original gate, the other moves to the second gate (the middle one). Both have fighter squadrons. Split your troops up and take them out at the same time.
Wave Six
Again, two, Im not sure where they come from because I took out a docking ring, but theyll be going to the far right and the middle gate. They have a void ray and a fighter.
Wave Seven
Two more, comes with a Carrier now.
Wave Eight
Final wave, a Mothership spawns, but I had already taken out most of the Docking Rings so I didnt have anything to deal with. By this point you should have enough Hydralisks and defenses that it shouldnt be much of an issue no matter what it sends.
Achievements
- Shoot the Messenger: Finish the mission.
- Warp in Peace: You cannot allow any ship (past the cinematic one) to begin charging its warp drives. This one is rather easy, you just need to catch the ships in the middle of the map.
- Extreme Nexism: You can either just camp in the middle of the map and build defenses around the warp gates or you can take the fight to the Protoss. Its better to take the fight to them in order to unlock additional expansions. Anyway just destroy two Nexuses and the achievement is yours.
Previous
Mission: HARVEST OF SCREAMS | Next
Mission: ENEMY WITHIN
alt="StarCraft II Mission Guides"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/87363/preview">
initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;">
Enemy Within
Unlocked: Roach Evolution Mission
Bonus: +1 Kerrigan Level
WARNING: Do the Zergling evolution mission before starting this mission. The difficulty changes drastically between having an upgraded Zergling and having the basic Zergling.
WALKTHROUGH
You’ll start by moving forward and infesting a critter, then devouring it. Move up and hop into the steam vents (remember that steam vents will hide you for future use). Then continue and infest the Ursadon, attack move and take out the zealots really quick before moving on. You can use the jump ability to stun the enemies, but that’s for high difficulties honestly.
You’ll move through a vent and upgrade into Niadra, the Broodmother. Here’s where it gets really, really, really fun honestly. You can spawn an infinite amount of Zerglings, up to your food limit, and you can consume various critters on the ship to get resources to grow (to increase your supply). Move through slaughtering everything, spawning Zerglings, until you get to a part where you need to hop into a vent.
Move your Zerglings through the vent and into the enemy area, destroying the Psi Broadcaster, lowering the shield, and allowing you to advance. The process repeats once more, but this time you’ll need to use Niadra to destroy the warp core.
After that, you’ll need to back track fighting a few small forces before the countdown timer ends. Afterward, you’ll be in a room where units in stasis will unfreeze. You should in this room be able to grow, unlocking Roaches and 8 additional supply. At this point, various stasis pods will blink, then Protoss will spawn. What I did was just went around gathering Biomass while the troops automatically attacked them, keeping them nearby.
By the final room, you should be able to get enough Biomass to grow once more for 35 supply and Hydralisks. After everything is taken care of, knock the vent door down and quickly use parasitic invasion to take the Ursa for yourself.
When you move forward, various escape pods will start counting down. In order to do “Failure to Launch” you’ll need to rush them. I had the Spawnling upgrade, so I was able to just make an infinite amount of Spawnlings quickly and rush everything with them, ignoring the units, leaving like sixty seconds on each of the timers.
Achievements
- Enemy Within: Complete the mission.
- Failure to Launch: You can’t let any of the escape pods reach 20 seconds.
- Biomass Effect: This is so easy, just keep consuming biomass within the mission, near the end you’ll get the achievement during the mission.
Previous
Mission: SHOOT THE MESSENGER
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Game Page.
