History VideoGame / StarCraftII

* OnlyKillableAtHome: The [[{{Precursors}} Xel'Naga]] are multiversal travellers, seeding one universe with life, [[spoiler: and then resting in the [[OtherDimension Void between universes]] until the seeded universe, by means of evolution, produces two species who will provide viable FusionDance material to [[{{DeityOfHumanOrigin}}s birth a new Xel'Naga]], then repeating the process in a TimeAbyss analogue to reproduction]]. Should they be rendered without form outside the Void (which they are perfectly capable of doing by themselves), they will return to the Void and reform there, but if slain in the Void, they will remain dead.

*** The Apocalisk is hands down one of the best units for Co-Op use. It may lack somewhat in speed, but proper use of its burrow attack can help. Not to mention if it gets summoned in the middle of the enemy line, the enemy just cannot run fast enough. It has a huge AoE slash attack, and it will fire 40 missiles into the air that absolutely eradicate air units. If you fail to do so the first time, it'll reload another 40 in just a moment.

** Creep Tumors are incredibly simplistic Zerg "structures" that merely provide Creep, and can create one more Creep Tumor. However, buffs to creep done in this game make Creep Tumors useful to keep Zerg grounds units at maximum speed, and they can be amazing scouts for the Zerg player because they provide vision and are burrowed, meaning Zerg players can see attacks coming just by filling the map with Creep.

''[=StarCraft=] II'' is a RealTimeStrategy game by Creator/BlizzardEntertainment, and is the long-awaited sequel to ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}''. The game was released in three installments, with each one focusing on a different race of the game.

** [[VideoGame/StarcraftIICoopMode Co-op Mode]]

!! The ''[=StarCraft II=]'' trilogy as a whole provides examples of the following tropes:

* BigBad: Amon, otherwise known as "The Dark Voice", is the main antagonist of the trilogy of "Starcraft II".

* ContinuityNod: A subtle one: the order of the three campaigns is the same as the original Starcraft (Terran, Zerg, Protoss) and [[spoiler: the epilogue chapter missions are in the same order as the ''Brood War'' expansion (Protoss, Terran, Zerg).]]

** ''Videogame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' was the most blatant about this: every mission is designed to rely specifically on the newly-introduced unit. Destroying trains? Meet the Diamondback, a hover tank that fires on the move. Lava planet with regular tides? Say hello to the Reaper, a jump pack-wearing soldier who can hop up to high ground. Huge energy fields that slowly disintegrate everything without Protoss shields? By happy coincidence, Battlecruisers (who have enough health to survive the field's effect until the generator can be destroyed with a few [[WaveMotionGun Yamato Cannon]] shots) are now available.
** ''Videogame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' is less blatant than ''Wings of Liberty'', but still have some examples: [[TripodTerror Colossi]] are able to walk up and down cliffs, but elevation play is only really used in the mission they are introduced. Immortals are great anti-heavy walkers capable of absorbing massive amounts of damage, and the mission they are introduced in pit you against a lot of [[EliteMook Hybrid]]. The Khaydarin Monoliths are static defense structures with enormous range, introduced in a HoldTheLine mission, and the Carrier spaceship is introduced in a mission where it is nigh-impossible to launch an assault from the ground.

** There was actually a story of a Starcraft user utilizing a training program to unfairly spawn in dozens of battlecruisers and strike the enemy base hard. The twist was, however, that he only ever did so during the campaign. Blizzard's justification for the ban was that he could gain achievements which would unlock special portraits and could be displayed on his profile. Of course, it's up to the reader whether he was cheating achievements unfairly and should "git gud", or if Blizzard overreacted to a player gaining cosmetics on the solo experience and punished him for enjoying the game he purchased his own way without affecting online play. [[https://www.wired.com/2010/10/starcraft-ban/ Read the story here]].

* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: A really odd example is Tychus Findlay, who says the sentence "Hell, it's about damn time" a total of ''one time'' in his appearances in Starcraft 2 (Yes, only the intro). You'd swear it was his catchphrase with how much his ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' counterpart says it.

** ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty'': A couple missions in the campaign feature the Odin, the SuperPrototype for the smaller (but still [[HumongousMecha massive]]) Thor units. The mission where Raynor's Raiders steal it basically amounts to keeping it repaired while the pilot (whose radio is broken) rampages across the map.
** ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'' climaxes the prologue with a boss fight against the Archangel, a transforming heavy mech/fighter-bomber laying siege to the Umojan blacksite facility holding Kerrigan. It also features the Zerg Leviathan, a ([[UnitsNotToScale canonically]]) [[ThatsNoMoon moon-sized]] Zerg bio-ship available as a temporary summon. It mounts ''base defenses and other units'' as weaponry. It also features a PuzzleBoss battle against the [[NighInvulnerability nigh-invulnerable]] ''Gorgon''-class Battlecruiser, which can only be killed by an entire ''horde'' of Scourge, a kind of Zerg kamikaze fighter-beast.

