Can Banelings overkill?

Do Banelings actually overkill in certain situations or will they always deal only the required damage?

Usually 2 Banelings kill 1 Marine. Can I somehow force 3 or more Banelings to detonate on 1 Marine, without "shooting them down".


To test this I tried some of the following things a couple of times, always ended in same result, no overkill.

  • Droped Marine has 45 hp and is Light unit so Banelings(with speed upgrade) do 35 damage.
  • 2 Banelings needed to kill the Marine.
  • 2 Banelings lost, no overkill.

  • Walking Marine has 45 hp and is Light unit so Banelings(with speed upgrade) do 35 damage.
  • 2 Banelings needed to kill the Marine.
  • 2 Banelings lost, no overkill.

  • Marine has 45 hp and is Light unit so Banelings(with speed upgrade and 3 weapon) do 47 damage.
  • 1 Banelings needed to kill the Marine.
  • 1 Banelings lost, no overkill.

  • Marauder has 125 hp and is armored so Banelings(with speed upgrade) do 20 damage.
  • 7 Banelings needed to kill the Marauder.
  • 7 Banelings lost, no overkill.

You can press the "Explode" key (Default: X) to explode as many banelings as you want, even if there is no - or only one - enemy unit around.

The baneling explosion is a normal auto attack like the zerglings melee attack so they will only use it when they can actually hit a unit.


NO, it's impossible. I've tried a million creative ideas:

I tried just the normal way. I tried dropping the marine. I tried reducing the marine's HP to half and THEN attack with banelings. I tried making a vortex with a mothership that would eat the 3 banelings and the marine but when they came out only 2 exploded.

The outcome of my research:

Can banelings overkill? no they can not.