Diamondback

The Diamondback tank is a hover-tank. It is a campaign only unit in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. It may be unlocked by playing the mission The Great Train Robbery. It can fire while moving.

History
The first Diamondback prototypes were produced by the Great War, but never developed beyond that stage. Four years later, during the Second Great War, Raynor's Raiders found abandoned Diamondbacks among the Confederate ruins of Tarsonis. The Raiders reactivated some of the vehicles and scanned their schematics for future production and subsequently used the tank to hit Terran Dominion trains on Tarsonis. The Diamondback's ability to fire on the move, and its high speed, made it well suited to catching the trains.

The Dominion also acquired Diamondbacks, using them to help defend Augustgrad and storing a large number at a cell block in New Folsom Prison.

Game Unit
Diamondbacks are first available in Matt Horner's mission, The Great Train Robbery. Their fire on the move ability makes them great for rearguard actions when pulling back to safer ground and they're strong enough to do good damage to just about any ground unit or structure. A few goliaths for support wouldn't be amiss as they have no anti-air capability.

Development
Early in the development of StarCraft II, the Diamondback was known as the Cobra.

It was armed with twin Eviscerator cannons which dealt very heavy damage against armored targets. It had the ability to target air units as well.

At one point it possessed an electrical attack which slowed enemy units.

Trivia

 * The Diamondback may refer to the Diamondback Wastelands, or the Diamondback rattlesnake.


 * The Diamondback's voicing may refer to Stewie Griffin from Family Guy as they mention "victory is ours" and world domination.


 * In the German version of the game the Diamondback is called a "Kobra" (cobra).


 * Diamondback's pilot looks very similar to Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.