The Rush: Ending the Game Early

Exalted by some and vilified by others, this risky strategy has always been a powerful force in Starcraft. Ever since SC1 made the zergling rush famous, rushing has been fine tuned into a pervasive and deadly facet of the Starcraft universe. With Starcraft 2, this style has been refined into a variety of zergling, zealot and reaper rushing strategies.


The zergling rush has changed little since the original game and is unsurpassed in speed. This strategy varies based on the number of drones purchased until a spawning pool is made, i.e. 6-pool, 8-pool or 10-pool. Generally, a greater number of workers means a slower and more powerful rush, and a better economy in case of failure; thus, while being faster, going 6-pool is risky and thus rather uncommon. A zergling rush can be stopped by a quick Terran choke and a few marines or by being forced by a narrow path into a “300” style fight against a zealot or two; a 6-pool can even be held off with workers, albeit with considerable casualties.

The Protoss rushing strategy is probably the most simple – just quickly make a few gateways and push out zealots as quickly as possible. However, one insidious variable is the possibility of a proxy rush; in this, the Protoss player takes a risk by building his gateways directly outside of the enemy base, noticeably quickening the rush. In general, though, Protoss is the least likely race to rush because they simply cannot pull it off as quickly as zerg and often run into chokepoints or counter units by the time they arrive.

The biggest change to the very early game, however, has been the introduction of the reaper. These pistol wielding shock troops on jetpacks have one purpose: To annihilate workers and buildings. While requiring more tech than a zergling or zealot rush, reapers are capable of jumping over cliffs, behind enemy lines and 3 shotting workers, all while evading or kiting basic units. In a reaper rush, both a barracks and a refinery must be built early, between the seventh and ninth worker trained. Reapers can be countered most easily by other Terran; they fall easily to an equal value of lower tech marines. Zerg and Protoss have to rush for roaches and stalkers respectively, each of which destroys reapers with ease. Speed-upgraded zerglings used to be a viable counter; however, the cost of the reapers’ speed upgrade has been reduced since patch 15, allowing reapers to continue to elude even the fastest zerglings.

Due to the high level of risk and stunting of the later game, rushing is often accused of not being a legitimate strategy. However, a good rush takes considerable micromanagement to pull off and even if it doesn’t net an immediate win can yield an economic advantage; it’s hard to argue with results. Whether vilified or exalted, rushing is an essential part of the game and will continue to be refined and executed for years to come.