In video games, rushing or rushdown is a battle tactic similar to the blitzkrieg or the human wave attack tactics in real-world ground warfare, in which speed and surprise are used to overwhelm an enemy's ability to wage war, usually before the enemy is able to achieve an effective buildup of sizable defensive and/or expansionist capabilities.
[1][2][3][4] In the real-time strategy game StarCraft, a Zerg rush is a strategy where a player using the Zerg race tries to overwhelm the opponent through large numbers of smaller units before the enemy is fully prepared for battle.
[6] In the majority of cases, these units are fast and cheap to enable larger numbers and opportunistic attack strategies, but they may sometimes be chosen to exploit a particular weakness of the enemy.
[7] A rush can also be considered a mass attack with primarily only one type of unit used, and depends on overwhelming numbers and force to succeed.
An alpha strike denotes an all-out attack launched in hopes of achieving a decisive advantage,[8] determining the inevitable defeat of the target before they can respond effectively.