In preparation since the launch year of Starcraft II: Wings
of Liberty, the Heart of the Swarm expansion pack is hopefully planned to come
this year, bringing an almost full new game, with a well deserved multiplayer
upgrade, new units, and a new singleplayer campaign telling the story of Kerrigan,
the last Zerg Queen.
Exclusively with At7addak, we got the chance to try the latest
build of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm back at the MLG Spring Championship
in Anaheim, playing around with the new units and understanding this push that
will be beneficial for e-Sports around the world, and for our Starcraft II
Intergalactic Tournament this year (which you can join right now on our site).
Dustin Browder, the renowned game director for Starcraft II,
made the first introductions to the expansion pack. As he talks about the new units,
I cannot help but notice one important thing: e-Sports is at heart in this
expansion pack.
So Browder kept on pushing on the fact that nothing is
final, something we heard already at Blizzcon last year, and in retrospective
to Blizzard’s last event, a lot changed when it came to unit design and stats.
Which
means that anyone reading this piece might be surprised that any other of the
following topics presented in this piece might get cut in the final build. In essence, Heart of the Swarm is mainly focused on the
Zergs, but even the loyal Terrans and the proud Protoss are getting their fix.
So let’s start with the Zergs shall we?
The Zergs, obsessed with perfection by evolution, are
adapting to new tactics to be able to create far more effective siege scenarios
and manipulating the course of action.
Comes in the Viper, a new flying unit, powered by three
unique abilities. The Viper can blind a whole group of biological enemies (such
as the Terrans’ marines) with Blinding Cloud, to push them back and allow melee
units to attack without getting inflicted with much damage.
You will also be able to use Abduct, a sort of bungee effect
to a unit from above, grabbing it from the ground, and tossing it to a certain
death in between a horde of Ultralisks.
Finally the Vipers have a sort of energy recovery power, by
feeding off a Zerg building. This is rather tricky, as you can end up
destroying your structure if you forget about it.
The second new unit is the Swarm Host. A sort of bubbly slow
creature with puss sacks on its back, the Swarm Host can burry itself under the
ground and breed constantly mutated Locusts (2 units per 25 seconds), which are
ground-air and ground-ground units. Although really small, they are a strategic
merge between a Guardian and Zerglings.
In practice, they are best used against in hords to besiege and
enemy base or heavy defense unit like the Ultralisk, Tankers and etc.
On the other hand, some currently known Zerg units are under
strict stats reform, including the Ultralisks. The latter will have a new skill
called the Burrow Charge, allowing him to dive underground and quickly emerge on
a specified target, instead of bashing through the crowd to reach it. Finally the Hydralisk has a new upgrade that allows them to
move faster while not on creep.
So who’s ready for some Protoss love? The currently most favorable
race of our Starcraft II Intergalactic
Tournament this year, is also getting some new units, precisely: The Tempest,
Oracle, and Mothership Core.
As expected, the very expensive Mothership unit has been
removed from the Protoss ranks – and Carrier too – so to bring balance,
Blizzard decided to pull out the Mothership Core.
Since the new Void Rays were the way of the Protoss players
in Starcraft, especially because only one Mothership could be built at a time,
the Mothership Core is a perfect alternative and strategic unit.
The Mothership Core is dependent on the Protoss Nexus. Let’s
say more like stuck to it’s back, it is still possible to teleport it from one
base to the other, for a mere 25 energy. The Mothership Core has some
interesting abilities that a Protoss player will be encouraged to use.
Stuck to the Nexus, the Mothership Core acts like a
sort of Photon turret, capable of defending against large hordes with its
Purify ability. It can also instantly teleport your whole armies back to the
base, something Protoss were dying to have, especially with slow retreating
units such as the Immortals, but it’s a rather expensive abilities, costing 150
energy for one single use of Mass Recall. But here’s the interesting change:
The Core can turn to a full on Mothership by upgrade once the Fleet Beacon is
constructed. This might make the valiant ship more useable for players, but it
all depends on the Beta.
The second unit is the Oracle. Built from the Stargate, this
is one annoying psionic ship, unless you’re the one using it. Fast and agile,
the first of its abilities can be very tricky for your enemies, called Entomb
as it blocks mineral field to be harvested, killing the foe’s economy.
Preordain on the other hand is a sort of scanning ability,
allowing all Protoss to see unit and technologies being research by your
enemies. Finally is the Cloack Field will bring down a barrier hiding units
under the Oracle. Very effective for quick stealth action, or to survey your
opponent’s field.
To be used in full capacity, the Tempest will be the perfect
right wing of an Oracle. A new sort of capital ship, the Tempest is a long
range air-ground and air-air battleship, armed with a slow charging cannon (5
second required to arm it), that can be still effective against large enemies
and buildings (Attack power of 49). Although not my personal pick, the Tempest
can be deadly if topped with some Oracles, or when upgraded to a longer-range
attack, allowing it to attack from further distances.
Now what about the Terrans? Although Wings of Liberty is
their own game, the Terrans in Heart of the Swarm have also learned to make
better use of their technology, bringing – almost – two new units and
abilities, including the Warhound and my personal favorite, the Widow Mine.
If you usually play with Vultures, you must know the Spider Mines,
these little critters that jumps on sight at targets and explode, killing the
unit and causing a splash damage area. But the problem with these, is that they
were uncontrollable.
That’s why, Widow Mines were invented. Each of the mine does
50 damage and additional 50 to armored units, being able to control them on the
map, attacking precise enemies, and burrowing under the ground to prepare for
an ambush.
I’ve noticed that if used properly, you can push large
hordes of Zergs to scatter around the map, to be able to flank them on the
side. With a very low cost of production, these Widow Mines will be a perfect
addition if they are nicely balanced in the final build.
Now remember that I said almost two units were added? Well,
the Warhound is technically a miniature version of the Thor. Since Thors are
rather slow, and can be easily overwhelmed by large Zerg hordes, the Warhound
was added to provide an alternative to an anti-mechanical weapon. They fire powerful
missiles to mechanical units, perfect against Protoss, but ineffective against
the hordes of biological Zerg power.
Finally, Hellion got enhanced with a new transformation
abilities like the Vikings, with a battle mode, boosting it’s hit points, and
allowing it to throw fire attack in a semi-circle range, perfect to defend a
siege. The Battlecruiser also will
receive a new ability called the Redline Reactor, to help it move faster
on the field.
That would be all fellow legions of Starcraft. Tune in
soon, as we unveil the rest of our journey to discover Starcraft II: Heart of
the Swarm expansion pack, with an exclusive interview with one of Blizzard’s
key developers.
Ozimandus has been reviewing games and gadgets since 2003. He's not afraid of speaking his mind, and loves to share his love of everything geeky.