History YMMV / StarcraftIIWingsofLiberty

** Special mention goes to '''Engine of Destruction''' which really pushes your limits (especially on higher difficulty) as to how fast you can manage up your base-building to have a large enough army that can protect/repair the Odin during its rampage around the map. The Odin breaking into the second and third Dominion bases are the worst parts as it requires the Odin to walk up entrance ramps with no vision of the base's high ground to hit the enemies dealing loads of damage to it. Thus, you ''really'' have to babysit the Odin at these entrance points with the small army you managed to build up, and provide high ground vision for it with your Wraiths and such, just to make sure that it doesn't blindly walk up the ramps and take loads of damage before it actually starts to attack back. The opening micro section can also catch people off-guard at how surprisingly difficult it is. You only get 5 Marines and 2 Medics to start with as a small escort force to get Tychus to the Odin. You can't even control Tychus, so you have to watch over him and help him kill all the enemies with _just_ your 5 Marines. However, it's quite common to not have enough firepower, or Tychus runs ahead and takes all the fire, which results in Tychus dying. It's even worse if you don't have the Marine upgrades and the better healing upgrade on Medics.

** Special mention goes to '''Engine of Destruction''' which really pushes your limits (especially on higher difficulty) as to how fast you can manage up your base-building to have a large enough army that can protect/repair the Odin during its rampage around the map. The Odin breaking into the second and third Dominion bases are the worst parts as it requires the Odin to walk up entrance ramps with no vision of the base's high ground to hit the enemies dealing loads of damage to it. Thus, you ''really'' have to babysit the Odin at these entrance points with the small army you managed to build up, and provide high ground vision for it with your Wraiths and such, just to make sure that it doesn't blindly walk up the ramps and take loads of damage before it actually starts to attack back.

** "Maw of the Void," which is a map that offers very little replay value after beating it the first time around with mass Battlecruisers. It becomes quite clear soon after that there is little that can endure the Rip-Field Generators besides Thors or Hercules Dropships. This can result in the same old stale experience every time this level comes around during a ''Wings of Liberty'' play-through. If you didn't opt for Regenerative Biosteel, then it's even more of drag since health regeration helps blunt the damage.

** Special mention goes to '''Engine of Destruction''' which really pushes your limits (especially on higher difficulty) as to how fast you can manage up your base-building to have a large enough army that can protect/repair the Odin during its rampage around the map.

* AssPull: A portion of the fanbase finds the Dominion's return to power as the ultimate ruler of the Terrans to be this as it doesn't line up with the horrible state that the UED and Kerrigan left them in by the end of ''Brood War''. That 4 years of off-screen rebuilding [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief wasn't enough to justify]] the Dominion suddenly having total control again.

** Egon Stetmann didn't really do all that much outside of "Belly of the Beast." Mainly because his role as the researcher of the crew overlapped with Hanson, which she was given most of the dialogue in the Hyperion lab while Stetmann just remained in the background completely silent. It says a lot that people remember him more for his drugged up Terrazine role in ''VideoGame/StarcraftIICoopMode'' compared to what he was previously.

** Egon Stetmann didn't really do all that much to do outside of "Belly of the Beast." Mainly because his role as the researcher of the crew overlapped with Hanson, which she was given most of the dialogue in the Hyperion lab while Stetmann just remained in the background completely silent. It says a lot that people remember him more for his drugged up Terrazine role in ''VideoGame/StarcraftIICoopMode'' compared to what he was previously.

* CrazyAwesome: Tychus Findlay and Gabriel Tosh, [[CatchPhrase brother]].

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Alternatively, if you're not going to use spell casters extensively and/or want a more StoneWall army, then Regenerative Biosteel is helpful from a research-and-forget perspective as you can pull wounded vehicles or ships to the back of your death-ball army and they'll heal up over time. The true benefit of this RegeneratingHealth is your vehicles may be able to survive an extra hit and live to fight another day if they get pulled back in time as the regeneration works in combat. Vehicle durability is bumped up further with the health boost from Vanadium Plating and Science Vessels healing in the rear of your formation.

