Hello and welcome to another "report" by IcE-Inforcer!!

Here are to be found many useful strategies. From the Ultralisk rush to the infamous Nuke rush, all risky but amusing strategies. Unlike some of our fellow Battle Reporters (*cough Adrenaling*), I will include the build orders for most of the strategies. I took some of these from great sites such as Starcraft Legacy, Starcraft.org and Starcraft University. I have put these in my own words and simplified them for you legions of newbies out there. I give all the credit to the "inventors" of these strategies. Now without further delay, three, two, one, and action!

The Ultralisk Rush

First on the plate is the Ultralisk rush, a deadly and risky strategy. But what is an Ultralisk? We all know it's big, noisy and fucking ugly... but what does it do? Ultralisks are at the end of the Zerg tech tree, they are very expensive and fit perfectly in those tiny eggs. They cannot attack air units but when it comes to ground... watch out..

Mineral: 200
Gas: 200
Build time: 60 seconds
Food: 4

It is suggested to use this strategy on 2v2's:
"This strategy is meant for 2v2 games. The reason? Sometimes, in one vs ones, you simply cannot perform this strategy. Against a good Muta-Ling, Ultralisks can help little. Against an extremely aggressive Terran, Zerglings will not nearly be enough to hold off early pushes. When used in conjunction with your partners units, this Ultralisk-Zergling tactic really shines". -Chaplan

The build order is an early tech build. You can modify it to your likes, but keep in mind that you want to start teching very early: earlier tech=earlier Ultralisks.

Build a Spawning Pool between your Hatchery and the Geyser to facilitate harvesting for your Drones. Spawn an Overlord at 8/9 to keep the unit production going smoothly. Build an Extractor and send two Drones to harvest. Save up and make 3 pairs of Zerglings and use the next Larvae for the same purpose. At 13/17, make a Drone and send it to your Extractor along with another Drone. You now have 4 peons mining gas. Build a Lair as soon as you have the money.

What you have to do next is build a second Hatchery.
"If there is a ramp and/or your expansion will not be able to protect your main, put it at your ramp. Otherwise, put it at your expansion". -Chaplan

If you feel like you have a secure grasp on your base, start some evolutions. Build two Evolution Chambers and upgrade the Melee attack and Carapace. This is very important, Ultralisks gain +3 damage per attack upgrade and their armor can go up to 6. Zerglings simply gain much from this because of their fast cool down rate. It might be a good idea to burrow Zerglings outside your base. This way, if Tanks (or any kind of long range unit) start pounding on
your base from far away unburrow your Zerglings and watch them feast on the enemy. By now the Lair should be done building, so hurry up and get a Queen's Nest and upgrade to Hive.

As soon as the Hive is done building, make an Ultralisk Cavern. You have to think ahead and spawn some Overlords to support the Ultralisk pop. Once the Cavern is complete, choose the right upgrade. Do not wait until you have both, it might give the enemy enough time to prepare for the attack.
"The Ultralisk upgrades are very important and they should be taken in order according to the map. For example, on a map where Ultralisks will have a harder time reaching the enemy on ground (due to higher ground), having the Carapace upgrade will be much more important. On the other hand, on large land maps, Ultralisks might do better with having the Anabolic Synthesis upgrade first. Also, it might be a good idea at this time to get Hydralisk Den also, just in case. Defilers can also prove very useful." -Chaplan

Chitinous Plating - Gives your Ultralisks +2 armor
Anabolic Synthesis - Faster Ultralisk movement

For you who like to play like Tsunami, you can hotkey your army and make it come onto the enemy from multiple directions. This takes some practise but once you get a hold of it can prove very effective.

I suggest you use this strategy vs. Terran, especially if he/she uses infantry. With 6 armor, a Marine without upgrades can only do 1 damage per shot. A Firebat will also do 1 damage; they do 25% damage to large units which means 4-6=1! The only good counter a Terran opponent could pull out would be a Tank/Battlecruiser/Irradiate combo.

EMP Shockwave: In-Depth

Next is EMP shockwave; this Terran spell can be devastating if used properly. EMP, Electromagnetic Pulse, removes all shields and energy. The unit to cast the spell is the Terran Science Vessel. The spell costs 200 gas and minerals to research and 100 energy to cast.

