StarCraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough

Smash and Grab

Seize the Xel'Naga artifact

Achievements

Objectives

Main Objective  |  Get to the artifact

This mission is short and sweet if you can get moving quickly. Put the SCVs to work collecting minerals and vespene (but mostly minerals). We suggest also building a bunker at the northwest corner of your base, near the ramp that leads down to the road below, as it'll be the only place where you get occasional attackers. In fact, almost right away you're warned that some protoss units are gathering down the road. Ignore them for now and build up your squad. You'll get a few marauder units for free, and you should instantly begin training more.

Bonus Objective  |  Find protoss relics (4)

With a few marauders and a medic, you shouldn't have a problem fending off the incoming attack from the protoss. When they're killed, venture just north of your base to find the first protoss relic in the stage. Grab it and head back to base to continue to beef up. You want a majority of your army to be marauders and medics, but marines will help too. Consider building a second barracks with a reactor just for pumping out expendable marines.

There's a second protoss relic nearby, but to get to it you'll want a healthy supply of marauders. Take your crew to the path north of base and turn west, into the zerg. At the top of the ramp, immediately target the zerg spine crawler to kill it first. Your marauders won't be able to help against the zerg mutalisks which is why you want some marines in your crew. Hug the southwest edge of the path (avoid venturing north) and the road will turn east where you can find the protoss relic.

Head back toward base and start exploring the eastern portion of the map to start wiping out the meager protoss resistance. If you run into a protoss pylon before an enemy or turret defense, blast it away. The pylons provide power to the photon cannon turrets—if the pylons are destroyed, the turrets become useless. You'll naturally run into more resistance than just pylons and photon cannons, but as long as you move forward slowly—keeping the number of simultaneous protoss attackers to a minimum—you shouldn't have a problem when you've got marauders and medics.

After crossing the glowing bridge to the east and clearing out the platform beyond it, look for an adjacent platform to the southwest. Behind a pylon and photon cannon combo you can find the third protoss relic. Further east, you'll head up a ramp to another large area that's filled with protoss. Clear it out and look for a narrow path to the southeast, at the end of which is the fourth and final protoss relic.

If you follow the main path northeast, you'll see it leads to a glowing waypoint in front of the artifact you're after. Make sure all of your units are together (and that you have a lot of them) and march them onto the waypoint. The three large statues surrounding the artifact will come to life and attack. If you've got a sizable army and a healthy number of medics (four should be plenty), you can order the crew to hold position and fend off the three statues without losing units. When all three statue enemies are defeated, the mission ends.