EPTI attended MLG Anaheim a week and a half ago and have been really busy since then, and I've finally got a chance to sit down and write this blog. A lot of thoughts have been going through my head, and I think I can provide some pretty good ideas at this point that the community might not be interested to hear. I will be going over new units and upgrades/changes, as well as how I believe they could be used in each matchup and how the metagame might be affected. I also will mention things I like and dislike about everything I've seen so far, and give possible solutions/ideas to make things better in my opinion. Overall, this should be a pretty comprehensive review, so hopefully it gives you some ideas as well!
All unit stats were shamelessly copied from Bair's Heart of the Swarm Unit Stats thread, just so that you don't have to continually reference other posts if you want to see the stats along with my thoughts.
Anyway, let's get started!
Terran
I'm starting off with Terran simply because they're my main race and I have to start somewhere.
Terran has a number of interesting changes, especially in the factory department. I'll just go unit by unit and give my thoughts.Widow Mine
![[image loading]](http://www.at7addak.com/Data/News/Gallery/2012-06/Exclusive-Hands-on-Starcraft-II-Heart-of-the-Swarm/Exclusive-Hands-on-Starcraft-II-Heart-of-the-Swarm-26.jpeg)
+ Show Spoiler [Stats] +
Widow Mine – Light, Mechanical
Requires Factory
Minerals: 75
Gas: 25
Supply: 1
Build Time: 20
Health: -
Speed: -
Attack Damage: 200*
Attack Range: *
Attack Delay: 10 Seconds after latching on.
Special Ability – Burrow: 3 seconds to burrow. Aside from the time to burrow it functions exactly the same as regular burrow.
Requires Factory
Minerals: 75
Gas: 25
Supply: 1
Build Time: 20
Health: -
Speed: -
Attack Damage: 200*
Attack Range: *
Attack Delay: 10 Seconds after latching on.
Special Ability – Burrow: 3 seconds to burrow. Aside from the time to burrow it functions exactly the same as regular burrow.
Widow Mines are a bit bizarre, so let me first explain how they work. Widow mines are built from the factory with no other tech requirement and can be reactored. A widow mine is basically a little spidery thing that runs around and can burrow. Yes, the mine can walk independently, this isn't a spider mine. It can burrow itself anywhere on the map, providing a small vision radius and launching itself at anything around it. After 10 ingame seconds, it blows up doing 200 damage in a fairly large radius. The mine is cloaked when burrowed, but your opponent can see when it attaches to a unit, although they will not get an alert (I believe). The vision it provides, interestingly enough, goes through smoke, so it can latch itself through smoke at anything. The range is ~5, vision about the same (maybe a bit less).
TvP: Widow mines are definitely going to have a lot of use in TvP. They're perfect against gateway units, as they will be cost efficient 100% of the time (except maybe vs a single zealot, but that's pretty close to an even trade). With a good mineral/gas ratio, adding these in any stage of the game will be very very easy. Obviously hitting stalkers/sentries/multiple units only increases the effectiveness. Widow mines can be used to establish an early expansion possibly with mech play, with a few mines + one bunker with a couple marines making factory expand builds very possible. No longer will factory expands be extremely dangerous vP - just reactor expand with 4-6 mines and a bunker! They also hit air and cloaked units, so they can be used to counter warp prism harass, DTs even without turrets, and knock down observers - all extremely useful early game for safety.
In the mid/lategame, these will definitely be good for space control, although again, they aren't the most effective when your opponent notices them. They're definitely spammable, but don't go too out of control - an army of entirely mines doesn't exactly work too well, you'll just get rolled over
. They're pretty effective against any unit, so they're pretty much always good to have around, and they're good to make sure mech armies don't get caught out of position. Overall, they're extremely useful for mech play.TvZ: I don't see the widow mine affecting TvZ nearly as much, simply because the most likely unit they'll hit is the zergling, and that can be easily split off before explosion. Thor/Hellion/Mines could be a really strong composition, as widow mines can be used for positioning and to force roaches to split up, and they trade evenly for single roaches. If you can hit valuable units with them they're fantastic vs Z, I just can't see that happening a whole lot. They can also be used for space control against mutas or even broodlords, wihch could be quite strong, but mutas are a bit phased out nowadays and you'd have to be pretty dumb to run broodlords into mines at that stage in the game.
