Starcraft 2 All In Brutal & Achievements Guide

Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough --> Starcraft 2 All In guide (you are here)

All In is the final mission in the Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty campaign and without the proper strategy many players likely find it to be the hardest. It is the ultimate survival mission, tasking players to survive for 30 minutes while protecting the Artifact.

It is the only macro-oriented mission in game where having a 200/200 army is not enough to guarantee a win on brutal mode.

All In Versions

there are two versions of All In depending on what you selected for on the previous mission.

If you completed Belly of the Beast, that means you will not face Nydus Worms. Instead, you will fight a lot of Broodlords and Mutalisks as well as a healthy ground assault. Defending this requires anti-air all around your base as well as a fleet of Battlecruisers or Vikings to handle Broodlords, which will outrange your missile turrets. You will still need a normal defense at the front of your base around the Artifact to defend against ground attacks as well as Kerrigan.

If you completed Shatter the Sky, that means you will not have to face Mutalisks or Broodlords but you will have to face Nydus Worms. Nydus Worms pop up constantly during All In and spawn a lot of units. You have to take them out quickly in order to beat the mission.

Without using any special technology, the Shatter the Sky version is much easier to beat than the Belly of the Beast version. The reason is that when you do not have to deal with air attacks on all sides, you can focus all your defense around the Artifact, allowing you to have a much more stable defense. While your defense is defending the Artifact, you can control Banshees and take them around the map to pick off the Nydus Worms as they spawn.

Note: If you do pick Shatter the Sky, be certain you kill the Leviathan - otherwise you will have to fight it during All In, which is not fun.

All In Brutal Video Walkthrough - Nydus Worm Version

If you chose to complete Shatter the Sky as your previous mission, you get the Nydus Worm version. The strategy I am going to outline below does not require any particular technology path, though the Hive Mind Emulator and Psi Disrupter are both useful in this mission.

First, we will start with a video walkthrough:

All In Brutal - Nydus Worms Part 1 Video Guide

All In Brutal - Nydus Worms Part 2 Video Walkthrough

Strategy for All In Brutal Nydus Version

The video above gives a full walkthrough for completing this mission on Brutal mode. Here is the general gist of the strategy:

• Start by salvaging your bunkers and pulling all your units back. Your Bunker line should be behind the ramp to the Artifact, not at it

• Move your Siege Tanks to just under the Artifact on the low ground. This lets them be in range of both entrances to your base.

• Do not worry about the Supply Depots to the southwest of your base. You will lose them as they are not worth defending.

• Train a fleet of at least 5 Banshees. These Banshees will focus down Nydus Worms when they pop.

• Save your Artifact timer for when you really need it. The most dangerous time is if you lose your Banshees and you need a breather to rebuild.

• The Banshee mercenaries can be used to help replace your Banshee Nydus-killing fleet if you lose all your Banshees.

• Build Missile Turrets all over your base and station your Battlecruisers in your base. This will help when you get dropped on by Overlords.

• Build up a sizable tank and banshee force. This should be the bulk of your army.

• Build extra production facilities late in the game when your gas and mineral counts start getting high.

• Be sure to keep training Marines and building new Bunkers. You will want a few near the Artifact as well as 3 Bunkers at each entrance to your base.

All In - Air Version / Belly of the Beast Version

Many players find that beating the air version of "All In" on Brutal mode is the most difficult mission in the Wings of Liberty. If you chose Belly of the Beast instead of Shatter the Skies, you will end up with this difficult air version.

Fortunately, after a variety of experimenting, I have come up with three separate strategies that you can use depending on what technology choices you made. I have found that with some practice that this mission is much easier than most players think (myself included). The three options, easiest to hardest:

Hive Mind Emulator - If you have Hive Mind Emulator technology, you can throw up a minor defense and about 20-30 of these towers around the artifact and your base. Whenever Mutalisks and Broodlords come in to attack, you can mind control them. There is no limit to the amount you can take. I have had a match where I had over 100 Mutalisks and 30 Broodlords (260 supply worth of units - no harvesters included).