* WorldOfMuscleMen: An examination of the models in the game will show that all the humans are heavily muscled, which makes sense since it's made by the same company that made ''Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft''.

-->'''Dr. Hanson''': Those are innocent people! What are you doing!?
-->'''Dr. Hanson'''(second time): You're killing more of my people! You monster!

* FakeDifficulty: In addition to making the enemies stronger, higher difficulty levels also prevent you from using slower game speed. Hopefully, you not only have the tactical prowess to beat your enemies, but also the CPS to match it.

* RealSongThemeTune: Some of the songs in the jukebox are covers of existing numbers. ''Freebird'', ''Sweet Home Alabama'' and ''An American Trilogy'' are the most prominent examples.

* MayItNeverHappenAgain: Following the three main campaigns, [[BigBad Amon]] has been defeated, his CustomBuiltHost disintegrated, and his HiveMind destroyed - but because his species, the Xel'Naga, is [[OnlyKillableAtHome Only Killable In The Void Between Universes]] he is still alive. When it becomes clear that [[ReturningBigBad Amon will return eventually]], though likely not in the main characters' lifetimes, they decide to go the extra mile and [[StormingTheCastle mount an assault on Amon within The Void]], just to make sure he is KilledOffForReal.

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: According to lore, several of the new Protoss units are old war machines that had been mothballed or reconfigured for non-military use.

* ConvergingStreamWeapon: The Void Ray. The number of beams that converge actually increases over time letting it be a much better weapon against targets that take a while to kill.

* FlashStep: Stalkers are able to short-range teleport with Blink, just enough to hop over a cliff or zoom out of range of an enemy. Zeratul's got his own version of Blink; its functionally the same, but he turns into a puff of black smoke when he does it.

** Dark Templar are continuously invisible, unlike most cloaked units, and have ''really'' strong melee attacks (a single Dark Templar can hit like two Zealots put together), but pitiful health and total hit points--if they're detected, they're going down ''fast''.

** Carrier's can rip apart an opposing army with the use of their interceptors, however if the opponent is a human and prioritizes attacking the ship rather than the interceptors, it won't last long.
** Technically, every unit can be a glass cannon if confronted by it's hard counter and you don't keep up the upgrades. Even the Mothership is easily destroyed by air superiority fighters like Vikings if the owner isn't paying attention it. Armies fall in a handful of seconds when faced with hard counters and superior numbers.
** Alarak is by far the weakest commander in terms of durability, and will quickly die in seconds with his low health and shields. He stays in battle by essentially devouring the life force of your own army units, outright killing them, and will do this with your ally's army too. Thus without units he's weak and dies in second, and with units he won't die as long as he has an army to sacrifice. Luckily, he's insanely powerful, with excellent attack options that have very short cooldowns, and his "Empower Me" ability can allow him to gain attack power based on the size of the army surrounding him, allowing his attack to sometimes exceed over 100 points of damage per spell cast or basic attack. It's possible for him to one-shot a Command Center in this situation.

** Vorazon, Selendis and Rohana all have a definite swell in their models in the chest region that simulates humans, and their costumes all cross their chests as if to hide this so...

* LighterAndSofter: Whereas things ''always'' went from bad to worse in the original game, both of the campaigns released so far have ended with things in the Koprulu Sector looking up. ''Yes'', even in the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg]] campaign. ''Legacy of the Void'', even though it's the final part of the trilogy, averts it, [[spoiler: with the invasion of Aiur turning into a disaster and the Dark Templar entering their DarkestHour, and losing Shakuras, early into the game, along with Korhal suffering even more damage than the Zerg did when the Moebius Corps invade, and the revelation that Amon killed the Xel'naga that were on Ulnar. Most of the campaign involves the Daelaam finding everything they can to stand a chance in the first place, along with slowly damaging Amon's forces, and it's not until the return to Aiur that things start looking hopeful. The epilogue returns to playing it straight, even though it's set on an EldritchLocation, as it's ''Amon'''s LastStand]].

** The Infestor unit has no attack of its own, but is able to spawn tons of infested terrans who are each approximately as powerful as one slightly upgraded human marine (but they walk very slowly). The infested terrans kill themselves after 30 in-game seconds, but there's a very low energy cost on the infestor's ability, so if used gradually it can launch a continuous stream of infested terrans. It can even do so while burrowed underground.
** The Brood Lord's default attack ''is'' launching weak units at its target; the impact does most of the damage, and the broodlings persist to gnaw on the enemy and impede their pathing and attacking for a few seconds before exploding.

** The Terrans also have the Raven which produces automated cannon turrets and missile-intercepting laser drones.

* MightyGlacier: The Terran Thor, it's big, it's slow, but packs a huge punch against ground and air targets. Amongst campaign units, best example is the Hybrid Reaver, being only slightly faster than a marine. The thing hits harder than a fully upgraded Ultralisk, though it has a much slower attack rate.

