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"Whenever I see a world untouched by war, a world of innocence, a world of lush forests and clear rivers. (pause) I really just wanna nuke the crap out of it!"

- Terran Ghost(src)

Ghosts are feared terran covert operatives. They are known for their skill, psionic powers, and ability to cloak.[2]

Ghosts take up two slots in a bunker. They have a Hold Fire command, enabling them to hide their presence even when hostile units approach.

Ghosts make good counters against ravens, mutalisks, infestors, and high templar, but are weak against banshees, marauders, zerglings, stalkers, and zealots. They can also be used for mid game mineral line harassment and damaging biological units. Their EMP may be used to severely weaken protoss forces and spellcasters, and reveals cloaked units such as observers and dark templar.

Ghosts can drop nukes very quickly. When backed up by medivac dropships, they can be moved from one strike zone to another, and be healed whenever they get attacked when detected.[3]

Game Unit[]

Versus[]

In Patch 3.0, the Snipe ability was replaced with "Steady Targeting," which deals 170 damage to a target biological unit, ignoring armor. This ability has a channeling time of 1.43 seconds, and will be cancelled if the ghost takes damage during this time. Unlike "Snipe," "Steady Targeting" cannot be queued to multiple targets.

The Patch 4.0.2 Balance Update caused Steady Targeting to return its energy if it failed, and changed the ghost cost to 150 minerals and 125 gas.

Upgrades and Abilities[]
Snipe SC2 Icon1
Steady Targeting

After carefully aiming for 1.43 seconds while not taking damage, the Ghost fires a sniper round dealing 130 damage (+40 vs Psionic). Ignores armor. Can only target biological units.

This ability is cancelled if the target moved a over 13.5 range away from the ghost. This ability can also be manually cancelled.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 50 Energy
Range 10
Cooldown 1.43 seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Already researched
ve

Drains 100 shields from protoss units and drains 100 energy[4] from units in the area of effect, including friendly units. Shield upgrades have no effect.

The EMP field has an area-of-effect of 1.5.

Cloaked units are revealed for a short time. Burrowed units are not.

Usage
Hotkey E
Cost 75 Energy
Range 10[5]
ve

Enables ghosts to cloak.

Usage
Hotkey C
Cost 25 (+0.9 per second) Energy
Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy
Hotkey C
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 85.7seconds
ve
Hold Fire
Usage
Hotkey F
ve
Weapons Free

Orders selected units to fire at will. They will engage enemy units within range and chase them as normal.

Usage
Hotkey G
ve

Ghosts and spectres can call down nuclear strikes, dealing 300 damage + 200 vs buildings.

The launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area while the opponent only sees a red dot. When the ghost is aiming the nuke, it will be "frozen", but it can still be given the order to "move away", which it will do the moment it is unfrozen.

Usage
Hotkey N
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 14 second drop time seconds
Range 12
ve
Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay
Hotkey E
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 114seconds
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 136seconds
Required Armory
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 157seconds
Required Armory
ve
Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 114seconds
Level 2
Cost 155 Minerals 1755 Vespene gas 136seconds
Required Armory
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 157seconds
Required Armory
ve

Wings of Liberty[]

In the Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, ghosts do not have the EMP ability. Ghosts are an alternative to spectres and are unlocked by playing the mission "Ghost of a Chance," available after Nova offered Raynor's Raiders the technology necessary to train them.[6]

Upgrades and Abilities[]

Ghosts and spectres can call down nuclear strikes, dealing 300 damage + 200 vs buildings.

The launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area while the opponent only sees a red dot. When the ghost is aiming the nuke, it will be "frozen", but it can still be given the order to "move away", which it will do the moment it is unfrozen.

Usage
Hotkey N
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 14 second drop time seconds
Range 12
ve
Snipe SC2 Icon1
Snipe

Deals 45 damage to a biological ground or air unit, ignoring armor.

This ability is only available in Wings of Liberty campaign; its Versus-mode version was replaced with Steady Targeting in Legacy of the Void.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 25 Energy
Range 10
Cooldown 2.14 seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Already researched
ve
SC2BansheeCloak
Personal Cloaking

Enables ghosts and spectres to cloak.