Mass Ghost - If you have Ghosts with the Ocular Implants armory upgrade (+2 range, +3 sight) as well as Bunkers with the +1 range upgrade, you can use Ghosts to your advantage. In a Bunker with these upgrades, Ghosts have a range of 10. This allows a Ghost in a Bunker to actually hit a Broodlord! Ghosts also are great here because most of the units you fight are Zerglings and Mutalisks, both of which are weak against Ghosts. Finally, cloaked ghosts can defend your base whereas Snipe is good versus Kerrigan.

No Tech - If you do not have either Ghosts or the Hive Mind Emulator, you can use a more standard defense of Marines in Bunkers, a few extra Siege Tanks, Perdition Turrets (or Planetary Fortresses), Missile Turrets, Vikings, and a lot of units on repair/healing duty.

I find the Hive Mind Emulator strategy to be the easiest, with the Mass Ghost strategy being moderately difficult, and the No Tech version to be the hardest. All however are doable. I have created video guides for all three so you can pick whichever technology works best for you.

All In Air Version - Hive Mind Emulator Edition

Here is the video guide for the All In strategy using the Hive Mind Emulator:

Part 1

Part 2

Hive Mind Emulator Strategy

This version is the easiest as soon as you get your micro down. You just have to build about 20-30 Hive Mind Emulators around the Artifact and the edges of your base.

Since your Hive Mind Emulators will be used to mind control nearly all of the air units you go up against in the first half of the mission, you primarily need to focus on building a decent ground defense to protect yourself from the Zergling, Roach, and Hydra attacks that come in. Focus most of your defense on the western choke point because the attacks from that region seem to be heavier.

You want to be able to hold off the Zerg on your main base as long as possible, but you can lose your base at around 50% and still be fine if you get enough Broodlords and Mutalisks. If your base starts falling apart, make sure you get some SCVs up near the Artifact so you can build more Hive Mind Emulators and repair the ones that are up there. If you are having trouble fending off the Zerg, you can use the Artifact, particularly around the 12-13% charging mark, as this is a time where it is easy to get overwhelmed.

Once you get up to 50+ Mutalisks and 10+ Broodlords, the mission is a cakewalk. There are only two real obstacles: Leviathan and Kerrigan. Leviathan spawns at 70% charge and sits just out of reach of the Artifact platform and spawns Mutalisks and Broodlords. He is relatively harmless. Kerrigan can cause a wipe though if she is not dealt with properly.

If you still have a lot of Hive Mind Emulators alive, you can try to leave Leviathan alive for awhile and use his steady stream of Mutalisks and Broodlords as fresh recruits for your mind-controlled army. Leviathan may go aggressive if you mind control a unit too close to him and may start attacking. If you have to take him out, make sure you have 50+ Mutalisks. If you do, you will only lose a couple to him.

Kerrigan is easy to deal with as well if you know what to do. You should know that during her first two attacks, Kerrigan does not yet have that Psionic-storm like ability which kills any units caught within it very quickly. Instead, she just has her regular attack. As a result, Mutalisks work great versus Kerrigan for the first two fights. Just send the swarm in on her when she starts getting close and you will be fine. It helps if you can pull her in range of the couple Siege Tanks you have though.

Once Kerrigan has her storm ability, your Mutalisks cannot be allowed to go near her. You can lose your entire Mutalisk flock in just a few seconds which can cause you to lose the match. Instead, you should now have enough Broodlords to handle Kerrigan. Kerrigan will spend time attacking the Broodlings and use the storm on them as well. The Broodlords will take awhile to kill Kerrigan but Kerrigan is harmless while the Broodlings keep her locked down.

If you have access to Ghosts with upgrades, you can train a few and keep them up on the Artifact platform, cloaked. They should remain safe as long as they stay cloaked and when Kerrigan comes they can use Snipe repeatedly which can double or triple the speed at which you take her out.

All In Air Version Brutal Guide - Ghost Strategy

This strategy requires that you have Ghosts (not Spectres) with the Ocular Implant upgrade as well as the +1 range upgrade for units inside Bunkers. Furthermore, you will want the 6 capacity bunker upgrade as well. The free cloaking upgrade is not required but it does help. Here is the video guide:

Part 1

Part 2

Here is how this strategy works:

Ghosts have a natural range of 6, which increases to 8 with the Ocular Implant. All units inside a Bunker gain 1 range by default, so with the upgrade for an extra +1 range for units inside a bunker, Ghosts go up to 10 range. This effectively gives your Ghosts siege range while inside a bunker.

