Starcraft 2 Ghost Abilities

Here are all the abilities you can use as a Ghost in Starcraft 2. This is a brief overview detailing each ability, what it does, and its cost. For more detailed strategies of maximizing the effectiveness of particular abilities, see the modules below.

Cloak

This ability renders the Ghost invisible while it is active. Players will need a detector in order to see a Ghost under the effect of cloak.

Cost: 25 energy and drains .9 energy per second while active
Requires: "Personal Cloaking" technology researched at the Ghost Academy (costs 200 minerals and 200 vespene gas)

Snipe

This ability deals 45 damage which ignores armor and unit class. It can only be used against units in the biological class.

Cost: 25 energy
Range: 10 (quite far)
Requires: None. This is a default Ghost ability.

EMP Round

This ability fires an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) which affects all units within a small area of effect. This ability temporarily pulls cloaked units out of stealth, reduces enemy energy to 0, and drains the shields of Protoss units by 100.

Cost: 75 energy
Range: 10 (quite far)
Area of Effect: 2 (small circle - be very specific when using this ability)
Requires: None. This is a default Ghost ability.

Tactical Nuke

Cost: 1 Tactical Nuke
Range: 10 (quite far)
Area of Effect: 8 (big circle)
Requires: A Nuclear Missile built at the Ghost Academy's Silo (100 minerals and 100 vespene gas. Each silo can only hold 1 nuke).

Bonus Damage versus Light Units

While not technically an ability, this is worth mentioning. The Ghost does 20 damage to all "light" units per swing (22 with +1 weapons). You can sneak a cloaked Ghost into the enemy mineral line and start picking off enemy harvesters with auto-attack very quickly. This can be more effective than a Nuke, especially with 2 Ghosts at once. With +1 weapons, 2 Ghosts will 1 Shot all harvesters except SCVs (requires +2 weapons or a third ghost).

When a Ghost is cloaked, it cannot be seen unless the enemy has a detector in range. Ghosts are pretty useless without Cloak as this is what keeps them safe in large scale combat. Cloak also allows Ghosts to sneak behind enemy lines.

In order to use Cloak, players will have to research Personal Cloaking at the Ghost Academy. This costs 150 minerals and 150 vespene gas.

Cloak also costs the Ghost 25 energy to use and then proceeds to drain .9 energy per second. Once the Ghost runs out of energy, Cloak will wear off.

Be sure to use Cloak even in army to army combat as it makes it hard for the opponent to target the Ghost. The energy cost is worth the increase in safety for your Ghosts.

EMP is a core Ghost ability in Starcraft 2. In the original Starcraft, this spell belonged to the Science Vessel. The Science Vessel does not make an appearance in Starcraft 2 and as such the EMP ability has been transferred over to the Ghost.

While it is now more convenient that the EMP ability belongs to the Ghost, now players will find that this Starcraft 2 Ghost ability has a much smaller area of effect than it did when used by the Science Vessel.

At any rate, EMP is still incredibly effective as it drains Protoss Shields (up to 100 per unit), literally cutting their life in half. Players will find that if they are able to land EMP on a Protoss force, they will easily win nearly every match (assuming they take care of Colossi).

EMP also takes enemy energy to zero. Since energy is slow to regenerate, you can sneak some Ghosts in with Cloak and EMP any casting units (like High Templar or Infestors) to take them out of the fight before it even starts.

This Starcraft 2 Ghost ability costs 75 energy and belongs to the Ghost by default (it does not need to be researched).

Make sure that you are engaged with the enemy (or will be shortly) before using EMP. In the original Starcraft, Protoss shields regenerated slowly over time, so you could use EMP 10 seconds or 30 seconds before going in and it made no difference. This has changed significantly in Starcraft 2. Now, Protoss units will regenerate their shields very quickly 10 seconds prior to the last time they were damaged. In other words, if you EMP the enemy, and they run for 12 seconds, they will have full shields again.

It might seem pretty tough for Protoss players to beat Terran players. If you are struggling against Terran players, visit this Starcraft 2 Protoss strategy guide for tips and strategies to use against Terran players.

When trying to land an EMP on a Protoss force, one great strategy is to scan for the location of their army and send a cloaked Ghost in to cast EMP on the Protoss army just before your units engage in combat. See the video below for more information for a demonstration of how to use EMP, just one of many Starcraft 2 Ghost abilities.

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Snipe is a very powerful Ghost ability which is new to Starcraft 2. With Snipe, the Ghost deals 45 damage (which ignores armor) to biological units. Mechanical units cannot be targeted by Snipe.

This ability costs 25 energy, has no cooldown, and does not need to be researched. A Ghost with a full energy pool can cast Snipe 8 times in a row and take out some pretty powerful units in the process.

Snipe is most effective on high-cost units with low HP. Brood Lords have 225 HP and cost a lot of money, but 1 Ghost can take one out with 5 Snipes. That may sound like a lot, but if you have a group of 4 Ghosts, you can take out a half-dozen Brood Lords in a few seconds. Normally, Brood Lords inspire terror in the Terran race.

Other great units to kill are Drones and Infestors. One Snipe can kill a Drone and Two Snipes can kill an Infestor. Two Ghosts can sneak in and take out virtually an entire base worth of Harvesters without even nuking - just snipe and pick off the remaining Drones with auto-attack (Ghosts do bonus damage as it is to light units).

Snipe is just one of many Starcraft 2 Ghost abilities that makes it so powerful. Be sure to check out this site for a complete Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide.

The nuke is probably the most exciting of the Starcraft 2 Ghost abilities.

If you have a Factory, you can build a Tactical Nuke at your Ghost Academy for 100 minerals and 100 vespene gas. After the nuke is built, you can have your Ghost call it down on an enemy's base.

This channeled spell takes 20 seconds from launch to landing. This gives the enemy ample time to move out (should they detect it) and about 10 seconds to kill your Ghost (should they be able to find it). Each time you use a Nuke, you will need to build a new nuke at the Ghost Academy.

Each Ghost Academy can only hold 1 Tactical Nuke, but if you build more Ghost Academies, you can build more Nukes to launch several at the same time.

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