Usage
Hotkey C
Cost 25 (+0.9 per second) Energy
Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy/Shadow ops
Hotkey C
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 120seconds
ve

Increases ghost sight range by 3 and attack range by 2.

The implants make it easier to spot potential targets and weak points in the enemy perimeter. The current generation also includes an automated targeting system that instantly calculates atmospheric pressure and wind shear, greatly increasing the effective sniping range of the ghost.[7]

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion armory for $85,000
ve

Enables ghosts to cloak indefinitely.

This combat suit has a psi-augmenter dedicated to maintaining cloak, allowing the ghost to maintain his cloaking field indefinitely and frees up psionic energy for other uses.[7]

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion armory for $125,000
ve

Attack upgrades improve attack cooldown of affected units by 5% per level.

These self-replicating ultra capacitors reduce the reload time of weapons and systems. Now each of the weapon upgrades at the armory and engineering bay increases attack speed by 5% in addition to increasing damage.

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points
ve
SC2 Lab VanPlating Icon
Vanadium Plating

Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level.[8]

We have created a new lightweight alloy called vanadium. Vanadium diffuses weapon impacts much more efficiently than traditional armor plating, and it better preserves the life of our units. Now each of the armor upgrades in the armory and engineering bay increases unit life by 5% in addition to increasing armor.

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points
ve

Increase starting energy of all units by 100. Increase maximum energy of all units by 100.[9]

This reactor has a larger energy reserve on startup and can hold a much larger charge. Now our specialist units can use their abilities the moment they hit the battlefield, and they can store more energy when idle for long periods of time. All "Specialists units" use energy: such as the medic, ghost, spectre, thor, wraith, banshee, raven, science vessel and battlecruiser.

Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 20 zerg research points
ve

Co-op Missions[]

Nova can build the advanced spec ops ghosts in Co-op Missions, with enhanced abilities, life and damage. Tychus can recruit the elite outlaw ghost Vega, who has the ability to psionically dominate enemy units. Mengsk can build the elite Emperor's Shadows with enhanced abilities, life and damage.

Ghosts are used by Amon's forces, and on harder difficulties, they will sometimes attempt to nuke the players' bases.

Nova Covert Ops[]

Defenders of Man ghosts can detect in front of them and will use EMP if Nova is within the area. They also have ionic force field.

IonicForceField SC2NCOGame
Ionic Force Field

Provides the Ghost with a shield that reduces incoming damage until 50 total damage is absorbed. Shield lasts for 20 seconds.

Usage
Hotkey W
Cost 25 Energy
Cooldown 30 seconds
ve

Development[]

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.

Ghosts could be seen in 2007 gameplay footage. They featured two new abilities: Sniper, which dealt 150 damage to biological units with a long startup and no energy cost, and Drop Pods, which contained six marines and were deployed onto the battlefield in a similar manner to a nuke.[10] Lockdown was effectively removed, as the ghost lacked it even in an earlier build of the game, where Sniper could also be auto-cast.[11] Nukes dealt up to 400 damage.[12] The EMP ability was added by November, functioning similarly to that of the science vessel's.[13][14] Ghosts had 70 HP, a build time of 33 seconds, and cost 100 minerals and gas.[12] In November, they had 100 HP, and dealt 5 damage (+30 vs Light) with an attack range of 10. Snipe dealt 50 damage (+100 vs Light).[15] In December, they had 70 HP, dealt 6 (+12 vs Light) damage and had 7 range.[12] The shadow ops could contain both a nuke and a drop pod simultaneously. Drop pods could be loaded with 12 infantry units.[16]

By March 2008, Drop Pods were removed and each ghost could detect units with energy in a 30-yard radius around them.[17] Nukes dealt 800 damage in April.[18] In June, Snipe was ineffective against armored biological units.[19] By September, the ghost cost 100 minerals and 200 gas, had 100 HP, and dealt 10 (+15 vs Light) damage with 10 range.[12] This changed to 150 minerals and gas and 7 range by October.[12] Psi Round replaced Snipe by October, which dealt 50 bonus damage to psionic units,[20] down to 40 damage in November.[21] The ghost lost EMP by November[22] before regaining it by May 2009, draining 100 shields and all energy, while Snipe replaced Psi Round and dealt 60 damage.[23] Nukes dealt 300 damage (+200 to Structure) by July,[24] and ghosts dealt +10 vs Light.[12] By September, the cost was changed to 150 minerals and 200 gas.[12] By the StarCraft II beta, it was changed back to 100 minerals and 200 gas and the ghost's range decreased to 6.