Additionally, Ghosts do bonus damage to light units. The primary forces the computer uses are Mutalisks and Zerglings, both of which need to be close to attack and are light units. This means that your Ghosts in Bunkers will shred most of the computer's attacks before they can even get in range.

Ghosts are also good against Kerrigan thanks to the Snipe ability. You can use about 20-30 Marines to keep Kerrigan busy while 4 Ghosts use Snipe over and Over again on her to burn her down. This will take down Kerrigan in about 5-6 seconds, long before she can kill off all your Marines.

Finally, just a handful of Ghosts can protect the entire back of your base and even the inside. Most attacks from the back of your base or the Overlord drops do not come with detection. As a result, you can place a few permanently cloaked Ghosts behind your Mineral Line and 2-3 spread throughout your base and they will kill any wandering Mutalisks, Overlords, Broodlords. Snipe can be used to burn down Broodlords. Since there are no detectors, these Ghosts will stay alive the whole match.

By the 50% point in the match, you will need to start training Vikings as Broodlord numbers get higher at this point. Ghosts are weak against Broodlords if you do not use the Snipe ability. While the Broodlords might not be able to take them, it takes a Ghost a long time to kill a Broodlord due to their high HP, armor, and armored status.

For your automated defense, you will want some Perdition Turrets (or 2 Planetary Fortresses) at the choke points to your base, backed up by Missile Turrets and about 4-5 SCVs and 2 Medics. The Medics will heal the SCVs which will take damage once the SCVs start repairing your automated defense. Use your Vikings to take out Broodlords and let the automated defense do most of the hard work.

When Leviathan comes out, you will want about 20 Vikings. Send them in to kill Leviathan ASAP. Leviathan is a lot weaker if you have a few armory upgrades. You will want to upgrade infantry weapons and ship weapons to the max during this mission. You can ignore armor, since most of your units will be in Bunkers or cloaked.

All In Air Version Brutal Video Guide - No Tech

If you were one of the sorry people who not only chose the harder version of All In (by selecting Belly of the Beast) but also made the mistake of not picking the Hive Mind Emulator and then on top of that chose Spectres over Ghosts (or did not invest the credits in Ghost tech).. then this section is for you.

Fortunately, I have done this mission enough times that even with no tech I find it fairly easy. I think I use the Artifact once or twice. I definitely do not over-use it though and you can make the mission even easier by using it more frequently. You can always replay the mission on Hard mode in order to get the Aces High achievement.

Perdition Turrets vs Planetary Fortresses

Note that I do use Perdition Turrets in this video (I'm willing to play with 1 arm tied behind my back but not both). They can be replaced with Planetary Fortresses if you do not have Perdition Turret tech.

The pros of using a Planetary Fortress is that they are much more survivable and easier to repair. Your SCVs can hide behind Planetary Fortresses and rarely die while on repair duty. The downside is that they are kind of big, so they put a lot of space between the Missile Turrets and units attacking the Fortresses. To get around this, place 1 Viking on top of each Planetary Fortress on hold position ("H" key). This will draw in any Mutalisks so that your Missile Turret line can take them out. Vikings will also be able to hit Broodlords from here, so that is not a worry.

Now that we have that out of the way, here is the video guide:

Part 1

Part 2

There are a few key aspects to completing this mission that make it significantly easier.

The first thing you need to do in this mission is to build a macro Orbital Command. This is just an Orbital Command that sits above the main Command Center. It does not actually get harvested to but instead will provide you with MULEs and enhanced SCV production. You will get the mineral cost back within 3 minutes and then the rest of the mission it provides you with a massive advantage.

While the Orbital Command is being built, you will want to do is start upgrades. Only research weapon upgrades. Prioritize Ship Weapons over Vehicle Weapons. Infantry Weapons should be researched as well. Ship Weapons are more important than Vehicle Weapons because you will rely much more on Vikings than you will on Siege Tanks. Additionally, tanks do so much damage per hit that armor barely negates their damage, making Vehicle Weapons less important.