TvT: These could make TvT a little bizarre. I don't expect to see them too much vs bio play, because similar to TvZ, they're most likely to hit marines (which can be split off). They could certainly be excellent to throw behind a mineral line to surprise a medivac, although it could likely unload its cargo before the mine blows up. In mech vs mech play, the widow mine could truly shine though. Space control and vision is so important in TvT, and these little buggers provide that in spades. It's hard to say how they will truly be used in TvT imo, but they definitely have some interesting options.
Overall: Despite all the praise of usefulness I've just given the widow mine, I think it's definitely got some serious issues. The fact that it pretty much is either guaranteed to be cost-efficient or guaranteed to be a waste depending on what unit it hits is a little silly. I'd like to see it become more easily countered by an aware opponent, but be more dangerous to someone not paying attention. I think a damage reduction as well as an activation time reduction could go a long way to making these not be coinflip units. To be honest, I don't really like the concept all too much, but they definitely could work out if properly balanced - I just think they will be extremely hard to properly balance, because they're so hit-or-miss. Overall I don't love the widow mine as a unit conceptually, but I think they could create some really interesting situations. They're probably the unit that would need the most testing and exploring before we could really make a verdict.
Battle Hellion
![[image loading]](http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/10/medium_battlehellion_1.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Requires Factory
Minerals: 100
Gas: 0
Supply: 2
Build Time: 30
Health (Battle Mode): 135
Base Armor (Battle Mode): 0
Speed (Battle Mode): 2.25
Attack Damage (Battle Mode): 10
Attack Range (Battle Mode): 2 in an AoE cone
Attack Delay (Battle Mode): 1.9
Health (Vehicle Mode): 90
Base Armor (Vehicle Mode): 0
Speed (Vehicle Mode): 4.25
Attack Damage (Vehicle Mode): 8 (14 vs. Light)
Attack Range (Vehicle Mode): 5 in a linear AoE
Attack Delay (Vehicle Mode): 2.5
Ability – Transformation: Switches between battle and vehicle mode. 3 second transformation time.
Minerals: 100
Gas: 0
Supply: 2
Build Time: 30
Health (Battle Mode): 135
Base Armor (Battle Mode): 0
Speed (Battle Mode): 2.25
Attack Damage (Battle Mode): 10
Attack Range (Battle Mode): 2 in an AoE cone
Attack Delay (Battle Mode): 1.9
Health (Vehicle Mode): 90
Base Armor (Vehicle Mode): 0
Speed (Vehicle Mode): 4.25
Attack Damage (Vehicle Mode): 8 (14 vs. Light)
Attack Range (Vehicle Mode): 5 in a linear AoE
Attack Delay (Vehicle Mode): 2.5
Ability – Transformation: Switches between battle and vehicle mode. 3 second transformation time.
Battle Hellions are simply an optional change to regular hellions, and regular hellions have not been changed. So basically, the worst that could happen is that everyone will still use regular hellions in ways they were already used - the question is, what can we make battle hellions useful for? The first pretty obnoxious thing, however, is that hellions are spawned in battle mode. This will almost certainly be changed by beta release, as pretty much everyone has been annoyed by this - you want your hellions to move fast when they come out, and they are more useful overall in normal hellion mode. Battle hellion splash is a cone, which is quite different from the normal hellions. This is stronger later on when there are a ton of clumped up units, but weaker earlier when the range and speed is needed more to dodge in and out and kite.
TvP: It's hard to predict their use in TvP, because mech is infrequently seen and we'll really have to see how mech works out before we know how these work out. I think they won't see much use in their current form, simply because widow mines are better for taking out armies and vehicle mode is better for harassment. They may be used similarly to TvZ, to fight large numbers of zealots and take damage for other more valuable units. In any case, I don't see these having much of a role in TvP.
TvZ: Battle hellions will pretty much only be used in lategame mech TvZ. They're only more effective than normal hellions vs very large numbers of zerglings, where their cone splash has the most effect. They truly tear apart zerglings in large-scale battles with the new battle mode, but for early hellion use they are better in normal mode. They could also possibly be used in battle mode with a marine/hellion push to tank ling/bane, but at the same time, the mobility and ability to kite is extremely useful on the vehicle mode. It might be nice to have battle mode vs allins as well just to take a bit more damage vs roaches or banelings, but kiting lings in those situations is very often more important. Overall, I think we'll mostly be seeing them in battle mode with large mech armies to take damage and mop up zerglings.