Hit Points: 200
Spells: EMP shockwave, Irradiate, D-Matrix
Armament: N/A
Cost: 80 seconds/100 mineral/225 gas
-Detector-

If you are playing versus a player who uses EMP, you might want to avoid it. Just look at the thing on top of the Science Vessel casting EMP, it points in the direction it is going to shoot. When the Vessel lights up, make sure all your units are out of the area you think the EMP is going to hit.

When you are Terran, playing a Protoss, I urge you to use EMP. It is effective on Zealots, Dragoons and other similar ground units. When the enemy is using Archons and High Templars, EMP and a few Marines would do the job! An Archon's total hit points are 10, but their shields are immense. Once EMPed, Archons are useless to the enemy.
The same thing applies for High Templars, they will lose all their energy points and Plasma Shields. A Protoss could try attacking with High Templars melee style but I kind of don't recommend it.

Against Carriers, use EMP. They will lose 1/4 of their total hit points, making them even gayer. When they have Arbiter support, just use EMP the Arbiter and say bye bye to Stasis and Recall. If you are playing versus Terran, EMP can be useful, let's say you want to uncloak a flock of Wraiths? The Science Vessel is a detector but if it dies you are screwed. Another example: You have 5 Battlecruisers
and your opponent has 8. You EMP them and deprive them of Yamato gun. You can now Yamato the enemy Battlecruisers and win the fight.

Quiz: Will EMP drain a Comsat Station of its energy?

Nuke Rushing

I use this strategy mainly for fun, but if you feel lucky, you can try it in important games. I have tried it a few times and it is very fun, especially when you win. Because of the build, you will have to cut off on some upgrades and units while going straight for the Nuke.

I don't know about you guys, but when I hear "Nuclear Launch Detected" I go psycho. And no, it's no Nuclear Lunch in a park with bums sitting around pointlessly; it's a banana-like missile coming straight for your base and about to tear up all your possessions. Here's what you get if you let it land: Death, walking around poking your men in the eye.

For a Nuke to land, a Ghost has to aim a red dot at the area where you want the missile to land. It takes about 10 seconds until the dot disappears and for the Nuke to come. This ten seconds is critical. When you hear the warning, hurry up and search for the dot. If the opponent is smart, he will aim at an air unit, this covers up the dot. Once you have found the dot, move ALL of your units away from it or use any kind of detection to find the Ghost. Kill it as fast as you can and if you succeed in killing him fast enough the Nuke will not land.

First of all, you have to take your choke point. Build a supply depot and as soon as it is finished build a Factory. I usually throw in an E-bay here BUT if you want to get the Nuke faster, skip the E-bay. Save up until you have enough money to make a Command Center (expansion). When the Factory is done building, put down a Starport. When it is almost done, start an Academy, and you will need it for Ghosts. As soon as the Starport is finished build a Science Facility. I usually opt for a Control Tower to make a Dropship right away and drop Marines later, but once again you make the choice. Add a Covert Ops on the Science Facility ASAP and when that is done, build a Nuke Silo on both your Command Centers. Start researching Cloak for Ghosts. You can also cover up your Nuke Silo with any kind of flying building, as someone said in the comment section of Adrenaling’s ultimate report. Oh and make sure you are making Ghosts from your Barracks :).

Hit points: 45
Cost: 50 seconds/25 mineral/75 gas
Spells: Nuclear Strike, Lockdown, Cloak

Now that you have a cloaked (not a hyperlink hihi!) Ghost loaded up in that precious Dropship of yours, send it out and find a good spot to land the Ghost. I prefer higher land, if this is a possibility. Now choose your first target, preferably the Nexus/CC/Hatchery. Cross your fingers, uh wait, don't do that, do useful stuff in your base instead. A good thing to do before the Nuke lands (if your opponent is Protoss) is to EMP the Nexus. Therefore it will be destroyed in one shot. Now that the Nuke landed and wiped out a whole lot of important stuff, choose another target (be optimistic). Look for high tech buildings such as Templar Archives, Science Facility, Spire etc. You can also try and shut down the unit production by taking out Gateways and the likes. If they are grouped these should be your target, as your opponent will have no income and no unit production.

EMP can be very useful if you can get it in time. I strongly suggest EMPing Protoss structures before nuking them; they will fall in one shot. You can also try nuking the enemy’s army. If this succeeds, it can really piss people off and gives you something to talk about over the campfire with uncle Bob and aunt Temocralite. If you do this, aim for an air unit if possible. Any ground unit will die from the blast EXCEPT for one very special unit...

