- Raynor's Raiders blurb(src)
The thor is a huge and powerful terran mechanical walker. Despite the thor being smaller than the Odin, the thor is still heavily armed and armored, and known to be one of the most heavy and powerful mechanical units in the Dominion Armed Forces.
Overview
- Rory Swann(src)
Named after the Norse god of thunder,[1] the thor is a class of siege-walker.[2] Those in service during the Second Great War were more maneuverable than the Odin incarnation.[3]
Design
The thor looms over infantry
Heavy composite neosteel-ceramic armor protects the thor. The plates are modular and can be replaced easily if damaged, or exchanged for thicker versions depending on battlefield conditions. Designed to defeat high-explosive armor piercing rounds, as well as disrupt the searing beams of energy-based weapons, the thor’s plating offers unparalleled protection to the pilot and the mech’s internal systems. Its innermost layer has a heat-resistant kinetic mesh that prevents damage from shrapnel, slugs, or even sheared armor fragments.[4] ATVX has also developed an "immortality protocol," allowing a thor to repair itself in the field as long as its hull remains intact.[2]
The thor's cockpit is pressurized and protected by a military-grade steelglass canopy, as well as thick layers of composite neosteel-ceramic armor. At its center lies the pilot´s seat, which helps prevent operator injuries through powerful inertial dampeners and a foam-padded six-point harness. Multiple gauges and screens monitor the mech’s systems, and the main holographic display projects computer-generated imagery of the terrain. Were this screen to fail, the steelglass canopy has a fully integrated heads-up-display, a navigation screen, and a basic targeting system.[4]
Weapons
The thor
The thor is equipped with different types of heavy weapons. It is armed with four "Thor's Hammer" particle accelerators (two are fired from each arm). Originally, four 250mm strike cannons resided on its back,[5] but these have since been replaced by Punisher cannons. These fire 250mm anti-aircraft shells fitted with advanced electronics to minimize wasted shots. Their depleted uranium cores allow them to punch through the plating of heavily armored aerial targets, causing serious damage. Each shell is individually chambered by a basic auto-loading mechanism that simplifies maintenance and repairs. The cannons' rate of fire is capped to avoid malfunctions and to extend the service life of the ordnance. Bypassing the limit is not recommended, as the cannons may melt or explode.[4]
For aerial opponents, the thor is equipped with Javelin missile launchers.[5] These are located on both sides of the steelglass canopy, and fire four small, IFF fragmentation warheads that can rip through multiple, lightly armored aerial targets on a single salvo. Due to the missiles’ small size, the thor can carry a large payload, ensuring it will be fully prepared to deal with groups of flying bogeys even in drawn-out engagements.[4]
The thor can be optionally be outfitted with 330mm barrage cannons[2]
History
Thor angles
The thor stemmed from the Terran Dominion Thor Project, a program that resulted in the creation of the Odin.[5] By 2502,[6] the thor had been developed and had become public enough that the Dominion's best thor operator, Sandin Forst, became famous. Forst took part in an anti-zerg operation on Mar Sara that year, where he vanished.[1] During the Second Great War, the Terran Dominion utilized the thor in defending areas such as New Folsom Prison.[7]
The Odin, a particularly powerful prototype, was developed by 2503.[8][9] A Protectorate shadowguard stole intelligence on the Odin, which was later taken to Valhalla.[8]
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This article or section contains information from the optional Rebellion Missions in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
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Chief Engineer Rory Swann reverse-engineered a schematic of the thor from examining the Odin prototype.[3] He refined a design that had millions of credits of R&D poured into it. His efforts focused on making it cheaper.[10] The Raiders received their first thors during the attack on the UNN Studios.[3]
Game Unit
The thor can be transported by the Hercules dropship and medivac dropships. One thor fills up the medivac's entire capacity, transforming into a cube-like shape and hanging from underneath.
As of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the thor can switch between Javelin missiles (which destroy light air units) and Punisher cannons (which are single-target attacks designed to take on powerful air units).
Combat Roles
A thor's primary role is to act as the spearhead: a big tough unit that can push past an artillery barrage or fortified positions or push into an enemy base and lead marines into battle.
Its other primary role is to defend allied units from air attacks with its powerful anti-air weaponry. It works well against light air units like mutalisks, but the attack is not as effective against heavily armored air units such as battlecruisers.