TvT: I think even in battles the range on vehicle mode is far more useful than the hp/splash radius of battle mode, so I'd be surprised if we saw these at all. Normal hellions will be better vs marines, SCVs, and other hellions, so normal hellions should still dominate mech play.
Overall: A cool addition that pretty much has no downsides and will make hellions more useful in a few situations. I definitely like the change, and it helps hellions accomplish certain things more easily than they previously could. Although I think normal hellions are still superior overall, battle hellions have their place and come at no additional cost to normal hellions, so they are simply just a straight buff in some situations.
Warhound
![[image loading]](http://shokzguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-warhound-570x333.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Warhound – Armored, Mechanical
Requires Factory w/ Tech Lab
Minerals: 150
Gas: 75
Supply: 2
Build Time: 45
Health: 220
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.81
Attack Damage: 23
Attack Range: 7
Attack Delay: 1.3
Ability – Haywire: Autocastable
Does 30 damage to a single target at range 7 with a 6 second CD. Does not interrupt the Warhound's regular attack.
Requires Factory w/ Tech Lab
Minerals: 150
Gas: 75
Supply: 2
Build Time: 45
Health: 220
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.81
Attack Damage: 23
Attack Range: 7
Attack Delay: 1.3
Ability – Haywire: Autocastable
Does 30 damage to a single target at range 7 with a 6 second CD. Does not interrupt the Warhound's regular attack.
The Haywire ability only hits mechanical units, so the unit will pretty much only be useful in TvT and TvP. Haywire is simply... something that makes them do some extra damage once in a while to mechanical stuff, so it's pretty good. The warhound is fairly cheap yet still pretty bulky, making it quite good to take damage and be at the front lines of mech armies. It's a bit slow and bulky and a pain to maneuver, but not slower than any other mech unit. It will definitely have a strong role in mech armies. It does not have an anti-air attack, and the thor still exists, so it is not intended as a replacement as some people seemed to have thought.
TvP: The Warhound was most likely designed by Blizzard to, along with the widow mines, completely change mech play in TvP. The Warhound is quite useful against pretty much all units except Zealots, although it will still struggle vs immortals like all other mech units. It will definitely be used heavily, as it is easily massable and can take so much damage while dishing out a respectable amount of its own at 7 range. These will definitely be mixed in heavily with a Hellion/Mine/Tank composition to stomp everything Protoss on the ground (except maybe immortals), and I can definitely see them being pretty successful in the matchup. At the same time, they might not be strong enough in large-scale battles for us to see them in large numbers, with tanks possibly being favored later on after a warhound-centric midgame. In any case, I definitely expect warhounds to see use in TvP.
TvZ: Considering their main ability doesn't work vs Zerg at all, warhounds will seldom be used here. They still are decent for tanking damage at a reasonable price, so they can be mixed into mech armies a bit, but I don't see them being built pretty much at all in this matchup.
TvT: Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to try out warhounds in TvT, although I definitely think they will be quite strong with mech play. They're pretty good vs tanks as they can take quite a few shots and are not very vulnerable to splash damage. I actually think Warhounds could completely take over the TvT midgame, as they seem to be extremely strong vs tanks (and actually cheaper). The range of tanks will probably prevail in maxed army fights, but I think warhounds are strong enough to simply steamroll a tank-reliant player. Widow mines may be used to ward off warhounds to build up a large tank count. Dropping warhounds in range of tanks will only increase their effectiveness and make them destroy tanks even more than they already would. A warhound + bio army could be strong against mech even moreso than warhound + mech, and I definitely expect to see a lot of warhounds here.
Overall: Despite its rather bland nature, I actually like the warhound. It does its job well and significantly changes matchups for the better for Terran. Terran players already have a lot of mid-battle micro units to deal with, so I think an autocaster like the warhound will certainly be a relief to players. It might be a bit too strong with its current bulk and cost, but it will take a bit of testing to determine for sure.
