Starcraft 2 HotS SP Mastery Achievement Guide: Short Life Expectancy

 

Achievement: Short Life Expectancy – Kill The Tyrannozor in under 1 minute after it appears in “The Crucible” mission on Hard Difficulty

Are you having a tough time with each and every one of the Heart of the Swarm achievement? Just taking one look at all the Mastery Achievements for the single player can be quite overwhelming for those who might have just started playing Starcraft 2. This is will be an easy guide in helping you earn those mastery achievements that you don’t quite understand how to approach just yet.

In the mission of “The Crucible” your task is to protect Kerrigan, while she transforms to the Queen of Blades. In order to earn this achievement, you must kill the monster known as the Tyrannozor as a side mission. It’s important to pay attention to the timer and when the Tyrannozor spawns in order to not miss your chance of killing it less than 1 minute. The spawn time for the Tyrannozor is normally around 14 – 15 minutes. So before the timer hits the 14 – 15 minute mark, you should already have your troops stationed at his spawned location.

There are many different units you could use to approach this task, from burrowing Roaches or even your upgraded Zerglings. But the best unit to use in this case would be the “Mutalisk”. Mostly because of their mobility and how easy access they have around the map. Before you start the mission, be sure you select the “Sundering Glave” Ability. This Ability allows your Mutalisk to gain additional +9 damage toward Armor targets. You don’t have to worry about any of Kerrigan's abilities, because she is mostly going to be inactive during this whole mission. Only in the start of the mission you get to use her abilities. So it’s quite pointless to have any abilities chosen for her, but you should still try to select the “Improved Overlord” ability for faster food supply and Overlord construction.

Once you have selected all your abilities for your units, it's time to begin the mission. During the first half of the game, it’s pretty straightforward. Kill the primal Zerg units that are trying to attack you and once you finish, head toward the spawn location to start constructing your base.

When the mission starts and Kerrigan is placed in the Chrysallis, you need to quickly start focusing on building up your econ to support the huge Mutalisk army your about to make. Try to fill all your minerals and gas with Drones and build a Spire as soon as you can to start producing your Mutalisk army. Be sure to expand to the empty base on the right side of your base to increase your mineral and gas income; also be on top of upgrade for your air unit attacks in the evolution chamber for additional damage.

For base defense, build a few spine crawlers to save your gas for the Mutalisk and use your earlier Swarm Host. The most key part of your base defense is going to be the ability to summon the Primal Spawn locusts. Be sure you summon them when needed, or else you might be in trouble when the ability is still in cooldown and the enemy is approaching your base. Mutalisk will be in your base for the early portion of the game as defense, but ground defense is still required for holding the Primal Zerg armies back. When you have the timing down with the “Spawn Locust” and your base is safe, it’s time to move out with the Mutalisk army you created.

Around the 15 – 16 minute mark, start moving your Mutalisk army you created to the bottom middle location of the map where the Tyrannozor spawns. There will be two armies fighting with each other in the middle of the map, you can pretty much fly through the armies or just fly around to avoid extra damage on your Mutalisk. You need at least about 12 or more Mutalisk in order to have enough damage to kill the Tyrannozor fast. So keep your Mutalisk alive before the Tyrannozor spawns. Once everything is in place, all you need to do is hang around for the 14 – 15 minute mark for the Tyrannozor to spawn. As soon as the Tyrannozor spawns, target it with all your Mutalisk to earn your achievement.

Good Luck, I hope this guide makes it easier for you to earn this mastery achievement.