*** For a less obvious, yet still massive GameBreaker, there's Tech Reactors. Combine the mass-production of reactors with the unlocks of Tech Labs in one addon. This lets you churn out 2 of ''any'' unit at a time, allowing you to mass-produce top-end units like Thors and Battlecruisers at the same rate as marines.\\
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While not as obviously powerful, once you realize the SequenceBreaking potential, the Orbital Strike opens ways to easily complete some missions. The most common usage is the first endgame mission on Char. Normally, it requires you to amass an army and steamroll your way to General Warfield's crash site, but if you insert [[CheeseStrategy Ghosts/Spectres through Orbital Strike]] (you always have vision of Warfield's camp), then you can drop a few Nukes on the Nydus Worms to end the mission once you're satisfied enough with completing optional goals. Another sequence-breaker is "Maw of the Void" due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSskqAFVEA&ab_channel=CharInteger one specific spot]] behind enemy lines where Protoss detection doesn't reach. You're expected to slowly push across the map with mass Battlecruisers, yet it's very possible to end the map a lot quicker by, once again, dropping some Ghosts/Spectres near the Xel'Naga vault, and destroying it with a couple Nukes. It's even helpful on the final mission "All In", letting you keep the Artifact well protected by rallying multiple Barracks onto the plateau, raining down reinforcements and providing a nice distraction for the FinalBoss so they don't go after your very expensive Factory/Starport units.

*** The Hive Mind Emulator can turn the [[ThatOneLevel dreaded air-version of the final mission]] of the campaign into an easy breeze by building enough of the structure around your base in order to take control of every Mutalisk and Brood Lord that the enemy sends towards ya.

*** Counter-intuitively, the Planetary Fortress is better suited to being used as a huge wall with a BFG on top than a defense at your mineral fields. Place one of these steel castles at a contested choke point with some repairing workers, Missile Turrets and Siege Tanks, and you have an impressive bulwark. ArtificialStupidity means the enemy is way too over confident when attacking this setup. In multiplayer, its balanced just fine since players can exploit its slow firing and static nature.\\
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The alternative, Perdition Turrets are no slouch either and they burrow when inactive too. You can spam them at busy choke points and stall the enemy with [[GoddamnedBats annoying flame jets]] while Siege Tanks and Bunkers wail on what the turrets are less efficient against.

*** Completing Horner's missions causes citizen uprisings against Mengsk and ruins his media reputation. Come ''Heart of the Swarm'' Mengsk is still secure in his power and no fallout or consequences from the Horner missions has had any long-term impact. Although it may be speculated that Mengsk clamped down on dissent or given how "deepfakes" later became well known RealLife, the adjutant recordings may have been successfully branded as forgeries by Mengsk's media supporters; the reasons have not been explained (not yet).

*** Completing Horner's missions causes citizen uprisings against Mengsk and ruins his media reputation. Come ''Heart of the Swarm'' Mengsk is still secure in his power and no fallout or consequences from the Horner missions has had any long-term impact. Although it may be speculated that Mengsk clamped down on dissent or given how "deepfakes" later became well known RealLife, the adjutant recordings may have been successfully branded as forgeries by Mengsk's media supporters.

*** Completing Horner's missions causes citizen uprisings against Mengsk and ruins his media reputation. Come ''Heart of the Swarm'' Mengsk is still secure in his power and no fallout or consequences from the Horner missions has had any long-term impact.

** The Tech Reactor could potentially be added into multiplayer with some nerfs, allowing a Terran player to cut down on building space usage and build ''any'' unit, two at a time out of production structures.

** The Tech Reactor could potentially be added into multiplayer with proper balancing and maybe some nerfs, allowing a Terran player to cut down on space usage and ''any'' unit, two at a time out of production structures.

** He also doesn't get enough credit for cutting off Kate. While we're supposed to root for Kate for doing her job as a reporter right, the UNN is still the propaganda piece for Mengsk who will likely not tolerate dissenting views within the Dominion. Donnie have probably saved Kate multiple times by cutting her off before she can reveal too much.

*** Reapers are hilariously broken against the Zerg, thanks to their very high mobility and high damage against small units and buildings. Using Reapers to out-ZergRush the Zerg is intensely satisfying. Oh yes, and one of their campaign-exclusive upgrades gives them a damage and range bonus. Upgrade them with their second armory upgrade and they can toss timed cluster bombs that can force the enemies to halt their advance. The bombs will chew up any unit caught in the blast plus the bombs work well against structures too.

*** Reapers are hilariously broken against the Zerg, thanks to their very high mobility and high damage against small units and buildings. Using Reapers to out-ZergRush the Zerg is intensely satisfying. Oh yes, and one of their campaign-exclusive upgrades gives them a damage and range bonus. Upgrade them with their second armory upgrade and they can toss timed cluster bombs that make excellent area-denial weapons that will chew up any unit caught in the blast plus the bombs work well against structures, so you don't have to lose Reapers to defenses.