Reaper
The reaper has been changed to have 60 hp, 7 range, no anti-building attack, and a new upgrade instead of Nitro Packs. The new upgrade, Combat Drugs, allows reapers to regenerate health outside of combat. The stat buffs are useful to make them more viable possibly as an anti-light unit in an army, but marines should still reign supreme. As a harass unit, the changes really do very little other than the HP/range buff - they're still pretty much dead when caught, and their ability to jump in and out of combat is limited by their fragility. The regen could be useful early on when they can't be focused down fast, but by the time you have Combat Drugs, reapers can be shot down in seconds anyway. Overall, I don't think the change will do a whole lot for reapers.
Battlecruiser
The battlecruiser has received a new ability called Redline Reactor. The ability costs 100 energy and has no research, and approximately doubles BC speed and acceleration for 6 seconds. BCs look pretty funny when they use it, it's pretty awesome to watch BCs zoom through the sky. Unfortunately, it shares energy with Yamato Cannon, making its utility pretty much only for running away from unfavorable fights. Overall, it might be useful once in a while, but don't expect to see BCs a whole lot where you haven't before - Yamato Cannon is still usually a superior use of energy. Maybe if Redline Reactor was changed to a cooldown with Yamato Cannon remaining on energy, it could definitely be a useful buff.
Conclusion:
Overall, Terran players will be pretty satisfied to see and explore the viability of factory play. It definitely seems like it will be quite strong in all three matchups in the current state, although TvP still could be a question mark. A lot of testing will be needed especially for the widow mine, so we'll have to see how it goes!
Protoss
Protoss definitely have a few interesting new toys, especially from the Stargate. The Carrier has been removed, and is the only removed unit in the current build of HotS. Anyway, let's get to it!
Mothership Core
![[image loading]](http://images.wikia.com/starcraft/images/e/ed/MothershipCore_HotS_Rend1.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Mothership Core – Mechanical, Armor, Psionic, Massive, Unique
No requirement (As in you can make it with nothing but a Nexus and an Assimilator)
Minerals: 100
Gas: 50
Supply: 3 (?) it's listed as 3 but I can't remember if that's right
Build Time: 30
Health: 350
Shields: 350
Armor: 2
Max Energy: 200
Speed: Immobile
Special Ability – Teleport (25 Energy):
The Mothership Core teleports to another Nexus.
Special Ability – Energize (25 Energy):
At a range of ~8 the Mship Core recharges the energy of any unit/building at the rate of about 25 per second. If energy is spent during this recharge time the building/unit will still recharge to maximum energy (Basic Application: Mass Chronoboost).
Special Ability – Purify (75 Energy):
The Mship Core gains a powerful attack for 20 seconds.
Damage: 60
Range: 13
Delay: 1.25
Special Ability – Mass Recall: Functions the same as the current Mothership spell.
Special Ability – Build Mothership
Requires Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 300
Gas: 350
Time: 100
Supply: 8
Basically finishes building the Mothership. Takes up production at the Nexus.
No requirement (As in you can make it with nothing but a Nexus and an Assimilator)
Minerals: 100
Gas: 50
Supply: 3 (?) it's listed as 3 but I can't remember if that's right
Build Time: 30
Health: 350
Shields: 350
Armor: 2
Max Energy: 200
Speed: Immobile
Special Ability – Teleport (25 Energy):
The Mothership Core teleports to another Nexus.
Special Ability – Energize (25 Energy):
At a range of ~8 the Mship Core recharges the energy of any unit/building at the rate of about 25 per second. If energy is spent during this recharge time the building/unit will still recharge to maximum energy (Basic Application: Mass Chronoboost).
Special Ability – Purify (75 Energy):
The Mship Core gains a powerful attack for 20 seconds.
Damage: 60
Range: 13
Delay: 1.25
Special Ability – Mass Recall: Functions the same as the current Mothership spell.
Special Ability – Build Mothership
Requires Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 300
Gas: 350
Time: 100
Supply: 8
Basically finishes building the Mothership. Takes up production at the Nexus.
Hoooly crap. The Mothership Core is crazy, has a bunch of abilities, and has the most potential to completely change the dynamic of Protoss matchups of any unit in the game. The Mothership Core can be built very early on and builds quite fast, and can be used in a huge variety of ways. You pretty much always want to build it as soon as you have 50 gas. Instead of matchups, I will just go through the Mothership Core ability by ability and their potential impact.
