Starcraft 2 2v2 Strategy

While most of this site is dedicated to general strategies or 1v1 strategies, it turns out that many players prefer 2v2 as they play with friends or a partner. As a result, I decided to throw together some content covering Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy.

Specific Team Strategies

Below, I will add a collection of articles detailing specific team strategies(only one so far, more to follow):

Protoss 2v2 Strategy (both players being Protoss)

Protoss Terran 2v2 Strategy (one partner being Terran and one being Protoss)

Terran 2v2 Strategy (both players being Terran)

Terran and Zerg 2v2 Strategies (one partner being Terran and one being Zerg)

Zerg 2v2 Strategy (both players being Zerg)

While there are a lot of similarities between 1v1 and 2v2, for the most part Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy is completely different from typical 1v1 strategies.

For example, unit counters often go out the window when there are two players that are not the same race. Consider this hypothetical situation:

- You are a Protoss player, playing against a Terran and Zerg team.
- The Zerg player masses Ultralisks, whereas the Terran player masses Marines and Banshees.

Do you get Immortals to counter the Ultralisks, even though Marines and Banshees counter Immortals? Do you get Void Rays, even though Marines counter Banshees? Do you get Colossi to counter the Marines, even though the Ultralisk counters the Immortal?

These are all good questions and the answer is not black and white, there are no "obvious" counters in 2v2, especially when teammates are not of the same race. As a result, Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy is more about synergistic combinations, and general strategy. Here are some examples:

Synergistic Combinations

The goal of your Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy should be less about countering the enemy's units and more about building synergistic unit combinations with your partner. For example, consider a Terran and Protoss team looking to rush the enemy:

- Zealots are a great rushing option, but suffer versus armored units (Roaches) and kiting units (Reapers, Marauders). They also have trouble breaking down walls. However, Zealots are great versus light ranged and ground units (Zerglings, Marines).

- Marauders are great versus armored and kiting units, as Marauders deal bonus damage versus Armored units (Roaches, Stalkers, and structures). Marauders also slow enemies, making Reapers and other Marauders unable to kite.

As a result, massing up 12 Zealots and 10 Marauders is an extremely powerful early-game push. This is an extremely hard push to counter as this synergistic unit combination has no early game counter.

The obvious counter would be air units, but if you rush, the enemy will have no air units, particularly if one is Zerg. That is the secret of a good Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy - focus on unit combinations that have no counter.

Resource Trading

Synergistic combinations are not limited to unit type but also resource type. For this example, consider the double Zerg duo. A popular Zerg strategy is the Speedling / Mutalisk build, which is an effective combination used to decimate enemy mineral lines.

You can make this strategy even more powerful by resource trading. One Zerg player could focus exclusively on Zerglings, whereas the other Zerg player could focus exclusively on Mutalisks.

The Zergling player could rush and give his extra gas to the Mutalisk player. The Mutalisk player would tech very quickly to a Spire and gift his extra minerals to the Zergling player. This allows the team to get a good supply of Zerglings and Mutalisks very early in the game, something not possible in a 1v1 match-up.

General Starcraft 2 2v2 Strategy

Basically, when planning out a Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy, you have one of two options: rush or wall up. Certain map and race combinations favor either approach.

In 2v2, know that one team will always rush. It seems to be inevitable! If you are a Zerg player, you have no choice but to rush (at least a Roach push), because you cannot wall off your base. Your only option is to pump out early units, contain the enemy within their respective bases, and expand the map.

On a split-base map, where each teammate has an individual ramp to their base, you can easily control the map by taking control of the space in between each ramp. A team can easily take that space and cut off the enemy's army, forcing each player to be contained within their base. The controlling team could then expand the map. This is a core Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy, regardless of race or unit combination.

The opposite approach also works. For example, consider a Terran duo facing a non-Terran duo. The Terran duo knows they are not in immediate danger of an air rush (no Reapers) and can easily make a large wall, encasing their natural. They then have a free ride to early expansions and technology.

Two Terran players each with a natural expansion, guarded by a mutual wall, both teching for mech/air builds, will be impossible to defeat. This combination can easily pump out 20 Siege Tanks, 10 Thors, and 20 Vikings, and be virtually unbeatable.

At this point, I am just scraping the tip of the proverbial Starcraft 2 2v2 strategy iceberg. I will be adding articles to this page over time with tons of strategies and combinations for each race, so check back regularly!