Beating Heart of the Swarm Without Building Anything?

No Production Heart of the Swarm is incredibly binary. Lacking the ability to repair gives me significantly less durability, but the monolithic power of Kerrigan is beyond anything I get in other campaigns. I really feel like Speedrunning Heart of the Swarm taught me many skills that I could transfer to this run. Precision Kerrigan Manipulation really makes the difference here.
You can support me here! / giantgrantgames
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Lab Rat
1:07 - Back in the Saddle
1:17 - Rendezvous
2:02 - Harvest of Screams
3:14 - Shoot the Messenger
3:51 - Zergling Evolution...
6:04 - Enemy Within
9:59 - Hungry Hungry Zurvan
10:58 - I Hate The Crucible So Much
14:29 - The Crucible
14:40 - Domination
14:52 - Fire In The Sky
15:02 - Old Soldiers
15:22 - Dominion Space
15:37 - Infested
16:07 - Hand of Darkness
18:08 - Phantoms of the Void
18:41 - Planetfall
19:33 - Death From Above
21:06 - The Reckoning.

[@andrew_wow6892]

So you're basically playing Starcraft II: Heart of The

[@CC-tl3zs]

Starting Zerg

[@scienceviking4490]

Heart of the Murder Kerrigan?

[@milsteinreicadorniga891]

Heart of the Queen

[@GraytheKnight]

Heart of the Drone*

[@koboldparty4708]

"Heart of"

[@taewoosuh9323]

I honestly didn't think the swarmling evolution mission was possible without building units. You are a legend.

[@GiantGrantGames]

Anything can be done with six workers and a dream!

[@velaroniasunstryder6014]

Yeah man, ever hear the tale of the 4 probes who killed the progenitor of the hybrid on their own?

[@randomthings8732]

@@velaroniasunstryder6014 a classic epic

[@polliestander]

I agree. This guy is a damn legend. Off to the Hall of Fame with You Sir!

[@Ricardo_Rick]

@@velaroniasunstryder6014 when every other unit have surrended to this pear, the probes got there and did the job themselves

[@thekingofspoons1027]

Jimothy really showed his true colors today; who could have guessed that once all opposition has been removed a couple dozen heavily armed men could destroy a door.

[@chrismmar2118]

Ah yes jimothy the main character in the stars of crafters

[@20x20]

Hey! That door fights back!

[@nathangamble125]

@@chrismmar2118 Along with Karen, of course.

[@rofljohn23]

@@nathangamble125 quite a fitting name, as she slaughters entire worlds just so she can see the manager :P

[@vumasster]

The Jim of Blades no less

[@-Raylight]

GGG : *"Thanks Jim"* Jim : *_"My pleasure darlin'. Always was"_* That's just the perfect ending of this no production HotS xD

[@PiscotV]

This was the first thing that came to my mind!

[@beetroot3211]

That thanks was the perfect ending, after all the useless jims, this one pulled through

[@xxDanRiesxx]

Okay, that's funny.

[@AzureFloyd]

Jim: I cannot carry the no-build burden for you, but I can carry you!

[@sovietpowersupereme6231]

@@AzureFloyd Ah a Man of culture I see

[@thekiss2083]

"Miss Queen has been on a diet lately" I love how the insanity of your challenge runs brings out equally bizarre humor

[@firockfinion3326]

Enemy: "I have an army!" GiantGrantGames: "I have six workers."

[@TheHej2]

captain jack sparrow: I've got a jar of dirt

[@Valhalla05]

Charlie Brown: "I got a rock."

[@dragobane4728]

Starloard: I have 13% of a plan!

[@crescentmoon2806]

This is the best comment of this video

[@firockfinion3326]

@@crescentmoon2806 Aw, thanks! =)

[@vibingwiththewind2889]

I love starting a Heart of the Swarm challenge run and seeing a *massive* chapter in the middle and saying, "Ahhhh, there's the Crucible."

[@guest273]

Or rather a: _"I Hate The Crucible So Much"_

[@zes7215]

wrrr

[@stryaterra]

The Crucible always seems to be that one mission that's always definitely possible but only after about 3 lifetimes worth of saves.

