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GameSpot's Guide to Starcraft

Corsair (new)

Overview
A midsized starship whose weak but rapid fire air-to-air attack is effective against large numbers of enemy flying units, and whose invaluable Disruption Web ability can nullify enemy defensive emplacements.

How It Has Changed
The Corsair was previously unavailable.

Corsair

Recommended Uses
Fleets of Corsairs are an effective counter to massed enemy spacecraft. Disruption Web is especially useful for breaking through enemy (particularly Terran) defenses, in conjunction with Scouts, Carriers, Dragoons, and Reavers.

Further Detail
Like the Scout, the Corsair is immediately available from the Stargate, but it builds twice as quickly and costs little more than half as much. However, the Corsair cannot attack ground targets, and their air-to-air attack, while fast, is very weak. Nevertheless, the attack inflicts a small amount of splash damage, making it effective against groups of flying units like Terran Wraiths. The Corsair is entirely ineffective against heavily armored units like Terran Battlecruisers and Valkyries, and enemy Carriers, and is only marginally useful against Zerg Mutalisks, which take only half damage from its attack. Zerg Scourges are the Corsair's worst enemy.

Its Disruption Web ability is the Corsair's real strength. It creates a fairly large and long-lasting energy field over the designated target, which disables any and all attack functions underneath, though units outside the web can attack units and structures beneath it. The Disruption Web has no effect on flying units, but it will prevent all defensive structures and ground units caught within from attacking. Of course, in the case of the units, they can simply move out from under the web. However, since Corsairs are inexpensive, it is a viable strategy to saturate an area with Disruption Webs to make way for your air forces, thus crippling units like Terran Goliaths and Zerg Hydralisks that would normally make trouble for your Scouts and Carriers. Still, the most practical application of Disruption Web is to disable immobile defenses like Sunken Colonies and Bunkers to support ranged units like Dragoons. This ability is especially useful on island maps, against opponents who feel inclined to dig in and waste all their resources on defensive structures. Even a few Corsairs can negate that strategy. Note, though, that a Disruption Web does not nullify defensive structures' cloak-detecting capabilities.

hit points / shield points (size)	100 / 80 (medium)
build time	40
vision	9
cost (minerals / vespene gas / psi)	150 / 100 / 2
damage (type) / bonus	5 (explosive) / +1
attack range / cooldown	5 / 8
armor / bonus	1 / +1
special options
disruption web	200 / 200 to research	125 energy per use / 9 range

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The Protoss Units, continued
 

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