While this is going on throw down Tech Reactors on all your buildings. Note: If you do not have tech reactors, build additional production facilities with tech labs. You can use Reactors on a few Barracks though and a Reactor on the Starport. You will want 1 of each structure with a tech lab. If you do not have Science Vessels though you do not need Tech Labs at all.

As soon as you start your upgrades, you need to move your choke points back. You should start building defense at the western entrance to your base, just towards your base from the ramp before focusing on the northeastern entrance.

Important: The western choke to your base gets heavier ground attacks throughout the game. It also gets attacked MUCH earlier than the Northern choke. Focus your attention there and build more defense there.

Ultimately you will want 7-8 Perdition Turrets or 2 Planetary Fortresses plus 5 Missile Turrets guarding the western entrance to your base whereas 3-4 Perdition Turrets (or 1 Planetary Fortress) plus 3-4 Missile Turrets can guard the Northern entrance to your base.

As far as army composition goes, you will want to focus on the following:

1. A few extra Siege Tanks. If you have the Siege Breaker mercenaries, you only need around 8 tanks total (2 starters, 2 additional trainers, and 2 sets of 2 mercenaries). Without Mercenaries, you will want about 10 tanks total. These will help kill Kerrigan as well as the Ultralisks that spawn later in the game.
2. A mobile force of 30-36 Marines. These Marines will engage Kerrigan when she spawns. You will likely lose all of them each time she attacks. This is okay as you can replace them easily. Try to pull Kerrigan back in range of a few of your tanks as that will make killing her much easier. This force always needs to exist. As soon as it is killed you need to rebuild it in time for Kerrigan's next attack.
3. Bunkers with about 42 Marines. On the platform around the artifact, you should build around 7 Bunkers and fill them with Marines. These will take down most of the Mutalisks that will attack the Artifact area, as well as kill off Broodlings that may spawn should Broodlords get off a few attacks (and they likely will).
4. Automated Defense - With most of your spare money, you will want to be throwing up Missile Turrets, replacing lost Bunkers, Perdition Turrets, or Planetary Fortresses.
5. Vikings - You will need about 4 Vikings by about the 30% mark to defend the back entrance to your base and pick off any Broodlords. A small fleet of Vikings works fine since your resources during the first half of the mission will be focused on getting out your Marine army to place in bunkers, building automated defense, supply depots, weapon upgrades, and replacing your Marine army killed off by Kerrigan. However, by the 50% mark on your way through the mission, you should have enough resources to train Vikings. You will want about 20-24 of them by the time the Leviathan spawns at 70%.
6. Your repair team (see below).

The Importance of a Repair Team

In this mission, in order to really stay on top of the Zerg attacks without losing your base, you need a big team for repairs and healing. The trick is to use a repair team consisting of SCVs, Medics, and Science Vessels. If you do not have Science Vessels, you can use extra SCVs and Medics. I prefer to use Science Vessels since they basically cost gas instead of minerals, and in this mission extra minerals means more automated defense.

What you will want is 15 SCVs, 6 Medics, and 5 Science Vessels. You will want to put 5 SCVs up near the Artifact, 5 at the western entrance to your base, and 5 at the northeastern entrance to your base. You will want to place 2 Medics at each location as well. Using the Medics makes all the difference in the world - as SCVs take damage, your Medics can heal them. This is much faster than SCVs repairing each other plus it frees up the SCVs to actually work on repairs. Having the Medics will make your SCVs live literally 10 times as long as not having them.

With your Science Vessels, place 1 over top of your tank line, 2 by the artifact, and 1 over each of the two entrances to your base. The 1 over top of your tank line will heal up any damage your tanks take whereas the one over the entrances to your base will also help repair SCVs. The ones over the entrance to your base can additionally be used to use Irradiate should any Broodlords attack while your Vikings are out of position. Finally, you can use the two near the Artifact for healing duties to top off your Vikings. This lets SCVs focus on repairs and also saves money in the long run.

If you do not have Science Vessels, increase the number of Medics from 2 to 3 and the number of SCVs you keep near the Artifact from 5 to 10.

Be sure to replace SCVs as they die - and they will. Keep checking the entrances to your bases and each time SCVs die, train new ones and rally them to the repair area. This is where having that extra Orbital Command comes in handy - the extra SCV production makes replacing your SCVs a lot easier. Be careful when running SCVs up to the Artifact platform, as they will often get caught by units on their way up there and die.