[@ultranerdprime7468]

well, you don't give a name like "the crucible" to a walk in the park (ideally) :p

[@philip8498]

@@ultranerdprime7468 well, they did give the name reckoning to a mission that is quite literally a walk in the park. granted there are a bunch of elite terrans in that park but that isnt really the point here

[@Willdroyd]

@@philip8498 xd

[@leobastian_]

its a pure defense mission, so there is little opportunity to play it better then average since you cant get offensive early and crush enemies or cheese it by much. So the mission isnt much easier for a pro then for a relatively unexperienced player who understands the basic game mechanics. And since thats the case crippling yourself through challenge rules makes this mission hell since you cant really make up for it with good gameplay

[@KaitouHAX]

just looked at the triggers for the zergling evolution map that bunker is specifically set to take "Mega" damage from all sources which is 300%

[@toddclawson2840]

I wonder if that is to make the swarmlings look more useful by deceptively shredding a bunker really fast.

[@apawhite]

"I'm starting to believe that the most overpowered composition in Starcraft is six workers." Bly, is that you??

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

This is more of a "Is it possible to make Heart Of The Swarm hard enough to not solo it with Murder Kerrigan?"

[@scienceviking4490]

"Can You Beat Murder Kerrigan With Only Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm?" And the answer is apparently "No"

[@scienceviking4490]

@@mikkellarsen3643 Does it really count as beating her if she completed her objective but died in the process?

[@hellboy19991]

@@scienceviking4490 win win ;)

[@joshuakim5240]

I once did a no-Kerrigan run and ended up slowly grinding away the 2nd half of the missions with Swarm Host/Brood Lord/Mutalisk just mass spamming free unit waves while the Mutas wait to fight Vikings. Then i got bored and massed Infestors in Reckoning to neural parasite as many Blackhammers, Science Vessels, and Prides of Augustgrad to kill Mengsk with Terran irony. Honestly, Mengsk's elite forces felt like the real power trip.

[@igor_ne_tonet9238]

Mengsk: Strange, where is their army? Giant Grant Games: Oh, poor Mengsk. I don't even need an army.

[@chromasus9983]

Also Giant Grant Games: I mean, I *do*, but.. I'll make do regardless. *You'll see.*

[@brownjonny2230]

Give me 20 good drones.

[@marcinkrz3140]

At the end he still need army Just not his

[@rakisuzuki-burke4148]

We're talking about the guy who beat Heart of the Swarm, on Brutal, without losing so much as a single broodling, with normal zerg units.

[@MrHeatsetfreak]

Wow, the AI ally actually played a significant role in this. That's a first!

[@ForgedinPrint]

It helps they can recover from losses.

[@TheBudder221]

i love how grant said this isnt hard enough so he went to brutal and even then started adding more challenge as he went on and till won gg man you are a god at these runs

[@ryzziktrognesou1]

Jim obtaining the participation trophy at the end is heartwarming!

[@BuGBurnout]

Jim taking the gate down: I'M THE M A N

[@ditmarvanbelle1061]

Stop Simping -Tassadar

[@andrewdavis200]

I remember cracking up at the 0 supply on the last mission. Twas an epic run and glad to see the video on the main channel!

[@nesurame]

Jim is like your friend that only knows how to macro up to the final tier of units and a move. You gotta carry the shit outta him, but man when he gets thors he a-moves the enemies so hard

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

This is the most insane run I've ever seen. As someone who's been inspired to redo all the campaigns by these videos, all I can say is good luck with Legacy of the Void. You're going to need it.

[@Willdroyd]

LOTV has the hardest enemies but is the easiest campaign due to voidrays and other OP units and the top bar. Without production you get N1 no good starting unit count, N2 the enemies are super hard and of course, one of the hardest challenge missions in the game, the epilogue(prologue? idk english man)

[@gorionus9812]

he did LotV already

[@Slimurgical]

I have a good feeling that Legacy no build is not going to be remotely possible

[@golemgolden4670]

It has already been done

[@pongopower218]

LOTV and NCO are already done

[@Tomdamanz]

15:55 Ach. I miss TB. Fuck I haven't heard this line in years, and its reminded me of his passing while watching one of his favorite games.