*** Reapers are hilariously broken against the Zerg, thanks to their very high mobility and high damage against small units and buildings. Using Reapers to out-ZergRush the Zerg is intensely satisfying. Oh yes, and one of their campaign-exclusive upgrades gives them a damage and range bonus.

** Mira Han. That larger red right eye of her's alone makes her into NightmareFuel, inspite of her [[DeadpanSnarker amusing personality]].
** Portraits in conversations are advanced anough to look angry, sad, etc. However, they have an annoying tendency to "reset" to the default face for just a second after they finish their lines, leading to it looking like a bunch of robots simulating emotion.

While not as obviously powerful, once you realize the SequenceBreaking potential, the Orbital Strike opens ways to easily complete some missions. The most common usage is the first endgame mission on Char. Normally, it requires you to amass an army and steamroll your way to General Warfield's crash site, but if you insert [[CheeseStrategy Ghosts/Spectres through Orbital Strike]] (you always have vision of Warfield's camp), then you can drop a few Nukes on the Nydus Worms to end the mission once you're satisfied enough with completing optional goals. Another sequence-breaker is "Maw of the Void" due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSskqAFVEA&ab_channel=CharInteger one specific spot]] behind enemy lines where Protoss detection doesn't reach. You're expected to slowly push across the map with mass Battlecruisers, yet it's very possible to end the map a lot quicker by, once again, dropping some Ghosts/Spectres near the Xel'Naga vault, and destroying it with a couple Nukes. It's even helpful on the final mission "All In", letting you keep the Artifact well protected by rallying multiple Barracks onto the plateau, raining down reinforcements and providing a nice distraction for the FinalBoss so they don't go after your more valuable Factory/Starport units.

Alternatively, if you're not going to use spell casters extensively and/or want a more StoneWall army, then Regenerative Biosteel is helpful from a research-and-forget perspective as you can pull wounded vehicles or ships to the back of your death-ball army and they'll heal up over time. The true benefit of this RegeneratingHealth is your vehicles may be able to survive an extra hit and live to fight another day if they get pulled back in time as the regeneration works in combat. Vehicle durability is bumped up further with the health boost from Vanadium Plating.

** Urun and Mohandar who make no other appearances in-game outside "In Utter Darkness." [[spoiler:They are even absent when the Protoss campaign, ''Legacy of the Void'', was finally released]]. Mohander at least appeared in a short story leading up to ''Legacy''. [[spoiler: His death there is the reason why Vorazun is on the Twilight Council.]]

** The Tal'darim are presented as fanatics attacking Raynor the moment he sets foot on their world. The game glosses over the fact, however, that Raynor is [[HumansAreBastards invading their colony worlds to steal artifacts of their faith, often desecrating sacred ground to do so]], and [[MoralDissonance sells those artifacts for money]]. [[spoiler:Turns out the relics combine into a valuable PhlebotinumBomb, but Raynor doesn't know at the time, he's OnlyInItForTheMoney.]]

** "Maw of the Void," which is a map that offers very little replay value after beating it the first time around with mass Battlecruisers. It becomes quite clear soon after that there is nothing that can withstand the Rip-Field Generators to constitute being a worthy follow-up strategy save for building a similarly-strong Hercules Dropship to ferry your Dark Templar around (if you researched the Hercules in the Laboratory); resulting in the same old stale experience every time this level comes around during a ''Wings of Liberty'' play-through. If you didn't opt for Regenerative Biosteel, then it's even more of drag since health regeration helps blunt the damage.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw0HSPySdzk Terran Up the Night]] by Lvl800 [=EliteTaurenChieftain=], played in the end credits, and as an unlockable track on the jukebox in the cantina after beating campaign mode once.

** Terran Up the Night.

While not as obviously powerful, once you realize the SequenceBreaking potential, the Orbital Strike opens ways to easily complete some missions. The most common usage is the first endgame mission on Char. Normally, it requires you to amass an army and steamroll your way to General Warfield's crash site, but if you insert [[CheeseStrategy Ghosts/Spectres through Orbital Strike]] (you always have vision of Warfield's camp), then you can drop a few Nukes on the Nydus Worms to end the mission once you're satisfied enough with completing optional goals. Another sequence-breaker is "Maw of the Void" due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSskqAFVEA&ab_channel=CharInteger one specific spot]] behind enemy lines where Protoss detection doesn't reach. You're expected to slowly push across the map with mass Battlecruisers, yet it's very possible to end the map a lot quicker by, once again, dropping in some Ghosts/Spectres near the Xel'Naga vault, and destory it with a couple Nukes.