Death From Above is the second Starcraft 2 Heart of the
Swarm campaign mission in the "Final" category. It is a two-part mission which tasks the player with
ultimately destroying the Terran base.
The catch is that there are 3 Power Links that power a Psi Destroyer which will destroy the Zerg army if
units enter the field. This field slowly expands over time. While the field is expanding, you have to use Dehaka
and a small Primal Zerg force in order to take down the Power Links in a dungeon-crawl style of play.
Once you destroy the third Power Link, the fields go offline permanently, and you can take your time to macro up
and destroy the Terran base.
Death from Above - Kerrigan Levels
There are no Kerrigan levels available during any of the 3 Final missions. Kerrigan hits max level from the
missions and bonus levels of the previous missions.
Starcraft 2 Death From Above Achievement
List
There are 3 achievements available for players to unlock during the Death From Above mission:
Death From Above: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in the Death From Above
mission (any difficulty).
Terran Up the Sky: Unlocked destroying 20 enemy structures before the 2nd Psi Destroyer field
activation in the "Death from Above" mission (any difficulty). Kerrigan and the Leviathan can easily knock down 30+
buildings in this time period if you play on Casual.
Apex Predator: Unlocked by not letting Dehaka die while destroying a Power Link during this
mission (Normal difficulty or higher).
Note: For some reason there is no Mastery achievement associated with the Death From Above.
Mastery achievements are the Hard mode achievements that tend to be the hardest to unlock. You get a break here for
this mission.
Death From Above Achievements Video Guide
Here is a video guide demonstrating how to unlock the Terran Up the Sky and the Apex Predator achievements.
Neither of these achievements is particularly difficult, so follow along with the video and you will be fine.
Death From Above Brutal Mode Guide
The key to beating Death From Above on Brutal mode is to realize that your main base is still fully operational
when you are controlling Dehaka. You want to dedicate the initial few minutes of the mission to expanding, building
Drones, and working on your upgrades. This way, when you destroy the second and third Power Links, you will have a
large pool of resources ready to be used to train a large number of offensive units.
The easiest time to actually lose during this mission is when you are controlling Dehaka, so be sure to follow
the step by step guide if you are struggling with keeping him alive. If you die more than once with Dehaka on the
way to any of the Power Links, your base will start to take some noticeable damage from the Psi Destroyer. If you
die three times, you may end up losing the mission.
Step By Step Guide
As soon as the mission starts, use Dehaka to clear out the first Power Link. You can run back to the
platform and jump up on it if you need to heal at any point.
When you get control of your main base, start making Drones and build Automated Extractors. Spread your
Creep around and continue to Drone in a normal macroing fashion.
Use Kerrigan to attack the base to the east. Clear out this area and expand here as soon as you can.
Meanwhile, add some static defense at your main base. About 10 total crawlers with a few Queens is a good
start.
Use Kerrigan to start clearing to the North during your free time. At about :30 second left on the timer,
withdraw Kerrigan to the eastern expansion. She can defend this base, while your static defense, Queens, and
starting units can defend the main.
Before the timer ticks down to 0, queue up as many upgrades as you can. These will research while you are
controlling Dehaka.
Use Dehaka to pull all the Siege Tanks onto the high ground on your way to the second Power Link.
Climb the platforms and pull all the Siege Tanks to the high ground before you move forward with your
Roaches. Dehaka can platform hop all the way up towards the Power Link.
Use Kerrigan and the Leviathan to defend the eastern expansion.
Once all the Siege Tanks are dead, Dehaka and the Roaches can push right up and clear out all the remaining
Marines and Missile Turrets and destroy the second Power Link.
You should have a massive amount of resources banked up. Build a few Hatcheries and start mass-producing
Abominations or Ultralisks. Both work well for this mission. Split these between the main and the eastern
expansion for defensive purposes.
Kerrigan and the Leviathan can start clearing out a significant portion of the Terran forces. Retreat with
about 1:00 left on the clock.
Add a few crawlers to the eastern base for extra support.
Once again, before the Psi Destroyer activates for a third time, research as many upgrades as you can. Get
a Hive so you can get level 3 upgrades.
You should be able to max out at 200/200 before the Psi Destroyer is activated for a third time.
When the Psi Destroyer activates for the third time, use Dehaka to climb along the left wall and take out
all the units on the high ground. Keep your Primal Zerg forces behind until you have cleared out all the units
on the high ground.
You may die with Dehaka. If you do this, send in all your Primal Zerg units. Everything will respawn when
Dehaka regenerates.
Your buildings may take a bit of damage, but this is okay. Your main buildings still have a ways to go
before they take any damage, so do not stress over this.
Once Dehaka has cleared out everything on the high ground, you can just push forward with your regular
units.
From here, macro up to 200/200 and go in on the enemy player. Initially leave Dehaka behind for defense, as
you do get attacked by the various facilities at the edge of the map.
Re-macro up to 200/200 after you clear out the central forces. From here, you will likely lose all of these
units attacking towards the Psi Destroyer.
You may run out of resources. This is okay, as the computer attacks slow down (or even stop), whereas
Kerrigan, the Leviathan, and Dehaka can easily take down the remaining enemy units. If they die, just let them
respawn and push in once again. They can spawn an unlimited number of times.
As soon as the Psi Destroyer is disabled, the mission ends, so you can always go in on suicide missions
with the Leviathan, Dehaka, and Kerrigan until the mission ends. The Leviathan can safely approach from the
side as well, and can take out the Psi Destroyer in a round-about way without even destroying the entire enemy
base.