[@yvetteszentesi6077]

13:54 - "I send my Queen to go flirt with the Ultra's" *_Roll for Seduction - Natural 20_* :) I genuinely admire your skill and determination for these videos. Even if I genuinely question your obsession for self-harm into taking these challenges..:)

[@King_MrOOF_The_Useless]

Challenge idea: Beat either Warcraft 3 Night Elf campaigns using only your buildings by uprooting them to attack (and rooting towers for anti-air

[@kingoli9565]

that's a good idea.

[@golemgolden4670]

He doesnt want to do warcraft challenge runs because nobody watches them. Also i think that would be insanely easy for him.

[@wizardsaber7g385]

It would have to be eternity’s end cause I don’t think they can get in the boats of the night sentinels campaign… I can’t remember the name ok

[@arfirik]

@@golemgolden4670 weird because those runs are exactly why i followed him:(

[@golemgolden4670]

@@arfirik And i loved his blindfolded run (if you saw the vods of the runs directly after he made that video you'll understand why this matters). But these long scripted videos take a LOT of money and time to make so he cant afford to shoot in the dark when a vast majority of people dont care about warcraft campaigns.

[@teodordanielescu3250]

It's a nice touch to do the last 2 missions the "intended" way this time. Keep up the good work

[@yonokhanman654]

25:30 This is literally the first and only time in Starcraft history that an AI controlled ally actually was useful.

[@guilhemraboud7808]

Wrong. GGG had a challenge with wol and to beat it, he waited 4 h and a bit more for Jim to beat the spectre mission.

[@JarmamStuff]

@@guilhemraboud7808 Tosh best boy, we stan Tosh 'round here

[@Furetchen]

After watching no-casualties and only-zerglings, I figured the Crucible would be a cakewalk whenever you were finally able to use the damn Locusts on a challenge run. Well, that's egg on my face.

[@fare-5174]

I love that the Swarm is all about evolution and adapting units to all situations. So when a slim queen is needed, we get one in later missions.

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

The real heart of the swarm is the friends we made along the way.

[@FenixtheDragoon]

I'm glad that Jimmy finally did something big in final mission.

[@rudelwolf1591]

Mengsk: "Only kerrigan? no building? This is Blasphemy! This is Madness!" GGG: "Madness? THIS IS GIANTGRANTGAMES!!!"

[@bendystrawz2832]

GGG: "This is not madness. SIX WORKERS IS MADNESS!"

[@beetroot3211]

The zergling evolution mission is your finest work yet, it's a masterpiece

[@Izunundara]

After everyone BM'ing ol Jimmy he shows that he did learn something from WoL by swooping in to save the day By letting Matt use a Cattlebruiser to win for him

[@pandafighter1155]

20:16 It is over Obi-Wan, I have the low ground!

[@authorvalentine]

Man I love these runs! Cheers from Japan!

[@JimRaynorRaider]

Thor: let me in...LET ME IN!!!! Drones: no~

[@VeryPeeved]

3:34 you laugh at the scout. you wouldn't be, if you'd ever played Brood War BGH maps. i still have ptsd of scout tank armies slaughtering all in their path.

[@The-jy3yq]

You haven't seen Real Scale scouts and LotV scouts against light ground? They're just melting everything

[@Rengor1997]

The LotV 3-player Coop Campaign also reintroduced Taldarim Scouts into the Starfighter tier. They're hilariously great, esp since the 2nd player has an ability on the 3rd activatable tier to instantly spawn 4 starfighters

[@plasmaoctopus1728]

Honestly I never knew the Scout was a bad unit until having some understanding of how pros play the game. In the low skill matches where neither player attacks early much and both are just building up scouts can crush terran air really well especially Battlecruisers, letting carriers kill all the ground stuff.

[@H3Vtux]

I normally hate this campaign but this is one of your best videos. Really enjoyed it!

