StarCraft Wiki
Register
Advertisement
StarCraft Wiki
"I got something new for ya, Cowboy! Marauders - the latest word in big badda boom hardware."
Marauder SC2-WoL Story1

The marauder

The marauder is a terran infantry unit in StarCraft II. It replaced the firebat in multiplayer during development.[1]

Overview

Marauder SC2 Cncpt1

A marauder

Primarily a support unit[2] for marines,[3] the marauder arose from post-Brood War studies by the Dominion Armed Forces, showing a greater need of combat units better able to defeat zerg carapaces. To meet this requirement, the 5-4 Armored Infantry Suit[4] was developed from the firebat's CMC-660 and equipped with two Quad K12 "Punisher" grenade launchers on each arm.[2] The suit's grenade auto-loader is stocked with components that allow it to manufacture and load hundreds of standard Punisher grenades.[4] By 2503,[5][6][7] marauders were being fielded.[8]

The troops manning the suits are quite different to their firebat counterparts. As of 2504, 47% have never been to jail, and only 23% have ever been accused of murder.[4] Marauder fatalities were commonplace prior to the implementation of kinetic foam into their suits, which allowed them to survive impacts that had previously killed operators, even while leaving the suit unharmed.[9]

Game Unit

The marauder can only attack ground targets. Its attack is more powerful against armored units; it may slow units, except for massive units.

The marauder is an early-game support unit, useful for supporting marines by slowing fast melee units. It is effective against armored units, like the roach.[10] They are also powerful against stalkers, and, to a lesser extent, siege tanks, immortals and thors.[11] Marauders can destroy buildings very quickly. The marauder is vulnerable to zealots,[12] marines, and zerglings. As a general rule, a player battling zerg should build fewer marauders than usual, while against the protoss, marauders are effective, though work well with medivac dropships as a "commando force" when battling the former.[13]

Marauders without medivac support are not ideal for attacking photon cannons.

Abilities

SC2ConcussiveShells
Concussive Shells

Marauder attacks slow the movement speed of non-massive enemy units by 50%. Only affects one target at a time.

Usage
Duration 1.07 seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Tech lab attached to barracks
Hotkey G
Cost 50 Minerals 50 Vespene gas 43seconds
ve

Enables affected infantry to attack and move 50% more quickly.

Usage
Hotkey T
Cost 10 (marines) / 20 (marauders) HP
Duration 11 seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Tech lab attached to barracks
Hotkey T
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 100seconds
ve

Upgrades

  • +1 damage for marines
  • +1 base damage and +1 bonus damage for marauders and ghosts
  • +1 pistol damage for reapers
Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay
Hotkey E
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 114seconds
Level 2
Cost 175 Minerals 175 Vespene gas 136seconds
Required Armory
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 157seconds
Required Armory
ve
Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 114seconds
Level 2
Cost 175 Minerals 175 Vespene gas 136seconds
Required Armory
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 157seconds
Required Armory
ve

Wings of Liberty

Marauders are unlocked by playing the mission "Smash and Grab", available after Rory Swann was able to procure them for Raynor's Raiders.[14]

In the Wings of Liberty campaign, marauders cannot use stimpacks.

The marauder's attack slows non-massive ground units in target area.

Concussive Shells actually form a gravitational warp when they detonate. This warp not only damages the target, but it also slows the movement speed of all nearby units to a crawl for a short period of time.

Concussive Shells make marauders a great support unit against melee units, in addition to their traditional role of destroying armored targets.[15]

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion armory for $70,000
ve
KineticFoam SC2 Icon1
Kinetic Foam

Marauders gain +25 hp.

Marauder armor can survive crushing impacts, but the same cannot always be said for the soldier inside. To help solve the problem, Wolfe Industries offers a Kinetic Foam undersuit that protects the soldier from the violent impacts the armor takes.

Surely the lives of your marauders are worth the small investment required to outfit them with kinetic foam.[15]

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion armory for $90,000
ve

Attack upgrades improve attack cooldown of affected units by 5% per level.

