• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 11:31
CEST 17:31
KST 00:31
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists14[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers12Maestros of the Game 2 announced52026 GSL Tour plans announced14Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid23
StarCraft 2
General
MaNa leaves Team Liquid Maestros of the Game 2 announced 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 522 Flip My Base The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss Mutation # 520 Moving Fees
Brood War
General
ASL21 Strategy, Pimpest Plays Discussions Data needed [ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro16 Group D [ASL21] Ro16 Group C [ASL21] Ro16 Group B [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Dawn of War IV Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1733 users

Some initial thoughts of Heart of the Swarm

Blogs > blabber
Post a Reply
blabber
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4448 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-06-09 07:31:38
June 09 2012 06:45 GMT
#1
here are some initial thoughts as well as some info on the new stuff in Hots. I'll be writing a "review" blog later after i get 2 more days of playing in and gather all my thoughts.

Terran
Widows mines: can move. can be built from factory + reactor. 75 minerals / 25 gas, 1 food each. Can catch air and ground units. Does 500 splash damage after 10 seconds of being latched on. Meaning in a TvT going fast banshee can be quite risky if a widow mine is placed well. pretty good early game, but in later game not as useful as you will probably be using the factory build time to build other stuff and also you want the food for other stuff. it also would take too much time to control. so good for early scouting (blocking expos, etc). they MIGHT be triggered by workers, i'll have to check. need to test out its range vs range of other units too

Warhound: made from factory, requires tech lab. 150/75, 2 food. Called "anti-vehicle." tbh i think this unit is kinda meh. marauders seem to already fill its role. need to test more

Battle hellion: when you make a hellion, it is by default the battle hellion. moves slower than hellion, has more armor, and fires sort of horizontally in front of it. basically a regular hellion but requires less micro. i think this (along with mines) does make mech more viable (especially tvp). basically i dont think you will see terran players just float the factory and scout with it. it will actually be used

so the reaper has an upgrade at the tech lab (costs 100/100) to make the reaper regen out of battle. regen acts pretty much the same as protoss shields. no more reaper speed upgrade.

Zerg
Swarm host: 200/100, 3 food, requires infestation pit. has an upgrade at the infestation pit that gives the locusts 10+ survival time (upgrade costs 200/200). while burrowed, the swarm host spawns 2 locusts every 25 seconds, and last for 15 seconds (without the upgrade), meaning if you get the upgrade, you can have a constant force of locusts instead of having a 10 second gap between each force. Each locust does 16 dmg with 1.2 attack speed with range 2 (locusts are surprisingly fast at killing stuff in low numbers). i feel like they are useful only in small battles. versus death balls they wont do anything. i would imagine these are very good for defense.

There is a new hydralisk upgrade at the hydra den. basically for 150/150, hydralisks move 50% faster off creep (ie. same speed as on creep). Will probably see more hydra busts zvp if pvz were to stay the same.

Viper: Requires spire. Costs 100/200, 3 food. It has a few abilities: one is consume (costs no energy) where it consumes a *structure* (doesn't destroy structure, only takes 200 health off it) for 10 seconds, where the viper then receives 50 energy. Haven't tested if you can have multiple vipers consume off same building. With queen transfuse the lost HP is pretty negligible. There is also the abduct (the grab and pull skill that you have seen) for 75 energy. Blinding cloud (125 energy) is kind of like dark swarm but not quite. Basically any ranged units under it will have its attack reduced to melee range. Meaning they will still do damage but will have only melee range. It doesn't make much sense typing that out, so i will need to test it out more to better understand it.

ultras have charge ability that let them go underground and charge towards a target area and knocks back any units there. 30 second cooldown. need to test more

Protoss
Mothership core: costs 100/50, no food, takes 30 seconds to make. No building requirements needed to make. You can make only one. you cannot make probes at same time, so have to figure out when is a good time to make this and not probes. It is placed on top of the nexus it was made at and cannot be moved (unless you teleport it).
Has 4 abilities (dont remember names of all):
teleport - for 75 energy, you can move the mothership core to another nexus.
energy - for 25 energy, you can charge the energy of any nearby unit to max. Meaning you can warp in a high templar or sentry and use this ability, and it will have full energy. Meaning you can theoretically get only 1 sentry and be safe for a decently long time. also meaning really fast gateway pushes become stronger since you can get less sentries + more other gateway units and have same amount of force fields.
Recall - for 150 energy, you can recall a group of units back to the nexus. I imagine it works exactly like the original mothership recall (can recall fungaled units). Because you can get this pretty early, you may see protosses commit to more attacks knowing they can just recall out of it.
Cannon - morph the nexus core into a cannon that shoots things around it (believe it costs 75 energy). only temporary.

Once you get a fleet beacon, you can morph the mothership core into a mothership for 300/350 and 8 food. The mothership has recall, vortex, and stasis (which will put cause the mothership and nearby air units to be put into a stasis). The mothership does not have a cloak field. The aforementioned mothership core abilities are lost. The transformation from core to mothership cannot be chronoboosted. Also you cannot use any core skills while it is morphing.

Tempest: costs 300/300, (forget food count), needs fleet beacon. has 10 range but can get 22 range with range upgrade at fleet beacon. Does 40 damage and 60 to massive but shoots real slow. This thing sucks, actually.