Psi-Round

This attack, which can only target biological units,[25] deals 20 damage + 80 damage vs psionic opponents.[26] This ability used to be known as Snipe.[27]

ve
Energy Radar[28]

Ghosts passively detect units with an energy bar, even within the fog of war,[26][29] up to a range of 30. This does not enable them to target or Snipe opponents within the fog of war.[30]

ve

Ghosts were also upgradable with the Full-Bore Canister Ammo upgrade in the single player campaign, which gave ghosts 2 bonus attack range. Only the upgrade remains within the editor. The icon texture also remains but is unused, as a button for the upgrade was never made.[31] The ghost model has an unused animation for using a psi blade.[32] There are also some unused quotes.[33]

Beta Patch 6 changed the ghost cost from 100 minerals and 200 gas back to 150 minerals and gas. The radius of EMP was decreased from 3 to 2. Patch 1.3.0 changed EMP to drain up to 100 energy instead of all. Patch 1.3.3 changed the ghost cost from 150 minerals and gas to 200 minerals and 100 gas. Patch 1.4.2 again decreased the radius of EMP from 2 to 1.5. Patch 1.4.3 changed Snipe damage from 45 to 25 (+25 vs Psionic).

During development of Heart of the Swarm, the ghost’s Cloak ability was modified — it was no longer a toggled effect. Instead, there would be a one-time energy cost to activate Cloak for a specific time duration. Energy regeneration would continue while cloaked, and Ghosts could re-cloak while nuking without interrupting the call-down. This change was reverted. The Patch 2.1 Balance Update removed the Moebius Reactor upgrade and increased the ghost's starting energy from 50 to 75.

In the Patch 2.5.2 Balance Update of the Legacy of the Void beta, ghosts gained an anti-armor drone ability. The ghost would deploy a flying, destructible drone that channels a beam onto a single target, reducing its armor by 3.[1] Their speed also increased from 2.25 to 2.813. This ability was replaced with Steady Targeting in the Patch 2.5.3 Balance Update. Patch 2.5.5 Balance Update #3 reduced the snipe delay from 2.14 seconds to 1.43.

The Moebius Reactor upgrade was readded in Patch 4.0 and ghosts had their initial energy decreased back to 50. They also started with Cloak researched. These changes were reverted in the Patch 4.1.4 Balance Update.

Increases the ghost's starting energy by 25.

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy
Hotkey M
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 57seconds
ve

The Patch 4.10.1 Balance Update added the Enhanced Shockwaves upgrade, which increased the radius of EMP. This upgrade was removed in Patch 5.0.11.

ElectricField SC2 Icon1
Enhanced Shockwaves

Increases the radius of Ghost's EMP Round from 1.5 to 2 (+0.5).

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost Academy
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 79seconds
ve

Quotations[]

See: StarCraft II Ghost Quotations

Achievements[]

Professionals have standards Professionals Have Standards
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Destroy 20 units with Sniper Rounds in a single Unranked or Ranked game.

Notes

This achievement is a reference to Team Fortress 2's Meet the Sniper video, where the Sniper says "Professionals have standards: be polite, be efficient, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

Edit
Nuclear launch detected Nuclear Launch Detected
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Kill 15 enemy units with a single Nuke in an Unranked or Ranked game.

Notes

If the player uses the same ghost to drop more nukes he can earn the "Unbreakable!" achievement.

