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Playing vs Terran I was often attacked by Hellbat drops. Usually that was so painful. These Hellbats kill SCVs quickly. Even if those guys are running away, the Hellbats are transported by boosted Medivacs, and it is barely defendable unless protected for in advance: scouted drop, prepared bunker in mineral line, etc...

Now I play Terran myself and found out that Hellbat drops are pretty hard to execute:

  • They need to be micromanaged properly. (e.g. instead of killing workers they start killing structures/Queens, other stuff...)
  • Enemy workers are moved out, and even if Hellbats are microed properly they don't kill much as Medivacs are killed by Queens/Marines/Stalkers...

I'm frustrated... things that looked so dangerous against me don't really work now for me...

Could you please recommend the instructions or reference some guide how to execute Hellbat drops properly?

Thank you very much in advance.

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  • Biggest thing is dropping while moving. Press the unload hotkey and click on each medivac, and they'll drop as they're flying. From there it's just controlling the Hellbats to attack clusters of workers. It works best if you drop multiple mineral lines at once.
    – Decency
    Jun 30, 2013 at 7:13
  • @Decency you can also click on units' portraits inside the Medivac to drop them while the craft is in flight.
    – Wikwocket
    Jun 30, 2013 at 18:16

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What I try to do ( in a short period of time so it doesn't always happen :P ):

  1. Drop hellbats onto the largest concentration of drones/probes/scvs (save boost).
  2. Select both hellbats.
  3. Press 'H' for hold position (mainly against zerg, so the hellbats don't go chasing queens).
  4. When the other player pulls all of his workers somewhere else, pick up your hellbats into the medivac, then BOOST over to where the workers are pooled now (this is why I recommend saving boost from step 1).
  5. Repeat if you can, but it may be time to leave (either save everything or maybe just save medivac and get a few more kills with hellbats).

Notes:

  • The medivac is the most important unit, and I recommend saving the medivac at all costs (I often sacrifice hellbats since they're cheaper than the medivac, and rally over some new hellbats to drop back in).
  • In the early game, well positioned hellbats with a medivas healing overhead can take on almost any unit in small numbers. Especially against zerg: look to position your hellbats amongst the minerals so the zerg cannot surround you. Against P and T, if the other play doesn't target down the medivac than you will be able to stay and fight for a couple extra seconds.
  • If you have good multitasking abilities: loading up another medivac and dropping the other player's natural while your first medivac and hellbats are still alive and harassing the main.
  • One last thing: While you're doing all of this terrific harassment, don't forget to macro up back home!! It is great to kill off 10 of the other player's workers, but if you haven't been building your own workers the whole time then you're not going to be as far ahead as you would like. macro macro macro!

Edit:

Another note: IF you pull out of your opponents base after doing some damage (and you still have a hellbat or two), it is best to drop the hellbats from your medivac, so that they can be healed before you go back into your opponent's base. IF you simply pull your medivac away (with hellbats in it), they won't be brought back to full health, and won't be as effective when you go to drop them again.

Edit 2:

Blizzard is releasing a patch which is reducing the Hellbat damage:

  • Attack damage decreased from 18 +12 vs. light to 18.
  • The Infernal Pre-Igniter upgrade increases attack damage from 18 to 18 +12 vs. light.
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- very good video commented by Husky that shows constant Hellbat drops. See it to learn!

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