Everybody has heard of the Reaver Drop. But what is it really? I have been playing a long time, and I rarely see my opponents use the Reaver Drop. Here is my advice for making a sucessful Reaver Drop, as well as to prevent one.

First off, there are TWO kinds of Reaver Drops. There is the Reaver Drop Rush and the tactical Reaver Drop.

Reaver Drop Rush:

This is where you take your Reavers and place them in the center of an enemy camp very early in the game. The Reavers are generally not upgraded and they are launched in small numbers (2). This is a very very hard rush to pull off and is very risky. The KEY to this type of Reaver Drop is SPEED (as with all rushes).

Build Order Summary of the Reaver Drop rush:

Unlike many rushes, this rush cannot be given an exact build order. I will, however, try to sum it up the best as possible. First off, after you have about 7 Probes, build a couple of Pylons and an Assimilator and have a couple Probes mine gas. After that, make some more Probes and warp in a Gateway as quickly as possible. Continue to make Probes, but don't worry about producing Zealots or warping in Forge. Then have your Probes warp in a Cybernetics Core. If it is timed correctly, you should accumulate the gas and minerals for the Cybernetics Core at about the same time. After the Core is ready, mine a little longer to save up for a Robotics Facility. It should only take about 10 seconds from the time the Cybernetics Core is finished to the time you have enough materials to warp a Robotics Facility. Warp it in as soon as possible. Once again, speed is essential. Now with the Robotics Facility active, you can build a Robotics Support Bay (RSB). An RSB is relatively cheap, and you should be able to afford one as soon as the Robotics Facility is done warping in. After you anchor the beacon for the RSB, save up minerals and build two more Pylons after you have 200. The Pylons should be ready about the same time as the RSB. After the delay of waiting for the RSB and Pylons, you should have enough minerals and gas saved up to start building your first Reaver. Now its time to concentrate at mining. Save up a lot of minerals and only have 3 (no more) Probes mine gas (unless the Geyser is far away from your Nexus). Build the rest of the units in this order: (the first Reaver that should already be halfway done), a Shuttle, a Reaver, a Shuttle, a Reaver, a Shuttle, a Zealot, a Reaver, a Zealot, a Reaver. Then fill all Reavers to full capacity (4 Scarabs). If all timing was right, the first Reaver should be done the same time you have enough to afford the second Reaver, and the first Shuttle should be done the time you have enough to afford the second Shuttle, etc. Load two Reavers in each of the first two Shuttles and one Reaver and two Zealots in the last Shuttle. Now fly your 3 Shuttles into the enemy camp from behind. If all goes well, there should not be any defense back there this early in the game. Unload the Shuttles at the same time. Try to position the shuttle with the Zealots between the other two. Let your Reavers do the work on the enemy's mining location, totally destroying their main building (Nexus, CC, Hatchery) in two to three hits each (with a little help from the Zealots). This entire process in this paragraph should take no longer than 5 seconds. This amazingly quick process of totally destroying their main structure will most likely be done before your opponent even notices! Now with their main building destroyed, kill their workers (Probes, SCVs, Drones) at all costs. This should not take long with your Reavers directly in the area. From there you have basically won the match (unless they have other expansions, which they probably dont this early on) since they have no workers, no harvesting structure, and no means of producing more workers. My personal record of taking complete control of the enemy by means of Reaver Drop Rushing is just over six minutes from start to finish, though I have seen it done in much less.

Tactical Reaver Drop:


This is where you take your Reavers and place them in the center of an enemy camp somewhere in the middle of a long game. The Reavers should be highly upgraded and launched in large numbers. This is a little easier to accomplish than the Reaver Drop rush. The KEY to this type of Reaver Drop is POWER.

Advice for Tactical Reaver Drop:

* Have atleast 5 Shuttles each filled completely with Reavers, and 2 Shuttles that are completely filled with Zealots
* Always have plenty of Shuttles, loaded Reavers, and Zealots ready
* Upgrade as much as possible (especially upgrade Scarab damage)
* Send in your Shuttles by way of least harm (take the back door, so to speak)
* If your opponent has too many defensive structures, have a couple of your High Templar make some Hallucinations and send them in first, with your real Shuttles right behind
* If your Reavers are clearly going to lose, load them back into the Shuttles and retreat (ex. If your Zerg opponent has a lot of burrowed units in the area that you didnt know about)
* Back your Shuttles up with some Cosairs and/or Scouts
* Try using the Reaver Drop in conjunction with other attacks (ex. Send all your troops to attack the front of a camp to draw away the attention from the Reaver Drop at the back of the camp)
* If you have Mind Control capabilities or you have Terran allies, have a Science Vessel put Defense Matrices on your Shuttles

Advice for defending against Reaver Drops:

* Build lots and lots of defensive structures
* If you suspect a Reaver Drop rush, rush the enemy with your basic ground units (Zealot, Marine, Zergling). They will have no defense if you guessed correctly (This is why Reaver Drop rushing is so risky, and Tactical Reaver Dropping is more prefered)
* If you are Terran, use Lockdown to stop those Shuttles before they drop, or the Reavers if you are late
* If you are Terran, use a Yamato Cannon to destroy a Shuttle before it drops, or the Reavers if you are late
* If you are Protoss, try Mind Controling the Shuttles before they drop. You will also get the Reavers inside
* If you are Protoss, use Disruption Web to prevent the Reavers from attacking
* If you are Zerg, keep plenty of burrowed units (Lurkers if you have BW) near your workers
* If you are Zerg, use Ensnare to slow down the already slow Reavers That is all for the Reaver Drops. Remember to practice often against the CPU, since the CPU is harder to drop on and every bit of practice helps.