Ghost (StarCraft II)

	This article concerns StarCraft II gameplay. You may be looking for:
	Unit lore StarCraft/StarCraft: Brood War gameplay information StarCraft: Ghost gameplay information Ghost Program

"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)

Ghost
Unit
Race	Terran
Affiliation	Raynor's Raiders (optional) Terran Dominion Defenders of Man
Campaign	Wings of Liberty Heart of the Swarm Legacy of the Void (versus) Co-op Missions Nova Covert Ops
Role	Sniper
Armament	C-10 rifle
Protection	Hostile environment suit
Properties
Maximum energy	200 (init. 75)
Energyregen/second	0.5625
Transportcapacity	2
Sight	11
Production
Minerals	150
Gas	125
Supply	2
Build time	29
Produced from	Barracks
Requires	Tech lab/Tech reactor (attached) Ghost academy
Hotkey	G
Movement
Speed	2.25 (WoL/HotS) 3.94 (LotV)
Acceleration	1000
Lateral acceleration	46.0625
Deceleration	0
Collision radius	0.375
Protection
Hit points	100
Armor	0
Type	Biological Ground Psionic
C-10 rifle
Damage	10 (+10 vs light)
Targets	Ground Air
Cooldown	1.07
Range	6 (+1 range in a bunker)
Upgrade/level	+1/+1 vs light
Meta
Targetpriority	20
Kill score	600
Productionscore	300

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

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 hydralisk hunting. Their EMP may be used to severely weaken protoss forces.

Ghosts can drop nukes very quickly. When backed up by medivac dropships, they can be moved from one strike zone to another, and heal the cloaked ghost whenever it gets attacked.

Game Unit

Versus

In Patch 3.0, the Snipe ability is renamed "Steady Targeting" and 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.

In Patch 4.0, cloak became initially available to ghosts, and the Moebius Reactor upgrade was returned to them. In Patch 4.10, ghosts were given the Enhanced Shockwave upgrade, which increased the radius of the EMP ability

Upgrades and Abilities

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 Range 10 Cooldown 1.43

Acquisition
Purchased from Already researched

v • e

EMP Shot

Drains 100 shields from protoss units and drains 100 energy 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 Range 10

v • e

Cloak

Enables ghosts to cloak.

Usage
Hotkey C Cost 25 (+0.9 per second)

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy Hotkey C Cost 150 150 85.7

v • e

Nuclear Strike

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 100 100 14 second drop time Range 12

v • e

Enhanced Shockwaves

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

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost Academy Cost 150 150 79

v • e

Infantry Weapons

• +1 damage for marines and reapers
• +1 base damage and +1 bonus damage for marauders and ghosts

Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay Hotkey E Level 1 Cost 100 100 114 Level 2 Cost 150 150 136 Required Armory Level 3 Cost 200 200 157 Required Armory

v • e

Infantry Armor

• +1 to armor for SCVs, marines, firebats. marauders, medics, reapers, spectres, and ghosts.

Acquisition
Purchased from Engineering bay Hotkey A Level 1 Cost 100 100 114 Level 2 Cost 155 1755 136 Required Armory Level 3 Cost 200 200 157 Required Armory

v • e

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.

Upgrades and Abilities

Nuclear Strike

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 100 100 14 second drop time Range 12

v • e

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 Range 10 Cooldown 2.14

Acquisition
Purchased from Already researched

v • e

Personal Cloaking

Enables ghosts and spectres to cloak.

Usage
Hotkey C Cost 25 (+0.9 per second)

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy/Shadow ops Hotkey C Cost 150 150 120

v • e

Ocular Implants 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. Campaign Acquisition Wings of Liberty Acquired from Hyperion armory for $85,000 v • e

Crius Suit 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. Campaign Acquisition Wings of Liberty Acquired from Hyperion armory for $125,000 v • e

Ultra Capacitors 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 Wings of Liberty Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points v • e

Vanadium Plating Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level. 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 Wings of Liberty Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 5 protoss research points v • e

Cellular Reactor Increase starting energy of all units by 100. Increase maximum energy of all units by 100. 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 Wings of Liberty Acquired from Hyperion laboratory for 20 zerg research points v • e

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.

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.

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 Cooldown 30

v • e

Development

StarCraft II patches and balance updates · Call to Action v • e

StarCraft II Wings of Liberty (version-1.0 updates) Patch -BETA- Patch 1.0 Patch 1.1 Patch 1.2 Patch 1.3 Patch 1.4 Patch 1.5 StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm (version-2.0 updates) Patch -BETA- Patch 2.0 Patch 2.1 StarCraft II Legacy of the Void (version-3.0 updates) Patch -BETA- Patch 3.0 Patch 3.1 Patch 3.2 Patch 3.3 Patch 3.4 Patch 3.5 Patch 3.6 Patch 3.7 Patch 3.8 Patch 3.9 Patch 3.10 Patch 3.11 Patch 3.12 Patch 3.13 Patch 3.14 Patch 3.15 Patch 3.16 Patch 3.17 Patch 3.18 Patch 3.19 StarCraft II Free-to-Play (version-4.0 updates) Patch 4.0 Patch 4.1 Patch 4.2 Patch 4.3 Patch 4.4 Patch 4.5 Patch 4.6 Patch 4.7 Patch 4.8 Patch 4.9 Patch 4.10 Patch 4.11 Patch 4.12 StarCraft II 10th Anniversary (version-5.0 updates) Patch 5.0

Removed Abilities

The following upgrade was removed in Patch 4.1.4:

Moebius Reactor

Increases the ghost's starting energy by 25.

