It's all Raven

Looking at the Raven

The Raven is a unit that requires heavy investment of both resources and time due to the multiple upgrades needed to make them effective. First a look at the upgrades and then at the situations that ravens can be used in. Corvid Reactor should always be researched if you are making multiple ravens to get the bonus energy. Hunter Seeker Missle is the next important just because of the sheer amount of damage that the spell outputs.

Durable Materials makes all Raven spells last longer increasing both the offense and defense of the unit. Hi-sec Auto Tracking is researched at the engineering bay but allows the auto-turret and point defense drone to fire further.

Ravens in TvT

Depending on your strategy of choice, Ravens can be a pivotal unit in this matchup. Firstly if you are going for the mix of marine, marauder, medivac, ravens aren't worth your time. Your starport is going to be used for medivacs. You can however transition into lategame sky-terran.

If you notice your opponent is neglecting the air there is an opportunity for a tech switch. Cut medivac production and start pumping vikings. Add 3 starports (2 with techlabs, 1 with a reactor) and begin upgrades for your air units.

All raven upgrades from the tech labs are the first priority then follow up with hisec auto tracking (greatly upgrades the area of Point Defense Drone) following next. With this composition you are going to want a couple banshees but predominatly the tech labs should be used to ravens and battlecruisers.

The longer you can hide this transition the more dramatic the damage. In the engagement drop a couple PDDs first, than HSM(hunter seeker missle) comes next. There is a delicate balance on how many ravens to add but often no more than 4-5 is needed.

If you are going for a mech composition then Ravens are useful for a longer period of the game. If your opponent is attempting to counter you with marauders; point defense drone shut them down. It allows you to zone out Vikings with point defense drones in the air struggle that can occur in tank wars. In a mech vs mech stand off auto-turrets can be used to soak up tank shots. It also has the benefit of the skyterran tech switch outlined above. Seeker missle can be used on tanks if they are clumped but is generally fine to skip in this case.

Ravens in TvP

This is the matchup that has historically had the most Raven usage. Back in the days of 1-1-1 they were a common sight. Point defense drone shuts down stalker volleys allowing for free damage and auto-turrets can soak up some Zealot attacks. The detection ability creates an opportunity to pick off observers and discourages Dark Templar play.

The later the game the less valuable the Raven becomes. Once High Templar hit the field point defense drone becomes useless and limits the Raven tremendously. Because of this, Ravens are best used aggressively early on against protoss. Having one against a Mothership is useful but scans and adequate Vikings can be used instead.

Ravens in TvZ

Ravens are a bit tricky in this matchup. They detect creep and burrowed units along with block all anti-air attacks except infestors. They are also thought to be an answer to the lategame brood-infestor blob. The problem is getting them out.

It is easiest to open banshee and make a raven or two afterwards but later on you simply need to add more starports. It's tough to get the upgrades later on as you need to buy time against the zerg force. This is a matchup where you need to cause damage to the zerg and transition into sky-terran if you want to effectively use ravens.It is the same premise as outlined in Terran vs Terran. Otherwise, add one or two in your army to clear creep and keep burrowed units in view.

Any comments or criticisms I can be contacted on twitter @m2nello

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