Teleport (25 energy): This is pretty simple. The Mothership Core is attached to a nexus and has limited range abilities, so it can spend a little energy to move around. You pretty much always want it at your most forward expansion, for Purifying to defend bases, Recalling your army to defend bases, and Energizing stuff close the the battlefield. I think the Mothership Core dies if its attached nexus dies, so it's pretty useful to save it.
Energize (25 Energy): Since this basically fully energizes anything near it for a very cheap energy cost, it is very possible to give a unit or nexus pretty much infinite energy. Yes, you can have a TON of chrono at any point in the game. You can basically infinitely chrono whatever upgrades you feel like with this ability, giving the protoss a LOT of flexibility and possibly further increasing their timing attacks. I think this will have a huge impact on all three matchups, both for chronoboost, energizing a sentry or templar for defense, or an oracle for constant harass. This is going to be crazy strong and I can't wait to see how protoss players utilize this with their timings. I think this could potentially be a little too strong and may need to change in some way.
Purify (75 Energy): Costs a lot of energy but turns your nexus into a pretty badass cannon. At 13 range and 60 damage, breaking a purified nexus in the early-midgame should be pretty hard. Although a bit irrelevant later on due to lacking splash damage, purify will definitely make protoss players happy dying less to early/midgame attacks. It does cost a bit of energy though, so you do have to save a bit in case of emergencies if you want to use it vs all-ins.
Recall (75 Energy): It recalls stuff to your nexus, similar to the mothership ability, except you now have it just a few minutes into the game. Can be really strong, allowing the protoss maybe to move out earlier than they normally would yet still preserve sentry count, and will have countless other uses throughout the game.
Overall: The mothership core is pretty freaking good. I think this could break the game in its current form, but we will just have to wait and see. I can definitely imagine tons of strategies being developed around multiple of its abilities, so Blizzard definitely got that right if they wanted to change things up. We'll just have to see how things go!
Mothership: The mothership can also now be built from a mothership core, pretty much the same way it used to be (it uses nexus production time). Vortex has been nerfed to only hit ground and it has gained an air-only stasis, although it has also lost its cloaking field. The mothership looks pretty weak in comparison to its WoL form, and it seems Blizzard wanted to make it less of a one-size-fits-all in lategame PvZ. I do wonder how protosses will deal with BL/Viper/infestor now, though.
Oracle
![[image loading]](http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/10/Oracle-B-590x298.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Oracle – Light Mechanical
Requires Stargate
Minerals: 150
Gas: 200
Supply: 3
Build Time: 60
Health: 80
Shields: 20
Speed: 3.75
Special Ability – Preordain (75 Energy):
Gain vision and detection around a building in a range of ~12 for 2 minutes.
Special Ability – Entomb (75 Energy):
Creates an energy barrier around mineral patches for 45 seconds. These barriers can be destroyed with attacks and have 75 HP. Barriers have no innate armor/shield armor and do not benefit from upgrades.
Special Ability – Cloaking Field (100 Energy):
Cloaks all units and buildings within ~7 range of the Oracle for 60 seconds. Works like Arbiter cloak from BW. 2 Oracles cannot cloak each other.
Requires Stargate
Minerals: 150
Gas: 200
Supply: 3
Build Time: 60
Health: 80
Shields: 20
Speed: 3.75
Special Ability – Preordain (75 Energy):
Gain vision and detection around a building in a range of ~12 for 2 minutes.
Special Ability – Entomb (75 Energy):
Creates an energy barrier around mineral patches for 45 seconds. These barriers can be destroyed with attacks and have 75 HP. Barriers have no innate armor/shield armor and do not benefit from upgrades.
Special Ability – Cloaking Field (100 Energy):
Cloaks all units and buildings within ~7 range of the Oracle for 60 seconds. Works like Arbiter cloak from BW. 2 Oracles cannot cloak each other.
The oracle is pretty damn cool, and one of my favorites of the new units. Entomb is a blast, Preordain is really crazy and strong, and cloak is always useful. This thing could definitely be useful in a lot of situations and opens up air harass quite a bit for Protoss. One thing to note is that oracles are extremely fragile but pretty fast, making them scary when they dart in and out but easy to take down when they are caught. One note about Entomb: there is no alert when it goes down and you have to send your workers back to mine after it clears, making it take a bit of attention for a player to clean it up properly.
