And now we make it to the meat of the Heart of the swarm update by progressing to the very race the update is about, the Zerg. Alongside the other two races the Zerg are getting two new units alongside a few unit updates, cementing the Protoss as being the only race to not receive existing-unit updates. Without further feeding time, let’s move onto what new critters we will have to zerg with.
The Swarm Host
This is a unit that is perfect for the ideal of zerging, as it is a unit that continues to spawn free units for the player. The Host will burrow into the ground and over the course of time release an infinite amount of locusts that are capable of combating both enemy air and ground units. While these little locusts only have a certain amount of time they can remain in play, they will always be around as the Host can continue to spawn them indefinitely.
This new addition is supposed serve as a sort of artillery piece that is not to be a re-work of the siege tank, and can be argued to do just that as it helps in the mentality of ‘zerging’ as opposed to being just a large tank.
The Viper
This is a new zerg unit that offers players two separate abilities to affect gameplay, and provides one of what I consider to be the stronger abilities in the game.
The first new ability the Viper brings into play is the ability to Abduct targets. Think of this as a single target snare, as it will pull one unit to the viper – shutting it down from being a factor. For this I suggest hitting opposing targets like the Siege Tank, any Colossus, and the Archon.
The second ability is the one causing the largest uproar, as it simply called Cloud. This ability causes the Viper to literally create a cloud in the map, reducing enemy range to a single unit. Talk about trapping someone in fog of war, this blinding tactic is sure to be useful.
Zerg Evolutions
Evolutions are unit updates to pre-existing units, and fit perfectly in the zerg lore.
The Ultralisk
Now featuring a new ability that allows it to burrow below ground and surprise the enemy with a fast charge forward.
The Hydralisk
This baby is getting what every zerg player could only hope their unit would get: A speed boost. When located at the hive the Hydralisk will have increased speed, thus providing the zerg army with more mobility- great for Zerg players and soon to be bane of all others. After all, wouldn’t any zerg player want their teeming masses to be more mobile?
These two minor changes are sure to impact both the tactics and style zerg players incorporate, and combined with the rest of the Heart of the Swarm units each faction is getting it should make for exciting additions to the Starcraft 2 multiplayer.
