"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!"
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.[3]
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,[10] deals 20 damage + 80 damage vs psionic opponents.[11] This ability used to be known as Snipe.[12]
Ghosts passively detect units with an energy bar, even within the fog of war,[11][14] up to a range of 30. This does not enable them to target or Snipe opponents within the fog of war.[15]
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.[16] The ghost model has an unused animation for using a psi blade.[17]
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.[1] This ability was removed in the final version of the game.
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."
↑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.
↑ 11.011.1Snipe 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.
↑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.