[@planescaped]

15:54 At first I thought, hmm that sounds so familiar. Then it clicked and I remembered and felt how awesome of a reference that was! Then I felt quite sad that so much time has passed that Totalbiscuits intro spiel has become a foggy memory. :( I gotta go rewatch some old WTF is sometime.

[@thatfierydragon]

Watched the VoD for enemy within, god that was an experience. Always happy to see your vids and excellent narration!!

[@vaniellys]

I really hope you'll do these challenges in Warcraft III as well !

[@powellbrandon49]

Grant honestly amazes me with the scale of these challenges. Absolutely unbelievable, you absolute legend.

[@alexbarac]

It's ironic that, in the end, Jim saves you for a change

[@MrTapkomet]

"There are three psi-link spires, each guarded by a progressively stronger Protoss base..."

[@guilhemraboud7808]

I feel like ive Heard smth like that already....

[@TsundereBaka]

I'm not a huge SC2 player but I've been watching all your SC2 challenge campaigns and they're really fun to watch. More please!

[@Orca8472]

I LOVED the Farnham reference from SC1 at 7:26!

[@KatWithCigarette]

Oh boy there are 3 big chapters in the video, this is gonna be fun

[@lu8whatever]

Yo grant I know this has nothing to do with the subject but my boyfriend watches your videos basically every day and I keep listening to it. I’m not into StarCraft or anything but I am just so glad he watches your videos because you have such a nice calm voice, and it’s a good change from Tyler1 screams or trick2g… so as a girlfriend of a gamer I just wanted to say keep up the good work so my boyfriend watches more of your streamings and I get more peace of mind from all the yelling!

[@wirelessg18]

I really love being able to watch the archives and then your edited content version.

[@Deltalancer1]

"I made you into a monster" never felt more accurate.

[@guilhemraboud7808]

Uhhh yeah, i Can beat you without building anyting at all

[@silencearts33]

7:28 the best little subtitle moment in all of GGG's videos for that reference alone. Laughed aloud at that xD

[@booradley6832]

I almost lost on the crucible today in a normal playthrough. Came here to hear "one of the easiest missions" If you need me ill be over here sweeping up the broken remains of my pride.

[@danielhale1]

I love how Jim's role is to fly in to the rescue and immediately need constant saving. You almost couldn't write a better twist ending, with Kerrigan falling and Jim slowly but surely bumbling to victory. Thanks Jim

[@senatorcatotheelder7530]

Imagine nothing just slicing the viking in half and entering mengsk room and then killing mengsk

[@Necroneer]

Love how resourceful you are in these challenges.

[@Jsimmons102]

10:33 "In order to combat him, I build a giant path-" My Brain: You WHAT a giant path?! Sacrilige!

[@Tom_K]

Diet Queens catfishing Primal Ultralisks. YEP. I can't get that image out of my brain now.

[@somehuman1901]

The amount of commitment to this is Insane.

[@morgan3392]

It doesn't matter how many of these runs I see, every time you complete one of these challenge runs I'm just left jaw hanging

[@KitKatNisa]

Can we talk about that baneling at the end that just flat out refused to blow up so it could see the end of the war?

[@jeeeeeeeeeeezus]

And here I thought it'd be impossible on any mission without kerrigan lol.

[@Tepig027]

I remember watching the vods of you doing this. I couldnt even believe how long it took for the Crucible. That was so satisfying when you finally beat it. You are a legend for doing this challenge. Looking forward to seeing LOTV

[@JainZar1]

This was awesome to see in the Archives! Keep it up!

[@po5tm4n]

Can I say that finding your videos a while back was the best luck ever? Love your videos mate.

[@sergeyk9060]

Ah, another dose of challenge runs! Your videos are very addictive.

[@SpaceDwarfNova]

This man is insane XD But I love it GGG, keep it up!! You really entertained me with this one by bumping it up to BRUTAL difficulty after getting Primal Kerrigan XD

[@Ryu_D]

Thank you for the video. This was amazing!