PvT: This is the matchup I see the Oracle being least successful in, mostly because Stargate in general is easily countered by terran. The availability of marines and vikings will make harass difficult, and Entombed mineral patches can be taken care of pretty quickly with the high DPS of terran bio. Preordain could be useful for those with scouting problems, but I think observers will handle that fine just as they always have in the matchup. Overall, it's a large investment with a lot of risk in the PvT matchup, and I don't see it having too much success.
PvZ: Probably the best matchup for Oracles, they can definitely fit into stargate harass quite nicely. Entomb can be really strong in PvZ, as zerg generally doesn't have a whole lot of units out to kill either the entombed patches or the oracle. Building a couple oracles and constantly entombing with the help of Energize is crazy fun and strong in this matchup, and certainly could give zerg players headaches. Preordain is a really nice scouting tool as well, and of course cloak will always have some place in PvZ late game. In fact, I think the cloak ability could be pretty powerful with some timing pushes, maybe cloak + blink to snipe overseers. Overall I really like this unit in PvZ and I think it will be used quite a bit!
PvP: My only concern about oracles in PvP is about whether they will be able to justify their cost and investment. Shutting down a protoss economy with entomb and scouting with preordain both are quite useful, but it definitely leaves you vulnerable and has a hard time fitting into the sensitive dynamic of midgame PvP. I don't think we'll see these take over the phoenix role, as they don't have a whole lot of use in battles unlike the phoenix. We'll see how it goes, but I don't think they will be too widely used.
Overall: The oracle is sick fun and if worked into builds properly could definitely be really useful and entertaining. I can't wait to see how top protosses use it! I think Preordain especially may have some balancing issues, which I didn't touch upon too much in the matchup sections because Blizzard has said it has been constantly changed in their inhouse build. We'll just have to see how it goes!
Tempest
![[image loading]](http://starcraft-2-strategy.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HeartofTheSwarmTempest.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Tempest – Armored, Mechanical, Massive
Requires Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 300
Gas: 300
Supply: 6
Build Time: 75
Health: 300
Shields: 150
Speed: 2.25
Attack Damage: 49 (66 vs. Massive)
Attack Range: 10
Attack Delay: 6
Upgrade – Gravity Sling:
At Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 150
Gas: 150
Time: 100
The Tempest gets +12 range.
Requires Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 300
Gas: 300
Supply: 6
Build Time: 75
Health: 300
Shields: 150
Speed: 2.25
Attack Damage: 49 (66 vs. Massive)
Attack Range: 10
Attack Delay: 6
Upgrade – Gravity Sling:
At Fleet Beacon
Minerals: 150
Gas: 150
Time: 100
The Tempest gets +12 range.
Ahh, the Tempest. One of the most talked about units, the tempest's main characteristic is a disgusting 22 range when upgrade. A rangeless tempest is pretty much useless, as their DPS is abysmal and splash insignificant (err, I think they have a little splash... was having too much fun shooting stuff a screen away).
PvT: Similar to the Oracle, I don't see the tempest fitting in with Stargate play such a rarity in PvT. The only role I see the tempest finding is late game vs mech armies, forcing the terran to move their army and engage in an unfavorable position. The tempest is too weak in straight up fights to survive the burst-damage nature of TvP lategame with bio, so I think it will be a niche unit vs mech in the late game.
PvZ: Probably the most useful matchup for the Tempest, again partly due to the fact that the Stargate tech is most accessible here. Along with the mothership, the tempest will definitely be useful in forcing engagements on the protoss player's terms with its insane range picking apart brood lords one by one. It definitely could change the dynamic of lategame ZvP, and maybe even has the potential to limit brood lord play altogether. Other than countering brood lords, though, it doesn't seem to have much use - again, just too weak in straight up fights.
PvP: I would expect it to be fairly useless in PvP, splash damage and high DPS is always the name of the game in late-game compositions, and the positioning aspect isn't quite as important. Too much of a resource and supply sink to truly be useful, I see the tempest having no place in PvP.
