BlizzCon 2011 New Units and Updates

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So much to go over this week.

First there was BlizzCon 2011 which was, as usual, awesome. There they announced the plans for free Diablo III for 12-month subscription World of WarCraft users (if you’re among those who partake of the digital narcotic, you should also know you can get the Collector’s Edition free too).

We were fairly certain that Activision stock jumped immediately during that announcement. Mike Morhaime is more effective than the treasury at printing money.

Also at BlizzCon were our first looks at the new Heart of the Swarm units. If you’re interested in the single player info for HotS check out SCLegacy’s coverage from May (no new info this time). The new units, however, were awesome.

Let’s go through them one by one, shall we?

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Protoss Replicant – A mechanical unit with a build time of 32 from the Robotics Facility, this unit has only one ability (and no attack) which is that it can “copy” the form and abilities of any non-massive unit visible to the player. It costs 200 minerals and 200 gas and costs 4 supply. It’s ability does not have a maximum range. You can copy an SCV from a Terran base by simply having an observer over the mineral line. You can also copy an enemy Terran Banshee which does not currently have Cloak and you will receive an identical Banshee that does have Cloak. One downside is if you copy a Zealot, your supply cost for that unit remains at 4 and does not drop to the level of the unit you copied. 50 shields, 100 HP.

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Protoss Tempest – Capital air unit built from the Starport for a cost of 300 minerals and 300 gas and a supply cost of 6. Counts as a “massive” unit. It deals 22 ATA splash damage and 30 single-attack ATG damage. This unit replaces the Carrier which is currently removed from HotS. It requires a Fleet Beacon (a building which no longer has any upgrades available).

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Protoss Oracle – Light air unit built from the Starport. It costs 150 minerals and 150 gas and takes 2 supply. It does not have an attack but can cast “Disrupt” which is an ability that places forcefields over the minerals of an opponent’s mineral line (75 energy). You can block the entire mineral line with one cast. The forcefields have 200 HP and last for 15 seconds. They can be knocked down by unit attacks. The Oracle also has another ability that can stop defensive buildings (Turrents, Cannons) from firing for 20 seconds (100 energy). And lastly, it has an ability which can reveal what an enemy building sees and builds for 2 minutes. The Oracle has an (estimated) move speed of 3.6.


Protoss Nexus – The Nexus now has an additional ability—Recall—that allows a Town Portal style retrieval of units from the Battlefield. The recall takes around 2 seconds and units can take damage during this time.

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Zerg Swarm Host – Similar to the Lurker, this unit costs 200 minerals and 150 gas and 3 supply. The unit is invisible while burrowed and requires the Lair. When burrowed the Swarm Host launches a wave of 8 “locusts” (110 HP and deal 16 damage to ground units) every 20 seconds. The Locusts lasts 10 seconds or until they are killed. They do not cost supply and do not cost resources. 125 HP.

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Zerg Viper – An air unit which costs 100 minerals and 200 gas and 3 supply. It requires a Lair. The Viper has no attack but has a spell called “Abduct” which grabs any enemy unit (Colossus and air units included) and pulls it to itself (125 energy). This works on units on a cliff (you can pulled sieged tanks or Thors down a cliff) but you cannot pull a unit into open air (i.e. over a ravine). It can also cast another ability that reduces all units in its area of effect to an attack range of 1 (this includes Siege Tanks) for 100 energy. Lastly, it has the ability to make any friendly Zerg unit a detector for its entire life (this is clearly demarcated to both friendly and enemy players by a giant mini-Overseer over the unit’s head) for 75 energy. 120 HP.

