The Terran Siege Tank is a very powerful Terran Mech Unit, and one that will be constantly used across many types of match scenarios. Offensively and Defensively it is one of the best Terran Units and one that can win games if used correctly.
The Siege Tank is built from the factory with a required Tech Lab attached, and costs 150 Minerals/125 Vespene Gas. It is relatively expensive, but it makes up for this cost as described below.
- In normal tank mode, the Siege Tank deals very respectable damage to any unit, and will deal extra damage to armored units. They are fairly slow, and so will need to be protected by your army, and also can be repaired by SCV’s. As they are a valuable unit, it is always worth bringing a couple of SCV’s along with your siege tanks to repair them if they take damage in battle.
- The other mode the Siege Tank has, and the one you will be using the most is called “Siege Mode”. This does have to be researched however, and so should be done as a priority. In Siege Mode, your unit will lock itself to the ground, increasing its range and also its attack damage. The damage also becomes an area of effect damage as well so if units are clumped together, a couple of siege tanks can tear them to shreds in siege mode.
- For base defense, a few Tanks in Siege Mode can protect it against even the most prolonged assault. Make sure that you position your Siege Tanks on higher ground if any is available to you, and they will be able to shoot any incoming enemies before they reach your base. On offense, you can use your siege tanks to pound your enemies base, just outside the range of any defensive structures they may have. Because they have such high damage in Siege Mode, they can decimate a base in a very short period of time and so are effective at taking out Bunkers, Cannons or Spine Crawlers, softening an enemies base up for your ground assault.
- The Siege Tank does have a weakness however, which is its inability to fire at air units. If you are coming up against Void Rays, Banshees or other air units that can target ground units, make sure you have some anti air defense ready to take them out. You can’t afford to lose your tanks as they are a very critical unit for base defense and also offense. Also watch out for quick units that try to approach your Siege Tanks. When in Siege Mode, they have a minimum range and so if a unit can get inside this, you will be unable to fire at them. Zerglings are particularly effective at getting inside this minimum range, and so protect them with a few Hellions/Marines if needed.