Edit

Images[]

Skins and Art
Portraits

Notes[]

GhostCine Concept Game

Concept art for a ghost cinematic model

  • The ghost is voiced by Liam O'Brien.[34]
  • With the Covert Operative Ghost skin, there is a 1 in 100 chance that the ghost spawned will have the model, portrait and voiceover of Nova Terra.
  • The portrait of the Mira's Marauders ghost appears similar to the character of Ana from Overwatch.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 2015-06-18, Legacy of the Void Beta Balance Update -- June 17, 2015. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-06-26.
  2. Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
  3. David Kim, Yeon-ho Lee, Dustin Browder, Robert Simpson. 2009-10-21. Battle Report 4. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2009-10-21.
  4. Lylirra. 2011-02-25. StarCraft II Patch 1.3.0 PTR Notes. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2011-02-25.
  5. Crygil. 2010-03-25. Patch Notes - Beta Patch 6. Battle.net StarCraft II General Beta Forum. Accessed 2010-03-25.
  6. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Ghost of a Chance (in English). 2010-07-27.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Armory upgrades (in English). 2010.
  8. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Protoss research (in English). 2010.
  9. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Zerg research (in English). 2010.
  10. StarCraft II: Terran Gameplay
  11. 2011-10-23, BlizzCon 2011 - Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm and Blizzard DOTA - Art & Technology Panel (Full). YouTube, accessed on 2011-11-07.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Ghost. StarCraft II Armory.
  13. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2007-11-07. Q&A 20: Mega-Ghosts and Unspotable Siege Tanks. SC2 Blog.
  14. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2007-12-07. Q&A 23: Campaign Videos, Ghosts & EMP, Speed Automation. SC2 Blog.
  15. AlethioS, Karune. 2007-11-07. November Discussion Topic: New Terran Ghost. StarCraft Live. Accessed 2008-04-11.
  16. Anderson Mccutcheon. 2008-01-11. Q&A 25 - Nomad Buildings, Protoss Shields and StarCraft 2 Resolutions. SC2 Blog.
  17. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-03-28. Q&A 33: Hunter Ghosts, Shared Nydus Worms, Taiwan Build. SC2 Blog.
  18. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-04-25. Q&A 36: Nukes Vs Immortals, Roach Micro, Hallucination 2. SC2 Blog.
  19. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-06-25. StarCraft 2 News from the Blues. SC2 Blog.
  20. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-10-17. BlizzCon 2008: Changes to StarCraft 2. SC2 Blog.
  21. Zetaras Xal'Kurat. 2008-11-20. Q&A 46: SCVs Autocast Repair, “Special” Armor Cases. SC2 Blog.
  22. Ghost does not have EMP ability any more at the current development stage. For your information above questions, 1. Immortal's hardened shield is passive and there is no additional upgrade to get it. 2. Ghost's EMP took out Immortal's shield. 3. Once Immortal's shield was taken out by EMP, Immortal took full damage from Siege Tanks, which means there's no more hardened shileld. Cydra. 2008-11-26. Dear Blizzard: EMP + Tanks vs Immortals. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-11-26.
  23. Anderson Mccutcheon. 2009-05-29. Death Animations, StarCraft 2 Q&A 51 and Fansite Q&A 5. SC2 Blog.
  24. Anderson Mccutcheon. 2009-07-16. Community Q&A and Comic Contest June Winners. SC2 Blog.
  25. You can't target mechanical units with Ghost's Psi Round, like Battlecruiser, Mothership and Nullifier. Cydra. 2009-02-18. Question about Psi Rounds. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-02-18.
  26. 26.0 26.1 Snipe and Psi Round are the same. You Snipe with a Psi Round, which currently does 20 damage + 80 versus Psionic Units. This means, Ghosts are not only able to see energy based units in a limited range within the fog of war, they also take out units like High Templars with one Psi Round shot, making them excellent caster killers. Karune. 2008-11-25. Ghost quesion for Karune/Cydra. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-11-25.
  27. 1) Has the snipe ability been removed from the Ghost?

    1) No. Karune, Gentle_cowboy05. 2008-11-25. Ghost quesion for Karune/Cydra. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-11-25.
  28. 2008-09-01. PAX 2008: Troublesome Gameplay (Cam). Game Trailers. Accessed 2008-09-01.
  29. Karune. 2008-03-26. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 33: ScreenCraft. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-03-26.
  30. Karune. 2008-05-07. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 37. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-05-07.
  31. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). July 27, 2010.
  32. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). March 12, 2013.
  33. StarCraft 2 - Cut Beta Quotes.
  34. 2015-03-10, Liam O'Brien. Twitter, accessed on 2015-03-13.
  35. 2022-12-17, Phill Gonzales - Discord Questions. Imgur.com. Accessed on 2022-12-17.
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