These self-replicating ultra capacitors reduce the reload time of weapons and systems. Now each of the weapon upgrades at the armory and engineering bay increases attack speed by 5% in addition to increasing damage.

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points
ve
SC2 Lab VanPlating Icon
Vanadium Plating

Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level.[16]

We have created a new lightweight alloy called vanadium. Vanadium diffuses weapon impacts much more efficiently than traditional armor plating, and it better preserves the life of our units. Now each of the armor upgrades in the armory and engineering bay increases unit life by 5% in addition to increasing armor.

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points
ve

Quotations

See: StarCraft II Marauder Quotations

Development

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
Marauder SC2 DevGame1

Development model

The idea behind the marauder was to act as a sort of middleground between marines and vikings—mechanized infantry, yet not an actual mech.[17]

The marauder was originally equipped with dual concussion-grenade launchers which reduce a biological unit's speed immediately by a set percentage. A charging zealot would still move quickly after being struck by a grenade.[18]

Prior to StarCraft II beta patch #8, Concussion Grenades was an automatic upgrade. It later became a researched ability.[19]

AblativeScales SC2 DevGame1

Ablative Scales

The Kinetic Foam upgrade in the single player campaign was originally known as "Ablative Scales". The original design for the button was even completed but was never used in the final product.[20]

Known Marauders

Marauder SC2 Head3

A marauder

Specialists

Trivia

Marauder SC2 Art1

A marauder

  • The name "marauder" is a possible reference to the novel Starship Troopers, recalling the name of the Mobile Infantry's general-purpose heavy infantry suit.
  • Most in-universe sources regard the marauder as a support unit.[2][3] However, Radio Liberty referred to the marauder as a "foundational unit."[22]

References

  1. Karune. 2008-01-25. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 27: Gameplay Series. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-01-25.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Blizzard Entertainment Staff. 2010-07-24. Marauder. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2010-07-25.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Race: Terran, Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed on 2010-12-05
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Armory units (in English). 2010.
  5. April 6, 2010. "Timeline". StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6.
  6. April 12, 2011. "Timeline." StarCraft II: Devils' Due. Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books). pp. 248-262. ISBN 978-1416-55085-3.
  7. September 27, 2011. "Timeline." StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 393-416. ISBN 978-1439-10938-0.
  8. Kenyon, Nate. (September 27, 2011). StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-1439-10938-0.
  9. 2014-08-28, Marauder Science. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2014-09-09
  10. Reapers are actually one of the best units against any light units in the game. They kill Zerglings, workers, and even Zealots pretty well with a little maneuvering. Their mines also decimate stationary defenses, as well as tech buildings. They are no doubt one of the best raiders in the game right now.

    Marauders on the other hand are probably better mixed, unless you are going up against an all armored ground force. Marauders work well against both Protoss and Zerg. Early game, as mentioned above, they are great for slowing Zealots while Marines do the damage. Against Zerg, they are better suited against those pesky armored Roaches with the fast regen.
    Karune. 2008-10-21. Reapers and Marauders. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-10-21.
  11. Karune, Dustin Browder and Samwise Didier. 2008-11-18. BlizzCast Episode 6. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-11-18.
  12. Dustin Browder, Robert Simpson, Matt Cooper, David Kim. 2008-12-19. Battle Report (1). Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-12-19.
  13. 2009-06-29, Jonathan Ross, Destructoid interview: StarCraft II's Dustin Browder. Destructoid. Accessed on 2009-07-29
  14. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Smash and Grab (in English). 2010-07-27.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Armory upgrades (in English). 2010.
  16. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Protoss research (in English). 2010.
  17. 2012-06-09, Interview with Allen Dilling, Lead Artist, StarCraft 2 Heart of the Swarm. YouTube, accessed on 2012-06-21
  18. Karune. 2008-05-07. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 37. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-05-07.
  19. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II beta. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). March 25, 2010
  20. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). July 27, 2010
  21. Lord of Ascension. 2010-06-24. StarCraft Evolution. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2009-05-10.
  22. 2014-09-25, The Science Corner –The Threat Continues. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2014-09-27
Advertisement