Starcraft 2 Siege Tank Counter

Starcraft 2 Counters --> Siege Tank (you are here)

Performing a Starcraft 2 Siege Tank counter can be incredibly challenging. As a result, I decided to dedicate a post to detailing the different ways you can defeat Starcraft 2 Siege Tanks.

With that said, on Starcraft 2 Siege Tank Counter! I will break down each counter up by race.

Countering the Starcraft 2 Siege Tank as Terran

When playing in a Terran versus Terran match-up, both players often end up with large amounts of Siege Tanks. This makes it very difficult for the game to advance and often the player that loses patience first ends up losing.

The best way to break this up is by massing Vikings and Siege Tanks of your own. You can slowly inch forward with your Vikings (to provide sight), Siege up your tanks, and pick the enemy's tanks off.

Siege Tanks have a range of 13, but cannot fire at what they cannot see. You use your Vikings to Provide sight and protect the air while your tanks move into a position they can fire from.

If you are low on Vikings, you can safely attack your enemy's Siege Tanks with your own Siege Tanks by using a Scanner Sweep or a floating building to spot Siege Tanks. Often this provokes a Scanner Sweep from your enemy so that he can fight back, so there is no net mineral loss for the scan.

Another unit you can build to break this stalemate and defeat the Starcraft 2 Siege Tank is the Banshee. This particular unit can cloak and deal massive damage to ground units.

While most Terran players are able to quickly scan to see your cloaked Banshees, it still generally takes a few seconds for them to respond. During this lag time you can often pick off several Siege Tanks.

Another ridiculously effective tactic is to perform a small diversion such as dropping 8 Marines in your enemy's main base. While your enemy is paying attention to killing that off, send in your Banshees to snipe the enemy's Siege Tanks. You would be surprised how many tanks this diversionary tactic lets you pick off!

The downside to the Banshee is that Thors and Vikings are able to kill Banshees in just a couple of hits. Cloak and a diversion really goes a long way here. You just need your Banshees to survive long enough to take out the Siege Tanks, and then you can move in with your own Tanks.

A great thing about making your enemy spend his Scanner Sweeps is that you can often make him exhaust his energy at his Orbital Command and then swoop in with cloaked Banshees!

My final recommendation is to avoid fighting the Terran player head on. You can often hit parts of his base with your own Siege Tanks via a nearby cliff or by transport via Medivac. This player will then have to come to you to fight, as you are destroying his base!

Starcraft 2 Siege Tank Counter as Protoss

Protoss players have a tough time versus Siege Tanks. The best thing you can do is produce massive amounts of Immortals. Immortals do very well versus Siege Tanks as they only take 10 damage per hit. However, the Terran player can significantly reduce the effectiveness of your Immortals by using EMP with a Ghost.

Additionally, Terran players will often bring in Banshees to support their Tanks if you over-produce Immortals. Be careful here; spread your Immortals out so they do not get taken out by a single EMP and support them with Zealots, Colossi, and anti-air if necessary.

Another great way to counter the Starcraft 2 Siege Tank is to use Dark Templar. You can often sneak these close and hit enemy tanks from behind and finish off a few before the enemy scans or moves a detector into position. If you use Dark Templar during a battle, he might not notice at all!

Another great method is to engage the enemy with your Immortals and ground units and then flank the enemy with a few Dark Templar. Sneak to the enemy's backside and head straight for the tanks. Dark Templar deal a lot of damage per swing and will make quick work of Siege Tanks if left unchecked.

Perhaps my favorite way to counter a Siege Tank heavy army is to combine charge-lots (Zealots with the Charge upgrade) with High Templar. Siege Tanks AI prioritizes offensive units like the Zealot over support units like the high Templar.

This allows you to get close enough to drop Psionic Storms, which absolutely dominate Siege Tanks. Be sure to spread out your High templar so you do not get hit with a single EMP. Force Fields on either side of the tank wall are great for keeping Ghosts back as well.

Send in your Zealots first and then immediately queue up some Psionic Storms on the tanks. You can also nail any infantry with storms to further weaken the Terran army.

Finally, you can often kill Siege Tanks in the Terran player's base by warping them in via a Warp Prism. Then, walk right up to the Tanks and start attacking. By sending in Dark Templar 1 at a time, you can exhaust his Orbital Command energy fairly quickly.

You can also usually pick off a few Siege Tanks before he is able to scan to reveal your Dark Templar. This is often the edge you need for your Immortals and Colossi to come in and finish off his troops.

Starcraft 2 Siege Tank Counter as Zerg

Zerg players also have a tough time against Siege Tanks. I recommend going one of two paths: air units or Ultralisks. Air units are great if your enemy is massing tanks and infantry (Marines and Marauders).

Brood Lords do incredibly well versus Infantry and Tanks. Broodlings utterly destroy the Terran army because Siege Tanks will shoot them, killing their own Marines with the splash damage. You can also use your Mutalisks to snipe Tanks and then send other ground units in like Zerglings, Banelings, Infestors, and Roaches to take out the Infantry.

However, often times the enemy will back his units up with Thors and Vikings. Brood Lords do well versus Thors but cannot attack Vikings. A single Thor can put a serious dent in your Mutalisks, so when the enemy uses both Thors and Vikings you are in a tough spot.

My favorite thing to do in this situation is to start massing Ultralisks. You will need a lot of Ultralisks to make this work, be warned! You will need enough Ultralisks to break through the Terran line and stand up against Siege Tank fire. You need to out-macro your opponent to make this work, which is very doable if your opponent is walled off and massing tanks.

With enough Ultralisks though, you will be able to utterly punish Terran mech builds. Ultralisks do bonus damage to armored units and also deal splash damage, so a few Ultralisks can take out a pack of tanks in hurry if they get close enough.

Conclusion

No matter what, trying to perform a Starcraft 2 Siege Tank counter is tough. Siege Tanks specialize in brute-force, heads-on combat, so it requires a bit of work on your part. The only ground unit that really stands toe-to-toe with the Siege Tank are the Ultralisk.

As a Protoss or Terran player, you will have to support your units or use hit-and-run or hit-from-behind tactics to snipe the enemy's Siege Tanks rather than trying to fight them directly.