[@Nick154999]

No way i was just in need to have something to watch while i eat and i immediately thought about you. Checked your channel and video was there. Nice, really nice

[@Lunai5444]

Amazing video, you don't insist a lot on how painful some grinds are but I watched some stream vods of the Ursadon fight which gave me a decent idea of how it went lol

[@killerzer0x74]

Omg, so highly recommend checking out the full vid for the zergling evo mission alone because that was insane

[@maki5082]

I remember watching the first no production stream being an absolute blast, that stream was one of a kind and I loved every second of it. And the second stream was also damn good, just such a good run, I love starcraft 2 challenge runs

[@wcross8097]

You sir, are a legendary madman, and we love you for that, keep up the good work!

[@sulljoh1]

Thanks for editing

[@Wispmage]

Congrats on another completed run. Not sure if it's as feasible, but I'd love to see you tackle some older RTS titles with similar challenge goals. Maybe original Starcraft, Warcraft II, or Age of Empires.

[@JJJBunney001]

The problem with older RTS games is there's too much jank. As in horrible pathing, random AI, terrible mechanics. Makes it unfun to do stuff like this or deathless

[@plasmaoctopus1728]

@@JJJBunney001 Although it quite possibly makes them all the more cheese-able. But yeah I'm already kind of feeling a small aneurysm just thinking about micromanaging units in like say the first command and conquer games, trying to minimize the splash damage that half the enemies seem to have. Controlling movement in older rts games is annoying when trying to play without challenges as it is.

[@Hrolfgord]

The pain of saying “thanks jim”

[@Monolitvennik]

Ты защищал Джима, а Джим в свою очередь помог с Арктуром )

[@bigbroarivus]

If a Spawning Pool and an Extractor could finish this, you can finish it too!

[@jmobraz]

I really love your Challenges, thx for them hahaha

[@keamu8580]

Excellent work, Giant Grant.

[@heyitzblaster9262]

"Let's take the queen on a date with the primal ultralisk. He gracefully accepts."

[@user-yf5mn8uy8h]

Ending is epic.

[@BladeWinters]

I love your challenge runs videos, looking forward to No Build LotV and Techless runs

[@DeadHardTV]

Rainor: "I'll beat the Mengsk army without recruiting soldiers, can youre zergs do same, huh? Kerrigan: "God damn you, darling"

[@thegod9539]

7:00 I would like to say: That ain't building, it is spawning

[@davidmcdowall9948]

amazing stuff as usual!

[@agrro3810]

You are a mad lad thank you for your hard work

[@dragonling748]

That was great! thanks Grant!

[@michalwamp]

Technically speaking you were building creep? Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[@kopazwashere]

ah, the swarmling evo mission. a scam upgrade that gives you garbage zerglings yet also being arguably one of the hardest mission in the game if you want to do a no build run. x) also I love how blizzard gimmicked the bunker to intentionally take more damage because otherwise swarmlings would get owned by that bunker and make the units look bad. also, I like the BW reference at 7:27 :D

[@chron3262]

And once again, Jim saves the day xD

[@dogshatehotdogs9916]

If only I could like this video a thousand times. You sir, are a treasure.

[@lukewarner6962]

Just found your vids. Love the content bud!

[@chickenwarper7391]

Giant Grant Games you are amazing just thank you for these videos

[@cyborg98]

Oh snap, this was great!

[@TheSunGamer101]

I love the slightly salty "Thanks Jim"

[@mochithepooh5368]

I totally enjoy this particular series, especially the swarmling mission.

[@werewolfjedi38]

seriously, the last mission being kerri up until the final seconds, where jim comes in and finishes things, feels like cannon StarCraft events. angry girl is gonna grr right up until she makes a mistake and gets slapped down by Minsk. and then raynor swoops in to save the day. reminding her that it doesn't matter if she's a monster that destroys planets. he's gonna be there for his girl.

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

You are truly a madman.

[@romanatorx3949]

That was glorious!

[@chester1882]

Wooooo! Your best challenge to date! *gives LOTV a sly eye*

[@Jeremyisthings]

The worker wall with the Thor was beautiful

[@M0torsagmannen]

i think my favourite part was the zergling evolution mission, such a creative use of mechanics to overcome the challenge of the unbeatable thor.