This strategy was mainly invented by the famous me, but I got a few things from Dragon lord (sc legacy).

Quiz: One unit can survive a Nuke. Which unit is it?

Arbiters: In-depth

The Arbiter is a unique Protoss flying unit. Even though it costs a lot of gas and takes so long to build (longest in the game!), it is worth every single penny from the piggy bank. The Arbiter can perform many things; cloak your units, Recall, Stasis and if you are very desperate, attack (10 damage - slow cool down rate).

Shield: 150
Hit points: 200
Spells: Stasis field, Recall, Cloak
Damage: 10
Cost: 160 seconds/100 mineral/350 gas

Cloak: The Arbiter has the ability to cloak nearby units. This cloaking field does not include other Arbiters: You cannot cloak an Arbiter. You can use this to hide your army or to prevent the enemy from knowing what kind of units you are producing.

Recall: Recall is a unique method of transportation. It allows you to teleport units from a location to another instantly. This can be used offensively and defensively. You can fly your Arbiter into enemy territory and Recall your army there. This can be very destructive, as the Arbiter will cloak your army. If your opponent lacks detection victory can easily be achieved. In late game, you can load up your army in several Shuttles and Recall your whole army in one shot.

Stasis: Stasis is a very unique spell. It freezes the targeted units in time. These frozen units cannot attack or be attacked, they can't even be targeted. There are many ways of using Stasis. Let's just say you are fighting an army bigger than yours. You Stasis half of the enemy force and destroy the other half. You can either run or stay to fight the remaining Stasised fleet.

Arbiters can attack, but the damage done is poor, 10. With their slow cool down rate, Arbiters are crappy attackers.

You can modify the above to make some pretty neat tactics. One of these is Furi's defensive Stasis. I didn'y feel like putting it in my own words so here it is:

Furi's Defensive Stasis is a last-ditch effort to the extreme. I have only come across but a handful of players who use this strategy. Learn this strategy well, and it may come back to help you when you least expect it. Believe it or not, the Defensive Stasis is actually a process of putting a Stasis on yourself. This may be a hard concept to grasp at first, so I'll try to make it clear for you.

Say you are being attacked and you are heavily outnumbered and the enemy has detecting units. You could use your Arbiters to use Offensive Stasis on the enemy to reduce his/her force, but the remaining units would still be enough to destroy you.

You don't have enough time to send reinforcements, nor even retreat. So what do you do? The best idea would be to use the Defensive Recall described above, but what if that isn't even available?Well, this is a rare occassion indeed, but it does happen. In these obscure scenarios, the Defensive Stasis is a good way out. Here's how it works.

First, when you are in a situation similar to the one described above, gather all your units close together and Stasis them all. Try to put every possible unit in Stasis you can. Your Arbiter will sadly be left for dead. While your units are safely put in Stasis, begin (I say "begin", but this should have been started a long time ago) forming an opposable force of your own units. Before the Stasis on your stranded units run out, send your Fleet/Army to their aid. If your timing is right, your units that were in Stasis should come out of Stasis just as your backup arrives. This new force of yours should be enough to defeat the attacking enemy. There are many things that can go wrong with this. Generally, nothing will go wrong unless you can't form a backup or you are playing against a very experienced player. Things that can go wrong include, but are not limited to:
not generating a large enough force for a backup
your opponent forms a backup for their own units
your Stasis runs out too early
To avoid these, always keep an eye on your opponent and try to anticipate his/her next move. If you think your enemy is going to send backup in order to destroy your backup, the best idea would be to leave your stranded units for a loss.

However, there are also a few advantages for the Defensive Stasis technique:
-Your units will regenerate their shields while in stasis
-Enemy units will stop attacking and might even give up and leave.

Quiz: Is it possible to Recall enemy units?

Conclusion

All these strategies are very powerful when mastered and
successfully executed. Never forget that the best strategies come from you and you own abilities, I personally like to use Burrow, EMP and Plague very often.

I would like to thank Chaplan for the Ultralisk Rush; DragonLord little tips on many of these Strategies, and finally Furi for his advanced Stasis Strategy. I will report a real game soon, but I need some help from you people out there. 2v2? Ffa? 1v1? Map? Just vote in the
comment section!