Handling Broodlords

With just Vikings and no Ghosts, Broodlords are much more of a threat. Brood Lords attack from the 4 corners of the map: northwest (top left), northeast (top right), southwest (bottom left), and southeast (bottom right). The Northwest Broodlords attack the platform by the artifact, whereas the southwest and northeast groups will attack your western defense and northeastern defense chokes respectively. Finally, the southeastern group will head for your mineral line.

There is one strategy you should know that makes it a lot easier. Whenever Matt Horner announces an air attack, you should know that the one coming for the Artifact usually gets there last, and the one coming for your mineral line from the southeast corner always gets there first.

Not only does the one in the southeast corner always get their first, but it flies over a large undefended space for some time on its way to the mineral line. That means you actually do not need 2 separate Viking fleets to deal with the ads - you can just use your single main Viking army to kill the ones in the southeast corner long before they get to your base, and then they will be back in position to help defend the rest of the base.

Another thing you should know is that there are two types of aerial attacks - one is the ones that are announced by Matt Horner and the other are just random attacks. You will never get a random attack on your mineral line - these are always announced and marked on your mini-map with an exclamation point.

However, the Broodlords that attack the choke points to your base are frequently not marked on the map and are just random attacks - you need to check these areas constantly to see if they are being attacked. An alternate strategy is to leave a few Vikings at each choke point on hold position to handle these Brood Lords as they attack.

Fighting Kerrigan

When Kerrigan comes, you can fight her off with about 36 Marines. Just meet her at whatever choke she is heading for with your Marine packs. The reason we use Marines with no Medics is because Kerrigan deals 90 damage a swing - she will kill your Marines in 1 hit no matter what. Your Marines themselves will do a lot of damage to Kerrigan, but try to fight her in range of a few Siege Tanks - this will significantly speed up your kill times. Additionally, you need to be careful to dodge at least 1 storm attack so you can live long enough to take her out.

The real key to beating Kerrigan is to remember to replace your Marine army each time she attacks and having enough minerals on hand to do so. You will need at least 2 reactored Barracks to keep up with demand and 36 marines costs 1800 minerals. Do not forget to rebuild your Marine army or you can easily die when Kerrigan comes the next time. If Kerrigan catches you without a Marine army you can easily wipe. In this situation you should use the Artifact to buy yourself time to make the necessary repairs.

Leviathan

Dealing with Leviathan is simple and is just a function of having enough Vikings. You will need about 20 to take it down, about 24 to take it down comfortably. Make sure you have the Ship Weapons upgrade as this significantly boosts your Viking's damage against a high armor target like Leviathan. If you have Science Vessels, pull them up when you engage Leviathan. They will not only heal your Vikings as they take damage but you can also use Irradiate to kill Mutalisks while your Vikings focus down Leviathan. 

All in Achievements

There are 3 achievements you can get during All In:

All In - Unlocked by completing "All In" on Normal mode.

Burn and Turn - Unlocked by killing 150 units or more in Normal (or higher) difficulty with a single Artifact nova. Wait until you are completely overrun and use the Artifact and you should hit this achievement without a problem. The first brutal video demonstrates this perfectly.

Aces High - Use the Artifact only once when successfully completing All In on hard mode (or higher). The brutal video guide in the Nydus Worm section shows how this is done. In short, you never want to use your Artifact unless you lose your Banshees. You should be able to maintain a consistent defense without needing it. The only thing that can overrun your base is too many unchecked Nydus Worms, which you should be killing with your Banshees. Therefore, save your one Artifact charge for late in the game when you accidentally lose all your Banshees. This will buy you time to re-build them.

For the air version of this mission, I actually like to use the Artifact at around 12%. After that, you should not need it. It helps early on to get your automated defense set and a few Vikings out without getting overwhelmed in the early stages of the game. Alternatively, you can save it for an emergency or around 80% when the Zerg really starts to come out in force.

If you do not have any of the good technology at all (i.e. Ghosts or Hive Mind Emulator), it can be a little challenging. As a result, I have actually made a separate video for Aces High:

Part 1

Part 2

Follow the same strategies as outlined in the brutal section but repeat on Hard mode and you should not need to use the Artifact even once.