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Terran Shredder – Mechanical unit built from the Factory (requires a tech lab) for 150 minerals and 150 gas and 4 supply. Once deployed (takes about 2 seconds) it creates a large, circular area of “radiation” which deals 20 damage of area of effect damage to enemy units. This damage is stackable (two overlapping will create 40 damage). This affects both ground and air units. The field has a range of 8. The field also extends up and down cliffs (but strangely does not create a visual notification for the enemy player). The unit can be deployed anywhere on the map including on Creep. It can be loaded in a Medivac. However, if a friendly unit is within range of the radiation field the Shredder will turn off its field. So the unit does no damage when friendly units are present (does not count buildings—you can build a turret immediately adjacent with no effect). Blizzard has stated that workers will likely not be affected in future balance but currently do take damage. I’ve seen some reports that the Shredder does not affect burrowed units. It does affect burrowed units. And it does work up cliffs but does not show the damage occurring except in the unit’s HP bar. Also does stack damage. Don’t believe idiots. 80 HP.

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Terran Battle Hellion – Replacement for the speedy Terran Hellion unit, this mechanical unit from the Factory can—without research—transform at any time (takes around 2 seconds) into a Battle Hellion taking it from 90 HP to 135 HP. It’s attack still does 13 damage (20 versus light) but it’s area of effect changes to a “cone” shape rather than a straight line (Range reduced to 4) and the unit moves slower. Very effective against Zerglings and Zealots. Still costs 100 minerals and no gas. No supply cost change. Unit transform hotkey is “Q.”

 

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Terran WarHound – Mechanical unit produced from the Factory (requires tech lab) for unknown cost and 4 supply. Deals 12 (18 against Light) anti-air damage with splash. Deals 20 (30 against Armored) against ground units. Good siege breaker. Unsure of HP.

Terran Thor – Now a late-game “unique” (you can only build one) unit with 800 HP. Costs 400 mineraks and 300 gas and costs 10 supply. Deals damage only to ground units. (90 damage x 2 attacks—double what it was before). Still has a 250mm Cannon ability that now deals 600 splash damage in an area of effect over 6 seconds. Area of effect appears to have a range of 8 and radius of around 7.

Other Notables:

• Mothership has been removed, recall moved to the Nexus.
• Carrier removed.
• Hydralisk move speed upgrade added
• Banelings can now move while burrowed (with upgrade)
• Pylons no longer provide power up or down cliffs (not publicized but we found this in the build).
• Reapers now regenerate health at a similar rate as Zerg units.
• Ultralisks now have a "charge" ability to burrow and move underground to the center of a group of units, pop up and begin attacking.

Source: BlizzCon 2011

 

Is it just me, or does the viper not really look like an air unit?

Overall, I like the looks of the new protoss and zerg units. I do have issues with the look of the warhounds though, with the little shield at the side. Also not entirely fond of the looks behind the battle hellion.

Is the oracle a flying unit? And if you copy an scv, can you build a terran base?

 

@ijffdrie: Yeah, the oracle is an air unit

I don't know why the image for the Shredder is kept secret when they already showed it in the new units presentation. Just want to point that out.

 

Maybe they want to change it, but weren't able to do so before the con?

 

The design looks pretty much finalised, they even showcased a small gameplay of it.

 

Yeah it just wasn't shown on the poster... not sure why

 

GREAT new units, especially for the zerg; they needed it. My only concern is with the tempest, what will be the fate of the pheonix since its designated role was AA?

 

I hope it moves just as fast

 

A capital ship moving at the speed of a nimble harassment unit... sure.

 

It moves slower. And the Tempest is hilariously expensive at 300/300. You're still gonna need Phoenix especially with lift. Just makes the Protoss air much more powerful.

 

re

I like the new Protoss units. No Mothership? I dont think it got used a whole lot anyway. I only used it twice and both times it proved to be useless. The Oracle could be very useful.

 

Ever since Kiwikaki vs Stephano match at IPL, I've found awesome use for the mothership. If they take away mothership, at least bring back the arbitor? Then again they are putting Mass Recall from the Nexus...

I hope they delay HotS just so they can think twice about the changes they showed.

 

re

So when are they available?

 

I've messed around a bit with the new units of the custom maps, and I currently like the zerg units best. The swarm host is fun to use, though I think it might need a little balancing since it does really high DPS if it reaches the target.

Toss's units require a good amount of micro, which I'm not good at, so I didnt enjoy them as much. I generally don't like playing as Terran, and their new stuff didn't change my opinion.

 

So you have to play custom to use them?