The thor is countered by range, mobility, and certain anti-armor units. It doesn't deal splash damage to ground units, therefore, it cannot effectively deal with massed units such as marines, zerglings, and zealots.
A popular strategy with the unit is the "thor harass" (sometimes called "thorship"), similar to the reaver harass of StarCraft. It involves pairing the thor with a medivac dropship, combining the thor's power and the mobility of the latter.
Abilities
The thor attacks an enemy ground unit or structure using the cannons on its back. The target unit is stunned for the duration and takes 500 damage. The thor cannot move or attack when using the ability.
This ability was removed in Heart of The Swarm.
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Heart of the Swarm
In Heart of the Swarm, the thor prioritizes air vs ground targets.[11]
- High Impact Payload (E): Time 4 seconds. Removes Javelin missiles (which have an AoE attack) and equips the thor with Punisher Cannons (which hit single targets harder). This specific ability is removed in Legacy of the Void.[12]
- Explosive Payload (E): Time 4 seconds. Removes the Punisher Cannon and replaces with Javelin missiles. This ability is active by default.
Upgrades
Wings of Liberty
- +1 damage for cyclones
- +1 base damage and +1 bonus damage for hellions
- +2 damage for hellbats
- +2 base damage and +1 bonus damage for siege tanks (tank mode)
- +4 base damage and +1 bonus damage for siege tanks (siege mode)
- +3 ground damage，+1/+3 air base damage and +1 bonus damage for thors (AoE/single-target)
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Increases the armor of terran vehicles
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Heart of the Swarm
Increases the attack damage of terran vehicles and spacecraft.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Increases the armor of terran vehicles and spacecraft.
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Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Wings of Liberty Campaign
The thor can be unlocked after playing the mission "Media Blitz", and made available after Chief Engineer Rory Swann scanned the schematics of the Odin and made it less expensive to produce.[3]
 Immortality Protocol A "destroyed" thor becomes a structure with 400 hit points and 1 armor. The structure may be restored into a functional thor if not destroyed. The restored thor returns with the structure's remaining hit points.
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Upgrade's thor's strike cannons to deal 500 splash damage over a large area. Stuns targets in center of blast.
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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.
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 Vanadium Plating Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level.[13] 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.
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Damaged mechanical units recover hit points when out of combat, at a rate of 0.6015 each second.[14]
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Increase starting energy of all units by 100. Increase maximum energy of all units by 100.[14]
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Thor vs Siege Tanks
Some features that existed on the thor in previous builds led to a concern that its role was overlapping with that of the siege tank. Unlike the siege tank, the thor is an assault unit rather than a siege unit. Its ground attack has much less range than a siege tank's 120 mm cannon, so it is exposed to enemy fire while attacking.[15]
Another difference from the siege tank is that the thor can also function as a ground to air attacker.[16]
Quotations
Thor conceptual stages
Development
Known Thor Pilots
Known Thor Variants
Notes
Collector's Edition Thor
- Walter Simonson is a comic book writer and artist who famously worked on the Marvel Comics title The Mighty Thor. It appears the Simonson Munitions Factory was named after him.[17] Simonson is also one of the authors of the World of Warcraft comic series.
- The unit portrait resembles Chris Metzen, Blizzard's vice president of creative direction, who has used the alias "Thundergod", and "Lemmy" Kilmister. Its voice has a thick, stereotypical Austrian accent and quotes many lines from Arnold Schwarzenegger films. He also wears a Thor's hammer pendant around the neck along with a tauren marine t-shirt and its headband bears the logo from the Mercenaries 2: World In Flames video game.
Thor pet in World of Warcraft
- A new version of thor, named the "Super Thor", appears instead of the standard version in the Collector's Edition of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. It is identical in terms of gameplay. The Collector's Edition also offers a mini-thor pet for World of Warcraft.[18]
- In the game files the thor can be found dancing. He seems to be an expert at "doing the Robot".
- In Norse mythology, Thor is the son of Odin. This is reflected in the StarCraft lore where the thor is derived from the Odin prototype.
- The thor appeared as a minion in early builds of Heroes of the Storm.[19]
- The thor, within the scope of Wings of Liberty, is supposed to have been developed by Swann.[10] This contradicts Thundergod and Wings of Liberty itself, where the thor is in use by the Dominion.[1][7] Blizzard has acknowledged the error as the result of two internal teams working on the same piece of lore.[10]
References
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