** The Zerg Infestor can fire a tentacle with a "Neural Parasite" into your brain, taking it over; That's in addition to the Infested Marines that it can spawn.

* MultiplayerOnlyItem: Several Singleplayer upgrades are not available in Multiplayer (for obvious reasons), but there are some Multiplayer upgrades unavailable in Singleplayer.
** For example, both Marines and Marauders can use stimpacks in Multiplayer, but only Marines have it in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' Singleplayer.
** Similarly, you can give Zerg units one of three upgrades at a time in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'''s campaign, but in Multiplayer, Zergling can have both attack and movespeed increased (instead of one or the other or increased life). Overlords cannot be mutated into Overseers in the campaign, just as larvae cannot mutate into Corruptors (A fact that is given a HandWave).

** The enemy AI in Co-op can use Warhounds and one map has infested HERC's, two units unavailable to the player in any form save for Sirius and Cannonball if playing as Tychus in Co-op, and even then they're special heroic versions that don't control like the original units entirely.

* NewTechIsNotCheap is invoked as to why Raynor does not only artifact misions but any other mission he can find, including for notorious pirates.

** ''Videogame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' is less blatant than ''Wings of Liberty'', but still have some examples: [[TripodTerror Colossi]] are able to walk up and down cliffs, but elevation play is only really used in the mission they are introduced. Immortals are great anti-heavy walkers capable of absorbind massive amounts of damage, and the mission they are introduced in pit you against a lot of [[EliteMook Hybrid]]. The Khaydarin Monoliths are static defense structures with enormous range, introduced in a HoldTheLine mission, and the Carrier spaceship is introduced in a mission where it is nigh-impossible to launch an assault from the ground.

* NoFairCheating: Cheating can get you the banhammer-meaning your account is deleted and you have to buy another copy. The reason given is that cheating puts undue strain on the servers.

* SeriousBusiness: The [[TournamentPlay professional gaming scene]] spawned from the original game continued into ''[[Videogame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty Wings of Liberty]]'', and has now switched to ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Heart of the Swarm]]''.

--> [[spoiler:"Mah ship is takin' tayrible, tayrible daymage!"]]

-->'''Stettmann''': My bots are taking damage! Terrible, terrible damage!

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: In-game units advance in rank by racking up kills as recognition of their strength, though there's no actual RPG element that upgrades them because of it. The Galaxy Editor, however, supposedly has provisions for a level system. Of course, as with the original the heroes are higher-ranked by default and kick a lot more ass. Subverted by the main character units that retain their set rank no matter how many they kill. (Tosh will always be Rank: Spectre Leader, Tychus will always be Rank: Scoundrel, and so on)

** The Protoss take this trope and turn it UpToEleven. The Stalkers and the Phoenix fire short laser bursts; the Sentries, the Void Rays, and the Mothership fire continuous energy beams directly at the target; and the colossi and campaign-exclusive enemy stone guardians fire sweeping lasers along the ground. Even the probe uses an energy ray to gather minerals. In any diverse protoss army, expect to see quite the BeamSpam. On the Terran side, there's the Battlecruiser, and the campaign-exclusive Wraith (though only for air-to-ground attacks), back from the original game. Technically, the Diamondback tank uses a rail gun, but it looks like a continuous laser. Oh, and there's that ''Drakken'' laser drill in "The Dig".

The Terran campaign, ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty Wings of Liberty]]'', was released on July 27th, 2010. Set four years after the events of the Brood War, the campaign focuses on rebel hero Jim Raynor and the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Raynor's Raiders]], and their efforts to take down the corrupt empire called the Terran Dominion, led by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. The Zerg campaign, ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Heart of the Swarm]]'', was released on March 12th, 2013, and focuses on Sarah Kerrigan, an [[TheAssimilator assimiliated]] human psionic who has risen to dominance within the Zerg broods, and her efforts to find a place for herself (and the Zerg) in a new and changed Koprulu Sector. ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid Legacy of the Void]]'', the Protoss campaign, was released on November 10th, 2015. It stars Artanis, head of the Protoss military, as he attempts to unite the fractious Protoss clans into a single whole. For there is a new BigBad, to face, one who embodies the most cherished dreams of the Zerg: to assimilate the Protoss and hybridize the two races into something new. Well, our new BigBad has [[GoneHorriblyRight managed to do just that...]]

** The medics seem like normal people compared to Egon Stetmann - basically a HollywoodNerd who hardly ever says anything that would give him an IQ above 70, except in his research notes.

* StopPokingMe: In Blizzard fashion, much of the dialogue is taken up by units who [[WhatTheHellPlayer really don't like to be selected by the player repeatedly]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/user/starcraft2units This YouTube user documents all of the sayings]] of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters each character and unit]].