HotS Terran Review: Part 1

Though it has been roughly one month since its release, there are still a number of players looking at Heart of the Swarm trying to decide if this is a game they are interested in. This article, and this entire series of articles has been dedicated to you folks who are perhaps looking at Starcraft for the first time, these are many of the changes and improvements which have been made to the Terran race in the expansion, Heart of the Swarm.

Similar to Zerg, Terran only received two new units with the release of HotS. This, however, does not mean that there is not much new for Terran in the expansion pack. While only receiving two new units, there have been a multitude of changes made to other units which drastically affect the way the race is played. In this article though, I will spend most of the space detailing the new units.

The first new unit I will talk about is the Widow Mine. The Widow Mine is a unit, constructed from the Factory, requiring no add-on, that does significant direct target damage as well as high splash damage. The unit itself costs 75/25/40/2 and is an immensely cost efficient unit due to the nature of the way it deals damage. In order to fire, the Widow Mine needs to be burrowed, this makes it very vulnerable during movement since the unit can not attack during that period. However, once burrowed, the Widow Mine automatically locks on to the nearest unit within a radius of 5 and deals 125 single target damage (+35 to Shields) and a splash damage of 40 to nearby units. There is then a 40 second cooldown before the Mine can shoot again. It is important to note that the Widow Mine’s attack is considered a spell and, as a result, ignores armor upgrades which may negate some damage, including the Immortal’s Hardened Shield.

Simply, the Widow Mine is an extremely effective and efficient unit at dealing with larger armies. One Widow Mine shot can decimate a very large group of Zerglings and used in combination with Medivacs, Widow Mine drops in your opponent’s mineral line have already proven themselves to be very effective. In order to kill a burrowed Widow Mine, your opponent must have some kind of detection and use it in combination with attacking units to destroy it. Although, Widow Mines were under initial scrutiny due to their effectiveness, many players at high levels have developed methods of dealing with them – that is not to say that it is easy though. Good Widow Mine use can be instrumental in dismantling opposing armies.

The second new unit in the Terran infantry has been the subject of much controversy, however, has developed into a solid and well-rounded unit, the Hellbat. Initially conceptualized as the Battle Hellion, the unit itself has not changed significantly but threw many players off due to its power. The Hellbat is interesting because it has the capability to be transformed from a Hellion or to be constructed directly. A Hellbat is constructed from the Factory, however, for immediate construction, requires an Armory, or, to be transformed from a Hellion, requires the Transformation Servos upgrade to be researched from a Factory Tech Lab. The cost of the unit is rather inexpensive, requiring only 100/0/30/2, it is important to note that Hellbats can be constructed without the Transformation Servos upgrade but can not be switched from Hellions or vice versa.

The Hellbat is also interesting because, while the Hellion is a Light, Mechanical unit, once it becomes a Hellbat, it gains an additional classification, becoming Light, Mechanical, Biological. The reason this is significant is because it allows Hellbats to be healed by Medivacs as well as capable of being repaired by SCVs, an ability unique to the Hellbat. Hellbats cannot be loaded into Bunkers.

In terms of damage output, the Hellbat does not disappoint. The Hellbat does 18 (+12 to Light) damage within a splash radius. While the actual range of the attack is not very far, it makes Hellbats incredibly effective while attacking Light units in close proximity. Hellbats are incredibly efficient at killing Zealots or Zerglings as well as workers. Hellbat drops became incredibly popular very quickly requiring them to have their cargo capacity increased from 2 to 4 when placed inside a Medivac.

What it all comes down to is that the two new Terran units really add a lot of value and efficiency to the Terran infantry. The development of the Hellbat was supposed to allow late game Terran to deal with massive Zealot warp ins, this is something which can certainly be accomplished and the Widow Mine has the dual purpose of allowing the player to both stay safe and macro or be aggressive. There are certainly new and interesting strategies revolving around these new units, but since the game is only a month old, it will take quite some time before things really get figured out!

Stay tuned for the next article which will deal with the changes to Terran that go beyond new units. These include Siege Tanks, Medivacs, upgrades and a few others!