Reaper

"Reapers, move in! Slaughter 'em boys!"

- Reaper commander

The reaper is a terran jet-pack equipped infantry unit introduced in StarCraft II.

Overview
Reapers specialize in hit-and-run, close-quarters combat. They are more mobile than marines as their jet packs allow them to surmount obstacles independently. Reapers are clad in self-contained body suits, and are armed with dual P-38 "Scythe" gauss pistols and deuterium-eight demolition charges.

Reapers are drawn from marine recruits that could not be successfully subjugated by neural resocialization. These resistant recruits tend to be among the most hardened of criminals, and are sent instead to the "Icehouse" in the Torus system to be inducted into the Reaper Corps. Reaper recruits are chemically altered to make them even more aggressive before being subjected to brutal training in close-quarters combat and the use of their jet packs.

Reapers are obligated to serve two years before being discharged. In the first five years the Reaper Corps failed to have a single recruit complete more than six months of service. However, some reapers were allowed to leave the program for reasons such as injury.

Game Unit
Reapers can leap up and down ledges (only one tier, however) without the need of a spotter or medivac dropship. They cannot leap over obstacles or Force Fields, however. This ability makes reapers ideal for scouting and hit-and-run attacks.

The reaper's low damage attack ignores the specially hardened shield of the protoss immortal and cannot hit air units.

It does bonus damage against light units. It is strong against Hellions, zealots, zerglings. and workers with a little maneuvering, though are not as effective against the zerg as a whole as they are against other opponents and as such, it is inadvisable to build reapers en masse when battling zerg. They are weak against siege tanks, stalkers, and roaches.

Reapers may enter bunkers.

Reaper vs Hellion
The reaper is not quite as fast as the hellion, but can often get to certain areas faster due to its cliff-jumping capability. Reapers do more targeted damage to light-armored units such as workers but Hellions can injure several simultaneously and with the Infernal Pre-Lighter upgrade are capable of dealing far greater amounts of damage (24, compared to the Reaper's 18). They have different armor qualities as well, which can factor into the decision as to which raider to use.

Wings of Liberty Upgrades
Reapers will have the ability to use anti-personnel mines.

Development
Reapers were produced from the merc haven at BlizzCon 2007, using a different technique than other terran infantry units. The haven housed up to four reapers. The entire supply could be bought at once, with the supply recovering over time. Reapers could be built very quickly. However, this was later changed with reapers being built at the barracks like other infantry units.



The reaper displayed this ability during Battle Report 4.

Known Reapers

 * Colonel Nero
 * Kern
 * Pfaff
 * Rock