Overall: A fun unit, but I think it will get changed once again before release. 22 range just leaves too much room for either abuse or uselessness due to nerfing of other aspects, and the tempest seems quite like the widow mine in that regard: either hit or miss. We'll just have to see how it goes, I suppose, but I don't like the tempest overall as a unit, although I actually find it more interesting than the carrier.
Conclusion: The new Protoss Stargate toys definitely have a lot of potential especially in PvZ, and the Mothership Core changes protoss early-mid game significantly and should cause a lot of new timings in all matchups. Excited to see how they turn out!
Zerg
Zerg seem to be the least changed in terms of overall gameplay, mostly due to their new units and upgrades being fairly high up the tech tree. However, Zerg's changes definitely have the potential to have a large impact on the late game, and their units have a ton of potential.
Swarm Host
![[image loading]](http://www.eclypsia.com/public/upload/news/2012_05/Swarm_Host.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Swarm Host – Armored, Biological
Requires Infestation Pit
Minerals: 200
Gas: 100
Supply: 3
Build Time: 40
Health: 120
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.25
Attack Damage: N/A
Attack Range: N/A
Attack Delay: N/A
Special Ability – Spawn Locusts
Swarm Host spawns 2 locusts which rally on an attack-move command. The Swarm Host spawns them every 25 seconds as long as burrow and the locusts last 15 seconds.
Special Ability – Burrow:
Works like for the Widow Mine. 3 seconds to burrow during which the Swarm Host can be attacked.
Upgrade – Increase Locust Time:
Minerals: 200
Gas: 200
Time: 100
Increases the time the locusts last by 10 seconds (to a total of 25 seconds).
Locusts – Light, Biological
Health: 65
Speed: 1.88
Attack Damage: 16
Attack Range: 2
Attack Delay: 1.2
Requires Infestation Pit
Minerals: 200
Gas: 100
Supply: 3
Build Time: 40
Health: 120
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.25
Attack Damage: N/A
Attack Range: N/A
Attack Delay: N/A
Special Ability – Spawn Locusts
Swarm Host spawns 2 locusts which rally on an attack-move command. The Swarm Host spawns them every 25 seconds as long as burrow and the locusts last 15 seconds.
Special Ability – Burrow:
Works like for the Widow Mine. 3 seconds to burrow during which the Swarm Host can be attacked.
Upgrade – Increase Locust Time:
Minerals: 200
Gas: 200
Time: 100
Increases the time the locusts last by 10 seconds (to a total of 25 seconds).
Locusts – Light, Biological
Health: 65
Speed: 1.88
Attack Damage: 16
Attack Range: 2
Attack Delay: 1.2
The Swarm Host was introduced as a zerg siege unit, used to break entrenched positions. It's questionable whether they'll be able to accomplish that with the low range of Locusts, but they are still relatively strong. It's definitely a big question mark, and it could be either quite good or quite useless.
ZvP: Swarm Hosts can be potentially useful in a variety of situations in ZvP, with the only real damage-free answer to a decent number of locusts is Colossi. They could be used for harassing expansions with a couple swarm hosts, or pressuring the main army with a larger number. My biggest concern is the overlap with the infestor in the tech tree, as infestors are just so strong that it may be hard for swarm hosts to find a place in the zerg gameflow. Swarm hosts also leave the zerg a bit vulnerable to a protoss just simply going and attacking, but they could be useful in a similar way to the tempest to pressure a protoss into engaging. These units are hard to predict, and will probably have to rebalanced at some point.
ZvT: Probably most intended for the ZvT matchup, I'm not sure swarm hosts will really find their place against Terran. The abundance of ranged units will have no trouble shooting down range 2 locusts in small to medium sized numbers, and a large number of swarm hosts leaves your army very vulnerable with less infestors and supporting units. Infestors are even better all around in ZvT, so I have trouble seeing swarm hosts be useful aside from potentially harassing expansions in side bases.
ZvZ: Again, infestors will simply almost always be preferred... they are so strong against roach armies compared to swarm hosts, and ZvZ doesn't exactly have a whole lot of "entrenched positions", although I suppose it could be used against a turtling zerg (although who ever really does that in ZvZ?).
Overall: A resounding meh, swarm hosts are fairly boring and may or may not find a role in the game. We'll have to wait and see on their usefulness, but they really don't inspire me much at all in their current form, despite locusts being pretty tough and doing quite a bit of damage.
