Starcraft 2 Banshee Strengths and Weaknesses

The Banshee is a brand new Terran Starcraft 2 unit that has a lot of great uses. While this flying unit is a light, low-armor aircraft which can only attack ground units, its attacks are very powerful.

This unit replaces the Wraith from the original Starcraft. Whereas the Wraith dealt great damage to air units but was practically worthless versus ground units, the Banshee is the exact opposite. However, like the Wraith, the Banshee has a cloaking ability which allows it to go invisible to the enemy (unless they have detection).

Banshee Stats

- Takes 2 Supplies
- 140 HP (no armor though, so this is deceiving)
- 12 damage x 2 attacks (24 total damage) every 1.25 seconds (19.2 DPS).

Banshee Strengths

• Does great damage versus ground units (19.2 DPS is huge; kills a Marine in just over 2 seconds!)
  
• Is able to pick off high-value targets
• Great for harassing minerals

Additionally, this unit is very effective when applying the Starcraft 2 Banshee rush technique. Outlined in the linked article, this rush involves sacrificing all other units and getting a Banshee before the Zerg enemy can get any anti-air units. I find it very effective.

Banshee Weaknesses

• Cannot hit air units
• Light armor

The Banshee naturally cannot hit air units and that makes it a weakness. This weakness shows as it is not convenient for players to build both Banshees and Vikings (Vikings are the flying Terran anti-air unit). As a result, a single enemy air-unit can stop a Banshee rush cold.

The Light armor is also a weakness as most races have a unit that counters the Banshee. The Terran's Thor kills a Banshee in just a few hits; the Protoss' Phoenix kills Banshees just as fast.

Additionally, Zerg have Mutalisks, which can attack other air units and counter Vikings. As a result, Mutalisks can easily take out a Banshee and Viking combo.

Other uses for Banshee

This does not make the Banshee completely worthless. Here is another example of a great Starcraft 2 Banshee rush. Additionally, you can use the Banshees for a few other key purposes.

My favorite use for the Banshee is to harass minerals. Even if you lose your Banshees, you can often kill enough harvesters to make it worth it. I consider it a fair trade to kill 4 Harvesters per Banshee; by sending in 6 Banshees I can quickly kill every harvester at an enemy's base, often all 22 of them, before they are able to respond. This is a great trade: you lose about 1500 resources worth of units, but the enemy loses his entire economy plus 1100 resources in unit loss.

This is a devastating blow and almost a sure-fire win for the offensive player. Be sure to wall off your base with a few Siege Tanks and Anti-Air units to protect yourself from a desperate counter attack!