Acquisition
Purchased from Ghost academy Hotkey M Cost 100 100 57

v • e

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

Ghosts used to possess these abilities.

Psi-Round

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

v • e

Energy Radar

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

v • e

Ghosts were also upgradable with the Full-Bore Canister Ammo upgrade in the single player campaign, which gave ghosts +2 damage against light units. Only the upgrade remains within the editor. The icon texture also remains but is unused, as a button for the upgrade was never made. The ghost model has an unused animation for using a psi blade.

In Legacy of the Void, ghosts gained an anti-armor drone ability. The ghost deploys a flying, destructible drone that channels a beam onto a single target, reducing its armor by 3. This ability was removed in the final version of the game.

Quotations

See: StarCraft II Ghost Quotations

Achievements

Professionals Have Standards
Points	10
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
Points	10
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

Development render

A ghost walking

Ghost with a psi-blade (scrapped)

Covert Operative ghost

Covert Operative ghost skin

Nova ghost skin (1/100 chance to spawn from the Covert Operative skin)

Spec ops ghost unit

Pair of Defenders of Man ghosts

Dominion Special Forces ghost

Eidolon ghost

Mira's Marauders ghost

Umojan ghost (shadowguard)

Tyrador ghost

Portraits

Covert Operative ghost portrait

Nova ghost portrait (1/100 chance to spawn from the Covert Operative skin)

Female ghost portrait from Nova Covert Ops

Male ghost portrait from Nova Covert Ops

Defenders of Man female ghost portrait

Defenders of Man male ghost portrait

Dominion Special Forces ghost portrait\

Eidolon ghost portrait

Mira's Marauders ghost portrait

Umojan ghost portrait (shadowguard)

Tyrador ghost portrait

Trivia

• The ghost is voiced by Liam O'Brien.

• With the Covert Operative Ghost skin, there is a 1 in 100 chance that the ghost spawned with 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

Terran Units and Structures of StarCraft II v • e

Versus Units and Structures Infantry SCV Marine Reaper Marauder Ghost Terrestrial Vehicles MULE Hellion Hellbat (HotS) Siege tank Cyclone (LotV) Thor Widow mine (HotS) Aerospace Vessels Viking Medivac dropship Banshee Raven Battlecruiser Liberator (LotV) Spawned Units MULE Drop pod Nuclear missile Basic Buildings Command center Refinery Supply depot Barracks Engineering bay Automated Defenses Auto-turret Missile turret Point defense drone Repair drone Support Buildings Orbital command Planetary fortress Sensor tower Bunker Add-ons Tech lab Reactor Advanced Buildings Ghost academy Factory Armory Starport Fusion core Campaign and Co-op Missions Units and Structures Mercenaries Devil Dogs Hammer Securities Siege Breakers Spartan Company War Pigs Hel's Angels Dusk Wings Jackson's Revenge Dominion Elite Guard Sons of Korhal Prometheus Company Death Head Aegis Guard Field Response Theta Outback Hunter Bulwark Company Shock Division Blackhammer Sky Fury Squadron Night Wolves Winged Nightmare Pride of Augustgrad Valor of Vardona Infantry Firebat HERC Medic Rebel Spectre Trooper Terrestrial Vehicles Armored personnel carrier Diamondback Goliath Militarized transport Predator Sensor drone Vulture Warhound Aerospace Vessels Asteria wraith Assault galleon Hercules dropship Science vessel Harvester Special ops dropship Sonar drone Sovereign battlecruiser Strike fighter Tac fighter Theia raven Valkyrie Wraith Spawned units A.R.E.S. Bio-mechanical repair drone Advanced Buildings Dominion starport HERC compound Merc compound Shadow ops Add-ons Tech reactor Support Buildings Laser drill Hive mind emulator Psi disrupter Nuclear silo Strike fighter platform Automated defenses Devastation turret Gun turret Flame turret Perdition turret Sentry gun Shrike turret Spider mine Cerberus mine Canceled Terran Units and Structures of StarCraft II v • e Scrapped Removed Units Anti-air walker Block B Bulwark D-8 charges Guardian Gundam HERC Hercules tank Incinerator Laser drill tank Mine drone Missile launcher Nomad Pillager Predator Prison infantry guard Quantradyne APOD-33 dropship Red Adder Scout Shredder Super crane Targeting drone Valkyrie Zeus battle tank Zeus lander Removed Buildings Drop pod facility Listening post Munitions depot Radar tower Star base