Viper
![[image loading]](http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/10/Viper-B-590x314.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Unit Stats] +
Viper – Armored, Biological, Air
Requires Hive
Minerals: 100
Gas: 200
Supply: 3
Build Time: 40
Health: 120
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.25
Special Ability – Consume:
The Viper does 200 damage to a friendly building over 10 seconds to regenerate 50 energy.
Special Ability – Abduct (75 Energy):
The Viper pulls a unit instantly to the Viper's location. Approximate range of 7.
Special Ability – Blinding Cloud (125 Energy):
Creates a cloud that reduces the attack range of any biological units in the AoE to melee. Same AoE and range as fungal growth.
Requires Hive
Minerals: 100
Gas: 200
Supply: 3
Build Time: 40
Health: 120
Base Armor: 1
Speed: 2.25
Special Ability – Consume:
The Viper does 200 damage to a friendly building over 10 seconds to regenerate 50 energy.
Special Ability – Abduct (75 Energy):
The Viper pulls a unit instantly to the Viper's location. Approximate range of 7.
Special Ability – Blinding Cloud (125 Energy):
Creates a cloud that reduces the attack range of any biological units in the AoE to melee. Same AoE and range as fungal growth.
In my opinion, the Viper is far more interesting than the swarm host. With strong abilities in Abduct and Blinding Cloud and Consume for energy recharge, mixing a couple vipers in seems to be extremely cost efficient in many situations. They seem to have significant utility in both ZvT and ZvP, and synergize nicely with infestors for a great deathball late-game.
ZvP: Vipers will definitely be a scary addition to the zerg deathball in ZvP. With the ability to pull out those key tech units that protoss players heavily rely on in PvZ, countering vipers will be a top priority in lategame PvZ. Blinding Cloud will also be strong in combination with Fungal Growth in countering large balls of stalkers, completely nullifying decent-sized chunks of them. Unfortunately, Protoss has a fairly simple counter in the high templar with feedback outranging the viper abilities, but vipers should still be able to find a place taking units out of the protoss army and leaving them vulnerable in the mid-late game.
ZvT: Similar to ZvP, vipers will definitely be strong for pulling in key mech units in a lategame situation. Blinding Cloud will also be extremely strong in combination with Fungal Growth here, although marines die fast enough to fungal that it might not be quite as useful. Vikings can snipe down vipers pretty well, but zerg players are already used to dealing with vikings against the zerg deathball. In any case, adding a couple vipers to an army will pretty much always yield some positive results.
ZvZ: Abduct seems fairly useless here, with the key infestors taking up a lot of gas and also generally not venturing forward enough to be abducted. Blinding Cloud could again be useful in roach wars along with fungal in mid-lategame situations.
Overall: Consume, along with the very potent viper abilities, allows just a few vipers to easily change the tide of battle. Expect to see a few vipers in a lot of lategame situations for zerg players in both ZvT and ZvP. A really interesting unit, vipers can definitely create a lot of great battle and positioning dynamics.
Ultralisk
The Ultralisk has gained a new ability: Burrow Charge. Zerg players will rejoice everywhere as their ultras no longer get infinitely stuck behind lings when trying to engage. This gap closing ability won't change the use of ultralisks significantly, except we may see them built more often with more success.
Hydralisk
The hydralisk has gained a new upgrade to increase speed off creep. Unfortunately for zerg players, this upgrade is Hive tech. Hydralisks are already relatively weak to AoE damage at that stage in the game, and the upgrade will not come into play in the midgame where hydra DPS truly shines. Hydralisks probably won't see a whole lot of increased utility as a result of this upgrade, unfortunately.
Conclusion: Zerg's new toys will probably have the least overall effect on their matchup dynamics, but the new changes will certainly be appreciated in lategame situations. The zerg changes are pretty cool, and zerg definitely seems to be a stronger race all-around going into HotS.
Closing Words
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on HotS, and feel free to leave any feedback or questions you have about my review or the game! I can't wait to see what's in store, so gl hf ^_^
- GoSu.Pokebunny
http://www.itsgosu.com
http://www.twitter.com/Pokebunny
I hope mine was counted, it was on time... TT