Oracle: costs i believe 150/200 and 3(?) food. pretty fast moving unit. low hp, dies fast, and takes somewhat long to make. Has a few skills:
Preordain - (75? energy) target an enemy building and you get vision of the building and its surrounding area for 2 minutes. This along with 22 range tempest can be annoying, but only super deadly if you have like 6+ tempests.
Block minerals (forget actual name): 75 energy, area of effect, block minerals from being able to be mined with a shield. this shield can be killed by units and disappears after some time.
Cloak: for 100 energy, you can make units around the oracle cloaked. lasts 60 sec or until oracle dies. I believe you can move the oracle and the cloak field will move with it.
Oracle plus mothership core energy thing seems pretty good. I feel like in pvz it could replace or supplement the air harass some people do. but they die so fast that any number of queens or spores will make the oracle useless. tbh i dont see this unit getting much use (at least i dont see people getting a stargate just to get this)

i'll edit in more thoughts as i think of them.

blabberrrrr
Azera
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
3800 Posts
June 09 2012 06:47 GMT
#2
Seems like the Warhound and Reaper change are both pretty redundant -.-

Come on blizzard
Check out some great music made by TLers - http://bit.ly/QXYhdb , by intrigue. http://bit.ly/RTjpOR , by ohsea.toc.
Polar_Nada
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States1548 Posts
June 09 2012 07:05 GMT
#3
omgsh how do you remember all that lol.
[ReD]NaDa and fnaticMSI.SEn fighting~! ::POlar @ UC Irvine::
Incze
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
Romania2058 Posts
June 09 2012 07:20 GMT
#4
These changes make me want to play terran, wow. Zerg might need some work
Religion: Buckethead
cpc
Profile Joined June 2011
Australia126 Posts
June 09 2012 09:27 GMT
#5
I don't think I've seen it mentioned anywhere, can you build a mothership core after you have upgraded your mothership core to a mothership or can you only have 1 mothership core/mothership? (meaning you have to wait for both if your mothership dies)
FreshVegetables
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Finland513 Posts
June 09 2012 09:56 GMT
#6
Random all the way when the beta is out Btw. Does anyone think that range 22 on that protoss carrier thingy is a bit excessive or the 500 dmg mines?
yummy tomatoes
Imbu
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States903 Posts
June 09 2012 10:48 GMT
#7
On June 09 2012 18:56 FreshVegetables wrote:
Random all the way when the beta is out Btw. Does anyone think that range 22 on that protoss carrier thingy is a bit excessive or the 500 dmg mines?

The 22 range seems excessive when you look only at that, but you have to take into consideration its damage as well. At 40 damage per shot, that translates into taking 2 shots to kill a marine, and quite a few more for anything else. Without splash and its slow fire rate, it is by far a terrible replacement for the carrier. I would be surprised if a Protoss managed to turn this into anything besides a way to harass the mineral line, and for that, there are better options.

The 500 damage mines are pretty scary though D:.
@DreamingBird
blabber
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4448 Posts
June 09 2012 16:36 GMT
#8
On June 09 2012 18:27 cpc wrote:
I don't think I've seen it mentioned anywhere, can you build a mothership core after you have upgraded your mothership core to a mothership or can you only have 1 mothership core/mothership? (meaning you have to wait for both if your mothership dies)

you cannot have both a mothership and a mothership core at the same time. also i do not think there was a way to "downgrade" the mothership into a mothership core.
blabberrrrr
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 18h 29m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Lowko451
TKL 286
Hui .272
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 36197
Calm 7776
Jaedong 2567
Hyuk 1127
Snow 665
Horang2 549
Mini 450
Rush 385
ggaemo 246
Zeus 137
[ Show more ]
Backho 126
hero 117
ToSsGirL 85
Sea.KH 68
Sharp 46
Killer 40
zelot 34
Rock 26
Sexy 24
Movie 23
Bale 20
Shine 18
soO 17
Terrorterran 12
JulyZerg 11
eros_byul 1
Dota 2
Gorgc7676
qojqva1635
Counter-Strike
FalleN 6244
Other Games
singsing2145
hiko1007
FrodaN835
B2W.Neo783
Beastyqt533
DeMusliM279
crisheroes197
XaKoH 141
mouzStarbuck117
Trikslyr114
Liquid`VortiX106
ArmadaUGS96
Mew2King72
Fuzer 70
QueenE52
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream9773
StarCraft 2
WardiTV948
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 501
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 20 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• 3DClanTV 100
• poizon28 31
• iHatsuTV 10
• Kozan
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki36
• HerbMon 15
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV350
League of Legends
• Nemesis4180
• TFBlade1653
Other Games
• Shiphtur253
• tFFMrPink 7
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
18h 29m
Replay Cast
1d 8h
The PondCast
1d 18h
KCM Race Survival
1d 18h
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
1d 19h
Gerald vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
ByuN vs TBD
Rogue vs MaxPax
ShoWTimE vs TBD
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
Escore
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
3 days
Universe Titan Cup
3 days
Rogue vs Percival
[ Show More ]
Ladder Legends
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
BSL
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
4 days
Ladder Legends
4 days
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-04-20
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W4
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.