(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk
(gap)
(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver, Dragoon
(gap)
(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Science Vessel, Defiler, High Templar, Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)
(gap)
(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier, Arbiter, Probe, SCV
(gap)
(D tier?)
Dark Templar, Observer, Dropship, Lurker, Wraith, Dark Archon
(gap)
(E tier?)
Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon, Ultralisk, Queen, Drone
(gap)
(F tier?)
Scout, Guardian, Firebat, Ghost
(gap)
(G tier?)
Devourer
OK, so do I have any modifications of these.
Devourer. I have actually seen it more than once now as a 1 or 2 of alongside a guardian push. I didn't like it in the game I saw it, but I did like it in a game I saw that was below ASL level (from Artosis' stream, Artosis was doing a Valkyrie rush). Against wraiths a devourer really isn't any better than a muta, but against valkyries it...still kills the valks slower than mutas would, but it survives a lot longer against them (almost twice the survivability of a muta).
Although...one additional thing that is worth considering--the acid spores legit aren't doing much in terms of making the anti air (whether wraith or valkyrie) die faster, BUT they do slow down attack speed as well. So...maybe they are included in the attack not to actually kill wraiths or valkyries, but just to make them shoot slower. The guardians will die if wraiths get built, not a lot that can be done to stop that, but maybe a Devourer or two is there to slow down the process?
They're a lower tier than Guardian for sure, but maybe don't need to be solo in the lowest tier. They could share with like...Ghost and Scout.
That does leave F tier really small with just Firebat and Guardian.
Firebat in E tier doesn't feel out of place in terms of how much it actually comes up in practice. It's about as relevant as the ultralisk in TvZ. It came up in that random TvP from last season. Dark Swarm is inflating it a little bit, since it is one of terran's only answers to that but you can also make it as part of a rush vs zerg, so it's not just a niche thing that comes up due to defilers.
Guardian in E tier...no, it's just worse than battlecruisers which are also in E tier. Like...I guess they have slightly more damage relative to their cost (slightly) but like 1/4 the durability, same movement speed, no Yamato.
Are there things that can be moved to E-tier? Not...really. Like...no ultralisks don't deserve to be brought down to the same level as guardians and firebats. Queens are maybe worth considering, but pretty sure there was extensive trade logic behind queens being where they are (probably something about breaking TvT if traded to Terran). So...I guess just keep separate E, F, and G tiers.
Archon so I have actually seen a few games now where two high templar are built and instantly morphed into an archon. Typically as defence against a muta allin. I would say that would justify moving them up a bit, but...they're already on the same tier as Valkyrie, so it's fine.
Hydra might be worth re-evaluating based on the information that they are a critical piece of defence against wraiths when certain build sequences happen (specifically failed proxy rax bunker rush that required pulled drones, into making a vulture, into making a wraith--wraith gets to the zerg base too early for spire due to the lost mining time from pulled drones). Bottom line though...don't really see hydras moving a tier above marines. Marine+medic is better vs zerg units, and hydras are better vs protoss units.
Lurker has been showing up in a lot of games, but typically cheesier games with some silly rush that catches people without detection (or not). Something to keep an eye on, probably no tier movement required.
Carrier I don't think I've seen a single carrier this season. Backseat gaming that protosses are all losing to Terrans cause they aren't going carriers is all well and good, but presumably if they're not bringing it, presumably some of them have been trying it and it hasn't worked out great in practice games. If it's back to a tech path that pros almost never use, it probably should be moved down a tier (or maybe even two). But more than that, there's a lot of trade logic tied to carriers. Like...Terran being really happy if they get traded defilers cause they can drop plague on Carriers, or mind control carriers if they get Dark Archon. If carriers are slipping from relevance, there's some tech focused stuff that maybe goes down with them. If carriers are less of a terror in the TvP matchup, I do think Dark Archons traded to terran probably just...is a lot less relevant. Probably drops them down to E tier.
So...ok, just reshuffling the E and F tiers for now. Have some stuff that I'd like to get more data on.
(S tier?)
Zergling, Siege Tank, Mutalisk
(gap)
(A tier?)
Zealot, Vulture, Reaver, Dragoon
(gap)
(B tier?)
Scourge, Corsair, Goliath, Overlord
Science Vessel, Defiler, High Templar, Shuttle (maybe on the low end of tier)
(gap)
(C tier?)
Medic+Marine, Hydra, Carrier, Arbiter, Probe, SCV
(gap)
(D tier?)
Dark Templar, Observer, Dropship, Lurker, Wraith, Dark Archon
(gap)
(E tier?)
Battlecruiser, Valkyrie, Archon, Ultralisk, Queen, Drone
(gap)
(F tier?)
Guardian, Firebat
(gap)
(G tier?)
Devourer, Scout, Ghost
I guess questions could also be asked about why I'm doing special analysis on units like queens and dark archons traded to other races, but specifically not doing that for Devourer cause zerg doesn't have synergy for them at all. Mmm...if we did do that for Devourer where would they end up? Devourer not really relevant as anti-muta tech--just too slow tech wise. So it would be like...big in TvT for battlecruiser fights (though not break the matchup as much as giving terran queeens). Depending on the position of Carrier in the meta might also be a hard shutdown to carriers TvP. So...un-tethered by "ignore obviously good synergy like corsairs and valkyries and even Goliaths to a degree" if we allow those synergies...Devourer probably same tier as Queen?