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Shatter the Sky is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty mission.[1] Completing it in place of the mission "Belly of the Beast" prevents the zerg from using mutalisks, brood lords, corruptors, sacs, and the leviathan in the mission "All In."[2]

Blizzard has made this mission B canon.[3]

History[]

Background[]

A Terran Dominion and Raynor's Raiders battle group attacked Char early in the Second Great War to use the Keystone to deinfest Sarah Kerrigan. However, the initial landing did not go as planned. A foothold was achieved only after heavy casualties and the initiative of Commander Jim Raynor.[4]

Securing the Skies[]

GeneratorPlatform SC2 Game1

Generator and coolant tower

Leviathan SC2 Game1

The leviathan

A push on the main hive was impossible without a preparatory assault elsewhere. On General Horace Warfield's advice, Raynor opted to ensure air superiority in the short time available.[1]
Eighty percent of the zerg air support was based on a cluster of tethered Riksville Mining Operations space platforms in geostationary orbit.[5]

The hives were too deep to be destroyed by nuclear strikes. However, the platforms still had power; destroying the coolant tower located on each platform would cause catastrophic meltdowns and destroy both the platforms and nests.

The Raiders established a base on one of the platforms and systematically proceeded to destroy the coolant towers. A large section of the platform was destroyed as each coolant tower was disabled. The zerg counter-attacked with a leviathan, but it was not enough to prevent the terrans from leaving the platform a burning wreck.[1]

Aftermath[]

With enemy air support crippled, an assault on the primary hive cluster was now possible. Assembly of the Keystone was completed and it was delivered to the front for deployment.[6]

The next article in this series is All In.

Walkthrough[]

The first generator is directly to the southwest of the player's base and is minimally defended. A small fleet of battlecruisers should be more than sufficient to take it out. Once a coolant tower is destroyed, there will be less than a minute to pull allied units to safety before it blows.

There are vents near each tower which constantly spawn mutalisks when the player's units are near by. Vikings, wraiths, and goliaths are more than capable of handling them.

Once the first tower has been taken out, Matt Horner will point out that the towers in the northwest and southeast corners are heavily defended against ground and air attacks respectively. Like the first tower, the other three aren't very deep in the zerg bases, but a larger force will be needed to breach them.

For the southeast tower, a powerful anti-air force will allow the player to push in. Bring a marine/medic force with a few goliaths to handle the mutalisks that spawn. The tower is not very deep in the zerg base.

For the northwest tower, banshees are able to handle the tower by themselves due to the light detection and minimal anti-air defenses there. Pick off stray hydralisks and push in toward the tower with cloak active, and it should be taken out with ease.

The southwest tower has a combination of both air and ground defenses. Mix the two forces used to take out the previous platforms to destroy the tower. As it is the last tower, the mission will end once it is destroyed, so focus it down.

After the second tower goes down, a leviathan will spawn and will patrol the middle platform, and only attack if the player's units go into range of it. It spawns scourges, mutalisks, and brood lords, and has powerful ground and air attacks. Throw whatever anti-air is available at it: battlecruisers (Yamato cannons), vikings, wraiths, and goliaths are most effective. If science vessels are researched, keep them nearby to heal allied mechanical units.

To win the "Speed Too!" achievement, it is easiest to destroy the three bases farther from your home base from the air, using a fleet of all the different air units; namely, the air mercenaries (Jackson's Revenge, Hel's Angels vikings, and Dusk Wing banshees), regular battlecruisers, and science vessels to repair if available.

The player can also build fully upgraded battlecruisers to push through to the towers. The southeastern tower can also be sniped with twelve banshees that are run along the southern edge of the map and pushed north while cloaked.

Videos[]

Achievements[]

The achievements in this mission are named after famous action films.

ShatterTheSky SC2 Icon1 Shatter the Sky
Points

15 (Final Mission) Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the mission

Edit
DemolitionMan SC2 Icon1 Demolition Man
Points

10 (Final Mission) Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the mission without losing a unit to a Platform explosion on Normal difficulty

Edit
SpeedToo SC2 Icon1 Speed Too!
Points

10 (Final Mission) Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the mission on Hard difficulty in less than 25 minutes.

Edit
10tAnniversary SC2Portrait The Harder They Fall
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Destroy the Leviathan in the "Shatter the Sky" mission within 2 minutes of it appearing on Normal difficulty.

Edit

Notes[]

  • This mission is considered B canon by Blizzard, and thus is the non-canonical mission path.[3]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Shatter the Sky (in English). 2010-07-27.
  2. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, All In (in English). 2010-07-27.
  3. 3.0 3.1 SoMuchMass. 2011-10-22. BlizzCon 2011 - Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Campaign and Lore Panel (Full). YouTube. Accessed 2011-10-22.
  4. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Gates of Hell (in English). 2010-07-27.
  5. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (Bradygames Signature Guides), Amazon. Accessed on 2012-07-27
  6. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Cinematic: Fire and Fury. (in English). 2010.
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