Starcraft 2 With Friends Like These... Brutal & Achievements Guide

Starcraft 2 Campaign Guide --> Heart of the Swarm Campaign Guide --> With Friends Like These... (you are here)

With Friends Like These... is the first of the Space missions in the Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm campaign. This is a "Defense of the Ancients"-style mission where players control a hero unit (the Hyperion) and are tasked with defeating waves of enemy units and defensive structures while getting support from waves of friendly units.

There is no time limit on this mission, and the computer's buildings will never be reconstructed, so take your time when clearing across the map and this mission is easy.

With Friends Like These... Kerrigan Levels

There are no Kerrigan levels available during the With Friends Like These... mission, nor are there any bonus levels available.

Starcraft 2 With Friends Like These Achievement List

There are 4 achievements available for players to unlock during the With Friends Like These... mission:

With Friends Like These...: Unlocked by completing all mission objectives in the With Friends Like These... mission (any difficulty).

MinedCraft: Unlocked by collecting all the mineral nodes during the With Friends Like These... mission (any difficulty). Here is a map with the locations of the mineral nodes marked (with thick red lines):

Space Ace: Unlocked by not letting the Hyperion get hit by any Mag Mines during the With Friends Like These... mission (Normal difficulty or higher). These are easily dodged by using the "Jump" ability.

Ludicrous Speed!: Unlocked by completing With Friends Like These... in under 11 minutes (Hard mode or higher). Guide below.

Ludicrous Speed Achievement Guide

This is a tight timer, so you will need to progress through this mission quickly in order to hit the 11 minute timer. You do have time to gather all the mineral patches, but you do not have time to stop and heal nor do you have time to go for the bonus ability from clearing out the bottom right.

The cooldown of your Yamato Cannon should dictate the pace of the mission. For the most part, you will want to only progress as far as your Yamato Cannon will allow you (2 per Ordnance Tower early, 1 per tower later). Your auto attacks and Fighter Strikes should rarely (if ever) be used against Ordnance Towers, instead you will use those to fend off enemy attacks and units. If you progress across the map in this manner you will never have to head back to the flagship to heal up.

In order to make the 11 minute timer, once or twice you will need to be more aggressive than normal when you see a repair bot drop. You can push in, use all your units from your Fighter Strike, and when you lose them all, jump back to the repair bot, then go back in. This will allow you to take out a heavily fortified area in a short amount of time.

Ludicrous Speed! Video Guide

With Friends Like These... Brutal Mode Guide

The key to beating this mission on brutal mode is to take your time and to get all the mineral upgrades. There is no time limit so you can go as slow as you like. Never allow the Hyperion to drop under 1000 HP when the enemy has Battlecruisers out, as you do not want to be surprised by a Yamato Cannon. If you need to, head back to the flagship in order to heal up. You may need to wait for a Repair Bot drop in order to push forward on the final base.

A step-by-step guide and video walkthrough can be found below.

Step by Step Guide

• The most difficult part of the mission is actually the initial section. You may have to stop and wait for your Fighter Strike to regenerate and for the Hyperion to regenerate health. Use Yamato Cannon to take down the Ordnance Towers. DO not attack them directly with the Hyperion.

• Once you have established a foothold, be sure to gather all the mineral patches in the immediate vicinity and slowly clear towards the first checkpoint. Use Yamato Cannon to take out the Ordnance Towers.

• You may have to back out once or twice to heal up and build more ships if you get unlucky with repair bots.

• Ignoring the bottom right area of the map. The ships there are tough and the reward is pointless.

• Once you unlock the second checkpoint, be sure to head to the northeast to pick up all those mineral patches.

• On your way to the third checkpoint, hug the bottom wall so you can get the few mineral patches you need to upgrade the Hyperion to level 3. This will make a big difference as you clear out the Starports and Ordnance Towers coming up.

• Slowly use Yamato cannon on everything to burn it down from a safe distance. You may need to back out to heal up.

• Once you grab the third checkpoint, head to the northwest area to grab the minerals there.

• On your way to Mira's stronghold, head along the north wall so you can grab the remaining mineral patches. This will push the Hyperion to its final level.

• Clear out all the Starports and Ordnance Towers before engaging Mira's Stronghold. You may be in somewhat of a stalemate until you get a repair bot drop off the enemy flyers.

• Once you get a repair bot drop, use your Fighter Strike attack, and when most of the ships are dead, grab the repair bot to restore them.

• Finally, Mira's ship heals very slowly. You can back out any time during the fight and wait until you regenerate ships and health.

With Friends Like These... Brutal Mode Video Guide