A look at Zerg in Heart of the Swarm

 

First off I must say that of course these are views based on beta gameplay, and are my opinion. Commenting is free so if you disagree or agree, please do leave a comment. Anyone who has any concept of what that entails means that most likely all of these units will be subject to change at one point or another, and that various abilities will be strengthened or weakened as Blizzard see fit. So with that in mind, I'm aiming to give more of an insight into the roles that they will play, focusing on their place in builds instead of the effectiveness of the unit. 

Zergs have been dominating in wol as of late, and even we can't deny it. When I ladder I find that opponents who are playing admirably do lose to a single barrage of good fungals. A good friend of mine who I got into Starcraft alongside is a Terran player and most definitely my equal in skill level, yet sees less success in general than I do. Infestor play is too strong at the moment and anyone who argues otherwise most likely plays Zerg and wishes to think their incredible play and mind bending tactics are winning them victories. 

Anyway, in Heart of the Swarm this problem is being tackeled head on, new units are changing the way all three races play significantly and at the time of writing this, there are ongoing changes to Infestors to attempt to make them more balanced. However it's not all nerf-bat for the Zerg team, there are a few new units coming in who are going to cause just as many delicious Terran and Toss tears (Terran being the tastiest, of course).

Honourable Mention - Mutalisks

Yes, I have played Wings of Liberty and am aware that these units already exist in the game, but recently they have been given quick regeneration as a passive. Their regeneration rate having been increased from .2734 to 1 means that Muta Harass is going to have a boost that sees it become a real integral part of many Zerg players' repertoires. Whilst this won't see them become unstoppable killing machines (We have Swarm Hosts for that), it will see it become a much more effective tool, the trade-off loss when sniping siege tanks in a bio force will be significantly reduced if done correctly, and besides going into Thor production I predict Terran players having a real problem with Mutalisk Harass in the early to mid stage of a game.

I'm not suggesting Mutalisks will be able to go head to head with Phoenix's or anything of the sort, but this is a good change to boost an already useful and incredibly enjoyable playstyle.

Oh, and the Ultralisk had a Burrowed Charge ability, but that got taken away from us. You can probably imagine why.

Vipers

Vipers are going to be an interesting addition. Blizzard said when they designed them they really wanted something to make late game Terran and Protoss armies cry, and so they made the Viper, and that's almost true. A purely spell casting flying unit requiring Hive Tech to build, it functions as a support flyer for late game Zerg armies. Offensively they have two abilities; Blinding Cloud which reduces the attack range of all units under it to melee range, and Abduct, a Scorpion-esque "GET OVER HERE".

Both of these are such huge weapons in the Zerg players arsenal that it's impossible to not imagine what brilliant situations these are going to create at all levels of play, from Abducting your opponents Colossus on the ladder to seeing your favourite players use them in unique and innovative ways. 

Perhaps just as importantly as providing great game mechanics, the Viper offers us an alternative to Infestors. It'll be interesting to see how often they're taken in favour of infestors, as they are both gas heavy units, the Viper requiring a huge 200 gas per unit. I can't help but feel the Viper was created mostly out of the need for some variety to late game Zerg compositions.

Swarm Hosts

I'll just start by saying the Swarm Host is fantastic. Brutally effective and brilliant to use, it adds a whole new kind of strategical positioning element previously unseen in Zerg play. Designed with the concept of a siege unit in mind, the Swarm Host unleashes a continuous trickle of slow moving melee units called Locusts. Excellent in both supporting pushes and defending, the Swarm Host is a force to be reckoned with. It has to be burrowed to spawn Locusts, so whilst it is immobile, it is also hidden, so with appropiate anti detection methods you can give players an incredibly hard time.

Due to tanks and scans being relatively effective against the Swarm Host, I've found them to be invaluable against both opposing Zerg and Protoss players. Correct usage of this unit can make or break games, and it gives Zerg a rival to the incredible anti-pushing power of the Siege Tank.

 

All in all, Zerg play perhaps hasnt changed as much as the other races, the builds remain largely similar and the compositions mildly altered, at least certainly in comparison to Protoss, who face quite a lot of drastic changes in their playstyle. But it's gained that depth I feel it was missing in WoL. Zerg play at the moment in WoL is shallow, there's no real depth of playstyle and the overused pun of "winfestors" is actually quite apt. Personally I'm looking forward to the changes brought in HotS, and can't wait until it hits the mainstream tournament circuit.  Thanks for reading, leave a comment below and follow me on Twitter @ceremonySC2.